Kleine Ruimte
het is aan jullie niet leuk vinden of niet.
The Dark Knight Rises
#Lucius Fox
The Amazing Spider-Man
*New Theatrical Trailer #4
Linkin Park - BURN IT DOWN
Thanx GOD
RUROUNI KENSHIN’s (Samurai X)
As you might know, anime/manga culture is as big in Japan as Hollywood is in USA. To some of you they might seem childish or whatever it is that you think, but for Japanese people there is no age limit for reading mangas or watching anime.
Unfortunately, not so many of them are known outside of Japan. Now, you might say otherwise, but trust me – knowing how many of them have been released in Japan so far and how many new ones are released every year, it IS a small number that we know. Thankfully they are being introduced through not-so-official channels to us increasingly (and that would be a no-no if those SOPA, PIPA, ACTA and other sh*t laws had been passed – think about that), so we are able to follow latest ones as well as catch up with the classic ones, though still with a ‘decent’ delay.
Anyhow, one of those classics (and one of my personal favs) is Rurouni Kenshin aka Kenshin the Wonderer, based on (as most animes are) a samurai manga created byNobuhiro Watsuki. It is a story about Hitokiri Battousai or Manslayer, Himura Kenshin, who had one of the major roles in bringing down Tokugawa Shogunate, thus beginning Meiji (Restauration) Era, in 19th Century (1868, to be exact). After ten years, regretting his Battousai past, he wanders wearing his sakabato (reverse blade sword), vowing that he will use it only to save people and never to kill again. Along his way old enemies reappear, and a series of events unfold that will question his ideal of living peacefully in Meiji Era, but also bring him treasured friends and new love. They will help him to stay true to his new self and show his enemies that true strength and samurai honor don’t lie in ‘survival of the fittest’ way, but in compassion, serving as protector for those who are unable to protect themselves.
Being very popular, it has lived since 1996 through several arcs, the latest having been released in 2011 (marking 15th anniversary), and we will finally have the chance to see the live-action film adaptation this year (that is, it will be this
year for Japanese – I’d guess another year for the rest of us, if you wait for it to be released officially).
Directed and scripted by Keishi Ōtomo, co-scripted by Kiyomi Fujii, it will star 23-year-old Takeru Satoh as Himura Kenshin, while 18-year-old actress Emi Takei also appears the heroine Kaoru Kamiya. Yuu Aoi (Hana and Alice, Honey and Clover) plays Megumi Takani, Munetaka Aoki (The Last Message Umizaru, live-action The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) plays Sanosuke Sagara, and Taketo Tanaka plays Yahiko Myōjin. Kouji Kikkawa (Let’s Dance With Papa) appears as Jine Udō, Yosuke Eguchi (Shonan Bakusozoku, Tokyo Love Story) as Hajime Saitō, and Teruyuki Kagawa (From Up On Poppy Hill, 20th Century Boys) as Kanryū Takeda rounds out the cast.
The film will open in Japan on August 25th, 2012. Meanwhile, take a look at the trailer and behind-the-scenes video, in which Takeru Satoh practices his Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū style moves.
The Dark Knight Rises
#catwoman
(via keaneoncomics)
Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X)
Ok, first of all, forgive me for this piece of ‘old news’, but we have been quite busy with the summer blockbuster announcements and Cannes Film Festival, so everything else went a bit into the background. There may still be some of you who haven’t heard yet, so here goes.
For all of you who’ve seen and loved Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series (and hated the live-action movie) as much as I did, I’d say we probably shared the same nostalgic melancholy about the series coming to an end, when we realized ‘there will be no more of it! Ever.’
So you can imagine the overwhelming happiness when I’ve heard a couple of months ago that there will be a sequel, after all. Regretfully, I put that off of my mind, what with all of the troubles I’ve had recently, but also hoping I would hear the news of it again, hopefully in time enough not to miss the premiere (which usually happens, even for movies/series/animes I don’t follow THAT much) – but Murphy’s laws had it otherwise. It opened on March 24th online (Damn! Three days after my birthday… what a great b-day present would that have been!), and April 14th on Nickelodeon.
Anyway, The Legend of Korra picks up about seventy years after the events from the first series, and the Avatar this time happens to be a girl from the Southern Water Tribe, Korra. She is hot-headed, rebellious and ‘ready to take on the world’, and we will be able to see her learning the Airbending skills graduately (the only incomplete bending development we haven’t seen in the first part, since Aang was already titular ‘the last Airbender’). In her battle against anti-benders, she will have the aid of Firebender Mako, Earthbender Bolin, and Tenzin, an Airbender and son of Aang and Katara.
Synopsis:
“Republic City is everything that Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko fought for when they ended the Hundred Year War. With balance restored to the four nations, benders and non-benders can live together in peace, in this thriving metropolitan area. But even the steampunk paradise of Republic City has its problems, as the next Avatar discovers. When Avatar Korra arrives in Republic City to master her airbending, she comes face to face with criminal bending gAangs as well as members of a vocal anti-bending revolution. Before long, Korra’s Avatar skills are put to the test when she encounters a group of Chi-blockers led by the charismatic and mysterious Amon, who threatens the city and all the benders in it. Despite the immense danger, Korra vows to fight the growing anti-bending revolution. But will she be able to stop Amon before he rises to power and makes his vision of a bending-free world a reality?”
When Avatar: The Last Airbender came to an end, the creators had planned for it to be final. But, the show had a great success and no wonder, with ‘key ingredients’ such as interesting, original and hearfelt story, greatly developed, lovable characters whom you could sympathize and identify with, and beautiful, flowing animation, especially fighting scenes – according to some, one of the best and smoothest animated fighting scenes ever. All that and spiced with wonderful music. Another big contribution to the series’ success was popularity of its (head)strong female characters among the female public, and that is the reason why the creators decided to have a female lead action role, which was ‘traditionally reserved’ for males (and we congratulate them!).
Having almost entire team that worked on the first series back, I am sure that the sequel, planned in two seasons for now, will have the same, if not greater, amount of success.
Originally planned title Avatar: Legend of Korra is left for the international version, while the mentioned one is for US (it had something to do with the James Cameron’s Avatar trademark applications, which annoys me to some point, since the Avatar: The Last Airbender showed up way before Cameron’s, after all, and *I* am not the hair-splitter here!).
Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos and Ki Hyun Ryu, written by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the series stars voices of Janet Varney as Korra,J.K. Simmons as Tenzin, David Faustino as Mako, P.J. Byrne as Bolin, Dee Bradley Baker (who gave voices to Momo and Appa in the first series) for additional voices, and others.
Oh and, as a way of saying ‘sorry’, I’ll try to bribe you with those two hi-res posters up there, a trailer and an opening title. Not enough? You munchkins! That’s all for now, off I go to watch it!
