According to the Moon Phase diary, tomorrow’s (JP) release of the 20th volume of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga will feature a special announcement on the obi: a new series (yes, Moon Phase says “new season,” not second season). Sound familiar? However, Moon Phase notes that it’s unclear if Yasuhiro Irie will direct (as suggested by the allegedly leaked document that established the earlier rumors).

Moon Phase also claims that a well-informed source says the anime will be a new adaptation based more closely on the manga, which the original anime diverged from fairly early on and suggests that it may hit TVs in Japan as early as spring 2009– but of course, that’s all unconfirmed.

Missed it, so you guys can thank ANN for this one: apparently I was so busy looking for FUNimation’s name in the press release that I completely missed this:

Additionally, SCEI will be introducing original exclusive content such as Xam’d: Lost Memories, an anime series developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, delivered in SD and HD.

For those of you keeping track at home, that’s Bounen no Xamdou, the newest BONES project– a “nostalgic sci-fi,” they call it. I just caught the trailer that’s already up on the PSN and it looks awesome. For those of you with no PS3 of your own, that’s the same trailer up at the top of this article, so enjoy.

Now the question, of course, is whether Xamdou will be offered up simultaneous with its Japanese release or sometime thereafter, and whether it’ll be a dub or sub release. The trailer has no dialogue at all, so no hints there.

A follow-up on the FMA and DtB sequels rumor: Canned Dogs reports that the list of animators was fake and made by a third party just to stir up trouble. It is noted that at least one animator’s contact information– Mnemosyne director Ueda Shigeru’s –was real, and he even received an anonymous fax apologizing for the leak of his personal info.

But even if the animators’ information is all real, it could still have been a third party (one with either industry access or remarkable stalking skills) that put the list together with false information on the sequels. Or it could be that Bones is just trying to cover their asses– only time will tell. I’m inclined to think the former, though, because if Bones is just covering up, it’ll be revealed if/when those series actually DO get made.

Canned Dogs reports that a leak from Bones has let slip that a sequel season of Fullmetal Alchemist is in the works. (Would it pick up after the movie? After the first anime? Where the anime split off from the manga? No clue!)

And a Darker than Black 2. Call it rumors for now, but…damn. I’m not sure if I’m excited or terrified.

Well, that was unexpected: Bandai Entertainment is bringing Bones president Masahiko Minami to Anime Expo, according to an announcement on their blog. (Above photo used with apologies to Sankei.)

They’ve also got a full and hopefully final schedule up for the con, so make sure you check and see when the particular series you want to know more about is being discussed (…or…danced…*eyes Lucky Star*).

EDIT: Forgot to mention, ANN got word of Bandai Entertainment’s first plans with BVU’s lineup, generally older series, with no word on the postponed titles (Kiss Dum, sola, Shigofumi, True Tears).

I haven’t gotten any actual confirmation of this yet but according to AnimeSuki’er duckroll, an anime conceived by Stan Lee himself is being made into an anime. Titled Hero Man and to be directed by Eureka Seven storyboarder Hitoshi Nanba and animated by BONES, the series follows a kid who finds a toy robot that becomes a superhero.

It was allegedly part of a big BONES feature in the new issue of Newtype, which is why I don’t have any official confirmation yet. More details as events warrant! And yes, it’s a separate project from Ultimo, the comic collaboration between Stan Lee and Shaman King’s Hiroyuki Takei.

The manga Soul Eater, by Atsushi Ookubo, is being developed into an anime by BONES, according to Ultimatum.

Says Wiki:

Soul Eater (ソウルイーター?) is a manga written by Atsushi Ookubo and serialized in the magazine Monthly Shonen Gangan. It was first released as 3 separate one-shots in 2003 and became a regular series in 2004. Set in the Shinigami technical school for weapon technicians, the series revolves around 3 groups of each a weapon technician and a human weapon. Trying to make the latter a “Death Scythe” and thus fit for use by the Shinigami, they must collect the souls of 99 evil humans and 1 witch.

So there you have it! I’ve spotted the manga in Shounen Gangan (the same anthology that Fullmetal Alchemist is published in, which I had a subscription to for a while) and was kind of interested in it, but never got around to looking into it. Now I kinda wish I had, but oh well. Now there shall be anime.