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Tag Archives: Anime
Naruto Shippuden The Movie, Early Look/Review
By Marc | October 31st, 2009

Another year, another Naruto movie on DVD.  This time it’s based on Shippuden though, so everyone is a little older and a little wiser (well not really wiser…)
 
Shippuden Movie Cover
 
Shonen movies are always stuck in that loop of wanting to be ‘the big movie’ version of a show, and then having to reset to point zero at the end.  Let’s see how the newest Naruto movie does.

Continue reading

Categories: Anime Review, Reviews
Blassreiter: Part 1, Early Look/Review
By Marc | October 14th, 2009

Back again, and this time with a bloody treat, Blassreiter.  One of the original simulcasts is finally getting a DVD release. After the show was given out for free, does the DVD deserve a place on your shelf?
 
Blassreiter_Cover
 
Instead of my normal comment, a small warning.  Look at the cover art.  If the cover art makes you a bit creeped out, just consider… this is the American cover art.  If this is what we get for the cover, imagine the content of the show itself… but for the rest of you, it may be a ride worth catching ( and aha!, fought the effort to make a motorcycle joke!)  Also, after the jump is the entire first episode embedded for your viewing pleasure via Gonzo’s Youtube channel, and Funimation Video is also streaming the entire series subtitled (along with a few dub episodes as a preview.) Continue reading

Categories: Anime Review, Early Looks, Feature, Reviews, w/ Anime Episode
Escaflowne: The Movie (Blu-ray), Early Look/Review
By Marc | October 9th, 2009

Time for another early review.  This time we have the Escaflowne movie, now having over half a dozen American releases.
 
EscaflowneMovieBD
 
Having had over a dozen releases, and the Ultimate Edition from day one still being the preferred version, is Escaflowne on Blu-ray a great release?  Or should it go in the pile of disks that few want, next to Escaflowne on UMD and Bandai’s Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Blu-ray.
Continue reading

Categories: Anime Review, Reviews
Contest Update
By Marc | September 22nd, 2009

Just giving everyone an update.  There were far more entries than I expected and I’m still going through them ranking and re-ranking to find my personal favorites.
 
I hope to announce a winner on Friday (although it may be on Sunday at the latest.)
 
Just letting everyone know what was going on. (Just as an example, there are ten times as many entries as the last contest.)
 

Categories: Contest, News
William Winckler Productions, New Company Licensing Anime
By Marc | September 20th, 2009

Since last year when I found out someone had been dubbing Captain Harlock I had been hearing news of other older and niche anime titles being licensed and dubbed.  After finally confirming some of the details I thought I’d go ahead and let everyone know about them.
 


 
I’ll just go ahead and list off the shows.
 
Fist of the North Star
Gaiking
Captain Harlock
The Adventures of Nadja
Starzinger
Tekkaman: The Space Knight
Danguard Ace
 
Many of these shows were previously dubbed partially by other companies in the past, but these appear to be new dubs all around.  The only cast member I’ve been able to confirm directly has been Robert Axelrod (most would know him as Lord Zedd from Power Rangers) who is playing ‘Darius’, the primary villain in Gaiking.  After confirming that he himself had worked on four of the shows outside of Gaiking (Fist of the North Star, Danguard Ace, Harlock, and Nadja) he added they were great shows and hopes people will enjoy them when they come out.
 
I should also mention many of these shows had sequels and movies. The version licensed may be any number of specific parts of the franchises (although Tekkaman looks to be the original.)
 
Tekkaman has actually been dubbed before by the same company in the 1980s. Looking around it appears they got half way through the series, with it doing relatively well before many of the heavy toy based shows of the 80s knocked it right off the airwaves.
 
The company doing these are William Winckler Productions, an independent film company.  I sent William Winckler Productions an email requesting additional details and am currently waiting on a response.
 
It has also been brought up that Tekkaman may have been added to the list in error due to William Winckler Productions having dubbed it in the 80s. I will try to get clarification on this from William Winckler Productions.
 
William Winckler Productions Website.
 
Further details- I’ve received further details that may clarify which parts of some of the franchises are being done, and also suggests that it may be a co-production, or sublicense from Toei USA.
 
They are listed as follows, which suggests the majority of them may be films, or dubbed as ‘multi season’ shows rather than as single series’ (although some of the franchises don’t have movies that could be split up as listed, so it’s looking slightly more likely for ‘multi season’ shows.)
 
Fist of the North Star/Hokuto No Ken
The Adventures of Nadja I, II
Starzinger I, II, III
Danguard Ace I, II, III
Gaiking I, II, III
Space Captain Harlock I, II
 
This also suggests the Tekkaman listing may indeed have been a mistake.
 
Update Again: I’ve found three more actors who are involved with the projects, two of which list roles on their public resumes. Paul Oberle is playing Takuma in Danguard and Pete in Gaiking. Kyle Rea is playing numerous roles in all six of the listed franchises that I received a little bit ago. The resumes also suggest that Toei may be involved in the production of the dubs.
 
Paul Oberle Resume
Kyle Rea Resume
 
Also, Donald Glut, has put up two galleries of pictures of him recording for Gaiking and Danguard, which include both Gaiking and Danguard toys, along with company namesake William Winckler. Descriptions of these pictures seem to confirm past information that Winckler is directing the shows himself. The pictures also date recording of some of the shows back to April and June 2008. Fans of 80s and 90s toons may know Glut as a writer for various cartoons including Transformers, Go Bots, He-Man, and Mighty Orbots (among others.)
 
Danguard Ace Gallery
Gaiking Gallery
 
Updating again since I got a response from WWP.
 
They aren’t ready to announce release details or put out a press release, but gave me a few details that they said I could add to the article, along with a ‘stay tuned’.
 
They are currently in talks regarding Tekkaman.
 
They are producing both current and classic anime, and quoting them, have produced “25 new English dubbed anime feature films to date.”
 
Two shows I missed, but they provided the titles of are…. “LUN LUN THE FLOWER GIRL” and “KITARO’S GRAVEYARD GANG (GE GE GE KITARO)”
 
I’ll quote this next part from their response, as I don’t think I can say it better, “Most of the properties are the classic, original versions, such as the original Captain Harlock, and the original Fist of the North Star.”
 
The dubs are produced by three companies: William Winckler Productions, Inc., Rioloco Productions, and Toei Animation Co., Ltd., Japan.
 
Now, for some dub cast info. First, a list of “Key American voice over talent” for the various series:William Winckler, G. Larry Butler, Robert Axelrod, David Gerrold, Kyle Rea, Marieve Herington, Don Glut, Paul Oberle, Bradford Hill, Jason Barker-Avellino, Laura Siegel, Alison Lees-Taylor, Caleb Pearson, Fred Laderman (Fred Ladd), Chase Masterson, George Lindsey Jr., Anne Lockhart, Butch Patrick.
 
And for the last little detail, William Winckler is Captain Harlock in Captain Harlock and Kenshiro in First of the North Star.
 
That’s all the information they can share for now, but hopefully more will be coming.
 
Another new update. WWP has provided ANN with information that the three companies producing these have made compilation films out of the original series material. WWP will be involved in the American distribution of the titles and that television, digital, and DVD distribution will be announced in the next few months. More of these compilation features are planned.
 
I’ll say this. It’s a creative way to bring franchises out in the USA that might not be able to sell the entire series. I’m curious to see what other franchises might get this treatment.
 

 
This article has been modified since originally put up.
 
Edits Made
Adding some further Tekkaman information.
Adding possible mistake in regards to Tekkaman.
Possible details on which versions of some of the franchises.
More actors, and links to pictures of the dubbing.
Little bit of cleanup.
Added information provided by WWP.
Bit more info.
 

All shows and characters are © their owners and right holders.
 

Categories: News
Naruto Shippuden: Volume 1, Early Look/Review
By Marc | September 19th, 2009

It’s time for more Naruto.  Last time we left the precocious ninja children, Naruto was leaving the village to spend a few years training to prepare to fight the villains everyone knows is coming.
 
narutocover
 
The characters are a little bit older, so does a few years skipped lead to anything good? (For anyone who wants to watch, the first episode subbed is embedded at the very bottom of the review.) Continue reading

Categories: Anime Review, Reviews, w/ Anime Episode
Contest Update
By Marc | September 18th, 2009

Contest closed a few days ago. I will be going over all entries over the weekend and get in contact with the winners, and I’ll be sure to post the winners and some of my personal favorites.
 
And based on if I’m able to get out to where I need to be to make it happen, may be a special early review tomorrow for shonen fans.
 

Categories: Contest, News
Contest Ending Tomorrow
By Marc | September 14th, 2009

Just thought I’d remind anyone who wanted to enter that our contest ends tomorrow night.
 
Dragonball Boxart
 
The main prize is Dragon Ball Season 1 on DVD, but there are a few other prizes that aren’t being revealed.
 
Contest article is here.
 

Categories: Contest, News
Digimon Frontier on ShoDojo?
By Marc | September 8th, 2009

It appears Seifer misread.  Thanks to A PR rep from Funimation who checked the trailer frame by frame Digimon Frontier definately does not appear in it.  Fanboy Review regrets the error, and Seifer is currently getting his 12 lashings.
 
It appears when ShoDojo launches it will launch with a few new shows (or it’s possible they will show up slightly after launch.)
 
digimonF

 
A recent convention apparently had a new ShoDojo trailer that showed Digimon Frontier as one of these new series (Digimon Frontier was the only show that was recognized.)  There had previously been no news from either Toei USA or Funimation about Digimon Frontier streaming.  It’s also possible this may be the beginning of a new wave of Toei On-Demand titles.  No news on Digimon Adventure or Digimon Tamers. Hopefully the trailer will be put online and we will find out more about this soon.

 
ShoDojo is Funimation’s new Anime video and community website that will be launching soon.
 
Thanks to Seifer for seeing the trailer and bringing it to my attention (at least I can thank him for something, he’s supposed to be staff…. get to work lazy!)
 

 

Categories: News
Stitch! Update- Writer
By Marc | September 6th, 2009

Small update for Stitch! since I’ve had multiple people ask me for more updates whenever possible.
 
Nimoy
 
Well known English dub writer, actor and director Jeff Nimoy will be writing the English adaption for Stitch! (No news on who the director is, or if there are other writers.)
 
He is most well known among anime fans for writing and directing a large percentage of Digimon’s English adaption (and playing Tentomon) and playing Wolfwood in the English adaption of Trigun.  He has also written (and directed in many cases) for Bobobo, Zatch Bell, Naruto, GTO, and numerous other shows.
 
It’s also worth mentioning he wrote and directed the English adaption for RoboDz, a recent Toei/Disney co-production.
 

 

Categories: News
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