Updates/News

DATE

NEWS

When asked if there is a big 7 studio involved, the answer was that there are several studios involved, but nothing can be said until all of the ink on the contracts is dry. To address concerns about how the special effects would be done, it was disclosed that Weta turned down two major projects to take on the Eva project ("They would shock you", Matt says). [ed note: So it would seem that Weta is very dedicated to the project. Look how good LOTR turned out.]"

"Live Action Eva details (2003-06-24 02:25:45)
ADV talked about the upcoming live action Evangelion at their panel at Fanime. The movie has a budget of $100 million and will be a retelling of the story. The July issue of Newtype USA should apparently contain a lot of information about the film."

I wonder how they plan to retell Evangelion a 26 episode series in 2/3 hours?

*update* from Anime Tourist, the same news listed above only with a little more detail
 "According to Matt, "If they do half of what they've sketched, it will be the most amazing sci-fi movie you'll ever see." The movie will be shot partially on location in New Zealand and will feature an international cast."

• "GAiNAX has stated on its online diary (today's entry) that a manga based on the Evangelion computer game Koutetsu no Girlfriend 2nd (Iron Maiden 2nd) - which game was released last month - will commence serialisation in Kadokawa Shoten's shoujo manga magazine Monthly Asuka, starting with the October 2003 issue, on sale 24 August 2003. Source: Moonphase. Shoujo Eva manga...? Sadamoto Yoshiyuki's shonen Evangelion manga is serialised in Kadokawa's manga magazine Monthly Shonen Ace-A."
    and
    "GAiNAX has announced on its Neon Genesis Evangelion website that, following the news of the live action Hollywood (and New Zealand) movie, another big announcement will be made in the (northern) summer. There's more to come in the Eva Renewal Project."

If I remember correctly their last big announcement was Project [Re] (Evangelion Renewal Project) I wonder what's more to come? *update* From AOD forum Gainax said they will make there announcement in August/September

"Variety.com (original article only available to subscribers--free trial available), reporting from the Cannes Film Festival, reports that Gainax, Weta, and ADV are teaming up to produce a live action film based on Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Gainax and ADV Films should be instantly recognizable to any anime fan as the studio that created Evangelion and ADV as the studio that owns the worldwide rights to the TV series and localized it for North American audiences. Weta Workshop, however, may not be a familiar name. Weta is the New Zealand studio set up by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson to handle the special effects for the LOTR trilogy.
Adding complete credibility to this story is the quote from ADV Films president and co-founder John Ledford: "The three main players here represent something of a dream team for a project like this. Between the quality and significance of Gainax, Weta's industry-leading skill in visual effects and our expertise in the marketing and promotion of anime and anime-related content, this project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
To top it off, while the film is still in early development, Ledford mentions an "aggressive timetable."
ANN has confirmed this story with ADV Films."

In the past it's been said that the asking price for these ep's. were expensive, and considering the rumored fallout between ADV and Gainax this was defiantly some surprising news. Maybe the price dropped since Gainax's Evangelion remastered ep's are coming out, but what ever the reason I'm sure most western Eva fans would be happy, I know I am.

01. Neon Genesis Evangelion Genesis 0:0 IN THE BEGINNING
-Previously released on VHS, a preview of the TV series including staff interviews.

02. Neon Genesis Evangelion Genesis 0:0` THE LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS [A Light in the Darkness]
-Previously released on VHS, a preview of movie including main cast interviews.

03. Gekijoban # 26 Part
-Live action video of main seiyuu Hayashibara Megumi, Mitsuishi Kotono and Miyamura Yuko expressing the real world of Evangelion - of which footage was used in the movie. (more info about it here: http://www.evaotaku.com/html/liveaction.html)

04. Trailer Collection.
-For movie and TV series.

05. Non-telop OP and ED
-Creditless remastered OP and ED.

06. AR Rush Film.
-Rush film used at the time of After Recording, ie post-recording of dialogue.

I spotted some new scenes in the new opening that I've never seen before (all were "pencil like" sketches, but they might be in one of the art books since I don't have them), the real underwater scene used for the ending was good and it looks like some new dialog has been added to the first ep. It's just too bad the whole box set cost too much (and my lack of understanding the Japanese language doesn't help either).

Also from the same site: "With the Dreamcast version of the Ayanami Ikusei Keikaku (Rearing Project) game to be released on 18 April 2003, now it looks like GAiNAX will also be releasing a game for the Playstation 2 in the (northern) spring. With the tentative title of "Shin Seiki Evangelion Ayanami Ikusei Keikaku ~ Ayanami Ikusei Keikaku: Asuka Hokan Keikaku ~" (Neon Genesis Evangelion Ayanami Rearing Project ~ Ayanami Rearing Project: Asuka Complementation Project ~), it'll add Asuka as a character the player has to bring up."

And the latest one is about the game Iron Maiden 2nd which from the looks of things is about the 'alternate universe' that Shinji created in the end of the series (the one where we see Rei running to school with toast in her mouth before knocking over Shinji) but I could be wrong.*edit* from the ramblings going on it seems I was right after all : )

"What's going on with Evangelion? With the heading of "Second Coming", one of the feature articles in the next issue of Newtype (to be published in Japan on 10 December 2002) will be on Evangelion, including an interview with director Anno. Further, on the GAiNAX website, it's been stated that there'll be an important announcement in the February 2003 issue of Monthly Shonen Ace-A magazine, on sale 26 December 2002."

My guess, it's something to do with the manga since Anno had said that Evangelion was finished I doubt he will make a new show

Anime: In other news, the Noir "surprise" was only a box with the first disc and a T-shirt, but Bandai's release of .Hack//SIGN has some interesting news for the limited edition, From AOD .hack page:

"The first volume will have a reversible cover, a character info gallery, and for fans of the score of this show (which seems to be quite a bit, considering the number of soundtrack requests we keep getting), there will be a Dolby Digital isolated score audio track.

Contrary to rumors and erroneous postings elsewhere, this first volume has a running time of 125 minutes. We've also learned that the Limited Edition release will street on 03/04/2003 for $59.98 while the regular disc only version won't street until 03/18/2003 for $29.98" and a comes with a Grunty (aka puchiguso) plushy.

"Hi All, We have scoured newsgroups checking on reported issues with the USA End of Evangelion release and have implemented the following changes in our final Australian release, which may be delayed to stores by a day or two as a result:

1. reduced the number of audio tracks to allow improved video quality and reduce instances of possible error caused by bitrate overloading - audio tracks included on the DVD are: eng 5.1 DD, Jap 2.0, Jap 5.1 DD, Jap 6.1 DTS-ES, commentary
2. put a 5 second spacer after the feature and before credits to allow sufficient "what the.." time
3. moved the live trailer to extras
4. put a basic sub translation on the live trailer
5. moved subtitles to be completely inside the image
6. deleted some episode name subtitles which appeared for 2/25 sec each, as they caused some players to glitch in testing.
Audio setup should all be fully functional - hope you all enjoy it!!!
Best Regards, Tim Anderson
Managing Director Madman Entertainment"

Also they have said that EOE will be released on time and that Death & Rebirth DVD (which they have shipped over over 15,000 units) is unplayable on some lower-end RCA.

and from the AB forum posted by MDWigs:
"I had a list of the difference I wrote up a couple of years ago, but its buried beneath all my other Eva stuff and I'm too lazy to dig it out now, maybe later if enough people bug me ^^ (hehe go on bug him for it : ). The easiest way I have found of telling the difference between Rebirth and Air it to look at the scene where Asuka wakes up inside of Eva-02. In Air she reaches out to Kyouko's outstretched hand, in Rebirth that scene is missing."

And of course the ending of Rebirth is different from Air but that shouldn't have been changed.

And to Eva news, unlike what was said earlier the R4 release of Death and Rebirth will be a DVD-9 (instead of 2 DVD-5's), authored by Madman, no details given yet about EoE. Eva movies box set will be done after EoE has come out. Other Madman release can be read here.

And ADV has another contest (for U.S. residents), but this time its for BGC2040, Grand Prize: One (1) Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 Perfect Collection and one (1) DVD Player. Contest ends July 28th

.hack//SIGN has been voted the #1 anime show in the Newtype Japan Reader Response Poll, Bandai has released the official English .hack website at www.dothack.com. From ANS

and from ANN Image Entertainment has licensed Hyper Police, a comedy anime TV series about a pair of anthropomorphic detectives in a post-apocalyptic world.

(U.S. and Canadian residents only)
Contest ends July 31st. Winners will be chosen at random from all entrants by August 15th, 2002.

One First Prize: One Premium Evangelion Paul Champagne Perfect Collection.
One Second Prize: One Neon Genesis Evangelion Perfect Collection.
Ten Third Prizes: One Neon Genesis Evangelion Collection 1 DVD.

Contest ends May 31st. Go here to find out more.

And from ANS As was first reported several months ago, director Hideaki Anno was married in a wonderful ceremony in Japan at the end of April. Photos from the momentous occasion have been placed online with a report courtesy of Kodansha.

Unlike what was reported last year, Studio Ironcat has said that they don't have the rights to the Groundwork of Evangelion books. Manga has said will also be (quote from the post) "An interview with the deputy director of EOE will be on the film. Maybe a commentary. That one is assured."

and because I'm a Noir fan:
"ADV: Production on Noir begins next week. Fast track really means something!"

There will be an EVA boxset after the movies are released. Will be able to get
the box, possibly free off the website. Nailing box art and it would better
match the ADV's black box set of EVA. They will include the makouji report on
the total runtime of the dvd.

For those who've been waiting, the news, or at least preliminary parts, have come out regarding the premium box sets for Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Premium Edition, which is being made in limited numbers, comes in two flavors to satisfy the Eva fanatic.

Neon Genesis Evangelion Premium Metal Box is due on 04/23/2002 and will retail for $48.99.
Neon Genesis Evangelion Premium Metal Box Plus Vol. #1 Remastered is due on 04/23/2002 and will retail for $72.99.

These boxes will be produced in a limited quantity of what seems to be about 2000 copies. ADV Films has partnered with Paul Champagne to produce these very high quality stunning looking boxes using a new technique. These metal boxes will also be numbered, and will take some time to make. According to their information at TRSI, the first boxes will ship on 04/23/2002 and they expect to get the last shipment by June to finish getting them out. Paul Champagne's work is very high quality and this box is unlike anything he's done before. With luck, we'll be able to post some images soon of what this looks like.

So thus ends the rumors of the Premium box "set". News from Anime On DVD.