World`s Leading Animators, Artists and Illustrators to Auction Original Artwork for Totoro Forest Fund Source: Totoro Forest Project Special thanks to Dice Tsutsumi and Joy O`Brien The Totoro Forest Project is an international charity effort to save Sayama Forest, also known as Totoro Forest. This endangered sanctuary on the outskirts of Tokyo is where director Hayao Miyazaki got the inspiration for his much loved character "Totoro." September 6 Auction at Pixar Animation Studios to Showcase Artwork Inspired by Acclaimed Film Director Hayao Miyazaki’s Classic MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO The world’s top film animators, comic book artists and illustrators have come together to create original works of art inspired by the iconic animated film MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (Tonari no Totoro, 1988) for an auction to benefit the

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Source: Barbican Centre Special Thanks to Laura Bushell, Sarah Harvey Publicity OSAMU TEZUKA: MOVIES INTO MANGA Thursday 18 to Wednesday 24 September One of Japan’s most influential animators, Osamu Tezuka revolutionised the comic and cartoon industries, having created hundreds of comics and dozens of films and television series during his extensive career. Remaining a major influence on Japanese popular culture to this day, Tezuka’s creations include Astro Boy and Jungle Emperor Leo. Barbican Film marks the 80th anniversary of the birth of Tezuka with a major season of feature films, short films and television episodes curated by Helen McCarthy (author of The Anime! Movie Guide, Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation, and founder of the magazine AnimeFX), many of which will be screening in the UK for the first time.

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Source: Click Communications From the press release... IMAGI STUDIOS AND SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT BRING ASTRO BOY TO ANIME EXPO Voice talent includes Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland Imagi Studios and Summit Entertainment will be at Anime Expo 2008 (Booth #913 and #915) introducing its upcoming CG-animated motion picture ASTRO BOY. A special edition ASTRO BOY t-shirt will also be distributed to anime fans on a limited basis at the show which will be held July 3-6 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Slated for worldwide theatrical release in 2009 from Summit Entertainment, ASTRO BOY will feature the voices of Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Bill Nighy, Nathan Lane and Eugene Levy with Freddie Highmore in the title role. David Bowers is directing from a screenplay written by Timothy

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THEATRICAL POSTER GIVEAWAY AT IMAGINASIAN CENTER AND IMAGINASIAN THEATER, JUNE 13 Source: ImaginAsian Entertainment Official Movie Site: THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME Special Thanks to Adriana da Rosa The ImaginAsian and the ImaginAsian Center, New York and Los Angeles’ premier Asian American theater, will host the Japanese anime film THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME in an exclusive one-week (June 13-19) theatrical run. The film will play with an English language track in New York, and a Japanese language track with English subtitles in Los Angeles. THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (also known as TokiKake) was directed by Mamoru Hosoda with original character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Evangelion) and features animation from Studio Madhouse. A continuation of the novel The Little Girl Who Conquered Time by Tsutsui Yasutaka, the

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Source: Barbican Centre Special Thanks to Laura Bushell, Sarah Harvey Publicity In the mighty city of Metropolis, powerful men jockeying for position under dictator Duke Red plot their own advancement, while detective Ban and his nephew come from overseas hunting an international criminal. Meanwhile the Duke is driving technology to its limits in pursuit of two insane dreams - control of a superweapon and recovery of a beloved, lost child - while another child yearns for his love and approval. All the while, the rumblings of dissent are growing, as a despised urban underclass seeks justice in this very contemporary classic. On June 24, the Barbican Centre in London will host a theatrical screening of the 2001 anime film METROPOLIS, directed by Rintaro (GALAXY EXPRESS 999, DOOMED MEGALOPOLIS). The movie is based on the

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Part 1: Go Speed Go! A Series Overview Part 2: Racers Start Your Engines! How it All Began Part 3: Speed Racer is Born! MACH GO GO GO Comes to the U.S. Part 4: What Came Next? Sequels and Remakes by James Long Once MACH GO GO GO finished its initial Japanese broadcast run in March of 1968, the series remained popular and well remembered thanks to it being shown in syndicated reruns. As a result, toys and model kits based on the series continued to sell quite well, and were readily available for many years after the show ceased production. There were even attempts to expand these lines by creating new items like model kits of vehicles that never appeared in the series, such as a Mach 6 racing car and a motorcycle named "Gallant." With that kind of

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An Introduction to SPEED RACER Author: James Long "Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer. He’s a demon on wheels." We’ve all heard that theme song, and more than likely have it indelibly etched into our brains. As memorable as the song is, how often have you thought about the series that it represents, and the long history that led it to being one of the best remembered animated series of the 1960s? Our goal here is to lead you through that history, from the origins of the series up to and including the upcoming live action SPEED RACER feature film! So sit back and buckle in, cuz’ "Adventure’s waiting just ahead..." Before we get too deeply into the history of this anime classic, we should remember that there are those out there who aren’t familiar with the world of Speed Racer. So, for both of those

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