Anime:
- Why yes, that IS the first-ever official picture from the first-ever Marvel/Madhouse anime project, featuring Iron Man on the left, and his current American interation on the right, found at Sponichi. Is anyone else kinda weirded out by just how early we’re getting this stuff? I mean, usually you wouldn’t see an announcement for a spring 2010 anime until like, summer or fall ‘09 at the earliest.

- HEY LOOK IT’S A VAMPIRE KNIGHT SEASON 2 TRAILER! Looks like they might have gotten a slightly higher budget for animation this time around? Hard to tell from a trailer though.

Manga:
- Man, Hiroki Otsuka has to be the sexiest mangaka I’ve seen– and I gotta tell you that Hiro Mashima was pretty damn good-looking, too. Wait, you don’t know who Hiroki Otsuka is?! Get over to Japanator and read Brad’s awesome interview. NOW!

Movies:
- ANN has heard tidbits to the effect that the first Dragonball trailer will run attached to the Max Payne flick in October. So once we finally have that trailer, will we be allowed to make fun of the flick without people getting all “THERE ISN’T EVEN A TRAILER OUT YET STOP MAKING ASSUMPTIONS!” on us?

Music:
- If you’re one of the lucky Americans who’s seen ORESKABAND live, you’ll be happy to know that they’re planning a U.S. release with an indie label, says TokyoGraph. Sweet!

In Japan:
- Screw Comitia. Heck, screw Comiket– this Kyonko-only event that Sankaku Complex caught wind of sounds way too awesome to miss. Shame I’ll be on my way to Atlanta then…

Shorties:

• Blah blah blah Yaoi Con. If you’re interested in it, odds are good you’ve already seen YaoiSuki’s phenomenal coverage of it, so I won’t bother rehashing.
• Hey look– Japan Town San Francisco is revamping, including the building of a Jpop culture center. I’ll have to check that out when it’s done…
• European investors like Japanese love hotels. Who knew?
• Let’s see, I already talked about Lucky Star being licensed. For those of you silly enough to take me seriously, I was annoyed that it happened on a weekend when I wasn’t around to scoop, not because of the license itself. Duh.
• Apparently the gala event for Takashi Murakami’s exhibit at the LA Museum of Contemporary Art was a little star-studded.
• Tsundere GPS device. What the fuck.
• Are we done with Hare Hare Yukai now that even the virtual idols are doing it?
• HOLY SHIT LIVE ACTION AKIRA. Well, maybe. Possibly. We’re thinking about it.
• Remember Dale’s interview with Oreskaband at Anime Expo? No? That’s because animeOnline died before we could post it. (Wait, did we get it through? I don’t remember.) Anyway, the band is going to be in a movie.
• Vertical has Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack. It’s my fave Tezuka series, second to Unico, so HUZZAH!
• VIZ is all like, “look at all of our live-action manga adaptations! LOOK AT THEM! WE SO COOL!” Apparently they hoped we’d forget that everyone’s been expecting all of these for ages, except maybe Love*Com.
• Gong+Blinkx=more legal anime online. And stuff.
• A couple of new series: the sci-fi/greek mythology dark-lookin’ show Mnemosyne, plus an anime based on the character books Zenryoku Usagi. Also, BIOHAZARD CG anime.

At Length:

Ghost Hunt licensed: I love this show– solid characters, interesting stories, and any and all potential romance/personal drama is subtle and mostly not addressed. Also, AMAZING soundtrack by Masuda Toshio, who also did the soundtrack for Mushishi, FYI. Mmmm.

FUNimation vs Atari re: Dragon Ball Z games. I’m intrigued that no one has released the “why” for FUNimation’s move (which was to announce their intent to sever Atari’s rights to the games due to unknown infractions). Apparently DBZ is one of the floundering Atari’s few successful franchises– I wonder if FUNi is just hoping to jump ship before it sinks, or ir something significant really did go down?

B2B anime info portal: So Japanese companies are trying to get more information about their series to both North American and European countries. Given the recent hubbub with U.S. anime companies– e.g. FUNi, ADV, and Geneon’s layoffs and scalebacks –I think it’s a good idea for anime companies to get a better sense of what’s out there and what to license. While the “snag every single anime possible” tactic has its bonuses, I can’t think it’s the best method out there.

…Whew. That should keep you guys busy for a few minutes. Did I skip anything big?