Fantasia 2009

In a press conference held on Monday June 29th Fantasia announced the highlights of its programmation:

The 13th edition of the Fantasia Film Festival, North America's largest genre cinema event, will be held from July 9th to July 29th, 2009 at Concordia University's Hall Theatre in Montreal. This year the festival offers over 115 feature-length films, as well as an impressive selection of shorts, documentaries, panel discussions, outdoor screenings and more than fifty guests that will be there to introduce their movies. The programmation's details will be available online for free and the Program Book will be on sale Friday July 3rd at the cost of $5. Tickets will be available from July 7th for $8.00 or $70 for 10 tickets. There are also 8 “Fantastic Week-End” programs (including 6 to 13 films) available for $8 each.

The programming offers over 50 Asian movies (including 35 from Japan, 15 from Korea, 6 from China/Hong Kong and 3 from Thailand).

This year the festival is a little weak on the anime side as it includes only four Japanese animated features: Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers (Dir.: Tomoyuki Kyoda), Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (Dir.: Hideaki Anno), Genius Party Beyond (a shorts anthology by 4'C Studio) and Hells (Dir.: Yoshiki Yamakawa, Madhouse Studio). There's also Cencoroll (a short shown with Genius Party Beyond).

The most interesting Japanese movies of the festival (interesting to us because they are anime & manga related) definitely are 20th Century Boys: Chapter One and 20th Century Boys: Chapter Two—The Last Hope (based on Naoki Urasawa's manga and directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi), M.W. (based on a manga by Osamu Tezuka and directed by Hitoshi Iwamoto) and Yatterman (based on Tatsunoko's 1977-79 anime TV series Time Bokan 2: Yattāman (or its 2008 remake); directed by Takashi Miike, it's the opening film of the festival hosted by producer Yoshinori Chiba).

There's also an anime & manga-related Korean movie: Antique (Dir.: Min Kyu-dong; based on the Japanese manga Antique Bakery by Fumi Yoshinaga).

The other Japanese movies includes Battle League in Kyoto (Dir.: Katsuhide Motoki, based on a fantasy novel by Manabu Makime), The Clone Returns Home (Dir.: Kanji Nakajima), Crime or Punishment?!? (Dir.: Keralino Sandorovich), Cyborg She (dir.: Kwak Jae-young), Fine, Totally Fine (Dir.: Yosuke Fujita), GS Wonderland (dir.: Ry˚ichi Honda), Hard Revenge, Milly and Hard Revenge, Milly: Bloody Battle (hosted by writer/director Takanori Tsujimoto), House (Dir.: Nobuhiko Obayashi), Instant Swamp (Dir.: Satoshi Miki), K-20: Legend of the Mask (Dir.: Shimako Sato), Lalapipo (Dir.: Masayuki Miyano), Love Exposure (Dir.: Sion Sono), Nightmare Detective 2 (Dir.: Shinya Tsukamoto), Orochi (Dir.: Norio Tsurata), Paco and the Magic Book (Dir.: Tetsuya Nakashima), Samurai Princess (Dir.: Kengo Kaji), Tokyo OnlyPic 2008 (Dir.: Riichiro Mashima), Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl (Dir.: Naoyuki Tomomatsu & Yoshihiro Nishimura) and With Rain (a short shown as part of “Celluloid Experiments”).

The festival, in association with the Cinémathèque Québécoise and Ciné-Asie, also presents “Behind the Pink Curtain,” a line-up of Japanese erotic films (pinku eiga): Blue Film Woman (1969), Gushing Prayer (1971), S&M Hunter (1986), Secret Hot Spring Resort: Star Fish at Night (1970) and Yariman (2008).

Fantasia also presents a “Classic Daikaiju Special” that will include a documentary, Bringing Godzilla Down to Size: The Art of Japanese Special Effects, a short, Gehara the Dark and Long Haired Monster, and a classic monster movie, Mothra (1961)!

As part of its “Fantasia Under the Stars” segment, the festival will also presents outdoor screenings of Tokyo Zombie (Dir.: Sakichi Sato) on 7/17 and Adrift in Tokyo (Dir.: Satoshi Miki) on 7/18 at 21:00 in the Parc de la Paix (St-Laurent boulevard between Ste-Catherine’s and René-Lévesque).

Notable is the recent French documentary by Yves Montmayeur: Yakuza Eiga: Une Histoire Secrète du Cinéma Japonais (“Yakuza Eiga: A Secret History of Japanese Cinema”).

The Japanese guests list includes Yoshinori Chia (Yatterman producer), Tomohiro Hayashi (Yatterman producer), Yoshihiro Nishimura (Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl director), and Takanori Tsujimoto (Hard Revenge, Milly writer & director).

We will add more details as they are available (updated: 7/4, 7/5, 7/8).

View a calendar of the Japanese movies' screenings.

Bon festival!

Press Release: Protoculture Addicts To Release 80 Anime You Must Watch!

Montreal QC, June 15, 2009 — Anime News Network and Protoculture Inc. present the all new Protoculture Addicts guide to 80 Anime You Must Watch! Whether you're a long time anime fan, or just getting started, this guide will introduce you to some of the most interesting anime you've never heard of. We've selected the best anime, the most thought-provoking anime, the funniest anime, and the most unique anime, and brought them together in one place. A perfect starting point for new anime fans, and a damn good way for the veteran otaku to find the best anime they've missed. Also includes the ten most overrated anime, ten best soundtracks and several other “top-10” lists. The Protoculture Addicts guide to 80 Anime You Must Watch! is priced at $7.95 and offers 100 pages of your best guide to anime culture!

In a letter sent to subscribers and posted on the magazine's blog (http://protoculture-mag.blogspot.com/), Protoculture Inc., the publisher of Anime News Network's Protoculture Addicts, explained why the magazine has not been published for several months and is detailed the magazine's new schedule and format.

The letter revealed that the magazine was experiencing difficulty due to the combined effects of multiple factors (not only the global recession, but also a crisis in both the anime and magazine publishing industries, as well as the fact that the editor-in-chief was having health issues). Therefore, like many other anime industry companies, Protoculture had to make cutbacks and delay the release of the magazine in order to restructure its production process and adjust the magazine format to make it more appealing to readers.

“No, Protoculture Addicts is not dead”, reassures Claude J Pelletier, co-publisher and production manager. “It is just experiencing a longer hiatus than usual. However, most of our readers are probably used to such delays since the magazine has always been somewhat irregular. Strangely, what can be seen at first as a major inconvenience, can sometimes become a blessing. The fact that we have a small (but very dedicated) staff sometimes presents problems, but it can also become our greatest asset during such challenging times. It makes us more flexible and versatile, and that's why the magazine has survived for so long and will endure even longer.”

In order to make the magazine more competitive during the current economic challenge, Protoculture is, for the moment, reducing the frequency of the magazine to two or three issues per year. The magazine's focus is also changing, making of each release a special issue dedicated entirely to one topic. “It's a complete departure from our previous magazine format”, says publisher Christopher Macdonald, “as it is now designed to be less of a periodical and more of a collector's magazine.” However, Macdonald insists that if the magazine had to adapt to the changing media world by providing contents with a longer shelf-life, its mission remains the same. “We still seek to introduce you to exciting facets of anime culture that you may not have previously explored.”

For 2009, Protoculture is planning only two thematic issues, one to be released in Summer (around late-July) and the other in Fall. The first thematic issue (officially issue #98) will be 80 Anime You Must Watch!

The magazine will be available to retailers from Distributors such as Diamond, AAA Anime, Disticor and directly from Protoculture. While it will not be available to consumers from regular book and newstand magazine stores such as Borders, readers can request it at their local comic-book & hobby shop or order it directly from Protoculture's website (http://www.protoculture-mag.com). The subscription fee remains at $30.00 US/CND for six issues despite the cover price change to $7.95 US/CND.

Anyone interested in Advertising should contact Christopher Macdonald at advertising@animenewsnetwork.com.

ABOUT ANIME NEWS NETWORK:

With over 30 million impressions a month and one hundred thousand visits a day, Anime News Network (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com) is the Internet's leading source of anime and manga news. ANN provides North American readers with up to date news, views and reviews regarding the North American and Japanese anime industries.

ABOUT PROTOCULTURE ADDICTS:

Protoculture Addicts is North America's longest running anime and manga magazine, first published in 1987. In 2005 Protoculture Addicts joined Anime News Network to take advantage of one of the most dynamic rosters of writers and contributors in the North American anime industry.

80 Anime You Must Watch!

Anime News Network presents the all new Protoculture Addicts guide to 80 Anime You Must Watch!

Whether you're a long time anime fan, or just getting started, this guide will introduce you to some of the most interesting anime you've never heard of. We've selected the best anime, the most thought-provoking anime, the funniest anime, and the most unique anime, and brought them together in one place. A perfect starting point for new anime fans, and a damn good way for the veteran otaku to find the best anime they've missed. Also includes the ten most overrated anime, ten best soundtracks and several other “top-10” lists. (Not final cover artwork)

The Protoculture Addicts guide to 80 Anime You Must Watch! is priced at $7.95 and offers in full color 100 pages of your best guide to anime culture! Don't miss it!

Available this Summer in all good comic-book or hobby specialty stores (from Distributors such as Diamond or AAA Anime) or directly from Protoculture.

Letter to the readers

Dear Readers:

You are certainly well aware of the current difficult economic situation that affects us all in our daily life. Unfortunately, on top of this challenging economic situation, there are many other factors that are also hurting magazine publishers like Protoculture.

Even before the global recession, both the Japanese and the North American anime industries were going through a small crisis that has forced many anime companies to restructure and implement cut-backs. While they are going through this process, anime companies are considerably reducing their advertising budgets and this in turn makes things very hard for anime magazines.

Magazine publishers, in general, were already having a hard time, because their readership is relying more and more on the Internet to access information and is moving away from print publications. At the same time, the bookstore and newsstand distribution system is falling apart. The distribution system is already rather inefficient and wasteful (only 30-40% of magazine copies are sold and the rest are trashed), but it is also getting more expensive for publishers, as distributors seek to increase their fees. Because of problems with our distributor, we had to stop distributing Protoculture Addicts in bookstores and newsstands with issue #97 and we are now trying our best to find alternate solutions.

Finally, at the beginning of the year, our editor-in-chief was repeatedly sick and needed some time to recover.

All those factors have forced us to follow the example of many anime industry companies. We had to lay-off some of our staff, make cut backs, and take some time to restructure our production process. It was necessary to delay the release of the magazine in order to adjust its format and make it more appealing to readers.

Such lengthy production delays are nothing new for Protoculture Addicts. The magazine has always been irregular (we released only two issues in 2004, six issues in 2005, two only again in 2006, five issues in 2007 and three in 2008) and most of our readers are probably used to this situation. Strangely, what can be seen at first as a major inconvenience, can sometimes become a blessing. The fact that we have a small (but very dedicated) staff sometimes presents challenges, but it can also become our greatest asset during such challenging times. It makes us more flexible and versatile, and that's why the magazine has survived for so long and will endure even longer.

In conclusion, there is no need to worry: Protoculture Addicts is not dead, it is only on a longer than usual hiatus while we restructure the magazine. We hope you like the result of our work, as it will be a bit of a departure from our previous work. In recognition of the changing media world, we will be changing the magazine's focus. Each issue will be a special issue focused entirely on one topic; we call them "thematic issues". This might seem like a huge change from our previous format, but in reality, our mission remains the same. We seek to introduce you to exciting facets of anime culture that you may not have previously explored. We'll just be going about it in a different format than before.

We will also, for the moment, reduce the frequency of the magazine to two or three issues per year. For 2009, we are planning only two thematic issues, one to be released in the Summer (around late-July) and the other in late Fall (around mid-November).

The first thematic issue (technically it will be issue #98) will be titled 80 Anime You Must Watch! Whether you're a long time anime fan, or just getting started, this guide will introduce you to some of the most interesting anime you've never heard of. We've selected the best anime, the most thought-provoking anime, the funniest anime, and the most unique anime, and brought them together in one place. A perfect starting point for new anime fans, and a damn good way for the veteran otaku to find the best anime they've missed. It also includes the ten most overrated anime, ten best soundtracks and several other “top-10” lists. The Protoculture Addicts guide to 80 Anime You Must Watch! will be 100-page and priced at $7.95 US/CND. Protoculture Addicts is your best guide to anime culture!

We remind subscribers that their subscription to Protoculture Addicts is not a yearly membership fee but rather a commitment on our part to deliver to you six issues. Therefore, if you subscribed to the magazine, you will definitely receive six issues (or the number of issues remaining in your subscription), no matter how many issues are released in one given year. Please also note that, despite the price change to $7.95, the subscription fee remains at $30.00 US/CND.

We thank you for your understanding and support and we apologize profusely for this lengthy publication delay.

Check the web site (www.protoculture-mag.com) or the magazine's blog (protoculture-mag.blogspot.com) for further announcements.

-Protoculture

Orders shipped 2009/06/05

All orders (including new subscriptions) received between 2009/04/25 and 2009/06/04 were shipped Thursday (Canada) and today (US and International).

Sorry to all our customers for this delay. We usually try to ship every two weeks or at least every month, but the month of May has been rather crazy...