General Japan News

"Hello there, and welcome to the seventh installment of Annotated Anime, Japanator's weekly Japanese cartoon roundup," writes Josh, fingers clacking over the keyboard.

"We have a healthy lineup of new shows and insightful commentary for you this week, including the debut of My Teen RomCom SNAFU. And don't forget the regular recaps of Space Bros., OreImo 2, Flowers of Evil, Valvrave the Liberator, Henneko, and A Certain Scientific Railgun S!," Josh types, unable to think of a proper joke to open the column with.

"I wonder how mimicking the Misaka Sisters' speech patterns will work out in text," Josh contemplates, having given up entirely on wit at this time of the night. 

For a good while, I've been in the mood to play a new One Piece game that uses the same system as One Piece: Unlimited Adventure. Unfortunately, the sequels known as the One Piece: Unlimited Cruise games never saw the light of day in North America, so I ended up missing out on the Straw Hat Pirate's last unlimited journey. 

In a slight beacon of hope, this week's Jump has revealed that One Piece: Unlimited World Red is in the works for the 3DS. Based on the title, there's a slight chance that the game is going to be a follow up to the Unlimited series. I'm also hoping that the new game plans to improve the sailing segments from Unlimited Cruise, since it was a system that I was looking forward to check out. 

Hiroko is busy with enjoying the sites of Puerto Rico, so she has left me in charge of Daily Dose until she crash lands in the J-tor Office. I hope your Tuesday was good, because we are posting another psychedelic video for your Wednesday needs. 

The result for today is Toyoaki Mishima and Julie Watai have teamed up to form mishmash*Julie Watai, as they create Electromotive Romances. At first, I wasn't too keen on the song's tone, but I will admit that Watai's Engrish grew on me after listening to it the second time. At the end of the day, the best part of the video is the abstract and colorful artwork by Hiroyuki Takahashi. Thanks to this video, I have officially become a fan of Takahashi's style. 

The best concert films go out of their way to replicate the experience of actually attending the filmed event. While nothing will ever nail what it was like to hear the pounding speakers and experience an event with hundreds of people, you can get close with good editing and sound design. It also helps when you have a performer that's able to nail every aspect of their performance and keep their crowd pump up the entire time.

So what happens when you host a concert featuring the most popular virtual idol since Sharon Apple on stage with a dozen or so live musicians in front of a crowd full of otaku? Well, you have yourself a pretty good concert flick for , that's what. Hit the jump to find out more!

Hiroko is still taking some rest and relaxation in Puerto Rico, so she has left me in charge of watching over Daily Dose. Most of us aren't on vacation yet, but that's not stopping us from checking out livetune's newest video. 

Hello and welcome to another week of Shonen Showdown, the regular battle anime and manga roundup that's--uh-oh, guys, it's making that face again! Clear the area!

Oh right, Hunter x Hunter, Fairy Tail, Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece recaps are below. Take cover there as well!

Eiichiro Oda is sick! That's news when you're the creator of One Piece, the biggest manga in the world (and in the running for biggest comic in the world). And it's doubly news if you're sick enough that you have to take a long break, which is exactly the case with Weekly Shonen JUMP's  announcement that One Piece is going on a two-week hiatus. The series is expected back by June 10th.

Yahoo! The K-On! movie is out, finally in the hands of Sentai Filmworks. It's an awfully big day of releases, and not just because of Japanator's favorite fivesome. Also on the slate are Blu-ray editions of My Neighbor Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle, along with box sets of Techi Muyo: War on Geminar and Love <3 Love?.

On the manga side, a new volume of Wandering Son is out! This one sits atop my top three manga titles ever list, and it'll be hard to displace it. Also out this week is a new volume of Saturn Apartments, Sailor Moon, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

There's plenty to buy, so why not unleash your wallet already?

No, not the first Xbox, or the Xbox 360. The third of Microsoft's consoles has opted to dial down its numbering by three hundred fifty-nine while dialing up its hardware. And it's called the "Xbox One", which means that pretty much everyone was wrong (I hope you didn't have any money riding on "Xbox Infinity"), and Microsoft actually managed to keep a secret for as long as it did. Good going on that, guys!

So far it looks like they're going heavy on the idea of an "All-in-One" device, merging TV, internet social stuff, and games. They're still talking, so stay tuned for further details, or head over and hang out with our game-happy pals at Destructoid for live, as-it-happens updates!

Are you ready for the next-gen? Personally, I just hope it does better in Japan this time around. Is that too much to ask?

You might of heard that there is a new streaming site that has just launched out of Japan. It is being backed by some big names in the anime world like Aniplex, Sunrise, and Toei.

What could that exactly mean for you, you ask? Well, let me let Eri Maruyama (International Business Development) at DAISUKI answer that as well as many more burning questions that I had about the new service.

When I watched Blood C in Summer of 2011, I thought it was a show that had a lot of promise. It started out with the distinct feeling that something wasn't right in an idyllic town that was being pressed upon by nightmarish beasts. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to the promises you thought it was making by delivering tons of boring exposition and drama that has little pay off. 

A year and a half later, I get another chance to take a look at the show, as Funimation has put it out for all of us horror fans in the States. One thing that was a disservice to the show was the long wait between interesting battles and revelations, which dragged things out way too much. With the entire set at your disposal, you can power through the bad to get to the good. Well, that's the general idea anyway. Do the best parts of Blood C hold up? Well, hit the jump to find out!

Aw snap, the J-Pop Summit Festival is launching the Japan Film Festival of San Francisco on July 27th through August 4th at the New People Cinema. The best part about this event is that a good chunk of the films are going to be premieres for San Francisco and/or the United States. 

Oh wow, I never expected for me and K would cross paths again. Back when K premiered last year, the series had to potential to become a show that felt like a Ryohgo Narita (Author of the original Baccano! and Durarara!! light novels) series. Instead, K tosses away its hope in favor of a show that was wasting our time with random antics that didn't go anywhere. So why am I talking about K again? Because Viz has revealed that they have obtained the master license for the series. 

I guess this means that K's simulcast has gotten enough views for Viz to go all out with its license. While I show no sign of excitement over this piece of news, there might be some folks out there that are happy with Viz's actions.

There may be some exciting announcements tomorrow that are all about a certain next-generation console, but it's not going to stop information about Nintendo's offering rolling out in the meantime. The HD versions of Yakuza and Yakuza 2 have already been available on the PS3 for about half a year, but I think you'll find very few people who won't want to see them jump to another platform. Nintendo recently mentioned in one of their Direct broadcasts that they will be having a partnership with Sega, and this could very well be the first of many neat offerings that will wind up on the Wii U.

It looks like Media Blasters has gotten a hold of a new license, and there's a chance that it will make yuri fans rejoice. That said, Media Blaster's acquisition is going to be Yami to Boshi to Hon no Tabito (Often shortened as YamiBo), a series based off of a visual novel game by Root (Moonlight Lady, Touka Gettan).

And who said it was a bad idea for Sony not to show the actual PlayStation 4 hardware at their initial announcement? Now they have something to talk about hours before Microsoft is due to announce its next Xbox, as well as something to talk about at E3!

I have to say, it's a pretty light tease. All I see through all that blur and rapid cuts is a black, vaguely square-shaped box , which applied to both the PS2 and PS3. I do see some....er, vents or something, and angled edge. Edges like that were pretty uncommon on both iterations of the PS3, so if we're lucky we'll get a box shape more suited to fitting into a crowded entertainment cabinet.

And....and that's all I've got. Sony's set to reveal more on June 10th, the day before E3, which is the usual schedule for its press conferences.

Hiroko continues to battle with the burden of having low cell phone Internet connection in Puerto Rico, so she has left me in charge of Daily Dose until she returns. As we begin the first day of our endless routine in life, I'm in the mood of giving the Mondays as deadly stare. Lucky for me, KAT-TUN has the right song title that represents my inner urge.

Like a lot of folk who buy anime, I have a bad habit of purchasing shows and not watching them. At this moment, I can turn around, look at my shelf and find at least two dozen shows that I haven't completed. Hell, some of them haven't even been cracked open. Well, it's time for that to change. I've decided to start chronicling my mission to go through all the media in my possession. Welcome to Backlog!

In this first installment, I'm going to be covering Mobile Suit Gundam, one of the last series to come out of the now-defunct Bandai Entertainment. Enjoy, and let me know what you think in the comments!

Trigger's Little Witch Academia is a fantastic OVA. If you haven't seen it yet, go watch it now. Seriously, what are you doing? It's free on Youtube, so you've got no excuse not to.

Trigger's official Twitter account has revealed that due to demand from the fans, they'll be releasing Little Witch Academia on Blu-ray this summer. There are few details beyond that:though they do tease that the disc will most certainly have bonus features. There will also be English subtitles.

I was actually just lamenting the lack of a physical disc release for LWA, so you can probably imagine my excitement that moment I read the tweet. My fingers are crossed for some fantastic box art. What would you like to see on the disc?

Jumping into this season a little late, I agreed to tackle My Teen Romantic Comedy Snafu, which Josh called "the highlight romantic comedy of the season," and "the show where all the main characters are assholes."

He only said the latter after I was halfway through this article. Thanks for the early warning, Josh.

Sure enough, the show doesn't exactly feature the most likable cast of characters -- especially the main protagonist. Yet how do you get a bunch of loner students to start interacting with people? Simple: threaten them with violence if they don't go out and help their classmates via a Volunteer Club.

And thus, this season's "highlight romantic comedy" is born.