In today’s update: the SOS-dan represents, crossdressing anime gets a new name (and it’s not Princess Princess), Red Garden gets a teaser trailer, Binbou Shimai Monogatari gets a flash slideshow, Top / Top2 get movies (of a sort), the Chocotto Sister anime site gets (slightly) less pedo, hype ramps up for Fate on the PS2, SOD’s Kazama Mana eroanime gets a trailer, we experiment with eroge tags (further post on this forthcoming), Queen’s Blade 5 and 6 verily THRUST themselves onto a hapless otaku market, Organic’s Witchblade PVC is unveiled in all its colorful (bootyful) glory, and there are more moustaches than every prior HD post COMBINED – truly a landmark occasion.
SOS団
Irresponsible Captain Kyon from Haruhi 11
- A new episode of Haruhi web radio (#18) is now online! If you don’t listen, Mikuru will cry…
- The official site is now listing CD offerings complete with cover art for an original CD-only radio show, along with “character song” albums from all three of our heroines (all on sale July 5th).
- Never far from the front lines of the Otaku Wave, Toranoana represents with a special Haruhi release promotional section featuring post cards and other goodies to be available with the various upcoming DVD and OST releases.
- Kyoani updates with the staff best cuts from episode 9. I must say that I am in full agreement with their choices.
Media Side
she’s a man, baby!
- Fans of gender-bending romantic comedy take note: Caramel Box’s [ERO] Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru (henceforth referred to as Otoboku) is being made into a (non-ero) anime courtesy of StarChild. No word on when it will air, but presumably this fall?
- MediaWorks has an official site open for the upcoming Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku wo anime (scooped earlier here). I have no idea how this one will be officially abbreviated… “Mamomega”? “Megashuku”? Regardless, the site’s splash image does not inspire confidence.
- Red Garden, the new show from Gonzo we scooped here the other day, now has a barebones trailer available for viewing. It’s just speech and text over sliding silhouettes of the characters, but better than nothing. It delivers a feel for the vibe they’re going for with the production, I’m guessing something more along the lines of Gankutsuoh than say, Garasu no Kantai.
- Avex Mode has an official page up for Binbou Shimai Monogatari, not an encouraging development given the precident of shows they’ve had production credits on, but we can’t hold that against them. Yet. Of particular interest here is the flash slideshow on the story page, which is about as slice-of-life moe as it gets; here’s hoping the show itself is as pleasant as the hints we’ve gotten thus far.
- According to Top2’s official site (and Gainax), if you’re in Japan this fall you will be able to see back-to-back 90-minute cuts of Top wo Nerae! and Top wo Nerae! 2 in theatrical form. The spliced version of Top2 will contain original footage not seen in the six-part OVA, and Gunbuster will feature a redubbed audio track with voices provided by the original 1988 cast. I tend not to be a fan of re-cut series animation being passed off as film, but this might be a worth giving a chance.
- The Chokotto Sister anime site has been updated to something slightly less pedo than its former iteration, with character descriptions now online.
- A DVD box set of the entire Rurouni Kenshin TV series + OVA will go on sale December 20th in Japan for 84,000 yen (~$720 USD). Let us pause for a moment of silent reflection on the wonders of the Japanese media economy, and move on…
- Release information for a Log Book + Making Of DVD (out on August 25th) and the final two OVA episodes of Stratos 4 Advance (September 22nd and October 27th respectively) is now online at the show’s official site. Of far greater interest to me, however, is the STACHE. A show produced by a man with a moustache of that caliber is certainly worth your hard-earned coin!
- Need something to fill that Ayanami pillowcase you’ve had sitting around for the past year? Cospa has the answer, but it won’t come cheap. Not that I’d imagine anyone would want to ship a 150 cm pillow across the Pacific.
- A demo movie is now available for Kogado’s take on the mechamusume genre, Gadget Trial. Still too pastel and cartoony for me; luckily Strike Witches is here to save the day.
- The hype is increasing for the (non-ero) PS2 release of Fate / Stay Night [Realta Nua] and Toranoana is now taking preorders. Still no release date on it though, aside from the amorphous “2006”.
- Momoi Haruko is back! She’ll be doing a mini-live concert on the top floor of Akihabara’s Toranoana #1 on October 1st to commemorate August 9th release of her album “momo-i quality: The Best of Momoi”.
Ero Side
- A promo video is online today for the August 25th release of Soft On Demand’s Kazama Mana eroanime OAV, courtesy of Galge.com (you can find the link to the video in the purple “file download” box just below the character art). It’s not much more than a teaser, and doesn’t contain many of the screenshots viewable further down the page; however there’s enough material to say safely that if you liked the first in the series (Galge scoop), you’ll probably like this one too.
- New Site Launches / Release Announcements
- Cuffs’ Wanko to Lilly [loli-kei]
- Black Cyc’s Extravaganza [horror-kei]
- Touchable’s Mahou Shoujo Mana [shokushu-kei]
- Studio Miris’s Aozora Gakko no Sensei-kun [moe-kei]
- We’ve Got Movie Sign!!
- 0verflow’s Summer Days [renai-kei]
- Interheart’s Boin ni Kakero! [kyonyuu-kei]
- Atelier Kaguya’s School Project [ecchi-kei]
- Unisonshift’s Oshiete Re:Maid [ecchi-kei]
- Yuzuu-soft’s Buraban! [renai-kei]
- Sukaradog’s Itsudatsu Ai [hentai-kei]
- May-Be Soft’s Maid-san to Ookii na Ken [kyonyuu-kei]
- Demo Downloads
- Rusk’s Kimi to Koishite Musubarete [renai-kei]
- Anim-e’s Please, Maid Me! [ecchi-kei]
- Cattle-ya’s Chijoku Sister [kyonyuu-kei]
- Studio Jyaren’s Soushinjutsu 2 [hentai-kei]
- Liquid’s Seidorei Gakuen [hentai-kei]
- Sample CG
- Lucha’s Yoyogi Hitozuma Senmon Gakuin [kyonyuu-kei]
- Yellowpig’s Otto no Mae de Okasarete… [kyonyuu-kei]
- Anim-e’s Please, Maid Me! [ecchi-kei]
- Giga’s Baldr Bullet REVELLION [hard boiled action adventure-kei]
- Caramel Box’s Alicematic [gosurori-kei]
Hobby Side
- Ero-ero yo! The big scoop from last Friday was the release of Queen’s Blade volumes 5 (Tomoe) and 6 (Ekidona), which has had my group of Japanese e-friends abuzz for several days now. I don’t imagine they’re available anywhere in this podunk village any more, must make a beeline to Akiba…
further incentive to visit the Queen’s Blade website
- Just when you think T’s system might take a break to rest on his laurels and spend some of the heaping mounds of cash he’s been accumulating hand over fist from his killer never-ending combo of successful figure releases, he says thee NAY with the release announcement of a pair of Fate PVCs: a bikini Sakura and a bikini Rin, both due out in August from Clayz.
Organic, more like orgasmic
- We’ve got positive ID on Organic/Gonzo’s forthcoming Masane PVC from Witchblade (scooped earlier here), tentatively set for a late July release. With this and Kotobukiya’s offering coming down the pipes in the near future us Uno Makoto fans can now be found dancing in streets everywhere.
And finally, to round out the day’s ‘stache quota:
:O
Queen’s Blade looks amazing. I hope this turns into a show sometime.
>>Port
Ditto, though with all of the great design talent behind the various characters I’m finding it hard to root for who I’d want to see behind a hypothetical anime.
PS. Amazon.co.jp carries the books, if you’re interested in ordering I can hunt up a link once not at work.
Man, they’re out already? Time to hunt up the ISBN and give Kinokuniya a call…
>>Agent Wax
The great thing about them for those of us living in more prohibitive parts of the world (I am so sorry, sir) is that they’re about as close to erotica as you can get without crossing that imaginary “I know it when I see it” line. Technically I suppose they are erotica, but not pornography… that’s a semantic discussion probably better left out of this comments section, though.
Strike Witches? As much as I like planes and girls, I would prefer mechamusume tanks. XD
Thanks for the link in. :D
With that Orwell bit, maybe you’re on to something. Hmm… Maybe Haruhi is a vast right-wing conspiracy by KyoAni to get everyone in Japan to listen to the Red Hat ladies. THE HORROR!
None of that eroside stuff is looking too exciting except Summer Days. I have been waiting for that one for entirely too long. Maybe I’m getting jaded…
So Queen Blade is a manga, I am guessing? Are there any non-JP places to order from so I can actually read the order form?
I’ve seen elephants fly, but George Orwell on Heisei Democracy?
>>Waterfall
We live in hope – perhaps they’ll come in the sequel. If only posting about a sequel here would make it magically become the case…
>>Randall Fitzgerald
Credit where credit is due! I’d like to reference more blogs on a more frequent basis, but I rarely have the time to check Akiba Blog these days, much less read all the quality writing and news scoopage that’s out there in the English blogosphere. Yours is an exception, as for some reason Technorati shows every single one of your posts in my “incoming links” section in the WordPress admin panel. I have to read your post titles at least, whether I like it or not. :)
I wasn’t thinking too hard about the Orwellian correlation when I posted, but you’re right – it’s not too hard to picture the SOS-dan as Big Brother, is it?
There are a couple of things that caught my eye in today’s ero section, but nothing that really pushes any buttons in an “OMG MUST BUY” way – unless further evidence reveals that Hanaharu is in fact behind the new Yellowpig release, in which case one’s patriotic duty must be done.
>>Port
Queen’s Blade is a series of game books based on the Lost Worlds system from Flying Buffalo press. They’re B5 size (same as a typical volume of doujinshi), hardcover, full color, and 64 pages each (if I recall correctly) with each page featuring an illustration of your character attacking, defending, or being hit.
You can order the two new books here, with order forms for the previous four available from the main LW page… seems like this might be cheaper than Amazon, actually.
>>Sydney
Is HD somehow anti-Ingsocian? Or perhaps you think his moustache doesn’t make the high standard of facial hair quality we keep around here. You may be right at that; it’s pretty thin compared to Mr. Stratos 4’s fine appendage.
I might have to spend the money for Yoyogi Hitozuma Senmon Gakuin. I like the CG’s
$120 for the whole set so far is not too bad. Although I really just want #1 and #6. :3 Thanks, Shingo.
>>loplop
I’m eyeing that one as well, definitely pleasant on the eyes for us [bb] fans. I’m not sure the fundage will be there for it when it comes out, though. :/
>>Port
That’s about the markup you could expect with shipping thrown in anyway, maybe a bit cheaper; not a bad price at all for the quality you’re getting. I agree, #1 and #6 are the cream of the crop (though I haven’t seen all of six yet so I can’t make the case definitively). Glad I could help out, sir.
Shingo:
Actually, Yellowpig really didn’t do it for me in the character design department. I think it’s just that one of her cooking the yakisoba, of all things. I guess the brain wants what it wants.
Sorry about the technorati thing. I guess it’s because of my blogroll, but I don’t think it happens to everyone else. Although, I do see a lot of my own posts in my own technorati. Hopefully, I at least put forth good/comprehensive info. Haha.
>>Randall Fitzgerald
I don’t really like the theme of the Yellopig game (a title like “raped in front of her husband” doesn’t do much for me) but I prefer the designs to most of the other fare up for grabs today, Summer Days included. Those brains and their whims!
The technorati glitch isn’t a big deal, I almost wish every blog that linked me in the sidebar would do that. It would certainly help me keep up with what others are doing.
[…] Thanks to both Heisei Democracy and Paranda.net, I was able to find out some details about Momoi Halko’s new “best of” album…Â including her upcoming mini-live performance in Toranoana, (10/01). […]
Splicing old style animation with modern animation ? Interesting to see how it would turn out. But I’m more concerned whether Gainax will reveal more plot in this new movie, particularly the whereabouts of Nono and Noriko. Eagerly waiting for the conclusion of Top2 in vol. 6 as well ^_^.
>>great123
I should clarify, from what I could tell from the site it seems that there will be two separate feature-length items released, one derived from Gunbuster only and one derived from Top2 only – no splicing between them. I could be wrong, but that’s what it’s looking like right now. I’m not sure whether we’ll be treated to any plot revelations or not beyond what’s already in the series, but hold out hopes.