Drama and Anime Database

Commercial broadcasters and NHK will begin to create a database of all previously broadcasted shows and anime, which will be funded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. This will allow international licensees to easily search for content they would like to buy the rights to. Once potential licensees sign-in, they will be able to search the list of shows and even view the contact information of the content holders.

**Reference: 4/18/2007 Nihon Keizai Shinbun

Television Show Games

Fuji Television and Bandai-Namco announced that they are creating a game based on a Fuji Television TV show titled “Game Center CX”. The price of each game is still unknown, but they are planning to release the product within a year. Like in film production, the steep prices of content development lead to joint capital investment in the game industry as well.

**Reference: 4/19/2007 Nihon Keizai Shimbun

Next Day, Ready to Watch on DVD

Nippon Television Network Corporation and Visionaire, a Japanese DVD technology company, will be selling DVDs of the television show “Media Mix” on the day after the show is aired. In order to view the DVD, consumers could receive a password from a cell phone service website. It will cost around 1,500 yen for each DVD and will be available through participating Seven Eleven stores and some online shopping sites.

**Reference: Nikkei Business Daily 6/14/2007

Sponge-Bob Show in Japan

On April 27th, Viacom International Japan announced that they would be airing the “Sponge Bob Square Pants” series on Japan’s public broadcasting channel, NHK. “Sponge Bob Square Pants” will air during an educational television time slot, and Viacom hopes this will be a great promotion for attracting new viewers to their shows on Nickelodeon TV.

**Reference: 4/27/2007 Nikkei New Media, Itpro.com

Death Note Sequel on the Rise

Hideo Nakata, the director of “The Ring 2” and upcoming “The Ring 3” in 2008, will also be directing a spin-off sequel to the popular Japanese movie, “Death Note”. The movie, “L”, will focus more on the character “L” who was one of the super-minds in the previous movie series. Nakata has signed on to the project after three years in Hollywood. He states that he wanted to make more movies in Japan, and that he was impressed with Kenichi Matsuyama in the “Death Note” pictures and wanted to work with the actor.

**Reference: 4/12/2007 Hollywood Reporter

Spidey’s Popularity Contest

Instead of premiering the movie in Hollywood, many businesses are starting to make their first run in Tokyo. The fifth Harry Potter film, “The Order of the Phoenix,” from Warner Bros. will be out in Japan ahead of other markets. “Spider Man 3” had an impressive launch in Tokyo on April 16, while “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” also had its premiere in Japan on May 23. Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan’s head of the Publicity stated, ”Japan has always been the biggest territory outside North America, and the final box-office figures in Japan have sometimes overtaken the U.S. take.”

**Reference: 5/29/2007-6/4/2007 Hollywood Reporter

International Manga Awards

Japan had its first “Nobel Prize of Manga” this summer for artists in the comic book genre abroad. The International Manga Award was given to an artist working abroad whose work best contributes to the spread of the manga worldwide. The selection was made on June 22nd and the announcement was made on July 2nd. The winner and three runners-up received a certificate and trophy at the award ceremony, and will spend 10 days in Japan meeting with local comic book artists and publishers.

**Reference: CNN, Ministry of Foreign Affairs official site

Get a College Degree in Manga

If you are unsatisfied with your college major, and you like manga, why not consider transfering to the manga department at Seika University in Kyoto? The University began the manga program in 2000, and the number of applicants for manga major in 2007 increased by 40% over the previous year. Their manga major has three different concentrations: manga, comic production, and animation. The faculty consists of professional comic writers and producers from known publishing companies. A drop in the youth population and a shortage of students in universities gave birth to this new major, which will hopefully attract young adults and encourage their education.

**Reference: Nikkan Kougyou Shinbun, Business & Technology 6/15/2007

Jrock Revolution

Created by Japanese rock superstar Yoshiki of X Japan, Jrock Revolution, which happened on the week of May 25 -26, attracted thousands of Japanese rock fans who flew to Korea-town in Los Angeles from as far away as Canada, Europe, Japan, and South America. Fans began lining up the day before despite being kicked off the property multiple times. On Wednesday, the line hit about sixty people by sunset and the Wiltern began to allow overnight camping, but anyone age 18 and under was required to return to their hotels after 10:00PM. Six thousand attendees arrived within these two days, 90% of which were American and ages ranged from fourteen to thirty-five. Five bands performed on the first day and four bands on the second day. In addition to Jrock Revolution, Yoshiki’s band “SKIN” also performed at the Anime Expo on June 29th.

**Reference: http://www.jrockrevolution.com/

Nifty’s New Music Community Site

Nifty Corp., a Japanese Internet service provider, is opening a music social networking website. This site will introduce musicians, such as amature bands and instrumentalists, and set up music questionaires for website users. The new site, “Human Music Community,” will be free of charge, and they plan to organize events for these musicians in the future.

**Reference: Nikkei Business Daily 6/19/2007

Uncovering Gems: Battle of Musicians

Yamaha Music Corporation will begin searching for new musicians by using video clips of bands available for viewing on cell phones to test their popularity. Like the music competition reality show “American Idol”, Yamaha’s ‘Web Stage’ will allow young viewers to vote on their favorite artist through their cell phones.

**Reference: Nikkei Business Daily 6/4/2007

Sitting at Home as Musicians Wait for the Mega Hit

Ki/oon Records Inc., a Japanese record label and subsidiary of Sony Music Japan, is promoting their musicians to the North American market via the Internet. They made the first deal of the license contract for its artist, Polisics, with Myspace Record, aiming a CD release this fall. Since Myspace is in English, it taps into a wide audience of listeners that includes countries such as the UK and Australia, in addition to America and Canada.

**Reference: Nikkei Business Daily 6/6/2007

Nintendo #1

According to the marketing research firm NPD Group, “Pokemon Diamond” for Nintendo DS and Wii put Nintendo at the top of the videogame biz in April, when it dominating hardware and software sales for the month. North American consumers bought 360,000 units of Wii, while only 174,000 Xbox 360 units were sold during the same period. “Pokemon Diamond”, for the DS, sold more than 1 million units while the “Pearl” version of the handheld game sold 712,000.

**Reference: 5/18/2007 Variety Magazine

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Fall 2007

With the courtesy of Aksys Games, a publisher of interactive entertainment products, the newest fighting game franchise, “Guilty Gear XX Accent Core”, has been created for PlayStation®2 and Wii. Developed by Arc System Works, this game with high-resolution graphics also comes along with new stages, new characters, graphics, voices and the ability to create matches between old and new characters in the Generations Mode. Guilty Gear fans can enjoy this new version at a whole other level.

**Reference: Aksysgl.com

Just Released! Hoshigami Remix

Aksys Games has again announced another game that has been released and shipped to retailers worldwide on June 26th. “Hoshigami Remix”, compatible with Nintendo DS, is about a floating continent of Mardias where a war has started between the Kingdoms of Balaim and Nightweld that threatens to upset the balance of power in the land. Upgraded from the original “Hoshigami”, the new version features a brand new character, new missions, music, character art and introductory animation as well as a new localization.

**Reference: IGN.com, Aksysgl.com

Samurai Comedy Available on Internet

Columbia Music Entertainment and Toei Company Ltd have announced that they will co-produce short films for distribution via the Internet. Combining Columbia Music’s library and Toei’s prestigous studio in Kyoto made this a team effort. The first series, called “Metal Samurai,” is a comedic Samurai, provided free to the users. Each episode is about twenty minutes long, and they have now completed a total of three. The synopsis, list of performers, and music of each episode are provided. The companies hope to eventually expand their sales to cell phones and DVDs.

**Reference: 5/25/2007 Nikkei Business Daily

New 2.5D Anime?

‘The World of Golden Eggs,’ an anime produced by Japanese creative unit PLUS heads inc., has become popular among youth. With unique-looking characters, humorous jokes, and the attractive surroundings of a surreal world, the unit sold the DVD as soon as they finished airing the series, and also completed CD, book and magazine promotions. The setting of this anime is an American country side consisting of more than 100 characters. The characters are created with 3D graphics, but their world is in 2D. Thus the producers call this anime “2.5D graphics.” This brand new anime is aired on ‘Kids’ Station’ and ‘Music on! TV.’. Although this anime is in Japanese, it has English subtitles and also features an English learning program at the end of the program that uses slang in context.

**Reference: Nikkei Business Daily 6/21/2007

Challenge Your Brains on Cell Phones

Imagineer Co., Ltd., a Japanese mobile information distributor, released a new cell phone game in June that will challenge your brain. The game itself was originally produced by Nintendo Co. Ltd. to test your knowledge in English, Chinese characters (kanji), and math. The Nintendo DS version of the games has been gaining great popularity and brought the highest management profit to Nintendo in March. Achieving the same goal on the cell phone platform is their next target.

**Reference: 5/22/2007 Nikkei Business Daily

Manga with Sound on Cell Phones and the Internet

Bitway Co., Ltd., a Japanese digital content sales company, has begun distribution of Osamu Tezuka comics that include motions and sounds, known as ‘Motion Comics,’ via the Internet and cell phones. Comic readers are now able to hear realistic sound effects and dialogue through their speakers just as if they were watching the anime on TV. Osamu Tezuka’s series “Black Jack” and “Dororo” have already been added to the collection.

**Reference: 6/1/2007 Nikkei Business Daily

Another Cell Manga by Production IG

Production IG has created a manga series, “XX (X Cross)”, available only to cell phone users. It is the first manga ever created without a manga artist. “XX” has been available at a comic downloading site called Takarajima Wondernet since April 16th. The storyline of “XX” is based on a mystery novel that received the “Outstanding Mystery Award”, which is also hosted by Takarajimasha.

**Reference: 5/17/2007 Nikkei Sangyou Shimbun

Educational History Manga

Cyber Agent, Inc.’s branched factory, CA Mobile, began an educational historical manga site on May 21st. CA Mobile collected all of the historical mangas from Gakken Co., Ltd, Japan’s leading educational publisher, and created a database for consumers to search and download. Consumers are required to buy a monthly membership that costs 315 yen. This service is currently available for NTT Docomo, KDDI and Soft Bank Mobile users.

**Reference: 5/21/2007 Nikkei Sangyou Shimbun

Pokemon Jungle

At “Pokemon Festival 2007”, Hitachi Ltd. introduced a new sensor-based toy to find and catch the hidden monsters using spherical shaped “Poké Balls”. The “Poké Balls” have a built-in sensor system and a radio that can locate the target. They also utilize different effects, such as light flashes when the monsters are in close proximity, and vibration as the monsters are caught. Attendees were able to enjoy the experience by walking through an artificial jungle that mimicked the Pokemon TV show.

**Reference: Nikkan Kougyou Shinbun, Business & Technology 6/18/2007

Introducing Affordable Anime/Game Creators

Japan’s Terranetz Co., Ltd will be starting a service to introduce consumers to affordable anime and game creators. This service will allow consumers to purchase songs and images to attach to their email information. Upon entering the site, the visitors can search for a creator who best fits their criteria by viewing past works. Once chosen, creators can provide customers with attachment files such as caricatures, songs and poems that fit their client’s descriptions. Over 330 creators are registered in the database so far.

**Reference: 5/16 Nikkei Sangyou Shimbun