Anime News (245)
It's that time again, and the denizens of the anime community have put together yet another chart of Winter's anime season. Fans may want to keep an on Beelzebub, a story about a delinquent who ends up with a Demon King's baby, which has been highly successful as a manga in Japan, and Haiyoru! Nyarlko which received OVA shorts earlier this year. Will update appropriately as more information is released.
To the fans across the world who have yet to hear this, Genshiken, a highly popular slice of life manga about a Japanese college otaku club, will be making a return in the December issue of Afternoon Magazine. The story roughly begins from where the original manga left off with Chika Ogiue left as President of the club. Genshiken's popularity had led to 2 anime adaptations with 12 episodes each, and a 3 episode OVA. Magazine scan with the sequel's announcement inside.
A new original animation DVD (OAD) of Kosuke Fujishima's Ah! My Goddess will be bundled with the 42nd volume of the manga. Set to release on February 23, 2011, the opening theme song will be performed by fripSide who are probably best known for their recent musical appearances in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. The comedy romance manga has been running since 1988 following the misadventures of college student Keiichi Morisato living with 3 goddesses.
Viz Cinema will be showing the recently released Miku's Day DVD / Blu-ray as Miku Hatsune LIVE! on September 18, 2010 as part of the J-Pop Summit Festival in Japantown, San Francisco.
Miku's performances have only been viewable in Japan, and its overwhelming popularity has led to an online petition for an international tour. Initially, the early performances were simple projections on screen as seen at Animelo Summer Live 2009. The later performances, including Miku's Day, were done on a transparent screen with multiple projectors which made Miku Hatsune appear to be a holographic 3D projection.
Tickets will cost $20, and all audiences apparently will receive a Miku premium poster. Copies of the concert on Blu-ray will also be available for purchase. For more information, head over to New People's page on the event description.
Anime short Cencoroll, originally produced and animated singlehandedly by Atsuya Uki in 2009, has been announced it will be getting a sequel. The story follows Yuki, a high school girl who discovers a strange shapeshifting creature named Cenco owned by her classmate, Tetsu. Popular musical group, supercell had produced the ending theme song for the short titled Love & Roll. The film has earned a Best Production Award at last year's Sapporo International Short Film Festival. Promotional image included inside.
Sega is planning both a TV drama and manga version of Kurohyou: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho to coincide with the game’s release. Both the drama and manga will feature original stories involving Tatsuya Ukyo, the game’s protagonist. While the manga will center on the Dragon Heat tournament, one of the events in the game, not much else has been revealed about either project. The drama will begin airing on October 5 and manga will debut in Weekly Young Magazine issue 42, which will hit stands September 18. More after the jump.
Another season of new anime titles is almost here, and there is definitely a little something for everyone. Arakawa Under the Bridge, To Love-Ru, Super Robot Taisen, A Certain Magical Index, and Sora no Otoshimono return with sequels which should please many prexisting fans. Bakuman and The World Only God Knows are already popular manga titles and will probably do pretty well, but will Gainax's new Panty & Stocking be as successful as the companies previous hit titles? We'll find out this October.
Akiba Blog has posted photos of some of the Comic Market (Comiket) shopping frenzy that's happening in Akihabara. Comiket, one of the largest doujinshi events in the world, is happening in Japan. Though the actual event is held at the Tokyo Big Site in Odaiba, Comiket fever runs rampant in the street of Akihabara. Many of the more popular books are available for purchase at retailers such as Toranoana, Melon Books, and at K-Books. People can also buy and sell some of the limited goods they've picked up at Comiket in Akihabara. Shoppers typically end up having to wait in line outside the store to take the elevator up to the floors selling doujinshis as shown in the second picture timestamped 16:24. Locker spaces are also available for rent (17:05). Definitely an experience all anime fans should experience at least once.
Update: Akiba Blog has posted more photos for a different day.
I was pleasantly surprised while browsing Hulu to find the Japanese drama adaptation of Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture, which is currently airing in Japan, on Hulu with the most up to date episodes. The series was original created by Ishikawa Masayuki in 2004 as a manga and received an anime adaptation in 2007. The story follows Sawaki Tadayasu who is entering his first year at an agricultural university. Sawaki is blessed with a special ability to talk and see bacteria and other micro organisms, an ability which has interested his grandfather's friend, Professor Itsuki. Fans of the series should definitely check it out. The English subtitles are provided by Funimation, and you can watch the episodes on Hulu here or at Funimation's homepage. 
We've been waiting for some time for a more complete version, but a preliminary outline of some the series that will be airing this summer in Japan is available online. A bit lackluster this season, we will update as soon as a new version is released.
Updated with version 2.
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PC adult game maker Ricotta has announced on Wednesday that the anime series Princess Lover! will be receiving an adult OVA adaptation in the form of two episodes. Character designs will be provided by Kazuya Kuroda who has worked on series such as Aki Sora, Chrono Crusade, Princess Resurrection, Sakura Wars, Spice and Wolf, and Vandread. Animation will be handled by Hoods Entertainment who has worked on the anime adaptations of Aki Sora and Seikon no Qwaser. Originally an adult PC game, Princess Lover! was adapted into an anime and manga series in 2009. The first episode will be released on September 24, and the second on October 29. Scans have surfaced online; however, due to the explicit nature, we cannot post them.
NIS America may be new to releasing anime, but they are no stranger when it comes to bundling their products with extra goodies. The company released on Wednesday some of the first pictures of their English DVD release for Toradora! and Persona -trinity soul-. Both box sets with come with 2 DVDs totalling to 13 episodes with a bonus hard cover information book filled with interviews, artwork, character summaries, and more! Interested buyers can preorder them now from NIS America's online store for a discounted $47.99 which supposedly comes with a bonus poster.
Both sets are slated to be released in early July coinciding interestingly enough with Anime Expo. We're sure NIS America has very good reasons to release then. More information on that later, pictures of the bundle inside!
Revealed on Tuesday, Gainax's Tomoyuki Uchikoga announced their newest project titled Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (Pansuto) on his twitter account. The series will be headed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, Director for Gurren Lagann, while character designs will be provided by Gurren Lagann's character designer Atsushi Nishigori. A leaked scan of the June issue of Newtype Magazine is reporting that the series will follow the adventures of two angels, the blond haired Panty and black haired Stocking, who battle ghosts on Earth. Gainax's Executive Director, Hiroyuki Yamaga will be making his yearly return to FanimeCon on May 28, and we will be sure to ask him more about the series then.
Updated with scan.
Viz Cinema in San Francisco will be premiering The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie subtitled in English from May 21 to June 5. The movie was originally released in Japan on February 6, 2010 earning 200 million yen (roughly 2.1 million USD) the first week. The film is based on Nagaru Tanigawa's light novel which has been adapted into a manga and two anime seasons. Viz Cinema had previously premiered the second Gurren Lagann movie in November 2009.