Glad tidings from Anime Expo as a new Cardcaptor series is on its way. Morio Asaka is returning to direct the anime iteration of Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card. Kodansha is bringing the manga to the US, and, while it’s been almost 20 years, the enthusiasm of the fandom has not waned. The OVA deviates from the end of the second Cardcaptor movie in a major way. Sakura’s confession to Syaoran was retconned into nothing, yet hope remains. Touya and Yukito are very much together, and Eriol and Kaho are preparing to head back to England hand in hand. Syaoran gets a call from his mom telling him to return to Hong Kong. Before going back however, Syaoran makes a valiant confession to Sakura who is at a loss to respond.

FanimeCon 2014 is now in the books and while there will be much rejoicing over the most welcome absence of an infamously long registration line, it must also be noted that the convention staff was also able to succeed in other areas as well. It has been a long time since I started my quest to get into the Fanime speed dating event, but this was finally the year that I made it in. For those of you who don't know, Fanime speed dating events are usually held on days 2 and 3. You will not find the event in the general schedule, because the information (at least this year) was only found if you went through the color brochure and in the Fanime forums. Even though there was a general lack of advertisement for this event, there was a healthy turn out.

The-O Network's Stanley Fung had a chance to participate in voice actress Ayumi Fujimura's round table press panel at Sakura-Con 2013. Fujimura's numerous roles include Mineva Lao Zabi/Audrey Burne in Mobile Suit Gundam UC, Azaka Kokutou in The Garden of Sinners, Mimei in Ozma, Ayano Kannagi in Kaze no Stigma, Karada Iokawa in Living for the Day After Tomorrow, Mafuyu Oribe in The Qwaser of Stigmata, Shiro Kabuto in Shin Mazinger Shogeki! Z-Hen, Eiko Aizawa in Squid Girl, and Niche in Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee. Find out all about Fujimura's thoughts on her first trip to the United States and her favorite Sailor Scout in our press panel transcription.

After a year since the main series ended, the Tiger and Bunny movie makes its way to the US and thankfully was not simply a visual upgrade. While the movie mirrors the first two episodes, with slight alterations, the rest skipped over the mid-season arcs. The good news is that you get new material for the most part, but the bad news is that, given the movies condensed format, we did not get any expanded material on the other heroes. Kotetsu (Tiger) and Barnaby (Bunny) take center stage in the same manner as the TV series. Kotetsu, the middle aged single father, carries most of the load and is the same blue collar hero that he was in the series. Barnaby, the young hot shot ladies man, remains fixated on the criminal syndicate/secret society, Ouroboros and is as smug as ever.

If there is one thing that Fanime 2012 will be remembered for, I am going to bet the general registration line is high on many people’s lists. While I understand that there was a power outage on Thursday, it was still a great test of patience to wait in line for five and a half hours simply to hand over your money to get in on Saturday. There were more than a few families who in the end decided to forego the line and simply spend the day outside the convention. It was my first Fanime, and I am sure that given the mass of people who waited in line with me, pre-registration was likely an afterthought for newcomers. If nothing else, the staff and volunteers were for the most part gracious, though it does nothing to change the disaster that was their pitiful logistical effort. To be fair, the Fanime staff didn’t want a power outage, but poor planning meant that a lot of people who toughed out the line ended up wasting the better part of the day. If I was a parent, such a poor show of forethought would certainly dampen my enthusiasm on making Fanime an annual family outing. If nothing else, Fanime can pat itself on the back for having hammered home the point that pre-registration is the better route.

While Morning Musume can be considered to be the Japanese Menudo (in the sense that the group is more manufactured than the rest and the producer is generally the only person that has any lasting association with the ensemble group), it has hardly dampened the enthusiasm of their legions of un-named fans across the globe. Certainly they also have fans within the anime industry as Yasuhiro Nightow, of Trigun fame, felt honored to be on the same stage as them and confessed to having auditioned and failed. Even the Gundam 00 Guests of Honor, Seiji Mizushima, Yousuke Kuroda, and Yun Kouga, mused about wanting to go to the Morning Musume concert upon the completion of their ticketed autograph session.