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August 22, 2007: Well, this Luddite is finally catching up with the times. I've decided to move these news items to a blog page: http://Gatchablog.blogspot.com. Although I run the risk of losing all the data if Blogger ever dies, there are more advantages: updates are easier, I can catalog the info with keywords, and readers can now make comments. Let me know what you think. And here is my first news item: Imagi has signed with two companies to distribute and produce Gatchaman movie-related merchandise. And it looks like the movie has been pushed back to 2009 (big surprise there). Details are on the blog. Tatsunokofan just sent his review of the Dybex DVD. That's on the blog here. I have another link to the Robot Chicken BotP parody (which is easier access than on the Adult Swim site): http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/66404/detail/ See you on the blog!
August 10, 2007: Dybex is releasing the Gatchaman movie on DVD in French. No, it's not the upcoming 2008 film; it's the first series compilation that was released as a theatrical feature in 1978. There are two versions of the DVD: a standard version and a 2-disc deluxe version ("Gatchaman Edition Prestige"). The Prestige version appears to contain the same bonus material as the Japanese release along with a booklet and five postcards. The movie is supposed to have both French and Japanese audio tracks, and French and Dutch subtitles. More information here:
Gatchaman link: http://www.dybex.com/details.cfm?idvd=348 Thanks, Tatsunokofan!
August 2, 2007: One week prior to the opening of Comic Con, I received a phone call from friends offering me round-trip tickets to San Diego. So I made it to Comic Con this year! (Woohoo!!!) You'll find my report at the bottom of the page. Sincere thanks to Tatsunokofan and Barrdwng! I need to make some corrections and give credit where credit is due regarding the Taiwan Gatchaman 30th anniversary celebration mentioned below (Gatchaman premiered in 1977 in Taiwan). An extremely dedicated fan with the handle "Kena" arranged the Gatchaman anniversary event at the Ya Gallery in Kaohsiung. Preparation for the event took her seven months. Kena contacted fans from Japan, Korea, the Philippines and the United States, and these fans contributed the art and merchandise for the displays (lots of cool stuff in there, with a lot of merchandise I'd never seen before). The event drew over 9,378 attendees and strong media coverage during its opening weekend. Here are more links to news reports on YouTube and other sources:
Gatchaman 30th Anniversary in Taiwan: Thanks, Kena!
July 21, 2007: First Gatchaman Snoopy, then Gatchaman teddy bears, and now... Gatchaman Kewpies. The Run'a company will release a line of 53 mascot phone straps based on "Kewpie-ized" Japanese pop-culture figures, including our favorite heroes in bird suits. You can see all five at: http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/kabutomusichan/diary/200707100000/ If you absolutely must have one for your cell phone, they go on sale September 13, 2007 for 520 yen each. Thanks, Tatsunokofan! To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Gatchaman's premiere in Taiwan, fans organized a special event at the Chih-Mei Gallery in Kaohsiung. The event, running from July 14 to July 25, 2007, had over 4,000 visitors and strong media coverage during its opening weekend. The event includes displays of fan art, merchandise, and some really cool items including a coin-operated Godphoenix amusement ride. You can see a photo gallery of the event here: http://photo.pchome.com.tw/_manage/my_photos.html?s=s07&n=kcc20051225&b=9 There's also a cute video of kids dancing to the theme song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66Og0rtQDdE Thanks, Kena!
 July 15, 2007: I have to admit, the first time I saw this, I thought, "OWWW! There's a bird symbol stamped into my chest!" Nikkatsu has released a publicity sheet for the upcoming Gatchaman live action movie slated for 2008 or 2009 in Japan. The sheet doesn't offer much that we didn't already know--it describes the basic premise of the show, that it's a timeless anime classic, etc. Unfortunately, there's still no release date. The packet says, "Production to be Determined." You can see the entire promo sheet with Japanese text here. Thanks, Tatsunokofan!Meanwhile, plans for the Yatterman movie are in full swing. You can see the promo for it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OPzQAugys8 Note that it's safe for work, but rather disturbing. Thanks, Tatsunokofan! In other news. the Japanese game site 4Gamer.net has a couple of articles about a Korean SD (Super Deformed) Gatchaman game called "Eagle 5." The game appears to be in Beta stage. The article is in Japanese, but there are photos and a downloadable wmv movie (click around the links): http://www.4gamer.net/news.php?url=/news/history/2007.06/20070629154914detail.html
 June 15, 2007: Ain't It Cool News just posted some new concept art from Imagi at www.aintitcool.com/node/33008, as well as the logo. It looks like Imagi's going all Blade Runner with the Utoland city designs, and I like the ad sneaked in for Sapporo Beer (my favorite!). There's even some concept art of Ken, Joe and I think Ryu and Jinpei (in the back). Looks like they're keeping the numbered t-shirts, and I hope they go with the longer hair (such a trademark of '70s Gatchaman). I'm not nuts about Joe smoking (the whole trained athlete thing, it gives me flashbacks of choking in Tokyo's ever-present cigarette smoke, and only the villains smoked in Gatchaman). I know a lot of fans see him with the feather shuriken in his mouth and figure a cigarette is the next best thing. But that's me being the picky old-school fan.
June 14, 2007: Imagi has selected a screenwriter for the Gatchaman CGI feature film. From Imagi's June 13 press release:
Los Angeles, June 13, 2007 - Robert Mark Kamen has been signed to write the screenplay for the upcoming CG-animated motion picture Gatchaman, it was jointly announced today by Imagi Studios Co-CEO & Chief Creative Officer Francis Kao and Co-CEO Douglas E. Glen.The full press release (PDF file) is here. I haven't heard much about GatchaCon this year. Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, I'm unable to attend this year. Since it's the first time I've ever missed GatchaCon, I'm very disappointed. I'll post news as I get it.
May 26, 2007: All's quiet on the Gatchaman movie news front. I've been keeping an eye out for news releases. In the meantime, I've added a link or two to the Links page. The Gatchfanfic.com site is in the process of going automated and the site's stories are being transitioned over to the new format. Plus authors are adding new stories, so this is definitely the site to watch if you're into fanfic. For those of you interested in purchasing the Gatchaman II and Fighter soundtracks, you can now find them on Amazon.com. Both are listed at $38.99 new. Thanks, Tatsunokofan!
April 12, 2007: So. Wow. According to Anime News Network and Variety.com, Nikkatsu Corp. announced it has greenlit LIVE ACTION movie adaptations of both Gatchaman and Yatterman. Yatterman is slated for a spring 2009 release date and will be directed by Miike Takeshi, with character and mecha designs by Katsuya Terada. I'm not sure if this is just for Yatterman or both films. For now, the info seems to be mostly about Yatterman. I didn't see explicit information about it, but I'm assuming this is a Japanese-language movie release only. This live-action film should not be confused with Imagi's CGI Gatchaman movie (projected for 2008/2009) that I've been describing up til now. And as a side note, I saw Imagi's TMNT recently, and I really enjoyed it. I don't know anything about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I loved the characters, and this film made me want to go buy the comic. Friends who were fans of the comic assured me that the property was treated very well. I think if Kevin Munroe and Imagi do for Gatchaman what they did for TMNT, we'll be seeing a great movie in 2008.
March 22, 2007: Many fans I've talked to are concerned whether or not the Gatchaman 2008 characters will resemble the originals. At the time I visited Imagi, I didn't see much by way of character designs, and what I did see didn't really resemble the characters as we know them. However, Harry Knowles at Aintitcool.com has some more current information: "Those faces - it is Mark and Jason and my favorite design was Tiny. [...] They're not made to look HUMAN exactly, but a slight hybrid between animation and living beings." See the entire article, plus larger versions of the concept art from Imagi's Web site at http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31981. Aaaaand... while I was Googling for Gatchaman news, I found a description of the two-minute Gatchaman 2008 trailer at Butterboom.com. Never mind the use of Battle of the Planets character names. That confusion is going to be common. The trailer was screened today at the 2007 Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum in Hong Kong.
March 20, 2007: First, about the Gatchaman II and Fighter music CDs: Gatchaman II has a total of 78 minutes, 5 seconds of content. Gatchaman F's disk has 78 minutes, 48 seconds of content. Plenty of music for the price. With the premiere of the TMNT movie coming in a couple of days, there has been a little more action on the proposed 2008 Gatchaman feature film. Imagi's Web site refers briefly to Gatchaman in an interview with TMNT director Kevin Munroe (from the main page, click "What's New," then "Q & A with Kevin Munroe"). Click "Our Films," then "Gatchaman" to see the gallery of concept art. Looks like they're going for the popular dark, gritty look with a couple of influences from the OAV.
February 9, 2007: Some sightings and news tidbits: Gatchaman II and Fighter soundtracks to be commercially released: What makes this particularly newsworthy is that, while the opening/closing and image songs from those series have been released in years past, the actual soundtracks have not. This should be of particular interest to collectors and to fans of Gatchaman II and F. The two "Tatsunoko Music Museum" CDs (one for each series) will be released April 4th, 2007 by Sony Music Entertainment' s Be Smile label. I don't have any information on how many tracks or what extras will be included, but I've been told the collections will be very thorough.
Gatchaman II Original Soundtrack (BSCH-30055): 2,800 yen The CDs are available for preorder through Amazon Japan and CD Japan, among others. Shipping restrictions apply. ADV's Valentine's Day Sale: Been saving your money and waiting for the prices of Gatchaman DVDs to go down? ADVfilms.com is having a sale. Individual volumes of Gatchaman run $6 - $12, and box sets run $14 - $18 (the earlier the volume, the lower the price). G-Force sightings: Outside of Amano's work, it can happen! Here are three sightings of our teenagers in bird suits in the general public: http://marillanokichi.blogspot.com/2007/01/tatsunoko-done.html http://drawn.ca/2007/02/09/son-of-rambow/ Actor Seth Rogan wears a homemade G-Force t-shirt in the trailer for the film, "Knocked Up": http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1550103&sdm=web&qtw=480&qth=300 (Thanks, Michael!)
January 27, 2007: Here's an update on the Banpresto Gatchaman game for Playstation 2: Yesterday, Banpresto launched their web site for the "Pachislo King! Science Ninja Team Gatchaman" game (see below for details). The site has photos from three different modes of gameplay (Capture mode, Mission mode and Gallery mode) and links at the bottom of the screen for news, the Taiyo site and possibly cell phone accessories (the news and mobile links don't appear to be working yet). The game will be available February 22nd. You can purchase the game from Play Asia for US$49.90 plus shipping, but please note that you must have a Japanese or chipped Playstation 2 machine in order for the game to work. Thanks, Tatsunokofan!
January 21, 2007: Three news items: First, on the site for the Gatchaman slot machine, there was a section for a Gatchaman game for the Playstation 2. Although there's no information about the game on the official site, Tatsunokofan has managed to dig some up. The game is titled "Pachislot King! Science Ninja Team Gatchaman," and is being produced by Banpresto. The game retails at 5,040 yen, and will be released in Japan on February 22nd. No word on whether this is a version of the slot machine game--no images from the game have surfaced yet. Second, Activeanime is doing a tribute to Gatchaman on their site. You'll find some extra tidbits featuring the Gatchaman voice actors at ADV and the Gatchaman screenings at the Alamo Draft House. It's worth a look. Third, here's the latest interview with Kevin Munroe, director of the (possibly) upcoming Gatchaman 2008 movie. Nothing quite new yet, but it looks like the project is still alive and well!
January 1, 2007: Happy New Year! As of 12/22/06, Taiyo Games has announced a new Gatchaman slot machine for future release in pachisuro parlors across Japan. The web site offers a Flash intro and a look at the machine, with more to follow. Link: http://www.taiyo-slot.co.jp/gatchaman/index.html
 December 25, 2006: Whatever you celebrate, I hope you enjoy the winter holiday season, and have a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year!I'm really sorry for letting the updates slip for so long. I will do better in the future! [Correction: I was dealing with tech issues, but I think I've fixed them]. The final ADV DVD box is out, concluding the Gatchaman series. Here's my review. To sum it up, I think ADV broke the "curse" of the Gatchaman merchandise. I may have my minor differences with the way they did the material, but that's my own personal opinion. At the base of it, the series was dubbed by a staff that cared enough to do a good job. Gokuroo-sama deshita. Gatchaman games: A member of the BotP mailing list discovered a Shockwave BotP game, "Peril of the Preying Mantis," complete with episode footage, bad voice-overs and 7-Zark-7. Here's the link: www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/preyingmantis.jsp#None Or go to Shockwave.com and look under "New Games." I believe there's another one out there, "Zoltar's Revenge." Also, the Korean Hangames site has a Gatchaman (AKA "Eagle 5 Brothers") game in the works. Looks cute if you like little SD characters in bird suits. You can find it at www.eagle5.hangame.com Ikeike! Gatchapin. More merchandise has appeared on the Gatchapin web site, and according to this blog from Fuji TV Kids Club, as of November 20, Gatchapin appears to have a live action TV spot as well. The spots run Monday through Friday at 5:25 pm.
September 28, 2006: I'm just doing a little janitorial work throughout the site, rearranging some things. This site has grown like a mutant BEM (that's Bug Eyed Monster, of course) and information is getting buried.
August 8, 2006: It's done! After being burned by the slow to nonexistent pace of Rhino's Battle of the Planets releases, I am happy to announce the release date/availability for the final two volumes/final box of the ADV-translated Gatchaman series. Amazon.com is now taking preorders for this final set, and the discs will be released October 17th. Volume 17, "Future Kill," contains episodes #96-100. Volume 18, "Final Justice," contains episodes #101-105. These two volumes contain most of the episodes that have never been aired in the United States in any form. Currently Amazon wants $23.99 for the box set and $9.99 apiece for the individual discs. Deep Discount DVD lists the box set for $23.26 and the individual volumes for $9.96. Thanks, Tatsunokofan!
July 27, 2006: More news! Gatchacon 2006 report: Time to shake the bleariness from my eyes (I'm still on California time!), brew another pot of coffee and report on Gatchacon! You'll find the con report here. Still haven't bought Gatchaman II and Fighter DVDs? Now you can save money on the box sets: A look through Amazon Japan reveals a reissue of the Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter DVD boxes as a single set, at a substantially lower price than before. The Gatchaman II Complete DVD Box retails for 29,400 yen, while the Gatchaman Fighter Complete DVD-Box retails for 26,460 yen. The individual Gatchaman II boxes cost 26,250 yen each, while the Gatchaman Fighter sets cost 24,675 yen for Part 1 and 19,740 yen for Part 2. Getting the complete box sets saves you 23,100 yen and 17,955 yen respectively! Both the reissues are coming out on September 27, 2006. It's safe to assume that the contents will be the same as what came in the earlier sets, with nothing new added. These episodes are Region 2, requiring a multiregion DVD player, and are in Japanese only. Thanks, Tatsunokofan!
July 19, 2006: And another update before the con begins (Preview Night is tonight): Yesterday, I was invited up to Imagi's Los Angeles office for a look at the pre-production work on the Gatchaman feature film! My writeup is here. See you at GatchaCon!
July 14, 2006: A couple of last-minute items before the con: Gatchaman screening times: If you're attending San Diego Comic Con, the screenings of Gatchaman take place Thursday through Sunday mornings at 10 am in room 25C. Keep an eye out for bleary-eyed GatchaCon attendees in black t-shirts.
New goodies from Kinetic Underground: Kinetic Underground is releasing a line of Battle of the Planets Nanomen figures (click on the thumbnails below to see the details). The roughs of these toys were on display at Comic Con last year, and will be on display at the Diamond booth this year. The first set of figures will be Mark, Jason, Princess and Zoltar. These figures will only be available to stores that pre order them, so make your requests soon! Review of ADV Gatchaman Box 7: I just got my box set from Deep Discount DVD, and it made for great background distraction as I was packing for the con. The latest review is here.
July 10, 2006: Some interesting e-mail came from Tatsunokofan: Meet Kevin Munro in San Diego: Kevin Munroe, director of the proposed Gatchaman feature film, will be at the San Diego Comic Con to promote his work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CG film. I'm sure we fans can try and sneak in a question or two about Gatchaman, right? His con panel takes place on Thursday, June 20, 2006, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm.
New Gatchaman II t-shirts: To those of you who have expressed a desire for ADV to release Gatchaman II and Fighter in English: Here's your chance to show your love for Gatchaman II. A series of "Convex" t-shirts featuring the five G-II vehicles has been released on the rakuten.co.jp web site. These shirts come in both adult and child sizes (Japanese sizes run small, so you'd do best by ordering the largest sizes). I didn't see any statement as to whether they will ship outside Japan. Site is in Japanese only.
Gatchaman info on Tatsunoko's official site: The Tatsunoko Productions web site has another interesting series of articles on their Tatsunokommunity page. This time, the featured character is Condor Joe, and the Tatsunoko Legacy column features some background on the Gallactors. The question on the bottom refers to the NTT Gatchaman promotion and whether Tatsunoko plans to expand those videos (short answer: No, but see news about the upcoming feature film). Next month's feature: "50 Secrets of the Science Ninja Team." See you at GatchaCon!
June 29, 2006: The folks at Imagi sent me an updated press release for the proposed Gatchaman film, so I've switched the links. More soon!
June 25, 2006: In his LiveJournal post, ADV dub narrator George Manley has reported the final voice dubbing is being completed. Currently, according to Manley, ADV is not considering dubbing Gatchaman II or Fighter. But you never know--stranger things have happened (see the June 9 entry below). He also provided a link to the Anime on DVD forum where you can ask questions that may be answered on the Gatchaman series final bonus disc. The complete LiveJournal post is here.
June 9, 2006: Well, after decades of false rumors, it's finally happened: Hong Kong studio Imagi Animation has received the licensing to go ahead with a Gatchaman feature film in CGI, directed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles director Kevin Munroe, and tentatively scheduled (according to Imagi's press release) for 2008. The press release also contains a conceptual illustration, hinting at an OAV-style helmet design. This does explain the Tatsunoko poll released on the studio web site a week or two ago. And it might also explain the re-release of the 2000 NTT Gatchaman/SMAP commercials back in March (Tatsunoko testing the waters?). An article on Kevin Munroe can be found on the Gamerz-Edge site. You can bet we'll be keeping a close watch on this one.
June 5, 2006: And here's even more news... Recording for the ADV Gatchaman DVDs has concluded with the final episode according to this post by narrator George Manley. Also in the post, we finally get some idea how ADV plans to group the final episodes. The final three volumes will each contain five episodes instead of the usual six, so it evens out at #105. Otanoshimi ni! Or as they say on the dub: "Look forward to it!" The fourth and fifth Italian Battle of the Planets DVDs have come out. More news when I get it. Yoshitaka Amano is scheduled to attend San Diego Comic Con! Before he struck out to make his mark in the world of fine art and game design, Amano assisted in designing some of the Gatchaman characters while he was working for Tatsunoko. Comic Con takes place July 20-23, 2006 with Preview Night on the 19th). We have not heard any more word on GatchaCon preparations... Hopefully soon! And for you Gatchapin fans out there, the Gatchapin plush toys of the entire team have come out, viewable on the site and appearing occasionally on Yahoo! Japan's auction site (registration required).
June 1, 2006: The results for the Gatchaman Hollywood feature film poll are in at the official Tatsunoko web site. 53% said they'd be excited to see a Hollywood remake of Gatchaman, while 47% said they were concerned that Hollywood would ruin it. Note: This does NOT mean anybody has planned a Gatchaman live action movie yet. That rumor has been flying around the fan grapevine for decades, and we have yet to get any confirmation. Also on the Tatsunoko site: the Tatsunokommunity page (formerly the Tatsunoko Fan Club) contains some Gatchaman-related goodies this month. First, the Tatsunoko Legacy column has coverage of a Gatchaman book complete with screen shots of the pages. And for all you fans who've always wanted a copy of the bird-head logo, the official download is on this page. Scroll down and click on the size dimensions (1280 x 1084 or 1024 x 768) to download ADV Gatchaman Box 8/Volumes 15-16 now available for preorder on Amazon.com. Volume 15 is titled "Dr. Finger & Sugar Mountain," while Volume 16 is "Gallactor Strikes Back." These volumes and Box Set 8 are to be released on August 15th, but order early to get the best price. I believe Deep Discount DVD will also be offering these discs for preorder soon. (Thanks again, Tatsunokofan, for everything!)
May 26, 2006: Some more updates, overdue: GatchaCon is less than two months away! The "official" announcement and con kit haven't come out yet, but I know several attendees (myself included) who plan to be there. GatchaCon takes place during the San Diego Comic Con, July 20-23, 2006 (Preview Night July 19). For more details, see below. What would you think of Gatchaman becoming a Hollywood feature? The Tatsunoko web site has a poll on its front page for viewers to vote: Do you look forward to seeing it? Or are you concerned that Hollywood won't portray the true spirit of the show? No results have been released yet, but hopefully soon. (Japanese language only.) Disappointing news about the latest Gatchaman pachinko game: Due to a mechanical defect, the game release has been canceled. I'm not sure it was either a problem with the electronics or a problem with the LCD screen, but the game was apparently in the manufacturing stage when the glitch was discovered. There's no word on whether the game will be released at a future date. Correction on the Gatchaman Feature Film DVD: The video is not widescreen. I apologize. Bits and pieces on the latest ADV Gatchaman releases: I now have reviews of box sets 5 and 6 here. Box set 7 of the Gatchaman DVDs up for preorder with a release date of June 20th. Box Set 8 and volumes 15 & 16 will probably appear on Amazon.com and Deep Discount DVD within the next few weeks. An informal poll taken on the Yahoo BotP Group shows that the majority of fans prefer purchasing the box sets to the individual volumes. Preferences between subtitles vs. dubs seems to be split 50/50. Almost all the fans complained about the lack of episode information in/on the packaging and video menus. Are you listening, ADV? Video release news from Italy: The third Italian Battle of the Planets DVD has come out. The volume contains eight BotP episodes ("A Whale Joins G-Force" through "Race Against Disaster"), with both the Italian and English audio tracks; basic biographies for the main characters (duplicated on both the first discs) and writeups on some of the Spectra ships from the episodes on the disc. In a similar vein, the Italian branch of 20th Century Fox Home Video has released a volume of Eagle Riders episodes. The disc was labeled "1," but there's no news on whether more volumes are forthcoming. The disc contains Eagle Riders, #'s 1-4, dubbed in Italian, with no English language track. The episodes appear to be uncut (in terms of Eagle Riders), and include complete opening and closing credits with each episode. The English language credits on the episode are intact, and even the episode title cards are still in English, though they do include a translation of the titles on the DVD jacket. One interesting thing about the dub: Rather than using the names Saban created for the characters, Fox Home Video stuck with the original Japanese names for everyone (Hunter is Ken, Kelly is Jun, Keane is Nambu, etc.). The latest Gatchapin news: The site has added more to their Mecha section, and have added a few more merchandise items--a lighter, soft-vinyl figures, jumbo-sized plush figures, even a desk light. There's a 5th wallpaper image to download and an updated story segment, adding a third part with Gatchapin taking flight in the Gatchapin Phoenix. The new "Report" section with pictures of some poor guy in a Gatchapin costume making appearances in places like Shibuya and Osaka. Imagine running into that on the escalator...
March 11, 2006: Time for another update, and there's lots of interesting news this time around!
The big news first: The NTT Gatchaman Campaign has returned! See the old designs and videos at:
There's a new model of Gatchaman pachinko machine heading for the smoke-filled interiors of Japanese pachisuro parlors. The Sammy site offers a Flash promo for the pachinko machine here (note: large page, loads slowly):
New Hopper Pro Postcards are now on sale at the Tatsunoko Shop. This collection of images from top Tatsunoko shows include two from Gatchaman. One is the famous "birthday party scene" initially featured on the back of the Gatchaman BGM collection. The other image, of Ken, is new. You can see the entire set here:
The ADV Gatchaman Box Set #5 is out, and I still have to order mine (some financial setbacks last month delayed my order). I did check with Tatsunokofan to find out what Ken says on the dub after Red Impulse buys the farm. He says, "Father, no!" (The original dialogue: "Otosan!") It's not perfect, but far more accurate than the "creative" dub in #39 ("Jigokiller"). Deep Discount DVD is now taking preorders for the 11th and 12 volumes of the ADV discs, at $9.96 apiece, and the 6th box set, at $23.26. Takara appears to have pushed back the release of their new Cool Girl Jun dolls. The regular version now has a release date of April 25th, while the Dark Version now comes out on May 26th. For those of you who can't get enough of Gatchapin, there are now plush figures, art clocks, tin boxes, phone straps, keychains, and cards filling game prize machines across Japan. The Gatchapin website now has a 4th downloadable wallpaper, and a listing for Gatchapin events, and also advertises a Gatchapin Original Cocktail that is being sold at the Bee Ikebukuro bar until March 12th. Apparently it comes in either red or green. There is something seriously wrong about ordering a cocktail dedicated to a character that is featured on a show for preschool-age children. Whatever, kampai! Last but not least, I have updated some ADV information on the FAQ page, and I have More on the Gatchaman Movie DVD on the Merchandise page.
January 29, 2006: Again, many thanks to Tatsunokofan, without whose information there would be no news updates. Volume 2 of the Italian BotP DVDs has been released. As with the first volume, it has 8 episodes, with both Italian and English audio options. I have no idea which episodes at this point, but keep watching this space. Black Swan? There's an interesting "Dark Version" of the Cy-Girls Jun figure showing her in an all-black birdstyle. Very cool! She can be ordered through Amazon Japan and Hobbylink Japan
Diamond is soliciting for the 6th Gatchaman DVD box set and for Volumes 11 and 12 of the individual discs, in their current issue of Previews. The DVDs aren't currently listed on Amazon or Deep Discount DVD, but probably will be in the next couple of weeks. The release of the 6th box set will bring ADV up to episode #72. Only 33 episodes to go! Roberto Ferrari, who formerly worked as an artist and character designer for Tatsunoko and Namco, now has his own web site, at: http://www.robertoferrariart.it He has a few Gatchaman-related pieces in all three sections of his site, and juiciest of all, the first few images in his "Missing" section comprise character designs from the 1998 Gatchaman remake planning sheets (never publicly released, but shared among fans at the 1998 Gatchacon in San Diego). There's only one drawback (pardon the pun): dialup users will find the pictures slow to download. Speaking of art, I have new art in Gallery 2 by Mike Sutton. Go see!
January 1, 2006: Happy New Year! Here's hoping for better times during the Year of the Dog. Picked up my copy of the Gatchaman Box Set 4, so I've included my first impressions of that. I will probably revise the review as I get deeper into the set (I haven't seen it all yet). Deep Discount DVD is now taking preorders on Gatchaman Volumes 9 and 10 as well as Box 5. Box 5 is $23.26, while the individual discs are $9.96. Some product updates, thanks to Tatsunokofan: Amazon Japan is now taking preorders for the Gatchaman Movie DVD. A closer look at the Cool Girl Jun doll doesn't show many differences other than the belt and bracelet. She's now listed on Hobbylink Japan, which should start taking preorders "...on or about December 31." They'll be charging the full 9,500 yen SRP for the figure. The challenge here will be finding shops that will a) offer her at a discount and b) ship her outside Japan (Amazon Japan will not ship outside the country). Too rich for my blood: Somebody on Yahoo Auctions Japan was selling full-color original Gatchaman character design sketches... for 2,000,000 yen. That's two million yen. Maybe if I'd won the lottery or had enough throwaway income to buy a new car for cash, I could have picked those up. As it was, there were no buyers. It's enough to make a collector cry. For those of you who don't find Gatchapin profoundly creepy, the Gatchapin Super DX plush toy was released on December 22nd in what appears to be an exclusive product for the Gulliver Matsudo store.
December 18, 2005:I ordered my box set #3 from Deep Discount DVD, and it arrived a few days ago. And here's the review. The release date for Box #4 is December 20 and Box #5 is February 21, 2006. Box #5 is available for preordering on Amazon.com for $23.99. Amazon also has the individual volumes at $9.99 apiece. Volume 9 (#49-54), is titled "Funeral for a Friend." Volume 10 (#55-60) is titled "Jet Cutters and the Giant Buddha." And if you haven't seen the Giant Buddha episode (AKA "Giant from Planet Zyr" in Battle of the Planets), you really, really should. Tatsunoko is releasing the 1978 Gatchaman feature film on DVD on February 25, 2006. The feature film is a compilation of episodes throughout the Gatchaman series (focusing on Ken finding his father/Farewell Red Impulse and Condor Joe's tragic final battle) that was given new Japanese voice dubbing and an orchestral soundtrack. Up until now, commercial release of this video has been extremely rare. The DVD will be Region 2, in Japanese language with no subtitles available. For more details, visit the merchandise page. Takara has released a new edition of the Cool Girl Jun action figure, the Best of Cool Girl Vol. 5. The Cool Girl line takes dolls with more realistic looking features and puts them in anime style costumes. I haven't yet compared this edition to the "old" one I have now, but see it for yourself on Amazon Japan. Thanks again to Tatsunokofan, who is excellent at keeping track of these things. A sharp-eared site visitor reported a Gatchaman sighting ("sounding," rather): MF Doom, recording under the name "King Geedorah" uses a repeated riff from the Gatchaman theme as well as clips from various monster movies.
December 1, 2005:I think it's about time for an update, don't you? I want to review the latest ADV box set, but I'm ashamed to admit I don't have it yet. My local branch of Best Buy has decided not to stock the box sets, only the individual discs, so now I have to order online like everybody else. Fresh from the You've-GOT-to-be-kidding-me department: Tatsunoko has just launched a new site called Gatchapin.com, and it has nothing to do with jewelry. It takes (so far) two costumed characters, Gachapin and Mukku, from the classic Fuji TV Japanese children's show Keitai Ponkickies and puts them in birdstyle (actually, that is kinda cute since "Gatchapin" is really Gachapin). I'm guessing this is yet another merchandise/online campaign like Tatsunoko Baby--the site shows some prize machine toys and you can download desktop wallpaper. There are only two character profiles up, but will be more in the future, I'm afraid. Takara's latest Gatchaman offering since their purchase of Tatsunoko is the Charamascot 2 Godphoenix, a superdeformed model of the warship with a strap attached for use as a keychain, cell phone strap, etc. I really want one of these for my rearview mirror! Click here for pic. The latest on the Nanomen Gatchaman/BotP figures: Tatsunokofan has been generous enough to send me photos he took at the booth--see a photo of the display here--and pass along the following news: The latest news on these figures is that there was no set release date yet, and that Kinetic Underground was waiting for Rhino to release their next BotP DVD set, in hopes of having the two releases tie in with each other. Rhino said as far back as July that they're going to release the rest of the series in a pair of box sets, but they haven't followed up save to say they they still intend to do it. When will we see the videos and toys? Your guess is as good as mine. Good news for Italian fans: Yamato Video in Italy has recently released the two volumes of Battle of the Planets episodes in Italian and English, titled "Gatchaman - La Battaglia dei Pianeti Battle 01" and "Gatchaman - La Battaglia dei Pianeti Battle 02." Each disc contains 5 episodes of what appears to be the first 10 episodes of the BotP series ("Attack of the Space Terrapin", "Rescue of the Astronauts", etc.). The "mystery" of the new Gatchaman DVD on Amazon Japan has been solved. Amazon Japan, it has a DVD (no cover photo) listed as "Original Animation Gatchaman" from Columbia Entertainment, with a release date of January 18, 2006 and a retail price of 2,625 yen (2,363 yen with Amazon's discount). Turns out this is a bargain release of the 1994/95 OAVs in a taller DVD case.
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GatchaCon in San Diego: |
Want to meet your fellow fanatics, get a really cool t-shirt, pick up pointers on where to pick up available Gatchaman stuff, view videos and see some really cool fan art? GatchaCon is the place to do it! Next year's GatchaCon takes place at the San Diego Comic-Con, July 24-27, 2008 at the San Diego Convention Center GatchaCon 2007 Report:GatchaCon took place at the San Diego Comic Con, July 26-29, 2007. The con itself was a low-key event, mainly because no new activity was noted in the merchandise or media areas (no movie news--sorry). Unfortunately, Gatchaman was misprinted on the con anime schedules, but was replaced by other programs. Attendance for this year's San Diego Comic Con broke previous records and sold out for several days (especially Saturday).GatchaCon Con Kits and Screenings: We had two offsite screening parties, one of some truly horrendous Gatchaman-related programs and one of Battle of the Planets episodes on film. The Gatchaman screening party featured the video demos from the new Sammy Gatchaman Pachisuro game. Followed by the horror that is Winx Club, a PBS cartoon which comprised a wandering, incoherent storyline, Bratz-type plastic characters, cloyingly cute mascots, and worst of all, the guest stars: the "Science Ninja Team P-Force/Patchaman." (Gaah! Awful! AWFUL!) Next, the short episodes of "Gatchapin vs. Pierre Katse" were a mercy by comparison, with Gatchapin playing "Road Runner" to Pierre Katse's Wile E. Coyote. I found the Gatchapin shows to be cute overall (hey, it's for little kids). Then we watched little Spanish kids dancing and singing the "Commando G" theme song. The finale of the Gatchaman screening party was a video account of the "Battle of the Planets: Peril of the Preying Mantis" Shockwave game, mainly featuring crummy jokes about Zark's ineptitude and Zoltar's lipstick between virtually unplayable game sequences. It was like the game's creators didn't really care and just wanted to get the product out there. At the Battle of the Planets party, our "takeaway gift" was a CD of two audio stories from La Bataille des Planetes, Adventures de la Force G in French ("Hold-up Spatial" and "La Lune de Feu"). The con t-shirt and kit featured Gatchaman's 35th anniversary and had art of the firebird on the back. I think I've found a new favorite shirt. Merchandise: There was no new merchandise on display this year. We found old DVDs, a couple of cels and some paintings at the Alex Ross Booth. Next year: We hope to see more information due to the upcoming feature films. For more information on San Diego Comic Con, see http://www.comic-con.org
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Join the Tatsunoko Fan Club! |
 GatchaCon is planned and sponsored by the official US branch of the Tatsunoko Fan Club. The club will cover all the series put out by Tatsunoko Productions in addition to Gatchaman. For more information, visit the site at http://www.tatsunokousa.com. |
We finally get a peek at the original Ippei Kuri cover art for the Gatchaman movie DVD (shown at left). Unfortunately, nobody seems to want to run a very big image. I'm looking forward to getting a closer look.
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