AnimeTrader ramblings

“Oshiri Kajiri Mushi” (Butt-Biting Insect), the hit song that first aired on the children’s music television program Minna no Uta in 2007 and eventually sold about 300,000 copies, will be adapted into its first television anime series this fall. The series will run this fall on BS Premium, a premium satellite channel of the Japanese public broadcaster NHK. (Minna no Uta runs on NHK‘s over-the-air channels.).

Uruma Delvi, the creative duo behind “Oshiri Kajiri Mushi,” already put together a second song, “Oshiri no Yama wa Everest” (The Butt Mountain is Everest). The new song’s music video has been running on Minna no Uta for the months of April and May.

The Oshiri Kajiri Mushi anime series will be a gag comedy about Oshiri Kajiri Mushi XVIII, a 10-year-old insect who goes Biting School to inherit his family’s Biting Shop business. The series will have 20 five-minute episodes.

Source: Cinema Today

Image © NHK/Uruma Delvi

The official website for Hōkago Midnighters (After School Midnighters) has listed cast members for the upcoming CG anime film. Two trailers began streaming on the website in April, and the film will begin screening on August 25 of this year. In the slapstick comedy story, a human anatomical model comes to life at midnight in a science classroom at an elite elementary school. The announced cast is as follows:

• Kunstlijk: Kouichi Yamadera
• Goth: Hiromasa Taguchi
• Mako: Haruka Tomatsu
• Miko: Sakiko Uran
• Mutsuko: Minako Kotobuki
• Pinia: Juurouta Kosugi
• Dunkelheit & Lumiere: Ikuko Tani
• Mozart: Hiroshi Yanaka
• Bach: Chafurin
• Beethoven: Dai Matsumoto
• Schubert: Hozumi Gôda
• Michael: Yuusaku Yara
• Fred: Houchu Ohtsuka
• Sony: Yuuki Kuroda
• Principal (Girl): Mariya Ise
• Mr. Fly: Hiroshi Shimozaki
• Shaburi: Shozo Iizuka

The website has also revealed that “Re:myend!” by the band Negoto will be the film’s theme song.

Hitoshi Takekiyo directed the original 2007 CG anime short After School Midnight (Hōkago Midnight) that was well-received in Japan and in international film festivals. He is returning to direct the remake at the studio Koo-Ki. Yōichi Komori (Umizaru manga collaborator) is writing the new film.

A bonus booklet included with this year’s tenth issue of Square Enix‘s Young Gangan magazine featured images of the Working!! stage play’s full cast in costume on Wednesday. The adaptation of Karino Takatsu‘s original comedy manga will run from May 11 to May 20 at Zenrōsai Hall’s Space Zero in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Female cast members include Rina Miyazaki as Popura Taneshima, Mizuho Sakata as Mahiru Inami, Miyu Sugimoto as Yachiyo Todoroki, Miku Ōno as Aoi Yamada, and Yuri Mizutani as Kyouko Shirafuji. The stage play’s male cast will feature Kyousuke Hamao as Sōta Takanashi, Masashi Ōyama as Jun Satou, Ryousuke Satou as Hiroomi Souma, and Tatsuru Takahashi as Hyougo Otoo.

[Via Hachima Kikō]

Namco Bandai Games began streaming the third promotional video for the Ore no Imōto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai Portable ga Tsuzuku Wake ga Nai (Ore no Imōto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai Portable Can’t Possibly Be Continuing) game sequel on Wednesday. The four-minute video highlights the game’s female characters and includes gameplay clips.

The sequel game will feature an all-new original story scenario, and original light novel creator Tsukasa Fushimi is serving as the chief supervisor. There will be new story routes and new characters. The duo ClariS, who sang the television anime’s opening theme song, will sing the game’s theme song “nexus.”

As the second Oreimo PlayStation Portable game, Ore no Imōto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai Portable ga Tsuzuku Wake ga Nai was slated to ship in Japan on March 29, but the release was delayed to May 17. Namco Bandai Games explained that it delayed the game to improve it for the users’ satisfaction.

North American anime distributor Aniplex of America released the Oreimo television anime series in a DVD box set in October.

Game publisher Atlus announced on Wednesday that it will release the Persona 4 Golden role-playing game in North America this fall. Atlus will release the game under the title Persona 4: The Golden in Japan on June 14.

The game will be an expanded PlayStation Vita port of the original Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 video game that was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2008. Persona 4 Golden will feature remastered visuals and additional voiced dialogue. New content will also include an online dungeon rescue feature, new Personas, and a new opening animation sequence with a song composed by Shoji Meguro.

The game will feature Marie, a new character voiced by Kana Hanazawa, as well as new animated footage, additional story events to interact with other characters in work and school, and new costumes for battles. Players will be able to obtain a motorcycle license in the game that will allow characters to use the “Bike Pursuit” move during battle and participate in special events.

The anime studio Mad House (Chihayafuru, Summer Wars) is creating the opening animation for the game, and Studio Hibari is also producing animated footage. Katsura Hashino, who directed the original game, is returning as producer, Shigenori Soejima is returning to design the characters, and Meguro will again handle the soundtrack.

The June issue of Shueisha‘s Jump Square magazine is confirming on Wednesday that Nobuhiro Watsuki‘s historical manga Rurouni Kenshin is inspiring a new PSP game this summer. Namco Bandai Games already released a PSP game called Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan Saisen last spring.

In the same Jump Square issue, Watsuki is launching Rurouni Kenshin -Cinema-ban- (Rurouni Kenshin: Cinema Version). This manga series recounts the title swordsman’s encounters with Kaoru, Yahiko, and other characters with redone dialogue. Kanryū, Jin’e, and other enemy characters from Watsuki’s original manga will appear in this new series and in the August 25 live-action film — hence the name of the new manga.

Watsuki discusses the new manga and the film in an interview in this Jump Square issue. The issue is also reprinting a selection of color illustrations and offering a random drawing for 1,000 exclusive hand towels.

Watsuki is running a separate Rurouni Kenshin “Chapter Zero” manga in Shueisha‘s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in August. The chapter will reveal one of the reasons why Kenshin ended up staying at the Kamiya dōjō school.

The weekly Saki-yomi Jum-Bang! (Early Browsing Jump Bang!) program on TV Tokyo will devote a major segment to the new Rurouni Kenshin manga series this Friday. The official Rurouni Kenshin app will launch in early May. Besides the PSP game, the novel version of Rurouni Kenshin will go on sale this summer.

The original manga ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1995 to 1999, and its compiled book volumes have 54 million copies in print. It has been released in 23 countries, and it inspired a 1996-1998 television anime series. The first half of the new Rurouni Kenshin: Shin Kyoto-Hen anime project opened in two theaters in December, and the second half is slated to be completed this summer. Viz Media publishes the manga in North America.

While Watsuki is working on the new Rurouni Kenshin manga, he is putting his Embalming – The Another Tale of Frankenstein manga on hiatus until fall.

Sources: Comic Natalie, animeanime.jp, Oricon

The North American anime distributor and licensor 4Kids Entertainment has sold the rights to its Yu-Gi-Oh!-related assets to KidsCo Media Ventures LLC. KidsCo is an affiliate of the Saban Capital Group, the investment firm whose subsidiaries own the Power Rangers franchise.

4Kids also acquired the international rights to the 52-episode anime-influenced Italian cartoon series Beastkeeper, which was produced by Mondo TV, Starbright, and Ponpoko Productions.

Documents filed to the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York last month had revealed that 4Kids had planned to sell what they described as “substantially all of [their] Yu-Gi-Oh!-related assets.”

4Kids filed for bankruptcy last year shortly after a lawsuit was filed by TV Tokyo, Nihon Ad Systems, and ADK. The suit reached an “amicable” settlement earlier this year, with ADK and TV Tokyo paying US$8 million to 4Kids.

Source: ICv2

This year’s 11th issue of Shogakukan‘s Sho-Comi magazine revealed on Tuesday that Gō Ikeyamada‘s Suki Desu Suzuki-kun!! romantic comedy manga will end in four more chapters. The manga will have a total of 88 chapters.

The story of the manga centers on four classmates who just entered the same junior high school together. On the first day of school, a boy named Hikaru Suzuki sees a talented girl named Sayaka performing lines from a drama on the school’s rooftop, and he cannot take his eyes off her. Even as Hikaru becomes interested in Sayaka, his longtime friend Chihiro secretly pines for him. On top of that, a boy named Shinobu Suzuki — no relation to Hikaru — is falling for Chihiro.

The manga inspired an original anime DVD that was bundled with 2010′s second issue of Sho-Comi. The manga has also inspired a spinoff novel project and a video game.

The manga has been running in Sho-Comi since 2008, and the 15th compiled book volume shipped in March. The manga series has more than 4.5 million copies in print. Besides Suki Desu Suzuki-kun!!, Ikeyamada also created the Uwasa no Midori-kun!!, Moe Kare!!, Get Love!! Field no Ōji-sama, and Ookami Nanka Kowakunai!? manga.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun’s Mantan Web

Japan’s LAWSON convenience store chain will run a promotional event for the K-ON! movie in May, offering customers the chance to both buy and win merchandise related to the franchise.

As one part of the campaign, customers who buy specific products will be able to enter codes printed on their receipt to accumulate points that can be used to enter drawings for K-ON! goods. Among the items given away are five K-ON! suitcases, each of a different girl from the series and signed by their respective voice actresses, K-ON! tracksuits, and K-ON! hand puppets. The point-based campaign will run from May 8 to 21.

In a separate part of the campaign, the LAWSON chain will sell K-ON! branded Tanita pedometers for 3,990 yen (about US$50). Previously, LAWSON has sold other K-ON! related items including toasters, super-deformed, vinyl blow-up dolls, and raspberry candies.

[Via Yaraon!]

Mamoru Hosoda‘s 2009 film Summer Wars will be adapted into a stage recitation to be performed on June 16 and 17 of this year, according to an announcement made on Tuesday.

Kaname Kawabata, who announced that he will be pursuing a solo career after being a part of the Japanese R&B duo Chemistry for eleven years, will play multiple male roles in the adaptation, including the narrator and the granduncle Wabisuke Jinnouchi. This adaptation marks Kawabata’s first work after leaving the duo. The 21-year-old actress Nao Minamisawa (live action adaptation of One-Pound Gospel) will play the title’s female lead, Natsuki Shinohara. Kei Takashiro, Kazuki Kato (Kamen Rider Kabuto), and Ryoma Baba (Prince of Tennis Musical) will also appear in the adaptation.

The Summer Wars anime was first released in Japanese theaters in 2009, and received a home video release by FUNimation Entertainment in North America in 2011. The film received a number of awards in Japan, including the Grand Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival Awards, an Award of Excellence at the Japan Academy Awards, the Animation of the Year award at the Tokyo Anime Fair Awards, and more.

[Via Hachima Kikō]