Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: What year did Kubo The Two Strings come out?
Kubo and the Two Strings is a 2016 American stop-motion action fantasy film directed and produced by Travis Knight (in his directorial debut). It stars the voices of Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes, Rooney Mara, George Takei, and Matthew McConaughey. It is the fourth feature film produced by Laika. The film revolves around Kubo, a young boy who wields a magical shamisen (a Japanese guitar) and whose left eye was stolen during infancy. Accompanied by an anthropomorphic snow monkey and beetle, he must subdue his mother's corrupted Sisters and his power-hungry grandfather Raiden (The Moon King), who is responsible for stealing his left eye.
Tite Kubo, author from the "Bleach" manga, authored a one-shot based on Tōshirō, prior to the film's premier in order to promote it. He was also allowed to participate in the making of the film, to design the character of Kusaka. However, Kubo could not add Kusaka to his one-shot due to the fact the original concept came from the manga. In order to promote the second film of "Bleach", the trailer had the line "Execute Hitsugaya!". Kubo admitted that it was his own idea to make everybody be surprised, but he and Masakazu Morita, the voice actor of Ichigo Kurosaki, received a lot of letters from worried fans, causing Kubo to apologize in response.
Tite Kubo's earliest influence is from Shigeru Mizuki's manga "Gegege no Kitaro". He remembers trying to sketch its characters and found his own designs to be simpler that of Mizuki's. "Bleach" was first conceived from a desire on Kubo's part to draw "shinigami" in kimono, which formed the basis for the design of the Shinigami in the series, and conception of the character Rukia Kuchiki. Kubo has cited influences for elements of "Bleach" ranging from other manga series to music, foreign language, architecture, and film. He attributes his interest in drawing the supernatural and monsters to Shigeru Mizuki's "GeGeGe no Kitaro" and "Bleach"s focus on interesting weaponry and battle scenes to Masami Kurumada's "Saint Seiya", both manga Kubo enjoyed as a boy. Kubo stated that Akira Toriyama's "Dragon Ball" taught him that all villains must be "strong, scary and cool" without exception, and added that to this day no fight scene has shocked him more than Trunks' first appearance. The action style and storytelling found in "Bleach" are inspired by cinema, though Kubo has not revealed any specific movie as being an influence for fight scenes. Kubo has also stated that he wishes to make "Bleach" an experience that can only be found by reading manga, and dismissed ideas of creating any live-action film adaptations of the series.
A free game demo of "Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru" can be downloaded at the game's official website. The game was released as an adult game on January 28, 2005 as a limited edition, playable on a Windows PC as a 2-disc CD-ROM set. The limited edition came bundled with a special story book entitled "Tsunderera". The regular edition was released on February 18, 2005, and one select lot of this version contained a limited edition sticker. An updated version with full voice acting was released on April 28, 2006 as a DVD. Another updated version compatible for Windows Vista/7 was released on May 27, 2011. The Windows version of "Otoboku" was released in English by MangaGamer on November 23, 2012.
Yota Tsuruoka was the sound and music director for "Boogiepop Phantom". The soundtrack for the series featured many artists and various styles, ranging from Gregorian to electronic. The opening theme song , which was also used as the ending theme for the live action prequel "Boogiepop and Others", was composed, arranged, and performed by Shikao Suga. Kyoko composed and performed the ending song . The "Boogiepop Phantom" soundtrack was published by AnimeTrax and released by The Right Stuf International as a two-disc CD on 30 April 2002. The songs "Evening Shower" and "Future Century Secret Club" were not included on the OST with the rest of the soundtrack, but were instead released separately by the artists. "Evening Shower" was published on 8 September 1999, prior to the initial airing of the series, on Shikao Suga’s album "Sweet", while Kyoko’s "Future Century Secret Club" was initially released as a single of the same name on 9 February 2000, and later as part of an album titled "Under The Silk Tree" on 8 November 2000.
A visual novel, "Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Portable", was developed by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation Portable and released on February 23, 2012.
Starting in 2006, Kyoto Animation, the animators of another Key game-turned-anime, "Air", decided to animate a new adaptation of "Kanon". This version, directed by Tatsuya Ishihara and written by Fumihiko Shimo, aired between October 5, 2006 and March 15, 2007 on BS-i, containing 24 episodes. The series was later rebroadcast on TBS. ADV Films announced on September 21, 2007 at the Anime Weekend Atlanta anime convention that they have officially licensed the second "Kanon" anime series. ADV had previously posted a trailer for the series in August 2007, but was soon taken offline once the news had been spread on the Internet. The first English-dubbed episode was made available via streaming online at Anime News Network between December 23 and December 30, 2007. In July 2008, the licensing rights of the second "Kanon" anime were transferred from ADV to Funimation Entertainment who continued to produce the series in North America.
Okayado (a pen name of Takemaru Inui) published the prototype for "Monster Musume" in "Comic Ryu"'s Anthology Comic "Kemomo 02", published by Tokuma Shoten, in 2011. He then reworked the story into a serialized publication, and the first chapter was published in Tokuma Shoten's "seinen" manga magazine "Monthly Comic Ryū" on 19 March 2012. The first collected "tankōbon" volume was released on 13 September 2012. The series moved to online-only serialization when "Comic Ryū" changed formats on 19 June 2018. The series has been licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment and in German by Kazé.
In 2001, Tetsuo Hara began working on a "Fist of the North Star" prequel titled "Fist of the Blue Sky", which was serialized in "Weekly Comic Bunch" until 2010. Set during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1935, the story stars Hokuto Shinken predecessor and Kenshiro's namesake, Kenshiro Kasumi. An English adaptation of "Fist of the Blue Sky" was published in North America by Gutsoon! Entertainment in the now-defunct manga anthology "Raijin Comics". Four collected volumes were published before the company went out of business.
All four feature films based on the "Bleach" series were directed by Noriyuki Abe, director of the "Bleach" anime series. Each movie features an original plotline along with original characters designed by Tite Kubo, which is contrary to the normal practice for anime-based films, as the original author usually has little creative involvement. "", was released in Japan on December 16, 2006 and had a limited release in American theaters in June 2008. The second film, "", was released to Japanese theaters on December 22, 2007. The third film, "", was released in Japan on December 13, 2008. The fourth movie, "", was released in Japan on December 4, 2010.
"Bleach" was first conceived from Tite Kubo's desire to draw "Shinigami" ("Soul Reaper" in the English adaptations) in a kimono, which formed the basis for the design of the Soul Reapers. Before deciding the use of kimono, Kubo thought of giving black suits to male Soul Reapers and any forms to female Soul Reapers, but thought that it was too generic and changed it to a kimono. Several characteristics from them, such as the "kidō" spells and the "zanpakutō" swords are also based on Japanese literature. Instead of using "zanpakutō", Kubo wanted to give the Soul Reapers guns, with the exception of Rukia, who would use a scythe. Seeing that guns are not suitable for kimono, he changed them to swords. When asked which of the Court Guard Squad captains and assistant captains were his favorites, Tite Kubo answered by saying that he liked "all of them" and that he likes to "support" characters "disliked by readers." Early plans for the story did not include the hierarchical structure of the Soul Society, but did include Ichigo's Soul Reaper heritage.
The Japanese voice cast features many of the actors from the "Yakuza" series portraying characters analogous to those they played in previous "Yakuza" titles, such as Kazuma Kiryu voice actor Takaya Kuroda playing Kenshiro. The worldwide release of the game includes an English dub, making it the studio's second game since the original "Yakuza" and "Binary Domain" to feature one. The worldwide release also includes an option to increase the amount of in-game gore that is exhibited on screen. It is also the first "Fist of the North Star" game since the first "Ken's Rage" to have an English dub, as "Ken's Rage 2" did not have one due to budget constraints.
A novel series written by Tatsuya Hamazaki and illustrated by Yuzuka Morita of the same name retells the story of the games with slight modifications, such as depicting Epitaphs as weapons instead of physical Avatars and a further exploration Haseo's background who gains a new armor. It is composed of a total of four volumes published by Kadokawa Shoten between April 1, 2007 and August 1, 2008. Tokyopop published the novels in North America between February 10, 2009 and April 26, 2011. Cyberconnect2 also produced ".hack//G.U. Trilogy", a computer animated film adaptation of the games that takes numerous liberties with the story. The film was first screened in Japan in a Tokyo theater in December 2007. Bandai Visual later released it in DVD and Blu-ray format on March 25, 2008. In May 2011, Bandai Entertainment announced that they licensed the film for an English release but only with Japanese audio accompanied by English subtitles on August 18, 2009. Following the closure of Bandai Entertainment, Funimation announced at SDCC 2013, that they have acquired 4 .hack title including G.U. trilogy. 
The games' sequel is ".hack//Link", a PlayStation Portable game that takes place three years in the future with a new version of "The World".
There are four animated feature films based on the "Bleach" series, all of which are directed by Noriyuki Abe, director of the "Bleach" anime series. The films were released annually each December starting in 2006, though none were released in 2009. Each movie features an original plotline along with original characters designed by Tite Kubo, which is contrary to the normal practice for anime-based films, as the original author usually has little creative involvement.
Development of "Cortex Strikes Back" began in October 1996. For the game, Andy Gavin created a new engine and scripting language named "Game Oriented Object LISP 2" (GOOL 2) that was three times faster than the previous game's engine, could handle ten times the animation frames and twice the polygon count. The jungle levels were originally to have featured ground fog, but this was abandoned when magazines and the public began to heavily criticize other developers for using fog to hide polygon count. Sunlight and depth accentuation was experimented with for these levels. Wanting to have some "dirty" locations in the game, Naughty Dog worked in the sewer levels and added color contrast to the levels to show depth and break up the repetitive monotony of the endless sewer pipes. A flat plane z-buffer was created for the game; because the water surfaces and mud in the jungle had to be a flat plane and be exactly flat on the Y-axis, there could be no waves and the subdividing plane could not be at an odd angle. The effect only worked on objects in the foreground and was only used on Crash, some enemies and a few boxes at the same time. The soundtrack of "Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back" was provided by Mutato Muzika (consisting of Mark Mothersbaugh and Josh Mancell), while the sound effects were created by Universal Sound Studios (consisting of Mike Gollom, Ron Horwitz and Kevin Spears). The characters were designed by Charles Zembillas of American Exitus, Incorporated. Clancy Brown provided the voice of Doctor Neo Cortex, while Brendan O'Brien voiced the dual role of Doctor N. Gin and Doctor Nitrus Brio and Vicki Winters voiced Coco Bandicoot. The game was unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta, Georgia in June 1997 to a positive response from the game industry. The game went into the alpha stage in August 1997. Around that time, Dan Arey, the lead designer of "", joined Naughty Dog and streamlined the level design.
On August 10, 2000, All Japan mainstay Masanobu Fuchi walked into the New Japan Pro Wrestling ring and declared that his intention was to "break down the walls" between All Japan and New Japan. In response, New Japan foreman Riki Choshu rushed into the ring and exchanged a firm handshake with Fuchi, signaling the beginning of the cross-promotional alliance. On September 16, 2000, Toshiaki Kawada followed Fuchi's path and vowed to crush New Japan ace Kensuke Sasaki, as he defeated Sasaki in the Tokyo Dome on October 9, 2000; the event sold out the building. In 2001, Keiji Mutoh and Shinjiro Otani created the interpromotional stable BATT (Bad Ass Translate Trading), which included All Japan's Taiyō Kea, Michinoku Pro's Jinsei Shinzaki and Hiroshi Hase. During this time, Mutoh challenged and defeated Tenryu for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, as well as capturing the World Tag Team Championship with Taiyō Kea. The alliance between the promotions lasted until January 11, 2002.
Five days before the first PS2 release for "Kanon", a PS2 printer called Tapis MPR-505 went on sale which enabled the user to print out game screens. "Kanon" was one of the three games supported at launch, the other two being "America Ōden Ultra Quiz" from DigiCube and "Marle de Jigsaw" from Nippon Ichi Software. The first PS2 release in 2002 was reviewed by the Japanese video game magazine "Famitsu" where the game received an overall score of 29/40 (out of the four individual review scores of 7, 8, 7, and 7). Yūichi Suzumoto commented in an interview in March 2001 that he felt the end of "Kanon"'s story could be summed up as "the prince and princess live happily ever after. The end," resulting in an ending that does not expand on what could possibly happen afterwards. In the October 2007 issue of "Dengeki G's Magazine", poll results for the 50 best bishōjo games were released. Out of 249 titles, "Kanon" ranked fifth with 71 votes.
"Chobits" was adapted as a 26-episode-long anime television series broadcast on TBS and Animax from April to September 2002. In addition, it has spawned two video games as well as various merchandise such as figurines, collectable cards, calendars, and artbooks.
Inspired by The Beatles’ use of strings on “Eleanor Rigby” and “Yesterday”, DiNizio chose to include string arrangements on most of the songs on the album. “We didn’t take the material and do wacky things with it just to be different,” DiNizio said. “I went to someone who was alive and making records when Buddy was still alive — Charles Calello — to arrange all of the strings.” DiNizio said of the album: "I wanted to honor the memory of the musical artist from whom I got the most inspiration from – and in fact, provided the necessary encouragement to want to be a songwriter. I felt that on the fiftieth anniversary of his passing that someone should say something, but I didn’t want to do a typical knock-off Buddy Holly album, so I took a more baroque string-driven direction. On virtually every track there is a string quartet. So, it honors his memory, but I make the songs my own.”
"Chobits" began as a manga written and illustrated by Clamp, a collective of four Japanese manga artists. It appeared as a serial in "Weekly Young Magazine" from the 43rd issue for 2000 to the 48th issue for 2002. Kodansha compiled the eighty-eight chapters into eight bound volumes and published them from February 14, 2001, to November 29, 2002.
In 2002, Tokyopop licensed "Chobits" for an English-language translation in North America and marketed it as part of its new unflipped manga line, which reads from right-to-left. Previously, translated manga was typically flipped from its original reading order to a left-to-right one to better suit Western readers. Tokyopop published the series from April 23, 2002, to October 7, 2003, and its translation was distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. Tokyopop's license concluded in 2009. At San Diego Comic-Con International 2009, Dark Horse Manga announced an omnibus edition of the series in celebration of Clamp's 20th anniversary. In 2010, it published the two volumes on March 24, and September 29, respectively.
"Chobits" is also published in Hong Kong in Traditional Chinese by Jonesky, in Singapore in Simplified Chinese by Chuang Yi, in South Korea by Daiwon C.I., in France by Pika Édition, in Spain by Norma Editorial, in Mexico by Grupo Editorial Vid, in Italy by Star Comics (which serialized it in "Express"), in Germany by Egmont Manga & Anime (which serialized it in "Manga Power"), in Poland by Japonica Polonica Fantastica, in Brazil by JBC, and in Sweden by Carlsen Verlag.
On August 3, 2014, Toshio Suzuki announced that Studio Ghibli would take a "brief pause" to re-evaluate and restructure in the wake of Miyazaki's retirement. He stated some concerns about where the company would go in the future. This has led to speculation that Studio Ghibli will never produce another feature film again. On November 7, 2014, Miyazaki stated, "That was not my intention, though. All I did was announce that I would be retiring and not making any more features." Lead producer Yoshiaki Nishimura among several other staffers from Ghibli, such as director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, left to found Studio Ponoc in April 2015, working on the film "Mary and the Witch's Flower".
Their fourth film, "Kubo and the Two Strings", directed by Travis Knight was released on August 19, 2016. It received two nominations at the Academy Awards, for Best Animated Feature and Best Visual Effects (as only the second animated film to receive that nomination, after "The Nightmare Before Christmas"). It won the BAFTA for Best Animated Feature. It also received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes, and ten nominations at the Annie Awards, winning three, for Character Animation, Production Design and Editorial in a Feature Production.
"Kubo" premiered at Melbourne International Film Festival and was released by Focus Features in the United States on August 19 to critical acclaim and grossed $77 million worldwide against a budget of $60 million. The film won the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and at the 89th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Visual Effects, becoming the second animated film ever to be nominated in the latter category following 1993's "The Nightmare Before Christmas", and the first film to be nominated for both.
In 2008, Kubo challenged Habu for the 57th Ōshō title, but lost the match 4 games to 1. The two met again in 2009 for the 59th Ōshō title, and this time Kubo was the winner by the score of 4 games to 2. The victory made Kubo a "2-crown" (a player who simultaneously holds two major titles) for the first time. Kubo successfully defended his title the following year by defeating Masayuki Toyoshima 4 games to 2, but lost the 61st Ōshō title match to Satō 4 games to 1 in 2012. Kubo won the title for the third time in 2017 when he defeated Gōda 4 games to 2 to win the 66th Ōshō title, and successfully defend his title in 2018 when defeated Toyoshima once again 4 games to 2 to win the 67th Ōshō title.
His next series, "Bleach", about a high school student who becomes a "shinigami" and fights creatures known as Hollows, began running in the same magazine in 2001. Kubo initially expected the series' serialization to continue no longer than five years. The original story concept was submitted to "Weekly Shōnen Jump" shortly after the cancellation of "Zombiepowder", but was rejected. Akira Toriyama, creator of "Dragon Ball", saw the story and wrote a letter of encouragement to Kubo. "Bleach" ran for 15 years of serialization and reached over 686 chapters from 2001 to 2016. Additionally, an anime adaptation of the series was broadcast in TV Tokyo for 8 years from 2004 to 2012, spanning over 366 episodes. The manga was named a winner of the Shogakukan Manga Award for its category in 2004. Kubo and Makoto Matsubara have co-authored two novelizations of the "Bleach" series, which were published by Shueisha under their "Jump Books" label. The first was released in Japan on December 16, 2006, followed by a on December 22, 2007, a on December 13, 2008, and a on December 4, 2010. Kubo also appeared in the episode 112 of the Japanese radio program of "Bleach B-Station". In that program, Kubo was interviewed by Masakazu Morita, voice actor of Ichigo Kurosaki, the main character of "Bleach", and answered several questions from fans. On July 26, 2008, Kubo went to the United States for the first time and made an appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con International.