I'm a little late to remind you that the 12th Pokemon movie (which debuted only this year in Japan) made its American debut on Cartoon Network earlier this evening. So, sorry if you missed that. But I definitely wanted to point out that American dub of the Beyblade Movie will be making its US television debut tomorrow afternoon at 5:30 (Eastern/Pacific)! This movie was actually released in Japan back in 2002, & Nelvana released an English dub of it on DVD back in 2005. But it never aired on Jetix or any other American channel, until now. So the timing on all this might seem pretty odd. But I believe this is actually a good sign that the new Beyblade: Metal Fusion series will be airing on CN next year.

The movie was made during the series' second season, known as "Beyblade 2002" in Japan & "Beyblade: V-Force" in America. So the art style & character designs will look like the second season (each season had its own unique style, though season one was drastically different from the other two). However, this movie actually debuts the character Daichi, who was a main new character in season three. Also, season 2 sucked & was easily the worst of the first three seasons. I'm hoping the movie fairs a bit better.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-11-20/2009-pokemon-film-on-u.s-cartoon-network-today

Hot off the heals of China ripping off the anime masterpiece 5cm Per Second comes the country's latest attempt at plagiarism. Meet the latest big hit in Chinese animation- "Dinosaur Baby Holy Heroes!" Based on the characters & creatures of this world, it becomes very clear that their designs are just hodgepodges from various anime series. Most notable are keen similarities with Pokemon, Naruto, & Digimon.

Reports coming out of the Chinese channel it airs on, CCTV, are playing innocent/dumb on the subject. Replies have included comments like "What's being called a rip? What's being called a copy? Please think first, then talk." & also things like “Consider the difference between imitation and plagiarism.” So since it's just imitation, that makes everything all right.

Source: http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/09/13/china-rips-off-naruto-pokemon-imitation-is-not-plagiarism

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete (English trailer):

We begin this (final?) edition of Video Game Videos with something that's not even really a video game. It's the official English trailer for the remastered high-definition CGI anime movie "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete." I guess the original movie wasn't "complete" then, huh? FF fans will love it, I'm sure. For everyone else, there's a bunch of other great videos to check out below. These include footage of the recently announced Pokemon Gold & Silver remakes for the Nintendo DS, two new videos of the DragonBall Kai DS game, & a lot more awesomeness:

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FUNimation made a slew of huge announcements today, including losing one title while gaining another. Due to declining DVD sales & nowhere to air the series on TV anymore, Funi has canceled their contract with One Piece & will no longer be releasing the episodes. But never fear, Straw Hat fans! The One Piece license has been rescued & gone back where it belongs- 4KIDS!! That's right, 4Kids has One Piece back! No longer do we have to deal with the changed voices that Funi tried to shove down our throats! Hurray!

In exchange, FUNimation has picked up a former 4Kids title- Pokemon! For the first time ever in the US, Pokemon will be getting a TRUE, proper English dub, as well as uncut Japanese versions on the DVDs! Auditions are being held for various roles right now, though they have already picked out the voice for Ash Satoshi- Zac Effron! Best known for his musical numbers in the "High School Musical" movies & being cast as Light Yagami in the upcoming live-action American "Death Note" movie, Effron sent in his audition tape to Funi early on, which you can watch for yourself above. Also, Vic Mignogna has been cast as Mudkip.

FUNimation also announced their dub voice cast for the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. They couldn't get the ADV actors to reprise their roles, so instead Funi chose to go with an all-star voice cast! Check out the main cast below:

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Lately, Nickelodeon Magazine has been showing a weird new interest inm Japanese manga. First in the latest issue, they have a toon gossip column with a "news story" about Bart Simpson going out with Sakura Haruno. Apparently they started going out after Lisa Simpson & Naruto Uzumaki broke up. Huh?!

Adding to that, the children's mag recently held their first ever Nickelodeon Magazine Comics Awards. There were a couple different manga nominees in the running including "Naruto" for Favorite Graphic Novel, as well as Kakashi Hatake for Best Hair in Comics. Sadly they lost. But there was a Favorite Manga Series category as well. The winner there was Viz's Pokemon Adventure manga, which managed to beat out Naruto, One Piece, Fruits Basket, & Kingdom Hearts II. Figures that the most kiddish title would win.

Sources: http://www.japanator.com/elephant/post.phtml?pk=9532
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-03-27/pokemon-wins-nickelodeon-mag-favorite-manga-award

Viz has confirmed what they told us they were considering back at Comic-Con. That is to say that they're bringing the Death Note spin-off movie L: Change the World to American theaters. Just like the first two films, the movie will be in theaters for two nights only- April 29 & 30. Unlike the first two films, "L" will be shown in subtitled format the first night & the usual dub affair on the second night.

Considering I already saw the movie subbed (albeit fansubbded) & enjoy Death Note's dubs, I'll be going the second night. But considering how much English is in the Japanese version, I wonder how that'll be handled. Shonen Jump subscribers as usual get an early shot at the tickets, beginning March 20. Regular tickets go on sale beginning the 23rd. What you see above is Viz's official English trailer for the film. & now, on to more trailer's below:

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I'm a little late on posting about this, but I felt it was worth mentioning all the anime titles on IGN's Top 100 Animated Series of all time. Kudos to one particular anime series for even making into the top 10. See which one, along with the rest of the highlights, below:

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Episode 31: Perfectly Ultimate Bunghole

Finally, Revver is working right again. Good thing too, since this ep sees Joey encountering a fan of the Japanese version of the series. But he's not all what he seems, as he's actually working for Milhouse! Or Beavis, I forget which.

Meanwhile, Serenity has to deal with Ash Ketchum at the hospital, who just happens to be one of the most powerful cards in all of Duel Monsters! Only Jounochi's meme-canceling Jinzo & Honda's neck-breaking powers can save the day! Also, this:

http://pokemonx.comicgenesis.com/

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Time for more movie trailers from Japan! This time the vids come from more than just Twitch, as can be witnessed above. There you'll find a teaser trailer of the 12th (yes, TWELFTH) Pokemon movie, which I uploaded to YouTube myself. I also found a new trailer for the second live-action "20th Century Boys trailer" on the site as well, which you can check out below.

Joining them are two new trailers from Twitch. One is for the exciting anthology movie "KIRU ~ KILL," which features four short stories form four different Japanese directors- including Mamoru Oshii of "Ghost in the Shell" fame! & after that you'll spot the latest teaser trailer for the live-action movie adaptation of the classic anime series "YatterMan." Not much to see yet, aside from dozens & dozens of school girls, anyway. Still gotta wait awhile for this one to come out. They all lie here:

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A video demo for a bunch of the mini games in the To Love-Ru DS game has surfaced online. It includes poking, girls in towels, heavy breathing, & the latest & most awesome game yet- squirting milk on strawberries! Yes, as the end of the video indicates, there comes a challenge where Lala is holding a strawberry & you have to squirt the white liquid on it. But since she moves it around a lot, you'll often "accidentally" squirt some on her face & chest. A pity, I know.

Aside from that, everyone's favorite virtual idol Miku Hatsune is now getting a portable game for the PSP. You can find a trailer for that below. Other vids include the extremely weird original ending to Tekken, some Japanese school girls unrespectfully dancing to a song from a hentai game in front of the Atomic Dome memorial in Hiroshima (showing their pantsu at one point), a few Pokemon Platinum commercials, & much much more:

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A new demo clip for the upcoming To Love-Ru DS game has sneaked its way onto YouTube. As can be seen above, the game's mechanics are quite... interesting. Definitely takes full advantage of the DS's touch-screen, to say the least. Eat your heart out, DokiDoki Majo Shinpan.

& we got one more ecchi DS game for you to feast your eyes on, though sadly there's no video for this one. Only pics. The game is called "Simple DS Series Volume 44: THE Gal Mahjong," & is basically a mahjong game with a twist- you play against girls in swimsuits! & in between all the mahjong action, there's a bunch of touch-screen fun mini games, such as riding inflatable bananas, swiping away mosquitoes from your girl, or rubbing the sand off of her body. Screen shots for that can be found at the link below.

Then after the jump, we got several NON-ecchi video game videos for you to look at. As always, their either anime based or something anime fans would likely be interested in checking out. Enjoy:

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080808/gal.htm

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Alright, time for more video game trailers for you to enjoy. As always, these games presented here are either somehow related to anime or, if not, is something the anime fandom would find interesting. Did I mention that there are no less than two new Pokemon Platinum videos below? Because there are! Not to mention a clip from the new Doki Doki Majo Shinpan 2 game that shows the "witch check mode." That & more wait for you below:

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Hayao Miyazaki's latest animated film, Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea finally hit Japanese theaters this past weekend & did pretty well at the box office. It came in first place in the Japanese box office, earning 30.4 billion yen (~$280 million), with the Pokemon Diamond & Pearl movie Giratina & the Sky’s Bouquet debuting in second with over 1 billion yen (~$9.5 million).

But was the movie the kind of masterpiece that we've come to expect from Miyazaki? It should be noted that more than any other of his past movies, Ponyo is one that's really aimed towards the kids. Miyazaki really wanted to make a movie that the youngsters could enjoy, & not be as dark as his previous few movies. So as long as you have all that in mind, then you anyone should be able to enjoy this film. But try & compare it to Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away, & you'll only end up disappointing yourself. An English review from the Japan Times can be read here:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ff20080711a1.html

A trailer for upcoming Diamond & Pearl spin-off game Pokemon Platinum has been released in Japan. & then subsequently leaked online for us in the rest of the world to see. Platinum is set to hit Japanese stores on September 13, & still no word on when we can expect to see this game get released in America (but you can bet that it will be, obviously). However, for those of you impatient enough to wait for the game's inevitable local release, & if you're up to dealing with pure hiragana & katakana, then you can preorder the game & have it exported internationally straight to your hands. Currently, Play-Asia is taking pre-orders from all Pokemon Masters to be right here:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-49-en-15-platinum-70-2wh7.html

All this talk of Spore being exclusive for the DS this year plus the mentioning of Pokemon games at Nintendo's E3 press conference felt like a good time to write about this interesting topic. Ever since Spore’s Creature Creator was release earlier this summer, fans have uploaded literally millions of their unique Spore creations online to the Sporepedia. & when the actual Spore game comes out for the PC next year, you can choose any of these creations to put into your game. Needless to say, some of the results have been rather interesting.

Among the most interesting creations, & probably most obvious to base off of, were Pokemon Spore creatures. Video game website GameRadar searched out the best Pokemon inspired spores, as well as the worst. They break it down into three categories- the good, the bad, & the WTF. Many of the WTF ones will probably give you nightmares. So to check out their interesting collection, head on over to here:

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/pokemon-invade-spore/a-20080701114947592098