- New info on Suzumiya Haruhi 2 should be revealed in the July issue of the Newtype magazine (out in June), Zepy hears. This is starting to get irritating. Well, at least the Haruhi website changed its age-old front page, prompting the disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, and the appearance Yuki Nagato. Yum! Director Tatsuya Ishihara and assistant director Yasuhiro Takemoto are returning, Giapet notes.


- Archaic Smile is the next manga to be released by Evangelion manga artist and character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (and his mangaka wife Mako Takaha). It will be a two-installment manga serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comic Charge magazine this month, and the story is described as a "warm, comforting romantic comedy" revolving around a couple and a... umm... Buddha statue.

- A manga based on Luminous Arc 2 Will - the Nintendo DS game which Atlus will be releasing in Japan this May 15 - has launched in the Comic Dragon Age magazine.

- 3 more file-sharers were busted in Japan for illegally spreading anime, this time via the peer-to-peer program Share (Winny's clearly-unsecure successor). Zepy points out that these were "popular anime encoders that have encoded huge amounts of anime for p2p for a long time", so there might be a shortage of raw episodes for a while, if others will be scared shitless by these arrests.

- Shin Chan free full episode streaming on IGN. Be warned, there be English dub!

- Zwei II screenshots posted on Falcom's website, along with word that the game is coming out this summer. In 3D, huh?...

Update: A Flash-animated adaptation of the Inu-Gaisha manga started to be published online, ANN reports. The manga's author, Kenji Sonishi is better known for his Neko Rahmen manga, which was also made into a web-anime, and soon a live-action movie.

We've been putting up a brave resistance against posting stuff about Hatsune Miku in the last couple of months, even though there have been several stories (including one involving Gackt, which I will absolute not tackle). So you'll have to pardon me for this one slip, but I just couldn't resist.

As spotted on AkibaBlog, a few days ago in Akihabara there were three Hatsune Miku itasha (anime-pimped cars) parked on a back street, and left there for passers-by to drool over them. The coolest one was a "Miku GTO" brought all the way from Hiroshima, then there was a "Miku Camaro" pimped by Studio-R-san (more photos of it there), and finally a "Miku Levin" which - quite clearly - needs moar desu.



More photos on AkibaBlog.

Although the culminating episode 3 of the Strait Jacket OVA was already released on April 30, there's still more shooting and dark-fantasy / cvasi-mecha action in store. As it turns out, a 75-minute long movie version combining all three episodes will be screened in Japan, starting from June 28, and this "international version" will presumably be the format in which Strait Jacket will be released outside of Japan. Its North-American licensor, by the way, is Manga Entertainment.

The announcement was made on the official website, where after poking around for a while, I decided to grab all the old trailers that we were missing, and add them locally for your streaming pleasure. You'll find them in the anime's section. Looking good.

I must say, I'm surprised that so few votes have gone for Kanokon in our current poll so far, considering it's arguably the most ecchi anime series this season (although To Love-Ru ain't too shabby, either). But that may change once the DVD edition of Kanokon starts coming out this summer, as it's said to be even naughtier than the ongonig TV and Internet versions - at least according to this Dengeki Online story picked up by AnimeNation.

The first Kanokon DVD, containing the first two episodes, will be released in Japan on June 25, a few days after the TV broadcast will come to an end with episode 12.


Below are the covers of Volume 1, alongside some random surprise-sex screenshots. Oh, and we also added a big pink Kanokon wallpaper in our gallery. (...)

 Continue reading 'Kanokon Even More Ecchi On DVD'...

It's not too clear where said details are emerging from, since the original report from Moon Phase (via Giapet) doesn't seem to mention the source, but I'm not feeling particularly paranoid tonight, so let's go with it.

They say that the new Slayers Revolution anime will start airing this July on TV Tokyo, in a late-night spot. And as for the plot, well, here's Giapet's exact interpretation:

"Apparently the plot at least begins as a search for a replacement for Gourry's Sword of Light. Characters that I think haven't been seen in the anime before (but who are known in the novels) will appear, including Rook and Mirina. Some more familiar faces, as well: Prince Phil returns, as does Sylphiel. And apparently some kind of mascot character called Pokota, as well... no clue there."

While on the subject, as briefly mentioned a couple of days ago, the OP and ED songs for Slayers Revolution will be sung by singer / voice actress Megumi Hayashibara, who will also return as the main lead Lina.

Say, how would you feel about having a nuclear-powered U.S. Navy aicraft carrier parked in your backyard? Not too peachy, eh? Now imagine how the nuclear-phobic Japanese citizens residing near the Yokosuka naval base must be feeling about the imminent arrival of USS George Washington in their town, this August... So what does Uncle Sam do to ease their minds? He puts out a propagandistic manga, go figure!

In an alleged attempt to explain its mission to Japanese youngsters, the U.S. Navy has printed a manga about life aboard the 'Washington aircraft carrier, titled "CVN-73" (like the ship's hull number). The story itself is not new, but now Stars and Stripes (via ANN) reports that the 200-page manga is ready for distribution, as 30,000 copies have already been printed by Commander U.S. Naval Forces Japan (CNFJ).

"We're not trying to lie or state false facts. We're simply putting several key aspects of the George Washington in a format that is widely accepted in Japan", [CNFJ spokesman] Waterman said.

Sure, sure, neither was Bill Clinton trying to lie or state false facts about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Anyway, politics aside... yaaay, free manga! More about it below.

 (...)

 Continue reading 'U.S. Navy Manga Set To Invade Japan'...

Yep, it's official. The Suzumiya Haruhi Wii game that was announced last year - along with that PS2 game and a PSP game, both released back in winter - will be a dancing game, and it could come out later this year. Shock and awe.

A random Japanese blog posted a couple of Famitsu scans showing images from the game - see them here and here - and based on them, Sankaku Complex has a brief description of what it will play like.

"The latest Haruhi game for the Wii will be a dancing game, involving timing Haruhi and company's dancing with the Wiimote. (...) there will be a story mode advanced by skilful dancing, a free mode in which you can freely choose costumes, music and stage, and the dancing will be accomplished with three characters, so Kyon is unlikely to feature with Haruhi, Nagato and Mikuru on hand. Apparently, there will also be a version packaged with a figure."

Moar Haruhi dancing? In 3D? With booze? Hell yeah!

Oh, hai! The Lucky Star lolis will make a playful - albeit brief - return in a Lucky Star OVA, as reported by ANN. The first details about it are expected to explode with joy this Saturday, May 10, within the pages of Kadokawa Shoten's COMPTIQ magazine. This is the same publication in which the original Lucky Star manga has been running - a manga sold in 1.8 million copies so far, as noted in yesterday's checkpoint.

Well then... let's get busy waiting for those details...

Update: Disecting some Japanese scans, Zepy reports that the Lucky Star OVA will begin this summer, and will once again be animated by Kyoto Animation. "Haruhi in 2009 sounds more real with each passing day!", he adds. No shit.

- A trailer for episode 2 of Sora no Iro, Mizu no Iro - releasing on June 27 - was posted on Getchu (it's way too super duper NSFW to host here, even for our perverted selves). The first episode of this hentai OVA (also known as Color of Sky, Color of Water) appeared almost two years ago, but I still have a very, very vivid recollection of it...

- Bandai Visual USA announced that it will stream Super Robot Wars: OG - Divine Wars episode 1, followed by Galaxy Angel Rune episode 1, on its dot-anime website. "In just a few more weeks".

- This week marked the terminal edition of World Hobby Festival Ariake 18 Final, "the last WHF ever" as HD bluntly puts it. What's left behind is a looong string of photos and articles detailing the impressive figures shown at the event. As usual, HD did a great job chronicling it, so feel free to peruse his list of posts tagged 'WHF Ariake 18' (more to follow, presumably). Great stuff! Below is just a random sample... more flat than random, actually. And hardly safe for work, mind you.

And so it begins, at last! The Japanese video streaming website Nico Nico Douga has posted the first episode of the Candy Boy web-anime, which continues from last year's single-episode OVA. So get ready for more girl-on-girl lovu-lovu between the Sakurai twins and their pestilent persistent admirer, Sakuya.

If you don't have an account on Nico Nico Douga, and don't want to bother going through the not-so-complicated registration process, stick around for a while: we'll be adding the episode here on Animekon shortly. Meanwhile, the 10-minute Candy Boy OVA (episode 0, if you will) is still available locally.

Update: Here you go, Candy Boy episode 1.

Update #2: Replaced the raw version with the subbed one, thanks to SHiN-gx Fansubs. Same link, enjoy. I know I did.