Flow

Film gets 2-week screening in Japan starting on November 18 The official website for the Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt anime began streaming a second teaser trailer for the Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower compilation film on Thursday. (Note: The video on the official website is region-locked to Japan.) The film will have a simultaneous global release on November 18. In Japan, the film have a two-week limited screening in 15 theaters. The site also revealed a new visual. The first Anime NYC convention will host a premiere screening of the film on November 19. In addition, the convention will hold a Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt anime music concert led by composer Naruyoshi Kikuchi. The event will take place from November 17 to 19 at the Javits Center. A limited first edition Blu-ray Disc release of the film will be offered in the theaters screening the film in Japan starting on November 18. The release will include English audio and English subtitl

Jim Broadbent, Ewen Bremner, Lynda Baron, Rasmus Hardiker, more also star GKids announced the main English dub cast on Wednesday for Studio Ponoc and Hiromasa Yonebayashi's Mary and The Witch's Flower (Mary to Majo no Hana) anime film. The BFG's Ruby Barnhill stars in the dub as the titular character Mary, and Kate Winslet (Titanic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Mountain Between Us) plays school chairwoman Madam Mumblechook. Jim Broadbent, who co-starred with Winslet in Iris, plays Mumblechook's colleague Doctor Dee. Other cast members without specified roles include Ewen Bremner, Lynda Baron, Rasmus Hardiker, Teresa Gallagher, Morwenna Banks, and Louis Ashbourne Serkis. David Freedman and Lynda Freedman are writing the English-language adaptation, and Geoffrey Wexler is producing. Altitude Film Sales' Will Clarke is serving as executive producer. GKIDS announced earlier this month that it has acquired the film. Oricon previously reported that the English

Inaugural festival takes place in Hollywood in October The inaugural "Animation is Film" festival announced its initial competition film lineup on Friday. The films screening in competition include Masaaki Yuasa and Science SARU's Lu over the wall anime film and Studio Ponoc and Hiromasa Yonebayashi's Mary and The Witch's Flower anime film. The screening will mark the North American premiere of Mary and The Witch's Flower. The festival also stated that the screening would be the North American premiere of Lu over the wall, but the film has already screened at Dallas' AnimeFest convention and at Montreal's Fantasia International Film Festival, and will also compete at Ottawa International Animation Festival later this month. The Animation is Film festival will announce the full lineup on September 20. Tickets will also go on sale on the same day. The inaugural festival will run from October 20-22 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theater in Hollywood. The event will host 20 programs

Tsurugi Watanabe stars in film opening next spring A website and a Twitter account for a live-action adaptation of Shoko Hidaka's Does The Flower Blossom? boys-love manga opened on Friday. The film will premiere theatrically next spring. The movie stars Tsurugi Watanabe (pictured below) in his first film role as Yōichi Minagawa. Kaori Tanimoto is directing. Hidaka debuted the manga in 2009 and Gentosha published the series in five compiled volumes. Digital Manga Publishing licensed the first three volumes under its Juné imprint in 2012 and has thus far released the first two volumes. Digital Manga describes the story: Sakurai Kazuaki. At age 38, he's single, overworked, and starting to feel a bit miserable about his life. One day a young college guy at a train station bumps into Sakurai and wreks his magazine. Fate — or coincidence — has it, Minagawa happens to own the same magazine at home, and instead of apologizing for the damaged item, he invites Sakurai to his hou

2 rock bands previously collaborated on 1st anime's 1st ending The official website for The Seven Deadly Sins anime franchise unveiled the opening theme song artists, January 6 premiere date, first promotional video, and a new visual for the new season, The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments (Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu), on Saturday. The groups FLOW and GRANRODEO are collaborating on the new season's opening theme song, after working on the first anime series' first ending theme song. The series will premiere at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 6 (4:30 p.m. EST on Friday, January 5) on MBS, TBS, and other network affiliates throughout Japan. The returning cast includes: Yuuki Kaji as Meliodas Sora Amamiya as Elizabeth Misaki Kuno as Hawk Aoi Yūki as Diane Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Ban Jun Fukuyama as King Yuuhei Takagi as Gowther Maaya Sakamoto as Merlin Mamoru Miyano as Gilthunder Ryohei Kimura as Hauser Takahiro Sakurai as

2 rock bands previously collaborated on 1st anime's 1st ending The official website for The Seven Deadly Sins anime franchise unveiled the opening theme song artists, January 6 premiere date, first promotional video, and a new visual for the new season, The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments (Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu), on Saturday. The groups FLOW and GRANRODEO are collaborating on the new season's opening theme song, after working on the first anime series' first ending theme song. The series will premiere at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 6 (4:30 p.m. EST on Friday, January 5) on MBS, TBS, and other network affiliates throughout Japan. The returning cast includes: Yuuki Kaji as Meliodas Sora Amamiya as Elizabeth Misaki Kuno as Hawk Aoi Yūki as Diane Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Ban Jun Fukuyama as King Yuuhei Takagi as Gowther Maaya Sakamoto as Merlin Mamoru Miyano as Gilthunder Ryohei Kimura as Hauser Takahiro Sakurai as

Sugisaki wins Face of Asia award for up and coming Asian performers The Busan International Film Festival in South Korea awarded Japanese actress Hana Sugisaki with its Face of Asia award for her performance as the main character Mary in Studio Ponoc and Hiromasa Yonebayashi's Mary and The Witch's Flower anime film. The award honors up-and-coming Asian actors and actresses. The film had its debut screening in South Korea on Friday during the film festival. The film festival will also screen the live-action Blade of the Immortal film, the live-action Let Me Eat Your Pancreas (Kimi no Suizō o Tabetai) film, and Akiyuki Simbo and Shunji Iwai's Fireworks, Should We See it from the Side or the Bottom? anime film. The festival has a focus on the works of Masaaki Yuasa, and will screen episodes from his The Tatami Galaxy and Ping Pong anime series, as well as his Night is Short, Walk On Girl and Lu over the wall films. Mary and The Witch's Flower opened in Japan on July 8 and

Kamen Rider Blade/Sailor Moon musical actor stars in February 24 film with Tsurugi Watanabe The official Twitter account for the live-action film of Shoko Hidaka's Does The Flower Blossom? (Hana wa Saku ka?) boys-love manga revealed on Wednesday that Kōsei Amano (Kamen Rider Blade's Kamen Rider Garren, Sailor Moon stage musical's Tuxedo Mask) will play the character Kazuaki Sakurai (seen left in photograph below), the older salaryman that Yōichi is attracted to. It also revealed the film's February 24 opening. The movie also stars Tsurugi Watanabe (pictured right in photograph) in his first film role as Yōichi Minagawa. Kaori Tanimoto is directing the film, with a script by Natsuko Takahashi. Hidaka debuted the manga in 2009 and Gentosha published the series in five compiled volumes. Digital Manga Publishing licensed the first three volumes under its Juné imprint in 2012 and has thus far released the first two volumes. Digital Manga describes the story: Sakurai Kazua

Film to screen in both English and Japanese with subtitles GKIDS and Fathom Events announced on Wednesday that they will premiere Studio Ponoc and Hiromasa Yonebayashi's Mary and The Witch's Flower (Mary to Majo no Hana) film in U.S. theaters on Thursday, January 18. Regular screenings will start nationwide on January 19. The premiere event will have two screenings: the English dub will screen at 7:00 p.m. local time and the English-subtitled version will screen at 8:00 p.m. local time. The screenings will include an exclusive interview with filmmakers and a commemorative item. Fathom Events will post a list of theaters when it opens ticket sales on Friday. The film opened in Japan on July 8 and has earned 3 billion yen (US$28 million). Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who directed Studio Ghibli's Arrietty and When Marnie Was There, directed Mary and The Witch's Flower, and also penned the script for the film alongside Riko Sakaguchi, who wrote the screenplay for Isao Takahata's

Rumor began circulating last week of remake of 2005 show with Suzu Hirose as lead actress Boys Over Flowers manga creator Yoko Kamio denied rumors that TBS is developing a new live-action series adaptation of Boys Over Flowers last Friday. In a Twitter post, Kamio commented, "I believe that authors shouldn't respond to false rumors like this, which is why I hadn't talked about it. But a lot of people have been asking me, and it's even trending, and so many people have been asking me to stop the rumors. It's been hard not to comment on it, so I'll leave only one comment: There will be no remake of Boys Over Flowers. It's a mystery to me how this story got started." The rumor began circulating on news websites such as Livedoor and Daily Cyzo last Thursday, with a supposed quote from TBS staff that it was developing a remake of the 2005 live-action television series. According to the rumors, the series was slated to premiere in April, with Suzu Hirose in the lead role. Th