We have our first look at the costumes based on Fire Emblem: Awakening’s Lucina and Chrom in Monster Hunter Frontier G on Wii U.

Read First Look At Fire Emblem: Awakening Costumes In Monster Hunter Frontier G on Siliconera!

"Hey, what, like a good action sequence don't belong in Christmas?"

Read more...

Fire Emblem is pairing up with Shin Megami Tensei for a Wii U game. Before that happens you will be able to see Fire Emblem Awakening stuff in Monster Hunter Frontier G.

Read Fire Emblem X Monster Hunter Collaboration On Wii U on Siliconera!

Sony are running a number of deals and price drops on the PlayStation Store in North America, in time for the holiday season.

Read Fate/Extra, Hakuoki, Limbo And More See Price Drops On PSN on Siliconera!

Index and Atlus are pretty pleased with the performance of Persona 4: Golden on PS Vita. The RPG port shipped over 700,000 copies worldwide, prompting Atlus to celebrate with a sale on PSN in Japan. The price will be lowered in the store from December 11 to January 8, bringing it down from ¥5,980 to ¥4,980.

Persona 4: Golden also won the User's Choice award at the PlayStation Awards for the second consecutive year, but it wasn't the only success for Atlus and Index. 

Dragon's Crown managed to ship over 800,000 copies worldwide, a number that includes both shipments to retailers and downloads. Vanillaware's beat 'em up took hom the Gold Prize and User's Choice awards at the PlayStation Awards, and will also be discounted to ¥4,980 on PSN in Japan from December 11 to January 8.

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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. His blog can be found at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter at @Moldilox.

Kenji Itoso, a unit director on Satoshi Kon's unfinished Dream Machine, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Christmas anime Santa Company. After attempting to finance it on his own, Itoso hopes to get at least $50,000 in crowd funding to complete the 30 minute anime and present it in a special special for children and their families in Fukushima,the affected areas of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Incentives start at $5, with $59 contributors receiving a DVD.

The creator describes the project:

Hello everyone. I’m Kenji Itoso, living in Japan.

I have a career learned under Hayao Miyazaki and Satoshi Kon.
Currently, I produce and direct live action films, music videos and commercials, mainly working on animation projects.
Also as a University professor, I do research on film techniques and teach my specialty.

I believe that Christmas day is the best day of the year. And I’ve always wanted to produce an animation film that is about Santa Clauses. After 12 years of planning, the time has finally come for me to get down to it.

There were two questions I had about Santa Clauses: How do they deliver gifts to the whole world in only one night? What do they do for a living except during Christmas season?

Without having had my own answers to them, I could not make the story move forward. And my answer is that Santa Clauses own their corporation to make their living. Yes, it’s kind of sad to imagine them working for the company!

Santa Company is an international large company that consists of three departments: Santa Dept., Reindeer Dept. and Gift department.

Except during Christmas season, Santa Dept. protects the safety of residences as the largest home-security organization in the world. It might be easier for you to imagine Santa Dept. is like ADT. Its workers, Santa Clauses, normally secure the safety of each home, so they can sneak into houses and know the shortest routes to the children’s rooms. Of course, they do that only when they receive requests from parents.

Reindeer Dept. usually breeds and educates reindeers. Also it provides navigation services. It’s like Garmin, I guess. It navigates on a daily basis so that it can take Santa Clauses to their destination for without any trouble.

Gift Dept. is in charge of product sales and delivery business. More simply put, it’s like Amazon. It has giant warehouses and sells various toys, so it can easily prepare, pack, and deliver gifts during Christmas season. It provides delivery of Christmas gifts only when it receives the requests from parents.

And only once a year, these three departments work together and use their expertise to safely deliver Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve!

Being set in Santa Company, the story focuses on the growth of 12-year-old girl named Noel, who gets lost in the secret company, and her friends. It’s told with a touch of romance and action. It also tells how ordinary people with no particular special powers systemize the job of Santa Clauses to make it fitted in the real world, adding some factors such as relationship between workers and this Christmas gifts delivery business’s power of influence and the economic effects.

This project may be a little bit too ambitious as an independent film. So far, I’ve paid all the expenses of production including overhead costs by myself.
It might sound cool if I say like "If there’s something I want to create, I should take the risk on my own." To be honest, it’s very tough to make the film in this way. 
But then, I came across Kickstarter!

I hope this amazing encounter will help me create a better and longer film.
With your support, I'd like to complete the film by Christmas and deliver it to the children all over the world.

 Film information

• • Color / Stereo / 30min / 16:9 / English subtitles

Crew

• • Producer / Executive Director: Kenji Itoso (Transformers Animated, Dreaming Machine)
  • Director: Yumi Kamakura (Pokémon,Eureka seveN)
• Screenplay: Naohiro Fukushima (009 RE:CYBORG,Eden of The East)
  • Original Character Design: Hidari (VOCALOID, Atelier Ayesha)
• Animation Character Design: Hiroki Harada (Romeo×Juliet, Yu-Gi-Oh!)
  • Background Art: Takashi Aoi (Xam'd: Lost Memories, Eureka seveN)
• Produced: KENJI STUDIO

Project schedule

Our film is scheduled for completion by Christmas 2014.

Where your funding goes

Funding will be used to create our film and English subtitles.

Our goal is raise a minimum of $50,000 for this project. 
Anything raised above our minimum goal will go directly into the production of "Santa Company".

If we exceed our funding goal, we’ll increase the quality of animation and increase the variety of language for subtitles depending on how much the excess amount we’ll have.

Plan of deployment

• A special screening for children and their families in Fukushima,the affected areas of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
• Screening"Santa Company" for children by using projection-mapping.
• Screening at film festivals around the world!
• We will create a curriculum to learn how to make animation by using the anime material that shows the production process of "Santa Company." Then we will expand the curriculum to students who want to study animation!

"Santa Company" official HP
(Please press the "ENGLISH" button!)

FOLLOW US on twitter @Santa Company!

"LIKE" US and join the fun on our official Facebook page!

via @ikari_gendo

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

Very true. Although it’s equally as true that when I read an account of a life in which everyone is inexplicably mean to a faultless narrator, I start to wonder about how well the narrator actually perceives the world about them… 

The official site for the upcoming 2014 film Detective Conan: Ijigen no Sniper (The sniper from another dimension) has been launched and its first key visual is revealed to the media today. The illustration for the 18th Conan film is newly drawn by the original manga creator Gosho Aoyama. The tagline of the visual says, "Was it...him!?" and it features Masumi Sera being shot and Shuichi Akai in the scope. Shonen Sunday's 1st issue of 2014, which hits Japanese stores today, comes with a poster featuring this visual. And a teaser footage for the film will be screened with this Saturday's Lupin III vs. Detective Conan The Movie. Detective Conan: Ijigen no Sniper is scheduled to be premiere in Japan on April 19, 2014. 

Source: Comic Natalie

(c)2014 Gosho Aoyama/Detective Conan Production Committee

Blame Abenomics. Genius criminal and crime solver Lupin III and Detective Conan are finding work at Japan's 7-Eleven. 

Following the recent One Piece promotion, the convenience store chain is now gearing up for a tie-in with December's Lupin III vs Detective Conan The Movie.

Starting this week, with the purchase of Roots canned coffeee, fans can get special character charms.

And, until the 24th, with purchase customers can enter a lottery to win pre-paid debit cards, DVDs and movie scripts

The highly-anticipated film featuring the two most famous anime characters will hits Japanese theaters on December 7. A TV special with the same title Lupin III vs Detective Conanwas aired in Japan on March 27, 2009. As a result of its successful rating (19.5%), the new feature film received the green light.

"Lupin III vs Detective Conan The Movie" full trailer

Teaser

via Lupin Central

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

Brooklyn Typhoon. Construction time: 550 hours Parts Acquisition: 10 months Weight: 152 lbs.

Read more...

Fire Emblem: Awakening is on discount sale for $15 at Best Buy in the U.S., according to the retailer’s website.

Read Fire Emblem: Awakening On Sale At Best Buy For $15 on Siliconera!

Persona 4: Golden has shipped over 700,000 copies worldwide—including download sales—Index announced this morning.

Read Persona 4: Golden Ships Over 700,000 Copies Worldwide on Siliconera!

Atlus has a new version of Persona 4 Arena in the works called Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold in Japan. This version has three, wait make that four new characters.

Read Yukari And Junpei Unleash Their Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold Super Attacks on Siliconera!

Rise Kujikawa leaves Inaba and goes back to becoming an idol. However, a rumor spreads to the big city that if you open a site exactly at midnight a strange video will play. Whoever views this video goes into the "other side."

Read Persona 4: Dancing All Night Begins When Rise Starts Working As An Idol Again on Siliconera!

Persona Q's story starts out differently, depending on whether you pick the protagonist from Persona 3 or Persona 4.

Read How Persona 3 And 4 Characters Meet In Persona Q: Shadow Of The Labyrinth on Siliconera!

Following a recap/bridge movie this fall, Kyoto Animation's delusional relationship comedy returns in January with Chu-2 Byo demo Koi ga shitai Ren. The first two episodes have been listed on Animax, and along with the post, logo, visual and plot information have been revealed. 

Due to various events, Yuuta and Rikka are living together. This secret co-habitation is so exciting for the two lovebirds! Or so it should be...
Is having a chuuni girlfriend too high of a hurdle for Yuuta, who never even went out with a normal girl?!
Yuuta worries about how to advance his relationship with Rikka.
And then everyone else, Nibutani, Kumin, and Dekomori, have powered up by advancing a grade.
Furthermore, the cause of his chuunibyou outburst in middle school, the girl who calls herself Sophia Ring Saturn the 7th, Satone Shichimiya appears...
This is the long-awaited second season of the adolescent romantic comedy revolving around chuunibyou that makes you laugh and cry.

via @ultimatemegax

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

Playing with the Houston Rockets shouldn't mean blasting off like a shuttle across the basketball court. That's the glitchy, NBA 2K14 way of avoiding interviews. But hey, at least they've got LeBron's running speed correct!

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The official website for the Uta no Prince-sama anime series announced today that the TV anime's 3rd season gets green light. The next season of the TV anime adaptation of the popular romance visual novels for girls is scheduled to air in 2015. The news was also announced at the live event "Uta no Prince-sama: MAJILOVE LIVE 3rd STAGE" in Yokohama Arena yesterday. The event featured all of the 11 voice actors from the series.

The 1st TV anime series titled Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ maji LOVE 1000% with 13 episodes was aired in Japan from July 3, 2011 to September 24, 2011. The 2nd season Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ maji LOVE 2000% with also 13 episodes was from April 3, 2013 to June 26, 2013. So it is natural to assume that the 3rd season will be titled as Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ maji LOVE 3000%? Or something completely different? What's your opinion? The previous Uta no Prince-sama TV anime series is now available at Crunchyroll.

The 2nd season key visual

Source: Uta no Prince-sam anime official site

© UTA☆PRI-2 PROJECT

There's a must-read piece at Slate on Isaac Asimov's classic novel The Caves of Steel, part of a trilogy of novels about societies where everybody lives hundreds of years and relies on robots for everything. After a terrific summary, Konstantin Kakaes explains why it's all still relevant.

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We've known for a few months now that Megahouse was working on a figure of Utena Tenjou from Revolutionary Girl Utena to add to their G.E.M. range, but up until now all we've had to go on was a silhouette. At Megahobby Expo however the wraps have come off a full prototype.

What can I say? She's looking fantastic, with a dynamic, sword in hand pose and great flowinghair. As ever, we'll have to wait for colour for the full story, but it definitely looks like Megahouse are out to do the series justice. How about you readers, liking what you see?

[via IoryHamon and whitenoize]

AnimeSols has come up with a novel promotion for Black Friday weekend that just might draw in more people to pledge for more classic anime. Beginning from midnight Friday EST through Sunday night at midnight EST, any pledge made for any set will count as a double pledge thanks to some generous help. The following titles will be the focus of the pledge doubling promotion, though all other sets/packages are also eligible:

Black Jack TV (2004) Set 2, Episodes 13-25 Goal: $18000 by Dec. 3rd

Tezuka 24 Hour TV Movie Specials (1981-84) Goal: $16000 by Dec. 13rd

Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel (1983) Set 3, Episodes 27-39 Goal: $18000

Dear Brother (1991) Set 2, Episodes 14-26 Goal: $13000

Hurricane Polymar (1979) Complete Set, Episodes 1-26 Goal $29000 by Feb. 27th

With this neat promotion underway, who's up to pledge for more classic anime this weekend? 

Humberto Saabedra is the Owner of AnimeNews.biz, Editor-in-Chief of PhoneNews.com and a part-time recording engineer. He can also be found musing on things (and Nico Robin) at @AnimeNewsdotbiz

I don’t really understand the question. I’m tempted to say something like, “No, the John Hurt War Doctor is just something that happened in THE NAME OF THE DOCTOR, THE NIGHT OF THE DOCTOR and THE DAY OF THE DOCTOR on television.”

If it happens on the TV, it’s canonical, unless it isn’t. (For example, no-one seems entirely sure whether we get to see pre-Hartnell regenerations during the mindbending battles of Brain of Morbius.)

We now know there was a regeneration between the Paul McGann Eighth Doctor and the Chris Ecclestone Ninth Doctor, one whom the Doctor himself has only just begun to regard as being The Doctor (as opposed to being something else).

If you mean, “Do we now all have to agree to renumber all the Doctors?”, I think the main purpose of numbering things is to communicate, and we all know who we mean when we say Doctors NIne, Ten or Eleven. If anyone corrects you and says “You mean TWELFTH!” when you say “Matt Smith was the eleventh Doctor” then that person is being irritatingly pedantic and should be pitied, in a nice way and with a gentle friendly, not-patronising sort of love, because they will have long hard lives ahead of them.

“Persona Q is just entering its testing phase, and we’re currently polishing its contents,” says Persona series director Katsura Hashino.

Read Persona Director Talks Persona Q, Persona Dancing, And The Future on Siliconera!

Yoh Yoshinari, of Gainax, then Trigger, has been a mecha designer/animator for Gurren Lagann, Gunbuster 2, Evangelion, and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, the mastermind of Little Witch Academia, and opening animator and set designer on Kill La Kill, and, he's also apparently a Bronie.  In fact, he has a semi-stealth account on Japanese art portal Pixiv dedicated to My Little Pony work.

Pictures were mostly posted a year before My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's April 2013 Japanese release.

From his other account

If you're not sure what Yoh Yoshinari animated...

And a few of his tribute illustrations from Gainax's site

via @catsuka

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

OK, so maybe you can't use Nathan Hamill and Flat Bonnie's Plush Capacitor to travel through time ... but it runs on plushtonium and is snuggly, so why would you want to go anywhere? The collab features some of Nathan's style, while keeping it similar to how Doc's flux capacitor appears in the Back to the Future series.

The happy birthday part on the tag? Well, that's because it was a gift for 3D Retro/Toy Break's Ben Goretsky, thus proving once again that it's a good idea to have talented artists as friends come birthday time.

While Kentaro Miura is preparing to resume the Berserk manga, his more immediate plans focus on serializing short sci-fi romance, set 100 million years in the future, Gigantomaxia. The six chapter work launches with a 44page, color title entry in this year's 23rd issue of Young Animal magazine, on sale in Japan today. 

This is Miura's first new series in 20 years.

Magazine cover

via Natalie

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

With her colour prototype recently unveiled at Miyazawa Model Expo, it was surely only a matter of tiem before the adorable Nendoroid Aigis got a full-fat Kahotan preview. That day is today, as Kahotan busts out the camera and gives us plenty of details on this latest release.

Firstly, there's confirmation Aigis will be one of the fully-articulated edition Nendoroids, which means proper elbow and knee joints for extra poseability. She's also shown with a great array of accessories, including effects parts for her finger guns. There's also three of her removable arm weapons included - cannon, rifle and bad-ass rocket punch gauntlet. You'll get a matching number of faces too, with smiling, angry and close-eyed being your options. Most adorably, Aigis also comes with a miniature version of her 'charred screw', an item that will be familiar to dedicated players of Persona 3.

I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you how good the sculpt and paint look - she's a perfect chibified recreation of the character, and darn adorable to boot. We don't have a confirmed price yet, but pre-orders will open next week on the 26th. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting hold of her, how about you readers?

[via Kahotan's blog]

These illustrations of Link and Zelda were done by Haruhiko Mikimoto. You may not know him by name, but if you've ever seen Macross, you'll know his work.

Read more...

Atlus’ countdown to their Persona announcement this weekend is live now.

Read Atlus’ Persona Countdown Is Live Now on Siliconera!