The first volume of a Gigantic Formula manga by Oka Shouhei has just been released (it's possible been running in Dengeki Daioh without me realizing it since I don't get that magazine)
Dengeki page
Yes Asia
Took me a while to find, as it is under "kishin taisen giganteitsuku fuo miyura" (the DVDs use "kijin taisen"). Eventually nailed it by misspelling the author as "oka shiyouhei".
Just spotted the DVD for the first of the the Kiddy Grade movies on Amazon. Its due out on the 27th July 2007 for ￥6,300, although you can get it for ￥4,725 if you preorder from Amazon. Not listed on CDJapan yet or Yesasia yet (Yesasia still don't even have the KG2 PV unless its listed under some obscure mistranslation again). This time around we get an audio commentary (Yay! Better feature Aya!). The credits mention asread who, since they didn't work on the original, must have had some involvement in the new director's cut stuff. No cover artwork available yet. Also, according to CDJapan is is in widescreen, unlike the original series.
In other news, the first Gigantic Formula DVD is out on the same day for ￥6,090 (￥4,568 with discount). This one is on CDJapan. If I read the details correcly first press bonuses include a box (holding four DVDs) with artwork by Megumi Kadonosono, a character card(s) designed by the same, a mecha design card and a sound drama CD. Cover artwork is by Keiji Gotoh. Also in widescreen but only two episodes, which is a pity. I'll definitely be getting at least the first volume, for Meg's artwork if nothing else. Oh PS, both sites list is as Dolby stereo rather than LPCM.
Work in progress.. knowing me probably always will be..^^
I've not updated on this show for a while, but since there's a mini article in April's NTUSA I decided now was as good a time as any. They refer to it like I have by the romaji title "Apo Mekhanes Theos Gigantic Formula".
The basic plot is that, in a post apocalyptic future, a mecha tournament has been arranged by the UN to decide which country rules the world.
They also have a list of cast, characters, mecha and designers:
Shingo Suwa: Tsubasa Yonoga
Mana Kamishiro: Rina Satoh
Utsumi Amano: Sayuri Yahagi
Tsutomu Oda: Kosuke Meguro
Katsumi Omi: Yuko Sasaki
Wen Yee Li: Tomokazu Seki
Chau Yan Li: Ryoka Yuzuki
Diane-VII (France Union): Yutaka Izubuchi
Xuanwushan-III (Central China): Kazutaka Miyatake
Sxano-X (Japanese Republic): Yasuhiro Moriki (Confused by the name here, since the katakana on the site is Susanoo)
Eunova-VIII (Eastern European Russia): Shoji Kawamori
Griffine-VI: (Great British Kingdom): Junya Ishigaki
Vulcanus-I (Italy Roma Republic): Kazumi Fujita & Kanetaka Ebikawa
Isthar-XII (Hindustania): Ikuto Yamashita
Minervas-XI (Unified German Deutsch): Kimitoshi Yamane
Nephthys-IX (Federated Egypt Africa Arabia): Shinji Aramaki
Cheiron-V (Original Geece): Takeshi Takakura
Jupiter-II (North American Empire): Katsushi Murakami
Ceres-IV (Caribbean Venezuella Republic): Shingo Takeba
Cronos-0 (UN): Kunio Okawara
[edit]Can't seee that I've ever montioned this here before, but I uploaded a nice B&W scan of Ucchi from Gocky Club 18 some time ago.[/edit]
Yeah, I've not updated on this title for a while. Despite the staff I still find it hard to get excited over something heavily mecha orientated I guess. Doesn't help that I'm underwhelmed by the way the character designs are presented on the site either. Anyway, was just reading a good thread on Animesuki; the airdate is the 4th April and, like Gotoh's previous two series, there are a lot of guest artists - in this case mecha designers.
The Gigantic Formula site has gone live now. Can't decipher much at the moment as not on a machine with Kanji support, but the lead male character has now been named as Shingo Suwa. Still no mention of gímik so I guess they have been employed as imdividuals to work on this, rather than this being something they invisioned and pitched themselves as a group.
The site has been updated. New things are notice of a 40 page "Planning File" that will be made available at Comiket 71 (something else for me to scour yahoo auctions for when picking up Gocky Club) and there's also a new page with some character and seiyuu information (which unfortunately are kanji images which will take me a while to decipher) along with a streaming audio clip.
Ok, the names and seiyuu of the two girls pictured are:
Kamishiro Mana (神代 真名), 14: Satou Rina
Amano Utsumi (天野 卯兎美) aka Ucchii, 10: Yahagi Sayuri
[update=2007-01-01]
Not only have I had no luck locating a copy of the Planning File on Yahoo auctions, but the information has now been removed from the site, along with the link to the character page, which is still there and thankfully was still in my browser history so the link is http://www.gigantic-f.com/radio1225.html
A site has opened for a new show called Kishin Taisen Gigantic Forumula (機神大戦 ギガンティック・フォーミュラ), with the subtitle "Apo Mekhanes Theos" meaning Deus ex machina (i.e. God from the machine) in Greek. The gímik name isn't actually mentioned anywhere, but all three members are involved, with the addition of Koji Yabuno (Kamichu!) as Character Designer.
