Maddie Blaustein, known to a generation as the voice of Pokémon’s nemesis Meowth, passed away at age 48. Aaron McQuade said she died in her sleep after a brief, undisclosed illness. Born Adam Blaustein, she broke into the comics field as Jim Owsley’s editorial assistant at Marvel Comics in the 1980s before leaving to go…
Warner Home Video will take over distribution for Viz Media’s home video output, according to ICv2. The deal is effective April 1 beginning with Naruto Uncut Box Set 13 and Hunter vs. Hunter Box Set, Vol.2, which have a street date of April 7. WHV will take over distribution of Viz’s backlist, which also includes…
Bakugan Battle Brawlers has been optioned by Universal Studios and Stuber Productions according to The Hollywood Reporter. The anime series currently is shown on Cartoon Network while toys and game come from Spin Master and Sega. The series is based on a “strategic game that uses metal cards and magnetic, spring-loaded miniature figures that transform…
The Eureka Seven anime series will spawn a feature, Symphonic Poem Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows, which will be broadcast in Japan during their Golden Week, holidays that occur between April and May. The 50 episodes, known as Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven, initially ran from April 17, 2005 through April 2, 2006 and…
The acclaimed anime Akira will make its Blu-ray debut on February 24 according to Bandai Entertainment. Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 science fiction tale will receive the deluxe treatment. The disc, coming from Bandai’s Honneamise label, will retail for $49.98 and include both Japanese and English subtitles along with the English dub track, but purists should really…
VIZ Media has announced that Naruto has been named by Yahoo! as the Number 7 most-searched term in 2008, as reported by the Yahoo! 2008 Year In Review Top 10 Search list. The list, which is available at YearInReview.yahoo.com, provides insights about popular culture and what Yahoo! searchers cared about most throughout 2008. The spunky…
VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), has announced a dynamic array of new animated titles scheduled for release throughout the Fourth Quarter. The new releases include the long-awaited launch of a new series – HUNTER X HUNTER – as well as a variety of DVD Box Sets, Special Editions and single disc editions of popular series…
Just the other day we were joining in the speculation for when Miyazaki Hayao’s Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea would hit North America. Now we hear from Ghibliworld that Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall of DreamWorks will be handling the new edition. They have assembled a stellar voice cast including Matt Damon, Tina…
Surfing Amazon’s listing can make one feel like an archaeologist as people pour through the advance listings to see what trade collections are coming from the various publishers. ICv2 did some spelunking and came up with a number of books based on Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo on a Cliff By the Sea, which outperformed The Dark…
Crunchyroll, a website offering anime on line, has announced a January 8 debut for the latest episodes from the shojo anime series Skip Beat and Shugo Chara. Subscribers will be able to watch these along with the previously announced episodes of Naruto as part of their deal with TV Tokyo. According to ICv2, Skip Beat…
With every Hollywood studio trying to capture a little Transformers magic for themselves, most of the 70s and 80s anime series about transforming sentient robots has been optioned for live-action development. And of course, that means someone’s unhappy and ready to sue. In a comprehensive report, the Anime News Network dissected the suit between World…
VIZ Media, LLC has announced an innovative and unprecedented multimedia plan to provide near-simultaneous Japan-US. release of Naruto, one of the most popular Japanese animated and Manga properties in the world. This campaign is the latest expansion of VIZ Media’s ongoing strategy to utilize the web to its maximum potential to stream a variety of…
