Daily Intake 28/02/11

⚫ Ichigo Mashimaro-themed taxis running in the place where the manga is set, Hamamatsu. How cute! I’d ride one even if I didn’t have anywhere to go! link

⚫ .Hack//Quantum 2 BD is out, and this review of it seems pretty positive (naturally!). Apparently it has less action scenes and has more of an emotional, character focus. That is okay by me, because I really liked the characters from the first episode. Can’t wait to see this. (source)

⚫ Madoka Magica vol.2 jacket and details revealed (link). Coming out 27th of April and includes audio commentary, special booklet, and, most importantly, vol.1 of the soundtrack! Fans of Madoka’s music should be happy at that news!

⚫ (uncomfirmed) plans are being made for To Love Ru Darkness to get an anime adaptation. source

⚫ Actor Beat Takeshi (Battle Royale, Violent Cop, Zatoichi) gave strong advice to prospective Tokyo Governors: Those who will reverse the new manga/anime regulations are good candidates! Wow, I’m not sure I can respect this guy more than I already did, but this is seriously awesome.

⚫ I saw a chart of which TV stations are airing which anime next season. The main point that everyone noticed is that Tokyo MX is amazing, showing nearly all the anime of the season! It’s definitely one of the most anime-friendly stations in Japan at the moment.

## Each month I usually like to weigh up Megami and Nyantype magazines against each other, in terms of their poster selection, and then purchase the best one. But this month is so difficult because both magazines have an amazing array of cute/sexy posters! Nyantype’s | Megami’s. Which is your pick this month? I love the catgirl Yumekui one, the Kodomo no Jikan one, the Index one and the Hanasaku Iroha one from Megami! From Nyantype.. well, that IS artwork is super-sexy, and I also like the Gosick poster, the Sora no Otoshimono poster, the Madoka poster, and the Index one. Maybe I’ll give in and get both?

## Went on a short nostalgia trip after skipping through some Gankutsuou and catching some of the amazing soundtrack. Where are the epic anime soundtracks like that these days? Well, I went and listened to the Shiki soundtracks -as an example of a good recent OST- to comfort me. But, music aside, you should watch Gankutsuou (Count of Monte Cristo) if you haven’t already!

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Exactly.

Someone made a cake to celebrate the milestone 2000th keion thread on 2ch!

Art for the official Milky Holmes/Bay Stars (baseball team) collaboration.

This HOT Charles art is a special bonus from Gamers store for purchasing volumes 4-6!

Oh wow.. these are corrections made to the Railgun manga from their original publication in Dengeki Daioh to the volume release. Lots of changes.

 

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Daily Intake 26.02.11 – Morning Rescue Version

As I won’t be able to make a post tonight, and some interesting stuff came out last night, I thought I’d prepare this morning version instead! I’m calling it ‘Morning Rescue!”

⚫ Volume 6 of the Railgun manga is out! link I’m pretty sure this volume marks the end of the epic Sisters’ Arc, which was about 300,000 times better in this manga than in the Index TV-anime! I’ve said it before, and I”ll say it again, give the Railgun manga a go!

⚫ Infinite Stratos Volume 1 will come with a special short-novel. Looks like it gives plenty of love to France, and features swimsuits! link

⚫ Weekly DVD/BD sales numbers are out! New entries:

Keion vol. 6: 26,397 BD (3,718 DVD)
Amagami SS 8: 4,324 BD (1,690 DVD)
Asobi ni Ikuyo 6: 1,929 BD
Kuragehime 1: 422 BD .. seriously, that’s too cruel. I think Shiki did better than that (which I’m totally okay with btw).

⚫ Next-season anime Lotte no Omocha has had a sudden official name change! It is now Asutarotte no Omocha! I’m not sure what they mean Asutarotte to be (Asterotte maybe?), but it’s likely the change was related to the fact that there’s a large company in Japan called Lotte (http://www.lotte.co.jp/). The manga is still called Lotte no Omocha.

⚫ The ED for Softenni (next-season anime) will be sung by the lovely Kanae Itou! Kanae Itou is one of those few seiyuus I follow closely, after falling in love with her first role as Amu in Shugo Chara! She has an adorable voice. source

⚫ The latest ranking using torne(toru) numbers is out. I admit I don’t actually know what torne/toru data is, and I don’t really have the time to investigate at the moment. I assume it’s some kind of survey group. But anyway, this ranking is of the most popular anime this season! What’s interesting is that Madoka Magica isn’t in the top 5! Even more interestingly, Fractale is second! Maybe that’s a sign that it really does have much higher ratings than Fractale. The top place is taken by Level E. Infnite Stratos being 3rd is no surprise, but Yumekui Merry coming 5th is a pleasant surprise. source

⚫ A complaint was made to the BPO about the scene in Madoka Magica episode 3 (you know the one!). The complaint goes on to mention that the script-writer (Gen Urobochi) has said that he’s going to try to shock every week after then, and used that to argue that it uses cruelty a a marketing technique. That may be true, but this is a pretty weak argument. Nothing will come of it. (source)

⚫ The new season of Seikon no Qwaser begins on the 11th of April, and airs on Tokyo MX, Chiba TV and AT-X. The director’s cut (uncensored) version airs on Anime One. (source)

⚫ The OVA, .Hack//Quantum, will air on Tokyo MX! (source

⚫ The Hen Zemi (OVA) OP, Punctuation, will get a CD release. (source)

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;_; Rin-chan

The new issue of Nyantype is out!. Earlbox posted some pics of a few of the posters. Hopefully the full poster previews will be up later today. The Madoka and Inifnite Stratos ones look amazing!

Stop it SHAFT!

The Madoka Magica poster from Megami magazine. She seems more flat-chested than usual, but I’m okay with that!

Haha, Kyubee/Incubator the mythical beast!

What Homura would really like to have displayed XD

How Homura would be if she was real and Madoka was a 2D character… if you follow. ONE OF US.

The cover of volume 3 of Hikyotan is an Evangelion parody. This ecch/comedy manga seems to have plenty of parodies!

First Victorique in the bath and now this? BONES is spoiling us.

 

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Daily Intake 05.02.11

⚫ A summary of the store gifts that purchases will get for buying BD volumes 1-3 of Infinite Stratos here. Most of them are tapestries with original illustrations but the last two are telephone cards. By the way, IS has also reached 4th in the Amazon preorder rankings. I’m happy for the new studio, 8-bit and the people involved, but it seems to me that it’s not really deserving of such success.

⚫ A novel serialisation of Anohana has been announced! source

⚫ A new website is up for the anime DVD version of SM-themed Nana to Kaoru (which comes out in a few days)! Some preview images of the OVA are here. Man, it looks so ero! I can’t wait! Then I also stumbled across a page for the live-action version (coming on the 12th of March) here. The girl playing Nana looks pretty hot, so this could be even sexier!

⚫ Some more information has been reported about Anime Contents Expo (ACE), which the anime industry recently envisioned as an alternative to the Tokyo Anime Fair to protest Ishihara’s new regulations bill. It’ll be held on the 26h and 27th of March, with an entrance fee of 1500 yen and tickets being sold after Feb 18. There’s also an extensive list of companies involved. source

⚫ The results of an online poll for dengeki readers to decide the favourite OreImo character were released, and Kirino came out on top! I half-expected Kuroneko to surpass her in popularity! source

⚫ Yesterday I mentioned that ‘Sengoku Shoujou…’ is getting an anime, but the correct title is Sengoku Otome. Sorry about that.

⚫ There wasn’t really a lot to report today, which is fine by me. I spent most of today on Birthday celebrations yet again (they’re over now!). Tomorrow I will have the chance to catch up on anime and contribute to the sakuga thread again.

 

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Pic of the Day: Nanoha will befriend you. Resistance is futile.

My body is not ready for the new Index episode. Looks like the only thing missing is Saten-san!

Kyubee bento. I wouldn’t even trust him as food.

GOD YES! Haruna hug pillow (and a very sexy one at that) coming out in March. Usual high price (9450yen for the smooth).

 

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New Index OP

I’m a fan of this new OP! The song is nice, and doesn’t feel like a repeat of PSI-Missing for once. The animation is good, and I particularly like the part where it scrolls through Touma in various reactions with other characters – that’s quite cleverly done.

 

Trailers for the Young Animator Training Project!

The first four anime created under this excellent initiative are (copy-pasted from ANN to save time): Mitsuru Hongo’s “Kizuna Ichigeki” (Ascension), Teiichi Takiguchi’s “O-jii-san no Lamp” (Telecom Animation Film), Masayuki Yoshihara’s “Bannō Yasai Ninninman” (P.A. Works), and Kazuchika Kise’s “Tansuwarashi” (Production I.G). I’m really looking forward to see what these new animators can do. You can already see plenty of individuality and talent in these short clips! The first two look especially interesting.

Daily Update 02.02.11

⚫ There’s some debate over whether Yamakan’s new twitter account is an imposter or the man himself. He previously closed his twitter account, and, as I’ve discussed in previous posts, just recently closed his blog after getting frustrated with some comments regarding his retirement pledge. This makes it seem strange that he would open a new account. However, I had heard that other people in the industry were following him, but I guess that’s no proof either way. Time will tell, one way or anything.

⚫ A few snippets about the upcoming anime Steins;Gate (source)

Up to episode 3 is already completed; the OP is titled ‘Hacking to the gate’; they’re going to do a collaboration with Amazon I just read that the collaboration has been indefinitely postponed :(; Shikurai Chiyomaru of 5pb described the production quality as being on the level of a movie anime, and said that it isn’t a 1-cour anime.

⚫ While this year’s Tokyo Anime Fair (TAF) is being heavily boycotted by anime producers and publishers, it seems TBS (a TV station) has decided to make a showing, showcasing Keion, Amagami SS and Yumekui Merry at the fair. Any company that shows support for TAF after Governor Ishihara’s absurd new regulations bill loses respect from me and many other fans. Just keep it in mind. source

⚫ OreImo vol. 2 BD sold ~17K copies, which brings the total, including DVD sales, to 22K! Strong sales for the first week on the second volume bode well for the series. At the moment it has sold about 1000 less BD copies than the first volume had after the first week, and the same goes for DVD. source

⚫ Yukari Tamura will appear in a ‘special effects’ TV-drama starting broadcast on the 13th of this month, Pirate Squadron Goukaijyaa.

⚫ This March, Moshidora’s author will be releasing a short-story with illustrations by Sayonara Zetsubou-senei’s illustrator.

⚫ Infinite Stratos’s original work, the light novels, have reached over 120K sales for all 6 volumes (so an average of 20K for each volume)! This bodes well for BD sales. As a comparison Zero no Tsukaima sold about the same per volume, Index sells 42K, and Haruhi sold a huge 72K per volume during its run. The DVD vol.1 for IS has hit 10th in the Amazon preorder rankings (and the Madoka DVD is 12th). As for Blu-rays, it has reached the 10th spot before, compared with Madoka reaching the 5th spot. (source)

⚫ Seitokai no Ichizon will get a shocking announcement this month! An OVA perhaps? I sure hope so! I loved that anime!

⚫ The official website for upcoming anime ‘Install’ is open here. The anime is being done by anipicture and Asahi Production. The website has a short PV. It looks interesting! Character Design/Chief Animation direction is being handled by Ryoichi Murata and Mika Sawada (another duo, just like the Idol Master anime). These two don’t seem highly experience, so this anime could be interesting to see some new talent.

 

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Yamakan cameo in the Kannagi manga.

Cute artwork for Love Love school idol project.

Be careful not to be caught off-guard when zero-time starts up.

This explains everything. Don’t be too hard on Kyubee.

Haha, I would love to see Kirino’s full reaction to Madoka episode 3..

Something about this just cracks me up.

Photoshop can make anime so much more interesting..

Pic of the Day: Meteor Shower by Gemi

 

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Daily Intake 28.01.11

⚫ Houkago no Pleiades will be in 4 episodes for a total of 25 minutes length and will be shown on youtube in HD! #1

⚫ Nyantype magazine March issue is out! View a compilation of all this month’s posters here! Then there’s the Megami magazine posters compiled here. It’s always fun to pit them against each other this month and decide which one has the more arousing offering! What are your thoughts on this month? Personally, I think this is one of the best Megami issues in months, and it’s clearly the victor! The new-season shows have taken over with some glorious results: Kuroneko is looking utterly stunning in school swimsuit; Merry is showing off her DFC in a sukumizu as well; Victorique is looking adorable in her poster; the Oniichan poster is fittingly ero; Yutorichan (no. 17) is potently loli; while the Idol M@ster B2-size poster is this month’s star attraction!

Meanwhile, Nyantype offers a few gems: The IS swimsuit poster is very attractive, the Mitsudomoe sukumizu-bondage poster is extra ero, and the Madoka Magica bikini poster is superb! Your thoughts?

⚫ You can see an extensive screencap comparison between TV and BD version of Strike Witches episodes here. Other than the obvious uncensorship (which is fantastic), there are also a plethora of minor but welcomed animation fixes.

⚫ Seems like this year’s TAF is looking at a deficit of approximately 6,400,000 yen, showing a big impact from the pull-out of many major anime production companies and publishers. Good. This sends a strong message to governor Ishihara in regards to his manga regulations bill. source.

⚫ Kadokawa releasing a new magazine, 4koma Nano Ace. The lineup for volume one includes Nichijou (soon to be a KyoAni anime), Baka Test manga, and a Nanoha Force manga (a parody 4koma). Could be good. Volume one comes out on the 9th of March. source

* I didn’t get a chance to watch the new episodes of anime today, unfortunately. Looking forward to them tomorrow.

 

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Strike Witches 2 BD vol. 5 is out! Nipple witches is the best! Check out more screencaps here. Skinship!

Infinite Stratos 4: ~oho the romance is heating up! A kiss? A near kiss?

Photos of the booklet that came with the new Strike Witches volume. From Earl Box

This original Yumekui Merry drawing will come with purchasing the Yumekui Merry BD from the store TSUTAYA.

Yumekui Merry #4: Merry Maid!!

MM! Volume 2 is out and comes with a very ero omake. See many more delightful screencaps here.

Ika Musume storyboard.. not the best storyboard I’ve seen for a TV-anime..

Shukufuku no Campanella BD Vol 5 is out and this time the 3D bath scene is of the two twins! Easily the hottest one yet! See more caps here.

Nice Yumekui Merry poster~

This Index illustration is nice. I want to see these two appear in frilly clothing now!

Sacred Blacksmith: Cecily is the victim of tentacle rape! Bad roper!

This apparently comes with vol. 1 of Star Driver. Genga collection. Very nice.

T.P Sakura is out apparently. Well, it looks more interesting than I first thought (because of the magical girl element), but probably still falls on the bad side.

Illustration of the Day: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Vivid! Such cute loli artwork!

 

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A Channel PV:

 
Lotte no Omocha PV:

 
Morita-san wa Mukuchi PV:

A Week in Otaku News 5 – MASSUGU GO!

A visual guide to the week in anime/otaku news and distractions! Hopefully this new post format is useful and fun for people. Please comment to share your thoughts, observations, additions, corrections, et cetera! Let’s get a discussion going! I really want to know what people think of this post format, so I’m encouraged to continue doing them every week.

Welcome back everyone! Since my last weekly news post, the year counter clocked over to 2011, so a belated happy new year to everyone *raises glass*! It’s appropriate that this last week (or just over a week, actually) was packed with a myriad of new anime announcements and unveiling! Comiket happened just before January started, and was a venue for most companies to showcase their upcoming anime works in the form of trailers! So, lets welcome the new year by looking ahead, to an exciting horizon of new anime! The number of original anime coming continues to startle me in a very good way. I’d like to hear everyone’s hopes and expectations for these anime.