First short trailer for the upcoming anime series Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope) from Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo director Shinichiro Watanabe. Judging from the trailer the series focuses on Jazz music (and maybe some boys love), so I’m glad to report that Yoko Kanno (GitS:SAC, Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne…) will be responsible for the music.
The series will start airing in Japan in April.

Synopsis:

Summer, 1966. Kaoru Nishimi has moved to live with relatives in Kyushu. He’s been an aloof honor student his whole life, but that starts changing when he meets Sentarou Kawabuchi, the school’s notorious bad boy. Through him, he learns the appeal of jazz and forms his first real friendships.

[via Wildgrounds & ANN]

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The end of the year could become pretty expensive for anime lovers equipped with a Region A capable Blu-ray Disc player. During the weekend several Blu-ray Disc collections of anime series from FUNimation have appeared on Amazon.com, starting with Witchblade on November 3rd. With several bust sizes smaller but not less effective, the first season of Gunslinger Girl will be released on December 1st, only a few weeks after the Japanese collection.
On December 15th, Shinichiro Watanabe’s Samurai Champloo and the ninjatized Romeo & Juliet adaptation Basilisk will hit the US shelves without having been announced in Japan.
Thanks to Asian Blu-ray Guide contributor r3d-3agl3 for the heads up!

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Sweet Animated Mindfuck! German independent distributor Rapid Eye Movies has announced to finally release the short film omnibus Genius Party on DVD in Germany on July 17!
The collection includes seven short films from directors Atsuko Fukushima (Genius Party), Shoji Kawamori (Shanghai Dragon), Shinji Kimura (Deathic 4), Yuji Fukuyama (Doorbell), Hideki Futamura (Limit Cycle), Masaaki Yuasa (Happy Machine) and Shinichiro Watanabe (Baby Blue) united under the roof of Studio 4°C (Tekkonkinkreet) for the project.
The DVD will be released in a limited edition digipack packed in a slipcase and will include the original Japanese track and the German dub in 5.1 Dolby Surround. Sadly there will only be German subtitles, so (still) no luck for you German-impaired folks. Extras will include 30 more minutes of short films (maybe a preview of Genius Party Beyond?) and a some postcards.
Genius Party and its sequel Genius Party Beyond will be running on next week’s Japanese Film Festival in Hamburg. To wet your appetite (or rather increase your agony) here’s the eponymous episode by Atsuko Fukushima:

Supportlink: Preorder Genius Party on DVD from Amazon Germany

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