While Del Ray is going to publish the 7th manga volume of Fairy Tail next month in North America, Weekly Shonen Magazine will officially announce an anime adaptation of the said title in its 31st issue, next week. The guys behind this project will be A-1 Pictures and Satelight.



So, starting this fall, we will be bound to follow in Lucy Heartfilia's footsteps, a young lady with boobs and a high appetite for magic, who desperately tries to join the world's famous Fairy Tail guild in order to blow things up using smart incantations. Once she gets in, with the help of a bunch of weirdos and tons of spellcasting, she goes on a rampage around the world, poking bad guys for the good of mankind.

Thanks ANN for the scoop.

Here is part 2 of our "Old news is so exciting" trilogy.

- AIKa Zero - the third OVA in Studio Fantasia's "low-angle, sexy action" franchise is coming our way, with a first DVD volume releasing in Japan this August 25 from Bandai Visual. Impatient fans will also be able to see it earlier, on July 6, as a special premiere on AT-X. And even more impatient fans should make sure not to miss these first ecchi screenies.

- Battle Spirits 2nd Season - more of Bandai's generic card game crap. To be ignored.

- Death Note - one year ago, plans for an American live-action movie adaptation of Death Note were being revealed. Now, at last, somebody - as in Warner Bros. - actually acquired the rights for it. They can wipe their poop-holes with them, for all we care.

- Despera - a new anime revealed by manga creator / character designer Yoshitoshi ABe (Serial Experiments Lain, Haibane Renmei), with a staff that reunites a couple of members from the Lain team. "The story centers around Ain, a 14-year-old girl who builds devices despite the lack of the scientific background required for them. The science-fiction story is set in Japan's Taishou era in 1922 - one year before the 1923 Great Kantou earthquake in the Tokyo area." Color me excited! A graphic novel version is also in the works, btw.

- Eve no Jikan (Time of Eve) - once all 6 chapters are finalized this autumn, a complete edition of this "non-hard sci-fi" anime will be released on Blu-ray and in Japanese theaters. Looking forward to that, since I kind of lost track of this randomly delayed series.

- Fresh Precure! Movie - there's no stopping Toei Animation's majikaru madness! The next Pretty Cure anime film is coming in autumn 2009. (...)

 Continue reading 'May Anime News Round-up'...

What is the most natural thing to do when your girl suffers from a mental illness? The answer seems rather obvious - you chop someone's head, make a nice spicy soup out of it, and feed it to the kid. It will surely make her feel better. Add some duck for extra taste, a bit of parental love, and there you go, you have all the ingredients required for a speedy recovery.



Well, at least that's what they seem to think in certain parts of China. The Sichuan province, to be more precise. A woman firmly believed that, by butchering a healthy head and turning it into a meal, will cure her 25-year-old daughter, who, sadly, is not that... stable. So, with the help of chichi-sama, she lured a poor old dude, got him extremely drunk (which is probably the only fun part for him in this whole story), then cut off his head, made the soup and... the rest, you know it.

She tried to get rid of the body (or whatever was left from it), but she got caught eventually, tried, and found guilty. Surprisingly, even if we are talking about China, she didn't receive the death penalty. Instead, the court decided to let her “slip” if she behaves well for two years. If she does, she will “only” get life in prison.

I just wonder if the girl is OK. If she is, and if the cure worked, I should start looking for some heads too, because, obviously, I am not sane. Thanks Sankaku Complex for the scoop.

After the rape game ban earlier this month, it was a matter of time until companies started to take action. “Thanks” to the retarded people at EOCS (Ethics Organization of Computer Software), certain groups, such as Dejipare (the digital download website for L.L.Palace), have casually removed tags, keywords and themes from the software products up for sale. Not only that, but several other materials, which include tags such as loli, student councils, or shojo, have been restricted.



The guys from minori (ef - a tale of melodies, Wind: A Breath of Heart) are being a bit more sarcastic than that, simply blocking external IPs (i.e. - those not from inside Japan), displaying a message that can be quickly summarized in something like: “Japanese or GTFO, gaijin retard”.

I expect more to come. And I would also like to personally thank EOCS for an “exquisite job well done”. I hope your moms and dads all die of cancer after being raped by 30 horny convicts with AIDS.

Thanks ANN for the scoop.

I just took a peek at this short interview with Peter Craig (screenwriter) on Anime Vice, regarding the upcoming action movie adaptation of Cowboy Bebop. As usual, these kinds of interviews share one thing in common: they tell us absolutely nothing. Not that the questions were too close to brilliant, either – only one of them actually made sense and had actually something to do with the movie itself.



The good part, at least as I see it, is the fact that Sunrise (the studio behind the anime) is not letting the script slip too much out of their hands, with the main story sticking to the original as much as possible. The bad part is that Keanu Reeves got a part in the movie, which pretty much sucks donkey balls. Let's just hope that 20th Century Kitsune-chan doesn't fuck this up (too).

Cowboy Bebop is scheduled for 2011.

This may come as a good news for some, and as a good news for others, but trust me, it is a good news – the live action movie adaptation of Akira is as good as dead. Almost literally. And the reason behind this is not the fact that director Ruairi Robinson, who was assigned to the project, left the crew at one point, nor the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was part of the cast. Well, these, too, are reasons enough, but there is more.

While the movie would have been the first “proper” directorial debut for Robinson (who also has some kind of background in short titles, plus an Oscar nomination in 2001), it may have also been his mega-lolfail debut. It is well known that even stuff like Watchmen, which seems to be something “smart” in the American sub-culture, or any other movie adaptations, prior to or post Watchmen (I'm talking here comics related stuff), were obviously lacking content. Too much pew pew, too little introspection or character development. Sure, they were flashy enough, much gore, explosions, crushing blows and the like, but... nothing more.

Warner Bros. seem to have learned their lesson when deciding to cancel Akira. Thank God. Even after this impressive amount of years since its release, this little piece of art still holds dear to me. And to many others. By making an “americanized” live action out of it, with all that Hollywood “politically correctness” bullshit, would have been an offense to every smart human being out there. Even worse, casting Leonardo DiCaprio in it. Let him stick with his Titanic gay stuff, and let us treasure our precioussss just the way it is.

Thanks Bloody Disgusting for the scoop.

...Aaaaand some bits about gaming, too, since we like them almost half as much as we love anime. If they are eroge or JRPGs, obviously. News came up that Dragon Quest IX, the latest in Square Enix's everlasting saga (well, if I think about it, all of Square Enix's sagas are everlasting, and I'm sure damn glad), will feature only one save slot.

This may not seem as a problem for those who purchase the game for themselves, but for some folks, who foolishly SHARE their DS with other members of the family (I wouldn't let anyone touch my pink DS, not in a million years), this can become quite the impediment. Multiple saving slots can also help in critical gaming moments (for the noobs), when you have to, let's say, decide if you marry the princess or rape her white little ass, or simply when you have to pick one team member over another.



Personally, I don't give a rat's ass, I have never used more than a single slot in any game (except Neverwinter Nights 2, but that was because the game was more bugged than Jack Thompson's brain), but I guess there are many who do. Ah well. Dragon Quest IX Hoshizora no Mamoribito is being released on July 11 for ze Nintendo DS. Looking forward to it, I might add.

Thanks Gigazine for the scoop.

Fans of the good ol' Macross Frontier TV series (2008) will be happy to know that Gekijo-ban Macross Frontier ~Itsuwari no Utahime~, the much anticipated movie remake, will mark its theatrical debut on November, 21. In Japan, probably.



Many things related to this production, such as cast, characters, story, music, the seyuus' bust size and many other important elements, can be found here, on the official website (Japanese reading skills required, sadly.)

From the utmost beautiful world of “if there is a game with cute little girls, then there must be an anime with cute little girls”, comes 11eyes, a TV series adaptation of Lass' 11eyes -Tsumi to Batsu to Aganai no Shoujo- PC game (adults and illegal downloaders only). Comp Ace Magazine nods its head in approval with its latest issue, announcing it officially.



Like most anime these days, the story revolves around a bunch of young kids, (and, judging from the picture, I have keenly spotted six girls already *cough* harem invasion *cough*), which are suddenly and unexpectedly teleported to a parallel fantasy world, where they will be forced to do this, that, and various other things to get back home safely. Hopefully, those other things will involve getting the girls naked.

April news in late June? Is old news exciting or what!

- Buddha - one of Osamu Tezuka's numerous manga, originally serialized in the 1970s and '80s, will be made into an anime film by Tezuka Productions - the studio carrying over the name of the late "god of manga". Premieres in "2010 or later".

- Bungaku Shoujo - an upcoming "mysterious school comedy" anime film in the works at Production I.G, based on Mizuki Nomura's light novels of the same title. You can watch this pseudo-trailer that we yanked from the official website, and ANN has the story outline. This one's got my attention.

- Fullmetal Alchemist: Blind Alchemist - a side-story OVA based on the Moumoku no Renkinjutshi manga by Hiromu Arakawa, to be bundled with the first Blu-Ray & DVD volume of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, out in Japan this August 26.

- Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora - the superb buckets-of-tear-jerking story also known as Looking up at the Half-Moon, originally a light novel and later a short anime series (among other manga / TV drama adaptations), is being made into a live-action film.

- Hetalia: Axis Powers 2nd Season - another set of 26 episodes will invade the webs and cells after the current season ends this summer.

- Isshoni Training - ichi... ni... san... shi... It's been out since April 24, but that shouldn't stop you from counting and training with Hinako still, from the comfort of your chair. Alternatively, training with Mio is fine, too. (...)

 Continue reading 'April Anime News Round-up #2'...