The solution for the new puzzling license hinted today on FUNimation's website comes from AnimeOnDVD, who uncontestedly matched it to a DVD cover for Shigurui - last year's samurai anime created by studio Madhouse. Although how exactly this qualifies as "OMG NO WAY"... is beyond me. Once again, since the anime is only 12-episode long, they will likely release it as a single DVD, during 2009. We'll get back after they make the official announcement later on today.

In the meantime, AnimeOnDVD also caught word that FUNimation will be "talking about all their new acquisitions at Anime Central at their panel this weekend at 4:30pm Central Time and that they still have a whole lot more to talk about in the... days ahead". Giapet says that the final new license will be revealed on Saturday at the Anime Central convention, but that FUNi also has another announcement reserved for Monday. More hints for it will be given at their panel on Saturday. Confused yet?

Update: Giapet thinks that Monday's license announcement will be Romeo x Juliet, based on some new hints sent by FUNi.

Update #2: The confirmation arrived (complete with a high-res poster art), and indeed it's coming in 2009 on a single DVD, under the title Shigurui: Death Frenzy. The press release claims there's a video on the newly opened website, but hell if I can find it.

We're going to go with ANN's decryption of the latest hint posted on FUNimation's website, and confidently say that their licensing spree will continue with the announcement of Soukou no Strain later on today. And when that happens, we'll return with any relevant details, such as the format (a single DVD comprising all 13 episodes, most likely) and its American release date (I'm guessing 2009, given the progression so far).

We're still carrying the promo trailer for this loli-infused mecha anime, and until FUNi brings their own synopsis to the table, here's the classic one:

"In the distant future, the mankind is divided into two powers; Union and Deague. They have continued long war that no one is sure when it began. Union uses manned weapons, Strain, as the main military power, while Deague uses unmmand weapons Tumoru.

Sara Viereck, a daughter of a good family, is a Union's 16-year-old girl who goes to Grapera Space Armed Soldier Academy locates in Cranial Solar System in order to become a full-fledged Reasoner (a pilot of Strain)."

Update: Indeed, FUNi confirmed the acquisition from Happinet, announcing its plans to release all 13 episodes on a single DVD in March 2009, under the title Strain: Strategic Armored Infantry. They're also offering a new trailer on their Strain website, which we have now added locally.

As annouced not too long ago, Right Stuf and their product division Nozomi Entertainment will be bringing the Maria-sama ga Miteru anime series to North America, in the shape and form of 3 DVDs - one for each season aired so far in Japan (the fourth one being still in production). Last night they sent along a newsletter pointing us to Right Stuf's website for Maria-sama (or MariMite, if you prefer), where they are showing a trailer for the Season 1 DVD collection - also viewable locally.


Stateside, this yuri'esque slice-of-life catholic-school anime will be published under the title Maria Watches Over Us, and the Season 1 DVD should be released on July 29. It will include all 13 episodes, plus the 7 "Season 1 Specials", with Japanese audio, two English subtitle tracks (regular dialogue subtitles, plus a special subtitle track that includes Japanese honorifics) and English on-screen translations.

Seeing how the original series of light novels has been going on and on for the past decade - and still is, after 32 volumes - the question arises: will it ever end?

- Bleach the Movie: Memories of Nobody will be screened in the US by VIZ Media and NCM Fathom, much like they're doing with the Death Note live-action movie next week. Except that the Bleach anime movie (dubbed in English) will be in theatres on June 11 and 12.

- The Death Note manga was given the Eagle Award by the comic fans of the United Kingdom. The tasteless majority of them, anyway.

Update: The first full-color picture for the upcoming Dragonball live-action movie popped up, if you thought the pseudo-colored scan was too icky.

Sure enough, yesterday's hint was spot on: the third new North-American license officially announced by FUNimation this week is Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino, which they snagged from Marvelous Entertainment. The 13-episode series will be released stateside as a single DVD during 2009 (again, what the hell is taking them so long?!).

For the time being, FUNi's Gunslinger Girl 2 website only carries a brief synopsis and the cover artwork below, so we'll leave it at that, too. Till tomorrow.

"When the Social Welfare Agency investigates the disappearance of an operative, their inquiry leads them right into the lair of their rival, the Five Republics. The assassin Triela infiltrates the hostile organization, but her search is cut short when she finds herself staring down the barrel of a gun..."

And a card game, I should add. As reported on ANN, game developer Level-5 (Dragon Quest VIII, Rogue Galaxy) has just announced that Inazuma Eleven - their upcoming game for the Nintendo DS blending role-playing with... *gasp*... soccer - will be adapted into a manga, an anime, and a card game. Granted, the manga and anime adaptations were known to be coming since last year.

Although the game itself is only slated for release in Japan on August 22, the manga will already start tomorrow, May 15, in the CoroCoro Comic magazine. ANN adds that "OLM is planning the anime version as a 2D-animated project with the stadiums rendered in 3D computer graphics", and that's the last thing we'll likely have to say about it. Sports animes aren't exactly our soft spot.

- The live-action movie adaptation of Honey & Clover has just been released on DVD by Viz Pictures, featuring English subtitles and a price tag of $24.98. "Special bonus features on the disc include cast interviews, and a dedicated website about the film is available at www.honeyandclover.us".

- Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO 2: Juuryoku Sensen (Gravity's Warfront) will be an OVA, with the first episode to be released this October 24. As mentioned one month ago, it's a 3D CG mecha anime, sequel to The Hidden One Year War film series.

- Axe murders are so last year. The latest murderistic trend seems to be placing needles inside food in stores, Rena-style. On the same day, Mainichi reported about a needle found in cabbage (Cryo backup), and a nail found in ham package (Cryo backup). Itadakimasu!

- And for our closing HD linking, Shingo went through the trouble of researching the story behind Himajin's disappearance. It was the ero-anime studio which closed its doors last summer, and the story involves titles like Sora no Iro, Mizu no Iro (episode 2 finally coming this June), and Spice and Wolf... And the story goes on with various offspring studios, including one called Shelf, working on its debut eroge Kagiroi Kagirohi - pictured bellow.

After Save Me! Lollipop, the second title from FUNimation's latest licensing spree was announced today. And the winner is... Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple. Much better.

The 26-episode martial-arts comedy anime finished airing last autumn in Japan, so it's a relatively fresh license from TMS Entertainment. On the downside, it might not be so fresh anymore in January 2009, when FUNimation will start releasing it in North America, split into two volumes. For a synopsis, hop over to their Kenichi page.

As for tomorrow's license, that one's pretty much spoiled already, since FUNimation posted a picture of Triela from the Gunslinger Girl series on their website, in a box reserved for tomorrow's announcement (darkened-out, but still distinguishable). And since they already have the first part, ANN's deduction is that this year's Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino is next.

- The first picture for the upcoming Dragonball live-action movie popped up on various fansites. It's just a promotional photo scanned from the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, showing Justin Chatwin as Goku, so... nothing to see here, move along. The movie's delayed premiere in set for March 2009 in Japan, and April 3 in the US.

- In other manga-to-live-action news, the Crows Zero movie adaptation will be getting a sequel, "set about 8 months after the first movie".

- Super Robot Wars: OG - Divine Wars episode 1 is now streaming on Bandai's dot-anime.us website - "available in the United States and Canada only". Ah well, no loss.

- By the way, English dubbing sucks ass? Then go dub it yourself. In a maid cafe, no less!

- The 32nd Annual Manga Awards were announced this Monday by Japanese publisher Kodansha. "The winners are all comedies, but of decidedly different styles: a magical girl comedy, a baseball comedy, a high school slice-of-life comedy, and a medical comedy". Because amputations and vasectomies are so bloody funny!

- Speaking of which, the 37th Japan Mangaka Association Awards and the 12th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize were also announced over the weekend.

- 3 new manga titles will begin serialization in the Weekly Shonen magazine, from the makers of Suzuka, Inugami and Samurai Deeper Kyo.

- Japanese youth: IQ and lust in decline?... IQ? Most probably. Lust? I doubt it. And to prove it, there's another crapload of ero-news on HD; and again.

Just a few days after its inauguration, the official website of Gegege no Kitarou: Nihon Bakuretsu!! announces that the movie will have 6 slightly-different versions, one for each region of Japan. Nihon Bakuretsu will celebrate 40 years of Gegege'ing since the original TV series, but ironically it's the first full-length animated movie in the franchise through all this time, following quite a few series and shorts. And that's not counting the two live-action films, from 2007, and from 2008 (the latter will premiere this July 12).

According to one report, "several minutes of animation are expected to change for each version", however the only example so far is the change in Neko Musume's cosplaying outfit (see the loli-Santa in the picture below). She will appear as a yukinko (snow sprite) in Hokkaido/Tohoku, a maiko (apprentice geisha) in Kinki, or a shisa (lion-dog creature) in Kyushu/Okinawa. And maybe, just maybe, an Akihabara maid in the Kanto area.

Currently in the works at Toei Animation, the Gegege anime movie should premiere this December. In the meantime, we took the liberty to add the first trailer here on Animekon.