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New Gods Yang Jian Ushers In Chinese New Year

New Gods Yang Jian not only ups the ante in what Light Chaser Animation can do with the animation medium but also update a traditional tale to the science fiction medium.

GKIDS
Playing at Select Theatres Beginning Jan 20
Coming to Digital on April 11 and Home Video April 25th, 2023.

Light Chaser Animation‘s New Gods cinematic universe has another hero, and his name is Yang Jian (voiced by Wang Kai). He’s also known as Erlang Shen, a god with a truth-seeing eye, but in this film it has even greater power which can’t be defined.

Thankfully, no prior knowledge of who he is or the prior film are needed (Nezha Reborn) is on Netflix and my review can be read here), but it’ll help explain the surprise bits found in this tale. In this second film to this franchise, titled New Gods Yang Jian, he gave up his godhood to become a mortal, a bounty hunter, and for much of the tale, he has no regrets over this decision.

Despite everything we know about how the Divine World fell apart, nobody in this new utopia is truly at peace. The introduction talks about an averted civil war, but all is not well. In Penglai, a futuristic neo-feudal tech city located upon a mountaintop, the people live in relative peace. But this home of the gods may well become a target should a boy assemble the pieces of a destructive lamp. The beauty this location represents is just one of many places this film visits. The look of Ancient China juxtaposed with the industrial age looks wonderful. When the adventure moves to the countryside, the landscapes look like they’re straight from a bamboo tapestry. The softer use of colours is not always pronounced, and that helps with giving this movie a better richness than those highly saturated works other CGI films, like Kung Fu Panda, prefer to emphasise.

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loundraw’s Summer Ghost Lingers into Home Video

loundraw’s Summer Ghost is now on home video, and has quite the draw as a Autumn release.

Summer Ghost Bluray — Available to order on Amazon USA

GKIDS & Shout! Factory

Even though Halloween is over, Summer Ghost (サマーゴースト) is here to stay. The home video release the day after feels appropriate to show how those emotions can linger on. This Japanese animated short film is about what it means to be alive instead of the opposite. Each of the heroes here are seeking the spirit of a girl and hope to “get advice” on how to carry on.

This short animated film produced by Flat Studio and directed by loundraw is wonderful. The home video release has two documentaries included which look behind the scenes of this anime, and an interview with the director himself. They help expand what’s already known, assuming viewers watched the film first, and perhaps learn something more. It’s terrific to revisit this anime I saw during Fantasia, and to see how close I was to understanding this director’s vision. That review can be read here.

The former focuses on the team discussing how they look up to the loundraw. They often say he’s like a big brother, which is a touching gesture. This individual made his debut as an illustrator for Gara Nagata’s Hoshi no Nemuru Mizuumi e -Ai wo Sagashi ni- before spreading his wings and now becoming a director. If the dialogue is any sign, there’ll be more stories to come.

With the second piece, loundraw reveals where his idea came from, the type of colour template used and much more. It’s definitely worth the watch after the film, and it certainly made me appreciate Summer Ghost a lot more. Despite the title of this work and when it’s been released to home video (and theatrical), it’s quite the post-Halloween treat. In fact, this work is very appropriate to release during the week when Día de Muertos takes place! Both this anime and celebration honours the afterlife, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the reason why this release was timed for this week.

Summer Ghost Official Trailer

It’s Summer Lovin’ with GKIDs Deji Meets Girl Theatrical Release Next Season

Deji Meets Girl is a novel romp because of the soft, surreal moments.

Coming this fall from GKIDS is Deji Meets Girl. After its latest screening at Fantasia Film Festival as a compiled film presentation, anime fans who haven’t seen this high school paranormal romance will get a chance later this year. To note, this anime made its debut at the last year’s event, before being shown on Japanese TV as shorts, and getting another round this year.

The story takes place over the summer, making this appropriately timed debut even more appealing, and there’s nothing wrong with having an innocent fling, ala Summer Nights (Grease). Where this series shares a similarity to the musical is in how the boy (Ichiro) admits to taking an interest in a girl he meets at a beach (Maise). As for whether she’ll change her approach to winning his heart–we’re not certain. In the episodes I’ve seen so far, they aren’t officially dating.

Ichiro isn’t a greaser. But he does have that John Travolta charm to make me think of this analogy. In what we learn about this stranger is that he’s running away from responsbility. Beneath that cool exterior hides a scared interior. What he’s fleeing from isn’t exactly made clear, either, until the later acts.

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The Deets on When Marnie Was There Upcoming Steelbook Release

When Marnie Was There is a haunting tale gorgeously rendered with its moonlight seascapes, glowing orchestral score, and powerful portrayals of friendship and belonging.

When Marnie Was Here Steelbook From the Academy Award®-nominated director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, the critically acclaimed Studio Ghibli film When Marnie Was There will release in a Limited Edition SteelBook™ on October 11, 2022 from GKIDS, with distribution by Shout! Factory. The SteelBook™ houses a Blu-Ray™+ DVD disc set and comes with bonus features including feature-length storyboards, an exclusive booklet and more. Fans of the anime film can pre-order their copy at Amazon, GKIDS.com or ShoutFactory.com.

Nominated for an Academy Award® in Best Animated Feature and Certified 91% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, When Marnie Was There includes a star-studded English voicecast of Hailee Steinfeld, Kiernan Shipka, Geena Davis, John C. Reilly, and Vanessa Williams. The stunning animation is an adaptation of the beloved young-adult English novel of the same name published in 1967 by Joan G. Robertson, which is largely considered one of the finest masterpieces of British Children’s Literature.

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Inu-Oh is Swoon Worthy Hellraiser and a Lot More at Fantasia 2022

Inu-oh was neglected much of his life, and to see how he survives makes for a great story.

July 27 9:30 PM
Coming to theatres Aug 12, 2022 courtesy of GKIDS. and to all major digital platforms on Dec 20 and on Blu-Ray™ + DVD on January 24.

Masaaki Yuasa’s musical fantasy is very ambitious, and that should be of no surprise for anyone who loves rock and roll or heavy metal. There’s a bit of history too, but to say how much of it is accurate is tough to ascertain. That’s because there’s not a lot of surviving records about the real life Inu-Oh (犬王, lit. “Dog King”).

The themes in this self-titled movie concerns defying the status quo and showing that it’s okay to be yourself. That’s how Inu-Oh lives his life. He believes there’s no need to conform, especially when he’s born deformed Sadly, people run away if they see him in his true form. Thus, he’s always wearing a mask and dons a huge garment to cover up his entire body. It’s a shame nobody can see past his ugliness, but thankfully Toma can. That’s because he’s blind.

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No Need To Cry. Goodbye, Don Glees! You’re Still Alive After Fantasia 2022

The anime, Goodbye, Don Glees! is written and directed by Atsuko Ishizuka is gorgeous on a narrative level.

Goodbye Don Glees!

GKIDS
Screened at Anime Expo and Fantasia 2022
Coming to theatres this Fall!
Home Video Release: Dec 27, 2022
* comes with Interview with Director Atsuko Ishizuka

the title of Madhouse’s latest animated film isn’t too telling, then what we learn from Goodbye, Don Glees! (グッバイ、ドン・グリーズ!) is that we should never let life pass you by. This heartwarming and sentimental film about two boys—Rōma (Natsuki Hanae) and Toto (Yûki Kaji)—enjoying the dog days of summer isn’t too bittersweet, but I had to ponder over the use of this title.

This coming of age drama has a lot of moments which hint at what it all means, but the adventure doesn’t really begin until after the duo meet Drop (Ayumu Murase), a new kid in town. He has something that others cannot see. For one thing, he’s so full of life, and what he wears is loud by conventional Japanese standards. His family moved from Iceland to Japan, and in what he externalizes hides something else. For one thing, he often talks about the ancient tree of life from Nordic lore. There’s something about Yggdrasil that he’s enthralled with, and it is referred to in anime or manga every once in a while.

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