Anime News Network is holding a contest to give away theatre-showing tickets to the upcoming Neon Genesis Evangelion 2.0! The site had a similar contest for the first movie last year. This time they’re giving away not one, not two but 240 tickets – that’s five for each of the theatre showings across the country. It’s a simple enter-your-info-to-be-qualified contest and with that many tickets to give away, chances are good!

The showing is a single-night event on January 20th. Along with the contest, ANN’s site also has the complete list of theatres confirmed as playing the movie.

January 13, 2011: Winners announced – congrats folks!

Writers: M. Night Shyamalan/Dave Roman/Alison Wilgus
Artist: Joon Choi
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Teen (10+)
Release Date: June 2010

Synopsis: “Waging a devastating war, the Fire Nation destroyed the harmonious balance among the four nations. The Air Nation isNomads are no more, and the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom are on the verge of collapse. In such dire times, the Avatar, master of the all four elements, is expected to return bring balance to the world. But the Avatar has been missing for a hundred years. When teenagers Katara and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe rescue a young boy frozen in an iceberg sphere, their lives—and his—are changed forever.”

Word is out and it isn’t pretty – M. Night Shyamalan’s live action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender is a big whopping flop. A rushed plot, inaccurate details and beyond lacklustre acting has left both fans of the show and lovers of movies leaving the theatre in disarray. While the movie may’ve been a spirited stinker, it did at least inspire a few graphic novel adaptations that could yet make a little good of the enterprise. This book, The Last Airbender, is a direct take on the film’s version of the story and cast. Despite being bound by the screenplay of the film, could there yet be hope for this 128 page spin of the fan-favourite series? Eh… not so much.

The book follows a very familiar timeline for those who’ve watched the original animated series. Young water tribe siblings, Sokka and Katara are fishing up in their icy homeland when they come across a huge glowing orb. Realizing someone is trapped inside, they smash it open to release the child within. Swiftly they find their entire village under assault from the Fire Nation, an empire who has moved to take over the world in the absence of the world’s uniting force of balance, the Avatar. The young boy, Aang, is promptly kidnapped by the Fire Nation’s young Prince out to regain his honour, easily deduced to be the Avatar and thusly prompting Sokka and Katara to drop everything to fly off and save the world with him.

The whole story takes a very tell-but-don’t attitude about everything, which is extremely disengaging, making it hard to care at all about what’s happening. From start to finish Katara speaks out the story via first-person narrative in boxes across every page. It does successfully manage to give the story a more personal feeling but also leaves everyone else feeling very disconnected from what’s happening. Most jarring however is the amount of events that take place ‘off-page’ only to be divulged in light detail later, switching the role of the speaker to someone else without any real transition or visual note. How would Katara know all that if she wasn’t – oh wait, Aang is in control of the thought boxes now. And what’s this? Aang disappears! But he’s back and tells us how he was kidnapped. Aang disappears again! But returns to tell us how he was captured… again. And oh no, he’s gone again! Wait, he was just thinking about stuff somewhere but he’s back now. Meanwhile other people were doing other apparently important stuff. It’s painful watching the same formula repeated.

Throughout this short book there are a few other relevant characters introduced and the story attempts to make some relationships happen in this short framework of time. Sokka in particular has not one but two love interests, both of whom he’s seen on page with maybe a handful of times. That boy gets attached really fast. There are several scenes that by concept should be emotionally moving but in execution are just another notch in the book’s ‘stuff’s-happened’ belt – including Aang’s discovery of the death of his people and a Princess’s sacrifice to save the world.

Joon Choi isn’t a name most will recognize coming into this work and there doesn’t seem to be any other books out under her name. Still, she illustrates the book with a fairly evident level of previous illustrative experience. Her art style favours the movie’s visual design more-so than the original material, notably including the white-washed actors on the book’s still-predominantly attractive front cover, and characters are easily recognizable from their live onscreen-counterparts. With delicate featured eyes and rounded features, the female characters are drawn with more consistency and appeal than the males who sometimes suffer from some extra lines on the face that make them suddenly age 40 years and hair that doesn’t know where’s it going, most notably Prince Zuko’s. It is a generally complimenting art style though and one that’s able to tell the story with a combination of action and drama. The amount of detail does waiver throughout the book however when randomly the inking becomes thicker and details more sparsely utilized, making the art look uneven from start to finish plus some pages seem to confuse the reading order of the panels. When it’s good it’s good, when it’s not, well, you turn the pages faster and hope you’ll get back to the good stuff.

Choppy and dull, what proves the most disappointing about this book is that the talent of the creators behind it remains evident, save perhaps the man responsible for the screenplay it was based on. The writers, Dave Roman and Alison Wilgus, are no strangers to creating solid product and the artist shows off some good skill. However all three individuals are strangled irrefutably by the source-material – rushed, monotonous and with so much off-screen ‘oh yeah here’s what I did and-‘ that you can’t help but feel like Shyamalan threw it together before bed one night like a last minute school report. D-, Shyamalan.

Those who liked the movie version of The Last Airbender may in turn enjoy this adaptation of the adaptation but for anyone else, this book sadly isn’t worth the short time it takes to read it.

Review written July 3, 2010 by Lissa Pattillo
Book bought from Strange Adventures

A little change of pace today with a post about something near and dear to my fan-girl heart – fun, colourful comics and Avatar: The Last Airbender! And with so many great Avatar goodies out both recently and on the horizon, expect more ATLA here on Kuriousity coming up!

But today it’s about the comics – or lack there of.

This summer is a treasure-trove of releases for fans of Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. The live-action film comes out next week and with it comes a string of graphic novel adaptations (the one of which I’ve read so far, Zuko’s Prequel, was fantastic), a special DVD boxset edition of the first season, word of another Avatar animated series going into production, and, perhaps most amazing of all, Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Art of the Animated Series. This… book… is… gorgeous. (On that note, expect my take on the graphic novels and the art book in the near future.)

The art, and sheer amount of research and detail behind it, has always been a huge part of what made Avatar so compelling. It had such a diverse collection of artists supporting it and along with the graphic novels, the artbook and of course the show itself, there was also the collection of short comics included with the DVDs and published in Nickeleon’s now defunct, NickMag.

Anyone who’s read the comics likely knows them as cute, fun, true-to-the-series shorts that highlighted the humour and character interaction. But did you know that there’s a whole treasure trove of comics that never made it to print because of the closure of NickMag? Well neither did I until recently and now I’ved joined the many others around the world looking to Nickeledeon for a printed collection of these comics, published and not.

Over on Facebook (which I don’t use but understand the seemingly boundless power of), fans have created a group called Avatar Fans Who Want a Printed Collection of All The Nick Mag Avatar Comics (name says it all!). Along with links to Nick Mag’s old LJ account – which can be spelunked for preview art of previous comics – they have a few example pages posted, links to some creators and related videos. Some neat stuff there and plenty more out there to check out for those curious about these little gems!

What’s better than ATLA? More of it of course! And with the artbook having apparently garnering very good success (already sadly sold out in most places), the demand for more shiny-Avatar art is obviously out there. Share the idea with friends, spread the word, send a nice e-mail Nickelodeon’s way and let the world know that you want more of the characters we adore with more of the comics we love to read.

Kuriousity’s first embedded-video! Avatar deserves a little break in tradition after all.

A little plugging for my hometown event – as a part of our Animinitime convention in Halifax, Nova Scotia, we’re excited to announce that we’re now selling tickets for a special midnight showing of Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ On Heavens’ Door.

The movie will be played on the big screen at downtown’s Parklane Theatres on the evening of April 24. The showing falls between the two events planned for that weekend – one is a picnic the day before while the convention itself follows the day after. Each ticket is on sale for $5 (taxes included). You can currently buy tickets for the movie event at Strange Adventures and upcoming Anime@Large (a local anime club) events.

Original Author: Osamu Tezuka
Studio: IMAGI
Rating: PG (Violence)
Release Date: October 2009

Synopsis: “Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist named Dr. Tenma. Powered by positive “blue” energy, Astro Boy is endowed with super strength, x-ray vision, unbelievable speed and the ability to fly. Ultimately learning his friends and family are in danger, Astro Boy marshals his awesome super powers and returns to Metro City in a valiant effort to save everything he cares about and to understand what it means to be a hero.”

Based on Osamu Tezuka’s popular Astro Boy series, this movie had a lot of weight on its shoulders – attempting, and in several ways succeeding, to cater to not only fans of the original but also to a generation of viewers for whom Astro Boy comes along as a just another computer-built children’s film.

Departing a bit from the original story, IMAGI’s Astro Boy begins with introducing viewers to Dr. Tenma, a robotic genius, and his son, Tobi, who live in Metro City, a futuristic world raised high above the Earth after pollution spoiled the planet. During a demonstration at work, an incident occurs that leaves Dr. Tenma grieving the loss of his son, and in his depression, he utilizes a powerful blue-energy sphere to give life to a robot-copy of his son. Unable to bear the robot’s resemblance to his child, however, Dr. Tenma demands he leaves, and after being chased by an overzealous politician looking to possess the blue-sphere energy, ‘Astro’ finds himself on the surface.

Once on the surface, Astro is befriended by a group of orphan children under the partial care of a robot mechanic. A few plot twists later, which fans of the original Astro Boy will likely see coming, Astro returns to Metro City where he must fight a giant robot powered by the oppositely-powered red-sphere and thusly save the world when the bullets start flying (and fly they do, as a brief warning to parents).

The plot has its share of plot-holes, from the politician’s motives seeming oddly different during the climax despite speaking his motive every 30 seconds earlier in the story. Nothing is as in depth as it could be, from the creation of Astro to the crumbling of his short relationship with Dr. Tenma and his subsequent search for humanity, but the linearity of the plot does have a pleasantly simple flow. Children shouldn’t have much difficulty following what’s going on, and older audiences will find enough charm in the humour and grit in the grimmer moments to be entertained along with them, though perhaps not on the same level.

The animation is one of the film’s strongest attributes and I was particular impressed with the adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s original designs to the 3D format. Astro, Dr. Tenma, Mr. Elefan and Mr. Mustachio are all immediately recognizable and there’s a definitive charm to the choice to maintain their appearances in such detail. Still, there is a distinct difference in their designs when compared to those new to the movie and the stylistic variances between the two groups looks a little uneven, such as comparing Tenma and Elefan’s large noses against a cast of more naturally-sized facial features, or Astro’s abnormally sized hands and head when next to the cast of children from the surface.

Along with the design aspects, the animation itself is fun to watch. Astro blasting through the skies in flight and weaving around buildings was joyful to follow and the action sequences were full of sharp explosions, smashing walls and a bad guy who, after some questionable introductory scenes, comes back as an honestly-intimidating force set on destroying Astro and annihilating the city to do so. The movie is bright and colourful overall, but also balances itself out visually with some dark motifs during scenes that well accommodate them, such as a deadly mechanical demonstration during the film’s opening portion.

Tezuka-fans will also be greeted by several ‘Easter eggs’ throughout the movie, including several appearances of Osamu Tezuka himself. It’s fun to keep an eye out for them and it shows a special level of attention by the IMAGI team to the story’s veteran fans.

There are a few distinct blots in this otherwise pretty entertaining endeavour however, that while not ruining the movie, definitely keep it from going good to great.

The worst offender was in regards to Dr. Tenma, who though generally well played by Nicholas Cage, was distractedly calm and collected in light of his son’s sudden and unfortunate death. While impressive that the filmmakers would choose to maintain such dark themes in the movie, the lack of a believable emotional response to something so horrific is a large pullback from the scene, especially one which is already so vague with intent to keep it from being too upsetting for children.

A team of three robots in the movie also prove to be indefinitely irrelevant to the plot and play no role past trying to force some extra humour into the plot. The only information they provide is a messy explanation of the 10 rules of robotics, which end up being as irrelevant as the robots themselves when robots-versus-humans never becomes a real decisive factor in the film.

There’s also the matter of Cora, a young girl from the surface who befriends Astro. She proves to be a decent character in her important, albeit slightly unmemorable, role but the final scene in the movie regarding the return of her parents is so ridiculous in the lack of explanation that it’s laughable, if not painful. Sadly serving as one of the last memories viewers will have of the movie, along with dramatic return to the surface that Metro City situations seem completely unaffected by, it leaves you with a bit of a proverbial bad taste.

Back to upsides however, the voice casting in the movie is good with a notably strong performance by Freddie Highmore as Astro. Known for playing more subdued characters such as Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I was hesitant about Highmore’s role as the pure and energetic Astro. Enjoyably these were worries swiftly quashed by his spirited and enthusiastic voice-work from the moment his character appears on the screen as Toby.

Overall Astro Boy proved itself to be an entertaining film, one that shows an appreciative dedication to the source material despite its more mainstream-requirements. Though failing to reach the potential of its own groundwork by choosing to put a bit too much kids’-movie gloss over its deeper briefly-glimpsed framework, Astro Boy is still a fun watch. It’s a film worth checking out when looking for some shiny animated-indulgence alongside its nostalgic undertones for the pre-disposed fan.

Review written October 25, 2009 by Lissa Pattillo
Movie viewed at Empire Theatres, Bayers Lake

Last night was the first of two showings across Canada of Evangelion 1.0, part one of a four-part retelling of the popular Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series, revamped with new scenes and new graphics for an old, an undeniably well-loved, story.

I went to the showing in Halifax, Nova Scotia, along with over 200 fellow fans –  not only did the show almost entirely sell out but we also made up the biggest turn-out across the entire country! Way to come out and show your support, Haligonians – you guys rock! Winning moments include a fun pre-show with lots of prizes and trivia and an impromptu light show during the film’s closing credits where everyone took out their cell phones and swayed them to the lovely Utada Hikaru song.

As for the movie itself, Evangelion 1.0 proved a movie well worth taking the time to see in theatres. As a redo of the original series’ first quarter, it did a fantastic job keeping remarkably faithful to the original down to almost identical shot-by-shot scenes. The graphics have a snazzy update, with high digital quality and the use 3D animation. The 3D is used to make the machinery more detailed and smooth without actually looking blatantly 3D, which helps seamlessly weave the effects in with the 2D segments (which is still the majority of the movie) and proved a winning combination.

The dub wasn’t perfect but still worked well overall, bringing back a majority of the old voice actors. Rei has a new voice actress but one who lends her talents perfectly to the role, and Shinji’s high-pitched whining returns in a more consistent fashion that, despite its more ear-splitting moments, works to remind us we’re watching a film starring a prepubescent.

I also realized that I don’t dislike the lead, Shinji, as a character despite the high level of animosity he often falls prey to from viewers. As when I first watched the series (almost ten years ago, yikes!) I still think he’s a sympathetically realistic character considering the situation he finds himself in. He acts, reacts and thinks in a way that keeps such a fantastical mech series feel surprisingly grounded, albeit I’ll fully admit that being privy to his (internet-coined) ‘emo-tastic inner dialogue often leaves it hard to take him seriously.

Fantastic backdrops and high-energy fight scenes aside, my favourite scenes in the movie were undoubtedly when the screen filled with shifting gears, moving mechanics and a slew of stress-stricken but methodical countdowns and confirmations of their status as another mission literally shot into place. It was these moments where I felt not only did the updated graphics play the strongest role but also that the dub felt the most natural. Exciting stuff!

So overall a great movie to see in theatres – no substitution for seeing an EVA vs Angel battle up there on the big screen. For all my fellow Canadians out there who joined me in viewing the movie in theatres across the country, I hope you enjoyed it as much as we Haligonians sure did.

As a reminder, Canadians can still catch another showing of Evangelion 1.0 in theatres this Saturday morning at 10am. You can find more information on the locations on Empire Theatres’ website.

And lastly, I share with you a cute comic by fellow Kuriousity reviewer, Andre, who nails the movie on the head in regards to hopeful mech-pilots: Jeepers goes to Evangelion 1.0 :)

Today’s AnimeNewsNetwork has posted its list of winners for the recently held Canadian-exclusive contest for tickets to Evangelion 1.0. Congrats to all the winners!

And as another reminder, the first showing of Evangelion 1.0 hits Canadian theatres across the country September 30th (next Wednesday!). The Empire Theatres’ website has information on participating locations including word that each theatre will again be holding cosplay contests for attendees with prizes and goodies for the winners on the premiere night!

I’ll be attending the Halifax showing as both a fan and promoter for 2010′s Animinitime events, so I hope to see lots of friendly and familiar faces there :)

Reusing the above graphic because it’s cool and relevant. AnimeNewsNetwork is holding a contest giving away tickets to 67 showings of the upcoming Evangelion 1.0 film, coming soon to Canadian theatres. ANN is giving away 310 tickets in total and it’s one ticket per location per winner. The giveaway ends on September 19th so head on over for a quick and easy chance to see the movie compliments of ANN and Eleven Arts Inc.

Canada’s Empire Theatres recently put up a landing page for the upcoming special event screenings of Evangelion 1.0. The threatres and dates were announced by Funimation earlier in the summer but Empire Theatre’s page has a few additional locations and times than those originally listed from ET (including two locations now playing it in Halifax, yay!).

Two times are now listed for the showings as well: Wednesday, September 30th and Saturday, October 3rd. The movie itself will be dubbed and will not have any special featurettes playing before or after it (unless specifically added by the individual threatres).

Along with this new information, you can also now pre-order your tickets for Empire Theatre showings, something worth doing in the near future thanks to the notority of large anime screenings selling out. Most theatres will also be hosting cosplay contests in connection with the film and will have some goodies on hand for prizes and freebies, including posters and postcards, and even a few surprises.

Empire Theatres will also be playing Studio Ghibli/Disney’s Ponyo in select theatres across Canada later in the summer with final showtimes and any-applicable special event information coming soon.

Day one of SDCC wraps up tonight and what a day it was! My 6000km trek across the continent that was full of trials standing between me and Comic Con, from barely connecting flights to lost luggage and no hotel room. But, patience and perserverance wins in the end and I was able to join fellow con-goers in enjoying day one (and writing about it on no sleep. It’s all about the con experience!). On that vague note, please excuse any crazy spelling errors or icky photo placement. My SDCC posts will all recieve a cleaning up once I return home from my trip.

As today was preview night for 4-day badge holders, press and professfionals, there wasn’t anything in the way of panels occuring but that didn’t mean the thousands of people who flocked to San Diego to attend didn’t find exactly what they were looking for. Open to the public after a slightly disorganized, but still very smoothly executed, registration, Comic Con International’s exhibitor area (“San Diego Comic Con”) was officially open to its eager audience.

You can read about my initial manga finds on the floor and see some photos after the jump.

On the exhibition floor of SDCC, there’s more than enough to keep even the most genre-defined member of geekdom in sheer awe. You can’t see one side of the convention floor from the other, and just as well since the sea of people is as difficult to traverse through as it is to see through. The crowds prove the most trying part of the big-convention experience, but with so many different boothes to explore, it’s easy to find something else to entertain you when the occassional mass-grouping, or extensive wait line for free goodies, gets a little too long to manage.

 

Most of the big manga publishers hit the floor this year, with Viz leading the pack for most impressive display. They went all out, further showcasing the company’s refreshing confidence amidst the shaky economy. A large Viz Media sign made their booth easy to find and the whole area is adorned with giant posters of their big properties. There’s also a wall dedicated to their new titles for the recently revealed Shonen Sunday. Goodies at the booth include free posters and postcards with enthusiastic staff on hand prompting attendees to try out the UFO-machine, pose with the life-sized Naruto statue or pluck a coin from their treasure chest for the chance to win some prizes.

Nearby, Dark Horse has their booth and purchase area set-up. Many attendees scrambled to get one of their complimentary bags that sport CLAMP’s 20th Anniversary logo. The manga selection at their booth includes nearly their entire catelouge, great for picking up titles both new and old to fill in collections. They won my first purchase of the convention with a buy of MPD Psycho (Vol. 09).

More moderately designed, and unfortunately much harder to find in comparison, Tokyopop and Yen Press both had booths on floor as well. Tokyopop’s had a healthy supply of their most recent titles, with a distinctly shoujo-majority, and were handing out free copies of their Fruits Basket fanbook, along with a DVD of the first two episodes. Also available were some posters including Fruits Basket and Bizenghest. Yen Press’s booth is a duel set-up with their parent company, Hachette, and has a small assortment of their recent titles. The biggest draw for their booth when I was there was undoubtedly the posters that sported the manhwa designs for Edward and Bella, the two leads of Yen Press’s upcoming adaptation of the popular Twilight novel series.

Del Rey manga had a set-up near the two with a healthy assortment of their titles available for purchase and friendly staff to offer them to you. They were also giving away some free goodies including keychains sporting artwork from their upcoming shoujo X-Men series.

CMX was present at SDCC as well, buddying up with their parent company, DC. Their portion of the booth is easy to spot with big eye-catching posters of some of their currently running manga titles. Employees there were offering nice-sized CMX sampler books that are certainly worth a pick-up.

Alas, boys’ love giant Digital Manga isn’t present at this year’s SDCC, nor is Aurora Publishing or its supporting imprints. Several vendors were present to make sure that all companies had their titles out for purchase however and I left day one of the convention a very manga-satisfied individual. For a fantastic assortment of artbooks and manga titles, I recommend finding the booth for ‘Comic CEllar’ down around the comics section. Great stuff for sale e with no taxesther to worry about!

Of course there’s tons more than just manga to enjoy, including a vast array of video games to demo, tons of fashionable boutiques willing to strike up a bargain and company after company offering up loads of fun swag guaranteed to make you the envy of everyone (prepare to be asked numerous times where you recieved certain freebies). Funimation also has a spiffy sized area with the majority of their recent boxsets for sale, along with a bunch of high-quality posters, postcards and bookmarks that’re free to take. Don’t forget to check out their wall-art too, including the-hard-to-miss giant Super Saiyajin Goku.

Another section of the exhibition floor you want to make sure you don’t miss is the Small Press and Artist Alley. Tons of studios and individuals are there selling their wares, showcasing their skills and offering tons of beautiful work you may not have the opportunity to find anywhere else. Also nestled within these areas is Aimee Steinberger, artist of the fabulously adorable Japan Ai. She offers copies of her book for sale along with some prints and artbooks, one of which I was quite happy to recieve with a free sketch inside! Thanks again, Aimee :D

Suffice to say, it was a busy day one in San Diego and it only promises to grow expenientially as the 5-day convention continues. I’ll be keeping Kuriousity updated with more SDCC info over the next few days, including converage of my first industry panels. Exciting stuff! A hello to fellow con-goers as well, I certainly hope to have the opportunity to meet you and hope everyone’s having fun thus far. Lots more to come I’m sure :)

For anime and manga specific information on events at SDCC over the weekend, you can check out AnimeNewsNetwork’s handy guide on the matter.

It comes as little surprise anymore when us Canadians get the short end of the theatrical anime-stick. Those of us who don’t live in the big cities of Vancouver and Toronto, and occassionally Montreal, can usually count ourselves out of many big Japanese animated film releases. However, in a news release from Funimation, it seems that Canadians are getting the good end of the stick this time.

On September 30, 2009, the first of four Evangelion remake films, Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, will be playing across Canada in 67 different theatres. The film, rated PG-13, will sport a dub bringing back many of the voice talents from the original Evangelion series’ dub.

You can watch a trailer for the movie on Funimation’s Eva 1.0 website, and see the full list of Canadian theatres under the post cut.

News Source: AnimeNewsNetwork (FUNI Press Release)

Canadian Theatres Playing Eva 1.0 on September 30, 2009:

Originally written sometime last week, this post suffers from forgot-about-it-itis:

It’s no exageration that I’m a huge fan of Nickelodeon’s recently finished animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. As one of the most original and well-animated shows to play on television in my memory, I’ll forever be impressed and amazed by the creative team behind it and their visual and story-telling prowess that brought the unique series to life. You can see some screenshots of the multiple characters and gorgeous background paintings thanks to a “visual essay” of the series here.

That said, casting news of its upcoming live-action movie has created more than a little stir, a ripple of disbelief, that reaches far beyond its loyal fanbase.  This of course comes from the fact that the entire cast of this live-action movie are caucasian. As a series starring pre-dominantly Asian characters in beautifully rendered Asian locales, this doesn’t only seem completely inaccurate but also unneccessary. Is it to say there aren’t any talented ethnic actors and actresses out there? Because goodness knows that isn’t true.

A lot of talk has spiraled around about what can, and should, be done about this and more than a handful are stepping up to bring what they feel is a serious issue to Hollywood’s attention. What impresses me most is that many hadn’t heard of Avatar until this issue arose, which goes to show that it makes issue past fan-outrage towards disregard of the source material.

One of the largest, and growing, actions to bring a new perspective to the big-wigs is Saving the World With Postage, which encourages people to  send letters about Avatar: The Last Airbender’s live action movie and its attached cast. It doesn’t take long to write a letter and slip it into a mailbox so I hope that any and all who see issue with this, take a couple minutes to write up and send their concerns. The LJ posting has an example letter, tips, addresses and many responses from those who’ve already sent in their envelopes, complete with photographs.

As a manga-blog, I’ve no doubt my visitors know of the upcoming Dragonball Evolution live-action film. There was a quite a stir during the original casting announcements that the lead character Goku would be played by Justin Chatwin instead of an Asian martial artist. Truth be told in this particular matter, Goku may not neccessary have been originally Asian persay, (being an alien and all) as Toriyama’s worlds are vibrantly populated with people of every race, nationality and species. But none-the-less the scrunity was there and perhaps with good reason as another example of a growing trend.

This also reminds a lot of the casting for the in-production adaption of the popular video game franchise, Prince of Persia. How I love those games and have since I was young. But why is the ‘Prince of Persia’ being played by Jake Gyllenhaal?

Recent confirmation of Cowboy Bebop’s Hollywood treatment has also sent worried ripples through its fan community. AnimeVice has recently posted excerpts from an interview with the movie’s director and it seems they’re already trying to nip some of the obvious concerns in the bud:

“As far as the cast goes, I can’t tell you who is going to play what, but I can’t imagine that we’re not going to have a totally multi-ethnic cast.”

I’ve read lots of arguments on both sides, ranging from the quick-to-points on racism to people saying that as a white-nation, we should be making ‘white movies’. What? North America is multi-cultural society and is it so bad to have our movies reflect this? Are people really so interested in seeing an entire white cast decked up in Eastern clothing and pretending to be another race for two hours? And no, I do not believe that every causcasian casting is a racist decision so please don’t misunderstand me. Acting is one thing and goodness knows some can do it brilliantly (thank you, Robert Downey Jr., for your Tropic Thunder role which brings some well-said lines and a needed dash of humour to issues like these), but there are some things that do not need to be forged, forced or fabricated.

When it comes to adaptations, I usually give the benefit of the doubt. Different mediums call for different approaches. You’re not going to have something that can be, will be or neccessarily needs to be, nearly identical to the source material because the source material already exists to fill that role! But what I do believe in is respect towards the original and sometimes, it just really doesn’t feel like it’s there.

I leave you with a quote from Simon at Icarus Publishing, who links to a worthwhile read on the matter and as usual entertains:

“But even without the spectre of latent racism, the studio casting choices have me worried.  How hokey is it to see a bunch of white people wearing ancient Asian garb?  How is anyone to take the movie seriously, if you’re constantly reminded of somebody’s cheesy home video from his/her vacation to Beijing  with every single frame?”

My apologies for such a mish-mashed rant. For now, though, I have a letter to write :)

Tenth day of December anyway. Some random fun/entertaining/otherwise interesting links for you today :)

The new trailer for Fox’s upcoming Dragonball adaptation, now titled Dragonball Evolution, is currently up and ready for viewing! My thoughts remain generally the same as before, obviously not a faithful adaptation but still looks like fun! In fact, I think now it looks even more fun. Go check it out and see what you think.

AnimeNewsNetwork has the first of its free streaming anime up for viewing now! No complaints about free, legal anime :) Currently you can watch Kite: Liberator, Girl’s High and Ramen Fighter Miki.

Also ANN related: Their annual Holiday Logo Contest has begun! Momentary ANN-fame and anime boxsets await the winner. I’m entering the contest in the slim hope I could get my hands on the CLAMP School Detectives boxset! Going to be fun to see all the cute submitted artwork starring their AnimeNewsNina mascot when the entries are displayed.

And a little late on the update, but for those (like me) who’ve missed Gia‘s site updates, you can now rejoice at her return on her website, AnimeVice. Extra goodies include some video updates such as fun look at the inside of Viz Media’s office. Envious of their working space? I think so.

And lastly, for the yaoi fans, Yaoi Generation has preview pages up for its first release, Breath by Chifumi Ochi. So if you’d like to take a look, then by all means! I recommend viewing the images in full size since the preview window shrinks them down and makes ‘em fuzzy.

A reminder to Canadian folks that the second live-action Death Note movie, Death Note 2: The Last Name, will be playing across the country in select theatres this Wednesday, December 3rd! Tickets are going fast and the first movie was sold out across the nation so if you want to make sure you and your friends get a seat, then I recommend buying your tickets early.

Also, don’t forgot to check out your local anime organizations and theatres for special events and get-togethers surrounding it, such as Halifax’s pre-movie cosplay contest :)

Edit: Another event definately worth attending if you’re in the area, is at Granville 7 theatre in Vancouver, where there’ll be a signing session with the Death Note English voice cast.

A reminder to Canadian anime fans; the first Bleach movie, Bleach: Memories of Nobody, will be playing in select theatres across the country tomorrow, October 20th. Even if you’ve seen the movie, there’s nothing quite like watching it on the big screen. Remember, the more you go to anime in the theatre, the more you’re supporting it and up the chances of more being played!

While I’m not sure of what kind of special events are happening elsewhere, I know the Bayer’s Lake Empire Theatres in Halifax will be having a special Bleach cosplay contest before the showing so those interested should definately show up a bit early for some fun and prizes :)