Prepare to get nostalgic or witness why so many people are proud to have the story of a gun-toting pacifist as one of their first anime - Trigun: Badlands Rumble is officially coming to theatres across Canada!

“Vash the Stampede is a gunslinging, red-trenchcoat-wearing drifter with a giant bounty on his head. His biggest threat, however, may not be law enforcement, but an outlaw by the name of Gasback. Twenty years ago, Vash accidentally interefered with one of Gasback’s robberies, and now the villain’s back with a score to settle. Gasback has come to Macca City in hopes of stealing one of their major installations, and Vash has just coincidentally arrived at the same spot. Also involved in this caper are a beautiful lady with a grudge, a couple of insurance agents, and Vash’s old buddy Wolfwood. At first it seems that Gasback has succeeded, but one can never underestimate Vash’s legendary abilities—not to mention the secrets that his allies have up their sleeves.” – Cineplex

The movie will be a special one night only event on June 22nd at 7pm, local time.

Empire Theatres has confirmed with Animaritime organizers that the movie will have Japanese audio with English subtitles. Tickets through Empire Theatres will go on sale on their website tomorrow and tickets are currently available to purchase on Cineplex’s website.

You can see the full list of Canadian theatres below:

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Last week listings for Evangelion 2.0 popped up on Cineplex (src: ANN), one of Canada’s theatre chains. Eager to see how many anime fans across the country would get another shot at seeing Evangelion on the big-screen, I made some inquiries and did some internet spelunking and loe and behold, it looks like a decent-sized release!

The movie will be screened on the big-screen across Canada on Thursday, January 20th at 7pm (local time). Seating is limited and as tickets for the majority of the showings below are currently on sale, it’s recommended you nab your tickets while they’re available.

“The story of a 14-year-old boy, who has been entrusted with the heavy burden of mankind’s fate, is about to enter uncharted territory. Asuka, the heroine whose popularity is on par with that of Rei Ayanami, enters the fray piloting Evangelion Unit Two. Joining them is a new, alluring heroine. The war between the mysterious entities known as “Angels” and the Eva Series heats up even more with the introduction of new Evangelion units. Intense battles the likes of which have never been seen rage across the screen one after another. The excitement of these mind-blowing spectacles will take the story in a new direction.” - Cineplex.com

Below are the currently confirmed locations that will be playing Evangelion 2.0 across Canada. Note that this locations are subject to change and there may yet be more:

Tickets for select showings are currently on sale at Cineplex.com and EmpireTheatres.com.

The first Evangelion film in this new incarnation, Evangelion 1.0: You Are Not Alone, previously played across Canada on September 30th and October 3rd, 2009.

As someone who attended the first movie and not only thought it was fantastic (and completely worth seeing on the big screen) but also had lots of fun with the community-driven spirit of the event, I will definitely be in attendance at my city’s showing (Halifax, NS!). We live in an age of the internet but nothing beats the feeling of your local community coming together to enjoy something together, plus it supports anime in your local theatres. Can’t wait!

In a press release this week, Canadian television station Super Channel announced that they’ll be played the anime series of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. The first episode of the 74 episode series will play on March 15 at 10pm and continue playing each Monday evening at the same time. The episodes will be available on both Super Channel’s standard channel and in high definition. (Source: AnimeNewsNetwork)

Super Channel is a specialty channel available through most digital cable services across the country. Along with the pay-to-view channel, they also provide a subscription feature that allows viewers to watch episodes and movies previously played on the channel at their leisure. This also isn’t the first time Super Channel has added anime to its line-up. It currently has Descendants of Darkness and Gurren Lagann on its programming schedule.

After last week’s disheartening news regarding YTV’s removal of Bleach and Naruto, it’s great to see that Canadian TV still has room for anime on its digital-waves. Though I haven’t seen the Monster anime myself, I have read the manga and it was fantastic so I look forward to the opportunity to watch the series on a weekly basis on Super Channel.

According to YTV’s website, Canadians will no longer have episodes – new or old – of Naruto and Bleach to look forward to on cable TV. Both anime series have been removed not only from the channel’s daily schedule but also entirely from their show database. (Source: AnimeNewsNetwork)

Their website section AnimeMaster, where information and blog-style posts were shared from their resident of the same name has also been removed. Both these changes came without advance warning from the station.

YTV has seen a distinct drop in the amount of animated shows it plays in recent years, in favour of playing a line-up of predomiantly live-action comedies and dramas aimed at a younger teen audience. Anime on the station has been in decline for some time and its shaky future on the channel had the final nail in the coffin for most fans when their evening Bionix line-up was moved from its primetime slot on Friday to Saturday mid 2009.

YTV’s OnDemand service, a special feature available on digital cable stations, has also removed episodes of Naruto and Pokemon while limiting the available episodes of Nickelodeon’s Avatar the Last Airbender.

Canadian television in general is a far cry for anime from what it was only five years ago when there were over 15 different anime series playing on television at a time. This included the beginning of YTV’s Bionix line-up which at the time played weekly episodes of many newly English broadcasting series including Inu-Yasha, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Witch Hunter Robin, Gundam Seed and Bleach. At one point the station was even in talks over an anime-only channel, which though approved at the time, was never launched.

Anime currently still playing on YTV is Dinosaur King, Pokemon and the more recently added Pretty Cure. Teletoon, another Canadian station, currently plays episodes of Bakugan and Domo-kun and Friends. Some digital cable users in Canada also have access to the subscription-based AnimeNetwork service which allows subscribers to watch weekly updated lists of anime series at their leisure.