Funimation Entertainment has announced its acquisition of the Ghost Hunt anime series.  The series is based on the manga of the same name by the author of The Twelve Kingdoms and Shiki.  Funimation has planned the series for a Fall of 2008 release.  Del Rey has already started releasing the manga in North America.

The Sci-Fi Channel has announced that it will be interrupting it's run of Virus Buster Serge and Noein as part of its AniMonday lineup to show Karas the Revelation on November 5th.  Then they will run Street Fighter Alpha: Generations on November 19th and Black Jack The Movie on November 26th.  Perfect Blue is scheduled to show on December 10th and finally, Blood: The Last Vampire will run on December 17th.

Capcom and Sony Pictures Entertainment of Japan have announced that they will be teaming up to produce Biohazard (known in North America as Resident Evil): Degeneration.  The movie will be an original story in the same setting as the video games.

FanimeCon has announced that Hidenobu Kiuchi will be it's first Guest of Honor at it's convention May 23rd - 26th, 2008 at the San Jose Convention Center.  Kikuchi is best known for his role as Hei in Darker than Black and Kenzou Tenma in Monster.

Right Stuf International has reclassified B'tx Volumes 3-5, Beet the Vandel Buster Volumes 2-5, AM Driver, and Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Volumes 2-8 as discontinued.  All of these titles were scheduled for releases later this year and early next, but are no longer available.  No comment has been made by Illumitoon at this time.

The Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema has announced that 5cm per Second and SOS! Tokyo Metro Explorers: The Next will be screened at it's event taking place this November in Waterloo, Ontario.  The festival will run from November 15th to 18th.

New Galaxy Anime is a new company in Humboldt, California that has announced it's intentions to distribute anime in North America.  It has announced that it's first release will be The Fatastic Adventures of Unico, a 1981 film by Osamu Tezuka.  It will be a bilingual release but no date has been scheduled yet.

Starz Edge has announced that they will be launching an anime block that will air every Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.  Animidnight will premiere at 12 AM ET on November 6th showing Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society.  On November 13th they will show Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie.

Takashi Okazaki, the creator of Afro Samurai, has confirmed that a new television sequel is in production.  The new series will be shown on Spike TV in the US sometime in the beginning of 2008.  The storyline will take place after the conclusion to the first five episodes with Afro finally accepting his destiny to become the world's best warrior.

ADV Films has posted a trailer for Magikano.  The first DVD will ship in the US on December 4th.

The Japanese government has issued a formal statement asking the United States government to help stop the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of anime online.  The statement specifically cites the spread of anime and other materials via video sharing sites and P2P networks.  Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is seeing the distribution of copyrighted material in the US as becoming incresingly more damaging to the industry.  They say that requests to remove user submitted videos and legal costs for copyright infringement cases against P2P networks are getting too costly to the companies involved.

Head Phones President led by Anza, a former Sailor Moon musical actress and anime theme singer, will perform at Pacific Media Expo.  The convention will take place at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport on November 9-11th. 

Funimation has announced that Witchblade, which was released September 25th in the US, had the best first week sales on any title released in 2007 in the US. The data to support this claim was gathered by Nielsen VideoScan and was based on point of sale purchases of the first volume.

ADV's Anime Network will be premiering Venus Versus Virus on November 16th on their Video on Demand service.  The first volume is set to ship on November 13th. 

ImaginAsian TV will be dropping The Law of Ueki and replacing it with Paradise Kiss on Tuesdays at 9:00 PM.

Aurora Publishing has announced that it is launching a new imprint called Luv Luv.  Luv Luv will be releasing solely manga aimed at adult women begining in early 2008.  The following is there current release schedule:

Voices of Love by Kanae Hazuki - January 2008
Real Love by Mitsuki Oda - March 2008
Love for Dessert by Hana Aoi - May 2008

As a promotion to get the word out about its Club Otakie mail order catalog, Digital Manga will be holding weekly contests.  The contests will give subscribers a chance to win various prizes including iPod Shuffles, Nintendo DS Lite packs, and gift cards.

Adult Swim will premiere the Ocean Group dub of Death Note on their website at 6 PM Oct. 19th.  It will then premiere at midnight on Oct. 20th (morning of the 21st) on TV.  YTV will premiere the series in Canada on October 26th at 10 PM

Funimation's Chief Operating Officer Ward Thomas and their Senior Vice President of Marketing Debra Kennedy have left the company.  Thomas has stated that he wants to return to a position in the software industry.  Kennedy has stated no reason for leaving.

Funimation has announced an agreement with The Bigger Picture to screen 4 upcoming feature films in theaters across the US.  In January 2008 Vexille will get a limited theatrical release.  Also in January, One Piece: Episode of Alabaster will receive a theatre run.

The other two films that are part of the agreement are live-action movies that Funimation recently required.  They are Yoji Yamada's Love and Honor, and Genghis Khan - To the Ends of the Earth and Sea.  Love and Honor will open on November 3rd in Los Angeles and New York City.

Animate.tv has announced that they will begin streaming Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai for free online.  They will begin with episode 12 and continue onward from there.  Episode 12 will become available on October 24th and will be available for free for one week.

G4TechTV Canada will premiere Requiem from the Darkness on Saturday October 20th at 8PM and midnight ET and Black Lagoon on Friday October 26th at 8PM and midnight ET. 

ADV Films and IGN are streaming the entire first episode of Pumpkin Scissors for free.  The first DVD volume will go on sale in the US on October 23rd.

Nagasaki 1945 ~ The Angelus Bells, an anime film about the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, will show October 25th at 1 PM EST at the United Nations Headquarters' library in New York City.  This is scheduled as part of the UN's Disarmament Week.  The movie is based on the true story of a doctor who worked in the aftermath of the bombing.

Pacific Media Expo has announced that Yukana (Meilin in Card Captor Sakura and C.C. in Code Geass), Hiroyuki Tanaka (Director for Claymore) and Takahiro Umehara (Character Designer for Clyamore) will be appearing at their convention from November 9th - 11th at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport in California.

Omni TV in Ontario has the two NANA movies scheduled to air on October 20th and 27th at 8PM.

The 27th Annual Hawaii International Film Festival will be screening Appleseed: Ex Machina, Summer Days with Coo, and Hokuro Brothers Full Throttle among 150 films competing in the festival.  The festival is scheduled to run in Honolulu, Hawaii from October 18th - 28th.

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie - Conqueror of Shamballa is scheduled to air on YTV in Canada on Friday October 19th at 9:00 PM EST and PST.

Gaia Online is streaming the first two episodes of MoonPhase on their site.  The DVD release from Funimation was finished earlier this year.

ADV Films has posted a trailer for 5 Cm per Second on their site.  The DVD release is planned for sometime in the future.

The New York Anime Festival has announced a bunch more guests for it's convention December 7th - 8th at the Javits Convention Center in NYC.  They have announced Katsushi Ota (editor-in-chief of Faust magazine), Yasuhiro Koshi (CEO of Big Fighter Project), Elena Dorfman (author and photographer), Sean Schemmel (Goku in all Dragonball series and movies), Michael Sinterniklaas (president of NYAV Post), and Josh elder (Creator of Mail Order Ninja).

Dark Horse has announced that issue 131 of Blade of the Immortal will be the last monthly issue.  They will continue to publish it in graphic novel format from that point forward however.  The fact that the North American manga industry has shifted to graphic novels instead of monthly comic books is the reason for the change.

Pacific Media Expo has announced that Kenjiro Tsuda will be a guest at their convention on November 9th-11th at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport.  Tsuda is best known as Sadaharu Inui in Prince of Tennis, Seto Kaiba in Yu-Gi-Oh!, Bayaku in Kekkaishi, and Lambo in Katekyo Hitman Reborn!. 

YTV has confirmed that Death Note will premiere at 10 PM ET/PT on October 26th. 

Adult Swim has already announced that it will premiere the series on October 20th.

Media Blasters announced this past weekend that it will be releasing Akihabara @ DEEP.  This is in addition to the live-action TV series that Media Blasters announced at Anime Expo earlier.  They also announced that they will be releaseing The Magnificent Life of Strawberry-chan by Ai Morinaga.

Del Rey announced that it will be releasing Toto! Wonderful Adventure, Haridama Magical Cram School, and the novel Mai Machinegun.  They also announced that they will be releasing selections from the art magazine Faust.

AZN TV has announced that they will be airing Saiyuki reload Gunlock every Monday through Wednesday starting October 29th. 

The following is a message sent by Geneon Entertainment's President and CEO talking about the company's restructuring.  It was sent to members of the Geneon Spot fan club which will be closing.  It has also been said that dubbing of Black Lagoon: The Second Season will be completed as scheduled and subtitling is still proceeding on the first two seasons of Nanoha and the first season of Zero no Tsukaima.

October 5, 2007

To our fans,

Recently, we announced that we will not be accepting orders on Geneon products after Friday, September 28, 2007. We have read your comments that you have emailed and posted on various web sites, and received your numerous calls.

At this time, we are internally discussing plans to explore all available options to continue distribution of Geneon titles, both old and new, at a later date. However, nothing is certain at this time. We will release more information to the public once we have any concrete plans, if any.

We would like to thank you for your support over the last 20+ years - first as Pioneer and then as Geneon. We have worked hard to bring you the best in Japanese animation and you have responded with an intense passion and support for our products.

As Geneon evolves, we hope that we can continue to be a part of your future.

Thank you,

(signed)
Eiji Orii
President and CEO, Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc.

ADV will be screening Makoto Shinkai's 5cm per Second at the Grand Illusion Cinema in Seattle, Washington.  Showings will be taking place until Thursday, October 11th at 7:30 PM and 9:00 PM.

Viz Media has launched the official English language site for the anime adaptation of Blue Dragon.  It currently includes a story synopsis, character profiles, and a trailer.  no English release details have been announced yet however.

The parent organization of Anime Expo, The Society of the Promotion of Japanese Animation, is currently looking for a permanent office manager.  Duties include maintaining the SPJA office, overseeing external communications between SPJA or Anime Expo and the public, providing administrative support to Anime Expo division heads, and processing payrolls.  This is a 30 hours per week paid position and you must be willing to work out of SPJA's Anaheim Office.  If you are interested you can find full details here.

Trans World Entertainment, the owner of F.Y.E., Sam Goody, Satuday Matinee, Suncoast, and Wherehouse Music, has signed a deal with Bookazine to install and manage manga sections in more than 900 Trans World owned stores.  Currently no schedule exists for the implimentation of these sections.

The CW network has announced that it will be ending it's Kids WB! block which appears on Saturday mornings and replace it with a 4Kids block starting September of 2008.  The five year deal will see 4Kids adding the block to CW in addition to the one they currently have on Fox.  4Kids currently shows Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Sonic X on Saturday mornings.

Right Stuf International has announced an official website for Astro Boy at http://astro-boy.rightstuf.com/ which includes a trailer, downloads and interview with Frederik L. Schodt, author of The Astro Boy Essays and manga translator for Astro Boy.

Bandai Visual USA has also launched a site for Super Robot Wars: Original Generation - The Animation at http://www.bandaivisual.us/srw_ova/.  A trailer will be coming soon and wallpapers are already available.

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone has grossed 1.468 billion yen (approx. $12,774,801 US) in Japanese Box Offices.  This makes it the top grossing film to date for both Gainax and Khara.  End of Evangelion grossed 1.45 billion yen ($12.6 million US) and Death & Rebirth grossed 1.1 billion yen ($9.6 million US).

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reportedly made substantial edits to its Sept. 30th showing of Spirited Away to make it fit in a 2 hour time slot with commercials.  The edits included the removal of the scene with the polluted water spirit and the last three minutes of the film.

Fabulous Films has revealed that it will release the first English DVDs of The Mysteriuos Cities of Gold in the UK in February 2008.  Releases in the United States and Australia will follow the initial release.  The series is based on the Scott O'Dell novel The King's Fifth and originaly aired in the US on Nickelodeon in the late 1980's (at 6 AM if I remember correctly) as well as NHK in Japan, ABC in Australia, and Children's BBC in the UK.

The New York International Children's Film Festival will be showing The Cat Returns on October 13th and 14th at 11:00 AM EST.  The showing will take place at New York City's IFC Center.  The festival held the original premiere of The Cat Returns in 2005.

Viz Media will be sponsoring a night at New York City's Blood Manor attraction on October 18th.  The first 500 people to attend will be getting a gift bag containing copies of Shonen Jump/Shojo Beat, a Death Note Calendar, Vampire Knight poster, Bleach DVD sampler and perfumes inspired by Shojo Beat. 

JapanFiles.com has announced that Electric Eel Shock's new album, Transworld Ultra Punk, has been released on JapanFiles.com.

"EES left their native Japan in 1999 to see what they could make of America and they have been on a near constant world tour ever since. Things stepped up a gear in early 2004 with the release of their first commercially available album "*Go Europe!" *By this time EES had already toured 27 countries on three continents and had little difficulty licensing this album to several labels around the world.

Follow up album* **"BEAT ME"* was written between EES's 27 festival appearances in the summer of 2004 and recording was completed early 2005 in Holland with legendary producer Attie Bauw (Judas Preist, Scorpions, Bootsy Collins etc.)."

You can find more information on the press release or at www.japanfiles.com/ees

Anime Supercon has announced that they have added Karan Ashley and Stephen Antonio Cardenas as guests at there convention Nov. 30th - Dec. 2nd.  Karan Ashley played Aisha, the second yellow Power Ranger and Stephen Cardenas played Rocky, the second red Power Ranger.  This is the first time these two rangers have been together since they left the show more than a decade ago.

You can find more information and a full list of guests on the press release

Shinsen-Subs has announced that it has received a cease and desist letter in regards to it's fansub of Romeo x Juliet and has dropped the project.  The letter came from Funimation Entertainment on behalf of Gonzo.  Funimation has announced that it has not licensed the series, but sent the letter to reinforce that Japanese producers rights should be respected worldwide, even before a title is licensed in a given area.  Funimation has also said that they have been asked by Gonzo to monitor and take action against fansubbing of Gonzo's titles.

Italian police have charged six people with violating copyright by mass-producing and selling pirated DVDs of anime.  They confiscated 80,000 DVDs and 1 million euros (about $1.4 million US).  The DVDs contained titles such as Mazinger Z, Kotetsu Zieg, and Grendizer.