The Gamer’s Litter Box

So a commercial for the latest March 2009 Newtype issue has revealed that the second season of Haruhi will be launched in April. Well, that’s really nice news to wake up to. And about damn time, too.

I only hope that when they say ‘April’, they don’t mean a broadcast date of ‘April 2010‘. Well, we’ll find out in a week’s time when the Newtype issue is finally out on the newstands.

UPDATE: Oh God…it’s not a second season. It’s a bloody rerun. I initially did suspect it to be a remake when I recalled earlier news about the so-called “new” Haruhi series being a “relaunch” of the first season. But now it seems to be confirmed that it’s not a second season.

You know what’s worse than not releasing any news on a series sequel? It’s raising fans’ hopes and then crushing them. This isn’t just terrible marketing: it’s MEAN. Who the HELL thought trolling fans was a good thing? Whoever thought this was a ’smart’ way of bringing in new viewers or reigning in loyal fans should be fired immediately and pushed onto railroad tracks.

I don’t really blame KyoAni for this fiasco since I doubt they have much say on how to promote their series. If anything, I’d blame Kadokawa, the main publisher and licensor of the Haruhi franchise. They should know better. But it looks like they don’t.

The fans backlash isn’t going to be pretty.

Seriously, what kind of idiot asks this kind of question when your teacher is beating the shit out of a little girl in front of you???? It’s bad enough that Keita is reimagined as an emo highschool student, but I didn’t think they’d also make his skull thickheaded. Maybe when his mom got hit by the car when he was younger, mommy’s body rebounded off his skull. That would explain why he’s so slow on the uptake.

So thanks to a bunch of online protests from uptight Koreans who were upset about the anthropomorphization of their country in a webcomic, the only TV station that was supposed to air the upcoming anime series it has cancelled its airing, EVEN THOUGH THEIR CHARACTER ISN’T EVEN IN THE ANIME.

Does anybody realize how stupidly insane this is?

At least we might get an online airing via Animate.tv.

Read

I must admit that I haven’t read a lot of the School Rumble manga chapters, but I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of stuff that the recently released OVA did not cover. Wasn’t there supposed to be some sort of overseas trip with the School Rumble gang? Or confrontation with Eri’s suitor? The director decides to ignore all of them and skip to the last few dozen chapters or so, where Karasuma is leaving for America and Harima proceeds to bring Tenma to the airport so she can join him. WTF? Were there other School Rumble episodes that I somehow missed after the second season?

Seeing how I tend to be really busy during production week and not blog about anything until the end of the month, I thought I’d quickly blog about the upcoming Anime Fest 2008. Taylor’s University College will be holding the event at their main campus this Saturday. Apparently all the doujin booths have been taken up, so it looks like it’s going to be pretty packed.

Place: MPH Hall Taylor’s University College, Main Campus, Subang Jaya
Date: 26/07/2008 (Saturday)
Time: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Address: No. 1, Jalan SS 15/8, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor

I’ll be dropping by this weekend to take pictures and oogle at Kev’s figurines display. I’m quite keen on picking up one of his figurines there on that day… :B

Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo, aka The Girl who Leapt Through Time will be part of the Japanese Film Festival that will be screening in selected GSC cineplexes. Although I’ve already watched it and the movie is a couple years old, I plan to watch it again at the cineplex this weekend. It’s a great movie, and it deserves to be watched on the big screen.

I’m not familiar with the other movies listed in the film festival, though Fourteen and Tony Takitani interests me. I’ll see if I can make time for these two movies.

GSC Japanese Film Festival

It’s been a while since I last watched any anime, even though I’ve downloaded a fuckton of them. I’ve been really busy with my trip to London, with GameAxis LIVE!, and then the magazine itself. But I’m catching up. In fact, I’ll be doing a rundown of the new Summer 2008 anime series lineup. Probably just a short impression of the series based on the 1st couple episodes. That way our readers will know what to watch and which to avoid.

Animax-Asia sent word that they will be having a contest in line with their latest broadcast of Sergeant Keroro, now airing 6 p.m. weekdays on Animax. Titled ‘My Friend is an Alien‘, the contest is to create and draw ORIGINAL characters inspired by Keroro and his gang. If your illustration is selected, it will be animated and featured on air across Animax in Asia! Nice.

The top 3 winning entries will win themselves a Dopod smartphone handset and have their works turned into Habbo home stickers. Closing date is 9th September 2008, so you’ll have some time up to come up with some spiffy character designs. Full press release after the jump. Continue Reading »

The picture you see here is of the buntings that we’ll be hanging around Mid Valley a few days before GameAxis LIVE! That way people who drive into Mid Valley will see them and be notified about the exciting event inside.

A lot of people have been asking me about who and what will be in GameAxis LIVE. Now that we’ve confirmed the sponsors, exhibitors, and most of the events, here they are!

Event Highlights

- Freeplay gaming areas for everyone to try out and play! Try out the hottest gaming titles for the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3, and more!

- Lucky Draw weekend! Stand a chance to win a Sony PS3 or Nintendo Wii!

- See Hellboy live in action! Play fun games and win free Hellboy II movie tickets!

- Metal Gear Solid 4 Limited edition auction! Bid and win at crazy prices!

- Free daily anime episode screenings!

- Attractive prizes to be won at the CELGames 2008 Tournament arena. Up to RM25,000 in cash and prizes to be won!

- Great computer hardware at super bargain prices!

- Hellboy Character Creation contest! Win amazing prizes, including a computer notebook!

The full list of the partners and sponsors that will take part in GameAxis LIVE! after the break!

Continue Reading »

Animax-Asia has sent me a press release on their upcoming “I Wanna be an Entrepreneur!” contest at the Animax Youth Festival. The good news is that the contest submission date has been extended to 4th July 2008, so that means you have a week to go to submit your business proposals and hopefully, be selected for promotions.

For more info, you can check out the Animax Youth Festival mini site. Full original press release after the jump.

Continue Reading »

Iori E, I love you, mate. Click the jump to see the punchline for this awesome Code Geass 4koma!

Continue Reading »