Naruto Shippuden August schedule!

Tsunade recovered and Kakashi is glad to not have to take the mantle as Hokage. Naruto will take on Sasuke himself. The prophecy has been placed by the Great Toad Sage. However, what we will get this month is pirate fillerology!

Episode 223 "The Young Man and the Sea" (青年と海) August 4, 2011

Episode 224 "The Merchant Ninja of Venice" (紅州の商忍) August 11, 2011

Episode 225 "The Cursed Ghost Ship" (呪われた幽霊船) August 18, 2011

Episode 226 "Battleship Island" (戦艦の島) August 25, 2011

Hunter x Hunter will have a new anime!!

With the return of the manga to Shonen Jump, the magazine also announced that a second Hunter x Hunter anime television series will air this fall. The 62 episode first Hunter x Hunter TV series aired in 1999 and was followed by three OVA series.

*does happy dance!*

J-Manga site will be up on August 17

One of the first great steps in the publishing of digital manga for global audiences will feature titles of 39 manga publishers. This is the official, legal way to read your manga online.

The Jmanga site will offer officially sanctioned online access to a wide variety of Japanese manga titles including ADEKAN, Cigarette Kisses, Crayon Shin-chan, Devil King, Dragon Girl, Kekkaishi, Manga Science, Naruto, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, Tujiurauri, and Young-kun.

This is a great opportunity to discover or read rare series that are difficult to find!

New trailer of Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle!

NHK just uploaded on its site a new trailer with a bit more details. The series will premiere on October and it looks as promising as Kamimemo.

Holy Knight will have an OVA!

Author Maya Miyazaki revealed via Twitter that her series will have an OVA adaptation.

The anime will be the debut work of Cammot anime production studio. The manga story stars a teen boy who learns that he’s actually the successor to a family of vampire hunters.

The information is also available through their main site.

Source: AnimeNation

Toshiro Mifune and Charles Bronson in the same movie??

Yes, it happened. Those were the days.

These scenes are from the movie Red Sun (1971):

If a samurai and a cowboy fought, what would be the outcome?

Square Enix manga award revoked due to plagiarism

This is quite becoming the item of the day as Square Enix revoked the award to its 18th edition of the Square Enix Manga Prize awards after readers pointed that the winning story, 'Compliance -Zettai Hō Rei Toshi', by upcoming author Daiki Matsuura, plagiarized author Tow Ukubata light novel Mardock Scramble 104, licensed by Viz Media in the US.

Daiki Matsuura apologized by posting a notice, explaining that he was in a hurry to make his debut as a manga creator.

The apology notice from Monthly Shonen Gangan's editorial department said that after it received the information from readers about the possible plagiarism, it conducted an investigation and found "several points of similarity" between Matsuura's work and Ubukata's.

The editorial department wrote that in the future it would give new creators training and guidance, and the editorial department would do as much as it could to prevent something like this from happening again.

This just proves that desperation is never the right inspiration. O_O

Source: ANN

Hellsing Ultimate VIII ova preview trailer!

Although this was posted on Friday, the premiere of the 3rd and final season of this series has been delayed to July 27, which is also the same day the BD/DVD will come out.

The anime's staff cited the effects of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster on the already tight production schedule and the desire for retakes as reasons for the one-month delay.



source: ANN

Superman vs Goku webcomic review

This is one classic webcomic that poses the answer to the question: who is the only one that would beat the hell out of Superman in a fight, or at least be a formidable opponent to him?

The answer is obvious: Goku

That's the almost unanymous answer you will get from any fanbase, it is an idea that has been well engraved in our pop culture.

And it is no wonder, since Dragon Ball is loosely based on the myth of Superman.

So, the only person that would beat Superman, is his manga counterpart?

This webcomic was done by Joel Ojeda Lopez from Deviantart,it can be read here, on his site:

http://mistermoster.deviantart.com/gallery/27844038

One thing I loved is the action from the very first frame, perspirating action everywhere, and how the entire fight was so well presented and epic, that it has absolutely nothing to envy to the fight scenes in Bleach.

The creator certainly established his own realm of style to create a world in which Superman and Goku can coexist without the clashing of their aesthectic origins.

There's always the risk that Superman would be unrecognizable in manga style, or that Goku looks awful if drawn in classic Western style. Ojeda Lopez managed to create an interesting mix of both.

I'm not going to spoil how the fight turned out, but here's a key panel that'll make you wonder:

Kamehameha vs. Heat Vision?????

The Golden Age Arc of Berserk will be made into 3 anime films!

As more info comes out on the upcoming film, titled Berserk Ōgon Jidai-Hen I: Haō no Tamago (Berserk Golden Age Arc I: Egg of the Supreme Ruler), it has also been revealed that the Golden Age Arc will have three parts.

The author, Kentaro Miura, also designed 'Clara de Porras', the new "publicity" character that serves as the public face of the film project's Twitter account and other promotional activities. The design was unveiled on Tuesday, and Comic Natalie and Mantan Web are among the websites that posted it.

Source: ANN

'Grey is' by dee Juusan review

The artwork speaks for itself

This is the story of a guy named 'Black'. Being a succesful yet evasive freelance fashion designer, he feels that his life is empty and greyscale, so much that he avoids grey in any of his designs, though there's demand for him to do it.

Until a guy dressed in black attire appears on his balcony. They appear to know each other and he is the key to making 'Black's life less dull, less grayscale.

It's easy to wonder whether this story is yaoi or shonen-ai, however, the author establishes firmly in her main site that it doesn't belong to either of those genres and that they're just close friends.

The main protagonists are very likeable and have a sorta similar chemistry to the characters of Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, without being exactly of that genre as that series.

It's the appeal of them together in the same frame that inmediately brings your attention to what's going on.

It is later revealed that the reason he went away to live at a studio appartment of his Dad's friends is because he was betrayed by the ones he cherished most.

The one thing that stands out of this webmanga is undoubtely the artwork. It's clean, subtle and idilic. I feel that this is an allegorical type of story, and that would explain the slow pacing and main focus on the characters and lack of established backgrounds (the settings are revealed as you read on).

For example, the character named 'Black' is a pale white haired guy, and you can assume that his black haired, black attired companion is named 'White'. It's like both protagonists complement each other by contrast, and that is the strongest visual conveyed by this series.

Well, I won't spoil the story anymore and direct you right away to dee Juusan's site on Deviantart, which is full of great information, has a great interface and props such as little banners, thumbnails, character designs, and illustrations that make the readers crave for more:

http://grey-is.deviantart.com/

Berserk movie will premiere on January 2012!

Finally we have a date! The announcement was made in Young Animal magazine. Gunbuster & Gundam 0080 animation director, Toshiyuki Kubooka, is directing the film.

Now it's a matter of time for the first teasers!!

Source: AnimeNation

Guilty Crown 1st trailer!!

This series will be directed by Tetsuro Araki, known for his works on Death Note and Highschool of the Dead.

The anime is set in Japan in 2039, 10 years after the "Apocalypse Virus" devastated the land. The story revolves around Shū Ouma, an unsociable 17-year-old second-year high school student, and a 17-year-old rival named Gai Tsutsugami who is a young "Jiikundō" pilot of a guerilla organization.



Hmm...did I mention that the Code Geass staff is behind this project also? O_O

VitaminX Addiction trailer

So, yeah, bishonen are officially the new trend for this anime season.

This anime series will premiere on August 26 already released in DVD's, in three monthly episodes.

The story is set at Seitei Gakuen, an elite private academy that teaches every level from kindergarten until college in Tokyo. A new female teacher named Yūri Minami is starting her second year of teaching here, and she is now moving up from teaching middle school students to the assignment she had sought after: grammar for high school students. Unfortunately, she gets assigned to "Class X," an infamous group of seniors; it is said that all of their previous teachers have retired due to ulcers or neurosis. Minami must try to reach out to these students and get them into college.

I was dissapointed with Uta No Prince Sama, since I thought it would have more of a plot, let's see how this turns out!

Aniplex USA will distribute Ao no Exorcist!!

It is estimated that the series by author Kazue Kato will be distributed in the US in four domestic volumes starting on October of this year.

Other series is Madoka Magica, but the details have yet to be determined.

source: ANN

Naruto Shippuden July schedule

There's a break on July 14th, and the July 28th slot seems available for a two hour special as indicated, but this will be confirmed soon.

Episode 219 "Kakashi Hatake, the Hokage" (火影はたけカカシ) July 7, 2011
Episode 220 "The Great Toad Sage's Prediction" (大ガマ仙人の予言) July 21, 2011
Episode 221 "TBA" July 28, 2011
Episode 222 "TBA" July 28, 2011
Episode 223 "The Young Man and the Ocean" (青年と海) August 4, 2011

Young by David Enbey review

If there's something that can attract your attention right away with this webcomic, it's the great use of toning for backgrounds. Being the story of a boy named Young and his sister Inni, as they run across a futuristic, mysterious and decadent city, you feel enveloped by its atmosphere from the very first pages that start telling the story with a bang.

The webcomic can be read here: http://thecustomarts.com/young/young1-00.htm

The artwork really takes advantage of the use of gray tones that make each page look like a a beautiful noir canvas. The story clearly belongs to the mecha genre, but don't be fooled since webcomics actually have the liberty to mix in other elements that give way to experimentation.

The characters are portrayed through their expressions and emotions rather than focusing on accuracy on how they really look like, which blends right in with the style of the backgrounds. The reader can connect perfectly with the characters, their actions, how they feel, and that is precisely the magic of manga.

The synopsis of the story reads:

A worldwide epidemic has ravaged most humans on the Earth by being mass produced as a drug called Seven. Several people around the world have unique resistances to the disease, Young and his family being some of them.


Young seeks the last piece of the cure by finding his father, who is among the highest ranking officials of Seven Corp., before he runs out of time and is consumed by Seven himself.

'Young' has already a completed volume with two big chapters, and a second volume that is frequently updated.

Shueisha will relaunch 3 manga magazines!!

Interesting changes come for the 2011-2012 period as the leading Japanese publisher decided to merge Business Jump and Super Jump to create a new biweekly magazine aimed at seinen audiences, consisting of male workers in their 30's and 40's, those that were raised on the 80's generation of Weekly Shonen Jump.

The new title will continue serializing Ring ni Kakero 2, Jin and Gotakeshi.

As for the spinoff magazine Jump Kai, it will be relaunched as a periodical magazine.

Shueisha explained that it is making these changes in response to the changing environment for seinen manga and the changing tastes of readers.

Source: ANN

Excel Saga will end after 15 years!!!

The classic 1996 series, whose story revolves around Excel Excel and Hyatt, two agents of Across, a secret organization that aims to take over the world since it's corrupt, will end on the 27th volume that will ship on October of this year, according to author Koushi Rikudo.

The anime was produced by ADV Films and it lasted from 1999 to 2000.

NicoNico will stream Blood-C and Uta no Prince Sama

Beginning next month, NicoNico, the English langauge version of Japan’s Nico Nico Douga video streaming site, will simulcast weekly episodes of the Blood-C & Uta no Prince-sama ~ Maji Love 1000% television series. English subtitled weekly episodes will be accessible to viewers in the United States, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa for one week starting immediately after the Japanese TV broadcast. After the initial week, access to episodes will be limited to NicoNico subscribers. During the site’s ongoing beta phase, NicoNico subscription membership is only 25 cents.

source: ANN

Looking forward to them, along with R-15!!!!

Rurouni Kenshin live action movie announced!!

This is simply awesome for the fans of this relatively forgotten classic samurai series!!!

And NO, this won't be done by Warner Brothers or Hollywood for any matter!!!

The Sankei Sports newspaper reports that Japanese film production company Studio Swan (Paradise Kiss) is developing a live-action feature adaptation of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s 1994-1999 samurai adventure manga Rurouni Kenshin. Keishi Otomo, who directed actor Takeru Satoh in last year’s historical drama TV series Ryomaden, will direct the film with Satoh starring as Himura Kenshin. Satoh was reportedly Nobuhiro Watsuki’s ideal actor to portray Kenshin. Shooting will begin next month for a tentative international release. The film is expected to launch a live-action film franchise. Warner Brothers Pictures Japan will distribute the picture.

Source: ANN