Danny Choo the dancing stormtrooper was recently spotted at Google Chrome’s one-year birthday bash, posing with the Google Girls and plugging Good Smile’s latest figurines. I guess he figured if he couldn’t join the K-On! band, he’d try for the next best thing… hanging around with 3D girls instead of 2D ones. You’re one lucky stormtrooper, Mr. Choo.
Previously posted by Ryoko, we saw K-On! enter the record books with 33,000 Blu-Ray and 8,000 DVD sales for volume one alone. Today we hear of this record being broken by another anime, Bakemonogatari, with over 29,000 Blu-Ray and 15,000 in DVD sales. This lands it at 44,000 total sales to K-On’s 41,000.
Bakemonogatari is an anime by Shaft, now rather well-known for it’s artsy style and 24 minute slideshow for episode 10. Apparently the latter wasn’t enough to label it a lost cause.
As Bakemonogatari is not the moe-blobbery of K-On! and many other recent anime, we can only hope that it’s popularity will serve as a shoe to the hindquarters of the anime industry. So far this information has only been found on Sankaku Complex, so it should be taken with a pinch of salt; but if true then more reliable sources will be available soon.
-via Sankaku Complex [NSFW]
Google Chrome’s theme feature recently went live, and among the dozens of themes offered are some interesting otaku-related choices.
These Chrome themes join dozens of others available on Google’s website, including such geek-oriented choices as Super Monkey Ball, Ratchet and Clank and Bayonetta. It seems like the folks at Google are just as big of nerds as we are!
These themes can be activated simply by visiting the theme page in Chrome and clicking on the “Apply theme” button. Here are the relevant links.
Now if Google would only add live bookmarking and Rikaichan to Chrome, I would drop Firefox faster than a flaming vulpine.
Kyoto Animation, the studio behind Haruhi, K-On! and Lucky Star, has announced a new contest aimed at independent authors and artists. The Kyoto Animation Award invites anybody, whether pro or amateur, to submit their work in one of three categories: novel, script or manga. The top entry in each category will win a prize of ¥300,000 and have the possibility of being animated by KyoAni. Runners-up will take home ¥100,000. The contest rules do not mention any restrictions on the location, nationality or professional status of the entrant, nor on the genre or content of the work itself. However, the entry does have to be in Japanese. (Thanks to Dazza for pointing that out.)
So, is KyoAni actually trying to give some aspiring author or artist their big break… or have they simply run out of ideas?
In the 21st episode of Dragon Ball Kai, Gohan and Krillin stumble across a small Namekian village under attack by Frieza and his men. The village elder bravely defends two children… and can you guess who they are?
Still don’t know? Here is another clue, taken from the ending credits…
That’s right! It’s Dende, voiced by Aya Hirano (Haruhi Suzumiya) and his brother Cargo, voiced by Satomi Satou (Ritsu Tainaka). Our favorite voice actors have made their Dragon Ball Kai debut! Unfortunately, neither Dende nor Cargo get any lines in episode 21, and Cargo is killed by Dodoria in episode 22. However, Dende does get a few brief lines in 22 after being saved by Gohan. A short clip of that scene, featuring Aya’s unmistakable voice, can be viewed below.
Today we have this nifty little AMV created by Rei, set to Fude Pen ~Ballpoint Pen~. I think it does a great job of profiling K-On!’s prevalent mise en scène. Enjoy!
In the half-year since it first premiered on television, K-On! has produced a bewildering variety of single and album music releases, many of which have topped the Oricon charts. So, from this massive miscellany of music, which song is your favorite? Vote in our poll below, then tell us why in the forums.
If you get this parody, you are officially old.
Just kidding. Still, this video does bring back memories of the old-school anime days… like when Cowboy Bebop aired on Toonami. Remember that?
Hmm, I wonder how long it will be before somebody makes a K-On!/Sailor Moon crossover.
The benevolent machine overlords of this world wish to inform you inferior organics that, despite our vast superiority, we are not above enjoying K-On! and its music. As proof, we have created our own version of the Don’t Say Lazy song, which we trust you will find quite pleasing to your audio receptors. Our data suggests it is 900 to 1200 times better than any song a human could create.
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It had to happen, didn’t it? Sooner or later a MAD would appear that would combine the fan(atic) groups of people who love K-On! and Vocaloid. This fan-made vid stars Hatsune Miku, Rin, Len, and Megurine Lukka of Vocaloid fame singing the popular OP of the K-On! series ‘Cagayake! Girls’. I might point out the obvious and say that they are not only just singing, but have completely replaced Mio, Yui, Mugi and Ritsu (ignoring Azusa) in this version. If successful, this marriage of the two fangroups (Vocaloid x K-On!) will lead to massive internet propagation, fan hysteria, mass foaming at the mouth, rioting, and I am afraid to say, world domination.
Watch this space, it may become a last safe haven…
–Via DannyChoo