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1. Snow Miku 2014
2. BlazBlue Anime
3. 009 Re:Cyborg Eng sub trailer
4. FF8 returns to PC
5. Attack on Titan Visual Novels

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Good Smile Announces Snow Miku 2014 Winner

2014’s theme is magical girl Miku.

We recently told you that Good Smile was running a contest to determine 2014’s Snow Miku design - well, the results are in. Are you ready for a new Snow Miku?



That’s right, this year our magical girl Miku is a witch - and an adorable one, at that. She was entry number eight, while her companion, a bunny whose scarf is intended to resemble Miku’s ponytail, was number seven.

What do you think of the newest Miku?

Source: Crunchy Roll

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"BlazBlue" Fighting Game to Receive Anime Adaptation
Novel jacket confirms plans for adaptation, anime was game designer's wish since 2011

The frenetic and often confusing BlazBlue fighting game franchise is set to receive an anime adaptation almost three years after the game series designer publicly expressed a desire to see it become an anime series, which led to a petition for an adaptation by a Western producer based in Europe with ties to the game's Japanese publisher/developer.

The confirmation came on the wraparound jacket of the latest volume of the Calamity Trigger novelization of the franchise and further details have yet to be confirmed. However, as the latest game in the series was recently released in December of last year in Japan, speculation is already flying that the adaptation will start from the beginning of the video game series, if only to draw in both old and new fans.

The question is, with how polarizing the fighting game is due to its mechanics and its equally convoluted plot that stretches across multiple games, is there actual demand for an anime adaptation? To put this in better context, some openings from past BlazBlue games:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0Ehs2aMOt4M

Source: Crunchy Roll

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009 Re:Cyborg Film's English-Subbed Trailer Streamed

Kenji Kamiyama's action/sci-fi film to screen in Australia, New Zealand starting in September

Australian anime distributor Madman Entertainment began streaming an English-subtitled trailer for Kenji Kamiyama's action science-fiction film 009 RE:CYBORG film on Thursday. Madman Entertainment will screen the film in theaters in Australia and New Zealand as part of its Reel Anime 2013 lineup in September and October.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mucMR5RUiKQ&feature=player_embedded

The story begins in 2013 when skyscrapers in London, Moscow, Berlin, and New York are destroyed by simultaneous bombings. The indiscriminate terrorism by an unknown group with unknown motives sets off widespread panic throughout the world.

There was once a group of nine cyborg fighters who rescued humanity from threats, but they had disbanded to their home countries. Now the man who created them, Dr. Gilmore, has summoned and assembled them back together again. However, the 00 Number Cyborgs' former leader, a Japanese man named Joe Shimamura (Mamoru Miyano), is now living alone in Tokyo's Roppongi with his past memories erased.

Madman Entertainment announced in April that it had licensed the series, and a different international trailer began streaming before then.

The United Kingdom anime distributor Anime Limited film screened in London on April 4, and Kamiyama attended. Anime Limited also hosted screenings in Glasgow and Dublin last month. The film is scheduled for a home video release in the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2013. The distributor is working with with the studio NYAV Post on an English dub.

Madman will also screen Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo as part of the Reel Anime 2013 lineup.

Source: Anime News Network

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Final Fantasy VIII Returns to PC in HD

1999 PlayStation title follows heroes battling sorceress from the future

Square Enix launched Final Fantasy VII International for PC in Japan on Thursday and announced that an HD PC remaster of Final Fantasy VIII is also in the works.

Final Fantasy VIII was released for the original PlayStation console and Windows computers in 1999 and 2000, respectively. The game follows the temperamental Squall and his love-interest, Rinoa, as they try to stop an evil sorceress from the future.

Square Enix officially announced the high-resolution PC remaster of Final Fantasy VII last year. The remaster brings the International version PCs in Japan for the first time. The game features a 5-speed mode for quicker playthroughs, achievements, exclusive Shinra avatars, and high-resolution compatibility. Final Fantasy VII International for PC retails for 1,000 yen (about US$10).

Source: Anime News Network

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Attack on Titan Blu-rays Add Visual Novels by Nitro+

Nitro+ artist, writers contribute 5 spinoffs in collaboration with Production I.G

The official website for the Attack on Titan anime announced on Sunday that the first copies of the third and sixth Blu-ray Disc volumes will include bonus visual novel games. The visual novels will cover spinoff stories with Mikasa, Levi, Erwin, and other characters.

Original manga creator Hajime Isayama himself is supervising the visual novels, and the developer Nitroplus (Steins;Gate, Phantom 〜Requiem for the Phantom〜) is collaborating on their production with Production I.G. Nitroplus illustrator Namaniku ATK is designing the characters, and Nitroplus writer Gan Saaku (Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet) is penning the scenario for Eren and Levi. The developer's Jin Haganeya is also contributing; this will be his second visual novel adaptation of an anime by director Tetsuro Araki, after Guilty Crown. Anime scriptwriter Hiroshi Seko (Attack on Titan, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt ) is penning stories about Mikasa and Annie.

The third Blu-ray volume will ship on September 18 with Seko's Lost in the Cruel World visual novel about Mikasa, and Saaku's Kuinaki Sentaku [Yokoku] (A Choice With No Regrets: Preview) about Levi and Erwin's past. The sixth Blu-ray volume will ship on December 18 with Saaku's Kuinaki Sentaku (A Choice With No Regrets), Haganeya's currently untitled visual novel about Eren and Levi, and Seko's Wall Sina, Goodbye visual novel about Annie.

The visual novels can be played on game consoles with Blu-ray drives (namely, the PlayStation 3), as well as on standard Blu-ray recorders and players. There is no word on whether these visual novels will also be available in English; Funimation just confirmed at Anime Central on Saturday that it plans to release the anime on home video next year.

The official Twitter account for the Attack on Titan manga revealed on April 30 that there is a console or portable video game planned for sale. Both Funimation and Crunchyroll are streaming the ongoing anime version as it airs in Japan, and a live-action film version is slated for next year.

Source: Anime News Network