Don’t worry; my to-do list includes a whole bunch of articles. So let’s get started with the catch-up first!

Anime:
- I’m trying to include more “interesting read” articles these days, and here’s one: a Gundam Wing retrospective.

- Dot Anime is now officially streaming the first episode of Super Robot Wars OG Divine Wars.

- Off in Japan, two of the Tales OVAs– Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Fantasia — are being released in Blu-Ray box sets.

- In case you didn’t believe me, I just got a press release confirming that FUNi has licensed Save Me! Lollipop.

Manga:
- Debbie at manga.about.com spots DMP’s new Speed Racer website.

- The Yomiuri has an article on manga that focus on traditional Japanese theater forms Noh and Kabuki.

- German yaoi publisher Fire Angels is planning on publishing in English– specifically, they’ll be releasing an English translated version of K-A-E 29th Secret. I’ve heard tell that yaoi is even bigger in Germany than in the US, and/or that their OEL market is huge, so this should be interesting to watch.

- Alafista has the winners of this year’s Japan Mangaka Association Award, which includes Monster creator Naoki Urasawa as grand prize winner for 20th Century Boys and 21st Century Boys. The other winner of the grand prize is Hiroko Minami for Hina-chan no Nichijo. Make sure you check out alafista’s article, which includes the Excellence Awards and special awards.

Movies:
- And if you hate yourself and want to be miserable, check out the first official Dragon Ball Z movie promo pic.

- This is only vaguely tangentially related to anime, but a Witchblade movie is in the works.

- Yes, Speed Racer isn’t doing as well as people had hoped, but at the #2 spot, it’s not completely floundering either.

Misc:
- AkibaBlog reports on various Miku Hatsune itasha (car decor).

- What Japan Thinks informs us of the cutest corporate mascots in Japan, and Japan picks the toucan over the viking kitty. WTF?

- Oh, here, this might explain it: Sankaku Complex discussing the decline in both IQ and lust suffered by Japan’s youth.

Angry Zen Master reports that in an interview with Gundam Wing creator Masashi Ikeda, he reveals that the series was created as a joke– that they created it because they knew it would be popular, and not because they actually thought it would be good.

Confirmed information? Heck no! Their source offers up the alleged interview and that’s it. But why let something like confirmation get in the way of a hilarious story?

…Though I think most people above the age of 13 who actually watched any Gundam Wing probably could have guessed that this was the case anyway.

Okay, so, YTV is no longer scheduled to show Death Note, but that’s not stopping VIZ: Anime on DVD has a press release with the cast list, dangling it in front of the faces of the poor Canadians who just had the Death Note broadcast yanked out from under them. That’s not very nice.

The leads are, omg, NOT on of my list of “The Five Male Voice Actors Who Star In All Anime.” (Honestly? I’m kind of surprised.) Light is being played by Brad Swaile, who has a very Gundam-y resume (the original Amuro Ray, plus Wing’s Quatre and Seed’s Dearka). Meanwhile L is being played by a real in-person type actor, Alessandro Juliani, of Battlestar Galactica fame.