Gundam Unicorn Details Revealed

New details about the highly anticipated Gundam Unicorn (aka Gundam UC) adaptation, which returns to the Universal Century timeline of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, were revealed at Tokyo’s Big Gundam Expo on Friday. Unicorn has been confirmed to be an OVA series, with six 50-minute episodes, and been given a spring 2010 release date. Furthermore, Bandai will be releasing the series simultaneously worldwide (most likely online), meaning those of us in the English-speaking world will get to watch the OVA at the same time as our Japanese friends. This is the first Bandai series ever released in this fashion, so this marks a momentous event for both Gundam fans and anime fans in general.

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560,000 Attend 76th Comiket

Three days of packed, sweaty chaos at the height of the Japanese summer has seen 560,000 people pass through Tokyo Big Sight’s doors for the 76th bi-annual Comiket. According to attendance figures this number is an increase of over 10,000 people when compared to last years festival, enough to completely swamp the local public transport facilities. With recorded waiting periods of over 4 hours just to get inside, you’d certainly have to be already cashed up and ready to spend, as the extra attendance emptied every single ATM within the conference center. Cash stricken attendees inside the convention notified others of the large problem via the Twitter website.

With such mind boggling numbers over such a small time period, it seems (judging from the photos of ENORMOUS QUEUES) that you have to be very dedicated and prepared just to get in, i.e. plenty of water and your choice of folding chair and/or cushion…

–via ANN. Photo sourced from aaroninjapan09.

Aya Comes Clean on Endless Eight

It will be a few weeks before the blood temperature comes down below boiling point for dedicated fans of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Now that the contentious Endless Eight arc has ended critical people from behind the scenes are coming forward and voicing their opinions.

Aya Hirano, the popular seiyuu of Haruhi Suzumiya, has spoken out on what she thought about the decision to run Endless Eight for two whole months:

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Ponyo: Japanese Soundtrack vs. English Pop

Disney, being the marketing geniuses executive meddlers that they are, have decided to record their own pop version of the theme song from Hayao Miyazaki’s new film Ponyo. The final product, which makes use of the vocal “talents” of Frankie Jonas and Noah Cyrus, as well as heavy manipulation by Auto-Tune, can be heard in the comparison video below.

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New Haruhi Episode is Sighs

Multiple sources have now confirmed that the new Haruhi episode, which aired today in Japan, is the first part of the Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya arc.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!

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Aya Hirano of Namek

ANN is reporting that Aya Hirano, the voice of Haruhi Suzumiya, is slated to portray Dende in upcoming episodes of Dragonball Kai. Dende’s brother Cargo will be voiced by Satomi Satou, who played Ritsu in K-On!

Dragonball Kai is a HD remastering of Toei’s popular anime Dragonball Z, and features a condensed plotline which follows the manga more closely than the original series. All voice acting is being rerecorded for Kai; however, since the original seiyuu who portrayed Dende and Cargo, Tomiko Suzuki, passed away in 2003, it was necessary to find new actors.

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Wedding Bells for Ryoko: Mari Plugsuit Figure by KaNa

Hello Gorgeous!

I know at least one resident of this forum will be idolizing you! And it easy to see why…

From Neon Genesis Evangelion, this figure by Bandai/KaNa depicts Mari Illustrious Makinami in her extremely hot pink test plugsuit. First impressions are that, yes, this figure is quite the awesome. Alluring pose, suit colour and she is wearing glasses~!! Yet unfortunately there are niggles…

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