Hiatus!

To all two of you that come by to read this blog, I regretfully must inform you that due to personal reasons, I'll be on hiatus for the next week (if not longer). Don't abandon me completely! Keep me in your bookmarks and/or readers. To use an overused quote: I'll be back.

I just flipped through Xmen 200

and the first 14 seconds of this clip really say it all for me.

Wario has gas...

Smash Bros Dojo has officially announced Wario's special moves. They include a motorcycle 'summon' and my favorite, the Wario Waft.

"Oh, and Wario’s down special move is the Wario Waft. That is to say, he passes gas. This particular special move builds up power the longer you go without using it."

Witchblade manga/anime info

Witchblade: Takeru manga Graphic Novel 1 was released on June 27 by Bandai Entertainment (who has absolutely no information on it's website about the book, barring a one line blurb) It's 184 pages long, b&w, and pretty damn ecchi. Yours *all yours* for 9.99 retail.
Volume 2 drops on September 25th. You can ask for it at your local comic shop, or hit the usual suspects to order it online. (I just found it at Target.com...they are asking for problems with that release.

In other Takeru news, ComicVine posted a preview of issue 6. In addition to the lolita character that was introduced last issue, this month's new character is a two-fer! Librarian Sakurai is a megane character and an 'older' girl (older probably being no more than early 20s). This manga is a train wreck. The plot gets thinner and the fanservice more severe...and yet I can't look away. I liked the anime so much that I keep waiting for a plot to appear. My wait may be in vain.

Dear Top Cow: Kindly stop putting images of Masane to promote this manga. Different (far cooler) wielder entirely.

In the anime end of things, Funimation will be screening the first episode (dubbed) of Witchblade during their panel at Anime Expo.
(via my email)

Card Fighters DS Recall!

and there was much rejoicing!

Kotaku brings forth the good news of the CFDS recall. Mine is already sealed up and ready to out in the morning mail.

"Users must first register their game with the website, ... Then you fill out an online form, print it, and mail it in along with only the game card, Replacements begin shipping on July 1st on a first-come, first-serve basis."

The recall page is here.

Wednesday Midnight Recap

We really need to stop meeting like this...

Comics
Newsarama has two really interesting articles up! One is an interview with Brett Booth, the current artist for the Anita Blake comic book adaptation & the other is an explanation of the "meh"-inducing Amazons Attack. *sigh* More crazy Greek girls. @_@; (I can say that as I am one)

Madame Mirage, in addition to having a fantastic first issue, also has a myspace page with almost 2,000 friends. As for me, I'm still waiting for approval. ;_; Seriously though, if you have a few extra bucks, go get this book.

Udon has released a Capcom art book! Kotaku says to "Expect art from SF, Mega Man, Darkstalkers, Devil May Cry, Rival Schools and a few more" You can pick one up from various online retailers - Amazon or Barnes and Noble (B&N has a 20% discount) I can pass up most art books, but they got me with the tease of Rival Schools. (Hinata & Zaki image snagged @ Udon's DeviantArt page)

Anime
Tucked away in a newscatcher post, animeOnline reports that the new season of You're Under Arrest will be titled Taiho Shichauzo: Full Throttle.

Speaking of aO, they are now offering an anime download service. $1.99 per ep. Current titles are Trinity Blood, Kiddy Grade, and Rumbling Hearts.

Music
JapanSugoi has a feature on ganguro gal turned model, turned Jpop star Sifow. This is the first I've heard of her, but I liked what I heard and who doesn't love someone that does a dance/trance version of the Sailor Moon theme? Respect.

Link Love...

When Fangirls Attack linked to my manga girls post. I'll let you know how I feel about that when I can separate my jaw from the floor. (It's like when Majoria's News put me on their link page) Wow, fantastic.

Tuesday Midnight Recap

Long day - have some links.

Anime News Network reports that episode one of The Third will be available to watch (for free! whee!) at ign.com until Sunday, July 1. Click on the image for a wallpaper from the official US The Third site.
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Soul Calibur 4 has been confirmed to have online play by SD Tekken. A couple of the details about SC4 that have been revealed are as follows:

• New characters will be kept under wraps and revealed closer towards the release date
• “Guard Impact” is back.
• The amount of detail in the game will be amazing! “The leather straps on Ivy’s thighs make real-time indentations into her skin as she fights.” *head desk* *head desk**head desk* Gah, I hope this one was a joke...
  

Click the link to the article above for a much longer list of details about SC4.
~segue~-----------------
If Ivy actually existed, she's probably look like this sex worker/gravure idol with P cup bewbs. P! (NSFW! Not safe for humanity!)
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In less terrifying news, there is a wonderful Chun Li figure posted at animeOnline. There are little fangirl hearts floating over my head as I post this.
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~awkward segue...fighting game character to fighting game controller~
An arcade style controller is getting released for the Wii. Since theres no SC4 release for the Wii, this gives hope for other fighters to get released on the console. (Can we get a Killer Instinct virtual console game? Plz?) (source: Kotaku)

opinion: Girls in Manga (aka tl;dr)

This is a response to BrokenPorecelainDoll's post on the status of women in manga. (go read it!) Maybe I read too much into it, maybe not. Hopefully she doesn't want to punch me in the mouth for going off on a (polite) tangent in her comments section. I figured I'd repost it here.
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While you have a very valid point regarding hentai/ecchi manga, the medium as a whole has more ways to show all types of character, male and female. Mainstream American comics kind of got 'stuck' (for lack of a better term) in the superhero genre. Yes, there are other types of American comics, but most of the stuff on the rack at the shop is heroes.

While hentai can be gross and waaaaaay out there with the fetishes, it isn't a good indicator of what some of the good stuff coming out of Japan is.

In regards to the girls getting abused, being useless and sexualized the yaoi genre (and boys love to a lesser extent) fully covers the same things happening to guys very explicitly.

A great subgenre of manga is Josei manga.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josei_manga
Current Josei tites are Nana, Tramps Like Us, & Paradise Kiss. While these are more 'slice of life' titles, they certainly portray women in a more realistic manner.

If you'd prefer a butt kicking heroine, they're more in shonen manga - some examples would be Asuka from Evangelion, almost all the girls in Elemental Gelade, Tokiko in Buso Renkin, Meryl & Milly from Trigun.

Even in 'harem' type anime each girl has something specific and special about her. They can't cram all the great qualities into one girl, I guess. (Tenchi Muyo, Love Hina)

Unfortunately, fan service is pretty much obigatory nowadays. Often times it's the old tried and true 'oops, I fell & landed on your boobs', but if you can put up with a boob joke here and there, I'm sure you will find some titles to your liking.

I read/ have read American comics and manag for about 15 years now, so I feel fairly secure in my suggestions/opinion. I'm just happy to be reminded that I'm not the only girl reading them.

Edit: OK, it's manga rebuttal day. No one sent me the memo.
A post on MySpace with a similar theme of anime/manga characters beng useless & my reply. (Mostly regarding Sailor Moon. Yes, I like Sailor Moon. *flexes*)

Japanese Version of the Lion's Roar?

Noise-maker arrested for harassing neighbor
(Kyodo) _ A 63-year-old woman was arrested Monday on suspicion of shouting loudly in front of her neighbor's house in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, nearly every day.

Harue Ichikawa is accused of shouting such things as, "I will curse you to death," or "Get out of here," and making loud noise with a radio in front of the house of a 50-year-old man between early March and late May, according to police.

After moving next door to her in September 2005, the man and his family of seven have been harassed by Ichikawa, though there was no significant trouble between them, the police said.

Ichikawa ignored police warnings and the man recorded her antics using a security camera.

via Japan Probe & Yahoo News Asia