Archive for August, 2009

Alright, before I say the following phrase I want everyone to repeat after me: This is unconfirmed. This is entirely a rumor started on 2ch which may or may not have any sort of basis in reality. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way I can say this without fear; Live Action K-ON. No wait… come back!

What? No Azu-nyan???

<Via Sankaku Complex>

I’m hoping that this particular trailer roundup will be getting an update later today (or tonight when I get home from work). For now though, two new trailers are up for fans including one that I KNOW at least a small segment of you have been waiting days to see. So, let’s do away with the suspense right away and just get right into the long (?) awaited trailer for the upcoming ‘Black Rock Shooter’:

The trailer itself was taken over the weekend at C3xHOBBY in Japan so sorry for the poor quality. Honestly, I’m still not 100% sure what this release is going to be. It has been confirmed that the anime will not be a series about Hatsune Miku though it will feature her voice. As more details are released I’ll be sure to fill everyone in but for now, just keep that in mind while you’re watching the trailer.

A second trailer was released today for those of you who either don’t care about Hatsune or want to see something for the upcoming fall season. A second trailer has begun streaming from the official website for Darker Than Black: Ryusei no Gemini. The second season picks up where the first left off with Hiei and Yin as fugitives while introducing new character, Suo Pavlichenko. Unfortunately the new trailer is only 15 seconds long so I still think you’re better off just watching the ‘Black Rock Shooter’ trailer a few more times instead. The new season of Darker than Black premieres in October.

<Via Anime Vice, ANN>

The Story

Picking up shortly after the climax of the first half, Juliet is taken prisoner by Montague and sentenced to a public execution. Narrowly escaping, the two lovers will be forced apart with Juliet going into hiding and Romeo being sentenced to exile by being forced to take over the labor mines. Now leading separate paths, the two spend their time working towards creating a new world that they can live in together. 

After learning their own harsh lessons about life and loss, the two will be brought together again in Neo Verona. Now ready to lead the people to a new future, Juliet returns to give the city a new birth while Romeo and Tybalt have revenge on their minds. In the middle of all of this, Juliet will finally learn the truth about the mysterious Escalus and the one who keeps watch over it. Always remember though, Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy and this is no exception.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not a moron (despite evidence to the contrary); I have known about anime postage stamps in Japan. What I didn’t realize is that the postal system in Japan has been releasing series of anime themed stamps for the last few years. In 2005-2006, for example, the Japanese postal system released a series of stamps featuring Pokemon, Gundam and Galaxy Express 999. Shonen Jump even celebrated their 50^th anniversary with a sheet of stamps featuring their characters back in 2005.

Here in 2009 it’s a new world and time for new characters to be debuted! Two series have already been featured in stamp form this year (Detective Conan in April and Gegege no Kitaro in February) and already another is set to debut. In October, the featured characters being released on stamps in Japan will be from the hugely popular, Naruto Shippuden. The stamps are going to be released on October 23^rd and are unfortunately only available in Japan (naturally). If you do have an extreme fetish for both anime and stamps, this collection and others can be purchased directly from the Japanese postal system or a reliable proxy system for a mere 800 yen.

I’m not suggesting that I am going to go out and purchase stamps just because they have Naruto characters on them. I don’t even like Naruto and I’m more of an email kind of a guy anyway. For those of you who do still collect stamps, would a sheet of anime stamps be a prize in your collection?

<Via Akibanana>

Between the day job and trying to catch up on reviews, there wasn’t a lot of time to report on news this week. It was a relatively quiet week but there are still a few things that managed to slip past my radar.

HIGHS

Black Rock Shooter Anime: If you’re a fan of anime or Japanese music you’ve probably heard the name Miku Hatsune. The virtual pop idol has managed to maintain a successful career for longer than many real world idols and is only getting bigger. It was announced earlier this week that Hatsune’s single “Black Rock Shooter” will be getting its own anime feature next spring. The anime won’t be about Hatsune herself but will feature her voice.

Memories of Nobody Aires on Adult Swim: It seems that the only real place to go for cartoons on Cartoon Network anymore is Adult Swim. This isn’t about lamenting Toonami though; this is about Memories of Nobody making its television premiere. On September 5^th , Adult Swim will be airing the first Bleach movie titled ‘Memories of Nobody’. Viz Media gave the movie a US theatrical premiere via Fathom Events a couple of years ago before eventually releasing it to DVD.

Fault! Gets Two Part OVA (NSFW): Despite being only released a couple of months ago, tennis themed eroge ‘Fault!’ will be getting a two part OVA starting in November. No details about the cast were reveled but it will be produced by Cottondoll. Speaking of eroge, JAST USA also put up a new update to their site revealing that Downhill Nights has gone ‘Golden Master’

Afro Samurai Wins Emmy: Alright, so it’s not a “real” Emmy but Shigemi Ikeda did walk away with the award for “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation’. The award goes to the art director for Afro Samurai: Resurrection giving the release its first Emmy. Good momentum going into the real primetime awards in which the release is nominated for ‘Outstanding Animated Program’

LAMES 

AkibaBlog Discontinues English Feed: LAME! Where else am I going to get all the latest info about what odd marketing stores in Akihabara are using to push the latest moe series?

Astro Boy Trailer: Cora looks absolutely terrible and did they really give Astro Boy machine guns in his ass? Do I have to be the one to make a joke about ‘Mexican food goes through Astro Boy like a bullet’ joke to point out how lame of an idea that was?

Fan Attempts to Sell Limited Edition EVA Phone: Now, before I get mail or comments from people telling me to lie off let’s analyze this. The seller was selling a limited edition Japanese cell phone, nothing wrong with that. Great way to make a couple of extra dollars… or in this case, an extra $1,500. Let’s try lowering that price a little before we try to fleece otaku ok?

SINGLE OF THE WEEK

Since I’m thinking of writing an article about this series in the next few days, I’ve chosen the new ED single for fantasy series ‘Tears to Tiara‘ as this week’s single of the week.

Weeping Alone – Aira Yuuki

PRODUCT YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED

Moe keyboards! At $100 a pop it’s hard to imagine me adding this item to my collection. Stupid limited time offer! Regardless, this is an awesome keyboard that I could really enjoy getting my hands on.

Well, it’s about 30 minutes to midnight and I am more than ready to call this a week. Be sure to check out next week’s edition of ‘Highs and Lames’. Got a comment, feedback or question? Leave it in the comments below.

Two trailers are out today; first up is for the upcoming fantasy series ‘Nyan Koi!‘ about a high school boy with a cat allergy put under a curse. While walking home one day with his crush, he kicks a can which hits the local cat guardian deity. As punishment, he can now understand cats and must grant the wishes of 100 cats or else he’ll be turned into a cat himself. The new trailer is only about a minute long and goes more out of its way to introduce character designs than story. I’m not particularly excited about this one but it has potential to be fun regardless. The new series premieres on October 1^st.

The second trailer today is more fun than anything else. In November, AQ Interactive will be releasing ‘Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jan’ for the PSP which is a new mahjong game featuring the Higurashi characters. The game does feature an animated introduction sequence though and does a great job of making this look like one bloody tile game. If you have an extra minute or two, it’s worth checking out for Higurashi fans.

<Via ANN, Anime Nation>

It’s been a very busy week in Oregon; KumoriCon is only a week away and there still lots of prep work to do. This is my first Oregon con so it’s going to be a lot of fun (if you see me at the con, say hi! I’ll be cosplay all weekend but I won’t be hard to miss). Regardless, a small pile of trailers have found their way online this week so let’s get right down to it…

The first 39 second trailer for ‘Sex Pistols’ has begun streaming from the animate.tv site. Based on the science fiction boys love series…

Science fiction boys love? Alright, that’ll work.

The story follows a high school boy who finds out that he belongs to a special group of humans. Instead of evolving from primates, these humans evolved from animals such as bears and leopards.

So it’s a furry boys love series that also teaches evolution? Hello, religious right on the line 2.

The trailer isn’t particularly graphic or anything but I would still probably not watch it at work. Unless your co-workers are really into that sort of thing in which case knock yourself out. The first volume of the two volume OVA will be released in this winter.

In the ’stuff I won’t be seeing with everyone else in September’, a third 35 second Cencoroll commercial has begun streaming on the official website. The movie, made almost entirely by Atsuya Uki, will make its US premiere at New York Anime Festival next month.

Finally, three preview clips have been posted to the official website of the upcoming series ‘Winter Sonata’. Premiering on October 17^th, the series adapts a very popular Korean live action drama about the misfortune and woe that surrounds a boy and girl after they leave high school and enter adulthood. The series was hugely popular upon its release in Japan and will feature the two main actors from the live action reprising their roles.

For those who have the time on your hands the episode 0 previews come in three minute, two minute and one minute versions. If you don’t have six minutes to spare, they all essentially show the same preview footage. There are minor changes such as which songs are featured at the end but the animation is pretty much the same no matter which way you go.

The animation in this one doesn’t look half bad but this also looks like some very heavy drama. Chances are this one isn’t going to grab me unless it does something amazing early on. Are you going to be giving any of these a chance?

<Via ANN>

Gundam Wedding in Odaiba Draws Crowd

In an update to a post I put up earlier this week, a wedding did take place at the Gundam statue in Odaiba a few hours ago and Shibuya246 has awesome pics of the entire event. It was a rousing success and the couple looked like they were having the time of their lives all the way through. Out of all the applicants, the couple chosen wasn’t mentioned by name but they do have a newborn daughter named after a Gundam character. I’d really like to see the couples who were the runners up! The only thing that sucks about the event is that it looks like it was a really quick affair, no minister presiding over the event or even an exchanging of vows. The couple approached, bowed, and exchanged rings. At least the groom got to wear cosplay. 

So let’s talk hypothetically here, under dream conditions like this could you be talked into an otaku wedding? It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Gundam wedding, what about a dream Sailor Moon Neo-Tokyo wedding? Or you could go the subtle Yuki Uchida route and just wear cosplay while you get married.

<Image, Story via Shibuya246>