the white drew carey Posted December 14, 2006 Posted December 14, 2006 So this one really slipped under my radar. I guess going back to school, I was a lot busier than I had thought. Anyone hear about this new project by Otomo Katsuhiro (sponsered by Nissin Foods for the 35th anniversary of their infamous Cup Noodles. Apparently it's a 6 (or 7, depending on the source)-part OAV, and the first part is out already. Anyone got any more information, besides what ANN and Wikipedia provide? Quote
sketchley Posted December 14, 2006 Posted December 14, 2006 Not much to add other than clips of it have been appearing in Nissin Cup Noodle commercials for the past couple of months here in Japan. I went to Den-den town last week, and I saw at least one DVD display stand for it. Sadly, all of the DVDs were sold out, so I am still rather in the dark about this production. Though, from what I have seen, it reminds me a lot of Akira (similar characters/character designs?) done in motion capture, and set on the moon. There are a couple of similar vehicles/props to those that appeared in the manga. Though, as they are only flashing by on a commercial, they may just appear to be similar... Quote
sketchley Posted December 14, 2006 Posted December 14, 2006 http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/FREEDOM-PROJECT Yes. The first OVA was released on Nov. 24th. Main Characters are: Takeru, Kazuma, Bisu, Junkstore Father, and Taira. Here's the official homepage: http://freedom-project.jp/ Click CM for a 30 second commercial of the OVA/cup noodle. Quote
wolfx Posted December 14, 2006 Posted December 14, 2006 Its supposed to be something like Cyber Formula, i guess. Except its on Mars. XD Quote
Renato Posted December 16, 2006 Posted December 16, 2006 I rented the first episode. It's about a bunch of guys on the moon, which is now where mankind lives since Earth is said to have become uninhabitable. The first episode is mostly a race story, but towards the end we get an inkling of the following plot development when the main character finds a message that is received from outside the moon (this scene can also be seen, albeit animated differently -- better -- in the Cup Noodle commercials) . I think the racing and Cyber Formula type stuff is just at the outset, introducing you to the story world, like all the bike chases and stuff at the beginnning of Akira, before the real story moves on. All in all, not bad. But too early to tell. I'm not a big fan of the way they move, I prefer if the characters were hand-drawn in the quality style of Akira and Steamboy. Plus all the blatant Cup Noodle product placement is off-putting. Quote
sketchley Posted December 16, 2006 Posted December 16, 2006 Well... it was sponsored by cup noodle. Can't blame them for product placement... Quote
maxjenius81 Posted December 16, 2006 Posted December 16, 2006 Hey, other people know cyber formula exists, yay! Quote
Renato Posted December 16, 2006 Posted December 16, 2006 Yeah, but the Cup Noodles were really in-your-face-like. Subtlety and subconscious advertising is also an option. And Cyber Formula is cool. Kawamori cars, great. I love how they used the real F1 style placement boards in the anime and stuff. I remember in one magazine a few months back Kawamori transformed the Aquarion toy into a Cyber Formula car, pretty damn funny. Quote
the white drew carey Posted December 16, 2006 Author Posted December 16, 2006 I DL'ed the Freedom Previsited and Freedom 01 subbed, but I only got to watch all of Previsited. It's pretty cool. I like the animation a lot and the story could pan out into somethinig big. As for the obvious product placement? I have no problems with it if they've owned up to it from the start. It's when some company pays production costs to get their particular product in the background that it annoys me (remember in Matrix Reloaded when ALL of the cars in the freeway chase scene were GM models [given, GM did donate them]?) Quote
Lightning Posted December 16, 2006 Posted December 16, 2006 Hey, other people know cyber formula exists, yay! I found out it existed from a post on here about a week ago, and I'm buying myself the box set for Xmas. so....Cup Noodles is doing an anime for their anniversary? weird. Quote
chrono Posted December 16, 2006 Posted December 16, 2006 And Cyber Formula is cool. Kawamori cars, great. The ONLY reason that people from this board watched the show, since we're all Kawamori design whore's. Quote
maxjenius81 Posted December 17, 2006 Posted December 17, 2006 Actually i got into CF before i learned of its relation to Kawamori, tht was just an added bonus to me! That being said, I got Kawamori to sign my CF Design Works book instead of a Macross book when I saw him @ AX 2002. He was quite puzzeled by that and shook my hand for it. Quote
the white drew carey Posted December 18, 2006 Author Posted December 18, 2006 I just watched Ep. 1 and, thus far, I'm impressed. Cel-shaded CGI has really made some leaps and bounds. I'm actually more impressed with that than some of the race footage, which seems a bit wooden. The backgrounds are extremely cool, and the story's pretty neat so far. I wonder where it'll go. And the product placement is hilarious. Quote
JELEINEN Posted December 19, 2006 Posted December 19, 2006 The first episode was really good. The designs were excellent and the story was simple but well done. It's nice to see Katsuhiro Otomo doing work again. The cup noodles were amusing, but I didn't find the product placement to be nearly as bad as the Pizza Hut stuff in Code Geas. I look forward to more of this show. Quote
bsu legato Posted March 7, 2007 Posted March 7, 2007 Episode 2 just popped up on the anime torrent sites. I'm hoping its not quite as productplacementastic as the first one. Quote
the white drew carey Posted March 15, 2007 Author Posted March 15, 2007 I'm DL'in the Shinsen_subs version right now. I'm hoping the good will I have from the first ep carries over. The product placement doesn't bother me at all. The anime is to celebrate Cop Noodles anyway. When you think about it, shows like Gundam are all about product placement... and it's much more prevelant than seen in Freedom... Quote
wolfx Posted March 15, 2007 Posted March 15, 2007 I have an unexplainable craving for pizza hut due to a recent anime. Quote
JELEINEN Posted March 20, 2007 Posted March 20, 2007 From Anime News Network: Freedom set for simultaneous US/Japan HD-DVD release On June 26th, Bandai Visual will simultaneously release the first volume of the Freedom OVA in the North American and Japanese markets. Released in HD-DVD/DVD Twin, this will be the first-ever high-definition release of an anime title in North America. The MSRP for this Japanese-only, with English subtitles volume will be $39.99. Freedom will be released across a total of six volumes, and following the release, Bandai Visual plans to put out HD-DVD and Blu Ray versions of its other titles, first in Japan, and eventually, overseas. Press Release: http://www.bandaivisual.us/pdfs/PressRelease_FR_0320.pdf Sounds like Bandai is smoking crack. There's no way something like that will sale well over here. Quote
Mallet21 Posted March 20, 2007 Posted March 20, 2007 From Anime News Network: Press Release: http://www.bandaivisual.us/pdfs/PressRelease_FR_0320.pdf Sounds like Bandai is smoking crack. There's no way something like that will sale well over here. Regardless if it sells well or not hopefully they release the newest Macross incarnation the same way. Quote
the white drew carey Posted March 22, 2007 Author Posted March 22, 2007 So I just wastched part 2, and I'm hooked. Some of the animation was a little wonky in this one, but the story is panning out to be pretty cool. There wasn't such blatant product placement. In fact, you only get to see characters eating Cup Noodles once. Quote
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