Today Was A Great Day For Anisong

I'm pretty sure hardcore fans of the two already knew, but the biggest names in anime industry announced a collaboration. Nana Mizuki x T.M. Revolution

I'm fangirling so hard now.

Doesn't Nana-san look pretty darn awesome in the clothes?

The single is due to be released on May 15th, and the collaboration Youtube channel posted a preview of the single... which is limited for viewing only in Japan.

BUT, the anime it is tied to aired today here, and the song is featured at the end. The episode itself is epic as well.

Oh, and they are going to perform together on Music Japan.

This day just keeps getting better.

Weekly News - Utada Hikaru Returns, Nanoha Gets 3rd Film, And More

                            
                                            - Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha anime gets 3rd film -

The anime division of the retailer HMV reported on Saturday that production on a third film in the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha anime franchise has been green-lit. The announcement was made at the end of the "Lyrical Party V" event marking the release of the second film, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 2nd A's, on Japanese Blu-ray Disc and DVD

                                                       

                                                           - New Mega Man project in the works -

  

CAPCOM made a series of announcements for its Mega Man franchise at PAX East's World of CAPCOM Panel, which celebrated Mega Man's 25th anniversary. CAPCOM hinted at a new project to answer the call of fans, but stated that they still are working "behind the scenes" before they can announce anything officially. Other announcements included the sale of Mega Man 4 (the NES game) on 3DS Virtual Console on April 25, Mega Man 5 on May 16, and Mega Man 6 in June.

                                               

                                               - Anime Central to host voice actress Yuu Asakawa -

The organizers of the Anime Central convention announced on Friday that Japanese voice actress and singer Yuu Asakawa will be a guest at the convention. Anime Central notes one of Asakawa's hobbies is English and fans can follow her English twitter account @Julia320. Asakawa is the sample voice for Vocaloid Megurine Luka, and she's voiced numerous characters during her anime voice acting career.

                                             

                                               - Final Fantasy X and X - 2 HD to get Western release -

Square Enix opened a website on Friday revealing that the Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 HD-remastered games will get a Western release on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. The website reveals that it will post an announcement trailer on Monday, and it is currently hosting screenshots from the Final Fantasy X HD game.

                                         

                                                 

                                             - Utada Hikaru returns as a radio personality -

Utada Hikaru will return to the entertainment business after three years away — not as a singer, but as a radio personality. She announced on Friday that she will begin hosting a monthly radio program called Kuma Power Hour with Utada Hikaru on the InterFM station on April 16. The program will run on the third Tuesday of every month in Tokyo and Yokohama's Kanto region.

                                 - Sailor Moon makes the cover of a fashion magazine -

The characters of Naoko Takeuchi's magical girl manga Sailor Moon made the Vol. 3 cover of the fashion magazine TOKYOViVi on Friday. Sailor Moon's Usagi and Chibi-Usagi share the cover with model Lena Fujii. Sailor Moon artwork also adorn the table of contents and reader questionnaire pages. According to the magazine's official blog, the current issue's art director is Chinatsu Wakatsuki, a singer who happens to be a fan of the original manga.

source: animenewsnetwork.com

Weekly News - Pikachu 3DS, Dragon Ball Movie Footage, And More

                                           - Ark IX anime previewed in 2nd video -

The official YouTube channel for the Flying Dog production company began streaming the second promotional video for Ark IX, the new action novel series and anime by Kentaro Yasui on Saturday. The videos features the theme song "Nevereverland" by Nano. Confirmed voice cast members are Yuuki Ono and Hisako Kanemoto.

                               - Pikachu Yellow 3DS XL heads to America on March 24 -

The Pokémon Company confirmed on Thursday that the limited-edition yellow Pikachu Nintendo 3DS XL is heading to North America on March 24. It will come with a 4GB SD memory card for US$199.99. March 24 is also the release date for the Nintendo 3DS adventure game Pokémon: Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity. This variant of the 3DS debuted in Japan last September.

                                                 
                         - A Certain Scientific Railgun S ad previews new fripSide song -

A commercial for Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S (A Certain Scientific Railgun S) anime began airing in Japan. The ad previews "sister's noise," the opening theme that the musical unit fripSide is performing for the new anime. This second season of A Certain Scientific Railgun will premiere on April 12, and the official website for the series revealed on Monday that the series will air on AT-X before it airs on TV Tokyo

                                        - 2013 Dragon Ball film's footage revealed -

The May issue of Shueisha's V Jump magazine is revealing more of the Super Saiyan God design from this month's Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods film on Thursday. Some of the voice cast members are Masako Nozawa, Shoko Nakagawa and Kaori Matsumoto. 
The film will open in Japan on March 30.

                                 - Manga reading site JManga to end service in May -

JManga, a platform for reading legal manga online, emailed subscribers on Thursday to announce that it will be concluding its retail and viewing services on May 30th 2013. Members with unused JManga Paid Points as of March 13 will be issued Amazon Gift Cards. JManga will process refunds between March 21 and March 25.

                                       

                                         - Disgaea D2 opening animation streamed -

Nippon Ichi Software began streaming the opening animation sequence for its strategy RPG Disgaea Dimension 2: A Brighter Darkness on Wednesday. Minori Chihara, the voice of the demon Barbara, also performs the opening theme song "Cradle Over", featured in the video. The PlayStation 3 game will ship in Japan next week, and NIS America plans to offer it in North America and Europe this fall.

Weekly News - 3rd Madoka Magica Movie, Most Anticipated Spring Anime, And More

                           

                            - Ken Akamatsu to start new manga this summer-

Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei reported in an article posted on Sunday that manga creator Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina, Negima) plans to launch a new manga series this summer. In its interview with Akamatsu, Nikkei noted that Negima, which ended last March after nine years, has 19 million copies in circulation. Nikkei then mentioned that Akamatsu has a new series starting this summer.

                               - Aoi Eir and Luna Haruna to perform at Sakura Con -

Aniplex of America is currently streaming a second greeting video from Eir Aoi and Luna Haruna. In the video, the artists give fans advice on how to best enjoy their upcoming concert at Sakura-Con. Aoi asks fans to shout "Ei Ei Ru!" and Haruna suggests concert goers to bring something green to the concert. The performance will mark both artists' first trip to the United States, and they will perform on March 30.

                                         - Most anticipated 2013 spring anime poll -

On Thursday, the Japanese Internet service provider BIGLOBE posted the results of its unofficial survey on the most anticipated anime series for the upcoming Spring season. The top 5 anime were:

5. Uta no Prince-sama - Maji Love 2000%

4. Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W

3. The "Hentai" Prince and the Stony Cat.

2. Oreimo

1. A Certain Scientific Railgun S

             
                               - Hatsune Miku gets 7-inch Android tablet in Japan -

The Japanese company RWC will release a Hatsune Miku-themed Android tablet beginning on April 15. The seven-inch tablet will feature case artwork and wallpaper artwork by Vocaloid illustrator Takumi Torigoe and other artists. It comes pre-loaded with an original navigation app narrated by Hatsune Miku, which will be newly voiced by Fujita. The tablet will also include 50 original illustrations, and will cost 39,800 yen (about US$425).

                                         
                                         - 3rd Madoka Magica film to open in fall -

The April issue of Nikkei Entertainment! magazine reported on Monday that Puella Magi Madoka Magica New Feature: Rebellion, the third Madoka Magica film, will open in Japan this fall. The fashion magazine Smart had reported last month that the film will open this summer. However, the editors of that magazine later said that they made an error.

                        

Weekly News - Fairy Tail Ends, Dragon Ball Exhibit, and more

                               - Fairy Tail's anime TV run to end on 30th March -

Kodansha's TV Magazine announced on Friday that the TV broadcast of Fairy Tail's anime is going to end on March 30th, but the manga will still continue with its releases. However, Mashima posted a statement to fans on his official Twitter feed on Saturday:

"Until the time comes, I cannot say something I've always wanted to say, even on Twitter. Please be patient and wait until the time comes for me to announce some good news."

               
                     - Hello Kitty and NicoNico fuse to make crossover chocolates -
   
NicoNico and Sanrio are collaborating  to release "Hello Kitty x NicoNico Stuffed Tirol" chocolates starting on March 28. A box will contain nine Tirol chocolates, each with an individually designed wrapper featuring both Hello Kitty's and NicoNico's mascots, such as Nico Nico TV-chan. Three kinds of chocolate will be available, milk chocolate, coffee nougat and biscuit, at a price of 360 yen.

                    - Devil Survivor 2 screening reveals livetune opening, 3DS game -

The advance screening event for Devil Survivor 2 The Animation (an adaptation of a Shin Megami Tensei game) revealed on  Saturday that the musician and composer livetune is contributing the anime's opening theme song, while the Japanese hip hop group Song Riders is performing the ending theme song. The event also revealed that a Devil Survivor 2 game will be sold for the Nintendo 3DS system this summer.

                              - "World of Dragon Ball" exhibit will open in March -

To celebrate the opening of the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods film on March 30, an "Akira Toriyama: The World of Dragon Ball" exhibition will be held in the eighth floor hall of the Nihonbashi Takashimaya store in Tokyo from March 27 to April 15.
The event will display 300 different items related to Akira Toriyama's work on the Dragon Ball series, such as cel art, original color illustrations, and similar production materials. There are seven different areas of the exhibition, in homage to the story's seven dragon balls.

                  - New Haruhi Suzumiya English vocabulary guides to be released -

Chukei, a Kadokawa Group Publishing company, revealed advertising for its new book that teaches English grammar with Haruhi Suzumiya characters. In this book, teacher Kensaku Harada uses actual text from The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya novel and its translation to help students master English grammar. Original illustrator Noizi Ito drew new art of the character Nagato with eyeglasses for both the book's cover and the poster bundled with the book.

Weekly News – SAO Dub, Honda Chieko Passes Away, and more

- Aniplex USA confirms Sword Art Online English dub -

Aniplex of America confirmed that its release of the Sword Art Online anime series will include an English dub. Also, a question and answer session with SAO light novel creator, Reki Kawakara, and an appearance of the opening song performer, Aoi Eir will be held at Sakura Con in March.

- 27 arrested in Japan for file sharing -

Japan's National Police Agency announced that it had arrested 27 suspects across the country for uploading anime, manga, music videos and games on the internet. At least two suspects allegedly used Perfect Dark, a sharing software intended to maintain the privacy of the user.

- Date A Live ends abruptly due to artist's health -

The April issue of the Monthly Shonen Ace magazine announced that the manga adaptation of Koushi Tachibana's Date A Live light novel series is ending because the artist's health makes it difficult to continue serialization. The anime adaptation will air in April.

- To Aru Majutsu no Index movie premieres -

The theatrical movie "To Aru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki", based on the popular To Aru Majutsu no Index and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun series premiered yesterday in Japanese cinemas. The movie's ending theme song, "Fixed Star", is a new single from a popular anison singer, Mami Kawada.

- Voice actress Chieko Honda passes away -

The talent agency Aoni Production announced on Friday that the voice actress Chieko Honda passed away due to multiple forms of cancer on February 18th. Honda was undergoing treatment before succumbing. Her roles include Kozue Kaoru from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ennil El from After War Gundam X, and many more.