Jason went to talk to fans eagerly waiting in line to see the double feature, and had a change to talk to Mr. Hideki ‘Henry’ Goto, President of Aniplex of America, about bringing these movies stateside, plus what to expect from the company this holiday season.
There is a nearly-inevitable announcement at the conclusion of all popular anime series: a movie. The majority of these films consist of one of two formats: a continuation/off-shoot/re-imagining of the series’ storyline, or essentially a “clip show,” consisting of a small amount of new animation (read: fan-service) that vaguely segues between several popular scenes from the series.
Also inevitable are the hundreds of forum arguments between fans about a movie’s quality or relevance to their beloved series. Regardless of these opinions, in the end, the movie itself is generally created for a single purpose: to squeeze the last remaining bit of money from the fandom before the studio moves on to its next project.
That being said, the first two (out of 3 announced) movies from the Puella Magi Madoka Magica franchise are an entertaining and well-edited re-cap of the 12-episode TV series. Those looking for a new story will be disappointed. It’s still about a group of ordinary middle-school students who are offered the chance to become “magical girls” and are faced with the vicious consequences of their decisions.
With only about an hour’s difference in run-time between the TV series and the 2 movies (TV: 276 minutes, OP/ED omitted. Movies 1 & 2: 239 minutes), there was a understandable worry that Aniplex and studio SHAFT would take the aforementioned “clip show” route. Thankfully, that worry can be put to rest…
Animation studio SHAFT began streaming the first promo video for their new series post-Madoka. Magical Suite Prism Nana is centered around three emotional adolescent girls from a future not too distant from our own time. The video, which premiered at Comic Market last Friday, confirms that the artist Kantoku is the original character designer (and previously designed the characters for The “Hentai” Prince and the Stony Cat).
Click past the break to watch the 3+min promo, as well as pictures of Good Smile Company’s Nendoroid prototypes for the three main heroines.
American anime fans have always looked on from afar as their Japanese otaku brethren were showered with a cornucopia of exclusive items or offers that will never make it stateside. This is one such offer. The extremely popular anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica will have an official MasterCard credit card to celebrate its upcoming film trilogy.
That’s right, an anime will have it’s own credit card.
Granted, US fans could just as easily use the same picture with a stateside credit card that offers custom designs, but it’s just not the same. New card members who sign up by September 20th will be entered into a drawing for one of 200 sets of special movie passes for the first two Madoka movies. Plus, each member will receive one of eight randomly distributed “original premium cards” every month. Once a member collects all eight cards, they will receive an exclusive mount, which, along with the cards, cannot be purchased or won elsewhere.
Some people would look at these perks and call it gimmicky, but the fact that a fan could be a part of an exclusive group can be very compelling, and the cards are just a bonus to that exclusivity. Sadly, I don’t foresee anime becoming mainstream enough in the states in order for an offer like this to arrive.
Oh well, I guess I’ll stick to my current credit cards to slide further into otaku-filled debt…
The first two films of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica trilogy will open on October 6th and 13th in Japan. No announcement has been made regarding a US release as of this posting.