Issei Oda's ARCH ANGELS (WARAU MIKAERU): Nippon Connection and the Far East Film Festival
FOR TRAILERS, SEE THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE
Issei Oda's Arch Angels (Warau Mikaeru - or "Warau Michael", if you prefer back-transliterations) is scheduled to be screened at Nippon Connection in Frankfurt, Germany on April 18th and 19th, and at the Far East Film Festival (FEFF) in Udine, Italy on April 27th; Oda is expected to attend the FEFF screening. In related news, Metalchicks are scheduled to play at FEFF on April 28th (technically, April 29th) at around 12:00 a.m..
Arch Angels had its international (i.e., outside-of-Japan) première at the Dejima Japanese Film Festival in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on November 4th of last year. Albatros K.K. (Arubatorosu K.K.) released it theatrically in Japan on July 15th of last year; Geneon Entertainment K.K. (Jeneon Entateinmento K.K.) released it in a 2-disc sale DVD set (GNBD-1158; NTSC, region 2, no subtitles) there on December 22nd of last year.
The screenplay for Arch Angels (Warau Mikaeru) was written by Oda (who was also the visual effects supervisor for the movie) and Genki Yoshimura, based on the eponymous manga Warau Mikaeru by Izumi Kawahara. The movie stars Juri Ueno as Fumio Shijô, Megumi Seki as Kazune Saiki, Airi Taira as Yuzuko Sarashina, and Yûsuke Iseya as Kazuomi Shijô. The rest of its principal cast is as follows: Toshinobu Matsuo, Rinko Kikuchi, Brian Davis, Delcea Mihaela Gabriela, Kei Katô, Aimi Satsukawa, Mitsuki Tanimura, Mayu Kitaki, Tomomi Miyashita, Rinako Matsuoka, Satomi Tezuka (Teduka Satomi), Taichirô Hirokawa, and Tokuma Nishioka. Kanako Miyauchi, Nanase Iwai, Erina Hayase, Kimiko Fuchiuchi, Haruka Kudô, Natsuki Okamoto, and Aoi apparently are also in the movie.
Here's a description of Arch Angels from the Nippon Connection website: "Fumio arrives at St. Michael and makes friends with Kazune and Yuzuko. After an incident they have superhuman powers. Thus they try to find a mysterious kidnapper, not knowing that they will get into the final battle between good and evil. Visually stunning live-action Manga."
Here's a description of Arch Angels from the Dejima website: "Energy-packed, pants-pissing funny, live-action manga adaptation that leaves no special effect unexploited to push the filmmakers' artistic freedom to its limits. Amidst a curiously Dutch scenery, three prim girls at St. Michael's Academy discover their magic powers while waging an insane battle between good and evil. The result is shamelessly hilarious and billed as the Japanese answer to Charlie's Angels."
For more information on Arch Angels, see ScreenAnarchy's fifth, fourth, third, second, and first articles on it.
Arch Angels high-bandwidth theatrical trailer (streaming Windows Media)
Arch Angels low-bandwidth theatrical trailer (streaming Windows Media)
Arch Angels large teaser trailer (streaming Windows Media)
Arch Angels small teaser trailer (streaming Windows Media)
Arch Angels official subsite
Geneon Entertainment: Arch Angels 2-disc sale DVD set
YesAsia.com: Arch Angels 2-disc sale DVD set
Nippon Connection: Arch Angels
ScreenAnarchy: Arch Angels mini-review
