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Infinite Space launching Spring 2010, animated trailer launching right now

by JC Fletcher { Jul 2nd 2009 at 3:15PM }

When Sega released the first episode of its Production I.G/Gonzo-animated Infinite Space video series in Japan, we were quite pleased to look at it, but our rudimentary understanding of the language prevented us from gleaning anything substantive from the story.

Luckily, Sega has started translating the videos into English, with voice acting and everything, and we can now enjoy both looking at them and knowing what's going on. The voice acting is pretty much what you'd expect from American anime releases, but it's a small price to pay for comprehension. In this trailer, we see that a crash-landed "Watcher" gives protagonist Yuri the opportunity to build his own spaceship.

This trailer comes along with Sega's announcement of a spring 2010 release date in North America. We can only hope it continues releasing translated videos to tide us over.

Gallery: Infinite Space

CLAMP designing costumes for Tekken 6, anime fan girls squee

by Andrew Yoon { Jun 17th 2009 at 10:30PM }

Tekken 6 continues to get more bizarre. Famed all-female mangaka group CLAMP (known for Cardcaptor Sakura, X/1999, xxxHolic, Code Geass) is designing new costume designs for Namco Bandai's upcoming fighter. Here, we see Jin wearing a wardrobe that would fit perfectly in CLAMP's Tsubasa Chronicle.

Obviously, the addition of one of the most popular shoujo groups in Japan is meant to increase Tekken's appeal beyond male gamers. In fact, the high-pitched ringing you may be hearing right now is the sound of thousands of anime fan girls squeeing in unison whilst holding onto Kero-chan plushies.

Evangelion PS3 is, disappointingly, not a game

by Majed Athab { May 27th 2009 at 10:30PM }

If you thought Cellius was finally going to bear a new game thanks to yesterday's Evangelion reveal ... then you're going to feel as crushed as we are upon hearing this. The Evangelion project isn't a game, but yet another anime-linked service, much like the previously shown Gundam VOD thing -- and honestly, it's even less fascinating than the Gundam one. For ¥800 a month, starting June 6, Japanese PS3 owners can get a 3D news reader for their system which features Misato from Evangelion.

... Still with us? Good, because we're about to hit the only interesting part of this story: Misato's voice will be completely computer-generated. Namco chose to go this way since it was deemed impossible to hire a voice actor for everyday news reading. According to Famitsu (via Andriasang), Cellius is using Ruby Talk to make the incredibly life-like voice for Misato. Although this feature sounds rather nice, it's not enough to justify shelling out eight dollars a month. For once, this is something Japan can keep for itself.

Source: Andriasang
Source: Famitsu

New Pokemon anime ending is adorable

by Alexander Sliwinski { Apr 17th 2009 at 6:00PM }

The Pokémon anime has a new closing theme in Japan, let us show you them it. Kotaku notes the tune is called "Get Fired Up Notch-Eared Pichu" and is sung by Shoko Nakagawa -- she's also the voice of the "Notch-Eared Pichu." We don't know what the lyrics mean, but just watching the video causes us to write another check to The Pokémon Company, which is secretly bio-engineering the real thing ... oh wait, we weren't supposed to mention that. Hey, watch the video after the break.

Continued →

Classic Evangelion fights recreated in debut JO trailer

by Andrew Yoon { Apr 13th 2009 at 3:30PM }

In spite of its pretentious musings on existentialism, Evangelion has provided anime fans with tons of memorable fights. This debut trailer of Evangelion: JO, a PS2/PSP action game, kicks up the nostalgia factor with its brilliant recreations of classic franchise moments. Based on "You Are (Not) Alone," JO finally gives players what they've wanted for years: a real Evangelion action game where you can take full control of the mechs. The combat already looks pretty furious, and the style of the anime is amazingly recreated on the PS2/PSP platforms. We hope someone picks this up for Stateside release.

[Via PSPHyper]

Sega officially reveals Bleach: The 3rd Phantom

by JC Fletcher { Apr 8th 2009 at 11:25AM }

We spotted Bleach: The 3rd Phantom on GameStop's "coming soon" list a month ago, but it's taken until just now for Sega of America to make an official announcement. According to the press release, The 3rd Phantom will be out this fall. We have the first English screenshots in our gallery.

The 3rd Phantom, unlike the last two DS Bleach games, is a strategy RPG, with an original storyline that "shed[s] light on events that transpire before the animated series begins," focusing on two Soul Reaper twins named Fujimaru Kudo and Matsuri Kudo. The new RPG will feature voice work from the Bleach anime cast.

Over fifty playable characters are available, with many unlocked through the management of "personal relationships through in-game dialog interactions and various other conditions." Exactly what Bleach fans want out of their fighting manga series!

Gallery: Bleach: The Third Phantom

Valkyria Chronicles girls show some skin

by Andrew Yoon { Mar 18th 2009 at 1:30PM }

Imagine if the girls of Valkyria Chronicles looked like this. Sure, it would be completely inappropriate for a story about a country torn apart by war -- but it sure would sell a lot more copies. With a new anime series launching in Japan, Sega is releasing new capsule figures that focus on the girls' non-military assets. Siliconera has pictures of all the ladies, which can be bought for 400 yen each.

First images of Valkyria Chronicles anime

by Alexander Sliwinski { Mar 12th 2009 at 5:00AM }

Famitsu has some of the first images of the Valkyria Chronicles anime, releasing sometime this year in Japan. Sega's official Valkyria Twitter states that it currently has no word about a western version at this time.

For those who completely missed out on playing Valkyria Chronicles during the epic retail battle of the last holiday season -- and judging by the sales numbers, it was a lot of you -- we found it to be a tragically overlooked SRPG gem. Hopefully, significant DLC, or the announcement of a sequel, will gain the title some of the attention it missed out when Sega dropped it in the middle of the holiday wallet melee.

[Via Sega America Blog]

Gallery: Valkyria Chronicles

Professor Layton and the Anime Trailers

by JC Fletcher { Mar 9th 2009 at 9:45AM }

In addition to those two Professor Layton DS games that Japan has that we don't, a Layton anime movie, with an original story by Level-5 president Akihiro Hino, is scheduled for release sometime this year. The two short teasers here advertise the movie in true Layton form: with puzzles!

SPOILERS for these thirty-second clips: the first trailer features two animals whose Japanese names together form the word eiga "movie." The animators even drew the DS UI elements on the screen! The second is a riddle: "What is something using light and shadow that many people enjoy?" Movies, of course!

Now here's a quick riddle: what is so much easier than a DS game to add English text to?

[Via Kotaku]

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Free Blue Dragon anime appears from the shadows

by Dustin Burg { Feb 25th 2009 at 2:00PM }

Joystiq PSA: An episode of Blue Dragon anime is available as a free (and 100% legal) download.

The Blue Dragon anime's pilot episode, "The Shadow Comes Forth", can be grabbed from the iTunes Store for free, through March 10. That's a savings of $1.99. We can only hope that watching an episode of Shu search for the Night Master, while attempting to prove he isn't a child, doesn't involve any form of digital disc swapping.

Source - iTunes Store
Source - What They Play

Activision spinning Bakugan off into game series

by JC Fletcher { Feb 24th 2009 at 7:20PM }

Activision has announced plans to release games based on the Bakugan toy and cartoon line for Wii, DS, Xbox 360, PS3, and PS2 (something had to be non-PSP-related today!). The first game will be released this fall.

The Bakugan toy line focuses on a game in which spring-loaded action figures pop out of a spherical shape when rolled onto metal game cards. We've never looked into it, but it sounds kind of awesome in theory! The press release says that the NOW Production-developed game, which apparently uses a similar game design across platforms, will feature "intense battles, the ability to create your own Brawler, cartoon quality graphics and multiplayer combat." Not too intense, we hope -- for the kids' sake.

Bamboo Blade: Sorekara no Chousen to hit PSP in April

by Xav de Matos { Jan 28th 2009 at 10:00PM }

Anime fans rejoice: Toraji "Kojir?" Ishida and his fierce clan of fighters are coming to the PSP. Bamboo Blade, the popular manga series from the producers of Gun Sword, will see new life on Sony's handheld this April in Japan, according to Saiani.net. Bambo Blade follows the exploits of luckless high school Kendo instructor, Kojir?, and his band of female trainees as they battle for all-you-can-eat sushi. Oh, and honor.

Bamboo Blade: Sorekara no Chousen for the PSP is a story-driven card-battle title with voice work from the cast of the original anime, which ended in mid-2008. Card-battles? Bamboo? Does it get better than that? Well, it will if a publisher decides to bring it Stateside.

Everybody's Wii Theater dated, priced in Japan

by Chris Greenhough { Dec 19th 2008 at 11:40AM }

Fujisoft's Minna no Theater Wii (Everybody's Theater Wii), essentially a video rental service, will launch on January 27 in Japan, after slipping from its original December release date. We already knew that purchasing the video viewer cost 500 Wii Points, but now we have concrete prices for renting content:

A single title for two days: 300 Wii Points
Two titles for three days: 600 Wii Points
Three titles for five days: 800 Wii Points

When it launches next month, 3,000 pieces of video content will be available. These span 150 franchises, including Astro Boy, Transformers, Hajime no Ippo, and Dogtanian. Anime currently dominates the line-up, though movies, drama, and educational shows will also be present, if a bit scarcer.

A further 50 pieces of content will be released every month following the launch, and Fujisoft claims its content comes "close" to delivering DVD quality. It's just a shame we'll probably never see this here to test that statement.

Xbox Live Video Marketplace opening in Japan next year

by Griffin McElroy { Dec 6th 2008 at 4:00PM }

As evidenced by our weekly sales charts, the Xbox 360 is finally making some (see: any) headway in Japan, strengthened by a recent salvo of Square-Enix releases on the system. As such, Microsoft finally has the customer base to justify exporting a feature that Americans have been enjoying for over two years now -- the Xbox Live Video Marketplace.

According to Famitsu, the Video Marketplace will be landing on Japanese 360s sometime next year, bringing with it a new slew of Japanese films and anime. Simmer down, Naruto-ites -- said content will be region-locked, leaving you to make due with your unsophisticated American programming. Unfortunately, the service's Japanese release date is fairly vague -- is an anticipated quarter too much to ask for a launch window? Come on, Microsoft. Help a ?? out.

Valkyria Chronicles anime starts in Japan next Spring

by Jem Alexander { Nov 12th 2008 at 12:00PM }

If you've been playing Valkyria Chronicles you've probably noticed that the story is excellent and the characters are superbly lovable. We've actually thought a couple of times whilst playing that we'd love an anime based on the game. It seems our wishes have come true as it has been announced today that a series has been greenlit and will be shown in Japan in the Spring.

There's no indication on whether we'll ever see a localized version in the west. If you want to show Sega you're interested in an English voiced version, feel free to go ahead and buy the game. Anime fans and SRPG fans alike won't be disappointed. We'll have our full review up before the end of the week.

[Thanks, Tim!]