Royal Space Force
Jonathan Clements on some of the battles behind The Wings of Honneamise.
Nobody knows who it was who walked into a Tokyo coffee shop, one summer day in 1984, and ordered a mix of Assam and Darjeeling, known in Japan as a Royal Milk Tea. But there was a cluster of earnest young men at the next table who overheard the words, and one of them suddenly looked up.
“Royal Space Force, said the 22-year-old Hiroyuki Yamaga, and his companions nodded and smiled. They had finally come up with a title for their animated film, the first professional venture by Gainax, the company they would set up six months later on Christmas Day. The collective of young fans had previously made a splash with their tongue-in-cheek opening animations for the Daicon science fiction conventions. In a Japan that was scrambling to serve the new market for video cassettes, they had been propelled out of their amateur endeavours and handed the chance to make their own film. Continue Reading
Magic Knight Rayearth comes to Blu-ray starting in July. Part 1 will arrive in July | Part 2 to follow in August.
If you're someone who is more of the 'old school' anime crowd here in the UK, it's quite likely you will be familiar with (or at least have heard of) the name Magic Knight Rayearth. Or perhaps just referred to as Rayearth.
A lot of people were very excited when we revealed we'd be bringing the entire television series to home video for the first-time in the UK - worth noting from here before anyone gets confused, previously the 3 episode OVA, Rayearth was released in the UK but not the original 49 episodes TV series; more on that in a few moments. And today is the day we can finally tell you what we have planned!
So sit back and get ready because Magic Knight Rayearth is coming to Blu-ray starting with Part 1 on 27th July, with Part 2 to follow on 24th August.
Just to cut the chase now, we've got a special limited time offer on pre-order Part 1 right now. So if you want to jump straight to ordering that, click on the link below to head to our AllTheAnime online shop. (Pre-orders for Part 2 will launch closer to date of release.)
It's a good time to be a Rayearth fan! Read on below for all the details. Continue Reading
Cloud Matsuri May 2020 – post-event analysis
This past weekend we were delighted to bring you Cloud Matsuri, our first completely online virtual convention where we teamed up with a number of partners and contributors to bring you a truly unique experience from the comfort of your own home.
But with the weekend now a few days removed, we wanted to give you our thoughts on the event. Below is an analysis of the successes, actions, reactions and areas for improvement we want to share with you.
OUR GOALS FOR THE EVENT
The primary thought behind the concept was a discussion of how we could help to fill the void of conventions not taking place over the coming months, as it seemed highly likely at that time, while also creating the basis for a concept that could be valuable and sustainable even when the current state of affairs is no longer an issue.
A key element to our success was to ensure we had unique and exclusive content from anime creators and Japanese guests.
One of the key parts to all of this was ensuring everyone “attending” Cloud Matsuri could enjoy the event for free. In order to ensure this, brought on partners to support the event and allowing us to cover the event’s costs, including paying all creators, guests, contributors and staff for their time.
HOW WE WENT ABOUT IT
Shinkai the Ad Man
By Andrew Osmond.
Makoto Shinkai’s visual style is a commercial in its own right, maybe the most lucrative brand in anime today. So it’s fitting that Shinkai’s work has been bound up with advertising for more than a decade. Think of the lightning editing in Shinkai’s films, allowing for super-compressed story points, absolutely ideal for an advert slot of 15 or 30 seconds. Shinkai himself has directed numerous animated commercials, including one that by his own account contained the seed of Your Name. His films have been extensively promoted in commercials, and have spawned “Shinkai-esque” ads beyond his own studio. Then there are arguments about the advertising within Shinkai’s blockbuster films, but we’ll get to them later. Continue Reading
Seven Samurai
by Jeremy Clarke.
Akira Kurosawa’s three-and-a-half-hour epic Seven Samurai (1954) remains to this day a landmark movie in Japanese and world cinema. It is currently streaming on BFI Player as part of the five month long Japan 2020 programme alongside 21 other Kurosawa films together with a much wider selection of Japanese movies including some as yet unannounced anime. Continue Reading