The four panel ‘Gag Manga Biyori’ will be getting a fourth TV anime series sometime in the future. The announcement was made via a wraparound jacket on the 10^th volume of the manga. The nonsensical comedy got its first television adaptation in 2005 produced by Artland with 12 five minute episodes before getting renewed for a second season in 2006 and a third in 2008. I’m not actually familiar with this series so once again I don’t even know a proper way to make this news funny. So as I’ve done previously, I turn to my readers to be excited on my behalf. Yay?

Two more trailers (of sorts) have gone up for two summer premieres beginning next week. Starting with the series that arguably has one of the bigger buzzes going this season, a third puppet theater promotion video has been uploaded to the official site. If you’ve watched the first two puppet theater PVs than you’re already pretty familiar with how this one plays out but it’s still cute to see. The new season of Spice and Wolf premieres July 8^th.

In other summer premiere news, two new trailers have gone up for Bakemonogatari which premieres this weekend. In the fifteen second trailer, a little bit of character animation is shown while the thirty second trailer shows basically all of the same character animation plus some more. Additionally, on the official site an interview with series director Akiyuki Shinbo and producer Atsuhiro Iwakami. In the interview, the two reveal that the series will actually be fifteen episodes instead of the usual thirteen. Because Japanese television generally only allows a series a 13 week block, the plan is now to air 12 episodes on television and then stream the final three for free on the website.

Ooh and let the AX mayhem begin! The license announcements are starting already with Funimation announcing via Twitter this morning that they have licensed the series ‘Seeds of Destruction’ (World Destruction: Sekai Bokumetsu no Rokunin) from Sega. The thirteen episode series is based on the game of the same name and originally aired last summer in Japan. No details have been made available regarding cast or crew but the series is currently scheduled for a spring 2010 release.

If you’re wondering if you should be excited about this one I’m going to give that a resounding yes even if I haven’t seen it yet. Just a quick glance at an info page will tell you everything you need to know though: The animation was produced by Production I.G., cast members include Maaya Sakamoto, Daisuke Ono and Yu Kobayashi, the director is Shunsuke Tada (who also served as episode director on a little series called ‘Prince of Tennis’ before directing a couple of the OVAs himself)… you’re getting the idea.

Also revealed by Funimation this morning via Twitter are cast/crew credits for their upcoming release of ‘El Cazador de la Bruja’:

Ellis - Maxey Whitehead

 Nadie - Trina Nishimura

Blue-Eyes - Clarine Harp

Douglas Rosenberg - Ian Sinclair

Ricardo - Bob Carter

Lirio - Monica Rial

L.A. - Jamie McGonnigal

Dr. Heinz Schneider - Christopher Bevins

Line Producer/ADR Director: Christopher Bevins

ADR Scripts: Andrew Rye & Christopher Bevins

Fans of the classic ‘Fist of the North Star’ series take note for Sentai has announced their latest license. The latest in the Sentai  Filmworks licensing spree (this makes at least eight license announcements this year with many more sure to follow) is ‘Legend of the Dark Kings: A Fist of the North Star Story’ (Hokuto no Ken Raoh Gaiden: Ten no Haoh). ADV PR Rep Chris Oarr revealed to ADV Nation that the thirteen episode series will be released in one subtitle only box set on September 15^th.  Originally airing last year from October to December, the series follows Raoh in a time before the original ‘Fist of the North Star’ story begins. RightStuf has already listed the set for preorder.

For fans of the Negima series who are anxiously awaiting the new OVA, good news for you. A new two minute trailer has gone up on the official website which shows a pretty wide range of action and character shots. The new OVA will be released with the 27^th volume of the manga on September 17^th with three more volumes of the anime being shipped out with future volumes.

Though they haven’t officially announced it yet, Crunchyroll has revealed by creating two pages that at least two series will be simulcast this season. First up for the website will the yuri drama Aoi Hana. The series follows two teen girls who attempt to reestablish their friendship in high school after being separated as children. The first episode of the series will be premiering at noon today Pacific (3pm Eastern).

The second series to apparently be simulcast on the website is the magic comedy Yoku Wakaru Gendai Maho. The series premieres on the 11^th but no official simulcast state date has been listed on the page. Based on the light novels, the series follows a high school girl as she becomes the apprentice for a powerful older female magic user.

Well, forget what I said about news coming in slowly as two new anime have been announced just this morning! Well, ok technically they aren’t two new anime but you’re getting the idea. First up, yet another version of Evangelion 1.0 is slated to air on Japanese television this Friday. I say that this is ‘another version’ because all of the listings for the airing mention how unedited it is. The official website even says that fans who already own the DVD or Blu ray copy should watch. NTV Producer Nozumu Takahashi has even been quoted saying “If you watch until the very end, you will definitely notice something different.”

My turn; again with this? We get it, Evangelion is a cash machine but isn’t this at least three versions of the movie within just a few months time? Though I’m sure Takahashi is telling the truth: Evangelion 1.0; now featuring 30 seconds of new footage at the end that annoys fans who sat through the entire movie again just to see it.

Finally, the hit comedy To Love-Ru will be getting a new three episode OVA later this year. ANN is reporting that the new issue of Weekly Shonen Jump will announce the OVA on Monday. No details are available regarding production but it is known that one episode will ship with the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th manga volumes. That means episode 1 gets released on November 4^th, episode 2 is out February 4^th next year and the conclusion will be out April 2^nd. Those dates can always change though.

Hello, I'll Be Your Android Today

With Anime Expo right around the corner, news this week is going to be painfully slow. But, since I am another member of the ‘Not Going to AX’ club I will report on whatever I can find regardless. A couple of release dates were announced today however so that’s something, right? First up in anime news, the seventh movie in the long running Precure franchise has finally had some details revealed via the official homepage. The full title of the movie will be ‘Fresh Precure! Omocha no Kuni wa Himitsu ga Ippai!?’ (Fresh Precure! Big Secret of the Toy Kingdom) and will see a theatrical premiere on October 31^st.

Moving in a completely opposite direction from cute magical girl anime, a release date has also been announced for the hotly anticipated new dating sim, Dream C Club. Revealed on the official website (don’t forget to tell them you’re pure of heart, they’ll believe you); the XBOX 360 game will be released on August 27^th. Also revealed on the website are two additional characters including an android character named Airi.

So unless you live in Japan, chances are you’re one of the many who haven’t seen Evangelion 2.0 yet. It just opened this past weekend in Japan and hosted standing room only crowds all over the country. For the rest of us however, Affenheim Theater has posted two more trailers for the movie. Finally fans get their view of Mari Illustrious!

So, this last one isn’t really a trailer but I think everyone will forgive me anyway. Kadokawa has posted the new Haruhi episodes to their YouTube page with English subtitles. Only the first eight episodes have been posted but if you do the math that does mean one brand new Haruhi episode (Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, embedded below). Free and streaming! If the world made sense all the time, you could count on Kadokawa to upload the rest of the episodes at a later date. This has been kind of an interesting year though so let’s just enjoy what’s been posted so far and not think about the rest just yet.

While trailers were light this weekend, new anime announcements sure have been flying around left and right! Starting with the new announcements; just tonight the Natsu no Arashi website has announced that a second season will air this fall. No further details were given for the sequel series. But that makes four spring series that have gotten second season announcements.

Now, you can argue for Queen’s Blade and Sengoku Basara; both of those are series that found their audience. But Natsu no Arashi and Asura Cryin get sequels? We can do better people.

In other new anime announcements, a new fall premiere has been announced via the newest issue of Shonen Jump magazine (source: Moetron). The latest series to get a fall premiere is a fantasy story called ‘Fairy Tail’ which centers on a sorceress named Lucy and another adventurer named Natsu performing missions for the Fairy Tail guild. The animation will be produced jointly by A-1 Pictures and Satelight which means that one can expect at least a very pretty fantasy series.

Finally, ANN reported tonight that a new anime project for the ecchi comedy Kanokon is in the works. No word on if it will be another TV series or if it will be in an OVA form but I’ll keep everyone posted. The only details made available so far is that Atsushi Ootsuki will be making his debut as a series director (he’s previously directed episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist and PetoPeto-san) while Xebec will be producing the animation. No release date was announced for the new project.

For those keeping track, that makes at least five fall premieres that have been announced so far. Quick aside one more time, I know that I’m not the only one who has noticed a lack of enthusiasm this season for new anime. Beyond a small handful of titles, it seems that there is little that anyone (including production studios) is getting excited about here. Has the entire summer season basically been written off already by everyone?