From episode… well, Mr Shillito didn’t mention which when he submitted it over the Twitters, but I’m presuming it’s one of the later ones.

In a curious twist of timing, NISA announced that they’ve picked up the US license for the show, even if it won’t likely see the light of day until next year. I would say it was the most surprising license of the AnimExpo weekend, but I can’t really say I expected anyone to pick up Ro-Kyu-Bu of all things (or Loups-Garous given the complete lack of positive things I’ve read about both the book and the anime). Still, it’s a Go Negai property that isn’t exactly rife with the super-robots or hyper-violence that Negai tends to be known for in the West, which I guess makes it a curious pick up if nothing else.

Although I don’t have anything of significance to say about the video in question, I do feel, however, that in these times of low activity I am required break radio silence on occasion.

Actually, there’s just not all that much to say about it. It does contain a snippet of the anime OP theme, Ready!! (not Reday!!, as the original announcement and some parts of the official site still have it listed), which is catchy if a little typical of the songs they’ve been choosing to promote the games ever since the first 360 release. By that I mean it sounds somewhere between (or perhaps around) Go My Way!! and The World Is All One in style. This isn’t to say it’s particularly bad or boring or anything, infact it did me something of a favour by blasting that darn Carnival Phantasm OP out of my head for a while.

Not that this was an entirely suitable replacement – being out of my homestead when they released the promo, I ended up watching it on the bus. Being acutely aware of being in public made it hard to focus on anything other than not singing the English-part of the songs chorus to myself (which you’ll comprehend the degree of embarrassment potential of when you hear it). Understand that I don’t usually walk (or sit) around singing to myself either, but this intense focus on the subject did nothing but make me want to sing to myself all the more.

Mercifully, I resisted, and managed to escape without garnering the incredibly peculiar looks which would likely have ensued. Phew.

The other thing of note, or at least a curious peculiarity, regarding the show that came in the news recently were the staff listings for the first four episodes, which were listed along with the last of the character art releases on Dengeki. The curious thing there is the listing for the fourth episode, more specifically the listing for the storyboard artist for the fourth episode, that being one Kazuya Tsurumaki, best known as the director on FLCL, and as assistant director on all things Evangelion.

It shouldn’t really be a surprise that someone like that would be pulled into working on a show directed by someone with as close ties to Gainax as Atsushi Nishigori, but it is a curious calibre of staff that the show is managing to attract. Secret best show of the season? Quite possibly.

Gosh darn it, it would appear that I’ve spent a little too much time in Beta, and now all my years of hard work formulating what I believed to be a revolutionary product has been rendered for naught! Indeed, I think I might need to take another week off to get over this shock and adequately concoct a suitable action plan in response to this development.

Or I might just want to spend some time watching some cartoons.

“Supplementary” because it’s not from an anime or manga (or game), rather it’s from the dreaded Real Life. Not that this particular Cat-based money box is much of a rarity – they were a moderately common sight on UK high-streets over the Christmas period, and they’ve been the Crunchyroll daily deal on more than one occasion. What is perhaps more shocking than seeing them is the fact that I don’t actually own one.

This particular example was spotted at the May London MCM Expo, the a-few-times-annually-in-various-places UK comic convention, which for the most part is just an excuse to buy ludicrous amounts of stuff, cosplay, or both. Actually, as a first-time attendee, the cosplay was initially a little overwhelming – it’s not like I’ve never seen people cosplaying IRL before, but being an early-attender, I was getting to the ExCeL at the point where a good 60-70% of the attendees where dressed up, and that was kind of boggling to me (even when being “dressed up” amounts to simply throwing on one of those Naruto Akatsuki capes). Not that I have a problem with cosplay, mind you – although I may not be inclined to say any differently if I did. At these con situations, they not only outnumber you, they have weapons. Not a good mix, really.
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I think I’m going to be sounding like a broken record here, reiterating something that I’ve said in a previous post, but there’s nothing like being stuck on a train for three hours to focus ones mind towards writing something up one has been meaning to for a while. Funnily, in this case, I’m writing up something that involved my last three hour train ride somewhere, but on that occasion I didn’t drag my laptop with me – oddly enough, I figured being sat-up all night wouldn’t result in a productive state of mind.

Well, okay, that wasn’t necessarily funny.

Anyway, at the beginning of May, around the bank holiday weekend (or the Royal Wedding this year, for a reference point that might have a smidgen more relevant for the non-UK crowd. Clearly the actual date would be better, but that’d involve opening a calendar), the Sci-Fi London festival occurs, sporting a bunch of events and movie screenings. Part of that for a while now has been an all-night Anime movie marathon.
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