Friday, October 14, 2005

Rose Of Versailles Revival

This year is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Marie-Antoinette (born in Vienna in 1755) and it seems to be a good pretext for a revival of Rose Of Versailles, this epic anime drama about a passionate love set with the French Revolution as backdrop.

Not only TMS is releasing the complete series on R2 DVDs (8 vols, BCBA-2321~28, 121 min. ea, ¥3800 ea.; Vol. 1-3 avail. on 9/23; Vol. 4-6 avail. on 10/28 and vol. 7-8 avail. on 11/25), but also the all-female theatrical troop Takarazuka will restage their famous Versailles no Bara play for the great pleasure of their fans! (For more info about this series and the play, check PA#45: 17-26, 41-43 as well as the online overview)

Furthermore, Rose Of Versailles mangaka, Riyoko Ikeda -- who stopped drawing manga a decade ago to dedicate herself to music -- has started a new manga series that adapts a novel of Yukio Mishima (more details on ANN).

Update:

Takarazuka will give TWO different performences of Rose Of Versailles:

Takarazuka “Star Troupe will be performing the "Fersen and Marie Antoinette version" first in a national tour, from 9/24 through 10/21. After the tour, they will perform from January - February 2006 in the Takarazuka Grand Theater, and then from February - April 2006 in the Toyko Takarazuka Theater.”

Takarazuka “Snow Troupe will be performing the "Oscar" version from February - March in the Takarazuka Grand Theater, and from April - May in the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater.”

(Update Source: Sugar And Spice Takarazuka Revue web site)

Takarazuka Revue Official web site

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Apple's iTunes music stores soon to offer video!

With the announcement of the new video-capable iPod, Apple might be able to revolutionize the world of the video download the same way they did for music.

iTunes music stores will soon start selling video also. Following a deal with ABC/Disney they will start offering episode of "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," among other content, for only $1.99 per episode. Video can be watched either on the iPod 2.5-inch screen or on a computer.

Hopefully, anime releasers both in Japan an in North America will seize this opportunity to make their product available online at a reasonable cost. It is clear that this is the only way to fight piracy and illegal downloads.

If you want more details you can check those articles:


www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/new_media/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001304647


www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/10/12/apple.video.ipod.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

Update (05/10/14): iTunes v. 6 is already available and the music store is already selling lots of video clips and some Pixar's short movies. The only downside to this is that the resolution is rather small. It is really made for the iPod screen. But at least the idea of downloading video for a small fee is put in practice. Eventually they could offer higher resolution video for a bigger price.