Attack on Titan's Levi Voted by Japan as # 1 Manga Valentines Crush

Yahoo Japan recently did a survey on the top man Valentine's Day crushes with Shingeki no Kyojin/  Attack on Titan's Levi (Rivaille) gaining the top spot.

Other characters that made the list, as reported by ANN, included Arata Wataya from Chihayafuru at 2nd place and Yato from Noragami at third.You can check out the other characters that made the list in ANN's post HERE.

The KITE Trailer is Now Out

I personally classify Kite as hentai. But that's just my personal opinion. Still it's a visual and storytelling masterpiece and has been cited by a lot of Hollywood types including Quintin Tarantino.

The film stars lead actress India Eisley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Underworld: Awakening, Maleficent) and and Callan McAuliffe (I Am Number Four, New Director). The Deadline website describes the project as "a character-driven action film that charts the story of Sawa (Eisley), a young woman living in a failed state after the financial collapse, where a corrupt security force profits on the trafficking of young women. When Sawa's policeman father is killed, she vows to track the murderer down with the help of his ex-partner, Karl Aker (Jackson)."

Kite (2014) Trailer, Clip and Samuel Jackson Introduction. - The funniest bloopers are right here

The synopsis for the Western adaptation (not the Yasuomi Umetsu directed OVA) alone is already telling us that a lot of things were swept under the rug including the constant sexual abuse that Sawa experiences at the hands of her guardian/ handler.

The violence is still there though as well as the exploding bullets that's basically Sawa's M.O. Seriously, wrapping this up as an action film takes out like half the fun (or agitation) IMHO.

Credits: ANN

Know Your Gotei 13 Division and Their Captains from Bleach

Here's a guide to your original Gotei 13 Protection Squad from the manga and anime series BLEACH. The chart features what they each stand for, the flower they represent and their respective captains.

The art is plain glorious. It was done by tanathe.



Here's the text that was posted on top of the chart:

Each division of the Gotei 13 beside the assigned number has also a flower insignia called Taishou (隊章) representing their motto. Captains have a special seal on their body in its shape and vice-captains often wear a badge called Fukukanshou (副官章) on their arm which also has that flower motif.


First Division (一番隊)
Flower: 菊 Kiku - Chrysanthemum
Motto: "Truth and Purity"
True meaning of flower: abundance and wealth

Second Division (二番隊)
Flower: 翁草 Okinagusa - Pasqueflower
Motto: "Seek Nothing"
True meaning of flower: unpretentiousness, "You have no claims"

Third Division (三番隊)
Flower: 金盞花 Kinsenka - Marigold
Motto: "Despair"
True meaning of flower: sacred affection, sorrow

Fourth Division (四番隊)
Flower: 竜胆 Rindou - Bellflower
Motto: "If you are sad, you are loved"
True meaning of flower: humility, constancy

Fifth Division (五番隊)
Flower: 馬酔木 Ashibi - Lily of the Valley
Motto: "Sacrifice, Danger, and Innocence - The two lovers go on a journey"
True meaning of flower: return to happiness, perfect purity

Sixth Division (六番隊)
Flower: 椿 Tsubaki - Camellia
Motto: "Noble Reason"
True meaning of flower: admiration, perfection

Seventh Division (七番隊)
Flower: 菖蒲 Shoubu - Iris
Motto: "Courage"
True meaning of flower: faith, hope, wisdom and valour, eloquence

Eighth Division (八番隊)
Flower: 極楽鳥花 Gokuraku Chouka - Bird of Paradise
Motto: "Obtain Everything"
True meaning of flower: magnificence

Ninth Division (九番隊)
Flower: 白罌粟 Shirokeshi - White Poppy
Motto: "Oblivion"
True meaning of flower: eternal sleep, oblivion

Tenth Division (十番隊)
Flower: 水仙 Suisen - Daffodil
Motto: "Mystery and Egotism"
True meaning of flower: respect, regard, self-esteem, egotism, chivalry

Eleventh Division (十一番隊)
Flower: 鋸草 Nokogirisou - Yarrow
Motto: "Fight"
True meaning of flower: strength, healing

Twelfth Division (十二番隊)
Flower: 薊 Azami - Thistle
Motto: "Revenge, Severity, and Independence"
True meaning of flower: wounding, provocation, punishment

Thirteenth Division (十三番隊)
Flower: 待雪草 Matsuyukisou - Snowdrop
Motto: "Hope"
True meaning of flower: hope, consolation

So that figures. Kenpachi Zaraki's motto has always been fight which was also the reason why he's so damned bloodthirsty.


Source - Tanathe

Attack on Titan Season 2 Not yet Greenlit

ANN reports that the staff and production crew of Shingeki No Kyojin aka Attack on Titan has implied that at the moment there is no season 2 for the hit anime series.

During the end of the pre-screening for episode 25 in Japan, the staff stated that at the moment there's still no go signal for a second season.

Of course, that should not be too much of a concern seeing how popular the series has become ever since the first episode was first released a few months ago. Still 25 episodes is not enough and I'm calling it now, they will simply follow the Naruto path of taking short breaks before releasing a new season.

The good part here is that they don't have to go and create filler episodes due to the upcoming spinoff manga "Shingeki no Kyojin Gaiden: Kuinaki Sentaku Prologue". So maybe we should just play the waiting game with this series for now.

Source

Hilarious that Premium Bandai is Selling the Luffy Strawhat Replica for $50

I find it hilarious that Premium Bandai is selling a ridiculously priced Luffy strawhat for $50.

Why you ask, because you can go out on the streets here in the Philippines and get the same looking hat for as less as Php 50 or $1. Yes, it's that cheap.

Anybody before the bashing continues, check out more photos and some added details about this rip off product.

The overpriced hats are handcrafted by Tanaka Hat which has been up and about since in 1880 and based in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture. The hat will be available by October 2013 and comes in medium and large sizes.

Seriously, I can probably sell that to you for $25 excluding shipping and pass it off as original. No wonder Monkey D. Luffy is such a favorite character to cosplay amongst the male cosplaying population here. Hit me up, I could sell you a boatload of these hats and we could probably help the weavers in Baguio City make a decent living while we're at it. 

Source [LINK]

GEEK FASHION: Kamen Rider 000 Inspired Attire for Cyclists

It's been a while since I did Geek Fashion here on the website, so here goes. Picked this up on Tumblr. It's a pretty neat cyclist shirt inspired by Kamen Rider 000.

Of course if you want to go for a different style, you can also wear this.

Don't forget to call out attacks and henshin once once in a while. 

Sailor Moon Cast Envisioned 20 Years Later

Can't argue that Sailor Moon is a popular anime. It's fanboy and fangirl fuel through and through. And with a new anime series coming soon, check out this art set featuring the main characters from the anime/ manga series 20 years after the events of Sailor Moon R/ Sailor Moon S.

Based on my source, these are fanfic and nothing but fanfic.

Tuxedo Mask / Mamoru Chiba

Chibimoon / Chibiusa

SAILOR SENSHI

Sailor Mercury

Sailor Mars

Sailor Jupiter

Sailor Venus

Sailor Saturn

Source:amimizuno from http://forum.unwire.hk/thread-4239-1-1.html

UPDATE: Welp! I now have a translation of the page. Thanks to Rika and her friend for the effort.

"Tsukino Usagi (34 years old): After the manga, got engaged to Mamoru at 18 years old, married him when she was 19, gave birth to her eldest daughter 御影, and at 21 years old gave birth to her 2nd daughter 曆.


Mamoru works overseas A LOT, so it's just Usagi and her two kids living together most of the time.


月野御影 is 16, Usagi's eldest daughter. She's currently a shut-in/hikikomori due to an incident 2 years ago.

Facing an worldwide apocalypse Luna awakened her into Sailor New Moon. She worked alone at first, then partnered with Sailor Saturn (Hotaru Tomoe) to save the world.

After a year of battle, she's decided that school is useless so she's studying independently at home so she can join the Tome Research Institute.

She's an extremely mature girl.

This is the one that looks like a grown up version of Chibiusa.


Next is the mini-clone of Usagi, her 2nd daughter, 月野曆(14 years old), 2nd generation Sailor Moon.


月野曆 in terms of personality is exactly like Usagi, Bubbly and naive. She's currently a 8th grader (2nd year junior high).

She idolized her older sister (who got top marks in both sports and academics before), and so her sister becoming a hikokomori was a great shock to her.

Chiba Mamoru (37 years old): Currently working at the United Nations part of a peace keeping group. Pretty much runs around the globe all year.

Mizuno Ami (34 years old): Married when she was 22 years old, has 1 kid and runs one of those after school cram schools with her husband.

She wanted to teach students that there is 'joy in learning what school doesn't teach'

It's a long running business (10+ years), and she's trusted and respected member of the local community.

水野愛菜 (14 years old): Ami's only daughter, the 2nd generation Sailor Mercury. She's also a mini-clone of Ami in terms of personality, calm and intelligent.

She's a good kid, respectful of her parents, but also a bit resentful of them in that they spend all that time teaching other kids, but always tell her to go and 'review'

Hino Rei (34 years old): married at 22 years old, has one daughter. currently running the shrine, and known as the beautiful miko of Hino Shrine.

火野凜 (14 years old): 2nd gen sailor mars, another mini-clone of her parent Rei. She's good at sewing, and also training as a miko.

In a fit of rebellion against adults, she cut short the miko outfit into a skirt.

Kino Makoto (34 years old): married at 21, gave birth to twins (1 boy, 1 girl and apparently the names were too hard to even translate into chinese).

Opened a cafe called 'jupiter' with her husband

This cafe is currently the meet-up place for the 1st gen sailor senshi

木野かなり (14 years old): 2nd gen Sailor Jupiter, yet another clone of her mother in terms of looks and personality. She and her brother often helps out at the cafe.

Apparently gets very high marks in school

Aino Minako (34 years old): Internationally famous Japanese actress. She got married at 25 years old with an American, but divorced a few years later.

She has one kid and they live in Japanese, but because of her job she's often flying back and forth between US and Japan. Her kid is pretty much raised by hired caretakers.

Aino Venus (10 years old): Her name in Japan is Aino Minako and is a popular kid of an actress.

Hasn't really spent all that much time with either of her parents, and living in such a family...there's a few problems.

She has other nicknames like "Vena" an "Nars" is the 2nd gen Sailor Venus.

Lives in a classy apartment with a maid

Hotaru Tomoe (22 years old): Inherited her father's research facility, and works there. In order to help Sailor New Moon in 'that incident' 2 years ago, she took on the mantle of sailor saturn again.

Considered Sailor New Moon's best partner."

POKEMON THE ORIGIN Trailer Now Streaming

A new POKEMON animated special entitled POCKET MONSTER THE ORIGIN will be released in Japan soon and it's going to be based on the original POKEMON RED/ BLUE (Green in Japan) games released years ago.

So basically there's no Ash (Satoshi) and no Pikachu here. Yes, this was the Pokemon I grew up with and got hooked on during High School. :D

Check out the character designs for this new special including classics like Professor Oak, Stone based Gym Leader BROCK and RED's Mother. Yes, the lead's name is RED go figure.

RED

GREEN

20 House Points on who this guy is. (Shame if you don't know who he is)

BROCK

RED's MOTHER

And since we're talking old school here, we'll also be using classics like Charmander (Hitokage), Blastoise (Kamex), and Charizard (Lizardon)...




And wow, they even included a new mix for the classic intro BGM for the game. Oh and if I can comment, this version of RED is dumb, he should've evolved CHARMANDER into CHARMELEON before challenging BROCK. It's like the oldest trick in the book. Annnd he should have some back up monsters already like Butterfree in his team mostly because he'd already gone through the forest. 

What a chump. Still pretty excited to see this, mainly for the nostalgia.

Source

WOWOW to Rerelease Macross, Creates Life Size VF-25 Valkyrie

I forgot just how much a fanboy I am for Macross so here's a throwback of sorts, ANN reports that WOWOW (Oh don't give me that look) will be re-releasing the origin series The Super Dimension Fortress Macross on HD for the first time. Plus they've set this up...

Yes, that's a life sized VF-25 Valkyrie fighter. And it's on display for the 30th Anniversary of the Macross series. (Man I'm old)

Additional information from ANN: "The nine-meter wide (about 30-feet) and 10-meter (33-feet) long full-size variable fighter VF-25 Valkyrie is on display at Minatomirai station in conjunction with the broadcast."

If you're in Japan go check it out as the display will only be on until September 2. And I almost forgot, they'll also be screening MACROSS: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE? 

Sources: LINK1 LINK2 LINK3

SWORD ART ONLINE Gets Extra Edition Come December

Fans of SWORD ART ONLINE need to wait for a few more months before they get anything new from this series. ANN reports that there will be a new year-end anime special to be officially called "SWORD ART ONLINE: EXTRA EDITION".

This special will recap the entire events that happened from the Aincrad arc and Fairy Dance Arc as well. As an added treat, there will be new scenes added into the special. How many minutes long that is is still out there though.

Should You Rage Over Gatchaman Crowds or Not?

I stumbled on GATCHAMAN CROWDS while checking the new Kyoryuger gashapons on Henshinjustice and I raged for a good minute or so before deciding to check it out once I get home. Here's a look at this new anime series which just aired in Japan last month.

Here's the synopsis I got off Wikipedia:

The series takes place in the early summer of 2015 and is set in the city of Tachikawa, Japan. A "second metropolis" of Tokyo, Tachikawa is populated by people known as Gatchaman, who are warriors that fight in special reinforced suits that are powered by the manifestation of spiritual powers of living beings called NOTE. A council has recruited individuals that have latent powers to help fight alien criminals. In recent years, the council has appointed the Gatchaman Crew (G-Crew) to fight the mysterious entity known as MESS.

Read the character description HERE

So going back, the description for this anime series seems apt. It's a mix between Gurren Lagann, Tiger & Bunny and Persona 4. My question however is whether or not it'll stand the test of popularity. The series did a lot of things. It wants to draw in crowds by using the Gatchaman brand, then sticks to standard tropes and the whole 'whats popular' to make it fly (no pun intended).

Now the object of geek/nerd rage here is the concept or the lack thereof. Gatchaman was always about the science ninja team (Battle of the Planets for the North American/comic book readers, G-Force for the Pinoy readers). These were teenagers, who kick ass in bell bottoms and bad haircuts and drive a ridiculously powerful ship named God Phoenix (because they can) and more importantly because they're heroes. They have the symbology and exude that they mean business. Sadly that's not the case with Gatchaman Crowds... or is it?

GATCHAMAN CROWDS only shares two things with the original series namely the whole transform-myself-to-a-more-powerful fighter and secondly the bird theme. Other than that it's a completely different beast.

That being said, I'm compelled to do two things. One is to do a review of this new series and secondly to raise awareness that these two should be treated as a separate entity or a 'spiritual successor' to the original series.

So what do you think?

Will You Try Gatchaman Crowds?
	Absolutely!
	Pass...
pollcode.com free polls

Source 

MegaHouse G.E.M. Gon and Killua Zordick Figures

Fans of Hunter x Hunter who are still sad over the lack of action figures for this adventure manga/anime series should keep their eyes peeled for the release of the figures of the series' main stars Gon Freecss and Killua Zoldyck. 

You know what could've made this figure a lot better? Adding those nen and ren effects. This is like the first half of the story. As things progressed both Killua and Gon stopped using the fishing pole and the skateboard. But these accessories are still pretty cool anyway.

More photos after the cut.

Argentinian Team Creates Live Action Fan Made Robotech Videos

Here's a look at a fan-made live-action trailer for Robotech done by a brilliant Argentinian animation team.

Check out the two trailers after the cut...

Initial Review: Sword Art Online

Found the time to watch "Sword Art Online" while recuperating from the flu and I'm having mixed emotions for this series.

What's it about: 

Imagine playing an MMORPG using which ships your consciousness into the game itself making it a really "immersive" game. Then imagine your worst nightmares when you find out that you can't logout of the game. That's what happens to main character Kirito and 99,999 other gamers who are stuck inside the game with only the small glimmer of hope that somebody gets to beat the game and reach the 100th floor. 

Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Girls Season 2 Renamed as Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Bride

Harem and ecchi fans will be happy to know that Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Girls will be returning this April 2013 with a second season and a new title - Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Bride.

Watch the trailer after the cut...

WOWOW to Screen Live Action xxxHOLIC

A true teenager of the late 90s and early 2000s will smile a devilish smile upon hearing the Japanese channel known as WOWOW. Let's not dwell on that however and focus on the more important fact such as the first look at Anne Watanabe and Shota Sometani in character for the live-action adaptation of the CLAMP manga classic 'xxxHOLIC'.

As mentioned earlier, the film will be shown in WOWOW and will run for eight episodes.

Read more after the cut.

One Piece Film Z to Feature Strawhats Wearing Armani Gear

The upcoming One Piece film "One Piece Film Z" will not only provide fans with neck breaking action but also install new fashion sensibilities.

The film will feature the Strawhats gang including Monkey D. Luffy geared up with the latest clothes from the Italian line A | X Armani Exchange. According to the post from Animenewsnetwork, the Shibuya arm of Armani will be selling the real clothes.

Mind you these clothes are pretty special, with the designs being handpicked by One Piece creator Eichiro Oda.