New Manga Series from Gunsmith Cats Creator


According to Anime Vice, Kenichi Sonoda is creating a new manga series called Bullet the Wizard, which makes me very excited.

Why?

Because he also created Gunsmith Cats—one of my favorite manga series of all time. It had fun, fast-paced plots that often felt like episodes from a crime drama, great art, an impressive showcase of firearms and a charming team dynamic between Rally Vincent and Minnie May. Of course, it certainly helped that Rally appeals to my particular taste in women: a smart, athletic adult who spent her time beating up bad guys and enjoyed the sound and recoil of a gunshot. Now that’s sexy.

Like Jason Bourne, but with breasts.

The “bullet” part of the title of his new series implies that he’ll be going back to the gunslinging storylines that Gunsmith Cats did so well. As for the “wizard” part, maybe he’ll be taking inspiration from Outlaw Star‘s caster shells. Or, at least, that’s what I hope he’ll do.

Bakacast 6 – Robots in Hell

That’s right, it’s the episode everyone I have been waiting for… we finally review Casshern Sins. But because even we can’t fill up an hour with Casshern discussion, we also review Venus Wars and tackle some important issues with the help of special guest Chris (aka Kagami on Project Haruhi): manga aggregationabsurd Haruhi DVD pricesthe “loli bill”, Japan’s search for new creative talent and—of course—beards.

Truly, we are the pinnacle of moe- and beard-related content. And if my script for a new slice-of-life show about lumberjacks gets green-lit, we may finally get to combine our passions!

As always, you can download the episode directly, follow our RSS feed or subscribe to us through iTunes. Head on over to our forums to discuss this episode in detail!

The music at the end is “ROBOTS” by Dan Mangan and is available for digital download on Amazon.

Manga Aggregators: I Turn My Back

I-It's not that I like you or anything, MangaHelpers! Geez!

In recent weeks there have been numerous articles all over the interweb explaining the coming demise of manga aggregator websites.  All the big hitters in manga publishing have formed a “multi-national manga anti-piracy coalition“, aiming to stem the flow of un-authorised content distribution through popular websites such as MangaHelpers, One Manga, Mangafox etc. These websites became popular with readers because of how easily they could tap into the scanlations available online, display them all together on one webpage, and as a bonus the owners could charge some ad revenue as well. Now, MangaHelpers is the latest of websites to take the cue and jump ship after threats from the anti piracy coalition to threaten offending websites with legal action. More after the jump.

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Kyoani’s Next Project is Nichijou

Kyoto Animation, the masters of all things moe, have announced their next project: an animated adaptation of Keiichi Arawi’s gag manga Nichijou.

Cover of Nichijou volume 1

Yeah, I’ve never heard of it either. Apparently it’s something of a mix between Azumanga Diaoh and Cromartie High School, featuring moeblob characters, slapstick comedy and random bouts of deer wrestling. Sounds like this series is right up Kyoani’s alley.

The announcement in Shonen Ace.

Could this be the next Lucky Star?

[Via ANN]

Galactus Is So Moe

Galacta cover

Confession time: I’m a big fan of American comics. Unfortunately, I don’t get many opportunities to talk about comics around these parts, since they’re—you know—not Japanese. But every so often, something wonderful comes along and merges things I love from the East and the West. In the case of “Galacta: Daughter of Galactus”, those two things are the Eater-of-Worlds and moe anthropomorphism.

Now, some of you who actually know who Galactus is might be saying, “But Stilts, how can he possibly have a daughter?”

To which I would respond, “There is a weird story reason for it that’s a spoiler, but it’s mainly just an excuse to turn Galactus into a cute girl with a miniskirt. Now can I continue with my review? Thanks.”

So, yeah. Galacta is the gentler, prettier half of Galactus. She’s not quite as powerful as her dad, but she’s very conscientious about only eating “exotic” biomass (translation: organisms not native to Earth). Which means the Fantastic Four don’t have to worry about threatening her with the Ultimate Nullifier. The downside of this strict diet is that she is always really really hungry.

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Yen Press Licenses Haruhi-chan Manga

Right on the heels of Bandai’s Haruhi-chan anime license announcement, Yen Press has revealed (via an unlisted YouTube video featuring the ASOS brigade) that they will be releasing the Haruhi-chan manga starting on October 26th.

Yen Press is also planning to release the K-ON! manga this winter. Don’t forget, you can watch all the Haruhi series for free on Crunchyroll, as well as win a special Haruhi virtual badge.