Just catching up with this. Hong Kong computer animation studio company, IMAGI, just posted a new movie clip from the much-anticipated film (one of Osamu’s Tezuka’s beloved manga creations) Astro Boy in a movie fan site. However, I had trouble viewing its latest movie clip from Moviefone.com so I decided to flip over to Youtube and just “youtubed” for it….

Here’s the clip.

Looks very promising. 3D graphics rendering is certainly top-notch. And boy (no pun intended), is he ever going to face several challenging opponents of all shapes and sizes! The film is said to be released in Japan on October 10. The American release is set for October 23. So my guess is that its worldwide release date would categorically fall on the same date as the American counterpart, just like how they did with Transformers 2 earlier this year.

Oooh… only 4 weeks left to go… How excitingly close is that? :)

Now while you may be eargerly waiting. If you’re living in Japan, there’s a marine complex in Aichi prefecture that’s planning to host an Osamu Tesuka’s convention centre. And it’s not about the entire collection of his best anime works. It’s all about Astro Boy. There’s a 3-metre statue waiting there for the general public to see. The convention is called “Mighty Atom Exhibition in Lagunasia” where you will find all the amazing recreational activities that your family and kids can do everything from buying Astro boy’s merchandise, games, food, festivals, etc etc.

You can find out more about the exhibition on Laguna Gamagori’s website. What’s really interesting about the exhibit is if you look at the map section, there’s huge outline that resembles the dimensions of Astro Boy, proportionately! Each ‘part’ of Astro Boy’s limbs caters different functions and activities for family of all ages.

That’s a real looker.

This exhibit opens on 19th September and closes on 30th November. I’d love to go unfortunately, I don’t think I’ve enough to get me up to other places in Japan other than Tokyo city itself. So if you are living in the land of the rising sun, then what are you waiting for? Go see it!!

NB: On Laguna’s website, there’s also an English language link at the very top right hand side. This link will take you a pdf download page that has information brochures for you to download and read all about the complex before you start making your travel arrangements to get there.

Source: ANN.com, Laguna Gamagori