Hayao Miyazaki is a master director and storyteller. Just like his past films, there is an environmental message and mythic quality to them. This time he shifts his focus to the sea and the wonders that lie underneath. The scene opens with a view of oceanic life, and an embittered wizard, Fujimoto, living in an underwater home. He is akin to the old man of the sea, a wizard. He is a supporting character that gets introduced first, and then the story shifts to land, introducing a five-year-old boy named Sousuke.

He finds an odd looking goldfish, names her Ponyo and wants to take care of her. The result? An irate Fujimoto trying to claim her back. He needs to return her to the sea in order to restore balance, and he has strong feelings toward how mankind is polluting the sea. Sometimes the story’s message wavers, like the ocean waves this narrative is set in.

The real tale is inspired from Hans Christian Andersen’s A Little Mermaid, and it is a radical departure from it. While the tale teeters back and forth from its inspirations, there is a style in this production which sets it apart from others.

Miyazaki uses a simpler approach in creating his latest film. Instead of a heavy reliance on computers to animate additional effects like those found in Spirited Away and Mononoke Hime, this movie has an artistic quality that is characteristic of his earlier works, namely My Neighbor Totoro.

Just like that earlier film, Miyazaki created a fairy tale world populated with love, wonder and romance. Ponyo’s energy and curiosity is just like Mei’s, and the oceanic mythology has a few moments reminiscent of other Ghibli films. The wondrous landscape of ocean life nearly rivals the parade of Japanese spirits from Isao Takahata’s Pon Poko. While the typhoon scene is not as kaleidoscopic as the parade’s, when music composer Joe Hisaishi’s score plays on top it, seeing Ponyo riding the water has the feel of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries.

With that kind of inspiration in the production, to see Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea theatrically will be spectacular. With a talent list like Liam Neeson (Fujimoto), Cate Blanchett (Sea Goddess) and Tiny Fey (Lisa) providing the voices, the only speculation will be in how accurate the translation will be.

While translation purists may have balked at Neil Gaiman’s westernization of concepts found in Mononoke Hime, this time there are no Shinto elements to reconceptualize. The Goddess figure is as old as time, and she promises a fate which is mythical as any tale should come to: a promise of freedom and change for the mermaid named Ponyo.

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Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

Funimation is now offering the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood anime series free on their website as a stream. The episodes come out weekly in Japanese subtittled in english. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is the second series spin off from the original Fullmetal Alchemist. In this series The main character the famous alchemist Edward Elric (AKA the Fullmetal Alchemist) and his brother Alphonse chase after the Philosophers Stone to try and restore their bodies to their original state which was lost in an attemp to resurect their mothers corps due to their reckless defiance of alchemy’s Law of Equivalent Exchange. The story is more or less the same as the original but now Edward and Alphonse seem a little older and both Alphonse and Edward have a few new tricks up their sleeves, in all these seems to be the same jokes “Edward is small and Alphonse is big”. It looks like a good entertaining series with the same good guy anime storylines.

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Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood on Funimation

Find a participating Comic Book store near you: Treasure

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National Free Comic Book Day

Eyeshield 21 is now available on Crunchyroll.com free from episodes 1-50 (members get up to episode 69). this anime is about a boy named Sena, a timid, shy boy, who from a young age has been running from bullies. When he finally passes the high-school entrance exam he has high hopes that his days of running from bullies are over. But after he start high school he finds out that bullies are everywhere and has to continue running; the American football team captain notices Sena can run at amazing speeds and threatens Sena to join the team. From here on out Sena becomes “Eye Shield 21…Lightning Speed”. Its a pretty common Anime theme of the underdog and determination always prevailing story but very entertaining, the crunchyroll members have it rated overall at 4.8 out of 5.

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Eyeshield 21 episodes available to watch free online

“EVANGELION: 1.11 YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE” for BD/DVD version will be released on 27th May in Japan. Why 1.11? Apparently, it will contain new cut scenes and everything will be newly mastered for your HD experience. It also includes a trailer of “破”, new Evangelion movie that will be released soon. Blu-ray version will be available for 6,090￥ and covered with case colored rainbow. DVD version will cost 5,040￥ and a illustration that Ray wears school uniform will be used.

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Evangelion 1.0: You Are Not Alone Will Get a Blu-ray Release

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes was an addictive fighting game for the Xbox and Playstation 2, and now, after months of waiting and speculation, Capcom has announced its re-release on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 allows players to select three fighters from an immense roster of Marvel and Capcom characters and fight to the last character standing. The gameplay is similar to that of an arcade style fighting game where players must enter specific combos to execute special attacks and powerful moves.

Capcom announced the re-release on April 27, 2009 and says that the game will feature competitive online play as well as the same visuals as the original. This is contrary to Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which received an HD graphics overhaul for release on 360 and PS3.

Some new developments include a visual filter that will allow players to tweak graphics to hide some of the nastier remnants of the original game, as well as a “quarter match” mode which will allow players to chat and fight in groups of six.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes is set for re-release the summer of 2009 and a demo will be available for play on Playstation 3 April 30th.

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Marvel vs. Capcom 2 re-release

As we all know dattebayo Fansubs has stopped releasing subtitled episodes of Naruto Shippuden earlier this year due to Crunchyroll.com picking up the North American rights to broadcast Naruto Shippuden episodes. This new and legal way to watch Naruto Shippuden and other anime such as Bleach is a new breakthrough for any anime fan to watch the latest Animes legally. How it works is Crunchyroll will release the Naruto episode 1 day after it is released in Japan (Thursdays), the episodes are released in quality up to 480P. The catch here is that if you want to watch the episodes the day after it is released in Japan you will have to pay a monthly fee. For those who want to watch Naruto SHippuden free of cost you just have to wait for the following week when Crunchyroll will allow you to watch last weeks episode for free!. We subscribe to this service and with all the different anime you can watch at Crunchy roll its definitly worth it.

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Download Naruto shippuden episodes subtitled

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Astroboy movie coming october 23 2009

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Naruto Shippuden movie 3 release date

It looks like that Sanrio is going to get a run for their money as a new breed of cute little Japanese wooden gadgets is actually outselling Hello Kitty and Pukka.

These little carved wooden dolls that look like the “Kokeshi” (traditional wooden dolls) are called Momji dolls, and they were presented to the international market as a great idea for a gift to give on special occasions.

While the Kokeshi dolls were traditionally used as gifts to celebrate newborns and wish them good fortune, Momji dolls can be used by people to send messages to their loved ones on special occasions. The message can be written on a small piece of paper which would then be placed inside the doll through a small hole, making it a cute gift with a personal touch added to it.

While this $20 gadget doesn’t really run on batteries or chargers (Japan is really cool with tech that way), it might be a great casual gift to consider.

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Japanese Ideas: Momji Dolls