Checkpoint: Fractale, Infinite Stratos, Koihime

Last update - Jan 19, 14:38 GMT (09:38 EST, 06:38 PST)

"You bullshit producer!", cries out Azuma Hiroki, the original story writer of Fractale. All the while fans of the original art style are perplexed (to say the least) by the ongoing anime's brutally re-designed characters. The TV anime series Fractale began airing last Friday and, much to the surprise of... well, everyone, its lead female characters look nothing like in the manga and light novels that it adapts. Purple hair or GTFO!




The TV anime series Infinite Stratos that began airing this month was one of this season's last few unlicensed titles... until now. Sentai Filmworks picked it up yesterday and will be releasing its 12 episodes in a yet-to-be-announced format, at a yet-to-be-announced time.


MangaGamer's English release of Koihime Musou has been delayed yet again, this time to February 28. Most of the blame fell on "testers failing to grasp the size of the project (...) and thus starting their work late", but also due to some nasty bugs. And there's still the issue of this version having no voices, allegedly until sales are high enough to allow them to license those as well (i.e. never?). Not to mention that this change of schedule also pushes back their release of Zaishuu: The SiN (Guilty: The SiN) by two weeks, from March 1 to March 14.


A Pretty Rhythm TV anime series was announced tonight, based on Takara Tomy's rhythm / fashion arcade game for girls, called Pretty Rhythm Mini-Skirt. You can see how the game works on its official website, where it's demonstrated in video by two lolis playing it (OMG is that Kaneko Miho?!... oh, nope, just wishful thinking...). The anime begins this April.


A Japanese man accused of having recorded just the audio from two films in a Nakano theater last November has been charged by Nakano City's central police station, for having broken two laws (a recently passed one against hidden recording devices in movie theaters, and Japan's Copyright Act) - indeed, without having recorded any video, just the audio, "for his own personal listening enjoyment". One of the films in question was last September's Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Movie.


Update: Neogaf has a list with the top 100 games of 2010, as compiled by Famitsu based on sales in Japan. Pokemon Black & White for the Nintendo DS rules supreme, with nearly 5 million units sold there last year!


Update #2: Mamoru Oshii is writing a light novel version of Seraphim: 266,613,336 Wings (Seraphim: 2-Oku 6661-Man 3336 no Tsubasa), which will be published in spring 2012. Oshii originally created the concept for this story which takes place after the world has been ravaged by "tenshi-byou" (angel disease), and then asked Satoshi Kon to make a manga of it - which he did, between 1995-1996. However, as of Kon's death last August, the story remains incomplete...