Canned Dogs

Kemeko-DX director Mizushima Tsutomu has written on his blog that Yamamoto Yutaka was the OP director for the upcoming anime Kemeko-DX, but Yamakan has stepped down as he decided himself that he was not good enough as a director, in a similar way as when he was removed as Lucky Star director.

Being “not good enough” was a joke by Mizushima and the truth is that Yamakan had too much work on his hands and wasn’t able to do the opening, so Mizushima will be taking over as OP director, though Yamakan and Ordet will still be contributing to the actual episodes.

It looks like the phrase is sticking as a running joke on Yamakan now!

Umineko vol. 3 is selling out in stores in Akihabara apparently, and there have been a number of good reviews of it from people that didn’t like the first two chapters.

Official site for 801-chan anime
I wonder if that’s the art style that the anime will take. I like how 801-chan is announced as “coming in 2009″ and Haruhi is still “undetermined”.

Miyazaki’s Gake no ue no ponyo breaks 10 billion yen in box office
It has been 4 years since the last Japanese movie broke 10 billion yen, and the last movie was Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle in 2004.

Zero no Tsukaima vol. 15 to come with a anime DVD
The anime DVD will just contain the first episode to the first season, but it looks like this trend of including DVDs with the original work it was based on is even going to light novels.

Kyoto Animation is apparently going to be doing a TV anime for Tonari no 801-chan, which is set to air in 2009. I literally spit coffee when I saw this. I guess the rumours that Kyoani is starting to have two lines of production might be true afterall…?

Also, Clannad After Story was screened at the TBS anime festival and it’ll start airing on the 2nd of October as previously suspected.

Doujin circle French Bread has released a downloadable demo for their upcoming fighting game Gleam of Force. The full version of the game will be released at the coming summer Comiket on the 16th.

Tsunku is producing the opening and ending songs for Hyakko
I’m starting to wonder what timeslot this anime is going to be in

Dengeki Gakuen RPG official site open
Shakugan no Shana, Kino no tabi, and Iriya no Sora is in the game

Oshii Mamoru’s The Sky Crawlers has been in cinemas since the 2nd of August, and Yahoo news reports that it has ranked 7th in the box office. During the premiere of Sky Crawlers, Oshii said that he’ll quit directing if it isn’t a hit, and that fans should support the movie if they don’t want that to happen.

Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no ponyo has been #1 for 3 weeks in a row and the new Pokemon movie is #2, also for 3 weeks in a row. Ranked #3 is the new Naruto movie which opened on the same day as Sky Crawlers, and Kung Fu Panda is in #4.

So I guess we might not see Oshii around for a while or something.

Quad Elements has announced that they’re making a new USB flash drive modelled after the core drill from Gurren Lagann. They’re taking preorders now and plan to release it in October for 4,900 yen (US$45) and it has only 1gb worth of memory.

Lake Kizaki apparently hadn’t had enough yet after they released the Mizuho themed sake last year, as they’ve now announced Junmaiginjou Oneti Morino Ichigo and Karakuchi Oneti Ichigo. It has already gone on sale on-site at Lake Kizaki and they’ll start taking online orders in about 2~3 months.

Seiyuu cast revealed on the novel. For a moment I actually thought that the casting choices for Taiga and Minori were so obvious that JC staff would actually go for something different, but they sure didn’t disappoint!?

Aisaka Taiga - Kugimiya Rie
Takasu Ryuuji - Majima Shouji
Kushieda Minori - Horie Yui
Kawashima Ami - Kitamura Eri
Kitamura Yuusaku - Nojima Hirofumi

Nanoha movie announced in Megami magazine. Remake of 1st season.
Pics: 1, 2, 3, 4

Otaroad blog reports that vol 8 of the Black Lagoon manga was just released and the cover strap announces a 3rd season of the anime.