Two new promos have gone up for two upcoming shows with the first being from gender change action series, Kampfer, from the same guy who brought us Maburaho. Streaming directly from the TBS website, the new two minute trailer introduces the cast and characters while showing off a bit of the action. Since first hearing about this series I’ve been pretty iffy about the story. Seeing this new promo pretty much confirms the worst of my fears. We’ll see after it actually premieres but eh, excited is not the word I’d use to describe how I feel about watching it. The series premieres Thursday October 1^st.

In the second promotional video, 15 seconds of footage for Seitokai no Ichizon is being streamed from Newtype. This slice of comedy premieres Friday October 2^nd.

<Via ANN [1], [2]

So if you’re an anime fan online, you’ve likely heard about a little event that started today called New York Anime Festival. No, I’m not there. I’m still sitting here in Oregon playing catch up but maybe next year. Anyways, day 1 of NYAF was relatively quiet (at least much quieter than I expected). A few manga licenses were announced (Vertical nabbed Peepo Choo, Twin Spica, Needle and Chi’s Sweet Home) but the anime world was fairly quiet.

There were however a figurative small stack of press releases waiting for me from Funimation however so let’s dig right into those. First up are two new licenses for Funi; the 24 episode sci-fi series X along with its prequel OVA and the classic racing series Initial D Stages 1-4. Animated by Madhouse and originally airing in 2001, Geneon released this series back in 2005. Funimation will be re-releasing it with the original dub starting in 2010.

In a twist of nostalgia, Funimation has also licensed a boat load of Initial D! In total, Funimation has licensed three TV series (First Stage, Second Stage and Fourth Stage), an OVA (Second Stage Extra) and the movie (Third Stage). Even more interesting is that Funimation is putting a budget into these releases and giving them all brand new dubs. No word on when the first of these will be getting its release but I’m sure more than one old school fan will be keeping a close eye on this one.

In the last press release, Funimation announced their cast for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. This is probably my favorite press release simply because I can hit paste…

Line Producer: Mike McFarland

ADR Directors: Mike McFarland and Caitlin Glass

Reprising their roles from the first series:

Edward Elric - Vic Mignogna
Winry Rockbell - Caitlin Glass
Roy Mustang - Travis Willingham
Lust - Laura Bailey
Envy - Wendy Powell
Gluttony - Chris Cason
Maes Hughes - Sonny Strait
Fuhrer King Bradley - Ed Blaylock
Riza Hawkeye - Colleen Clinkenbeard
Jean Havoc - Mike McFarland

New Cast Members:
Alphonse Elric - Maxey Whitehead (Antonio from Romeo x Juliet, Czeslaw
Meyer from Baccano)
Scar - J Michael Tatum (Eneru from One Piece, Isaac from Baccano)
Isaac McDougal - Bryan Massey (Ladd from Baccano, Nino from Gunslinger
Girl: Il Teatrino)

Aaron Dismuke will be featured in another role later in the series.

And suddenly be done with an entire blog post. ^_^ FMA: Brotherhood will start seeing its release stateside in spring 2010.

If you’re a fan of the Tokimeki Memorial franchise than today is like your birthday and every gift giving winter celebration all wrapped together in one. Earlier today at the Tokyo Game Show, Konami announced that their new game, Tokimeki Memorial 4, will be coming with a huge limited edition package. The point of focus in this package for anime fans is the brand new 30 min OVA that will be included with the set on DVD or Blu ray. In the new OVA titled Hajimari no Finder (the first since the Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ TV series in 2006), viewers will spend 30 minutes getting to know the various female characters. Taken from the perspective of a handheld camera, the OVA travels around the school and ‘interviews’ important female characters. The OVA will also be made available separately from the game.

But that’s just the half of it really. Once you get past the new anime, listen to all of the swag that Konami is stuffing into the limited edition: 2 disc soundtrack, 5 disc character song set, a watcher guide and Kirameki High themed schedule book and other things that they haven’t revealed yet. And you can get all this for just a mere 22,980¥ (about $252 US). At that price I’m left wondering just how many diehard fans this franchise has left after eight game releases and now three anime releases.

<Via ANN>

A new trailer has hit the web for the movie First Squad. The collaboration between Molot Entertainment and Studio 4C has been gaining attention from its festival appearances and has my attention piqued. Completely in Russian and featuring mostly plot footage, this is one of the first real looks that fans outside of the screenings have gotten.

Taking place in WWII, a special occult division of the Nazis raises a dead baron to kill a long Soviet soldier who possesses the power to turn the entire war around. To counter this, the soviets occult research division sends their best psychic to protect him; a 14 year old girl and sole survivor of the ‘First Squad’. Since first hearing about this title, I’ve maintained a quiet excitement about seeing it. This footage has done little to change that. I’m not getting my hopes up for something amazing but one hopes that this one gets a wider release to give fans a chance to judge for themselves.

<Via Twitch, Anime Nation>

It seems that out of all the little subgroups that make up the anime community at large, those who watch and enjoy classic series from the past are in the minority. This isn’t a jab at any of you who don’t like to/haven’t gotten around to watching older series; I’m more than a little guilty of that myself. Crackle has posted the first 39 episodes of Samurai X as dubbed by Animax Asia. This is the first time that this particular dub has ever been made available in North America so those of you who rushed home every afternoon to catch Rurouni Kenshin on Toonami shouldn’t get too excited about hearing the familiar tones of Richard Hayworth or Lex Lang. Released as Samurai X, this particular dub left a poor taste in the mouths of fans when it was first created over a decade ago. Watching the first episode, I can tell why fans weren’t exactly thrilled about this particular dub. Still, it’s not the worst dub job ever.

<Via ANN>

Updated: In the original post, I repeated news from earlier this year due to a lack of double checking premiere dates. I apologize for the error. Everything above regarding Samurai X is still current however ^_^;;

Thanks to theillien for pointing out the error.

Speaking of things that we haven’t heard about in awhile, a new trailer has been released for the upcoming Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (Original title: Sakura Taisen V) strategy RPG being localized by NIS America. The new trailer is only 90 seconds long but that Texas accent makes me want to cry; ‘Dive into our ample pie of entertainment?’ In my early anime years, one of the first series that I cut my teeth on was the original Sakura Wars series released by a then healthy ADV. Yet it seems that every time I try to return to the series (Ecole de Paris anyone?), there’s always something there to make me want to run the other direction.

Regarding the release of this game, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that if you aren’t exactly thrilled with the idea of listening to Gemini Sunrise for the entire game (I’m working on getting a full cast list for everyone so keep checking back for that) the game will be released on two discs. The first disc will contain only the dubbed version while the second disc will have the original Japanese. The bad news is that the release date for this game has been pushed from this fall to Spring 2010 for currently unspecified reasons.

<Via Japanator>

So, the last thing we heard about the live action Cowboy Bebop were the barest of story details over the summer. Other than that, fans have been forced to assume that everything is moving at whatever pace it needs to get done. Apparently that’s not good enough for MTV so they decided to go ask Spike himself, Keanu Reeves, how things are going. Note that the previous sentence should be read as jealous not prick-ish. Anyways, according to Reeves the movie is currently getting a re-write. Apparently the first version was so true to the original and epic in scope that the studio had to shoot it down.

“There’s a draft of the script, but the writer did such a great job [that] in order to make the movie, you would need half a billion dollars.” This is apparently not an amount that Fox is willing to shell out for a movie based on a cartoon but we’ll ignore that for now. “The only challenge was to make a satisfying western narrative out of the kind of storytelling that happens. There’s a great draft, so we’re just trying to pull it back a little bit now.”

So according to Reeves, there is an amazing first draft that Fox isn’t willing to pay for. I’ve always been cynical when it comes to anime movies. In this case though I’m filled with cautious optimism. We’ve established that Fox isn’t willing to shell out half a billion dollars to pay for a movie based on a cartoon but would they be willing to shell out? Looking back at some of the larger budget cartoon to live action adaptations, Universal put $123 million towards How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 2000 and were rewarded accordingly with a worldwide profit of over $200 million (keeping in mind that this was a holiday release). Of course on the other side of that coin, Warner Bros. gave out $120 million for Speed Racer and got what amounted to a very colorful turd from the Wachowski brothers.

 I see Fox in a similar but still separate boat from the previous examples however. The last time Fox dipped into the anime market was with Dragonball: Evolution which only had a budget of around $45 million. Admittedly this was a domestic disaster; around the world however Fox has still managed to make a small profit of at least $16 million… and that was with a script that sucked! Certainly even Fox can see the potential profit margins from releasing a live action anime movie that actually has a decent script and respectable budget.

<Via MTV>

It has been confirmed by many sources that mangaka and original creator of the popular Crayon Shin-chan series has died in what appears to be a tragic hiking accident. On September 11^th, 51 year old Usui Usui told his family that he was taking a hiking trip into the mountains located in Gunma prefecture, more specifically Mount Arafune. After not hearing any updates from Usui, his family filed a missing person report with the police with no leads coming forward beyond a last known cell phone signal in the town of Karuizawa.

Over the weekend, a hiker in the mountains reported seeing an unidentifiable body lying at the bottom of the Tomoiwa cliff. A day later, the body was airlifted to a nearby hospital where it was confirmed though dental records to be Usui. His personal effects, including his backpack and cell phone were located about 50 meters away from the body. The cause of death is being listed as a collapsed lung and other injuries sustained during the fall. During the news conference following the announcement, it was revealed that the final picture in Usui’s camera was the bottom of the cliff taken from an overhead vantage point leading authorities to believe the artist fell while taking the pictures.

The publisher of Crayon Shin-chan, Futabasha, expressed their deep condolences to the family and stated that the fate of the series had yet to be determined. The series will continue until at least the December issue as the artist had submitted two new chapters shortly before his untimely death but the fate of the manga and anime series beyond that had yet to be determined.

Even if you are not a fan of Crayon Shin-chan, this is a very sad and tragic loss to the manga and anime community. Fans around the world shared their grief upon the announcement and I also would like to extend my condolences to Usui’s family, friends and fans.

<Via Moetron, Canned Dogs, ANN [1] [2], FNN>

Only one new trailer (click movie at the bottom of linked page, new trailer will play automatically) was posted in the last couple of days so this is going to be a short trailer roundup. Getting right into things, a new trailer has been posted for the upcoming sci-fi movie To (once again, long O sound so stop pronouncing it as ‘two’). If you’ve forgotten about it since the last trailer, the movie adapts two stories from the 80’s manga 2001 Nights originally created by Yukinobu Hoshino. In the new feature, Sori Fumihiko (Appleseed, Vexille) will be adapting the ‘Symbiotic Planet’ and ‘Elliptical Orbit’ stories with both titles being released for DVD rental on October 2^nd. The new two minute trailer is essentially a commercial for the animation and music with some nice looking space action sequences.

<Via ANN>

Standard Disclaimer: Additional Thoughts explores series a bit deeper than any of my normal reviews. As such, minor to major spoilers are contained.

In my mind, the two most subjective concepts in human society are good and evil. In any country around the world, there is no absolute when it comes to the two; what’s good or evil to one person may be completely different to another. What is evil after all? Are actions themselves evil or does the evil lie in the motivation that started it in the first place? One could debate this point until the end of time but nowhere is this concept better explored than in the series Hell Girl (Jigoku Shoujo) from original creator Miyuki Etoo and the staff at Studio Deen.

Originally animated in 2005, the story revolves around a website that can only be accessed at midnight. Whenever someone visits this website, they are able to put in the name of those that they have a grievance against. After entering a name, the ones who access the site are visited by Ai Enma and given an option. If they truly wish it, Ai will get revenge for them and ferry the cursed soul to hell but in exchange those who place the curse will also go to hell when they die. After a journalist named Hajime Shibata and his daughter, Tsugumi, begin to investigate the website a battle of wills ensues as they debate if the website is truly evil or not. The debate of good and evil takes place within these two characters.

One of the most unique aspects about Hell Girl is its almost complete lack of a constant villain. What is good and evil? Do the people who visit the site really understand what they are seeking? An eternity in hell for those they hate and themselves after they die. But is Ai Enma the source of this evil? People can argue until they are blue that Ai is the chief villain but is she truly the evil villain that they believe she is? In her position at the other end of the hell site, Ai delivers vengeance for those who seek it. But does acting as the messenger truly make her the evil one?

Perhaps the ones who are the most villainous are, ironically, the humans themselves. Despite Ai being an agent for hell, the humans in this series is where true evil lies but do any of them actually realize what they are doing or what they are asking for? Early episodes in the series revolve around a high school baseball player who kills another player. When vengeance is sought against him, who is the villain in this story? Ai is merely a deliverer of justice. When two high school best friends curse each other and one is sent to hell on accident, does this make the girls evil despite not even realizing what they are asking of Ai? What about the story of the young office lady and the boss who wants to use the hell site for her own selfish gains? In the end, a young girl is left with the mark of hell and a brand new life that includes more money than she ever dreamed. Does being bound to hell give her a brand new freedom in life? Is she now free of moral obligations?

In episode after episode, viewers are left with ambiguous questions and no answers. The peak of Hell Girl comes late in the series when a nurse that everyone loves is ferried away to hell. A good and gentle soul, this is one of the few moments of the series when Ai can truly be described as an evil villain. Until this episode, the debate of good vs. evil remained in a stalemate. No matter what point Shibata made up until this point, Tsugumi was ready with a reply that kept them even. In this episode, the writers behind this series create one of the most memorable twists in recent anime history in three different ways.

With this episode, Tsugumi and the audience is shown a completely inarguable point about the site that she has defended so persistently. All throughout the series, audiences are given case after case that constantly argues in various shades of grey. Always giving just enough information to allow those in the audience to lean one way or the other, this is the first time that Hell Girl creates such a stark black and white for the audience to see. In this episode, a man sends an innocent person to hell. Beyond the inarguable issues of an innocent person being sent to an eternity of horror; this episode is powerful more because of what it leaves to the viewers’ imagination.

Some will argue that the twist in this episode is nothing but a copout designed specifically so that the staff doesn’t have to provide a tough answer. But instead of looking at what is said, fans are better served to look at what is left over when nothing is clear. At the end of this episode, audience members are left with little to mull over. A deranged man has sent an innocent woman to hell and we don’t know why. With no answer to focus on, viewers are left with nothing but the emotions they feel towards this event just like Tsugumi.

Left with nothing but heartbreak and a shaken foundation, Tsugumi is left with only the incredible sense of grief that she feels. Something that she has defended so passionately has taken the life of someone she liked. Left with nothing, Tsugumi and audiences are forced to face a very bitter reality and even the densest individual can empathize with this situation.

Ever feel like the devil is looking over your shoulder?

With the close of the first season, viewers are going to be left with a lot of questions but none will be more pressing than where your own values suddenly stand. With strong points made throughout the series, Hell Girl stands out as the horror series that makes a person think in new ways. No matter your thoughts on good, evil or revenge; Hell Girl will make you question them. Presenting situations and issues one after another, one of the scariest things about this series isn’t the presentation of those being taken to hell but where it ferries your thoughts. If evil were presented to you in your everyday life, such as they are in this series, would you be able to identify them as such or would you see it as yet another shade of grey? Hell Girl won’t provide you with an answer to this question but the fact that it makes you ask the question at all is perhaps the biggest testament to the power of this series and Ai Enma.