Black Rock Shooter Promo, Monster Hunter Anime Posted

160K BRS figures pre-ordered; MonHun Nikki Girigiri Airū-mura Airū Kiki Ippatsu launched

The official Black Rock Shooter channel on the Nico Nico Douga streaming website has begun streaming the second 95-second promotional video for the recent anime on Monday. Hobby Japan magazine bundled the anime DVD with its September issue on July 24, followed by free DVDs in Megami Magazine (July 30) and Monthly Animedia magazine (August 10). The project's website had already announced in March that this anime based on huke's character illustrations will be streamed for free to "everyone." The anime is slated to have subtitles in seven languages.

The animeanime.jp news website reports that 160,000 pre-orders have already been filled for the figma Black Rock Shooter and Nendoroid Black Rock Shooter figures, which will ship in late August. There will also be a Black Rock Shooter BD & DVD combination package that will bundle a Nendoroid Petit Black Rock Shooter figure set when it ships on December 30. (Pre-orders for the set began on July 30.) On August 15, the UDX building in Tokyo's Akihabara otaku shopping district will host a free Black Rock Shooter Matsuri 2010 event with screenings of the anime, a display of pixiv's art contest winners, a sale of character goods, displays of new figures and decorated itasha vehicles, and areas for cosplaying and photographing. Nico Nico Douga intends to stream the onstage performances at the event live.

The game studio CAPCOM is streaming the first episode from MonHun Nikki Girigiri Airū-mura Airū Kiki Ippatsu, a series of 10 Flash-animated shorts based on the MonHun Nikki Pokapoka Airū-mura game for the Sony PSP. (In the linked page, select the first "再生する" button.) In this Monster Hunter spinoff, the player joins other members of the Airū (Felyne) species in building their village, and then expanding it. DLE, the company best known for the Flash-animated Secret Society Eagle Talon television series and films, is producing this tie-in anime. The anime premiered on the MBS television station in Japan on Thursday, but the streamed version has bonus footage.

Black Rock Shooter to Add Extra with Linkin Park's Hahn

Special Edition to include stop-motion video with Joe Hahn's remix of title song

The retail Special Edition of the Black Rock Shooter anime will include a stop-motion video as a bonus extra, and the video extra will feature a remix of supercell's "Black Rock Shooter" song by Joe Hahn, the DJ of the American rock band Linkin Park. The announcement was made during the Asa Made Nama Won-Hobby TV 8 web show on Sunday and in the September issue of Hobby Japan magazine on Saturday. The stop-motion film extra was "made in Hollywood."

Hahn had previously directed an award-winning animated music video for Linkin Park's "Breaking the Habit" song. Hahn worked with animator Kazuto Nakazawa (Kill Bill Chapter 3: The Origin of O-Ren, Samurai Champloo, Genius Party Beyond's "Moondrive") and Tokyo-based G.D.H. International on the music video, and the video inspired a graphic novel by Tokyopop.

Hobby Japan magazine bundled the Black Rock Shooter anime on a free DVD with its September issue, and the anime will also be included in free DVD extras in Gakken's Megami Magazine (July 30) and Gakken's Monthly Animedia magazine (August 10). The project's website had already announced in March that this anime based on huke's character illustrations will be streamed for free to "everyone." The anime is slated to have subtitles in seven languages, and the official website launched an English version on Friday.

Air Gear, Black Rock Shooter, Love Live, Yozakura Promos Streamed

Air Gear, Yozakura Quartet OADs ship in fall; Black Rock Shooter, Love Live! in summer


The Japanese publisher Kodansha has launched the official website for Air Gear: Kuro no Hane to Nemuri no Mori -Break on the Sky- (Air Gear: The Black Wings and the Sleeping Forest -Break on the Sky-) anime project with a 56-second promotional video on the YouTube website. The limited edition of Oh! great's 30th Air Gear manga volume will shiporiginal animation DVD (OAD) on November 17. The all-new "high-quality" anime will feature the "Ikki vs. Ringo" face-off from the 16th manga volume. The new anime's Satelight production staff (led by Fairy Tail director Shinji Ishihira) and cast (led by Nobuhiko Okamoto and Haruka Tomatsu) are different from the 2006 Toei television anime version's staff and cast.

The official Black Rock Shooter channel on the Nico Nico Douga streaming website has opened on Tuesday with a 79-second promotional video for the upcoming anime. Hobby Japan magazine will bundle the anime DVD with its September issue on July 24, followed by free DVDs in Megami Magazine (July 30) and Monthly Animedia magazine (August 10). The project's website had already announced in March that this anime based on huke's character illustrations will be streamed for free to "everyone." The anime is slated to have subtitles in seven languages.

On Wednesday, Nico Nico Douga and YouTube also began streaming the first 16-second promotional commercial video for "Bokura no Live Kimi to no Live," the debut single from the Love Live! project. The school idol project comes from the anime studio Sunrise, Bandai Visual's music label subsidiary Lantis, and ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine. As a self-described "ultimate user-participation project," Love Live! will let its fans vote on the future of the idol characters. Online mobile phone polls will determine different aspects of the idols, such as hairstyles and costumes. The CD single will ship with an anime DVD on August 25, but advance copies will be sold at Tokyo's Comic Market 78 event from August 13 to August 15.
 
Kodansha has begun streaming a 77-second promotional video for Yozakura Quartet ~Hoshi no Umi~, the OAD based on Suzuhito Yasuda's Yozakura Quartet manga, off YouTube this week. According to Yasuda, the new anime will be a "reset" from the earlier television anime series, and it will closely follow the original manga (unlike the television version). The OAD will ship with the limited edition of the ninth manga volume on October 8.

Black Rock Shooter DVD to Be Subtitled in 7 Languages (Updated)

Haruhi author Nagaru Tanigawa co-wrote script with director Shinobu Yoshioka

The producers of the Black Rock Shooter anime revealed at the project's Tanabata Premium Preview Screening in Tokyo on Wednesday that the DVD release will have subtitles in seven languages. They also revealed that author Nagaru Tanigawa (Haruhi Suzumiya light novels) co-wrote the anime's screenplay with director Shinobu Yoshioka. The project's website has since been updated to list the screenwriters, the voice cast member Kana Asumi (Yū), and THE GOMBAND — the performers of the theme song "Braveheart." The 50-minute anime project showcases the Black Rock Shooter character illustrations by artist huke.

Hobby Japan magazine will bundle the DVD with its September issue on July 24, followed by free DVDs in Megami Magazine (July 30) and Monthly Animedia magazine (August 10). Wonder Festival 2010 Summer will host not only a screening of the entire anime in Chiba on July 25, but also a live discussion with the production staff. The project's website had already announced in March that the anime will be streamed for free to "everyone." Anime Expo Special Guest Danny Choo previewed brief footage from the anime in Los Angeles on Sunday, although not "10+ minutes" of footage as Anime Expo had originally announced.

Sources: Akibahobby via Ko Ransom, Temple Knights

Image © huke/B*RS Project

Update: The version of the anime that was screened in Tokyo's Akihabara district at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday was completed at about 11:30 a.m. that same day. In all, 20,000 drawings were made. 600,000 DVDs are slated to be distributed for free. Source: MyCom Journal