According to a light novels blogger’s scan (via AnimeSuki forumer NeoSam), the shounen light novel series Akikan! is being developed into an anime. The sum-up? Well, the first sentence of the description on the official website says “A first kiss that tastes like melon soda!?”

A high schooler named Kakeru was apparently drinking a melon soda one day when the can suddenly turned into a girl. (I’m serious, that’s what it says.) And apparently Kakeru just became her owner. And his childhood friend Najimi doesn’t like it.

…Moving on to anime announcement #2: Ga-Rei. This one is actually only being speculated on over at Moon Phase. It’s not entirely clear where they’re getting details, but apparently KyoAni has registered the domain ga-rei.jp, which currently just has a junky portal placeholder thing. What they actually say confuses me though; first they say it’ll be called Ga-Rei Zero and that it’s being animated by Asread, then they talk about KyoAni doing it, then they say maybe it’ll come after Wagaya no Oinarisama, which is by ZEXCS.

Anyway, time will tell. Ga-Rei is based on the “non-stop after school demon action” manga by Hajime Segawa (that description is from its Japanese Wiki entry). A high school freshman can see ghosts and demons as a normal course of his life, and he eventually meets a girl named Kagura who has the ability to summon a demon-eater (a “ga-rei”). Which obviously means they have to go hunt down the demons. Right?

The award-winning mystery light noveL “Bungaku Shoujo” to Shinitagari no Piero (roughly: “Literature Girl” and the Clown who Wished to Die) is being made into a manga, so sayeth Moon Phase.

Not to be confused with Go Comi, of course: TOKYOPOP is expanding its relationship with Go Comics, according to ICv2. A “larger roster of TOKYOPOP titles” will be available on Go Comics’ mobile comic service.

Hokay, now it’s Yen!

Sorry for the shittiness of the picture, I was in a bit of a rush. =P

Sheehan told me there isn’t much new in today’s presentation, but here we go anyway! Adam Sheehan, FUNimation’s events manager returns for his panel-y goodness.

Well, it starts out the same way as Sakura’s presentation: a big ol’ DON’T PANIC. Sheehan just made mention of Sony taking on Miyazaki films– did I miss something? Or is he just talking about Ghibli doing Blu-Ray? Not entirely sure.

The usual downloading stuff– Amazon, iTunes, Xbox, FUNimation.com, etc. FUNi channel, and box sets Viridian Collection (cheap!) and FUNimation Green (eco-friendly!)…

Yeah, this is all pretty much the same ol’ same ol’.

Okay, they DID show the first official cover art for a One Piece DVD, which is custom-done for FUNi’s release. I didn’t catch a shot of it but I’ll try and snap one afterwards (off Sheehan’s computer directly if I must!).

Time for the Q&A! The One Piece boxes are $49.95. It was removed from Cartoon Network but they’re hoping that it will return, but it has to do with Toei and Cartoon Network; FUNi just distros the DVDs. Still no shows from Geneon (trust me, you’ll know when they do). Apparently the slowness on Geneon re-licensing is all the fighting over ‘em!

No street dates for Darker than Black, Claymore, or Jyu Oh Sei. Last couple of questions…more 13-episode box sets from the get-go like with Aquarion to be expected. The end!

Okay, really, really crappy shot of the One Piece box set is up at the top now.

this is just a test to try posting from my new phone. Rawr! :D (Don’t worry; I’m using my laptop in the panels. And several companies have told me they have big announcements this weekend, so stay tuned!)

Official word on VIZ’s license of the Legend of Zelda manga has popped up on ICv2: they have licensed ONLY the two-volume The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time manga.

So what’s going to happen with the others? I’d hazard a guess that if the Ocarina of Time books sell well, VIZ will pick up the rest, so it’s on fans to snag copies even though it’s been scanlated for probably half a decade.

Talk about uptight– Japan Probe reports on a new ban in the U.K. on the sale, production, and importation of samurai swords. The fine if someone gets caught? £5,000, nearly $10,000 USD. Insert sword pain / financial pain pun here.

Attention otakumart shoppers, this is just a reminder: GONZO’s new series BLASSREITER (Germany! Zombies!) and Tower of Druaga ~Aegis of URUK~ (Fantasy! Classic games! Uh…towers!) are both airing this weekend– Druaga airs at 1am April 5th in Japan (so about 12 hours from now) and BLASSREITER’s debut starts at 2am on April 6th, about 36 hours from now.

Why do these matter so much? Because they’ll be available subtitled in English legally practically at the same time they air. And you can watch them for free in low-qual and buy them (at your own price) in high-qual if you like ‘em. Here’s the word straight from Crunchyroll:

We’re going to have the new episodes streaming for free with some ads that make money for the show’s creators. if you guys really like it, you can make a donation and you get to download a high quality version to play on your computer and keep - the best part is you guys get to decide how much you want to donate to support this project!

Yeah, okay, I know most of this is repetition. And I’m going to repeat again: watch it legitimately. If you see raws or subs uploaded onto TokyoTosho or AnimeSuki or anywhere else, ignore them. Why? Because GONZO is trying to do the right thing for the industry by moving it forward, and I think most of us would like the other companies to move forward with them, so we want GONZO to be successful in its attempt. (Not to mention: zombies in Germany? Fantasy worlds with towers full of monsters? HOW CAN THEY LOSE?)

So, I didn’t have time to really speculate when I posted about it earlier, but given the lack of its mention in the press release and the nearness of the con (the 18th-20th), it looks like the American Anime Awards are not happening at NYCC this year, if at all– and the official website is gutted at best.

Now, I’ll be the first to say that the awards last year were iffy. They seemed to have things nominated from last year, five years ago, fifteen years ago…I think shows released within the last year should be the cutoff. I’d also like it if the nomination process was open to more than just the companies’ various PR departments. But none of that is unimproveable.

Then again, the company that put it together– ADV –kinda has bigger things to worry about right now, I guess.

Canned Dogs reports that at least 17 seiyuu have left Haikyo, aka the Tokyo Actor’s Consumer’s Cooperative Society (a seiyuu agency). No official reason has been given, but rumor has it that the seiyuu are joining forces with Toshiyuki Morikawa, a seiyuu probably best known as Dante in the Devil May Cry anime, or InuYasha’s Naraku, or maybe Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children’s Sephiroth.

Among the seiyuu who hav left: Gara Takashima, Cowboy Bebop’s Julia; Daisuke Namikawa, Tsubasa Chronicle’s Fai; and Kouichi Yamadera– a biggie; he was Cowboy Bebop’s Spike Spiegel (and Ein), plus Ghost in the Shell’s Togusa.

Should be interesting to watch!