Having aired just days ago, Marvel fans already seem to be split on how Iron Man looks in anime form from Madhouse. Taking place some time in-between the first and second film, Tony Stark has traveled to Japan where he is currently building a new ARC Reactor to supply free power to the citizens of Japan. Naturally, Tony’s show-off personality leaves a lot to be desired by the Japanese public on how to take the offer of the free ARC Reactor power supply at face value. Meanwhile, Stark has also been looking to retire from wearing the Iron Man Mk III suit and a new crew of three men have been selected as test pilots to wear the newly developed Dio armor. Now any long time Iron Man reader knows that the best laid plans of Tony trying to retire never work out.
The 12 episode series will follow Iron Man battling a group known as the Zodiac whose members sport armors fashioned after the twelve signs of the Zodiac. North American cable channel G4 has announced that they will be carrying the Iron Man anime along with additional adapatations of the X-Men, Blade, and Wolverine in 2011 with Madhouse providing the animation.
Carl Macek, best known as the driving force behind Robotech in the ’80s, suffered a heart attack on Saturday according to Jerry Beck’s online journal. Robotech.com has also added an entry with comments from many of the people who have met and worked with Carl over the years. Love him or hate him, Macek changed the anime industry in America with his work.
Nick Simmons, occasional reality TV star and son of some bassist from a little known band, managed to unite the world of anime & comic fandom like no one else has in the last few years. Did he create the next Cowboy Bebop? No, but he might as well have lifted some of it since just about everything else popular from Japan in the last ten plus years has become a part of his homage in the series Incarnate — along with some Deviantartists and possibly others. While Simmons has released a response to the controversy, I wouldn’t expect this growing snowball of trouble to stop any time soon.
If you’ve enjoyed reviewer rycz’s take on titles such as Venus Versus VirusVolume 1 & Volume 2 and Public Enemies, I suggest you wander over to see rycz’s recent review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. rycz breaks down David Yates’ vision of a PG-rated Harry Potter film and just how often the book & novel split ways. There’s a lot more going on than some simple Snape/Dumbledore thing.
Not to be left out, Madhouse (Ninja Scroll, Highlander) has their own pair of American properties with a Japanese touch coming out in 2010 for Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan. Iron Man and Wolverine feature independent stories for new and old fans alike to jump into. Iron Man will probably debut around the time Iron Man 2 begins its theatrical run while Wolverine may be held to fill in Marvel’s line-up in-between feature films (F4, X-Men, Hulk, etc.) and independent animated features (Hulk VS, Ultimate Avengers, etc.)
Game Trailers has posted the teaser trailer for Japan’s newest multi-studio collaboration: Halo Legends. Studio 4C, Production I.G., BONES, Toei Animation, and Casio Entertainment will each animate a short story in the same spirit of The Animatrix and Gotham Knight. Look for previews of it this Fall on Xbox Live and DVD release in 2010.
Debbie Rothstein’sA Faery Hunt theater show has been nominated for a Nickelodeon 2009 Parents’ Pick Award. We encourage you to go vote for the project from now until July 15th so Debbie and company can win.
If you’ve enjoyed reviewer rycz’s take on titles such as Venus Versus VirusVolume 1 and Volume 2, I suggest you wander over to see rycz’s recent review of Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. rycz breaks down Michael Mann’s Depression Era picture revealing its strengthes, weaknesses, and accuracies to the real exploits of John Dillinger & FBI agent Melvin Purvis.
Apple has uploaded the official English trailer from Disney for Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. Shortened to simply Ponyo, the movie will be in theaters on August 14th with the expected A-list of currently popular movie stars attached. Don’t be surprised to see a bilingual DVD come out around December/January.
