A legal dispute has erupted between the North American anime distribution company previously responsible for the release and distribution of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series in the US, ADV, and the Japanese production company responsible for the creation of Evangelion, Gainax, over the rights of any live action Evangelion film projects.
The Film Option and Purchase agreement that was signed by both parties back in February 2003 allowed ADV to pursue “the possible development, production, financing and exploitation of at least three (3) live-action theatrical motion pictures, five (5) television programs and three (3) direct-to-video movies products (each, a “Project”).” ADV is suing Gainax over claims that Gainax breached their contract with them in not agreeing to hand over full rights to them once the specified amount of money was paid. A full run-down of the legal argument and history can be read in the original article at Crunchyroll.
What this means for the likelihood of any live action Evangelion production is unclear at the moment, but ADV claims that because of Gainax’s delays they have already missed at least one opportunity to produce a film with a major studio.
The CLUH cafe in Harajuku which opened an Evangelion Gallery on July 25th, had legendary Japanese graffiti artist Cook from the CMK crew paint a mural at CLUH.
An official Evangelion portal for Android phones is available as an app on the Android Market. The application comes bundled with wallpapers, ringtones/alerts, an icon theme, clock and battery widgets, an Evangelion news widget, Evangelion themed twitter application and contacts (looks like a Nerv ID). There are also a customized Android market for Evangelion apps. It’s available on the market for around $4.50 (USD).
I haven’t downloaded it for my phone but based on screenshots, the majority of the applications seem to be Japanese. The clock and battery widgets look pretty cool though.
Cafe CLUH in Harajuku, a neighborhood in Tokyo often considered the fashion capital of the world, will open an Evangelion (Gallary) gallery from July 25th to September 8th. The gallery will feature Evangelion art a collaboration of different artists as well as some original production drawings from the new movies. The cafe will also have various items from Radio Eva. The first week, July 25-31, will feature artwork from “STREET ART” and the first week of August will feature works from ‘PREMIUM14″. Later sometime during the fall, a permanent Evangelion Store will open up in Harajuku.
Some interesting looking pictures of Misato and Mari from “STREET ART”.
Lots of pictures posted on evafan‘s Livedoor blog from the Neon Genesis Evangelion Exhibition at Shotaro Ishinomori Furusato Kinenkan museum in Miyagi Prefecture. The exhibition will run until October 23rd and features both the original TV series as well as the new theatrical edition (Rebuild).
Eva-01 and the Lance at the entrance
Production Drawings, Story Boards, and Scripts
The Rei Ayanami Fender Guitar
Diorama of the inside of the Geofront
Pictures were from the evafan blog, click below to see more pictures from the exhibition.
A short 15 second TV commercial aired for the upcoming Evangelion 2.0, You can (not) advance broadcast on NTV this August 26th. The commercial itself doesn’t show anything new, but it’s somewhat exciting to see something at this point, even if it’s about 2.0.
Harajuku, a neighborhood in Tokyo known as the fashion capital of the world, will be the site of a permanent Evangelion Store that will open this Fall. Not much information is given about the store, but the announcement says there will be unique items for sale and it will be a place where special events will be held.
The August issue of Young Ace magazine contains a “Clear File” for Asuka, similar to the Rei Clear File that was included in the March issue, and looks to have news that a new stage will be in the September issue, due on sale on August 4th.
On Friday, August 26, NTV will broadcast a TV version of Evangelion 2.0, You can (not) advance, at 9pm. There was a TV broadcast of Evangelion 1.0 a while after its debut in theatres that didn’t have anything noticeably different from the 1.01 DVD release except for the preview. Like the 1.01 announcement, we’re given no indication of what changes the TV version will have in store for 2.0 and there was a short mention to make sure to watch “until the end”, but there may not be anything different at all. Nevertheless, I’m sure by August 26 we’ll see various rips of Evangelion 2.0 TV Edition. Here’s to hoping we at least get an updated preview.
The Supanova Pop Culture Expo in Sydney this weekend was apparently a record breaker, with pre-sales for the Saturday reaching over 20,000.
Supanova specializes in science fiction, Anime and manga, as well as several other things such as wrestling, with live wrestling performances appearing throughout both days. This year featured a number of special guests, but the ones we are most interested in are Yuko Miyamura, Tiffany Grant and Matt Greenfield. I attended on the Sunday, where Miyamura gave a panel and Q&A session with her translator early in the day, and Tiffany and Matt hosted a separate Q&A shortly after midday. Read the rest of this entry »
A legal dispute has erupted between the North American anime distribution company previously responsible for the release and distribution of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series in the US, ADV, and the Japanese production company responsible for the creation of Evangelion, Gainax, over the rights of any live action Evangelion film projects.
