Category > Anime
Netflix have just announced the release details for Sakamoto Days anime adaptation. Based off the popular manga of the same name by Yuto Suzuki. It follows the story of legendary ex-hitman Taro Sakamoto, who has settled down to run his own convenience store. Now with a wife and daughter, he's looking for a simple domestic life, but his past keeps catching up with him and there's a hit out on his name. The comedy action manga then deals with an chain of determined assassins out to get Sakamoto for his past deeds.
Season 1 part 1 will hit Netflix on Saturday 11th January 2025 and consist of 11 episodes with one episode released each week. While season 1 part 2 is scheduled to arrive in July 2025.
The manga is published in English by VIZ Media.
Read More... | Souce: Netflix
Anime company Anime Limited have just revealed the cinematic release details for The Colors Within. The latest Naoko Yamada movie is due to hit cinemas across the UK and Ireland from Friday 31st January 2025.
Naoko Yamada is best know as the director of A Silent Voice, along with the truly fantastic The Heike Story. Her latest movie The Colors Within is a coming-of-age story about Totsuko who is a gentle young woman with a form of synaesthesia that allows her to see the "colours" of people. When she is drawn to the colour of Kimi, a former honour student who suddenly drops out of their Catholic school, the two find themselves forming a band with Rui, a boy who hides his passion for music from his family. As the three grow closer together through their music, will they start to learn who they really are - what their real "colour" is?
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
For one more time, Daft Punk's musical movie Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem gets a world wide cinema release on Thursday 12th December 2024. The one night only movie screening also features six of Daft Punk's most iconic music videos.
To find a cinema listing near you visit interstella5555film.com.
Maybe it's something about us, we want to show this newly restored version of the movie some digital love. However we've heard a lot bad things about the 4K Restoration as it appears that the movie has been upscaled using generative AI, but we don't feel this restoration is doing it right.
Read More... | Souce: Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem Movie Website
Category > Anime
The good folks from Scotland Loves Anime have sent us an update for their anime film festival. They've just revealed more details of the special guests.
Glasgow Film Theatre on Saturday 2nd November 2024 The Colors Within director Naoko Yamada and composer Kensuke Ushio will be at the film screening for a Q&A.
Cameo Picturehouse in Edinburgh on Friday 8th November 2024 Tomohiro Tokunaga (CEO of CoMixWave Films) and Production Assistant Himoru Kaneko will be showcasing the up-and-coming female director Maho Takagi both following the screening of Suzume, and at the SLA Education Day at the Edinburgh College of Art.
Picturehouse Central in London on Friday 15th November 2024 director Shinnosuke Yakuwa will be showcasing Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window and also take part in a Q&A.
Read More... | Souce: Scotland Loves Anime
The good folks from Anime Limited have sent us details about the up coming screening of Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color.. The black and white version of the hugely successful Godzilla movie will smash onto cinema screens across the UK and Ireland from Friday 1st November 2024. Both the original Minus One edition and the highly requested Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color edition will be released in time to celebrate Godzilla Day.
Godzilla Day falls on every 3rd November commemorates the anniversary of the original 1954 film.
Visit godzillafilm.co.uk to find a screening near you.
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
It's October so it's that spooky time of year again. To celebrate the good folks from Arrow have sent us details of their J-Horror month available on their streaming service (or should we say screaming service?) in the UK. They'll be showing seven scary films. They range in different themes of scary, from childhood trauma, deadly curses and even some yokai.
The subscriptions to the service cost £4.99 monthly or £49.99 annually.
Read More... | Souce: Arrow
The good folks from the BFI have just sent us details of the upcoming Japanese films that'll be show cased at the BFI London Film Festival 2024.
The festival takes place from Wednesday 9th to Sunday 20th October 2024 at the BFI Southbank and other venues across London and the UK. They have a wide variety of award-winning, gritty and empowering East Asian films premiering at the festival this year. So check out the BFI London Film Festival 2024 Website for more details.
Read More... | Souce: BFI London Film Festival 2024
Category > Events
The good folks from Bandai Namco UK have sent us details for their exhibition at MCM x EGX. The geeky pop culture and combined gaming event is set to run at the Excel Centre in London from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th October 2024.
This will be Bandai Namco UK's biggest exhibition to date! There will be six available titles to play, including Dragon Ball: Sparking ZERO!, Unknown 9: Awakening, Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream and Little Nightmares III.
Read More... | Souce: Bandai Namco UK
Category > Events
The good folks from the Embassy of Japan in the UK have just revealed the details for the Manga Jiman & Yonkoma Competition 2024. Running for the 18th time this highly anticipated annual competition is a chance for UK based artists to demonstrate their manga making skills. Not only that, but there's a great selection of prizes to be won from the competitions sponsors.
Here's a tip. If you do really want to win. Consider entering in the Yonkoma category (Yonoma Youth - 11 to 13 or Yonkoma 14+). There are normally very few entrants for the often overlooked four panel manga section. Even the judges in the past were strongly suggesting more people enter in yonkoma.
Not only do you have a chance to flex your manga making skills, show an active community of UK based artists your talents, but there are also a great selection of prizes to be won by the competitions generous sponsors.
So visit mangajiman.co.uk to find out more details.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Jiman 2024 Website
The good folks from streaming giants Crunchyroll have sent us details about the up coming cinema outing for everyone's favourite socially anxious rock guitar playing girl. Bocchi The Rock Recap Part 1&2 Recap Film will hit cinemas around the UK on Monday 7th October 2024.
Originally announced as two separate films the recap film condenses the whole of season one into a double feature. A new lyric video, "Tsukinami ni Kagayake" ("Shine as usual"), was created for the opening sequence of the compilation film, as well as a new ending theme song, "Ima, Boku, Underground Kara" ("Now, I'm Going From Underground") by Kessoku Band.
It's always good to watch more Bocchi and it's great we can catch her guitar journey on the big screen. We're hoping the movie hasn't edited out everyone's favourite drunk rocker Kikuri.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Manga
The good folks from One Peace Books have just sent us details for an up coming manga Nukozuke! by Yugi Iro. It's pitched as slow-life comedy manga with a twist. Set in a world where nuko exist, they are pocket sized cat humans. Part-timer Yuya adopts two of them and it turns out that Yuya is more cat like than the nukos and they have to also look after Yuya.
It's marketed a sweet pick me up set to appeal to cat and manga lovers everywhere.
Read More... | Souce: One Peace Books
Category > Anime
The good folks from streaming giant Crunchyroll sent us a coded message. Using the S cipher we able to decode it. It was a secret message just for our eyes, it told us that Spy x Family Code: White will be hitting the streaming service from Friday 6th September 2024.
The movie had a cinema release in April earlier this year. We'd describe the movie as exactly what'd you expect for a Spy x Family cinema outing, it felt very much like a movie length version of the TV episode with high stakes, high action and lots of laughs. You can read our review here, but to be honest now it's on Crunchyroll, you should just watch it.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Retail
The good folks from anime streaming giants Crunchyroll have sent us some details about their collaboration with clothing brand Bershka to bring us some Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Chainsaw Man clothing and accessories.
We've got Frieren t-shirts, hoodies and crop tops, a bag, a mobile phone case, plus socks! You too can finally own some Fern socks. Chainsaw Man wise we've got t-shirts, a baseball cap, jeans and a bag, all with a mix of either Chainsaw Man or Pochita. Sadly no Chainsaw Man socks.
In the past Crunchyroll have teamed up with Bershka to sell other anime inspired merchanidse, our favourite recent tie in was the Junji Ito Clothing Collection.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Anime
The good folks from anime streaming giants Crunchyroll have just sent us details about their anime playlists on Spotify. They've got a dedicated shelf of animated related music for your listening pleasure.
Personally at the Otaku News HQ, we listen to some Bump of Chicken, Hitsujibungaku, Yaosobi, Yoko Kanno, Radwimps and many more.
You can always visit Spotify's global Anime Hub to find some more tunes too!
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Anime
In preparation of the sporting summer, the good folks from streaming giant Crunchyroll have just announced free streaming of Olympic sport anime. The sporting anime in question will stream for free with adverts, until 15th August 2024. Highlights include football anime Blue Lock and Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club. We highly recommend the gloriously ridiculous golf anime Birdie Wing (read our review) along with table tennis anime Ping Pong the animation.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Events
The good folks from Hyper Japan have just sent us the latest details for their 2024 London festival. Set to run from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st July 2024 at Olympia Events. Hyper Japan will bring you all the fun and games you'd expect including, food and drink, performers, workshops, various exhibitors and of course lots of good stalls selling stuff for fans of Japan.
Read More... | Souce: Hyper Japan 2024
Category > Events
The good folks from the Barbican Centre and the Japan Foundation have teamed up to bring the people of London a season of Japanese monster movies. All Kaiju Attack! : 70 years of Japanese monster movies is set to run from Wednesday 7th to Wednesday August 2024 at the Barbican Centre in London.
They've got many a good monster movie from classic Godzilla flicks to the more recent Shin Godzilla (which is introduced by anime expert Helen McCarthy).
Read More... | Souce: Barbican Centre
The good folks from the Elysian Film Group have revealed that My Neighbour Totoro will be re-released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland from 2nd August 2024. The Studio Ghibli masterpiece by 2 time Oscar winning director Hayao Miyazaki is much loved and hugely influential. It's available to stream on Netflix, but seeing in on a big screen is another experience and we strongly advise you to catch it if you can. The film will be released just in time for the summer holidays when schools out. So children and adults alike can enjoy Satsuki and Mei's encounter with woodland spirits. The film itself is perfection. So much so the Royal Shakespeare Company adapted it for the stage and it has hugely successful run at the Barbican.
So check your local cinema listing from Friday 2nd August 2024 to find a screening near you.
Souce: Elysian Film Group
Category > Events
We've just received news about the upcoming One Piece Music Symphony 25th Anniversary Concert. The live show contains the most memorable moments of the TV series projected on a giant screen to the sound of a 50-musician orchestra. It's set to tour around the US from July 6th 2024, then will tour other key locations around the world including Australia , Europe and elsewhere.
UK based readers can catch the show on 16th November 2024 at the Appolo Eventim.
Read More... | Souce: One Piece Music Symphony 25th Anniversary Concert Website
The good folks from streaming giants Crunchyroll have sent us details for their June to September 2024 DVD and Blu-ray release schedule.
Highlights include Mob Psycho 100, Blue Lock and Vinland Saga. We're keen to get our hands on the mellow slice of life anime with a twist A Galaxy Next Door (which arrives on Blu-ray on 17th June 2024). The majority of titles are blu-ray only, with a few being DVD and blu-ray available options.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Anime
The good folks from streaming giants Crunchyroll have sent us details about Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction. The new series is due to land on the streaming service from Friday 24th May 2024. Expect a story with high-school best friends and dystopian sci-fi antics with a lingering space ship.
The series is animated by studio Production +h. who are best know for the Netflix series The Orbital Children. Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction was originally a manga by Inio Asano, who is best known for Goodnight Punpun.
Watch the official trailer
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
The good folks at anime giants Crunchyroll have sent us the details for the UK and Ireland cinema release of Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary Haikyu!! anime fans will be treated to a cinematic outing. It's set to hit cinemas around the UK from Friday 31st May 2024. It'll be released in both dubbed and subbed formats.
The Haikyu!! volleyball franchise is hugely popular with the manga selling 60 million copies in circulation. If you haven't seen it yet, you can also catch the series on Crunchyroll.
Plot synopsis as follows: Shoyo Hinata must join forces with his old nemesis Tobio Kageyama during the thrilling showdown between Karasuno and Nekoma high school in the highly anticipated "Dumpster Battle". Which team will remain standing when the two underdogs duke it out?
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Manga
The people from manga tech start up Orange, Inc have sent us details about their latest fundraising. They've managed to get JPY 2.92 billion (approximately USD 19.5 million* ) fundraising in pre-series A financing.
The company pitches itself as a a manga localization technology company that uses deep learning models to translate manga. In a web comic they explain how it's not cost effective to get humans to translate the bulk of manga published in Japanese. As a result they claim less than 2% of Japanese manga has been translated.
The pitch also says they'll have skilled translators polish the output, while in reality, for a translator it's actually easier to translate directly than to tidy up machine translated text.
Machine translation does have it's place. It's frequently (and successfully) used to translate text with a consistent context, such as instruction manuals and technical documents. This text is often very dry, but also very limited in scope with fixed and repeated text. Once a human has corrected it the machine model can then use the preferred translation for that expression again and again, which makes sense in an instruction manual.
Manga however is a creative endeavour and as a result the translations have a very wide scope. Translators have to be creative, who is speaking? What's their background? What mood are they in? What's the context of what they're saying? Is it a pun? Are they speaking formally? Do they have a regional accent? This and many other factors have to be taken into account words don't always have a one to one mapping, as context and intent makes manga translation an art form unto itself.
We're reminded In an industry where companies are trying to lower translation costs at the expense of translators wages, it can make it difficult to earn money as a freelance translator when companies are trying to race to the bottom.
We're thinking if you gave the Otaku News Team 2.92 billion JPY, we wouldn't publish as much manga as Orange Inc are intending to, but we'd pay our translators, letters and other production staff a decent wage. So if any companies looking to send us almost 19.5M USD to publish, then please do get in touch. We've got a list of manga we'd like to license and translate!
On a more serious note, we reached out to a few professional translators to ask their opinion on the Orange Inc News and machine translation in general. We also got them to do a translation mini battle.
Read More... | Souce: Orange Inc
Category > Anime
The good folks from streaming giants Crunchyroll have sent us details from CCXP Mexico, where they announced some new and returning titles to the service.
Coming some time in 2024 is Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister, while set for October 2024 we have Nina the Starry Bride along with the return of Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 3. Re:ZERO has been hugely popular with anime fans and it's return is highly anticipated.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Anime
The good folks from anime streaming giants Crunchyroll have sent us details about their Ani-May promotion.
For starters some of their top 20 shows will be available to watch for free with ads. This includes the utterly fantastic Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vinland Saga and Chainsaw Man.
Across the UK 120 HMV stores will be rebranded for the month and will play host to the exclusive early release of shows on DVD and Blu-ray including Mob Psycho Season 3, KONOSUBA - An Explosion on This Wonderful World!, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! At HMV they've also got a competition running with a chance to win a VIP trip to Paris for Japan Expo, with Crunchyroll!
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Anime
The good folks from streaming giant Crunchyroll have sent us details for their UK home video release schedule for May to August 2024. Titles include Blue Lock, Mob Psycho, One Piece, The Quintessential Quintuplets, Bofuri, Dr. STONE - Season 3 Part 1 and Vinland Saga - Season 2 Part 1. Guility pleasure anime includes Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 1 and 2, plus Tomo-chan Is a Girl! - The Complete Season.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Events
The Embassy of Japan in the UK revealed the winners of The 17th Manga Jiman Competition. The awards ceremony for the prestigious competition was held at the Japanese Embassy in London on Friday 22th March 2024.
This years first place went to Edward Taylor for St. Jerome 2.0, while Louis Hey won second place for My Mom. Third place went to Rachel Yelding with Stay Forward.
If you're in London, you can also book a free visit to the Embassy to see the winners exhibition until the end of April 2024.
Read More... | Souce: Embassy of Japan in the UK
Category > Events
The good folks at anime streaming giants Crunchyroll have sent us details of the upcoming Hatsune Miku Expo 2024 Europe Tour. The idol will be appearing at to 6 cities across Europe: London, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Düsseldorf and Berlin. General tickets will be on sale from Friday 5th April 2024 at 10 AM GMT.
2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the Miku Expo tour!
Read More... | Souce: Hatsune Miku Expo 2024 Europe Tour
The good folks from anime distributors Anime Limited have sent us details of the upcoming release of the Spy x Family Code White Movie. The film is due to hit the UK and Ireland in selected cinemas from Friday 26th April 2024 in Japanese with English subtitles, and an English-language dub.
For the uninitiated Spy x Family is a hugely popular series, which started as manga and had a truly excellent TV anime adaptation. The series is set in a 1960's like world where rival nations Westalis and Ostania are in a state of cold war. Westalis spy codenamed Twilight takes on the identity of Loid Forger in order to get closer to the inner circle of Donovan Desmond leader of the National Unity Party. With all access to Desmond effectively closed off, the only route to meeting him is pretending to be a parent at Ostania's exclusive private school. So Twilight has to build a false family in order to so. He adopts Anya as his daughter, who unknown to him is a telepath and Yor, an assassin. While each is oblivious to each others secret, only telepathic child Anya is aware about the rest of her family's true identities.
We'd describe Spy x Family as an action comedy. We're really excited about this movie and if you love the TV show you're bound to encounter more of the same with this new movie. They've also made the effort for people new to the franchise so if you're not familiar with Operation Strix it looks like it'll form a great introduction into the world of Ostania.
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
Category > Anime
The good folks from streaming giants Crunchyroll have just revealed their Spring 2024 anime line up.
The streaming service will be releasing some hotly anticipated titles. We're most looking forward to Kaiju No. 8. Based on the popular manga, the anime adaptation by Production I.G. is due out on Saturday 13th April 2024. Set in a world where giant monsters ravage Japan our hero wants to enlist in The Defence Force to help save humanity, action and a twist ensues.
Laid Back Camp returns for Season 3, we're looking forward to seeing more of this comfy camping slice of life show. We've got more of Rin, Nadeshiko and friends riding around Japanese country side. What's not to like.
While also interestingly we've got an old favourite returning. Spice and Wolf returns. The fan favourite is an interesting franchise about trading economics and a wolf girl.
There's so much to pick from this season, but one you shouldn't overlook is a new adaptation of Bartender, this version is called Bartender Glass of God. It's about bar hidden away in Tokyo, where only those truly in need seem to find it. While there the bartender just happens to make the perfect drink to sooth your worries. Each episode a different drama unfolds and we're treated to a new drink recipe.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Anime
The good folks from streaming giant Crunchyroll have sent us details about Dandadan arriving on Crunchyroll. The anime version will be adapted by Science SARU, who also recently made Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! and Tatami Time Machine Blues.
The quirky nature of the manga makes it an excellent fit for the type of show Science SARU normally create, it feels like a natural pairing.
The show is due to hit the streaming service this October 2024. Interestingly, Crunchyroll are calling it Dan Da Dan, while manga publishers Viz have localised it as Dandadan (without the spaces).
You can watch the the official subtitled trailer on YouTube.
We're really looking forward to this series as Science SARU always produce such amazing anime.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Anime
The good folks from anime giants Crunchyroll have announced the winners of The Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2024.
Winners of the coveted award include Jujutsu Kaisen for Anime of the Year, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc for Best Animation, and SPY x FAMILY Season 1 Cour 2 for Best Comedy.
The awards have been running 2017, this annual event has recognized and celebrated anime's finest series, films, and the talented people who make them. Fans from around the world, along with a global panel of judges, cast their votes in a variety of categories, and the results are revealed at our live awards show.
Our editor Joe Curzon (that's me), was on the judging panel this year.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll Anime Awards
The good folks from Anime Limited have just sent us details about the up coming cinema release of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Freedom. It lands exclusively in selected cinemas across the UK and Ireland from 23rd March 2024.
This continues the story of the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny TV series.
It'll be available in Japanese with English subtitles for one weekend only. For more information visit gundamfreedomfilm.co.uk.
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
Category > Manga
The good folks from One Peace Books have just sent us details for an up coming manga Tales of the Tendo Family. Created by Ken Saito the historical-romance shojo is due out on April 9th 2024.
Set in the Meiji Period it tells the story of a girl who poses as the beautiful young noble Hojo Ran, who in turn is seeking to escape a marriage into the notoriously bloody Tendo family. Our hero gets pulled into the twisted world of the Tendo family.
Ken Saito is a mangaka best known for the heartwarming series The Name of the Flower. Tales of the Tendo Family will be translated by Matt Schley (Multi-Mind Mayhem, NHK, Netflix). The series will be released every 3-4 months.
Read More... | Souce: One Peace Books
Category > Anime
The good folks from streaming giant Crunchyroll have sent us details of a new Studio BONES Documentary. The celebrate the anniversary Crunchyroll have produced a new 4 part documentary to capture the history behind such hits including Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (the Cowboy Bebop Movie), My Hero Academia, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and much more.
BONES 25: Dreaming Forward will be available from Tuesday 13th February 2024 and will coincide with the launch of Studio BONES new anime, Metallic Rouge.
You can check out a trailer of the documentary on YouTube.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Events
The good folks from the The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme have sent us details of special Japanese guest appearances around the UK.
Visiting the festival we have Maeda Tetsu, director of Do Unto Others, Chihara Tetsuya director of Ice Cream Fever, plus Serena Motola, featured in Ice Cream Fever and Voices in the Wind. The 3 Japanese guests will be at various screenings around the touring film programme and available for a Q&A about their films.
Read More... | Souce: The Japan Foundation UK Touring Film Programme 2024
The good folks from Crunchyroll have sent us the DVD and Blu-ray UK line up for February to May 2024.
Highlights to the home video releases include Makoto Shinkai's Suzume (review here) , SPY x FAMILY Part 2, One Piece: Collection 33 and RWBY: Ice Queendom.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
The good folks from streaming giant Crunchyroll have sent us details about the special world tour of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training-.
The film combines episode 11 of the Swordsmith Village Arc which concludes the story arc and then follows on with Episode 1 of the Hashira Training Arc.
It'll hit the UK and Ireland from Friday 23rd February 2024. A special screening will be held on Sunday 25th February 2024 at BFI IMAX in London featuring guests Natsuki Hanae (Tanjiro Kamado's voice actor) and producer Yuma Takahashi. Tickets will be available soon.
The movie will be released across various countries / territories this February 2024. Read on to find out more...
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Anime
The good folks from Kadokawa have sent us details about a great little social media campaign they're running to promote the new Delicious in Dungeon anime that's now streaming on Netflix.
The anime follows the story of a group of adventures who have failed on their quest. With Laios the hero down on his luck and against the clock as his sister is slowly getting digested by a red dragon. He has to return to the dungeon to rescue his sister, but is flat of our money and resources to buy food, so resorts to eating dungeon monsters!
The comedy series is animated by Studio Trigger, who have also down the fantastic Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, BNA, Kill La Kill and Little Witch Academia to name a few of their titles.
The manga is availble in English from Yen Press.
Anyway, the competition in question is a follow the X (formally known as Twitter) accounts and repost the giveaway post in order for your chance to win some signed goodies.
Read More... | Souce: Delicious in Dungeon Social Media Giveaway Post
Category > Anime
The good folks from anime giants Crunchyroll have sent us details for the UK home video release of Suzume. Makoto Shinkai's latest cinematic outing tells the story of Suzume, a girl pulled into an adventure to close magical disaster causing doors around Japan. The road trip movie will be released on DVD and blu-ray on Monday 1st April 2024.
Initially 4 editions will be available a DVD Regular Edition, a Blu-ray Regular Edition, a DVD & Blu-ray Steelbook Edition and a DVD & Blu-ray Limited Edition. The DVDs and blu-rays are available now for pre-order from your favourite home video retailers. A Blu-ray 4K edition is also scheduled for release later in the year.
You can watch the movie on Cruchyroll now.
You can also read our review of the movie, or our interview with film's creator Makoto Shinkai where we catch up with him and talk about the film.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Retail
The good folks from Japanese software firm Crimson Technology have sent us details about their English language launch of Voidol3. This is real time voice conversion software primarily aimed at streamers, v-tubers and people who have the need to change their voice in real time.
We reviewed Voidol2 when it came out a few years ago.
This new version is available for Windows and macOS. You can purchase the standard version for $270 (USD) or upgrade from Voidol2 for $170 (USD).
Read More... | Souce: Crimson Technology Voidol3
Category > Events
The good folks from City String Ensemble have sent us details about an up coming performance. City String Ensemble: Best of Anime which is set to run at EartH (Evolutionary Arts Hackney) in London on Saturday 3rd February 2024.
They promise an evening of iconic melodies from Studio Ghibli to the adrenaline-pumping beats of Attack on Titan. To get a feel for their performances take a look at their Eventbrite listing which includes links to their Spotify Anime EP along with some other samples on their YouTube Channel.
We've interviewed Sophie Poteratchi, the founder and violinist of City String Ensemble about the up coming event.
Originally the event was scheduled to run in December 2023, however due to rail strikes and venue audience number restrictions for December, they've rescheduled to Saturday 3rd February 2024 instead.
We've heard anime music played by live string quartets before and it is something special. If you're a fan of anime music or classical music, there's plenty to enjoy.
Read More... | Souce: City String Ensemble
The good folks from The Japan Foundation, London have sent us details of the The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme. The UK's largest Japanese cinema festival, is set to start from Friday February 2nd 2024 and will run until Sunday 31st March 2024.
This will be the biggest showcase ever with 24 titles from human drama, horror, LGBTQ films, comedy, and sci-fi and so on. Most of them are UK premieres too!
The programme is set to run across 30 cities in the UK including Oxford, Lancaster, Chichester, Liverpool, and as far as Orkney!
There's plenty to choose from whatever your taste in films. There's also lots of interesting movies to try if you're curious and looking for something new!
Read More... | Souce: The Japan Foundation UK Touring Film Programme 2024
The good folks from anime distributors Anime Limited have just announced the UK and Ireland cinema release details for Blue Giant. The jazz themed anime movie is based on the award winning manga of the same name. It follows the adventures of aspiring jazz saxophonist Dai Miyamoto.
The film is due to hit selected cinemas in the UK and Ireland from Wednesday 31st January 2024 and as you'd expect it features a stunning jazz soundtrack. So it's a film for anime and jazz fans!
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
Category > Anime
The good folks from streaming giants Crunchyroll have just sent us details for their Winter 2024 line up. As 2023 winds down, they've got some great titles to lined up to start the new year.
Headlining on 29th December 2023, Burn The Witch returns and we'll get more adventures in Reverse London.
While 6th January 2024 sees the continuation of One Piece, and we're introduced to new series Solo Leveling and A Sign of Affection. We've covered Solo Leveling before when it had a special London screening. We're also very curious about A Sign of Affection as the romantic series looks promising.
We're most excited about the confirmation that Frieren: Beyond Journey's End will be continuing too. We've really been enjoying this story of Elf Mage Frieren who's quest has finished and has started to figure out what to do next.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
The good folks from Anime Limited have just sent us details of the up coming UK cinema release of Godzilla Minus One. It's due out on Friday 15th December 2023 and screenings have now expanded to over 400 screens across the UK and Ireland.
The movie has already proved to be a smash in the US becoming the all-time highest grossing Japanese live-action film in North America.
To find a cinema near you showing the movie visit godzillafilm.co.uk.
Read More... | Souce: Godzilla Minus One Film Website
Category > Culture
We've just heard news that the stage adaptation of Spirited Away has been extended by 5 weeks due to huge demand. It's set to run in London from Tuesday 30th April 2024 until Saturday 24th August 2024. They've made an extra 90,000 (yes ninety thousand) extra tickets on sale!
You can catch this performance at the London Coliseum. The stage adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki's much loved Spirited Away closely follows the original movie and does feature singing and dancing, but is not a musical. It will be performed in Japanese with English subtitles visible from each seat.
You can visit the London Coliseum website book tickets
If you want to catch more Miyazaki on the London stage, don't forget about the Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican. This second run of the truly fantastic stage play is set to run from Tuesday 21st November 2023 until Saturday 23rd March 2024. We saw the run last year and you can read our review if you're curious to know more about the 2022 run.
Read More... | Souce: Spirited Away Stage Play Adaptation London Coliseum Official Website
Category > Anime
The good folks from streaming giant Crunchyroll have sent us details about a special screening of Solo Leveling. Ahead of the series hitting the streaming service in January, you can catch a premiere screening of the first two episodes at Cineworld Leicester Square in London on Wednesday 13th December 2023.
Solo Leveling is a Korean manhwa and is adapted into an anime series by A-1 Pictures (who are responsible for Sword Art Online, Black Butler and Fairy Tail to name a few of their titles).
Tickets are on sale now on Eventbrite.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
Category > Events
Update: Due to unforeseen circumstances the Best of Anime Concert has been rescheduled to Saturday 3rd February 2024. All tickets for the December event will be valid for the February 2024 one automatically.
They intend to prepare a new set including music from Ghibli's latest movie The Boy And The Heron.
Just a quick reminder to our readers who can get to London this weekend. On Sunday 3rd December 2023 City String Ensemble will be performing their City String Ensemble: Best of Anime which is set to run at EartH (Evolutionary Arts Hackney).
We've announced the event before and interviewed Sophie Poteratchi, the founder and violinist of City String Ensemble about the up coming event.
We've heard anime music played by live string quartets before and it is something special. If you're a fan of anime music or classical music, there's plenty to enjoy.
It's also worth noting just across the road from the venue on the same day the Yokimono Japanese Christmas Market will be running, which promises all sorts of food, crafts and performances, so you can make a day of Japanese culture!
Souce: City String Ensemble
The good folks from Anime Limited have just got in touch to tell us about their upcoming cinema release. Godzilla Minus One will burst into cinemas, IMAX, 4DX, Screen X and Dolby Cinema across the UK and Ireland from Friday 15th December 2023.
Toho's latest incarnation of the worlds most well known giant reptile sees mass destruction across a post-war setting. It's being pitched as one of those films best enjoyed on the big screen.
To find a cinema near you showing the movie visit godzillafilm.co.uk.
Read More... | Souce: Godzilla Minus One Film Website
Category > Anime
The good folks from streaming giant Crunchyroll have sent us news that Makoto Shinkai's latest movie Suzume will be available on the streaming platform from Thursday 16th November 2023.
The director is best known for anime box office smash hits Your Name and Weathering With You. Suzume is his latest offering in with the titular character must travel around various ruins across Japan closing doors that are the cause of devastation. The film went on to gross over $300 million worldwide during its initial theatrical run, making it the fourth highest-grossing anime film of all time.
If you want to know more about the movie you can read our spoiler free Suzume movie review or our interview with Makoto Shinkai about the film.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll