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Madman Entertainment Announcements from Wai-Con 2014

The following titles were announced by Sylvester Ip and Daniel Chlebowczyk of Madman Entertainment during the Madman Panel at Perth' Wai-Con Convention. We have no further information on the titles at this time;

• Nobunagun: On Madman Screening Room soon.
• The Severing Crime Edge
• Dog & Scissors
• Hentai Kamen: Release is expected in June or July.
• Fantasista Doll
• Robotics;Notes

In addition Madman announced that Attack on Titan will be released on the 18th of June 2014. The vol 1 release will include a special edition with collectors box, lenticular art, collector pins and necklaces.

Nobunagun

Nobunagun, which is based on Masata Hisa's original "stylish action" manga, opens with high school girl Shio Ogura visiting Taiwan on school trip, when she is caught in a surprise attack by monsters called "Evolved Invaders." The military is useless against them, but in the middle of the chaos, the mysterious E-Gene Holder agents from the government organization DOGOO appear.

Thanks to technology, these agents wield weapons infused with the spirits of great historical figures. Gandhi is now a barrier, and Newton is a gravitational maneuver. When her friend is endangered, Shio awakens the ability to wield one such weapon — the great Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga as a giant machine gun.

Nobunagun is based on the manga of the same name by Masato Hisa that's serialized in Earth Star Entertainment's Comic Earth Star, the series has been ongoing since May 2011 and has published four volumes to date.

Nobuhiro Kondo (Sgt. Frog, SD Gundam Force) is directing the series at the studio Bridge (Devil Survivor 2 The Animation). Takeshi Furuta (Devil Survivor 2 The Animation, Love Live! episode director) is serving as assistant director, and Hiroshi Yamaguchi (Comic Party, Rosario + Vampire, To Heart) is in charge of series scripts. KAZZ T (Sailor Moon, Dancougar TV) and Hiromi Matsushita (Dancougar TV, Love Position - The Legend of Halley) are designing the characters. Kenichi Takase (Chō Soku Henkei Gyrozetter) and Hirofumi Nakata (First Squad - The Moment Of Truth character and set designs) are creating mechanical designs.

The anime premiered on Japan's Tokyo MX TV station in early January and both Funimation and Crunchyroll are streaming the series as it airs.

The Severing Crime Edge

The manga revolves around Kiri Haimura (played by Natsuki Hanae), a boy who loves to cut girls' hair. He happens to meet Iwai Mushanokoji (Kotori Koiwai), a girl with long, beautiful hair who is known as the "Queen of Hair." Her hair has been cursed to be forever uncuttable, but Kiri happens to have "Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge" — scissors that have the mystical ability to cut her cursed hair. Kiri finds himself protecting Iwai from descendants of murderers wielding "Killing Goods."

Yuji Yamaguchi (Fate/stay night, Strawberry Eggs) is directing the series at Studio Gokumi (Oda Nobuna no Yabō, Saki Episode of Side A, Nakaimo). Tatsuhiko Urahata (Monster, Saki) is in charge of the series scripts, and Katsuzo Hirata (Angel Beats!, Hand Maid May) is designing the characters. The Koetama Princess winner of Pony Canyon's 2nd Koetama Audition competition will make her debut with the ending theme song of the anime.

Crunchyroll streamed the series from it's April 2013 airing date and Sentai Filmworks licensed the series in April 2013.

Dog & Scissors

Based on Shunsuke Sarai's 2011 novel series with illustrations by Tetsuhiro Nabeshima, this absurd mystery comedy centers around Kazuhito Harumi, a high school boy who is obsessed with reading books. One day, he is killed in the middle of a robbery — and resurrected as a dachshund dog. Unable to read in his new form, the hapless Kazuhito now belongs to Kirihime Natsuno, a sadistic novelist who uses scissors on Kazuhito to abuse him.

Takahiro Sakurai (Berserk film's Griffith, Code Geass' Suzaku, NAKAIMO's Shōgo Mikadono) and Marina Inoue (High School of the Dead's Rei Miyamoto, Haganai's Yozora Mikazuki) lead the cast as Kazuhito Harumi and Kirihime Natsuno, respectively. The lead cast are reprising their roles from last year's drama CD.

Yukio Takahashi (episode director for B Gata H Kei - Yamada's First Time, Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing) made his full directing debut on the series and Toshizo Nemoto (Tokyo Majin, Inu X Boku Secret Service) handled the series composition. Youko Satou (Pipopapo Patrol-kun) developed the character designs and Akito Matsuda (Koitabi ~True Tours Nanto) handled the music.

Crunchyroll streamed the 12 episode series in several regions outside of Japan during it's initial September 2013 airing.

Hentai Kamen

Hentai Kamen is an live-action adaptation of a Shonen Jump manga of the same name. Ryōhei Suzuki (live-action Gatchaman, Mei-chan no Shitsuji, Hana-Kimi, Yankee-kun to Megane-chan) stars as Kyōsuke Shikijō, a high school boy who transforms into a hero by wearing a panties mask — and little else. For his first lead role, Suzuki bulked up by 15 kilograms (about 33 pounds) to match the muscle-bound physique of the original manga's character.

Actor Shun Oguri was a big fan of the manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and he not only collaborated on the film's screenplay, but also personally recommended Suzuki for the role. He commented, "I didn't consider anyone else but Ryōhei!"

This film marks a new collaboration between Oguri and writer/director Yūichi Fukuda (I'll Give It My All... Tomorrow, One-Pound Gospel, Saru Lock, The 3-Mei-sama: Anime wa Anime de Arissho!). They previously worked together on the Tokyo Dogs television series. The rest of the cast includes Fumika Shimizu (Kamen Rider Fourze) as the heroine Aiko Himeno, Tsuyoshi Muro, Ken Yasuda, Jiro Sato, Narushi Ikeda, Takaashi Tsukamoto, Yoshinori Okada, and Shunsuke Daitō.

You can check out the incredible (but NSFW) trailer here and the cinema etiquette ads created to advertise the film here

Four weeks after the film opened in Japanese theatres on the 6th of April 2013, this Live-Action adaptation of Hentai Kamen earned over 100 million yen which was far better than the producers expected for the film.

Fantasista Doll

In this science-fiction story, Uzume Uno (played by Ayaka Ohashi) is an ordinary second-year middle school student who comes into possession of five "dolls" who fight and power up with special cards. The cast for the dolls include Minami Tsuda as Sasara, Sora Tokui as Katia, Chinatsu Akasaki as Shimeji, Akiko Hasegawa as Akari, and Sayaka Ohara as Madeleine. The main cast also performed the opening and ending theme songs.

Hisashi Saito directed the anime at the studio Hoods Entertainment from Goro Taniguchi's original concept. Hiromi Kato adapted Anmi's original character designs for the anime and also served as chief animation director, and Yasuharu Takanashi provided the music. This 12 episode series originally aired in Japan from Mid September 2013, was streamed by Crunchyroll and was quickly licensed by Sentai Filmworks.

Image © 2013 Fantasista Doll Project / FD Production Committee

Robotics;Notes

Robotics;Notes adapts the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 game of the same name by the makers of Steins;Gate and Chaos;HEAd. The third "science adventure game" (after Chaos;HEAd and Steins;Gate) is set in an alternate future world after Tokyo's Shibuya district was destroyed in 2009, followed by the destruction of the Radio Kaikan building in Tokyo's Akihabara a year later. The world is immersed in realistic augmented reality technology in 2019, but a high school robotics club in danger of being disbanded after shrinking to just two members. The club's revival is tied to the robot it is building.

The game and anime's shared cast includes Ryohei Kimura (Kaito Yashio), Yoshino Nanjou (Akiho Senomiya), Rie Kugimiya (Airi), Kaori Nazuka (Frau Koujiro), Yoshimasa Hosoya (Subaru Hidaka), Sora Tokui (Junna Daitoku). Kazuya Nomura (Sengoku Basara 2) directed the anime at Production I.G. Jukki Hanada (My Ordinary Life, Sola, Steins;Gate) was in charge of the series scripts under the supervision of the game's Tatsuya Matsubara and Naotaka Hayashi. Chikashi Kubota (Shikabane Hime: Aka, From the New World) adapted Tomonori Fukuda's original game character designs for the anime. The original game's Takeshi Abo scored the music with television composer Yūki Hayashi.

The series premiered in Fuji TV's late-night Noitamina programming block in October 2012. Funimation released the first Blu-ray / DVD combo in February 2014.