Megami – June 2014 posters [Contains NSFW images]

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May 7, 2014

Nintendo and the Pokémon Company has announced that a remake of Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire is coming to the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 2DS this November. Titled Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, the game will be a brand new adventure utilising the Pokémon X/Pokémon Y engine to create a spectacular new world. The game will be out on the 3DS and 2DS this November, worldwide. More information will be released soon.

Here are the tentative box art for the European release of the game.

The game is a updated version to the third generation Pokémon games, that released on the Game Boy Advance in 2002/2003.

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire – Sneak Peek Footage

Figure Review: Usagi Tsukino – Super Sailor Moon

By

Oloenia

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May 6, 2014

With her striking poses and shining charm, Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon, and our friends at E2046 never fail to amaze us. Due to release on the 11/05/2014, this beautiful pre-painted figure is definitely something I’d be pre-ordering.

The design detail on this figure is absolutely stunning; not a crack left untouched. Clear hardwork went into creating this fine figure.

Upon zooming in, you can see this boldness of the colors. Her hair is of a beautiful golden yellow colour, infused with a tiny shading of orange to add a wonderful shadow-like effect. The whiteness of her outfit stands out boldly, merging well with the red and gold parts of her outfit. Every little detail, such as the twisting of the hair, or the shape of her outfit to match her pose is simply wonderful.

From a side shot, you can see that not only more her outfit, but the different types of materials actually used to give the figure a wonderful effect. The back detail of her hair and the in-depth detail of Usagi’s Spiral Heart Wand is also shown (oh goodness, they haven’t missed a thing!).

A better look at Usagi’s clear outfit adornment here. Looking closely, you’ll be able to see the detail gone into the adornment, with the intention of giving Usagi a sort of flowing feel to her pose.

Just look how well the paint shines! I’m truly jealous of those with the talent of hand painting these, and especially those who hand paint these by the masses. Now, for those who are super interested, have I got the details for you!

Since there is also a Garage Kit with a slightly different weight and height, I’ll post the pre-painted version first.

Link: http://www.e2046.com/product/20036
Height: 37.00cm
Weight: 3.20kg
Scale: 1/4
As expected of a pre-painted version;

Minor Assembly Required
No Painting Required

The pre-painted version costs $322.22 (without sales/offers), or £189.72 (without sales/offers).

For the Garage Kit, or ‘Do It Yourself’ (DIY) Kit;

Link: http://www.e2046.com/product/10328
Height: 30.00cm
Weight: 1.80kg
Parts: 33
Scale: 1/4

And as expected of the DIY Kit;

Includes clear parts
Assembly Required
Painting Required

The DIY Kit costs $143.84 (without sales/offers), or £84.69 (without sales/offers).

Currently, there is a 25% offer if you manage to catch it on both the DIY kit and the pre-painted, if you pre-order on E2046’s websites with the links listed above. And remember, “For Love and Justice, the pretty sailor suited soldier Sailor Moon!”

Lawson’s Love Live! Promotional Campaign Begins

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May 4, 2014

Source – Alafista
Source – SGCafe

Lawson, a Japanese convenience store chain, have started their promotional campaign of Love Live! School Idol Project. In promotion for the anime’s second season, Lawson will be supplying many themed products featuring the idol girls until next week.

Lawson has the campaign around Japan, selling many Love Live! themed products. One such store in Tokyo is selling the special lunch pack, which comes with a tuna sandwich and an egg sandwich. A total of 999 lunch packs were on sale on the first day of the campaign.

And due to the popularity of Love Live! in Japan, all of the 999 lunch packs were sold out in hours.

Other products sold during the campaign includes clear plastic sleeves, penlights, posters and postcards.

Additionally, there were many Love Live! theme ishitas (cars covered in anime) parked in front of many Lawson stores.

Love Live! School Idol Project is an original anime produced by Sunrise studios that aired in January 2013. The conception of the anime project started in 2010 by Dengeki G’s Magazine. The editors wanted the project to be heavily influenced by fans, such as the costumes, hairstyles and names. Throughout this process, a manga of the project simply called Love Live! began in early 2012 by Sakurako Kimino and Arumi Tokita. The next part in the project was the anime series, followed by this app and an OVA. The second season of Love Live! School Idol Project started airing early last month, with a PlayStation Vita game releasing this month and a mobile game – Love Live! School Idol Festival.

The Love Live! x Lawson campaign will run till May 12th.

Persona 4 The Golden Animation Announced for July, A-1 Pictures to Animate

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Source – Anime News Network
Source – Famitsu

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May 2, 2014

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A recent live stream on Niconico from Atlus has revealed a small video that announced an anime adaptation of Persona 4 Golden. Persona 4 The Golden Animation will be airing this July, and is based on the re-release of the original Persona 4 on the Vita. The anime will retell events from Persona 4 The Animation and will also focus on Golden’s epilogue, set 3 years after the original anime and game.

The first visual of the anime was also released:

Persona 4 Golden is an enhanced re-release of Persona 4 for the Vita. The game featured lots of new content, including new Personas, cutscenes, scenarios, social links, a new character and an epilogue. The new character introduced in Golden is Marie. She will be voiced by Kana Hanazawa (Kuroneko from Oreimo, Mayuri Shiina in Steins;Gate) who voiced her in the game.

Persona 4 The Golden Animation will have the majority of the crew and the entire cast back to reprise their roles. Seiji Kishi, the director of Persona 4 The Animation will be chief director, with Tomohisa Taguchi, the director the second Persona 3 film taking the directing role. A new studio will be producing the anime. Taking over studio AIC will be A-1 Pictures (Sword Art Online, Fairy Tail).

The event streamed a small promotional video of the upcoming anime where the screens below are taken from:

Persona 4 first released on the PlayStation 2 in 2008, part of the Persona series in Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei franchise. The game received critical acclaim and strong sales. Since then, the game has spawned many adaptations and merchandises. To date, there are three manga adaptations, a light novel adaptation, and oddly enough a live stage production. An anime adaptation for the game, titled Persona 4: The Animation aired in late 2011 and garnered lots of attention. Persona 4 Golden, an enhanced port of the original game released last year on the PlayStation Vita and included a few new features and story elements, including a new secret ending. Persona 4 Arena also released two years ago with Arc System Works, who develop the Blazblue and Guilty Gear series. Last year Atlus has announced three new games in the Persona series: Persona 4: Dancing All Night for the Vita, Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth for the Nintendo 3DS and Persona 5 for the PlayStation 3.

Here is a synopsis of the Persona 4 The Animation anime from Haruhichan:

Persona 4 takes place in a rural town named Inaba. There have been mysterious murders occurring whenever there was fog after heavy rain. There were also rumors about a channel on television airing only at midnight called Mayonaka TV, during which it is said that one can see his/her “other half” when staring at the TV screen.

After hearing about a recent unsolved murder which occurred during the fog, the characters—Narukami, Chie, and Yosuke—discuss how each of them had attempted to watch the mysterious TV channel and witnessed the murder victim. The protagonist later realizes that during midnight when the channel is on, his body can phase into his television set as a gateway to enter another world infested with shadows.

After discovering this, they all decide to explore. When first completely entering the world, dazed and confused, Narukami meets Teddie. Mayonaka TV and the town murders seem to have a connection. The murder victims may be merely victims of Mayonaka TV. Everyone decides that they will together try to solve the mysterious murders by exploring the hidden world of Mayonaka TV.

Persona 4 The Golden Animation will be airing this July, during the Summer 2014 season. More information and images on the series will release in the upcoming weeks.

You can visit the anime official site here: http://www.p4ga.jp/

Ohenro Anime Ad and Cast announced!

By

fgghjjkll

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May 2, 2014

Anime studio ufotable has just announced on Wednesday their cast for upcoming cute-tour-guides anime Ohenro on Twitter, as well as uploading a short 16 second trailer to YouTube. The cast includes Nanami Yamashita as Mao, Yuri Ehara as Sawa, and Marika Kouno as Megumi. Their trailer introduces the main characters and reveals that Ohenro will air on OHS, May 3.

“Ohenro”, or “Henro”, refers to the Shikoku Pilgrimage, a collection of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk, Kukai, on the island of Shikoku, Japan. Due to the pilgrimage’s long history and landscapes, these sites are known tourist attractions. As commemoration of the pilgrimage’s 1200th anniversary, these three girls will visit and discuss each site. The original Ohenro stories have been produced and published by ufotable since October on the official website, with new stories every Thursday.

Source: AnimeNewsNetwork

NIS America Announces Cardcaptor Sakura Release

By

"Big Sister" Rii

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May 1, 2014

こんにちわみんなさん (Hello everyone!)

NIS America has just announced that they are releasing an anime classic, Cardcaptor Sakura, on Blu-Ray and DVD on August 5, 2014. There will be a premium and a standard release of the anime. The premium edition will contain all 70 episodes of the anime on Blu-Ray alongside a 76-page artbook, and will retail for $199.99.* The standard release of the anime will split the anime onto three volumes and sold separately. Each volume will contain 23 or 24 episodes of the anime and will retail for $43-$50 each. Both contain the original Japanese and English audio tracks, as well as the creditless openings and endings.

The premium edition of Cardcaptor Sakura.

In addition, Discotek Media has announced that they would be releasing the first Cardcaptor Sakura movie later this year. Previously, the licenses to Cardcaptor Sakura were owned by Nelvana and Geneon Universal. The DVDs went out of print when Geneon’s license expired in 2007. Up until this point, the license went unused.

* Price on NIS America’s website.

Cardcaptor Sakura First Episode Fly Card — © CLAMP, ST, KODANSHA / NHK, NEP

Originally written by CLAMP, Cardcaptor Sakura originally aired from 1998 to 2000, and it received praise for its different and original take on the magical girl genre. It went on to become one of Japan’s most popular anime, with Cardcaptor Sakura winning Animage magazine’s Anime of the Year in 1999 beating out Cowboy Bebop, and it was the runner-up in 2000. An English dub, Cardcaptors, was released in 1999 in North America and Europe. The North American version was almost universally hated for its heavy editing and cutting of episodes. This release will include the unedited English episodes.

Cardcaptor Sakura holds a special place in my heart as one of the first anime I ever watched and it’s also the one that got me into anime in the first place. In fact, I just finished a review of it not too long ago. Are you excited for the return of this classic anime? Did you watch it when it came out dubbed or subbed? Let’s see how many twenty-year olds there are here.

また後で (See you later!)

All images and news was taken from NIS America’s website.

Hamatora Season 2 Will be Titled Re:_Hamatora

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Source – Anime News Network

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May 1, 2014

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The official Hamatora website has announced that the second season of the anime will have a new title: Re:_Hamatora. The anime, set 3 years after the original, will air this July. Additionally, the animation studio has changed, though the cast and crew from the first season will return.

The first season of the Hamatora anime had studio Naz in charge of animation production. Re:_Hamatora will be animated by studio Lerche (Fate/Prototype, Unbreakable Machine-Doll) with guidance and help from Naz. The entire cast of the first season will be returning to voice their characters. Seiji Kishi is set to return as director, as well as many other staff members.

Hamatora is a manga written by Yukino Kitajima with Yu Wazu illustrating. The manga began in November last year and is being published in Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump. The series currently has one released volume. An anime adaptation of the series started in January this year. Titled Hamatora The Animation, the anime is set after the events of the manga. It is animated by studio Naz, and is their debut animated series. The series features directors Seiji Kishi (Angel Beats!, Carnival Phantasm) and Hiroshi Kimura (Recorder to Randoseru Do♪) with Touko Machida (Lucky☆Star, The iDOLM@STER) and Jun Kumagai (Persona 4 The Animation) writing the scripts. All these members will be returning for Re:_Hamatora.

Here is a synopsis of the series from MAL:

The story revolves around “Minimum” or “minor miracle”—special hereditary powers discovered only in an extremely limited number of humans. Those who possess such powers are known as “Minimum Holders.”

Re:_Hamatora will be airing in July this year during the Summer 2014 season. In the meantime, check out the series’ official website: http://hamatorapj.com

Clannad Announced for the PlayStation Vita

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April 29, 2014

Source – 4Gamer
Source – Anime News Network

Publisher Prototype have announced that Key’s acclaimed Visual Novel Clannad will be releasing on the PlayStation Vita this Summer. The game’s release on Sony’s newest handheld console is to mark the 10th anniversary of the series.

Clannad for the Vita will be launching in Japan sometime this Summer. The game will cost ¥4,800 (~$48 USD) retail and the digital version from the PlayStation Network Store will cost ¥4,300 (~$43 USD). Prototype are also offering a discount campaign for players who purchased Clannad for the PlayStation Portable, who will get the Vita version for ¥1,500 (~$15 USD). Additionally, the discount campaign will also be applied to other games published by Prototype. Players who have Little Busters! Converted Edition, Art of war of the Three Kingdoms love Senki Otome! ~ or Rewrite for the PSP, can get a discount from the PSN/SEN Store for a digital version of the game for the Vita.

The game will take advantage of the system, having full touchscreen controls, updated graphics to fit in the Vita’s 960×554 screen and will support Vita TV, an external device that can output the Vita to a TV. Prototype have released some screenshots of the game:

Clannad is a Visual Novel developed by Key. It is the third developed game that released in April 2004 for Windows. The game received high sales and critical acclaim in Japan, with the regular edition selling over 100,000 copies in 2004. The game has then received a light novel, and three manga adaptations. The game also received an animated film from Toei Animation, who also produced the animated films for Key’s other VNs (Kanon, Air). A TV anime was produced by Kyoto Animation that aired in 2007, and was followed up by a second season in 2008 titled Clannad ~After Story~.

Here is a synopsis of the series from MAL:

Okazaki Tomoya is a delinquent who finds life dull and believes he’ll never amount to anything. Along with his friend Sunohara, he skips school and plans to waste his high school days away.

One day while walking to school, Tomoya passes a young girl muttering quietly to herself. Without warning she exclaims “Anpan!” (a popular Japanese food) which catches Tomoya’s attention. He soon discovers the girl’s name is Furukawa Nagisa and that she exclaims things she likes in order to motivate herself. Nagisa claims they are now friends, but Tomoya walks away passing the encounter off as nothing.

However, Tomoya finds he is noticing Nagisa more and more around school. Eventually he concedes and befriends her. Tomoya learns Nagisa has been held back a year due to a severe illness and that her dream is to revive the school’s drama club. Claiming he has nothing better to do, he decides to help her achieve this goal along with the help of four other girls.

Clannad will be out in Japan on the PlayStation Vita this Summer. For more information visit the game’s official site: http://www.prot.co.jp/psv/clannad/index.html

Snack Reviews: Dagashi Bento Pack from JList

By

Swaps4

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April 25, 2014

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Today we’ve got our hands on a Dagashi Bento Pack from JList.

You might be wondering, what is ‘Dagashi (駄菓子)’ ?

The word dagashi (駄菓子) originally referred to cheap candies of low quality, but over time the word has come to be used for candies which children can easily afford with their small allowances. The variety of dagashi is quite vast; the types of candies and snacks that can be bought include candy drops, bubblegum, chocolates, cakes, mixed sweets, juice powders, rice crackers, flavoured squid, and many, many more. They are wrapped in flashy packages, and some come with a sort of lucky draw that allows you to claim a second candy or snack if you get a win.

Until the 1960s or 1970s, every Japanese town had a dagashi store; nowadays, dagashi are more often found in convenience stores and 100-yen shops.

If you’ve seen the series K-ON!!, you’ll remember when Ritsu took Mugi to the Dagashi store after their day out at the arcade.

Just like Mugi, I was excited to try all the different types of dagashi!

Dagashi Bento Pack from JList

Kyabetsu Tarou (cabbage Tarou)

Here we have Kyabetsu Tarou (cabbage Tarou) – small balls of corn which are flavoured with small pieces of nori and Japanese brown sauce. As the frog wearing a policeman’s hat says: dry/salty and light (weightless), it’s delicious! Despite its name, the cabbage Tarou doesn’t contain any cabbage.

If I had a dagashi store near me, I would buy a packet of these every time I saw one. They’re the ideal snack for a picnic, or even a quick bite if you’re feeling peckish.

Umaibo Japan Snack Stick – Teriyaki Hamburger Flavour

The art of the chibi mascot style looks a lot like Doraemon. Just like the cabbage Tarou, this is a corn based snack. It has the taste of a beef burger with a hint of teriyaki.

The teriyaki flavour is quite light so it may take another bite or two to notice it. It’s much more compact than the cabbage Tarou.

Orange Bubble Gum

These are tiny little balls of gum which look like puny oranges.

You are greeted by a delicious explosion of orange citrus flavour when you chew down. It’s such a shame that only 6 of these come in the pack.

Orion Mini-Cola Drink Candies

These are tiny cola-flavoured candies which look like tablets. They taste almost exactly like the cola bottle candies you can get, but the flavour is much stronger.

The texture on these are great; they split into fragments when chomped on. If you like pez candy, get these.

Ramune Fake Cigarettes

You’ve all heard of ramune, right? The refreshing, fizzy and fun Ramune Soda. You know, the bottled soda that has a marble in it?

Well, now you know (you should try out ramune drinks, they’re really refreshing and come in a wide variety of flavours).

These fake cigarettes remind me of the ones I used to buy as a kid (not the chocolate ones, the sherbet ones). These are much better than the ones I used to buy.

They are highly condensed sherbet in the form of cigarettes. They’re quite fruity and have a nice bubbly taste. Everyone who tried these enjoyed them and referenced the ones we used to get as kids.

Ramune Candy

This piece of candy highly resembles the marble you see in a ramune bottle. I remember my first ramune soda; it was so weird to press down on a marble to be able to open your drink – it’s actually quite refreshing compared to the normal cap/can opening process.

This little ramune candy marble has a soft coat which is easy to bite through. The sweet taste coats your whole mouth instantly, and in the middle you are greeted by a soda-flavoured bubblegum.

(Shin) Fue Gomu [Flute Gum]

I was actually astounded by these. They look like they’ll have a hard and sherbet like texture, but they don’t – they are very soft and fragile. The taste reminds me of the cheap shrimp candies you can get for a few pennies each.

They smell like bubblegum but they are far from it. The gum dissolves after a few minutes of chewing. I would like to try these again because I haven’t seen shrimp candies sold anywhere for a few years now.

Lemon Gummy candy

To my surprise, these are not sour! I was dreading these since I don’t like sour candies.

These have a delightful scent of lemon citrus and taste just like a lemon but in a candy-coated jelly form.

Ice Cream Popsicle

If you’re a fan of Fun Dip sweets, you’ll love this one.

The grape-flavoured Ice Cream Popsicle is complemented perfectly by the miraculous grape dust. They give you a decent amount, too, so you aren’t left with the popsicle and no dust.

If I am to ever go to Japan, I will make sure to visit a dagashi store. My favorite from the Dagashi Bento Pack would have to be a tie between the cabbage Tarou and the ice cream popsicle.

If you were given the choice to try one, which would it be?

Kyoto Animation’s Amagi Brilliant Park Airing This Fall

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Source – Anime News Network

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April 25, 2014

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The official website of the anime adaptation of Shoji Gatoh’s light novel Amagi Brilliant Park has announced that the anime will be airing this Fall. The series will be produced by Kyoto Animation. The announcement has also revealed the first glimpse of the characters and their designs in the upcoming series.

The anime adaptation of Amagi Brilliant Park will be directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto, who directed Hyouka and Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu – another anime based on Gatoh’s works. Shoji Gatoh is most known for his popular light novel series Full Metal Panic!, which received an anime adaptation by Kyoto Animation and another by Gonzo. The light novels began in 1998 and ended after 23 volumes in 2011. Amagi Brilliant Park began in February 2013 and currently has 3 volumes released. The light novels are illustrated by Yuka Nakajima, who did the character designs for the 2012 anime Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai! (Listen to Me, Girls. I Am Your Father!). In addition to the light novel, Gatoh is also producing the manga adaptation of the series, which started earlier this year.

Here is a synopsis of the series from Haruhichan:

The “slapstick drama” begins with Seiya Kanie, a high school boy who is invited on a date in an amusement park by a mysterious beautiful transfer student named Isuzu Sento. He is introduced to Ratifa, a “real” princess and the park’s manager, and is asked to be the acting manager of this “disappointing amusement park in the Tokyo suburbs.”

The Amagi Brilliant Park anime, animated by Kyoto Animation, will be coming out in the Fall 2014 season of anime.

For more information, check out the anime’s official site: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/amaburi/

Futari Ecchi OVAs Announced Fall 2014

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April 25, 2014

In the latest volume of Katsu Aki’s manga Futari Ecchi, it revealed that a new OVA series is coming this Fall. This is the first time in 10 years that the manga has been animated.

Futari Ecchi is a manga series from Katsu Aki, that began serialization in Hakusensha’s Young Animal magazine. The series is notable for featuring sex, where a virgin newlywed couple delve into sexual explorations – do note it contains nudity. The series combines these erotic moments with facts and statistics as well, providing the reader with helpful information. The manga has a total of 60 volumes. The series received a TV drama adaptation in 2000, which was followed by an OVA series in 2002. The OVAs were produced by Chaos Project. During that same time, Aki created another manga titled Futari Ecchi For Ladies, which focused on women. Since then a series of live action movies were released in 2011 and 2012.

Here is a plot synopsis from MAL:

An excellent and very educational series. About a newlywed couple who are virgins and their comedic ups and downs in learning how to have sex. Not really a hentai, though there are scenes which can be called hentai. Tastefully rendered taboo themes. A funny “how to” guide for sex illiterate and experts.

Nothing else is known about the upcoming OVA series of Futari Ecchi other than its scheduled release of Fall 2014. Expect more information in the upcoming weeks.

Which studio would you want to animate the Futari Ecchi OVAs?

Source – Esuteru

Hunter x Hunter Manga Returns!

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Source – Shounen Jump
Source – Anime News Network

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April 22, 2014

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The official Japanese Shounen Jump website has announced that Yoshihiro Togashi’s manga is back after a long two year break. The manga will be back this June in the Japanese Weekly Shounen Jump magazine and Viz Media’s own localised Shounen Jump.

Hunter x Hunter is a manga series by Yoshihiro Togashi. The series started in 1998 and is published in Shueisha’s weekly Shonen Jump Magazine. To date the series has a total of 32 volumes. Togashi placed the manga on hiatus in in March 2012 after setting the record for longest run without breaks, without any news of when the manga will return. The series received an anime adaptation in 1999 from Nippon Animation that ended in 2001, followed by a series of OVAs. A new animated series relaunched in 2011 from Madhouse, retelling the series from the start. Madhouse also produced two animated films, which released in 2013. There has also been two musicals based on the series, and a slew of video games have been released from Konami and Bandai Namco.

More information about the return of the Hunter x Hunter manga will be revealed in next week’s Shounen Jump, which goes on sale on Monday.

Top 7 Blue Hair Anime Girls

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April 22, 2014

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100 people from the streets of Akihabara have been interviewed by DDNavi about who their favorite blue hair anime characters are. DDNavi have done other rankings for characters with green hair and characters with pink hair.

So who are the top female anime characters with the beautiful blue hair?

7. Ika Musume/Squid Girl from Shinryaku! Ika Musume (Squid Girl)

A squid girl who claims to be “A Messenger of the Sea”. Frustrated about her ocean being polluted by human beings, she planned to conquer the world to exact revenge on humanity. However, she soon realizes that she doesn’t stand a chance against anyone, as she is clueless about the surface and is alone in her conquest. As a result of breaking a side of a beach house’s wall during her invasion, she is forced to work there and learns more about humans and their ways.

She is known to be very stubborn, insists that eventually she’ll be able to conquer humanity, has a fear of sharks and whales, loves shrimp, can spew out ink at will, and can use her blue hair as tentacles.

6. Erio Touwa from Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko (Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl)

Erio is Makoto’s first cousin. One day, she mysteriously disappeared for six months, with no memory of what happened during that time. At the same time, she began having an extreme fascination with aliens, believing herself to be an alien investigator monitoring humans. Following an incident where she broke her leg whilst trying to fly on her bike, she constantly wraps herself inside a futon.

5. Konata Izumi from Lucky☆Star

Konata Izumi is, more by default than anything else, the “leader” of the main characters. Nicknamed “Kona-chan” by her friends, she is an eccentric but friendly and outgoing girl, with a mischeivous but good-natured sense of humor. She can be smart, but she hates studying, thus her grades are a bit uneasy. In contrast to her studying habits, she loves video games, to the extent that she can compete against Kagami Hiiragi on trivia games (by remembering the question orders, not by knowing the actual answers). In addition, she loves anime, which is also due to her father, Soujirou Izumi’s influence, along with the games. He buys ero-games for himself, so she is able to play and enjoy them. In fact, when she became eighteen, Konata was overjoyed, since she could now go buy and play ero-games legally.

4. Ami “Sailor Mercury” Mizuno from Sailor Moon

A quiet bookworm in Usagi’s class, called Amy in the English adaptations of the series. She is hugely intelligent, with an IQ of 300, and can transform into Sailor Mercury, acquiring power over water. Ami’s shy exterior masks a passion for knowledge and for taking care of the people around her. She hopes to be a doctor one day, like her mother, and tends to be the practical one in the group. Secretly, she is also a fan of pop culture and romance novels, and becomes embarrassed whenever this is pointed out.

3. Nymph from Sora no Otoshimono

The second mysterious angel that descends from the sky who possesses transparent wings shining in seven different colors. She has a selfish personality, and at times, she has a tsundere nature.

2. Sayaka Miki from Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica

Madoka’s classmate who, after helping Madoka rescue Kyubey, ends up getting an offer to become a Puella Magi herself. She cares deeply for her friends, and wants to help an ill boy named Kyousuke Kamijou, whom she has a crush on. Before becoming a Puella Magi, Sayaka wields a baseball bat that Mami can enhance with magic to defend herself with while on witch hunts.

1. Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion

Rei Ayanami is the First Child, and the pilot of Evangelion Unit 00. She is shown to be socially withdrawn and hardly interacts with anyone. Rei’s cool, silent and emotionally-stunted personality has garnered the scorn of her schoolmates; Asuka calls her a “doll” or “puppet”.

Although she once only associated with Gendo, she and Shinji break the ice after the battle against Ramiel, and grow progressively closer for a while. In the manga version, Rei grows a lot closer to Shinji than in the anime.

Who is on your top blue haired girl?

Source – DDnavi

AniFav’s Spring 2014 Anime Rankings

By

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April 22, 2014

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AniFav is a website that has a unique algorithm that calculates fans’ favourite anime of the season through the usage Fav Points (Favp). The latest rankings have been revealed for Spring 2014, though the season has just started the initial rankings are already displayed. Though the points and ranks do change on a daily basis.

So what are the top 50 Spring 2014 anime rankings so far?

1.		Dragon Ball Kai (Majin Buu Arc)	7072 Favp
2.		Love Live! School Idol Project Season 2	5478 Favp
3.		Haikyuu!!	5323 Favp
4.		Captain Earth	5245 Favp
5.		JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders	5132 Favp
6.		Isshuukan Friends.	5064 Favp
7.		Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo Returns	4964 Favp
8.		Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Kenichi OVA	4823 Favp
9.		Soul Eater Not!	4774 Favp
10.		Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin	4665 Favp
11.	Abarenbou Kishi!! Matsutarou	3771 Favp
12.	Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei	3531 Favp
13.	Gokukoku no Brynhildr	954 Favp
14.	Aikatsu	691 Favp
15.	Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii	513 Favp
16.	Mushishi Zoku Shou	478 Favp
17.	Kenzen Robo Daimidaler	445 Favp
18.	Ping Pong The Animation	380 Favp
19.	Baby Steps	308 Favp
20.	Majin Bone	302 Favp
21.	Sidonia no Kishi	292 Favp
22.	Hitsugi no Chaika	278 Favp
23.	Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V	255 Favp
24.	Akuma no Riddle	227 Favp
25.	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 CGI series)	207 Favp
25.	Fairy Tail (2014)	207 Favp
27.	No Game No Life	125 Favp
28.	Black Bullet	169 Favp
29.	Selector Infected WIXOSS	119 Favp
30.	Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?	72 Favp
31.	Hero Bank	68 Favp
32.	Lady Jewelpet	65 Favp
33.	Tenkai Knights	61 Favp
34.	Pretty Rhythm: All Star Selection	60 Favp
35.	Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou	56 Favp
35.	Pokemon XY	56 Favp
37.	Seikoku no Dragonar	54 Favp
38.	Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara	53 Favp
39.	Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers	50 Favp
39.	Cardfight!! Vanguard: Legion Mate-hen	50 Favp
41.	Pac World	49 Favp
42.	Blade & Soul	45 Favp
43.	Saikyou Ginga Ultimate Zero: Battle Spirits	43 Favp
43.	Keroro	43 Favp
45.	Happiness Charge Precure!	35 Favp
46.	Mekakucity Actors	34 Favp
47.	Kamigami no Asobi	31 Favp
48.	Date A Live II	30 Favp
49.	Break Blade	25 Favp
49.	Escha & Logy no Atelier: Tasogare no Sora no Renkinjutsushi	25 Favp

To learn about how the algorithm works and how Favp are calculated visit here.

So what do you think about the rankings so far? Do they match your preferences this season?

Source – AniFav

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Rebellion Soul Gems on Sale

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April 21, 2014

Ever wanted to become a magical girl? All you needed was to make contract with Kyubey and receive a soul gem. Well you can now fasttrack your dreams as Premium Bandai Japan is now selling a set of soul gems from the third movie in Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: Rebellion. Not only does it include the 5 soul gems from the TV anime, it also includes the two new gems from the movie itself.

This article contains spoilers.

Soul Gems are the embodiment and soul of the magical girl from the Madoka anime. If the gem is too far away from their body they collapse. It is intended to be a safety precaution from Kyubey since the soul gem is much tougher than the human body. Each of the girls have their own unique soul gem, but each time they use their magical powers the gem becomes tainted. To remove the taint they need a grief seed from a Witch.

Premium Bandai are selling limited edition Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: Rebellion soul gems, which includes the 5 from the anime and the 2 from the Rebellion film. The soul gems are initially dim and have a built in LED light that glows. The soul gems are made with Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC).

The 5 soul gems are of the main characters from the TV anime. The 2 new soul gems from the film are:

Homura’s Cracked Soul Gem. There are rainbow LEDs inside and the top part is detachable.

Homura Goddess Dark Orb Soul Gem

The soul gems are available for pre-order from the official Premium Bandai store. The release starts today and ends on June 20th. The soul gems costs ¥5,400 (~$54 USD) for the entire set. The products will begin shipping in August.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica (Puella Magi Madoka Magica) is an original anime series that aired in 2011. The series was produced by Shaft, and was directed by Akiyuki Shinbo (Monogatari). The series was written by Gen Urobuchi and the character designs from Ume Aoki and Takahiro Kishida. The series received great reception breaking Blu ray sale records, with the franchise has grossed over 40 billion yen. The series was also live streamed on Niconico where over 1 million people watched the series. In addition to the TV series, a trilogy of movies were released. The first two recapped the story and the final movie, Rebellion, had an original story.

To reiterate: the limited edition soul gems are available for purchase from today (April 21st) till June 20th. A set of the gems costs ¥5,400 (~$54 USD) and will start shipping in August.

To purchase the set, visit this site: http://p-bandai.jp/item/item-1000087848/

Figure Review: Wen Rou – Elegance series

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Bockie

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April 19, 2014

Today we’re checking out a sweet ninja girl from the Ori Team’s Elegance line of figures. Here’s the quick and dirty story about this sexy shinobi: Wen Rou.

After a long break, our ORI Team decided to bring a new member to Elegance! Meet the latest martial art master — Wen Rou. As one of the Ten Great Assassins, she is highly agile and a veteran in infiltration and assassination. Her Shuriken is also well-known in the world of rogues. With the contract on Qiao Yin, you can totally expect some fierce battles between her, Fei Yan and Jian Xue.

The design of Wen Rou had followed most of the Elegance girls. While she had ninja-like abilities, you can also see traces of Japanese elements from her. As an infiltration expert, her costume was simplified; yet she can fit in the series as well as it can goes.

Qiao Yin and Wai Fung had gone through so many ordeals since the start of their journey. Are they going to survive the hit from Wen Rou?

The Elegance figures are completely OC, so they have no basis on an anime or anything like that. They’re made just to be pretty and look neat on your shelf! In this aspect, Wen Rou does not disappoint! The butterfly mask (papillon) is removable, as you can see from other pictures below.

You can see the detail work on the back of her small amount of clothing here. You can also catch a glimpse of some tasteful sideboob!

A better shot of the back of her skirt. The design on there is very well done and it’s really a shame it’s on the back of the figure. I guess the dust bunnies and the back of a shelf needs something to look at as well. You can also see the transition of her hair, from the purple to green. I personally don’t like the looks of it.

Here you can see her nonchalant face without the mask. I would prefer no mask myself. Her expression is very bland and non-exciting. I guess that’s what a cold blooded ninja assassin would look like though. Make sense!

Her weapons look fairly good painted as well. When you look at her stomach area, you can see the intricate ‘bead’ work done there. All I know the GK version would be pretty dang hard to get it to look like this.

Well there you have it! Our first review of one of the Elegance girls, Wen Rou. She’s a good intro model for the series if you like the ninja girl thing. All-in-all, this is a fantastic figure. My only gripe with it would be the way the hair goes from purple to some bright green.. I mean, why would a ninja have bright looking hair?

Height with Stand: 28cm ( 11.02 in)
Height without Stand: 25 cm ( 9.84 in)
Weight: 1.2 kg ( 2.64 lbs)
Prepainted Price: $149.99 USD
Garage Kit Price: $42.74 USD
Prepainted Price per cm/in (without stand): $5.99 per cm, $13.61 per inch
Garage Kit Price per cm/in (without stand): $1.70 per cm, $4.34 per inch

Oddly enough, Wen Rou is one of the top selling figures/garage kits on e2046. Currently she’s ranked at #1 in GK’s and #1 in Gathering(preorders). So if you want to get aboard the hype train, go ahead and pick up a Wen Rou while you can.

Thanks for reading!

Kiniro Mosaic 2nd Season confirmed

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Swaps4

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April 18, 2014

You may remember in our last post regarding Kiniro Mosaic announcing that a second season of Kiniro Mosaic has been green lit and will be soon under production. Today we can officially confirm that it will be receiving a second season!

The June issue of Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Max magazine will be announcing on Saturday that Kiniro Mosaic (KINMOZA!/Golden Mosaic) anime will be getting a sequel. Yui Hara, the creator of the original Kin-iro Mosaic four-panel comedy manga, drew a sketch thanking fans for the new season.

Source: Yaraon
Source: AnimeNewsNetwork

Second Season of Oregairu Anime Revealed

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