This series by Kazue Kato, also known as Ao no Exorcist for manga readers, will have an anime adaptation for next year, while the manga will be licensed by Viz Media to come out in April for North America.
This was announced by the official site of Shueisha's Jump Square Magazine, which just uploaded the January cover of the magazine with this great news.
As we know, this is the story of Rin Okumura, a boy raised by a famous exorcist named Father Fujimoto. After an argument between the two, Rin discovers he is the son of Satan.
OMG!!!!! I'm excited!!!! I knew that this would happen sooner or later with the success that this series is having!!!!!
Write this phrase in a wall and memorize it with me: 'This is the next Kurosaki Ichigo', in terms of badassness and prettiness when this manga gets done into an anime.
It's quite a mystery right now, but sometimes I swear that every character in this manga secretly wants to get in his pants (and Ultimo's too.)
And with these looks it's no freaking wonder:
Yamato Agari is originally presented in the manga as an idealist 12th century bandit swordsman who reunited an army of his own to defeat the oppressing Japanese nobility once and for all, and start a new government ruled by the people themselves.
Interestingly enough, not really much is known about him except for the fact that he reincarnated in todays 21st century as a 16-year old high school student (as well as his comrades), until he finds a certain doll in an antique shop and he feels a strange connection with him.
Ultimo (a super robot representing Ultimate 'Good') awakens to the presence of its master and embraces him, despite him not having a clue as for why.
Yamato is the master of this douji who has the ability to control time and dimensions, and it's the most powerful of its kind. Precisely because of that absolute power is that everyone wants to get a hold of it, and it's believed that it's actually the cause for the future destruction of the world as we know it, because of the expected ultimate clash with the douji (robot) of absolute evil, Vice. Yamato's challenge is to figure out a way to stop this cataclysmic event from happening and capture Dunstan, a scientific genius criminal (sought after by the Guardians of time), who created all these robots of Good and Evil just for his amusement.
And at the same time, Yamato finds himself just wanting a normal life with his high school sweetheart, Makoto Sayama.
It's good to note that Yamato is drawn as a 'man among men', and much taller than his classmates, he has this classic 'Samurai hero' look and always displays a noble attitude, despite being bad-tempered.
I've started noticing it lately but there are some quite subtle differences between the anime and its manga. Don't get me wrong, the Bakuman anime is great and all episodes so far have been handled very well, it has great pacing, the animation team knows how to build momentum, and the quality can't be better.
In the manga's art, you can see the 'nasty' looks the main characters have, as the signature style of the creators of Death Note
But I feel that the anime is more targeted to female? audiences, making too much emphasis on the romantic theme and the comedic moments.
The manga definitely makes more emphasis on the 'wanting to be a mangaka no matter what' story. And of course this was a decision of the studio that I'm not going to criticize much.
While the anime softens up a bit, and shows us cute protagonists with a dream
Bakuman is the story of two high school students who, against all odds of choosing a 'normal, successful' office career, decide to become mangakas at their own risk of failing. Slowly we see how they struggle but also how they will achieve their objectives: to have their first story published in Shonen Jack (lol!) before graduating.
Saiko being handed over the keys of his uncle's studio
Moritaka Mashiro (Saiko) is the typical student who doesn't know what to really do with his life, he's really good at drawing but he's undecided whether he wants to take his uncle's steps. He has had this crush on Miho since he was a little kid, but never dared to confess until he achieved something truly important in his life that would make him worthy of her.
He meets Takito Akagi (Shuujin) because he discovered through his notebook drawings that he left in the classroom that he has a crush on her. In exchange for not telling anyone, Shujin offers him to team up to create manga. Shujin is the number 1 student at his school, and basically has the world laid out before him, because he can choose where to go to prepare for a prestigious college, thus land a first-rate job, etc.
But interestingly enough, Shujin doesn't want that, despite his talents as a writer and the fact that he could become a traditional novelist. He chooses to work with Saiko because he believes in him and the work they can achieve together, thus he's a key piece in Saiko wanting to become a mangaka.
Shujin has a creepy, explosive temper when provoked, despite being a nerd
As you can see, this series has great characters with depth and I find that it's a refreshing break from all the fight-to-death style anime/manga we are used to see. Sometimes a good slice-of-life story is a nice change of pace, even for the creators of Death Note :)
Following with the Aizen theme, I couldn't help but showcase this badass video with new footage from the movies and the games. Looks awesome in high quality, isn't it? If we only could get this quality from every episode but I guess nobody is perfect.
As the end of the year approaches there's already plenty of 2011 calendars available of your favorite anime and manga series. What better way to start the new year with great visuals decorating the walls of your room or studio to get inspired!
After reading the 'Ask John' segment at Animenation, I wonder how Captain Aizen from Bleach really fares in comparison to the villains that John showcases.
The problem I see with Aizen is that he's so ridiculously powerful, God-like and distant that it was only recently in the manga that we started to know what his true motivations were. At least with Light Yagami from Death Note we could see how he thought and how he strived to create the perfect world from the very beginning.
He's charismatic and bishounen, which makes him attractive and palatable. Plus, the scene where he goes 'Superman' on the entire Soul Society after obtaining the Hogyoku is priceless.
He spent all those years playing the 'nerd' captain, the tender, calm and spiritual one, just to find out that it was an illusion from his zanpakuto, Kyoka no Suigetsu, able to achieve total and complete hypnosis.
Not to forget how he stopped Ichigo's bankai with a finger, and the whole groupie relationship with Hinamori is just sadistic.
But overall, he has a sorta pimp personality (only rivaled with Grimmjow) that is reminiscent of those nostalgia villains from the 80's, just with a more suave touch.
In my continuous search for the perfect, not-that-expensive laptop for the end of 2010, I find that there are quite a few models that are worth it in terms of price and what it offers.
I have been always skeptic of AMD processors, as I've had desktop models myself with that processor that wasn't quite as efficient as Athlon or Intel.
But I was pleasantly surprised with the AMD Turion II Dual Core Mobile Processor, they have certainly come a long way, the way it can be expandable to 8GB RAM and 2.6 Ghz makes it compete with the new i5 Intel processors and not stay out of the run.
When I first saw the design of this laptop, I imagined a 'pretty' design like Dell and at the same time it doesn't have anything to envy to a Macbook. This model is good for games and entertainment in general, but after trying it, it's perfect for work use, especially if you work in the Graphic Design or Animation field.
It took me a while to get used to the keyboard and the touchpad because they went overboard with the sensitivity, but if it annoys you, you can always go to the Control Panel and customize it as you wish.
It comes with Windows 7 64-bit premium so it supports the Adobe CS5 programs with ease. Another great thing is that it has 4 USB ports! An additional HDMI and a VGA port enables you to integrate it with your digital camera and it doesn't even work a sweat as the data transfer rates run smoothly.
Some could still say that a 500 GB hard drive and 4GB of RAM can be relatively modest for a high-performance computer that should serve well for design purposes, but guess what; if you look for something wayyy less expensive than a Macbook but that encompasses its main qualities, this is it.
Even the price is similar to affordable Dell laptops at $529 on Amazon with free shipping.
The creator of Love Hina will launch a website called J-Comi, that will provide free access to DRM-free digital copies of out-of-print manga from a number of participating manga artists.
The downloads will be ad supported, and the revenue will be split among all of the participating artists. Akamatsu cites one of the reasons for the development of the distribution platform as a means to combat unauthorized digital manga distribution.
A beta version of the site will be launched on this friday November 26, starting with the 14 volumes of Akamatsu’s Love Hina manga. The site will formally launch on January 10, 2011.
OMG imagine the Yaoi pairing with a certain known Black Butler XDDDDD
Super Jump magazine announced that artist Masaki Aiba of the idol group Arashi will star in a live action series adaptation of Bartender, a story by Kenji Nagatomo and Joh Araki about a genius bartender who prepares the finest cocktails for his customers, but also helps them in solving their issues.
The live-action series will run during the "Friday Night Drama" timeslot on TV Asahi and its network affiliates. To prepare for the role, Aiba has been training with a professional bartender since this fall.
'Ciel in Wonderland' was the first gag OVA. Friggin' hysterical.
This gag OVA, titled 'the making of Kuroshitsuji II', will ship along with the Kuroshitsuji DVD in January as a bonus.
Here's a trailer that can be seen in the official site of this great anime series.
"Making of Kuroshitsuji II" will ship in the fifth DVD volume on January 26, and it spoofs behind-the-scenes documentaries by showing the cast on and off camera as they put on makeup and other chores.
This story by Naho Oishi will be based entirely in Son Goku, Krillin and his friends from Akira Toriyama's original story.
This spinoff, called Dragon Ball SD, will start to be serialized next month in the new Super Strong Jump Magazine by Shueisha, along with a Rock Lee spinoff from Naruto, a Chopperman spinoff from One Piece, and more stories based on popular characters from Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and Toriko.
Tha magazine will be launched on December 3rd!
What a great idea! Oh the nostalgia that this brings!!
ANN reports that Eiji Han Shimizu, executive producer of Japanese publisher Emotional Content, known for biographical manga such as The 14th Dalai Lama and Che Guevara), has been working on a feature-length Japanese/Indian animated film based on stories told by survivors of North Korea's prison camps.
The film could possibly be released in 2012, though the project still needs funding.
This is the promotional content trailer for the story:
Tentatively titled "North", the premise goes around the repatriation program of the '60s, in which more than 93,000 Japanese Koreans left Japan to head to North Korea, which was promised by North Korean leaders to be "Heaven on Earth."
The main character's family was one of the families who took the voyage to this "Heaven on Earth," to dedicate their lives and wealth for the construction of what was meant to be the greatest nation, and that would promote communist idealism.
Relatively peaceful days in Pyongyang enjoyed by the family abruptly ended with the disappearance of the grandfather, and the main character's forced transfer toYudok concentration camp. Suffering through years of forced labor, violence, and the loss of loved ones, the main character grows to become a man from inside the concentration camp….
This could be an impressive story told with the dramatic realism of series like 'Band of Brothers', or even 'Schindler's List', and it wouldn't have nothing to envy it.
The second season's title is Mitsudomoe Zoryochu and it will premiere on January of next year with eight episodes.
This gag story by Norio Sakurai is about the comedic misadventures of the Marui triplets in elementary school and is serialized in Weekly Shonen Champion.
'Yaoi' can be considered an interchangeable term with 'shonen-ai', meaning 'boy's love' or any story whose protagonists are males that have great chemistry, and the possibility of becoming an actual homosexual couple is always foreshadowed.
But 'yaoi' stories go beyond that and are more explicit in their content, featuring more 'slash' situations.
Believe it or not, the term comes from Saint Seiya slash fanarts from the 80's! 'Yaoi' referred to the potential pairings between the protagonists of the series, especially with Shun of Andromeda.
And after recalling the infamous classic scene with Hyoga in the House of Libra, well...
Now you know where 'Yaoi' comes from :)
And don't forget Aphrodite of Pisces!
Yaoi situations can always potentially emerge in series where all protagonists are boys or men and they practice activities that are supposedly oh-so-masculine, like being samurais, warriors or ninjas. Just ask Naruto and Sasuke ;)
In my newfound obsession with Kuragehime, I find this bishonen character to be one of the most fascinating in this series by Akiko Higashimura.
He's the black sheep of a family of politicians, being the nephew of Japan's Prime Minister himself, who's low popularity is constantly endangering his position.
Kuranosuke-kun likes cross-dressing and has a great taste for all things fashion, looking to mimic his beautiful mom, and evade politics at all costs.
His older brother, Shu, is a serious guy fond of tradition and correctness, thus he's always fighting with his little brother over his eccentric antics.
Kuranosuke-kun always grew in wealth, being sought after by the most beautiful, stylish and popular girls at his school for his looks and savoir-faire.
He finds himself a bit bored of his lifestyle and that's why he looks to do something different. That's how he met Tsukimi when she was trying to save the jellyfish from dying, and later the peculiar clan of the Amars.
He may deny it all he wants but his chemistry with Tsukimi says more than the obvious!
While the Bamboo and Bamboo Fun tablet models by Wacom are meant for office tasks that don't necessarily include illustration, the Intuos 4 and Cintiq line are meant for drawing and illustration.
The Intuos 4 models come in three sizes: small, medium and large. They weight less than its predecessors and are thinner too, so it's easy to carry them in a case.
But if you're on a really tight budget and feel desperate to put your digital drawing capabilities to test, to see if you can keep up with the so-called 'new' era, you'd go for the small version.
Even for the $199 price on Amazon, you get an impressive 2048 levels of sensitivity, yet a good number of users would say that the price jump is unjustifiable when compared to the Intuos3 and Intuos2 versions. And there's the issue of the infamous shortcut buttons that sacrificed functionality for fanciness, being too small and too near each other.
Still, its design and surface is not as rough as previous versions and looks to enhance ergonomy. The ambidextrous capability is always a plus. The touch ring is one of the best features, it takes its time to get used to it but once you do, it feels comfortable as ever.
However, these Wacom models had one particular default issue with the USB port manufacturing and pen that came defective, that even forced the fabricant to replace the tablet per customer complaints and requests. That's why you can get a refurbished model as low as $139, but often without some of the accessories.
Beware also of the pen nibs. While the Intuos 4 models come with their pen holder, the nibs wear out too fast for frequent use. If you work 6-8 hours daily with your device, you'll know what I'm talking about. You'd have to spend an extra dollar or two for new pen nibs from time to time.
So now you see that it's not all bright, shiny and rosy when buying an expensive tablet if you're a beginner or struggling artist for the sake of it :-)
Still, if you have fallen in love with this model of Wacom tablet and feel like you can afford it, the refurbished PTK440 models have turned out wayyy better at a better price.
With the news of the second season of Lost Canvas making it straight into DVD rather than being aired on Japanese TV, I can't help but ponder what's going on with this classic series by Masami Kurumada.
The classic 1986 series had the seal of character animators Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno, which marked an important point in the making of future anime series.
Despite being a cult 80's hit with 114 episodes and 5 movies, the making of the Hades saga into anime took 12 years when the first OVAS of Chapter Sanctuary came out in 2002.
It's important to note that the Saint Seiya anime had huge success in Europe and Latin America, but this series wasn't dubbed to English until 2003, when it aired on Cartoon Network, and even then, only 32 episodes were aired. English speaking audiences still have to conform to English subtitles IF they buy the DVDs.
The quality of the first 13 OVAS was phenomenal and they were aired by Animax channel, but you could slowly see a decline in the Inferno Chapter, until we got to see the abysmal and embarrasing Elysium Chapter that put an indefinite and low-key end to the classic manga's adaptation.
Just when you thought that Saint Seiya was done for, a new manga based on the previous life incarnation of the original story characters came out and it's none other than Lost Canvas.
This new version by mangaka Shiori Teshirogi, started to be serialized in 2006 in Weekly Shonen Champion magazine by Akita Shoten, and as of today it has achieved 20 volumes, having a great reception among fans. Then why is the anime adaptation a failure? Quality is not an issue here as the episodes are greatly animated, have great pacing and follow the storyline to a T. Its style is quite reminiscent of D-Grayman.
However, it doesn't seem to have a good reception among the die-hard, purist fans who are not fond of the new drawing style and the look of the armors, aside from being dissapointed on how the last OVAS of the classic series were done in such an anticlimatic quality.
Plus, it has been a frequent complaint that the storyline of Lost Canvas is almost the same as the original, with slightly few variations that allows us to explore certain characters that weren't explored in the classic manga.
Saint Seiya's success has been quite a mixed bag, with more than 25 million copies of the manga sold worldwide, it made the 25th place in TV Asahi's list of the 100 most popular television series, and it has inspired many artists like Tite Kubo himself.
The process of creating a manga is never easy, much less when it comes to animation.
The idea of going digital was to facilitate that process and make it smoother, but many artists to this day prefer to do it the old-fashioned way. Why? Because they like the concept of having created something with their own hands, rather than let a machine do all the work.
Plus, there's plenty of discussions over that digital work will never be like the real thing, meaning that a drawing or illustration done with a drawing tablet will never have the life and the gesture that a true hand-drawing has.
Drawing tablets were invented to 'emulate' the pressure and the subtle hand movements of the artist when it comes to drawing on the screen, that's why you hear of 'levels of pressure sensitivity' when it comes to choosing an appropiate model.
The Wacom Intuos4 medium tablet
Ideally, a drawing tablet with a minimum of 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity should be more than sufficient when drawing manga. Programs like Manga Studio, Illustrator, Photoshop or Corel let you adjust the tilt and pressure of their pencil, brush, blob and pen tools, so you can get the best and most accurate lines possible, without having to suffer drawing with a mouse and being forced to constantly make adjustments.
Wacom is certainly the absolute leader in drawing tablets for their quality. Ask any architect, animation artist, 3D modeler, graphic designer, etc, and to them is as if you were speaking of GOD or the Holy Grial, their Wacom tablet is their livelihood and a key part of their profession.
Wacom tablets come in various models and sizes, and yes, they are quite expensive. Seems to be a part of the 'mystique' surrounding them. I thought so too when I spent 6 months saving money to buy my first one.
And I almost did. Normally you would go with the expensive, reputable item that costs $200 or much more to ensure that you have a quality, all-professional-like product. But guess what, the principle of doing proper RESEARCH before buying a product never goes stale.
The Hollywood Reporter indicates that Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert are working on a live action adaptation of this story by Ryoe Tsukimura and directed by Koishi Mashimo that aired on TV Tokyo on 2001. Stephen Lightfoot (Criminal Justice, House of Saddam) will write the series, as well as executive produce.
The movie will be presumably for TV and it will air on Starz network, though it's still unknown when it will premiere.
Funimation will re-release the series on DVD next year in the U.S.
Noir is the story of Mireille Bouquet and Kirika Yuumura. Mireille is a young woman whose family was murdered when she was a child and she works as an assassin, while Kirika is a teenage girl with amnesia that only remembers the word 'Noir' and her assasination skills.
The incident has shaken up the local authorities of Shiga Prefecture in Tokyo, who are looking for those responsible for the theft of two replicas of the guitars owned by the anime's main characters, a bass guitar, and 22 figures of the main characters, among lots of other stuff.
There were 1,000 items in total, all lent by the fans for display at Toyosato Elementary School, which has served as a real life model for the series..
Aside from this, a safe with $3,500 dollars (290,000 yen) was also stolen.
This series began as a self-published dojin, but slowly made it as a still picture drama, and eventually the Japanese division of the French company Ankama Games decided to produce it as an anime.
I'm getting a lot of hype for this project, inspired in World War II, but with mechas and drama between girls with supernatural powers. Talk about an explosive combination!
The new streaming trailer can be seen here. in their official site.
The Managing Director of Shueisha publisher, Kazuhiko Torishima, announced yesterday in the Denshi Shoseki Comic Summit that there's a project in development called tentatively 'J Manga', which will be a site that will give access to its users to mangas from 37 Japanese Publishers.
It is estimated that the fully operational site will be launched on March 2011. The beta version of the site is already available.
The list of publishers that will participate in the project are:
Akaneshinsha Akita Shoten ASCII Media Works Bunkasha Publishing Enterbrain East Press France Shoin Fujimi Shobo Fusosha Futabasha Gakken Gentosha Hakusensha Houbunsha Ichijinsha Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha June-Net Kadokawa Shoten Kasakura Shuppansha Kodansha LEED Publishing Libre Publishing Magazine House Media Factory Nihonbungeisha Oakla Publishing Ohzora Publishing Shinchosha Shinshokan Publishing Shodensha Shogakukan-Shueisha Shonen Gahosha Tatsumi Publishing Takeshobo Tokuma Shoten
I've just opened a 'Store' section in which I will also review the best products, gadgets and stuff related to a great user experience, whether it comes to storing your favorite anime series and movies, your favorite software to create your fanarts, or to enjoying anything related to Japanese technology and culture in general.
It's difficult to know what will be her ultimate role in Naruto. Given her personality traits and her resolve, you would think that she actually will have a heroine protagonist role, just like author Masashi Kishimoto stated in an interview this year, but that hasn't happened yet neither in the manga or the anime.
Hinata is the daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi of the Hyuuga clan, formed by those who possess the Byakugan, an eye ninjutsu that enables its user to see everything at at 359° range.
Byakugan users can also see the chakra points of their enemies, thus developing a close range Palm Fist style of fighting that allows them to close each point, leaving the person unable to mold chakra, either temporarily or indefinitely.
But things hadn't been easy for Hinata. From the very beginning, she was despised by her father for being weak and lacking self-confidence, whereas her little sister Hanabi and her cousin Neji were wayyy better in ninjutsu and fighting.
Hinata is the heiress of the Main Family and she is meant to be the leader of her clan one day, while Neji forms part of the Branch (inferior) Family, and he is meant to serve and protect the Main Family. Given that his father Hizashi had to be sacrificed in order to protect the secret of the Byakugan, taking his twin brother's (Hiashi) place, Neji developed hate and resentment towards Hinata.
This was revealed when Hinata and Neji had to fight during the Chuunin exams. Neji was considerably stronger and bullied Hinata all the way, at the point of almost hitting her with KI (Killer Intent). This pisses off Naruto, who cheers for Hinata.
But Hinata stood up after receiving all Neji palm fists techniques and says she's sorry for him. She's left badly injured, and Naruto steps to the plate and defies Neji to a duel. There's quite an empathy between Naruto and Hinata, given that they're both seen as losers and underdogs for not being perfect at ninjutsu for their age.
With enough work and dedication, there's two ways to create a manga. One is the 'traditional' way, and you'll need to buy good quality paper made for drawing, pencils of different graduation, rulers and ink, aside from screentones and white corrector. The final result is something beautiful that you made with your own hands. If you want to publish it, you can scan it, and keep the originals.
But lately, going 'digital' has been the trend for the last decade. With a Wacom digital tablet, you draw your draft and then 'ink' it with the digital pen tools that just fill in with black where is needed. Of course, you can still scan your hand-drawn work, adapt it to the artboard in your screen and create a layer to ink it.
You can create your own manga using Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw, the good ol' Freehand. It's a matter of adjusting the size of your paper, and whether you'd like to work with pixels or vectors.
But if there's an specific program designed to create professional manga and print it right away for submission, or export it to a digital format to publish it as an ebook, it's Manga Studio.
Manga Studio comes in two versions, Manga Studio Debut, for beginners and Manga Studio EX, for professionals or dedicated fans who know what they're doing. There's barely differences between them, just that the interface for one is easier than the other.
The most current version is the 4.0, and there's still no info on when version 5 will come out.
Do you love to draw? Are you an aspiring manga artist? Then this is your chance as YenPress is having a talent search contest, that consists of submitting a 32 page short story before January 3rd, 2011.
YenPress is a New York based publisher that is soon going to launch Yen Plus Magazine, and your work could be published there if they like it enough!
This is their info on their guidelines, that can be accessed here:
THE YEN PRESS NEW TALENT SEARCH!
Who is eligible: Any artist who has NEVER BEEN PUBLISHED may enter.
What to send: Create a 32-page short story using the page parameters below:
Size of each page of printed digital art should be 7 inches wide by 10-3/8 inches tall. The live area of each page is 4-3/4 inches by 8-1/8 inches (that is, 1-1/8 inches from the edge of the page). Please keep panels and “important art” (speech bubbles, text, and art that is critical to telling your story) within this live area. As long as these proportions are maintained, you may size your pages as you wish.
You do not need to create color pages or a cover, but please include a full page title page of art with space for a title logo and your credit.
Deadline: January 3, 2011
If your submission catches our eye, you may receive a contract for publication in YEN PLUS!
Send a photocopy or printout of your completed short story and your contact info to:
Attn: New Talent Search Yen Plus 237 Park Ave. 13-114 New York, NY 10017
The fine print: Please do not send original art as no art will be returned. We will not be able to respond or provide feedback on all inquiries. If we are interested in your submission, we will contact you. Please do not attempt to contact the editors directly.
If you're starting out, this could be a great opportunity. Remember, artists that have never been published before.
Newtype magazine has just announced in its latest edition that there's a new movie in the works that will be a spin-off of this series by Suu Minazuki, published in Shonen Ace magazine by Kadokawa Shoten since 2007.
I feel horrible today, with a fever and barely strenght to let you know through this picture. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow reporting on the new SoraOto movie
The series will keep having an OVA format and will not be broadcast on television like the first season was. This is due to the poor ratings the first season received in Japan, and companies are not willing to allot for 13-episode seasons when the format is 26 episodes per season. :(
This was all according to a TMS Entertainment spokesman at the "XVI Salón del Manga" convention in Barcelona, Spain.
The second season will premiere on February of next year and it will be a straight to DVD/BD release.
These series formerly belonged to ADV films, a company that ceased in 2009, but now Funimation recovered them for their re-release in the United States next year.
This is quite an interesting trend because it puts these classic series in the spotlight, thus giving them more exposure for nostalgia and enabling them for future related projecs, such as remakes, new OVAs, etc.
For example, Bubblegum crisis was originally a 1987 OVA that got made into a 26-episode series in 1998, titled Bubblegum crisis Tokyo 2040. It is the story of Priscilla Asagiri, the strongest member of the Knight Sabers, specializing in heavy assault. The vocalist of an underground rock band, she lives in the slums of the town in a trailer truck and is a distrustful loner.
She's a great strong female lead character like few, and the neo futuristic punk aesthetic makes this series to be very unique. She was originally meant to be blonde as we see here in a screencap of the 1987 OVA (right), but in the 1998 series she's dark purple haired (left).
Credit to ANN and Gaarasbitch from NarutoFan forums :)
The fight between Aizen and Ichigo continues until Gin interferes! We've got also two filler episodes that will tie in with the December premiere of the upcoming fourth movie Bleach: Jigoku Hen or Hell Chapter.
November 9 - 296. TBA
November 16 - 297. The Extending Blade?! Ichigo vs. Gin!
November 23 - 298. Film! Festival! Shinigami Film Festival!
November 30 - 299. Theatre Opening Commemoration! Hell Chapter・Prologue
I can't wait till this awesome series premieres as an anime next year.
Just like Ao no Exorcist, it is quite an alternative take on the 'son of the Devil' theme that we are used to see in classic movies like The Exorcist or The Prophecy.
We are used to think that the son of a demon is supposed to be the cusp of everything that is evil, but what if it really isn't so? That's the challenge that these stories present, with imperfect, human characters, yet with a sense of what is right.
Beelzebub is the story of Oga Tatsumi, a high-school freshman punk, pretty much like Kurosaki Ichigo from Bleach, who constantly fights and gets in trouble with gangs and social clichés in his high school, considered one of the worst in Japan, Ishiyama High.
Ishiyama High is more like the scenery of power struggles between gangs and its leaders, and we never see a teacher there, meaning that its students are all on their own in their perfect anarchy experiment.
One day Oga was kicking the living crap out of a group that defied him, and took them to the river to 'do the laundry', drowning them repeatedly in order to wash their blood stained clothes. (Erm, bear in mind that this is a dark comedy)
Until he sees a corpse emerging out of the river. Everyone is scared the hell out and runs, except Oga. The corpse splits in half like a capsule and reveals a really cute naked baby, who 'falls in love' with Oga's cruelty and dark aura.
He doesn't know what's going on and accepts to take care of the baby, who will be attached to his back until he finds someone darker and more cruel than him.
The baby is the son of the Devil in Earth, and to meet his true destiny, he must be raised in the worst enviroment possible in order to ensure the destruction of humanity. That's why Hilda, a Gothic-lolita caregiver and warrior from Hell, meets Oga to ensure that objective.
Bishonen characters can play both good and evil roles. Captain Aizen in Bleach can be considered an example of the latter (and if you read further the manga you will 100% agree with me),
Often their 'bishonen' quality is what adds to their mystery and mysticism, making them an encompassing character.
Yet at the same time they are aware of their beauty and use it as a weapon to deceive their enemies. No wonder samurais in ancient Japan wore lipstick and makeup to stun the enemy.
But bishonen is a term applied to those characters under 18. For a beautiful male character in his twenties or thirties (Aizen is seemingly in that age group??), the correct term would be 'bidanshi', meaning 'handsome man'.
Another classic example of a 'bishonen' character would be Shun from Saint Seiya:
(nosebleeds!)
Despite people understimating him during the course of the whole series, Shun proved that he was worthy of being an Athena Saint, if not one of the strongest around, just that he doesn't really like to fight.
Given the influence of the androgynous looks from Glam rock bands of the 70's and the 80's, the 'bishonen' archetype was consolidated as a pretty guy with long hair, big eyes of an unusual color, a slender, skinny physique, and feminine features, of course.
This is further proved in the Kurama character from Yu Yu Hakusho.
Bishonen characters are never afraid of being who they are, but rather embrace it, as they are basically males who embrace their feminine side, and in contrast it makes their masculinity stand out more, in my opinion.
The creator of Love Hina will launch a website called J-Comi, that will provide free access to DRM-free digital copies of out-of-print manga from a number of participating manga artists. 
'Yaoi' can be considered an interchangeable term with 'shonen-ai', meaning 'boy's love' or any story whose protagonists are males that have great chemistry, and the possibility of becoming an actual homosexual couple is always foreshadowed.
He finds himself a bit bored of his lifestyle and that's why he looks to do something different. That's how he met Tsukimi when she was trying to save the jellyfish from dying, and later the peculiar clan of the Amars.
you get an impressive 2048 levels of sensitivity, yet a good number of users would say that the price jump is unjustifiable when compared to the Intuos3 and Intuos2 versions. And there's the issue of the infamous shortcut buttons that sacrificed functionality for fanciness, being too small and too near each other.
, but often without some of the accessories.
The process of creating a manga is never easy, much less when it comes to animation.
The incident has shaken up the local authorities of Shiga Prefecture in Tokyo, who are looking for those responsible for the theft of two replicas of the guitars owned by the anime's main characters, a bass guitar, and 22 figures of the main characters, among lots of other stuff.
I've just opened a 'Store' section in which I will also review the best products, gadgets and stuff related to a great user experience, whether it comes to storing your favorite anime series and movies, your favorite software to create your fanarts, or to enjoying anything related to Japanese technology and culture in general.
You can create your own manga using Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw, the good ol' Freehand. It's a matter of adjusting the size of your paper, and whether you'd like to work with pixels or vectors.
Do you love to draw? Are you an aspiring manga artist? Then this is your chance as YenPress is having a talent search contest, that consists of submitting a 32 page short story before January 3rd, 2011.
The series will keep having an OVA format and will not be broadcast on television like the first season was. This is due to the poor ratings the first season received in Japan, and companies are not willing to allot for 13-episode seasons when the format is 26 episodes per season. :(
These series formerly belonged to ADV films, a company that ceased in 2009, but now Funimation recovered them for their re-release in the United States next year.
I can't wait till this awesome series premieres as an anime next year. 
