Kadokawa has posted a longer trailer for its upcoming Daimajin Kanon special effects TV series which will begin airing on TV Tokyo on Friday, April 2, 2010.

The 26-episode series is based on Daiei’s classic film trilogy about an ancient stone guardian which springs to life and goes on a rampage to defend innocent villagers against oppressive samurai and tyrannical warlords.

70-year-old tokusatsu veteran Tarou Sakamoto will be one of the directors involved in the series. 21-year-old idol Yuka Rikuna and Hidekazu Mashima (33) are listed as the main cast members.

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Sandwiched between ads for a plethora of recently released kaiju and yokai-related Blu-ray titles you’ll find in this clip an extended teaser trailer for Kadokawa’s upcoming “Daimajin Kanon” TV series.

The show is based on Daiei’s classic film trilogy about an ancient stone guardian which springs to life and goes on a rampage to defend innocent villagers against oppressive samurai and tyrannical warlords.

70-year-old tokusatsu veteran Tarou Sakamoto will be one of the directors involved in the series. 21-year-old idol Yuka Rikuna and Hidekazu Mashima (33) are listed as cast members.

“Daimajin Kanon” will air in Japan in Spring 2010.

Source: Kadokawa Anime Channel

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18-year-old Idoling!!! member Erika Yazawa will be turning heads in an unapologetically bizarre new show called The Ancient Dogoo Girl this fall. She stars as an ancient girl who’s revived after 10,000 years to fight evil in modern-day society while capturing the heart of a socially withdrawn teenager named Makoto (Masataka Kubota).

Noboru Iguchi wrote and directed the premiere episode and even makes a cameo in the show. Other directors include Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on) and Ryuta Miyake (Ju-on: Shiroi Rojo), among others. Special models (including Dogoo’s clay bikini!) were provided by Yoshihiro Nishimura and visual effects were handled by Tsuyoshi Kazuno (The Machine Girl, RoboGeisha, et al.)

MBS (Mainichi Broadcasting System) will begin airing “The Ancient Dogoo Girl” on October 7, 2009.

Source: Official website via Spotted Productions blog

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Tokyo Shock spent nearly a year gradually releasing 6 separate 2-disc sets of the original Lone Wolf and Cub TV series. So of course now that all six parts are out they’re going to release them all together in two priced-down box sets. This first set consists of the first 3 releases which include episodes 1-13 of the series.

The TV series originally aired in 1973 and starred Kinnosuke Nakamura as Itto Ogami: the Shogun’s executioner who excels at beheading victims with the Dotanuki battle sword. When he’s disgraced by false accusations perpetrated by the Yagyu clan and finds his wife murdered, he’s forced to become an assassin. Along with his 3-year-old son Daigoro, Ogami tracks down members of the Yagyu clan to exact vengeance.

Region 1, NTSC, full screen aspect ratio, 6 discs total. Japanese audio with English subtitles.

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With 8 months to promote Takashi Miike‘s live-action adaptation of the popular 1970s cartoon Yatterman it makes sense that the film’s PR team is keeping things close to the vest so far. But earlier this morning NTV viewers got a *very* brief sneak peek at a scene from the film. It’s tough to make anything out in the scene shown but given what we know about the cast so far it’s safe to assume that’s Arashi‘s Sho Sakurai as Yatter-Bark’s builder Gan-chan looking up at his creation with teen idol Saki Fukuda in the background in her role as Gan’s partner Ai-chan and a CGI-created Omotchama buzzing around the laboratory. Live-action shooting wrapped last month and everything seems to be on schedule for a March 2009 release. Clip after the break.

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