Alainmendez

In addition to being able to being able to invite your friends in Tag Climax mode, you can also be matched up with random players online or play with a CPU partner.

Read Bayonetta 2 Shares More Details On Its Online Multiplayer Mode on Siliconera!

The “Tsundere Poet of the Hollow Forest,” Marie, is back to show what she can do in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.

Read Marie Takes Center Stage In Persona 4 Arena Ultimax’s Latest Video on Siliconera!

Sgt. Frog author Mine Yoshizaki showed a fondness for playing with the numerical puns associated with his characters. Today's date for sample 7.23 could be pronounced like na-tsū-hi... or an approximation of Natsumi. This was celebrated today with a special sketch of the Hinata family's Devil Summer.

夏美ちゃんの日まにあった！ pic.twitter.com/h2heZIYO3S

— 吉崎 観音 (@yosRRX) July 23, 2014

Plus, for illustrator/Street Fighter character designer Akiman's birthday

@akiman7 お誕生日おめでとうございまーす！ pic.twitter.com/XhGhz2zRnD

— 吉崎 観音 (@yosRRX) July 21, 2014

Urusei Yatsura's Lum

高橋留美子先生の本に寄稿させていただいたラムちゃんだっちゃ！ pic.twitter.com/rFoH3CurjM

— 吉崎 観音 (@yosRRX) June 21, 2014

懐かしいな〜と思いながらなんとなく描きました。（標語付） pic.twitter.com/RLx4rQnXvX

— 吉崎 観音 (@yosRRX) May 4, 2014

ホービーちゃんの仕事の合間に、なんとなくメルティちゃんを書いてみました。 pic.twitter.com/7dhiRdKJTT

— 吉崎 観音 (@yosRRX) May 2, 2014

新しいタブレット（で初描き）導入記念！ pic.twitter.com/BGJA8I86j7

— 吉崎 観音 (@yosRRX) April 17, 2014

and finally, his Twitter Fairy

アイコンをかえたので全身イラストも載せておきます！ pic.twitter.com/w0FmHsPxFh

— 吉崎 観音 (@yosRRX) April 27, 2014

A-1 Pictures has presented a special poster for Space Brothers #0, set to be displayed in Japanese theaters starting this weekend ahead of the anime movie's August 9th debut. The feature, newly written by the original manga creator Chuya Koyama, promises to explore the origin of the astronaut dreams of Mutta and Hibito Nanba.

Previous posters included

 via uchukyodaimovie

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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.

The March 26th end of the latest Japanese TV rebroadcast of 2008's Macross Frontier concluded with the announcement that a new TV anime is the works. There was no additional information at the time, and it sounds like you probably shouldn't expect much more soon.

Franchise co-creator, mecha designer and later director Shoji Kawamori has been doing interviews. Leading up to a broadcast of Macross Plus and Macross 7: The Galaxy is Calling Me, on Mantanweb, he was reminiscing about subjects like the famous Itano Circus and introduction of CG effects. There, he mentioned that was thinking about how to bring the series forward and said that the new Macross was in its planning stages.

He also told Wowow that while ideas are currently being refined, he was working out the essential role for music in Macross' next incarnation.

via @GwynCampbell

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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.

If you're looking for the latest on this fall's ufotable produced anime based on popular modern fantasy visual novel Fate/stay night, make sure to mark your calendars for July 27th at 18:00 Japan time to catch the cast and staff on a Niconico Live “Fate Project Presentation.”  The official Twitter feed for the series has announced in English that this will be "accessible to all worldwide fans!"

Niconico Live “Fate Project Presentation” will take place on July 27th 18:00. It’s accessible to all worldwide fans! http://t.co/8r5u7ws9JC

— TVｱﾆﾒ Fate/staynight (@Fate_SN_Anime) July 23, 2014

Appearances are planned for director Takahiro Miura, character designers Tomonori Sudou and Hisayuki Tabata, producer Hikaru Kondo, Noriaki Sugiyama (Shirou Emiya), Ayako Kawasumi (Saber), Kana Ueda (Rin Tohsaka), Junichi Suwabe (Archer), Noriko Shitaya (Sakura Matou) and Joujii Nakata (Kirei Kotomine).

A couple of recent magazine spereads have offered new looks at the anime.

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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.

The latest issue of Jump magazine provides an update on Bravely Second.

Read Bravely Second Shows Magnolia In Different Job Forms, And A Look At Agnes on Siliconera!

Atlus just let everyone know the official North American release date for Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth. The dungeon-crawler is scheduled to hit Nintendo 3DS in North America on November 25, and you can see the opening movie below. 

Synopsis: 

Persona Q is a first-person dungeon crawling RPG adventure that combines the casts of the hit ATLUS games Persona 3 and Persona 4in a brand new story. Not only is Persona Q the first new RPG in the Persona franchise since 2008, but it is also marks the first time a Persona game will release on a Nintendo platform. The Personadevelopment team joined forces with the Etrian Odyssey development team to create a true fusion of the two franchises - Persona Q features the map-making and first person exploration from Etrian games and fuses it with the character development, combat, and motifs of the Persona games. Persona Q will be available at retail stores in normal and premium editions.

We previously posted details on the retail edition's first-print goodies as well as the Wild Cards Premium Edition, so be sure to check this post for more on that!

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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.

Studio Ghibli's latest anime film When Marnie Was There directed by 41-year-old Hiromasa Yonebayashi opened in Japan with 461 screens on July 19 and earned a very disappointing 379,000,000 yen (about US$3,734,000) with 285,200 ticket sales in its first weekend. It took third place in the weekend box office following Pokémon the Movie: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction in 1st and Maleficent in 2nd. The result was only 42% of his first feature film The Secret World of Arrietty, which made about 900,000,000 yen with 680,000 tickets in its opening weekend on July 17-18, 2010, in 447 screens.

For the past couple of weeks, it has been strongly rumored that Toshio Suzuki, Ghibli's producer and co-founder, is now seriously considering the closure of the anime production division of the internationally acclaimed studio, after the retirement of his long-time colleague Hayao Miyazaki. In the

latest episode of his "Ghibli Asemamire" podcast posted on June 27 before the release of the film, he

actually said that the future of Ghibli depended on the results (both box office and critics) of When Marnie

Was There.

"When Marnie Was There" Japanese trailer

Source: Mantan Web

The Japanese official site for the ongoing TV anime Magimoji Rurumo has announced that it will collaborate with JIMCA (Japan and International Motion Picture Copyright Association, Inc.) for their anti-illegal downloading campaign titled "Stop! Ihou Download Returns" scheduled to be held at the Comic Market 86 on August 15-17.

At their booth (No.331) in the industry section of the world's biggest doujinshi event, they will distribute a free DVD to teach the harmful effects of copyright theft with an original shopper featuring the anime character illustration posing "No" to illegal downloading. The booth will also have photo sessions with the famous camera-headed "Movie Theft Man" everyday, and talk shows with special guests (hopefully anime voice actresses?) on 16 and17.

In Japan's copyright law, knowingly downloading copyright infringing materials (movies, music, TV

programs, etc.) can result in a two-year jail sentence or a fine of 2 million yen (about US$19,700).

Promotional image for the campaign

Source: JIMCA

© Wataru Watanabe, Kodansha/Magimoji Rurumo Production Committee

The drought of Cardcaptor Sakura figures has long been a source of incredible frustration to me. The series has everything you need to make an army of great collectibles - cute girls, handsome boys, annoying mascots and an adorable lead character who has an endless supply of flashy outfits. Even though Good Smile Company announced a very adorable Nendoroid, there's still a glaring lack of scale static figures. So when FuRyu announced they would be making a prize figure of Sakura, fans jumped all over it. Can something traditionally cheap and cheerful live up to a long held desire though?

As always, I was able to find some flyers for the upcoming anime films and live-action film adaptations of popular manga series, which are mainly scheduled to be released in Japan in the second half of 2014, at my nearest cinema complex (Toho Cinemas Kochi) yesterday. It's a bit of surprising that the theater already had the one for the 2015 Dragon Ball Z film, which was officially announced on Friday. Which film do you want to see the most?

"Stand by Me Doraemon" (August 8)

"Space Brothers #0" (August 9)

"Initial D Legend 1 -Kakusei-" (August 23)

"Cardfight!! Vanguard Neon Messiah/A Game of Three" (September 13)

"Happinesscharge PreCure! Ningyou no Kuni no Ballerina" (October 11)

"Youkai Watch Tanjyou no Himitsudanyan!" (December 20)

"Dragon Ball Z" (Golden Week in 2015)

"Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno / The Legend Ends" (August 1/September 13)

 -based on the manga by Nobuhiro Watsuki

"Hot Road" (August 16)

 - based on the manga by Taku Tsumugi

"Lupin The Third" (August 30)

 -based on the manga by Monkey Punch

"Tokyo Tribe" (August 30)

 -based on the manga by Santa Inoue

"Parasyte" (November 29)

 - based on the manga by Hitoshi Iwaaki

Do have you have a burning question about Crunchyroll? Well, today is your chance. The Crunchyroll CEO will be holding an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on social network/news site reddit today (July 18th, 2014) at 10:00am PST. Check it out to join the Q+A.

Hey guys! Crunchyroll's CEO will be doing his first AMA tomorrow on Reddit! Look out for our tweet tomorrow, it starts at 10:00am PST!

— Crunchyroll (@Crunchyroll) July 17, 2014

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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.

The official site for Toei Animation's much-anticipated film Happinesscharge PreCure! Ningyou no Kuni no Ballerina　(The ballerina in the doll kingdom), the feature film version of the on-going TV anime Happinesscharge PreCure!, is today updated with a 80-second trailer and story synopsis. The clip introduces Cure Lovely's special form for the film, Super Happiness Lovely, for the first time.

Story synopsis:

One day, when the protagonist of the series Megumi Aino is showing a puppet show to the children at Pikarigaoka Kindergarten with her PreCure mates, one of the dolls suddenly starts speaking. The ballerina doll named Tsumugi-chan asks the Happiness team to save her kingdom, then takes them to the doll kingdom, a paradise of dolls. However, the kingdom is attacked by the black strings manipulated by a mysterious man Black Fang, and Tsumugi-chan is also captured by him. In truth, the kingdom filled

with happiness is hiding a sad secret. Megumi/Cure Lovely transforms into her new form "Super Happiness

Lovely" to save the kingdom!

Happinesscharge PreCure! is the 11th installment of Toei Animation's long-running PreCure TV anime series,

and is also produced as the franchise's 10th anniversary title. The film Happinesscharge PreCure! Ningyou no

Kuni no Ballerina will open in Japan on October 11. A special advance ticket with two types of "Kururin Odekake

Bag" illustrated with the PreCure girls will go on sale in theaters across Japan from tomorrow July 19.

Trailer

The poster visual

Source: "Happinesscharge PreCure! Ningyou no Kuni no Ballerinavia" official site

© Movie "Happinesscharge PreCure!" Production Committee

What is wrong with the English language? I know it's one of the most difficult languages to learn because it's made entirely out of exceptions and we refuse to acknowledge the rest of the planet's agreed-upon vowel usage. But as Tom Scott shows in his new "Things You Might Not Know" video, this is just madness.

Read more...

The stars of Comedy Central's fake news hour are lending their support to the Star Wars: Force for Change initiative to benefit UNICEF by engaging in a hardcore battle to determine which of them is biggest fan. It's worth it to see Stewart be the one to take things too far, for a change.

Read more...

Elizabeth and Teddie are the latest set of fighters to be highlighted in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax character videos.

Read Elizabeth And Teddie Roll Out In Persona 4 Arena Ultimax’s Latest Trailers on Siliconera!

A gent named Chris Kessler has recreated the original Blade Runner movie trailer with clips from classic anime series AD Police Files and Bubblegum Crisis, and I'll be damned at how amazingly well it works out.

Read more...

Let this be a reminder to you all: there is not enough Fire Emblem cosplay in this world. Nowhere near enough. So here is some from the future, to give you hope.

Read more...

The official site for the Gundam Build Fighters anime series is today updated as that for the upcoming sequel Gundam Build Fighters Try with a key visual featuring the three main characters: Kamiki Sekai, Kousaka Yuuma, Hoshino Fumina, and main staff, voice cast, its story background.

The 25-episode 1st TV series was aired in Japan from October 7, 2013, to March 31, 2014. Thanks to the story featuring many popular mobile suits from the successive Gundam series, it pushed the sales of Bandai's Gunpla (Gundam model kits) greatly, so the expectation for the 2nd series is very high.

The story of Gundam Build Fighters Try is set 7 years after the end of the 1st series, when Iori Sei and Reiji won the 7th Gunpla Battle World Championships. Now Seiho Academy's Gunpla Battle Club has only one member, Hoshino Fumina, who is a third grade student in junior high. As the president of the club,

she needs two more members to participate in the upcoming All-Japan Gunpla Battle Championships. One

day she encounters a transfer student named Kamiki Sekai, who has traveled around for Kenpo training with

his master. Then joining by a young Gunpla builder Kousaka Yuuma, their challenge to the Gunpla Battle begins....

Gundam Build Fighters Try is scheduled to premiere on TV Tokyo and its affiliates in October 2014. You can

check the images of the three characters: Sekai, Yuuma, Fumina here, and the three mechanics: Build

Burning Gundam, Lightning Gundam, Winning Gundam here.

Key visual

Main voice cast:

Kazumi Togashi as Kamiki Sekai

Yuuma Uchida as Kousaka Yuuma

Yui Makino as Hoshino Fumina

Aya Endo as Kamiki Mirai

Main staff:

Director: Shinya Watada (Love Live!, Aikatsu! episode director)

Series composition: Yosuke Kuroda (Maken-Ki! Two, SoniAni: Super Sonico The Animation)

Character design: Kenichi Onuki (Metal Armor Dragonar, Gundam Build Fighters)

Character design cooperation: Suzihito Yasuda (DEVIL SURVIVOR 2 the ANIMATION)

Mecha designs: Kunio Okawara, Junya Ishigaki, Susumu Imaishi, Kanetake Ebikawa, Shinya Terashima, NAOKI

Music: Yuki Hayashi, Asami Tachibana

Planning: Sunrise

Planning cooperation: Bandai Hobby Product Department

Production cooperation: Asatsu DK

Production: TV Tokyo, Sunrise, Sotsu

Source: "Gundam Build Fighters Try" official site

© Sotsu, Sunrise, TV Tokyo

After painstakingly combing through more than 14 million submissions in this year's contest, Lay's brand has whittled down this year's consumer designed chip flavors to four — Wavy Mango Salsa, Kettle Cooked Wasbai Ginger, Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese and... Cappuccino? Hrm.

Read more...

The problem, you would think, with creating the single greatest slacker-nerd fantasy of a generation is how you follow it up. "Get a little older, and draw the ever-loving shit out of it" isn't a bad answer.

Read more...

The first screenshots of Persona 4 Golden's Marie in the upcoming fighter.

Read Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Shows A First Look At Marie In Action on Siliconera!

Justin DeVine comes up with a mashup that seems pulled straight from a Black Lodge dream. In his illustration series, the furry and felt Muppets become the oddball residents of Twin Peaks.

Read more...

She is said to have various long-ranged attacks, along with some poking attacks to keep opponents in check.

Read Marie To Appear As A Playable DLC Character In Persona 4 Arena Ultimax on Siliconera!