I just couldn’t afford to have this news as an ‘Aside’ post, this needs as much spotlight as it can.

So while I’m still writing my post with shoujo manga recommendations, in which I was going all “I worship Yoshiki Nakamura ^:)^”, this announcement just had to come at the best possible time, making me reach a state of fangurl nirvana. To those who are not familiar with Skip Beat, it’s a manga by the god Yoshiki Nakamura-sama I mentioned, whose previous work Tokyo Crazy Paradise will forever be in my GREATEST SHOUJO MANGAS Hall of Fame. I fail as a Nakamura fan however, coz I haven’t been catching up with the Awesome Skip Beat!! orz *spanks self*

My eyes shot wide open at the headline: “New School Rumble Anime This July!”

I love the tagline of this series, “People become stronger when they find someone they ought to protect”. rawr, so GAR

Not too long ago, I pointed out Kurenai as one of the animes I’m looking forward to in the Spring Lineup. Yes, I’m looking that far ahead. Although I don’t have the actual novel in my hands, I managed to find it *cough* somewhere else *cough* It took me weeks of perseverance, to keep me from buying the novels on impulse. I thought hard, wondering if it’ll be worth my time and money, considering the pile of unread mangas and novels (*cough* Saiunkoku *cough*) I have. I browsed through the novels again, supposedly for dispelling my excitement (the want-to-buy-it kind of excitement) for it, only to end up failing to resist it more orz.

Last season, I initially planned to cook-up a comprehensive first impressions post on the fall animes I watched, but before I even got a glimpse of most of them, I already found myself joining the bandwagon of blogging Shugo Chara, KimiKiss, My Condolences Ninomiya-kun, and Suteki Tantei Labyrinth. In the end, my originally intended post never materialized. I dropped one show after another as time went by, leaving only KimiKiss (and the Shugo Chara manga, if that counts) in my current blogging schedule. I lost the passion and drive to blog Saiunkoku and Emily along the way as well, and up until now I’m still trying to rekindle that flame =__=

This time around, I decided to take it slow, to delight in what the Winter ‘08 animes has to offer, before deciding on which shows to blog. Despite how several shows piqued my interest, namely True Tears, Persona, Porfy no Nagai Tabi, Shigofumi, Spice and Wolf, Hatenkou Yuugi, Hakaba Kitarou and KimiAru, I can’t seem to bring myself to write about these shows. These animes struck a chord with me, but somehow, it wasn’t enough inspiration for a write-up (the KimiAru deep frying I did isn’t really a proper write-up, but just a random “lol”).

Winter’s Block is making me feel like a sad girl in the snow. It’s not you, winter animes, it’s me.

I’ve never been a good writer. If there’s one thing that blogging has really taught me, it’s that I should not have taken reading [English books] and writing for granted, during the “formative years” of my life. Sorry, mom, I now realize how foolish I am for not listening to your advice. But that’s not the point. The thing is, with the lack of ability to articulately express myself, especially for shows I can’t [fully] get into, I am not able to churn out a “worthwhile” post. With this, I come to the conclusion that the problem lies with me and my current Winter’s Block. The most plausible and convenient reason I can think of behind this phenomenon is that, I left my heart somewhere else, in the season of Spring~ yes that’s right. Deliberately or not, I found myself not wanting to become attached to the Winter shows, in light of what is to come in the next season. I feel like singing, “O Come All Ye Spring 2008 Animes” now, actually

My Newtype magazines just made this worse, as it allowed me to do some sort of “time leap”, and I became excited for what Spring ‘08 has to offer instead. I guess this also explains why I wasn’t able to cook up a Winter 2008 Anime “Menu” / Season Preview? Though I think I owe much of that to laziness, procrastination, and loneliness (bunnies need company to be able to GIVE IT ALL THEY’VE GOT, after all)
Having known the roots of my Winter’s Block, I obviously cannot go about proclaiming how the Winter season of animes suck. I’ve already lost the “right” to proclaim that with what I’ve mentioned thus far. If you’re looking for a guide for the Winter season of shows, I’m sorry to say that I cannot be a hermit bunny at this state of hibernation. And besides, there are other blogs out there which are more qualified for that, IMO. So instead of forcing myself to post about the current shows [halfheartedly], I’ll just stick to what I’ve already been doing and continue to look at what lies ahead, while not losing focus of the present (aka watching Winter shows, and blogging what I’m supposed to). Allow me then to guide you into the world of Spring! Wai~ So yeah, all this lengthy introduction is just to tell you guys, that I’ll be providing “Snapshots of Spring 2008″ in the coming months, as I scan pages from Newtype / Animedia, for the greater good. ^^;;;

Enjoy the pics~! Let’s all be happy and look forward to Spring! =3

Can’t wait to see more Sousuke and Chidori!

So I heard that Full Metal Panic is reairing in Japan. I first learned about this news from double of Furu Anime Panikku, but with a little prodding from jinya of the ab channel, I decided to join in the fun in announcing this interesting news, [...]

To all the bloodthirsty people who’ve been longing to see Vampire Knight animated, suffer no more for that wish has finally been granted! It’s been announced in the latest Lala magazine, with no definite schedule or cast as of now. Expect a star-studded cast if they’ll have the same seiyuus as the Drama CD, with Yui Horie as Yuuki, Mamoru Miyano as Zero, and Daisuke Kishio as Kaname, among others (side characters whose voices include Jun Fukuyama, Junichi Suwabe, Koyasu Takehito and Hoshi Souichiro +___+)

My bunny ears just caught a sizzling news… that is, Special A is going to be anime-ted!! I am not kidding. It’s announced in Hana to Yume, where it’s serialized. I’m especially delighted by this news, being a fan of the manga myself. Although I somewhat stopped following it months ago. Now that it’ll be given life as an anime, I guess it only means one thing… I have to catch up on reading it again! o__o

The air date of the anime is yet to be announced, but still… this is certainly something to look forward to! Brace yourselves for the latest buzz on this news, particularly the probable seiyuu casting and staff for the anime.

“This is AMERICAAAAAAAAAAA”

I know this is quite a late “news” but oh well… better late than never. I believe this issue concerns not only Americans but the entirety of the Geneon consumers, hence I decided to write about this as well. Much of the focus however would be in the American anime industry which is directly affected by the incident.

Geneon USA has officially informed retailers that as of 5 PM PDT this Friday, September 28th, the company will cease all DVD production, sales, and distribution. All Geneon USA DVD titles scheduled for release after November 6, 2007 have apparently been canceled (ANN)

Back in August, it was announced that a merger between ADV and Geneon is in the works, leaving many fans in turmoil because of the risks it posed to the future of the US anime industry, with the dangers of having less competition in the scene. This alliance was apparently cancelled and after a few days comes the appalling news of Geneon’s “exit”. With the number of titles they have acquired for license, it is but natural for many fans to be greatly disheartened by this news. Fangirls would certainly be grieving over Kyou Kara Maoh, Saiunkoku Monogatari, and Shounen Onmyouji, among others, all of which are licensed by the aforementioned company.

Does this spell doom for the entire American anime industry? Will anime now crumble along with Geneon?

The winds of change are blowing, bringing with it quite a number of new titles, some sequels, a whole lot of moe school girls, some working hamsters, a pinch of magical girls, and, what anime season would be complete without the obligatory petri dish of super-deformed bacteria! The Scrumptious Anime Chefs bring to you an almost complete list of this fall season’s anime.

Don’t forget to tell us what YOU will be watching. Bon appétit.

A surprising news struck me Tuesday last week… and I actually had mixed emotions when it was brought to my attention. I felt ecstatic because it’s one of the things I’ve been longing to do for quite some time now (ever since I’ve become an anime / manga fanatic? XD), and at the same time felt troubled by how it’s going to affect my blogging life (temporarily, until the work I have there ends). Were you able to guess what ‘big break’ I’m referring to now? (If not, just read on) :p