Don’t worry, she won’t bite. But a hard jab in the solar plexus can’t be ruled out entirely . . .

From Wolf Hurricane, our very best wishes to all in the new year.

Diego adds to the festive cheer by opening the covers of a splendid stocking stuffer: ARIA the Illustration – Avvenire, a compilation of artwork related to the ARIA anime series.

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Diego briefly escapes from the drudgery of the white-collar salt mines to bring you another review. Today, the spotlight falls on Cielo – the last in a three-volume series of hardbound books featuring the manga art of ARIA author and illustrator Amano Kozue.

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Now that the first shots of the Summer War have been fired, Diego cautiously emerges from his anime viewing bunker to dish out the dirt on some of this season’s offerings.

Today’s hit list includes: CANAAN, Taishou Yakyuu Musume, and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0.

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I’d like to say that I fell in love with this new opening sequence from the first frame – but truth be told, I didn’t. It’s not a bad song by any means; I just don’t think it’s an improvement on the first.

Ah, well – since when have we been obsessed with OPs and EDs anyway? (The first smart arse to throw in a pithy comment on that clearly rhetorical question will receive a shiny new triple-stack bump on the head, Ritsu-style.) The real deal is the new episode itself, and if it’s anything like the original material it’s going to be a real treat all around.

Today, we’re throwing the spotlight on Stella – a hardbound artbook featuring the work of ARIA manga author and illustrator Amano Kozue.

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. . . whilst I assume a foetal position and roll around my room in sheer delight.

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This post originally appeared on my personal blog – I’m just trying to give this breaking news wider coverage. To get the full picture, read the complete report on Anime News Network.

If untrue, come 24 May let’s all fly to Kadokawa’s corporate headquarters and seriously trash the place. If true, then the guesswork I made on 01 May (click here to read the original post) turns out to be correct after all:

Sasa no Ha Rhapsody will probably appear as one of the side stories in the second season.

The new episodes produced for the second season will probably be mixed into the “rebroadcast” of the first season.

If the chronological ordering of the Suzumiya Haruhi light novel series is strictly observed and the two preceding inferences are correct, the first episode of the new season will probably be an adaptation of Sasa no Ha Rhapsody and will probably air on 22 May or shortly thereafter, by which time – based on the 03 April start date of the “rebroadcast” – a gap will exist in the light novel material already covered by the first season. [emphasis added]

Now comes the difficult part: waiting for hard evidence. The Dark Kadokawa Empire cannot be trusted by its word alone.

EDIT (22 MAY 2009): IT’S HERE. RIGHT ON THE TICK.

Diego emerges from his anime viewing bunker to broadcast his thoughts on how some of this season’s titles are doing so far.

On today’s menu: Eden of the East, Hayate no Gotoku!!, K-ON!, Shangri-La, and Saki.

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Today, we’re throwing the spotlight on Alpha – a hardbound artbook featuring the work of ARIA manga author and illustrator Amano Kozue.

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