In today’s update: Master of Epic anime announcement crashes the game’s servers, Yonna in the Solitary Fortress theatrical trailer online, Hellsing OVA vol. 1 on sale today, Ar Tonelico drama CDs announced (possible anime to follow?), eroge brand Sukaradog launch scooped, Zoids Genesis swimsuit edition capsule figures, customizable figures from Volks, prepainted [ERO] Saber and Rider kits from Art Road at Wanfesu, etc. etc.

Media Side

• What happens when you host a major new anime announcement based on a popular online game on the same servers that the game runs on? Pretty much what you’d expect (at time of writing, at least). Master of Epic: the anime will be coming to TV sets (or monitor screens) near you in the fall of 2006.
• A new theatrical trailer for Yonna in the Solitary Fortress is online today, and while it certainly looks dated compared to Advent Children it’s still an impressive effort for a single animator.
• An official site is online today for the March 9th PSP rerelease of Tokimeki Memorial, dubbed Tokimeki Memorial ~Forever With You~. Perhaps because they assume your PSP is grafted to your hand.
• Kadokawa announces today that the Saiunkoku Monogatari TV anime will air on NHK’s BS2 network starting April 8th. The spiritual successor to Juuni Kokki? …probably not, but we can hope.
• Papillon Rose New Season saw its launch on the Kyuushuu Broadcasting network yesterday (this morning) without much fanfare. Given the strong amateur roots of this production I’m interested to see where it goes.
• Barring any other last-minute delays, volume one of the Hellsing OVA should go on sale today.
• First a game with a phenominal sountrack, now a set of drama CDs (the first two volumes coming on March 24th and April 21st). Operant conditioning indicates that where there are drama CDs, anime will follow…
• Web radio updates are online today for To Heart 2 (kawaii!) and Aria.

Ero Side

• Akiba-k scoops the launch of eroge brand Sukaradog, already with three releases pending in its production queue. The brand’s motto is “Ero is Mightier than the Sword”, and while the scant sample images do little to reinforce that claim it’ll be interesting to see where they take things in the coming months.
• Yotsunoha pillow alert!
• New Site Launches / Release Announcements
  • Waffle’s Dokujima Nero ~Sunadokei no Maid~
  • Juliette’s Goshujin-sama he
  • Lilith’s 2005 2nd Half Lilith Best Collection
  • Casino’s Time Capsule ~Ka~ [official site] [sample CG]
• Sample CG
  • Le Chocolat’s Kidou Houshinki
  • Xuse’s Supitan [official site]
  • Selen’s Tsuma Mix (scroll down)
  • Silver Bullet’s Setsuei
  • Ole’s Tenmusu! [official site]
  • Gindokei’s Gakuto! [official site]
• Wallpapers
  • Kadokawa’s Fragments Blue

Figure Side

• The few. The proud. The webcomic update.
• I somehow managed to gloss over last month’s release of this set of Zoids Genesis swimsuit edition capsule figures, but Akibajin picks up the slack today with a full review.
• Volks launches a line of what look to be customizable figure / dolls (production blog here). This is an interesting (and slightly creepy) concept, but pettanko only? :(
• Filling a “moe” gap that I would argue doesn’t exist (what with Amiami, the recently launched Hobby Stock, HobbyNet, and others already more than willing to take your hard-earned yens in exchange for plastic three-dimensional extrusions of your favorite 2D characters), “bishoujo figure specialty shop” Moe Soul.com will be open for business on March 9th.
• Wanfesu Corner
  • The Wonder Festival catalog / guidebook is officially on sale today! I’ll probably be picking mine up after [ERO] Futaket on Sunday…
  • A monumental scoop from Griffon’s Art Road division today in the announcement that these [ERO] Saber and Rider kits will be released in completed, pre-painted versions at Wonder Festival. Estimated time from event opening to sellout: fifteen minutes. Griffon proper will also have several garage kits on sale at the event.
  • The latest word from Lilics regarding their phantom Chii PVC is that it has not, in fact, been released yet; the first chance we’ll have to acquire the item will be at Wanfesu, where they’ll have a batch of 300 available for purchase. Estimated time to sellout: 30 minutes to an hour.
  • Yuuyu’s Super Express Train Girl Fastic 360S will be launched at high speeds at the event, with a special reduced price of 2,500 yen. I think I may still wait for their XP-tan (currently in production).
  • Nitro+ represents at the event with this pair of gun replicas from Demonbane. Where are they hiding their Ignis PVC? >:(
• Cafe Reo’s Final Fantasy Trading Arts vol. 2 figure set acquires a tentative street date of April 7th. CMS’s Gun x Sword Collection Figures? February 17th. The Carmen is definitely provocative…
• The Wave My HiME Project Figure Series vol. 1 Arika Himemiya PVC kit mentioned yesterday is now officially on sale. Apparently this Kaiyodo Bome Collection Onikko (repaint ver.) PVC is as well.