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Manga Spotlight:Love Roma
By Minoru Toyoda

Volumes 1 and 2
Released by Del Rey Manga

Manga gold! Only a powerful misanthrope could dislike Love Roma. Minoru Toyoda seems have decided to rethink comic romances from the ground up, from the way the relationship is pursued, to the character design, even to how content indexes and previews are handled. The results are feel good fun that is never artificially sweetened or intelligence insulting. Even if you don't like the romantic comedy genre and pass on it in manga, there's the unrefutable charm of perfectly tuned situational comedy and characters who balance a refreshing outlook with unexceptional circumstances.

To compare the concept to the useful social index Seinfeld, Love Roma is similar to the episode in which George decides to reverse his impulses, leading to a flow of honest answers. And it doesn't take a George Costanza negative example to find a constant stream of lies. Even in a culture that values openness, every day, in every life there is always an of element spin and white lies. Hiding the truth just seams a good idea to make life easier by masking the details you'd rather not deal with.

In the first sequence of Love Roma, Hoshina walks up to Negishi, a girl who he has a crush on, but who doesn't know him, and approaches her with total honesty. With a perfectly approachable iconic, almost comic strip look, like what someone with talent might doodle on a desk or notebook, the short episode depicts Hoshina doing what social instinct and example teaches against. He lays things out straight. No witty pick up lines, no falseness. A simple "I like you, can we go on a date some time." As it turns out, her natural honesty, without the typical barriers to emotion inspired him to open up. It's not an immediate match made in heaven, but the earnestness, persistence and a little peer pressure leads to her giving him a chance.

The stories cut through the typical rom-com BS without rendering the relationship too easy or simple. Just because these characters are honest doesn't mean that they don't have to work through problems of clashing views. Hoshina does have deal with the consequences of being honest. There is a father who could be mollified with a little bit of lying about the relationship with the their daughter. There are confrontations that could be avoided, alleviated or put off by being a little deceitful. As a gimmick, read honesty in brilliantly in its simplicity and reality.

Somewhere between sitcom and slice-of-life, Love Roma finds a way of detailing a relationship that is just going to make you smile. Part of the joke is that in life, if you encounter someone being incessantly honest they're typically using the honesty as irritant. Here, Hoshina cares about people's feelings and is laying everything out for his and everyone else's benefit, and generally no one knows what to do about it. As a consequence they're forced to work through problems smartly.

Love Roma's appeal is magnified by a supporting cast who seem fully capable of carrying their own stories, but integrated into Hoshina and Negishi's relationship serve as fascinating catalysts. Some fit and extend the typical elements of a rom-com cast, such as Hoshina's aggressive best friend/confident. Tsukahara has a bit of a wide frame and pretty extreme glasses, but he's damb cool. Going on a proposed double date with Negishi's friend Yoko, a quiet rebel, who's always thinking and scheming, Tsukahara responds to Yoko's question "are you cool?" with a deadpan "20% more than anyone else". The perspective of the series offers up some unique dynamics, such as Sugimoto, a girl who falls for Hoshina who's more actively dumbfounded by the honesty than anyone else.

The series is aware of sex even if the characters aren't really fully preparing for it. Hoshina's friend passes him a condom he expects not be used on the way to the first date. A dim friend with pulled up bleached her makes a habit of offering idiotic sexual suggestions.. For example, after a fight, he suggests Hoshina make up by "rubbing her boobies". This material probably upped the age advisement to 16+, but it shows an honesty similar to the characters'.

Manga Spotlight: Berserk
Volume 10
By Kentaro Miura

Released by Dark Horse Manga and Digital Manga Publishing

The Berserk manga reached a point where it is almost half and half material adapted into the anime to what was not adapted. In order to focus on the story of Guts transformation from a survivor to a part of a mercenary community to a nameless vengeance fueled wanderer, non-essential elements and hints of what was to come after the transformation were limited. Now that its almost at the change-over, more of elements are making themselves felt. After a year of torture Griffith, the genius youthful mercenary general whose political ambition came crashing down when Guts left his service and he prematurely approached the kingdom's princess, lays in a dungeon with little left of his body. Visions of fetus shapes with melted flesh are crawling out the wall, leaving a view to a infinite corridor of mirrors in their wake. Berserk is about to hit its critical momentum and all hell is literally ready to break loose.

Volume 10 of Berserk is more flawed than other recently volume of the super-natural medieval revenge epic. Specific moments are staged brilliantly. The expansion of the work's mythology is frightening. Miura's depiction of swords on flesh combat is still the most wild and visceral you'll find. However, the volume works against itself with some of its excesses which make the hand of the author too distractingly visible.

There's a the fight with the Barikara, a group of "eastern" (the Berserk world's equivalent of Indian) oddities, who put on an interesting fight against the Hawk's elite, a sort of team on team action convention not previously seen in the battlefields and skirmishes previously in the series, but their freakishness and foreignness renders them a rather base examples of exoticism. Driven by a mad pedophile king, the motivations are less interesting, a with odd, out of character moments, such as Guts making jokes, seem to point to Miura not at his full scripting capabilities.

The Berserk manga never seemed as earthly as the anime did during the central phase, but in this volume, the world really seems to have cracked up. There's a frightening emergence of the supernatural. Waiting Lovecrafian creatures, ancient, hidden beings with little regard for humanity are making their appearance. Recounted tales start to forward a pitch black theology. Remembering back to the first three chapters, which jumped ahead in the story, connecting the pieces, The God's Hand who stalked the early preview are hinted at by legend to be emissaries of an angry god. They were angels, send to earth to punish a wicked king by destroying his domain. Furthermore, this king is hinted ay to be the identity of the Skull Knight guiding Guts. There's plague, destruction and death at the doorstep, and it seems to brought on the representatives of God. There's a force trying to warn and preserved the protagonists, and he seems to be punished by God.

Miura's illustration captures the primal fear of the dark with forms that are chilling when masked him darkness and horrifying when revealed. Breaking out of the arboreal shadows, wood cutters witness a serpent rising above the tree tops. Later Ricket, the youngest remember or the Hawks sees a light across the waters of a lake. Going back the camp he seems a body hanging in the darkness, approaching camp light reveals a smiling fat face above the body, then, the face is revealed to be on the crown of slug creature, with a partially devoured man in its second maw. Miura excels at partially hidden creatures and forms in the darkness, but when it comes time to reveal the creatures themselves, he delivers shocks, either actively decaying or chimera monstrosities. A few creatures a beautiful, but disturbing, such as the "elf", a girl who's part lunar moth, part young girl.

See Miura's work, you wish horror directors could have such an creativity and comprehensible of what attacks primal fears. An aspect that you have to think about to appreciate is that Miura is able to put these elements together without making them look silly. The live between horror and humor is kept strictly on the side of horror even when rules of logic are stretched to points that are innately silly, such as a plate armored knight launching into the sky, landing on a small tree branch briefly in his ascent.

Anime Spotlight: Gankatsou Volume 2

Released by Geneon

Gankatsou is the kind of work that asserts the significance of animation as a medium that can create a visual impression not found elsewhere. The results are often achingly beautiful. In this sci-fi adaptation of Count of Mont Cristo, there's a scene in which Hayd?e arrives at an opera wearing a gown that looks and even moves more like a creature from Aliens of the Deep. The opulence of Monte Cristo's Paris is bent around a the capabilities of digital animation for an effect that is crammed to the ocular seems with wonder. This may have been what Lucas was hoping for in his recent trilogy: worlds with their own unearthly beauty, that look like nothing that has been seen before, but are able to speak to the viewer on familiar terms when needed for story telling.

The style of Gankatsou looks like another stage in the video-game animation feed-back loop. Rather than glitz up old techniques,Gonzo took the idea of texture mapping to create a new experience. From polished stones, to mosaics, to stain glass and print, patterns surfaces act as view ports to patterns. Whether it is a head of hair, clothing or wallpaper, as the aspect of the character or object moves, it picks up a new view of the pattern. The results can kaleidoscopic bursts or near randomness or masterfully laid out for specific effect. Because of the breath of possibilities and ties to the exotic and opulent sights act in service of the plot, it isn't a novelty effect to quickly pass on once seen.

For those who have not read the novel, these episodes introduced the targets of the mysterious and almost limitlessly rich Count's plot. Three men of immense power in their own right: Villefort a brutally strict member of the judiciary with a literally poisonous wife, Danglars, a financial manipulators without scruples whose wife is engaged in her own insider trading schemes, and Morcerf, a military man with political ambition, whose wife seems troubled by the Count even before his campaign is fully underway. The three also serve as an example of how the flexibility of the series' look works. While the Count inhabits a world of dream-like glamor, Villlefort's is severe late 18th century gallows and stone, Danglars is 21st century with spherical banks of monitors streaming charts, news broadcasts and data along with almost ironic currency patterned wall paper, Morcef's is 20's authoritarian regalia.

With 24 episodes to work with, Gankatsou has the space to utilize the depth of Dumas' novel. More aspects and characters can be found than generally appear in adaptations. Not that it is complete (Caderousse seems to be missing, Maximilian Morrel is present, but there doesn't seem to be a connection between the count and the Morrel family) or unchanged. Most noticeably, events are more often centered around Albert, the young pawn of the man who reinvented himself as the Count of Monte Cristo for revenge. Albert offers a less informed position from which to view events. The impetus for revenge hasn't been revealed yet. But the advantage of viewing events from Albert's perspective is that in addition to watching the Count's machinations unfold, a more detailed view of the younger generation (the children of the Count's targets and their social circle) is offered. Rather than just presented with key situations as part of a plot roadmap, the viewer of the anime can watch Albert develop perspective in direction (which was depicted in the novel, but receives more attention here). Sensitive and wounded Valentine expends her love from her grandfather to a peer. And, Eugenie develops her dissatisfaction into a love of freedom and independence. The anime offers compelling interactions between the characters, as much fascination as the Count's manipulations hold, watching Albert and Eugenie try to figure out how they feel about their arranged marriage can be equally engaging. The dialog offers insight into how these characters think, and it's interesting to watch them as more than just plot pieces.

Baki The Grappler volume 5

Released by FUNImation

There may be little to Baki the Grappler beyond chest pounding, blind aggression and desire to assert dominance, but at the end of every volume, you'll find yourself cursing that there isn't another episode to watch. For all the UFC/MMA parallels in the plot and structure, it really models itself after classic wrestling of the pre-WWF days, event throwing in characters modeled after Giant Baba and Antonio Anoki, along with name checking figures like Lou Thesz. It follows the simple formula or convincing the viewer that person A and person B really want to fight each-other, and it that opportunity should occur, something interesting will transpire. There's always some hook in the episodes' conclusion or the next episode preview that makes the next fight look like the best yet.

When the time comes to thrown down, the fights are satisfying, but not as memorable as the set up to the fight. The engagements are long enough and novel enough to deliver on the promise of their build, but it is blunt action. While they aren't over simplistic or routine, they are neither realistic to engage strategic thought processes or unreal enough to be spectacular. Without getting blood and guts ugly, the emphasis and impact brutality.

Volume 5 of the series firmely establishes the direction after the time jump in the middle of the previous volume.
Baki, now a teenager, has become the king of an underground fighting promotion operating under the Tokyo Dome (apparently you can fill an arena with thousands or tens of thousands of people, all who can keep a secret). Baki might be fighting somewhat more traditional fighters than some of the oddities of his early career, but the opponents are still using largely exotic fighting styles, such as the "Cord-Cutter", a fighter whose material art style ranges from brutally ripping into flesh to more subtle pokes that rip apart tendons and nerves.

The episodes work quickly to fill out the Baki universe with different generations of fighters, different schools, and other top level personalities. You can easily forget that Baki has been at the top of the world in the previous phase before the rug was pulled out and it was revealed that the fighters he was meeting weren't as superlative as he, they or we were lead to believe. The effort is aided by a narrative in which the participants take themselves very seriously, completely throwing themselves into the effort, but the depiction doesn't. It embraces its lack of subtly and depth and goes all out with bold designs. Rarely are the characters faces not broadcasting exactly what they're thinking.

Manga Spotlight: Shadow Star
By Mohiro Kitoh
Volume 7: Victim's Eyes, Assailant's Hands

Released by Dark Horse Manga

If you've ever imagined how volatile cute-combat monsters and teenage life could really be, read the seventh volume of Shadow Star. Previous volumes built the story of a vacationing girl who found an cute arrow head shaped creature with koala mannerisms, and eyes that could look innocent or flat worm vacant. But soon the exhilaration of theacreature that could be held like a back back, or carry her like a flying surface board turned frightening and panful as she met other people with similar creatures and less benign uses. A subsequent column right address the other volumes, but 7 is an abject demonstration of cruelty, hard decisions and human weakness. Seeing teen impulses filtered into creatures that can kill with frightening ease is depicted as disturbingly as it should be. An aspects of gun violence is the frightening ease and distance involved, but here, the huggable creatures and the not so cute ones they evolve into slice and crush human being with an ease and at a distance that adds a new dimension to disconnect with the violence. It doesn't take much more than a thought for someone to have their head taken off at the jaw.

The volume climaxes a string of bullying that bound to spark emotion in anyone with difficult teenage years. On one hand the events tends to at the far edges of credibility. These are the serial killers of the bullying world. Still, anyone who has suffered verbal abuse or been ostracized can easily work up a head of anger over what is depicted. Shadow Star falls in with a trend seen in a number of graphically violent works (Gantz and Elfen Lied being a few other examples), in which the viewer/reader in drawn into feeling anger at the powerlessness of the victim, but then, when the bully is dealt with, there's an ambivalent reaction. Not that you feel sorry for the bully, but there's some question as to what level of retribution is appropriate.

Some manga consumers have zero tolerance for editing, and volume 7 of Shadow Star was edited. Someone picked up some pants. An incision doesn't start at quite the same place. A page of bloody aftermath wasn't included. The changes are not inconsequential, but the events are still painful to look at. As a result a particular sequence is less graphic, but not softened. The psychological and physical pain are still vivid, and this isn't a Tenjho Tenge situation were the work was being reshaped for a new audience. People with zero tolerance for editing aren't going to accept it, but it is understandable why a commercial enterprise wouldn't want to publish a graphic depicting of a person who most people would call a "kid" being graphically eviscerated in a manner full of sexual overtones. It's hard to protest the decision too vehemently, and it's also easy enough to find the changes online.

Earthsea Trailer Next Month

Nausicaa.net reports that Goro Miyazaki's January 23 blog lists that a three minute trailer of Ghibli's adaptation of Tales From Earthsea will be released on February 24th. The trailer was edited by Itagaki Keiichi who has edited the trailers for previous Studio Ghibli films.

Sony Licenses Blood+

World Screen and Anime News Network report Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has acquired the rights to the Blood+ TV series, the TV follow-up to Production IG's Blood the Last Vampire short film. The license covers North America, Asia (outside of Japan), Latin America, Australia and New Zealand. No time frame was announced for the North American DVD distribution, but Sony is showcasing Blood+ at NATPE this week.

The original Blood was created, but not written or directed by Mamoru Oshii, best known for the Ghost in the Movie movies. It was a generally reality based action movie about a Japanese school girl enlisted by the American army on the eve of the Vietnam war to destroy the blood sucking creatures that breached one of their bases. Partially produced as animation expirement, the movie only ran 48 minutes.

Blood+ resituates the plays in current day Okinawa.

Del Rey Licenses Air Gear

Del Rey Manga, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, announced the acquisition of AIR GEAR, a Kodansha property by manga legend Oh! Great, creator of Tenjho Tenge.

With 12 volumes and over 5.5 million copies in print in Japan, great anticipation has been building for the U.S. debut of AIR GEAR. AIR GEAR, translated from the original Japanese and completely unedited, follows the adventures of Itsuki Minami, the toughest strongest wrestler at Higashi JHS, who is easy on the eyes, but dangerously rough when he needs to be in a ring. Itsuki lives with the mysterious and sexy Noyamono sisters--so this lucky boy's life isn't exactly dull. But it takes a turn for the even more unreal when Itsuki leads his school to victory over some vindictive Westside punks with gangster connections. Now he stands to lose his school, his friends, and everything he cares about. In his darkest hour, the Noyamano girls come to Itsuki's aid. They can teach him how to use Air Trecks to save their school from the gangster's siege-and bring Itsuki to a thrilling, and terrifying, new world.

AIR GEAR will be rated for ages 16 and up. The first volume will go on sale July 25, 2006.

Ironically Air Gear, Oh! Great's younger audience work, in what appears to be an unedited release, will have an older audience rating in its domestic release that DC's CMX edited adaptation of the creators older audience intended Tenjho Tenge.

Director Chosen For Live Kite

Jorge and Javier Aguilera have been chosen to direct the Rob Cohen and Anant Singh produced live action adapation of Yasuomi Umetsu's Kite.

The two episode OAV was an over the top, in its violence and tragedy, twist on a Leon/The Professional type story, following a girl taken in and trained to kill by the corrupt cop who killed her parents. Like many of Yasuomi Umetsu's work the color, design and action has a slick design, almost glowing color scheme and high velocity action that might seem at odds with the troubling circumstances.

Spirited Away on Cartoon Network

Hayao Miyazaki/Studo Ghibli's Oscar winning Spirited Away will be airing on Cartoon Network February 3rd at 7:00PM.

Manga Free Comic Day Participants

Manga that will play a part in the May 6th Free Comic Book Day 2006 outreach problem include TOKYOPOP, who will be acting as a gold level sponsor with the TOKYOPOP Sneak GN, and Viz who will be provide Viz Samplers. For more information see here

Re-Priced Escaflowne

Bandai will be releasing a collection of fantasy marvel Escaflowne in their Anime Legends format on Aprill 11th.

Australia Loses Uncut One Piece

Anime News Network reports Madman Entertainment has announced that "for the time being, [Madman] will be releasing the TV edited version only." The Australian distributor did not receive the necessary material for an uncut release, but plan of releasing the popular action anime uncut at a later date.

ADV Vid-Casts Through iTunes

Anime on DVD reports ADV Films has two new podcasts available on iTunes. First is the ADV Films Trailer podcast where you can find the newest trailers to come out from ADV. Teasers, trailers and longer expanded trailers will all be added as new ones come out.

Also now available on iTunes from the Anime Network and ADV Films is DVD Dojo. Each month, DVD Dojo looks at new titles coming out from ADV giving you an indepth look at the show along with a short clip. You'll also find information about upcoming conventions and other items.

Game News

AnimeNation points out that Japanese game producer FIELDS now hosts a streaming Flash trailer for its Neon Genesis Evangelion 2nd Impact pachinko game here

Game Spot has post a preview of the game adaptation of scratch style samurai serial Samurai Champloo href="http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/samuraichamploo/news.html?sid=6142758&autoplay=6142787">here. The Game hopes to incorperate the beat of the anime into the combat of the game.

From The Magic Box

Bandai will release a new PS2 action game Jojo's Bizarre Adventure in Japan this summer, which based on the first phase of the series.

Bandai announced a DragonBall Z game on the PSP for a spring 2006 release in Japan.

Media Blasters Licenses Riki-Oh

Media Blasters will be releasing the two episode Riki-Oh OAV, based on a manga famously adapted into a super-violent fighting movie that provided the head-mashing scene used in the original incarnation of the Daily Show. The anime will be released on April 11th. Media Blasters will also be releasing a box set of Otogi Zoshi on April 11th and a collected Gunparade March on April 25th.

Musicland Group File Chapter 11

Musicland Group, parent of Sam Goody and Suncoast has fired for chapter 11 bankruptcy. ICV2 reports that the company has over $114 million in negative net worth, the net of around $371 million in assets and approximately $485 million in debts. Anime companies who were owed money include Navarre with $12.8 million with their now anime division FUNimation owed over $3 million, Ventura Distribution, which distributes Viz titles, among numerous others, is owed $5.8 million, ADV, at $2.3 million, Media Blasters at around $1.8 million, and Geneon at around $1.6 million.

Yaoi Dating Sim Announced

JAST USA, a distributor of Japanese PC dating-sim games for adults, has announced the immediate availability of "Enzai - Falsely Accused," the first love simulation game for fans of "yaoi" (a.k.a. "boy's love").

"Enzai - Falsely Accused" is set in Napoleaonic France some years after the French Revolution, where the player assumes the role of Guys, a youth convicted of a murder he didn't commit. In prison he encounters a series of characters who will help or hinder him as he tries to gather evidence to clear his name: Lusca the lawyer, Evan the journalist, Vallewida the former soldier. It features multiple outcomes based on what actions the player takes during the game, with many possible endings for the player to explore.

Ever since the first computers with color graphics, Japan has had a tradition of "dating sims," sexual games in which the player is surrounded by a number of beautiful females to woo and enjoy sex with. Usually known as "hentai games" by U.S. fans, dating-sims are extremely popular in Japan, with around 25% of PC software titles being some type of erotic simulation game. Some titles become so popular they spawn mainstream anime series. ("Hentai" refers to anime-style sexual imagery in animation, comics or computer games.)

Yaoi ("yah-ow-ee") is an incredibly popular genre related to Japanese animation, translatable as "boy's love," which focuses on relationships between male characters. Yaoi anime and manga have increasingly been licensed for sale outside of Japan, but this is the first yaoi PC dating-sim to be ported. The game is translated into English and is 100% uncensored.

TOKYOPOP Discount

ComicsWorthReading points out that TOKYOPOP has a 10 % (enter the code JAN06 at checkout)discount on all January releases until 1/31 and 30%off OEL titles Ark Angels, Dramacon, and Mark of the Succubus until 2/28 (use code SHOJOMOJO at checkout). See here

Shinichiro Watanabe Lectures in Detroit

Anime News Network reports that in addition to lecturing in Houstin, Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop) will be lecturing at the Detroit Film Theatre on February 8. Watanabe will discuss the aesthetic and technical aspects of this work, and show clips from Animatrix (2003) and Samurai Champloo (2004).

51st Shogakukan Manga Award Winners

Anime News Network and Manga

News report that the winners of the 51st Shogakukan Manga Award have been announced. Since this is a publisher-sponsored award, while other publishers' manga also have a chance of winning, works published by Shogakukan are more likely to win.

# Children's category:
- Animal Yokochou by Ryo Maekawa - Serialized in Ribon (Shueisha)

# Boys' category:
- Wild Life by Masato Fujisaki - Serialized in Weekly Shounen Sunday (Shogakukan)

# Girls' category:
- Sonan Jyanaiyo by Kaneyoshi Izumi - Serialized in Betsucomi (Shogakukan)

# General category:
- A Spirit of the Sun (Taiyo no Mokushiroku) by Kaiji Kawaguchi - Serialized in Big Comics (Shogakukan)
- Rainbow Nisha Rokub? no Shichini (Rainbow) by Story: Masasumi Kakizaki; Art: George Abe - Serialized in Young Sunday (Shogakukan)
Check here for past winners of the award.

Media Blasters Picks up Green Green

Media Blasters will be releasing the first volume of shonen relationship comedy Green Green on May 16th.

Anime Network Taps Akimbo Internet VOD Service

" Akimbo" announced that Anime Network's comprehensive collection of animated films and TV programs from Japan will soon be available to North American viewers on-demand via the Akimbo Service. Users will be able watch Anime Network's line-up when they subscribe to Akimbo, "the world's largest Internet-to-TV video-on-demand service" with more than 8,000 titles in some 85 categories.

Consumers can sign up for Akimbo through the Online Spotlight area of Microsoft Media Center Edition 2005 PCs and at www.akimbo.com.

Anime Network To Offer New Anime Movies And Series On Comcast On Demand

Anime Network announced that it is offering new anime movies and series as part of Comcast's ON DEMAND video-on-demand (VOD) service. These programs, available for $3.99 each, include selected titles that will be available on VOD concurrent with their home video release.

CPM April Releases

Central Park Media announced the April 4, 2006 release of Armored Trooper VOTOMS - Stage 2: Kummen Jungle Wars, the next chapter in the groundbreaking war epic by renowned director, Ryosuke Takahashi. In this 14-episode two disc set priced at only $34.95 SRP, Armored Trooper Chirico Cuvie has signed on as a mercenary in one of the bloodiest civil wars and will face his most deadly opponent yet. In addition, Munto 2: Beyond the Walls of Time, the tale of a psychic schoolgirl who is called upon to save a kingdom, is also slated for April release and will be priced at $19.95 SRP. Due to the immense popularity of the original Munto release in Japan, the fans financed the production of this action-packed sequel.

A very special opportunity has been created for those VOTOMS' fans who purchase all four story arcs. Each VOTOMS story arc will contain a unique proof of purchase card. Upon collecting and mailing in all four cards along with a $15.00 shipping and handling fee, fans will receive the limited edition VOTOMS ammo can and bonus materials which include a VOTOMS guide exploring the many worlds, characters, and robots of Armored Trooper VOTOMS as well as a special bonus DVD documenting the VOTOMS universe.
The order date for these releases will be March 7, 2006 and the street date will be April 4, 2006. Munto 2: Beyond the Walls of Time will have English and Japanese language tracks with English subtitles while Armored Trooper VOTOMS - Stage 2: Kummen Jungle Wars will only have Japanese language tracks with English subtitles.

Armored Trooper Votoms - Stage 2: Kummen Jungle Wars
From Ryosuke Takahashi (Creator of Gasaraki and Blue Gender, Director of Silent Service), Norio Shioyama (Character Designer of Ronin Warriors), and Kunio Okawara (Mecha Designer, Mobile Suit Gundam)

Angel/Dust neo begins serialization in Newtype USA

Newtype USA, the leading anime and manga magazine in North America, will begin to serialize Angel/Dust neo in its February 2006 issue. From popular creator Aoi Nanase, this manga insert will appear in 15-page installments for the next nine issues, telling the story of Akito Haga, an ordinary high school boy who runs into a young girl with wings of an angel who's fallen from the sky; soon after, he's visited by two other surprise guests who claim to be androids from the future and insist he enter into "contracts" with them! This will mark the English-language debut of a fan-favorite title, which will later be released in full book form in partnership with ADV Manga.

The original Angel/Dust had also been serialized in Newtype USA, and was recently released as a complete book by ADV Manga. Like Angel/Dust neo, the manga was beloved for its lush, detailed art and its sweet storyline about a shy high school girl who stumbles into a binding contract with an angelic combat android. Newtype USA Vol. 5, Issue 2 will be available February 1, 2006.

New Digimon Announced

AnimeNation reports that Toei plans on producing a new Digimon anime called Digimon savers.

Upcoming Sonx X Release

4Kids Entertainment Home Video, Inc., the home video unit of 4Kids Entertainment, Inc., in association with FUNimation Entertainment, will release the much anticipated Sonic X Into the Darkness on DVD on February 7, 2006. Volume 9: Into Darkness features episodes 139 to 144 for $14.98

Asterix and the Vikings Teaser

Twitch points that that A. Film A/S is producing a hand drawn animated film of Asterix and the Vikings, with an budgets of 22 million euro. The dubbing was originally recorded in english first by a voice cast of Paul Giamatti (Sideways), Brad Garrett (TV's "Everyone Loves Raymond"), Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings), Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen), and Greg Proops (American improv show "Whose line is it anyway?".)

It will be released in France and Belgium in April 2006.

Official Asterix website
Teaser (Windows Media)
Teaser (Real Player embedded)
Four photo and poster art