The April ’08 edition of Hobby Japan has once again reached the hands of intrepid 2channers a few days early, and this issue is particularly rich with items sure to be of interest (and sure to be on display at Wonder Festival on Sunday): includes a new “Capcomaniax” line of Excellent Model figures from Megahouse, scoops on the next two CORE Queen’s Blade figures, repaint versions of two others, the latest from Goodsmile and Max Factory, news regarding the next round of Shuraki releases, details on Yamato’s sexy Ringo and Griffon’s sexy Ryofu, an elven archer from Yamashita Shunya, and much more – read on for pictures and item descriptions:

Word is in tonight from Cafe Reo that they’ll be handling distribution for the Vispo-sculpted, Sano Toshihide-designed Shiratori Amane PVC from G.J? eroge Anata no Shiranai Kangofu. She’s still being developed by Questioners, as our past reporting indicated; however it seems they needed the assistance of a more established company to actually bring the figure to market. Cafe Leo’s product entry gives her a release date of June 2008 at 1/6 scale (21 cm tall) and a retail price of 9,800 yen; the entry also states that the figure will be on display at the Cafe Leo Wonder Festival booth, so we’ll finally get some concrete angles on her beyond the tantalizing ones provided in official photography thus far. Promo image below:

Includes the new Range Murata PSE series figure we first saw in resin back at WF2007s, the demon girl vignette Tora was showing off at C73, Toy’sworks’ Kusuha Mizuha (onsen ver.), a “damage version” of Kotobukiya’s Narika from Choukou Sennin Haruka, a YUKI.N from Wave along with the Appleseed heroine and Asagiri Mai from Yoake, and an unlimited release of Yujin’s formerly limited Melty Blood Arcueid (Last Arc ver.).

This should be obvious if you’re viewing the site at our home base, but for those reading via a feed or aggregator somewhere, things are looking a little bit different around here today. We’ll be rolling out further features of the new site design over the coming days, but the bare bones are now in place – they’ll be tweaked as we find out just what works and just what doesn’t, but I think the new four-column layout is a change for the better. I’m excited to be moving into the new place and hope you are too – if there’s anything you’d like to see changed, added or removed, comments and questions are welcome! (no more)

HD site renewal in progress!

Zepy over at Canned Dogs has posted with the news that due to a change in licensing requirements, dealers planning to sell Hatsune Miku kits at Wonder Festival 2008 Winter have run into trouble, with their applications either being rejected or having responses so delayed as to make kit production impossible. This jives with what our survey of the event offerings shows – not a single Miku kit in evidence from any of the major sculpting circles (those with online presences, at least), which contrasts sharply with the bonanza of Miku offerings at WHF Ariake 17. Thus far the only Miku kit to be officially announced (that I’m aware of) is the one coming from Volks, who have a professional organization robust enough to handle the demanding requirements of the new system. The merits of such requirements can be debated, but the strong anti-derivative stand on the part of the Vocaloid IP is certainly a trend to watch. (no more)

Online bookshop Mangaoh posted a listing last night for a rather surprising item: Queen’s Gate – On wo Kaesu Mono Iroha, (“Iroha – She Who Repays a Debt”). This is the same Iroha featured in the Samurai Spirits – Tenkaichi Kenkyakuden SNK fighting game, and Queen’s Gate is the recently begun crossover franchise to Queen’s Blade that brings characters from other settings into the Lost Worlds combat book system (Moetan‘s Nijihara Ink and the original Niθ-designed Mon wo Hiraku Mono Arisu were the first two entries). I wasn’t expecting to see a bona fide fighting game character emerge in the series, but given her popularity Iroha certainly makes sense as a selection – I wonder if this means we’ll finally get a castoffable Iroha kit from Megahouse (probably not). According to the Mangaoh entry she’s scheduled to make her queenish debut on April 18th, at the standard QB price of 1,500 yen (64 full color pages, hardbound). Queen’s Gate Iroha cover image below:

Via Moon Phase Diary: according to an advertisement in this month’s Dengeki Daioh, sister magazine Dengeki Comic Gao is to see an indefinite suspension of publication, presumably beginning after this month’s issue (due out on the 27th). Several of the manga currently serialized in Gao will begin running in Daioh, including Venus Versus Virus, Wagaya no Oinari-sama, Kemeko Deluxe, ef – a fairy tale of the two, and Gurren Lagann; the others will presumably end or suspend their runs with the next issue of the magazine. It seems a bit odd that the magazine’s official site shows no sign of the move, so we’ll keep an eye out for the next few days to make sure this information is accurate. (no more)