CODE GEASS / First Impressions

CODE GEASS – Stage 24 & 25 Special Commercial

At the end of last night’s episode of Nanatsuiro Drops on MBS, there was a commercial broadcast for the CODE GEASS Stage 24 & 25 Special with some very interesting shots.
Note: The above images are relatively non-spoiler, but the images in the post most probably are, and I’ll be doing some speculation, so continue on at your own risk.

Random Musings / Suzumiya Haruhi

Random Musings – The Publicity Stunt of Suzumiya Haruhi

I talked the other day about how there was an announcement concerning Suzumiya Haruhi coming on Tanabata (today), which was the same day as some special events in the third novel. Well, it seems that Kyoto Animation has produced a publicity stunt of sorts by uploading a 22-minute flash promotional video onto the official website depicting the events of that night in live action (with Haruhi and “John Smith”) from a security camera point of view. For those of you with niconico accounts, you can watch it here since the official site appears to be down at the moment from probably getting hammered by all the fans trying to access it. For those of you without accounts, there’s also a torrent of it available on Tokyo Toshokan. In any case, I’m very impressed by the extent to which Kyoto Animation is promoting this show since this video matches perfectly with the Newtype magazine announcement. I expect that this will eventually make its way one of the DVDs for the second anime season, but for now, this is almost like getting a glimpse of what a live-action Haruhi would be.

Miscellaneous / Nodame Cantabile

Looking Beyond: Freedom of Expression

This inquiry has been on my mind for about a couple of weeks. In episode 22 of Nodame Cantabile, there was one scene that really made me think. It takes place where Nodame explained Chiaki her true intentions for entering the competition. Then Nodame says, “What is wrong with playing the piano freely as you like?”

It brings up this question: Do we have the right to tamper an original work in order to suit our taste?

CODE GEASS / Gurren Lagann / Random Musings / Suzumiya Haruhi

Random Musings – Suzumiya Haruhi S2 and CODE GEASS Finale Airdate

  • The August issue of Newtype that will soon be hitting newsstands is reporting that Suzumiya Haruhi’s second season has finally been confirmed. The official announcement is set to be made on July 7th, 2007, which also happens to be the day of the Japanese Tanabata festival. That might be significant because certain events in the Suzumiya Haruhi novel storyline occur on that day. As of yet, there are no confirmed airdates, but MOON PHASE’s diary entry says that, according to an industry announcement from back in March, Kyoto Animation’s schedule will be Suzumiya Haruhi in Fall/Winter 2007 and a light novel adaptation in Spring 2008, so CLANNAD seems to have been pushed back until Fall 2008. We probably won’t know anything more definitive until the official announcement is made. But, regardless of what airs when, this Fall season is going to be chock-full of sequels and potential blockbusters (Konata certainly seems happy about this announcement).
  • I mentioned yesterday that there will be a one-hour special for CODE GEASS airing on the night of July 28th. That same August issue Newtype has also confirmed that that date will indeed be when the final two episodes of CODE GEASS are airing. For those of you marking your calendars, that’s a Saturday, and I can’t wait to have Gurren Lagann and CODE GEASS together on the same blogging day (even if it’s only once).
  • Speaking of Gurren Lagann, some scans have also popped up of the future versions of the main characters. They’re a little spoilerish, so click at your own peril.
    • CODE GEASS / D.Gray-man / Miscellaneous / Negima!? / Random Musings

    Random Musings – Two Year Anniversary Edition

    Today, the Fourth of July, happens to not only be a national holiday in the US, but it also marks the two-year anniversary of this site. I actually started writing on this blog a little earlier than that, but it wasn’t until I moved here to AnimeBlogger in July of 2005 that I consider the site to have really started. Since then, the site has accumulated 1,646 posts and 45,172 comments, and it’s gotten almost ten and a half million hits. As always, I want to thank all the readers and everyone who’s helped out with the site, and hopefully we’ll have more years of blogging to come.
    Now, on to some miscellaneous newsworthy notes:

  • As you can see in the image above, the cast for the live action Mahou Sensei Negima! drama has been decided. The official site has profiles for each of the girls, and I was kind of surprised by some of the choices, stemming mostly from how the ages of the actresses range from 12 to 24 years old (for easier comparison if you don’t know their names, refer to the Wikipedia pages that list the characters in the same order). Although Asuna and Nodoka’s actresses look about right for their characters, who the heck decided that Kaede should be played by a 13 year old? Anyway, the drama starts in the fall of this year, and you can find some magazine scans of the actresses here.
  • For the guy who specially requested it, here’s the download link (mirror) for the new ED to D.Gray-man, Antoinette Blue by Kitade Nana. However, I still don’t have any plans to blog show again despite the story seeming to pick up.
  • There’s been a bunch of rumors flying about in the recent week about a one-hour CODE GEASS special that’s supposed to be airing on the night of July 28th. Although nothing about it has been confirmed, speculation is that it’s either the highly-anticipated episodes 24 and 25 or it’s a recap special. Given that that’s a week after the premiere screenings, the possibility is certainly there, but I wouldn’t get my hopes quite just yet until there’s been an official announcement. On a related note, ANIMAX’s schedules now state that they will be airing those final two episodes on August 30th and 31st. Whether or not the other channels will get broadcasts before then remains to be seen.