Blast off into Space with AnimeFanatika
Ready your space suits and run maintenance on your rockets because it is time to blast off into space with us as we explore Japan’s space program, learn spacey Japanese words, eat something aliens like Goku and Gohan would appreciate, listen to a spacey amv and talk about the 2019 Rugby World Cup whose final match is tomorrow on the 2nd of November. We are YOUR monthly source of anime and Japanese news. Itadakimasu!!
2019 Rugby World Cup
Chances are that you might be a rugby fanatik and followed the 2019 Rugby World Cup closely. This rugby cup is the ongoing ninth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship and is this time hosted by Japan. It started on September 20th and on November 2nd the final match is played between England and South Africa at the Yokohama International Stadium! We would like to wish our team all the best and hope for a epic game on Saturday!
Last Month's News
Crunchyroll: Most-Watched Anime of Summer 2019
Streaming service Crunchyroll revealed which series were the most popular for Summer 2019, and the list has some interesting surprises. Some old-school titled as well as new comes seemed to be on the list. Here is the list in alphabetical order:
BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
We’re sure you are as surprised as we are with some of the titles on the list, like Bleach despite the fact that the anime has not been around for years and ended far from where the manga ended. The list just reflect that some of the older anime such as Naruto and Bleach are truly timeless. The Fall list will probably have My Hero Academia on again, since a new season just started.
Junji Ito’s Uzumaki
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There are few anime and manga that goes beyond horror, that send shivers down your spine and makes you look behind you in sheer paranoia when you watch or read it at night. Eisner winner Junji Ito is the creator of such manga, a mangaka that is as creepy as H.P Lovecraft and as great a storyteller as Stephen King. His works range from deliciously haunting to downright disturbing. One of his works, Uzumaki tells the tale of a small Japanese ‘spiraling’ into madness, and, it seems, that story is being adapted by Toonami and Production IG into a four episode series to appear in 2020! Uzumaki will feature a soundtrack composed by Colin Stetson (Hereditary) and will be directed by by HIroshi Nagahama (The Flowers of Evil).
Junji Ito (About Uzumaki)
Uzumaki teaser
Masaaki Yuasa to direct Netflix anime
Netflix is on a run with their project to produce and stream original anime content on their streaming service. They now ordered a ten-episode-series from Japanese anime director Masaaki Yuasa. The series is called Japan Sinks 2020. The series is based on the 1973 science fiction novel by Sakyo Komatsu, Japan Sinks which follows a series of natural disasters that assails Japan and a group of scientist tries to convince a disbelieving Japanese government of this imminent threat, very Hollywood disaster-movie-esque.
Masaaki Yuasa, born March 16, 1965 is a Japanese animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter as well as director known for his distinctive, idiosyncratic anime style. Some of his most popular work includes Ping Pong: The Animation (2014) where he was series director, series composition, screenplay, storyboards and direction, Space Dandy (2014) where he was director, writer, animation supervisor and storyboard artist for the episode “Slow and Steady Wins the Race, Baby”, Devilman Crybaby (2018) where he worked as director and animator on episode 9 of Samurai Champloo (2004)
Devilman Crybaby
Ping Pong: The Animation
Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop
The Cowboy Bebop Netflix live-action is suffering a production shut down estimated to be 7 to 9 months long after the main star John Cho sustained a knee injury onset. According to sources it was a freak accident that happened on the last take of a well-rehearsed scene. Cho had to be flown back to Los Angeles for surgery and extensive rehabilitation. Filming is only to resume when Cho’s prognosis is clear. The Cowboy Bebop series was a few episodes in production (10 episodes was ordered) when the accident happened.
Usually if a show is in it early stages of filming a roll would be recasted, but rumour has it that Netflix is very impressed with the Star Trek star and fully committed to wait for their main cast actor to resume filming once he is healed. “Our thoughts are with John, and he has our complete support as he recuperates from this injury,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement to online news reporters.
A definite anime classic, Cowboy Bebop is a space western that follows the adventures of a group of bounty hunters trying their best to survive day-to-day. The crew consists of five very different people: Spike Siegel, a retired and exiled hitman; Jet Black, an ex-officer of the Inter Solar System Police, retired thanks to the loss of his arm; Faye Valentine, a con artist suffering from amnesia due to the fact that she was in cryogenic hibernation for a long time;Edward, a preteen genius hacker girl; and Ein, a hyper intelligent, genetically-engineered dog. The soundtrack is one of the best anime OST ever heard, with talents such as Yoko Kanno, (who also sang in Ghost in the Shell- Stand Alone Complex and Wolf’s Rain), The Seatbelts and Mai Yamane contributing to the sound track. Cowboy Bebop, considered one of the best anime series of all time, consisted of 26 episodes and aired in Japan from 1998-99.
We hope that Netflix will successfully bring the highly popular anime to life and we hope for John Cho’s speedy recovery.
Kawaii Kulture : a brief look at Japan's space research
We have always looked up at the stars and imagined new worlds. We were born with that space bug in us, that exploration dream. Mankind is a creature that loves to explore, loves to dissect every piece of knowledge to better understand the world around us. When the space age began, it was not just the United States, Russia and China that pioneered the research and experimentation to understand space better, Japan is also part of that.
For Japan it started in April 1955 when the Institute of Industrial Science of the University of Tokyo conducted an experiment to launch a 23 cm long Pencil Rocket, their tiny first step to be part of the vast journey into space research. It not only mark their space research’s humble beginnings but also the origin of the present Institute of Space and Astronautical Science.
Japan participated in the IGY (International Geophysical Year) activities from 1957 to 1958. It ended in success, they carried out observations of the upper atmosphere, cosmic rays and other such crucial experiments. All these observations were made possible thanks to the development of the K-6 type rockets, rockets able to reach as high as 69 km in altitude, using a solid propellant. In 1962, Kagoshima Space Center was established, opened as a full-scale launch site thanks to the efforts in space rocket research.
Slowly, but securely the path of space research grew, and thanks to successful launches of the L-4S rocket, the M-4S rocket completed its virgin flight in February 1972. That same September Japan’s first scientific satellite SHINSEI was launched and carried out observations of solar radio emissions, cosmic rays as well as the ionosphere. It marked the beginning of the era of scientific satellites in Japan. More examples in of successful satellites in the decades that follow are: the X-ray astronomy satellite, GINGA; the scientific satellite, AKEBONO, for the observation of northern lights; HITEN, to conduct lunar swingbys; YOHKOH, for solar observation; and the X-ray astronomy satellite, ASCA.
Japan has made its mark in the exploration and understanding space and who knows maybe one day when we visit another planet in our solar system it will be a Japanese astronaut taking his first step on that brave new world.
Spread The Word
As we are focusing on space this issue, a few space words might come in handy, just in case you meet a space otaku or do some space related small talk. Here is a list of useful space words:
ama no gawa – milky way
bouenkyou – telescope
burakku hooru – black hole
eisei – satellite
ginga/gingakei – galaxy
hoshi – star
inseki – meteoroid
jinkoueisei – man-made satellite
juuryoku – gravity
kidou – orbit
kounen – light year
ryuusei – meteor
ryuuseigun – meteor shower
seiza – constellation
shiten – solstice
shouwakusei – asteroid
suisei – comet
taiki – atmosphere
taiyou – sun
taiyoukei – solar system
tsuki – moon
uchuu – universe/space
uchuujin – alien
uchuuhikoushi – astronaut
uchuukuukan – void of space
uchuusen – spacecraft
uchuufuku – space suit
wakusei – planet
Types of eclipses:
shoku – eclipse
gesshoku – lunar eclipse
nisshoku – solar eclipse
Heavenly bodies in our solar system
suisei – mercury
kinsei – venus
chikyuu – earth
kasei – mars
mokusei – jupiter
dosei – saturn
tennousei – uranus
kaiousei – neptune
meiousei – pluto
Word of the month: Sutā Wõzu
Our word of the month is Sutā Wõzu, which means Star Wars. Here is a video with 9 useful words and expressions with a Star Wars Theme. Enjoy the video and Fõso o shinjinasai (use the force)!!!
Recipe of the month:Astronauts and UFOs
In this edition of Recipe of the month we go to infinity and beyond to look at space-themed food. First up we visit Emmy cho, better known as Emmymadeinjapan, as she review food that astronauts and cosmonauts eat in space! First she is tasting tasting tubes of Russian space food served to astronauts on the International Space Station and MIR before 2000, then she is having an astronaut meal of beef stew, corn and chocolate pudding.
RUSSIAN SPACE FOOD Taste Test
Tasting Astronaut Beef Stew
Our next insert are some cazy food related commercials, both with an alien-theme to them.
Alien Tommy Lee Jones
U.F.O ramen commercials
Top 5 recommended Space Anime
Here are some recommendations for space anime that you may have not heard off. We leave obvious choices like Dragon Ball Z, Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star to explore: our recommendation includes from kids lost in space to kids lost on a planet, so Battleships and Terraformers fighting against ‘alien’ mutated cockroaches. So put on your space suit and explore alien worlds and new galaxies with us.
Kanata no Astra
Space Battleship Yamato 2199
Tenchi Muyo!
Terra Formars
Uninhabited Planet Survive
Birthday of the Month : Mihoshi from Tenchi Muyo
Our birthday girl Mihoshi Kuramitsu celebrates her birthday on November 4th. She appears in various anime and spin off of the anime series and movies from the Tenchi Muyo-frachise like Tenchi Muyo OVA, Tenchi Universe, Tenchi in Tokyo, Magical Girl Pretty Sammy, Magical Project S and Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club. Her name, directly translated from Japanese means ‘Beautiful Star’.
Mihoshi, from the planet Seniwa, is a member of the prestigious Kuramitsu family whose power in the Galactic Union is second only to the Royal Family of planet Jurai. Like the rest of her family, (she also the granddaughter of the Grand Marshal of the Galaxy Police), Mihoshi joined the Galaxy Police, eventually becoming a Detective First Class. When we first meet her in the OVA series, she is a dizzy blond with a bad habit of causing collateral damage. Mihoshi is however, well manner and carefree; and very loyal to her friends. She is also best known to be the luckiest person alive. How she ended up assigned to the Sol System and Earth by the Galaxy Police is a fan favourite story, she is a great character worth exploring.
She shares her birth month with Kenpachi Zaraki (Bleach) on November 19th and Rock Lee (Naruto) on November 27th.
AMV of the month: Space Dandy with Funk!
Space out with us as we jump on our beds to the music of Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars, The song is Uptown Funk and the anime footage of the AMV is from the Space Comedy Space Dandy. Enjoy the AMV.
Anime Challenge: Uninhabited Planet Survive
Our anime challenge this month is a fan favourite of both Ookami and Takeshi of AnimeFanatika. Getting stranded on an island is already troublesome enough, but what if you end up on an alien planet with no signs of intelligent life and strange giant creatures swarming around you? That’s what the anime series, Uninhabited Planet Survive, puts its characters through.
Uninhabited Planet Survive (Mujin Wakusei Savaivu) also known as Planet Survive is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy anime series consisting of 52 episodes, which were broadcast without breaking the anime into shorter segments. We will be cover the first 16 episodes for our challenge. The anime carries the rare virtue of being an original concept since it is not based on any manga. The anime was even translated into Portuguese and Spanish and is highly popular. There are a still a lot of sites and even fan fiction about the anime floating on the web.
Our story takes place two centuries from now, as space travel and planet colonization form a daily part of life. Planet Earth is uninhabitable (we finally over polluted our world) and mankind forced to survive by colonizing the surrounded planets like Mars and planetary moons. We join Luna, who has been living alone with Chako, her pet robot cat, since her father died in an accident (we also learn that her mother died two years before that). Along with six of her classmates, as well as Chako, Luna finds herself stranded on an alien planet, after a school trip goes horribly wrong. Since they grew up surrounded with technology with no real knowledge of living in the wild, these kids are faced with challenges including finding food, water and shelter as well as staying alive until rescue comes – if it ever does. Added to this is one final catch, the ever-present question of whether or not the planet really is truly uninhabited.
Anime Day: Psychological Thrillers!
Join us on the 16th of November as we watch psychological thriller anime. Some of the anime you can expect are Death Note, Ergo Proxy, Witch Hunter Robin, Death Parade, Paprika and Perfect Blue, to name a few!
Next month will be our last anime day of the year and our you say it, we play it anime day where you get to choose what anime we will show. Please send us suggestions but no naughty suggestions.
Entrance is free! Grab a friend and come join us for a super sugoi day.
When: November 16th
Time: 11:00 PM to 18:00 PM
Place: Cool Runnings, Centurion (120 Ivan Str , Hennops Park Centurion, Pretoria) The anime day is at the back of the club in the anime screening room
Be sure to look at our event page on our website as we may update with more news on events.