If you’re one of the 34 Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya fans who hasn’t yet learned the dance to “Hare Hare Yukai,” you’ll now have your chance…if you import the new Haruhi game for Wii, anyway. Canned Dogs has twoscans talking about the game– which is the final entry in the trio of games that was announced way back when; one for DS, one for PSP, and one for Wii.
So! In the Wii game, you’ll dance to “Hare Hare Yukai,” and…as far as we know, that’s it. I’m kind of with Sankaku Complex; I dunno if that can really sustain a whole game. But it sounds cute.
At the Yen Press booth, they had something other than Haruhi posters– Soul Eater posters! Since it’s a Square Enix title, it’s not too surprising– Yen has other Squenix titles, like Spiral and Zombie Loan –but given that the anime seems poised for serious success, it’s a pretty solid license from Yen. Combine it with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and you’ve got some major plays from team Hassler & co.
For the record– I popped by the TOKYOPOP booth and asked about Kino no Tabi, given the slight confusion earlier (see the comments). Kasia told me that there is still hope for Kino no Tabi and that the license has NOT been killed yet. She also told me that after Slayers volume 8 they are done with the series officially.
Also, I should know better than to announce something like Yen Press acquiring the Haruhi manga when I’m in a rush– they have the light novels as well! The first volume of the manga is due out in October ‘08, and then be published every four months (at least until they’re caught up).
The novels will actually be published by Little, Brown Books for Young Adults jointly with Yen, and the first volume is due out in April 2009. They didn’t mention how much time will be between them all, but they’ve got all 9 to date. And yes, they really did say it’s “Hannah Montana meets Heroes.” I’m so, so sorry. I can only assume they’re hoping to seriously mainstream it.
Here I am, packing up to go to New York for NYCC, I literally have to leave the house in five minutes. I finally get to my computer– just to shut it down and pack it up –and what do I hear? Yen Press has licensed The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya manga. (I was expecting Bandai Entertainment to pick it up, too, like they did with Code Geass.)
Anyway, ANN and ICv2 (primary, but saw ANN’s first thanks to the six trillion e-mails I got) report that they’ve pick up the manga– the Gaku Tsunagu version, of course, not the short-lived and unpopular Mizuno Makoto version –through the fourth volume (there are five to date).
Curse my timing! Though at least it wasn’t the announcement of the light novels. Still waiting on those…*eyes various publishers*
According to AkibaBlog, one of the two Kyonko– aka The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya gender-bending –doujinshi I mentioned a while back has hit the #1 spot at Melon Books’ Akihabara location.
Eeeexcellent. My evil plan to take over the world via gender-bending doujinshi is working!
There are a lot of fans out there of the cast of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya gender-swapped, and particularly of “Kyonko,” the name given to female!Kyon.
So many, in fact, that not one but TWO doujinshi featuring Kyonko have been released. One version offers us Kyon as a former boy who woke up in the morning to find himself a girl, while the other features both Kyon and Koizumi swapping genders.
I’m…really hoping my local doujin guy snags these. ♥
Play Second Life? Love The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya? Willing to spend a few hard-earned real-life dollars in order to use Haruhi as your avatar in the game, the better to boost your online self-esteem even as your real-life social skills diminish by the minute? Good news!
This Haruhi avatar was created by Second Lifer Maegen Parvenu, and I can’t find it on her store, I’m guessing it’s in the $200-300 (Linden dollars) range, which is probably like, a dollar or two in the game.
But frankly, Second Life kind of terrifies me, so I refuse to sign up an account to get all the details. There are several Haruhi avatars listed on their marketplace though. If you’re into that sort of thing.
Canned Dogs has reported on two doujin games– which are, of course, fan-made/amateur games, often based on copyrighted works (but sometimes original, like the Touhou series) –that have been cracked down upon by copyright owners lately. The first is Tatakae! Ore no Hatsune Miku ver 1.2, a game based on the heavily-marketed (and uber-viral) character of the Vocaloid voice-generation software. The second was a Haruhi game called Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekitou (”The Fierce Fighting of Haruhi Suzumiya”).
The interesting thing is, it looks like neither of these games were ero (and therefore not “damaging” to the characters’ reputations), and apparently Vocaloid owner Crypton won’t allow doujin games even if they’re distributed for free, and Kadokawa has never been fond of doujin games.
…But before you get mad at the Japanese companies for keeping down the fans, keep in mind that in the USA these games would probably never even get made to begin with @_@ Though I somehow feel so tempted to grab a copy of RPG Maker and get started on some Haruhi sprites. As if I don’t have enough to keep me busy already.
