News

Nichijou, Freezing, Ashita no Joe, Mitsudomoe 2 Promos Streamed (Updated)

The Kadokawa Anime Channel on the YouTube website began streaming the one-minute version of the promotional video for Nichijō Episode 0 on Friday. The sixth volume of Keiichi Arawi's Nichijou gag comedy manga will bundle a limited-edition DVD with this 20-minute episode on March 12, 2011. Kyoto Animation is producing this DVD and the television anime series with director Tatsuya Ishihara, series script supervisor Jukki Hanada, and character designer Futoshi Nishiya.

The official website for the television anime adaptation of Lim Dal-Young and Kim Kwang-Hyun's Freezing manga has begun streaming its second promotional video on Friday. The production company Media Factory ran the same video at its booth at Comic Market in Tokyo in August, but this new version adds background music and sound effects.

The story revolves around Kazuya, a boy who lost his sister in humankind's fight against beings from another dimension. He enrolls in Genetics, a military academy for combat training against the dimensional beings. There, a group of girls known as "Pandora" prepare to fight the unknown enemy. The anime will premiere in Japan in January.

The official website for the live-action film adaptation of Asao Takamori and Tetsuya Chiba's classic boxing manga Ashita no Joe began streaming the second teaser trailer and the first full trailer. (In the linked page, select the leftmost red "NEW! 特報" button.) 25-year-old Tomohisa Yamashita (Ikebukuro West Gate Park, Kurosagi) of the idol group NEWS stars as an orphan named Joe Yabuki who rises from the Tokyo slums under the tutelage of a former boxer. Actor and boxing "otaku" Teruyuki Kagawa (20th Century Boys, Tsurugidake Tennoki, Tales from Earthsea) plays Yabuki's boxing tutor Danpei Tange, Karina plays the heroine Yōko Shiraki, and Yusuke Iseya (Casshern, Honey and Clover) plays Yabuki's rival Rikiishi Tōru. Fumihiko Sori (Ping Pong, Vexille - 2077 Isolation of Japan, To, Dragon Age) is directing the film, which will open in Japan on February 11.

The official website for the Mitsudomoe television anime began streaming the third commercial for the second season, Mitsudomoe Zōryōchū!, on Wednesday. (Like the previous commercials, the "Mittsu Kazoete Daishūgō" commercial contains no actual animated footage.)

Norio Sakurai's original gag comedy manga centers around the comedic misadventures of the Marui triplets of sisters in elementary school. Animator Satoshi Kubo revealed the plans for a second season in August, and the 10th manga volume confirmed that the new eight-episode season will premiere next January.

[Via Livedoor, Uri-Sure Matome R, Cinema Asia, Nippon Cinema, Saishin Anime Jōhō (link 2)]

Image © 2011 Lim Dal-Young, Kim Kwang-Hyun, Artrim Media, Kill Time Communication/Freezing Production Committee
© Norio Sakurai/Weekly Shōnen Champion
© Norio Sakurai (Weekly Shōnen Champion)/Mitsudomoe Production Committee

Update: Replacing expired video link with updated version.