Paprika is hot! Especially the smoked hot paprika powder, that our neighbours from the West are using to spice up their kick-ass goulash. Mmm... Anyway, I'm not here to talk about Hungarian cuisine (though my stomach urges me otherwise), but about one of this year's most hyped anime movies.

I'm sure that Madhouse's Paprika needs no more introduction. But if it does, AniDB and the official website would be more than happy to introduce it to you. The critics love it, the fans love it, our imouto-web-chan loves it,... but for some reason, I doubt that uncle Oscar will love it as much as everyone else does (uncle Oscar has been known to love all kinds of zoophilic animations, but he's not very attracted to Japanese animes; in other words, uncle Oscar has issues).

As the hype escalates, people are beginning to wonder when they might get their hands on Paprika. Well, fortunately for those of you living in the UK, Anime UK News has word that one online retailer is already listing the Paprika DVD with a release date set for March 5, 2007. This should be great news for the Brits who have been waiting for this release. And if it's not - hey, don't blame me! I'm just here to post pretty pictures and stuff.

Wait, wasn't something like this already announced last month? AnimeNation previously mentioned a "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gaiden: Neko Koroshi Hen" OVA, as some sort of bonus DVD that Japanese consumers who purchase the entire TV series on DVD would be eligible to receive. But now they're the same ones informing us that a second series has formally been announced on the Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (When Cicadas Cry) anime website. If this is indeed a full-fledged TV series, and plans are still on for the OVA, it means that next year we might have two new Higurashi animes to drool over.

You can imagine that details about the new series are scarce to say the least, so for now I'll just leave you with a little something that should make you wanna watch the first Higurashi, if you haven't already. I think my pedo comrade might be doing just that right now... Don't really know for sure, last time I saw him he was running away with three DVDs stuffed full of sono kono ano, and this was also on them.

Why does God love the Norse so much, but utterly hates us Romanians (in general, and me in particular)? I never asked for a PS3, or a Xbox 360, and not even one of those manly, pink DS handhelds. All I ever wanted this Christmas was to play with my Wii all day long. Well, that and an imouto-chan, but I figured I'd be reasonable and just stick to the console.

So I pre-ordered it about a month ago (which isn't really a sane thing to do where I come from), and like any other European with a Wii fetish, I have since been counting the hours until the supposed Wii-day, December 8. Well guess what: Romania is not in Europe anymore, because I didn't get my damn console yet! And it's not in Asia either, because that would mean God actually loves us - placing us on the same continent as Japan and all... But then, where the hell is it?

As it turns out, the only Nintendo partner around here did receive the console in time this week, but they're still lacking the Wii games. And there was obviously no point in pre-ordering a Wii without Zelda and an extra Wiimote with Wii Play - so they can't honor my order for the time being. That's just f... fabulous!

On April 21st, 2006, UNiSONSHIFT BLOSSOM published in Japan a little naughty bishoujo video game for the PS2, called Nanatsuiro Drops. And, what do you know, the guy person behind Suzumiya Haruhi and Shakugan no Shana novels, Noiji Ito-sensei, worked very hard to create and procreate with several characters in that title. It seems that people really enjoyed it (for some reason or another, namely for not living in Japan, I couldn't get my hands on the game, so I don't know how good it is), because God is going to adapt it into an anime TV series, which will start airing sometime in 2007. If this wasn't enough, a new PS2 title, based on these here series, has been announced. Named Nanatsuiro Drops Pure!!, the game will provide art, designs, panties and young girls to adjust themselves to the entirely new loli twists. The confirmed staff include, as they say at ANS:

Original Idea: @Peace, Original Character Concepts: Noiji Ito, Director: Yamamoto Takashi (Final Approach), Series Composition: Shimada Mitsuru (Koi suru Tenshi Angelique), Character Design: Ibe Yukiko (Final Approach), Animation Studio: Studio Barcelona (Dai Mahou Touge), Production: Nanatsuiro Drops Production Committee.

This forthcoming TV Series, Saint October (of all the silly names one could choose for his show, they had to pick this), has had it's website updated, while more and more info regarding it's most inner, secret and pure details are slowly coming to the surface, after being stranded in the land of "We are big producers, we won't tell you shit" for a while. Let's see... We are dealing with a neo-gothic action story, in which three very adorable (and, by any sane man's standards, very young) girl-detectives are daily confronted with mysteries beyond belief and certain strange pheromones phenomenons. Like strawberry pudding turning yellow all of the sudden, or like six hundred naked grandpas dancing Lambada on the ruins of World Trade Center. Being a goth-oriented show, Saint October will focus mainly on the main characters' costumes, so that each and every one of them gets a hittable neo-crappy-victorian dress. Main role: Hayama Kotono, a girl with issues in the past, thinks she was abandoned by her parents for not delivering enough Moe. She deals with this auful trauma by fingering bad guys and solving paranormal activities. Alongside her, Misaki-chan and Natsuki-chan help complete the loli trio. Fascinating.


Mite mite, that midori-haired imouto-chan has neko ears. Kawaii!

While casually browsing ANS for my daily dose of narcotics anime related news, I have came upon this little piece here:

News out of the Japanese Language SOS email magazine indicates an unspecified announcement regarding the franchise (Haruhi Suzumiya - n.r.) will be made at year's end.

My twisted mind instantly started to google it's synopsis for several related structures that hot little missy Suzumiya (and of course, the even hotter young Mikuru) can perform in. What could it be? A sequel? Too soon, I presume, though this show has had it's hype and is now considered, on many sites, one of the candidates for best anime overall in 2006. To do a sequel, they should let the testosterone of all those horny young boys thinking perverted things about Yuki-chan (my pedo comrade included) chill out a bit, take a rest, a good night's sleep and two or three pills for not being eternally deported to a mental institute. Yes, I know the show was good, but not THAT good. Sort of. Or they could make a nice little hentai game. For the Wii, of course, and not only for Japan (damn that regional restriction bullshit) - mostly because I will get my Wii sooner than expected. We already know about the porn live action film, so that ain't really a surprise announcement. Or they can tell us Kyon has died or something. Or that Mikuru-chan has entered a rentless rage, searching desperate for two romanian guys that keep up a certain Animekon blog. Choices, choices...

Although a more fitting name would have been the Kyoto International Wanking Museum. I mean, what else would you call a museum that houses 200,000 volumes (that's over 9,000!), reportedly making it the #1 repository for wanking material manga material in Japan! You probably wouldn't agree just by looking at the official website, but here, let (...)

Sorry, but the rest of this post has been forever lost in the great SQL-server-fsk-up from April 2007.

I haven't got a clue what the Kamichama Karin manga is like, but just by looking at the pictures below, I'd be willing to take a wildly perverted guess... Actually, I'd better save myself for next year, when the manga will be made into an anime series, as announced on Koge Donbo's website (who you might know from his work on Pita Ten, another cute little anime from a while back).


This is all pretty much all there is to say about the Kamichama Karin anime for now, since not even ANN had any other details to share with the rest of us sinners. But taking a look at their description for the original manga, it's at least worth mentioning what the story behind the lolies is:

Orphan Hanazono Karin is a below-average girl who just lost another person dear to her; her best friend and loyal cat, Shi-chan. While visiting Shi-chan's grave, she meets Kujyou Kazune, a smart prettyboy who insults her right after meeting her. She runs away from him, hoping to never see his face again, but fate seems to have other ideas - the girl she bumps into the very next day is none other than Himeka, Kazune's cousin. During her second meeting with Kazune, something strange happens to her ring, the last thing she has to remember her mother by. Afterwards, strange events happen all day around her, with no explaination. The fourth meeting with Kazune explains quite a bit; her ring has the power to turn her into a goddess. With Himeka's support and Kazune's guidance, Karin begins her training to become one of the divine.

How come imouto-chans are even more hot when they're orphan?

Speaking of pink umbrellas (and old news), we somehow failed to report earlier that a certain game called Clannad is going to be animated as a movie in 2007.

Animation work for the Clannad movie will be done by TOEI, whose most recent productions include Kamisama Kazoku ("God Family") and Binbou Shimai Monogatari (which loosely translates to "A couple of poor orphan sisters I'd hit on a daily basis"). And if that doesn't ring a bell, I'm sure you at least heard about some other animations they did - such as the original Kanon or the AIR movie.

As for Clannad, you can view some cuteness samples below, and you can also drool over more characters (from the game) right about here and here.

Mmm, yes, this is a bit of an old news indeed. But I figured it wouldn't hurt posting this 5 Centimeters per Second preview trailer, since the high-res version (1280×720) is no longer available for download on the official 5cm website. They only had it as a limited time offer from November 20 to 29, but our imouto-web-chan still has it! So why don't you go grab her? I mean "it".

5 Centimeters per Second preview trailer

Not to mention that pink umbrellas are something of a theme for tonight's updates (check our next story in just a bit).

P.S. Byousoku 5cm tickets are already on sale at Cinema Rise in Shibuya, Tokyo, even though - to the best of my knowledge - Makoto Shinkai's movie is only set to premiere in mid 2007.