After previously delaying it's launch, Geneon stated recently that their Hellsing Ultimate and Hellsing Ultimate Limited Edition (volume 2) will actually see the light of the day (and probably the yucky inside of a PC near you) somewere around June 12th. This year. However, according to ANN, this is only an "early solicitation date", not the official release plans - and due to this, it may change as quickly as Geneon can change their panties. Eh, well, at least fans know now when this baby is coming out. At least, in theory.

Coming from the universe of Suzumiya Haruhi - The Madness Within, is yet another piece of fascinating news. Japanese actress Sawai Maho who, incidentally, owns a blog that is plundered with no remorse by her avid fans, mentioned on February 23rd something about a possible live action drama adaptation, that will begin filming next week. The said damsel is to play the role of Ryoko Asakura, the bitch-like humanoid interface that tries to stab Kyon with a knife, after he manly refuses to rape her pretty ass in the classroom. Rumors started late last year about a 6 episode TV drama that was supposed to start airing this summer, but they were quickly retracted and stamped as pure speculation. Of course, the official word on this is yet to confirm, nor deny it, so I wonder just how many faps per day are the Suzumiya fanboys doing, thinking about this movie.

Last year we mentioned about a certain Clannad lovu-lovu game being animated into a feature length movie, by Toei Animation. That much is still true, but ANN has a few more lolicious details about it. Nevermind that the movie will premiere in Japan this summer - what really caught my eye is the following bit:

"The original game was released under the "Key" brand, who also developed the popular dating sims Kanon and Air. Dezaki Osamu will direct the film. Character designs will be done by Kadonosono Megumi, who also worked on the series Kiddy Grade."

Kiddy Grade, you don't say... As in, that same Kiddy Grade that's getting a sequel? Well, don't mind if I drool right about now. Especially considering that the Clannad game was released under the same brand as Air and Kanon, and Toei's team of animators recently delighted us with the oh-so-moe slice-of-life anime Binbou Shimai Monogatari. What more could you ask for? How about a pink umbrella?

We all know trojans are fun and entertaining - at least from their creator's point of view. These dudes often find mindblowing ways to express their emotions - and thus, the trojan's message - like a pink bunny rabbit bouncing around your screen, screaming from the top of his lungs "Die Terrorists Die". This time, the Japanese P2P apps and file sharing networks got themselves a new challenge, in the likes of Trojan.Pirlames, a small little virus that violently infests stuff like Winny or Share. Undercovered as a cute and harmless screensaver, the trojan usually displays, upon execution, a screenshot from Kanon, with an evil text message: "Even though Mr Kaneko was found guilty, you are still using Winny. I really hate these kinds of people". Mr. Kaneko is the creator of Winny, it seems, and someone is really pissed of file sharing networks. Thank God this stuff doesn't use naked Hazuki-chan images, I'd probably open multitasking sessions of it.

Blue Dragon was very well received by the X360 fanboys all over Japan. In fact, it's a game that deserves all our appreciation - and, what you know, it's not going to be released in Europe. Yet. Eh well, if we still want a taste of what it (almost) feel like, we still have the upcoming anime - anime that will begin airing somewere on 7th April, with a preview trailer smashing lolis around the world on 1st March. In the meantime, here is the first image from the series: it looks cute and it has three little girls in it. I DEMAND FOUR! NAKED!

ANN has posted the results for the first American Anime Awards. Some of them categories are actually pretty fair, despite the hilarious nominees we whitnessed some time ago. Others are not. Others are just plain old lol. Anyway, here is the complete list, in all it's splendor. Do not laugh too much, at least Akira didn't win the Best Comedy thinghy it was nominated for.

Best Cast: Fullmetal Alchemist
Best Manga: Fruits Basket
Best Male Actor in a Comedy: Dave Wittenberg (Zatch Bell)
Best Actress in a Comedy: Debi Derriberry (Zatch Bell)
Best Theme Song: Rewrite (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Best Anime Feature: Final Fantasy 7 - Advent Children
Best Package Design: Fullmetal Alchemist
Best Anime Comedy: FLCL
Best Actress: Mary Elizabeth (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG)
Best Anime Short Series: FLCL
Best Anime Long Series: Fullmetal Alchemist

Lifetime Achievement Award: Peter Fernandez.

Update: ANN remembered they missed one, so here it is:

Best Actor: Vic Mignogna (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Following either an unexpected hype from the loving and horny fan communities, either an unexpected package of hate from the pitchforks_at_hand opposition, Rozen Maiden, the lolicious show filled with cute, yet deadly underaged dolls, is making it's way to the PS2 in a full fledged fighting game, entitled Rozen Maiden: Geppetto Garden. On March 22nd, avid slaves of Suiseiseki and Co. will have to empty no less than 7.140 yen for the retail, regular version, while the special version, including a limited edition timepiece, will fly around 9.240 yen. We still don't know if this game will (ever) be localized in Europe (and why not, there are certainly lots of desu freaks here too), but I, myself, am hoping for some Hina Ichigo pantsu DVD special naked edition to follow up soon. The folks over at Goo are currently hosting some screenies, if you care to take a look. Meanwhile, I shall go and desecrate someone's Rosa Mystica, just for the sake of it, and you can do your thing watching killer desu-chan here.

Putting together "Shonen Jump" and "dying" in the same title does not bode well for manga fans, I imagine. But fear not, this isn't about the Weekly Shonen Jump, nor about the American one - two of its more popular variations. As ANN reported last night, Japanese publisher Shueisha will cease publication of their Monthly Shonen Jump magazine this summer, due to poor sales. And by "poor sales", they mean about 380,000 copies a month (and to think that I used to write for a magazine that couldn't even sell 20,000 copies a month... and that's actually great where I come from!).

The last (July) issue will hit newsstands on June 6, and around that same time Shueisha will reportedly start a new magazine. It's not yet known what manga titles it will feature, but it will probably take over some of those from Monthly Shonen Jump - which is currently serializing titles such as Claymore, Beet the Vandel Buster, Kotokuri, Kuroi Love Letter, Anoa no Mori, and Gag Manga Biyori.

Other than Claymore, none of these ring a bell. And even that one, I'm not particularly familiar with, so no tears shed here. Then again, we wouldn't cry even if the Naruto manga from Weekly Shonen Jump were to be terminated. On the contrary! Anyway, a Claymore anime series is currently in the making at Madhouse, and it should premiere in April. So I doubt they'll terminate the manga anytime soon (probably gonna be moved to that new magazine).

Today I've been doing some catch-up with several recent trailers that I had missed during the last week. Nothing big: just a few anime clips and Japanese promos, and some gaming trailers worthy of mentioning here on Animekon - plus many more not related to Japan's loli media culture, that I'll be posting on our imouto web-chan TVkon from tomorrow on. Until then, here we go:

Witchblade trailer

The sample above (featuring a desperate loli with a pink backpack - I dare you say "no" to that!) is our first Witchblade trailer, shamelessly snagged from FUNimation's newly opened English website dedicated to said anime series. There was also a wallpaper there, but we took that one as well.

As for the rest of today's trailers, here they are, in no particular order:

Gaming
- Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings trailer
- Shining Force EXA fortress trailer
- Valhalla Knights PSP trailer
- Fire Emblem Wii trailer (Japanese)

Anime
- Reideen trailer #3
- Reideen trailer #4
- Murder Princess promo

Update: Kung-Fu Love was also added today, this being the third animation from Studio 4°C's "Amazing Nuts!" mind-blowing collection.

In all this excitement - what with Today in Class 5-2 episode 3 and everything - I nearly forgot to point out our latest trailer from TVkon. It's been out for a while now, but I felt morally impelled to mirror it, since it's an absolute noselbeeder, whether you're into Haruhi, Yuki, or Mikuru... or all of them at once.

The trailer is the special version of the Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu ending dance, that was released with the DVD. And even though I'm not much of a dancer myself (to say the least), this is one dance I might just bother to learn. I already learned all the moves and everything, now all I gotta do is unstuck my ass from this chair - an epix quest indeed...

Suzumiya Haruhi special dance ED