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Funimation to Stream Flow Chokaigi 2020 -Anime Shibari Returns-

Starts streaming on November 13 exclusively on Funimation

Sony Music Labels Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Manabu Tsujino) is excited to announce that video contents owned by Sony Music will be streamed across the world through services from Funimation Global Group, LLC (Funimation), an animation distribution company based in the United States. The first content will be the FLOW’s special concert FLOW Chokaigi 2020 -Anime Shibari Returns-.

The concert will air exclusively beginning at 8 pm CST, November 13, 2020 on Funimation.com in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom; Wakanim.TV by Wakanim in France, Russia, Denmark and Scandinavia; and AnimeLab by Madman in Australia and New Zealand. The concert will also stream on Funimation in Mexico and Brazil when the service launches later this year.

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High Chinese Fantasy is Alive in Big Fish & Begonia

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Big Fish & Begonia (大鱼海棠) is a beautifully animated film which takes its afterlife seriously. The people living in a mystical Chinese Middle Earth type realm live harmoniously with the elements but when an individual upsets the natural order, the world will retaliate and the cosmic order will need rebalancing.

This movie debuted in 2016 and it got limited play at select film festivals. After two years, it has finally gotten notice by Shout! Factory and FUNimation. Hopefully, another work, I Am Nezha (我是哪吒) will see release. While one is traditionally animated (2D), the other is 3D. Big Fish is a dramatic product whereas Nezha has more comedy action. To catch either work on the big screen is tough; the release from last month only had a handful of theatres doing short runs.

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Looking Closer at In This Corner of the World & Its Canadian Release

corner-of-world-poster By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

To my knowledge, few Japanese animated movies exist which looks at a part of history from World War II with a perspective not overdone. Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies is the granddaddy of the genre because it’s so depressingly sad, and Barefoot Gen somewhere on the vein of being positive while it looks at the aftermath. With In This Corner of the World (この世界の片隅に), the point of view is from innocent bystanders. The atomic destruction of Hiroshima has not happened yet. This particular fact is not dwelled upon. Nobody is aware except for the viewer. Most of the characters are blissfully unaware.

This film looks at the life of an idyllic young girl, Suzu (Rena Nōnen), living her life through a veil. She wants to be an artist and she describes herself as a daydreamer. A significant part of her life is portrayed and it has a Studio Ghibli like quality during this innocent time. This fact is of no surprise as Director Sunao Katabuchi worked on Kiki’s Delivery Service.

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In This Corner of the World set to Expand August 18th

corner-of-world-poster

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Coming this Friday, August 11th is In This Corner of the World to cinemas in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. On August 18th, this Japanese animated film will expand its market to major cities in both the United States and Canada. FUNimation and Shout! Factory is handling the theatrical release and to celebrate, information was passed along to press about the work director Sunao Katabuchi put forth. They may appear on the eventual video release.

A lot of the landscape around Kure and Hiroshima was tragically lost to air raids and the atomic bomb which ended World War II. Not many survivors with first-hand experience of the war are still with us. but Katabuchi met some — who were children at the time — and got their perspective. He also mentioned that this zone was your typical living quarters. He spent six years thoroughly researching the details before animation work began. He gathered accounts from people about those days and collected more than 4,000 photographs to recreate the cityscape of the 1930s and 40s.

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One Piece: Gold is set to Weigh In Jan 10th in North America!

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Watching One Piece Film: Gold only makes me pine for more Lupin III material than Luffy (the lead character). The only reason is that I’m more of a fan of this character more than the other. The Lupin series by Monkey Punch has been around since the late 60’s and One Piece by creator/illustrator, Eiichiro Oda, was first serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1997. Both are popular in their own right, and who can’t love a gang of pirates having some pretty crazy, whacked out adventures?

Both still have an ongoing television series. When concerning the latter, these pirates have not gotten the ‘reboot’ (the series began in 1999) and this film is the thirteenth in the series. Both universes have their fans, and while I prefer one over the other, it has not stopped me from looking at the newer one on and off over the years, when there’s a story to pique my interest. Continue reading “One Piece: Gold is set to Weigh In Jan 10th in North America!”

Final Day of FUNimation Voice Casting

Grelle FUNimation has announced the final day of English voice casting for the Attack on Titan Japanese anime series. And of the list of the new cast, Josh Grelle has been named as the voice of Armin Arlert. Grelle has been involved in many English voice cast of anime series including Cat Planet Cuties, Air Gear and Baka and Test.

With the voices of Armin and Mikasa in place, we are still missing one final actor to complete the main trio. No where was there any mention by FUNimation on who would voice Eren Yeager. Does FUNimation plan to announce the final piece of the artistic puzzle in some grand party. Or perhaps that pleasure will be reserved for an upcoming convention? When we at Otaku no Culture know, you will know. Keep reading.

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