A short but interesting interview with Shukou Murase, the director of Ergo Proxy (interview is only on the last 2 pages). The interviewer did his research and asks a bunch of interesting questions. At the very least, he gets neat answers about some stuff I was not aware of.
Producer Toshimichi Ootsuki talks about the production of the Negima anime. Couple of interesting tidbits here; Ken Akamatsu was largely hands-off again, the anime had 3 directors at different points (one for the pilot, 2 more for each half of the anime), the swap in directors midway through the show was driven by “differences of opinion with the staff and the director”, and filling the parts of the 31 students involved a 100 voice actress audition.
A short article about Tokyopop’s decision to make a number of titles web exclusive.
They give the official reason that shelves are crowded, but the biggest issue is likely that the books just weren’t selling – some of the titles that were pulled never finished getting US releases (including the pictured Dragon Voice, which released 10 volumes out of 11 before they abruptly threw in the towel).
A short interview with Funimation marketing VP Debra Kennedy, talking about the Funimation channel’s inception and availability.
An article detailing several international collaboration projects, some of which got off the ground and some of which didn’t.
A short interview with US Voice Actress Jennifer Sekiguchi.
Afro Samurai author Takashi Okazaki talks about creating the series, how it became a multimedia franchise, and how Samuel L. Jackson got involved. Also includes comments by director Fuminori Kizaki.
The story of how the anime got started because of a toy on a producer’s desk seems like another silly gonzo story from an ever-growing pile, but it’s likely not the only reason. Still, it is an interesting starting point.
An article talking about how Goro Miyazaki’s Tales of Earthsea movie was perceived in various quarters.
An article with some info on anime-based cable/on-demand channels (really the anime network, though the funimation channel is mentioned).
Also, the captions on that image are painfully bad, not that it’s exclusive to this article. If this magazine didn’t have a lot of authentic info/interviews, I would have quit looking at it a long time ago. The various attempts at humor throughout the run are soul-crushing.
Short interview with voice actor David Vincent, where he talks about how he got into voice acting by being friends with Steve Blum.
Animetics 