First episode of Sunrise’s sequel to premiere on Adult Swim this weekend

FUNimation is scheduled to meet California based businessman Hae Yong Ro for a conference in a Los Angeles courtroom on November 17th in association with FUNimation’s charges that Mr. Ro’s N Trading, Inc, Discount Anime DVD, BuyDVD.com, and DOES companies have willfully engaged in commerce of counterfeit anime DVDs since March 2002. FUNimation issued a cease-and-desist letter to the offending retailers in February, and filed suit in August when the four online retailers failed to respond.

FUNimation is seeking the seizure or destruction of all counterfeit DVDs and material used in the production of counterfeit DVDs, $23.7 million in damages for the sale of counterfeit DVDs infringing on FUNimation copyrights, $80,000 in legal fees, $5,005,000 plus legal fees for violation of copyrights belonging to TV Tokyo, Square Enix, and Shueisha, and an order that the violating retailers “notify all customers who purchased [an infringing] DVD” … “that said DVD is an unlawful copy, and may be returned for a full refund, including shipping.”

The defendants named in the suit have responded to the allegations with references to “fair use,” statute of limitations, and claims of good faith that the offending products were legally authorized releases.

Source: Anime News Network

A Japanese woman who killed the avatar of her MapleStory husband after he divorced her in the online game has been arrested on computer hacking charges. She told investigators that she used log-in information she obtained from the man she was married to in the game to kill the character. The man reported the killing of his avatar to police. The woman faces up to five years in prison and a fine up to $5,000 on the hacking charges.

Wizards of the Coast sells the MapleStory CCG, tied to the online game, here in North America

Source: ICv2

Yukihiko Tsutsumi, the director of a trilogy of live action films based on Naoki (Monster) Urusawa’s manga 20th Century Boys, told a Taiwanese newspaper that “The manga was so good that I figured I’d be better off duplicating it rather than changing anything.” Working with a budget of 6 billion yen (approx. $60 million) and with Urusawa as a screenwriter, Tsutsumi is fashioning what might just be the most faithful live action movie adaptation of a manga ever, by using, as he told the Taiwan News, “manga pages as storyboards.”

The first of the three 20th Century Boys live action films were just released in Japan on August 30th. Viz Media plans to release the first volume in Naoki Urusawa’s 20th Century Boys manga ($12.99, rated 16+) in February. The 22-volume 20th Century Boys manga series, which deftly mixes science fiction and mystery elements with a large dose of nostalgia for the author’s adolescent years in the 1970s and 1980s, ran in Japan from 2000 through 2006. Urusawa requested that Viz Media not to release 20th Century Boys in North America until it had published all 18 volumes of Monster. Numerous retailers have told ICv2 that the tightly-plotted serial killer saga Monster was the one manga that they continually recommended to comic book readers who were unfamiliar with manga.

If 20th Century Boys receives the same sort of reception that Monster has earned here in North America, it is quite possible that Viz Pictures, which has released numerous live action adaptations of manga already, will bring the 20th Century Boys live action trilogy to these shores.

Source IcV2.com

On Sunday, Shota Shimizu held a free surprise concert in Shinjuku. During the performance, he announced that he will be returning to New York’s famous Apollo Theater next month.

Shimizu performed at the same venue last November, before he made his official debut under Sony in February with the single “HOME.” At the time, he was still an unknown artist, but now he has been invited to make a special guest appearance as part of the Amateur Night event being held on November 19.

Warner Bros. has acquired the rights to make a live action adaptation of Ninja Scroll, the 1993 anime feature directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It’s being written by Alex Tse, who wrote the Watchmen script. No director is attached at this time. The Ninja Scroll feature was released on home video in the U.S. by Manga Entertainment; the anime TV series by Urban Vision. The property was in development at Threshold back in 2002

Finally Hollywood shows some interest in ninjas again its about time!!!