Interview: Yoshimi Itazu
By Andrew Osmond.
Scotland Loves Anime in 2016 welcomed a first-time guest to Glasgow, Japanese animator and director Yoshimi Itazu. Since 1998, Itazu has worked on a wide range of anime, including such classics of the 2000s as Paranoia Agent and Denno Coil. On the period feature film Miss Hokusai, Itazu was both the character designer and supervising animator.
That led on to Itazu’s directorial debut, the 28-minute film Pigtails, screened at Scotland Loves Anime and now released by Anime Limited. The film begins with a girl who lives alone in a house by the sea after an unnamed disaster. Released in 2015, Pigtails’ real-life background is the catastrophic Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Fantasia Film Festival called Pigtails a “quietly powerful fable for a nation haunted by enormous loss.”
We took the opportunity to interview Itazu about his past career and his new work. Continue Reading
Books: Animated Encounters
By Jonathan Clements.
In her new book, Animated Encounters: Transnational Movements of Chinese Animation 1940s-1970s, Daisy Yan Du argues against the way that Chinese animation wants to see itself, so often presented as an entirely local, inwardly focussed realm that pays no heed to foreign markets. Particularly in the period under study, you might be forgiven for thinking that Chinese animation was limited largely to curiosities at a few Eastern bloc film festivals, as well as dour propaganda cartoons. But Du swiftly wins the reader over with her presentation of a rich field for collaboration between artists from multiple countries, along with surprising accounts of foreign investment and influence.
In the case of Japan’s Momotaro, Sacred Sailors, for example, Du points out that this notorious wartime feature not only produced the seed-bed of the 1950s animation business in Japan, but had far-ranging effects elsewhere. Among its animators, Tadahito Mochinaga fled for China, where he kick-started the Chinese animation industry, while Kim Yong-hwan returned to his own native country and was similarly influential in the post-war animation industry of South Korea. Continue Reading
Amanchu!
By Andrew Osmond.
Amanchu! is a portrait of female friendship; or, if you prefer, it’s one of the sub-genre of anime depicting “cute girls doing cute things.” It should be said that the first category of anime doesn’t collapse into the second, even if anime fans sometimes speak as if it does. You can like Amanchu! for its portrait of friendship, irrespective of how you feel about anime girls or cuteness. In recent years, we’ve had films like When Marnie was There and The Case of Hana and Alice, both fond portraits of girls bonding, which play down the cute – dare we say moe – factor. Continue Reading
Mobile Suit Gundam NT
If you've been following us the past few years you'll know that in collaboration with our friends at Bandai Visual in Japan we've given fans in the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia the opportunity to order the Japanese Import Collector's Edition sets of the Gundam The Origin and Gundam Thunderbolt films. Well today we're excited to announce that we're now taking pre-orders for the latest incarnation of the Gundam franchise, Mobile Suit Gundam NT (aka Gundam Narrative).
We are taking pre-orders for this product for a limited time (until 5pm (UK) on 8th April 2019) at our AllTheAnime.com online shop. If you're not familiar with how all this works, all the information is below for you.
ABOUT GUNDAM NT
The latest work in the “Universal Century” series telling the story after the events of “Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn”! Blu-ray release of the mega-hit movie, filled with fabulous bonus items! Is it destruction, or life eternal?
Synopsis: U.C. 0097…
One year has passed since the contents of Laplace's Box were revealed to the world at the end of the conflict called the "Laplace Incident." Despite the revelation of the Universal Century Charter that acknowledges the existence and rights of Newtypes, the framework of the world has not been greatly altered.
Meanwhile, the Neo Zeon remnants known as the Sleeves have temporarily collapsed after the Laplace Incident, and their activities are at a standstill. And the two Unicorn Gundams, the mobile suits that played a leading role in the conflict, have been deemed dangerous and secretly sealed away because they displayed power beyond human understanding.
However, the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 03, which disappeared two years earlier and was erased from history, has shown itself in the Earth Sphere once more. This machine called "Phenex" is the focus of many people's renewed activity. As well as the Earth Federation Forces and the Sleeves, Luio & Co, a huge corporation with strong connections to Anaheim Electronics, is involved in the struggle for the Phenex. As Luio & Co. deploys the new mobile suit Narrative Gundam, what is its true objective…?
Want to sample some of the film? How about the first 23 minutes? Not even joking. The first 23 minutes have been made available to preview! Check it out below. (You activate can activate the English subtitles within the video player itself.)
HOW DO PRE-ORDERS FOR THIS PRODUCT WORK?
©SOTSU･SUNRISE
Well first of all we need to stress that this is not an AllTheAnime / Anime Ltd. product.
This is a Bandai Visual product from Japan that will be shipped once stock arrives at our office in Glasgow, UK. (Expected to be late May / Early June 2019.)
This is a pre-order scheme in conjunction with Bandai Visual that allows fans in the UK., Ireland and Scandinavia the chance to pre-order this product knowing it will be shipped by us in the U.K once stock has arrived. Each item ordered will also be shipped by the courier service UPS - this cost is already included in the price you pay at our online shop. So you'll be able to keep track of its delivery progress too once it's shipped.
Important things to note -
- As we've said already but we need to reiterate, this is not an AllTheAnime / Anime Ltd. product. This is a Bandai Visual release from Japan.
- This is a Japanese product. Though the main feature itself will include the English language dub and English subtitles to accompany the original Japanese audio, any additional features on the disc itself and/or the physical items included in the package itself will be in Japanese only.
- The cost to order this is £79.99, and the full cost must be paid immediately when placing the order. (We do not have the facility to take delayed payments.)
- This price includes it being shipped to customers via the courier service UPS. (We will not ship the product any other way.) However for any orders outside the UK, there will be an additional shipping cost added to this as well.
- Deadline to pre-order this is 5pm (UK) Monday 8th April 2019. Once this date has passed we will no longer be taking any pre-orders for this product.
- Once stock has been delivered to our HQ - expected to be in late May / early June 2019 - we'll get them shipped as soon as possible to everyone who has pre-ordered it!
- Though unlikely, should any additional stock be available once orders have been fulfilled and delivered, these will be listed on our AllTheAnime.com online shop accordingly on a first-come first-served basis.
WHAT WILL BE IN THIS PRODUCT?
Jacket illustration by Sejoon Kim
At time of writing we're unable to show you what the product will look like, but we can tell you all the contents will be housed inside a chipboard box that'll have sleeve illustrations by Hajime Katoki and jacket illustrations by Sejoon Kim (see right).
As well as the main feature there are additional contents included (with all additional content being in Japanese only- no subtitles/translation included). There will be -
- Drama CD (Japanese audio only),
- Cell & Line Art Illustrations Book (planned to be around 48 pages),
- Settings Art Book (planned to be around 32 pages),
- Special booklet (planned to be around 16 pages)
- and a special bonus Blu-ray disc with approximately 78 minutes of additional content (in Japanese only - no subtitles will be available for this content.) This disc will contain a Digest of the talk and live part in the pre-premiere event from Oct. 16th 2018, Salutations on stage at the premiere screening, and a Short lecture for "Universal Century" in 3 minutes.
- Additional contents noted: New Gundam series film trailer, Promotional Clips & Trailers of "Gundam NT", Staff and Cast Audio Commentary.
PLUS! With every pre-order of this product at AllTheAnime.com there will also be an original squared art board (aka shikishi) with an illustration especially drawn for the occasion. (see below)
Preview of bonus item that will be included
Additional notes -
~ Duration of the main feature is approximately 95 minutes
~ Audio options for the main feature are:
1. Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio (5.1ch)
2. Japanese DTS Stereo, partly Linear PCM 2.0ch
3. English DTS-HD Master Audio (5.1ch)
4. English DTS Stereo, partly Linear PCM 2.0ch
WHERE DO I ORDER THIS
At our AllTheAnime.com online shop! A reminder that pre-orders for this are open now and close on Monday 8th April at 5pm (UK). Click on the link below to order yours.
F.A.Q. (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)
Chances are some of the information below have already been covered above, but we like to compile things into one section -
- Is this an All The Anime / Anime Ltd product?
No. This product is created and manufactured by Bandai Visual in Japan. We are simply giving people the opportunity to order it. - Where will this be shipped from and when?
Once stock arrives (expected late May / early June 2019) it will be shipped from our offices in Glasgow, UK. - What countries/territories are you shipping this product to?
We can ship this product to UK, Ireland and Scandinavian countries only.
- How much does it cost?
£79.99. This price includes the fact it will be shipped by the courier service UPS that will include a tracking number. (NOTE: any international orders will incur an additional shipping charge.) - Is there English in this product?
Only the main feature will have English audio and English subtitles to accompany the Japanese audio. Any additional contents (be them on the discs themselves or physical items in the package) will be in Japanese only. - What's the deadline to pre-order this by?
5pm (UK) Monday 8th April 2019. - Will there be any more of this available after the pre-order period has ended?
Though unlikely, should there be any additional units available following all pre-orders being shipped and delivered, they will be listed at AllTheAnime.com accordingly on a first-come first-served basis. - Will you release your own Blu-ray of this?
Simply put, it's something we'd like to do if the opportunity were to come about in the future. But we do not know at this time if that will be possible or not. - Is this a good jumping on point for a potentially new Gundam viewer?
This is a question that's ultimately open to personal opinions/interpretation, What we would say is that this is set after the events of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. So we would suggest at least having an understanding of what happened during that story. - Are you taking orders for any other version of this import product?
In short, no. This is the only version we are taking pre-orders for.
And that's what you need to know about this import release of Gundam NT! UK, Ireland and Scandinavian fans, you can pre-order your copy today from AllTheAnime.com HERE.
For those living in France and Belgium, you will be able to place an order at our French team’s AllTheAnime web shop HERE.
Signing out~!
Jeremy
Books: The Monstrous Feminine
By Shelley Pallis.
In the midst of a British media panic about "Momo", a slit-mouthed Japanese woman who supposedly exhorts children to commit crimes, there's never been a better time to investigate the world of dangerous Japanese ghost-girls. Barbara Creed’s landmark book The Monstrous-Feminine (1993) kicked off an entire subgenre of writing about Monstrous Wombs, Archaic Mothers, Castatrices and Vampires. San Diego academic Raechel Dumas has probably had a lot more fun than she is admitting to, mapping Creed’s ideas onto the femmes fatales of another country’s media, with her new book The Monstrous-Feminine in Contemporary Japanese Popular Culture.
The emphasis here is on “contemporary.” Although Dumas is plainly aware of precedents throughout Japanese literary history, she only really tips her hand in the final chapter, which deals with Natsuo Kirino’s Goddess Chronicle. Here, we get a flood of traditional resonances – the crazy ex-girlfriends that litter the Tale of Genji, for example, and Raicho Hiratsuka’s 1911 feminist polemic, “In the beginning, woman was the Sun,” which alludes to Japan’s oldest myths. A more historically minded writer might have detailed these in chronological order, but such a narrative would betray the very essence of Dumas’ stated focus. Classical touchstones don’t trouble a teenage boy shooting his way through Silent Hill, although if he really wanted to scare the willies out of himself, he should stop clubbing mutants and try reading a dreary chapter of cultural theorists Deleuze and Guattari pontificating about it. Continue Reading