A TV anime adaptation based on the Inu x Boku SS manga is being announced this week in the August issue of Square Enix's Gangan Joker magazine, where said manga has been serialized since May 2009, as well as via an official website that opened yesterday with little more than the charming artwork below.



The original supernatural shounen manga is created by Cocoa Fujiwara, and so far (...)

 Continue reading 'Inu x Boku SS Manga Gets Anime'...

After much trouble for manga creator Eri Takenashi, who for the past couple of years has been recovering from a nasty illness and surgery (made even worse by all those absurd emo-rages from some of her fans, over a certain heavenly loli's questionable purity...), here's some good news, at last! Her defining manga Kannagi - which had been on hold since January 2009, after being made into a TV anime series that ran from October 2008 - is finally ready to resume publication this month, in the September issue of Monthly Comic Rex magazine - out in Japan on July 27.



Granted, this news has been around for a while, but now we can finally see (...)

 Continue reading 'Kannagi Manga Resumes This July 27'...

Between that damn flu-truck running me over last month, the ensuing pill(ow)s abuse, and the various experimental treatments for which I've been volunteering this past week, it looks like I'm finally cured and once again in working condition... more or less. So, back to work!

This year's anime remake ThunderCats is slowly revealing itself: after the first design image surfaced last month, a new official artwork was revealed by writer Todd Casey - as can be seen below - and more details have also been shared via an MTV interview. The remake is in the works at Studio 4°C, and it will premiere on Cartoon Network in 2011.



The corporate manga Shima Kousaku is being made into a "somewhat unusual anime". Kenshi Hirokane has been authoring said manga since 1983, with a story that follows the rise of a Japanese executive from a mere section chief, to company president.

The gambling manga Kaiji will receive a 2nd anime series, this time following the "Chika Chinchiro" and "Pachinko Numa" stories from Nobuyuki Fukumoto's manga (whose first anime adaptation aired in 2007-2008). The new anime begins airing this April 5.

Studio Ghibli's latest anime film Karigurashi no Arrietty (Arrietty the Borrower) has (...)

 Continue reading 'Anime News Round-up, January 2011'...

Here's a second checkpoint today, so hopefully tomorrow morning I'll get around to do some coding - still plenty of things in need of change around here...

The first volume of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica's manga version is now set for release on February 12, 2011, with a few sample pages available at the bottom of this page. The Japanese Amazon website is listing volume 1 at a price of 690 yen, with this cute cover ninja'd below. Volumes 2 and 3 should follow on March 12 and April 12, 2011.



Similar to yesterday's novelties about Final Fantasy Versus XIII, some new details about Final Fantasy XIII-2 have also surfaced from the Dengeki PlayStation magazine, through an interview with producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Motomu Toriyama - via andriasang; clicky if you want to read a summary. And if you missed the game's recent debut trailer, you can watch that locally.


The below picture illustrates the new Thundercats anime's design, as showcased today by Bandai at London Toy Fair. The series is in the works at Studio 4°C, (...)

 Continue reading 'Checkpoint: Madoka, FF XIII-2, Thundercats'...

If you're not one of those creepy insectophiles who get turned on at the mere sight of an ootheca, who spend their Friday nights listening to cicadas cry, and have wet dreams about skinny-dipping in a pool full of bugs, before waking up every morning to feed their itzy bitzy spider... well, that might yet change, once you meet the moe cockroa'chans from Gokicha!!.



This cute cockroach originally comes from a doujinshi (self-published) manga created by Rui Tamachi. The first volume, titled "!!", was released in December 2009 at Comiket 77, and was followed by a second volume titled "!!!", released last August at Comiket 78. But if you understandably missed those, fret not! An anime adaptation is now in the making, (...)

 Continue reading 'Gokicha!! Moe Cockroach Doujinshi Gets Anime'...

Last update - Jan 21, 18:07 GMT (13:07 EST, 10:07 PST)

The 2006 eroge Edelweiss was the very first title released in English by MangaGamer, back in 2008, and this year it's returning with a new translation which will be made available for free to all prior (and future) purchasers of Edelweiss. But until they're ready to release that in April (barring any of their usual delays), they are now offering a trial version demonstrating the updated texts, as a 420'ish MB download.



The new Kodomo no Jikan OVA was released today in Japan, bundled with the 9th volume of Kaworu Watashiya's original manga otherwise known as Nymphet. This one delights us with "plenty of bathing suits" and some anatomically explicit "loli insertion" scenes (NSFW, spoilers, etc.). Also, since this OVA covers the events from chapter 55 in the manga, Daisuke's younger sister Chika makes her appearance for the first time. (...)

 Continue reading 'Checkpoint: Edelweiss, Kojikan, Golden Kids'...

Last update - Jan 17, 12:42 GMT (07:42 EST, 04:42 PST)

A new Pokemon manga (or Pocket Monsters if you prefer) has been announced to begin serialization this March, in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine. The manga's new printed home is aimed at older readers than its previous one - the same publisher's Monthly Corocoro Comic magazine (which fared better in 2010 than Shonen Sunday, to some surprise). The currently airing anime in this franchise is Pokemon: Best Wishes!, and the next Pokemon anime film will be the first one based on the "Best Wishes" saga, when it premieres in Japan this July 16.



JAniCA, as in the Japan Animation Creators Association, is being split in two by an internal power struggle of sorts, fueled by the root of all evil. It all began with last year's government-funded "Young Animator Training Project", which consisted of a 214 million yen ($2.26 million) investment from the Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan. These funds were supposed to be used for the production of 4 original anime by the end of this January, with young animators trained by professional anime creators. But once it came to distributing the budget among the studios representing JAniCA's leadership, all hell broke loose. (...)

 Continue reading 'Checkpoint: Pokemon, JAniCA, Beezlebub, Moe'...

This clearly ain't that 2011 anime, which Gonzo has been known to work on with character designer Range Murata (Last Exile, Solty Rei, Shangri-La). But it's still an anime, and moreover it's Gonzo's first in two years, following that most troubled year of 2009. By the end of 2010, the studio actually returned to profitability, so perhaps the "Murata anime" is still on for this year. But getting back on topic...



Nyanpire The Animation, as it's called, will be a TV anime adaptation of a popular doujinshi (self-published manga) titled The Gothic World of Nyanpire, by Yukiusa. In short, it's a story about a stray black cat that was saved from starvation by a vampire, who gave it blood and turned it into "Nyanpire".

The anime's official website has just gone live, as well, but there's not much to see there, other than the image above. If all goes well at Gonzo and they won't have to decimate their staff again, Nyanpire the Animation should start this summer.

Last update - Jan 14, 10:19 GMT (05:19 EST, 02:19 PST)

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei... Konnichiwa Katteni Kaizou! If that nutjob of a teacher has left you in despair, wait till you see this next anime based on another one of Kouji Kumeta's gag manga, featuring another nutjob of a character: Kaizou Katsu, whose idiotic insanity is the result of a whack on the head, after getting kicked off a jungle gym during childhood.



Studio Shaft and director Akiyuki Shinbo are once again working on this anime adaptation, as they did for the Zetsubou series. So ample amounts of quality lulz are to be expected. There's also plenty of source material, as the original manga ran for about six years since its 1998 debut, and was compiled into 26 volumes. Oh, and did I mention it sometimes featured vulgar humor and the occasional sex scene? (...)

 Continue reading 'Katteni Kaizou Anime, From Zetsubou Creator'...

Last update - Jan 14, 06:27 GMT (01:27 EST, 22:27 PST)

As I was going over the latest happenings in the "Tiger Mask" saga (see below), it occured to me that I never got to mention Tiger & Bunny, since our comeback. It's a mecha-themed TV anime in the works at studio Sunrise for an April 2011 debut. And, as it happens, its official website was renewed this week with some info and visuals - including the image below, and some sexy character sheets. Well, one more sexy than the others...




The "Tiger Mask" / "Naoto Date" explosive chain-reaction keeps growing at an accelerated rate: as of this Wednesday, over 290 donations have been reported, with some new anime references joining in on the fun, and pushing the grand total of gifts at over 350 backpacks and 10 million yen (about $120,000) in cash. This is madness! THIS IS JAPAN!

Speaking of madness and anime references, (...)

 Continue reading 'Checkpoint: Tiger & Bunny, Tiger Mask, Babes'...