The newest chapter of Prince of Tennis will be its last, according to iza!, who credits the “BL boom” to the series (and that’s probably not an inaccurate assessment).

The manga, by Takeshi Konomi, has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shounen Jump since July of 1999, and the issue that contains the final chapter of Prince of Tennis just hit stands today. In spite of being a shounen series, it was probably more popular with women than men, who yaoi’d the hell out of it.

Given its popularity, it should be no surprised that the manga has been adapted into a 178-episode anime, three OVAs, two anime movies, a live-action movie, a bunch of video games, and fifteen stage musicals. Eep.

Yesterday people were reporting on the Maple Story anime adaptation. I’m pretty sure it’s actually somewhat old news, but I could be wrong, so there you have it.

Also announced today: a mainstream adaptation of the eroge Ayakashi, which seems to rip off Allen’s arm from D.Gray-Man (’cause they were totally the first to have a character with a mutated arm!) and also make use of a mech-lookin’ monster that wears a scarf…which somehow makes me think of Dix-Neuf from Gunbuster 2. (Dix-Neuf didn’t wear a scarf, but Nono did, so I guess that’s why.)

Also, a buttload of live-action adaptations: BL manga Ai no Kotodama (a.k.a. Words of Devotion, courtesy of Juné) gets a live-action movie, while Fuma no Kojiro and Prince of Tennis get TV dramas…although PoT’s is in China.

ADV Films has seen fit to ruin all of my bookmarks by relaunching their website, which now looks somewhat fancier but is really obnoxious to use in Opera, because they have ads that take over the whole screen until you close them. Boo, ADV. BOO I SAY. And now I have to adjust my RSS feeds, too. Bah!

Oh yeah, and Illumitoon has given the license to air Bt’x and AM Driver to ADV’s Anime Network. Mm, quality “proframming,” eh, Advanced Media Network?

Meanwhile, I’m waiting on my BIG FAT package from Amazon.co.jp with Newtype, Animage, Animedia, Megami, and Comptiq. I ordered late this month T_T

Posted by gia in Anime, Dramas, Gossip, JP News, Manga, Movies, New Series, News, Western News • Comments (4)