OLD NEWS & UPDATES FROM
NOVEMBER 2006

Older updates are at the bottom.

2006/11/28---Star Potential

The pic of the week comes from the second volume of the Penguin Kakumei manga (released as "Penguin Revolution" by CMX). The image is of Ryo when he stands up during a stage play. In Penguin Kakumei, the main character, Yukari, is able to see wings on people's backs that correspond to the amount of star potential they have. When Ryo stands up on stage in this chapter, she sees the giant wings on his back and realizes that he has the makings of a big star. :3 The quote of the week also comes from the second volume of Penguin Kakumei. "If I have time to get mad, I should use that time to continue advancing forward." -Ryo, Penguin Kakumei Till next time... Updated by: Pan-Chan

2006/11/24---Naruto fillers ending, Naruto: Hurricane Chronicles

YTV's Anime Master has an interview up with the English dub voice actors of Sakura and Sasuke. You can read it here. :3 Also, the series finale of Inuyasha will air on YTV on December 1st. And before I forget, my tiny review for dub episode 55 of Naruto is up here. And now for the news all Naruto fans have been waiting for... the filler is finally ending! I know that people have been saying this forever now, but it's for real this time! For me, the news was broken by this French site which said that Kishimoto commented that they'll get to the time-jump stuff in the spring. NarutoFan has posted about it. Below are copies of both of their most recent news reports: Post Time-Skip Narutimate Accela for Playstation 2 - Spring 2007! The promotional and hype machine works just as well in Japan as it does in America, often you can tell a lot just by what companies are willing to release, without officially saying it. Today, scans from the newest edition of the Narutimate Hero series, Narutimate Accel (it would be the fifth game in that series) have surfaced. The difference with this game, the characters are in their post time-skip outfits. This is significant because of the fact that no video game for Naruto has been based solely off of the manga, they have waited for the anime to be there. The release date for the game is also significant, scheduled for Spring 2007, it only goes on to help solidify the claim that the Naruto anime fillers will end in the Spring. And what better way to celebrate the return to Konoha than with a brand spanking new videogame that is following the same storyline! View the scan by clicking here. We will have more information on this game as it becomes available. Post Time-Skip Narutimate Accela for Playstation 2 - Spring 2007! It has now been confirmed that the Japanese Naruto anime series will be returning to it's original storyline as told in the Naruto manga series, coming this next February, a few short months from now. Along with returning to the story, Naruto will be getting a brand new name to go by. It is nothing big that will blow your mind, but nonetheless a couple of words have been added - Naruto: Hurricane Chronicles - which appears to play reference to Naruto being a Wind Element user. This is also the name that the fourth Naruto movie, due to be released in theaters next Summer, will be going under as it is a movie that will take place after the time-skip. Now there, is something to the thankful for this Thanksgiving. My only comment is finally! X3 Naruto: This one's got legs! Jiraiya: Great! Now just give it two arms and a brain and maybe I can train it! -Naruto Till next time... Updated by: Pan-Chan

2006/11/20---Another time and place

The pic of the week is of Athrun from Gundam Seed Destiny. Credits for the texture used go to myrasis and the words on the pic are a quote by Bob Riley. I liked it, and it seems to fit the image. :3 I didn't realize the similarities between this week's pic and last week's pic until I finished it. I hope you don't mind. ^^; The quote of the week is from episode 18 of Naruto. Naruto says it to Haku [spoiler warning] when Haku is on his deathbed. Naruto recognizes that it is their situations that made them enemies. If they had met under different circumstances, they could have easily been friends, proving that sometimes there is very little between two opposing sides. It's a bit of a sad quote, but a very powerful one. "The weird thing is that if we had met in another time and place, I think that, maybe, we could've been friends." -Naruto, Naruto Till next time... Updated by: Pan-Chan

2006/11/18---DBZ, FB, and DTAC

Over at Kyle Hebert's LJ, the voice actor mentioned that FUNimation will be repackaging and re-releasing all of DragonBall Z in cheaper, high definition boxsets starting this February. The original Japanese score will be selectable with the dub version for the first time. Moreover, there will be revised English dialogue. Kyle Hebert recently flew to Texas to re-dub the voice of the narrator for earlier episodes for continuity sake. The Vegeta Saga (39 episodes on five disks) is set to be released on February 7th for around $50. In manga news, the last chapter of the Fruits Basket manga, chapter 136, will be out in Japan on November 20th. The series is finally coming to an end. In Toronto-area news, DTAC is taking place on December 3rd at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. Admission is free this year, so if you're in the area and have time, you've got nothing to lose by attending. More information on the event can be found here. Naruto: Someday, I'll be hokage for real. Then you'll be sorry! Kiba: On what planet? -Naruto Till next time... Updated by: Pan-Chan

2006/11/14---Persevere and the world will be yours

The new pic and quote of the week are up. The pic features Hikaru from Angelic Layer. The pic has a "never give up" vibe, and I hope I managed to capture that. :3 The quote of the week comes from volume two of the Beauty Pop manga. "Let me help you add some magic -- magic that will let you have more confidence in yourself." -Kiri, Beauty Pop Till next time... Updated by: Pan-Chan

2006/11/12---Wal-Mart sells JPOP?

Wal-Mart, or at least its online store, is selling a few Japanese and Chinese CDs. Some are available for pre-order (many due out this coming Tuesday) while others are available now. There's no word if these CDs are just for sale on the website or will actually be available in stores. It is not my intention to compile a complete list, but here are a few of the CDs I've come across: * James Li: Hua Huo Chai De Nu Hai * Jay Chou: Album Jay * Jay Chou: Eight Dimensions * Jay Chou: Fantasy * Jay Chou: Huo Yuan Chia * KAT-TUN: Best of KAT-TUN * L'Arc-en-Ciel: Smile * Rainie Yang: My Intuition * Utada Hikaru: Exodus * Utada Hikaru: Singles Collection, Vol.1 * Utada Hikaru: Ultra Blue * Wang Leehom: Heroes Of Earth * Wang Leehom: Only One * Wang Leehom: Unbelieveable * Yuko Nakazawa: Urara I found a good chunk of these in the future releases section of the website. There are a few more on there that I did not mention above. Moreover, since those were only future releases, I don't have a list of what's already available except for the few I found through random searches. I wish there was an easier way to search for them, but considering that the KAT-TUN CD is filed under reggae (WTF? XD), something tells me that's not going to be easy. I really have no other information on this. To my knowledge there's been no word from official sources and no press release. There's a chance this might be a United States-only thing. The online store linked above only ships to the United States. (The Canadian Wal-Mart site tells me nothing, and you can't buy anything from it anyway.) Considering the prices of the CDs (it cost me about $40CAN to import the KAT-TUN CD from Japan when it came out earlier this year), and the limited information available, they're being distributed through a US distributor. I have no idea who the distributor is. Maybe Tofu? Maybe Tofu is one of many distributors or involved in some other way? I don't know. Still, I'd like to know what company managed to get a distribution deal with the notoriously finicky Johnny's Jimusho (the company behind KAT-TUN and other manufactured Japanese boybands). Again, there's no information on whether these CDs are just for sale on the website or will actually be available in stores. Either way, these CDs being offered at these prices at a store like Wal-Mart is some sort of milestone. For one thing, it'll allow this music to be easily available to more people than ever before. On the down side, a giant like Wal-Mart will hurt the business of smaller companies that have been selling Japanese CDs for some time now. Anyway, this is going to be an interesting development to keep an eye on. "Talk about giving an answer without giving an answer." -Naruto, Naruto Till next time... Updated by: Pan-Chan

2006/11/11---Not much to say in this one

My review for episode 54 of the Naruto dub is up here. "That's pretty clever, considering he's so dumb." -Jiraiya, Naruto Till next time... Updated by: Pan-Chan

2006/11/06---Ode to Joy

The new pic and quote of the week are up. The pic features Kaworu from Evangelion. He's my favorite character from the series, and I realized I hadn't done an Evanglion pic in ages, and so here we are. The words on the pic make a ton of sense if you've seen episode twenty-four of the series. I'd say more, but I'd probably get kicked for posting spoilers. ^^; The quote of the week isn't an anime quote, but it is Japanese media related. It's from episode seven of the Japanese drama My Boss My Hero. In this episode, the main character, Makio, is going through a hard time at school. The quote is his teacher's advice to him. I thought it was a really nice quote, so I'll make a little exception for it this week. ;3 "All I can say is, come to school tomorrow. There will be times when you become hurt, also times when you're in agony. But even so, come here. Come to school, study, talk, and eat lunch, and when you overcome your sadness, you'll definitely be stronger than you are now. That's true strength. You're not weak. Don't worry" -Minami, My Boss My Hero Till next time... Updated by: Pan-Chan

2006/11/05---Naruto Review

My review for episode 53 of Naruto is up here. (They kept the Japanese opening~!) "OK, we'll pretend none of that happened." -Jiraiya, Naruto Till next time... Updated by: Pan-Chan