Image sourced from My Cartoon.com.my

Now that it’s done in Hong Kong… We now have one in Taiwan!

That’s what my little birdie told me after it showed me this link from Sunrise.

Tracing back to the Taiwan’s link,  it’s said the Gundam Unicorn’s release is on 6th March 2010! Not only that they will be a massive nation-wide sales of Blue Ray/DVDs on the market for this 12 year-old franchise.  It’s available in Mandarin languages as well. (Huh, go figure. :) )

According to the Taiwan’s site, they originally had plans  for its advance screening, supposedly held on 26th Feb 2010.  However, it’s been revised and extended till the first week of March so many Taiwanese fans will get the better spectacle of fun on that day such lucky draws to get into its promotional DVDs stand, special booking and toy collection, etc, etc

For more latest, check out their pages.^^

Source: Sunrise Anime, My Cartoon.com.tw

Astro Boy

Is this for real? I couldn’t believe this! After waiting patiently for several weeks since the New Year’s,  they’re not going to deliver this?!?

How on earth could New Zealand cinemas decide not to have nation-wide release of this film? I was so looking forward to its Australasia release.

BUT IT NEVER HAPPENED?!?

Why?  Could it really be that bad when Imagi had it screened overseas that they had to turn it down? Because it wouldn’t produce enough considerable amount of profit for SkyCity and Hoyts cinemas? It’s just doomed to be super time-waster for cinema goers, as they thought it was?

This is definitely not that cool. And I was really hoping that things would have worked out.

After rushing back from work yesterday, I went online to check out more Gundam Unicorn movie trailers since my last post.

And… Sure enough! Here they are. ^^

Ready to impress online crowd of Gundam aficionados all over the world!

First trailer is the promo on Gundam Unicorn, how the story has finally come to the final chapter after 30 years since Universal Century came into existence. Whilst the second trailer is more of a teaser trailer of some sort. Both of them come with the subtitles on, if you turn on their caption son the right side of the control panel.

Looks very impressive so far!! :)

It was a while ago that our online otaku famed Danny Choo posted excellent photos of the unveiling of Tetsujin 28 statue back in October last year… Just like the picture taken above when the official unveiling of it 18-foot giant to the public was taken place.

As if its mighty tower-sized spectacle wasn’t that great enough to get everybody’s attention, here’s another great news fact for you to digest.

Ghost in the Shell’s director made an official  announcements of having movie plans for  1100-pound of metallic steel robot this year.

This is going to be incredibly exciting, considering that he’s already done the stage-version of the robot manga earlier last year.

Now, having him moving on to working this project at such scale for man who love to bring elements of very complex, sometimes out-of-this-world plot, you wouldn’t think this could be a bad idea for classic series, would you?^^.

What do you think?

Source: DannyChoo.com, ANN.com

Reading my news feed here, TV-adapted movie, Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, was announced the award winner of the 15th Asian Film Festival (AFF) in the best animation category in Lyon, France. Knowing that I was there in France on a long holiday, I’m familiar with the fact that sout-eastern parts of France are well-known for many film festival activities, be it cult or independent-related films.  Cannes is a good example for its Cannes Film Festival. I never had the chance to travel down there while I was holidaying around the French Riveria. Our tour group were scheduled to stay there for two short days only.

Pity that…

Nevertheless, it was a great experience. I’m sure Lyon would be a great city to travel as well.

While browsing about it online, I found the festival video link that featured all Asian films and amongst one of them is a TV clip from the early episodes of the Evangelion.

Parfait!! (excellent in French)

Source: MyAnimeList.net, FestivalFocus.org

Reading the latest news feeds from Animenewsnetwork.com, our favourite hero of the great anime classics is experience a ‘major’ fault with his rocket-powered legs which prevents him from skyrocketing at the top of the USA box office charts.

Astro Boy Movie

The US $65-million film by Imagi earned nearly US $18 million after remaining in the cinemas for almost four weeks now. It’s ranked from its 10th place to 13th last week. Think the American audience’s feedback was generally harsh with it? Don’t know. Hard to say. I heard sources from online reviews saying the film has several cliché themes were overused especially (spoilers!) in the middle and end. That could explain why it contributes to its drop. But I doubted it’s got anything to do with the plot’s weakness in telling its own unique story as compared to the original so one wouldn’t expect too much originality in its perfect form, even for the hardcore fans. It’s an adapted film after all.

Find out more info about its US Box office ranks and its comparison with other films.

Source: ANN.com

Since my last post on how Astro Boy Movie may or may not truly turn out that great for Astro boy fans (as harshly claimed by RottenTomatoes movie rating king), there is one movie critic that I could depend on, and hope to convince myself (and anyone else reading this!) to pull out wallet at the cinema ticket booth without any hesitation.

Manny, a movie buff, gave us a neat but coolly entertaining film critic on the movie. I thought it’s really well-summarised. Delivered with plenty of good punchlines and hiswitty comments. Certainly brought me some good smiles (and the movie look forward to after all.) Enjoy!

Manny, a Filipino, born in Philippines, but grew up on the American soil when he was little. As an Arts graduate, radio and TV advertising would be his natural profession, having played many roles in American radio and TV broadcasting stations which makes him one of few prominent movie critics around in Los Angeles, California.

Source: RottenTomatoes.com,

Astro Boy

It sure has been pretty busy week for me. Not much posting going on as I recently got a new job last week since my last job at my last company was made redundant some weeks ago. So plenty of time has been put focus in getting used to my new work environment, learning to get to know your new work colleagues, getting used to having a public transport to get to work (takes about 90 minutes by car, that doesn’t even include the time to find a car park!!!)

Which now brings me back to my attention on what’s been going in the anime world since my absence.

Yes! As you probably know by now, Astro Boy has finally made into the cinemas worldwide just almost three days ago. And in the USA, it sure did get a positive reception after reading this page from SkyNews.

I just read its movie review, done by an American writer, who’s clearly a movie-junkie if you traceback his review source, and (SPOILERS ALERT) I find his final conclusion on Astro Boy being less disingenuous than its orginal TV series run seemed a little harsh to deserve such a low grade. Though I yet to see the film to find his comments are fair justifiable, I would think the movie have a different emphasis on the importance of family bonds and how this film challenges that due to Dr Tenma, father of Astro Boy, rejecting him as his son despite his compassionate efforts in reviving his dead son he used to dearly love(which gives the reason for Astro Boy’s existence in the first place!). At least, that’s what Nicolas Cage mentioned in his comments from this LA Times’ post.

So there are different intangible things people look for when watching this 50-year iconic character on the silverscreens. Whether it’s fun for kids or getting to know the character in depth, I’m sure for all the while, it’s definitely entertaining to watch.

Guess, I have to wait till early January (New Zealand’s release date is 21st Jan) next year to write up my take on this.

Source: SkyNews, SeattlePi, LA Times

Well… Isn’t this turn out to be quite of a sudden move.

If rumours proven to be true…

Astro Boy Worldwide Movie Poster

With only barely a little over 7 days to go before its worldwide release, there’s been some talks from Imagi’s making plans to have a sequel for the Astro Boy film, whether or not the film will be a big success or not in the USA. Which begs the question, are they willing to gamble everything on the table to see the things fly.

Here’s an excerpt from MTV.com’s post.

The Imagi Animation Studios-produced “Astro Boy” hasn’t even hit theaters yet, but watchdogs are waiting with bated breath for the movie’s upcoming release—because the success or failure of the movie will have an immediate impact on the franchise’s future.

The Hollywood Reporter runs down a veritable laundry list of reasons why the success of “Astro Boy” is so important both for Imagi and other studios, particularly noting that a strong showing for the manga adaptation could lead to “Astro Boy II” launching into production shortly after the first movie’s release on October 23, 2009….
Source: MTV.com

Read here for more info.

Source: MTV.com

Just wanna share this with everyone. It’s just the same Hollywood trailer you may have seen so far in other forums or movie trailers, but this time it’s for the Hong Kong as their world premiere is edging closer. Comes with chinese subtitles on them.

Source: Youtube.com