Spice and Wolf II Puppet Theater
It seems that in order to promote the upcoming Spice and Wolf II Flying Dog recruited Ami Koshimizu and Iun Fukuyama , the seiyuu of their respected puppets, play with the Horo and Lawrence hand puppets that I posted about back in May. As a promotional tool I know this video is going to be a huge success. It definitely gets the basic factors of the show, Horo beats on Lawrence and loves apples, down to an easy to understand slapstick joke. You don’t even need to understand Japanese to get the premise! Also, the adorable insert at the end with Horo and Lawrence just makes me melt. I can’t wait for the second season to start!
Source: Japanator
More Evangelion Merchandise: Summer Drink Bottle
The golden age of Evangelion merchandise continues. This time Japanese fast food restaurant Lotteria is releasing Evangelion themed coasters and reusable drink cups. This is the kind of news that makes me wish that I lived in Japan. Sure in the United States we get Star Trek and Pokemon at Burger King. But getting a cup with Rei in a sexy pose is a completely different experience.
The full set of coasters:
Hit the jump for more images.
Haruhi in the Matrix
I think this trailer has been terribly miscast. Haruhi should be Neo. As a living God able to alter reality at will she is the only character in the anime that can be compared to Neo who is an “Admin” in the Matrix’s digital world. But other than that small complaint this fan trailer is very well made and syncs up well to the original 1999 movie trailer.
Horo and Taiga figures!
One of the most important aspect about being an Otaku is the figure collection. If you don’t have an impressive collection of colored molded plastic. Here are two upcoming overpriced figures that will (hopefully) soon adorn my shelf. Both of these figures are going to be priced at $75.
Taiga, from the Fall season show Toradora, stands confident in her school uniform holding her Bokken.
Horo sits on the side of Lawrence’s wagon enjoying her favorite food.
Hit the jump for more pictures of both these adorable figures.
Misato reads the news to you!
A new Playstation 3 program will allow Neon Genesis Evangelion heroine Misato Katsuragi to personally read the news to any Otaku willing to drop the 800 Yen a monthly subscription fee. Misato will read all types of news, including Anime Industry news, by pulling it from real world news sites and passing it through a voice synthesizer.
I suppose the key feature is that the end user is able to customize the backgrounds, music, and even Misato’s hair and clothes. I guess the next best thing to having Misato read the news is to have Misato read the news in whatever outfit you choose.
Source: Kotaku
Valkyria Chronicles: Annoyed Alicia
The anime version of Valkyria Chronicles Alicia is a much more emotional character. Her chosen emotion is annoyed. Specifically at the protagonist who comes across as an airheaded, lazy bum. Click the jump more!
Official Haruhi Season 2 opening
![[large][AnimePaper]wallpapers_The-Melancholy-Of-Haruhi-Suzumiya_halcyonTwilight(1.25)__THISRES__54556](http://timetravelisawesome.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/largeanimepaperwallpapers-themelancholyofharuhisuzumiya-halcyontwilight125-thisres-54556.jpg "[large][AnimePaper]wallpapers_The-Melancholy-Of-Haruhi-Suzumiya_halcyonTwilight(1.25)__THISRES__54556")
The second episode of Haruhi season 2 aired today and with it we get the new opening. The first new episode, Bambo Leaf Rhapsody, was aired without any opening but with the new closing credits. The song is preformed by Haruhi’s Seiyuu Aya Hirano and is called “Super Driver.” Enjoy!
Source: Anime Vice
Pandora Hearts: Alice is adorable
As one of the overlooked shows of the season Pandora Hearts offers a compelling story with characters that are fairly deep for the genre… which is “FOR FANGIRLS”, an idea that every episode seems to scream out on a subconscious level. But that doesn’t prevent the main character, a female rabbit who ties people up with chains, from being absolutely adorable.
Leave Haruhi alone! - Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2
Around the Internet I’ve been hearing a lot of backlash against the way Haruhi season 2 is being released. While I agree that it is a tease to force the very demanding, very loyal fan base to wait while the original episodes are being aired before they deliver the bulk of the new episodes I think it is better to look at this situation from the point of view of the writers and directors of the series. It’s not all about ratings or viral marketing and it’s easy for the audience to claim those factors for the prolonged roll out of the new season. But Kyoto Animations has the best interest of the content and the audience in mind.
As an anime fan it has been painful to watch good shows turn bad because the original source material doesn’t provide a good stopping place to wrap the series up. Fantastic shows like Claymore and Black Cat were ruined by an attempt to bring the series to a close due to time constraints. The new endings the writers of the anime came up with destroyed those series. Black Cat followed the manga, not exactly but fairly closely, up till about episode eighteen. After that point the writers needed a place to stop the series so a new arc was created in the style of Black Cat in order to give the show a satisfying climax. But it wasn’t satisfying. It was poorly written and felt like a step below the first half of the series in all respects. The plot felt rushed, the characters felt out of place, and it broke away from the themes and overarching story of the pervious eighteen episodes.
K-On! From real life to Anime
In Episode 9 of K-On! Azusa does some soul searching at a local music club. The club she visited seems to be based on a popular music hall in Kyoto. Probably a location that is familiar to one of the animations at Kyoto Animation. Mojo was used to model the fictional music hall Koto in the Anime.
