Checkpoint: Hikikomori, Love Hina, Paradise Kiss

I do believe we have a winner for the strangest news of the month! The grammar nazis from Oxford University Press have embraced the Japanese way of life word "hikikomori", as one of over 2000 new words introduced in the third edition of their "Oxford Dictionary of English", published last Thursday. Those not yet familiar with the term should immediately go watch NHK ni Youkoso (Welcome to the NHK). And so should anyone else who hasn't seen it.



Just as surprising is the upcoming return of Ken Akamatsu's Love Hina manga, if only as a special memorial one-shot manga, in celebration of the Negima! manga reaching Chapter 300 (same author and stuff). The new Love Hina manga will take 6 full-color pages in the 40th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine - out in Japan this September 1. Wouldn't be the first time that a "return of the manga" would later translate into a "return of the anime"; but this doesn't quite feel like the case, unfortunately.

Another return of sorts will also be enjoyed by the Paradise Kiss franchise: come 2011, a live-action film will adapt Ai Yazawa's manga, starring Keiko Kitagawa and Osamu Mukai in the leading roles. The news comes from Shodensha's women's fashion magazine Zipper, where the original manga was serialized between 1999 and 2003 (the anime followed in 2005, by the way).

Next up, let's see... KyoAni, sounds good? Well, regardless, KyoAni it is. The anime studio behind such over-hyped anime series as Suzumiya Haruhi, Lucky Star and K-ON! is launching its 2nd Kyoto Animation Awards competition, via a dedicated section on its official website (and in turn via ANN). Just like last year, applicants can compete in the novel, manga and scenario categories. But, unlike last year, said applicants have almost 2 extra months to polish their works, before the January 31, 2011 deadline. Maybe this way we'll see some "Grand Prizes" awarded, for a change (last time, there were none).

Moving on to some hypothetical projects, the last few days brought various newsbits about various anime / live-action / miscellaneous titles - namely Porco Rosso (Miyazaki is thinking about a sequel), Battle Angel Alita (James Cameron is still thinking about that live-action movie), and Linebarrels of Iron (this one will be involved in a "big project"; Super Robot Wars speculation abounds). Read about each of these here, there and everywhere.

On a more confident note, a Tachumaru Zukan TV anime was announced by Tatsunoko Production for October 2010, based on the same studio's project that "re-imagines some of Tatsunoko's most popular anime franchises [including Gatchaman, Casshan / Casshern, and Gold Lightan] as a newly evolved species of super-deformed animals known as "Tachuu-rui". These mysterious "Tachumaru" (Tachumals) are "small and cute", but have special fighting moves." Because if they didn't, it would be just another crappy anime. This way, at least, it will be a crappy anime with special fighting moves!

Between this, and all those dozens of run-of-the-mill anime pouring in each year, it's no wonder that the revenues of anime production companies are going down, for the second year in a row. Although, in all honesty, the rampant online piracy of anime and manga may have had something to do with that...

And to end this madness of an article on a positive note, here's a very personal message sent by a manga creator (one of many) to such a pirate (one of many) - the mangaka wishes that "the unauthorized uploader would step outside and get struck by lightning, hit by a meteorite, or some other "constructive" form of death".

Well, it's a perfectly clear, sunny day over here, with no cloud or cosmic junk on the horizon. How about over there?