Anime Pulse

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We’ve got a great show this week. We celebrate being #7 on Podcast Pickle, shooting for #1. We review Rurouni Kenshin, Jyu Oh Sei, Ergo Proxy and Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (The melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya).

Rurouni Kenshin – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers.
Jyu Oh Sei – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers.
Ergo Proxy – Wait until it hits the US and NetFlix it.
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu – Download Now!

Show Notes

Julie-sensei sent us An-pan and Melon-pan from the Nakamura Bakery in Toronto. Mmmm Mmmm Good!
http://www.japantown.ca/nakamura/e.html

News

Live Action Princess Princess Announced
Princess Princess D, a live action television version of Mikiyo Tsuda’s bishonen comedy manga series Princess Princess, will premier on the TV Asahi network June 28th. The anime version of Princess Princess is airing now.

Babes of ADV
IGN’s Babes page continues its coverage of the “Babes of Anime” with an interview & photo-shoot featuring Taylor Hannah.
First Look at Appleseed 2
Famitsu Magazine has published the first promotional image of the second Appleseed theatrical movie, titled “Ex Machina.” The film is being directed by Shinji Aramaki and produced by John Woo. Reportedly Woo has had some creative involvement in the new movie’s story development and action scenes. According to IGN, the movie is scheduled for Japanese release next year.

Bleach Movie In December
ANN has confirmed that the much-rumored Bleach movie will premiere in Japan this December. Commercials for the film have already started airing, but not much else is known about it.

FUNimation to Distribute TOKYOPOP Video
FUNimation has announced that it is now the exclusive North American distributor for numerous home video titles licensed and formerly distributed by TOKYOPOP, including Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), Marmalade Boy, Initial D, and more.

New Kujian Anime
No Genshiken Season 2

Anime Expo Hotels Sold Out… But Not Sold Out
Rooms Still Available at the Hilton, But not at Special Rate.

New Anime Series from Kenshin Creator
Rurouni Kenshin creator Nobuhiro Watsuki‘s Buso Renkin will be adapted into an anime series this fall, according to Anime News Service. Viz Media is releasing volume 1 of the Buso Renkin manga in August.

Reviews

Ergo Proxy
http://www.anime-source.com/banzai/modules.php?name=…..0
http://www.ergoproxy.com/
http://www.wowow.co.jp/anime/ergoproxy/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergo_Proxy

Jyu Oh Sei
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyu_Oh_Sei
http://jyu-oh-sei.com/
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6177

Rurouni Kenshin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rurouni_Kenshin
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=73

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Melancholy_of_Haruhi_Suzumiya
http://www.haruhi.tv/
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6430

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Rukia’s in the house. In addition to our normal schtik we review Aishiteruze Baby, Kiba, Tampopo and Fate/Stay Night.

Aishiteruze Baby – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for Crackers.
Kiba – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for Crackers.
Tampopo – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for Crackers.
Fate/Stay Night – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for Crackers/Download Now!

Show Notes

News

Death Note Anime Coming in Fall
The smash hit manga Death Note not only has a movie on the horizon, but an anime as well. AnimeNation reports that it will be adapted into an anime and premeire this fall in Japan, but no word on who will be doing the animation.

Eva Unit 01 Bicycle
“Defeat Angels while riding to school!” says Akadot. This kind of thing doesn’t come cheap, though. It seems that Bandai is going to produce a limited number of bicycles based on the design of Eva Unit 01. Getting one will set you back $450–and that’s ignoring the cost of shipping.

Evangelion 10th Anniversary Box Set
Diamond Updates has the scoop on a new ADV product. Or maybe “new” isn’t the word we should be using, since the product in question is yet another Neon Genesis Evangelion box set. It seems to be scheduled to come out in August. But with “a deluxe case and a plethora of commemorative items,” not to mention a price tag of around $250, it’s obviously not aimed at those of us with tiny wallets.

Dark Horse Editor on Appleseed, Hellsing
New Appleseed Hypernotes, entire Shirow catalogue unflipped with new material

Animal Crossing Movie Image
Today, AnimeNation noticed that Dengeki Online has posted the film’s first promotional image. Just be warned that it’s an “early concept design,” so the final character artwork might be different.

CPM Signs with Consortium
Becomes book distributor’s first graphic novel publisher.

Cromartie High to End
The Cromartie High School manga is set to terminate with its final installment in next week’s release of Weekly Shounen Magazine #25, on sale May 24.

Mainstream Moe Raises Artist’s Ire
Manga artist Mimei Sakamoto rips Japan’s moe culture in an upcoming issue of Shukan Bunshun. “This fetish you call ‘moe’ is a pedophiliac fetish and is nothing more than perversion,” she says. “In other countries, they’d call what you’re fantasizing over ‘child pornography’ and you’d all be arrested.”

Yutaka Izubuchi at Anime Expo
Anime Expo has announced that mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi will be a guest of honor at this year’s event.

Maid Cafe Opens in Thailand
A maid cafe has opened in Bangkok’s Siam Square. The owner says it serves an average of 300 customers per weekday and 1300 on weekends.

Reviews

Fate/Stay Night
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=5394
http://www.staynight.com/
http://www.typemoon.com/fate/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate_stay_night

Tampopo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampopo
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092048/

Kiba
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6312
http://www.ki-ba.com/

Aishiteruze Baby
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=3744
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aishiteruze_Baby
http://www.tms-e.com/on_air/beibe/

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This week we review the new seasons of Ah! My Goddess and Tsubasa Resevior Chronicle. We also review xxxHolic.

Ah! My Goddess: Sorezore no Tsubasa – Download Now!
xxxHolic – Download Now!
Tsubasa Resevior Chronicle: Season Two – Download Now!

Show Notes

News

ADV Films Website Hacked
ADV Films’ Website has been defaced by a Turkish group called “ayyildiz”.

Bernie Mac Joins Transformers Movie
The BBC reports Bernie Mac and Josh Duhamel have signed onto Michael Bay’s upcoming Transformers movie. Mac will reportedly play a salesman who gives star Shia LaBeouf his first Transformer. The $100 million film comes out July 2007.

Monkey Punch Coming to Metrocon
Lupin III creator Monkey Punch will be a guest of honor at Metrocon, June 2-4 in Tampa, FL.

D’espairsRay at AnimeNext
Gothic rock group D’espairsRay will perform at AnimeNext, June 16-18 in Secaucus, NJ.

Death Note, XXXHOLiC Novels in the Works
Author Nisho Ishin announced here and here that he will write novelizations of Death Note and XXXHOLiC. Both books will be released August 1 in Japan.

Ugly Yet Beautiful Trailer Online
IGN hosts a trailer for Studio Gainax’s This Ugly Yet Beautiful World. Volume 1 comes out July 4.

Final Fantasy XIII Trailer Online
Check it out here.

Gundam Seed Destined for Movie
A Gundam Seed Destiny movie is in the works, Sunrise announced yesterday at the Sony Music Anime Fes’ 06. It will be the first original Gundam film since 1991.

John O’Donnell Interview Online
Anime Pulse now hosts an audio interview with text transcript with Central Park Media Managing Director John O’Donnell. The hour long interview discusses CPM, fansubbers, electronic distribution, and the future of the anime industry.

Musician Masahiro Kawasaki Dies
Masahiro Kawasaki, the composer of Street Fighter, Ninja Scroll, and Dagger of Kamui, passed away Thursday. He was 56.

Digital Manga New Acquisitions
Digital Manga has announced the acquisition of Princess Princess by Mikiyo Tsuda and Enchanter by Izumi Kawachi. The first volume of the Enchanter is due out on July 1, while the first volume of the Princess Princess manga is due out in November. Digital Manga will bring Izumi Kawachi to Anime Expo 2006 as a guest.

Reviews

Ah! My Goddess: Sorezore no Tsubasa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ah_My_Goddess
http://www.tbs.co.jp/megamisama/
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6426

Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle: Season Two
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsubasa
http://tviv.org/Tsubasa_Chronicle
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=4591

xxxHolic
http://www.production-ig.com/contents/works_sp/43_/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XxxHolic
http://www.clamp-net.com/
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6052

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This week we review some great series. Batou does Princess Princess, Chigo does Lingerie Senshi Papillon Rose, and I do Full Moon wo Sagashite.

Princess Princess – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers.
Lingerie Senshi Papillon Rose – Wait until it hits the US and Netflix it/Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers.
Full Moon wo Sagashite – Download Now!

Show Notes

New Voice Clips
Thanks to Scott Fletcher for his great work on our new one-liners. Check him out for your voice acting needs.
http://voice.caraworks.com/

News

Advent Children #2 on VideoScan
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children ranked a “surprise” #2 on VideoScan’s First Alert sales chart in its first week, beating the DVD premieres of Tristan & Isolde (#4), Match Point (#7), and Casanova (#8). Exact sales figures were not available.

Hikaru no Go and Shingu on iaTV
Hikaru no Go will premiere on iaTV this coming Tuesday. It will be aired with Japanese dialogue and subtitles every Tuesday at 8pm and re-aired with the dub Saturdays at noon. Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars will premiere at 8:30pm on Tuesday May 9 subbed. Both will be completely uncut. Hikaru no Go will also include the “Go Go Igo!” live action instructional segments.MIT Japanese Culture Symposium Recording Online

MIT Japanese Culture Symposium Recording Online
Anime Pulse now hosts a transcript and audio recording of three of the lectures presented at the recent MIT “Violence and Desire in Japanese Popular Culture” academic symposium. Transcripts and an audio recording are available for Professor Anne Allison of Duke University on Pokemon capitalism and desire, CPM founder John O’Donnell speaking on otaku entrepreneurs and anime distribution in the US, and MIT professor Ian Condry on fansubs, piracy and global media.Mick Takeuchi Coming to Anime Expo (2006-05-02 09:16:55)

Mick Takeuchi Coming to Anime Expo
Mick Takeuchi, creator of Her Majesty’s Dog, will attend Anime Expo as a Guest of Honor. The convention runs July 1-4 in Anaheim.

Tokyopop Starts Young Adult Fiction Line
Tokyopop is launching a line of young adult fiction under the Pop Fiction imprint. The first titles will be Scrapped Princess, Kino no Tabi: Book One of The Beautiful World, and Witches’ Forest: The Adventures of Duan Surk. The books are scheduled to street in October.

Watanabe Interview Audio Online
The CBC’s Pedro Mendes conducted a 13-minute interview with Shinichiro Watanabe while the Samurai Champloo director was in Detroit. Audio of the full interview, which discusses how hip hop culture intersects with Samurai Champloo, is available here.

Details on Hayao Miyazaki’s Next Film Tomorrow
TBS’s News23 program conducted a 15 minute interview with Hayao Miyazaki for its May 5 edition. The program guide says, “Hayao Miyazaki talks about ‘Japanese children’ on Children’s Day… and his next film!” Studio Ghibli has noted that tomorrow’s News23 is “unmissable.”

Hyde Adds Hollywood, Fillmore Gigs
L’Arc~en~Ciel’s Hyde will appear at Hollywood’s House of Blues on July 3 and the Fillmore in San Francisco on July 6. This is in addition to his perviously announced concerts at House of Blues Anaheim and Slim’s in San Francisco on July 2 and July 5. Tickets go on sale Sunday at 1pm Eastern.

LA Area College to Display Banned Manga Book
Barstow Community College orders copies of Paul Gravett’s Manga, 60 Years Of Japanese Comics following its removal from local libraries.

Oh! My Goddess Pre-Order for $29
AnimEigo has received their first shipment of the Oh! My Goddess OAV Collector’s Edition and is selling it from their website for $29.95 ahead of the regular June release. The SRP in June will be $39.98. An upgrade for people who bought the original DVDs is available for $15.

Reviews

Full Moon wo Sagashite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_moon_wo_sagashite
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=872
http://www.animenfo.com/animetitle,879,qqczyu,full_moon_wo_sa.html

Lingerie Senshi Papillon Rose
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=904
http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~novy/

Princess Princess
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Princess
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6467
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/pri-pri/
http://www.pri-pri.jp/

Download Now

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Enjoy the first of three parts of Rangiku’s special report from MIT. On 4/14 and 4/15/2006 MIT hosted a symposium on “Cool Japan”.

This session was entitled “Violence and Desire in Japanese Popular Culture: Anime Capitalism”. It ran from 2-4pm on 4/15/2006.

The people and topics covered:

Professor Anne Allison (Duke University) on Pokemon capitalism and desire
John O’Donnell (founder, Central Park Media) on Otaku entrepreneurs and anime distribution in the US
Professor Ian Condry (MIT) on fansubs, piracy and global media

Below is the transcript from the session, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.

Cool Japan 04_15_2006.pdf

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This week we review Utawarerumono, Cluster Edge and Card Captor Sakura. We get some more fanmail, and announce our new donation/advertising program.

Utawarerumono – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers
Cluster Edge – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers
Card Captor Sakura – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers

Show Notes

Corrections

In the Saiyuki review I mixed up a couple names. Sha Goyjo was the 1/2 breed and Cho Hakkai was the human who became a demon.
Tween is 9-12, not 19-20

News

Animate Group Acquires Biblos Catalog
BE x BOY magazine to return

Death Note Movie Full Trailer Available
A full length theatrical trailer for the first live action Death Note movie is now available in streaming Windows Media format.

Sailor Moon Movie News False
Several news sites have repeated a rumor that the latest issue of Animage reports Lindsay Lohan and Joss Whedon will be involved in a Fox produced live-action Sailor Moon movie. ANN has verified that neither the April nor May issue of Animage says any such thing. Joss Whedon is currently slated to direct the upcoming Wonder Woman movie, due out in 2007. No cast details for that film have been announced.

Idoru Anime?
William Gibson’s Idoru book is expected to be adapted into an anime film, according to Now Playing magazine. No details are given other than the involvement of scriptwriter Alex Steyermark.

Star Blazers Goes Hollywood
Benderspink and producer Josh C. Kline are teaming to adapt Star Blazers into a live-action film. No production timetable has been announced.

New Battle Angel Manga Series in Development
A note at the end of Ultrajump MegaMix Vol. 1 says Gunnm (Battle Angel) Alita will be taking a 3 month hiatus for the creator to develop a new series, Gunnm Gaiden, for the next issue of MegaMix.

Anime Boston Guests
Anime Boston has announced five new guests, including their first two Japanese guests for the 2005 event, voice actress Sumi Shimamoto and character designer Shuzilow.HA. A full list of Anime Boston’s guests (announced to date), is available here. Anime Boston takes place May 26-28 at the Hynes Convention Center.

Toonami & Viz Partner to Offer Anime Online
Toonami Jetstream, a partnership between Cartoon Network and Viz Media, will launch on July 17. The ad-supported site will offer free, full-length episodes of shows including Naruto, Samurai Jack, Hikaru No Go, MAR, and The Prince of Tennis. ICv2 News reports that Toonami Jetstream will also host the American premier of Zoids Genesis. The site will be refreshed with new episodes weekly, and will offer an archive of previously run episodes.
ICv2 has published an interview with Viz Media Executive Vice President John Easum regarding the Toonami Jetstream partnership.

Madman Announces New Licenses for Australian Market
At last weekend’s Supanova Brisbane, Madman Entertainment announced that Gundam Seed Destiny and Eureka 7 have both been acquired. Both are planned to be released in August 2006 and Madman is also looking at releasing the OST for Eureka Seven. Additionally Naruto is confirmed for Australia, planned for an October 2006 release and 100% guaranteed to be uncut and bilingual.

Guitar Vader Pulls out of Fanime
Lead singer has “serious illness”

Nintendo Revolution official name is Wii

Ghibli is #1 Consumer Brand in Japan
Studio Ghibli ranked first in the Business to Consumer market category of Nikkei BP’s Brand Japan 2006 survey, narrowly beating Toyota. Ghibli took 2nd place in 2005 and 5th place in 2004.

Animax Crashes Korea on Saturday
Sony Pictures Television International and Korean satellite TV broadcaster SkyLife will launch Animax in Korea on April 29 to a subscriber base of about 1.9 million. Gankutsuou, Otogi Zoshi, Monkey Typhoon, Tweeny Witches, and Galaxy Angel are among the shows that will run exclusively (in Korea) on the network.

America Gets Screwed
Panik House is releasing Teruo Ishii’s Screwed on July 26. The live-action film is an adaptation of Yoshiharu Tsuge‘s Neji-Shiki manga.

Anime at Cannes
The first episode of Tokko, which aired in Japan on April 15, is expected to screen at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The episode will screen on May 19 and 23, subtitled. A subtitled trailer of Production I.G’s Le Chevalier D’Eon will also be screened (both titles are produced by Shochiku). The 59th Cannes Film Festival runs May 17 to 28. Tokko will be distributed in North America by Manga Entertainment, no North American distributor for Chevalier D’Eon has been announced.

Reviews

Utawarerumono
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=5746
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utawarerumono
http://www.utaware.net/

Cluster Edge
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=4671
http://www.cluster-edge.net/
http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/cluster-edge/

Card Captor Sakura
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=126
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/anime/sakura/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_Captor_Sakura
http://www.nelvana.com/cardcaptors/html/home.html

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This week we read our very first fanmail! We review the Great Teacher Onizuka saga, Saiyuki and the Devilman live action movie. We also review “The Art of Otaku”, a great drawing book by theotaku.com

Great Teacher Onizuka

• Manga – Download Now!
• TV Series – Download Now!
• Live Action – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers.
• Movie – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers.

Saiyuki – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers.
Devilman live action – Wait until it hits the US and NetFlix it.

Show Notes

Corrections
The Samurai Champloo character designer was Toshihiro Kawamoto, not Shinichiro Watanabe. Watanabe is the director.

Wolf’s Rain was not done by Gonzo, but by Bones. The character designer was Kawamoto.

Show News
Batou(or Balto, whichever) will be going to Anime Expo in Anaheim over July 4th. Go and glomp him and gift him with lots of Yaoi merchandise.

News

Suburban LA County Pulls Manga Textbook
The San Bernadino, CA, County libraries have pulled Paul Gravett’s Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics from circulation following a request from Bill Postmus, Chairman of the county’s Board of Supervisors. “That book is absolutely inappropriate for a public library and as soon as I was made aware of it yesterday, I ordered it to be removed immediately,” he said in a press release.

4Kids Grows Up, Launches Tween to Adult Licensing Subsidiary (Not to be confused with their toy line “4Play” and their Hentai label “4Skin”)
4Kids Entertainment has announced the launch of a new subsidiary, 4Sight Licensing Solutions, inc. 4Sight will specialise in the licensing and marketing of brands aimed at adults, teens and tweens. Current 4Kids brands being moved to 4Sight to not include any of 4Kids anime properties. Todd Fromer of KCSA publicity, representing 4Kids, said that anime isn’t necessarily ruled out of the 4Sight line up, but that anime lends itself more to a children’s market.

Mamoru Oshii Does Radio Drama
The first episode of Mamoru Oshii‘s radio drama, Kerberos Koutetsu no Ryoken -kerberos panzer yager-, will broadcast April 26 in Japan. Kenji Kawai is providing the music.

XXXHOLiC Episode Online
The first half of XXXHOLiC episode 1 is now available for free online.

Witchblade Anime Trailer
The trailer for Gonzo’s upcoming Witchblade anime is now online.

Guitar Vader at Fanime
Guitar Vader, who performed in the Beck anime, will make their first US appearance at Fanime this year, May 26-29 in San Jose.

Dir en Grey to Open for Korn
Dir en grey to Join Korn‘s 2006 Family Values Tour.

Art Book Review

Art of Otaku – Download Now! (Actually Buy it now, only $24.95!)
http://www.artofotaku.com

Podcast Promos

Happy House of Hentai

Oz Anime Podcast

Reviews

Great Teacher Onizuka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Teacher_Onizuka
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=153
http://www.tokyopop.com/dbpage.php?propertycode=GTO&categorycode=VAN

Saiyuki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saiyuki
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=965
http://www.advfilms.com/favorites/saiyuki/main.html
http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/saiyuki/

Devilman Live Action
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devilman

Download Now

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This week we’ve got lots going on, from the return of Rukia, to a report from Rangiku. We review Rozen Maiden, Keroro Gunsou and Samurai Champloo.

Rozen Maiden – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers.
Keroro Gunsou – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers.
Samurai Champloo – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for crackers.

Show Notes:

Trivia Contest

Since no one has answered the questions from Episode 22. We’ve upped the prize and added two more questions. Send the answers to all eight questions to animepulse@gmail.com and you can win the following prizes:

A statue of Winry
A statue from Ghost in the Shell

Question 1: What car does George drive in Paradise Kiss?
Question 2: In Kino’s Journey, who is Hermes named for? (No, not the greek god)
Question 3: What are the calibers of the two guns that Kino carries in Kino’s Journey?
Question 4: In the first volume of Battle Angel Alita manga, what is the famous robot (from a famous American Sci-Fi series) in the basement of Doc Ito’s lab?
Question 5: In RahXephon, how are Itsuki and Ayato related?
Question 6: In RahXephon, how are Maya and Quon related?
Question 7: List the titles that Akira’s father holds in Hikaru no Go.
Question 8: What was the name of the Inui drink in the Bowling Episode of Prince of Tennis?

News

Naruto Marathon Next Week
Cartoon Network will show four episodes (3 new) of Naruto back-to-back on Saturday, April 15 starting at 8pm Eastern.

Bleach Set for September Adult Swim Debut
Bleach‘s Fall 2006 debut on Adult Swim has now been narrowed to September.

Naruto Uncut Preview for Shonen Jump Subscribers
Shonen Jump subscribers will receive a Naruto uncut preview DVD in the July issue, according to the latest Shonen Jump newsletter. The first Naruto uncut box set streets on July 4.

MIT Anime Symposium
MIT is holding a free anime symposium, Violence and Desire in Japanese Popular Culture, on Friday and Saturday. Details are available here.

CLAMP at Anime Expo
Funimation has announced that CLAMP will be attending Anime Expo 2006 as guests of honor.

Dark Horse Offers Free Comic-Con Trip
Dark Horse Comics is offering a free trip to Comic-Con International in San Diego, including airfare and hotel. To register for the contest, sign up at Dark Horse.com before May 31.

New Cyborg 009 Anime
Aniplex is developing a 009-1, according to Oricon Magazine. The new anime is based on Shotaro Ishinomori‘s manga, “009-1”, which is not related to his Cyborg-009 manga.

Nobuo Uematsu Coming to Chicago
Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu will join Yasunori Mitsuda, Akira Yamaoka, and several other composers at the world premiere PLAY! concert on May 27 in Chicago. Tickets are available here

Anime Rental Site Shutting Down
AnimeForest.com closing three years after launch

Manga Cafe + 34 Days + 16 Yen = Bad Idea
Kiyoshi Ikeda, 37, was arrested for fraud today after staying at a manga cafe in Gifu for over a month. The cafe handed him over to police after asking him to pay a bill and discovering he was carrying only 16 yen. He allegedly failed to pay about 150,000 yen (US$1266 approx.) in fees. After ordering a grilled beef dinner on March 10, he reportedly survived on only coffee and toast every morning.

Hyde in Anaheim Confirmed
The Ticketmaster listing for Hyde’s July 2 concert at Anaheim’s House of Blues has returned. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 1pm Eastern.

Cartoon Network Creating In-House Department for Tv Movies & Mini-Series
Cartoon Network is creating an in-house longform department that will be overseen by Ramsey Naito, who previously supervised the development, production and marketing of Nickelodeon’s Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, Rugrats in Paris and Rugrats Gone Wild.

Reviews

Rozen Maiden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozen_Maiden
http://www.tbs.co.jp/rozen-maiden/
Keroro Gunsou
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keroro_Gunsou
http://www.keroro.com/
http://sunrise-inc.co.jp/keroro/
http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/keroro/

Samurai Champloo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_champloo
http://www.samuraichamploodvd.com/
http://www.samuraichamploo.com/
http://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/samurai/index.html

New Series

Kira
Joshikosei
Glass no Kantai – La Legende du vent de l’univers
Yoshinaga-san chi no Gargoyle
Utawareru Mono
xxxHOLIC
Ah! My Goddess Season 2
Tsubasa Season 2 4/29

Podcast Promos

Ninja Consultant Podcast
Anime World Order

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We’ve got a great show for you this week. We review Azumanga Daioh and Cromartie High School Live Action. We also do updates on Mushishi and Black Cat.

Azumanga Daioh – Download Now!
Cromartie High School (Live Action) – Wouldn’t kick it out of bed for Crackers.
Mushishi – Download Now!
Black Cat – Download Now!

Show Notes

News

GunXSword Roundtable Interview
TheOtaku.com has translated a roundtable interview with the director, writer, and character designer of the new GunXSword series, along with one of its voice actors. The interview was conducted last weekend at Sakura-Con.

New Monkey Punch Anime
Musashi, a new anime series from the creator of Lupin the 3rd, will premiere April 9 on Japan’s BS-i network.

Anime Village Returns with Free Eureka 7 Episode
The first episode of Eureka 7 will be streamed free for a week beginning April 16, courtesy of Bandai’s newly revived AnimeVillage.com. The episode will also be availalbe for purchase and download. “To be able offer free streaming for one week is a tremendous value to our fans and customers and it is part of our plan to introduce legal digital distribution, which is very important to our business,” said Ken Iyadomi, President of Bandai Entertainment.

Transformers, Even Stevens Star Close to Deal
Shia Labeouf is in final negotiations to star in Michael Bay’s Transformers film. Shooting is scheduled to begin in May, with a theatrical release on July 4, 2007.

Tokyo Governor is Not a Mickey Mouse Fan
Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara denounced Mickey Mouse at the opening of the Tokyo International Anime Fair, according to UPI. “I hate Mickey Mouse,” he reportedly said. “He has nothing like the unique sensibility that Japan has. The Japanese are inherently skilled at visual expression and detailed work.”

Late Night Ghibli on TCM
Six Ghibli films for TiVos and insomniacs in May
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=8656

Hyde in Anaheim, San Francisco in July
L’Arc~en~Ciel’s Hyde will be performing July 2 at Anaheim’s House of Blues and July 5 at Slim’s in San Francisco. Hyde’s US debut album, Faith, drops June 27.

G4TechTV Canada Wants to Air Anime
G4TechTV Canada has applied to have its license amended by the CRTC in order to allow it to dedicate up to 15% of its airtime to “drama and comedy.” While the application makes no mention of what kind of “drama or comedy” content G4TechTV is interested in airing, sources at the network have confirmed that there is interest in creating a completely new, and independent, Anime Unleashed block for Canadian viewers. Comments for the CRTC can be left here.

Hyde in Anaheim “Not Yet Been Confirmed”
Hyde’s Anaheim concert at the House of Blues “has not yet been confirmed,” Tofu Records tells ANN. The Ticketmaster listing has been removed. Hyde is still scheduled to play July 5 in San Francisco.

Still no New Anime Unleahed on G4
While comments made by G4 staff two weeks ago suggest that Anime Unleashed has not been cancelled, and is merely on hiatus due to technical problems, no new airings of the block have been added to G4’s online schedule.

Italian Police Seize 400 Pirated Anime Titles
Italian police raided three stores in Rome and Bologna and seized about 400 pirated titles, according to Mainichi News. This is the first time authorities have exposed a case of pirating anime in Europe. The case had been investigated since October 2004, when the Association of Copyright for Computer Software made a complaint to six Japanese companies, including Kodansha and Shueisha.

KOTOKO Coming to Anime North
The Starship Operators and Please Teacher! singer will perform at Anime North, which is May 26-28 in Toronto. KOTOKO’s debut US album, -hane-, drops in June.

Biblios Bankrupt
Biblos, one of the largest Japanese publishers of Boys-Love / Yaoi manga, has announced that it is bankrupt and ceasing all operations effective immediately.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=8669

2006 Eisner Nominations
Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha and Cromartie High Nominated for Eisners
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=8670

Gonzo Film Nominated for Annecy
Gonzo announced its Origin – Spirit of the Past film had been nominated for the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. We previously reported Production IG’s xxxHOLiC had also been nominated. Winners will be announced during the festival, June 5-10.

Production IG Prez Lecture Online
Anime Pulse has recorded Production IG President Mitsuhisa Ishikawa’s lecture at the University of Colorado at Boulder in its latest podcast. They also have a transcript online.

Penicillin Coming to A-Kon
Vocalist Hakuei and guitarist Chisato from Penicillin will perform at this year’s A-Kon, June 9-11 in Dallas. Their “Penicillin nano” single and album are set for a summer release, though no plans for US editions have been confirmed.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers Song For Death Note
Dani California, a song from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers upcoming album Stadium Arcadium, will be the theme song for the upcoming Death Note live-action movie. The Dani California video can be viewed in its entirety here.

No New Gatchaman
The Gatchaman commercials are actually reruns of the same commercials that were produced in fall 2000 and are available on Rhino’s Best of Battle of the Planets DVD set. There is no new Gatchaman in the works, only another run for the old NTT commercials.

Naruto for Xbox 360
Ubisoft announced it is developing a Naruto game for Xbox 360. It is scheduled for North American release in 2007.

Podcast Promos

Happy House of Hentai
Otaku Generation
Anime 101

Reviews

Azumanga Daioh
http://www.advfilms.com/titles/azumanga/
http://www.imagica.com/shop/azumanga/
http://www.jcstaff.co.jp/sho-sai/aztv-shokai/azumatv-story.htm
Cromartie High School
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454250/
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/sakigake_cromartie_high_school.htm
Mushishi
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=5923
http://www.mushishi.jp/
http://avexmode.jp/animation/mushishi/
Black Cat
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=5245
http://www.j-blackcat.com/
http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/blackcat/

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