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Anime News / CLANNAD / Daily Dose / FMP! The Second Raid / Honey & Clover / NANA

The Daily Dose

  • The title of Rumiko Takahashi‘s brand spanking new manga is Kyōkai no Rinne and it follows a girl named Sakura Mamiya. She has the ability to see ghosts after something happens to her when she was younger. It’s not exactly what you’d call original, but I hope this is in the vein of Takahashi’s darker Mermaid Forest manga. The series will premiere in Shogakukan‘s Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine and in North America through Viz Media on TheRumicWorld.com on April 22nd.
  • Good news for those of us who’ve started the Zac Efron as Sousuke Sagara bandwagon; the young actor told the MTV Splash Page that discussions for the live action Full Metal Panic! are still “very early” and that the film is “to the point where it’s more than likely not going to happen.” I’m assuming that after the disaster known as Dragonball Evolution I’d be a bit reluctant to jump on board too.
  • It’s been announced that the eighth and final DVD installment of the Clannad After Story anime will include a special episode that is an alternate world arc about Kyou Fujibayashi. The episode is titled, “Another World: Kyou Arc” and the DVD will be released in Japan on July 1st.
  • A second season has been green-lit for the Hetalia – Axis Powers anime and will premiere this summer on the internet and mobile phones (in Japan only.) The series re-imagines various historical eras where its characters are archetypes of their countries.
  • For those of you who have been waiting for the English reiteration of Honey And Clover and NANA can finally get excited about something. Viz Media announced that they have set up websites for both anime where viewers will be able to buy, download-to-own, and/or stream the two series in the near future.
  • It was announced in the EVA-EXTRA01 paper magazine that Maaya Sakamoto is set to play a brand new character in the second film in the Rebuild Of Evangelion quadrilogy. The character’s name is Makinami Mari Illustrious and she shares the EVA tradition of having parts of her name to be named after World War II ships. It was also confirmed that Yuko Miyamura will reprise her role of Asuka, however with the new name of Shikinami Asuka Langley instead of Sohryu.
  • If you haven’t already seen it then head on over to TMS Entertainment‘s new Youtube page to watch the anime classic, Sherlock Hound. The series features Sherlock Holmes, his assistant Watson, and the housemaid Mrs. Hudson re-imagined as animals solving mysteries. The first six episodes are directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
  • If any of you out there played “Typing Mania 4“, it appears that “Typing Mania 5” is now up. Play at your own risk! (Thanks to David for the link.)
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    Ulquiorra Cifer artwork courtesy of 餅和 on pixiv (account needed to access)

    Anime News / Daily Dose / FMP! The Second Raid

    The Daily Dose

  • A live-action feature film adaptation of Full Metal Panic! is being developed by Mandalay Pictures with Zac Efron as the potential star. Mandalay hasn’t set up a studio for the film yet, but the company does have a first-look deal with Universal. I can only see this adaptation going two ways – the Dragonball Evolution way and then the Transformers route. Personally I vote for the latter.
  • Square Enix made an announcement in its Young Gangan magazine that four new titles will be launching in the next four issues of the magazine. The four titles includes Atsushi Suzumi (Venus Versus Virus) doing Nightmare Go Round, Izumi Kirihara (Hitohira) is doing Akira to Hiyori, Yuji Iwahara (King of Thorn) will be doing a title that has yet to be named, and Yuki Azuma (Dark Blue) will also do a title that has yet to be named.
  • The FUNimation Channel has announced that it will be running new Viz shows on its channel sometime late spring and summer. The shows in question will be NANA, Honey And Clover, Monster, Buso Renkin, and Hunter X Hunter.
  • Leonardo DiCaprio is considering casting SMAP as the Ninja Scroll live-action feature film adaptation’s main cast. It was announced last year that DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way had picked up the rights for the film. DiCaprio expressed that he wanted to make all the fans of the original film happy and to make sure that they put their best effort into the making of the film. At least Ninja Scroll sounds like it’s in “good hands,” but Leo just doesn’t come off as someone who’d be into anime.
  • The third Naruto Shippūden film, which shares the same title as the 99th episode in the original Naruto series is Hi no Ishi o Tsugumono (lit. The Will Of Fire Still Burns), will open in Japanese theaters on August 1st.
  • Detroit Metal City singer Hideki Kaji was beat up and robbed in Sweden while watching over filming equipment which was stolen. It was reported on Kaji’s official website that he was doing well. The Swedish police have yet to determine the identity of the assailants.
  • It was reported that a new Hidamari Sketch special had been green-lit for production. The announcement was made at the “Chō Hidematsuri Z” event that was held in Tokyo.
  • A promotional video is up for the slice of life, romance anime series Hatsukoi Limited on its official website.

    • Day Of Whale artwork courtesy of nnfsh on pixiv (account needed to access)