The Animation Co-Op Defense League (ACDL), a collective consortium of Adult Animation distributor’s and studio’s, has reported on it’s efforts to curb what it calls illegal distribution of adult animation (also known as Hentai). According to their press release, the consortium has made “significant progress in their efforts to educate and combat the proliferation of web sites illegally hosting and offering for sale selling unlicensed content which is owned by the major Animation studios”.

Providing some numbers, the group claims to have - for the year of 2008 alone - already “taken down a total of 10,738 infringers, including: 5006 Movie file-sharing links, 2123 Picture file-sharing links and 3609 Blog post”.

Full Press Release contained here-in after the jump.

(more…)

Tim Van Rellim, the producer of the live action adaption of the Dragon Ball anime series conducted an interview with El Siglo, a Durango, Mexico newspaper, which was republished by Movieland and translated by Dragonball: The Movie blog. In it, he speaks about the plot of the movie (WARNING! POSSIBLE SPOILERS!) and hints to the possibility of a sequel. The translation is pretty rough so forgive any grammatical imperfections.

Tim Van Rellim reveals that Goku dies in the beginning of the second part of Dragonball

At least that’s what recently commented Tim Van Rellim, producer of Dragon Ball, in an exclusive chat in el Siglo of Durango, in which he spelled out precisely the death of the protagonist will be the beginning of the second part of the story, it it is also very likely to be recorded in Durango.

“Durango has been a phenomenal place to record. We had many sets and the truth never felt paparazzis or harassment of the press and elsewhere and in other productions. It is a very quiet place, we were treated very well, “he said.

More after the jump (more…)

In celebration of marking 40 years in publication, Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump has announced that they will hold a “Jump Super Anime Tour”. This fall will see the tour visiting 10 cities across Japan while displaying new anime specials for Dragon Ball and One Piece.

The “Jump Super Anime Tour” will be one of eight projects that mark the 40th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine.

[ Muhyojo via ANN ]

Bandai Entertainment has announced that they will be re-releasing Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell: Innocence on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc with an English dub.

Dreamworks, who aims to produce a live action version of Ghost In The Shell, originally released Ghost In The Shell: Innocence in North American theaters and on DVD, however, there was only English subtitles and no dubbing present.

According to Bandai, Innocence’s dub will be produced by the same studio which dubbed the television movie, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society.

Source: ANN [ Image © Shirow Masamune/Kodansha • IG, ITNDDTD ]

DreamWorks has acquired the rights to produce a Live Action feature based on Masamune Shirow’s, Ghost In The Shell.

Ghost In The Shell ( 攻殻機動隊, Kōkaku Kidōtai ) , first published in 1989, is a futuristic police thriller dealing with the exploits of Motoko Kusanagi, a member of the covert operations section of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission, Section 9, which specializes in fighting technology-related crime. She may be named after one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan and Shirow makes reference to them at the end of the second manga. Although supposedly equal to all other members, Kusanagi fills the leadership role in the team, and is usually referred to as “the Major” due to her past rank in the armed forces. She is capable of superhuman feats, and bionically specialized for her job — her body is almost completely mechanized; only her brain and a segment of her spinal cord are organic. [ Wikipedia ]

According to Variety, Seaside Entertainment will be producing the feature while Jamie Moss has signed on to write the script for the adaption. Universal and Sony also attempted to gain the rights to Ghost in the Shell, however, Steven Spielberg is reported to have taken great personal interest in the property, thus leading to its’ reception by DreamWorks. “Ghost in the Shell is one of my favorite stories,” Spielberg was quoted as saying. “It’s a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks.”

Remember these guys? Masato Nakatsuji, the former 24-year-old Osaka Electro-Communication University graduate student is being charged with copyright violation for the usage of Clannad images as well as defamation of another student.

The Defamation charge was brought about due to his usage of the photograph of a fellow student in an attempt to displace the blame from himself by leading police to the other student.

Although he may have embedded Trojan Horses, Viruses, and other Malware within these images, Japan does not have laws against such and therefore he is not being charged with any crimes in relation to doing so.

Nakajutsi has acknowledged the creation of these images and their malware as being to place hindrance upon Winny - the file-sharing network in which he distributed these images - and also as something he just did “for fun”. Prosecutors are seeking a two year prison sentence.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun [ via ANN ]