A little over a month after its Japanese premiere this June 26, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance will already be screened for Western audiences. That, is the good news. The bad news is that by "Western" I mean "German", as said screening will take place in Bonn, Germany at their local Animotion Filmfestival. According to the event's presentation (via Affenheimtheater), Animotion is part of a larger convention called AnimagiC, and it will take place between July 31 and August 2.



Several other anime films will also be shown there: Afro Samurai: Resurrection, Piano Forest (Piano no Mori) and Summer Days with Coo will add to the already laudable showing of Evangelion 2.0 - which will feature the original Japanese audio with English subtitles.

As happy as we are for them Germans, we can't help but wonder when similar screenings will happen for English-speaking fans. (...)

 Continue reading 'Evangelion 2.0 Screening With English Subs'...

Last year's fighting game Fate/unlimited codes - originally for the arcades and more recently for the PlayStation 2 console - is also getting a PSP version, aptly titled Fate/unlimited codes Portable. That much has been known for some time, but according to a Dengeki article today, the handheld port's final release date is now set for June 18, 2009.



Fate/unlimited codes is mostly a 3D fighting game, with some adventure elements. It was developed by Cavia and Eighting based on Type Moon's more popular Fate/stay night eroge. Capcom first released 'codes in Japan for the arcades in June 2008, and the PS2 port followed in December.

The PSP version (...)

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Sorry for giving you false hopes by using "joint" and "free" in the same title, but it's not like that. You may recall us writing about various new manga titles coming this spring from famed mangaka Rumiko Takahashi (Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, Urusei Yatsura). Well, the least exciting of them - titled My Sweet Sunday and co-authored with fellow mangaka Mitsuru Adachi - has been posted online here for free viewing ("in the linked page, select the yellow button labeled "読む" on the lefthand side", as ANN advises).



My Sweet Sunday was recently published in Weekly Shonen Sunday, to mark the magazine's 50th anniversary issue. This one-shot manga mashes together various characters from the two authors' previous works, including this one who looks strikingly similar to Chi-chan (yours truly's favorite Ichigo Mashimaro loli). Publisher Shogakukan will leave the manga online for free perusal May 24.

As for the new manga series by Rumiko Takahashi, (...)

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That's a first. It's hard enough to come by official releases of low-profile Japanese games (eroge come to mind) outside of Japan. But when the niche is squeezed even tighter than a loli, down to fan-made / doujin games, the Western market is pretty much void. Not for much longer, though, because recently formed game publisher Rockin' Android is taking a chance with 5 doujin games, which they plan to release in America and Europe starting from summer 2009.



All 5 titles are side-scrolling, shooting / fighting action games for the PC: Suguri Perfect Edition, Gundemonium Collection, Flying Red Barrel: A Diary of a Little Aviator, Qualia, and Miku Miku. Only two of them (Suguri and Gundemonium) will be released for direct retail sale, while the others will be exclusively available as download-only titles.

The first one to hit shops on June 30 will be Suguri Perfect Edition. Its DVD package will actually include two complete games (Suguri, and Acceleration of Suguri), plus (...)

 Continue reading '5 Doujin Games Licensed For America, Europe'...

A new Saki preview was shown last week at the Tokyo Anime Fair, and after decrying the lack of a proper version online for some time, today we finally have it. With the latest update of the upcoming mahjong anime's website, comes this TAF 2009 trailer showing quite a bit of new footage from Saki.



As one of Gonzo's only four anime offerings for 2009, I'm awaiting the start of this series on April 6 with above-average interest. Keeping most of my hopes for Shangri-La - which is also starting on the same day.

A new Haruhi game for the Wii titled Suzumiya Haruhi no Heiretsu is being released tomorrow (March 26), bringing the grand total of officially released Suzumiya Haruhi games to 4. Previously, the franchise spawned a PSP visual novel at the end 2007, a PS2 adventure in early 2008, and a Wii music game this January. Another one for the DS will be released in May, and I'm not counting here the various doujin games such as Suzumiya Haruhi no Chourantou.



Suzumiya Haruhi no Heiretsu (The Parallel of Haruhi Suzumiya) was developed by SEGA as a visual novel / adventure game, and it boasts a "completely new story" that takes place on a cruise ship, apparently playing the same day over and over again, with more-or-less-subtle changes. The characters are animated in 3D, with full voice support from the anime's seiyuus. So perhaps this is what Aya Hirano was talking about, when she said she was "really happy to be able to voice Haruhi again", amidst the latest Haruhi 2 anime confusion this month?

Below are the latest screenshots from this new Wii game (...)

 Continue reading 'Suzumiya Haruhi no Heiretsu, 2nd Wii Game Out'...

Another bare-bones quickie from Canned Dogs: looks like the newly announced anime spin-off To Aru Kagaku no Railgun already has an approximate release date set for October 2009 - according to this scan from the Dengeki Daioh magazine.



To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun) is originally a spin-off manga derived from the To Aru Majutsu no Index novels, which were already animated last autumn with great moe success. Its 24th and final episode aired just last week, and today the 3rd DVD / Blu-ray volume is being released in Japan.

P.S. And so is the 3rd DVD volume of the Toradora! anime, on a totally unrelated note.

It turns out that last night's story about that Devil on G-string manga adaptation based on Akabei Soft2's wicked eroge was just the titillating tip of the iceberg. Aside from that, 6 other manga have also been advertised to begin serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Comp Ace magazine, starting with its July issue (out in May).



So then, here's the (full?) list of new manga titles, via ANN.

- Shin Strike Witches (New Strike Witches, tentative title)
- Canaan
- Shin Koihime Musou (True Koihime Musou)
- The Devil on G-string (G-senjou no Maou)
- Summer Wars Gaiden (Summer Wars Side Story, tentative title)
- Angel Magister
- Valkyrie Complex

Most of the above titles are originally based on games: (...)

 Continue reading 'Strike Witches, Canaan, Koihime, More New Manga'...

Now this is what I call teasing. It's not particularly exciting to announce an anime's title, staff & cast with no visual goodies on the side, but do it the other way around, and you've got yourself a hype. And a well deserved one, judging by the artwork below - one of two pictures posted on Studio Fantasia's freshrely refreshed website. In other words, they're working on a new project, and by the looks of it / her, it's a new Stratos 4 anime (her being Mikaze Honjou from the Stratos 4 series).



Studio Fantasia's most recent animation work could be seen in last year's Crystal Blaze (Glass Maiden). Although their history goes back over 20 years, they're best known for some of their latter titles - including (...)

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The official website for the upcoming TV anime Sora no Manimani has renewed itself today, bring the usual moonruned details about the staff, cast, characters and story, along with this nice-looking debut trailer. Which is also high-res enough to be worth grabbing some stills out of it, further down below. The anime is in the works at Studio Comet, with a July 2009 debut in mind.



As announced last month, the anime adapts Mami Kashiwabara's astronomy-themed school / romance / comedy manga Sora no Manimani. In it, "Saku Ooyagi returns to his old town after seven years and becomes reacquainted with a childhood friend, the ever-boisterous Mihoshi Akeno; but the reunion is far from merry since his last piece of memory between them is of her falling off a tree and him diving to save her. Regardless, Mihoshi focuses her all into improving their tattered relationship and forces Saku to join her astronomy club." (...)

 Continue reading 'Sora no Manimani Anime Website, Trailer'...