PROTOCULTURE ADDICTS #95 CONTENTS 41 14 Issue #95 ( March / April 2008 ) SPOTLIGHT 14 APPLESEED: EX MACHINA More Human Than Human ❙ by Jason Green 20 REBUILDING EVANGELION The first of a 4-part remake is making a killing at the Japanese box office ANIME STORIES ANIME WORLD ❙ by Earl Gertwagen 36 5 CENTIMETERS PER SECOND 61 Anime Beat & J-Pop Treat ❙ bySample M. Matsuda & file CJ Pelletier • Angela Aki: Today ANIME VOICES 38 EMMA ACT 2 ❙ by Rachael Carothers ❙ by Miyako Matsuda 62 Drawing A Preference 4 Letter From The Editor 41 GURREN-LAGANN An Essay on Anime vs. Manga 5 Page 5 Editorial ❙ by M. Matsuda & CJ Pelletier ❙ by Brian Hanson 6 Contributors’ Spotlight 45 KANON 64 From Shoujo to the Silver Screen 98 Letters ❙ by Miyako Matsuda ❙ by Bamboo Dong 48 KAZE NO SHOUJO EMILY 70 Fantasia 2007 (Part 2) ❙ by Miyako Matsuda NEWS • Death Note & Naruto 7 Anime & Manga News 51 ROMEO X JULIET ❙ by M. Matsuda & CJ Pelletier ❙ by Miyako Matsuda 92 Anime Releases 73 New York Anime Festival 94 Related Products Releases 53 SEIREI NO MORIBITO ❙ by M. Matsuda & CJ Pelletier ❙ by Miyako Matsuda 95 Manga Releases 56 SISTERS OF WELLBER ❙ by Miyako Matsuda REVIEWS PREVIEW 58 TOWARD THE TERRA 77 Manga 25 Blood+ Novel, Vol. 1 ❙ by Miyako Matsuda 82 Anime Appleseed Ex Machina © 2007 SHIROW MASAMUNE / SEISHINSHA - EX MACHINA FILM PARTNERS. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann © Gainax / Aniplex • KDE-J • TV Tokyo • Dentsu. 3 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR ANIME NEWS NETWORK’S Greetings, Protoculture Addicts! プPROTOCULTURE ロトカル チャ ー ADDICTS I’ve been once again tasked with writing the letter from the editor this month, and Issue #95 (March / April 2008) it’s difficult to come up with anything relevant to say that doesn’t directly deal with the overall health of the R1 anime industry. I have to admit – things aren’t looking good. E d i t o r i a l S t a f f ANIME VOICES Geneon went south, and now ADV is showing some troubling signs – yanking a whole Publisher load of new titles, virtually everything they’ve announced since Sojitz invested in the Christopher Macdonald [CM] business – off of their website, cancelling shipments, Newtype, and the linear Anime ( [email protected] ) Network service. A simple tightening of the belt, or is it more than that? We don’t know Editor-in-chief / Production Manager (as of press time), but after ICv2 reported that the anime market in American has shrank Claude J. Pelletier [CJP] over 40 percent in just the last two years, you have to wonder why we’re not all running ( [email protected] ) around like chickens whose heads have been cut off and then their heads were told the Managing Editor sky is falling, causing further panic. Zac Bertschy [ZB] Well, the simple matter is, many fans – especially on internet forums – are behaving Associate Editor that way. Whether or not it’s justified remains to be seen, but it’s all in all a troubling Bamboo Dong [BD] situation, one with no real end in sight. So what else is there to say, other than we’re Contributing Editor / Translator all a little nervous? Miyako Matsuda [MM] There are a few things to be happy about Funimation, Viz and Media Blasters (the Assistant Editor Valérie Cools [VC] latter of whom recently opened new offices in New Jersey) all appear to be thriving, and the manga market is still expanding (although at a slower rate than was previously known). Advertising There are more anime fans than ever, as we can see with convention attendance still on Jerry Chu ( [email protected] ) the rise after all these years. The mainstream anime series that drive the industry – shows Interns like Naruto, Blood+ and Death Note – continue to do very well in America, selling loads Natalie Khor, Steven Thach, Gary Thompson of manga and DVDs. So it’s not all hopeless, but the market is changing. We’re seeing C o n t r i b u t i n g W r i t e r s less of a focus on titles that only appeal to tiny niches within anime fandom, and more Rachael Carothers [RC], Earl Gertwagen, Jason of a focus on shows that might have some general audience appeal (you know, shows Green [JG], Brian Hanson, Carl Kimlinger [CK], that don’t require an insane mastery of Japanese pop culture or a reliance on drippy Theron Martin [TM], Carlo Santos [CS] moe girls). More and more we’re seeing a shift in theSample way business is done,file and anime L a y o u t companies appear to be moving forward into the digital frontier, realizing that anime Claude J. Pelletier can no longer sustain itself as a business that relies entirely on DVD sales. Anime has Istvan Pusztai (cover, 14-23) become standard TV product, and is going to start being sold like standard TV product. C o v e r Which can only be a good thing. Appleseed Ex Machina © 2007 Shirow Masa- The reality is, however, that things are changing. 2008 will probably bring a little bit mune / Seishinsha - Ex Machina Film Partners. more bad news for the industry as a whole. In other words, things are probably going to get a little worse before they get better. The market is undergoing a massive corrective S p e c i a l T h a n k s Bob Brown, Kevin J. Carney, Joseph Chou, shrinking right now, after the giant bubble it enjoyed starting all the way back in 2002. By Jacquelene Cohen, Evelyn Dubocq, Susan Hale, 2009, the anime industry may not even resemble what we have now. But nobody really Lance Heiskell, Erik Jansen, Catherin Kim, Shawne Kleckner, Bill Lai, Osamu Maseba, Robert Napton, knows what the future holds, and no matter what your position – industry employee, Chris Oarr, Peter Payne, Alison Roberts, Tamara journalist, fan – it’s a little scary to be facing such massive change. Shumate, Eddie Stemkowski, and Richard Tong. So what does this all mean for Protoculture Addicts? Well, at the very least, we’re How To Reach Us still here – still chugging away, cranking out issues for your bimonthly reading pleasure, P.O. Box 143, Station B reporting the news, giving you info on brand-new shows happening in Japan and our Montreal, QC, Canada, H3B 3J5 trademark reviews that pull no punches. We will continue to make every issue the best P.O. Box 507 it can be (and hopefully get them out the door on time!) Champlain, NY 12919-0507, USA Until next time, www.protoculture-mag.com Zac Bertschy Letters & Comments: [email protected] Managing Editor 4 PROTOCULTURE ADDICTS #95 ANIME VOICES S U B S C R I P T I O N “PAGE FIVE” EDITORIAL Six (6) issues: $30 US/Can (in Canada add $1.50 GST; in Quebec add $3.86 GST & PST) or $45 US As I struggle to write these lines, I am quite sick. I have not felt this bad in years. It all started overseas. For First Class / Air Mail subscription on Christmas Eve: my wife had a strong neck pain and a headache so violent that it was giving add $10 in the USA and $35 overseas. Send check her nausea. I was worried because earlier that day she had slipped on icy stairs and I thought or money-order to one of the addresses above. Payment by credit cards & PayPal available from she might have hit her head. However, it was quickly followed by flu-like symptoms: shivering, the web site: www.protoculture.ca/PA/PASub.htm. light fever, congestion, sore throat, and cough. While my wife’s symptoms lingered for weeks, For inquiries email to [email protected]. I was mostly feeling sluggish and lethargic: falling asleep just about anywhere, at anytime. But D I S T R I B U T I O N a month later,I now find myself with exactly the same symptoms: neck pain, headache followed by a stuffy nose, sore throat, cough, etc. It is frustrating because we both received the flu shot In Canada: Cosmix ((514) 744-9494), Disticor ((800) 668-7724), Marché Clandestin (www. but got sick anyway. Although, I just read in the newspaper that those same persistent symp- mcanime.com), Middleman Media ((416) toms are not those of the flu, but of a “respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)” and is therefore not 203-2926), Sci-Fi Anime (www.sci-fi-anime.ca), affected by the flu vaccine or antibiotics. The article1 adds that it lasts for up to a month, can Snap! ((416) 588-4006). In U.S.A.: AAA Anime (www.aaaanime.com), Anime Nation (www.ani- degenerate in respiratory infections (pneumonia, sinus & ear infections) and the best thing to do menation.com), Diamond (www.diamondcom- is to rest at home, drink lots of liquid, maybe take some cough medicine and perform frequent ics.com), Disticor ((800) 668-7724), Kinokuniya hand-washing to avoid spreading the disease. That’s what I’m doing. (NY: (212) 765-7766, SF: (415) 567-7625), Made In Japan (www.madeinjapan.us), Nikaku While I was resting in bed, I was thinking about how vulnerable we are to those microscopic Animart (www.nikaku.com), Right Stuf (www. enemies that constantly assail our body. I remember someone saying (probably on CNN) that rightstuf.com), Robert’s Anime Corner Store (www.animecornerstore.com). In England: we were entering the “century of germs.” The combination of global warming, overuse of anti- Esdevium (011 44 125226116). In Australia: biotics, overconfidence of medical organizations and maybe some bioterrorism could bring the Converge (www.convergestore.com).