USA Anime and Manga Report

USA Anime and Manga Report

                        October 2003 Volume 8 Number 10 Issue #94

Contents:

      Editorial:

      Press Releases:

        It's "Showtime" For TOKYOPOP'S GTO Anime!

      Release Information:

         Anime Releases by Date.

         Anime Releases by Title.

         Magazine and Translated Manga Releases by Date.

         Japanese Cinema Releases by Date

         Select Anime Related Goods Releases by Date.

         Short List.

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Editorial

Those who check the "Number of New Entries in this issue" list below 
will recognize that the numbers are a bit high for manga. Well the 
reason for this is that a combination of one company not reporting 
newly scheduled releases and a lack of time led to some titles not 
making it into previous issues. Hopefully we are back on track now.

This month I am again asking for folks to volunteer to regularly 
report on specific companies. I'll probably be asking this again for 
a few issues until I build up a crew of regular contributors.

So if you would like to help out let me know.

Number of New Entries in this issue:

        Anime:  67
        Manga & Magazines:      191
        Cinema: 1
        Other:  18

Thanks for corrections and additional information go to:

Daniel A. Wilson - Regular contributor

Erin Michael Winking - Regular contributor

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Press Releases:

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IT'S "SHOWTIME" FOR TOKYOPOP'S GTO ANIME!

Successful Series Set to Debut on Showtime Networks' SHO Next This November

LOS ANGELES (October 8, 2003)-As the legendary Great Teacher Onizuka 
would put it... school's in session! TOKYOPOP Inc. is pleased to 
announce that it has entered into an agreement with Showtime Networks 
Inc. to bring the critically acclaimed and hilarious GTO anime to TV 
viewers. The 43-episode series begins airing on the Network's SHO 
Next channel on November 3rd at 9:00pm, with new episodes nightly 
Monday through Friday.

Based on Tohru Fujisawa's hugely popular manga, GTO is the story of 
Eikichi Onizuka-a 22-year-old ex-biker who becomes a teacher to make 
a difference. Unfortunately, he's also crude, foul-mouthed, and has a 
hair-trigger temper! Using his street smarts to deal with colleagues, 
students and troublemakers, Onizuka finds that he, too, has many 
lessons to learn as he strives to become the greatest high school 
teacher in the world!

A runaway hit in Japan, GTO inspired both a blockbuster movie and 
long-running live-action television series-Tokyo's equivalent to 
M.A.S.H. for its claim to the most watched finale in TV history. This 
real-life urban drama is loaded with enough comedy and action to make 
it a phenomenon here in the United States as well. In fact, TOKYOPOP 
has already exceeded sales expectations with its GTO manga and DVD 
series.

"GTO's comedic wit makes it the perfect fit for the SHO Next 
audience," said Steve Galloway, TOKYOPOP's Executive Director of 
Development. "The dialogue is sharp, and the series is filled with 
characters and situations that a lot of people will relate to-whether 
familiar with anime or not."

"Showtime is pleased to bring this hit series to an American 
audience," said Gary Garfinkel, Showtime Networks Vice President of 
Acquisitions. "With the increasing popularity of anime, we feel 
fortunate to have acquired this quality-driven series and view GTO as 
an ideal show for our SHO Next audience."

The series was brought into Showtime by Director of Acquisitions 
Larry Greenberg who negotiated the deal with TOKYOPOP's Steve 
Galloway.

This deal marks TOKYOPOP's third anime property on television -- 
Reign: The Conqueror aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim this year, 
and Rave Master is set to debut on Cartoon Network's Toonami block in 
2004.

SHO Next is Showtime's "interactive playground," targeting Gen Y 
adults (ages 18-24). This channel is comprised of about 50 movies a 
month, including first-run theatricals and original pictures, plus 
short films and animation. With a corresponding website at 
www.shonext.com, SHO Next features content that lives both on the 
channel and the web.

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Each month when the new issue of this newsletter is uploaded to the 
web a notice is posted on the following newsgroups:
    rec.arts.anime.misc
     rec.arts.anime.fandom
     rec.arts.anime.info

referring people to the newsletter on my web page at:

      http://www.koyagi.com/USAAnimeRelease.html

Enjoy, & don't hesitate to send comments.

                        -Gilles-
                        [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Whenever possible dates are from information supplied or published by 
the companies listed, via email, in their ads, Web pages or Usenet 
postings.

When information is not from the companies I have noted the source.

Information is organized by:
        Street Release Date [Year-month/day (if available)] TITLE IN CAPS
                Note: Titles from the following companies will likely be on the
                shelves later than announced.
                        Viz - all dates are shipping dates
                        CPM Manga
                        Manga Entertainment
                        Studio Ironcat
                        Tokyo Pop

        Format (VHS, LD, CD-ROM, Magazine, Etc.)
        *Company Name*
        Any other useful information. (Unless indicated prices are in 
U.S. dollars)
        Verification [If I have seen the item on store shelves]

And by:
        TITLE followed by the release date for easy checking for 
items you are anxious to have.

DVD language information:
        DVD without further information means language unknown.
        DVD - Bilingual - Japanese and English voice tracks including subtitles
        DVD - Subtitled = Only Japanese with English subtitles.
        DVD - Dubbed = Only English only in English re-dub format,
        Jpn - Japanese
        Eng - English
        Fre = French
        Spa = Spanish

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"Hybrid CD-ROM" means CD-ROMs that run on both the Windows and 
Macintosh operating systems.

New & significantly updated entries have their date followed with a note.

Any errors I am notified of will be noted & corrected in the next release.

I include information for releases from the previous month's releases 
due to the fact that it sometimes takes far too long for titles to 
reach many localities due to distribution or production delays.

Permission is granted to re-post this list on any BBS or electronic 
service as long as no extra fees are charged for downloading it.

Web page duplication of this newsletter is not permitted, instead 
please link to:
      http://www.koyagi.com/USAAnimeRelease.html

If you have a store you regularly use you may wish to give them the 
URL of this document for their reference. I will also directly email 
this newsletter monthly to retailers upon request.

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-- 
Gilles Poitras
Profession: Librarian    Obsession: Anime
http://www.koyagi.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Edited by Steve Pearl- Moderator, rec.arts.anime.info 
Email submissions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and questions about the newsgroup
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