Gun-Toting Infant Mafia Hitman Grooms a Shy Student to Take Over an Organized Crime Syndicate
Source: VIZ Media, MediaLab press releases
Official Site: VIZAnime, j-reborn.com
Special Thanks to Jane Lui and Erik Jansen

The anime series REBORN!, based on the long-running
manga by Akira Amano, is now streaming on VIZAnime.
Photo courtesy of VIZ Media. © Akira Amano/ Shueisha, TV
Tokyo, Reborn Production Committee

VIZ Media has announced that it has begun streaming the animated comedy-action series REBORN! (家庭教師ヒットマン REBORN!, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, 2006-2010) starting June 1st on VIZAnime.com, the company’s own premier website for free anime, as well as the streaming content provider HULU. VIZAnime is a free-to-use interactive web destination that is now the permanent home to some of the company’s best-loved animated series.

The series (rated TV-14) will be presented uncut and subtitled and will debut with the first five episodes available immediately. Five new installments will be uploaded each week. The REBORN! anime series is licensed for U.S. distribution by VIZ Media from TV Tokyo and AniTV.

REBORN!’s main protagonist is Tsunayoshi “Tsuna” Sawada, a timid junior high student who is a failure at school, sports, and his social life. But everything around Tsuna completely changes when a fedora wearing, gun-toting baby named Reborn, who claims to be an Italian hit man from Vongola family, shows up! Reborn was sent to groom Tsuna for his future life as a mafia boss of the family!
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Anime Film Blasts into Canada on June 22nd
Source: Eleven Arts Entertainment press release
Official Movie Site: funimation.com/trigun (US), trigun-movie.com (Japan)
Special Thanks to Shun Ohara

Poster art for TRIGUN: BADLANDS RUMBLE. Photo courtesy
of Eleven Arts. © 2010 Yasuhiro Naito/ Trigun the Movie
Production Committee

Cineplex Entertainment, Eleven Arts and FUNimation Entertainment are bringing TRIGUN: BADLANDS RUMBLE (トライガン The Movie 公式サイト, 2010) to the big screen at participating theaters across Canada on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 7 p.m. local time. The film will open in the United States in July, with US theaters to be announced in two weeks.

Set on a remote planet in the near future, TRIGUN is a popular sci-fi action anime series created by Yasuhiro Naito. It portrays the life and actions of a wanted man named Vash, an extreme pacifist by nature with the unique nickname the “Human Typhoon”. The movie TRIGUN: BADLANDS RUMBLE debuted on April 24th 2010 in Japan, and was a box office hit. The story and designs have been renovated for this animated film so that not only longtime fans, but people who haven’t read the original manga or seen the animated TV series could enjoy the work.
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Photo courtesy of BAM! Marketing, Publicity & Promotions. © 2011 AM².

Passports, New Guests of Honor, Movie Premieres, and More at Animation, Manga, and Music Festival
Source: BAM! Marketing, Publicity & Promotions press releases
Official Site: am2con.org
Special Thanks to Chase Wang

AM², the highly-anticipated animation, music and manga convention coming this 4th of July weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California, has announced some new additions to the festival lineup and revealed the cover design for the 3 Day Passport which gives holders exclusive access to events plus major discounts to Disneyland, Best Buy, Macys, and other Southern California venues, retailers, and restaurants.

Akihiko Yamashita and Miho Shimogasa, the celebrated Character Designers of GIANT ROBO: THE ANIMATION-THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, CUTEY HONEY FLASH, GRAVITATION, THE PRINCE OF TENNIS, POWERPUFF GIRLS Z and Animation Directors of SAILOR MOON SUPERS, SAILOR MOON SAILOR STARS, SAILOR MOON SUPERS PLUS-AMI’S FIRST LOVE, HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, PONYO, Studio Ghibli’s latest animated feature FROM KOKURIKO HILL are added to the Guests of Honor. Yamashita-san and Shimagosa-san join current Guests of Honors Scandal, Sadie, Kanon Wakeshima, kanon x kanon, heidi., Gashicon, IBI and MINT with more to be announced soon!
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