Maison Ikkoku Returns to TV

The best news I have heard in a long time.....

animeOnline reports that the live action version of Maison Ikkoku will finally be released (after being announced in 2005)

"The show will begin airing on May 12th at 9pm on TV Asahi. It will continue airing every Saturday from then until…well, eternity, if the drama matches the length of the original 80's TV anime, based on Rumiko Takahashi's manga. For you young'uns who don't understand what the heck we're talking about, Maison Ikkoku follows the inept wannabe college student Godai as he falls in love with and attempts to woo his widowed landlady, Kyoko. Kyoko will be played by the famous actress Misaki Ito, who also played romantic interest Saori in the Densha Otoko J-drama. "

I am ridiculously excited about this. I need to see if/when this is getting fansubbed. (omg, I said the 'f' word!)

Here is the Japanese Maison Ikkoku site. I am sorely tempted to make that index image my wallpaper. Here is the wiki for Maison Ikkoku (you heathens shoud know it!) I really need to buy the rest of this series.

Black Lagoon figure

I haven't watched as much of this show as I would have liked to, but I really enjoyed the bits I saw and the character design is great. Found this figure while browsing Hobby Stock.

I don't know if her name is spelled Shenhoa or Shenhua... x_0;

Joe is Japanese (dot com)

(description taken from the creator's myspace page)

Joe is Japanese is based on the (mostly) true life adventures, of a 35 year old boy who firmly believes he has to grow up. This is biographical story following a “hafu-breed” raised in Asia and never able to fit into any culture. These life-long comrades of Joe’s now work to chronicle the (somewhat) true events of Joe and his friends, lovers, enemies, and surrounding companions.

Watch some of the video here: JoeisJapanese.com/joe
All of the characters have thir own myspace pages as well.
via Japanator and animeOnline

Tekken 6 News

(info from SD Tekken)

• Animations have been changed for every character!
• All characters have an “item move”, like the Bryan shotgun we saw at the AOU trailer. Although not all of them will have the same effectiveness.
• An example of an “item move” will be Anna throwing her high heels at her opponents.
• Harada officially stated that Leo IS a girl.
• Stance changes for Marshall Law & Lei Wulong
• Yoshimitsu now considered an "expert" level character.
  

More information at SD Tekken & Kotaku (but mostly SD Tekken)

Bandai Raises Prices

Bandai Visual’s upcoming releases are priced at $39.99 ($49.99 for Galaxy Angel Rune) for 2 episodes of content (at 25 to 50 minutes per episode depending on the title) without English language audio (Japanese audio and English subtitles only). Most other North American anime licensee’s typically distribute DVDs with 3 to 5 episodes for $19.99 to $29.99, including English audio and subtitles.sodes for $19.99 to $29.99, including English audio and subtitles.

Read the entire article here - with some interesting comments (thus far) - via Japanator

This doesn't make much sense to me at all. Even with prices as they are now, people are waiting for slim pack/ box sets to pick up their anime. This is going to snap back on Bandai, I think.

irl Gambit?

As you may or may not know, I utterly loathe the Xmen character Gambit. However, he'd be a little more tolerable if he was this guy.

Paul Jean
Age: 29
Hometown: Nice, France
Current Salon: Paul-Jean's Salon on Robertson Ave. in West Hollywood, CA.
Signature Style: Shaggy looks that look like natural perfection

He was on the first ep of the Bravo TV show 'shear genius'. Too bad he was voted off at the end of said episode (omg spoiler!) He's Gambit - bad accent, strange hair, awful attitude, & full of swagger. (except, cute & amusing)

"Self Destruction USB Button"

What this thing actually does (aside from making a cool noise) is add usb ports to your pc. While I am good with the 4 ports I have, I'd still love to have this bad boy sitting on my desk. It'd be even better for a workplace pc.

via akihabaranews.com and geekstuff4u.com

Yaoi Publisher Goes Bankrupt

Japanese yaoi novel publisher Leaf Shuppan has declared bankruptcy. Considering that BIBLOS, Japan's former largest yaoi publisher, went bankrupt last year, it seems that even if it sells well, yaoi doesn't necessarily make the big bucks you'd expect.

Read it all here via animeOnline

So as rabid as those insane fangirls are at the cons, (and they can be WAY batshit crazy) they're still not spending enough. Spend more BL girls, I need to stand in the manga section at Borders and do my 'dirty old lady' laugh. It frightens my friends. ^^

Pac Man Vs on DS

Namco Bandai Games announced today that they're bringing yet another Namco Museum to store shelves this summer, this time for the Nintendo DS. However, this one contains the Gamecube multiplayer hit Pac-Man Vs.!

Read it all here via Kotaku

Oh by the way, that ghost image is available as a t-shirt from Club Namco, in case you were wondering.

Mai figure almost scoops Kotaku

While looking through figures yesterday, I saw a very well painted Shiranui Mai figure.(whether it was on my daily trolls or on a Japanese site, I have no idea)It's super nice, but a bit too much rear end for my tastes kthx. So, I posted about Ogiue-san instead. Kotaku did a feature on the Mai figure a day later. Drat! While I do have an eye for newsworthy stuff, it's apparently off the mark a tiny bit.
Here's the feature on the Mai sculpt


Edit: 4-10-2007
Hah! I did scoop animeOnline! WOO~
They covered the Ogiue-san fig as well. (see below) <3>