As we mentioned a while back, Assault Girls is the latest endeavor from Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii. A trio of female hunters live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, where they must battle the fearsome sand whales that plague their world. Thanks to Nippon Cinema for bringing the full trailer, which shows some of the film's more futuristic elements, to our attention:

The brothers Steve and Mike Wang were approached to create an American version of Kamen Rider Ryuki by Toei Studios a few years ago. They did a sort of "test pilot" for the American version, and the studio loved it.

In the U.S. version, called Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, a young guy named Kit Taylor is constantly getting into trouble and being wrongly accused of being a juvenile delinquent, while he broods about his missing father. And it turns out his dad was actually kidnapped to another dimension by the evil General Xaviax, who is imprisoning and enslaving humans. Then Kit gets hold of an Advent Deck that lets him create weapons and armor, and he gets recruited by a Dragon Knight named Len, who teaches him to be a Dragon Knight too. It's a fun kids' show, and the stunts, from the original Japanese version, are pretty awesome.

The Wang brothers explained that they use a lot of the Japanese action and special-effects footage for budgetary reasons. But their version doesn't follow the original Japanese storyline at all. They used some of the concepts and a few of the characters, but for the most part it's all an original story.

"The original Japanese story is really different. It's way darker than we'd be allowed to do in America," explains Mike Wang. "It's very bloody. People get kidnapped. [And] it's way complicated. When i was watching the subtitled version, I didn't understand what was happening sometimes." Also, the Japanese version doesn't have one main villain, like General Xaviax. Instead it's more like Highlander, with people dueling and battling, and whoever wins gets a wish granted. Also, the Japanese version has a new Kamen Rider ever year, and the Wang brothers aren't sure if they'll follow that model in a second season.

The American version is more of a coming-of-age tale, with a strong focus on good versus evil and saving the world. Kit faces a lot of situations that aren't easy to face, and has to make a lot of tough decisions. So far, the response from fans of the Japanese show has been pretty positive, except for a few die-hards.

"For us, it was a big honor to do this show," says Steve Wang. "We're treating it with a lot of respect." So it's great that some fans like their version better than the original.

Another change from the Japanese version: The Wang brothers expanded the roles of a few of the main riders. One of them is a female Kamen Rider, the first in the history of the franchise. "It's important to us to expand her role," says Steve Wang. She shows up in episode 21 (out of 40) and plays a really important role in the story.

Kamen Rider is more mature and sophisticated than Power Rangers, the Wang brothers insist. There's more of a serialized story, and less monster-of-the-week stuff. Doing a more episodic format was not even an option for Kamen Rider becuase of the nature of the Japanese footage. They want it to be along the lines of other addictive serialized shows, like Macross/Robotech.

Kamen Rider Dragon Knight appears Saturdays at 11:30 on the CW.

Another exclusive image is the photo of Big Man Japan IV, the grandfather of the current Big Man. According to the film's official synopsis:

A middle-aged slacker living in a rundown, graffiti-ridden slum, Daisato's job involves being shocked by bolts of electricity that transform him into a stocky, stick-wielding giant several stories high who is entrusted with defending Japan from a host of bizarre monsters. But while his predecessors were national heroes, he is a pariah among the citizens he protects, who bitterly complain about the noise and destruction of property he causes. And Daisato has his own problems –an agent insistent on branding him with sponsor advertisements, an Alzheimer-afflicted grandfather who transforms into a giant in dirty underwear, and a family who is embarrassed by his often cowardly exploits. A wickedly deadpan spin on the giant Japanese superhero, BIG MAN JAPAN is an outrageous portrait of a pathetic but truly unique hero.

BIG MAN JAPAN is the fifth film in Magnet's "Six Shooter Film Series," a series of six films highlighting the vanguard of genre cinema from around the globe. Also included in this series are: LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (Sweden), SPECIAL (US), Nacho Vigalondo's TIMECRIMES (Spain), Ollie Blackburn's DONKEY PUNCH (UK) and EDEN LOG (France).

We reviewed the movie here. And as I mentioned, it's in select theaters on May 15.

The @Murakami show in Los Angeles had huge numbers of visitors, were you surprised at the large turnout? The line on the final weekend stretched for blocks.

Yes, I was very pleased. It's all thanks to the chief curator Paul, as well as all the others involved. I'm praying that everything goes the same way at Brooklyn too. The expectations of the audience are exploding now, much like in the music industry in the 1970s. In order to meet their expectations, I've got no choice but to keep on running.

You've worked with many medium: sculptures, paintings, animation, the Vuitton purses, etc. What do you enjoy working with the most?

The collaboration I did with Mr. Marc Jacobs was really fun. "Monogrammoflauge," the most recent collaboration, came out of a conversation that I had with Marc Jacobs where I said that I'd like to do something original for the retrospective. The exchange of idea; the process that yields something real in the end. Everything is exciting.

There is a chance to experience an unfamiliar work process when you collaborate with a different industry, and therefore it is extremely exciting. I'm having fun working on my animation right now. That's because I'm excited about the completely new working process of controlling time. Work that takes you into worlds of new media or products. In that moment, as a creator, you are able to experience the pleasure of synapses in your brain linking together in a matter of seconds.

Do you have any specific science fiction influences to your work? Any movies or television shows you grew up watching?

I loved "Galaxy Express 999". When I saw the scene depicting Planet Maetel's collapse, I was moved from the bottom of my heart, and made the decision to work in the field of anime. Also, the amount of influence that the appearance of Star Wars exerted on my generation is tremendous.

I felt sympathetic to the revolution that George Lucas started, and my work has become a re-enactment of that sort of revolution in the art scene.

The S.M.P.ko² piece looks very anime-inspired. Did you draw from any particular project for that?

S.M.P.ko² was a continuation of my figure project, which included Miss ko², Hiropon and My Lonesome Cowboy. All of these characters were thickly wrapped in what I see as particularly Japanese psycho-sexual complexes.

The Tan Tan Bo piece is huge in scale, how did you conceive that piece and finally finish it?

In New Year's of the year that I finished this piece, I was struck with my first spasm of gout. The joint in my toe hurt so much it felt like it had been struck by a hammer, and I truly felt death and the aging of my muscles.

In that moment, I saw the art world's insistence on contextualization as something completely unnecessary, and felt that I needed to make a more honest work that was closer to me, and decided to project myself onto DOB, my imaginary character, and express living pain through him.

The My Lonesome Cowboy and Hiropon pieces stand out as shockingly sexual among your other works. What has been the reaction to them?

It was so positive you'd be surprised. I feel that the fact that I was able to make my debut in America is thanks to those pieces.

Has there ever been any talk of adopting any of your pieces of art into film or tv projects?

I'm already working on one right now. It's an animation called "Kaikai & Kiki." Two episodes of the animation are now on display at Brooklyn Museum as part of the exhibit. I'm also working on a live action movie.

What artists do you enjoy?

Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Hayao Miyazaki.

Where do you do most of your work?

I work at both Kaikai Kiki's office and studio in Japan, and at our office and studio in Queens.

Has anything changed in the show from Los Angeles to Brooklyn? Will anything be different?

There is a new episode of the Kaikai & Kiki animation, new designs in the Louis Vuitton shop, and some new wallpaper and floor paper, created especially for the Brooklyn space.

Main image is:

727-727, 2006
Acrylic on canvas mounted on board
3000 x 4500 x 70 mm (3 panels)
Courtesy Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
©2006 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Sadly, the trailer shows us very little about the game's plot or gameplay. The English-language title screens reveal the game will be a prequel to the other Star Ocean games, but publishers Tri-Ace and Square Enix have been very tightlipped with details since announcing the game in September of 2007.

All we know for sure is that the game will combine sci-fi and fantasy elements, allow the player to control a spaceship and explore different planets. And it features a hero named Edge Maverick. They haven't even announced the platform yet. The game has an official website, but there's nothing there beyond a pretty intro screen. The animation style of the trailer is interesting - at times it's hard to tell if you're looking at traditional animation or CGI. For some reason it reminds me of the old Voltron cartoon. Someone please explain to me why no one's made a Voltron video game yet.

If we had the time, we might torture you again with another caption contest... but more than one a week might be a bit too taxing on the funnybone. So, if you want to win, please just let us know in the comments below. Please note that you need to live in or extremely close to New York City to take advantage of these, so enter only if you really plan on using these tickets.

We'll be providing a list of the winners to the organizers of the event, and they'll have your name on a list and you'll be good to go. Please note that we'll select the first five comments from folks in the NYC area who want to see the movie. For the rest of you, set your Netflix for Tuesday, March 11th, and enjoy.

The film is a Matrix-meets-cyborgs story featuring incredible animation, tons of bullets, lots of John Woo signature slow-motion, and even some cyborg doves. It's arguably, in this blogger's opinion, superior to the original Appleseed, and is at its best when things devolve into pure bullets and octane action. Thankfully, the multi-layered story is cerebral fodder as well as eye candy, so you won't get bored while you watch another clip of armor-piercing bullets get emptied into mindless robo-slaves.

Murakami seems determined to remind us that cartoony characters aren't innocent. His massive sculptures Disney-esque characters include a sculpture of a woman with enormous breasts squirting streams of milk from fist-sized nipples and a man who looks like Cloud from Final Fantasy shooting a swirling plume of jizz into the heavens. But you'll also find Murakami's tamer t-shirt designs, wallpapers, animation (including a Kanye West video), and the Louis Vuitton bags he designed. One massive wall contains a stunning piece called Tan Tan Bo Puking (pictured up top), which features the dying moments of a bizarre Japanime god as he voids his stomach and bowels during death.

However, what really caught our eye was his Second Mission Project ko2 Advanced (Human Type) piece. It consists of three different sculptures, each one of a female mecha in the stages of transforming from a humanoid into a fighter jet. It's nearly life-sized and contains a ton of stunning detail. If there's any way you can get to this exhibit I'd highly recommend it, even if it's for this piece alone. Watch Murakami discuss it in the video below, and you can check out the other parts of his video tour here.

The MOCA didn't allow photography, but that didn't stop some people (including us) from sneaking a few camera phone photos, which you can see in the gallery above along with some NSFW images. You can also check out Eric Nakamura's Flickr set, which documents almost the entire exhibit. Just as a bit of a tip, though... the museums sell the book/catalog of the exhibit for $65, and it's tempting to walk home with it while you try to digest all the art you've just seen. However, you can snag it for only $40 at Amazon, with free shipping. If you can't make it, or the exhibit won't be traveling anywhere near you, it's the next best thing.

Top image is Tan Tan Bo Puking - a.k.a. Gero Tan, 2002 ©2002 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Co-writer/director Ken England is an American who's lived in Japan for years. He enlisted the aid of Japanese TV and movie veterans, and the result has an old-school sci-fi look. I like the non-CGI space monster the Oavian. The iDol is a satire of otaku (fan) culture, but looks as though it could have a creepy underside, what with the doll's eye-blasts and the hooded figures. It also looks similar to CJ7, the new Stephen Chow movie about an ordinary person who finds an alien object with magic powers. The iDol made its North American debut at Vancouver Comicon in October, but no word on when it'll show in the U.S. [SciFiJapan]

From their press materials, "The study desk folds out of the techno wall with its own stow able chair and a complete range of power and connectivity including free internet access and cosy local lighting." Ah, there is nothing like cosy local lighting, and where's our techno wall?

Capsule Hotel In London [UrbanDaddy]