ADV has announced that Air Gear Volume 1 will be released on February 6th and Le Chevalier D'Eon Volume 1 will be released on February 20th.  Both releases will retail for $29.98.

Spirited Away will premiere the week of December 23rd - January 5th on BBC.

There is a trailer online for the upcoming Genshiken episode 13 OVA.  The episode can be found on teh Japanese DVD of the Kujibiki Unbalance series.  You can find the trailer here.

A profile of and interview with CLAMP appeared in yesterday's New York Times.  You can read the article here.  (Warning: Free registration may be required)

On December 11th, Japan will be given the chance to partake in three varieties of Gundam Pocky.  Each comes with it's own 1/144 scale Gundam model.  This is a limited edition release.

Death Note: The Last Name remains the #1 movie in Japan for the fourth week running.  It again beat out The Devil Wears Prada.  Toei's Arigato ranked eighth this week and was the only new title on the top ten.

For those of you fluent in Japanese, Asatte no Houkou is now available for free online until December 28th.  Unfortunately there are no subtitles.

There is now a website for Ikkitousen ~ Dragon Destiny.  The series will premiere in Japan somtime next year.

Seven Seas has acquired two new manga, He Is My Master and Sota-Kun no Akihabara Funtouki.  Both titles will be released in mid 2007.

Paprika will screen December 2nd at both 7 and 8 PM at AniFest4 in Budapest.

Source: Anime News Network

Naruto will premiere on Cartoon Network Latin America at 10:20 on January 1st.  It will run Monday through Thursday.

Toei and Ga-nime have teamed up to work on two new OAV's.  First is Eko Eko Azarak, based on a horror manga by Shinichi Koga.  Second is Tori no Uta which will be illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano.  The release date for both in Japan is January 30th.

Episode 5 is now available.  Enjoy.

I like feedback.  Please keep letting me know how I am doing

If you have already subscribed in iTunes, then just hit refresh.  If you haven't subscribed yet, you can subscribe using the link in the right navbar of the main page.  Finally, you can listen to this epsiode by going to http://www.anime-bliss.com/podcast/abp5.mp3 or download it by right clicking on the link above and choosing "save as".  Then you can import it into iTunes as a regular mp3.

The show notes can be found here

Illumitoon will be releasing the first two volumes of BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo on February 13th and April 3rd.  They will retail for $19.98 each.

Top Cow and Bandai Entertainment will both be publishing their own versions of the Witchblade Manga next year.  Top Cow will be publishing the manga full color in a flipped edition, while Bandai will publish it in a black and white digest unflipped edition.  No release dates have been announced but Top Cow's Volume 1 will be a 40-page double issue for $2.99.

Central Park Media will be giving four titles new lower prices.  These titles will be re-released on January 30th.  They are:
Black Jack DVD Collection 1 - $29.95
Ichi the Killer: Episode Zero - $14.95
Time Bokan - $9.95
Hammerboy - $9.95

Paprika will be showing at 10 a.m. at Laemmle's Grande 4-Plex in Los Angeles through Sunday, Nov. 26th.  This is the screening that was neccesary to make the film eligible for an Oscar.

Ghost in the Shell: Solid State will make it's North American debut at New York Comic Con.  The convention takes place Feruary 23-25 in Manhatten, but the actual day and time of the premiere has not yet been set.

ADV Films has made an official announcement of their license for Sgt. Frog.  They have not only gotten the rights to the show, but also the merchandise, game rights, and pretty much everything but the manga.  The manga is currently distributed by Tokyopop.  Diamond Distributors originally listed Volume 1 for a February release, but they have revised this to "later in 2007"

Death Note: The Last Name has continued for the third week at the top of the Japanese Box Office.  It beat out Saw III, Children of Men and The Devil Wears Prada which all premiered this week.

Revolutionary Girl Utena premiered this past Monday and will air at 8:30 am, 3 pm, and 11pm Eastern.  His and Her Circumstances is also coming to the Funimation Channel and will begin showing in January.

Makoto Shinkai's Byousoku 5 Centimeter now has a trailer online here.  The films will be released in Japan next Spring.

Nodame Cantabile will show on AZN at 11 P.M. on Sunday.  It is not expected to be subtitled.

The Kyoto Seika University will be opening the International Manga Museum on November 25th.  The museum will contain approximately 200,000 manga when it opens.  Plans have also been announced to add anime-related material and merchandise to the collection in the near future.  The museum's website can be found here.

Ken Ishikawa, known as the creator of Getta Robo, died Wednesday night at the age of 58.  According to Go Nagai, Ishikawa collapsed at a dinner banquet after a day of golf.  He was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Episode 4 is now available.  Enjoy.

If people could start sending me feedback, I would appreciate it.

If you have already subscribed in iTunes, then just hit refresh.  If you haven't subscribed yet, you can subscribe using the link in the right navbar of the main page.  Finally, you can listen to this epsiode by going to http://www.anime-bliss.com/podcast/abp4.mp3 or download it by right clicking on the link above and choosing "save as".  Then you can import it into iTunes as a regular mp3.

The show notes can be found here

A new Yu Yu Hakusho fighting game is in the works for the Playstation 2.  It will include anime clips and be released January 11th in Japan.

DramaQueen has confirmed 10 new titles.  There are no release dates for these titles yet.  The titles are:

Doctor's Rule
Here Comes the Wolf?!
I'll Get You! Wanted: Mysterious Man!
Junk!
Lord of Sal Manor
Love Ballad
Organic Sons
Scent of Temptation
Sleeping Flower
Sweetheart

ADV Universe now has Utawarerumono Episode 1 available.  This is schduled for a January 2007 DVD release.

Production I.G's Wellber no Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber official website has been posted (Warning: Japanese site).  The series will premiere in April 2007 in Japan.

Revelation Films, Navarre's UK Distributor, will take over Funimation's UK anime distribution.  Navarre became Funimation's parent company earlier this year.

Time Asia has named Hayao Miyazaki one of the continent's Artists & Thinkers over the last 60's years.  The article can be found here.

ADV Films has acquired the Sergeant Frog anime and will be releasing volume 1 in February.

There is a short teaser trailer for One Piece: Episode of Alabaster - Sabaku no Ojou to Kaizoku Tachi at the official site (warning: Japanese Site).  The film is set to premiere March 3rd in Japan.

Del Rey has acquired Yasunori Misunaga's Princess Resurrection.  This is a gothic horror story which began in Japan in January and currently only has two volumes.  The first volume will hit American shelves in May 2007.

Koichi Murata, known as key animator on Panda Kopanda, animator on Anne of Green Gables, and executive producer for Serohiki no Goshu, passed away last week at the age of 67.  He was the president of Oh Production at the time of his death.  Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Toshio Suzuki, and Michiyo Yasuda attended the funeral.

Death Note: The Last Name is still #1 in Japanese Box Office for the second week.  It again beat Cat's Eye World Series.

The sixth Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema opened Nov. 16th at The Gig Theatre (157 Ontario Street North, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) and will be running through Sunday.  They will be showing Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Origin ~Spirits of the Past~, Sorry I Love You, Book of the Dead, Hoshizora Kiseki, Yonna in the Solitary Fortress and Negadon.

Media Blasters has confirmed that they have acquired Ramen Fighter Miki, Girls High (or High School Girls), and Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girls.  No release dates have been set.

Source: Anime News Network

Viz named Marc Weidenbaum the new Editor-in-Chirf of both Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat.  He was previously the Managing Editor of Shonen Jump and then Editorial Director.

Charlotte Black has confirmed that the Illumitoon release of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo will be the uncut version of the Phuuz Entertainment dub.  This is the dub that currently airs on Cartoon Network.  The release will also include the original Japanese track.  Initial plans still have a January Release set.

Source: Anime News Network

The J-rock band, Dir En Grey will be touring 16 American cities in February.  Tickets go on sale November 16th.  You can find them here, at Ticketmaster.The dates are as follows:

February 1st Ft. Lauderdale , FL - Revolution
February 2nd Lake Buena Vista , FL - House of Blues
February 3rd Atlanta , GA - Roxy Theatre
February 5th Baltimore , MD - Ram’s Head Live
February 6th Philadelphia , PA - Theatre of Living Arts
February 7th Boston , MA - Avalon Ballroom
February 9th Toronto , ON - Guvernment
February 10th New York , NY - Nokia Theatre
February 12th Detroit , MI - St. Andrews Hall
February 13th Chicago, IL - House of Blues
February 14th Minneapolis , MN - Fine Line Music Club
February 16th Englewood , CO - Gothic Theatre
February 18th Houston , TX - Meridian
February 19th Dallas , TX - Palladium Ballroom
February 21st Tempe , AZ - Marquee Theatre
February 23rd Los Angeles , CA - Wiltern Theatre

Geneon has announced an exclusive contest available to those who purchase the Ergo Proxy DVD and CD combo.  This is an exclusive item you can only find at Best Buy that contains both Volume 1 and OST2 (which is not available any other way in the US).  The Grand Prize of this mail in raffle is a signed sketch of Re-l Mayer by Shukou Murase.  Autographed copies of the first volume, both special and regular editions are available to runners up.  Entrance forms and details are available by clicking the "Prize Patrol" link at the bottom of the Ergo Proxy Website

The XBox 360 game Blue Dragon will be adapted into a manga by Shuiesha.  The manga, Blue Dragon ST, will be drawn by Ami Shibata and will begin in the January issue of Shonen Jump Japan.  An anime adaptation was also announced to be in the works.

4Kids Entertainment has reported a loss of $256,000 for the third quarter, bringing them $2 million below the third quarter 2005.

Al Kahn, 4Kids CEO, blaims the loss on declining revenues from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise as well as declines in the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise.  He is optomistic that the release of the CGI Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film in March of 2007 will boost the franchises value again.

State College of Pennsylvania's Setsucon will only take place for one day due to financial difficulties.  The convention will now be held on January 27th.

Dragon Ball Z will be getting a series of remastered box sets next year.  All 291 episodes will be digitally remastered in high definition.  The Sets will become available February 6th for $49.98.

Gonzo has opened a website for the new series, Romeo x Juliet.  It can be found here.  (Warning: Japanese Site)

Beginning this past Monday, November 13th, Dragon Ball returned to American Television via the CoLours TV network.  It shows Monday-Friday at 10PM Eastern.  There will also be a six-hour Dragon Ball Marathon on Thanksgiving Day.

Also, in December, Dragon Ball will be joining the Funimation Channel.

Publisher's Weekly has interviewed Kelly Sue DeConnick, the English manga adaptor for Fruits Basket.  The interview can be found here

The New York Comic Con will be hosting the first American Anime Awards at the New York Comic Con on Saturday, Febuary 24th, 2007 in New York City.  Awards will be given out for Best Anime Feature (or OAV), Best Short Series, Best Long Series, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best DVD Package, etc.

Candidates will be nominated by industry nominations as well as independent nominations.  Both groups will nominate two titles for each category.  Representatives from Anime News Network, Anime On DVD and Anime Insider are among the independent experts.

During January 2007, fans will be allowed to vote for the winners in each category.  Five finalists will be announced in each category in February and the winners will be announced on the 24th.

John Sirabella, Executive Producer for Media Blasters, has stated on Anime On DVD's forums that they are in the process of acquiring the 12-episode series, Princess Princess.  they will probably start releasing the series in Spring 2007.

Source Anime News Network

Episode 3 is now available.  Enjoy.

If people could start sending me feedback, I would appreciate it.

If you have already subscribed in iTunes, then just hit refresh.  If you haven't subscribed yet, you can subscribe using the link in the right navbar of the main page.  Finally, you can listen to this epsiode by going to http://www.anime-bliss.com/podcast/abp3.mp3 or download it by right clicking on the link above and choosing "save as".  Then you can import it into iTunes as a regular mp3.

The show notes can be found here

Next Week, Adult Swim will begin showing the original Voltron series Monday-Thursday at 5:30 am starting next week.  This will replace Gigantor which currently shows in that spot.  Episodes will also be available on Adult Swim Fix.

The Naruto Card Game Expansion set to be released May 2007 will consist of cards selected by fans.  You can find the ballot and instructions here

The Anime Network and Sprint are now offering anime clips via Sprint Power Vision.  Currently available are clips from Mezzo, Kino's Journey, Divergence Eve, Wandaba Style and Megaman on Sprint TV channel 66 for $4.95 per month.

ADV has set the following 5 titles for release on January 9th:

Best Student Council Vol. 1
Michel Vol. 5
UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie 2 Vol 2
Yumeria Complete Collection Thinpak
Hello Kitty’s Animation Theatre Complete Collection Thinpak

Synch-Point has said that the FLCL Ultimate Edition, which was originally scheduled for release at the end of November, has been pushed back to 12/26/2006.

Viz Media B.V. has acquired the license for Honey and Clover in Europe.  It doesn't mention whether they have the rights to both seasons or just the first however.

ADV has opened the official Nerima Daikon Brothers site at http://www.ndbrotherstv.com/. The site currently contains a story summary, two trailers, and a bunch of fun extras like icons and desktop patterns.

Tokyopop will be releasing the first two Trinity Blood novels.  They are titled "Rage Against the Moons" and "Reborn on the Mars".  They will be released in April and August 2007.

Kosuke Okazaki, an editor at Ultra Jump, is scheduled to attend Anime Fest on Dec. 1-3 in Phoenix.

Media Blasters has confirmed that it is passing on it's chance to license Aa Megami-sama: Sorezore no Tsubasa, also known as Ah! My Goddess TV Season 2.

This news is a huge disappointment to many fans, including myself.

Source: Anime News Network

Death Note: The Last Name beat out Cat's Eye World Series and Flags of Our Fathers to second and third place in Japan this past weekend.  This was it's release weekend.

Source: Anime News Network

Volume 36 of Ranma 1/2 will be the final manga volume for this series.  It will be released next Tueday, November 14th,  Viz has been releasing the series for 14 years and it is one of their longest running manga titles, as well as one of the longest running in the US.

I have made a few updates to the message board.  First I have slightly modified the rule about fansubs.  It is only against the rules to post links to or tell people exactly where to get them.  You can discuss things you have watched fansubbed, your just not allowed to help people download them.  This is simply so that we don't get in trouble.

Second I have changed the Anime Specific Boards in Genres.  This part of the board has gotten way out of date and it is hard to keep up on what series deserve their own boards.  Now if you want to discuss a specific series, you can just put a thread inside that series genre.  If you feel the series can fit in multiple genres, then just pick one and put it there.  If we really feel it is misplaced, or if the thread already exists on another board, then we will move it or merge it.  If you feel that I missed a genre, PM me or leave a message in the Suggestion Box.  If we get a lot of topics about the same series, I might decided to use sub boards in the future to further organize them. 

Also I have transferred all of the content from the old Anime Specific boards into the Genres the series belong in, so they have not been lost.

Paprika is listed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as being expected for the 79th Academy Awards.  It will be elibigle for nomination only if it shows by the end of the year in LA.  We will know for sure if it was nominated by January 23rd.

French Pathe has been approved to produce a live action version of Blood: the Last Vampire by Production I.G.  Approximately $25 million will be spent on production and shooting is scheduled to begin in January 2007.  They are hoping for a worldwide theatrical release in Spring 2008.

The original anime movie was very successful and caused a TV series to be made called Blood+.  Manga Entertainment brokered the deal between French Pathe and Production I.G.  In an interesting move, Production I.G. did not license Blood to French Pathe, but will instead be recieving roylties.  If the movie does well, it will reflect very well on Production I.G.'s profits in 2009.

The movie will be produced by Bill Kong, best known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero.  It will be directed by Ronny Yu who worked on Freddy vs. Jason.  The lead of Saya has been given to Ji-hyun Jun.

Yes, there is an episode 2 . . . and I'm planning on doing at least a third.  I'm actually having a lot of fun with it.  If people could start sending me feedback though I would appreciate it.

If you have already subscribed in iTunes, then just hit refresh.  If you haven't subscribed yet, you can subscribe using the link in the right navbar of the main page.  Finally, you can listen to this epsiode by going to http://www.anime-bliss.com/podcast/abp2.mp3 or download it by right clicking on the link above and choosing "save as".  Then you can import it into iTunes as a regular mp3.

The show notes can be found here

Illumitoon Entertainment and Westlake Entertainment has announced that they have acquired the North American distribution rights for Bobobo-bo bo-bobo.  It looks like these distribution rights pertain specifically to DVD distribution, which people have been wondering about for a while.  They will be distributing the first 50 episodes of the series which are currently airing on Cartoon Network.  They currently plan to start releasing the first DVD as early as January 2007.

Starting Monday, ROD TV will be showing on G4TechTV Canada

Geneon has put up a website for Hellsing Ultimate with a short trailer.

In a press release, ADV has officially confirmed that they have the rights to Le Chevalier D'Eon.  They also revealed that they have obtained the rights to two live action feature films from Shochiku.  These films are Ghost Train and Synthesia.

There is no release date set for any of these properties yet.

Here are quick summeries of the properties licensed from the press release:

"The story is about D’Eon de Beaumont, a handsome intellect who actually lived in the 18th century. D’Eon was known as a diplomat who traveled around various countries under the French king’s command. But his most peculiar trait was that he managed to pass himself off as a woman. The core of the story is based on the mysterious hero and the historical facts."

"Ghost Train takes audiences to a nightmare dimension where evil lurks in everyday life. The heroine is an 18-year-old high school girl, Nana, looking after her younger sister Noriko, while their mother is at a hospital. Nana’s world turns into a nightmare when Noriko suddenly disappears. The only clue she has left was the commuters pass that she had picked up on the train before disappearing, and the dark shadow that follows Noriko in the surveillance camera."

"Synesthesia is a suspense thriller directed by Toru Matsuoka, starring Yosuke Eguchi (Another Heaven), Masanobu Ando (Battle Royal, Monday) and Aoi Miyazaki (Eureka)."

I have archived all of the news from October.  It is now on it's own board at the bottom of the message board page.  You can also reach it by going to the News Archive link in the navbar.

Cartoon Network has announced that they have the broadcast rights to Blood+.  Sony Pictures has the license to Blood+ in the US. 

A date and time have not yet been announced.

Continuing the trend of Anime turned big budget movie, the Wachowski brothers will be directing a Live Action Speed Racer movie.  They have already finished the script and hope to begin filming next year.  They will again work with special effects supervisor John Gaeta and producer Joel Silver whom they worked with on the Matrix trilogy.  This will be the first movie they have directed since the Matrix Trilogy.

It has also been reported that Vince Vaughn wants to appear in the movie as Racer X, and is currently on board for that role.

The expected release date is summer 2008.

Just in time for christmas, Funimation has released 2 double packs of new series.  One of these double packs is Basilisk 1 and Trinity Blood 1.  The other is Desert Punk 1 and Speed Grapher 1.  These look just like the regular releases except they are shrinkwrapped together and have the Babes, Blades, Blood sticker on them.  The MSRP for these collections is $50 but if you use the links above it will take you to Rightstuf.com where they are currently only $19.99.  At only $10 a pop they are worth picking up if you are interested in giving these series a shot.

An article at Publisher's Weekly talks about Central Park Media and what happened to them in May of this year.  They have put out a new publishing schedule, set up new book distribution systems, and have started to hire new people.  Their schedule shows plans to publish new series, and continue old series, up through 2007, although their site is not updated to reflect this yet.

There is a new live-action Street Fighter in the works from Hyde Park Entertainment and Capcom.  The last movie premiered in 1994 starring Jean Claude Van Damme as Guile.  This movie will supposedly focus on Chun Li.  No actresses have been mentioned as possibilities to fill the role however. 

The script will be worked on by Justin Marks who just recently worked on the upcoming Voltron movie.  Hyde Park is hoping to release the movie in 2008.

Norihiro Yagi's Claymore is scheduled to be adapted into an Anime TV Series.  There are no specifics yet about when it will debut.  The manga is currently being released in the US by Viz Media.

Geneon has announced that they will no longer be distributing Sherlock Hound as of April 30th, 2007.

Anime News Network has been informed that ADV Films has licensed Le Chevalier D'Eon.  However, ADV has declined to confirm the license so this is still being considered a rumor. 

Le Chevalier D'Eon was produced by Production I.G and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi.  It is currently airing every Saturday in Japan with the 11th episode out of 25 showing this past week.

Anime Expo has opened a store that offers discounted airfares, hotels and car rentals.  The site can be found at http://www.axtravelstore.org/