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The North American anime distributor Section23 Films has announced on Friday that it is releasing the sola, Shigofumi, and Tytania anime series in DVD collections on August 3, August 17, and August 24, respectively. All three anime were licensed through Sentai Filmworks. The sola and Shigofumi anime series will ship in complete collecitons, while Tytania's August DVD release is the first 325-minute collection for the series.

Section23 is also releasing the Princess Resurrection Complete Collection on August 3 and the second collection for La Corda D'Oro on August 10. Princess Resurrection was formerly released by ADV Films.

Udon Entertainment has confirmed with ANN that it will publish Mami Itoh's Darkstalkers / Red Earth: Maleficarum video game manga in October. The manga will showcase stories from two Capcom video game franchises: Darkstalkers and Red Earth.

Itoh provided the art for Tow Ubukata's Pilgrim Jäger fantasy adventure manga, and Eiji Ohtsuka's Japan science-fiction manga. Media Blasters released the first three volumes of Pilgrim Jäger in 2004-2005.

The North American anime and manga distributor Viz Media released a four-episode original video animation adaptation of the Darkstalkers' franchise titled Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge in 1998.

The Dragon Ball Z Kai anime series will premiere on the American television channel Nicktoons on Monday at 8:00 p.m. EDT. The television series condenses the 1989-1996 Dragon Ball Z anime series to more closely follow Akira Toriyama's original Dragon Ball manga. In addition to a digital high-definition remastering and a re-recorded soundtrack, Dragon Ball Kai also updates selected scenes with new effects or re-animated footage. The series premiered under the name Dragon Ball Kai in Japan last year, and it has consistently ranked among the top 10 anime in viewer ratings every week since.

Funimation already released the first part of Dragon Ball Z Kai on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on May 18. The series will also run on 4Kids Entertainment's renamed Toonzai television programming block on The CW network during the 2010-2011 television broadcast season.

Detroit Metal City manga creator Kiminori Wakasugi and Namakemono ga Miteta manga creator Takashi Murakami will be the next guests at the live drawing event hosted by Kaasan - Mom's Life creator Rieko Saibara on Sunday. The next "Saibara Rieko no Jinsei Garyoku Taiketsu" ("Rieko Saibara's Drawing Showdown") will be streamed live on Ustream and on Nico Nico Douga at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday Japan Time (5:30 a.m. Sunday EDT).

KT Systems has announced that it will open what it describes as Japan's
first boys-love bar in Tokyo's Akihabara otaku shopping district on May 30. According to KT Systems, the MiracleJumP bar will have both "two-dimensional" staff members (in the form of dōjinshi characters) and living boys-love staff members.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that a law which allows “sexually dangerous” prisoners to be jailed forever without trial does not violate the Constitution.

The case centres on Graydon Comstock, who was convicted of possessing child pornography and sentenced to three years imprisonment. He apparently never actually had sex with any children.

Six days prior to the end of his sentence, the government branded him a “sexually dangerous” paedophile who might reoffend, and denied him release, placing him into indefinite “civil commitment” in a federal prison.

He has since spent nearly three years in prison despite having been convicted of no further crime, and having served his sentence.

Release of such “committed” prisoners is possible only if they are deemed to be no longer dangerous – without a treatment program recognised as being capable of this, their imprisonment effectively becomes indefinite.

The law responsible for extending this practice to the federal level, the 2006 Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, was soon challenged by prisoners now being denied release indefinitely, eventually reaching the Supreme Court.

FanimeCon 2010 has announced that rock band FLOW will attend the convention as a guest of honor. They will perform a concert on May 28 and participate in a Q&A panel and autograph session.

FLOW has provided theme songs for anime series such as "Naruto," "Code Geass," and "Eureka Seven."

FanimeCon 2010 is being held at the San Jose Convention Center on May 28-31, 2010. Other guests of honor include LM.C and Halko Momoi.

The Anime Network video-on-demand service has posted a list of episodes that it began streaming during the week of May 10 on its website, including a new series, Neo Angelique Abyss:

The scope of the class action lawsuit facing Sony over its removal of PS3 Linux support could include over 10 million consoles, potentially reaching billions of dollars in refunds if everything goes the lawyers’ way.

Leading western RPG developer Bioware has said that hit corridor crawler Final Fantasy XIII “isn’t an RPG.”

Manga creator Masayuki Ishikawa is collaborating with Utsunomiya-based craft brewery Preston Ale to produce a limited run of Moyashimon Ale. Each of the 1,000 gift-box sets comes with three Moyashimon (Moyasimon) Ale bottles, one pale Preston Ale bottle, one brown Preston Ale bottle, two original Moyashimon beer glasses, and four Moyashimon coasters. (800 sets will be available online in Japan starting on May 21, and 200 more will only be available in two retail stores starting on June 4.)

The US Air Force is less than pleased with Sony for removing the PS3’s Linux support, although unlike most Sony critics it does actually use the OtherOS feature, in a supercomputing cluster of PS3s which it complains is now doomed by a lack of replacement units.

An article at Wired discusses the difficulties involved in transferring games that were purchased and downloaded online when users replace their Wii or DSi. "Neither the Wii nor Nintendo’s portable DSi consoles have an upgrade path for downloadable content, since games are tied not to user accounts but to specific machines. It’s impossible for a user to copy content from an old console to a new one. Even some Wii owners whose machines have malfunctioned said it was difficult, or impossible, to get Nintendo to transfer the software licenses at its headquarters." One gamer, who bought the recently released black Wii console, explained that she got Nintendo to transfer her games, but needed to "mail both of her Wii consoles to Nintendo, and wait two weeks," hardly a convenient solution.

Anime Expo has announced that the female idol group AKB48 will be performing at the July 1-4 convention in Los Angeles. Producer and songwriter Yasushi Akimoto founded AKB48 in 2005 as an idol group permanently stationed in Tokyo's Akihabara otaku shopping district. AKB48 will perform a concert at the Nokia Theater on July 1. The members will also hold attendee panels, meet-and-greet sessions, and autograph sessions during the convention.

On Monday, the Osaka Prefectural Government has designated eight boys-love manga magazines as "harmful publications," the legal category of publications which may not be bought or read by anyone younger than 18 years old.

FanimeCon has announced that it will host the J-Rock band FLOW at the May 28-31 convention in San Jose, California. FLOW has performed theme songs for Naruto, Naruto Shippūden, Code Geass, Eureka Seven, Persona -trinity soul-, and Heroman. The band will be performing on Friday, May 28, as part of the FanimeCon's 2010 MusicFest.

FanimeCon will also host Rune Soldier Louie illustrator Mamoru Yokota, Gainax studio co-founder and executive director Hiroyuki Yamaga, voice actress and singer Halko Momoi (Ai Yori Aoshi's Chika Minazuki, My Bride is a Mermaid's San Seto, Tales of the Abyss' Anise Tatlin), the J-rock band LM.C, and game creators Daisuke Ishiwatari and Toshimichi Mori.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that video game industry revenue fell by 26 percent in April, adding more concerns about the health of the industry in the worst year-over-year decline since July 2009. But the big news is that the decline in portable sales makes up 61 percent of the overall monthly decline, suggesting that the Nintendo DS platform is losing steam but also reflecting the growing clout of the iPhone platform as the iPhone and iPod Touch continue to draw in more casual gamers, the iPad offers a bigger screen experience, and Apple announces the 'Game Center' — a social gaming hub with console-like online gaming features. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the 'enemy of the future.' 'If Nintendo's future mobile platforms are to be any kind of success, the company will have to figure out how to take on the ease of use afforded by the App Store,' writes Nicholas Deleon. A large part of Nintendo's faith in reviving its efforts hinge on the 3DS, which may ship in the fall, the first truly major handheld introduction for Nintendo since the original DS in 2004. He adds, 'Maybe Nintendo should just release a phone?'

FanimeCon has announced that it will host Rune Soldier Louie illustrator Mamoru Yokota at the May 28-31 convention in San Jose, California.

Yokota provided the illustrations for the Rune Soldier Louie light novels, and then later provided the character designs for the anime adaptation. Yokota also worked as a producer for both the Air movie and Toei Animation's Kanon television series, and also worked as an animation director for the Death Note television series.

Anime Expo has announced that it will host Japanese singer-songwriter MELL at the July 1-4 event in Los Angeles. The singer's voice can be heard on the soundtracks of such anime series as Black Lagoon, Hayate the Combat Butler, Rideback, Shakugan no Shana, and Sky Girls. She also wrote the lyrics for many of the theme songs she sang.

Not-So-Daily Link of the Day: Japan's Fuji-Q HighLand amusement park has announced on Wednesday that it will open a new pavilion called "Evangelion: World - Life-Size EVA-01 Construction Project" on July 23. The pavilion will house the world's first life-size recreation of the scene where the Evangelion anime's main character Shinji Ikari encounters the Eva-01 unit for the first time. The recreation will have a mockup of the Evangelion unit from the bust up.

The pavilion will also have a life-size cockpit of an Evangelion unit (from where visitors can pay to have their photos taken), a life-size figure of the character Kaworu Nagisa, a video corner, a museum, a studio gallery for taking photographs, and a shop. Fuji-Q HighLand's website will present the first interim report of the pavilion's 150-million-yen (about US$1.6 million) construction on May 26.

Fuji-Q HighLand is located near the foot of Mt. Fuji, and it has already hosted two amusement park attractions based on the Gundam anime franchise in the past, including a life-size Gundam figure (lying down on the ground). Last month, the Yahoo! Japan website surveyed fans on whether they wanted a life-size Evangelion unit constructed — and if so, which Evangelion unit.

A life-size Gundam figure stood on Tokyo's artificial Odaiba island last summer, and it will stand again in Shizuoka, the home of Bandai's main Gundam plastic model kit factory. The city of Kobe unveiled a life-size figure of Tetsujin 28-gō (Ironman 28 or Gigantor), the manga/anime robot created by Kobe native Mitsuteru Yokoyama.

The offical website of the Japanese publisher Frontier Works has announced on Friday that a live-action film adaptation of Hyouta Fujiyama's Pure Heart (Junjō) boys-love manga has been green-lit. According to the website, the story of the film will be "somewhat different" from the original three-volume manga series and the two drama CDs.

In this romance story, a writer named Tozaki happens to come across his first high school crush, Kurata, while on assignment. After the assignment, the two go out drinking, and Tozaki ends up confessing his old feelings for Kurata.

Rakuto Tochihara (RH Plus, Aquarian Age, Kamen Rider Hibiki) will play Tozaki, while Yūta Takahashi (Hana Zakari no Kimitachi e: Ikemen Paradise, Café Kichijouji de, The Prince of Tennis musical) will play Kurata. Satoshi Kaneda (Ai no Kotodama) is directing off a screenplay by Hirotoshi Kobayashi (Dr. Pinoko no Mori no Bōken, Miracle Girls) and Kozuru.

Digital Manga Publishing's Juné imprint released the first volume of the manga series in North America last year.

Yasuhiro Irie, the director of FMA:Brotherhood has confirmed that manga-ka Hiromu Arakawa has penned the final installment of the manga, and that the anime is also getting ready to make the final episode following the storyline. There are only two months left to FMA.

There is a bitmap image here I was too lazy to make jpg.

The official website of the Evangelion anime franchise has posted images from the first day of racing for Run'a Entertainment's "Evangelion RT-01 apr Corolla" team in the Super GT300-class grand touring championship series on Saturday.

By: Stephen Neveaux
(Staff Writer)

This is the third installment to the Wind Waker story line, Spirit Tracks takes a new approach to the Legend of Zelda franchise. The storyline takes place 100 years after Phantom Hourglass. The back story is that a great evil was sealed away within the land long ago. The train tracks, referred to as spirit tracks, are what help keep the demon sealed away. In the present, you play Link, a young boy working on getting his conductors license. While en route to Hyrule Castle, the spirit tracks mysteriously disappear, and it falls on your shoulders to restore the spirit tracks and save the world... again.

On Wednesday, the Osaka Prefectural Government posted the latest 11 magazine issues that it is designating for its "harmful publications" list — including eight boys-love manga magazine issues. In accordance with its existing ordinance regarding the healthy development of youths, Osaka has been maintaining a list of "harmful publications" which are legally prohibited from being bought or read by anyone younger than 18 years old. The April 30 addendum to the list is as follows:

Oh hi! This is 28 year-old voice actress Eriko Nakamura. She voices Haruka Amami, one of the main idols in Namco's idol simulator THE iDOLM@STER franchise.

The Yokohama-native was in Japan's Kansai area recently, visiting historic Kyoto. She stopped by sites like Kiyomizu Temple and the Golden Pavilion. On her blog, photos were uploaded of her at each location.

Someone on the Japanese internet then decided to use Google Maps to map out the route she took during her trip. That's...kinda creepy! Thankfully, these blog posts were uploaded at night — long after Nakamura had visited the sights.

While this map was most likely created as a gag (hopefully), blog photos of idols and voice actresses do undergo intense scrutiny. For example, during Christmas, which is often a big date night for couples, many idols and voice actresses post photos of themselves, claiming to be "dateless" or "alone". These photos and blog posts are then dissected and sussed out to attempt to see who is really alone and who is not.

What's more, any slight changes in hair or clothes is noted. Recently, it was noted that Haruhi Suzumiya voice actress Aya Hirano was wearing what some were claiming could be an engagement ring. Hirano's talent agency had not even announced that she had a boyfriend. (While the news of couples is often broken by Japanese tabloids, the official word typically comes via talent agencies.)

When Microsoft finally discontinued Xbox Live support for Halo 2 on April 15, it was the end of an era. Gamers from around the world who spent inordinate amounts of time fragging each other in Halo 2's many levels were forced to say goodbye.

However, as most left for newer alternatives, some refused to let go just yet.

"Throughout the past week, a small group of dedicated Halo 2 players kept their Xbox's on so that they could enjoy the game for a while longer," Bungie Community member "Joe Campbell" wrote in a forum. He said even though Microsoft has turned off support for Halo 2, the players have been able to keep playing the game because they haven't turned their consoles off and maintained a constant connection to Xbox Live since April 15.

"As long as we don't turn off our Xbox's, or lose connection, we can stay online," Campbell wrote. "Our Xboxes have been on for nearly 12 days straight."

Staying online for 12 days has been difficult. The original group was much larger, but due to dropped Web connections and consoles overheating because of constant use, gamers have been dropping out "at a rapid rate." As of this writing, there are 14 gamers currently playing Halo 2 even after support has been discontinued.

The gamers who are left say they plan to keep Halo 2 for as long as possible. Campbell said he and his fellow Halo 2 gamers "will keep playing until we are all forcibly removed."

To prove that the players are actually still able to access Halo 2 and take on each other online, some have been live streaming the bouts between players. One gamer, "Z0mbie," has more than three hours of footage showing the last remaining people playing the game over Xbox Live.

There's no telling how much longer the remaining 14 gamers will be able to hold out until they are forced to bid adieu. But they expect the end to come by way of "Microsoft, Bungie, our Xbox's overheating, or just lagging out."

But don't think that they're doing this for accolades or prizes. According to Campbell, he and the rest of the gamers continue to play Bungie's classic "not for competition, not for a prize, but for the love, and memory of Halo 2."

A new book covering the history of German National Socialism, the “MoeMoe Nazis Book,” eschews boring period photography in favour of trouser-less female stormtroopers and Gestapo BDSM maniacs, all under the firm leadership of a moe Fuhrer. The book even includes iillustrations by Rei Hiroe, of Black Lagoon fame…

The book itself is a series of articles covering the history of the Third Reich, gratuitously illustrated with moe/sexy style illustrations of the subjects covered. It does promise serious information in spite of its preoccupation with fascist pantsu.


GaGa: Unfortunately none of the images will be posted here ;)

The TV Tokyo broadcasting station has confirmed on Thursday that the Pokémon - Diamond and Pearl television anime series will end this fall, but preparations are being made for a new series to take its place. TV Tokyo plans to reveal more information about those preparations in future announcements. The Pokémon - Diamond and Pearl television series has been running on TV Tokyo since September of 2006.

The Nintendo game company has already revealed that it will ship a new series of Pokémon: Black and Pokémon: White games for the Nintendo DS consoles in Japan this fall.

The first Pokémon (Pocket Monsters) television anime series ran in Japan from 1997 to 2002, and it premiered in America in 1998. Cartoon Network's Boomerang spinoff television channel for "cartoon classics" began airing the first Pokémon series this month. The Pokemon Advance (Pocket Monsters: Advanced Generation) television sequel ran in Japan from 2002 to 2006, and it premiered in America in 2003. Pokémon - Diamond and Pearl premiered in America in 2007.

NANA manga creator Ai Yazawa revealed in the May 4 issue of Kobunsha's Josei Jishin magazine that she returned home in early April from the Tokyo hospital where she was being treated for an unspecified serious illlness. She had put her NANA manga last summer due to the sudden illness. However, she said that she has not gripped a pen once since her illness, and revealed that she does not know when or if she will return to working again.

Remember Nene Anegasaki, the girl from inside the video game Love Plus who was once married to a real man named Sal9000? Well, apparently, some other dude decided to have a birthday party for her yesterday (according to the game, her birthday is 4/20). Here you see her smiling happily in front of her birthday cake and some cough drops.

Just released anime-style, Young Adult, fantasy novel featuring manga-style illustrations now available!

Bitch Heiress X Samurai Butler is the story of a Tokyo heiress named Kusanagi Kimamura whose greedy relatives and even the yakuza are after her life on a daily basis. Due to this threat her Grandfather hires her a Samurai Butler bodyguard. Ranmaru is a stoic man with a dark past and Kusanagi is a high school girl with a fiery temper. Sparks fly when these two conflicting personalities meet. Will opposites attract? Or will Kusanagi give a slap to Ranmaru’s face first?

Journey to Japan to find out and encounter magical beings such a yokai, Japanese demons, which in the novel Bitch Heiress X Samurai Butler live side by side with humans. For fans of anime or manga inside jokes abound as characters sweat-drop, and face-fault. Enjoy fast-paced duels between ancient yokai, samurai warriors while steamy romantic moments between the heiress and her butler will make the reader blush. An assortment of compelling characters accompany Ranmaru and Kusanagi on their mission to stop Kusanagi’s prophecies of death. Among them is Kusanagi’s best friend, a bubbly, yokai cat girl named Katsume; Shinichi – a boy inventor,

The government is aiming for 55% of women to continue working after having their first baby by 2020, up from 38% in 2005, sources familiar with the matter said Monday. Under its employment policy to be included in its growth strategy, the government will also aim to improve employment conditions for women and reinforce growth amid the declining birthrate and the aging of society.

The government will also seek to raise the ratio of fathers taking childcare leave to 13% from 1.23% in 2008 and to increase the rate of annual paid holidays taken by employees to 70% from 47.4% in 2008, the sources said.

The government will aim to reduce the number of part-time workers to 1.24 million, about 40% lower than in 2003, when it hit a peak of 2.17 million, the sources said.

The goals were agreed Monday at a working group meeting of government officials, experts, and labor and management representatives. The working group will work out the details of how to achieve the numerical targets.

Do fictional characters have human rights? Feminists working with the Japanese government apparently think so.

From a series of documents published on the Japanese cabinet’s Gender Equality Bureau, who may already be familiar:

"Media depictions of sexual violence against women constitute a violation of the human rights of women, and are a major obstacle to the creation of a gender-equal society."

"Where violent or sexual media depictions of women are concerned, we must promote public understanding of this as a “human rights violation,” and ensure media are subjected to voluntary restraints."

"Voluntary censorship of media depictions of sexual violence should be promoted, and laws including censorship of virtual sexual violence against women in DVDs, video and PC games should be considered.
Rarely has the concept of “human rights” been abused so egregiously as by the latest wave of feminist inspired moral panic over two dimensional media."

In fact even the most cursory consideration reveals censorship according to “virtual human rights” could easily threaten a complete elimination of freedom of expression – if fictional women and children have human rights, by extension even men may have them too, meaning any story dealing with nonconsensual violence against men (practically all fiction of any interest) involves massive human rights violations.

Indeed, any criticism of the brave defenders of the rights of non-existent people might as well be condemned as promoting human rights violations.

The fundamental irony of using the rubric of “human rights” to rob people of one of their most fundamental rights seems lost on the advocates of this new wave of moral hysteria – hardly surprising considering it appears they have simply decided to parrot a serious sounding UN buzzword in the hopes of giving their extremist writings an air of legal credibility, with no appreciation of the ridiculousness of what they are saying.

The Google website has removed a site with unauthorized, translated scans of dōjinshi from its search results due to a complaint that the scanlation site "contained child pornography." When a search query is run on Google for the scanlation site's name or domain, a notice at the bottom of the search results states that Google has removed some of the search results "in response to a legal request submitted to Google." Neither Google nor the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse legal resource gives information on who submitted the legal request. Google also reported the website to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an action that is required by U.S. federal law when an electronic communication service provider becomes aware of alleged child pornography.

In the United States under Title 18 U.S.C. Section 2256, the legal definition of child pornography does not apply to "drawings, cartoons, sculptures, or paintings depicting minors or adults." However, the Protect Act of 2003 amended a seperate section, Title 18 U.S.C. Section 1466A, to state that it is illegal to produce, distribute, receive or possess drawings or cartoons containing sexually explicit depictions of minors if it is also "obscene." This is the same section of law under which Christopher Handley was sentenced for possessing "obscene" manga in February.

According to the scanlation site, it is currently in discussion with Google to clear up the situation.

A wraparound jacket band has announced that a television anime adaptation of Chūgaku Akamatsu's Aria the Scarlet Ammo (Hidan no Aria) school detective action light novel series has been green-lit. Media Factory has been publishing the light novel volumes with illustrations by Kobuichi since 2008, and the sixth volume is shipping this month. Koyoka Yoshino has been drawing a manga adaptation in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive magazine since last year.

The story takes place in Tokyo Butei High School, a special school where armed detectives — "Butei" — are trained to use weapons. Kinji Tōyama is a second-year-student who has a special ability, but he keeps it a secret to maintain an ordinary, peaceful life. However, when he gets caught in a bombing on the way to school, he encounters H. Aria Kanzaki, the most powerful S-Rank Butei student in Assault Studies.

source: animenewsnetwork

Bandai announces that the Official Gundam Cafe opens on April 24, 2010 at the JR Akihabara Station.

You can read more on the official website here. (It opens a .pdf file.)

"AP is reporting that Activision has countersued former Infinity Ward executives Jason West and Vince Zampella. Activision claims West & Zampella 'morphed from valued, responsible executives into insubordinate and self-serving schemers who attempted to hijack Activision's assets for their own personal gain and whose actions threatened both the future of the Call of Duty franchise and the future of Activision's (Infinity Ward) studio.'"

This follows Activision's firing of the execs earlier this year. Legal documents indicate that this legal dispute has caused delays in the production of Modern Warfare 3. Lawyers for the two fired execs say Activision's claims are ridiculous, citing Modern Warfare 2's overwhelming financial success. Meanwhile, it's rumored that EA is seeing the whole fiasco as an opportunity.

Shuho Sato, the creator of the Say Hello to Black Jack, Umizaru, and The Isle of TOKKOU manga, launched the MangaonWeb.com site on March 30. He has already been self-publishing his own manga titles online in Japanese since last summer, but his new site now distributes other creators' manga online as well. The site currently has a mix of free and paid works, and the website is not charging creators any registration fees to post works for the first two months.

The vast majority of the other manga creators on the site are not as well-known as Sato himself, although on Wednesday, Sato highlighted the fact that Makiru Momoto has posted works on the site. Like Sato, Momoto once serialized manga in Shogakukan's Weekly Young Sunday magazine.

Warner Bros. has announced that the third game in the F.E.A.R. saga is in production and planned for release this fall. Unlike the first two games, F.E.A.R. 3 will not be developed by Monolith Productions, but by Day 1 Studios, who ported the original F.E.A.R. to the Xbox 360 and PS3. The new game is being developed for those two consoles and for Windows.

"Day One is the studio behind MechAssault, MechAssault 2, and Fracture, so they've got all the mech and shooter experience one could hope for, but what about horror? Publisher Warner Bros. Interactive has that covered as well, with famed horror director John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing) and 30 Days of Night writer Steve Niles acting as consultants to enhance the game's scary bits. Alma returns for the third game, but her sons, Point Man and Paxton Fettel, are the stars, both featuring unique powers to help create what the developer is calling divergent co-op, where the characters' powers affect each player's game, and not just their own."

"A screw-up in EA's Warhammer Online billing system has resulted in many players being charged upwards of 22 times for a one-month subscription, filling bank accounts with overdraft fees and the Warhammer forums with very angry players, who are discussing the issue quite vocally. EA has said that refunds are in progress and that '[they] anticipate that once the charges have been reversed, any fees that have been incurred should be refunded as well.' They haven't specifically promised to refund overdraft charges, only to ask customers' banks to refund them once the actual charges are refunded. They seem to be assuming banks will have no problem with this."

The official Strike Witches shooting game planned for the Xbox 360, Strike Witches – Shirogane no Tsubasa (Silver Wings), has finally been detailed, with plenty of 3D pantsu well in evidence.

The media-distribution website Crunchyroll has announced on Friday that it has acquired The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime "for multiple Crunchyroll platforms." Crunchyroll is releasing the first season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya, and Nyorōn Churuya-san on its subscription-based streaming service, followed by a release on its ad-supported free streaming platform.

The official website of the Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin (Occult Academy) anime series has begun streaming the 100-second Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) 2010 promotional video and the first 15-second television commercial on Friday. The horror and school comedy story revolves around mystery and supernatural cases at Occult Academy, a fortress-like academy city. A-1 Pictures and Hiroyuki Kitakubo (Blood: The Last Vampire, Angel Cop, Robot Carnival) co-created Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin as TV Tokyo and Aniplex's third Anime no Chikara project. Tomohiko Ito (Death Note and Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro assistant director) is directing, and Seishi Minakami (Shigurui: Death Frenzy, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun) is supervising the scripts. The television series will premiere in Japan in July.

The fifth-generation Pokémon game has been announced! At least, the titles for the next generation have been announced -- Pokémon Black and White are the next pair of Pokémon games, to be released this fall on DS in Japan. Nintendo's going for relatively simple colors after things like "HeartGold" and "Pearl." And ... that's pretty much all we know. Of course, given the way the series works, we can all kind of guess exactly how this will play. Or maybe not: a note on the Pokemon home page promises that "every aspect will be reborn innovatively," according to our translation.

The first new creature from this generation has already been revealed as a sort of teaser: Zoroark, the Monster Fox Pokémon. The teaser site indicates that we'll know more April 15.

Asobi ni Iku Yo, a light novel that was originally written by Okina Kamino and was serialized in monthly magazine 'Comic Alive!', will be hitting the screens in Japan starting this summer, and we've got some sneak previews of the characters that will be appearing in this love-comedy anime!

Comedian Masaki Sumitani (34), better known as the character Razor Ramon HG, will soon be returning to work after more than an 8-month absence due to injury. To start off, he has been cast as a regular on the new TBS variety show "Sekai Waraeru! Journal," which starts on April 21.

Last July, Sumitani fractured his left heel during a match of the wrestling promotion Hustle. About a week after the injury, he underwent a major surgery requiring the insertion of 12 metal pins into his foot. He was hospitalized for two months after that, then underwent a skin graft in January to restore the skin around the heel.

Since his injury, Sumitani has been in a wheelchair, causing him to lose some muscle and some weight. Unable to work, he said that his monthly income dropped to as low as 7,000 yen, but fortunately he was financially supported during that time by his wife, former idol Anna Suzuki (27).

Because Hustle shut down last October, Sumitani has effectively retired from pro wrestling. He will instead focus on his career as a comedian and actor, though he mentioned that he is aiming to become more than just his Hard Gay

The Asahi Shimbun paper reports that author Manabu Miyazaki is suing the Fukuoka police for allegedly asking convenience stores to remove yakuza-related literature from their shelves.

According to Miyazaki, 73 manga volumes and three magazines had been removed from convenience store shelves in late December, with other stores soon following suit. Included in the list of removed material was a manga based on Miyazaki's own yakuza-themed memoirs. (Kotan published one of Miyazaki's books, Toppamono: Outlaw, Radical, Suspect, My Life In Japan's Underworld, in English.) Miyazaki, who said that these actions suppressed free speech, is demanding 5.5 million yen (about US$59,000) in damages. The Fukuoka police say that they were enforcing an ordinance meant to curtail the influence of the yakuza.


source: animenewsnetwork

KOMAKI, Japan — It's springtime in Japan and that means one thing. Actually, two things. Penis festivals and vagina festivals. It may sound like a sophomoric gag. But these are folk rites going back at least 1,500 years, into Japan's agricultural past. They're held to ensure a good harvest and promote baby-making. Maybe they should hold more such festivals. Japan has one of the world's lowest birthrates (1.37 children per woman), which experts blame on stagnant incomes and changing gender relations.


The center-left government that came to power last year hopes to make child-rearing more affordable with a $280 monthly stipend per kid.

Anime convention AnimeNEXT has announced that its musical guest of honor is the all-girl rock band Stereopony. The band has provided theme songs for multiple anime series, including "Bleach" and "Mobile Suit Gundam 00."

This will be the band's first performance at an American anime convention. However, they have played in the United States before: in 2009, they performed at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.

AnimeNEXT is being held in Somerset, New Jersey, on June 18-20. Their concert will be on June 18, and they also plan to hold a panel and autograph sessions.

source: toykograph

The Crunchyroll media-distribution website has announced that it will simulcast the television anime adaptation of Shōtarō Mizuki's Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaō magical fantasy novels starting this Friday, April 2. The simulcast is available to Premium Subscription members in high definition one hour after the first airing in Japan, and for free in standard definition one week later. The Anime Network is also simulcasting the anime.

Summery: Osaka considering the start of prohibiting the sale and distribution of Josei/Boy-love materials to minors, and looking into the true extent of child pornography in anime and manga.

Yes we played them all before, and we have been disappointed with the campaign, unless if you are a true Halo fan this would not have been said. However, this will be a new campaign everything has been revamped, so sorry for the old veterans of Halo, but look on the bright side, you’ll have a new fresh Halo game for you, and your Xbox Live buddies.

A new type of cram school has opened in Japan designed to help women find a husband and prepare for life after nuptials. The school targets women who are hoping to prepare themselves for dating and marriage, and help them find love and marriage. Some students include the so-called “Ara-Fo” or “Around Forty” unmarried women who are currently one of the fashionable topics for dramas in Japan.

The North American, predominately anime distributor, Media Blasters has confirmed the acquisition of the license to Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei. The first English subtitled DVD volume will ship on May 25th.

Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei follows Nozomu Itoshiki, who is depressed. Very depressed. He’s certifiably suicidal, but he’s also the beloved schoolteacher of a class of unique students, each charming in her own way: The stalker. The shut-in. The obsessive-compulsive. The girl who comes to class every day with strange bruises. And Kafuka, the most optimistic girl in the world, who knows that every cloud has a silver lining. For all of them, it’s a special time, when the right teacher can have a lasting positive effect on their lives. But is that teacher Itoshiki, a.k.a. Zetsubou-sensei, who just wants to find the perfect place to die?

The manga by Koji Kumeta is licensed by Del Rey Manga, with volume 6 coming in April of 2010.

Source: Anime News Network, Del Rey Manga

Yoshitaka Amano, the designer of the Final Fantasy role-playing game series and illustrator of the Vampire Hunter D novels, will appear at the opening reception of his solo exhibition, Devaka Loka: Los Angeles.

The artworks highlight American comics, culture, automobiles and other influences that inspired Amano. Similar exhibitions had opened in Berlin in 2008 and San Francisco in 2009.

On his newest exhibition, Amano said, “Between the late 60s and the 70s, and during my early years in the art world, I was greatly influenced by American comic books and pop culture. I'd like to show my gratitude for the inspiration America gave me with this exhibit. With the theme of 'Deva Loka,' all of my concepts and influences are able to come together, centered in one place. I hope everyone enjoys my show."

The exhibition will be held at the LeBasse Projects art gallery in Culver City, on February 20.

Source: Anime News Network

Voice actor Daisuke Gouri, real name Yoshio Nagahori passed away on Sunday, 17 Jan, aged 57. Gouri known as the voice of Robin Mask in the "Kinnikuman" anime series, Mister Satan in "Dragon Ball" and Heihachi Mishima in "Tekken", was discovered by a passer-by on a street in Tokyo's Nagano ward around 3pm on January 17.

Police are investigating the death as a suicide after his body was reportedly found lying face down between two buildings, blood flowing from his left wrist. A knife and a note addressed to his family were found near the body.

Source: Tokyograph

Yen Press will launch a graphic novel adaptation of the vampiric, Romeo and Juliet rip off, complete literary abomination: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The novel adaptation will comprise two volumes, illustrated by manhwa artist Young Kim and will feature black and white illustrations with colour insert pages. Scheduled for release on March 16, the first volume will have an initial printing of 350, 000 copies.

The following image is a sample page of the biology lab encounter, originally posted on the Entertainment Weekly Magazine website.

This Friday's issue of the magazine will contain a ten-page excerpt from the graphic novel and an interview with Stephenie Meyer.

In November, Evangelion character designer/manga creator Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Metal Gear game franchise creator Hideo Kojima, and Sasameke manga creator Ryuji Gotsubo judged a Twilight art contest in Japan. Gotsubo illustrated the Japanese edition of the Twilight novels, and according to the contest's sponsor pixiv, the judges are "huge fans" of the Twilight series.

Source: Anime News Network, Entertainment Weekly Magazine

The popular Neoromance RPG Kin'iro no Corda (La Corda d'oro) from game developer Koei will be turned into a stage musical set for this march. The game, which has also been adapted as a manga and anime revolves around Kahoko Hino; an ordinary school girl who is given a magical violin by a mischeivous musical fairy.

The musical will be performed at the Galaxy Theatre in Tokyo on March 19-24. Starring teen model Azusa Okamoto (17) and Hello! Pro Eggs member Saki Mori (16) who have been double-cast as the protagonist Kahoko Hino. With supporting cast members Shun Mikami, Yuta Takahashi, Manato Kawamura, Koichi Yoshino, and Yuta Koseki, with music composition by Takatsugu Muramatsu.

The video game series has sold more than 300,000 copies, and the 13 volumes of the manga released so far have sold over 2.5 million copies. The anime adaptation; Kin'iro no Corda: Primo Passo was first broadcast by TV Tokyo in October of 2006 until March of 2007. A 2-episode special; Kin'iro no Corda: Secondo Passo was aired in March of 2009 by Kids Station.

Source: Tokyograph

Patrick Stewart, probably best known for his role as Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as his numerous Broadway stage performances, is to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. The 69 year old actor is a native of England, and hails from Yorkshire.

A knighthood is the highest honor bestowed from the British royalty, men who receive it are called "Sir" and women "Dame". Awards recognize service and achievement, and can be awarded to non-citizens also. Among Sir Patrick, others receiving the award on this list included fashion designers, restaurateurs and members of F1 racing.

Modern "moe" style characters have been re-imagined in classic 90's styles by the artists of 2ch. Thanks to 4chan's /a/ board and Sankaku Complex, here are some of the most popular current characters, redrawn:

More after the break!

The trailer for the upcoming "Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" movie has been released.

The movie, which will clock in at two and a half hours will focus what is probably the fan favorite of the storylines, which at one point was supposed to be shown in the latest season of the anime. Instead of course we got the endless eight, not that I am bitter or anything....

Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine will confirm on Monday the proposed anime adapation of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's (previously of Death Note fame) Bakuman manga. The anime has been greenlit for the autumn of 2010 and will be run on the NHK-Educational (NHK-E) channel.

Giving an insight to the behind the scenes production and development of manga, Bakuman follows middle school artist Moritaka Mashiro and aspiring writer Akito Takagi who wish to become mangakas.

Source: Anime News Network

Production IG has announced that the second of the two conclusive films for their highly popular Eden of the East (Higashi no Eden) anime series will be delayed from its premiere date of January 9, 2010 to some time in March 2010.

However, this comes along with news that will excite many fans of the series: both films, the first premiering November 28, 2009, have been extended from 60 minutes each to 82 minutes and 90 minutes, respectively.

Undoubtedly, this will only prove to heighten the expectations held by fans for the films.


Source: Sankaku Complex

Tears to Tiara first found its start on the PC as a Japanese eroge game back in 2005. Naturally, as with any artistic enterprise that bravely and boldly tries to portray the age-old struggle to seek out and acquire titillating sequences of pixelated nudity, one would think the creators undoubtedly chose to first focus their efforts on all the ancillary elements—gameplay, story, the creation of a believable world and characters—that would distinguish their work from their competitors. Imagine the surprise and betrayal then that players must have felt to discover that the game was really nothing more than a knockoff; a work which simply imitated the elements of other mainstream titles while copying common story tropes from anything that seemed even remotely relevant to fill in all the important parts between the videos of animated sex.

Shocking, I know. What sort of age do we live in where XXX titles don’t even have decent stories anymore?

Meiji University announced on Thursday its proposed aims to build a manga library in 2014. The tentatively titled Tokyo International Manga library will be home to two million items of manga, anime, games and other media. The collection is said to include tie-in books, magazines, doujinshi, manga and anime artwork, cels, game software and consoles, character goods, figures, and more.

The library will be built at the Surugadai campus in the central Tokyo ward of Chiyoda, with the university aiming to have a five-storey complex featuring 8,500 square meters (~2.1 acres) of floor space. The university has yet to decide if it will build an entirely new facility or renovate existing buildings for the project. In addition, the planners are exploring the prospects of including a museum and theater.

The work is in collaboration with the Comic Market dōjinshi convention's preparations committee, Tokyo's Contemporary Manga Library, the Arcade Game Museum Project, the model kit company Kaiyodo, and the Comic1 and Comitia dōjinshi conventions' preparations committees.

Ahead of the larger library, Meiji University will open the Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library of Manga and Subcultures on October 31. This institution will house the personal collection of over 140,000 items of the late Comic Market founder

[Update]: Miyavi's official site has announced his US Tour has been cancelled and will be rescheduled. Management has cited problems with entry permits, complications with scheduling/booking venues and also concerns regarding Miyavi's health after an injury during his European Tour.

Miyavi's US tour has yet to start and has already encountered problems. LiveNation updated the listing for Miyavi's October 28 concert in New York, stating that it has been postponed. The show was to take place at The Fillmore, which currently has a listing for Lenny Kravitz on that night (rescheduled from October 15).

Meanwhile, STG Presents has listed Miyavi's October 25 concert in Seattle as canceled, with refunds being available at point of purchase.

Miyavi is scheduled to start the U.S. leg of his world tour later this month, but at least two of the scheduled performances have apparently run into problems.

H.U.G. Incorporated, has yet to make an official comment.

Source: Tokyograph

A group of 14 anime singers have banded together to form the Anison All-Stars, releasing John Lennon's "Imagine" in an effort to fight world hunger. The song, featuring Mami Ayukawa, Yoshifumi Ushima, Minami Kuribayashi, Hiromi Satou, the supergroup JAM Project (Hironobu Kageyama, Masaaki Endou, Hiroshi Kitadani, Masami Okui, Yoshiki Fukuyama), Hiroki Takahashi, Kaori Hikita, Faylan, Yumi Matsuzawa, and Shunji Inoue, was posted on Japanese music download services on Friday, to mark World Food Day.

Each download of the song will donate 100 yen to the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations organisation which fights world hunger and poverty. With an estimated 1.02 billion people in the world who are undernourished, and 350 million of them children, 100 yen would pay for 3 meals in the WFP's school meals programme.

The song is currently only available for download by Japanese residents.

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese movie-goers who see this year's One Piece Film; Strong World, will receive a special volume 0 of Eichiro Oda's One Piece manga. The manga in the "one Piece Kan-Zero" bonus gift, will depict the world of One Piece 20 years ago. The bonus manga will be limited to the first 1.5 million movie-goers and will link to the story of the film.

Munehisa Sakai's One Piece Film Strong World is the 10th installment in the long-running theatrical franchise based on Eiichiro Oda's pirate manga. Unlike previous One Piece films, Oda is personally overseeing this film's production. He created the movie's story and has drawn over 120 pages of rough drawings for its production. Film actor Naoto Takenaka, television host Aiko Kaitō, and Olympic gold-medal-winning swimmer Kōsuke Kitajima are among the guest voices in the cast. The film will open in Japan on December 12. Over 170 million copies of the One Piece manga volumes have been published.

Source: Anime News Network

The agency Hamazaki Unlimited Group, Inc (H.U.G. Incorporated), has announced a fifth and final concert date, plus two "limited mini-acoustic lives" in California, for Miyavi's U.S. leg of his ongoing world tour.

Miyavi's U.S. concerts start with a show in Seattle on October 25. After that, he is scheduled to play in New York (Oct 28), Atlanta (Oct 30), and Dallas (Nov 2). H.U.G. stated on Wednesday that the final full concert will be in Irvine, CA, on November 4.

In addition to those five dates, Miyavi will perform at two limited mini-acoustic lives. The first will be on October 22 at the NEW PEOPLE center in San Francisco, and the second will be at the Pacific Media Expo in Los Angeles over the November 6-8 weekend. Both events will include an autograph session.

Fans who book online flights and hotels for Miyavi's tour are also given a chance to win a backstage pass.

Source: H.U.G. Incorporated, Tokyograph

Upper Deck has licensed the rights to produce a Hello Kitty collectible card game with an expected retail release in March 2010. Three product releases are planned for next year, which will feature the trading card game, collectible miniatures and stickers based on Sanrio's Hello Kitty.

“We are so excited to be adding such a global icon to our product portfolio,” said Margeaux Sullivan, Upper Deck’s Hello Kitty brand manager. “Hello Kitty has been charming girls of all ages around the world for more than three decades and we look forward to helping her celebrate her 35th anniversary."

Source: Anime News Network, Playthings

Even though the manga series is about to end, there are plans for movie adaptations. Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima and bandmember of Arashi) and actor Kenichi Matsuyama already agreed to take part. Shinsuke Sato will take the part of the director and Yuusuke Watanabe (20th Century Boys) is said to deliver the script and Takahiro Sato will be the producer. Digital Frontier who contributed to Appleseed and Evangelion 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone are going to do the CG work. The movies are said to hit cinemas in 2011.


Source: Hochi Shimbun

Suzumiya Haruhi, being re-aired on Japanese TV will have its movie adaptation done in 2010, springtime. The show, first aired in 2006, is based on the light novels Suzumiya Haruhi.

Source: Animey

Usagi Drop (Bunny Drop), an ongoing manga series by Yumi Unita, is easily my favourite Josei manga. Drawn in a clean and simple manner, it follows the struggles of Daikichi, a 30 year old bachelor who, after the death of his grandfather, becomes the guardian of his illegitimate six year old daughter, Rin.

This manga really does have a slice of life feel to it. The plot line is simple and could easily happen in the real world and so too, could you find character types such as those depicted in the manga, in the real world.

Daikichi is represented as being a typical single, male and is quite clueless on the protocols involved in raising a young child. What's refreshing, is the straightforward manner in which Daikichi associates with Rin. He gives a lot of thought to his actions and expressions towards her, all of which are void of any hints of patronisation. It's also interesting that a man of his age can still retain a sense of balanced innocence and experience, especially in the way he deals with women.

Rin herself is a character one can easily grow affectionate towards, just like Daikichi does. Her actions and

According to an internal email that was sent on friday, the newly hired SPJA CEO Michael Lattanzio has relayed that all relations related to BAM Marketing were terminated. The termination is immediate due to the SPJA's desire to seek another direction in terms of marketing.

This comes after Anime Expo dealers have expressed their unhappiness with the manner in which the marketing company handled dealer placement in the LA Convention center during Anime Expo. There were also claims of dubious business dealings concerning company head Chase Wang.

A standing confidentiality agreement will prevent related personnel from any further contact with BAM Marketing concerning the SPJA or anything related to Anime Expo. The email reiterates this point by restricting it expressly.

Ninomiya Tomoko is about to finish her manga series Nodame Cantabile, in the 20th 2009 issue of Kiss, a manga magazine, which is about to hit the bookshelves on October, 10.

Nodame Cantabile, a story about two music majors and their relationship with each other, is one of the most successful Josei manga ever. The 22 volumes sold over 30 million times and there have also been numerous live action and anime movies.


Source: Anime News Network

Best known for SaiKano manga creator Shin Takahashi is resuming his Kimi no Kakera fantasy adventure manga after a two years. The manga was originally released in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine in 2002. It ran until 2004 when Takahashi stopped the magazine serialization and continued releasing the story directly in book volumes. The seventh volume will ship on October 17, 2009. A full 26th months after the sixth volume was released.



VIZ released both the SaiKano manga and its television anime adaptation in North America. A live-action version was also produced in Japan.

Source: Anime News Network

In all honesty this one took me some thought in order to criticize. I am not really sure whether it has to do with the fact that I avidly collect images of Fate Stay Night to toy with in graphics among other things, but this anime is rather difficult for me. But with anything, there always has to be some sort of flaw or annoyance that must be brought forth to be judged. So here is the basic story, the main hero is Emiya Shiro, an orphan of a massive fire that occurred in some city. He grows up, and he has these magical powers, and through one way or another, gets himself entangled in a war between heroes. The war basically has 7 magicians summoning up one of 7 servants in order to fight in the war itself. When there is only one left, the pair gets the prize, the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail then grants them whatever wish they want or have. So that’s basically it.

Now, first of all, I want to point out that the use of the term ‘war’ is a bit much in this case.

According to Weekly Shounen Magazine, CLAMP’s manga Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE will end with chapter 232, in issue 44 , to be released on September 30th. The final tankobon; volume 28 (regular or deluxe) will be released on November 17th along with CLAMP’s second original art collection.

Source: Anime News Network

Event organisers at Reed Exhibitions have comfirmed that New York Comic Con and New York Anime Festival will share the same date and location next year. The events, which will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan on October 8-10, 2010, will feature separate guests and programming schedules, but share a common show floor and one ticket price. This means fans who purchase a ticket will have access to both events.

The 2010 announcement comes two weeks before the event returns to the Javits Center for a third time on September 25-27.

In its four years of existence, New York Comic Con has been mostly held in February, although it moved to April last year. Lance Fensterman, Vice President of the Reed Exhibitions Pop Culture Group, explained that the date move will better accommodate Reed's other major North American pop culture event, Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo. "We are launching the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) in April 2010, and we have moved NYCC to a permanent October date, thus providing a spring and fall balance to these two key events which will remain in place as we move forward. Rather than create a

The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival has announced on Wednesday that it will screen Hirokazu Kore-eda's live-action film version of Yoshiie Gōda's Air Doll manga, David Bowers and IMAGI's computer-animated remake of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy manga, and Yoichi Sai's (Choi Yang-il's) live-action film adaptation of Sanpei Shirato's The Legend of Kamui ninja manga. The festivall wil run from October 14 to 29.

Sources: Anime News Network
The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival

The online newspaper Japan Today reported that Japanese megacarrier NTT DoCoMo is considering launching services in the US next year. They would launch as a full service virtual operator leasing network capacity from either AT&T or T-Mobile. Currently via a USA subsidiary NTT DoCoMo already has business relationships with both these carriers.



At the present time there is already a subdued presence in the US for this company with locations in New York and Hawaii. The locations however are meant for travelling Japanese tourists and business people that are in need of assistance with their hands sets and roaming capabilities. The bulk of NTT DoCoMo's US pressence is limited to tradeshows such as CTIA.

The significance for this comes in that we might get to see a fully working Eva cellphone that is not obscenely marked up on ebay. Of course the Anime News dot Biz is reporting that the article does nt eleborate on whether DoCoMo would launch with their Japanese handset lineup or rely on smart devices from HTC, Sharp and Toshiba. The company however specifically mentions the success of the iPhone and smartphones in general during the recession in US which at the moment is their reasoning

Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine launches a new gag comedy manga for manga creator Hideki Ohwada (Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku). Titled Sengoku Yankee the manga is about fools in Japan's warring-states period. Centered on "foolish" military commanders during Japan's strife torn Sengoku era.



Publisher Takeshobo announced last month that an anime adaptation of the Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku manga has been given the green light. The manga is a political parody of a fictionalized version of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. In the anime the Prime Minister plays a special form of 'Mahjong Diplomacy" against foreign adversaries such as George W. Bush, Kim Jong-il, Vladimir Putin, Margaret Thatcher among others.

The issue bundles a "Osada-bon" booklet about the artwork of Neon Genesis Evangelion manga creator and Summer Wars chearacter designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Already bursting with new content the same third issue of Young Ace is starting a new vampire comedy manga called Blood-Rad by manga creator Yuki Kodama.

Source: Anime News Network

Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine's 41st issue will confim that an anime feature based on the Negima! Magister Negi Magi manga has been given the green light for production in 2011. Creator Ken Akamatsu, best known for his Love Hina title, had already indicated in his online diary last month that the decision to produce the project had been made.

It was during a Negima event in February that Kodansha producer Yoichi Ishimoto had said that if sales of the upcoming original anime DVD series are good, there would be plans for a theatrical film adaptation. The first four volumes of the anime DVD series will ship with the 27th manga volume on September 17, 2009. This limited edition bundle, DVDs and manga, will have over 70,000 copies made.

The promotional video for Dance in the Vampire Bund television anime is being streamed by The Media Factory on YouTube.



The anime will be an adaptation of Nozomu Tamaki's manga. The manga is about a Vampire Princess who wants to create a special district for her kind off the coast of Japan, despite the terrorists and rival factions arrayed against her.

The fifth volume of the manga will be released by Seven Seas Entertainment in North America in November.

Source: Anime News Network

Lead writer of Mass Effect 2, Mac Walters, will be making a public appearance at the BioWare booth at PAX this Saturday, September 5th, from 2pm-3pm. Fans can will be able to pick up an exclusive signing card (featured below).

Working closely with Dark Horse and BioWare, Walters will pen the upcoming comic series. “Reading the series won’t just add to your experience of the universe, it will change the way you look at Mass Effect 2 . . . and beyond.”

Mass Effect: Redemption #1 is schedule to be released on January 6th, 2010.

As a special treat, PAX attendees will have the chance to get an exclusive signing card featuring the cover art for issue #2 with a brand-new and soon-to-be-revealed character!

Source: Dark Horse

A second teaser trailer has been released for Sunao Katabuchi's Mai Mai Miracle (Mai Mai Shinko to Sennen no Maho). The feature film produced by Madhouse and premiered at the 62nd Film Festival Locarno, is an adaption of Nobuko Takagi's children's novel. Set in rural post-war Japan where the third-grader Shinko spends the day dreaming about the world of her ancestors 1000 years ago. Together with her new classmate Kiiko they use the power of their imaginations to experience wild adventures.

Mai Mai Miracle is scheduled for release in Japan on November 21st.

Trailer 1 with English Subtitles




Trailer 2 - Japanese



Source: Affenheimtheater
Nippon Cinema (trailer 1)
Shochiku

It should be nothing new to say that you know what Naruto is. Much like Harry Potter and Star Wars, Naruto is either something you hate or like and really doesn’t have much to offer in between. Also, because the anime and the manga are essentially the same thing, excluding the anime’s fillers, I figure it would be easier to just collectively do this instead of just making two.

So it’s around 450 manga chapters, some 250 episodes and several movies, and as I said, you either like it or hate it. I do think I know why. Whenever we think of something like that, we tend to also think of its fan base as a type of example of those who read or watch it like we do. In this case, we have the eloquently named ‘Narutard.’ Now, this is kind of mean if one thinks about it. Remember back in the days when you used to watch childish animes like Sailormoon, Dragonball Z, or Pokemon? Do you think those who watched anime or other stuff before you thought very highly of you? How about another one, you grow up as a child and a love Sesame Street, and then

In the second online discussion panel ("webinar") on Wednesday Tokypop announced that it will publish .hack//4Koma on April 6, 2010. Koichi Sumimaru's manga is a four panel gag comedy which re-imagines Kite, Atoli, Haseo and the other characters from the .hack//G.U. role-playing game trilogy. While Tokyopop has published most of the other manga tie-ins from the .hack franchise, Bandai Entertainment released most of the animes including the .hack//G.U. trilogy movie. Amazon's retail website informs us that Ryan Peterson is translating this 192 page manga as he did for .hack//G.U. and .hack//XXXX.



Other titles that had be revealed thrugh retailers such as .hack//Alcor, .hack//CELL, Deadman Wonderland and Hanako and the Tellar f Allegory have now been officially annoucned by Tokyopop. This official annoucement comes at a time where there has been some pretty bad news from Tokypop.

Section 23 Films, a newly formed North American video distributor , has announced that it will release five new Sentai Filmworks' anime acquisitions. The acquistions are: Blue Drop, Polyphonica, Special A, Tears to Tiara, and the second season of You're Under arrest. The animes should be released this November. November should also see the release of the second DVD collection of little snow fairy sugar and live action horror titles Ki-Gai and Nu-Meri ~ Book of the New Spawn from another North American licensee - Switchblade Pictures.



Source: Anime News Network

Kodansha refused to renew TOKYOPOP's Germany licenses, rumors floated that Kodansha has made it's own entry into the US manga market (no confirmation) and now the official announcement has come from TOKYOPOP that Kodansha has severed ties with them and refuses to renew a number of titles.

While doing my morning browse of the news this morning I came across an interesting article on AnimeNews.Biz.
The article is talking about a certain ebay user placing the new Evangelion Docomo Foma phone from Sharp on ebay for sale at 1,500 as a starting bid. While there is a very clear screen cap on the site showing the ebay listing, I'm a skeptic and I decided to head over to ebay to see if I could find this phone there for myself. Surely fans of Evangelion would not go so far as to spend two entire paychecks... well two entire paychecks for me... on a cellphone. Even if it is designed after the Evangelion phones. So I searched, and low and behold there it was. Not the identical same listing as shown in that particular article but two seperate listings for the phone with the price over 1,400 US (1,500 CAD)



Now while I think the phone itself looks cool, it's missing the key parts to make the phone work overseas and even then you're not guaranteed to make the phone work with your provider. What good is that? Even still, I can't see myself ever paying more than

Shogakukan Inc, Shueisha Inc. and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions Co., Ltd. announced their joint acquisition of Kaze S.A.S. and Anime Vitual S.A. Kaze and Anime Virtual are two of Europe's leading distributors and licensees of Japanese animation. With the acquistion they are set to be a multi-media force in Europe for manga-based Japanese animation and entertainment. The Paris-based subsidiary VIZ Media Europe will be at the help of the group's Europe activities.



Prior to the acquisition the Shogakukan & Shueisha Group managed VME's European operations through its U.S. based subsidiary VIZ Media, LLC.

Highlights of anime and manga coming in September 2009. For the full list see VIZ Media

Sep 1st

Manga
Tegami Bachi Vol 1- MSRP $7.99 ISBN: 1-4215-2913-0
The story takes place in the land of AmberGround, a place of perpetual night only partially illuminated by an artificial sun. Lag Seeing works as a "Letter Bee" (delivery boy) at the "Bee Hive" (a delivery service), with his Dingo, Niche, and her "pet", Steak, traveling with him. He is entrusted with the "hearts" of everyone in AmberGround to deliver their packages. - wiki

Bleach Vol 28 - MSRP $7.95 ISBN: 1-4215-2386-8

One Piece Vol 22 - MSRP $7.95 ISBN: 1-4215-2430-9

Nana Vol 18 - MSRP $8.99 ISBN: 1-4215-2670-0

Inuyasha Vol 40 - MSRP $8.95 ISBN: 1-4215-2890-8 Release: Sep 8th

Full Metal Alchemist Vol 20 - MSRP $9.99 ISBN: 1-4215-3034-1 Release: Sep 15th

DVD

Bleach The Movie 2: The DiamondDust Rebellion (Standard Edition) - MSRP $29.92 Length: 90 min Release: Sep 8th

Honey and Clover Vol 1 (Box Set) - Episodes 1- 12 MSRP $59.90 Release: Sep 22

Naruto Shippuden Vol 1 - MSRP: $24.92 Length: 100 min. Release: Sep 29


Source: VIZ Media

The New York Times has listed the best selling graphic novels for the week ending August 22nd.

1 VAMPIRE KNIGHT, VOL. 7, by Matsuri Hino. (VIZ Media, $8.99.)
Cross Academy has day and evening students, but the latter have a secret: they are vampires. Weeks on list (WOL) 4

2 NARUTO, VOL. 45, by Masashi Kishimoto. (VIZ Media, $7.95.)
Jiraiya, ninja and mentor to Naruto, put everything he learned about the Akatsuki organization in code. Can Naruto decipher it in time? WOL 7

3 FRUITS BASKET, VOL. 23, by Natsuki Takaya. (TOKYOPOP, $10.99.)
This series is about a family that is possessed by the animals of the Chinese zodiac. Secrets from the past are revealed and Akito, head of the clan, finds her control slipping. WOL 7

4 ROSARIO VAMPIRE, VOL. 8, by Akihisa Ikeda. (VIZ Media, $7.99.) Tsukune Aono’s new school is filled with vampires and werewolves. How is a human teenager to survive? WOL 4

5 BLACK BIRD, VOL. 1, by Kanoko Sakurakoji. (VIZ Media, $8.99.)
Misao Harada can see the magic hidden in the world, but it turns out to be a a power that demons wants to exploit. Will her childhood friend, Kyo, who is the head of a demon clan, help or hurt her? WOL

Popular manga series to-LOVE-ru, and later an anime and OVA series, has been formally announced to be ending next month. Recent chapters have contained a great deal of conent signaling a potential ending, and much speculation amongst fans. Jump reports that the ending has been planned by the author for some time, though the series' has had plummeting ratings and been criticized for its lack of fresh content.


Source: Sankaku Complex

FUNimation Entertainment announced that Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone film will be screened for free at the University of North Texas this evening. The screening is hosted by Mu Epsilon Kappa--UNT Anime Club. The screening will take place at ESSC Bld room 255 on the Denton campus at 6:00 p.m.

The film will also be screened for free at the Japan Information and Culture Center in the Embassy of Japan at Washington, D.C. on September 9, 2009 at 6:30pm. the center will also host a free screening of Death Note: The Last Name this Friday at 6:30pm. This film concludes the two-part live-action adaptation of Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba's Death Note manga.

Source: Anime News Network

VIZ Media LLC announced today that they will debut the imaginative Steampunk action manga series Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee. The unique series is about a special delivery boy that reunites lost souls with the ones they love. The series which is rated 'T' for Teens will be published under the company's SHONEN JUMP imprint and will be released September 1st.



In a land of perpetual night, your heart is your light.

Amberground is locked in darkness. A man-made star casts only a dim light over the land. The pitch-black wilderness is infested with Gaichuu--colossal insects with metal exoskeletons. The Gaichuu make travel between the cities of Amberground extremely dangerous. But thankfully the Letter Bees, a brave corps of messengers, risk their lives in order to keep the hearts of Amberground connected. ~ VIZ Media LLC

Letter Bee made it's first appearance in the pages of Monthly Shonen Jump magazine in Japan and presently runs in Jump SQ. The animated counterpart is set to debut in Japan later this year as part of the annual Jump Super Anime Tour.

Source: Viz Media News Room

Hakkusensha's monthly LaLa magaize will announce on Monday that a television anime adaptation of Kaichou wa Maid-sama! shoko manga has been given the green light. The romantic comedy about a student council head named Misaki Ayuzawa who secretly works at a maid cafe is written by Hiro Fujiwara.



Misaki despises the mostly male, sloveny population at her school, which was once an all-boys school. Now one of her most handsome schoolmates has discovered her secret. Misaki works after school at a maid cafe.

Tokyopop will be publishing the second volume of the manga this month under the Maid Sama! title.

Source: Anime News Network

At the Gundam Big Expo event in Tokyo it was confirmed that the anime will launch in early Spring of 2010. The official website for the anime adaptation of the Gundam Unicorn novels has confirmed this. There will be six original video anime volumes of fifty minutes each, and it will be presented on Blu-ray Disc and DVD, shown at events, distrubuted through other unspecified means and exhibited overseas.



The original Gundam Unicorn novels are set in the same Universal Century (UC) timeline as Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise's first Mobile Suit Gundam science-fiction television anime series and its sequels. Fukui finished serializing the novel version in the August issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Shonen Ace magazine in June. The final two compiled book volumes, #9 and #10, will ship in Japan on Monday. ~Anime News Network

In an interview conducted last wednesday novelist Haurtoshi Fukui confirmed that the first anime episode will incorporate material from the first two novel volumes. Despite the fact that the anime will be a reconstruction with new ideas developed between the original novelist and scriptwriter Yasuyuki Muto, Fukui has assured fans that he is faithful to his original works.

Rumors are spreading fast after images leaked to the internet of what appears to be a new animation of Kentaro Miura's epic fantasy manga Berserk.

Berserk, which has been in serialization for over two decades, received a partial animation in the late 90s, a 25 episode anime covering the "Golden Age" story arc, approximately covering volumes 1 to 13 of the currently 33 volume series. Because of this inconclusion, fans ever since have speculated on further animation of the epic.

Recently, images have come online of what appears to be newly animated scenes. As there has been no specific announcement in regard to a new Berserk series, it is only speculation as to whether or not a new series will be airing in near future.

Two of these images can be seen here. The first showing Caska, and the second, Puck.

Souce: SankakuComplex

Tokyopop annoucned on Friday that it has begun an online manga program that will see new chapters added online on Wednesdays. The Program has launched with the first chapter of PSY*COMM volume 3, on August 12th. Boys of Summer, with it's graphic content is scheduled to begin online serialization on September 23. Volume one had been released in 2006 but was pulled due to its graphic content and volume two was postponed indefinately.



Earthlight, Patheon High, Undertown, Gyakushuu, Kat & Mouse, all world manga titles that had been previously discontinued by Tokyopop are set to be included as a part of the program.

After a four year (Four years Two months) break, You Higuri is resuming her Cantarella series. Akita Shoten's Princess Gold magazine's September issue has the Cantarella series.



Go! Comi published the first 10 volumes of the manga in North America.

Source: Anime News Network

Set in an alternate version of Edo Japan where gender roles are reversed, the award-winning Historical Science Fiction Drama manga series Ooku The Inner Chambers has been released by VIZ Media, LLC. Released on August 8th Fumi Yoshinaga's manga epic is related "M" for Mature Audiences and carries a MSRP of $12.95 USD / $15.00 CAD.

In Edo period Japan (1603 to 1868), a strange new disease called the Redface Pox has begun to prey on the country’s men. Within eighty years of the first outbreak, the male population has fallen to a quarter of the total female population. Women have taken on all the roles traditionally granted to men, even that of the Shogun. The men, precious providers of life, are carefully protected and the most beautiful of the men are sent to serve in the Shogun’s Inner Chambers. ~ VIZ Media

Source: VIZ Media, LLC

The latest episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya finally starts a new arc, and sees the end of the "Endless Eight", which was wearing thin the patience of Haruhi fans, as well as yours truly. To those unaware, the episodes of the last eight weeks had the same sequence of events, animated from slightly different viewpoints and chronology.

This new arc, "The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya" is a welcome change, and the new season should finally be under way then. The only thing now is to wait for Haruhi to finally disappear.

The upcoming animated film based on the Unlimited Blade Works path of TYPE-MOON's hit visual-novel Fate/Stay Night received a theater date at the recently passed Comiket 76. A preview trailer for the film places it's release for January 23, 2010.

Psychological detective thriller; Liar Game by Shinobu Kaitani has been green lit for a second live action season and a theatrical film. Formally announced by Weekly Shonen Jump and Fuji TV, Erika Toda and Shota Matsuda will reprise their roles as protagonists Kanzaki Nao and Akiyama Shinichi, respectively.

The premiere date for Liar Game Season 2 and opening date for the theatrical release have yet to be announced however, Fuji TV has launched a mobile only website (http://mobile.fujitv.co.jp/i/sr/liargame), called Liar Game Project (LGP) that features the manga, drama and film. Those who register can receive more information and be able to participate in a "game" related to the story.

The recently announced theatrical film for TYPE-MOON's hit visual-novel and anime series Fate/Stay Night has been confirmed to be covering the acclaimed Unlimited Blade Works path of the visual-novel. While the plot is almost entirely different from that of the original anime series, which covered the Fate path, key differences include: An action-heavy plot, Rin Tohsaka as the heroine, and a much heavier focus on the protagonist Emiya Shiro.

The film will feature the original voiceacting cast from the anime, and is set for theatrical release on Jan. 23, 2010.

Anime Innovation Tokyo has begun streaming a 90 Second short trailer and a two-minute long trailer for Picograph's Tailenders project on its YouTube channel. An earlier trailer was posted on the same website last summer. Anime Innovation Tokyo describes the plot of the anime as:

The destiny of Tomoe Shiro, a formidable racer with a very promising career, experiments an U-turn when a serious accident puts his life at stake. He recovers miraculously , though, when his heart is replaced with the engine of his own racing car. However, because of that very reason, race regulations demote him to the category of a mere mechanical part of the vehicle and is deprived from the right to participate as a pilot in regular races.
Only in a far away colonial planet, along with a multitude of other charismatic pilots also vetoed from participating in regular competitions, he will be given the opportunity to race for his pride and the money of the prize. And so this exciting rally starts!!

Source: Anime News Network

What is being described as the "Theatrical version of Fate/stay night" has a new teaser site opened. The film version of Type-Moon's game and anime franchise is "Coming soon." according to the teaser site. While there is not much there at the moment, the domain is registered under the name Geneon Entertainment by the GMO Internet service provider.

FUNimation Entertainment released a Fate/stay night anime series box set last September as a part of its distribution deal with Geneon and Tokyopop has been publishing Datto Nishiwaki's manga version in North America since last October. Geneon has ceased its in-house distribution of its own titles since 2007.

Source: Anime News Network . Com

An anime adaptation of Hotaru Odagiri's Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru boys-love manga has been given the green light, as reported by a retailers' solicitation sheet. The official announcement of the anime will be made in the October issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Asuka magazine on August 24. The manga series has been running in Asuka monthly since 2005 and the sixth compiled book volume will ship on August 26th.

Source: Anime News Network

The Sazae-san manga by Machiko Hasegawa has been running since 1946 and will now have it's own Live-Action TV Drama adaptation with Alisa Mizuki, the 32 year-old actress, playing the role of the housewife. The new live-action adaptation has been in the works for Fuji TV for about five years now and producer Yoko Matsusaki of the anime version is working on the new drama version as well.

The anime version of this long running series will be celebrating it's 40th anniversary on Fuji TV this October. Though this new TV Drama version is new for the series, a live action adaptation is not. Tonko Azumaya starred in a 1948-1950 series of live-action movies, and Chiemi Eri starred in a 1956 live-action film, as well as a live-action drsama that ran from 1965 to 1967 on TBS. Even the Television Drama isn't all that unusual; Tomoko Hoshino played Sazae-san in a live-action tv drama on Fuji TV from 1981 to 1985. The last life-action version was in 1992-1996 on Fuji TV with Atsuko Asano.

Disney will be releasing Ponyo, the English version, by Hayao Miyazaki. Ponyo is from the creator of the critically aclaimed Spiritied Away. The movie will feature popular celebrities as different characters, such as Liam Neeson, Betty White, Matt Damon, and Tina Fey.

The movie plans to release on August 14, 2009.

Teaser trailers for the Marvel Anime series of Wolverine and Iron Man have been posted by comic writer Warren Ellis. Having premiered at Comic-Con International last Friday, Ellis emphasized that both teasers are test animation, "intended to show off the style of the piece only. Nothing in here reflects the actual content, just the design and the aesthetic and the animation".

Ellis also mentioned that both anime series are aimed at Southeast Asian market, as opposed to Japan as Marvel had told the audience at Comic-Con International.

Producer Andrew Lazar for Mad Chance (Space Cowboys, Jonah Hex) has told iFMagazine at Comic-Con International that while the writers for the Live Action Akira are working on a draf script it's not likely we will see the movie any time soon.
"It is a real priority project for Warner Brothers." he said "Sometimes movies need an enormouse amount of prep, like this one. It is not realistic to go before the third quarter of next year for a 2011 release."
This doesn't mean that the project has been given the green light for production yet either.

There is 'a lot of interest from a variety of people' for possible directors as indicated from Lazar. Lazar also emphasized that he is a 'very inclusive producer of underlying rights' and that the original manga creator Katsushiro Otomo is an executive producer and consultant on the proposed live-action project.

Kodansha's Evening magazine has announced on Tuesday that Bokurano manga creator Mohiro Kitoh will launch a new manga sereis that is tentatively titled Noririn this winter. The manga will feature a female high school road racer who has had her license revoked and has to take up cycling for her mountain errand job.

Two weeks ago in Japan Resident Evil 4 for the iPhone/iPod Touch was leaked and pulled by Capcom. The game however has now been released by Capcom and Apple.

The iPhone/iPod Touch version of the game has extensive modifications to the game controls in order to accomodate the lack of physical buttons. The game however, is identical to the console versions (with minor differences for graphics of course). It's available for purchase and play. (approximately $8.99)

Source: Anime News . Biz

VIZ Media, LLC announced that NARUTO Shippuden will be available on the download-to-own basis in the iTunes Store. Unfortunately this is for the US and Canada only.

The series will be launching with the first four episodes (English dubbed) and the first episode will be available to download for free. This promotion began July 25th and will run through till August 31st. October will bring four more episodes.

Created by Masashi Kishimoto, NARUTO was first introduced in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in Japan in 1999 and quickly became that country’s most popular ninja manga targeting tweens and teens and has sold more than 85 million copies to-date. The manga series (rated ‘T’ for Teens) and animated counterpart (NARUTO rated ‘T’ for teens, and NARUTO Shippuden rated ‘T+’ for older teens) is one of VIZ Media’s most successful properties and has captivated millions of fans across North America, Europe and South America. NARUTO is a co-production of TV TOKYO, VIZ Media parent company Shueisha Inc., and Pierrot Co., Ltd. ~ VIZ Media LLC

One Piece anime films' oficial website has relaunched with the first 45-second teaser trailer - in English - for this December's One Piece Film 'Strong World'. This movie is the 10th installment in the long-running theatrical franchise based on Eiichiro Oda's pirate manga.

A written Japanese comment from Oda can be found on the website.
Oda notes that he created the movie's story and has drawn over 120 pages of rough drawings for its production. Unlike previous One Piece films, Oda is personally overseeing this film's production. (The website emphasizes that the One Piece television anime's Munehisa Sakai is the film's actual director.) The film will open in Japan on December 12. ~ Anime News Network

VIZ Media has publushed the 21st volume of the original manga in North America last month and FUNimation Entertainment has been releasing the television anime version and the eighth film, One Piece: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventure in Alabasta

Shueisha's weekly shonen jump magazine in Japan has begun to preview Yasuki Tanaka's Kagijin manga and Mizuki Kawashita's Anedoki manga in English this month. The online series require readers to download and install shonenjump.com's proprietary browser software on the XP or Vista Operating system (Not exactly thinking of the whole market here...poor other operating systems.)

Check it out.

FUNimation announced on the 18th that they had acquired the home entertainment, broadcast, digital and merchandise rights to the first season of the post-apocalyptic sci-fi anime series Casshern Sins from Tatsunoko Productions.

The anime series is directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi (Blood+, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z), produced by Tatsunoko Productions (Speed Racer, Robotech, Gatchaman) and is animated by Madhouse (Claymore, Hellsing Ultimate, Death Note, Gungrave). FUNimation plans to release the series in the Fall of 2010.

FUNimation Entertainment announced the cast and crew for the 26-episode supernatural action anime series Nabari No Ou.

Main Cast:
Miharu- Brina Palencia
Yoite- Joel McDonald
Tobari- Eric Vale
Koichi- Chris Burnett
Yukimi- Rob McCollum
Raimei- Kate Oxley
Additionally, the first release will feature episodic character performances by Michael Tatum, Greg Ayres, Kent Williams, Jamie Marchi, Caitlin Glass, Christopher Bevins, and Stephanie Young.
Line Producer/ADR Director: Colleen Clinkenbeard / Monica Rial
ADR Scripts: Eric Vale & Monica Rial

Source: FUNimation Entertainment

FUNimation Entertainment announced today their cast for their anime series Spice and Wolf.

Main Cast:
Chloe – Jamie Marchi
Holo – Brina Palencia
Lawrence – J. Michael Tatum
Nora – Leah Clark
Weiz – Eric Vale
Zheren – John Burgmeier
Additionally, the first release will feature episodic character performances by such veteren actors as Christopher Ayers, Bob Carter and Chuck Huber.
ADR Director: Justin Nordell
Line Producer: Colleen Clickenbeard

Source: FUNimation Entertainment

The creator of the Eat-man manga published by Viz Media in North America has launched his new Chikyu no Hokago manga series in the September issue of Akita Shoten's Monthly Champion RED Magazine on Saturday. Akihito Yoshitomi's new series is about three girls and one boy who survive on Earth after the rest of humanity has been wiped out. He had previously published a one shot of the series in the may issue of the same magazine and the popularity has led to the ongoing manga series.

Source: Anime News Network

Much to the joy of fans all over the world, a new anime series based on the final unanimated volumes of the Inuyasha manga (36-56) will begin airing this fall, entitled Inuyasha: Kanketsu-hen (Inuyasha: Final Chapter).

Not much more is known at this time, but surely more information will be released as the fall approaches.

Source: Sankaku Complex

For anyone who appreciates the symphony and classical music, Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy may be any other beautifully orchestrated performance. For Final Fantasy fans, it is a mind blowing experience that will have one’s blood racing, catalyzed by the sheer force and drama of a familiar soundtrack. It awakens childhood memories and revives all the wonder Final Fantasy has given us over the past twenty years. For a few hours, one is transported to a distant world by song. A world of dreams, heartbreak and adventure.

As a few of you may know, there is a new Jak and Daxter game coming out, entitled "The Lost Frontier". This new game looks stunning in it's PSP trailer, but doesn't look like a JnD game much. I think it's because Naughty Dog (the creators) handed it over to High Impact games. So, I decided to write this review as a tribute to the original, and in my opinion, the best.

Jak and Daxter is about a boy and his Ottsel who go off to find a cure for his friend, Daxter. The Ottsel. You see, Jak and Daxter had "borrowed" the fisherman's speedboat to go to Misty Island and Daxter had fallen into a vat of "Dark Eco". Instead of dying a horrible death, he popped right back out as the orange rat-like creature.

You control Jak, the silent protagonist of this game. In Daxter's own words, "He gets to do all the cool stuff, like pilot A-Grav Zoomers." The aim of the game is to collect Power Cells for different mechanical inventions, like the Zoomer's heat sheild or the boulder lifter. There are also orangey pinky egg shaped objects floating around the place called Precursor Orbs which can be exchanged for Power Cells.

This game is very nice for it's age. It has an open world setting with NO loading screens whatsoever. The aforementioned A-Grav Zoomer is fun to tear around on, but there are only limited spaces you can ride it.

It is a Saturday night in Los Angeles. Most of my friends are passed out from exhaustion, tired from Anime Expo. It is 10:00 pm and I am wide awake. What was I to do by myself at such an hour? Go dancing of course! This year’s Anime Expo dances were held conveniently at my very own hotel, the Westin Bonaventure. Also different from last year, Anime Expo chose not to detail what kind of music was to be played at each dance. Though the information would have been useful, I decided to go with the most thrilling option available: the 18+ dance. After putting on my dance shoes, I made my way down to the ballroom level of the Westin.

The line for the dance was not hard to miss. By the time I arrived, the line had already snaked halfway around the floor. Nonetheless, I was enthusiastically greeted with high-fives by random con-goers as I tried to find the end of the line. When I situated myself at the end of the line, I was suddenly struck with the realization that was completely alone. All around me people were talking and laughing with their friends. I

VIZ Media reports that the popular shojo animated series NANA is now available on the itunes Store in the US and Canada. The series will be exclusive to iTunes until August 31, 2009 and every purchase of a NANA Season 1 pass will include a free bonus episode download. (www.itunes.com/tv/nana)

The NANA anime is based on the manga by Ai Yazawa, which has sold over 43 million copies in Japan, and is published in North America by VIZ Media under its SHOJO BEAT imprint. Its tremendous success has inspired two live-action feature films which are available on DVD in North America from VIZ Pictures.

NANA follows the adventures of two girls, both named Nana. While they share the same name, they couldn't be more different. Nana "Hachi" Komatsu follows her boyfriend to Tokyo in the hopes of making a new start, while Nana Osaki, who arrives in the city at the same time, is a punk rock beauty who has the ambition of making it big in the world of rock and roll. Although these two young women come from different backgrounds, they quickly become best friends while chasing their happiness and dreams. ~VIZ Media

Source: Viz Media

The newly launched VIZ Cinema is set to debut Bleach the Movie 2: The Diamonddust Rebellion in San Francisco for two nights only. As they announced this past weekend at Anime Expo, VIZ Media will be showing the movie on August 18th and 19th in the brand new VIZ Cinema located inside NEW PEOPLE, a new entertainment destination in San Francisco. There will be two showings on each day.

The first half of 2010 will be One Piece heaven for the fans. VIZ Media has announced that it will release five new volumes of their pirate manga One piece each month throughout the first half of the new year.

As first mentioned at Anime Expo 2009, VIZ Media announced their increased publication schedule beginning in January 2010 and continuing through June 2010.

To further complement these releases, VIZ Media has launched a brand new, dedicated ONE PIECE web site at OnePiece.VIZ.com that will be updated regularly with plot and character information, and will also provide special free manga chapters.

ONE PIECE Rated ‘T’ for Teens takes readers to a world populated by pirates and filled with adventure. As a child, Monkey D. Luffy dreamed of becoming the King of the Pirates. But his life changed when he accidentally gained the power to stretch like rubber…at the cost of never being able to swim again! Now Luffy, with the help of a motley collection of pirate wannabes, is setting off in search of the "One Piece," said to be the greatest treasure in the world. ~ Viz Media, LLC

At Anime Expo VIZ representatives confirmed that the Nartuo series would not be aired on TV due to the Cartoon Network's shift away from licensing content. The Cartoon Network has moved to developing new programing internally and are shifting viewership to online portals.

In related news, Viz also confirmed the forthcoming release of the first Naruto Shippuden feature film in November with no additional details available at this time.

The seventh and final film for Kara no Kyoukai - the garden of sinners anime is being streamed on the official website. They are currently streaming a 65-second trailer and a 15-second commerical for the film that will open in Japan on August 8th.

The films center around Shiki Ryougi, a mysterious amnesiac girl who has the "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception." With this power, she can see the lines of mortality connecting everything in existence.

The seven films adapt the novel series of the same name by author Kinoko Nasu and illustrator Takashi Takeuchi (Tsukihime, Lunar Legend and Fate/stay night fame.)

For the Americans, the fifth film, Kara no Kyoukai - the Garden of Sinners: Paradox Paradigm (Mujun Rasen), was premiered in America at the Anime Boston Convention on May 22, 2009.

Source: Anime News Network

XSEED, a video game publisher, will be releasing the Namco-Bandai developed Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces. the game has been released in Japan last year and is a flight combat game for the Ninetendo Wii.

Developed by Project Aces team that was responsible for the venerable Ace Combat series the game is based off of the storyline found in the 'feature film'. It is expected to be released during the holiday season.

Kaiyodo is planning on releasing the Revoltech EVA Prototype Unit-00 Ver. 2.0 action figure from the anime movie Evangelion 2.0 You can (Not) Advance. The pre-order started today (July 7th) and will run to August 10th 2009, while the action figure will be released on October 27th 2009. The unfortunate part is this action figure, standing 140mm tall, is Japan exclusive - Much like the EVA Unit-00.

Images:



Source: Nekomagic.com

NAMCO Bandai Games America has confirmed that they have licensed the exclusive North American rights to publish videogames for the Dragon Ball franchise from 2010 to 2014. While Atari currently holds the agreement with FUNimation for the Dragon Ball game rights, the agreement ends this year. FUNimation Entertainment has made attempts to terminate Atari's license in October of 2007, but Atari negotiated the continuation of the license in December of that year.

The games are based on Akira Toriyama's fighting action manga and Toei Animation's anime adapatation of that manga. NAMCO Bandai Games America negotiated with Toei and FUNimation for the new agreement. The new agreement not set to officially start until 2009, will be preceeded by the publisher releasing 3 Dragon Ball games for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and DS.

The games are:

Dragon Ball: Raging Blast for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 consoles,
Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo for the Nintendo Wii console
Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans for the Nintendo DS system

Source: Anime News Network

CMX Manga has announced the licenses for the following titles:

Rampage / Yunosuke Yoshinaga (Softbank Creative's Flex Comix) / February 2010
My Darling! Miss Bancho (Aa Itoshi no Bancho-sama) / Mayu Fujikata (Hakusensha's Hana to Yume Comics) / March 2010
Diamond Girl (Shiratama Shojo) / Takanori Yamazaki (Softbank Creative's Flex Comix) / April 2010
Polyphonica: Cardinal Crimson / Ichiro Sakaki and Tomo Hirokawa (Softbank Creative's Flex Comix) / May 2010
Nadeshiko Club / Miku Sakamoto (Hakusensha's Hana to Yume Comics) / June 2010

Source: Anime News Network

FUNimation annoucned that is has licensed Production I.G's Sengoku Basara television anime series. In addition they have also announced they will release the first season of Dragon Ball in a DVD box (the first 31 episodes) will ship on September 15th.

The license to One Piece has not been lost, said FUNimation Entertainment and the DVDs will still continue to be released. Though they have also said they do not have a license for the Evangelion 2.0 You can (NOT) advance yet.

This was all announced at their Anime Expo Saturday panel.

Source: Anime News Network

The award-winning actor Kenichi Matsuyama will reunite with Tatsuya Fujiwara onscreen for the first time since the Death Note films. Toya Sato is directing the live action film adaptation of Nobuyuki Fukumoto's Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji manga.

Fujiwara will be playing the star rolefo Kaiji, a gambler who is 3.49 million yen in debt. (That's about 36, 000 USD) Yuki Amami plays Rinko Endo a loan shark, a character that is originally a male in the manga. The character convinces Kaiji to board a gambling ship to clear his debt. Matsuyama will be playing the supporting role of Makoto Sahara, Kaiji's acquaintance who is in a similiar life or death situation.

Kaiji will be opening on October 10th in Japan.

Source: Anime News Network

VIZ Media announced that it will publish volumes 24 through 53 of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga series between January and June of 2010. (Or five per month). Volume 53 was just shipped in Japan (march) and VIZ's own Shonen Jump magazine will publish the latest chapters from Japan starting this fall.

Along with the announcement of One Piece, VIZ is also releasing;

Akihisa Ikeda's Rosario + Vampire season II manga starting April 6, 2010.
Crown of Love by Yun Kouga -- Feb 2, 2010,
The Cactus Secret -- Mar 2, 2010
Stepping on Roses from Tail of the Moon's Rinko Ueda -- Apr 6, 2010
Flower in a Storm -- May 4, 2010
Biomega, from Blame! author Tsutomo Nihei - Feb 9, 2010

Bandai Visual began serializing Rion Senju's AIKa ZERO Cute manga on Yomban, its free Japanese magazine website on Wednesday. The manga, like the previously announced anime series, centers on the 19-year-old female agent in training Aika Sumeragi while she is in college. Unlike the anime though, the manga will tell another separate story. The first volume of the anime series is set to ship on August 25th and the second manga installment will be posted on August 3rd.

AIKa ZERO Cute's official blog (for the anime project) reports that the Amazon.co.jp website is streaming a 90-second promotional video for the anime's first volume.

Central Park Media released the first Agent Aika series in North America, while Bandai Entertainment reissued the first series and licensed the AIKa R-16: Virgin Mission prequel.

Source: Anime News Network

Bandai Namco is finally joining Geneon Entertainment and will be distributing anime songs on iTunes. Lantis, the music label subsidiary of the Bandai NAMCO Group company Bandai Visual, has announced on Friday that it will sell anime songs in North America via Apple's iTunes Store starting this summer.
JAM Project will have the first release and will be followed by additional songs every two to three weeks. Along with work from JAM Project, Lantis will offer songs from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star, and other anime by Aya Hirano, Ali Project and other artists.

Manga.com (US Site) is reporting that there might not be an end all to end all for the Live Action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira.

According to Manga.com Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the star of 500 Days of Summer, said "You never know" when asked if the project was truly dead. Though this is far from a confirmation it may be just the flicker of hope that most fans were looking for. Besides it's a lot better than his comments last year which did not even acknowledge any connection to the project.

Crunchyroll media distribution company has revealed on their company website that it is beginning to stream Kunio Kato's Oscar-winning short, La Maison en Petits Cubes (Tsumiki no le or House of Blocks) today at 6:00am EDT. The anime won the Best Animated Short Film at the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

The 12-minute work uses paper drawings and 2D computer graphics to tell the story of a grandfather's memories as he adds more blocks to his house to stem the flooding waters. It was the second Japanese animated work to win a major Oscar, after Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. ~ Anime News Network
Along with Kato's Petits Cubes is the streaming of Kato's The Diary of Tortov Roddle Short which will took place at 6:00 am EDT as well.

Crunchyroll has already begun to stream Studio Fantasia's Glass Maiden television anime series (pictured above). Streaming of the series began on Wednesday. Other recently added anime titles include; the Dark Side Cat Flash anime series, the Greathunt Flash anime series and the Japan Tourism Anime Channel shorts.

Source: Anime News Network

Gag Manga Biyori's 4th Comedy TV Anime adaption was given the green lit as announced on the wraparound jacket band on the 10th volume of Kousuke Masuda's Gag Manga Biyori.

The third anime series based on the nonsensical gag comedy debuted last year and more details for the fourth anime series will be revealed in Shueisha's Jump Square magazine. The August issue will ship on Saturday.

Source: Anime News Network

Maru Music has announced that the visual-kei cellist/vocalist Kanon Wakeshima will be travelling to California for two performcances in July, following her Otakon guest appearance. She will perform and sign autographs at the Amoeba Music store in San Francisco on July 20th before travelling to the Royal T Cafe in Los Angeles suburb of Culver City to perform on the next day.

The Royal T Cafe will also be holding an art exhibit for Wakeshima, who is known for her Gothic Lolita art and fashion sensibilities. Wakeshima's Shinshoku Dolce album debuted in the US on Tuesday.

Crunchyroll media distribution company's website is listing a scheduled simulacast for the Aoi Hana (Sweet Blue Flowers) anime series at 3:00pm EDT Wednesday (July 1st). Despite this listing Crunchyroll has not yet officially announced that it will stream this new television adaptation of Takako Shimura's yuri manga.

In the original Aoi Hana manga's story, Fumi and Akira were close childhood friends until Fumi had to move away. Ten years after losing touch with each other, the two girls meet again as high school freshmen. The two struggle to reconnect after so much has changed, and both deal with the trials and tribulations of high school — sometimes independently and sometimes with each other's help.

Sony has quietly filed a patent that appears to reveal that they are planning or at the very least considering the possibility of reintroducing full PS2 emulation to the PS3. The PS3 initially shipped with a special chip for this purpose but was later removed in an attempt but Sony in order to cut costs.

The 'plan' is suggested by Sony's American operation recently filing a patent which describes a method by which the PS3s "Cell" processor could emulate the PS2's "Emotion Engine", without the need for special hardware.

Initially the PS3 actually shipped with this functionality provided in the hardware and this was a key selling point (After all backwards compatibility is very key for gamers), but with later revisions of the console the chip was dropped and with it the backwards compatibility of the PS2.

If you're in the civinity of Akihabara you might be interested in going over to the CURE maid cafe as it will be in it's new Evangelion mode until July 26th. The new mode is to go along with the new release of the Evangelion: 2.0 you can (Not) Advance movie.

Having recently held its "Fate/sta Night" event this cafe has come up with a new menu of Eva-influenced dishes and drinks along with appropriate decorations in the interior. This particular cafe, one of the earliest and best known progenitors of the maid café concept, is constantly remodeling itself to best fit a specific series so it's not surprising that they have now taken on a Eva appearance, however, this particular event will be longer than most for the cafe as it will be running until July 26th.

More information is available at the CURE official website.

Images via Akiba Map / Source: Sankaku Complex

Toei Animation Studio launched a website for the Toei Robot Girls project with a weekly four-panel manga series. The project features girls dressed as various famous robots and is used to promote various wroks in the studio's anime catalog. The first installment of this manga is centered on three female personifications of the robots in Gaiking, Magnerobot Gakeen and Superhuman Combat Team Baratack.

In the backstory created for the project, the Toei Robot Girls Laboratory was established to protect Earth from the threat of space invasion. The laboratory gathered the data from super robots who have protected Earth in the past, and then used that research to imbue "cute girls" with their legendary powers.

Source: Anime News Network

Mayu Shinjo announced in a blog entry that she will reveal her new manga next month (August). The manga creator of Sensual Phrase and Love Celeb hinted to the title by posting the below picture, a photograph of a heart diamond (haato no daiya). Shinjo is also recruiting new assistant artists.

In an advance copy of Shueisha's Ribbon magazine for August it reportedly reveals the new romance manga. This issue will officially ship on Friday.

After a much-publicized exit from Shogakukan's Shoujo Comic magazine in 2007, Shinjo has been drawing her Ai-Ore! Danshiko no Hime to Joshiko no Oji manga in Kadokawa Shoten's Asuka magazine and working on various Gundam side projects. She also added two new chapters to her Ayakashi no Koi Emaki (The Ghost Love Story Picture Scroll) manga in Shueisha's Margaret magazine in January. Viz Media published Sensual Phrase in North America.

Source: Anime News Network

Gakken's Megami Magazine's August issue will reportedly announce on Tuesday that a new Kanokon anime project is in the planning stages. Atsushi Ootsuki will direct the animators at Xebec on the new project - the same as last year's Kanokon television series. The same script supervisor (Masashi Suzuki), character designer and animation director (Akio Takami) and cast (led by Mamiko Noto, Ayako Kawasumi and Miyu Takeuchi) will also be returning to the new anime.

Both anime projects adapt Katsumi Nishino and Koin's Kanokon romantic comedy light novels. The North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment had announced in September of 2006 that it would be translating the original light novel series into English.

Source: Anime News Network

The official website for the Natsu no Arashi! anime series has announced that there will be a second season. The second season was given the green light and will air on TV Tokyo and its affiliated stations this fall. The final episode for the first season aired Sunday night. At the end of the episode there was an illustration by Kobayashi that declared in English, "I'll be back"

The series is based on Jin Kobayashi's Natsu no Arashi! science-fiction romance manga. The anime series can be watched on the Anime News Network.

Source: Anime News Network

Volume two of Kadokawa Shoten's Macross Ace magazine shipped in Japan on Friday. Included in the second volume there is a new manga series based on the Macross science-fiction franchise. The First story in the Macross Frontier drama CDs has been adapted by artist Megane Kikuya (.hack//XXX) into Nyan-Dra: Alto Meets Sky.

Alto Saotome is a pilot of a transforming space fighter and is also the main character in last year's Macross Frontier television series. Macross Frontier has inspired at least five earlier manga series.

The magazine is also continuing the serialization of the Super Dimension Fortress Macross the First, the manga retelling of the first Macross television series and movie by original character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto.
The character designer and animation director of Macross Frontier, Yuichi Takahashi, is also drawing a four-panel manga called Vajranpo. Macross A Shuccho-go. There are also interviews with Lynn Minmay voice actress and singer Mari Lijima, acclaimed mechanical animation designer Ichiro Itano, Full Metal Panic! creator Shoji Gatoh and Macross mechanical illustrator Hidetaka Tenjin to be found within this second volume of the magazine.

The next volume of Macross Ace is scheduled to ship in the middle of November — the same month

There is a teaser at the end of the Evangelion:2.0 You Can (Not) Advance that reveals the next Evangelion film will be titled Evangelion Shin Gekijoban: Q quickening. (The full English title has yet to be given.) Khara anime studio are remaking Gainax's Neon Genesis Evangelion television anime series into four theatrical films directed by Hideaki Anno.

The "Q" or "Kyu" in the third film's title is a wordplay in Japanese; the first three films' subtitles are the names for the three classical movements (Jo-Ha-Kyū or Introduction-Exposition-Climax) of traditional Japanese music such as gagaku and Noh.

There is a new Gundam manga in the August issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Gundam Ace magazine which shipped on Friday. The first few chapters of Masato Natsumoto's Kidō Senshi Gundam Senki U.C. 0081-Suiten no Namida- (Mobile Suit Gundam Battlefield Record U.C. 0081: Tears of the Seas and Skies) manga and Tsukasa Kotobuki's Kidō Senshi Gundam: Day after Tomorrow ~Kai Shiden no Memory yori~ (Mobile Suit Gundam: Day after Tomorrow: From Kai Shiden's Memories) manga are included in the issue.

In the same issue, Meimu's manga adaptation of the computer-animated Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO 2: Jūryoku Sensen video series and Yoshihiro Sono's Kidō Senshi Gundam: Orera Renpō Guren-tai manga have sadly come to an end. The next issue of the magazine will ship in July with the first chapters of writer Tomohiro Chiba and artist Koichi Tokita's Mobile Suit Gundam 00I manga, and Mizuho Takayama's tentatively titled Kidō Senshi Gundam: Zeon MS Shōnen Yūgeki Tokka-hei manga. Previews of these upcoming titles are included in the current issue.

Source: Anime News Network

Fairy Tail a manga by Hiro Mashima has been given the green light to be produced into an anime for this fall. The 31st issue of Kodansha's weekly Shonen Magazine will announce the anime adaptation next Wednesday. The anime will be produced by A-1 Pictures and Satelight.

The manga follows the story of a teenager girl named Lucy Heartfillia who wants to join the world's most notorious mage guild, Fairy Tail. It's during a daring rescue that she meets her, soon to be, friend Natsu "Salamander" Dragneel. Natsu is a quirky member of Fairy Tail and a teenaged practitioner of the ancient Dragon Slayer magic. After being accepted into Fairy Tail Lucy and Natsu (and other members) go on various quests.

The seventh volume of Fairy Tail will be published by Del Rey in North America next month. Mashima, the creater of this series, also created the Monster Hunter Orage manga and Rave manga. The Rave manga was published by Tokyopop in North America under the name Rave Master.

Source: Anime News Network

I have to say as a side note before I report this one that I'm a little disturbed and at least a little bit curious as to what it might actually be like...

Yutanpo Shirane has drawn a comic to explain the contributions of the Japanese developers for the Google Chrome browser. The advertising and information services company had revealed in a Thursday blog entry that it commissioned the artist to create a manga about the internationalization of its Chrome web browser.

The manga (nine pages) serves as a companion piece to the main comic book written by the Google Chrome team and drawn by author Scott McCloud.

The manga by Shirane explains the major issues that the Japanese developers faced in ensuring multilingual web pages are displayed quickly, but more importantly accurately. The manga is said to highlight the contributions of one Japanese team member, software engineer Masanori Harada who with his team developed the Navigational Suggest feature which suggests which websites to visit as the user types.

On a personal level... I'm not sure how I feel about this one... could be entertaining...

Source: Anime News Network

Nana's Ai Yazawa puts Manga on Hold due to illness and the Hiatus is expected to last several months and will start with the current Cookie issue.
Shueisha announced on Friday that manga creator Ai Yazawa is putting her Nana series on hold due to a serious illness. As a result of this the August issue of Cookie magazine will not have the scheduled installmant of Nana. Since Ai Yazawa will need several months of treatment and rest, Nana will not appear in the September issue (which will ship on July 25 or later issues. This is expected to last until further notice is given.

With the offer of apologies to Nana's readers Cookie can not confirm when Nana will return but once the editors can confirm Yazawa's recovery they will notify their readers of the manga's return through the magazine, the magazine's homepage, and the official Nana website. (among other means) We will keep you updated as well.

The Economy can be down but we just love our Anime. While not a citizen of the United States myself I can say that this honestly does not surprise me. The Anime sales have only dropped 2% in the first quarter of 2009 vs. the sales in the fist quarter of 2008.

The ICv2 retail news source reports that FUNimation has over 40% of the market share in the first quarter, what the rest have... well who knows. It is actually interesting to see that the sales are not as down as much as they were in 2008 vs. 2007 (11%).

In addition to ICv2's analysis of the American anime market, issue #66 of the ICv2 Insider's Guide also includes the company's lists of the top 25 manga properties, top 10 shōjo properties, top 10 shonen properties, and top 10 anime properties for spring of 2009.

So I guess we just love our anime? Then again this was a lot of numbers, but some people find it interesting...

Source: Anime News Network

A new publisher of Japanese Science Fiction offers the first two titles this July. VIZ Media has annouced the debuts of it's new imprint Haikasoru's titles ALL YOU NEED IS KILL and THE LORD OF THE SANDS OF TIME to be released nationwide on July 21st.

Being called the "science fiction for the adrenaline junkie" ALL YOU NEED IS KILL is by bestselling author John Scalzi (author of Old Man's War; while THE LORD OF THE SANDS OF TIME will present time travel adventure through ancient Japan, the Second world War and the 26th Century. These two novels are the "flagship" titles for Haikasoru and the first imprint in the U.S. that is dedicated to Japanese Science fiction in translation.

After a brief hiatus the FUNimation Entertainment video portal has returned. Included in this return is the newest episode of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Available today (June 25) are episodes 10 and 11 and the debut of episode 12.

There are quite a few new back-end features that might make users pleased, which of course includes great bandwidth. As they continued to develop and implement their new features and functionality they would like users to post any issues on their forums.

Source: FUNimation Entertainment

During the the "Ani-Monday" block on the SCI FI Channel we can expect a return of Gundam 00. This was announced by Bandai Entertainment Inc. in a license with Starz Media and will take place on June 29th. Two episodes will be running each week during the 13 week run.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is the latest in the long running Gundam franchise and takes place in the year 2307 A.D. The series will be on the second season and is directed by Seiji Mizushima (Fullmetal Alchemist, Evangelion and Appleseed: Ex Machina)

The series is directed by Seiji Mizushima whose past credits as a director and
storyboard artist include Fullmetal Alchemist, Evangelion, and Appleseed: Ex Machina.

Daisuke Igarashi's manga series, Children of the Sea will be releasing on July 21st in North America. It will have a MSRP of $14.99 USD / $17.50 CAD and is rated "T+" for Older Teens.

When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her dad works. Now she feels drawn toward the aquarium and the two mysterious boys she meets there, Umi and Sora. They were raised by dugongs and hear the same strange calls from the sea as she does. Ruka's dad and the other adults who work at the aquarium are only distantly aware of what the children are experiencing as they get caught up in the mystery of the worldwide disappearance of the oceans' fish.~ VIZ Media

K-ON!'s Mio Akiyama and Yui Hirasawa have released two image song singles on Tuesday and they have rapidly rocketed to the top of the Oricon national music rankings. They took the #2 and #3 spots, respectively.

The above is Mio Akiyama's character song Heart Goes Boom
Read on to see the other video.

The next top ten weekly album ranking from Oricon survey lists Exit Tunes Presents Vocalostar feat. Hatsune Miku, a CD featuring the voice of Crypton Future Media's synthesized idol singer. Shipped on June 17 the compilation album will be on the next weekly chart which is made public on Wednesday.

The Vocalostar website is streaming samples of the music with limited animation. Two of Crypton Future Media's other virtual Vocaloid singers, Kagamine Rin and Megurine Luca also sing on the album's 17 tracks.

A previous album that featured Hatsune Miku's singing, Re:Package, sold 19,757 copies last August to rank at #5 on Oricon's weekly album chart.

Aoi Hana's Anime adaptation by Kenichi Kasai and J.C. Staff is set to debut in Japan on July 1st. (Canada day!) The official website for J.C. Staff's television anime adaptation of Takako Shimura's Aoi Hana yuri manga has begun streaming three videos on Tuesday. There is now a 15 second television commercia, a 115 second promotional video and a 38 second behind the scenes production video that can be viewed on the website's trailer section.

Aoi Hana will be directed by Kenichi Kasai of Honey and Clover, Kimikiss pure rouge, Nodame Cantabile, etc. and Fumihiko Takayama will supervise the scripts. The characters will be designed by Masayuki Onchi (Cromartie High School, Daa! Daa! Daa!, Mirmo Zibang).

In the original manga's story, Fumi and Akira were close childhood friends until Fumi had to move away. Ten years after losing touch with each other, the two girls meet again as high school freshmen. The two struggle to reconnect after so much has changed, and both deal with the trials and tribulations of high school — sometimes independently and sometimes with each other's help. - Anime News Network

Source: Anime News Network

A little bit of an odd story for you, the Yahoo! Books Japan website was listing an anime adaptation for story creator Noboru Maeda (Hurricanes) and manga artist Dan Yoshii's Ontama! manga. That was on June 19th but now the current version of the Yahoo! Books Japan website doesn't show the mention of the anime adaptation on the manga's second volume page.

Whether it is still a go or not is left in the air but according to the June 19th page the anime will be distrubted online on the Nico Nico Channel this summer. Hurricanes Maeda is a comedian who has voiced characters in the Onegai My Melody television anime series and the Netrun-mon the Movie anime video.

The manga's story centers around Ichigo, a fourth-grade girl who lives with her gentle-hearted mother and stepfather. Worried about the discord between her parents, she wishes "to meet my real father!" and she is suddenly taken before her real father in the past. Now, she tries to keep her real father and mother together while building friendships in school. This "parallel family" manga ran in Wani Books' Comic Gum magazine until this year's June issue, and the second and final compiled book

The final Shonen Jump Installment runs on Monday; final book volume in October.

The writer, Riichirou Inagaki and artist Yuusuke Murata have ended their [I]Eyeshield 21 sports manga in this year's 29th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine. The popular manga showed the young fans the American form of football and was the inspiration to a television anime series run in 2005-2008. It also inspired an event-only anime short and several games.

Viz Media is publishing the 26th volume of the manga in North America this month. The Crunchyroll website is streaming the anime series after the defunct Toonami Jetstream website had released parts of it.

Source: Anime News Network.

The Kadokawa Anime Channel on Youtube has released the trailer to Summer Wars, the new anime movie from Mamoru Hosoda, the mastermind behind TokiKake (The Girl who Leapt Through Time). The film, centering on a family dealing with the intersection of their reality and a world called Oz, is set to open in Japan on August 1st.

Source: ANN

Anime Expo® 2009 is proud to announce its latest programming addition the AX AFTER DARK program that will be hosted at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and the 24 Hour Shuttle Service Program that will also be held during the nation's largest anime and manga convention held July 2-5, 2009 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. More information can be found on the website Anime-expo.org.