Saturday, May 4, 2013

Toku Week In Review (5/4/2013)

Your weekly dose of toku news right here! Toei's newest film proves to be a box office disappointment, the Gaia Memories line returns, and more familiar faces return for Battride War! For more details, hit the jump!


SUPER HERO WAR Z OPENS IN THIRD PLACE ON BUSY WEEKEND

Theatrical poster for Kamen Rider x Super Sentai x Uchu Keiji: Super Hero War Z

Opening on Golden Week weekend, usually one of the busiest box office weekends of the year in Japan, Toei's newest film Kamen Rider x Super Sentai x Uchu Keiji: Super Hero War Z opened in third place. The film only pulled in 233,504,560 yen, in US dollars that's roughly $2.3 million, with at least 201,000 tickets sold over the two-day start. For comparison's sake, Kamen Rider x Super Sentai: Super Hero War opened last year with 410,038,450 yen, or $5 million USD and 355,985 attendees.

The film's notably lower opening can be attributed to several factors. 1) The film had to directly compete with the opening weekend of Marvel Studios' newest superhero blockbuster Iron Man 3. 2) Family audiences may have been too busy for the holiday weekend. 3) The negative word of mouth from the previous Super Hero War had a direct effect on the box office tally. The true test for the film will lay in the next few weeks, then it will become apparent which of these factors are the most true.

Super Hero War Z opened behind the newest Detective Conan film, staying at the #1 spot for its 2nd weekend, and Iron Man 3.

[Courtesy of TokyoHive.com, specifically these two web sites]

BANDAI REVEALS NEW COLLECTIBLE GAIA MEMORIES

The new collection of Gaia Memories

For the first time in two years, Bandai will release new collectible Gaia Memories based on the devices from Toei's Kamen Rider W. The 28 new Memories will feature logos of Fourze Base States, Wizard Flame Style, and the Final Forms of all of the Heisei Kamen Riders minus Wizard Infinity. Also revealed were Gaia Memories featuring the logos of all of the Showa Kamen Riders, from #1 to J. No release date has been announced yet, but they are expected to come out later this year.

[Courtesy of JEFusion]

HIKONIN SENTAI AKIBARANGER SEASON 2 OFFICAL EPISODE COUNT LEAKED

The cover for the upcoming single for the opening theme of Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger Season 2

According to CDJapan's listing for the DVDs of Toei's parody series Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger Season 2, the total number of episodes will be 13, the same number of episodes as the first season. The first three volumes will have 3 episodes each, and 4 on the last volume. Volume 1 will be released on July 26th.

Meanwhile, CDJapan also announced the launch date for the single CD for the show's theme song, "Akibaranger Season 2", performed by Momoi Haruko featuring Yamagata Yukio and MoJo. The CD will be out on May 22nd, and comes with the song "Super Sentai Hikonin Oenka" performed by Akagi Nobuo, Yamagata Yukio and MoJo.

[Courtesy of JEFusion: here and here]

TWO MORE FOR BATTRIDE WAR

Finally, two more actors joined the ranks of Namco Bandai's PS3 action game Kamen Rider Battride War. The two actors, who also reprised their roles for the Wii fighting game Kamen Rider: Super Climax Heroes  are Keisuke Kato and Renn Kiriyama. Keisuke Kato will once again play Kamen Rider IXA from Kamen Rider Kiva and Renn Kiriyama, naturally, will play Kamen Rider W once more.

The two actors now join a cast of Kamen Rider veterans that includes: 

Masahiro Inoue as Kamen Rider Decade
Kimito Totani as Kamen Rider Diend
Kazuhisa Kawahara as Super Apollo Geist
Takayuki Tsubaki as Kamen Rider Blade
Kousei Amano as Kamen Rider Garren
Ryoji Morimoto as Joker Undead
Yuu Kamio as Dinosaur Greeed
Hiroaki Iwanaga as Kamen Rider Birth
Ryousuke Miura as Ankh
Shouma Yamamoto as Kamen Rider Dark Kiva
Dori Sakurada as Kamen Rider NEW Den-O
Takamasa Suga as Kamen Rider Ryuki
Tak Sakaguchi as Cassis Worm
Yuki Sato as Kamen Rider Gatack
Toshiki Kashu as Kamen Rider Agito

[Courtesy of the official Battride War blog]

No comments:

Post a Comment