Funimation Announces Partial English Cast for Hetalia (Update 4)

Additional casting announcements due daily this and next week

The North American anime distributor has made its preliminary casting announcements for the Hetalia - Axis Powers anime via a video on the YouTube website on Wednesday. The English dubbing cast so far is as follows:

• Lithuania: Josh Grelle
• Estonia: Mike McFarland
• Latvia: Ryan Reynolds
• Romano: Ian Sinclair
• Spain: Dave Trosko
• Greece: Vic Mignogna
• Liechtenstein: Cherami Leigh
• Switzerland: John Burgmeier
• Poland: Ryan Bijan
• Ukraine: Lydia Mackay
• Belarus: Monica Rial
• Holy Roman Empire: Chris Cason
• Chibitalia: Brina Palencia
• Rome: Christopher R. Sabat
• Austria: Chuck Huber
• Hungary: Luci Christian
• Sealand: Maxey Whitehead

Additional casting announcements for Russia, China, Japan, England, France, America, Germany, and Italy will be revealed over this and the next week — one actor per day — with English-language sample clips. Four of the nations/characters will also feature special bonus interviews with the creative team for the North American release of the series.

The Hetalia anime series is an adaptation of Hidekaz Himaruya's web-based manga. After early controversy regarding the series' content, its TV airing was pulled in favor of a web streaming. The web series was popular enough for a second season to stream over summer of 2009 and a third this past March, along with an anime film that was released in Japan on June 5. FUNimation announced its license of the series this past January, and it will release the first season later this year.

Update: Jerry Jewell will play Russia.

Update 2: Funimation has clarified that Ryan Reynolds is not the Hollywood actor, but a voice actress who has worked with FUNimation before. This is her first recurring role with the company.

Update 3: Patrick Seitz will play Germany.

Update 4: Christopher Bevins will play Japan.

Major's Last Manga Volume to Bundle Special OVA

78th limited-edition volume to ship in middle of December

This year's 32nd issue of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine has announced on Wednesday that the 78th and final limited-edition volume of the Major baseball manga will ship in the middle of December with a special original video anime (OVA). Takuya Mitsuda ended this manga in the same issue of Weekly Shonen Sunday after a 16-year run that began in 1994.

Source: Gigazine

Update: More background information added, and year of manga's launch corrected. Thanks, zetsuie.

Tezuka's Buddha Anime Film Project to Be Trilogy

The previously revealed anime film adaptation of the late Osamu Tezuka's Buddha manga will be a trilogy of movies. Warner Brothers will release the first film, Tezuka Osamu no Buddha -Akai Sabaku yo! Utsukushiku-, in Japan on May 28, 2011.

Sayuri Yoshinaga will voice the mother of a slave boy named Chapra and provide the narration for the work. Masato Sakai and Junko Takeuchi will play Chapra himself in different stages of his life, and Hidetaka Yoshioka and Ai Orikasa will also jointly play Siddhartha — the prince who would become Buddha. The first film alone has a production budget of 1 billion yen (about US$11 million).

In the original 1972-1983 manga, Tezuka recounts of the life of the young prince Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism. Vertical released all eight volumes in North America in hardcover and paperback, and the story won Harvey Awards in 2004 and 2005. Yasuomi Ishifuji is directing the film off a screenplay by Reiko Yoshida. Hideaki Maniwa is designing the characters and Toei Animation producing the project in association with Tezuka Productions.

Source: News 24, animeanime.jp

K-On Concert BD is #1 Selling Music BD in Japan So Far

K-ON! Live Event Let's Go! sells 22,000 as #1 weekly BD in Japan also

The survey firm Oricon reports that the K-ON! Live Event Let's Go! Blu-ray concert disc is the top-selling music Blu-ray Disc release in Japan since Oricon started keeping records two years ago. It sold 22,000 copies to also rank as the #1 overall Blu-ray release during the June 28-July 4 week.

The K-ON! Live Event Let's Go! Blu-ray is the third music Blu-ray release to be the #1 overall weekly Blu-ray release — and the first since Nana Mizuki Live Diamond x Fever achieved that goal in December with 13,000 copies in its first week. The first music Blu-ray release to top the overall weekly chart was Namie Amuro Best Fiction Tour 2008-2009 with 14,000 copies in its first week.

Until now, Namie Amuro Best Fiction Tour 2008-2009 was also the top-selling music Blu-ray Disc release in Japan. However, the K-ON! Live Event Let's Go! Blu-ray sold more copies (22,000) in one week than Namie Amuro Best Fiction Tour 2008-2009 has sold (21,000) since September of last year. (Nana Mizuki Live Diamond x Fever has sold 17,000 copies since December.)

The DVD version of K-ON! Live Event Let's Go! ranked #4 on Oricon's weekly DVD sales chart.

Apple: Manga App Seller Linked to Fraudulent Purchases

Thuat Nguyen removed from App Store after 42 apps landed in top 50 books chart

On Sunday, the 50 top-selling book apps in Apple's U.S. iTunes Store were dominated by manga sold by one seller. Thuat Nguyen, who worked under the developer name "mycompany," was responsible for 42 books in the App Store's top 50 books by revenue in the United States. Nguyen's apps also appeared in the App Stores in Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, Norway, Hong Kong, and other regions. The apps contained scans — watermarked with the name of a Vietnamese website — from manga such as Dragon Ball (7 Vien Ngoc Rong), Detective Conan (Case Closed), and Hana Yori Dango (Con Nha Giau/Boys Over Flowers).

Coinciding with the rise in these apps' rankings was an increase in reports of hacked iTunes accounts. According to the reports, an unknown person or persons accessed these accounts and purchased anywhere from US$100 to US$1,400 worth of apps. Accounts have been hacked to purchased large quantities of apps with iTunes in the past.

Apple has removed the apps and Nguyen altogether from the App Store "for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns." Apple told the Engadget website that customer information should be safe since "developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded." However, Apple also said that customers whose credit card or iTunes password was stolen and used should cancel the stolen cards, issue a chargeback for unauthorized transactions, and change the iTunes account password.

Thanks to Shiroi Hane for the news tip.

Sources: Engadget, Slashdot, The Next Web

ALICE IN THE COUNTRY OF HEARTS Vol. 3

(by Quinrose X Soumei Hoshino, Tokyopop, $10.99)

FROM THE BACK COVER:

"Alice's comfort level in Wonderland continues to grow. But something very strange is happening. Confusion, memory loss and sudden pain become associated with thoughts of home. Meanwhile, Peter cunningly finds a way into Alice's bedroom, and Vivaldi reveals a peculiar secret! And what will Alice do when she is suddenly attacked by Blood Dupre?!"

EVIDENCE FOR:

Goodness, did I just feel a twinge of moe for Peter the White Rabbit when he tried to win over Alice's heart? Yes, it seems that the characters really do grow more endearing over time in this bishounen-infused take on Lewis Carroll's classic book. Most of the guys in the story are still jerks in some way or another, yet it's those personality flaws that make them alluring: Julius the clockmaker's quiet overprotectiveness, Ace's free-swinging blade, the ruthlessness of Blood (the Mad Hatter), and yes, even Peter's beta-male desperation. More than just the delicious harem of males, though, it's the dark and deviant side of Wonderland that will keep readers hooked: the Queen of Hearts's private audience with Alice is not what one may have expected from a prim and proper royal, and the declaration of war in the final chapter is the biggest shake-up yet in the storyline. As always, the cleanly drawn character designs and uncluttered layouts maintain the series' high level of visual appeal—the perfect manifestation of shoujo style without resorting to the cheap gimmicks that often come with it.

EVIDENCE AGAINST:

Maybe a few cheap gimmicks wouldn't be such a bad idea—considering that a lot of what goes on in this volume is downright boring. Let's see, at the beginning Peter tries to put the moves on Alice, at the end some of the main characters pull guns on each other, and in the middle there's ... what? Absolutely nothing! Well, there's lots and lots of talking, but talk is cheap, and by about the twentieth page of Julius and friends shooting the breeze about how mysterious Alice is and how everyone loves her, no one cares anymore. In between there are also flashback scenes showing Alice's memories of her real life, and apparently they're supposed to be in danger of disappearing or something, but the sense of peril never really comes through. In essence, they become flashbacks for the sake of flashbacks. So aside from that declaration of war, the entire rest of this volume is about Alice having various interacttions with the denizens of Wonderland ... you know, just like the game this manga is based on. Except less interactive. Welcome to Alice in Slumberland.

FINAL VERDICT:

If it weren't for the appealing art and occasionally amusing characters, this plot-impaired snoozefest would be in danger of falling even lower than a C-.

Hen Zemi's Tagro Draws Gainax's Panty & Stocking Manga

Also in Young Ace: Sora no Otoshimono's Minazuki, Enmusu's Seguchi launch manga

The August issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine announced on Sunday that Abnormal Physiology Seminar (Hen Zemi) creator TAGRO is launching the manga adaptation of Gainax's Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt television anime series in the next issue on August 4. Gurren Lagann director Hiroyuki Imaishi, character designer Atsushi Nishigori, and conceptual artist Yoh Yoshinari created this project about a teen-celebrity-like blond-haired girl named Panty and a black-haired Goth-Loli girl named Stocking. The two are angels sent from the heavens to battle the "Ghosts" on Earth. The anime itself will premiere in Japan in October.

Also in the next issue of Young Ace, Sora no Otoshimono (Heaven's Lost Property) creator Suu Minazuki is launching a new manga called Daisuki Desu!! Mahō Tenshi Kosumosu (I Love You!! Magical Angel Kosumosu) with Enmusu's Takahiro Seguchi drawing the actual art. In this modern-day fantasy, a town disappears one day in a sudden, unexplained explosion. Where the town once stood, only an expansive desert — with falling snow — remains. Kosumosu is an ordinary girl who was preparing for a birthday get-together for "Raita-oniichan" (who she likes) when her life as a magical angel begins.

In the current Young Ace issue, Morohe Yoshida has launched the new romantic comedy manga Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha. The story centers around a middle school girl who has a crush on a classmate, but she has yet to confess her feelings. However, a mysterious entity appears before her one day after she helps some animals at a shrine.

Source: Comic Natalie

Puffy AmiYumi to Perform at New York Anime Festival

J-Rock duo to appear at con, play at Far East to East Showcase in October

The New York Anime Festival (NYAF) and Superglorious announced that the J-Rock duo Puffy AmiYumi will be performing at the Far East to East Showcase (FETES) in New York City on Sunday, October 10. Puffy AmiYumi will also be appearing at the NYAF and New York Comic Con throughout the weekend for panel discussions and autograph signings before appearing on stage at Irving Plaza.

Composed of singers Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura, the duo debuted in 1996, and since then they have had numerous hit songs, commercial appearances, and their own television show which aired in 110 different countries. In 2009, Puffy AmiYumi were appointed the Goodwill Ambassadors of the Visit Japan Campaign for the United States.

NYAF is taking place alongside New York Comic Con at the Javits Center in New York City this fall. The paired conventions have already announced that the Japanese rock band VAMPS, as well as comic legends Stan Lee, John Romita, Sr., and John Romita, Jr., will also appear as guests.

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