Rainy Day Report: 7/7 - 7/20/14

This is the Rainy Day Report for July 21st, 2014, covering your weather from July 7th to July 20th. Here at the Rainy Day Report, we look back to make the most accurate forecast. This report, we can say with certainty that daylight hours will be abnormally long in Japan, although any place that still receives night will see a far brighter moon than normal. Read on for more information on your coming weather.

Guillermo del Toro talks Pacific Rim animated series, wants to make live-action GANTZ

Guillermo del Toro, director of Pan's Labyrinth and Pacific Rim, has been busy for the past few months. In particular, he's planning to make an animated series for Pacific Rim, which could very well end up in the hands of an anime studio. The goal is to make a new story between the first film and the coming second film that further explores the Pacific Rim universe and technology of the Jaegers. It also seems this planned series will also introduced evolved Kaiju and a mysterious "controller" of Kaiju. While talking in a Reddit AMA, he also talked about his taste in anime and his desire to make a live-action version of the manga GANTZ. Said series is about recently deceased people fighting for a second chance at life, mixing together the supernatural and sci-fi elements, although GANTZ is more known for the incredibly graphic sexual and violent content in it. GANTZ has already had live action adaptations, although an American remake has been pitched since 2010. It should also be noted that del Toro isn't new to live action adaptations for manga, as he's currently helping pan out an HBO series based on Naoki Urasawa's Monster.

Tekken 7 announced

Namco's long running fighting game series is finally getting another proper installment. Originating on the PS1 and arcade machines, the Tekken series has become one of Namco's cornerstone series with a total of eight games in the franchise, along with one spin-off (Death by Degrees) most would rather forget ever happened. The last game in the series was Tekken Tag Tournameent 2, which was met with very positive response for the use of the series entire past in its roster. The game before that, Tekken 6, was met with far more critical response for the massive story shift and some questionable mechanical changes. Nothing much is known about Tekken 7 besides it's being made with an Unreal engine. The teaser suggests the series story line will be returning to the family drama between Kazuya and Heihachi, but more worryingly seems to also suggest that it will be diving back into the family line for a new main villain. After the retcons of Tekken 6, those still following the series storyline may have valid reason to worry.

Viz planning to bring over the entire JoJo manga series

With the recent increase in popularity of the JoJo franchise here in the west due to the new anime series, Viz has started to take notice and plan to make right an old wrong. The first three arcs of the JoJo series will be getting translated and released in the west proper, with the first two arcs, Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency, getting digital only releases now, with hard copy releases planned for later in 2015, all while Stardust Crusaders gets proper releases first. The anime itself will be getting releases in 2014 and 2015 respectfully. Viz seems fully aware that a huge audience has grown around this franchise, and they're planning to make JoJo the next Dragon Ball Z. No word yet on the possibility of Toonami runs, but JoJo's Bizarre Adventure would fit perfectly on the programming block.

M3: The Dark Metal home releases to be box sets only

Easily the great financial disaster of 2014 in the anime industry has been M3: The Dark Metal. Released back in the Spring season and still currently on-going into the second half, M3 was the story of a world covered in a living black metal consuming the world, with a group of kids with some sort of psychic connection and a past changed by the metal itself being used by the Japanese government has a secret weapon against the substance. It's a psychological drama, and a pretty interesting one if you can get past strange dialog and the very slow pacing. However, the show has had plenty of trouble in production, getting a late release and causing the staff themselves to issue a public apology. The series is doing so badly that the official website went offline before it reached the halfway point, and now the home releases are being significantly changed. The series won't have three to four episode packs like most series, instead skipping to box sets. This is a sign that nobody has any faith in the series to perform well, which is amazing to me. If you thought it couldn't get worse than the sheer financial destruction of Samurai Flamenco last year, you'd be wrong. If you're still interested in viewing the series, distributor Daisuki has the series on its website and Youtube page (I suggest the Youtube page, far better quality).

Edge of Tomorrow writer attached to Akira remake

The American Akira remake has been in production hell for over a decade at least, and all news heard about it has only worsened any remaining positive expectations.  However, a recent bit of news from The Deadline, if true, could finally mean the first positive development for the project. Dante Harper, the screenplay writer for Edge of Tomorrow, has been attached to the project. This bodes well, as Edge of Tomorrow as itself an adaptation of a Japanese sci-fi property (All You Need is Kill) and was met with strong critical praise. This once thought coming disaster may have a shot now, if the director can manage to keep things on track.

Robotech Academy kickstarter adds "enemy spy" status for those who hate Harmony Gold

The Robotech Academy kickstarter mentioned previously has not been doing particularly well. It seems the long history of mistrust and outright hatred from many Macross fans has resulted in Harmony's attempts to bring back Robotech falter. However, they've become aware of this, offering an "enemy spy" tier to the kickstarter. By throwing out two dollars, critics can talk as much as they want in the comments, with the tier description directly addressing anyone who "hates Harmony Gold" or "hates Robotech." Showing insulting contempt for one's critics turned out to be a bad idea; the funding trends suggest that Harmony has actually lost momentum with this new addition, and one can only assume it comes from people not reacting well to childish passive aggressive behavior. Macross fans may come out on top at this rate.

Ryuichi Sakamoto diagnosed with cancer

Ryuichi Sakamoto, composer for Appleseed and The Wings of Honneamise, has been diagnosed with cancer in the parts of his body dealing with the swallowing of food and proper breathing. As a result, all his musical performances are put on hold while he gets proper treatment in New York. Along with his work in anime (including some work with CG in the Precure series), Mr. Sakamoto has done scores for several films. The most baffling of these is The Adventures of Milo and Otis, which was a film made by shooting random footage of animals and narrating over it.

Gurren Lagann to air on Toonami

Adult Swim has found a good bit of success as of late with the revival of the old Cartoon Network programing block Toonami. The new block airs every Saturday night and spotlights action heavy anime series, catching more attention this year with their airing of Space Dandy dubbed before the Japanese airing. With Black Lagoon, Bleach and Blue Exorcist ending soon, the block will be getting replacement shows down the line. Dragonball Z Kai is already confirmed, but a Q&A that aired on the 19th has confirmed that Gainax's Gurren Lagann will also be airing soon, starting on August 16th at 2:00 AM eastern time. Gurren Lagann is one of Gainax's most popular works, and much of the talent from the series went on to join Studio Trigger and produce Kill la Kill, a sort of sister show in theme. If you have yet to catch the series, this is as good an excuse as any. It should also be noted that it was confirmed that Gundam Wing, a series that aired in previous Toonami incarnations, will not be returning anytime in the near future.

Chroma Squad developers under pressure by Saban Entertainment

Saban Entertainment, copyright owners of the Power Rangers franchise, are demanding royalties from indie developers Behold Studios, or else they will take legal action. Behold are making a game called Chroma Squad based on sentai works from Japan, where you act as a producer making your own sentai show. The game had a very successful kickstarter and has attracted the attention of Saban, who are threatening to sue over copyright. The irony of this situation is that Saban's Power Rangers are ripped almost directly from sentai works themselves, while Behold have taken inspiration from those same shows, meaning this is less about copyright protection and more about squeezing money out of a small group with no real law savvy staff to speak of. Not an act that will get them many fans.

Sailor Moon: Crystal scores big ratings online

The new Sailor Moon series has been attracting a great deal of attention, and unsurprisingly, that attention is paying off. The Niconico stream for the series racked up over one million views in less than one day, 140,000 from Japan itself. The first episode gathered over 250,000 comments in those same two days to boot. Keep in mind Sailor Moon: Crystal is streaming on other sites as well, including Hulu and Crunchyroll. It's safe to say that the series is a huge success and will continue this momentum.

Events
Sailor Moon L.A Art Exhibit

New Anime
Aerial Combat Wizard Candidates' Instructor | Gangsta | Koufuku Graffiti | Rance 01 | Absolutely Duo

New Movies
Dragon Ball Z | Yowamushi Pedal

New Games
Pri Pia ~Prince Pia Carrot~

New Manga
Yuwamushi Pedal: Spare Bike | SP X Baby | Psyche Mata Shite mo

Streaming Releases
Naruto: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom (Hulu) | Saint Seiya [classic] (Hulu) | Ashita no Joe 2 (Hulu) | Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (Hulu, NA) | Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (Hulu) | Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya (AN) | K-ON! (AN)

Manga Releases
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time | GTO: Paradise Lost and Japan Sinks | A Silent Voice and Maria the Virgin Witch

Ending Manga
Kyo no Kira-kun | Stealth Symphony | Bakuto | Corpse Princess | Higanjima: Saigo no 47 Himei

Manga Delays
Billy Bat | Chi's Sweet Home