Announcing Project Haruhi’s First Anniversary Contest!

One year ago today, Project Haruhi made the transition from generic Haruhi fansite to anime blog. Since then, we’ve expanded our focus from just Haruhi to anime in general, especially KyoAni’s works such as Lucky Star and K-ON!. However, many visitors to our site still believe us to be merely a Haruhi fansite. Since we have no plans to change our name, how can we let our readers know that we’re more than just Haruhi?

The solution is simple: we need a tagline.

Sadly, our staff isn’t very good at coming up with clever slogans. That’s why we’re turning to our loyal readers for help. We’d like for YOU to come up with a short, catchy tagline for us; something that lets visitors know we’re a fun, community-oriented anime blog dedicated to all things KyoAni.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a contest without a prize. Whoever submits the winning tagline will receive a $50 gift certificate to J-List.com, to spend on whatever you please! I recommend the Haruhi lemonade, but that’s just me.

Here are the contest rules:
1. If you are under 18 years of age, you must receive parental approval before entering this contest.
2. Submit your entry in the comments below. Remember, the tagline must be short, sweet and convey PH’s nature efficiently.
3. You may submit up to five taglines to the contest.
4. Entries with profanity or inappropriate content will be automatically disqualified, along with whoever submitted them.
5. Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time on July 19th, one week from today. The winner will be announced a few days later.
6. The winner will receive one $50 J-List gift certificate, which can be delivered either electronically or by conventional mail.
7. Obviously, PH staff are forbidden from entering this contest.

Well, there you have it. Good luck!

2D vs 3D: Second Round

Much to my surprise and chagrin, 3D was the clear victor of last week’s debate. Seriously, what the hell! You people call yourselves true otaku?  Shame on you!

Perhaps you’ll come to your senses for this week’s debate. Here are the contestants for round two! On the left we have a buxom blue-haired beauty, Shimei Ryomou of Ikkitousen. To the right is the lovely actress and gravure idol Rina Akiyama. May the sexiest woman win!

Cast your vote now!

[poll id=”13″]

2D vs 3D: The Battle Begins!

Since the dawn of the internet, mankind has been plagued by one absolute question…. which is sexier, 2D or 3D? Well, we here at Project Haruhi have decided to answer that question once and for all by hosting a series of 2D vs 3D debates! Here’s how it works: I’ll post a set of 2D/3D comparison images, and you readers will chose via poll which one you think is best. LET THE DEBATE BEGIN!

Here are the contestants! On the left we have Rukia Kuchiki in all her gorgeous 2D glory, and on the right a voluptuous Asian beauty cosplaying her in 3D!

Cast your vote now!

[poll id=”12″]

The Melancholy of Aya Hirano

Editorial Comment

Hysterical Barbie

Fame is a strange bedfellow: some handle it as if it were part of life, and for others it becomes a daunting pillar which they spend their entire life trying to stand upon. Aya Hirano burst on to the world stage a mere four years ago at the age of 18 when she voiced Haruhi. Since that time she’s moved on to a singing career, reprized her Haruhi role several times, was Konata’s voice in Lucky Star and has been searching for her real self in real life.

What is real life you ask? It is that life not on the stage, nor in the studio, those nights sitting in front of a mirror trying desperately to figure out what to do next. There are usually thoughts of “Who am I?” or “How did I manage to get into this dilemma?”

It is the opinion of this writer that Ms. Hirano is suffering a massive identity crisis. Her sudden unexplained illness, canceling of appearances, and hair loss all point to this. Furthermore, the rather garish appearance of her latest album (pictured above) in which she’s adopted yet another unnatural hair color after she promised she would return her hair to its natural color (black), seems to support this conclusion.

More after the jump.

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Meet Konata

Kagami, your nemesis has arrived.

All righty… I’m attempting to conjure up a witty intro, but alas. My name is Konata Izumi, but please just call me Kona-nyan since it sounds more moe. I’m planning on writing some reviews on Project Haruhi (mainly K-ON!! at the moment), as well as potentially some other projects. The staff greeted me with torches and pitchforks, ready to burn my house down! However, unlike my other colleagues who are in their 20s, I’m a mere 14 years old. Yes, you may now laugh.

I’m still hoping to adapt to everything on the site, as well as get to know the rest of the staff a bit more. Hopefully, I’ll get to know them well enough that they won’t want to burn my house down anymore. I’m a witty writer yet a bit shy with new people. My main interests are history and writing, and–of course–anime. While I’m still a bit of a newb at anime, I still do my best to try and fit in. I’m a bit cautious with new things, but once I get to know it, I’m lapse back into my ol’ sad attempts at trying to be funny. Like this post, for example.

I’ve never been asked to write for anything whatsoever, so I’ll try and do my best here. I hope I don’t screw this up!

My Twitter

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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Past Masters: Project A-ko

Did you know that without Project A-ko, anime as we know it would not exist?

Okay, so maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. Still, Project A-ko was hugely influential on the 80s-era American anime fandom. It was one of the first non-artsy anime to be successfully imported to the States without being ripped to shreds à la Robotech; therefore, it fulfilled the role of gateway drug for many aspiring young otaku, introducing them to anime and launching their lifelong obsession with Japan that would eventually mutate into the modern monstrosity known as otaku culture. So, next time you’re glomped by a middle-aged 300-pound man dressed as Sailor Moon at a con, you can shake your fist at the sky and angrily scream, “PROJECT A-KO!”

But what’s the history behind this oh-so-important anime? Keep reading past the break to find out!

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The Rest of the K-ON!! Voice Actresses

Since Stilts has introduced you to Ritsu’s VA. I figured you should meet the rest of the group. Can you guess which voice actress plays which character? Mouse over each picture for the answer! More information can be found by clicking on the link below their picture.

Tsumugi Kotobuki

Minako Kotobuki

Yui Hirasawa

Aki Toyosaki

Mio Akiyama

Yōko Hikasa

Azusa Nakano

Ayana Taketatsu

Ho-kago Tea Time (4)