Anime Blog ( .blogspot Beta)

Anime Blu-Rays and DVDs

2010-03-01T06:06:00.000-08:00

Been expanding the store aspect of this site as you guys might have been able to tell from the recent posts. For a few years now, the store has mainly been catering to anime figures, since well, they sell and help put food on the table. The one thing that has been lacking (besides Gunpla ^^;;) would be the sales of the actual anime that we all so love and dear; the anime DVDs and Blu-ray disks...

Let's face it, the internet age has been killing DVD sales and by the time even a store like mine gets them, the prices get so low and the competition gets so fierce that ANY store that isn't Best-Buy or Walmart that's trying to honestly sell them...will run themselves into the ground within a week. The common tactic of these and other stores online is to sell DVDs for even way less than what it costs them to stock it. In other words, they choose to lose money on the items...mainly so they can scam and overprice people on other stuff in their stores -_- Trust me, I have gotten burned that way by many online & brick and mortor dealers; plus let's not forget the dealers online that say they got the DVD and end up giving you a bootleg with some crappy printed cover -_-

Blu-ray sales on the other-hand, seem to be doing ok, but again, the day for 100% digital downloads is closing in. (oh and let's not forget about the good old anime pirating crap that goes on). Despite that grim future for DVD and eventually Blu-rays, I still decided to expand the store to start to include some great anime Blu-ray disks and yes, even some DVDs.
Will my pricing beat that of the big chains like Amazon, Best-Buy and Walmart? Probably not. Again their tactic is to lose money on these things so that you come back for stuff they overprice. I still sweeten the deal by lowering the price from the retail price AND offer free shipping on them if you live in the US. For those who buy/pre-order I will promise you your copy, even if that means I go and buy it at full retail. But hey, if you end up not getting them, that's just more anime for MY collection.

Three blu-ray disks that I'd like to let you all know about are the ones that just got announced for pre-order;

Dragon Ball Kai Season 1, Part 1

Full Metal Alchemist; Brotherhood Part 1

and last but definitely not least,

Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE Complete Series

As for other new DVDs & Blu-rays, these I actually right now:

Halo: Legends (2-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

Kurokami: The Animation Vol. 1 (Blu-Ray)

Eureka Seven: -good night, sleep tight, young lovers- (Blu-Ray)

K-On! Figma Figures

2010-02-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, here's yet another K-On! figure post by me. (deal with it -_-) For those of you that have been tracking my little rants, a recent pet-peeve of mine has been the fact that licensees in Japan have become a bit scared of making money and try to keep some anime and figures in Japan only for themselves. Well, looks as if some of the complaining (and the good old power of $) has paid off and with the second release of 2 K-On! figures, comes the rights for us here in the states to actually buy a legit K-On! figma locally.

Yes, that's correct, you won't have to pay $20-$30+ in shipping from a store in Japan if you want a Mio figma figure of a Ritsu figma figure (if you live in the US...and international customers are still welcome ^^). I have gotten the rights through my business and my trusty (legit) suppliers to acquire these cuties for the store.

Click here to go to the Mio figma pre-order page

Click here to go to the Ritsu Figma figure pre-order page

Rather shoot us an email to get yourself onto a waiting list? You can do so here.

Once the number of figures coming to my store get filled, that's it since I want to make sure ALL who order or get on the list get one when they come out in June or July...so don't wait too long.

FUNimation Aquires Trigun

2010-02-26T17:32:00.000-08:00

Ah, 90's anime. You gotta love it and to call yourself a true anime fan you have to go back and watch some of the classics here and there. Been watching the entire series of Outlaw Star as of late and Trigun is also what we fans would call neo-cowboy(ish) late 90's anime genius. Just before anime went on that 7-9 year streak of cut-and-paste, school-uniform color-by-numbers school centric series, it was the days of cowboy shootouts on an Earth-2 planet...by a plant. (ok, Outlaw Star takes place on Earth and other spots...but you get what I'm saying)

All kidding aside, FUNimation, on top of everything else they've been buying with DBZ Zeni, announced today in their newsletter that they bought the rights to Yasuhiro Nightow & Satoshi Nishimura's Trigun from FlyingDog, Inc. Like Outlaw Star, the English dubbing was spot-on so doubtful of a re-dub but expect to see the DVD and Blu-ray copies to be around in the stores (and maybe mine ^^) come this fall.

(oh and for those who aren't true anime fans that either just watch Naruto (no worries I like the series, too) or nothing older than 2005...well, expect to see more new Trigun as their is to be a new full length animated movie this spring, in 2010)

Mio Akiyama (Moe Moe Kyun) Figure

2010-02-26T17:06:00.000-08:00

You thought I'd leave for the weekend without mentioning this oh so Moe figure? For those who might have not heard the news from a few days ago, FREEing and Good Smile Company joined together to come up with the "Moe Moe Kyun" version of K-On!'s Mio Akiyama.

Of course, she's up in the store for pre-order for those who just have to have a moe figure for themselves.

Thanks for spilling the beans on this one, Danny Choo.

Here's the a fan-made clip from youtube from that seen. I know, us anime fans can be weird (and oh so funny) at times...but let us enjoy some moe cuteness.

...oh and more pictures of her too:

Fate/Stay Night: Rider Figma Action Figure

2010-02-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Here's a figure I know you all have been waiting for. That's right, you are looking at the highly anticipated Fate/Stay Night: Figma Rider Figure. She's definitely a beauty and I'm more than likely going to keep one for myself for my work desk. This figure is full of win; more images below.

Naturally I'm stocking her in my store for pre-order. The thing is though, Max Factory is limiting the number of these that are coming to the states -_- Yes, just like the K-On! Nendoroid + Figmas, anime sites and stores like me are allowed to only keep a limited number (or in the case of the K-On! Figmas...none at all -_-). In this case, only the first 12 who reserve her will be guaranteed* one. So check her out in the store and if you'd rather get on the waiting list via email...you can do that too with this link.

*I would love to say "100% guaranteed" but Max/Factory and GSC have been a bit slow to catch up from the demand so sometimes delays may happen and you never want to leave everything to chance. It's about a 99% chance and if any issues..I'll make it known.

(now on to the pictures)...

Anime Voice Acting

2010-02-23T13:25:00.000-08:00

Great news! Well, not so new if you follow me on twitter. I've been keeping tabs on the voice studio famous for anime voice acting, Bang! Zoom! I oddly only first heard of them when I went to NY Anime Fest back in 2008 and not surprisingly, the panel for them was so packed that not even I, an anime store/site owner, was able to get in -_-. They are situated in Burbank California and have been featured on the Tonight Show (Conan's superior but now canceled version)..since well, they are right across the street from them. Last year's NYAF was with the same results..no entry into their coveted voice acting panel.

Thankfully Bang! Zoom! started a voice acting class fronted by famous anime voice actor as well as the head of writing and producing for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Tony Oliver. Being that I'm in NY on the boring yet overrated Long Island east coast, and their classes are usually at their main studio in Burbank, CA...well, you get the picture; mainly a no go since it's a $300 class, the trip there would be about 2x that much and with the anime store doing well, I'd have little time to spare away from home...

So what's the "great news" I spoke of? Well, Bang! Zoom! will be coming to New York City soon and I am one of the 12 that's confirmed to be there for their Beginner Class! That's right, yours truly will be put into one of those sound booths (like Conan and Andy Richter did here) and I'll be doing some practice dubbing with Tony Oliver, the Bang! Zoom! crew and 11 other classmates. We'll be learning the basics for being in voice acting.

(Seiyu tend to be singers before anime voice acting, in Japan)

Some people have indeed gone from this class to being in a recent anime! That's the best case scenario for me but the experience plus learning if I can or might not have what it takes... is all worth it. Many voice actors here in the states are usually trained in acting before even trying out for this business. I'm much more like the Japanese Seiyu who are more verse in singing than acting.

For those who might not know, back in 2001 and 2002 in my Junior and Senior year, I was part of New Field High School's Select chorus which was only about 13 people. One of my fellow class mates was American Idol semifinalist and current The Challenge game show host, Jared Cotter.

So in other words, I have a bit of singing and voice lesson experience (though being about 8 years ago now ^^;;). I don't however have drama class or acting experience but I don't let that put me down..nor it should for you if anime voice acting is something you want to maybe do one day since one of the most famous anime voice actors & the voice behind 7-11 commercials here in the states, Steve Blum (...Spike from Cowboy Bebop), didn't have that experience. Steve Blum just had what it took to be a voice actor from connections through his friends that were close to these studios. He didn't know till he gave it a shot.

More on what happens at the end of next month. I'm looking to learn about the industry and learn if I'm even good enough for them. Good or not, it'll be great to learn and mingle with the voices of the anime industry.

For those of you critical of anime dubbing. I do share some of your fears and god knows there have been utter fails in it. This video from 2006 from the DBZ voice crew on their Budokai 3 game, might humble you and make you realize that it's not as easy as it looks to dub anime and those who do it right, are truthfully skillful, like Chris Sabat and crew undoubtedly are.

(Speaking of DBZ voice actors, recently DBZ Kai English voice actors were announced. Most of the actors are back with a few exceptions. Bulma for example will be done by famous voice actress, Monica Rial now)

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Sorry about the lack of posts. This has to do with a number of things; (p/t job trying to be full time without my permission, anime store sales through the roof, and good old errands that seem to last all day -_-) I see that the Member's Blog is back on track with a few new posts. I plan on making a contest as soon as I can settle things down on the home front, so keep posting.

X-Men PHOENIX / DARK PHOENIX MARVEL BISHOUJO Figures

2010-02-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

Didn't want to overload you all with too many figure posts yesterday but if you keep tabs of my store's inventory, you might see that I snuck in a brand new Bishoujo figure release. Yes, the great artist Shunya Yamashita is at it again with TWO new figures of an American comic book beauty, once again proving that the Japanese do it best.

Announced yesterday was both the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix X-men Bishoujo figures. They are scheduled to come out some time in June or July and Jean Grey never looked so good.

Click here to the Pre-order page of the Phoenix figure

Click here to the Pre-order page of the Dark Phoenix Figure

Hyakka Ryouran: Senhime 1/8 Scale Figure

2010-02-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

Wanted to throw another figure your way today. I simply had to blog about this beauty of a figure. Fans of Hyakka Ryouran are familiar with Senhime and Alter announced this today. I'll be saving this beauty for myself too ^^. She looks so much like my significant other.

She's about 8200 yen or about $100+ (darn $ being too weak -_-)

Pre-order her here

Strike Witches Anime Figures

2010-02-16T08:46:00.000-08:00

Got news from Alter about some new pre-order reservations up today for the Strike Witches figures as well as the resale of the very popular Miyafuji Yoshika figure that recently got released. I have one Yoshika from the first release and Alter did a great job.

Naturally I added them to my store for you all to pre-order ^_^ Check out the details below:

Strike Witches: Miyafuji Yoshika 1/8th Scale figure

Click here to Pre-order page

Strike Witches: Erica Hartmann 1/8th Scale figure

Click here to Pre-order page

Strike Witches: Sanya V.Litvyak 1/8th Scale figure

Click here to Pre-order page

Click here to email me for what you'd like if you feel more comfortable with emailing your pre-order reservations.

Localized Anime Licensing Killing the Industry?

2010-02-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

You all know you love your anime and you do what you can to get it, right? Well, most of you know that if you are viewing shows like K-On! with English subtitles, that the fan-subbing done with the series was illegal, correct?

Despite the huge popularity world wide for K-On! and some other shows in Japan, there has yet to news of them being licensed for (legal) viewing outside Japan and it almost seems like the licencees simply don't want you to watch them or own their products if you are a gaijin (foreigner). Yes, FUNimation is doing their best to bring many new series here. Even NIS, the guys popular for great anime games just got the rights for Toradora but even THEY can't get some well loved series here...and it ain't all about the money.

Being that most anime fans are computer literate, they easily get around the red tape but obviously, the large amount of pirating has also undermined the entire industry, killed entire anime companies and in fact probably prevented even better series from getting to the fans or ever created. Of course there are a large number of series that have been given the go and we can watch on Blu-ray, DVD or for free (legally) on sites like CrunchyRoll, YouTube and Hulu, but the industry seems to not understand how to profit (enough) from the new media paradigm.

The pirating is a problem with ALL electronic media in this internet age but to blame the internet trend and the pirating masses is only blaming half the problem. The other half comes from the way anime shows and media content in general are passed around from the creators to the content creators/end-animators and to the licensees. A map of it I believe was done by Anime News Network and I can't help but keep the word, clusterf$^% from leaving my brain. The internet age now lets the people creating content to simply cut out the middleman and getting straight to the fans. This has happened in the music industry, self-made fame on YouTube and recently in anime we have seen it with Cenceroll. This straight-to-all-fans-worldwide marketing scheme is ticking off the old hats of the licensing world by both virally advertising videos to much more fans than the old way of throwing money at an advertiser would and (more importantly) creators are making far more money by ignoring localized licensing rules and just letting their creation go into the wild of the internet. The internet is the great equalizer now; if something is good, it will grow via word of mouth. If it's not worthy, it won't get very far at all. In other words, the success of say an anime, manga series, a music artist or any show in general is based on their talent and the quality of the content and NOT whether a big name is behind them.

So, why the large rant, Chuck? Well, as an anime fan, anime site webmaster and anime store owner, I see things both from the view of the fans and from the business point of view. The way shows like the Sailor Moon anniversary DVDs and K-On! figures + shows are being handled, is not very smart business at all. The localization of certain titles is money lost for the content creators, unfair to the fans and only breeding more urge for fans to pirate meida and thus undermining the industry.

Notice I don't have ANY K-On! Figma figures for sale? Well, that's because the licensing behind K-On! is so anti-foreign sales that they won't allow the legit stores to sell those figures...if you are an overseas seller. Silly, right? Actually, the licensees told Good Smile Company to not sell K-On! overseas. I got word two weeks ago from the good people over at AAAanime.com that Good Smile Company was forced to limit the amount of K-On! items that go overseas and thus, if you pre-ordered items from a store not in Japan...chances are your K-On! Nendoroids aren't coming (or might simply be fake) To people who bought from me, thankfully all is good, I have increasingly better relations with the wholesalers both in and outside of Japan.

I made a formal complaint to the licensees of K-On! about this through AAAanime.com and hopefully something good will come from it. I know you guys want to see all Japan has to offer and I know you'd love to see shows like Sailor Moon and K-On! be on the TV, DVD, Blu-ray block in the states. From a business standpoint, they might not want to allow a series to go to the states and probably fall short, thus losing sales and money but at the very least, K-On! and Sailor Moon (yep still to this day), as well as a few others are $ in the bank for all involved and for us fans...we just want to see them. The demand is there and with demand for content comes sales, business 101.

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Discuss what you think the anime biz should do to both give us the series we want to see (outside Japan and legally) and to calm down the pirating crazies out there from destroying everything we love about anime.

Anime Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

Today is that lovey-dovey day of Valentine's Day that you either love or hate. If you have a valentine, get him/her that gift you always wanted to give. An anime plush or some chocolate Pocky is always a good gift for an otaku in love. If you don't have a Valentine, or can care less, he, just enjoy the day the best you can and relax for that special person will eventually come by...if you be the best person YOU can be.

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Off to have some all-you-can eat sushi. Big ramble of a blog post tomorrow about anime licensing.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Tonight on Adult Swim

2010-02-13T07:40:00.000-08:00

You all probably heard this already but for those who haven't, tonight at midnight (both on the east coast and on the west coast at midnight), Adult Swim will be starting their run of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. This is the first of 3 anime series to finally get the spot here on the US shores. For the sake of the anime industry here in the states, I implore you to watch this tonight.

If the ratings are good enough for the execs at CN, we can hopefully see Adult Swim go back to what put them back on the map and hopefully have them dump those home-brewed 2 cent crap shows they been putting in anime's place.

So show that you are a true anime fan and you want anime big in America again and watch FMA: Brotherhood! (or Colonel Mustang might snap his fingers in your direction -_-)

#FanServiceFriday: 2/12/10 - Tifa Lockhart

2010-02-12T08:05:00.000-08:00

Brought back #FanServiceFriday (#FF) from a long delay with my favorite of all anime/game characters, Tifa Lockhart. If you've been on the internet as long as I have, you'd know that this image is a colored version of a wonderful pencil sketch from probably as far back as 1998. ^//^

K-on! - Nakano Azusa Alter Ver.

2010-02-11T19:28:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought there was too much cuteness with the Nakano Azusa Nendoroid figure, Alter goes and announces a wonderfully cute 1/8th scale model her too.

Expected to come out some time in June or so, Nakano isn't as expensive as some of the other 1/8th scale figures but a price tag of $85-$90 still makes you wish the Yen was weak again and the US gets it's financial game back in gear (along with many other issues).

Still though, if you are like me, you will probably get one for yourself ^^ and yes, she's found in my store here for pre-order or you can reserve one by email with this link.

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(btw, good to be back. Darn cold, the web work I do over at Berger-Bros.com, a crazy blizzard here in NY, as well as a boost in anime biz sales kept me from blogging. Obviously the latter I'm all for but the other stuff sure would be love if erased from my schedule for good. Anyways, more posts to come)

Wonfes 2010: Nendoroid Mickey & Figma MJ?!

2010-02-06T18:10:00.000-08:00

The event is going on right now and thanks to Danny Choo, we are getting live feeds and images straight from the event. For those who maybe don't know, Wonfes is the largest figure and custom figure kit convention in Japan. Most if not all of the major anime figure manufacturers are there showing off the newly announced pre-orders as well as some surprises.

If you've been keeping track of the numbers on your Good Smile Company Nendoroid, you'd know they are close to their 100th figure. That figure has been announced and it's actually a non-anime character...Mickey Mouse. You heard me right, the 100th Nendoroid is Disney's Mickey Mouse. I'm fan of him...don't get me wrong but I would have so wanted a Nendo Tifa Lockhart and expected one to come before a Mickey one. Oh well, "a man can dream...a man can dream"- Futurama

It gets weirder than that. Of course for every new Nendoroid figure announce, a new Figma isn't far away. Yesterday Good Smile announced the figma K-On! Yui...but sdly, like ALL the other K-On! figmas...some sort of ass-backwards licencing embargo prevents even ME from snagging them for my store -_-
Anyways..this newley announced figma figure will surely be available in the US. That's right, you saw that link correctly from Danny Choo, it's a Michael Jackson figma.

Probably more figures to come, more anime news and more on that K-On! licensing mess in a few...for now let this news populate your mind and try not to hurt yourself with any blunt objects.

-pictures are all from Danny Choo, please visit his site for more images and info (gt to give the credit where its needed ^^)

Nendoroid Nakano Azusa

2010-02-03T06:51:00.000-08:00

What a week. Been sick most of it (today included) and yesterday Danny Choo announced the new Nendoroid Nakano Azusa. Sadly, Good Smile Company decided to tell only HobbySearch and Amiami of this figure and they simply bought them all -_- and pre-orders were sold out...before even I could get dibs on them (another even madder face -_-).

Well, thankfully Good Smile Company just announced a second production release and I wasted no time in making sure MY STORE gets the rights to sell her too -_-.
...Yeah, there ARE other anime stores out there that are legit, guys.

Anyways, this is of course the Nendoroid figure of Nakano Azusa with her having the nekomimi ears as well. A very, very cute figure that even I will be keeping for me and my fiancee Danielle (she just melted from the cuteness when she saw it).

I reserved quite a few so you can go to her page in my store here. Be sure to chose "Cash/Money order" choice at the end so you don't have to pay via paypal until she arrives.

To get on an email list instead of using the store to later be billed when she arrives, instead of using the store...
Click here to email your pre-order reservation

Unless stated otherwise, unless something terrible happens, you are pretty much guaranteed to get one; but only if you act quickly. Once all the quantities that I ordered for the store are used up, the only chance you have of getting her is to hope for a cancellation from those before you.

This batch of Nakanos will be in some time in late June or so. For those lucky enough to pre-order from Amiami and HobbySearch, those will be in some time in May.

For those worried about bootlegs, be assure I DON'T EVER stock bootlegs...only the real deal. Still worried? Check the list of legit stores on Danny Choo's blog. My store won't be on that list till I pay for advertisement on his site, so it's why I'm not on that list yet -_-

After seeing the craziness behind anything K-ON!...why the hell the series isn't officially here in the states is beyond me.

Here's a great vid with clips of Azusa ^^

Here's some more pics of her:

Tohou Project: Nenodroid Izayoi Sakuya & Figma Kirisame Marisa

2010-01-29T12:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my good friends over at Mile-Stone.jp,(who by the way are also manufacturers of some nice anime figures), my store got the rights to sell these two new Tohou project figures that originally were only meant for stores in Japan.

Good Smile Company has announced these extra rare figures.
The first being the Tohou Project Nendoroid Izayoi Sakuya figure.

The second of course being the Figma Kirisame Marisa figure.

Both are super rare and will probably be on display at the upcoming Wonfest convention in Japan. Sadly, due to their rarity and exclusivity, their price is a bit higher than your typical Nendoroid and Figma at a $69.99 price tag. These though will in time go for $200+ on eBay and if you are in the US, their final price turns out the same anyways since store in Japan might be able to sell them at a cheaper price, but you'll pay for it in the shipping -_-

To reserve Nendoroid Izayoi Sakuya, just check the product page and order her or email me and I'll reserve yours.

To reserve Figma Kirisame Marisa, just check the product page and order or of course, email me to get your name on the list of those getting her.

Be sure to use the "Money Order/Cash" option if you wish to not pay now. Once they arrive all who reserve them (confirmed and in time) will be guaranteed one.

Their release date is to be some time in April so expect them to arrive around that time or possibly sometime in May id Good Smile is running late on production.

The iPad: Good or Bad for Manga?

2010-01-29T11:41:00.000-08:00

Of course many have you have heard about the iPad (and god knows this is probably the 1 millionth post about it on the web.) I was busy posting about it on my other personal blog as the information was coming in during the Apple conference. The first thing that comes to our minds when seeing it is; how great would reading manga be on it? Also, there are the Kindle, the Nook, and the Sony Readers out there that for the most part, haven't captured the hearts of manga fans and the lack of manga on them is proof.
Now, here's the more important question. Will this be good or bad for the manga industry? The good is that people who might not have been into manga, could start to realize what all the hype is about. On a bad note for the industry, it is bound to reduce the actual paper printing of manga plus it will give more fuel for all those illegal manga viewing sites...even more so than what we already see.

The anime and manga industry hopefully will be able to monitize from the iPad and the other readers as well and if they don't, though many fans will be happy to build the pirating free manga sites, less money in the pockets of the content creators means less anime for us to read and watch.

Comment what you think this means for manga. Would you be buying the iPad for manga (as well as the other features)? Maybe you are already or planning to use the Nook, Kindle, Sony Readers, etc...or are you just sticking to what most anime fans continue to do and buy stacks and stacks of manga?

Team Four Star: DBZ Abridged Season 2

2010-01-27T14:38:00.000-08:00

It's been some time coming. The very funny work-for-free voice actors of Team Four Star had some hurtles to go through over the past number of months; stuff I'm actually familiar with. Their videos were doing insanely good and for good reason. The DBZ Abridged parody is a thing of genius. Even the American voice actors of DBZ loved their series and they got the go-ahead to continue their not-for-profit clips by FUNimation. Then came the miscommunication with content creator, Toei who unknowingly shot themselves in the foot by banning TFS's original Youtube page. Reason why it was a suicidal move on the part of Toei was well, the darn parody was getting a fan base that has been keeping DBZ alive and well long after the "geniuses" at Cartoon Network dropped the series.

Well, as of yesterday, Team Four Star posted up episode 11, the first of the long awaited Season 2. Below you'll find the clip and good god is it hilarious XD.

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In reference to what I said above; I've had the same garbage happen to me on YouTube back in 2005 and 2006 when Youtube first surfaced. For those who've been with me since the beginning in 2002 know that back in 2003 I created some very popular AMVs that made it to the Collections of Newgrounds.com and even got the blessings from the group QED who's song I used in the "Love Bites" AMV. This site was having loads of bandwidth issues due to the downloads from the site pre-youtube for the AMVs. Once youtube came along in 2005, the videos did great with well over 100,000K views per vid. Then of course, due to images of Inuyasha during the series' peak, it seemed that Viz didn't understand the good the videos did for the series and the account got booted -_- It took me a year just for people to find me on my new account as well as try to tell people I was who I am. Most thought I was an imposter..of myself! Anyways, this little rant is to tell you guys at Team Four Star...that I went through the same crap. now that I run an anime store in conjunction to this site...you'll actually see Viz buy ad space here ^^ and of course I continue to sell their product and put $ in their pockets.

Vocaloid: Kagamine Rin Nuclear Fusion "Meltdown" Figure

2010-01-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought Good Smile Company went insane with the Miku Hatsune VN02 figure, they do it again with this very cool and very crazy Rin Kagamine figure. This figure will retail for 9800 yen (~$115-~$120) and will hit the Japanese market by August (so probably September here in the states -_-). Naturally she's up for pre-order in my store ^_^
Check out the images and (long) video below. Info thanks of course to Danny Choo.

Twilight Manga

2010-01-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm either going to create some hatred or some happy fans...or both but as some of you might know, Yen Press is printing 350,000 copies of the Manga version of the hit book and movie series of Twilight. As an anime store owner, I naturally placed the manga in my store for pre-order. My fiancee, Danielle is a big fan of the series, she has read all the books and is for both Team Jacob and Team Edward (did I just type that? 0_0). Listen, I'm not a huge fan of the series, I'm more of a Bram Stoker's Dracula or Vampire Knight person. Unavoidable for both fans and non-fans is that the series is big news on all fronts.

Yen Press will make 2 volumes of the manga both of which are set to be a massive 200+ pages; massive for a single manga volume of course. The expected release date of the first volume is around March 17th so fans of the series, I'll gladly help you get access to a copy (while supplies last of course ^^;;). Both fans of the series or non-fans, you can bring on the discussions in the comment fields but for the love of God, not crazy fighting -_-

Nendoroid Petit: Fate/Stay Night Action Figures

2010-01-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

Saber and Fate fans are going to be once again happy to hear of some more great news from Good Smile Company. On top of the amazing Excalibur Saber figure announcement, there is also this wonderful Petit Nendoroid set that was announced back before the weekend...

As the picture shows, there's a couple versions of the figures included in the set and supposedly a secret figure as well. I'm so keeping a set myself ^^.

Of course, you can find them for pre-order in my store (or you can email your reservation). There's 12 in the set and they go for $90 altogether so not bad at all. Expected to come stateside in August; could always be sooner or later ^^;;

More images below:

#MoeMonday 1/25/10

2010-01-25T09:03:00.000-08:00

#MoeMonday (#MM) continues on this busy Monday with some yukata moe from the girls of Shugo Chara.

Crunchyroll's Anime Streaming iPhone App

2010-01-22T08:57:00.000-08:00

While watching some Kurokami I noticed that CrunchyRoll just came out with their own iPhone app. Yep, now you can stream anime on you iPhone guilt free. Of course, make sure you use Wifi since it's doubtful AT&T's "fast" 3G network can handle an ounce of anime goodness. It's a free app so go right ahead and add it to your collection. Supporting Crunchyroll supports the anime business, so do your part to keep those content providers in business -_-

Fate/Stay Night: Saber Triumphant Excalibur Figure

2010-01-20T09:09:00.000-08:00

Saber fans are going to love this newly announced figure. The Saber Triumphant Excalibur figure just got announced for pre-order and this stunning figure will be a 1/7th scale figure and it also seems like you have the option of having Saber's sword's effects be there or not if you choose.

Reserves for this figure can be purchased right here in my store. Select Money Order/Cash at the end of the transaction or email us to reserve yours without having to pay right away via Paypal.

More info can be found on her official page.

..here's some more images of her

#MoeMonday 1/18/10

2010-01-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

Once again, I'm continuing the #MoeMonday (#MM) trend. Some people still want it to go on so here's another Moe image for you all to see.

#FanServiceFriday: 1/15/10 Spice And Wolf

2010-01-15T06:27:00.000-08:00

You didn't think I'd forget #FanServiceFriday (#FF) now, did you? Been watching Spice and Wolf and I see why everyone likes the Wolf spirit Horo. The series and the art is very clean and artistic and a must watch for any anime fan....that's 13 and older ^^;;

Otacool 2: Worldwide Cosplayers

2010-01-15T06:14:00.000-08:00

Many of you are familiar with the Otacool project Kotobukiya and Dannychoo.com did with otaku rooms and I'm certain many of you heard about the second collage book fronted now by mega cosplay site CURE. If not, then you guys really should check out the official post over at Dannychoo.com. Some of you might become rather popular in Japan with your cosplay outfits. Even my fiancee, Danielle is joining in the fun ^^

Being that I'm an anime store owner, I'll be getting the rights to stock the Otacool 2 book ^_^

so here's the link to preorder it.

Adult Swim Getting New Anime?

2010-01-13T06:29:00.000-08:00

Yep, the title is correct. No, hell hasn't frozen over (yet) but word has it that Cartoon Network's Adult Swim is getting 3 new anime series to air. I guess the constant pestering at Adult Swim by anime fans, the success of Bleach, the success of Syfy's Ani-monday as well as Chiller's own anime block are making the home-brewed-heros over at Williams Street pine for the shows that got them on the map in the first place back when their only claim to fame was Space Ghost.
Rumor has it that two of the 3 anime series will be Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Inuyasha: The Final Act but so far, nothing is certain yet. What is certain is that Blood+ and Death Note are to no longer be played on Adult Swim.

Actually, the person who got me into anime back in the late 90's works for AS, so I might get him to spill the beans...stay tuned.

Inuyasha: Kagome Higurashi Figma

2010-01-13T06:09:00.000-08:00

Hey Inuyasha fans; got some more good news for you! Other than the series finally being concluded with the Final Act episodes, you can soon get your own Kagome figma figure ^_^. Yep, looks like Max factory has announced the production of a Kagome Figma figure. It's set to be released some time in April or May of this year. Pre-orders can be made here or you can email the store to reserve her. Nothing yet on other characters in the series but I'll keep you all informed.

Winners of the Nendoroid Kureha Contest

2010-01-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

Wanted to congratulate the winners of the Nendoroid Kureha contest. To no surprise, it seemed like of the 11 or so people that signed up for the members blog, only 2 people decided to post anything on the site and they were @nekozawa and @Zero6699 was split on who to give this wonderful Kureha to but thankfully they live together and (hopefully) can share the winnings. Congrats to you guys for the win.

For those who signed up on the member's blog and didn't write anything, sorry, you snooze, you lose ^^;; but, don't fret you and as well as anybody else who joins in the blogging will surely be up for any future contests. so not only will posting you own blog posts here help get your blogs some traffic...you might get a free figure too ^_^

FLCL Anime Redo

2010-01-07T13:05:00.000-08:00

Update: Should have checked before blogging but FUNimation recently noted that they will NOT be re-dubbing the series. Thanks @janaiblog for the info. I guess read the post and wonder if a re-dub would ever be good for FLCL or any other series. Talk about blog FAIL ^^;;;

Some of you might have heard the news, but for those who didn't (from possible CES overload) FUNimation just announced a page and eventual DVD/Blu Ray sales for FLCL (Fooly Cooly). They bought the rights from Gainax for the series and supposedly they are going to...re dub the series.

Now I'm a big fan of FUNimation, don't get me wrong. They used their DBZ money to buy out failing licenses from Gonzo, Gainax plus others to essentially keep anime in America amid the economic crap storm, lack of anime airing on Cartoon Network / Adult Swim and the obvious piracy of anime that's the fault of both eager fans and unimaginative licensees. A crap storm of which has eroded the industry. In other words, they are keeping anime alive in America despite sort of becoming a monopoly.
As my handle being "princetrunks" across the internet and having some stock in their parent company Naveer Corp, I of course will be in their favor.

Yet, if they are honestly going to re dub the series, I can't help but ask the question, "why?" FUNimation's voice talent is top notch, I won't deny their experience and their ability to actually do great anime voice dubbing but as both an anime purest and a business owner, I can't see why they would re dub it. Back when you could actually call Cartoon Network, "Cartoon Network" without laughing and making MTV comparisons, FLCL got great ratings and became one of those "hard-core, WTF?" anime series to make it on the US airwaves. The original dubbing was top notch and some the fandom is still strong. My only guess is that the reason why they might be re dubbing it is that the process of licenses is even more out of date and convoluted than I can even imagine and they might own the images but not the audio (-_-) Time for the content owners and the whole copyright / license system to get into the 21st century. We are already in the second decade of the century and $ is being wasted on bureaucratic BS.

Anyways, while we are on the topic of the redubbing of anime...there is a certain series FUNimation should really focus on a re-do...I think Sailor Moon is loooong overdue for such a treatment. Japan has already created remastered DVDs in 2009. Time to take that voice talent to some really good use for both the fans and for the growth of anime. Re-doing Sailor Moon is money in the bag for who ever takes it.

#MoeMonday 1/4/10: Black Rock Shooter Moe

2010-01-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

The first #MoeMonday (#MM) post of the New Year and decade. Recently announced was the new Black Blade version of the Black Rock Shooter Figure and how fitting it is to show a wonderfully drawn BRS image by the very talented OceanChan.

2009 Anime In Review Podcast

2010-01-03T13:59:00.000-08:00

That's right everybody, I was a guest in another cool podcast. This one on Otaku In Review with Scott Spaziani, Jon Ingoglia, and Tim Maughan. The subject of course reviewing the anime of 2009. A bunch of new series came up this year and if you are a fan of Moe, it was definitely your year.

Sadly for me it was a busy year due to my anime figure business on the grow and my efforts to shield myself from the sh*%-storm known as the US Economy so oddly enough...my anime business (as well as a needed stay in the p/t job -_-) kept my anime viewing to a minimum I have been watching the newer box sets of Yu Yu Hagasho and the recently released box sets of Romeo X Juliet..of which I mention in the podcast. Sadly, though Romeo X Juliet's box sets got released here just in 2009...it wasn't exactly considered 2009 anime ^^;; A great list to check out would be on Jon's http://janaiblog.wordpress.com/. Series for this year included To Love Ru, Sora no Otoshimono,Valkyria Chronicles, K-On, Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo (Sora Kake Girl) and Chi's New Address...just to name a few.

Check out the podcast here. It will undoubtedly be added to my podcast page.

Got a favorite anime from 2009? Discuss it in the comments below of course ^^

K-ON! Season 2

2009-12-30T14:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks yet again to ANN for breaking the news on K-ON! That's right, 2010 will have yet more Moe with this second season slated for a January 20th DVD/Blu Ray release (in Japan). Still wondering when we can watch K-ON! (legally) here in the state. Fans are waiting and to the licensees...that's money down the drain. I'm all for legal downloads to continue to help the industry but if you don't give the worldwide (particularly US) fans what they want...expect the pirating to continue. Can't say I didn't warn them.

Anyways, check out the K-ON! official site here

#MoeMonday 12/28/09

2009-12-28T09:35:00.000-08:00

I'm anime blogging like a fiend today. The third (and probably final) post today is the much missed #MoeMonday (#MM) photo for the week. Enjoy and hope you all got what you wanted for Christmas.

Nendoroid Sanae Kochiya

2009-12-28T09:29:00.000-08:00

Here's another rare Nenodoroid I am lucky enough to eventually get my hands on, Nendoroid Sanae Kochiya from Touho Project. Thanks to figure manufacturer and wholesaler, Mile-stone.jp, this Japan-Only exclusive Nendoroid will be stocked by me...

Some of you might have noticed the price is up there at $60. Though the regular retail price is actually 3000 yen in Japan, even as a store owner, I wasn't able to get her at that price...but a good amount higher -_- This is the kind of figure that will probably be on eBay and other sites for $200+ down the road. That insane price you will never see me do so hopefully my price is still a bargain for such an exclusive figure.

Sanae Kochiya is the kind of anime figure where you usually ONLY see in selected shops in Japan so if you are in Japan, grab them at the better 3000 yen price before it's too late.

Check her out here for pre/order

Check out her official product page here

Nendoroid Reimu Hakurei seen here goes for a ridiculous price on eBay and other sites >-<

Black Rock Shooter Black Blade Version

2009-12-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

I'll probably be the 100th+ blogger/store promoting this figure but here's the first glimpse of the Black Rock Shooter Black Blade Version figure by Good Smile Company. I was a little hesitant to post her since Good Smile STILL has yet to get the first Black Rock Shooter to us anime retailers in the states -_-

I posted this one for pre-order but as with many of the fast selling Good Smile Company figures, expect the release date to be at least month or more from what they say. This one is also to be a 1/8th scale figure and probably will be tough to grab in a few months.

#FanServiceFriday: 12/25/09 X-Mas Edition

2009-12-25T04:00:00.000-08:00

#FanServiceFriday (#FF) today will of course be a Chrismas version. This one of course a Gurren Lagann image. Have a merry x-mas anime fans ^_^

Marvel Psylocke Bishoujo Figure

2009-12-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

Just announced today are the reserves for this beautiful Marvel Psylocke Bishoujo figure. Once again Shunya Yamashita and Kotobukia give the Marvel girls the much better and hotter looking designthan what has been done here in the states. This 1/8th scale figure won't be around tilll around April or May of 2010, so be patient.

The price in yen as you see is 6510 which with the dollar hovering at 89 yen/$..brings it to about $70-$75 retail

I did manage to post her in the store for reserve or you can email us as well to put your name on the pre-order waiting list ^_^

Return of the 1/1 Scale Gundam!

2009-12-23T08:02:00.000-08:00

This bit of news is a Christmas present for ALL gundam fans. Remember the 1/1 scale Gundam built in Odaiba a few months back to commemorate the Gundam 30 year anniversary (and try to get Japan in for the Olympics)?
Well, it's coming back!
Yep, ANN is reporting that the Gundam will be rebuilt at Bandai's plastic factory in Shizuoka and will stand between July of 2010 and May 2011 (hey..why do they have to take it down? -_-)

The statue brought over a million visitors in it's brief time up so, as long as we treat the thing like the Japanese Statue of Liberty, expect it to be a staple on the landscape.

Poison Bootleg Anime Products

2009-12-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

This is very important news to all who buy anime products! The evil bootleg anime product makers have gone too far this time...

As some of you may know, bootleg anime products is a major problem in the industry. Good Smile Company, Kotobukiya, Square-Enix figures are constantly being bootlegged by cheap Hong-Kong/Chinese factories. Same goes for popular jewelry and accessory items from big hit series like Bleach, Naruto and Death Note.

As of late yesterday, my main wholesaler, AAAanime.com put out a notice they received from Viz about recently recalled products. The products were not that of Viz or their licensees GE Animation and Great Eastern, but from the stupid bootleggers, Team Work Trading.

The issue? Well, what's been a problem in many cheap Chinese factories? LEAD POISONING.

That's right, if you have bought these horrible copies from a bootleg seller on eBay, at a con, online, or anywhere else...GET RID OF THEM!

Please note that my company, Chuck's Anime Shrine does NOT and will NOT sell ANY bootleg items. My company is a legit anime business and is registered with only the real suppliers in the industry (AAAanime.com, Diamond Comics, YesAnime.com and Mile-Stone.jp).

ALL Naruto, Bleach, Death Note accessories that I might sell in my main store, Amazon and eBay branches are the legit, non-toxic GE Animation/Great Eastern products.

Check out the whole message on AAAanime.com and the official recall on http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10049.html

If you see anyone on eBay selling this crap...report the listing and the seller right away.

#FanServiceFriday: 12/18/09 - Louise

2009-12-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

#FanServiceFriday (#FF) post this week is this rather sexy fan art of The Familiar of Zero's Louise.

Iron Man 2 Trailer

2009-12-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, not exactly anime related but hey, I'm certain most of you are eager to see Iron Man 2. The trailer has just been released and many fans are happy to see that it'll star Black Widow, being played by Scarlett Johansson. The role of Whiplash is Mickey Rourke while the role of War Machine (pictured above) is now Don Cheadle (instead of Terrence Howard).

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow

The now out-of-production Yamashita Black Widow anime figure

You might also notice that the Afro Samurai himself, Samuel L. Jackson is playing the role of Nick Fury.

See, I connected anime somehow ^^;.

To view the trailer, click the link above.

#MoeMonday 12/14/09

2009-12-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

#MoeMonday (#MM) is back with this week's moe anime post. This image a wonderfully moe image of K-On!'s Mio. This one is a keeper.

Last Minute X-Mas Anime Figures

2009-12-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas is almost here and before you know it, it'll be 2010, too. Some of you might know that the anime figure business doesn't always match up with the holiday season. A large amount of new figures don't seem to get released to the states until around January or early February. Why? I'm not sure, but luck would have it that I'm actually getting a LARGE shipment of both new and even long out-dated figures. Some figures were scheduled for late January/February 2010...but are actually running early ^^...

They won't be in until around Thursday December 17th but with X-mas just two weeks away, I'd think it would be best to get the word out so they can be shipped asap to make it for x-mas day. Here's a list of them:
(* means the item is an out of production/ hard to find figure)

Burst Angel: Sei Swimsuit 1/8 Scale Figure
Candy Boy: Kanade Sakurai 1/8 Scale Figure
Candy Boy: Yukino Sakurai 1/8 Scale Figure
Evangelion: Rei Ayanami RAH 12" Action Figure (2.0 You Can (Not) Advance) (Rebuild of Evangelion)
*Familiar of Zero: Nekomimi Louise 1/8 Scale Figure
Familiar of Zero: Tifania 1/7 Scale Figure
*Fate/Stay Night: Saber Casual Wear Figma Action Figure
*Fate/Stay Night: Saber Non-Scale Figma Action Figure
*Fate/Stay Night: Shiro Emiya Casual Wear Figma Action Figure
*Haruhi: Haruhi Suzumiya Cheerleader Ver. Figma
*Haruhi: Haruhi Suzumiya School Uniform Figma Action Figure
*Haruhi: Haruhi Suzumiya Summer Clothes Figma Action Figure
*Haruhi: Mikuru Asahina Cheerleader Ver. Figma Action Figure
*Haruhi: Mikuru Asahina Fighting Waitress Figma Action Figure w/ Kyon Reindeer Head
*Haruhi: Mikuru Asahina School Uniform Figma Action Figure
*Haruhi: Yuki Nagato School Uniform Figma Action Figure
Ikki Tousen: Kanu Unchou Nekomimi Pastel Blue Ver. 1/7 Scale
K-ON! - Tsumugi Kotobuki Mobip Action Figure
K-ON! - Yui Hirasawa Mobip Action Figure
Lucky Star: Kagami Hiiragi Summer Uniform Non-Scale Figma Action Figure w/ Misao Kusakabe Head
*Lucky Star: Miyuki Takara Winter School Uniform Non-Scale Figma Action Figure
*Nendoroid: Vocaloid - Miku Hatsune Action Figure
Persona 3: Aigis (Aegis) Figma Action Figure
Red Stone: Lancer 1/7 Scale Figure
Sengoku Rance: Sill Plain Ani Statue Figure
*Vocaloid2: Len Kagamine Action Figure Figma
*Vocaloid2: Rin Kagamine Action Figure Figma

...phew; that's a huge list. Some might not have the links posted; that's either because they sold out or I just didn't get to list them yet ^^;; If you want anything, you can shop through the store or email me what you'd like.

Don't fret, ALL are the real deal. No bootlegs on my watch -_-

Pardon the rather commercial post this time but I thought letting you guys know I'm getting THIS many figures in before Christmas would be something you'd all want to know about.

Member's Anime Blog Update - Google Wave Invites

2009-12-11T13:45:00.000-08:00

I see that finally after a long time, there is some movement in the Member's Blog. Thank you all who are starting to write there. Over time I will link up the member posts with their relevant topic sites. For example, the anime figures page will have member's posts about figures as well to help gain more exposure and make it worth it to post here.

The contest for the Free Nendoroid Kureha Figure is still going due to the long time it took to get even just these few posts. Once enough people post (~10+), I'll do the very hard task of choosing the winner. I'll also sweeten the deal by giving out Google Wave invites to all those who post. Not sure if Google Wave is really that hard to get now but either way, I'll add that for all who post on the blog.

Also, the member's rules got updated a bit. You CAN link to ecchi/sexy anime sites but be sure to warn people of the links and you can write a post as big as you want and post a good amount of images too. I can use the "fullpost html span" trick to shorten the post on the main blog/archives screen or eventually have it automated; so blog to your heart's content ^_^

#FanServiceFriday 12/11/09

2009-12-11T06:43:00.000-08:00

Another week and another #FanServiceFriday (#FF) post. Been getting fans asking for images that were more NSFW. I have to keep a bit of restraint but ok; here's an Ikki Tousen image that is NSFW but not too ecchi...well,sort of ^^;;;.

Miku Hatsune VN02 Mix Figure

2009-12-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

Opened my email to one of my suppliers in Japan this morning and this Miku figure woke me up. The Miku Hatsune VN02 Mix Figure by Good Smile Company (& Max Factory) is a sight to behold. If some of you were keeping track of recent Wonfest news, this might not be new to you but for the rest of us who haven't seen this figure, she's a work of art. At first glance, she's not the Moe Miku we are use to but still, this is bound to be one of those very hard to find figures that GSC will probably quickly run out of from the demand (like Black Rock Shooter & Saber Lily).

Like Black Rock Shooter, she'll be shooting a hole in your pocket for a 1/8th scale figure at around 12,800 yen (or ~$160USD....damn you weak US economy -_-). Her expected release date is around late June of 2010 but expect her to be out later than that as with..ahem....Black Rock Shooter taking her sweet time to get here on US shores.

I have her in the store for pre-order but you can also email us to be put on a waiting list. As with many of the official Good Smile Figures, expect the date of release to be later. If we say you are getting it, unless something terrible happens...you will have a figure reserved for you.

Anyways, take a look at some more images of this awesome figure, provided by the Good Smile page created by none other than Danny Choo.

Nendoroid: Fate Testarossa The Movie 1st Ver. Figure

2009-12-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

Recently added the Nendoroid: Fate Testarossa The Movie 1st Ver. Figure to the store for pre-order and with in no time been getting requests to reserve her for when she comes out. A cute figure indeed, this figure is based off of Fate Testaroassa in the up coming Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st anime that'll be in Japanese theaters. Thought I'd blog about her not just because she's absolutely adorable, but this one might be another one of those Nendoroids that become unavailable and then some crook on eBay sells them for $80+ -_-. So, I'm just getting the word out there before her release date of somewhere around May/June 2010

I only have 3 reservations available (as of the time of this blog post) but until December 15th (or until Good Smile runs out of reserves) I could maybe increase that number. As with all pre-orders on my site, you can either pay for the pre-order in the store or ask to be on the waiting list. If I say you are on the list; I guarantee to get you one, so none of that "you may not get one" crap you see at other anime stores.

As of late however (like with the Mio nendoroid -_-) Good Smile Company does seem to delay their official release dates so please, please, please don't quote me on the release date as being exact. Good Smile comes out with the best anime figures but sady, us US anime store retailers are sometimes the last to second to last to get them in. The ETA on my store is what "ETA" means, "Estimated Time of Arrival" There are times Nendoroid figures like Fate, Mio, Saber, etc come out earlier or later than what Good Smile says they will but if I reserve one for you, they are guaranteed by my wholesalers (aaaanime.com, yesanime.com and mile-stone.jp) to come in.

Anyways, here's some more images of this oh so cute Nendoroid:

#FanServiceFriday 12/4/09

2009-12-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

Once again continuing the #FanServiceFriday, (#FF) trend this week with a very adequate Ikki Tousen image for those who feel sick. Apparently everyone around me is getting sick but so far...so good. Must be my healthy energy drinks (shameless plug) keeping me from the swine flu and other terrible fall/winter bugs.

Hopefully health care reform goes through; the Ikki Tousen girls will probably get their LPNs in nursing for the job ^^. They surely will get those sick back on their feet in no time ^^;;

#MoeMonday 11/30/09

2009-11-30T11:42:00.000-08:00

Can't forget about #MoeMonday (#MM) The trend continues today with another wonderfully Moe image; the very Moe Nagisa Furukawa from Clannad.

Afufu.net 2009 Anime Awards

2009-11-30T10:02:00.000-08:00

A fellow anime blogger over at afufu.net just recently told me about their annual Anime Awards. Done by the website themselves, the anime awards they do is called ANIMAF There even will be a top list of live action flicks mixed in to the bunch.

(Correction:
Afufu.net won't start the awards until March, 2010, after the Oscars and will only feature anime movies and live action movies (not series and OVAs) My apologies for the quick read through the site ^^;; Either way though, let me know of your favorite anime movies/series for the past ten years that deserve some sort of reward)

Since the year (and decade) is coming to an end, which anime series you feel should get the top choice of the year or even, the decade? Didn't get to see many that came out this year (only FMA: Brotherhood and been buying older box sets ^^;;) but I'd gladly nominate Romeo X Juliet as one of the best anime series of at least the past 5 years.

Feel free to make a list of your faves in the comments.

Gundam Christmas Tree

2009-11-27T15:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, that's not exactly how the tree looks (image pending), but in the spirit of the holidays, yes there will actually be a Gundam Christmas Tree.

The news comes from Anime News Network today and here's a quick summery if you don't wish to view the post directly.

There is a 5 meter (~16 foot) tall tree full of Gundam figures that will be lit up on December 3rd in the heart of the anime world; yep you guessed it, in the otaku shopping district of Akihabara.

It's actually to commemorate the release of the new Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus PSP game and the actual flipping of the switch will be done by none other than Amuro Ray's voice actor, Tohru Furuya.

Being that I'm on Long Island, I have the privilege to go check out the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree in NYC but...this year, I'd gladly like to switch spots with someone in Japan of course.

(As for the image above...it's what you think it is, me doing a cheap and quick photoshop image ^^;;)

#FanServiceFriday 11/27/09

2009-11-27T03:30:00.000-08:00

Continuing again the #FanServiceFriday (#FF) trend with this lovely picture. Today is Black Friday and many of you were prbably up earlier than this early blog post. The anime girl in this picture didn't want to get up for the Black Friday rush and is still all cosy in bed. She will probably just shop online this holiday season.

Not the Typical Black Friday Post

2009-11-25T14:17:00.000-08:00

Hey anime fans. Ok, you guys have probably had enough with the darn Black Friday promos going on. The economy created such a fear in the hearts of retailers that they are going to great (and stupid) efforts this year to sap you of any money. One very crazy and very desperate maneuver comes from the monopoly-hungry Walmart where they plan on being open all 24 hours of Thanksgiving!

My thoughts and prayers go to the workers of that and any retail location being open on a day that you should be with family. For Walmart workers, it's bad enough they have to deal with their typical customers on a daily basis, let alone the insanity of missing Turkey Day because some overly-scared marketing department has a bad case of we-don't-know-anything-better-to-do.

My inbox has gotten way too many "door buster deals" posts and it's only the Wednesday before the big weekend! Put on the radio, the TV, hell, watch your favorite anime on Hulu and you are bound to run into these crazy ads.

The point of my rather tongue-in-cheek post today is to say that you should spend some quality time with family. They might not be there the next day and thus take the time out to smell the roses and enjoy the holiday season, even if you are religious or not. Go buy gifts for your family and fellow otaku but remember the internet is probably a better place to be than the insanity of the malls. If you are working hard this weekend, try to keep your sanity. If you are to take on the holiday rush...be sure to respect those who are probably missing out on family time with all the most dire respects..and even defend them from the creatures that might roam the malls and stores this holiday season. As you guys know, I'm a retailer too and I'm not in any rush like the others are so make sure to be cool and not to fret.

...oh and as for those who are wondering if I'm to create a Black Friday deal...yes, I am. Keeping it short and simple (as it should be). *Starting Friday, (or sooner) until the end of Cyber Monday, ALL US orders have FREE shipping in my main store (here on this site) For my friends overseas; orders that go for $25+ shipping have been dropped to a flat $15 rate. Whether its for a pre-order item that doesn't come out for months or something I currently have..the deal goes.* Again, short and simple.

Ok, so I made a Black Friday pitch...but like the post says...it ain't a typical one.

(Anime Autumn wallpaper from http://blog.ephemeraleternity.com)

#MoeMonday 11/23/09

2009-11-23T05:47:00.000-08:00

Once again continuing the #MoeMonday (#MM) trend by posting up this wonderfully cute moe image. This is indeed an image of Haruhi Suzumiya's Yuki Nagato. More specifically it's a Neko Yuki image.

Mainichi Daily News App (Anime Newspaper from Japan)

2009-11-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

I was recently introduced to Mainichi Daily News. Of course I so need to get my knowledge of kanji up to speed but for those of you who can read Japanese kanji and want to read from a Japanese newspaper about anime, manga, games and other goodies straight from the Land of The Raising Sun, then the "Mantanbroad" and "Mantan Collection" iPhone apps might be good additions to your collection. Some artists involved with these apps include:

Inomata Mutsumi (Tales of Series)
Kozaki Yusuke
KEI (of Hatsune Miku fame)
POP (Moetan)
HAKUA UGETSU (BAKURETSU TENSHI)
ISHIWATARI DAISUKE (GUILTY GEAR series)
AYAKURA JU (Okami to Koshinryo)

The Mantanbroad is the actual newpaper while the Mantan Collection app is a gallery game and other features. Search "Mantan" in the app store and you'll find them ^_^

#FanServiceFriday 11/20/09

2009-11-20T05:51:00.000-08:00

Here's another #FanServiceFriday (#FF) pic for the week. The ever so pretty Blanc Neige in her famous pose. This image also became a figure as well.

Touhou Project Figures

2009-11-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

Got a wonderful early Christmas present in my email a few days back. My store was given the rights to sell the official Good Smile Company/Max Factory Toho (Touhou) Project figures! That's correct, I'll be stocking the very rare Figma Reimu Hakurei and Nendoroid Marisa Kirisame figures! Much like the recent Saber Lily Good Smile Company figure, these figures will be so hard to get that even in Japan there will be slim pickings. Just one glance over at eBay and you'll notice that their pre-orders are going for $80 and over. I'm not a thief like them so I'm keeping the price based on my costs ^^.

As a side note, those pre-sales and practically all anime figure pre-orders on eBay are actually against eBay rules since the figures must be able to be shipped out 30 days after purchase...so go ahead and report those guys if you want. Many of the pre-order figures on there are either fakes and/or won't come out for another 3-4 months -_- In other words, expect these to be highly bootlegged so choose your seller wisely. My wholesaler directly in Japan, mile-stone.jp were the ones who helped me out with this and of course once they come in (which should be either January or ~February of 2010) I will gladly show images of the boxes with the appropriate stickers that show their authenticity.

#MoeMonday 11/16/09

2009-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Continuing the #MM, #MoeMonday trend this week with this very cute picture. Make sure you use the new comment system or be cursed with moe cutness.

Sushipedia - Sushi Lover's iPhone App

2009-11-15T15:02:00.000-08:00

I'm a major sushi lover and I'd bet most of you are. This wonderful iPhone app is an encyclopedia of sushi. Sushi is very varied category of food and caters to those who either are vegetarians/vegan (sweet potato roll, avocado roll, etc), those who are fish lovers of course, those who like something fried (shrimp tempura roll) and even those who want to cheat death by eating the deadly Fugu Fish x_x

Though I tend to poke fun at the disfunction that is Eastern Long Island, there have been a number of really good sushi places popping up in recent time and this app lets me have a nice detailed view, history and description of what each type of sushi is before I shell out the $ at these places. There is even a place called Sushi Park about 10 miles away from my house that is an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet that will only run you about $15 a person ^^. This app keeps me hungry for those wonderful maki rolls, which is better than being hungry for a fastfood burger ^^;; The app is call Sushipedia and is free so check it out.

New Comment System

2009-11-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

For a while I have been trying to create a comment system that would be useful, display avatars, allow YouTube clips to be posted in-comment as well as the ability to reply to comments. Thankfully that came a bit easy with the Google Friend Connect comment gadget. It allows all of that as well as the ability to sign in via Google, AIM, openID and until any spam rolls in, I'll continue to allow anonymous comments too. Sadly, the old google Blogger comment system that was on the site had to be commented out (haha, get it?) and any previous comments are no longer visible. The old comment system was a bit of a bore and thus not many comments were on there in the first place. I also did the same for anime.fm and charlesgaffney.com. The coding for this comment system, like most of the stuff with google is open-source and internet wide so expect more customizations but at least all comments will be kept here for good on the site....of course unless it's spam.

Final Fantasy XIII Official US Release Date

2009-11-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

Mark 3/9/10 in your calendars my fellow US Final Fantasy fans, just got a letter from Square-Enix as well as saw a fan post on dannychoo.com about the official release date of Final Fantasy XIII. Been waiting for the game for so long of course and as with any FF game, it probably is worth the wait. As most of you know, it'll be on the PS3 and the Xbox 360. I'm still going with my plan to buy the PS3..gotta watch the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete BluRay of course ^^.

The FFXIII figures come out around the time too, so it was bit expexted that March would be the time we'd see it.

#FanServiceFriday 11/13/09

2009-11-13T06:24:00.000-08:00

Keeping the #FanServiceFriday (#FF) trend going this week with an ecchi Yoko image. Not the most provocative of Yoko but one that's at least somewhat safe for work ^^;

Otaku Energy Drinks

2009-11-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, admit it, we all drink energy drinks. Some of us (me) drink them like coffee. I have sampled many of the multitude of drinks out there. Most of course are simply liquid sugar with Taurine and caffeine. Many of us love these sugary drinks and some of them come in versions that us anime/video game fans love. As you see in the image there's the Domo drink and the Naruto drink and not pictured is the DBZ Super Saiyan drink I blogged about a while ago. For too long I didn't stock any one of them, but today that has changed. Eventually I will stock the array of drinks with our favorite characters slapped on it but since late 2004...I've actually been selling energy drinks with XS Energy Drink ^^;;, the drink some of you might have seen in the hands of the Orlando Magic during the last NBA Finals. Reason for the long wait was because it was one of those deals where I couldn't sell beyond person-to-person, but since I own my anime store here as a legal business entity, I have the rights to add them to the online store.

Just take a glance on over at the store and you will see a few of the many flavors they have (yes an energy drink that actually has more than citrus and sorta-still-citrus flavors)... like green tea and cherry cola. These aren't the sugar filled guys and they were the first healthy (but taste very good) energy drinks that started around 2001-2002. They are mainly drop shipped to save people on the shipping plus orders of them netting $75 is actually free shipping. Doesn't mean I won't have them on hand too, to accommodate those wary of drop shipping.

Anyways, before I make this post seem too much like an ad ^^;;, just check the new energy drink section out yourself and you can always ask me questions on them; back a few years ago I was practically an expert on them.

Shunya Yamashita's Ikki Tousen Ryomou Shimei Figure

2009-11-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

Just got word of this figure being put on reserves for pre-order. Like many, I'm a fan of the Shunya Yamashita figures. This one is most definitely one to add to the list, it just might cost much more than the usual ones though ^^;; At about 15,000 yen (~$170) it'll put a hole in the wallet, yet it looks to be worth it if you are looking for a larger Yamashita figure. This version of Ryomou Shimei will be a 1/6th scale so expect it to take up some shelf space. Not sure yet if I'll be stocking a bunch of her in the store but I'll see what I can do. She won' be around till around March in Japan and thus around April in the states so there is some time to save up your money for her...as long as you don't spend it all this x-mas season.

#MoeMonday 11/9/09

2009-11-09T05:43:00.000-08:00

The #MM trend for us anime fans is #MoeMonday. To continue the trend of showing off moe images on Monday, here is this image of the week, a very moe image of Miku Hatsune. Her Nendoroid figure is actually coming out again and I'll more than likely nab a few for the store and I think I better keep one for myself this time ^^;;

Romeo X Juliet

2009-11-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

A few days back I finally got to see the entire Romeo X Juliet series and all the hype was indeed true...and then some. I won't create a story-detailed review since god knows there are a ton of them already since the series came out in 2007 and I don't want to give away anything either if you haven't seen this. This anime is something that becomes a wonderful experience for those who chose not to read up on anything beforehand. Romeo X Juliet, wonderfully animated by Gonzo and obviously taken from William Shakespeare's play is exactly what it states it is, an anime adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.
I have of course read the original play and chances are many of you have since it's the bragging child of any artsy, fartsy European-enthusiast thespian teacher; which there are alot of in our public schools here.

At first glance, one might think it's very detached from the original story but make no haste in that assumption; before you watch this, think of it as the events that inspired Shakespeare to write the play and that will make this gem all the more sweeter. Shakespeare being a character in the story itself is a cleaver little twist in which makes my prior sentence true...plus he's a damn funny character with the others poking fun at his plays that have too much art and little substance (something I've told my English teachers ad nauseam).

All 24 episodes are stunning in story, art (duh, it's anime), and execution. Throughout it your emotions pour out to the characters and the hatred of royalty and elite society I most definitely felt but in both a truly artistic way and very anime-styled way, you see the very human force that undermines both classes of people in Neo Verona and toward the end, we see hidden forces that overshadow all that was going on in the first place. It won't be till the very end that you feel the whole emotional brunt of this stunning anime, so watch all the way till the end. The Lena Park version of "You Raise Me Up" will indefinably bring tears to even the most unwavered hearts and FUNimation with their voice talent did a stunning English dub that also can't go unrecognized.

Romeo X Juliet has made me an anime fan all over again and I'll go as far as saying that this will probably be remembered as the best anime series of the decade.

Check out the opening and ending below and be sure to support Gonzo and FUNimation by buying the box sets of this; trust me, you will not be disappointed. (I might be able to supply the box sets through my store for the x-mas season)

For more info on the music of Romeo X Juilet, check out my post on anime.fm.

Romeo X Juliet Opening

First Ending Sequence

#FanServiceFriday 11/6/09

2009-11-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

#FanServiceFriday is the twitter #FF trend for us anime fans. To continue the trend, here's this week's (Akikan) image.

Anime Store Feed

2009-11-04T06:05:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, I own an anime store and its an anime store run with an OsCommerce back-end. OsCommerce is frankly a do-it-yourself kind of set up. One rather important thing it originally didn't have was an rss feed for people to keep track of the newest figures, figure pre-orders and other anime products that get placed in the store. RSS feeds are obviously much better in automating the updates and making it easier for you guys to see if anything changes on a daily basis without having to go to the store's main page everyday (though I of course wouldn't mind that either ^_-). I took away the rather useless amazon product links that (sometimes) linked to my items on amazon.com to now have this feed. I also put it up on the new anime.fm page. OsCommerce does have a bunch of programmers that post up useful add-ons but as usual, I had to completely re-code the supposedly working add-ons to match my site -_- So lots of time was actually put into what should have been a quick deal.

Anyways, be sure to subscribe to it to keep up to date. You never know what figures, etc I might have up for pre-order or order ^_^

Ar Tonelico 3

2009-11-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Excited to find out yesterday about Ar Tonelico 3. In case you aren't familiar with the Ar Tonelico series, think of them as a mix between a dating sim and an RPG with similar dynamics to Valkyrie Profile. At the same time the art work is amazing thus making it an anime fan's dream. Hardcore gamers might not have been too fond of the previous installments due to the large amounts of dialog (with very cute 2D girls), and old-school in-game graphics, but so far the series has delivered and the 3rd installment looks to be even better. This one is a leap ahead with cell shaded 3D graphics and looks to utilize more Action RPG commands. I'd expect it to eat up 70+ hours of my time like Ar Tonelico 2 has done (which I still need to finish). Like many good things coming from Japan soon, it won't hit stores in Japan till January and thus won't be in the states till spring or so. Right now...it's just a great piece of eye candy for us.

Dragon Ball Headphones

2009-11-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting piece of electronics I saw over at mile-stone.jp. Looks like in January or February we can get our hands on some Dragon Ball head phones, yep add headphones to the array of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z items that are out there. Based on the page, they will go for about 3440 yen or roughly $40-$45. Unless I really get started on some of that voice-over work, I probably will keep using my small ear-bud headphones.

#MoeMonday 11/2/09

2009-11-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

The #MM trend for us anime fans is #MoeMonday. To continue the trend of showing off moe images on Monday, here is this image of the week, the girls of K-on. They are making us here in NY wish it would be summer again soon -_-

#FanServiceFriday 10/30/09

2009-10-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

#FanServiceFriday is the twitter #FF trend for us anime fans. To continue the trend, here's this week's image. This one is moe too ^_^

(sorry for posting this a bit early before ^^;;)

Michelle Phan: Sailor Moon Cosplay Makeup

2009-10-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

Many of you probably know Michelle Phan. For those who don't, she's a famous youtuber who also is an avid gamer and a big anime fan. Her typical videos consist of makeup and skin care tips and in a video she posted about four days prior to this post, make-up and cosplay tips for those want to look like a very well done Sailor Moon.

Check out her video below...and be sure to subscribe ^_^

(A little bit of info, (and sorta shameless plug ^^;) Danielle and I actually do have a store through the makeup/skincare company, Artistry that you can ask us for help on as well as purchase of material for any of your cosplay needs. You can also support Michelle Phan and her sponsors, IQQU or just use what you are accustomed too ^^)

#MoeMonday

2009-10-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Here's another Twitter trend for anime fans you guys to maybe start up. There is #MusicMonday but for us...I'd say we start #MoeMonday. Like #FanServiceFriday where we tweet and post fan service pictures on Fridays, Moe Monday is for those cute Moe images in anime we love so much ^_^ Here's an image of Lucky Star's Tsukasa Hiiragi to get things started.

K-ON! Akiyama Mio Original Costume Ver. [Movic]

2009-10-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

Just saw this wonderful Mio figure posted for reserve from one of my store's wholesalers mile-stone.jp Looks like it will be coming out in Japan some time in January.
For me in the states...probably later -_- but we'll see.

I will post to the store the instant I can officially reserve her for US sales

She's a 1/8th scale figure and will retail for 7140 JPY (~$85)

Big thanks to eyeonasia for most of the pics.

#FanServiceFriday

2009-10-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

For those who use Twitter, a common Friday post the trend called Follow Friday or #ff to show off people on twitter we think are cool and deserve following. I thought up of an anime equivalent called #FanServiceFriday. It's a way for us to post moments in anime when either a bad anime tries to redeem itself or a good anime adds that icing on the cake. Those nosebleed-worthy moments are part of the anime culture and I say we should get this trend started ^_^

(Note: I'll keep my fan service posts only on a PG-13 or less level as for PR reasons and to keep my twitter and other accounts safe from being banned ^^;;

Also, I wish I could take credit for this but about 6 days ago the first notion of #FanServiceFriday on twitter was by user @alainchristian. Also, the anime blog moggling.com every Friday has a Fan Service Friday post (like the picture above))

My twitter name is @princetrunks btw ^^

Rogue Bishoujo Figure: Long Coat Version

2009-10-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

Kotobukiya is making something special for Rogue fans. Just when you thought the Shunya Yamashita Rogue was really cool, they go and make a limited edition one. This version, the "Long Coat PX Exclusive" will be limited to just 1000 figures made. Personally, I'm just fine with the regular version but for fans that might miss out on this hot selling figure, this could be your chance. Don't expect a Pre-Christmas release though, since she's scheduled for an official US release in late January -_-

I will be stocking some for the store, so you can pre-order her here or just email me that you want to reserve one.

I hope to see more figures done with Koto and Yamashita soon.

Anime Pic of the Day 10/13/09: Tifa Fan Art

2009-10-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a classic Tifa Fan art from years ago. Not sure of the artist to this day sadly, would love to give him/her credit for this picture. This picture has a special meaning since it was this image and a picture of Trunks that were the first images to grace this site back in March of 2002. Tifa has always been my favorite anime/videogame girl and will continue to be but of course I have other favorites.

Otaku USA

2009-10-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

Today I came home to a great surprise. Got a free copy of the December 2009 issue of Otaku USA Magazine. Why did I get a free copy? Well, that's because you'll find us in the magazine ^_^.

Ok well, not exactly a story on us (yet), but on page 117 you will see a banner for this site and the store. Very exciting and this issue of Otaku USA has lots of good stuff, particularly about Clamp (duh) and all the series Clamp is responsible for like the recent Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and who can't forget Card Captor Sakura and Chobits? Just browsing through I saw a very cool article too on the beginnings of anime with stuff that would make Gigantor look new.

I know many of you miss NewType being in the states but Otaku USA is probably the biggest anime magazine in the country with over 300,000 subscribers and can be found at many news stations and even at Walmarts. Been trying to get an ad together for them for some time now and hopefully this won't be the last time our banner is in there as well as hopes of being in there in an article. I am responsible for a BusinessWeek article so it's only a matter of time ^_^

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood English Cast

2009-10-08T08:16:00.000-07:00

Just got a message from FUNimation that they got the English voice dubbing cast together for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. As of two days ago I finally got the chance to sit down and watch the series on the FUNimation youtube channel and I have to say...the series looks awesome! Here's the list as per FUNi:

Edward Elric - Vic Mignogna
Alphonse Elric - Maxey Whitehead
Roy Mustang - Travis Willingham
Winry Rockbell - Caitlin Glass
Lust - Laura Bailey
Gluttony - Chris Cason
Maes Hughes - Sonny Strait
Scar - J Michael Tatum
Fuhrer King Bradley - Ed Blaylock
Riza Hawkeye - Colleen Clinkenbeard
Louis Armstrong - Christopher Sabat
Isaac McDougal - Bryan Massey
Envy - Wendy Powell
Jean Havoc / ADR Director - Mike McFarland

The names in red are the new voice actors and you cn see that Scar and Alphonse are new actors and the main role of Edward Elric is yet again being done by Vic Mignogna. Met Vic once and he's actually very friendly to the fans and cosplays at conventions...he's not short though like Edward ^^;

For those who somehow haven't heard of this new FMA series. It's a remake of the series that goes more to the manga than the original series did.

Mirai Suenaga Anime

2009-10-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

Dannychoo.com's Mascot Mirai Suenaga is getting an anime based on her and her sisters! Called "Mirai no Mirai", the anime looks like it will be beautifully done by the artist K L. No set time yet on it's release date but I'm adding it to my watch list for sure. Big congrats to Danny Choo yet again for having his site mascot not only have a figure coming out based on her...but an anime too ^o^ Damn Danny, me and other fans out there I'm sure would love the same for their sites and own characters. Once again, thanks for blazing the trail (and making all of us all the more jealous ^^;)

Check Danny's post about it here.

Inuyasha: The Final Act is LIVE!

2009-10-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

Inuyasha the Final Act JUST got live on Hulu.com! The first episode is called Naraku's Heart. Inuyasha is officially back guys!

Watch it below or check it out on Hulu

Bleach Figures

2009-10-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

Alpha Omega just announced for pre-order these very great looking Bleach figures. The Neriel one of course catches the eyes ^^;; It's of course Neriel in her (nose-bleed worthy) transformed state. The second figure, looking just as true to the series is the Sarugaki Hiyori figure (shown below). They retail for about $70-$80USD and will be out in the land of the rising sun by some time in February. I haven't got word from my suppliers AAAanim e.com and yesanime.com about the US release for my store but I'm more than likely going to reserve a few for any of you to get your hands on. Chances are though..it will take till around March or so before they get here to the states -_-

Tifa Cosplay

2009-10-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a little surprise for you all, my loyal readers. Thanks to the Cosprints.com, may I present you all with professional photos of my fiancee, Danielle cosplaying as Advent Children Tifa. Since she's part Japanese, she holds a decent look to Tifa in my opinion (and definitely Yuna too ^^) These were taken at the New York Anime Fest this past weekend. I might even change the cosplay image on the front page to her now ^_^

(glad to have my site back after yesterday's shut down ^^;;)
Here's a video she put up too ^^

Cencoroll

2009-10-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend the anime movie, Cencoroll was premiered at the NY Anime Festival. Though I was there, due to the insane crowding of the event in general, it was hopeless to even try to stand in there -_-. I didn't mind this too much though since seeing such chaos shows that there is still and will always be life in the anime industry.

The movie is the brain-child of Atsuya Uki who does the daunting task (yet what we all kinda want to do) of writing, designing, directing, and animating most of the anime. It's based off his manga, Amon Game and many like to compare it to a mix of Evangalion and FLCL. What makes this anime rather unique, (besides the whole controlling a flying beast from inside it) is that it's an independent film that is gaining wonderful popularity, accolades and very soon....great profit. Recently even CNN was showing how anime animators are all giving the "starving artist" image with low wages, long hours and seemingly pointless projects by their employers; employers with big names (and big pockets) like Toei and others. Cencoroll seems to show what we see when passion and heart go into an animation with money not trumping those ideals and the good old ideal I hold very dearly...not being owned by a boss.

What we have seen in recent years in the anime industry is equivalent to what we see with the video game industry with a word I've said for years before it was a norm... "shovel-ware". "Shovel-ware" in the video game industry is when a big company gets a hold of a popular license and without knowing the spirit of both the industry and the license, thinks that pumping a quick game that has that license will yield the most profits, since everyone will gather to that popular name. Wonder why in God's name there are Barbie games or why most games based on movies are generally terrible? (Wonder why Dragon Ball Evolution was just an insult to all who care for anime?) Anime got great popular internationally at the beginning of the century and some studios have fallen into that trap of pumping out "shovel-ware" (example: fillers)

To see something like Cencoroll, an independent project, come to the limelight and be aided by leaders in the industry like Aniplex, it's very refreshing and makes anyone looking to make their own anime have great hope. Many of us fans of anime are into it because we were inspired by the art and culture and in no other industry do you see the fans do their best to participate, mimic and hopefully surpass their role models.

Check out the trailer to Cencoroll below.

Hyakka Ryoran: Hattori Hanzo Alter Figure

2009-10-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Update(10/17/09): Hattori Hanzo was announced for official US distribution.

Got her up for pre-order here.

Here's another figure I'm putting on my "Must Buy 0_0" list. From the series Hyakka Ryoran, aka "Samurai Girls" comes this recently announced figure of Hattori Hanzo. She won't be in till around March in Japan (April or later in the states -_-) but this figure is on my watch list for sure. If I can nab a few for my store, you'll see here up there. She retails for about 9240 yen or about $105 USD, is made by Alter and is a 1/8th scale, so roughly 220mm.

My God don't go anywhere near her if she spins...that'll be instant death

MOFILM Fan Ad Competition (Contest Winners Shown)

2009-09-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

(update:)
Here are the winners of this contest:

First place winner: "stop ignoring your skin" by Jeff Gill

Second place runner up: "Busy Life Healthy Skin" by Adam Montoya

Third place runner up: "Vaseline" by Alexandria Jackson

Are you an aspiring movie maker? I know many of us anime fans are if AMVs are any hint of it. Well, got some cool news to share to you from my friends over at RocketXL and MOFILM.
Some of you might know about the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival that's in October. MOFILM and Vaseline want you to possibly win a trip to the Film Festival as well as get a hold of $10,000. Here's the details:

"Vaseline MEN has forged an exciting partnership with MOFILM, a pioneer in sourcing user-generated content, for the "Make an Ad" Competition which offers aspiring filmmakers the chance to submit a film by October 5 for the chance to win these amazing prizes:

- 1st Place prize is US $10,000 and a trip for two people to attend this year's London Film Festival, including airfare and lodging! - 2nd Prize: US $500 - 3rd Prize: US $500

Vaseline has created a creative brief around its Vaseline MEN Fast Absorbing Body & Face lotion that it is uniquely designed to fortify men's skin to make it stronger and more resilient, in just :15 seconds a day. Interested participants can download the creative brief, already available, at the MOFILM website http://www.mofilm.com/competitions/lff2009/terms to create a 90-second advertisement on the brief and upload it to the MOFILM website before the closing date of October 5.

The competition is open to anyone over the age of 16, with awards and prizes to be selected by a brand representatives and a distinguished group of independent judges.

You can also follow @MOFILMvaseline on Twitter for updates from Vaseline MEN and can tweet any questions about the brief or program directly to the brand."

Check this out guys. Who knows, your clip might be the one to win..just don't do the AMV route and put copyrighted material ^^;;

Inuyasha: The Final Act (updated)

2009-09-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

(Update 10/3/09): The first episode airs very soon on Hulu.com! Check the trailer below. The instant it goes up, I'll get it here on the site ^_^

Great news for Inuyasha fans! Soon there finally will be closure to the anime series! The 26 episode sequel series called Inuyasha: The Final Act will be airing in Japan starting October 3rd. The story continues where the last series ended and will complete the story remaining in 21 manga volumes. Viz of course will be buying the rights here in the US, not sure if Cartoon Network will drop the ball again and miss out on yet another big series, but at least we'll see it finally come to a conclusion. Hopefully I'll resurrect my old Inyasha section into the new format of my site by then ^^;; This is also great info for those who have been bugging me about the supposed OVA that was to happen. This I'm pretty sure is what it has evolved into.

More news can be read at Anime News Network

(still wondering why I'm getting the cold shoulder from @ANNZac there. I throw traffic their way; probably pissed since my site sometimes gets better SEO than they do -_-)

New York Anime Fest 2009 (Updated)

2009-09-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Well, the 2009 NY Anime Fest has come to a close. Had a great time. Going to post up some cool stuff in the days to come, including a surprise for the front page of the site ^^ You can check the Flickr feed I used while there. Tried to make it as live as possible but the darn iPhone's battery power kept things at a minimum. As for best cosplay of the event (other than my fiancee being Tifa)...check out this sick, sick Bumble Bee costume.

See NYAF pictures at the official group here.

Anime on the Tonight Show (updated)

2009-09-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

Did you guys see this yesterday? Conan O'Brien yesterday on the Tonight show was doing a skit on anime. The studio, Bang Zoom, is very popular with anime and actually will probably be at this weekend's NY Anime Fest. Like many, I'll be trying to get a chance to show my voice acting there. Check out the video below from Hulu here (skip to about 13 minutes in). Conan is introduced to anime figures and does some voice acting for Ghost in the Shell and gets a liking for anime skirts ^^;;

Below is the skit they did a few months back with Ghost in the Shell

(sorry for the initial mix up ^^;;)

NY Anime Fest LIVE (test)

2009-09-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

The time has come for the New York Anime Festival! All weekend I'm broadcasting picture tweets from my iPhone with some descriptions on what's going down. Check out what's live below:

Sign up for Loopt at www.loopt.com

After the weekend, expect some sort of recap on the convention.

Going to be at NY Anime Fest? Tweet me (@princetrunks) and I'll try to fit your news into the feed as well or hey, even meet up ^^ My fiancée will be cosplaying as Tifa, so you'll get a hint on where to find us.

SasameKisscomi: Anime iPhone Kissing Game

2009-09-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

You heard me right, there is an anime kissing game that just came out in the iPhone app store (around Wednesday). From the upcoming Yuri series, Sasameki Koto Yuri, you get to practice your kissing skills and get trained on kissing by Ushio Kazama from the series. Mainly you get scored on how you kiss the image of Kazama. What's cool is that it's FREE, works on the iPhone + iPod Touch and is made for the English market too with English subtitles for the Japanese dialog...with directions in English as well. Just search "SasameKisscomi" in the app store and be at a wifi hotspot since this is a large file and won't download in the 3G network (like anything does anyway -_-). Oh and...be sure to sanitize that iPhone before and after using the app.

gotta love the funny misspellings and grammar errors ^^;

(like I often do on my initial blog post emails ^^;;;;)

Get practicing people, especially guys; I hear too many girls complaining about bad kissing guys.

If you are a yuri fan, check out the series once it comes out in October.

Reminder About Nendoroid Kureha Contest

2009-09-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

It seems I have to remind people about this. I am giving away a FREE Nendoroid Kureha figure with this current contest. The purpose of the contest is to promote my new member's blog and to help you all link up your anime sites better....and to give a lucky reader this adorable figure.

Some of you have emailed me and got the rights to start blogging but for some odd reason...haven't made a single post! o_O You have to be in it to win it and being a co-author on this site is a step in the right direction but WON'T make you eligible to possibly win this cute figure.

For those of you who never heard of this, a few months back I created a Member's Blog. Like some other anime sites, it allows you to blog right here about say the latest anime news, your figure collection, anime rumors, etc. The need for this portion of the site comes as my blog roll that links all my fellow anime sites has gotten too large and many of you want to link in to promote your site. My site isn't as big as say Gaia or Danny Choo's yet but up until now, I've been getting 5K unique views per day at an average alexa.com ranking of 150K which is perfect for helping people visit your site...and of course a number of emails for hooking up fellow anime bloggers.

As of yesterday I even completed a deal with Otaku USA Magazine to post ads of this site and my anime store. (more on that in a future post) With 300K subscribers to that magazine, I very much expect and aim for a larger boost in traffic as to make any guest blogging here worth the effort.

Here again is how you can be a part of this contest:

Anyways, here's what you need to do to hopefully get your hands on Kureha:

Email me so I can invite you to be a writer on the Member's Blog part of this site.
Accept the invitation from google's blogger.com
From blogger.com create a blog post showing say, your otaku room, your anime figure collection, why you are into anime or something relating to anime, japan or the like.
Just one decent blog post with at least one picture is fine and gets you entered in the contest. Remember to have your blogger profile have a link to your anime site/blog so you can gain good exposure. A link at the end of your blog post is fine....just no spamming and nothing non-related to anime, japan, etc -_- .
From then you can blog to your heart's desire about say a new anime figure that came out, etc. really good or interesting posts will be promoted to the main blog, but all you need is one post to get you in the contest..the rest is just extra credit and just helps expose you and your blog. (just no more than say 3 posts a day per user)
Of course, please follow the Member's Blog rules and don't post anything beyond PG-13, pornographic, illegal, etc. Violators will be banned -_-
One winner will be chosen from the list of guest bloggers on October 3rd 2009 or once around 10 or so guest bloggers post if after the given date. (obviously now the latter seems to be what will be done)

Anime Pic of the Day 9/10/09: Starbucks Logo

2009-09-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

Had to post this one up today too. Thanks to peterpayne.net (head of the famed JList store, see I complement even my 'competition') for showing us this amazing anime logo of Starbucks. Now if they had that as the logo, you'd know they'd fix their little slump they are in (and of course cheaper coffee). I know who I'm going to for a new logo for my store ^^;;

Naruto Shippuden & Disney XD

2009-09-10T13:54:00.000-07:00

Big news today thanks to the Hollywood Reporter is that Disney completed a deal with Viz to air Naruto Shippuden in the US on Disney's XD block of programming. Cartoon Network probably did it's greatest blunder since it's canceling of Toonami and their few years of practically ignoring what got them on the map in the first place, anime.
Before I get Adult Swim fans mad at me, I'll gladly state that I like a few things from AS that are on today and I was part of the crowd that helped bring back Family Guy. Yet, as someone who's been watching CN since the days of Pokemon in 1996, the progression of Cartoon Network and the very creation of Adult Swim was due to anime...which has been forgotten and made fun of since about 2004-2005.

As an anime purest and as an anime store owner, I have strong feelings on both sides. As for marketing and for the hope of a true revival of anime in the US market, Naruto Shippuden being on Disney XD is amazing. My business will be booming and combined with Syfy channel, FUNimation channel, and The Anime Network, anime could finally not be at the butt of every joke at Williams Street and be back in the lime light. Though my friend Tiago who got me into anime, works for Willams Street (Adult Swim), the joke is really on Cartoon Network now. Like it or not, having the first Naruto series was a plus for them. Let's not forget Disney's recent acquisition of Marvel. Disney might even attract the same type of crowd and heck, maybe even the same crowd that Toonami had.

The anime purest in me though is going to be ticked off. The reason why is that we will see a well drawn (but highly fillered) series like Naruto become this kiddy, watered down US version to accommodate the kiddies on Disney. You'll see sandwiches digitally covering rice balls since the US market "won't get it" and any scene with blood and violence in Naruto will be brutally hacked or sweat will be replacing the blood. If this is the price to pay to bring back anime's popularity to the US, I guess it is a decent price to pay.

(oh, BTW, the quick Photoshop deal on that picture was me ^^;;)

Feel free to post your comments/opinions on this below.

New Anime Site Feature: Thumbnail Posts

2009-09-07T12:53:00.001-07:00

Many sites have this, the ability to post their feeds with thumbnail photos, but my God is it a pain to find out HOW to do it, even for a programmer, like me. Even more of a trouble is that my blogs are all run from my own server/sites; so, despite this being a "blogger" blog, I get no customization love from Google being that this isn't a .blogspot blog or Wordpress blog -_-

Having thumbnail recent posts and label posts looks far better than the regular text feeds we commonly see with RSS feed aggregation. Thanks to a new reworking on the feed2js by engadgeteer.com's Bryan (who btw is also an anime fan), I was able to finally automate, thumbnailed posts for my blog and their labels. Of course, I'd like to have the code be local to my own site for SEO and security purposes, but this will do for now till I work a deal with them.

Check out some of the areas I've added recent posts to, like the front page (at the bottom), here (check below), and even on sections like anime figures, cosplay and anime music. Now with this, I can bring back old sections of the site like say Final Fantasy VII Tifa's section and have all posts about Tifa show under her gallery of photos automatically. This will then be integraded with the Member's Blog for more exposure to your posts.

Speaking of the member's blog, um, some of you signed up to blog and possibly win Nendoroid Kureha but haven't posted a single post -_- You have to be in it to win it guys, and being in the contest means posting on the Member's Blog .

Thanks again engadgeteer.com and their developer, Bryan for this much needed feature.

New Anime Site Feature: Thumbnail Posts

2009-09-07T12:04:00.000-07:00