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19 July 2003 (fourth early update)

  • More later.

  • - BREAKING NEWS -

    Well as most of you know im at comic-con here in houston. I just attended the funimation panel. They have officially licensed Naruto. Now for the weird part, they have only obtained the first 12 eps. Im guessing they are going to test it as an OVA. So there you have it NARUTO IS licensed! Now everyone prepare for the horrible dubs by Funimation!
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19 July 2003 (third early update)

  • More later.
  • The Sakura Taisen themed Sakura Cafe in Ikebukuro was officially opened yesterday in a ceremony attended by production staff and cast including Yokoyama Chisa (Shinguuji Sakura). See this Impress Corporation report for pics - click on the pics for enlargements. On the menu of the cafe are items like Sakura Ice (presumably ice cream, selling well), Maria's Borsch (not so popular), Orihime Neapolitan and Okinawa Kanna Curry. On display are the cafe are shikishi and costumes, figures of Iris, Sakura etc. Source: Reinbo Actress.
  • It's stated on the official Stratos 4 website that a special fan disc DVD will be released at the end of the year with travelogue of the staff and cast at Shimoji island, where the story is set, highlight scenes from the 13 TV episodes. Further details have yet to be announced. Source: alternative-live. At least two OVA episodes of the series are planned to be produced, to be released in the (northern) spring of 2004.
  • For lovers of anime to live-action conversions, Nikkansports reports that Katori Shingo of popular entertainment group SMAP will play Hattori-kun in a live-action movie version of the manga/anime Ninja Hattori-kun. Hattori-kun has been animated numerous times, including four movies, but this will be the first live-action movie. Filming will start this month and the movie is scheduled for theatrical release in the (northern) summer next year. Shingo plays Kondo Isamu, leader of the Shinsen Gumi in the live action Taiga dorama "Shinsen Gumi!" Source: ultimatum half edition.
  • Yoshizaki Mine's manga Keroro Gunso is to be adapted into a TV anime to be broadcast from October 2003. Source: ultimatum half edition. Keroro Gunso is serialised in Kadokawa's magazine Monthly Shonen Ace-A. I've never really read the manga but it always seemed pretty silly to me. Yoshizaki would be known for other works such as VS Knight Lamune & 40 Fire and Arcade Gamer Fubuki.
  • Digital Chosun reports that Gravity, a Japanese-South Korean consortium of companies will invest 10 thousand million won to produce two anime versions of the online game Ragnarok Online. The adult version (by adult I mean aimed at older people, not hentai) will be 13 episodes to be broadcast on TV Tokyo this October. The children's version will be 52 episode series. Ragnarok Online the game claims 10 million members across six countries including Japan, South Korea and China. Source: ultimatum half edition.
  • The official website for TV anime version of Gunslinger Girl is now open, though there's just staff and cast info at present. To be directed by Asaka Morio (Card Captor Sakura). Source: ultimatum half edition. The anime will commence broadcast in the (northern) autumn. The manga by Aida Yu has been licensed by ADV Films. "The girl has a mechanical body. However, she is still an adolescent child." Girls and guns with mecha thrown in - a time tested formula.
  • Ogata Megumi fans, here's your chance to go on a conducted tour of Kansai, Japan with your idol ^_^ Ogata voices Sanada Yukimura in the anime version of Samurai Deeper Kyo. The tour will trace the life of Sanada, the leader of a samurai clan which did not side with the Tokugawa Shogunate. The tour has two legs which you can join:
    20 September (Kyoto) to 21 September 2003 (Shin Osaka), accommodation at the Fukuchiin at Mount Koya at night (I planned to go to Mount Koya once, but never got around to it).
    21 September (Shin Osaka) to 22 September 2003 (Kyoto), accommodation at the Hatoya Zuihoukaka in Kyoto at night.
    Or you apply for both. Each leg of the tour is 42,800 yen or if you join both legs, the price is 72,800 yen. But add 10,000 yen if you're not in the Ogata Megumi supporter's club. Ogata will accompany the group on the tour. I won't go through the entire itinerary, but tour destinations include places such as Sekigahara, site of the famous battle in the early 17th century, and Osaka castle. Each leg will have two optional activities which you can also join - 4,000 yen to play dodge ball and have a meal? (The winners get a prize, though). You can also get commemorative photos with Ogata (additional fee applies). One breakfast and one dinner provided on each leg of the tour. 65 places available on each tour. Applications close 20 August 2003. For more details (in Japanese), see the information page on Ogata's website. Source: Reinbo Actress.
  • Volume 21 of Takaya Yoshiki's Bio-Booster Armour Guyver will be published by Kadokawa Shoten on 10 December 2003. There'll be a first limited edition available with 1/6 size Guyver figure by Max Watanabe and Max Factory. Price 2,800 yen (excluding tax). Source: Mangaoh Club and Animate Yokohama.
  • It's the 19th of the month. That means another issue of Shueisha's monthly magazine Ultrajump. No Tenjou Tenge this month ;_; However the September 2003 issue (on sale 19 August 2003) will come with a desktop "character stand" of Melty and friends for the manga Puchimon (Petit Monster) by Nanase Aoi. That volume will also see the restart of Hagiwara Kazushi's Bastard!! manga after a year and a half hiatus.
  • Further, volume 2 of Puchimon will be released on 17 October 2003. A special edition will be available with a mobile phone strap with a 5cm figure of Ruru. The figure has been created by Miyagawa Takeshi, who created the Natsume Maya figure which come with the first limited edition of Tenjou Tenge volume 9. Price of this special edition of Puchimon volume 2 has yet to be determined. Regular edition of the manga will probably be 620 yen.

18 July 2003 (third update)

  • More later. But I've got a headache now (or it's gotten worse for now), so I'm going to lie down and read a bit of Barbara Hambly's Dragonstar first.
  • The novel Kousetsu Hyaku Monogatari by mystery/horror author Kyogoku Natsuhiko is to be made into a TV anime, it's been reported in the 16 July 2003 evening edition of Chunichi Shimbun. Tentative title will be "Kyogoku Natsu Yami Emaki". Source: TA Group BBS.
  • The official Lupin III website has a page up now for the 2003 Lupin III TV special "Otakara Henkyaku Dai-sakusen" (Mission to return the treasure), confirming that the special shall be broadcast on 1 August 2003. Source: ultimatum half edition.
  • Kodansha has a list of its 2004 calendars up on this page. Source: ultimatum half edition. What, no Air Gear calendar?
  • The Ikki Tousen website has updated with 20 small screenshots of episode 1 and three large screenshots. Source: ultimatum half edition. This bishoujo fighting TV anime based on a manga will commence broadcast on 30 July 2003. Volume 6 of the manga by Shiozaki Yuji will be published by Wani Books on 25 August 2003, price 900 yen (excluding tax). I like the character designs for the anime even less now that I've seen the screenshots -_-
  • Mahoromatic fans, CD Japan now has details up for the DVD release of the Mahoromatic TV Special to be broadcast on 14 August 2003.
  • I'm back. First up, I notice that George W Bush and Tony Blair (and John Howard, the US ambassador to Australia) still haven't found any weapons of mass destruction. Perhaps they should try searching on Google. Try this:
    1. Go to www.google.com
    2. Type in (but don't hit "return"): "weapons of mass destruction".
    3. Hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button, instead of the usual "Google search" button.
    4. If it's still working, you should be directed to an unusual error message.
  • Catching up on sleep yesterday.

16 July 2003

  • Even busier and even more tired today, so I'll just post up a couple of things. The rest I'll have to leave for another day. My job's supposed to be 9 to 5.30. So why do I get home at 11.20pm? 'Course, they only pay me til 5.30 >_< Sometimes it feels so strange going home while the sun is still up. As you can see, it doesn't leave much time for watching anime or reading manga... Hence my DVD and manga backlog... I hear in England some of the businesses in my line of work provide beds for their employees to save them the inconvenience of having a life. That way the staff can just work, go to bed, wake up and get straight to work again >_<
  • CLAMP have announced on their website that Shinshokan will be publishing an RG Veda Collector's Edition Box. This will be a "bunko" version of the manga - this format generally means a smaller page size and sometimes a lesser number of volumes (but more pages per volume). In this case, whereas the original version of RG Veda was 10 volumes of B6 size, the bunko version will be 7 thicker volumes in the smaller A6 size. To be published 28 September 2003, price 4,800 yen (excluding tax). There'll be reversible covers, a box to hold the volumes and a "premium book" RG Veda gag comic. This box set will be a limited edition item. The 7 volumes will also be published individually, but no gag comic or box (of course) and perhaps no reversible covers. Of the individual release, volumes 1-3 will be available 28 November 2003, volumes 4 & 5 on 27 December 2003 and volumes 6 & 7 on 28 January 2004. Price of each separate volume will vary from 580 yen to 650 yen (excluding tax). Source: ultimatum half edition.
  • It's been officially announced in the August 2003 issue of the Shueisha's magazine Cobalt that an anime version of the novel series Maria-sama ga Miteru by Konno Oyuki will be broadcast in the (northern) spring of 2004. The series is about the students at a very proper all-girl school. More details in the next issue of Cobalt. Source: TA Group BBS and MariMite DB. An anime version had previously been rumoured.

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