Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

Source: Anime News Service

Just when you thought you’d pinned down an official name for the new Evangelion movie project, new titles and pronunciations keep piling on and as promised, on Saturday, the 17th in Japan director Hideaki Anno officially made his statement announcing the series. A special website has gone live at Yahoo announcing the 1st feature: “Shin Gekijou-ban Evangeriwon” will hit theaters nationwide in Japan on September 1st. A poster carrying the director’s statement was hung in 50 cinemas across the country, its contents have been reproduced online here. Therein it is confirmed for the first time officially that a new company formed by the director will helm production. Additionally, the first trailer from the new movies has gone online in 1MB Windows Media streaming form which can be accessed at the bottom of this page. Mantan is carrying an image of how the poster appears in theaters locked behind a glass wall case.

Shin Gekijou-ban Evan…geriwon? Now that’s an interesting name alteration if I ever did see one. I’d really like to know what that poster says though. If I find a translation I’ll update this post with it.

Single: SHnY 7th Char. Album - Kimidori Emiri | Artist: Shiratori Yuri | Duration: 4:50 | Verdict: 9.5/10

I’ve been really wanting to change the song on the jukebox for a while and I couldn’t think of anything better than this song at the moment. While I was without a really good computer for the past few weeks I repeatedly listened to this song and fell in love with it. Shiratori Yuki’s voice is marvelous and she came close to being the best of the bunch that sang Hare Hare Yukai, however, that honor in my opinion would go to Kuwatani Natsuko (Asakura Ryoko).

Verdict: 9/10

Impressions:

This episode was mainly about Ichigo’s character development (more of it anyways) and the introduction of a more frightening explanation of Aizen’s plans and what the Arrancar really are. One thing that really affected me was the end of the episode. That is, I felt the same way I did when I first heard Hitsugaya’s explanation of Aizen being able to destroy Soul Society with 10 Vasto Lordes and then switching to the scene where Aizen specifically says twenty are before him. Yikes. However, not all twenty of the Arrancar he mentioned are Vasto Lordes, so it’s probably on the first ten or so (though I really doubt Yami is included in that number since he seems too stupid…). Next episode is going to be really sweet as it has Rangiku-love and the beginning of the Arrancar invasion!

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Verdict: 8.7/10

Impressions:

Yet again, another awesome episode. The main highlights this episode was the confrontation between Ulq and Yami against Yoruichi and Urahara. Cero was animated nicely but it was Urahara’s technique that made me go “WHOA!” the instant I saw him release it. This episode also made me rethink on just how strong Arrancar are by the fact that Yoruichi’s arm and leg were injured somewhat after her little battle with Yami. The other highlight of the episode was the appearance of some old friends from Soul Society. Well, the only two I really care about are Rangiku and Hitsugaya anyways. ^_^ That doesn’t mean Ikkaku and Renji aren’t cool though; Rukia and Yumichika are alright too I suppose.

Anyways, I just want more of Rangiku-chan!

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Verdict: 8.5/10

Impressions:

I had goosebumps all over my skin throughout this entire episode. Why? Because the Arrancar (the real ones) finally appeared! Another reason as to why is because I know this is just one tiny bit of a massive amount of awesomeness that’s about to take place in the upcoming episodes. I liked how Ichigo appeared at the end of the episode but the episode preview pretty much shows him being pummeled by Yami despite using bankai….

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Verdict: 8/10

Impressions:

This was pretty much a character building episode that lacked action. Not that that’s bad mind you. I liked how they approached both Ichigo’s and Ishida’s situations as well. Especially Ichigo since his Hollow-side has been giving him trouble as of late (well, before the fillers to be more accurate). Personally, I’ve never liked Ishida much so I don’t really have much to say about him other than shake my head at his so-called declaration. The high point of this episode, however, was Hiyori! Her voice is much more…softer than I expected it to be. Also, the goosing scenes were golden!

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Source: Anime News Service

New Evangelion film series “general superintendent” Hideaki Anno will release an “emergency statement” regarding the project on the 17th of this month. This will mark the first time the Director has spoken to the public regarding the 4 new animated features. Additionally, its been revealed that the first Evangelion Shin Gekijou Ban film will be released to Japanese theaters on September 1st, 2007. Anno’s statement will be made in several media including a film projected poster, to be shown in around 50 theaters across Japan. A special message in all white colored text will read: “Animation set in an impoverished future Japan”. A 15 second video clip will be screened simultaneously. Those who have seen these media have noted that several Japanese katakana characters in the “Evangelion” title have been changed over the previous spelling. A different “E” character is used and the “O” has been replaced with “WO”. The first fillm is expected to encompass the storyline of the first 6 TV epeisodes. A special internet website will be launched through Yahoo Japan to coincide with the announcement on the 17th. Content there will include messages from the production staff. There have been around 6000 merchandise items produced around Evangelion to date, with total sales approaching 150 billion Yen or more.

Argh! Seven months! SEVEN MONTHS!

Okay I just had to get that out. Only God knows what I’ll do to take my mind off the fact that there’s seven months remaining until the first movie comes out but I guess all the other anime and manga as well as school will provide for some distraction.

…

More Rei, Misato, and Asuka please!

This chapter pushes the story forward by quite a margin. As you can see in the awesome double-page spread of Ringo she has now decided to show Ikki the “horrors” of the sky or in other words, has decided to try and destroy his dreams and progress. I find it funny though how she came to this conclusion after realizing that she couldn’t catch up with Ikki’s speed and realized his accelerated strength despite her original purpose for chasing after him was to explain the situation that Kanon (I really hate that guy) suddenly brought up. Then again, humans are fickle creatures so I shouldn’t really be surprised at the turn of events….

I’m really looking forward to the future chapters from now on. Especially eight chapters from now where I’m told that Ikki shows just how badass he can be. Also, be sure to check out the awesome coloring of Trick 130’s cover that was included in SF’s scanlation. You should know where to get it by now.

In other news, I’ll finally be returning to my normal schedule of blogging after deciding to get a new machine instead of fixing my old computer. So expect to see my episode entries on the weekend starting with my catch-ups of Bleach, CODE GEASS, Venus Versus Virus, KyoSora and TMGK.

Jajaaaa~n!! Well, it’s that time again, and the new episode of The Adventures of the ASOS Brigade is here! Interestingly enough, we now know that Bang! Zoom Entertainment is behind the voice work, but if you’re real keen on the actors and actresses, you can figure that out easily by yourself. Anyhoo, during the episode, the ASOS Brigade (omg Yuki) revealed the selected actors/actresses who will be involved in the series!!

Haruhi Suzumiya - Wendee Lee
Yuki Nagato - Michelle Ruff
Mikuru Asahina - Stephanie Sheh

Kyon - Crispin Freeman
Itsuki Koizumi - Johnny Young Bosch

Ryouko Asakura - Bridget Hoffman
Tsuruya-san - Kari Wahlgren

IMO, it’s not a bad list. In fact, I think it’s quite swell and it works! I’m not totally surprised Wendee got the role. When I first heard her from the polls I thought they made a good choice in being one of the chosen voices. But after listening to her talk, it really didn’t work out so good. I think now at least they can direct her to work better on it. She is, after all, the only one to actually say “Hey, Kyon!” perfectly.

Kyon, Yuki, and Mikuru… hmm, are we sure those polls were just for preferences? All three of these characters have the voices that I chose for. It’s amazing really. Crispin defintely has Kyon’s style, and it was flat out obvious that Steph pulled Mikuru’s cuteness off marvelously.

Lastly, it’s not totally shocking Johnny gets to be Itsuki. Even though I didn’t vote for him, I still think he did a fine job. It’s just that it didn’t sound like he was in the role of Itsuki. Hopefully that will change during recording sessions. Another thing I didn’t expect was the voices for lolfang-tan and the beautiful Asakura. Bridget has a wonderful voice so I can totally hear her cute, yet wicked tone coming out of Asakura’s mouth. Now I don’t normally listen to Kari, or not nearly enough, but I can see her voicing Tsuruya-san. *nods*

Well with that, I definitely can’t wait for the R1 DVDs. Those of you who agree with me, rock on! Those that don’t like dubs can just shove it up their Clovis. Till next time!

Well, it’s been nearly 100 episodes and almost 2 years worth of senseless filler crap. But fear not, the non-canon episodes are now OVER DESU!!!!! Whether you were traumatized by the endless count of shitty short story arcs or put the anime viewing on your hiatus list, or just plain sticking to reading the manga, you do not wanna miss the upcoming new series arriving next week presented as a one hour special!

It’s interesting how they’ve chosen this story as the last arc, especially since it’s vaguely familiar to what we’re about to see. Speaking of which, manga readers ought to know that in this episode, a glimpse from Ch. 249 was inserted in here. Though it wasn’t the full scene, it was still there, quite surprisingly. Oh and I just love how Tenten got so pissed off about not being taken on the mission with everyone else, and took it out on Lee. She really gave him a whopping. Serves him right. It’s not complete without Tenten and those a-holes know that. Don’t you worry, Tenten, you’ll get your spotlight in a couple of weeks. *hint hint*

So then… a new OP (by nobodyknows+) and a new ED (by HOME MADE Kazoku), and a fresh new start. What you see above are the very last moments of the Naruto anime series, as Naruto sets off on his journey with a very old lecher to perfect even more of “those jutsu” and learn how to abuse Rasengan even more (no doubt). Down below are some screenshots of next week!!!! So until then, we’ve got less than 168 hours left until the servers at NarutoFan forums bug up. w00t!!

P.S. Sorry guys, no Kakashi Gaiden for you. :\