Merchandise news

Masakazu Katsura’s One-shot in Young Jump

The issue of Young Jump with Tiger & Bunny’s character designer Masakazu Katsura’s 39 page one-shot is hitting the shelves now. You can see storyboard samples and grab a fancy official wallpaper here.

Wild Tiger and Barnaby Brooks Jr. Character Song CD

Executive producer Masayuki Ozaki just announced on Twitter the contents of the Wild Tiger & Barnaby character song CD. There will be one duet by the voice actors Hiroaki Hirata and Masakazu Morita, and they’ll both perform a solo song each. There will also be a talk track with “Old Man and Bunny” mini skit. The CD is coming out on August 24 and you can preorder it for example on CDJapan. (If you don’t know how the voice actors sound when singing, you can find some samples here.)

Also, the 2nd opening song single, Missing Link by NOVELS is out today! [Buy!]

Rock Bison figure preorders + other news (updated)

Rock Bison Figure and Charm Set

S.H. Figuarts Rock Bison and the Deformeister rubber charm set went up for preorder today. As expected, Amiami was crashing so I’m not exactly sure how fast he sold out there. Hobby Search sold out its stock of Rock Bison within minutes. The charm set is still available at CDJapan and Amiami. HLJ has order stop on both charms and Rock Bison but it’s possible the orders may still be opened. CDJapan and many other stores haven’t listed the figure yet, so it’s entirely possible to still score a preorder.

(We feel for poor Go Inoue who missed the preorder again, we hope he’ll manage to snatch one from somewhere. Well what do you know, he managed to emerge victorious with a preorder! He’ll be an inspiration to me when the figures that I’m gunning for are available.)

Headphones

Also, the Tiger & Bunny headphones that were only listed at Animate before are now available in Hobby Search, CDJapan and probably also in other stores so check where you usually order your merchandise from. Price seems to be around 3,700 JPY in most places.

Special Radio Show

The official Twitter announced that there’ll be a special one hour long broadcast of Kenjiro Tsuda’s (Fire Emblem’s VA) radio show on Ustream after episode 20 of Tiger & Bunny has finished airing on August 13th. The co-host is Yuuki Fujiwara (and I think there will probably be guests but they haven’t been announced yet). More information in Japanese here.

And it should be noted that the next three episodes may air 10 minutes late if the sports broadcast on MBS goes overtime. In that case Ustream airing will be delayed too.

Who is Masafumi Nishida?

I’ve seen more than a few comments about Masafumi Nishida, the screenwriter and co-creator of Tiger & Bunny in the lines of “no one knows who this guy is”. True enough, if you just look at anime sites you won’t find anything on him. Tiger & Bunny is the first anime he’s worked on but he’s far from rookie.

Disclaimer: Translations from Japanese sources are by me. I’m far from a pro, so if you spot any errors please don’t hesitate to comment so I can fix them.

Masafumi NISHIDA (西田征史) born May 22, 1975 in Tokyo is a screenwriter, actor and director. He’s a graduate of Gakushuin University law school. He was part of a Horipro Inc. comedy duo from 1995 to 1999, and after that he has worked on numerous movie, TV drama and stage productions.

TV:

Web Drama:

  • Kikikomi (screenplay, director)
  • Yuu-kyan Shikaku Movie (screenplay)

Movies:

Stage plays:

  • Dorobo Yakusha (script)
  • Ame no Hi no Mori no Naka (script)

He has also acted in a number of stage plays, and appeared in some educational programs on NHK. He wrote the novelization of Gachi Boy.

He has a blog which can be found here (in Japanese).

Sources: IMDB, Japanese wiki.

Tiger & Bunny coverage at Otakon

Tiger & Bunny’s executive producer Masayuki Ozaki was a guest at Otakon this weekend. ANN has coverage on his appearances at Sunrise industry panel and world’s first Tiger & Bunny panel.

Points of interest include new merchandise: Bunny plushie from episode 5, Rock Bison’s belt, Kotetsu’s hat (already announced earlier), Keith and Ivan’s jackets, Kotetsu’s watch, and figures of all heroes (already announced at Tamashii Festival). Namco Bandai is also making a video game based on the anime.

(Speaking of merchandise, apparently Rock Bison figure by S.H. Figuarts is coming up for preorders on August 1st, so those who want it, be ready!)