Animax Asia releases their anime series and line up for the month of September 2009. Spooky Kitaro 4, Baccano! and LaMB redux will premiere this September 2009.
Check out below some images and details of each anime series.
Spooky Kitaro 4 (Part 2)
premieres 23 September 2009, airing weekdays 7.30pm on Animax
Spooky Kitaro 4 is the fourth incarnation of the supernatural-themed Spooky Kitaro anime series, based on the ‘Habako no Kitaro’ (Kitaro of the Graveyard) manga series created in 1959 by Shigeru Mizuki.
Spooky Kitaro 4 follows protagonist ghost Spooky Kitaro and his band of yokai (spirit-monster) friends on their quest to protect humans from yokai which are creating mischief or causing harm.
Spooky Kitaro, apart from his mostly decayed father, is the last surviving member of a tribe of ghosts. He is missing his left eye but wields useful tools and weapons including remote-controlled sandals, a magic vest that automatically protects him and his friends from danger, and a hair that can be shot as an arrow. Spooky Kitaro’s father Medama Oyaji, who suffered a disease, is reduced to a walking eyeball, but is very knowledgeable about spirits and monsters.
The father-and-son team is joined by half-human-half-rat Nezumi Otoko who is capable of betraying the team occasionally; old yokai woman Sunakake Baba who blinds opponents with sand thrown at their eyes; old yokai man Konaki Jiji who is able to transform into a heavy rock to pin adversaries to the ground; Ittan Momen, a piece of cotton cloth that flies the team around; and Nurikabe who can transform into a large wall to protect his friends.
2008 marked the 40th anniversary of the Spooky Kitaro franchise that includes five anime series since 1968, ten theatrically-released anime movies, a live-action adaption movie, and 13 videogame titles released for gaming platforms including Famicom, Super Famicom, Game Boy, Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, PC, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.
In fact, the franchise’s popularity saw an 800m-long road in Mizuki’s birthplace Sakaiminato in the northern Tottori Prefecture lined with statues of yokai characters, and the road named Shigeru Mizuki Road to honour the manga artist. The city’s tourist centre estimates the road brings one million visitors to the city a year as a welcomed boost to tourism there.
Baccano!
premieres 3 September 2009, airing weekdays 10pm on Animax
In 1711, a group of alchemists achieved immortality by receiving an elixir of life from a demon, and one member was told the creation method. As members disappear - apparently taken by an ambitious one among them - the rest scatter across the world to hide. Two centuries later, the immortal alchemists, now in all walks of life including the police and the mafia, are set to reunite in an explosive clash.
LaMB Redux
(22 mobisodes of 2 mins each) premieres 9 September 2009 airing weekdays 7pm and 8pm on Animax
What happens when prisoners are not locked up behind jail cells but wear 'laminated' suits that control them? Explore the futuristic world of virtual slavery in this 22 mini episodes of the original movie LaMB which have been re-edited and retold through the perspectives of its 4 characters. Featuring the celebrity voices of Van Ness Wu, Josie Ho and Tanaka Chie.
