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

According to trusted Shonen Jump tipster EizHb38XPU, an anime adaptation of Bakuman will be coming out in the Fall of 2010. There hasn't been any official announcement on this yet so we'll label this a rumor for the time being, but EizHb38XPU is rarely wrong about the information he gets. He was the first to reveal the cancellation of To Love-ru before Shonen Jump had officially announced it, for example.

Next Fall is still awhile away, but somehow it still seems too early for Bakuman to be getting an anime adaptation. It's only been running for a little over a year right now, & I would've thought they'd wait for more story material to come out of it before adapting it. But it is a very popular SJ title & comes from the creators of Death Note, so it will no doubt do very well.

UPDATE: The anime series has now been officially confirmed.

Source: http://www.japanator.com/rumor-bakuman-anime-coming-fall-2010-12608.phtml

It was announced that a brand new Digimon game for the DS, "Digimon Story: Lost Evolution," would be coming out in 2010. Which seemed pretty, what with an old seemingly retired franchise like Digimon coming out with a new game out of the blue like that. But that's when things really started to get interested. Reports about a new Digimon anime series began to spread online not too long after that. Apparently, a brand new series tentatively titled "Digimon Around" will begin airing next year in Japan (let's not forget though that the original tentative title for "Frontier" was "Scanners"). An official announcement, if true, is expected to be made soon either in the pages of V-Jump or at Jump Festa.

Granted this all seems out of the blue, but don't forget that Digimon Savers also came out of nowhere as well. The one thing really holding a new season of Digimon back right now is its timeslot. All five seasons of Digimon have always aired Sunday mornings at 9am on Fuji TV, but that slot is currently taken by DragonBall Kai as part of Fuji's Dream9 hour along with One Piece. It's possible that Kai might end come April with the conclusion of the Freeza saga, or will perhaps move to a different time. But more than likely, it'll be Digimon Around getting the new time slot if it indeed becomes a reality. Let's keep our fingers crossed for now.

Source: http://www.wtwnews.net/exclusive-news/499/New_Digimon_Series

After so many years of joking about it, there actually now is the possibility that Zac Efron IS Kira. When it was announced that Warner Bros acquired the rights to make an American Death Note film, hopes that Efron would play the lead role of Light spread like wildfire. & as it turns out, he was actually in a few meetings about it. Coincidence, or the power of fandom on the Internet?

Regardless though, Efron stated that the project was "not on the front burner." In other words, while it is being talked about & in the works, it's not happening anytime soon. He stated once again that he is a manga fan & does enjoy Death Note, & that he'd like to be a part of the project, but it unfortunately wont be happening at this moment. You can check out his answers towards the end of the video interview above.

Rumor has it that Nintendo is working on their next generation handheld device, tentatively being nicknamed the DS2. Now don't mistake this for yet another new version of the DS, but rather a whole new start like how the first DS was compared to the Game Boy Advance. & according to the rumors, this thing will be mighty powerful.

nVidia are the ones signed up to create the graphics chip for the new device, using their powerful Tegra chip to power it. The nVidia Tegra is what powers the latest version of the Microsoft Zune, which is starting to role out some pretty nice looking games for the MP3 player. But the DS2 will actually be using the NEXT generation of the chip, the Tegra 2. According to nVidia, the Tegra 2 will have four-times the power of the original one. Imagine what handheld games will look like with that much power under the hood.

The DS2 (which might not even have two screens like the DS, no one knows yet) is expected to be formally announced in late 2010, meaning it'll likely go on sale sometime in 2011. So we might want to reconsider picking up the DSi XL when it comes out.

Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-ds2-vs-psp2-article

According to Germany's USK rating system, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is headed to the Nintendo Wii. One theory right now is that it'll just be a WiiWare port of the original game. Meaning you'll be able to download it the your Wii & it'll be the same as the the first title we all know & love.

However, it doesn't specifically say it'll be on the WiiWare. Meaning it might be brand new physical Wii title, one that you go to stores to buy. If that's the case, it could either be an enhanced remake of the original or even a brand new title in the saga. But since it hasn't even been officially confirmed that Phoenix will be coming to the Wii in any shape or form, we'll have to wait& see what type of game this will be.

Source: http://www.gamerbytes.com/2009/11/phoenix_wright_ace_attourney_c.php

Take this all with a grain of salt, but it certainly sounds exciting. A staff member from secondhand manga store Mandarake in Japan leaked a column online which states that a fourth season of Full Metal Panic is currently underway. Considering that there's still plenty of material to work with from the original light novel series, another season can easily be done if Kadokawa feels up to it. It has been four years since the Second Raid aired in Japan, after all. On the other hand, this rumor could be as dead as the live-action movie that was supposed to get made.

In other rumors circulating around the net, it's being reported that a new Voltron series is "imminent." The United Talent Agency has apparently signed a deal with World Events Productions to create a brand new animated Voltron series for American cable TV. So if this does turn out to be true, then we'll be seeing an American-made original Voltron series, with presumably very little involvement with Japan. Video game & toy deals are also planned. Just like FullMetal Panic, Voltron may or may not be getting a Hollywood live-action movie adaptation.

Sources: http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=121257
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/technology/news/e3i03c5991d65201a60f8340ab417038772

James Cameron's long-awaited movie adaptation of the "Battle Angel Alita" manga has had to be put on the back-burner for awhile as he works on his upcoming Avatar movie. As such, we thought we were all resigned to wait a couple more years before we saw anything on "Battle Angel." As it turns out though, test footage has allegedly already been produced. & it's also apparently "kick ass."

The source who's seen the test footage calls it gorgeous & complex. Cameron seems committed to having a young age appropriate girl play Alita, which might not have been possible a few years ago considered the extreme violence she throws upon her victims. But with modern theatrical effects, they could make a 14-year-old girl do extremely crazy things. Here's the key quote:

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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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According to Japanese site 2ch, a live-action K-On television series is in the works. 2ch has claimed to find this leaked magazine article about TBS adapting the popular anime & manga title into a drama series. None of this has been verified yet though, & it is possible that it's all a hoax a 2ch poster made up because he was bored. Granted the above picture looks convincing, but it could still be faked.

TBS is currently airing the live-action drama based on Shonen Jump's KochiKame manga, which is apparently doing horribly. With a such a bad adaptation, one has to question if TBS is eager to get back on board with another one. Live-action TV adaptations are far from new, & typically haven't done very well. The live-action Negima drama that aired two years ago was horrendous, & let's not forget Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon as well. But every once in awhile we get a good adaptation like Nodame Cantabile. So who knows what the future holds for a K-On drama.

Source: http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/08/31/k-on-live-action-drama-due

Last Fall there was talk of Shonen Jumps To Love-ru facing cancellation due to declining interest in the story. Well it doesn't seem the lack of support for the title has changed a lot over the months, & To Love-ru will likely be ending sometime in the next few issues of Jump. I'm amusing it's getting that much so that the author can have time to wrap up the story in a reasonable manner. At least I hope so, as it'd really suck if it didn't get a proper ending.

To Love-ru isn't alone either, as it seems one other title will be getting the boot as well. & since Medaka Box ranked in last place in the last issue's reader survey, it seems to be the likely candidate.

Source: http://zepy.momotato.com/2009/08/23/toloveru-manga-is-ending

Over weekend, Viz held the grand opening of their New People center in San Francisco. A lot of festivities were held in honor of the opening of the cultural entertainment center. One guest was producer Northrop Davis, who has previously pitched a live-action movie adaptation of Battle Angel Alita to James Cameron (which is on his backburner, but hasn't started yet). There, he revealed that he's been working on pitching adaptations of Berserk, Baki the Grappler, & Barefoot Gen to Hollywood studios. In fact Berserk was really close to happening at one point, but isn't quite there yet.

While most people seem to concentrating on those three titles being pitched, it was the news of a fourth adaptation that intrigued me the most. Davis said he's been working for two years now on an American version of the popular modern Japanese tale Densha Otoko (Train Man, based on the real-life story of a 2-channer). Phil Rosenthal, who created "Everybody Loves Raymond," actually wants to be on this project & turn it into an American television series. Rosenthal really enjoyed the Japanese TV series, & wants to create a faithful adaptation for US viewers. I know Davis has said he's been working hard on this for a long time now, but with Rosenthal now attached, hopefully that means that it'll actually start to happen.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-08-18/berserk-baki-barefoot-gen-pitched-to-hollywood

It was reported last month that the American-made live-action Akira movie was dead & would no longer be coming out. But Andrew Lazar, a producer at Warner Bros, had otherwise to say while at Comic-Con this weekend. Lazar said that Akira is a top priority project for them right now, & a script is being worked on as we speak. So there you go, Akira's not dead yet! Let's just hope that there's enough life & interest in the project to see it to till the end.

Source: http://www.japanator.com/sdcc-akira-live-action-not-cancelled-after-all--10692.phtml

It's been discovered that the Kekkaishi anime series is being dubbed by the Los Angeles anime voice acting group, meaning that the title has been licensed for US release. It's unknown at this time who has it, but all signs point to Viz Media. Not only have they been releasing the Kekkaishi manga for some time now, but this times out perfectly with the launch big new Shonen Sunday imprint line.

Viz had said they'd be using Comic Con to make all their Shonen Sunday announcements, & since Kekkaishi is a Shonen Sunday series, what better time to announce a new anime license? Furthermore, Viz stated they'd be using the new imprint line for both manga AND anime titles. Currently, InuYasha is the only Shonen Sunday title that they've released on DVD, & they've already finished that series (there are even older titles like Ranma 1/2, but I don't think Viz is using them for the imprint). So that can only mean they're getting some fresh anime titles for the new line.

It's interesting that Viz has decided once again to start releasing anime that isn't Naruto, Bleach, or Death Note. When they stopped releasing a large number of titles back in early 2008, it was thought that Viz had given up on titles that weren't making money like their "big three." But then they started releasing Nana & Honey & Clover (let's not forget Hunter x Hunter & Buso Renkin as well), & now they've seemingly started on Kekkaishi & perhaps other Shonen Sunday titles. Nice to see Viz back in the game, but now can they resume releasing all those Toonami Jetstream series that they just left to die?

Kekkaishi is a 52 episode shonen action series that ran from 2006-2008 (despite only being 52 episodes long, it took the anime well over a year to air all the episodes), & is based on the still running manga. It's a very by-the-books shonen series, with everything you can expect in your typical shonen series thrown in there. But despite lacking in originality, I found it to be a very enjoyable & entertaining series. Like most shonen anime, it takes a few eps to "get going," but it really is quite good for what it is.

Source: http://www.fanboyreview.net/2009/07/22/license-alert-kekkaishi

It's been awhile since we last heard from the ASOS Brigade, but for the first time in years the American Haruhi Suzumiya website has been updated. & what odd timing it is, what with the second season currently airing in Japan (actually Kadokawa now owes us a third season ASAP because of this Endless Eight stunt of theirs). Could Bandai be making a licensing announcement soon? Maybe as soon as Otakon this weekend? Maybe there's a connection to that Oh My God website?

The updated ASOS website is typical from what we saw years ago. Mainly it has Tsuruya-san updating the main page, with hidden text written into the site's background. Tsuyura-san had the following to say:

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