Fate/Stay Night movie 2nd trailer

2nd trailer of the movie is up and we got to see more of Rin Tohsaka. Yeah baby!

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InuBaka / いぬばか

For past 1 month I have been reading this manga slowly. My verdict so far?

Not bad.

The mangaka is obviously a big time dog lover, while the characters were quite generic in presentation; the dogs were given such lavish and detailed drawings. She is more interested in depicting earthly realism of people's relationship with mongrel pets, likes to pay attention to issues of adopting a dog as part of life in modern Japan. This is what escalates this seemingly dog centric manga into more interesting read since it focuses on the humans more instead of spending time on dog fetishism. The characters are alright but the male lead is kinda annoying to me though. He just rubs me in wrong way. Lupin, the heroine's dog is pretty funny though.

Sprinkled with occasional fan service (which is pretty mild for me) and off beat humor, the manga promises a slow but interesting read for casual fans, hardcore fans might find it a bit too mundane though. The mangaka did not mince words about mortality of pet dogs too unlike Hollywood's big taboo about depicting dead dog in the movies (I mean there is even a movie about dogs go to heaven made in Hollywood). That is what clinches this manga for me. The author did veer into more spiritual factor of the relationship which many dog owners will insist it did happen.

I would endorse this manga for casual readers, buy it or rent it. Hardcore, very specialized manga reader might give this a miss though.

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Katanagatari / 刀語

Animesuki forum has been buzzing excitedly about this upcoming series from creator of Bakemonogatari (Ishin Nishio). From this review, it does have a promising story with interesting hook and unique art style, but, my initial positive response is kinda dimmed when I don't see Shinbo or Shaft Studio here. Not helping when looking at the attached director (Motonaga Keitaro) is the dude who did few lemon series like boring Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka, overhyped School Days and horrid Amaenaideyo. In his defense however, he did direct some episodes of my top favourite space opera series, Seikai no Monshu and Senki. A relatively unknown studio WHITE FOX will be handling this series, their most recent release is Tears of Tiara TV. There are 12 light novel volumes out for Katanagatari with one spin off volume. So far from what I read or heard, this is not exactly his/her best work but this is just second hand opinion.

It has ambitious release schedule of 1 month per episode in OAV/OAD format with 20 expected total. One wonders if it is for quality control purposes or some new marketing idea to prevent pirating of the series. Or it could mean investors are confident this baby will make money. Afterall, it is kinda hard to miss Aniplex in the trailer.

Until then, it is remains to seen if this series able to give surprises like Bakemonogatari did in 2009.

Main Site

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Happy new year 2010, folks!

As 2009 closing to its end, this been a great fun writing the blog. And I hope it is fun for readers too though admittedly the content could be longer.

Makoto Shinkai is now on a new project, did not say what its name and reveal only barebones of the upcoming story. Another story that dwell on lost and nostalgia, it seems. Don't be surprised with skyshots of gorgeous clouds and blowing wind.

Studio Ghibli will adopt Mary Norton's The Borrowers as their next movie. Don't think the 2 Miyazakis will direct this one though, Ponyo did not do as well as Spirited Away in international market and Tales of Earthsea is considered not very commercially successful so maybe the father and son are licking their respective wounds.

That's it! Bye Bye 2009 and Hello to 2010!

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Oishii is doing Tetsujin 28? Yeah Baby!

Being a long time fan of Oishii, I am very, very excited about this news since I sucker for mecha genre and philosophical (some say he is too pretentious) director. The thing is however, I do not know whether it will be animation or live action. But I don't care which one since I will just grab a boxful of popcorn and watch it anyway. Yeah!

Source

For those who do not have a clue....here

My suspicion however fell on the fact it could be IMAGI and Hikari Production upcoming movie T28. But just my speculation.

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K-On! / けいおん！ Season 2? No way!

In a news that bound to send moe fans into rabid ecstasy and illicit loud groans from others, K-On! Season 2 is on. The main site announced green lit for Season 2 production and manga did seem go quite far, the girls were preparing themselves for university level exams. Will they lose their appeal once they are not wearing the school uniform anymore?

Commercially it is successful so this announcement did not come as a surprise to me, to be honest.

Main website

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Ataque de Pánico! (Panic Attack!) 2009

Wow, this video earns Hollywood attention which promptly offered 30 million USD to the film maker to create a movie (by Sam Raimi no less). Power of Youtube harnessed in right direction. According to sources, this video was made on 300 USD budget. The mecha looks great, to be honest and the story is pretty okay considering it is 5 min short movie.

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