Western Japanese Anime

Batman: Gotham Knight

Something interesting is going on with anime.

There has been a trend slowly cropping up in the anime industry where american properties are being turned into anime. It started back in 2002 with the release of The Animatrix, a compilation of 9 short films taking place in the Matrix universe, each done different by a different Japanese director and animation studio. Since then, there have been many similar projects done, such as Batman: Gotham Knight, Dante's Inferno, and Halo Legends. Out of these four, I was most surprised by Microsoft when they announced their plans for Halo anime shorts.  Additionally, seasons 2 and 3 of The Boondocks featured segments animated by acclaimed Japanese animation studio Madhouse. 

X-Men

More recently, American companies have turned to Japan to make anime versions of some famous properties. Marvel is working with Madhouse to bring us anime based on X-Men, Blade, Wolverine, and Iron Man. The latter two premiere this Friday on G4. More and more american properties are being made into anime at the behest of their American owners. There has been quite a lot of interest following these anime adaptions of these traditionally American series, and they've been getting a lot of support from the anime community.  However the Marvel anime are not, in my opinion, the most interesting development in regards to western properties being turned into anime.

Supernatural: The Animation

Supernatural is a live-action television show on The CW (formerly The WB) that has just been renewed for it's seventh season. It follows the adventures of Sam and Dean Winchester, two brothers who spend their days fighting against the supernatural.  In June 2010, the Japanese Warner Brother's website announced the Supernatural the Animation project. The English release will feature Jared Padalecki, the actor for Sam Winchester in the original series, as the voice actor for his character for the animated series. 

This was the first time that an American, live-action television series was turned into an anime. I was personally ecstatic when I heard the news that Supernatural was getting an anime, partially because I am a fan of the series, but also be cause of what it means for other American properties. American properties, obviously, have a much bigger following in America than anime does. If anime can attach itself to American properties by making anime adaptions of them, it will have a much wider audience to sell to, which means more money for the anime industry. 

Plus I would not complain if there were to be an anime adaption of Harry Potter.

In the Name of the Moon, I will Re-License You!?

Things have been astir in the anime and manga world lately regarding an old classic: Sailor Moon. Last March, Kodansha USA announced that it would be releasing the original Sailor Moon manga in North America, and now, earlier this week, Great Eastern Entertainment (the merchandising company which handles almost all licensed anime merchandise in North America) has announced several pieces of Sailor Moon merchandise.

The merchandising company Great Eastern Entertainment lists four Sailor Moon products on its website as "coming soon" — a set of playing cards, a wall scroll, a notebook, and a binder [...]. The new products have a Toei Animation logo printed on them but also have "No Price Yet." Great Eastern Entertainment has produced Sailor Moon merchandise in the past.

Original Article at Anime News Network 

These new developments with the old series are big news. In North America, Sailor Moon held a similar standing as Dragon Ball Z, but for girls (and most boys, but they won't admit that). The English adaption, however, was altered and much of the dialog was changed, in order to make it appropriate for younger audiences, and the final two seasons were never licensed for release. Fans have been begging for a re-release of Sailor Moon for ages, and its looking like that wish is finally starting to come true. There has been an "international revival" of the series happening globally, with the licenses being renewed in countries outside of Japan. However, as of yet, there has been no mention of the series being licensed in North America, but at this stage it seems only a matter of time.

Sailor Moon is such a big deal in the anime world, that whichever company gets the rights to release it in North America will be making lots of money. Several years ago, before the dissolution of ADV Films, David Williams (now working for Sentai Filmworks) once commented on how much he wished that Toei would let them license and re-dub Sailor Moon. Just this last April, at Anime Boston, Justin Rojas, the Social Media Manager at Funimation, said that the show is something that Funimation is definitely interested in.

It will be interesting to see who manages to acquire Sailor Moon, though I personally have my money on Funimation.