Tonight, I am marathoning a classic anime series, Noir. I recently ordered the DVD boxset to replace the horrible bootleg I bought over 8 years ago, and it feels good to finally right that wrong.

When I was a budding otaku, I would spend my Saturdays at Frank and Sons collectible show in City of Industry, CA. Wallscrolls, manga, anime, and figures, all at fantastic prices. I thought I hit the motherlode of otaku goods.

At first, my novice mind was blown away at the discounts over BestBuy and Suncoast. $20-25 for a complete series? Hell yea! I spent an entire paycheck on several series in the span of a few minutes (along with some sweet wallscrolls). Once I got home however, I realized the error I made.

Given all the latest news about Ghost in the Shell Arise, many fans of the franchise have expressed their concerns/frustration over practically every aspect of the upcoming 4-part series (myself included). Some fans were hoping for a return to the original character designs and story of the manga; a hope that was fueled by the involvement of series creator, Masamune Shirow.

Even though that hope didn’t pan out this time around, fans can still take solace in re-watching the anime cutscenes from the late-90′s Ghost in the Shell PlayStation 1 game. This anime remains the closest adaptation to Shirow’s original character designs, including the Fuchikomas (which were redesigned and renamed Tachikomas in the TV series due to a copyright issue). Like all Ghost in the Shell titles, Production I.G. handled the animation. While the gameplay was nothing special, the cutscenes were absolutely epic, and still are today.

These videos were taken from the “making of” Laser-disc, courtesy of ILLHYHL021.

Jason went to talk to fans eagerly waiting in line to see the double feature, and had a change to talk to Mr. Hideki ‘Henry’ Goto, President of Aniplex of America, about bringing these movies stateside, plus what to expect from the company this holiday season.

There is a nearly-inevitable announcement at the conclusion of all popular anime series: a movie. The majority of these films consist of one of two formats: a continuation/off-shoot/re-imagining of the series’ storyline, or essentially a “clip show,” consisting of a small amount of new animation (read: fan-service) that vaguely segues between several popular scenes from the series.

Also inevitable are the hundreds of forum arguments between fans about a movie’s quality or relevance to their beloved series. Regardless of these opinions, in the end, the movie itself is generally created for a single purpose: to squeeze the last remaining bit of money from the fandom before the studio moves on to its next project.

That being said, the first two (out of 3 announced) movies from the Puella Magi Madoka Magica franchise are an entertaining and well-edited re-cap of the 12-episode TV series. Those looking for a new story will be disappointed. It’s still about a group of ordinary middle-school students who are offered the chance to become “magical girls” and are faced with the vicious consequences of their decisions.

With only about an hour’s difference in run-time between the TV series and the 2 movies (TV: 276 minutes, OP/ED omitted. Movies 1 & 2: 239 minutes), there was a understandable worry that Aniplex and studio SHAFT would take the aforementioned “clip show” route. Thankfully, that worry can be put to rest…

Madoka fans in the US rejoice! Aniplex of America announced this morning that, in collaboration with Eleven Arts, will be screening the first two Puella Magi Madoka Magica films as a double feature in five cities across the US! Best part, these screenings are just a week after their premiere in Japan! You can’t really get it much faster than that! Now the first two movies are basically a compilation of the wildly-popular 12-episode TV series that aired last year. A third movie that will come out later, will have an all-new story.

The theaters and dates are as follows:

• Los Angeles’ Downtown Independent (October 19-25)
• New York’s Big Cinema Manhattan (October 20)
• Chicago’s Music Box (October 20)
• Houston’s Alamo Drafthouse (October 20)
• San Francisco’s New People (October 20)

If you’re able to make it to the screenings in Los Angeles, there will be exclusives and special merchandise for sale. I will be damn sure to make it there myself.

Buy your tickets here!

In preparation for the theatrical screenings, Aniplex has released an English-subtitled trailer (available after the break), featuring the song “Connect” by ClariS, which was used as the opening theme song from the original television anime series.

The Fairy Tail manga author, Hiro Mashima, has has a very fun week so far. After promoting the Fairy Tail the Movie: The Phoenix Priestess, he has been tweeting about random things, like what Pokemon he would want to be and what magazines he collected from the 90′s. He’s also been posting some new sketches. His latest batch includes some sexy gender-swapped versions of Fairy Tail‘s main characters…

BBC’s latest version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes,” (aptly titled “Sherlock”) is an incredible series. Placing the brilliant yet controversial detective and his associate in modern-day London was a perfect fit for the pair. The series, with two seasons under its belt and plans for a third, is a world-wide sensation, and has not-surprisingly spurned a massive amount of fan-fiction, especially from the yaoi fanbase (I dare you to read some for yourself). Even the series’ star Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) mentioned his knowledge of the existence of yaoi dojinshi of the pair.

Looks like it’s time to stir up the fangirl fantasy pot even more. Kadokawa’s Young Ace magazine is announcing in its October issue that a manga adaptation of the BBC series will debut the following month. The first issue will adapt the first episode from Sherlock (“A Study in Pink”).

The announcement page (full-size picture is available after the break) depicts Sherlock and Watson, along with announcing the artist “Jay,” who will be drawing the manga. While each character retains the same facial details as their real-life counterparts, I feel that they look significantly younger in this adaptation.

I can only imagine how many fangirls have squealed over this announcement, not to mention the amount of fan-fiction that’s going to literally skyrocket.

During the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary Party last night, creator Hideo Kojima announced a live-action Hollywood film adaptation of Konami’s Metal Gear Solid. Columbia Pictures will produce the film, and Sony Pictures Entertainment will produce and distribute the film.

Avi Arad has been announced as producer for the project. Arad has ties to both Hollywood and Japan; he was a major producer behind the first few Marvel Studios films (Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men), has been involved with Dreamworks in their planned adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell, and was installed as a chair of Production I.G., LLC (the company’s American branch).

While I think this is a fantastic move by Kojima and Konami, I am curious to see who will be tapped for writing the script. Plus, I’m sure many people will agree with me that David Hayter, the iconic voice of “Solid Snake”, needs to be involved in one way or another. Hell, I could definitely see Hayter play the part in-person. Those of you who wonder if he’s physically fit enough for the role, just look at the insane bootcamps that were created for the 300 movie and for the Spartacus series. A few weeks in that hell, and he’ll be ready to go.

On a side note, it’s been 3 years since Dreamworks announced they acquired the rights to GITS, and the only news since then was a writer swap. C’mon Dreamworks, at least give us an update, and please please please do NOT screw up my favorite franchise of all time.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai was one of those series I didn’t know whether or not I’ll enjoy it, and therefore put it off for awhile. After watching the first few episodes last week, I may have to marathon the remainder of the season in order to prepare for season 2, scheduled to start sometimes next January (don’t I already watch too many anime series based on a high school club?).

In this cute promo video, Yozora and company attempt to describe what’s so great about the series (and fail miserably). If you’re a fan you should definitely take a look (after the break).

While the promo was originally shown at the MF Bunko J imprint’s 10th Anniversary Summer School Festival in July, production company Media Factory only started to stream it last Sunday. At least now we have a release time-frame. To hold fans over until then, a special disc will be released September 26th, which will include the 13th (unaired) episode from season 1, as well as a brand new OAV. No word yet if this bonus disc will make its way stateside.

If you need to catch up on the series, or are interested in checking it out, the first season (minus the 13th episode) is available to watch on FUNimation’s website.

Animelo is an annual summer multi-day concert featuring theme songs from a variety of anime series and video games, plus special collaborations between some of Japan’s musical superstars.

This year’s event, titled -infinity-, will be hosted at the Saitama Super Arena over two days (August 25th and 26th) and will feature over 35 artists, including May’n, LiSA, Hatsune Miku, Yui Horie, and Daisuke Ono.

Now, if you’re like me, and don’t live in Japan, or have the funds to fly over, NicoNico has you covered. Not only will they live-stream both days of the concert series, but in order to get fans hyped up, NicoNico will also broadcast live footage of Animelo 2011 and 2010 for three days before the 2012 concert.

Like all good things, there is a catch. The 2010-2011 footage will stream for free starting August 21st at 9pm JST, which is about 5am PST. And if you want to watch the 2012 live-stream, you’ll have to pay for it. More info is available on Animelo’s website.

If you have never watched Animelo before, now is the time to see what you’ve been missing.

Are you planning on staying up to watch?