A Real Planet Namek and YTV Goes Anime
Well, anime on TV has become much more prevalent in North America lately, and things aren't slowing down. Canada's YTV has announced plans to create an all anime channel. The channel will be called the YTV Adult Animation channel. The details are vague at this point, but it will be coming eventually. This along with the all Toonami channel and Encore's attempt to make an all anime channel is sure making anime's future look bright. The Sci-Fi channel has been rumored to be bringing anime back as well.
The Sci-Fi channel is also sponsoring IRC chats with creators of some popular anime. First up is Chiho Saito, the creator of Revolutionary Girl Utena. The chat will take place in the Sci-Fi channels #auditorium IRC room on July 1st at 10PM Eastern Standard Time. This will be the first of a number of similar chats featuring a number of other anime creators hosting chats.
Dragon Ball Z has gained in popularity quite a bit. It's not at the Pokémon level of insanity, but it is quickly approaching it. So have you ever wanted to actually go to Planet Namek? Well, now you can! If long distance space travel were actually possible, that is. An astronomer has named the recently discovered Planet 209458b, Planet Namek. His son is apparently a fan of Dragon Ball Z and the astronomer decided to name the planet after that popular little place called Namek.
Cardcaptors has been on WB for two weeks now and managed to alienate a great deal of the Card-Captor Sakura fans. Card Captors didn't start with the first episode of Card Captor Sakura and didn't show the second or even the next in sequence. Nelvana doesn't seem to know what episode is playing next. They have posted a FAQ about the series on their site. This FAQ tries to explain about the new music, card sequence, and other changes that have not been too popular with fans of Card Captor Sakura. This might make fans wary about the release of the DVD and VHS. Fear not! The DVD from Pioneer is not Card Captors, but Card Captor Sakura. So the experience of having the anime Americanized can be avoided. The date for the DVD is September 12th.
Serial Experiments Lain is considered one of the best animes made by a lot of people. Much Excitement was created when Hideki Goto said that a sequel was planned for production. Alas, it turned out not to be true. A slight miscommunication led to the iterpretation that Pioneer was working on a sequel to Lain and not Armitage III; Pioneer is working on a sequel to the Armitage III OAV. There was some confusion between the two. So no Lain, but we are getting a new Armitage III. Ya win some, ya lose some, and sometimes you just break even.
For those of you who happen to live in Japan, you are going to be getting three new intriguing TV series this summer. Brigadoon: Marin to Meran is centered upon a girl, Marin, and a mysterious Lifeform weapon Meran. Created by Yoshitomo Yonetani of Betterman fame this looks to be another excellent piece of work. While Peanuts the comic may be over and done with, its spirit still lives on. The next series debuting in Japan is called Strange Dawn. Two young schoolgirls wander into a mysterious land where everyone looks like a Peanuts character. Last but certainly not least is Hand Maid May. An ordinary college student (they are always ordinary, aren't they) receives a package. The package is perfectly normal and contains a small doll about 12 inches high in the outfit of a maid. The only strange thing is that the doll is actually a robot that functions as a maid. Make sure you keep an eye out for their showing in Japan and maybe a translation and release across the Pacific.
The OH, My Queen website has kindly taken the time to translate the trailer released by the Escaflowne producers at the official Escaflowne site. If you haven't checked these trailers out already, you might want to stop by now and use the translations. It is nice to know what they are saying, though I had already come up with some pretty interesting interpretations of my own. You may also want to check your local retailer in the US -- Gundam figures have been spotted at some stores on the west coast. Well, hopefully a store near you has the Gundam figures. If not, just watch some anime until you can get those figures. Well, I need to go check my retailer for those Gundam figures, so........ That's all for today.
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