In today’s update: Zegapain anime site fully open, Melty Blood Act Cadenza coming to the PS2, Cave offers 500,000 yen for the best artistic arrangement of their Ibara figures, several AVGs see conversion from PC versions to the PS2, various incarnations of moe in Majo Cafe – 2/3 Ai no Kyoukaisen – Moeru Diet Nineball-hen, name that eroge, Tsuyokisu official fan book announced, Muv Luv Alternative first lot sold out, Valis Cross is a blast from the past, and a few token figure scoops from Hobby Japan.

Media Side

• Mecha fans take note: the official site for Sunrise’s Zegapain TV anime is now fully open, with the show set for an April 6th broadcast launch.
• Melty Blood Act Cadenza is coming to the PS2. No release details as of yet.
• The second season of Ah! My Goddess TV will air starting April 6th on TBS.
• Web Anime Style updates with keyframe roughs [more] from the xxxHolic movie. In other xxxHolic news, Clamp announces that the TV anime will be keeping AMG company starting April 6th on TBS.
• Old news, but the upcoming Kiba anime will officially be a Sunday morning cartoon. The spiritual replacement for Eureka 7, perhaps, though airing on a different network and at a different timeslot.
• Cave will give you a grand prize of 500,000 yen (~$4,300 USD) to create a movie, photo montage, or physical alteration to the set of Ibara boss trading figures they’re currently putting out. I confess that this makes no sense to me whatsoever, as they have already crippled their pool of potential applicants with one of the figures very definitely sold out; without looking too hard at the details it seems they’re soliciting advertisement for items that can’t be purchased. Bizarre.
• Alchemist has an official page up today for Parfait Chocolat Second Style, the PS2 version of Parfait Chocolat Second Brew Re-order. Probably. In related news, studies have shown that digital iced confections also contribute to tooth decay. More information on the game’s May release, including a figure that will come with the more expensive initial limited edition pack, can be found here courtesy of Galge.com.
• Another PC game turned very shortly after release to the PS2 is Lass’s Festa!! Hyper Girls Party. The original is definitely ero, so watch out if you’re browsing at work.
• Staff and cast details have been announced for the upcoming Yoshinaga-san Uchi no Gargoyle TV anime.
• TV anime series The Third will begin broadcast on non-scramble WOWOW April 13th, while Gonzo’s Glass no Kantai (EPIC SCI-FI SPACE ACTION FANTASY OPERA EPIC) will launch some time in April.
• Toranoana presents Winter Mix 3rd PERCENEIGE, a compilation album of professional and amateur tracks from various and sundry (mostly game) sources.
• The first chapter of the Majo Cafe web novel is online today courtesy of Kogado, and the moe factor does not disappoint. Hunt for the “no text” links scattered throughout… The fifth chapter of Toranoana’s Deep Blue Age webcomic is online today as well.
• The second installment of Mediaworks’ 2/3 Ai no Kyoukaisen reader-determined story is online today, in which you vote to determine the fate of the hapless NEET protagonist as he struggles to choose between the SD moe 2d characters and the not so SD moe 2d characters that surround him in his daily life. This episode focuses on a day spent online gaming: what should our hero (?) do? Vote by March 10th and recieve an unspecified gift!
• Keroro Gunsou will teach you to type!
• A couple of interesting new cell phone games out recently: Momoko 1200% – Zenpen is based on an arcade game from 1985 and features the “Momoko Genocide Bazooka”, and Moeru Diet Nineball-hen, in which moe, pool, and dieting instruction for otaku are fused into a gloriously absurd cocktail. I wish I could say I was making this stuff up, sometimes.

Ero Side

• In an interesting twist on the typical progression of popular eroge to all-ages PS2 version (to anime, to cultural phenomenon), Hokenshitsu he Youkoso is being simultaneously produced in PS2 and PC versions. It’s unclear whether the latter will contain any ero content (I’m thinking it won’t), but it’s a rarity in any case to see them both in development simultaneously; this seems to run counter to the profit model that mandates staggered releases with just enough content variation to coax fans into buying multiple copies of what is essentially the same game. Shorten the time between the two releases and what happens? I guess we’ll find out.
• Eroge maker Sukaradog invites you to name one of their upcoming releases, and get listed in its production credits for your trouble (score a free copy of the game, too!).
• For the tsundere fans: a Tsuyokisu Official Fan Book will be released on March 30th (and don’t forget the anthology comic out on the 3rd). In other artbook news, a Yoake-sen Yori Ruri-iro na Perfect Visual Book will be released on March 30th as well.
• A couple of reminders today that Imouto Challenge!, a little sister-themed compilation album of bishoujo game music, will be released on March 31st.
• Age announces that the first lot of Muv Luv Alternative has sold out. The next pressing of the game will be in stores “as soon as possible”.
• The day’s obligatory Type Moon reference comes in the announcement from Fox / Toranoana that their hollow ataraxia compilation manga is now on sale.
• Character intros are online today for Atelier Kaguya’s Amatsu, mentioned mostly because I’m digging the designs.
• Here’s something to look into for the historians in the crowd: Valis Cross is a something (eroge, presumably, from the art on the splash page) that is apparently the latest installment in an intrenched lineage of Valis-branded games and other items (as revealed by a preliminary Google search). It seems the property goes back to at least 1986… I’d be interested to hear if anyone knows more about this.
• Details are reluctantly being teased out of Red Label’s Gakuen Tengoku, as a still-sparse characters page goes up today. Is an April 7th release for this really a possibility?
• Galge.com scoops the two eroanime offerings from Milky Anime on sale February 25th: Ms. Junkie vol. 1 and Ki ni Naru Roommate vol. 2.
• New Site Launches / Release Announcements
  • Illusion’s RapeLay
  • Pizzicato feat. Giga’s Koichu! (HiMM-esque costumes alert)
  • Liar Soft’s Souten no Celenaria (steampunk action adventure? alert)
  • Pulltop’s Harukani Aogi, Uruwashi no
  • Eushully’s Tayu-Uta
  • Anastasia’s Mahosuku
• Demo Downloads
  • Cyc’s Senjou de Shoujo wa Karada wo Kakeru
  • White Cyc’s Kami-sama no Yado!
  • Terios’s Lycoris Radiata
  • Extry’s Kousenbito Shirazu
• Sample CG
  • Marry Bell’s Pin Suta
  • Cyc’s Senjou de Shoujo wa Karada wo Kakeru
  • Alcot’s Triptych
  • TinkerBell’s Oyako Lesson [official site]
  • Fulltime’s Eroi [official site]
  • Fonte’s Fami! [official site]
  • Tama Soft’s Lost Child [official site]
  • Carriere’s Koi Otome
  • Puzzlebox’s Oba no Shinshitsu
  • Yuzu Soft’s Buraban!
  • Notus’s Engeki Club
  • Loversoul’s Harumoi
  • Hadashi Shoujo’s Sweets!
  • Nico’s Kaleido Sonata
  • Vitamin’s Himitsu no Houkago 2 [official site]
  • Vitamin’s Ijitte Princess Gaiden [official site]
• Wallpapers
  • Silver Bullet’s Setsuei
  • Pizzicato feat. Giga’s Koichu!

Hobby Japan Side

• The few. The proud. The top image and webcomic updates. In today’s installment, our evil military catgirl infiltrator (name… what was it…) does some cultural research on blending in with the locals. Maritan is not fooled.
• Hobby Japan reminds us that bishoujo figure specialty shop moe-soul.com will be open on March 9th.
• Again with the Hobby Japan, this time representing with a 60-cm Ruri doll, out in conjunction with the Nadesico DVD re-release project. At 60,000 yen that’s just nine bucks a centimeter! I wonder if you can buy her in installments… if a two-foot Ruri isn’t big enough for you, Paper Moon is offering a discount on their 1:1 scale version – a bargain at 257,250 yen.
• The Wonder Festival reports just don’t know when to stop.
  • Hobby Japan scoops the Ensky booth
  • Hobby Japan scoops the Konami booth
  • Hobby Japan scoops the Paper Moon booth

Working two full-time jobs over the past few weeks – events on the weekends pushing the blog well into 40-hour a week territory – is starting to wear on me… I need a vacation from one of the two, I think. No time to watch anime or play games these days…