Hope you’ve still got money in your piggybank - VIZ Media’s Third Quarter DVD release schedule looks crazy promising, with fan-faves DEATH NOTE, BLEACH, NARUTO, and INUYASHA all showing up to the party. Here’s the full press release:

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When Geneon went belly-up last year, one of the more prominent titles drawn into the vortex of license dissolution was Black Lagoon, the nutty-violent mercenary series adapted from Rei Hiroe’s manga of the same name. Well, thanks to U.S. distribution powerhouse Funimation, Black Lagoon is back in action, and I for one couldn’t be happier. In a market starving for good product, Black Lagoon is definitely a bright spot.

Season One is apparently already on tap, with Season Two - dubbed ‘The Second Barrage’ - on the way. Can’t wait…oh, and by the way, VIZ is releasing the Black Lagoon manga next week, so keep an eye out for that too…

Is this correct? Crunch Gear briefly notes specs and the release date for Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell (that would be the 1995 theatrical release) on Blu-ray; while I’m jazzed as hell to check out the new effects and cleaned up HD print, I can’t pry my eyes away from the price tag: $210. Seriously? Well - that’s for the box set - which I’m sure will be jam-packed with tons of Ghost in the Shell tchochkes that will make my inner otaku weep with envy.

The regular releases will be a bit more reasonably priced, I’m sure - especially when they finally arrive here in the U.S.

Press release follows:

VIZ PICTURES ANNOUNCES DVD RELEASE OF ROCK AND ROLL ROMANTIC DRAMA NANA 2

DVD Release And Special Poster Promotion Highlight Sequel To Hit Film NANA Based On Popular Shojo Manga Series

San Francisco, CA, JULY 22, 2008 – VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media, LLC that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, has announced the release of NANA 2, the feature film sequel to the popular rock and roll drama NANA, which is based on Ai Yazawa’s best-selling manga (graphic novel) series. NANA 2 debuts on DVD on July 29, with an estimated retail price of $24.98.

In support of the release, VIZ Pictures is holding a special NANA 2 poster giveaway promotion. Fans are encouraged to visit the film’s dedicated official website at http://www.nanathemovies.com and enter the contest before August 20 for a chance to win a full-color poster featuring the cast of the film. Ten random winners will be selected.

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Here’s a trailer for the Shaw Brothers flick Human Lanterns, just released on DVD. Review to follow as soon as its’ available.

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From the press release:

Swordplay, savagery and blood-chilling thrills reign supreme in this outrageous mixture of martial arts and the macabre from Shaw Brothers! Two rivals, one rich and the other poor, enter an unholy pact to win an annual lantern-creating contest in their village; however, the terrifying secret behind their remarkable creations lies within the supple flesh of local maidens, who are disappearing at the hands of a demonic assailant! Now featuring shocking scenes too extreme for its Asian DVD release, this unflinching action-horror masterpiece is now finally available to American audiences to enjoy full strength and full throttle!

“This beautifully shot classic is immensely entertaining thanks to a combination of outrageous swordplay and richly gruesome and bizarre imagery!”

-KUNGFUCINEMA.COM

“Brilliantly shot and undeniably creepy…deliriously sick, sleazy and gory with some kickass action!”

-10,000 BULLETS

SPECIAL FEATURES:
§ Shaw’s Baby Doll: An Interview with Shawn Yin Yin
§ Extended Scene
§ Shaw Brothers Trailers
§ Production Stills Gallery

Just read at Aint-It-Cool-News that ADV has ‘discontinued’ its Robotech lineup, as well as Best Student Council, Five Centimeters Per Second, and Innocent Venus. I’m a little stunned, seeing as ADV has held the Robotech license for about - I dunno - forever.

What with Funimation’s recent release of Shadow Chronicles and (presumably) whatever followup the folk at Harmony Gold come up with, one wonders if they’ll pick up distribution of Robotech.

We’ll keep you posted if anything develops.

UPDATE (4:12 PM EST) - Anime News Network reports that ADV’s de-listing of Robotech was a mistake; the Protoculture Box Set (containing all 85 episodes of the original series) remains in-print, although the single-disc and smaller box-sets are still discontinued. However, Five Centimeters Per Second, and Innocent Venus are still apparently kaput.

Variety Asia reports that Palisades Media has acquired ‘the majority’ of Tartan Films’ ginormous film catalogue, which includes such fan-faves as Oldboy, The Eye, A Tale of Two Sisters, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, and many, many others. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in lamenting Tartan’s untimely passing; in a very short span their Asia Extreme label pumped out an impressive array of high-quality DVD releases. I hope Palisades continues this tradition.

Roberti said that he will continue to buy titles for both territories under a new company called Palisades-Tartan Acquisitions. “We believe strongly in the new digital world at Palisades, and will be aggressively ramping up future acquisitions,” he said.

Goal is for Palisades to own a library of some 2,000 titles by 2010.

“We’re not in the blockbuster business,” Roberti added, “but we will continue to do theatrical releases when it benefits the titles. The most important thing about this is preserving titles and making sure they get the exposure and exploitation they deserve.”

Home Media Magazine takes a look at the turnout from various anime purveyors at this weekend’s Anime Expo…and the signs ain’t good…

On the convention floor, the booth for leading anime DVD distributor ADV Films looked like a mom-and-pop DVD sidewalk store, with no signage and no representatives from the company.

“I just work here,” a young man selling DVDs said. “I can’t tell you anything.”

While ADV’s set-up was bare bones, anime powerhouse VIZ Media wasn’t on the show floor at all. Neither was The Right Stuf International. All three companies held panels to discuss their plans for the rest of the year and beyond, but their absence from the show floor was reflective of the slow-down of domestic anime DVD.

“You can see the decline in the industry,” said Adam Sheehan, senior events manager for Funimation. “A lot of the companies in the past were pushing every title as an ‘A’-list title, and it was too much for the market to handle.”

Of course, it’s nothing people inside and outside the industry haven’t been saying for the last year or so. Anime - in the U.S., at least, is hurtin’ - even when its’ popularity is at an all-time high. If you want my opinion (and I’m by no means an expert), what we’re seeing is a rough patch which represents the transition to new forms of distribution. While DVD was undoubtedly a gold-mine for companies looking to bring Japanese animation Stateside, it’s abundantly clear that the future of anime in the U.S. is online. A significant number of anime distributors have begun initiatives to push their product via the internet, and I predict the trend will continue into the forseeable future, at least for those with the vision and determination to stick it out.

Honestly, old people doing the horizontal bop isn’t all that odd. To be perfectly frank, I hope I’m spry enough to enjoy my golden years to the fullest…and compared to some of the wierd Japanese pr0n I’ve been subjected to in the past (’poop tempura’ should be first and last word on that account), old-people porn is downright mainstream.

Still, this TIME article about 74-year-old porn actor Shigeo Tokuda is fascinating in an ‘On Golden Pond Meets John Holmes’ kinda way. And seriously - you’ve got to love some of the names of these flicks…

Tokuda’s exploits have proved to be a goldmine for Glory Quest, which first launched an “old man” series, Maniac Training of Lolitas, in December 2004. Its popularity led the company to follow up with Tokuda starring in Forbidden Elderly Care in August 2006. Other series followed, and soon elder porn had revealed itself as a sustainable new revenue stream for the industry. “The adult-video industry is very competitive,” says Glory Quest p.r. representative Kayoko Iimura. “If we only make standard fare, we cannot beat other studios. There were already adult videos with Lolitas or themes of incest, so we wanted to make something new. A relationship between wife and an old father-in-law has enough twist to create an atmosphere of mystery and captivate viewers’ hearts.”

Rating:  

Anyway you cut it, Heroes of the East is a fine example of classic martial-arts filmmaking. The name Lau Kar Leung may not immediately ring a bell with younger fans of the genre, but if you’ve seen Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master 2 (aka Legend of the Drunken Master), his performance as the tough-as-nails Fu Wen-Chi is nigh-unforgettable, and on more than one level.

The character portrayed by Jackie Chan, Wong Fei-Hung, is well-known to martial arts film enthusiasts as the subject of over 100 films stretching back to the beginnings of China’s movie industry. Lau Kar Leung, a well-respected martial artist in his own right, studied under one of the real-life Wong Fei Hung’s students, making him a living link to this legendary figure. To say that he’s as good a director as he is a martial-artist is a high compliment, and after viewing Heroes of the East I’d say it’s a distinction he rightly earns.

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