#Daryl Maeda

[newhistorybooks]

"Conceived as a multifaceted cultural history, Like Water tells the story of the making of Bruce Lee as a transpacific icon. Foregrounding the larger geopolitical and cross-cultural forces at work, Daryl Joji Maeda tracks Lee’s incessantly migratory footsteps from his on-the-road birth at a Chinese hospital in San Francisco to his mysterious death at his paramour’s pad in Hong Kong. As a cultural history, the book is rich and expansive, compiling a montage of big subjects such as Chinese immigration, Cantonese opera in America, and the history of Chinese cinema. As a biography, Like Water draws the contours of Lee’s life while highlighting flashpoints of his legend." 

[recentanimenews]

Mahiro Maeda's Evangelion 3.33 Drafts Shown Off in Digest Video

  To celebrate the release of Evangelion 3.333 on 4K Ultra High-Definition Blu-ray today in Japan, the King Amusement Creative YouTube channel released a small 1 minute and 46-second sample of the 21-minute imageboard visualization by Mahiro Maeda that is released in the collection, depicting the first draft of the original Evangelion 3.0 film.

      The Ultra High-Definition Blu-ray of Evangelion 3.333 will also come with all the features from the 3.33 releases as well the trailers for 3.333 and the script from dialogue recording. Under the supervision of Hideaki Anno, Evangelion 3.333 was completely reshot for 4K, using updated technology that wasn't around when the film was first released in 2012. While the overall story wasn't changed, some scenes were altered as well as some visuals were updated to be more in line with Evangelion 3.0+1.0.

  The Blu-ray was released today in Japan, with no mention of an international release at this stage.

  Source: Comic Natalie

  ---- 

Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.

By: Daryl Harding

[darthfoil]

“One possible answer could be found in the model minority myth. The myth, a decades-old stereotype, casts Asian-Americans as universally successful, and discourages others — even Asian-Americans themselves — from believing in the validity of their struggles. ... The original [1966] story in the New York Times thrust forward an image of Japanese-Americans quietly rising to economic successes despite the racial prejudice responsible for their unjust internment during World War II.

“...The apparent boost of Asian-Americans suggested that racism was no longer a problem for all people of color — it was a problem for people of a specific color. "The model minority discourse has elevated Asian-Americans as a group that’s worked hard, using education to get ahead," said Daryl Maeda, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

“Through the years, that idea erased from the public consciousness the fact that the Asian-American experience was once a story of racially motivated legal exclusion, disenfranchisement and horrific violence — commonalities with the African-American experience that became rallying points in demanding racial equality. That division between racial minorities also erased a history of Afro-Asian solidarity born by the shared experience of sociopolitical marginalization.

"This stuff is what I call M.I.H. — missing in history," said Helen Zia, an Asian-American historian and activist. "Unfortunately, we have generations growing up thinking there's no connection [between African-Americans and Asian-Americans]. These things are there, all the linkages of struggles that have been fought together."

[diaryofanangryasianguy]

One possible answer could be found in the model minority myth. The myth, a decades-old stereotype, casts Asian-Americans as universally successful, and discourages others — even Asian-Americans themselves — from believing in the validity of their struggles. But as protests over Ferguson continue, it’s increasingly important to remember the purpose of the model minority narrative’s construction. The doctored portrayal, which dates to 1966, was intended to shame African-American activists whose demands for equal civil rights threatened a centuries-old white society.

"The model minority discourse has elevated Asian-Americans as a group that’s worked hard, using education to get ahead," said Daryl Maeda, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "But the reality is that it’s a discourse that intends to pit us against other people of color. And that’s a divide and conquer strategy we shouldn't be complicit with."

An important read. Thanks so much for the submission @lkeke35!

[marylandprelawland]

The Birth Of Asian Americans

By Charlotte Kim, Johns Hopkins University Class of 2021

June 24, 2020

With the celebration of Juneteenth just passed, I thought about another June 19thevent, one that occurred in 1982 and became the reason why I, and other Americans of Asian descent, call ourselves “Asian American.”That night, in Detroit, Michigan, a man was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat. Why?His killers thought he was Japanese.

The victim was Vincent Chin, a 27-year-old man who would be considered Chinese American today but“Oriental” while he was alive.His killers were white autoworkers, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz. To create a clear picture of their motives, one must understand America in the 80s. Not only was Asian-based racism casual and rampant, there was a normalized disregard of Asian ethnic diversity and an accepted mindset of Asians as exotic, perpetual foreigners. On top of all that was Detroit’s economic climate.

In 1982, Detroit, which had housed the headquarters of the Big 3 auto makers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) for decades, was at the height of a record-setting recession [1]. After the 1979 oil crisis caused gas prices to skyrocket, Americans, looking for smaller more efficient cars, turned to Japanese brands. One of every four cars sold in the U.S. was Japanese, causing anti-Japanese sentiment to grow, especially in Detroit where plants began to lay off tens of thousands of workers.Posters reading “Pearl Harbor II” depicted Japanese bombers dropping cars on North America [2]. Local unions sponsored events allowing workers to smash Japanese cars with sledgehammers at the cost of $1. Japanese cars were vandalized, their owners were shot at on the freeway, and casual anti-Japanese slurs abounded[3]. U.S. Representative John Dingell of Michigan claimed that the chief trouble hurting the auto industry was foreign competition, specifically “the little yellow people” [4].

Later that year, on June 19th, 1982, Ronald Ebens, a Chrysler foreman, took his stepson Michael Nitz, one of many assembly line workers recently laid off by Chrysler, to a strip club. They happened to sit in front of Vincent Chin and his friends, who were there to celebrate Chin’s bachelor party. Ebens was overheard saying racial slurs like “Chink” and Nip” and,eventually, “It’s because of motherfuckers like you that we’re out of work.” A fight broke out, and both parties were ejected from the bar. Ebens then grabbed a baseball bat from his car and started to chase Chin, who fled [5]. Ebens and Nitz drove around in pursuit of Chin for 30 minutes. When they finally found him in front of a McDonald’s, Nitz held down Chin while his stepfather hit Chin’s skull four times [3]. As his cerebral matter and blood pooled in front of him, Chin’s last words were, “It’s not fair.” He died in a hospital four days later, and instead of attending a wedding, his friends and family attended a funeral.

Ebens and Nitz didn’t deny that they had killed Chin, but their lawyers argued that what had happened was a bar brawl, not a hate crime [1]. On March 16, 1983, Wayne County Circuit Judge Charles Kaufman agreed with them; Ebens and Nitz were found guilty of manslaughter, a downgrade from their second-degree murder charge, and were each fined $3,000, $780 in court fines, and three years of probation. To this day neither man has spent a day in prison. Kaufman’s defense of his sentence was,

“These aren’t the kind of men you send to jail [5]. […] We’re talking here about a man who’s held down a job with the same company for 17 or 18 years, and his son who is employed and a part-time student. These men are not going to go out and harm somebody else. I just didn’t think that putting them in prison would do any good for them or for society. You don’t make the punishment fit the crime; you make the punishment fit the criminal” [6].

The outrage among the Asian American community was immediate, although people were unsure whom to turn to. Then, two weeks later,more than a hundred Asian Americans from towns surrounding Detroit met and formed American Citizens for Justice (ACJ)—the first explicitly Asian American grass-roots advocacy effort to extend nationally. Its top priority was to have Chin’s case become the first criminal civil rights case involving someone of Asian descent. [3]. Roland Hwang, co-founder of ACJ, explained that the Vincent Chin case was a wakeup call for anti-Asian racism. It “transformed a biracial discussion on race relations to be a multiracial one” [7].

Over the next few months, public outrage continued to grow. Protests led by ACJ and other groups spurred the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and determine that Ebens and Nitz had violated Chin’s civil rights. Ebens was sentenced to 25 years in prison. According to Renee Tajima-Peña, a professor of Asian American studies at UCLA, “It was the first time Asian Americans were protected in a federal civil rights prosecution. […] Before that, Asian Americans were seen as not being a protected class” [5]. However, in September 1986, a federal appeals court overturned Ebens’ conviction and,in May 1987, he was cleared of all charges. Two months later, Ebens was ordered to pay $1.5 million to the estate of Vincent Chin [8], butas of 2015, Ebens hasn’t paid anything, and that amount has grown to more than $8 million [9].

Now, it may seem that the term “Asian American” originated from this turning point in history. However, it was created 14 years before Chin’s death in 1968 by two college students and even today is used secondarily to the more specific “Japanese,” “Thai,” etc., descriptive. Still, the term has power. Professor Daryl Maeda of the University of Colorado Boulder says that instead of describing family histories or personal identities, “Asian American” expresses the idea that “as Asian Americans, we have to work to fight for social justice and equality, not only for ourselves, but for all of the people around us.”

The cry for social justice and equality after Vincent Chin’s death forged a pan-Asian identity among once disparate groups.In the words of Helen Zia, co-founder of ACJ “…whether people wanted to feel like there was anything in common or not, they could not deny that if they looked that way, they could be killed, whether they were Japanese ethnically or not.” [9].

Before Chin’s death, this sense of pan-Asian identity even in cases of extreme racial injustice, was non-existent. In fact, to avoid being targeted by the same racism and exclusion facing other groups, different Asian communities stayed silent. When the Chinese Exclusion Act was set to be made permanent in 1902, Japanese immigrants didn’t protest. When people of Japanese descent were forced into internment camps during World War II, Chinese- and Korean-Americanswore buttons stating their ethnicity so as not be mistaken as Japanese (pictured below). The narrative is the same— the perceived injustice was being lumped together with another ethnic group rather than the injustice itself [9].

The term “Asian American” was created as a way to bring Asians into the American political conscience as a collective community (as well as a pushback against the derogatory blanket term, “Oriental”). According to Zia, “To the rest of America at the time, Asian people didn’t exist in the popular consciousness. […] They were like, ‘Oh, where did these people come from? What – they’re organizing, they have a voice, they’re talking about racism? What – they speak English?’ These were all the reactions we got…It was a teaching process” [9].

And it still is a teaching process.Although the diversity of Asian ethnicities in the United States needs to be respected and acknowledged, there is a common experience among all Americans of Asian ancestry of being lumped into one homogenous group facing prejudice and harassment. As a community, Asian Americans can come together to multiply their presence in the American conscience and thus shine light on the diversity of problems facing individual Asian ethnicities and strike down the idea of Asians as a homogenous, foreign, “model minority”.

________________________________________________________________

[1] Wu, Frank H. “How the racist killing of Vincent Chin sparked the Asian-American movement.” South China Morning Post, 20 June 2020, https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3089541/how-racist-killing-vincent-chin-sparked-asian-american-movement.

[2] Counts, Glenn, et al. “Detroit: The New Motor City.” EDGE, Ethics of Development in a Global Environment, https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/citypoverty/hdetroit.htm.

[3] Wu, Jean Yu-Wen Shen, and Chen, Thomas C. Asian American Studies Now: A Critical Reader. E-book, Rutgers University Press, 2010.

[4] Clines, Francis X., and Weaver Jr., Warren. “Briefing.” nytimes.com, New York Times, 16 Mar. 1982,https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/16/us/briefing-253650.html.

[5] Little, Becky. “How the 1982 Murder of Vincent Chin Ignited a Push for Asian American Rights.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 5 May 2020, https://www.history.com/news/vincent-chin-murder-asian-american-rights.

[6] Cummings, Judith. “Detroit Asian-Americans Protest Lenient Penalties for Murder.” nytimes.com, New York Times, 26 Apr. 1983,https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/26/us/detroit-asian-americans-protest-lenient-penalties-for-murder.html.

[7] Wang, Frances Kai-Hwa. “Who is Vincent Chin? The History and Relevance of a 1982 Killing.” NBCNews.com, NBC Universal, 15 June 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/who-vincent-chin-history-relevance-1982-killing-n771291.

[8] “Vincent Chin Timeline.” Vincent Who?,Tony Lam Productions, https://www.vincentwhofilm.com/timeline/.

[9] Kandil, Caitlin Yoshiko. “After 50 years of ‘Asian American,’ advocates say the term is ‘more essential than ever’.” NBCNews.com, NBC Universal, 31 May 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/after-50-years-asian-american-advocates-say-term-more-essential-n875601.

[10] Wu, Frank H. “Why Vincent Chin Matters.” nytimes.com, New York Times, 22 June 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/23/opinion/why-vincent-chin-matters.html.

[kritikycz]

Kill Bill - Co pak se může stát, když se nevěsta vdává?

Quentin Tarantino přichází po šestileté odmlce se svým čtvrtým celovečerním filmem. Ve velkolepé podívané se Nevěsta (Uma Thurmann) vydává na cestu pomsty a běda tomu, kdo jí zkříží cestu! Těžko odhadovat, co přesně Nevěsta komu ud��lala (možná v tom bylo jenom to, že přestala chtít být členem zabijáckého komanda), ale jisté je, že byla při své svatbě zavražděna i se…- Více na https://www.kritiky.cz/filmove-recenze/retro-filmove-recenze/2019/kill-bill-co-pak-se-muze-stat-kdyz-se-nevesta-vdava/

[zenworldnews]

"After Fisher: Affirmative Action and Asian-American Students"

“After Fisher: Affirmative Action and Asian-American Students”

[ad_1]

  by Michele S. Moses, Christina Paguyo, & Daryl Maeda, from The Conversation

After eight years, the Abigail Fisher case finally has been put to rest. In a landmark judgment on June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of race-conscious affirmative action in university admissions.

Abigail Fisher, a white woman, had sued the…

[ogiuemaniax]

When a brand-new convention decides to call itself “Anime NYC,” it’s practically asking to have the deck stacked against it. Running a first-year convention is no small task, doubly so if it’s in the heart of Manhattan. And with no reputation to go by, potential attendees may feel reluctant to try things out. Small attendance numbers can mean a lack of overall interest and the inability to justify the high costs of NYC, while large numbers means a greater chance of disaster striking if mismanaged. As a longtime resident of New York City, I’ve seen cons come and go, but somehow, someway, Anime NYC went so swimmingly that I almost can’t believe it was real.

General Impressions and Exhibitor’s Hall

Those who attended New York Anime Festival and the first few New York Comic Cons might recall what it was like to go through the Jacob Javits Center without feeling like sardines. Walking through Anime NYC felt reminiscent of that environment, as the con was fairly heavily populated but with plenty of elbow room to spare. Panel rooms were right next to the Exhibitor’s Hall, making transitions between checking out the goods and listening in on industry and fan talks. Special events were held in a Main Event Hall that was a fair distance away, though nowhere near as disorienting as, say, the Baltimore Convention Center where Otakon used to take place.

Because it was so easy to navigate (without the space feeling overly empty), I came out of the three-day con feeling satisfied yet unstressed. Usually one comes with the other due to the hustle and bustle of trying to get everything done, or because there’s so little to do at the event itself that boredom and lethargy set in. Anime NYC struck a Goldilocks-type balance with a schedule that thrilled but did not overwhelm body and mind.

A major contrast between Anime NYC and NYCC is that the latter is focused on being a general comics pop culture event, with a film and television presence that all but overshadows the “comic” in comic con. Anime NYC, on the other hand, is first and foremost concerned with anime and manga. A few features branched out from that core, such as the presence of Overwatch voice actors who were there to meet the fans and sell autographs, but this was certainly no “anime ghetto,” as fans took to calling New York Anime Fest when it began to be dissolved into NYCC.  For those who love anime and love a big convention feel but think New York Comic Con’s a bit too much, Anime NYC has potential to be a gathering point for anime fans in the tri-state area.

Concerts

Anime NYC featured two concerts that shone in different ways. The first was Anime Diva Night, while the second was the Gundam Thunderbolt Concert.

https://twitter.com/yonekurachihiro/status/931742317039505409

At Anime Diva Night, three Japanese musical guests performed as part of the Anisong World Matsuri. Two of the singers, Ishida Yoko and TRUE, are amazing vocalists in their own right, but the third, Yonekura Chihiro, was the reason I wanted to attend. She’s the voice of so many amazing anime themes over the years that it almost doesn’t compare. Notably, she sang the opening and ending themes to Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team.

While having Yonekura alone would’ve sufficed in my case, all three did a wonderful job. Some singers sound significantly better in the recording booth than they do onstage, but this was not the case for the Anime Diva trio, who sounded incredible even though the makeshift Main Events Hall did not have ideal acoustics.

The concert had a somewhat unusual format. Rather than move from one act to the next, each performer would do a few songs, perform a duet with another, and then the newer singer would take over before the next duet. There were two rotations in total, with all three singers performing together at the start and end of the show. All of the group performances were cover songs of popular anime themes—”Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” “Moonlight Densetsu,” “God Knows,” etc.—while the solo acts were their signature songs. Yonekura did indeed sing the Gundam 08th MS Team opening, but also an old favorite of mine in “Will” from the anime Hoshin Engi (aka Soul Hunter). Highlights from the other two singers included TRUE performing the first Sound!! Euphonium opening and Ishida doing arguably her most famous song, “Otome no Policy” from Sailor Moon R.

There were a couple of songs that didn’t make the concert that I was hoping for: Yonekura’s “Yakusoku no Basho e” from Kaleido Star and Ishida’s “White Destiny” from Pretear, but it was a small loss for an otherwise amazing concert.

The Gundam Thunderbolt Concert was highly unusual compared to what typically happens at an anime con performances. Generally, they’re closer to Anime Diva Night, sounding like the j-pop or j-rock one expects out of anime. To have the Gundam Thunderbolt composer Kikuchi Naruyoshi lead a jazz band himself on saxophone was a truly rare treat, and it’s one of the most unique experiences I’ve had at an anime con. The closest equivalent I could think of was Kanno Yoko’s concert at Otakon 2013.

I am no jazz aficionado, but thanks to the concert, I felt as if I began to understand the almost primal appeal that jazz holds for listeners. As I listened, an analogy popped into my head: jazz is like constructing a human being from music. They can be loud one moment and quiet the next. They can be a mess of contradictions, yet still function. I’m unsure if this will send me towards checking out more jazz in the future, but my curiosity is definitely piqued.

I’ve been more or less referring to the Gundam Thunderbolt Concert as a “jazz performance,” but that’s not entirely accurate. To everyone’s surprise, the concert also included performances by the singers of some of the 50s/60s-style pop songs from the Gundam Thunderbolt anime. In the context of the series, the two main characters, Io and Daryl, are two soldiers on opposite sides of a war who each listen to music as they battle. Io is an intense man who loves equally powerful jazz, while the handicapped Daryl prefers softer ballads.

At the Gundam Thunderbolt panel, Kikuchi mentioned that these are basically his two favorite genres of music, and he thought both fit the characters well. Interestingly, while the Gundam Thunderbolt manga included jazz already, Kikuchi composed entirely new songs that he felt fit Io’s character better.

One funny coincidence of sorts when it comes to Kikuchi’s choice to add a golden oldies aspect to the Gundam Thunderbolt score is that one of the biggest names in classic mid-20th-century American pop, Neil Sedaka, once composed the theme songs to Mobile Suit Z Gundam in the 1980s. I’d be curious to know what Kikuchi would think about this.

Artist Alley

More than Exhibitors’ Halls, Artist Alleys at cons can be affected heavily by the space they occupy. Regardless of the artists’ skills, or the amount of people in the alley, a bad space can make an attendee want to leave as quickly as possible, while a good space encourages more browsing and exploring.

Anime NYC’s is probably the best I’ve ever seen. Held on the top floor of the Jacob Javits Center, natural light shined down on the entire Artist Alley from an entirely windowed roof. At times, it almost felt like an outdoor European boutique, which made it just a pleasant place to peruse.

I purchased a few items at the Artist Alley, mainly from Japanese artists (something of a rarity even at anime cons). One booth was ran by the wife and assistant (pictured above) of manga artist Ohno Junji, creator behind the manga for obscure titles Mobile Suit Gundam: Missing Link and Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin MSD: Cucuruz Doan’s Island. Unfortunately, the artist couldn’t attend himself. They were selling art packages from Ohno himself and his assistant, Ally Suwabe:

Ohno Junji

Ally Suwabe

Axel Rex is Ohno’s original web comic he drew for Kodanasha/Yahoo!! Comics from 2008 to 2009.

The other Japanese artist attending was Tatsuyuki “Mikey” Maeda, who’s worked for the past 10 years as a manga assistant. In a way, while manga artists themselves only attend cons sparingly, their assistants are even rarer. Maeda was selling a short guide called “Secrets of Manga: Basics of the Tools & Trade.” In it, he gives various technical tips to aspiring manga creators, the kinds of things that often get glossed over in favor of “character design” and “how to draw mecha.” The guide talks about differences in pen nibs (such as what you should use if you have a light touch vs. a heavy hand), how to effectively use white-out, and more. I highly recommend it.

Panels

Gundam Thunderbolt Panel

Panels are an important part of the con experience for me, though due to my schedule I could not attend as many as I would have liked. Still, the Gundam Thunderbolt panel was highly informative, as were the Inifini-T Force and LeSean Thomas panels.

Infini-T Force is a current 3DCG anime series crossing over the classic heroes of Tatsunoko Production—Gatchaman, Casshan/Casshern, Hurricane Polymar, and Tekkaman. The fact that Tatsunoko, one of the most influential anime studios ever, had a con presence at all was the main reason I decided to attend their panel. Overall, it was a fairly basic introduction to Tatsunoko, but I like that they conveyed a bit of the studio’s historical significance. They’re one of the most influential studios ever, pushing the limits of animation in Japan since their inception in the 1960s. They were also willing to discuss a bit of the reception Infini-T Force has received in Japan, such as the fact that the primary female character is a little contentious to Japanese audiences. This is also somewhat unusual for Japanese companies, and was somewhat refreshing.

The LeSean Thomas panel was a general Q&A, but was one of the highlights of Anime NYC. It was inspiring to see attendee after attendee express how Thomas inspired them to keep working at their art, and how his success as a creator of color gave them the courage to never give up. I previously interviewed him at Otakon 2016, and he does make for an excellent role model.

Cosplay

In this case, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

In Conclusion

Given how much I’ve praised Anime NYC, it might seem like I’m a paid shill, but I assure my readers that this is not the case. The con was actually executed so smoothly that there’s little I can complain about that would be the fault of the convention itself. While I attended for free as press, even the weekend ticket was affordable, especially compared to New York Comic Con ($60 vs. over $200 to buy four 1-day NYCC passes).

At approximately 20,000 attendees, Anime NYC has already become one of the larger anime cons in the US. The convention appears to have done a sound job of attracting locals, and I’m curious to see how much more it can grow. If the convention keeps up this level of quality, I’d be happy and proud to call Anime NYC “home.”

  Teikoku State of Mind: Anime NYC 2017 When a brand-new convention decides to call itself "Anime NYC," it's practically asking to have the deck stacked against it.

[asian210mediaproject]

This is a photo from Chains of Babylon: The Rise of Asian America by Daryl J. Maeda. With Huey Newton arrested under the charges of killing a police officer, many people came together in a protest to support him. Of these many people were Asian Americans and coined the phrase “Yellow Peril Supports Black Power.” By coming together with the people of color, they are signalling a rejection of the model minority myth. Furthermore, they take back the derogatory term that was once used to constrict them. They reclaimed the word and turned it into an empowering phrase.  -Kevin Lo

[recentanimenews]

2nd Kamen Rider Looks Heroic in New Visual for Anno's Shin Kamen Rider Film

  Hideaki Anno's upcoming Shin Kamen Rider film revealed a brand new visual of the updated design for the 2nd Kamen Rider, Hayato Ichimonji, today for the character's birthday. The visual was drawn by Evangelion 3.0+1.0 unit director and storyboarder Mahiro Maeda, who is a frequent collaborator of Anno's at Khara. 

    Shin Kamen Rider re-imagines the original Kamen Rider story with Shin Godzilla and Evangelion's Hideaki Anno at the helm. The film is set to be released in Japan in March 2023.

  Source: Comic Natalie

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs the YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram. 

By: Daryl Harding

[recentanimenews]

Kuroitsu-san from The Monster Development Department TV Anime Gets Dated, 1st Teaser Trailer and Visual Unleashed

  Makin' monsters aren't easy, especially when you have an evil organization on your back all the time. Luckily for us, we'll be getting the inside look when Kuroitsu-san from The Monster Development Department (known in Japanese as Kaijin Kaihatsubu no Kuroitsu-san) starts airing on Japanese TV on January 8. To celebrate the news, the first teaser trailer and visual for the adaptation of Hiroaki Mizusaki's manga was released alongside the reveal of the two lead voice actors and main staff.

      Kaijin Kaihatsubu follows the work-life of Touka Kuroitsu, who works for a company that creates monsters for the secret organization Agastya, an evil organization that fights allies of justice. Kuroitsu doesn't fight heroes, she fights against the unreasonable demands of her work, such as "make a presentation in 10 minutes", or "the boss wants this reckless thing."

  Voicing the two leads are:

  Kaori Maeda (Shizuku Osaka in Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club) will be voicing Touka Kuroitsu

  Satomi Amano (Tamaki Yamazaki in Tamayomi: The Baseball Girls) will be voicing Wolf Bate

  In the director's chair is Hisashi Saito (Haganai), with Katsuhiko Takayama (Mirai Nikki) writing the scripts, and Kazuya Morimae (The Testament of Sister New Devil animation director) adapting the original manga character designs into anime. Kuroitsu-san from The Monster Development Department will be produced at anime studio Quad. Japanese boy band AXXX1S will be performing the opening theme song "Special force."

  The Kuroitsu-san from The Monster Development Department TV anime is scheduled to start on Japanese TV in the TV Asahi and ABC TV anime block ANiMAZiNG!!! on January 8 at 26:00 (effectively 2 AM on January 6).

  Source: Comic Natalie

  ----

Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram. 

By: Daryl Harding

[recentanimenews]

Oni-riginal TV Anime Onipan! Confirms April 2022 Premiere

  The oni's are coming for your friendship in the latest original TV anime from the staff at WIT Studio, Onipan! Today, it was confirmed that the series will see its premiere in April on Japanese TV, and also released the final three character setting sheets for the last three characters that were announced in the original reveal of the show.

  Kaori Maeda (Shizuku Osaka in Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club) will be voicing Momozono-Momo

  Miyu Tomita (Gabriel White Tenma in Gabriel DropOut) will be voicing Issun-Boko

  Kikuko Inoue (Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) will be voicing Kuma

  Gabriel DropOut and YuruYuri director Masahiko Ota will be directing the original story of three oni-kids who, through the power of the onipan (a portmanteau of “oni” and “pantsu”) become human to help fix the relationship between humans and oni at WIT Studio, with Junichiro Hashiguchi (Bananafish episode director) as the assistant director, Ryuta Yanagi adapting Tomari’s original character designs and Takashi Aoshima (Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!) writing the series composition based on the original story from The Ancient Magus' Bride director Norihiro Naganuma.

  Previously released visual:

  Onipan! is set to air in Japan in April 2022.

  Source: Comic Natalie

  ---- 

Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.

By: Daryl Harding

[recentanimenews]

Oni-riginal WIT Studio Produced TV Anime ‘Onipan!’ Announced for 2022

  The tale of love, friendship, and pantsu come to ahead in the new original TV anime from Gabriel DropOut and YuruYuri director Masahiko Ota and WIT Studio, Onipan! The first teaser trailer was released alongside the first visual of the three main oni-kids, as well as the lead cast and staff members for the series.

      Onipan! is the story of three oni-kids who, through the power of the onipan (a portmanteau of “oni” and “pantsu”) become human to help fix the relationship between humans and oni. The three girls transfer into a normal Tokyo high school to aid in their task and help fix their image by revitalizing the town, sometimes jumping headfirst into school events, and other times … becoming idols!

  Junichiro Hashiguchi (Bananafish episode director) is the assistant director of Onipan! alongside director Ota, with Ryuta Yanagi (Sword Art Online animation director) adapting Tomari’s original character designs into animation and acting as chiefs animation director, and Takashi Aoshima (Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!) writing the series composition based on the original story from The Ancient Magus' Bride director Norihiro Naganuma. The animation will be produced at WIT Studio.

  Other staff members include:

  Art Director - Shunsuke Suzuki

3DCG Director - Shigenori Hirosumi

Color Designer - Arisa Komatsu

Director of Photography - Shinji Tonsho

Editing - Emi Onodera

Sound Director - Yasunori Ebina

Sound Effects - Naoto Yamatani

Audio Recording - Keisuke Tsurumaki

Music - Yasuhiro Misawa

  The lead voice cast includes Sakura Gakuin idol group members:

  Yume Nozaki as Tsutsuji (Japanese for azalea)

  Mika Negishi as Himawari (Japanese for sunflower)

  Kokona Nonaka as Tsuyukusa (Japanese for Asiatic dayflower)

  The cast also includes Kaori Maeda (Shizuku Osaka in Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club) as Momozono-Momo, Miyu Tomita (Gabriel White Tenma in Gabriel DropOut) as Issun-Boko, and Kikuko Inoue (Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) as Kuma.

  Onipan! is scheduled to begin sometime in 2022.

  Source: Comic Natalie

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.

By: Daryl Harding

[recentanimenews]

Jun Maeda's Heaven Burns Red Smartphone Game Delayed to February 2022

  The official Twitter account for Jun Maeda's upcoming smartphone game Heaven Burns Red announced on November 25 that it will be released in February 2022, which is the second delay for the game that was originally supposed to be released in 2020 and then postponed to 2021. In the Tweet, the devs say the reason behind the latest delay is "in order for the game to be stable at release."

    ◤『ヘブンバーンズレッド』 2022年2月リリース決定 ◢ 当初2021年内リリース予定とお伝えしておりましたが、安定したリリースを迎えるために延期させていただくこととなりました。 お待たせしてしまい申し訳ございません。引き続きヘブンバーンズレッドをよろしくお願いいたします。#ヘブバン pic.twitter.com/7EEjq80Yed

— ヘブンバーンズレッド【公式】＠事前登録受付中 (@heavenburnsred) November 25, 2021

    Heaven Burns Red revolves around the earth being attacked by a mysterious life form known as Cancer. While many nations fell under the might of Cancer using traditional weaponry, a new weapon was created, named Seraph. Only thing is, the only users of the weapon are young girls with the talent to wield the weapon. The last hope of the earth is on these girls' shoulders.

  Previously released trailer:

  Heaven Burns Red hails from Key, best known for visual novel titles including CLANNAD and Air, and smartphone developer Wright Flyer Studios. It is set to be released only on smartphone platforms at this stage. 

  Source: Heaven Burns Red on Twitter

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram. 

By: Daryl Harding