Sounds like Japanese lawmakers have been watching too much Akira lately. In light of this year's quake-tsunami-nuclear disaster, various Diet members, of various political colours, have formed an association to promote "urban crisis management". Most notably, they are proposing (via ANN) the creation of a new, "backup" city, in case Tokyo ever gets hit by a major earthquake - something the Japanese have been bracing up for, for decades...



This "substitute capital" would be established at the site of Osaka International Airport at Itami, safely placing it some 400 km (250 miles) away from Tokyo, to the west. Plans (...)

 Continue reading 'Emergency "Neo-Tokyo" Backup City Proposed'...

That vague "big project" that was hinted back in July for the Minami-ke franchise turns out to be another anime adaptation, indeed, although it's still not clear if it will be a TV series (that would be season 4) or if it will take some other format, such as OVA or anime film. The announcement was made at the end of the character song CD which came with the limited edition 9th volume of the Minami-ke manga.



Another vague big project - anime or otherwise - is also being teased for the Working!! franchise, as "the next step after the ongoing second television anime season", (...)

 Continue reading 'Checkpoint: Minami-ke, Working!!, Hatsune Miku'...

The second TV anime series in the Aquarion franchise - Aquarion Evol - is now planned to start airing in Japan from January 2012. The anime is once again created by studio Satelight, like with the earlier TV series (2005), OVA (2007) and film (2007), with a story set 12,000 years after the first Aquarion. Interestingly enough, the new characters might turn out to be reincarnations of Apollo, Silvia and the others from the first series.



The latest Kenshin OVA adaptation - Rurouni Kenshin: Shin Kyoto-Hen - will have its first episode screened in a couple of Japanese theaters for one week only, starting (...)

 Continue reading 'Checkpoint: Aquarion Evol, Kenshin, Saimoe 2011'...

Three years ago, the Diet of Japan was faced with a petition for a new, harsher law against child pornography, that would have also incriminated 2D materials such as anime, manga and eroge. At that time, the Diet chose to "investigate" (a.k.a. ignore) the matter for three years - and all was good... until now. But time's up, and Japan's pesky Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is once again pushing for such a legislation, as they did back then.



In their latest anti-loli crusade, the LDP - together with their usual coalition partners (...)

 Continue reading 'Japan's 2D Loli Ban Threatens Nation, Again'...

The English speaking hentai community website Fakku is announcing a licensing deal with the adult anime publisher Kitty Media, as a result of which Fakku will have the rights to stream select Kitty Media adult titles in the United States and Canada. The videos will be streamed for free at DVD quality, with both Japanese / English audio, and English subtitles.



The first title that's already streaming on Fakku thanks to this agreement is (...)

 Continue reading 'Free Hentai Streams from Kitty Media, on Fakku'...

A new Vocaloid character is coming our way (the first one for Vocaloid3, I believe), and it doesn't take more than a quick glance, to see that she's a damn cute one! She was created by the female illustrator CARNELIAN, with some sort of production input from Studio Deen, and was introduced last month on the "Vocaloid3 i-style Project" website. But now... the one thing she's missing the most... is a name. Any ideas?



If you think you got a great name for her, then go ahead and submit your idea (...)

 Continue reading 'New Vocaloid3 Character's Name Wanted'...

Last update - 11:04 GMT (06:04 EST, 03:04 PST)

A "Hatsune Miku Vision" DVD, packing 20 of the most popular Vocaloid videos, is being released in Japan this Wednesday, July 20, under the Pony Canyon label. These classic Miku clips are said to total over 13,730,000 views on video websites such as Nico Nico Douga and YouTube, as advertised on the official website - where the below picture and promo trailer were blatantly ripped from, for your local pleasure.



Although the trailer is indeed quite lengthy, as it previews a short version of each of the 20 clips, there's still the option of watching them in full online (...)

 Continue reading 'Hatsune Miku Vision DVD, 20 Vocaloid Videos'...

This year's anime film Onigamiden (Legend of the Millennium Dragon) will be extended with 19 minutes of extra footage in its "Director's Cut" version, when it releases on Blu-ray this September 28 - complete with an exclusive conceptual art gallery, as well. A DVD edition will also be available at that time, but that one will only feature the movie's regular theatrical version that initially premiered in Japan this past April 29. Furthermore, a North American release of Legend of the Millennium Dragon is currently planned for October 4, 2011.




A new Minami-ke "big project" will be revealed this autumn, according to this scan from the Monthly Young Magazine. Expectations weigh heavily towards a new TV anime series, to follow the earlier TV anime adaptations (three seasons so far) and the Valentine's Day-themed OVA from two years ago (...)

 Continue reading 'Checkpoint: Onigamiden, Minami-ke, Saimoe 2011'...

5 years already?! And still not that much to show for... Ah well, the website's still here, and although its news section is still suffering from an extreme lack of activity (damn that RL!), I did at least find the time to get the Summer 2011 Anime Season titles up-to-date, in time for this month's debut of some notable new series - complete with their latest trailers and the occasional gallery, here and there...



There's also a new loli of the month who's gladly been taking in your... votes, for the past couple of weeks, at long last taking the "flat office" from Gosick's equally bookworm'ish Victorique. It's Dalian from the new anime series Dantalian no Shoka - the last new TV title to begin airing this month, next Friday on the 15th (now that Last Exile 2 is officially pushed back to October).

And and and... mye, wish I could sit here and ramble on for a while longer, were it not for this RL that keeps pulling me back. Well, enjoy, and let us not go down for at least another 5 years!

The official website of Anime Contents Expo (ACE) has opened today, bringing more details about this new anime industry event, whose first edition will be held this year at Makuhari Messe in Chiba prefecture, between March 26-27. By no small coincidence, this coincides with the last two days of the traditional Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) - which many of the top anime and manga companies will boycott, in sign of protest to Tokyo's recently passed amendment to its Youth Healthy Development Ordinance.



ACE 2011 will be held in Makuhari Messe Exhibition Halls 3 & 4, with visiting hours open between 09:00 and 18:00 on both days (March 26-27). The entrance fee will be 1,500 yen for a single day, and apparently there will be no two-day passes. Those interested in buying tickets early can refer to the "Tickets" section on the official website.

The organizers - and exhibitors confirmed so far - include (...)

 Continue reading 'Anime Contents Expo 2011 Updates'...