Anime News / Daily Dose / Macross / Mai-Otome / Zero no Tsukaima

The Daily Dose

  • Unless there’s some big news, I likely won’t be posting any Daily Doses over the next few days so that I can work on the Summer 2008 Preview instead. There’s only half as many new shows as the spring, but it still takes a lot of time to research and write up.
  • ALIVE Saishuu Shinkateki Shounen will be getting an anime.
  • Dengeki Online has an interview with the main cast of the upcoming third season of Zero no Tsukaima. Supposedly the themes for this time around are “love” and “ero”.
  • The official Macross Frontier website has uploaded a preview of the upcoming ALL THAT VF short I mentioned a couple of days ago.
  • TV Asahi has opened their website for the new Someday’s Dreamers anime starting in July. As MOON PHASE notes though, both it and the official site are still rather sparse.
  • ZAKZAK has some screenshots of the upcoming second Mai-Otome S.ifr episode, as well as an post-recording interview with the cast.
  • Naruto Shippuuden‘s new ending theme starting in July will be NICO Touches the Walls‘ Broken Youth.
  • If you find anything that you think I should mention on any particular day’s Daily Dose, please send me an email with the words “ANIME NEWS” somewhere in the subject line.

    • Image at left courtesy of ゆりこ on pixiv (account needed to access).
    Anime News / Daily Dose / Gurren Lagann / Macross

    The Daily Dose
  • The first Gurren Lagann Parallel Works video, which you can see at left, is out. For those of you who haven’t heard about this, various members of GAINAX‘s staff are pairing Gurren Lagann music with new, alternate world animations. This first one is animator Watanabe Keisuke’s, and it combines the song Rap wa Kan no Tamashii da! with a fantasy setting. In it, Simon, Kamina, and Viral are attacking a fortress to free Nia, and they run into Yoko and the woman who was in Viral’s dream sequence from episode 26. It’s a lot of fun to watch, and it’s rekindled my memories of how much I liked the Gurren Lagann OST (i.e. I’ve got it on my playlist now). The next one video is set to be released June 23rd.
    Thanks konart
    		•
  • Dengeki Online has pictures from the Ranka Lee/Nakajima Megumi mini-live at Odaiba VenusFort that I mentioned earlier this week. She performed four songs: Ai – Oboeteimasuka, What ’bout my star?, Neko Nikki, and Seikan Hikou. It’s also worth pointing out that some of the images match the choreography from the Seikan Hikou video on the official site.
  • In more Macross Frontier news, it was announced yesterday on the staff blog that there is a special short movie in store for purchasers of the first volume BD/DVD. It’s called ALL THAT VF and will feature many of the Valkyries from the Macross series in commemoration of its 25th anniversary. The first volume is set to be released on July 25th.
  • Canned Dogs has a survey of what people are saying in the ongoing flap between Konjiki no Gash!! mangaka Raiku Makoto and publisher Shogakukan.
  • If you find anything that you think I should mention on any particular day’s Daily Dose, please send me an email with the words “ANIME NEWS” somewhere in the subject line.
    • Anime News / CODE GEASS / Daily Dose / Macross / The Tower of Druaga

    The Daily Dose

  • According to MOON PHASE and a listing on studio ingresA’s website, a Tales of the Abyss anime is in the works by Sunrise with Kodama Kenji as the director and Hishinuma Yoshihito as character designer.
  • Also according to MOON PHASE, Nagai Gou‘s Z Mazinger (a retelling of the classic Mazinger Z) is getting a 26-episode anime produced by Palm Studio and directed by Imagawa Yasuhiro.
  • Next week’s finale of The Tower of Druaga ~the Aegis of Uruk~ will be accompanied by a simultaneous broadcast of a live chat with the main staff members. The special one-hour GyaO program starts at 1AM JST Friday night/Saturday morning, 15 minutes before the episode begins airing on tvk.
  • This technically isn’t news, but worth seeing if you haven’t already: NEC Direct is selling customizable CODE GEASS-themed laptops.
  • For ARIA fans, the ARIA The ORIGINATION PS2 game’s website has uploaded a two-minute video of the game’s fully animated OP (YouTube link here). The game goes on sale June 26th.
  • The Japanese blog MUSIC ROOM has put together a list of the top selling anime song singles for the first half of 2008 (stretching from mid-December of last year to last week). Number one on the list is the Shion no Ou ED, My dear friend by Aoyama Thelma, in part because Soba ni Iru ne, a song featuring popular artist SoulJa is also on the CD. Number two is CODE GEASS‘s OP, O2 by ORANGE RANGE, and number three is Macross Frontier‘s ED, Diamond Crevasse by Nakabayashi May. You can find the entire top 20 list here.
  • If you find anything that you think I should mention on any particular day’s Daily Dose, please send me an email with the words “ANIME NEWS” somewhere in the subject line.

    • Image at left courtesy of maca on pixiv (account needed to access).
    Anime News / Daily Dose / Macross

    The Daily Dose

  • The Macross Frontier website has updated with information about the Ranka Lee/Nakajima Megumi mini-live occurring this weekend at the Odaiba VenusFort. The website also now features a video showing Ranka’s moves while singing her debut song, Seikan Hikou.
  • On the topic of Macross music (mainly because this news came out before I started doing Daily Doses, and I’ve neglected to mention it till now), the second OP starting in July will be the song Lion, performed by both Nakajima Megumi and Nakabayashi May, and the new ED will be Sheryl Nome/Nakabayashi May’s Northern Cross.
  • Famitsu has a preview of Bounen no Xamdou, the upcoming BONES series. Still no official word on which season it’ll be airing in, though I would guess this Fall since it’s not going to be Summer.
  • Popular singer Ayaka‘s song Konya mo Hoshi ni Dakarete will be used as the theme song to the upcoming Oshii Mamoru movie, The Sky Crawlers.
  • The website for the upcoming Sekirei series has updated with airdates, a new 3-minute trailer (requires Internet Explorer), and the advance screenings times at various Comic Toranoana shops across Japan on June 28th. Sekirei is now set to premiere on TOKYO MX on Wednesday, July 2nd.
  • The Hidamari Sketch x 365 website has updated with airdates and opening/ending song previews. Hidamari Sketch x 365 is set to premiere on TV Tokyo on Thursday, July 3rd.
  • If you find anything that you think I should mention on any particular day’s Daily Dose, please send me an email with the words “ANIME NEWS” somewhere in the subject line.

    • Image at left courtesy of 瀬奈 on pixiv (account needed to access).
    Anime News / Daily Dose / Macross / Zero no Tsukaima

    The Daily Dose

  • Reminder: There is no new episode of Macross Frontier this week. Episode 11 airs next Thursday, June 19th.
  • GAINAX has now officially announced that Shikabane Hime is getting an anime.
  • GARNET CROW will sing the new ending song, Yume no Hitotsu, for Golgo 13 starting in July. The CD goes on sale August 13th.
  • presepe and famitsu have previews of the third Zero no Tsukaima series, Princesses no Rondo, coming in July. Oh and how about a Tiffania pillow cover…
  • If you find anything that you think I should mention on any particular day’s Daily Dose, please send me an email with the words “ANIME NEWS” somewhere in the subject line.

    • Image at left courtesy of 国重慶一 on pixiv (account needed to access).
    Anime News / CODE GEASS / Daily Dose / Macross

    The Daily Dose

  • Weekly Shounen Sunday has confirmed that, after nearly 12 years, the InuYasha manga will be ending in next week’s issue.
  • I’ve seen a lot of discussion recently about CODE GEASS R2‘s relatively poor television ratings. Apparently it’s on the upswing, as episode nine got a 3.3%, the highest of any R2 episode so far. The previous high was a 3.0% for the premiere episode, and the low was 1.4% for episode four. In comparison, Gundam 00’s episode nine got 4.5% last year, but the caveat is that Gundam 00 had an arguably superior time slot. The Japanese blog AAA~Yuukyuu no Kaze~ has the full numbers for last week along with a handy chart comparing the ratings of every major Saturday/6PM series so far with R2.
  • The Macross Frontier soundtrack is not only good, but it’s also been selling quite well, having moved over 72,000 copies and staying in the #2 or #3 spot for the past week. As the Mainichi article notes, no anime soundtrack has done this well since the End of Evangelion one almost 11 years ago.
  • The website for the upcoming Hakushaku to Yousei series has updated with staff and cast listings. Notables include Mizuki Nana and Sugita Tomokazu.
  • The website for the upcoming Strike Witches series has updated its staff and airdates listings. (Note: this is the new television series starting in July, not the OVA from last year)
  • The Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu website has been redesigned.
  • TV Tokyo has posted its preliminary website for the upcoming World Destruction series. The show is set to premiere on TV Tokyo on the night of July 7th.
  • If you find anything that you think I should mention on any particular day’s Daily Dose, please send me an email with the words “ANIME NEWS” somewhere in the subject line.

    • Image at left courtesy of ゆうや on pixiv (account needed to access).
    Anime News / Daily Dose

    The Daily Dose

  • The big story of the day, which made it all the way into the English mainstream media, is that a man went on a killing spree today in Akihabara, killing seven and wounding seventeen, by plowing a truck into the crowds and stabbing people. CNN has the report. Divine writes, “kind of glad i didn’t go to akiba today.”
  • The upcoming Ga-Rei-Zero anime has opened its website with some staff listings. These are the same ones that were announced back in April: Aoki Ei as director, Takayama Katsuhiko on series composition, and animation production by asread and AIC Spirits.
  • Variety Japan reports that the updated 3-D CG Ghost in the Shell movie will open in five cities across Japan on July 12th.
  • It was officially announced that the new Katekyo Hitman Reborn! ending song starting in July will be CYCLE by CHERRYBLOSSOM. As those of you who watch the series might remember, CHERRYBLOSSOM also performed the third opening song.
  • If you find anything that you think I should mention on any particular day’s Daily Dose, please send me an email with the words “ANIME NEWS” somewhere in the subject line.

    • Image at left courtesy of みはら on pixiv (account needed to access).
    Anime News / Daily Dose / Negima!?

    The Daily Dose

  • MOON PHASE has the first promotional image of the recently announced To Aru Majutsu no Index series. It’s going to be animated by J.C.Staff and directed by Nishikiori Hiroshi (he’s also directed Azumanga Daioh, Jyu Oh Sei, and The Melody of Oblivion).
  • presepe has a post-recording interview with Akamatsu Ken and the voice actresses of the Negima anime in advance of the Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba OVA due out in August. Even if you can’t read Japanese, you can marvel at the picture of Akamatsu Ken surrounded by his harem the voice actresses.
  • Neo Angelique is going to continue under the name Neo Angelique Abyss Second Ag starting in July. Source: MOON PHASE
  • New manga Saber Marionette i ~Neo Gene~ is slated to begin serialization in Dragon Age magazine. Source: MOON PHASE
  • New anime Kannagi is going to start this October. Source: MOON PHASE
  • MOON PHASE also has the updated airing times for many of the upcoming summer series, including Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu and Sekirei.
  • As a side note, I know this is a lot of MOON PHASE links, but that’s sometimes all there is to go with on a relatively slow news day.
  • If you find anything that you think I should mention on any particular day’s Daily Dose, please send me an email with the words “ANIME NEWS” somewhere in the subject line.

    • Image at left courtesy of みき on pixiv (account needed to access).
    Anime News / CLANNAD / CODE GEASS / Daily Dose / Suzumiya Haruhi

    The Daily Dose

  • Welcome to the first edition of the Daily Dose! One of the things I’ve always wanted Random Curiosity to be is a reliable source of news. I’ve tried to do this a little in the past with my Random Musings posts, but that hasn’t really been consistent, and hopefully this will be. The goal is for this to be a daily news digest of what’s going on in the anime world. I’ll be pulling from a lot of sources, and with luck, there’ll be stuff here that you won’t necessarily find from other places (though admittedly that can be hard in this day and age). So without further ado…
  • The 2nd CODE GEASS R2 opening song has been officially announced to be FLOW’s WORLD END. As most of you may remember, FLOW sang the first OP to the original CODE GEASS series, so it’s nice to see this come full circle, especially since ALI PROJECT is also doing R2’s new ED. The WORLD END single is due out August 13th, 2008.
  • The official CLANNAD site is now hosting a short preview video for the Tomoyo-centric episode 24 of CLANNAD. If you listen until the end, you can hear Mr. Ubiquitous Fukuyama Jun. In any case, the episode takes place in an alternate universe where Tomoya and Tomoyo are dating and will be released on July 16th with the eighth DVD. eggplant has a spoiler-filled report of the special screening from last week.
  • Canned Dogs has compiled together some images from the newest issue of Newtype that features Suzumiya Haruhi.
  • Amazon.co.jp is streaming the first five-minute episode of the animated version of Detroit Metal City. This comedy story involves a shy guy who becomes the lead singer of a death metal band, and there’s a live-action movie version coming out in August.
  • Oh and I almost forgot to mention: if you find anything that you think I should mention on any particular day’s Daily Dose, please send me an email with the words “ANIME NEWS” somewhere in the subject line.

    • Image at left courtesy of Ixy on pixiv (account needed to access).