Reservations for the upcoming 1/8 scale figure of “Akiyama Mio” from K-ON! by Kyoto Animation is finally opened ^^

The figure is scheduled for July 2010 release at 8,000 Yen with 1 person is limited to 1 piece. You can go to Kyoto Animation Online Shop to place your order.

If you missed it, don’t worry because KyoAni already scheduled for a re-release in the near future.

For now, looks like it’s only limited to KyoAni Online Shop. I will update if any other shops will have her up, although chances are very slim.

(Site is loading veryyy slowwww because of congestion)

I should really eat my hat for this news, as I said that I thought that a April start was impossible and that it would either be a summer or fall show.

I was wrong.

Not saying that’s a bad thing though…

K-ON! coming Thursdays in April on TBS. Coming Fridays for us English people.

I’ve seen me lots of animu in the last decade. I started watching this stuff in late 2001, and it’s ruined my life ever since. That being said, I felt it was my obligation to impart upon you the fact that there are terrible anime out there. Sometimes it seems like it’s all moeblobs and slice of life bullshit. I’m not sure if anyone else has done this yet, so I’m giving you my list of the 20 Most Shittiest Anime of 2000’s. Keep in mind that even though I have ranked these, they are all equally shitty. My list probably won’t sit well with the slice of life fans or the moe-loving fapboys, but rest assured these anime all need to be sent directly to hell.

Dishonorable Mention) Most Pointless Award – Rebuild of Evangelion – Why Hideaki Anno, why? You impressed us with Gunbuster, you further solidified your directing talent with Nadia, and you amazed us with your opus Evangelion. After that you did… well, not really anything. You went on to make a bunch of really shitty live action movies. You failed and failed and failed. You weren’t able to succeed in the mainstream, and that’s OK. But when you returned to the world of anime, what did you do? You decided to make A MOTHERFUCKING REMAKE of your biggest cash cow. Hmmm. Out of ideas already? Apparently so. Either that, or you wasted all of your money on full body Asuka pillows and mosaic screened Japanese porn. Now, I will agree that Rebuild of Evangelion was extremely well made, but it was also extremely pointless. Evangelion was by far one of the most incredible anime of all time. And remaking it is retarded at best.

Dishonorable Mention) Worst Director Award – Mamoru Oshii – To all the fans of Oshii… fuck you. This guy is terrible. He’s a horrible director. He has no concept of pacing or intriguing storytelling. There is an old writer’s guideline that says, “Show, don’t tell.” Basically, it means you should describe what’s going on, and not just say that it happened. It provides for a much richer experience for the reader. Oshii’s work is all flawed by the same problem. He “tells” and doesn’t “show.” He wants to bring up philosophical ideas, and his method of doing that is by having two talking heads spout off paragraphs of dialogue at each other for huge chunks of time. This could potentially work in a book format, but in film, which is a visual medium, it fails miserably. Immediately, this becomes boring to all but the most insane Oshii-loving otaku. I swear to god, Oshii fans are practically a cult. To them, Oshii is like Jesus and he can do no wrong. He could film himself taking a shit, and his fans would call it the greatest piece of cinema to ever grace the earth. The truth is, 99% of everything he has put to the screen is garbage. Oh, and Oshii, nobody gives a fuck about Basset Hounds, so stop putting them in all your goddamn movies.

20.) Death Note (2006) – What started out as a great series, quickly degraded into a huge piece of crap. I thought it was brilliant making the villain the main character. And for a while, it was incredible watching him outwit his enemies time and time again. There was something engaging and fun about rooting for the bad guy. It was different. But then, after the first story arc concluded, it devolved from a near perfect anime specimen to a near perfect anime piece of shit. The genius main character became an idiot, the people who caught him were a bunch of annoying little kids, they only won by pure luck, and even the plot made no sense. The good guys don’t always have to win. If this show had the balls to let the villain win, it would have been unforgettable. However, the ending was completely idiotic and totally out of character with everything that had occurred up until that point. If they had stopped at episode 25, this might have made the top 20 anime of the decade list. However, every episode past that point drove it farther and farther down into the trash can of shitty anime that should be forgotten. LEARN TO SWIM!

19.) RahXephon (2002) – Don’t let fans of this series fool you, it really is a huge rip off of Evangelion. While it’s true that Evangelion borrowed a lot from other shows, it was able to combine all of those elements into something fresh, and it had something new to say. In fact, it redefined the giant robot genre. RahXephon, however, is just a scam artist. It looks pretty, but has nothing of substance to offer. Instead of borrowing and integrating, it just steals. Even small things like the female bodyguard having purple hair, and a plethora of shots, are duplicated exactly. It also has a huge, boring cast. The pace really drags, and it is not fun to watch at all. It’s a lame, cheap imitation of a good anime. It’s like if Evangelion is the restaurant Qdoba, then RahXephon is Del Taco.

18.) Black Lagoon (2006) – Wow, what a piece of shit this thing is. With all the tits and firearms, it looks like it should be awesome. But looks can be deceiving. While it appears to be a slam-bang action adventure, it actually is nothing like that at all. Mostly, the characters are completely 2-dimensional, and stand around spouting bullshit from Philosophy 101. There might be a 30 second shootout, with the main characters blasting away at bad guys who stand still, just waiting to get gunned down. The animation is incredibly stiff, and the design is uninspiring. There is no character development, except that the main guy picks up smoking at the end. (It means that he became cool.) Black Lagoon is like that kid in school who tells everyone he is cool and tries really hard, but makes himself look like an idiot in the end. There is nothing cool about this overrated piece of shit. Its only redeeming quality is some really amazing Engrish. “That purase has more badassu maddafaakas zan supermax spaceland.”

17.) Azumanga Daioh (2002) – Wow, what a racist piece of shit. There’s a stereotype that all Japanese people are xenophobic toward foreigners. It probably used to be a lot more true back in the day than it is now. (When I was in Japan I got nothing but warmth from everyone there.) However, watching this series would make you think otherwise. Every chance they get, they take digs at all non-Japanese people, especially Americans. Now, that doesn’t necessarily make this a bad series, but it sure doesn’t help matters. Weeaboos, wishing they were Japanese, have no problem with this racism, or they don’t even notice it at all. (For example, the English teacher who can’t speak English at all and acts like a monkey when interacting with an American tourist.) Racism can be funny if done well. A show like South Park manages to make racist jokes while offering some kind of social commentary. This series, however, just makes racist jokes with the sole purpose of being racist. It adds nothing to the series whatsoever. It’s a piece of shit. Also, Osaka is a stupid, annoying bitch, and she isn’t cute at all.

16.) Ghost Hound (2007) – I really wanted this series to be awesome. It had quite the pedigree as it was Production I.G.’s 20th anniversary series. That being said, I gave it a lot of leeway. However, it just fails to deliver in almost every area. The character designs are laughably cartoonish, and horribly clash against the realistic backgrounds. The story drops hints so seldomly, and so slowly, that it becomes irritating as you watch and watch and watch and wait for something, anything to happen. The story was told in 22 episodes, but it probably could have been told in 10. Stretching it out that long for no reason is a clear sign of terrible writing. The terrible pacing is a clear sign of terrible directing. Overall, this series is just terrible.

15.) Blue Gender (2000) – Violence porn. There are so many close-up and repeated shots of exploding, bloody wounds, it quickly becomes ridiculous. Instead of filling the series with plot or characters, they just have shot after shot of dismemberment and geysers of blood. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to this if the series had something else to offer. But it doesn’t. It’s empty and vacant. Much like actual porn, it has no real story. The anime just serves as a vessel for delivering buckets of blood without having any redeeming qualities otherwise.

14.) .hack//SIGN (2002) – Is anything happening yet? ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz. Is anything happening yet? ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz. Is anything happening yet? ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz.

13.) Planetes (2003) – I have already written a full review of this, so I won’t bore you with the details a second time. But basically, this series is centered around a huge douchebag with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The animation and music are nice, but the characters are so godawful annoying, that it becomes impossible to watch. After 26 episodes you expect some kind of character or plot development, but neither happened in the case of this anime. In fact, the main character regressed and became exactly like his father, which is a person he hated and tried his entire life to avoid becoming. And he is super pumped to be just like his dad in the end. FAIL.

12.) Naruto (2002) – Ugh. All right, seriously, how many episodes are they up to now? You’re kidding, right? No?! Wait, what’s that? There’s a sequel now with them more grown up? Fuck, that sounds terrible. Wait, it’s up to how many episodes now? You’re kidding, righ? No?! Why is the animation quality so terrible? Oh, I see, it got farmed out to Korea. Well, why don’t they make fewer episodes and just concentrate on making them higher quality? Oh, nevermind, that’s a dumb question. The answer, obviously, is: merchandising.

11.) Basilisk (2005) – The “plot” of this series focuses on a war between the two most famous ninja clans in the history of Japan. There is really very little in the way of story, and a whole lot in the way of ridiculous fight scenes. Don’t get me wrong, I love action, in fact, I’m an action junky. But it bugs the hell out of me when the fight scenes involve idiotic super powers (“Watch out my hair is super sharp and will cut you!”  “No, you watch out, I can turn myself into water!”), and even though someone ends up with with a harpoon through their chest, nobody dies. Eventually characters do die, but it takes way too long for it to happen. I don’t understand why the Japanese feel the need to give everybody such ridiculous super powers. It would be way more interesting to watch a realistic version of two ninja clans going against each other.  Anyway, no plot and all (stupid) fight scenes make Basilisk a complete waste of time.

10.) Toward the Terra (2007) – Ugh. Talk about horrible pacing. I’m surprised that Oshii didn’t direct this steaming pile of shit. The first few episodes were good, but it quickly went south after that. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what the hell happened in this series. I do know that a bunch of pretty boys keep rescuing in each other outer space, and use every bit of their strength to resist making out with one another. Other than that, there was something about finding the homeland and using psychic powers. I don’t know. I was too bored by the lack of things happening to pay attention.

9.) Genshiken (2004) – Genshiken is the poor man’s Welcome to the N.H.K. Where the latter show had intriguing characters, a cool story, and was able to lovingly critique otaku culture, the former had none of those things. It claims to be about otaku, but it isn’t. The main character is the girl who hates otaku and anime. Almost every episode is told from her perspective. She cringes at how weird she thinks they are, and she act like a completely spoiled brat. Genshiken trashes the culture that it claims to be professing its love for. All of this was completely unnecessary. We already know how the rest of the non-otaku world views anime. We don’t need to see it again here in our beloved format. That’s why Welcome to the N.H.K. was so good. It allowed the viewer to see criticisms (as well as the insanity) of otaku culture, but do it in such a way that doesn’t make it seem weird and shameful. Genshiken wants you to feel like a outsider for liking anime. Why would you make your anime series about a person who hates anime? She doesn’t even grow to like it. That’s why this series is total crap.

8.) Aria (2005) – ZOMG THEY ARE ALL SO KAWAII SQUEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7.) Air (2005) – ZOMG SHE IS SO KAWAII SQUEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6.) K-ON! (2009) – K-ON! is another entry in the moe slop-bucket of shitty anime. Once again, all the girls are totally cute, and we get to see their adventures of daily life. Nothing much actually happens. We really just have a voyeuristic sensation as we watch the teenage girls. That must be why it is so popular. It can’t be the plot (it doesn’t have one), it can’t be the action (it doesn’t have any), it can’t be the incredible acting (it doesn’t have that), and it can’t be the amazing character growth (it doesn’t have any). If the writers/director/animators had put one tenth of the effort into storytelling that they did into making cute character designs, then this show could have been good. It would be better if it ended like this:

5.) Sky Girls (2007) – Moe? Check. Giant candy apple heads with stick bodies? Check. Are the majority of characters female and super kawaii? Check. Lesbian overtones? Check. No plot? Check. An entire episode based on trying to find a lost Double-D size bra? Check. Sky Girls has really got it all.

4.) Clannad (2007) – Fuck you, Kyoto Animation, fuck you. The same assholes who came up with Air and Kanon also created this huge piece of moe shit. Jesus assraping Christ. How is it even possible that anyone sane could watch this and NOT gouge their eyes out? The story, and I use that term loosely, is the same as in every other tale adapted from a visual novel. Essentially, the girls are soulless husks, designed for only one purpose: fucking. It is your job to trick them enough so that they will let you stick it in. That’s it. I just gave you the entire plot. Oops, spoilers! People who like this drivel should see a psychiatrist. Or be locked up for pedophilia. Or both.

3.) Moe-tan (2007) – Are you fucking kidding me? Just look at that moeblob. The fact that shows like this exist proves there is no god.

2.) Kanon (2006) – DIE!!! UGUUUUUU~ DIE!!!

1.) Lucky Star (2007) – For some reason, the latter half of the decade was plagued with an onslaught of “cute” flat-chested girls who sit around and do nothing. Lucky Star is the epitome of everything that is wrong with the current state of anime. No plot, super moe, unfunny, nothing happens, no action, no character development, and a completely vapid waste of time. Now, I know what you’re going to say, “BUT BRIK THEY ARE TEH UBER CUTE AND ITS JUST A ANIME BESIDES WHATS GOOD IS SUBJECTIVE LOL” Sorry, but you’re wrong. What’s “entertaining” is subjective, but not what’s good. Lucky Star can be entertaining to people who are functionally retarded, but nobody with any standards in storytelling would find it appealing. The latest T-Pain song may entertain you, but you probably wouldn’t say it’s good like something by The Beatles. This is trash anime, the pinnacle of horribleness, the anime version of Satan and Hitler’s child. It only solidified the popularity of the vapid-moe/slice-of-life trend, and for that it deserves the title of shittiest anime of the decade. Plus, its opening song is an audio holocaust.

While I was researching for my last post, I found this interesting video, it’s Korean subbed, but looks real enough.

From what I can see, the girls are finally getting a gig at a music hall, abit a small one, but they have to start somewhere. I know for a fact that AC/DC did small gigs in pubs around the corner from myself (they came from Adelaide). Is this the episode we’re all looking for? I hope so!

No, I don’t know the date we’ll see those Moe-blobs once more, I’m just trolling you.

One thing I do know is that there are rumours going around the show is starting on the 24th of February. Is this true? No, it’s pure and utter bullshit.

I don’t know if this guy really thinks it’ll start in a month, but I KNOW FOR SURE it won’t. That guy is just a douche for getting people’s hopes up. Geez, I hate people like that.

Lets look at some facts shall we:

• The spring Anime season starts in April, not the end of February,
• KyoAni will have there hands full of Haruhi promotion (the CD’s come out at this date),
• There is no PV (which usually come out 2 seasons before the show starts, hey this is KyoAni, I could be wrong,
• and finally,  ANN would have posted SOMETHING, or at least Danny Choo (and his minions would have spread it like wildfire).

I personally think this will either be a Summer or Fall show, as production was ANNOUNCED, not started.

If you want any KyoAni in February, you’ll have to watch The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, if you don’t like that, suck shit, that’s the best you’ll get from them for a while.

Oh, but there is an OVA on the Blu-Ray/DVD coming out on the 20th of this month, which is two days away, look forward to that.

1.  Equality Now – Also known as “Rage Against Eroge,” the feminist organization set off a campaign that precipitated questionable legal revisions across the globe, including a proposed act in the UK, a new law in the Phillippines that failed to distinguish between hentai and other forms of anime, and a new set of voluntary restrictions in Japan itself.  Chilling effects were seen in the US as well.

Presumably legitimate businesses were far more important targets than actual criminals, as it took months for EN to go back to things like attempting to bring justice to rapists.

2.  The FCC – Taking a step closer to its future role as the GOTT, the FCC proposed sweeping changes to blogging, and the huddled masses could do naught but obey.

3.  Kyoto Animation – With the infamous Endless Eight arc, Haruhiists were forced to cry, “Why have you forsaken us?”  “Kyon-kun denwa” became a hissing, a byword, and a song. At least some took comfort in it:

At last I decided to take the pettan song, @moritheil’s ‘Kyon-kun, denwa,’ some public So-called videos, and an @Anime3000 podcast ep

4.  Yutaka Yamamoto – With his apology for Endless Eight and sniping at what he felt were undesirable trends in anime, Yamamoto secured infamy for himself in 2009.

5. Colony Drop – Their trolling ranged across the blogosphere, provoking wars with the likes of Plot Shield and ANN.  Individual members managed cameos in even the most unlikely situations.

6. Shinn87 – While other fans have also wished they were lolis, none have exhibited Shinn’s relentless dedication to making his views known.

7. Otaku Elimination Game – Whether you reacted to them with love, hate, amusement, or scorn, there’s no denying that OEG made a big splash this year in the anime blogosphere.

8.  Wildarmsheero – Like a cook, WAH kept the pot of drama simmering, though it occasionally boiled over.

9.  Koji Oe – At great personal cost, he kept it real.

10. Yamila Abraham – The proprietor of Yaoi Press kept a cool head even as rumors flew on Twitter.  Her twitter feed combined stark professionalism with . . . somewhat less than stark professionalism.

Is ‘passage’ an acceptable word to use for a guy’s bum hole in erotic writing?

11. Michael Pinto – Well known for his different takes on events that often cast light on issues that threatened to slip into obscurity, the proprietor of fanboy.com maintained a dignified status as mentor to up-and-coming sites.  Most recently, he was called out for his rampant fanboying.

12. Extrange – Known for his ability to devour volumes of manga in one sitting, Extrange found time to war with Crusader and compare his life to a shoujo game.

Truly, we give thanks for our dorama generators, for without them, the anime blogosphere would be a much more boring place.

Credit to CCY for starting the “12 moments in anime” movement.

Disagree?  List your own top twelve below!

Today’s “that was inevitable” moment came when the official site for Kyoto Animation’s musical hit K-On! was updated with the above image, which confirmed a second season for the slice of life show about a high school all-girl band. Given the stellar sales of the DVDs and the show’s massive fan base (the show’s representation at Comike 77 is off the charts), this announcement falls somewhere between “We like money” and “The sun will rise tomorrow” on the surprise scale.

Fearless prediction: 8 straight episodes of the band practicing the exact same song, with mild costume changes and ad-libs.

What? No, I’m not bitter, what makes you think that?

Source: Moon Phase

If you see my face right know, you’d understand how shocked I am.

A second season of K-ON! has apparently been announced at Comiket 77 (I knew I should have saved up and gone )

This is a photo of the announcement

Really? Another one? Personally I would rather a new season of Lucky Star, they’re both shows that lack plot. But hey I can’t talk, I use the K-ON! Google Chrome theme.

I guess DVD/Blu-Ray sales really do affect whether or not we get another season. Where’s Bakemonogatari then?

The last DVD/Blu-Ray will have an extra episode of the series, most likely a cliffhanger into the new season or a trailer as an extra.

Lets just hope this doesn’t bring more K-onified shows.

Thanks to Banzai Effect! for the image ^^

(Yes, I know the show finished months ago. This is the first of a long series of draft posts I am finally finishing….)

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, or rather, the Boredom/Sighs of Suzumiya Haruhi if you’re going to be anal about it. The long-awaited second season of Haruhi got a lot of fan-flak for essentially running the same episode eight times in a twelve episode ’season’. But for what it’s worth I really enjoyed it and admire the balls of KyoAni to take such a piss-taking direction.

For one, they did actually re-animate every episode in the Endless Eight saga afresh, with every scene from a different angle and the lines re-recorded. A colossal waste of time and money some would say, but certainly something none of us is going to forget. And after watching the same thing eight times you really felt like you’d spent half your life watching the damn thing — that’s the kind of accurate empathy you can’t buy. And for what it’s worth, I really enjoyed the first episode of Endless Eight for its slice-of-lifeness and dumb otaku jokes (kakizaki anyone?).

You’ve also got to really admire the way KyoAni screw with our minds. Logical broadcast order? No way! We all greeted the announcement of a rescreening of the first season with cries of “WTF?? Are we ever going to see the second season??”, so to sneak new episodes under the radar by revealing that they were integrating new stuff in with the first season in ‘chronological order’… man, that’s genius. And the otaku went nuts over it when the surprise was revealed. Of course, Endless Eight reversed most of that good will, but hey, easy come….

It was still a joy to see the material from the light novels faithfully animated. As with the first season — and all KyoAni productions — it was impeccably animated, perfectly paced and with joyous OP and ED themes to match (though never coming close to the inimitable Hare Hare Yukai). Getting reacquainted with the characters was like visiting old school friends you hadn’t seen in years. I thoroughly enjoyed the sweet, down to earth endings to all the arcs, particularly Endless Eight. And there was a certain sense of completeness in everything coming back round to Episode 00 (or at least there would have been if there weren’t another two first season ep’s broadcast after ).

Overall, I was very satisfied with the return of Haruhi, even if it wasn’t quite the second coming. But then fandom’s moved on in the years since the first season (particularly after the insanely good Haruhi-chan and Nyorōn Churuya-san). Suzumiya’s going to need to raise her game if Haruhi-ism is to rule the otaku world again. What she really needs is a movie. Oh.

Okay, I wouldn’t call it news, per say, but this interesting article from CartoonLeap gives us more OFFICIAL images of the film in question, straight from Haruhi’s own news magazine, Newtype.

They look like a happy bunch, eh?

Now I can’t speak Japanese, nor read it, but I do know the blue writing on Haruhi says The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. I think, but don’t quote me on this, the writing next to each of their respective heads is their names (I know this for sure) and a little about the character, whether it be a stock standard one or a ‘Disappearance’ bio. If someone can read this, please leave a comment about it’s contents in the comment section below.

Personally, I quite like this picture. Why you ask? Simple. Long haired Haruhi is in full bloom, Koizumi doesn’t look so gay, Yuki has emotion and that stare of Kyon’s can seep itself into your soul. Oh and Mikuru is as cute as ever.

I can see this week being a big week in Haruhi news, as the story, which you should know, if not, READ IT, is set in 2009 and starts on the 18th of December, next Friday, and we all know how symbolic Kyoto Animation and Kadokawa are (endless eight *cough* *cough*). I hope for a trailer, but that might be just wishful thinking.