3rd Higurashi Series Planned as Rei OVA This Winter
The official website of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni anime franchise has confirmed that the third series will be an OVA project called Higurashi no Naku Koroni Rei. It also confirmed that Studio DEEN, the same company that worked on the two television seasons, will work on the new project. While the site emphasizes that the release dates are not set yet, both the Mainichi Shimbun paper and Saishin Anime Jōhō report that the project will start this winter. As before, the story creator and supervisor will be Ryukishi07. However, the director this time will be Toshifumi Kawase; he oversaw the scripts in the second television season (Higurashi no Naku Koroni Kai) and directed Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh, Pita Ten, and Shion no Oh. Higurashi no Naku Koroni Rei was the name of a 2006 software fan disc that included two story chapters based on the original murder mystery visual novels.
Source
ANN
ADV Relocates Downloads, Outsources Online Orders
Fans have recently pointed out that ADV Universe, ADV's website for DRM-protected digital downloads, has had no titles listed on its website. While ANN is unable to verify how long the website has effectively been vacant, ADV representative Chris Oarr tells ANN that ADV Films rolled its digital download offerings into the main advfilms.com website in January and February. All the digital downloads previously available from ADV Universe are now available from ADV Films.
In a related matter, ADV Films is outsourcing its online fulfillment to RIght Stuf. Oarr says, "ADV is really great at a lot of things and pretty good at most everything else, but when it comes to fulfillment, Right Stuf certainly is one of the best. We're getting out of the online fufillment business, and we're looking forward to improving the service received by our customers via this partnership with Right Stuf."
Right Stuf also handles fulfillment for Funimation products ordered from Funimation's website, and did the same for Geneon Entertainment before that company ceased its North American DVD sales.
Source
ANN
Astro Boy, Pokémon Lend a Hand in Baseball, Olympics
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows baseball team played this past weekend in vintage uniforms from their days as the Yakult Atoms. True to their name, the Yakult Atoms uniforms had manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka's most famous character, Mighty Atom (Tetsuwan Atom/Astro Boy), embroidered on their sleeves. The vintage uniforms were part of the team's promotional campaign for the Golden Week holidays.
During the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008 in March, Japan promoted its bid for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games by having Astro Boy and Pokémon's Pikachu greet attendees with Shintarō Ishihara (Tokyo's mayor). Dr. Ichiro Kono, the Tokyo 2016 bid's CEO and chairman, said, "Tokyo 2016 is honored to have been able to appear at this festival with the anime stars, who are treasured national icons beloved by youth worldwide."
Source
ANN
Hiroshima to Host International Gundam Society
This August, the Japanese city of Hiroshima will host the International Gundam Society — a tentatively titled academic conference about the issues facing future cities, as presented in the Mobile Suit Gundam science-fiction anime series. The Gundam franchise will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year. Set in the fictional Universal Century calendar system, the story posits that most of mankind must emigrate to space colonies to deal with overpopulation. The "spacenoids" eventually wage war with each other and Earth through giant robotic mecha and evolved humans known as Newtypes. The gathering is part of the larger Hiroshima Animation Biennale event that also includes the Robot Anime Expo and the Hiroshima International Animation Festival. This August is also the 63rd anniversary of the first atomic bombing at Hiroshima.
* The feasibility of Universal Century (the possibility of space colonization due to overpopulation)
* The structure of human conflict between Earth and space (an inquiry into elitsim from a historical perspective)
* The social psychology of Spacenoids (the emergence of Newtypes)
* An inquiry into nostalgia for Earth and home (the ethology of cities that are not the original homes of their citizens)
* An inquiry into the Zeon revolution (concerning the perpetuity of fascism)
* The politics of the technocrats (Earth Federation)
* The possibility of reforming human consciousness on the battlefield
* The international spread and economic effect of Gundam
Source
ANN
Man destroys loud neighbor’s apartment
A man has been arrested after climbing from his own balcony to the balcony of the apartment above to wreaking havoc. He smashed windows, threw a refrigerator off the balcony, and set a fire, destroying the interior the interior of the apartment while his neighbor was away.
The man said he did it because he was angry about the noise level coming from the apartment above.
Source
Japan Probe
