Akiyuki, the main character of the animated series, lives on Sentan Island, a land that has preserved its status as a free and peaceful island in a world consumed by fighting between the Northern and Southern Governments. All of this changes when Akiyuki boards a bus along with a mysterious white-haired girl who transforms his arm with the lost memories and power of Xam’d.

As Xam’d, Akiyuki goes on a rampage and is saved when a foreign girl with red hair named “Nakiami calms him down, taking him back to her postal vessel. Akiyuki now must gain control of his powers and use them against the Northern Government’s latest weapons, known as “Humanforms”. Traveling the world on a postal vessel, Akiyuki hopes to return home one day, but until then he befriends other passengers on the boat.

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Tsutomu Senkawa is an average high school kid who is busy studying for his senior entrance exams. Tsutomu goes out for some fresh air, after a hard day’s work studying for a big test, when he runs into a guy fleeing from a pretty young lady. The pursued man is actually an interplanetary criminal on the run from a Federation agent called Birdy Cephon Altera. Caught in the midst of this chase, Tsutomu gets thrown by the man at Birdy, which kills Tsutomu. Fortunately for Tsutomu, there is a way to keep him alive, although it comes at the price of discarding his body. He ends up merged into Birdy’s body.

So Tsutomu is stuck sharing a body with a rather attractive, yet very strong but impulsive, space police agent, while trying to keep his apathetic family and more importantly, his girlfriend, from finding out about his woman problems. In the meantime, to make matters worse, Birdy still has to do her job. Together, they take on a rather secretive group of evil aliens planning to perform maniacal experiments on the unsuspecting inhabitants of Tokyo.

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It is a world of fantasy, where magic reigns and monsters lurk, then there’s Lina Inverse! A cute, fireball-throwing sorceress who steals from the wicked and gives to herself! Along with Gourry, a handsome but not-so-smart swordsman, Lina faces the uncanny as she seeks fame and fortune. This is the fourth anime television series in the Slayers fantasy comedy franchise, and is slated for a 26 episode run.

This series totally sneaked up on me, to be honest I did not even know they where planning a fourth series in the franchise, not that I am complaining since I am a big Slayers fan since the first series back in 1995. So before I start, take note if you aren’t a Slayers fan give this a pass as the humor and animation style is a acquired taste. If you willing to give this a try I suggest you go find yourself the original series and movies before watching the new series.

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World Destruction focuses on Kirie Irunisu a young man who secretly possesses the power to destroy the world. He is forced to join a party that aims not to save the world, but to eradicate it and start anew. The show also features a young heroine named Morute Ashera, who also plays a big role in the series next to Kirie Irunisu. Based off Sega’s recently announced sword & sorcery fantasy RPG called: “World Destruction” for the Nintendo DS, which will be released mid July. The Anime adaptation is directed by Shunsuke Tada, who recently directed Production IG’s Tsubasa: Tokyo Revelations OVA series amongst others.

I have been following the development of the series for some time now, and yesterday I managed to download and watch the first episode. Since it was produced my Production I.G I was expecting something serious and epic in nature. But I was totally caught off guard by World Destruction, as it was the complete opposite of what I was expecting. Not that it is a bad thing mind you, but I am very unaccustomed to I.G producing which seems to be a light hearted fantasy action show.

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Personally looking forward to the following shows: Shikabane Hime, Michiko to Hatchin, Tales of the Abyss, Jigoku Shoujo 3 and Bonen no Xamdou. Click on the image below to see a small synopsis of each show and a air date, also included is a link to each shows website enjoy.

[Side Note] Thanks goes to Moetron for the information.

September:

• Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: Guren-hen (Movie) - [09/06]
• QUIZ MAGIC ACADEMY ～The Original Animation～ (OVA) - [09/12]
• School Rumble: Third Term (OVA) [09/17]
• Amuri in Star Ocean (OVA) [09/26]
• Lucky☆Star (OVA) - [09/26]
• Battle Spirits Shounen Toppa Bashin - [09/2008]
• Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel (OVA) [09/2008]
• Hakushaku to Yousei - [09/2008]

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es your eyes have not deceived you, they have indeed announced a 3rd season of Black Lagoon and might I just say……holy fucken crap it is about time that they announced this. There is so much untapped potential left in the Black Lagoon manga. Potential that they can use for this 3rd season of Black Lagoon, here is hoping we see more of Lotton The Wizard and Sawyer the Cleaner. Not to mention the whole Roanapur gang for that matter. You may ask were I procured this bit of information, well moonphase to be exact and they have yet to fail me in there accuracy of the news that they report.

Suspended Indefinitely means exactly that, so it seems ADV is now in dire trouble. But it’s been rather difficult to get some concrete evidence of the facts from ADV or any reliable sources. Several retailers have reported that ADV Films has suspended indefinitely the shipments of the following anime titles:

• Shattered Angels

• Kanon

• Tokyo Majin

• Welcome to the NHK

The 4 titles mentioned above has also mysteriously vanished from the ADV website. At the ADV Sneak Peak panel at Anime Expo on Thursday afternoon, A.D. Visions co-founder Matt Greenfield acknowledged that his company had separated from its former business partner, Sojitz. What does his mean for us average anime fans out there. It means that ADV films have lost close to 90% of the newly licensed titles.

He indicated that, as a result, the status of recent titles are now “fate undetermined.” However, he did say that the company is negotiating for 23 more titles. Seriously don’t these people know any good business practices, rather then trying to acquire new titles why not consolidate what you have and try and save the sinking ship. Currently they have more money going out then coming in, and adding 23 new titles isn’t going to help…

Synopsis:

The producers of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight teams up with three of the most respected animation studios in Japan to explore Bruce Wayne’s transition from tormented crime fighter to heroic icon of a crumbling metropolis. Separated into six distinct chapters but intended to be viewed as a whole. Here is a small plot outline of each short movie, which includes animation studio, producer and director.

• Have I Got a Story For You:

Studio: Studio 4ºC
Producers: Eiko Tanaka, Bruce Timm
Director: Shojiro Nishimi
Writer: Josh Olson

In “Have I Got a Story for You” Academy Award nominated screenwriter Josh Olson (A History of Violence) tells the story of how chance encounters with Batman by a group of youngsters leave each kid with a very different impression of the Dark Knight.

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About a month ago I reported about a new Studio I.G show Sky Crawlers, directed by Mamoru Oshi. Well it seems that they have released a special 5 minute promo to tease us even more. And yes it has worked, because I am even more amped now to see this movie.

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Ponyo on the Cliff is an animated film by the Japanese anime studio Studio Ghibli, to be written and directed by famed anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. It will be Miyazaki’s eighth film to be made under Ghibli. The plot centers on a goldfish named Ponyo who desperately wants to be a human. In pursuing her goal, she befriends a five-year-old human boy, Sōsuke.

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Last week ADV films began consolidating their assets and held an auction to sell their office supplies, which included things like office furniture, computers and even office consumables. Chris Oarr the sales account manager for ADV Films, confirmed that the auction is for surplus office material and has acknowledged that the company has cut back on its staff. Hence the auctioning of the now unused office supplies.

All of this has come to a boiling point with the recent Newtype / PIQ magazine failure, the closure of there television network, dropped anime titles from their website, discontinued DVD and manga titles, laid off employees and crap load of rumors floating around regarding there financial status.

Many of the titles that are or where being released by ADV films have had their English dubs suspended without notification of renewal by ADV films, such as Welcome to the NHK. Seriously I would recommend that you may want to re-think buying any new or currently running titles from them, if you haven’t started already. As it is not looking good for ADV films at the moment.

The first season of xxxHolic left a lasting impression on me, it was one of those shows that you could not put down once you started watching it. But that is to be expected when production companies like: CLAMP, TBS, BMG Japan, MOVIC, Production I.G and Studio Twinkle work on a single Anime series together. Well the second season is entitled xxxHolic Kei, which started on the 4th of April this year. And is currently on its 11th episode. The series will be 13 episodes in length unlike the first season which was 24 episodes.

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Episode 5 of starts off RD Sennou Chosashitsu with Minamo looking for a special pair of sunglasses called ” Sous-Marin”, which she wants to give to Haru. Apparently they were all the rage 50 years ago. But now they have become collectors items and even the knockoffs are fetching a high price, as she is about to find out.

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