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April 14, 2005
4kids & kappa mikey
In an odd, ironic, and vaguely psychopathic twist, 4Kids has acquired Animation Collective's "Kappa Mikey", an animated series about an American actor who finds fame, fortune and utter confusion in Japan after becoming a voice actor in a failing anime series, which becomes a smash hit.
The interesting thing about this series is that the art style is not in the least bit (stereotypical) anime-like (although that may change between now and the series debut on Nick (!) in '06). Also, MTV had a hand in its early development, which makes it all the more odd that the completed series will air on Nickelodeon of all places. Even the most promising animation series wither and die on Nick. (or get assassinated if they threaten to overshadow the network's teen idol franchises - witness the slow death-by-reruns of Invader Zim). Finally, there's 4Kids' involvement. hooboy. after seeing what they've done to real anime series, I shudder to think of what will become of a series that is in their hands from the very start.
From a technical standpoint, Kappa Mikey's animation will be done in Flash, something I've only seen in "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends." It works for Foster's, but Kappa Mikey appears to be a good deal less ...fanciful (given that it's about an American actor finding fame as an anime voice actor in Japan). Nonetheless, Animation Collective has a good (Web) track record and I look forward to seeing what they can do in the broadcast medium, despite the odds already stacked against them.
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 11:49 AM | Posted to Anime, American Style | Comments (0)
April 11, 2005
been slackin'
In case anyone cares, I do plan a big site update soon... I promise. I just have to get through tonight's Japanese class.XD
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:21 AM | Posted to Aria | Aria_All | Comments (2)
April 10, 2005
Aria Drama CD
It's no wonder everyone on Aqua is crazy for Alicia, since she's got the voice of a goddess!:D On the drama CD, Alicia is played by Inoue Kikuko, better known as the voice of Belldandy.
The CD booklet also reveals some information about Alicia and Aika. Alicia is Alicia Florence and she's 19 (!), and Aika is Aika S. Granzchesta (and is 16). And Aria-shachou's last name is Pokoteng. I am not making this up.
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 11:00 AM | Posted to Aria | Aria_All | Comments (2)
April 05, 2005
Tadaima!!!
I'm back from Japan! A few Aria-related updates:
- The third water fairy's name is At(h?)ena. Apparently she sings. Personality-wise she seems to be quite a gloomy and/or anemic person. She's Alice's sempai.
- In addition to Aria, Aqua and Crescent Noise, Amano-sensei did a high school romance series called Roman Club and a series of short stories (I think these feature the Roman Club characters, but I haven't been able to figure them out) during her stint with Enix's G-Fantasy. These were published in tankoubon format under the GanGan Comics (GC) imprint.
- I had the opportunity to speak with a manga editor for Enix's manga line. He said that Mag Garden now owns the rights to republish ALL of Amano-sensei's GanGan Comics works, so there's a good chance that Crescent Noise will be reprinted under the Mag Garden imprint. So far from the GC imprint, the short stories and Aqua have been reprinted by Mag Garden (with new covers!) This explains why there have been 2 sets of covers seen for Aqua.
- Stella is out! Quite pretty. Contains color art up to vol 6 of the Aria manga, and more color art from Roman Club and short stories.
Whew! That's all I have for now. I will scan the covers of Stella and the GC tankoubon at a later date.
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:09 PM | Posted to Aria | Aria_All | Comments (6)
