Despite originally being a Swedish song, CaramellDansen has always had a strong anime connection throughout its history. So it only makes sense for it to have an official Japanese version of the song. Check it out above!

Bonus Christmas version of the CaramellDansen song below:

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Just like last year, there lots of good deals for anime fans going on tomorrow for Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. This year though is all about digital distribution, as both the Anime Network & Crunchyroll are offering good deals for their subscription services. For Crunchyroll, if you buy a paid account tomorrow via Paypal, you'll get $20 added back to your PayPal. & considering that their 3-month plan is only $19.99, that means you can get 3 months for free AND still have a penny left over! Obviously though it's best to get the 1-year plan with this offer, which will only cost you $39.99 after the cash back deal. [Crunchyroll]

The Anime Network is running a similar deal, with all paid memberships will be 25% off. This works for both personal & gift memberships. [Anime Network]

But if digital content isn't your thing & you want to stick with DVDs, both RightStuf & Amazon are hosting small but still nicely priced Black Friday sales. Amazon's mostly consists of DBZ, Bleach, & Naruto boxsets, but you wont find them marked lower than right now. Meanwhile, RightStuf has great deals on awesome titles like Tears to Tiara, Shin-chan, Special A, & even some Blu-ray! But hurry, these sales wont last long. [Amazon] [RightStuf]

Despite all the problems that Bandai's been having with their DVDs, they still have a very large library of good titles out there. & now for the holiday season, Buy.com is throwing a Bandai Entertainment DVD sale! Select titles are now up to 71% off, meaning you can get whole series for as low as $10. Or you can get all of Cowboy Bebop for $18, the newly released Sola complete series for $16, or both seasons of Big O for $14. They got tons of Gundam, Code Geass, Lucky Star, Haruhi, Eureka Seven, & a lot more for you to buy on the cheap. So don't delay, take advantage of these great deals while you can:

http://www.buy.com/specialty_store_6b/anime-box-set-sale/65475.html

Happy Halloween! & what better way to celebrate an anime-themed Halloween then showcasing the scariest type of anime girl out there- yandere. As long as you're faithful & nice to them, they'll be all lovey-dovey over you. But if you cross them or anger them in any way, you'd best watch your back! These videos show us why what we should really be afraid of on this Halloween night are cute little bishoujo. Special thanks to Yamato for finding these yandere treats! Tons more after the jump, as well as a few other non-yandere festive goodies:

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ADV & the Anime Network are celebrating National Lazy Day today by letting anyone with a free account on their site watch as much free anime as they want! Well, for 24 hours anyway. That's right, every episode of every show on the Anime Network's website is now up for free for today only. That includes HD videos as well, such as episodes of Clannad. So don't be lazy (Mio wouldn't like that)! Head on over to TAN's site now to watch as much free anime as you can!

http://www.theanimenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_vods

iTunes is once again giving us some free anime downloads to enjoy. Viz Media began adding episodes of both "Honey & Clover" & "Nana" to iTunes today. For Honey & Clover, the first 12 episodes of season 1 have been added, & the first episode can be downloaded completely free. The rest of the episodes will cost you $1.99 each to download, or you can buy the whole "season set" in bulk for $19.99 which includes the bonus OVA episode (which can't be downloaded on its own). The episodes are dubbed in English, & as fan of the Japanese version, I can say for the most part I really enjoyed the episode 1 dub.

The first 11 dub episodes of Nana were also added, which is quite good timing considering today is Nana Day (7/7). Again, each episode will cost you $1.99, or $19.99 for all 11 plus the special recap episode 11.5 (which again can't be downloaded on its own). Unfortunately there are no free episodes for Nana. But get your free Honey & Clover ep, hit up the link below:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?i=319682712&id=318745265&s=143441

This was sorta related to the This Week in Free Anime post, but was cool & important enough to deserve its own separate posting. February 28 is Global Shinkai Day, honoring the talents & creativity of the young but now famous anime director Makoto Shinkai.

If you don't know Shinkai's story, then you should go & educate yourself (I'm sure Wikipedia has a lot on him). But to summarize, Shinkai started out as your average Japanese guy & anime fan. He had no professional relationship with anime, but he have the power of passion. He started work on his own anime movie. He wrote it, drew, animated, & edited the whole thing on his Mac, & voiced all the male characters (his wife voicing the female ones), & in 2002 he released "Voices of a Distant Star." The result- an amazing piece of animation & fiction in general, the likes of which unseen by a total amateur. This modern masterpiece became a classic & gained Shinkai instant recognition, fame, & a career in creating more anime films. Only now he has the assistance of anime studios & big budgets. Since then he's created two more masterpieces- "The Place Promised in Our Early Days" & most recently "5 Centimeters Per Second."

In honor of Global Shinkai Day, Crunchyroll is streaming all three of his movies for free for TODAY (Saturday the 28th) ONLY. Best of all, you can even watch them in HD even if you're not a paid CR member. "Voices" & "Early Days" (both available on DVD from ADV) are both available in subtitled format, while "5cm" (currently no longer available on DVD) is up in both subbed & dubbed formats. But this isn't ADV's dub of the movie, but rather a brand new dub by Bang Zoom.

I had previously reported that Bandai had rescue-licensed the title from ADV & issued a new dub for it from Bang Zoom. But then Bandai came out & officially denied they had the license. So while that part may have been false, for whatever reason the part about Bang Zoom redubbing it remained true. But none of that is important right now. What is important is celebrating Global Shinkai Day, & you can do that by watching all three of his amazing works of art for free. Check them out here, while you can:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/group/Global_Shinkai_Day

I don't really have much to say or share this year, so just enjoy this special Valentines message from Lanipator & KaiserNeko! Also, tune in to Adult Swim tonight for a special Valentine's Day episode of Code Geass R2. Funny how AS timed it out like that. Love & peace for all!

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Paying visits to shrines has always been a big part of celebrating the New Year in Japan. & for the second year in a row, the real-life Washinomiya shrine made popular by "Lucy Star" became a huge attraction. This year in fact, over 420,000 people visited the shrine during the first three days of 2009 alone. About 300,000 more than last year.

More interestingly though is the fact that real, life-sized model of Konata's house is being built in Japan. Creator Yoshimizu Kagami is moving out of his old house & will be turning it into an exact replica of the Izumi household that's seen in his manga & the anime series it inspired. This special otaku mecca will be open to the fans beginning this Spring.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-01-02/estimated-300000-visit-lucky-star-shrine-on-new-year

AMXmas 2008:

Merry Christmas, everyone! More terrific & festive videos below:

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Hayate 1:
http://home.comcast.net/~nebstv/nebstv/channel5.html

Hayate 38:
http://home.comcast.net/~nebstv/nebstv/channel2.html

Hayate 39:
http://home.comcast.net/~nebstv/nebstv/channel3.html

Amae OVA:
http://home.comcast.net/~nebstv/nebstv/channel4.html

5Ds 39 LQ:
http://home.comcast.net/~nebstv/nebstv/channel1.html

Here's one birthday I wasn't aware of when I compiled the anime birthday list for December. It's Francesca Lucchini from "Strike Witches," as seen above in this nice & festive image. The naughty loli, my fav character, from the hit Gonzo series celebrates her big day on Christmas Eve it seems. So does that mean she's now turned 13? Cue the otakus who'll say "She's too old now."

Happy Birthday, Francesca! & a Merry Christmas!

Source: http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2008/12/25/christmas-witches

Every year during the holidays, RightStuf hosts their annual 12+ Days of Anime sale, where each day leading up to Christmas they announce incredible deals for anime DVDs. This year's even better than usual, since instead of one item per day it's actually 3, & almost all the items this year are complete series sets.

Just look at some of these offers! Fruits Basket 65% off, Negima 73% off, all three original Slayers series together for 59% off, & tons more! Yesterday RightStuf announced the final day of their sale, meaning everything has now been revealed. But hurry, you only have until before midnight of Sunday to take advantage of these once a year offers! Check out all the items here:

http://www.rightstuf.com/rssite/main/news/individual/?ForumThreadName=FT0000000777&ReturnTo=Main

UPDATE: The sale has been extended through Tuesday! Thanks, lazerblader.

RightStuf is holding a Thanksgiving Weekend sale with at least 30% off pretty much EVERYTHING in their store. Where to even begin, one must wonder. [RightStuf]

Best Buy's deals may be more selective, but some of the prices are fantastic. $30 for each season of Rurouni Kenshin? The complete Samurai Deeper Kyo collection for $54? Oh hell yes. [Best Buy]

If anime DVDs aren't your think, then Toys Logic offers a nice alternative: figurines! This weekend only, they're offering a buy 2, get 1 free deal for all in-stock items (preorders sadly don't apply). I already know which 3 I'm choosing. [Toys Logic]

& finally there's Amazon. Usually Amazon is one of the first places I turn to for anime DVDs, but their Black Friday deals for anime are really lacking. Both in terms of what they're offering & how little they're actually knocking off the price. Plus there's tons of non-anime titles mixed in their anime section somehow. But still, maybe there's something there that'll interest someone. [Amazon]

Trick or Treat! Happy Halloween, boys & ghouls! Now here's a few new Halloween videos for your viewing pleasure:

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