Tag: Anime

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Star Wars: Visions’ English Voice Cast To Include Simu Liu, David Harbour, Lucy Liu, Alison Brie, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jamie Chung, Henry Golding & James Hong

We’re excited to see Lucasfilm jump into the realm of real anime with Star Wars: Visions debuting September 22 on Disney+ with 9 short films coming from Japanese animation studios.

A Lucasfilm/Disney press release (via The Playlist) has revealed the English and Japanese voice cast for the episodes of Star Wars: Visions.

ENGLISH VOICE CAST

The Duel: Brian Tee (Ronin), Lucy Liu (Bandit Leader), Jaden Waldman (Village Chief)

Tatooine Rhapsody: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Jay), Bobby Moynihan (Geezer), Temuera Morrison (BobaFett), Shelby Young (K-344), Marc Thompson (Lan)

The Twins: Neil Patrick Harris (Karre), Alison Brie (Am), Jonathan Lipow (B-20N)

The Village Bride: Karen Fukuhara (F), Nichole Sakura (Haru), Christopher Sean (Asu), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Valco), Andrew Kishino (Izuma), Stephanie Sheh (Saku)

The Ninth Jedi: Kimiko Glenn (Kara), Andrew Kishino (Juro), Simu Liu (Zhima), Masi Oka (Ethan), Greg Chun (Roden), Neil Kaplan (Narrator), Michael Sinterniklaas (Hen Jin)

T0-B1: Jaden Waldman (T0-B1), Kyle Chandler (Mitaka)

The Elder: David Harbour (Tajin), Jordan Fisher (Dan), James Hong (The Elder)

Lop & Ocho: Anna Cathcart (Lop), Hiromi Dames (Ocho), Paul Nakauchi (Yasaburo), Kyle McCarley (Imperial Officer)

Akakiri: Henry Golding (Tsubaki), Jamie Chung (Misa), George Takei (Senshuu), Keone Young (Kamahachi), Lorraine Toussaint (Masago)

JAPANESE VOICE CAST

The Duel: Masaki Terasoma (Ronin), Akeno Watanabe (Bandit Leader), Yūko Sanpei (VillageChief)

Tatooine Rhapsody: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Jay), Kōusuke Gotō (Geezer), Akio Kaneda (Boba Fett), MasayoFujita (K-344), Anri Katsu (Lan)

The Twins: Junya Enoki (Karre), Ryoko Shiraishi (Am), Tokuyoshi Kawashima (B-20N)

The Village Bride: Asami Seto (F), Megumi Han (Haru), Yūma Uchida (Asu), Takaya Kamikawa(Vaan), Yoshimitsu Shimoyama (Izuma), Mariya Ise (Saku)

The Ninth Jedi: Chinatsu Akasaki(Kara), Tetsuo Kanao (Juro), Shin-ichiro Miki (Zhima), Hiromu Mineta (Ethan), Kazuya Nakai (Roden), Akio Ōtsuka, (Narrator), Daisuke Hirakawa (Hen Jin)

T0-B1: Masako Nozawa (T0-B1), Tsutomu Isobe (Mitaka)

The Elder: Takaya Hashi (Tajin), Kenichi Ogata (The Elder), Yuichi Nakamura (Dan)

Lop & Ocho: Seiran Kobayashi (Lop), Risa Shimizu (Ocho), Tadahisa Fujimura (Yasaburo), Taisuke Nakano (Imperial Officer)

Akakiri: Yū Miyazaki (Tsubaki), Lynn (Misa), Chō (Senshuu), Wataru Takagi (Kamahachi),Yukari Nozawa (Masago)

A new trailer also dropped yesterday showcasing some of the fantastic animation from the Japanese studios. The Playlist also has a breakdown of which studio is working on what episodes.

The studios creating the nine shorts include Kamikaze Douga – “The Duel”; Geno Studio (Twin Engine) – “Lop and Ochō”; Studio Colorido (Twin Engine) – “Tatooine Rhapsody”; TRIGGER – “The Twins” and “The Elder”; Kinema Citrus – “The Village Bride”; Science Saru – “Akakiri” and “T0-B1”; and Production I.G. – “The Ninth Jedi.” 

I’m extremely hyped for episodes like The Elder and Lop & Ocha.

SOURCE: DISNEY VIA THE PLAYLIST

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Battle Of The Planets’: Russo Brothers Enlist ‘F9’ Screenwriter Daniel Casey For Their Epic Sci-Fi Anime Adaptation

Back at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Anthony and Joe Russo announced a bunch of projects their production company AGBO would be developing and that group included a feature film adaptation of the beloved Japanese anime series Battle of The Planets aka Gatchaman.

There is now a status update as Deadline reports that The Russo Brothers have hired F9: The Fast Saga screenwriter Daniel Casey (Kin, 10 Cloverfield Lane) to work on the script for Battle of The Planets.

The series followed five young orphans who are trained from a young age to form an elite, intergalactic team known as G-Force, swearing to protect Earth and its allies from otherworldly invading forces.

Russo Brothers are behind some of the biggest Marvel Studios successes with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avenger: Endgame. Their experience with large scale team based blockbusters should put fans’ of the anime at ease about a feature film adaptation. They’re currently shooting Netflix’s big budget spy action flick The Gray Man starring Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling, the streamer claiming it is their most expensive film to date with a budget of over $200 million.

There is an expectation the sibling duo will direct Battle of The Planets (given their personal connection to the anime) and could end up getting a hefty budget to cover the elaborate futuristic sets and the visual effects needed to bring the anime adaptation to life.

The project comes as we’ve seen a limited amount of anime/manga adaptations from Hollywood such as Alita: Battle Angel, Ghost In The Shell, Speed Racer, Guyver, Dragonball, Death Note, and Netflix’s upcoming Cowboy Bebop series. Other projects in development include Robotech, Attack On Titan, Gundam, and Warner Bros. has spend almost two decades trying to bring Akira to the big screen.

With most prime comic book projects have been picked over by Hollywood studios over the last thirty years there will be a point that movies based on anime and manga source material will end up having more regularly, because the genre concepts may translate well to the big screen.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

‘Blade Runner: Black Lotus’ Anime Series Taps ‘Matrix 4’s Jessica Henwick, ‘The Wolverine’s Will Yun Lee & More For Voice Cast

Alcon Entertainment and Crunchyroll had teamed together for an anime series that takes place within the cyberpunk universe of Blade Runner. The dystopian alternative future where man has created a disposable workforce with Replicants, artificial humanoids that are mainly used as slave labor, sex workers, and soldiers on the off-world colonies with a limited lifespan.

The show called Blade Runner: Black Lotus has seasoned Japanese directors Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed) and Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) working on all 13 episodes with Shinichiro Watanabe (The Animatrix, Blade Runner Black Out 2022, Cowboy Bebop) set as a creative producer.

Deadline now says the English and Japanese voice cast will consist of Jessica Henwick, Arisa Shida, Will Yun Lee, Shinshu Fuji, Samira Wiley, Takako Honda, Brian Cox, Wes Bentley, Josh Duhamel, Taiten Kusunoki, Peyton List, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Stephen Root, Hochu Otsuka, Barkhad Abdi, Takayuki Kinba, Gregg Henry, Masane Tsukayama, Henry Czerny, Akio Nojima, Jason Spisak and Kazuki Yao.

Here is a rundown of who they’ll be playing.

Henwick/Shida voice Elle, a female replicant created for a secret and unknown purpose. Lee/Fuji voice Joseph, a mysterious figure who owns a spare parts junkyard in Los Angeles. Wiley/Hona voice Alani Davis, a fresh LAPD recruit. Cox/Hashi voice Niander Wallace Sr, founder and CEO of the Wallace Corporation. Bentley/Koyasu voice Niander Wallace Jr, brilliant scientist working for his father. Duhamel/Kusunoki voice Marlowe, a deadly Blade Runner. List/Sakakibara voice Josephine Grant, the wife of the police chief. Root/Otsuka voice Earl Grant, Police Chief of the LAPD. Abdi/Kinba voice Doc Badger, a black market dealer. Henry/Tsukayama voice Senator Bannister, a politician with strong feelings on replicant production. Spisak/Yao voice Hooper, a journalist in the pocket of the Wallace Corporation.

While Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve has teased a Blade Runner 3, there aren’t any concrete plans for a third feature film despite how well-received the last installment was.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

‘Terminator’: Showrunner Mattson Tomlin Shares Update On His Netflix Anime Series Being Made By ‘Ghost In The Shell’ Animation Studio

Writer Mattson Tomlin might not be a household name but he’s been behind the Netflix superhero flick Project Power and co-wrote Robert Pattinson’s The Batman with director Matt Reeves. One of his upcoming projects that people seem to have forgotten he’s involved with is a Netflix anime series from Japan’s Production I.G set in the dystopian cyberpunk world of James Cameron’s Terminator that launched in 1984.

Well, the writer/showrunner has teased that he’s completed a draft or currently working on one as the title page credits both James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd.

THE TERMINATOR – Disguised as a human, a cyborg assassin known as a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) travels from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). Sent to protect Sarah is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), who divulges the coming of Skynet, an artificial intelligence system that will spark a nuclear holocaust. Sarah is targeted because Skynet knows that her unborn son will lead the fight against them. With the virtually unstoppable Terminator in hot pursuit, she and Kyle attempt to escape.

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY – In this sequel set eleven years after “The Terminator,” young John Connor (Edward Furlong), the key to civilization’s victory over a future robot uprising, is the target of the shape-shifting T-1000 (Robert Patrick), a Terminator sent from the future to kill him. Another Terminator, the revamped T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), has been sent back to protect the boy. As John and his mother (Linda Hamilton) go on the run with the T-800, the boy forms an unexpected bond with the robot.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Japanese animation company Production I.G, they were behind the original Ghost In The Shell, Ghost In Shell 2: Innocence, Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Ghost In The Shell: Arise, Blood: The Last Vampire, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion, and they made the anime segment in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol.1 that covered the origin of O’Ren Ishii.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ji2-_wdUY

SOURCE: MATTSON TOMLIN

Posted on in Film News

Netflix Adapting Keanu Reeves’ Comic ‘BRZRKR’ Into Live-Action Film & Anime Series – Reeves To Star In Both

Yesterday, Netflix announced they’ll be boarding the Keanu Reeves train as they’ve made a deal to adapt the BOOM! Studios/Reeves comic book BRZRKR for a live-action film and anime series as a follow-up afterwards. Reeves himself will, of course, star in both projects with the latter lending his voice.

BRZRKR is a brutally epic saga about an immortal warrior’s 80,000 year fight through the ages. The man known only as “B” is half-mortal and half-god, , cursed and compelled to violence… even at the sacrifice of his sanity. But after wandering the earth for centuries, B may have finally found a refuge – working for the U.S. government to fight the battles too violent and too dangerous for anyone else. In exchange, B will be granted the one thing he desires – the truth about his endless blood-soaked existence…and how to end it.

The anime series will further expand the BRZRKR universe by exploring different elements of the story. In the series, Reeves will reprise his role and voice his character. 

Keanu is coming off a shoot for Matrix 4 aka Matrix Resurrections at Warner Bros. with John Wick: Chapter 4 and John Wick: Chapter 5 on the horizon. While Lionsgate has suggested their plan is to film the next two John Wick installments back-to-back. There is a good chance John Wick: Chapter 5 will be the final film according to franchise creator Derek Kolstad.

Developing another action franchise at Netflix seems like the choice move there for Reeves.

SOURCE: NETFLIX

Posted on in Television News

Netflix’s Live-Action ‘Cowboy Bebop’ Series Wrapped Filming Last Week

Last week, Cowboy Bebop actress Daniella Pineda, who plays the live-action version of Faye Valentine confirmed on her Instagram account that production on the Netflix series has wrapped production. The filming was taking place in Auckland, New Zealand.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMO_5WEDER0/

Based on the worldwide phenomenon from Sunrise Inc., Cowboy Bebop is the jazz-inspired, genre-bending story of Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine and Radical Ed: a rag-tag crew of bounty hunters on the run from their pasts as they hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous criminals. They’ll even save the world…for the right price.

The cast of Cowboy Bebop includes John Cho as Spike Spiegel, Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black, Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine, Alex Hassell as Vicious, Elena Satine as Julia, Geoff Stults (Little Fires Everywhere, 12 Strong), Tamara Tunie (Black Earth Rising, Dietland), Mason Alexander Park (Hedwig and the Angry Inch National Broadway Tour), Rachel House (Thor Ragnarok, Soul), Ann Truong (Strikeback!, Hard Target 2), and Hoa Xuande (Ronny Chieng: International Student, Top of the Lake).

SOURCE: DANIELLA PINEDA

Posted on in Television News

Netflix’s Samurai Anime Series ‘Yasuke’ Drops April 29th – LaKeith Stanfield Lending His Voice & Music From Flying Lotus

It was announced this week by Netflix that their upcoming anime six-episode series Yasuke from LeSean Thomas and Japanese anime studio MAPPA will be released on April 29th. The series is a remaining of the real-life story about Yasuke aka The Black Samurai, who became one of the first and only foreigners to obtain the rank of samurai in feudal Japan.

Yasuke was a native of Portuguese Mozambique who was brought to Japan as a slave to Jesuit missionaries. The first black man to set foot on Japanese soil, Yasuke’s arrival aroused the interest of Nobunaga, a ruthless warlord seeking to unite the fractured country under his banner. A complex relationship developed between the two men as Yasuke earned Nobunaga’s friendship, respect — and ultimately, the honor, swords and title of samurai.

LaKeith Stanfield will be voicing Yasuke with music from Flying Lotus.

Here is the official synopsis from Netflix.

Yasuke is a six-episode anime series created by LeSean Thomas, set in alternate fantastical Japan during the feudal era. The story follows a samurai warrior of African descent who must return to his life of sword-fighting and violence in order to protect a mysterious girl from dark forces. The story, just like the passionate creative team, transcends borders, cultures and languages and is one that we’re so proud to tell at Netflix and share with the world.

In a war-torn feudal Japan filled with mechs and magic, the greatest ronin never known, Yasuke, struggles to maintain a peaceful existence after a past life of violence. But when a local village becomes the center of social upheaval between warring daimyo, Yasuke must take up his sword and transport a mysterious child who is the target of dark forces and bloodthirsty warlords. 

A live-action feature film version had been in the works with Chadwick Boseman attached to star before the actor passed due to his battle with colon cancer.

SOURCE: NETFLIX

Posted on in Film News

Zack Snyder’s Zombie Flick ‘Army of The Dead’ Getting A Prequel Movie and Anime Series Titled ‘Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas’

Netflix announced today via Variety that Zack Snyder’s upcoming zombie genre action flick Army of The Dead will be getting a prequel film and an “anime” series. 

Following a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.

Army of The Dead’s cast consists of Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Ana De La Reguera, Theo Rossi, Huma Qureshi, Omari Hardwick, Hiroyuki Sanada, Garret Dillahunt, Matthias Schweighöfer, Raúl Castillo, Nora Arnezeder, and Samantha Win. 

It was recently announced that stand-up comedian and actress Tig Notaro would be joining the film as well. 

Shay Hatten will write the prequel and anime series. 

Matthias Schweighöfer, who plays Ludwig Dieter will direct and focuses on his character. 

The anime series titled Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas follows Dave Bautista’s character with Jay Oliva (The Dark Knight Returns) showrunning and directing a couple of episodes. 

Most of the shows being labeled as anime by Netflix aren’t part of that genre and it seems to be a blanket marketing term used by the streaming service, we’ll have to wait and see if it applies to this show. 

SOURCE: VARIETY 

Posted on in Television News

‘Cyberpunk 2077’ 10-Episode Anime Series Coming To Netflix In 2022 Titled ‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’

Yesterday, Netflix officially announced they’ve teamed with video game developer CD Projekt Red and Japanese animation studio Trigger Studio for a new animated series titled Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. The new series will be directly set within the universe of their upcoming video game Cyberpunk 2077.

The futuristic video game set in the fictional Night City mixes RPG and first-person-shooter elements. It also takes a massive amount of visual cues from the R-rated comic book film Dredd. 

Here is the official press release for the upcoming anime series. 

Netflix, CD Projekt Red, and Studio Trigger announce an all new original anime series CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS set in the same universe as the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077. The series will premiere in 2022.

CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS tells a standalone, 10-episode story about a street kid trying to survive in a technology and body modification-obsessed city of the future. Having everything to lose, he chooses to stay alive by becoming an edgerunner—a mercenary outlaw also known as a cyberpunk.

CD PROJEKT RED, the company behind the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, is producing the series, with a creative team formed of talent from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Cyberpunk 2077. The team at CD PROJEKT RED has been working on this new series since 2018. 

Acclaimed Japan-based animation company, Studio Trigger, will serve as the animation studio on the series and bring the world of Cyberpunk to life with their signature, vibrant style. Hiroyuki Imaishi (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Promare) will direct the series along with assistant director Masahiko Otsuka (Gurren Lagann, Promare), creative director Hiromi Wakabayashi (Kill la Kill) , character designer Yoh Yoshinari (Little Witch Academia, BNA: Brand New Animal) and Yuto Kaneko (Little Witch Academia), and the adapted screenplay by Yoshiki Usa (SSSS.GRIDMAN, Promare) and Masahiko Otsuka (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Promare). The original score will be composed by Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill series).

This isn’t the first CD Projekt Red project Netflix has adapted as they turned their mature fantasy game The Witcher into a series starring Henry Cavill.

They’ve also included a teaser poster for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. 

As mentioned before it will drop sometime in 2022. 

SOURCE: NETFLIX