AnimeNation Anime News Blog

Kodansha has released a two-minute trailer for the upcoming third and final Yozakura Quartet: Hoshi no Umi OAD. The episode will be released on November 9 exclusively with limited edition copies of the 11th collected volume of Suzuhito Yasuda’s Yozakura Quartet supernatural action manga series.

Quite looking forward to this because despite the OAD story being pretty simple, the action sequences in the first two OADs have been phenomenal.

Source: Anime News Network

Chicago’s second annual Anime Midwest convention will be held July 6-8, 2012 at the Wyndham Lisle Chicago Hotel & Executive Meeting Center. The convention’s events will include a cosplay masquerade, an exhibit hall with anime merchandise, anime screenings, video game tournaments, a rave dance, a formal ball, cosplay photoshoots, and multiple panels and events.

Registration begins in November. Special early-bird registration for the convention is only $25 until April 15, 2012, and regular pre-registration is $30 from April 16 to June 10, 2012. Attendees can instead register for weekend passes at the door for only $35 per person. One-day passes will be available for just $25 per day. Included with all convention registrations is access to the convention’s new ConSuite, which will be supporting attendees with unlimited ramen, Mt. Dew, and other snacks throughout the weekend.

The sixth issue of Gen Manga (pronounced with a hard “G” in reference to the Japanese kanji character for “origin,” although I’m told by editor Robert McGuire that pronouncing the title with a soft “G” is fine too) is available to subscribers and consumers now. The October issue introduces the first chapter of a new, ongoing serial, Ryo Hanada’s Good-bye Geist, and shifts the magazine even further toward being America’s exclusive and foremost introduction to contemporary Japanese alternative and gekiga manga.

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Question:
Are there any anime series based on Korean manhwa?

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Sentai Filmworks has secured domestic distribution rights to Sunrise’s current Phi-Brain: Kami no Puzzle anime television series. Sentai will begin streaming the 25 episode series on The Anime Network and other online outlets “soon” but has not yet confirmed plans for a home video release. The anime series revolves around an intuitive high school boy challenged with solving dangerous & deadly puzzles.

The December issue of Ciel Tres Tres magazine that goes on sale in Japan this Saturday will formally reveal the development of a Junjo Mistake anime series. The show will be an adaptation of Shungiku Nakamura’s manga spin-off from her Junjo Romantica series that has already had two anime TV series adaptations.

Source: Anime News Network

The December issue of Ciel Tres Tres magazine that goes on sale in Japan this Saturday will formally reveal the development of an anime adaptation of Miyuki Abe’s bishonen manga series Hakkenden: Toho Hakken Ibun. The supernatural fantasy adventure manga is a reinterpretation of author Kyokutei Bakin’s 1814-1842 samurai novel series Nanso Satomi Hakkenden. The Hakkenden story has previously been adapted into numerous anime, manga, and live-action adaptations.

Source: Anime News Network

Japanese publisher Enterbrain has released the first trailer for the upcoming anime adaptation of Sadanatsu Anda’s light novel series Kokoro Connect. The school comedy depicts the five members of a school club who mysteriously swap bodies.

Source: Anime News Network

The homepage for studio Ordet’s Black Rock Shooter television series has added a streaming trailer that reveals the first original animation from the upcoming show. The trailer also appears to confirm that the TV series story will be based on the same concept that infused the 2009 Black Rock Shooter OVA. The eight-episode BRS television anime will premiere in the Fuji TV network’s Noitamina late-night timeslot in January.

This is intriguing because some of the action animation looks more like stylized motion typical of Gainax animation than Ordet animation.

Source: Anime News Network

Shueisha has released the second episode of the second Kaichu! web anime series. The school comedy revolves around an attractive cross-dressing archery prodigy.

The personality of Arrietty and her parents, some degree of Haru’s personality, and the rapid cut editing of this first American trailer for Ghibli’s Karigurashi no Arrietty completely reinterpret & misrepresent the spirit and tone of the original Japanese picture.

Question:
A few weeks back I noticed that the Gankutsuou boxset had made it into [AnimeNation's] top three bestselling anime for two weeks in a row. I had no idea this show was popular enough to still sell this well. I remember when Rightstuf was trying to get rid of the older Geneon sets each week at a very low price, likely to move in the new Funimation sets. From the sales data as presented through AnimeNation’s newsletter, is Gankutsuou a popular title that actually sells that well? I never hear people talk or write about it on the internet, so it was just a surprise!

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Sentai Filmworks has acquired domestic distribution rights to the current romantic drama anime series Mashiroiro Symphony. The Manglobe animated series is based on Palette’s 2009 PC game. Crunchyroll is presently simulcasting the series. Sentai Filmworks will begin distributing the series online also “soon” and will release the series on subtitled DVD next year.

Source: Anime News Network

Viz Media, in partnership with Japanese publisher Libre Publishing Co., Ltd. and Japanese anime retail chain Animate, Ltd., has formally announced its establishment of a label for yaoi manga. The SuBLime imprint will publish English translated “boy love” manga digitally and traditionally beginning in December.

The first digitally distributed titles will be Tarako Kotobuki’s Love Pistols and Haruka Minami’s Dannasama To Mitsugetsuchu. Sakae Kusama’s Ousama no Bed will debut in January. Nitro-CHiRAL’s Sweet Pool will premiere in February.

The SuBLime label will print Naono Bohra’s Three Wolves Mountain and Norikazu Akira’s Hachimitsu Darlin next spring, and the first volumes of Shiuko Kano’s Punch Up and Suzuki Tanaka’s Aitsu no Daihonmei next summer.

ICv2 has published an interview with Viz Media’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Alvin Lu regarding Viz’s decision to transition the American publication of Shonen Jump magazine from print to web.