Anime Released in Tokyo Cinemas Today

[Genkina Hito]

Unlike previous weeks this year, today is pretty quiet with only one anime and an adaptation of a manga. Here’s what is released (trailers can be found in the forum):

Ao Haru Ride

Fans of shoujo, and in particular, fans of manga by Io Sakisaka, should know they are in safe hands, with this adaptation. The director is Takahiro Miki, a man who has steadily built up an impressive filmography that consists of adaptations of manga and novels aimed at the female market. Within the last three years he has been the director of the well-received two-part tragi-romance We Were There, the equally tragi-romantic Girl in the Sunny Place and the school romance Hot Road. Word is that these are all decent to good.

Another indication of how much care is going into this is the cast list which has two young stars that fans of live-action film and dorama should keep an eye on:

Masahiro Higashide is 26 but takes on teen roles and adds a lot of gravitas. UK fans may have seen him as Shizuka Doumeki in the dorama adaptation of XXXHOLiC which was released last year. A more intriguing and complicated performance can be seen in the highly recommended The Kirishima Thing. His love interest is played by Tsubasa Honda who has worked on mid-budget adaptations like Enoshima Prism and low-budget indies like Rakugo Eiga. Interesting choices which mark her out as more than just idol material. 

Synopsis

Middle school students Futaba Yoshioka and Kou Tanaka had crushes on each other. She liked him because he was unlike the other boys and quite gentle. Then Kou Tanaka then moved away and changed schools and they lost contact.

Four years later…

Futaba Yoshioka is a sophmore at her high school and she meets Kou Tanaka again. Kou Tanaka’s name has changed to Kou Mabuchi and his personality seems different from his middle school days, colder and unfriendly... Just what happened? Futaba finds out…

 

Aikatsu!

Idolmaster is the one to go to if you want anime pop idols but there are other series. Indeed, the one anime screened in cinemas is one that UK fans may never have heard of because it is based on a TV anime which is popular with elementary schoolgirls and doesn’t appear to be too big over here. Yet. Daisuki are streaming it so you can get a taste of animated idols with the trailer and devour the TV anime if you like what you have seen.

Synopsis

Ichigowas just a normal middle school student until she got to enter the world of idols and finds herself taking part in the greatest “Super Live” concert to be held in Japan, the Dai Star Miya Ichigo Matsuri. She now has to take part in press coferences and extra lessons to be the greatest idol in town…

 

[Genkina Hito]

Re: Anime Released in Tokyo Cinemas Today (13/12/2014)

Greatest anime OP of the year. Not even Parasyte tops this:

 

[Genkina Hito]

Re: Anime Released in Tokyo Cinemas Today (13/12/2014)

The year is winding down and so there are fewer films being released in cinemas. This week features two anime, one from a massive franchise, the other a title from the 90s. Trailers in the forum:

Youkai Watch the Movie: It's the Secret of Birth, Meow!

Youkai Watch is based on a video game created by LEVEL-5, the company responsible for those addictive Professor Layton puzzlers as well as the forgotten gem, Steambot Chronicles, and kid friendly tactical football game Inazuma Eleven. Youkai Watch is another game aimed at kids and it is a big deal in Japan. How big a deal? This is the movie release from a multimedia franchise that has spawned a TV anime and it has broken records for the number of tickets pre-booked. It has yet to penetrate the West but according to Anime News Network, Youkai watch anime will be localised in North America, Europe, and elsewhere… Could this be the next Pokemon?

The story of the film centres on Keta who got his mysterious watch from an old capsule toy vending machine in a forest and found it could detect and catch ghosts. The adventure starts when the watch disappears while he is asleep in his grandmother’s house. With his ghostly friend Whisper and super cat Jibanyan, he sets out to get the watch back.



Chibi neko Tomu no daiboken Chikyuu o Sukue! Na kamatachi

Just over a year ago on July 26th, 2013 the director Ryutaro Nakamura (Kino’s Journey and Serial Experiement Lain). One of his first feature-length films was the 1992 title, Chibi Neko Tou no Daiboken (Tom’s Big Adventure) and the story focussed on a cat named Tom and his companions who go on a big adventure to save the world.

 

[Genkina Hito]

It’s the end of the year and there are only four new theatrical releases this weekend, two of which are related to anime in some way.

Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor - Exodus

People who have read part two of the AUKN winter 2015 season guide will be aware that the TV anime Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor - Exodus will air next month on January 09th but there are screenings at the MOVIX Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture and the Maihama Amphitheater in Tokyo amongst a small number of other venues across Japan.

Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor - Exodus is the sequel to the film Fafner: Heaven and Earth and is the 10th-anniversary project which will reunite the main staff from the first Fafner TV anime with the writer Tow Ubukata (Mardock Scramble) taking up writing duties once again and the chief director is Takashi Noto and Nobuyoshi Habara ( Star Blazers 2199).




Princess Jellyfish

This is the live-action adaptation of Akiko Higashimura’s manga which was adapted into an 11-episode anime back in 2010 and licensed by Funimation. The film stars up and coming model and actress Rena Nounen (Hot Road live action).

Tsukimi is a far cry from her idea of a princess. She feels she is plain looking, she is nervous around people she finds attractive and beautiful and her dream to be an illustrator isn’t quite coming true. She lives in an apartment complex where no guys are allowed and all the other tenants have strange obsessions and hobbies that render them as social rejects. Tsukimi’s own passion in life is jellyfish. Strange, right? Tsukimi will soon find her life changing when she brings a beautiful woman into her apartment and she turns out to be a he. The two join forces when the apartment complex is under eolition threat and they turn the girls of the building into successes in their respective fields to save the place.

 

[Genkina Hito]

While millions around the world rang in the New Year with parties and fireworks, in terms of fireworks and Japanese cinema there wasn’t much for the start of 2015. It all began quietly last weekend with a lot of foreign films filling getting theatrical releases but this weekend anime and anime related films make an appearance with a big bang:

Psycho-Pass Movie
劇場版 サイコパス


The Psycho Pass movie is based on the 2012 TV anime Psycho Pass which was recently released in the UK via Manga Entertainment. Much of the cast and staff from the first season are returning with Makoto Fukami and Gen Urobuchi both writing the screenplay and Production I.G animating.

Year 2116—The Japanese government begins to export the Sibyl System unmanned drone robots to troubled countries, and the system spreads throughout the world. A state in the midst of a civil war, SEAUn (the South East Asia Union), brings in the Sibyl System as an experiment. Under the new system, the coastal town of Shambala Float achieves temporary peace and safety. But then SEAUn sends terrorists to Japan. They slip through the Sibyl System and then attack from within. The shadow of a certain man falls on this incident. In charge of the police, Tsunemori travels to Shambala Float to investigate. The truth of justice on this new ground will become clear.



Strike Witches: Operation Victory Arrow Vol. 2 Goddess of the Aegean Sea
ストライクウィッチーズOperation Victory Arrow Vol 2　エーゲ海の女神

This is the second of three Strike Witches original video anime released in cinemas. The story takes place between the end of Operation Mars in the second television series aired in 2010 and before the 2012 Strike Witches movie.



The Next Generation Patlabor Chapter 7
THE NEXT GENERATION ‐パトレイバー第7章

The 07th Chapter of the new live-action Patlabor series contains the 12th and final episode of Patlabor and has the title "Ooinaru Isan" (Great Expectations). It is a sequel to the 1993 anime film Patlabor 2 and focusses on Yukihito Tsuge, the main antagonist in Patlabor 2. This final episode is scheduled to be screened at selected Japanese theaters for a limited time of two weeks from January 10, 2015 as it preps audiences for the live-action Patlabor movie which gets a release on May 01st in Japan.

Here’s a teaser for the film:

 

[Genkina Hito]

This weekend is a quiet one in terms of anime released in cinemas but there is one screening taking place.

Appleseed Alpha
アップルシード アルファ

Appleseed Alpha is Shinji Aramaki’s prequel to his 2004 anime Appleseed and its sequel, the 2007 anime Appleseed Ex Machina. Set in a post-apocalyptic world that is the result of a 22nd century world war, we are transported place to the ruins of New York City, a place inhabited by humans and genetically engineered clones called bioroids. The main characters are Deunan Knute and her bioroid partner Briareos. They work as mercenaries but are also looking for a highly advanced city named Olympus. They get their chance to find it when they encounter a mysterious girl and her cyborg bodyguard who claim they are on an important mission for Olympus and are fleeing a team of highly advanced cyborg mercenaries who are chasing them

The film is based on a manga by Shirow “Ghost in the Shell” Masamune and was made using motion capture and CG to achieve a look somewhere between animation and live action. The director is Shinji Aramaki and he has a long filmography in anime with work on Megazone 23 and the TV mecha anime Gasaraki. His name has become more familiar to western fans thanks to the Appleseed movies and the recent Captain Harlock movie. Each of these titles has been released in the UK and that includes Appleseed Alpha which is available in physical and digital versions.

 

[HdE]

As soon as I get a chance to draw breath, I'll pen a review of Appleseed Alpha for the AUKN database - if you're not using that, fanboys 'n' fangirls, you really should be!

I've not had a chance to watch it properly as yet, but a quick looky-see indicates it looks pretty much in keeping with Aramaki's other CG Appleseed efforts.