This WORLD features all official updates from our network.

theOtaku.com and RightStuf Partnership

This is huge news for people who plan on signing up for our premium program, launching in only a few weeks.

RightStuf, one of the largest and most reputable stores online for all things anime, has agreed to provide all theOtaku premium subscribers with free, full membership into their own premium program, which will give you 10% off everything you order, in addition to numerous other members-only benefits.

If you do the math, our premium program will cost roughly $2.50 a month, so if you buy $25 worth of anime a month (roughly 1 DVD), then the savings from this one benefit will pay for the entire subscription's cost.

We thank Right Stuf for their support and encourage you all to sign up for the premium launch newsletter, since all launch subscribers will receive a small, forever discount.

If you're looking for a great store to purchase anime or manga then we wholeheartedly endorse Right Stuf, which has been around longer than even our ancient site.

theOtaku.com Anime Podcast IV - Ep. 18

Batou's holdin' the fort again, and he does it spectacularly; he had stuff to read about this week, after all! I'll leave it at that for now... so Batou's alone shootin' the breeze, Ichigo's in Japan being himself in Japan... don't mind that right now, there's podcast to listen to.

Music - (If you don't know what this is, we've got bigger problems! -SomeGuy)

For a link to Anime Pulse's theOtaku.com World, go here.
For a link to the Bootleg News Reporter World, go here.
For a link to The Watercooler World, go here.

Obligatory Instructions:

There are two ways to keep up with this podcast. First, you can just visit us weekly and listen to it by clicking the "play" button in each podcast news post. Second, if you use iTunes, simply open it up and then click here. This will subscribe you. You can also click "Advanced" at the top, select "Subscribe to Podcast" and type in the following URL:

http://theotaku.libsyn.com/rss

Once subscribed, you'll get each week's episode automatically delivered, whether you visit us or not.

So let's start! To listen to our podcast, click the play button above. You can also download the mp3 directly by clicking here.

Three New Quizzes

Guru has been busy approving more quizzes for you to take. So go and check them out! Just don’t forget to let Guru know which one you liked best and what you got.

• What Samurai Champloo Character Are You?

• What Clannad Character Are You?
• RPG Stereotypes: Who needs em? YOU DO!

45 New Categories

Once again it’s time for the weekly update with all the new categories that have been added. If you'd like to recommend a category simply comment here or send me a pm: SabrinaM. Just remember that in order to recommend a category you first have to make sure there's at least one submission for it.

Anime & Manga:

• Bamboo Blade

• Casshan: Robot Hunter
• City Hunter
• Ginga Nagareboshi Gin
• Hurricane Polymar
• Itazura na Kiss
• Pani Poni Dash!
• Patalliro Saiyuki!
• Prism Time
• Shinigami no Ballad
• Space Carrier Blue Noah
• Stratos 4
• This Ugly Yet Beautiful World
• V.B. Rose
• Yumeria

Video Games:

• Atelier Iris

• Dark Cloud
• GunZ: The Duel
• Jak And Daxter
• Legend of Mana
• Lost in Blue
• Radiata Stories
• Skies of Arcadia
• Xenogears
• Zone of the Enders

Music:

• Britney Spears

• Green Day
• Misfits
• Paramore
• Perfume

TV:

• Care Bears

• Darkwing Duck
• Kim Possible
• Samurai Jack
• Winnie the Pooh

Books/Comics:

• Avengers

• Calvin and Hobbes
• Pride and Prejudice
• Spawn
• Witchblade (Comics)

Movies:

• Aladdin

• Batman (Movies)
• Chronicles of Narnia
• Peter Pan
• Star Wars (Movies)

Project o_O Announced: Chat!

This is a feature that's going to fundamentally change how members interact: The ability to participate in and create chat rooms. Chat is an area that has a LOT of baggage normally associated with it. A lot of sites have tried chat but have ultimately failed because of its difficulty. Here's how we're going to handle it:

(1) No anonymity: The only way to visit our chat rooms is through your theOtaku account. We won't allow anonymous, non-registered visitors to enter.

(2) No double-login: If you're logged into theOtaku you'll automatically be logged into our chat system, with your avatar and portfolio link carrying over.

(3) Grace periods: You have to be a member for at least three months and in good standing to visit our chat room. The reason for this is that it makes it very hard for people to register fake accounts just to harass others. Additionally, you have to be a member for at least one year to have the ability to create rooms.

(4) Tons of moderators: Not only will our normal theOtaku staff serve as moderators, but we're going to let OtakuBoards' massive team of moderators have chat moderation abilities too. That way if you run into any problems at all with chat there'll always be someone to help you out and to keep the flamers at bay.

(5) Accountability: If someone is acting grossly inappropriately in our chat system, we can freeze their entire theOtaku account. Additionally, everyone who creates a chat room will be held responsible for the goings-on in their room.

(6) Promotion System: If someone makes a chat room that becomes incredibly popular, we could promote it into a permanent chat room, in the same way that great WORLDS can be promoted into promoted WORLDS.

The launch date for our chat site is still to be announced but it's 99% finished and we look forward to unveiling it.