Third Slayers TV series, movie announced

A third television series adaptation and theatrical release is in the works for SLAYERS, the Kamisaka Hajime fantasy comedy novel series serialized in Fujimi Publishing's Dragon Magazine. Besides the previous television series and movies, SLAYERS has also been animated in an original video series and dramatized on radio. SLAYERS TRY will be begin broadcasting 4 April on TV Tokyo, and Kamisaka is writing the story for the third film that is set for release in summer of 1997.

Saber Marionette PlayStation game set for March 28

SABER MARIONETTE 'J' ~ Battle Sabers, the 3D fighting game based on the popular novel series and anime by Akahori Satoru, is set for release on 28 March. Bandai Visual will release a Y6800 regular edition and a Y7800 Limited First Edition with special box cover, three Suki Suki mascot figures, and 10 Kotobuki Tsukasa illustrations and CG portraits.

Saturn Macross game delayed

THE SUPER DIMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE game for Sega Saturn has been rescheduled from March 1997 to later this spring. This side-scrolling game (described by Kawamori Shouji as "2.5-dimension" due to its limited third degree of movement akin to the first Saturn MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM game's) will feature a new voice recording from Iijima Mari, the original voice of MACROSS idol singer Lynn Minmay.

Macross Generation airs on radio

The latest in the line of radio dramas based on the science fiction series MACROSS began February 8 on Sakurai Tomo's Anime Express program. The two-month-long MACROSS GENERATION reunites Tomita Sukehiro (writer of the first MACROSS and MACROSS 7), Sakurai (voice of MACROSS 7's Mylene) and Koyasu Takehito (voice of MACROSS 7's Gamlin) in an entirely new story with new characters. The opening theme will be released as a single on 21 March. The two volume CD drama compilation will be released on 9 and 16 April.

Shoujo Escaflowne manga ends

The shoujo manga version of THE VISION OF ESCAFLOWNE ended in the February issue (release date: 18 January 1997) of Monthly Asuka Fantasy DX after only 11 installments. Yashiro Yuzuru began this manga in March of 1996 to coincide with the April release of the Sunrise/Kawamori Shouji anime. The Monthly Shounen Ace version penned by Katsu-Aki continues to be serialized.

New Sunrise series to unite Macross Plus, Escaflowne creators

Fresh from its work on last year's THE VISION OF ESCAFLOWNE, Sunrise will be releasing in 1997 a new dark science-fiction television series (tentatively titled COWBOY BEBOP). Set in 2022, the story revolves around the various colonized planets in the Solar System where people have migrated after a disastrous spatial phase-change experiment contaminated Earth. The same experiment and the resulting phase-change gates ushered a new Space Age, albeit one rife with crime on civilization's fringes. MACROSS PLUS director Watanabe Shinichiroh and writer/series script supervisor Nobumoto Keiko will be working with ESCAFLOWNE mecha designer Yamane Kimitoshi and writer Yamaguchi Ryohta. Kawamoto Toshihiro of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 0083: STARDUST MEMORY will design the characters.

Second Fushigi Yuugi OVA series starts 25 May

FUSHIGI YUUGI Part II OVA series, the latest anime adaptation based on Watase Yuu's shoujo manga, is set to begin 25 May . The story continues from the third volume of the first OVA series and features not only Miaka and many of the TV series' cast, but also the first OVA series' Tenkoh and two new major characters. The first volume's laser disc and video cassette releases will sell for ¥4800 each.