News

One of my earliest anime memories is seeing Sailor Moon in the 90s and being enamored by the fact that Usagi Tsukino led a full team of girls while fighting monsters on a daily basis. From there I’d be introduced to more iconic anime girls and women at a young age. From Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell to Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop , anime is no stranger to strong women full of interesting layers. Then, something happened. As I grew up I found myself appreciating softer characters the likes of Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket ( back in 2001 ), and even Orihime from Bleach struck a chord with me as someone who also lost her older brother at a young age. Related: The Shojo Renaissance From Fruits Basket to A Sign of Affection Because of them, I started to realize that strength didn’t just mean being able to...

Studio Pierrot is one of the top-tier animation studios in Japan, known for producing high-quality anime. Some of their notable works include Naruto, Bleach, and Black Clover. But other than that, they have produced non-shonen works as well.

These include Urusei Yatsura, Emma- A Victorian Romance, and Akatsuki no Yona. Their diverse roster of works is truly commendable in every sense. But above all, the studio also produced a top-notch cyberpunk anime, which remains slept on.

Lucyna in a still from Cyberpunk Edgerunners | Credit: Studio Trigger

The underrated series blends elements from Psycho-Pass, Cyberpunk Edgerunners as well as Squid Game in its plot. Most fans deem it one of the finest cyberpunk series by Pierrot in the genre. This is mainly because of several reasons.

Be it metaphors or symbolism, the series is both a literary as well as visual masterpiece. It is a true ode to cult classic Hollywood...

Twenty years on from the Bleach anime's broadcast debut, the official accounts for the series along with licensor Viz Media unveiled a special anniversary trailer with iconic scenes, such as Ichigo's first transformation and his subsequent clashes with Kenpachi, Byakuya, Arrancars and more, re-animated in the modern visual style under Tomohisa Taguchi's ( Akudama Drive ) direction. A creditless version of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – The Conflict 's ending song sequence, which features "Monochrome" by suisoh, was also unveiled following the first episode's release. Bleach 20th Anniversary Trailer Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – The Conflict Ending Video Related: Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 Anime Shares Creditless Opening Video Bleach first hit Japanese television screens in October 2004, courtesy of director Noriyuki Abe and studio Pierrot, and ran for 366 episodes until March 2012. The 13-episode first part of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War , which adapts the concluding arc of Tite Kubo's Bleach manga series,...

Episode 19 of Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else you listen to your podcasts! If you're waiting to watch the video episode, it'll be live on Crunchyroll and YouTube at 7 p.m. Et. Listen or Watch on: Episode 19 Summary Nick, LeAlec, and guest host Haley Whisennand talk news of the week and answer your burning questions before Nick and Leah welcome Black Butler 's Brina Palencia and Michael Tatum to discuss their return to the series after a decade. All that and more, only on The Anime Effect . Topics Discussed in Episode 19 Nintendo Direct The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Super Mario Party Jamboree Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Mario & Luigi: Brothership Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Fairy Tail 2 Farmagia Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Marvel vs. Capcom Collection DJ Hero Elite Beat Agents Anime Expo Tower of God Season 2 Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!

On one hand, while a number of animators and staff members from the anime industry have sternly spoken against the use of AI, anime directors Keiichi Hara and Tomohisa Taguchi, who are veterans in their own right, had an entirely different opinion regarding it.

As reported by Full Frontal, both Hara and Taguchi, who were talking at a panel at this year’s Annecy Festival, believed that AI, which doesn’t complain, get tired or sleep, could be a good tool to replace “lazy animators” and do the work in their place.

This opinion has stirred various sections of fandom, who believed that the directors shouldn’t have made such a comment in light of the recent developments.

Hara was talking about the difficulties of making animated feature films, when the topic shifted to lazy animators “who are being paid without putting in the work that’s expected of them.

In accordance with the diversity of the medium, anime worlds can be just as complex, interesting, and well-defined: while there are some cool anime worlds that fans would like to live in, there are also some incredibly dangerous ones. While many worlds may serve as a mere generic backdrop for epic adventures, some creators take the extra steps to build an immersive universe that feels real and important.

Through world-building elements that bring viewers closer to the action, fans may find themselves captivated and invited by some fictional territories. On the other hand, others are just so evidently bleak and dangerous that, even for the strongest of the characters therein, survival is anything but guaranteed. These perilous worlds are the ones that no one would ever want to live in, should they get a choice in the matter.

Attack On Titan

The world of Attack on Titan is shrouded in...

Cyberpunk has been a part of anime since its inception, with the best cyberpunk anime helping make the medium a global force. Even live-action works like the ever-influential Blade Runner had a heavy Japanese influence, and Akira quickly became a cinematic classic once the cyberpunk aesthetic was brought over to animation. Many cyberpunk anime series have followed in the years since, helping to shape the genre further and evolve it to keep up with the times.

Though cyberpunk is a genre with its own set of tropes and recurring themes, the best cyberpunk anime all bring something original to the table. Whether it's because of a unique tone, compelling characters, or intricate plots anime has only helped cyberpunk flourish in the popular conscience. There's a reason just the word cyberpunk alone conjures so many images, and part of that is due to anime capturing the aesthetic so well. While not...

Considered one of the best anime of 2020, “Akudama Drive” is another title that follows the recent trend of not being based on a manga, while also of interest is the fact that the original draft, which was written by Kazutaka Kodaka, was inspired by Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs”, particularly in the portrayal of the villains who are the protagonists.

In a dystopian future where Kansai became a vassal state of Kanto, multiple highly skilled criminals, called Akudama, are considered enemies of the state, and are hunted down by the Execution Division. Four of the most dangerous ones, Courier, Brawler, Hacker and Doctor respond to a challenge to free another Akudama who is about to be executed, Cutthroat. However, once inside, they discover the job was part of a larger scheme by their client to make them work together on a bigger job: to infiltrate the Shinkansen and...

It’s been nearly four decades since the cyberpunk genre began to take shape, and it’s been sadly strip-mined of its urgency and turned into a retro aesthetic that is served to audiences by the same multi-billion-dollar corporations that the genre was built to criticize. Sure, the neon lights shining in the rain, and the urban […]

The post ‘Akudama Drive’ is the Cyberpunk Suicide Squad Anime You Never Knew You Wanted appeared first on /Film.