Oh Goodsmile Company, why must you tempt me with the first Nendoroid I actually kind of want. I try to get out but keep getting dragged back in. Looking at new figures is definitely not healthy for a recovering figure addict… GSC will let you create your own Shanatan adventures (complete with interchangeable parts, extra accessories, and melonpan) this November for a cool 3500 yen.

Sony and Funimation are bringing downloadable anime to a PS3 near you in a big way. As part of yesterday’s press conference at E3, Sony unveiled their new video service that will allow you to purchase/rent movies and other videos on your PS3. The big surprise was the fact that Funimation was casually mentioned alongside several big movie studios during the announcement.

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Now is as good a time as any to talk about two upcoming Haruka Nogizaka figures. Figure makers Clayz and Toys Works are anticipating that the fans love Haruka, because both companies have figures slated for release very soon. Did they jump the gun though? Perhaps. Release details and pictures after the jump.

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I initially didn’t pay too much attention to this bit of figure news until I looked at the hefty pricetag- 12,800 yen (~$120). I know figures have gradually been getting more expensive, but this 1/5 scale figure is heavily inflated much like Chizuru’s breasts. Kotobukiya usually doesn’t price like this. Perhaps they’re hoping that otaku will pay for ecchi figures regardless of the cost under their new 4-Leaves label. Well you can count me out this time.

I found a rather interesting post on GameFAQs which led to a blog post which can be found here. Credits to their respective peoples.

Darker than Black Season 2 is in the works, eh? Bring on the Hei, that’s what I’ll say. There’s also talk about how the leaked cache seemed to detail some personal information about the animators, phone numbers and that sort of thing… Overall I’ll take this with a grain of salt for now but it’s certainly interesting.

In a bold move today, Kadokawa USA announced licenses for Coo ~ Our Guardian (Wagaya no Oinari-sama), H2O ~ Footprints in the Sand, Junjou Romantica, Ninomiya-kun, Rental Magica, and Spice and Wolf. Let’s shout our sarcastic enthusiasm to the stars. Yay mediocrity! Now for the sub-license predictions. ADV is here assuming they’ll stay alive and get a couple licenses.

Coo ~ Our Guardian (Wagaya no Oinari-sama): Bandai.
H2O: Funimation/ADV as the front-runners.
Junjou Romantica: Bandai.
Ninomiya-kun: Normally I would say ADV but it may also go to Funi.
Rental Magica: Funimation.
Spice and Wolf: Hmm… It’s a long shot but my money is on Media Blasters.

Watch none of these predictions be right.

Edit: Some miscellaneous tidbits grabbed from Anime on DVD. The first Darker than Black DVD is slated for November 28 from Funimation. News on the Bandai/Honnemaise front says that Sola, True Tears, and Shigofumi are still on the backburner among other things.

Sources:
Anime News Network
Anime on DVD

Lots of stuff happening on Anime Expo weekend.

First order of business, Bandai licenses the Hayate the Combat Butler anime and a manga version of The Girl That Leapt Through Time. Very exciting news, but then I remember that Hayate will get the Bandai treatment with uber expensive special collector’s packages and is also 52 episodes… Joy.

Oh yeah. Gundam 00 and its cast of androgynous men will air on the Sci-Fi channel twice a week starting November 17. Meh. Mark your calendars if you want to. Or not. The DVD release will come sometime in 2009.

Funimation is in ADV’s house acquiring their animu. 30 titles to be exact, but with a few exceptions, most of the titles are very niche. As much as I like Air, Kanon, and Welcome the the NHK, these titles probably won’t rake in tons of money for Funi. It does bring them one step closer to becoming the industry giant though.

Dark Horse acquires an Evangelion spin-off manga based on… Raising Shinji Ikari. Who wants to do that exactly? The question I raise is who actually likes Shinji enough to be interested? On second thought, don’t answer that.

Not to be left out, Right Stuf made some announcements too. Gakuen Alice boxset slated for Spring 2009 as well as a DVD release for the anime film, Toward the Terra.

Viz has been pretty busy too with a planned four disc boxset for Hunter x Hunter, as well as plans for Nana, Monster (2009), and Honey and Clover (2009).

Sources:
Anime News Network
Anime on DVD

Taken from today’s announcement over at ANN, Funimation picked up title and distribution rights for several shows from Geneon’s now defunct US branch. Noteable series include Ergo Proxy, Black Lagoon, Higurashi, Rozen Maiden, Shana, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, The Story of Saiunkoku, and The Familiar of Zero.

Sidenote: Yay Nanoha DVDs. The White Devil is finally coming to the states.

It was brought to my attention that the quiz show Jeopardy featured an anime column this past Wednesday, June 18th. It’s in the Double Jeopardy round, fifth column over. It figures that the one day I don’t watch the show, something like this happens.

I’m sure the otakusphere would have swept this easy category in epic fashion, only to be utterly owned in everything else. If you’re too lazy to click the link, I’ll copypasta the questions after the jump.

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I saw a commercial for this on TV and just had to report this abysmal news to the otakusphere. Set to air on June 24th as part of ABC’s summer schedule is the new reality/game show entitled I Survived a Japanese Game Show. More info after the jump.

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