Living Adv Steins;Gate – how did talks on the live-action stage production begin?

Earlier today Media Plus held a production presentation for its October live-action theatre production of Living Adv Steins;Gate.

All nine of the cast members of the stage production were up on stage, as well as the production’s scriptwriter and director, Daisuke Nishida, and Steins;Gate’s creator, Chiyomaru Shikura.

During the production presentation, both the play director Daisuke Nishida, and Steins;Gate creator Chiyomaru Shikura shared a few interesting tidbits about how the Steins;Gate live-action stage production came to be.

“It all started when I was out drinking with a producer from a different games company. At the time I asked him, ‘which video game, from a company other than the one you work at, is the most interesting title right now?’ And his answer to that was Steins;Gate,” stage director Nishida said.

“You’re referring to Kobayashi-san, right?” creator Chiyomaru Shikura chimed in, refering to Hiroyuki Kobayashi, the producer behind Capcom’s Sengoku Basara series which, not-so-coincidentally, was also adapted into a live-action stage production. By Nishida.

Chiyomaru Shikura also talked a little about the genesis Steins;Gate’s story.

“There was a time when I wished I could have sent an e-mail/text message back into the past. Since it’s incredibly difficult to create an actual time machine, I sort of fantasized with the idea that what if we could just send e-mails or text messages back into the past?” Shikura said.

From that point on, Shikura said that he started fleshing out the scenario and the characters, and eventually got to starting the production phase for Steins;Gate.

Shikura was also asked what he thought about Steins;Gate getting adapted into a stage play.

“When I was making the game version, this was something I never could have seen coming,” he said.

Living Adv Steins;Gate will be playing at Odaiba’s Zepp Diver City from October 12 to 20 (a total of 13 shows).

Production on an English version of the Steins;Gate PC visual novel is underway. Jast USA will release the English version sometime later this year.

In the US, the Steins;Gate TV anime series can also be watched online legally at Crunchyroll.

Here’s a look at the stage actors who will play the cast of Steins;Gate in the October stage production:

Source: Dengeki and Crunchyroll News

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Blast off with Space Dandy January 2014

After last weeks announcement at Otakon, Space Dandy has begun hyping up fans with character designs and musical goodness.

When Shinichiro Watanabe talked about Space Dandy at Otakon fans were excited, and now with two big announcements fans have even more to be excited about. The first is an official release of the character designs for the main cast: Dandy, Meow and QT.

Dandy, the titular hero, is an alien hunter trying to find the newest aliens before anyone else so that he can collect on their bounties. He’s somewhere in his twenties, and like Watanabe said, a very easy-going character with no worries. He’s also always surrounding himself with breasts.

Meow is listed as one stupid alien. No matter how much he looks like a cat, he’s actually an alien from Betelgeuse’s star system. Like Dandy, he’s a carefree character. As he’s taught himself how to use a cellphone, that’s most likely what’s in his pouch.

QT is actually a cleaning robot meant to be highly efficient, but is sadly a piece of junk. Unlike Dandy and Meow, he’s a more serious character with a lot of pride.

The second announcement is that the opening and ending themes will both be performed by Yasuyuki Okamura. The opening will be Viva Namida and the ending will be Healthy Merci. Both will be released on the album Viva Namida on October 2 by V4 records.

To give fans a tease of what animation they can expect in Dandy the series staff will be collaborating with him to create a special animated PV for Viva Namida. The rough sketches give an idea of what the musician will look like in anime form.

Space Dandy is set to release January 2014 and reunites BONES with Shinichiro Watanabe once again.

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Sources: Moca News, BARKS

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Singapore: Pika Pika Matsuri by Pika Pika Meido Cafe at Scape Warehouse on August 18 (tomorrow)

Pika Pika Matsuri, organised by the folks who behind the lovely Pika Pika Meido Cafe, is happening at Scape Warehouse tomorrow, August 18, from 11AM to 7.30PM.

Admission into the Scape Warehouse for the performances and to browse the merchandise booth is absolutely free.

Not only that, but if you confirm your attendance by RSVPing at the Pika Pika Matsuri page, you’ll also be entitled to claim a free Naruto and One Piece poster.

If you’re planning to go to CosCom on September 15, you can also get tickets to that at Pika Pika Matsuri – look for the CosCom booth.

So what are you waiting for? Go RSVP right this very instance!

In my opinion, any event that uses Melancholic as the BGM for their event promotion trailer (at the top of this post) is worth going down to – their choice in music is proof that the organisers have great taste.

Here’s the meido line-up for Pika Pika Matsuri tomorrow:

Guest Performers:

Stage Schedule:

Menu & Rules:

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Ultraman manga comes to life in promotional video

As part of the promotion for HEROES magazine’s ongoing Ultraman manga and it’s volume three release, an animated version of one of the chapters was set in motion.

It’s not animated in the way you would expect, but the video created to help promote the release of volume three on September 5. Done in a way that follows panels, it adds color and motion to the original manga pages.

In it, one of the most climactic scenes from the manga is brought to life. It starts as the original Ultraman, Shin Hayata, is defeated by his old foe Be Mular. His son returns an earlier favor by showing up in the nick of time to protect him. It ends with Shinji powering up his Specium weapons and promising to tear Be Mular apart, utilizing his new power armor.

HEROES is a monthly magazine that can be picked up at 7-11′s in Japan. The official website offers a preview of the first volume, so if you’re interested feel free to check it out here!

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Magi character designer Toshifumi Akai tweets samples from C84 art book

These days, the Comic Market (or Comiket) isn’t just the world’s largest doujinshi fair anymore. The biannual conventions have grown so big – over 590,000 attendees for Comiket 84 – that they’re a bona fide platform for creators.

Regardless if these creators are amateurs or professionals, the Comic Market is a great way to get their excellent work out to the public without having to sell their souls to a corporate publisher (where you’ll have to work as part of a team), or going the route of digital distribution (cos, you know, an art book and a folder of images on your computer are not the same thing).

That can be quite appealing to even the most successful illustrations and anime producers. Take, for instance, Magi’s character designer and animation director Toshifumi Akai, who made copies on an art book he had been working on all by himself, and brought them to Comiket 84 to sell.

Akai shared some illustration samples from the aforementioned self-published art book on his Twitter account. Pretty neat stuff, huh?

Other images Akai previously shared on Twitter:

Source: @akaiakai1 via Crunchyroll News

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