Adult Swim has announced their on-air schedule for the next two months via their official website, & it comes with the unfortunate news that they're drastically cutting down on their anime. Not on the time in which their anime airs, as that'll remain the same. No, this time AS is cutting back on the number of anime series that will be airing on their Saturday night block.

We already knew that when Moribito comes to an end on December 19 that it would be leaving the schedule again instead of showing repeats. That still remains true, although Code Geass will no longer be replacing it. Now in addition to Moribito, there's no more Code Geass on Adult Swim's schedule either.

But wait, because it gets worse. Death Note & Blood+ are also leaving the schedule as well- seemingly for good. Blood+ only just started re-airing after a long time off the air, & it's now being pulled again after 14 episodes beginning next Saturday. At least Death Note will be getting a proper sendoff. AS will be showing mini-marathons of Death Note on 12/19, 12/26, 1/2, & 1/9. They're doing this so that they can properly finish Death Note's current run, making sure that every episode airs for one last time.

Adult Swim's new anime schedule on Saturday nights, starting January 16, now consists of an hour of Bleach, an hour of FullMetal Alchemist, an hour of Cowboy Bebop, an hour of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, an episode of Big O Season 2, & an hour of InuYasha. Yup, their entire anime block now consists of just six shows. All of those are reruns too, by the way. But don't worry, given Bleach's current status we'll probably start getting new episodes again around July.

So why are we losing Death Note, Blood+, Code Geass, & Moribito (& likely FLCL & Shin-Chan as well, even though those two haven't aired in awhile)? This is only speculation on my part, but I'm guessing Adult Swim's broadcast rights to those series expire in the new year, & AS simply didn't want to pay to renew them. That's what happened to many of their older titles like Samurai Champloo & Eureka Seven. Heck, they haven't even aired a single season 1 episode of Big O in about a year, likely because they no longer have the rights to it (they helped create season 2, so they'll likely have the rights to that forever). Their marathoning of Death Note in its final weeks only further manages to prove my theory.

It's hard to believe that they're permanently giving up on Geass & Death Note, but neither of those two huge titles managed to meet expectations on the network. I guess we should just be grateful that Adult Swim isn't cutting back on anime's airtime as well. Enjoy them while you can, because you likely wont be seeing them on American TV ever again.

Source: http://www.adultswim.com/schedule/onair.html

The January 2010 issue of Viz Media's Shonen Jump magazine arrived at my doorstep earlier this week, & there's a lot in this issue that makes it notable. The big push is for SJ's jump in the One Piece manga, which skipped 30 volumes in order to "catch up" with where the manga is in Japan, similar to what they did with Naruto. & while they are indeed MUCH closer to the Japanese manga compared to just last month, I feel it's a bit misleading to say they're caught up with Japan. The English Naruto manga is only about 15 chapters behind the Japanese version, which is pretty good. However, the One Piece manga is more than double that, running about 35 chapters behind where Japan is right now. That's still well over half a year behind Japan. I'm hoping they'll slowly catch up a little more over time.

The other news is that two different manga titles ended in this issue of US Shonen Jump. One of course is YuYu Hakusho, the only manga in the magazine to run since issue #1 without skipping any chapters. It's also only the second title in the magazine to run from beginning to end without skipping as well, behind Akira Toriyama's very short SandLand manga during the mag's first year. Truly an honor indeedm & it's sad to see this classic reach its conclusion.

The other title was a little more surprising it wasn't seen coming. This was also the final issue to serialize the Yu-Gi-Oh GX manga. The manga will still continue on in graphic novel format, but will no longer run in the magazine. This final chapter concluded volume 4 of the manga, & we'll have to wait till volume 5 goes on sale to see more. What really sucks is that the GX manga was running really close behind the Japanese version, with only a few months separating the two. But now we'll have to wait until October 2010 for the next English chapters to come out. Ouch.

This also means that for the first time since the magazine launched 9 years ago, Shonen Jump wont be running a Yu-Gi-Oh manga in its magazine. There's also no signs that the new 5D's manga will be replacing it either. I'm actually quite surprised by this, as having the two different YGO manga in the mag has always served as a sort of advertisement for Konami's card game. They've always had lists of the cards used in each chapter at the end, & gave tips about how to use the cards in real games. Will a similar feature still exist? Or is this yet another sign of the impending doom of the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise in the US?

Beginning in the February issue, a three-month preview of the Toriko manga will be replacing the two fallen titles. I would assume that the three issues will cover the entire first volume of the graphic novel, but it doesn't quite state as much. & after that, it's pretty much a given that Bakuman will be replacing it in the May 2010 issue, but who knows for how long.

Bang Zoom Entertainment's online anime review webcast series "AnimeTV" announced a few months back that they would be starting work on a second season after all this time of no new episodes. Well now we have even more solid proof of a return. AnimeTV announced on Twitter yesterday that they had just finished filming the first episode of the new season. Looks like ATV's making a comeback after all.

UPDATE: Further Twitter updates indicated that the new season will start in December, & that a brand new surprise female co-host will join the show (in addition to Johnny, I'm guessing?). Additionally, it seems the ATV review crew, pictured above, has shrunk down a lot since season 1. Probably for the better, as there too many before.

Their own words, in 140 characters or less:

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While reading through my new December issue of Yen Plus magazine (which comes with the alternative Spice & Wolf novel jacket cover, by the way), I noticed that there was some sort of error with the latest chapter of manhwa series "Time and Again." This issue should have featured chapter 11, as chapter 10 was in the November issue. The magazine's index even lists it as such. However, the chapter itself has "Chapter 12" written on its opening page instead.

Now of course there is the possibility that this really is chapter 11 & that it was just a typo of some sort, but the chapter itself doesn't really feel connected to the previous chapter. Chapter 10 ended in a "to be continued-ish" sort of way, but the chapter in the latest issue doesn't continue the previous story at all. So if I had to guess, Yen Plus really did skip a chapter. But it's still possible that this really is the correct chapter & it was just a typo. Hopefully this will all be made clear soon.

Here's something quite peculiar I discovered today. Viz Picture's official YouTube channel, jpop4america, recently added a trailer for the second Gurren Lagann movie. It's the same trailer shown in Japan earlier this year, & no English subtitles have been added to it either. It's just the same RAW Japanese version.

This is odd for various reasons. For one, Bandai Entertainment are the ones who licensed the anime series, not Viz Media. Secondly, the first movie has yet to get officially licensed in the US. An official English subtitled version of the film was shown at Anime Expo this past summer, but no further plans on the movie's future in North America have yet been announced. Even if we are to take a leap of faith & assume that Viz has the second Gurren Lagann, why "announce" it this way? It seems unlikely that whoever's in charge of the YouTube channel just felt board in the Viz office today & decided to upload a trailer of a recent favorite movie. There has to be a reason for this. Hopefully we'll learn more soon.

UPDATE: As my anime blogging peers have helped point out, the trailer is because Viz will be screening the film at their New People Center next month. You'd think whoever uploaded the trailer would've mentioned that in the video information, if for no other reason than to spread awareness for it. Also, this means that once again a Gurren Lagann film will be getting an official subtitle translation, & yet we still don't have any news of the two films ever hitting DVD.

Microsoft's brand new Windows 7 operating system allows you to download a lot of nice & interesting themes, including international themes customized for various countries around the world. Most of these themes even take advantage of Win7's brand new rotating wallpaper feature. But there's still one theme that's only officially available in the Japanese version of the new software.

OS-tans, which is when you take various operating systems & make moe anime girls out of them, have been popular in Japan for some time now. It was always a fan-made idea, but then Microsoft Japan announced that they'd be making the first ever official OS-tan for Windows 7, & her name is Nanami Madobe (which is a word play on "7" & "window"). As a Japanese exclusive, Windows 7 would come with a theme pack based around her. This was bad news for international anime fans who wanted the option of having an official OS-tan for their theme, but luckily in this modern age you can find pretty much anything online, & the pack has been leaked.

The Nanami Madobe theme contains three different backgrounds that rotate from one to the other, but the bulk of the theme is all in the sounds. Nanami, voiced by Nana Mizuki (Hinata in Naruto, Fate in Nanoha), says something whenever you do pretty much anything. Whether it's max/minimizing a window, shutting down or starting up your computer, plug in a USB, encounter a system error, your batteries about to die or even blocking a pop-up in Internet Explorer. The only problem I encountered was that she's supposed to say "chin!" whenever you close a program. However, she actually says it anytime a process ends. & since processes are constantly coming & going in Windows, I was hearing her say "chin!" out of the blue about every 30 seconds. So I disabled her from saying that in the Sounds settings, but left everything else in tact.

So if you wanna have the first official OS-tan on your brand new Windows 7 machine, you can download the theme pack here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SQEG5XL4

According to Disney's television schedule, Naruto Shippuden will be making its US television premiere on the night of October 28 on Disney XD. The first four episodes of the series will air back-to-back starting at 8:30pm Eastern/Pacific time. After that, the first episode is scheduled to re-air several times over the next few days afterwords, all of which being relatively late at night.

It would seem new episodes will be airing every Wednesday, but until the schedule is updated further, it's hard to know if it'll be one new episode a week or more. For now though, here's the schedule for the night of the 28th:

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The RightStuf Fall 2009 catalog arrived at my doorstep earlier today, & I noticed that as soon as you open the thing up, the first thing you see is a big one-page advertisement for the "new" former ADV company, Section23. I believe this is the first ad I've seen for the new company, & considering that they've only technically been around for a little over a month, they got this out pretty quickly. It appears that the slogan they've chosen to go with is "the Fastest Growing Anime Distributor in America." Uh-huh. You know it's pretty easy to be the fastest growing when you've technically been around for only a month, but in reality have been on the scene for over 15 years.

The ad, which I've scanned above (pardon my crappy scanner), also listed Section23's official website, which is the first I've heard of it. Section23Films.com is pretty barren at the moment though. It's pretty much just a placeholder for now, with their logo (which is nice looking) & the words "Coming Soon." Pardon our dust indeed.

Half a day or so after I reported on FUNimation streaming the controversial unedited version of Strike Witches, their video portal has now changed the streams of both episodes 3 & 4 to the unedited TV version of the series. This version is different from both the edited TV version (which is what streamed on Crunchyroll & YouTube last summer) & the uncensored DVD version (which was what Funi had on their site over the weekend). Apparently the videos were even down for a little while as they made the switch. No more legal naked lolis for you.

I guess for some reason, FUNimation wasn't aware of the content of the episodes when they uploaded, despite the fact that one had to enter their age to verify they were over 18 to watch these episodes. But when I broke word on what they had done & the news spread, someone high up at Funi headquarters must have gotten nervous & ordered the removal of the naked underage girls. So yes, this kinda my fault for reporting on it in the first place. Please don't throw stones at me. Let's just hope this doesn't change plans for the DVD release when it comes out early next year.

Source: http://www4.funimation.com/video/?page=show&b=289

FUNimation truly is giving fans the completely uncensored DVD version of Strike Witches on their website. Funi began streaming the series last weekend with the first two episodes, but it wasn't until this weekend that we got to find out if they were truly going to stream the true unedited version.

Episodes three & four of the series both had nudity in their Japanese DVD releases, but the version that aired on Crunchyroll & YouTube last year had their nudity edited out. But with those two episodes now up on FUNimation's video pages, we in the US finally get to see the naked lolis for free, & legally too. & yes, I just used the words "naked loli" & "legal" in the same sentence. Don't forget there's still more nudity in this series yet to come (including of the youngest character Francesca). Don't need any more motivation than that to pick up the DVD set when it comes early next year.

Source: http://www4.funimation.com/video/?page=show&b=289

FUNimation typically adds a few dozen new episodes to their video website every week, but this past weekend it really felt like they were stepping things up & adding some really cool new stuff, as can be made apparent in the most recent This Week in Free Anime & Manga posting.

Several new titles that have been added feel surprising to have legal & official access to for the first time ever. One of them is the first two episodes of Slayers Revolution. As an old fan of the original Slayers series, I was thrilled to have the classic come back for two new seasons in the modern age, & now the first two episodes are streaming- completely free & legal. It also feels amazing to get free legal "Spice & Wolf" for the first time as well, with the first two episodes for that also going live this weekend.

Another such series is the first two episodes of "Strike Witches," a show that I'm still (pleasantly) surprised that FUNimation ever licensed. Funi has said that their DVD release for the series will be completely uncut, but I have to wonder if they'll be using the uncut version for streaming on their site or if they'll use one of the two edited versions that aired on Japanese TV & Crunchyroll last year. We wont know until the next set of episodes go live next weekend, as uncensored loli nudity was only added beginning with the second DVD.

The addition of "Strike Witches" is also notable because this really is the first time the series is completely available for free (legally) for viewing at anytime. When Crunchyroll & YouTube began simulcasting the series last year, the streams were only free for a mere 10 hours after they aired in Japan. After that, you had to pay to download each episode in order to watch them. But now, we can finally get legal "Strike Witches" for free.

Another Gonzo series that was simulcasted last year, "Tower of Druaga," began streaming its English dub episodes. This is the first time an English version of the series can be heard, since the first DVD set for the series is still a little ways away. Since Druaga was one of my favorite series from last year (it did star KENN as the main character, fresh from the end of GX after all), I'm greatly enjoying rewatching the series dubbed in English.

There were more new dubs added as well. The first 4 English episodes of "Ah! My Goddess" were added, along with the first 4 dubbed episodes of "Bamboo Blade" (another series I'm excited to hear in English for the first time), & the first 4 dubbed eps of "Higurashi: When They Cry." FUNimation was also (very) slowly releasing the dubbed episodes of "Vandread" to their site, but this weekend they finally just went all out & added episodes 5-26 up all at once.

Speaking of adding series in bulk, the entirety of the "Romeo X Juliet" series was put online all at once as well. Yup, all 24 subbed episodes are now up for you're viewing pleasure. The final notable new item that was added this weekend was both parts of the "Gunslinger Girl OVA." Of course there were a bunch of other new episodes for other shows added as well, but all the really noteworthy ones have already been mentioned. You can start watching all this amazing greatness & more here:

http://www4.funimation.com/video

Amazon Japan has revealed that the 7th DVD for this season's popular "Saki" anime edition will include both a regular & limited edition release as well. This makes it & the 2nd DVD the ones to have a limited edition release. & the just like the 2nd DVD limited copy, the 7th one will also come packaged with a high quality dakimakura (body pillow case). No picture of the second dakimakura has been revealed yet, & details are limited. However, it does promise to contain a "really great character."

The first dakimakura depicted the two main stars of the series, Saki & Nodoka. Now there are plenty of great characters in "Saki" that are very popular (this year's Saimoe Tournament can attest to that), but none of which are as popular as those two. In that sense it's possible they might be used again, but on the other hand that might be seen as really redundant. So could it be another really popular character like Tacos, Momoko, Koromo, Kana, or the Captain? (Personally unless it's Saki and/or Nodoka again, I doubt I'll be importing it like I did the first one.) It's also worth noting that the 7th DVD is only about the halfway point of the series, meaning it's very likely even more limited edition DVDs with dakimakura will be coming down the line.

Source: http://bit.ly/XmGTS

Between February 2007 & February 2008, the original webcast series AnimeTV streamed 12 episodes of anime reviews & other oddities to online viewers. & then it was never heard from again. Well not quite true, but here we are over a year & a half since the last new episode & still no second season. But according to a recent Twitter update, Anime TV may finally be making a comeback. Witness the awesome power of being limited to 140 characters:

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In what appears to be a last minute change, the CW4Kids has removed "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's" from its Saturday morning schedule effective immediately. While a new episode was originally scheduled to air this Saturday, it has instead been replaced by an hour of the original "Yu-Gi-Oh" anime series. This isn't just a onetime thing either, as 4Kids Entertainment has revealed their Fall TV schedule, & 5D's isn't on the list at all. Here's the new season schedule beginning September 19:

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A lot of interesting anime dakimakuras, or body pillow casings with characters on them have been coming out in Japan as of late. So I thought that I'd detail some of these newer ones that might be worth an import or two. Tons of pictures, mostly somewhat NSFW, lie below.

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