HALO LEGENDS is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Photo courtesy of Madman Entertainment. © 2010 Microsoft Corporation

HALO LEGENDS on DVD and Blu-ray; DEATH NOTE RELIGHT and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN
Source: Madman Entertainment

The Australian distributor Madman Entertainment is releasing the following anime titles this month on Blu-ray and Region 4 DVD…

HALO LEGENDS
Go deeper into the Halo universe than ever before with HALO LEGENDS, an all-new, CG and traditional anime experience that presents enthralling new stories from one of the world’s most popular video game franchises. HALO LEGENDS is a seven-story anthology – told across eight spectacular episodes – that explores the origin and historical events of the Halo universe and its intriguing characters.

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Collection 01 (Eps 01-13)
Naruto Uzumaki is back! After two and a half years of training on the road with Jiraiya of the Sannin, Naruto is back in the Village Hidden in the Leaves and he’s ready to show off his new skills. He and Sakura team up to take on their old master Kakashi.

DEATH NOTE RELIGHT – L’s SUCCESSORS (Director’s Cut)
Light and L have battled to the bitter end over the Death Note – but what does the story look like from Ryuk’s point of view? Go back to where it all began and watch the epic battle from a new perspective – through the eyes of the one who started it all!
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Source: Monster Attack Team
Special Thanks to Michael G Keller and Edward Holland

Cover for Monster Attack Team Issue 8. Photo courtesy of
MAT. © 2010 Monster Attack Team

After far too long an absence, the popular fanzine Monster Attack Team returns!

Edward Holland and the late Joe Riley began Monster Attack Team (the name taken from the anti-monster team in RETURN OF ULTRAMAN) in the early 1990s as a fan club for aficionados of Japanese science fiction and fantasy. It soon evolved into a Dallas, Texas cable access television show and a small newsletter that grew to become a fan favorite mag. The print version of Monster Attack Team ran for seven issues, edited by Ed Holland with the assistance of David May and Michael G Keller, and featured articles and contributions by authors such as Ed Godziszewski, Kip Doto, Bob Johnson, Kevin Grays, August Ragone, Daisuke Ishizuka, Norman England, and Damon Foster.

Nearly 15 years after the last issue, Ed Holland and Michael Keller have brought back Monster Attack Team with Issue 8. The editors have rounded up an “all star” group of tokusatsu writers and historians and produced a massive, 132 page edition that matches the quality of those truly great English language genre publications The Japanese Fantasy Film Journal, Markalite, and Japanese Giants.
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DVD and Blu-ray cover art for Hayao Miyazaki’s PONYO, now available in North America. Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.
© 2008 Nibariki – GNDHDDT. © Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Source: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Inc.
Official Movie Site: disneypictures/ponyo
Special Thanks to Jackie Cavanagh

Today, March 2, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment releases several titles from legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki’s latest, PONYO, will be available in both Blu-ray and DVD, while the classics CASTLE IN THE SKY, KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE, and MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO are returning as Special Edition DVDs with brand new extra features.

WDSHE has provided the trailer and a number of video clips from PONYO. For additional information, DVD and Blu-ray specs, and images please see the previous report here on SciFi Japan.
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Source: VIZ Pictures
Official Movie Site: 20thboysfilms.com (US), 20th Boys (Japanese)
Special Thanks to Rieko Fuji

A SciFi JAPAN EXCLUSIVE

Three SciFi Japan readers have each won a 20TH CENTURY
BOYS 2: THE LAST HOPE Gift Pack containing the DVD,
poster, and button. Photo courtesy of VIZ Pictures.
© 1999, 2006 Naoki Urasawa, Studio Nuts /Shogakukan
© 2009 “20th Century Boys” Film Partners

Thank you to everyone who entered VIZ Pictures and SciFi Japan’s contest for a free 20TH CENTURY BOYS 2 DVD Gift Pack. The following randomly drawn entrants correctly answered all contest questions:

Evan Brehany
Joseph W. Whalen
Wilton E. Newman

Congratulations to the winners! Each of you has won a Gift Pack containing the 20TH CENTURY BOYS 2: THE LAST HOPE DVD, button, and theatrical poster. VIZ Pictures will be shipping the Gift Packs shortly so keep an eye on your mailbox.
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Tokyo crumbles in SINKING OF JAPAN, director Shinji Higuchi’s big budget remake of the Toho classic SUBMERSION OF JAPAN.
Photo courtesy of The Associates. © 2006 “Sinking of Japan” Production Committee

Toho Box Office Hit Coming from MVM Entertainment on March 8th
Source: The Associates press release
Special Thanks to Louise Rivers

UK DVD art for SINKING OF JAPAN. Photo courtesy of The
Associates. © 2006 “Sinking of Japan” Production
Committee

The 2006 disaster film SINKING OF JAPAN (Nihon Chinbotsu) will be released on DVD in the UK next week by MVM Entertainment. The movie is based on the best selling novel Japan Sinks by Sakyo Komatsu, and the previous film adaption, Toho’s blockbuster SUBMERSION OF JAPAN (1973).

SINKING OF JAPAN was a co-production among several companies; most notably Toho and Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). It was co-written and directed by Shinji Higuchi, the acclaimed FX director on the Heisei Gamera series who has gone on to helm hit films such as LORELEI: THE WITCH OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN (Lorelei, 2005). The special effects were directed by Makoto Kamiya of GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK (Gojira, Mosura, Kingughidora: Daikaiju Soshingeki, 2001) fame.

The film was a tremendous box office success across Asia. Distributor Tartan USA acquired North American rights and planned to release the movie on Region 1 DVD as DOOMSDAY: THE SINKING OF JAPAN in 2008, but the company went out of business before that could happen. The upcoming UK DVD will finally give Japanese cinema fans in the west a chance to see SINKING OF JAPAN.
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