12:30pm, and it’s already been a long day…

Anime:
- I got an anonymous tip pointing me to this post by former PiQ editor Kevin Gifford talking about why the magazine (and other magazines) fail. In it he also mentions the status of his former employers: “…the parent company is more-or-less run by the creditors at the bank, my 401(k) got cut off a couple weeks earlier and health insurance was undoubtedly following soon after, and the office was more empty and barren than most of New Mexico…” Ouch.

- SaiAni reports on the Gunslinger Girl OVA, which will be getting its own website soon.

- Aaand Moon Phase has cast details for the upcoming anime adaptation of Ga-Rei. Tooru will be voiced by Tomoaki Maeno, who is also in this summer’s Someday’s Dreamers sequel as Gouta; Eri Kitamura (Blood+’s Saya) will voice Natsuki; Tetsuya Kakihara (Minamike’s Fujioka) will play Masaki. Mami will be voiced by Masaki Fukuen (Darker than Black’s Yin) and Kudou will be played by Rikiya Koyama (Hajime no Ippo’s Mamoru Takamura).

Manga:
- Should have posted this ages ago: Same Hat! Same Hat! has acquired a copy of the first US edition of a manga ever: Barefoot Gen, published back in 1978 by a group of anti-nuclear activists. How awesome is that?

- ANN has the scoop on the second International Manga Competition from Morning, as well as information on the upcoming third competition, taken from MangaCast.

- The PW Beat has learned that cute/crazy artist Junko Mizuno is going to be doing some work for Marvel…although the original link has disappeared. Still: do want.

Cons:
- Anime Expo has announced their AX Backstage hosts in the form of a video. The hosts are: Addy (the “AX Backstage Funky Fresh Fashionista”), DeMo (”Demosthenes,” or “AX Backstage Funny Man,” or as I’m going to call him, “that Shatner Wannabe”), and Luna (”AX Backstage Professional Diva”). A so-so video with so-so personas, but I do give them kudos for the Jem reference though. HELL YES JEM.

In Japan:
- In an attempt to counteract conceptions of Akihabara being dangerous, cops have started doing random searches of peoples’ stuff. In an attempt to counteract the searches, there has been another Akihabara stabbing. That does not bode well.

Required Reading:
- Newsarama has a wide selection of responses to TOKYOPOP’s recent changes from Tpop’s current and former creators.

- This Yomiuri has a nice article on the Toy Show and “toy otaku” in Akiba, if you’re interested. And I know you are.

Posted by gia in Features, Roundups • Comments (8)

Okay, they really gave it away too easily with the picture on their website, which AoD picked up on instantly….but I just got the official press release: FUNimation has acquired the rights to the sequel to Gunslinger Girl, Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino.

The most interesting tidbit in the release? “FUNimation Entertainment will release all 13 episodes of Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino in one complete DVD release in 2009.” So, you have to wait until next year, but at least you’ll get it all at once.

So far the announcements have had a nice, well-rounded quality about them: a traditional shoujo series (Save Me! Lollipop), a shounen comedy (KenIchi: The Strongest Disciple), and now a seinen show. The press release says they’ll have another announcement tomorrow, but this time there aren’t any hints on the front page of the site– any speculation?

Posted by gia in Anime, Licenses, News, Western News • Comments (4)