Gauche the Cellist [Google video, 63 minutes] is based on a story [Japanese; English translation #1, #2] by Kenji Miyazawa, one of the most-loved poet/storytellers in Japan (Miyazaki and Takahata love his works, and have been influenced by him). The movie was made as an independent project by a Japanese animation studio, OH Production (wiki), and took 6 years to complete. It is rather difficult to make a Kenji story into a movie because there are many Japanese just waiting to rip you apart if you screw up, but Gauche has been highly acclaimed, and is considered one of the best Miyazawa movies (IMDb). The story is about a cellist, Gauche, who becomes a better cellist by interacting with animals who visit his home every night. *
posted by filthy light thief on Oct 8, 2011 - 8 comments

Carrying on the tradition of Woody Allen's What's Up Tiger Lily and Steve Oedekerk's Kung Pow, Dub of the North St*r takes a well-known, and frequently violent, anime and turns into a comical parody of itself.
posted by lemuring on Aug 30, 2011 - 15 comments

"Five orphans with a spacecraft battle a lipsticked maniac from the Crab Nebula and his unlikely big flying robots. No one gets hurt."

In 1972, the anime action-adventure show Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman,) premiered on Japanese television. Featuring graphic violence, extensive profanity and a transgendered villain, it was one of the most popular animated series of its time. Envisioning similar success in the US, Sandy Frank Entertainment acquired the series in 1978 but deemed it too graphic and shocking for domestic audiences. So they hired two Hanna-Barbera vets to "re-version" totally bowdlerize the episodes with new scripts, voiceovers music and effects, animation, etc., at a cost of $5 million and turn it into a brand new show: Battle of the Planets. Here are the original 1978 Battle of the Planets feature film (in 7 parts,) and the first 19 episodes of the show, all available on Youtube. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jan 28, 2011 - 61 comments

Cromartie High School is a Japanese manga and animated series. It investigates poignant issues and themes in contemporary culture such as Internet Trolls, Denial, and Perception. Most importantly, it educates the viewer on what it takes to be an honest-to-goodness Badass. [more inside]
posted by lemuring on Jan 20, 2011 - 29 comments

Kodocha calls it quits. Kodocha Anime, one of the best known and most reliable anime fansub tape distributors, is closing down operations. Why? Because everything's going digital. [more inside]
posted by Slithy_Tove on Sep 23, 2002 - 3 comments

Learning Japanese (or at least hiragana) can be easy and rewarding. This link is NSFW, depending on how much hirigana you know.
posted by headspace on Feb 7, 2002 - 19 comments

Astroboy! Get out your red rocket boots and laser shooting behind. Sony is planning to bring the cult superhero/wonderboy to the screen in 2004 in computer-generated glory. Will the film feature Astro's evil brother Atlas, or Astro's slightly unnerving robotic parents?
posted by phatboy on Dec 10, 2001 - 6 comments

Cartoon Network begins its "Adult Swim" programming tonight: Toons aimed at the 18-35 audience. I'm most excited about Cowboy Bebop (Japanese site; English is under construction). (more inside)
posted by jpoulos on Sep 2, 2001 - 26 comments