Milla Jovovich is hot. Yes, I know I've said it before (I'm not that senile yet), and I'll say it again whenever I get the chance. But getting to the point before I start browsing for Milla pics again, it seems like another one of her movies - namely Ultraviolet - will be getting an anime adaptation tentatively called Ultraviolet: Code 044.

The link betweeen the anime and the movie is by no means official (yet), as it was only briefly mentioned in a press release issued by the Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF), ahead of this year's edition at the end of March. Ultraviolet: Code 044 is being produced by the Japanese anime satellite TV network Animax, and more details should surface after the network's 10th anniversary press conference this March 27. Until then, here are a few bits scooped by AnimeNation from Moon Phase.

"The [Ultraviolet] anime series will be directed by veteran animator Osamu Dezaki and feature character designs from veteran character designer Akio Sugino. Dezaki and Sugino have worked together numerous times on classic anime franchises including Ashita no Joe, Aim for the Ace, and Space Adventure Cobra."

Also worth noting is that Masao Maruyama will serve as producer. He just so happens to be a co-founder and big boss at studio Madhouse, so you can pretty much guess who will animate the Ultraviolet anime...

Another anime adaptation spotted on the AnimeSuki forum is one based on the shounen light novel series Chrome Shelled Regios (Koukaku no Regios). The announcement is being made on the obi strip of volume 8, which is coming out later this month.

Chrome Shelled Regios already has two ongoing manga adaptations - the first one since April 2007, and the other one (Chrome Shelled Regios: Missing Mail) since June 2007 - as well as short text story spinoffs. The orignial story is decribed on ANN as a fantasy set in a distant future with mobile cities and sword-fighting.

"In this school fantasy story set in the distant future, creatures contaminated by pollution have overtaken the land, forcing humanity to live in isolated mobile cities called Regios. One such city named Czerni is a self-contained school in which freshman Reifon Aruseifu has just enrolled. Reifon reluctantly joins the 17th Martial Arts Studies Unit led by the third-year student Nina Antouku and embarks on a series of adventures. Readers voted for this series as the Best Story with an Academic Theme in Kadokawa's 2007 Light Novel Awards."

That last bit sounds promising enough to make us hope that a good story will make up for the presumable shortage of lolis in this upcoming anime.

Even more Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) animes - right, as in plural - were announced according to a MoonPhase article relayed on the AnimeSuki forum, continuing the recent renaissance of the classic fighting manga / anime series. Not to mention that Hokuto no Ken MMORPG we mentioned a year ago. Or this month's new OVA, Shin Kyuuseishu Densetsu Hokuto no Ken: Toki-den.

ANN has more details on this subject, and they say the next anime series will be based on the Hokuto no Ken Raoh Gaiden - Ten no Haoh manga spinoff (which instead focuses on Kenshiro's older brother Raoh), and it will begin this autumn. A dedicated website is up already.

There will also be a DD Hokuto no Ken anime with "deformed" (chibi?) characters, as well as a rather gay-sounding Muscle Musical project, all of these marking the upcoming 25th anniversary of the original manga. If you're one of its fans, you should be feeling pretty fucking old right about now.

We all know that the men of The Church usually have a busy time doing things. Be it preaching, being raping little boys, leading them to the Holy Light (well, at least in Romania they do so, and we all know where Romanians got their… orthodox habits from), be it building more monasteries, be it starting some peculiar Crusade in Antarctica. But well, even they get bored from time to time. And they have nothing better to do than to learn from the Americans (oh, the irony), spreading bullshit about media fucking up their children's minds.

Now, take Mother Russia, for example. Great country, great people. No, seriously, I mean it. I am a huge Russian culture fan. But as of late, the leaders of the Protestant churches there have started to actually grow a penis and to scream from the top of their lungs, calling for various bans in the television broadcasts. How nice of them. The main target of this restless assault, TV channel 2x2, has been “kindly” asked to remove certain shows from their air schedule. Also, the attorney general was bugged to cancel the channel’s broadcast license.

One of the shows mentioned by the so-called Consulting Council of Heads of Russia's Protestant Churches is none other than the dreaded Ikkitousen, a.k.a. the TV series where high school girls rip their clothes off each other, kicking a lot of butts on the way of doing so. This one was blamed for "glorifying cruelty and containing elements of child pornography" – obviously something that DOES NOT ACTUALLY HAPPEN in the dark depths of Russian Churches. Since they lack women and a boner.

The guys at 2x2 were plain and simple, saying that: 1. The shows on their TV channel are intended for mature audience only, and aired after 10.00 p.m., and 2. STFU church nazis, do you want us to make the commies ban your oh-so-not-boring gospel-spreading TV stations? I bet not. The problem seems to be that 2X2 canceled already 2 shows this month, after certain government warnings, more exactly Happy Tree Friends and The Adventures of Big Jeff.

This is actually laughable, coming from Russia. At least for me. Send them a bottle of pure win vodka and they will shut up about it. Or better yet, send some damned ex-KGB uber soldiers to clear up the mess and to restore atheism where it belongs.

ANN scoop.

Due to our slow start this month, a round-up of recently announced animes is once again in order (blame the whistling coder who would rather work on our next website, than dedicate himself to a life full of virtual lolis)... *whistles*... Here we go then.

- Batman: Gotham Knight - the website is live, with a new trailer (Update: now also available here on Animekon), and a solid date announced for the DVD and Blu-ray release: July 8.

- Blue Dragon 2 - or formally Blue Dragon: Tenkai no Shichi Ryuu (The Seven Dragons of the Heavens), will be the second series to follow last year's (and still ongoing) Blue Dragon anime. Begins on April 5.

- Fireball - a 3D CG anime developed and produced for Disney Japan. "The gag comedy takes place in the near future on another planet and centers on Rosselle, the daughter of the Duke of Flugel, and her two steward robots."

- Kara no Kyoukai - the DVD release dates of the animation movie's three chapters were finally announced: May 21, June 25 and June 23, respectively.

- Michiko to Hatchin - an original anime in the works at studio manglobe (Samurai Champloo, Ergo Proxy). "The title's Michiko is a free-willed "sexy diva" who destroys a supposedly inescapable prison fortress, while Hatchin is a girl fleeing her strict foster parents. The two join forces on an improbable escape to freedom". Begins in 2008 (website - I smell a Gurren Lagann clone).

- N.Y. Salad 2 - more veggies. Begins on March 31.

- Onegai My Melody Kirara! - the fourth Onegai My Melody anime based on... whatever. Begins on April 6. To be ignored.

- Penguin Musume - after last month's announcement, here comes a website, some flowers (?!), and a broadcast starting date: April 19.

- Sekirei - the anime version of the ecchi Sekirei manga (first 38 pages sample) was confirmed to be in development, as rumoured earlier this year. Begins this summer (website, new wallpaper).

- Shimajiro - yet another season for the children's anime Shima Shima Tora no Shimajiro. It's only been going on since 1993, so you'll pardon me if I'm not excited. Begins on April 7.

- Stitch! - based on Disney's "Lilo & Stitch" animation film, in the works at Madhouse. The first footage is supposed to be shown at this month's Tokyo International Anime Fair.

- Sugar Bunnies 2 - uhh, whatever. Begins this April. To be ignored.

- The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk - based on the ancient arcade game The Tower of Druaga from the '80s, and produced by Gonzo K.K. for simultaneous broadcasting on TV and the Internets via GayO GyaO. Begins on April 4 (website).

- Titania - based on a series of space opera novels, "about a soldier who flees the spacefaring Titania empire and seeks refuge with a rebellion force". This month's confirmation comes quite a few years after a Titania anime was first revealed at Anime Expo 2003. A manga adaptation of Titania is also in the works.

Appleseed? Hell yeah! Ex Machina? Mmmm… maybe. Just maybe. I haven’t had the chance to bask in awe at Warner Brothers’ latest creation (though Warner + Japanese animation may sound weird to some), but I sure will, when it will be licked leaked to the beautiful world of illegal torrents. I mean, when it comes up for sale in Romania.

This is probably not news to some, but an Appleseed television series was announced back in 2005, with a release date set for 2006, but people went silent since then, with their mouths probably full of other bullshit waiting to be spread.

The real news just came in, thanks to the girls at ANN, it seems that on March, 30, at the Tokyo International Fair, we will witness a stage event called “Appleseed Genesis”, where companies involved in the Appleseed production will share with us some spicy details regarding a future television series. Well, what can I say, good news, it will (finally) come true.

So far, we know that the show will be directed by Romanov Higa, the guy behind stuff like Catblue “Hawt” Dynamite, and various other animations. So far so good. The said event will also be an endless rant about the story involved, character designs and, obviously, voice casting. Good enough for me.

ANN scoop.

Well, Gurren Lagann certainly proved to be an… interesting anime. At least, for some episodes. It looked good, I’ll give him that, it had a nice cast of characters, one loli, one big breasted chick that usually goes on a rampage with her sniper rifle, plus one male character that was insane enough to be funny. Too bad this one dies pretty fast, leaving us with a main “hero” that is gruesomely copy-pasted from Eureka 7. Which is a bad thing, since the kid was such a crybaby, that I couldn’t stand him beginning with episode one.

Not to go into details regarding Gurren Lagann’s (ridiculously boring) plot and the fact that each episode looks exactly like the previous one story-wise, I’ll just let you know that the April issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Newtype Magazine will reveal the development of a Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann motion picture. Well, that’s a good thing: the shorter, the better; I don’t really want to spend 27 more episodes just to find out the obvious.

AnimeNation scoop.

Update: ANN's report also gives a release timeframe for the Gurren Lagann movie - autumn 2008 - as announced on its official website.

Watching Vexille last week may have satiated my thirst for CG hotness and pew-pew, for now (great film, by the way), but I'm still looking forward to the release of Appleseed: Ex Machina this March 11. Aside from the usual DVD, Blu-ray and supposedly HD-DVD versions (wasn't the HD-DVD format dead by now?), it's being reported on ANN that Ex Machina will also be available on Xbox Live, on the same day.

The story lists two more animes releasing online soon: Afro Samurai (in high-definition) on Xbox Live next month, and the first episode of the pokemon'ish anime Bakugan on Apple's iTunes store next week.

And while we're at it, we might as well tell you about the U.S. debut of the Blue Dragon anime, based on Mistwalker's RPG for the Xbox 360. As announced by Viz Media, the anime will start airing on Cartoon Network this spring - "only" one year later than in Japan. But no harm done, it's just a Narutarded anime anyway.

The only new anime announced today is one we will most certainly NOT look forward to: Antique Bakery (Seiyou Kotto Yougashiten - website), a 12-episode series starting in July, based on a girly romantic comedy manga about "four somewhat gay quirky men who run Antique, a gay quaint cafe that celebrates the small joys of life such as cake". Pancakes would actually sound better, but still I'd rather celebrate other small joys of life...

Next up, ANN compiled a list of new anime websites opened or updated, for Golgo 13, Himitsu: Top Secret, Zettai Karen Children and xxxHOLiC: Kei - all of which will begin airing in April.

And finally, we have a new trailer previewing the second episode of Mnemosyne, Xebec and Genco's sick and twisted horror anime that premiered this month. Episode 2 will be aired on March 2 and... oh, hai purpul-haired loli!

It's been more than six years since the last Slayers animation chronicled on AniDB, and although we didn't really feel the need for a comeback, it seems like it's going to happen anyway. In another AnimeSuki update based on a Japanese blog, it's said that a new Slayers TV anime is being announced in the April issue of light novel magazine Dragon Magazine - hitting stores this Friday. Guess we'll just have to wait a few more days for the confirmation of this story, and perhaps some scant details.

Update: Zanpakuto writes that "the news has been officially confirmed by the Hajima Kanzaka Fan Club who add that the series will be split between two seasons of three months". Mostly correct, except that it's Hajime Kanzaka (the writer of the original light novels), and the animation studio was confirmed to remain J.C. Staff, under Watanabe Takashi's direction.