Just wanna add further on with this.

After watching the game show video footage, I must say they really know how to throw all the big ‘fireworks’ of all the best games many Japanese video game vendors made ie Square Enix, Koei, Capcom etc, etc. And it’s got a really nice music that blends well with the compilation of the video.

Very nice.

And, towards the last 10 seconds of that video, you will see some giant tank-like robots that come out, pulling out all all the relentless attacks on the enemy battalion, and lots of missiles being launched to target enemy aircrafts. The game is called Front Mission Evolved. It’s said it’s also a RPG-type game that robots can level up, just like your other ordinary Final Fantasy game series. Looks very solid.

To find out more, go to this web link, Frontmissionevolved.com

Before wrapping things up on this post, I’m going to have to distract you for the moment before you’re done with this…

I just took a glimpse at one of the related Japan’s convention centre video footage, and this one takes us to a special event (held in last August) which showcased robot scientists and engineers made dancing robots getting their grooves on!

Dancing robots!!! Wow! Have a look and be amazed by their ‘acrobatic’ dance moves!

NB: I know it’s gonna a long seven minute wait before you’ll see the ‘goods’. So hope you do have a decent internet broadband at home. Otherwise, it’s just worth the wait to see several hilarious dance moves by these cute mechs! ;)

Source: Youtube.com, Networkworld.com

Just read this post that there was a recent development of making Astro Boy as one of the celebrity wax figure, to be featured at Hong Kong’s Madame Tassaud’s Wax museum.  And now it’s currently being put on display for the local and international tourists to see.  What a great way to gather everybody’s attention to relish before its own premiere release on 17th October.

Here’s the extract from the article at E-travelbackboard.com.

“We are thrilled that Astro Boy will soon join the ranks of super stardom at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong. The process of bringing Astro Boy to our attraction has been one of our Studio’s most interesting and challenging projects to date, as his wax figure was created while the animated feature film was still being produced,” said Bret Pidgeon, general manager of Madame Tussauds Hong Kong and Shanghai.

“When Astro Boy was first created in the 1960s, he became an instant hit in Hong Kong, a superhero who has inspired generations of local residents. With such a strong cult following locally and around the world, we are confident that with the launch of Astro Boy’s wax likeness, he will again capture the imaginations of fans and our guests.” The launch of Astro Boy’s wax counterpart will mark the first time that Madame Tussauds Hong Kong has partnered with a film distributor to bring an animated cartoon character to the attraction.

Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Imagi Animation Studios, Francis Kao said, “This is an exhilarating opportunity and partnership for Imagi Animation Studios and Madame Tussauds Hong Kong. By introducing Astro Boy at one of Hong Kong’s top attractions, fans will have a rare opportunity to interact with their hero in person, helping to build buzz about the impending launch of the film. Madame Tussauds Hong Kong is home to a brilliant array of celebrities and we are sure that the adorable Astro Boy will be welcomed by locals and tourists alike.”

Created by the “god of manga” Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy is the story of a classic superhero. Astro Boy was an original animated television series in the 1960s, and was also re-made in the 1980s and again in 2003.

Source:  E-travelbackboard.com

Whilst the movie is currently under way, with only 22 days to go, I found a little sneak peak preview of all of Astro Boy’s villains in the movie. They are done with impressive state-of-the-art 3D CGI animation which gives the villains the life of the evil character they’re playing, including some of the enemy robots Astro Boy will be facing.

Here’s the link to Astro Boy’s enemies gallery.

Source: IGN.com

After receiving Bandai’s Twitter updates last night, Bandai just released a new poll on what items do the online people normally get from the Bandai website.  Looking at the vote results of 504 people voted so far, they show

• 54.1% voted for  Imported Japanese Bandai toys
• 31.2% voted for Previous Bandai toys not available in stores
• 9.7% voted for Exclusive and collectible Bandai toys
• 5.0% voted for North American Bandai toys

It’s not difficult to see why Japanese Bandai toys are the obvious favourites as compared to the Northern American counterparts.  Japanese reserved more exclusive rights of their product range to their own local consumers more and they get more  special requirements than the USA citizens do!  Not to mention some of the really unusual toys that only Japanese consumers are better off catered with it like ettchi dolls and classic robot anime figurines etc etc.

For more info about the poll, check out at the Bandai Website.

Source: Bandai.com

I know this one’s out for some time now. Hope they’re still selling them…

Gundam sure has its way of celebrating its 30th anniversary in the business so they decided to have this promotional noodle cup featuring Gundam!

Gundam Noodle Cup

And if you check with CartoonLeap’s ‘unpackaging‘ of the noodlle cup, you will see the wonderful colours of yummy noodle treat this cup comes with! All yellow and filled with low-MSG goodness! (I think) :)

Also, I ran into another Youtube video on Japanese ad that’s trying to sell their noodle bowls featuring one of the Gundam Mobile Suit’s original character, Amuro Ray.

See below! The expression on Amuro Ray’s face (after he’s got ‘overwhelmed’ by the sheer presence of the ominous Gundam Noodle bowl) looks priceless! :D

Source: CartoonLeap.com, HobbyBlog

Just as things are going to heat up as the world premiere approaches in 7 days time, I might as well present yyou the scoop on Astro Boy’s Hollywood celebrities interviews, starring Kristen Bell and Freddie Alfred Highmore.

Here’s the video clip captured at this year’s Comic Con, held in San Diego.

But WAIT A SEC…. can you recognise those two here? When have we seen them before? And how?

It took me a few eye blinks to readjust my eyeballs position and have a good look at Kristen Bell, and reached conclusion that Kristen Bell played the character heroine in Veronica Mars.

Goodness! It’s been a long while since we had that show running in New Zealand. I thought the series has ended, hasn’t it? At least, that’s what appeared to be for us down-under.

And then we have Freddie Highmore, who used a number of child acting roles, not many of us were fully aware of. According to his filmography, he’s done Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Golden Compass and his latest work The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Here’s some of his brief movie clips trailers.

Freddie Highmore in Finding Neverland, 2002

Freddie Highmore in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2005

Freddie Highmore in The Spiderwick Chronicles, 2007

It couldn’t believe it’s been that many years passed since Freddie Highmore played a number of child acting roles. And well!  He’s all grown up! And now playing one of the coolest anime characters of all time!

Are you a big fan of Kristen Bell and/or Freddie Highmore?

Source: YouTube.com

Hong-based 3d animation film studio, IMAGI, maker of the latest Astro Boy movie,  a few days ago, announced a new CEO has been appointed after Douglas Glen resigned from the position. Here’s the news extract from ANN.com.

Imagi International Holdings Limited, the parent company of IMAGI Studios, has announced that Director Ting Chuk Kwan is serving as acting CEO as of September 23. Kwan replaces William Courtauld, who had been serving as acting CEO since Douglas Glen resigned from the top post in May. According to IMAGI, Courtauld is stepping down for health reasons, but will serve as executive director until October 23 and as non-executive director after that. IMAGI had also said in May that Glen will serve for six more months as a consultant.

IMAGI’s computer-animated film adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy (Mighty Atom) manga will open in Japan on October 10, and then in North America on October 23.

Source:  ANN.com

Source: ANN.com

Oh Wow!

It just occurred to me that Tokyo Game Show 2009 happened over the weekend whilst I was away at my friend’s place for fun, food and games amongst with other busy things I’m involved with lately. Looks like I’d better get into the scoop and see what fun I missed…

After watching the video below, I expected nothing less of the game show. Lots, lots of promotional stands on the latest video games on all platforms, developed by various international software companies of the world. Some big ones like Microsoft, Capcom, EB, Activision etc etc. And compared to the experience I had with other cultural expos that revolves travel, wines, food (and anime of course) in NZ, this was massive, off the charts.

It’s definitely a very, very, very (and I do mean) very wide space of a video games ‘playground’, where people of all walks of life come together to frolick themselves to their utmost content for hours.

Here are some of the latest video game trailers you may be interested to view. (Well they are my personal interests to me, because I’m fan of big guys game makers like Capcom, Koei and Konami)

Final Fantasy XIV

Metal Gear Online

Sengoku Musou 3 (by Koei: makers of Dynasty Warriors Series)

Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll (by Koei: Makers of Dynasty Warriors Series)

Tatsunoko vs Capcom Allstars

The last trailer was interesting one because it featured certain characters that have mecha-esque characteristics. One of them was a giant robot called Gold Lightan, a very popular super robot show from the early 80s and he’s selectable fighter in the game (from the looks of it). Anyone who’s got Gold Lightan as a favourite super robot series from those early days? I wish it was. But they never aired it back in Malaysia.

And….

I found out that our anime enthusiast idol ‘legend’, Danny Choo, recently received a photo of a giant Gundam’s head (which was disassembled a few weeks ago) been put on a display at the Tokyo Game Show! See the link below.

http://www.dannychoo.com/fusion/en/5750/TGS+Report+Gundam+Head.html

How tragic it is! For them to do something like that! Unspeakable!

Source: CartoonLeap.com, DannyChoo.com

Hmm.. Great.

Just when I was gonna make plans this evening to upgrade my Wordpress installation, I got a report from my web admin window that I’m already approaching the maximum capacity of my disk space capacity of 100 megabytes.  I was a bit stunned how on earth, I’ve managed to store this much after only just started blogging for a few months.  Until I figured out that I’ve been uploaded lots of images and media files that come with considerable sizes.  Which also means I am starting to get a lot more “resource-hungry” than before when comes to uploading media.

Oh dear.

What a interesting predicament.  Don’t think upgrading my blog would be such a good idea since upgrades do take considerable amount of my disk space.  Looks like I need to ‘upgrade’ my plans before my wordpress can have its own upgrade….

A while ago, I signed up with a web-based anime cataloguing system, MyAnimeList.net, gives you end user the ability to organise all your favourite anime, customise the layout and design of  your profile pages, receive all the latest and most up-to-date information on the anime industry from Japan and the rest of the world.  It’s a very good site with plenty of bells and whistles on them.  They got a lot features you can use to present your views and opinions on various subjects such as blogs, reviews, anime, opinion polls, recommedations etc.

But that’s going to be on a separate blog post, which I’ll probably plan to write as a review in the future.

For now, the main agenda on hand is looking at Japan’s DVD/BlueRay rankings for the past 4-5 weeks.

Keeping track of MyAnimelist.net feeds, I filtered the results for “Shin Mazinger Z (aka the new Mazinger Z series)” and I found only one result there.  Its DVD popularity ranking stood as 24th, whilst its BlueRay ranking stands at 11th. With Gundam’s counterpart, its DVD ranks (for all Mobile Suit Gundam series),  was in the top 20 since the end of June till the middle of this month. Same is true for Blue-Ray counterparts.

Here are their official ranks (sourced from MyAnimelist.net feeds)

DVD

Jun 29 – July 5

*1, 502,228 502,228 Gake no Ue no Ponyo Normal Edition
*2, *19,861 *19,861 Clannad ~After Story~ vol.8 Limited Edition
*3, *10,172 *10,172 Sengoku BASARA vol.1
*4, **4,377 *18,877 Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows DVD
*5, **3,713 *24,031 Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone DVD
*6, **3,689 *18,599 Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.5 DVD
*7, **3,225 925,172 My Neighbor Totoro
**, **2,466 **2,466 (Donald Duck Chronicle vol.3 Limited Edition)
*8, ***,*** ***,*** Kuroshitsuji vol.6 Limited Edition
*9, ***,*** ***,*** The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya vol.2
10, ***,*** ***,*** One Piece 9th Season vol.19
11, ***,*** ***,*** Toaru Majutsu no Index vol.6 Limited Edition DVD
12, ***,*** ***,*** Junjo Romantica 2 vol.6 Limited Edition
13, ***,*** ***,*** Gintama Season 3 vol.11
14, ***,*** ***,*** Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica Crimson S vol.1
15, ***,*** ***,*** Naruto: Shippuuden Mitsuo Shutsugen no Shou vol.2
16, ***,*** ***,*** Chrome Shelled Regios vol.4 Limited Edition
**, ***,*** ***,*** (Wall-E)
17, ***,*** ***,*** Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou vol.3

July 6 –  July 12

*1, 138,262 640,490 Gake no Ue no Ponyo Normal Edition
*2, **4,026 **4,026 Minami-ke Okaeri vol.4 Limited Edition
*3, **2,941 928,113 My Neighbor Totoro
*4, **2,569 *26,600 Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone
*5, ***,*** ***,*** Clannad ~After Story~ vol.8 Limited Edition
*6, ***,*** ***,*** Asura Cryin’ vol.1 Limited Edition
*7, ***,*** ***,*** Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows
*8, ***,*** ***,*** Sengoku BASARA vol.1
*9, ***,*** ***,*** Castle in the Sky
10, ***,*** ***,*** Kiki’s Delivery Service
**, ***,*** ***,*** (Wall-E)
**, ***,*** ***,*** (Monsters Inc.)
11, ***,*** ***,*** Princess Mononoke
12, ***,*** ***,*** Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
13, ***,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.5
14, ***,*** ***,*** Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Pikachuu Koori no Daibouken
15, ***,*** ***,*** The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya vol.2
16, ***,*** ***,*** Spirited Away

July 20 – 26

*1, 32,408 723,532 Gake no Ue no Ponyo Normal Edition
*2, 17,163 *17,163 Hetalia Axis Powers vol.3 Limited Edition
*3, 14,137 *14,137 Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.6 DVD
*4, 12,307 *12,307 Gintama Season 3 vol.12 Limited Edition
**, 10,694 *10,694 (Madagascar 2 Special Edition)
*5, *8,922 **8,922 Kuroshitsuji vol.7 Limited Edition
*6, *8,347 **8,347 Toradora! vol.7 Limited Edition
*7, *7,883 **7,883 Code Geass – Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 Special Edition Zero Requiem DVD
*8, *7,791 **7,791 Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou vol.4
*9, *7,527 **7,527 Lupin III vs Detective Conan DVD
10, *6,634 **6,634 Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack 30th Anniversary Collection
11, **,*** ***,*** La Corda D’Oro ~secondo passo~ Limited Edition
12, **,*** ***,*** Queen’s Blade: Rurou no Senshi vol.2 DVD
13, **,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam F91 30th Anniversary Collection
14, **,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space 30th Anniversary Collection
15, **,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam I 30th Anniversary Collection
16, **,*** ***,*** Pandora Hearts vol.1
17, **,*** ***,*** Toaru Majutsu no Index vol.7 Limited Edition DVD
18, **,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow 30th Anniversary Collection

Aug 31 –  Sept 6

*1, 7,125 **7,125 Sengoku BASARA vol.3
*2, 6,307 802,388 Gake no Ue no Ponyo
*3, 6,213 **6,213 Saki vol.3
*4, 3,836 *20,100 Mobile Suit Gundam OP/ED Collection vol.1 -20th Century-
*5, 3,585 *25,397 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 Sasanoha Rhapsody Limited Edition
*6, 2,899 **2,899 Valkyria Chronicles vol.2
*7, 2,830 *16,186 Mobile Suit Gundam OP/ED Collection vol.1 -21st Century-
*8, 2,324 **2,324 07-Ghost vol.2 Limited Edition
*9, 2,291 *14,869 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood vol.1 DVD

Sept 7 – Sept 13

*1, 4,731 807,119 Gake no Ue no Ponyo
*2, 2,058 *22,158 Mobile Suit Gundam OP/ED Collection vol.1 -20th Century-
*3, *,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam OP/ED Collection vol.1 -21st Century-
*4, *,*** ***,*** My Neighbor Totoro
*5, *,*** ***,*** Asura Cryin’ vol.3 Limited Edition
*6, *,*** ***,*** Saki vol.3
*7, *,*** ***,*** The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 Sasanoha Rhapsody Limited Edition
*8, *,*** ***,*** (Madagascar2 Special Edition)
*9, *,*** ***,*** 07-Ghost vol.2 Limited Edition
10, *,*** ***,*** Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood vol.1
11, *,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack 30th Anniversary Collection
12, *,*** ***,*** Sengoku BASARA vol.3
13, *,*** ***,*** (Monsters Inc.)
14, *,*** ***,*** (no data)
15, *,*** ***,*** Usavich – Season 3
16, *,*** ***,*** Crayon Shin-chan Movie 10: Arashi wo Yobu Appare! Sengoku Daikassen
17, *,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space 30th Anniversary Collection
18, *,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow 30th Anniversary Collection
19, *,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.7 DVD
20, *,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam I 30th Anniversary Collection

Sept 14 – Sept 20

*1, 5,845 **5,845 K-ON! vol.3 DVD
**, 5,580 **5,580 Winter Sonata Making Video
*2, 4,245 811,364 Gake no Ue no Ponyo
*3, 3,056 **3,056 Hayate the Combat Butler!! vol.2 DVD
*4, *,*** ***,*** Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Mirai-hen X vol.6
*5, *,*** ***,*** Zettai Karen Children vol.14
*6, *,*** ***,*** Utsurun Desu. vol.2
*7, *,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam OP/ED Collection vol.1
*8, *,*** ***,*** Dragon Ball Kai vol.1
*9, *,*** ***,*** Nintama Rantarou 16th Season vol.7
10, *,*** ***,*** Nintama Rantarou 16th Season vol.8
11, *,*** ***,*** My Neighbor Totoro
12, *,*** ***,*** Fresh Precure! vol.4
13, *,*** ***,*** Chi’s New Address vol.3
14, *,*** ***,*** Mameshiba The DVD
15, *,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam OP/ED Collection vol.2
16, *,*** ***,*** Cyborg 009 (1979) DVD Collection vol.2
17, *,*** ***,*** Crayon Shin-chan Movie 10: Arashi wo Yobu Appare! Sengoku Daikassen
18, *,*** ***,*** Tears to Tiara vol.4 DVD
**, *,*** ***,*** (Madagascar 2 Special Edition)
19, *,*** ***,*** Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack 30th Anniversary Collection

Blue Ray

Jun 22 – Jun 28

*1, Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone
*2, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.5
*3, Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows Limited Edition
*4, Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows Normal Edition
*5, Queen’s Blade: Rurou no Senshi vol.1
*6, Toaru Majutsu no Index vol.6 Limited Edition
*7, Tales of the Abyss vol.5
*8, Utawarerumono OVA vol.1
*9, Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo vol.3
10, Tayutama -Kiss on my Deity- vol.1
11, Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari vol.2
12, Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas – Meiou Shinwa vol.1
13. White Album vol.3
14, Final Fantasy VII – Advent Children: Complete Normal Edition

Jun 29 – July 5

*1, Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone
*2, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.5
*3, Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows Limited Edition
*4, Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows Normal Edition
*5, Toaru Majutsu no Index vol.6
*6, Tales of the Abyss vol.5
*7, Queen’s Blade: Rurou no Senshi vol.1
*8, Final Fantasy VII – Advent Children: Complete Normal Edition
*9, Utawarerumono OVA vol.1
10, Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo vol.3

July 6 –  July 12

*1, Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone
*2, Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows
*3, Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows Limited Edition
*4, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.5
*5, Final Fantasy VII – Advent Children: Complete Normal Edition
*6, Queen’s Blade: Rurou no Senshi vol.1

July 20 – July 26

*1, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.6
*2, Code Geass – Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 Special Edition Zero Requiem
*3, Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone
*4, Toaru Majutsu no Index vol.7 Limited Edition
*5, Queen’s Blade: Rurou no Senshi vol.2
*6, Lupin III vs Detective Conan
*7, Tales of the Abyss vol.6
*8, Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo vol.4
*9, Xam’d: Lost Memories vol.1
10, Code Geass – Hangyaku no Lelouch Special Edition Black Rebellion

Aug 31 –  Sept 6

*1, 9,691 *9,691 Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.7
*2, 5,221 *5,221 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood vol.1
*3, 4,498 *4,498 Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex BD Box vol.1
*4, 4,094 *4,094 Queen’s Blade: Rurou no Senshi vol.3
*5, 3,725 *3,725 Higashi no Eden vol.2
*6, 3,506 32,110 K-ON! vol.2
*7, 1,987 *1,987 Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo vol.5
*8, 1,748 *1,748 Tales of the Abyss vol.7
*9, 1,583 *1,583 Xam’d: Lost Memories vol.2
10, 1,419 *1,419 AIKa: ZERO vol.1
11, 1,260 *1,260 Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen vol.1
12, 1,001 *5,053 Toaru Majutsu no Index vol.8 Limited Edition
13, *,778 90,189 Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone
14, *,759 **,759 Tayutama -Kiss on my Deity- vol.3
15, *,690 38,237 K-ON! vol.1
16, *,642 *2,871 Hayate the Combat Butler!! vol.1 Limited Edition
17, *,374 **,374 Kurokami vol.4 Limited Edition

Sept 7 – Sept 13

*1, 1,114 33,224 K-ON! vol.2
*2, *,891 91,080 Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone
*3, *,824 *6,045 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood vol.1
*4, *,717 10,408 Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.7
*5, *,488 38,725 K-ON! vol.1
*6, *,345 45,148 Final Fantasy VII – Advent Children: Complete Normal Edition
*7, *,302 *4,027 Higashi no Eden vol.2
*8, *,294 *4,792 Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex BOX1
*9, *,294 *4,367 Queen’s Blade: Rurou no Senshi vol.3

The ones highlighted in blue are Gundam and other real robot shows like Eureka Seven, Code Geass.  Another point I failed to mention here is that we have other super robot shows besides Shin Mazinger Z, taking some notable spots in the ranks as well ie Fullmetal Alchemist, Ghost in the Shell and Evangelion series.

So it’s fairly evident to say Gundam and other real robot shows are dominating the DVD sales charts as compared to the super robot counterparts.

Source: MyAnimelist.net