Today Production I.G released a one-minute trailer for 009 RE:Cyborg, the newest project from director Kenji Kamiyama, of Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex and Eden of the East fame. The new anime will be a feature-length film, with CG work from Sanzigen Animation Studio (responsible for 3D CGI work on Gurren Lagann, Gundam 00, and Tiger & Bunny). The story is, of course, yet another modern adaptation of Shotaro Ishinomori's classic 1964 sci-fi manga series Cyborg 009 about a multinational team of superpowered cyborgs. The series has previously been adapated into three films and three anime series, including the popular 2001 anime that aired on Toonami.

It's interesting to see Kamiyama tackling CG, though I'm not sure that CG anime looks natural enough yet to begin replacing 2D animation. Some of the character movements still look a little awkward in this footage, though overall it looks much more believable than other CG work I've seen from Japan.

Check out the new footage (and the four-minute PV from a couple months ago) after the break. What do you think of Kamiyama's return to adaptations (after the original story of Eden of the East) and his CG gamble?

Done wetting your pants little kiddies? According to a post on anime blog Canned Dogs, an announcement in Newtype (the Japanese one) says that new information about the second season of Haruhi Suzumiya will be released in the July issue of the same magazine.

Also, as reported by an SOS-Dan forums poster, the official Haruhi fan club has confirmation that the new season will be based on The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, the fourth novel in the series. News will be released as it comes.

EDIT 1: Early scans of the Newtype July issue have been released on 2chan. They can be found here. The magazine will be on sale June 10th in Japan, so we can expect the article to be translated that week.

[via SOS-Dan]

Bandai snuck a teaser trailer into their Haruhi volume 4 DVD that reveals the not-so-surprising news that Bandai Entertainment has acquired the licensing rights to the school life comedy Lucky Star. The extremely popular series, created by Kyoto Animation (of Haruhi fame), was a natural fit for Bandai, whose license of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has achieved fairly marked success in the States.

Aaaand in related news, Bandai reveals their secret plan to milk rabid KyoAni fanboys of every cent left in their pockets. Their secret weapon of mass fanstruction is of course their addictive J-pop dances.
[via AnimeNation]

Media: Manga/TV Anime
Genre(s): Comedy, School Life, Slice of Life
Director: Yutaka Yamamoto (first 5 episodes), Yasuhiro Takemoto
Studio: Kyoto Animation
Number of (Anime) Episodes: 26
Licensed? Yes (Bandai)

Originally posted by MewElf.
Read the original review.

Summary
The plot centers around your 4 average Japanese high school girls, Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki. However, it mainly focuses on Konata who, despite having good athletic and organization skills, is lazy and would rather spend her time reading manga, watching anime, or playing video games than studying for her subjects. As Konata is a big anime fan, there are a lot of anime references in this series, including A LOT of Haruhi Suzumiya and many surprise appearances of the main character from Code Geass. As the series progresses, more characters appear in the series.

Animation
The animation is very cute and remains that way throughout the series. The characters have bright hair and eyes, and the background is just your general background. There’s a funny reference in one of the later episodes where two of the new characters mention that they're just “part of the background” and their colour turns dull, so that they blend with the background, which is funny!

Music and Sound
Opening Theme: Motteke! Sailor Fuku~! (Take It! Sailor Uniform~!)
The opening theme can either be liked a lot for its absolute randomness, or you can find it highly irritating. It’s completely different to what you'd normally hear for an opening theme. The lyrics are random, they have a random conversation as the “bridge” and then it gets to the main chorus. Personally, I love the music!

Since this isn't exactly an action series or romance series, only basic music is played, however the music can be random when it comes to a comedy moment. The sounds are quite unique, what I mean is when the characters have a “sweat drop” moment, the sound made for it is different to what is usually heard.

For the ending themes, the first 12 episodes are of the four main characters performing a karaoke of popular anime opening and ending themes, or Japanese singles. Some examples are “Cha La Head Cha La” from Dragonball Z and “That’s Love Right?” from Full Metal Panic! Fumoffu. After the random karaoke, the ending themes are...well...boring in my opinion. Most of them have Minori Shiraishi doing a random stunt somewhere, like on a cliff near the sea singing the main opening theme or something. I have no idea why they changed it to that; I loved the kareoke!

Personal Opinion
I wouldn't be reviewing this series if I didn't love it! I love the random comedic moments, and every Saturday I HAD to check online for the new subbed episode. The fact that there isn't that much plot in it is a good thing, because you can watch it when you want without missing too much.

The first 5 episodes I found quite boring compared to the later ones, in the first episode they spent about 5-10 minutes talking about how they eat ice cream and other foods. Thank goodness the light comedic conversations aren’t as long later on in the series.

Score
Plot - There isn't really a basic plot, it’s just for comedy, the anime references are fantastic and the whole friendship and life thing is [too. However, the Japanese references can be a bit hard to understand sometimes. 75/100
Characters - The characters are AWESOME! I love just about all of them, and everyone loves Konata. I haven't spoke to a person who doesn't! 80/100
Music and Sound - It’s pretty “meh” to me, but I like the opening theme. 78/100
Animation - Soooo cute! 85/100
Overall Score - Overall, it’s a hilarious series, I absolutely loved everything about it, but it is hard to understand if you’re new to anime or if you don't know much on Japanese culture, so this gets ­ 79/100.

Animation:		3.0		Average: (2.875 stars)
Plot:		2.5
Voice Acting:		NR
Sound:		3.0
Overall:		3.0

Media: Manga/TV Anime
Genre(s): Humor, Parody, School Life, Science Fiction, Slice-of-life
Directors: Hiroshi Yamamoto/Tatsuya Ishihara
Studio: Kyoto Animation
Number of Episodes: 14
Licensed? Yes (Bandai)

Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuutsu, better known as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, is one of the most popular anime in the past few years. Adapted from the hit Japanese light novel series by Nagaru Tanigawa, Kyoto Animation's anime series features an adaptation of the first few novels, with character designs by Noizi Ito (of Shakugan no Shana). It follows the story of a typical Japanese high schooler nick-named Kyon. (You never find out what his real name is) He used to believe in aliens, time travelers, psychics, superheroes, and evil corporations, but he recently grew out of these childish thoughts. When Kyon comes to school, he meets a beautiful girl named Haruhi Suzumiya. However, in her introduction to the class she makes it clear that she is not interested in socializing with anyone who is not an alien, time traveler, or psychic.

From there, Kyon eventually befriends the strange girl and accidentally encourages her to form her own club. The "Save our World By Overloading It With Fun Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade," or S.O.S. Brigade is formed to "solve mysteries and unusual problems for people." Haruhi, an energetic, bossy, and often mean personality, gathers together members to solve these mysteries. These include the quiet, eclectic Yuki Nagato, the incredibly cute Mikuru Asahina, and the ever-optimistic Itsuki Koizumi. As you might have guessed, the show is a subtle parody of anime in general. Throughout the show, the twistings of the plot end up gently satirizing everything from school life to space operas to romance to existential science fiction. (The overlong name for Haruhi's club can be seen as a parody on the long names given to anime series, organizations, and episode names) In the background of the whole show, Kyon gives his sarcastic commentary on the unfolding events.

First off, do not be put off by the unprofessionalism and lack of plot in the first episode. It is a student made video created by the SOS Brigade for a school fair. If you watch it as a random comedic moment, the video is the most hilarious part of the entire series. (Especially after having seen the series and knowing the characters) The plot in Haruhi is...interesting... Please note that my review of it will be limited in detail so as not to spoil the plot details. The show begins with a very lighthearted, school-life comedy feel. You're expecting Azumanga Daioh mixed with a moe (a kind of cute, intentionally likeable young character) harem theme. Instead, around halfway through the show, you are treated to lots of sci-fi and fantasy elements, and the school life comedy becomes more of a sci-fi comedy. Haruhi has an important secret, and this is what the show ends up revolving around. you discover more and more about said secret, and watch the Brigade go through some crazy adventures. Suddenly, you reach a climax that has a lot of emotion, (and high production values of course) but feels rushed and tacked on. In the end, you can appreciate Haruhi for its comedy, but when it tries to be more serious, it can lose a viewer's interest due to its intentional lack of originality. While it tries to parody many different anime genres, this makes it feel random and hard to follow. Finally, the episodes are chronologically out-of-order, (for example, the first one is actually episode 12 or so) which both confuses the viewer and lends itself to TMoHS's unique and mysterious style.

In the end, though, Haruhi Suzumiya is driven almost solely by the characters. They combine a kind of moe appeal with very funny and over-the-top personalities. Kyon keeps the series from getting too serious by giving his sarcastic commentary on even the most dire events. Haruhi is so energetic that she drives the story all by herself. She busts into rooms with a scarily huge smile, blackmails people, and forces her club to participate in events. Yuki is fairly popular right now, for reasons I can't explain without giving away the plot. Let me just say that she gets some pulls off some very cool stuff, which is all accentuated by her quiet, nerdy personality. She's always reading books, and seems to have an answer for every problem the SOS Brigade comes across. Mikuru...hm, how to say this. She's primarily existant for fanservice. Big-breasted, clumsy, and innocent, she is engineered to be an otaku's dream. She can be funny, but mostly serves as a vessel for fanservice and a parody of fanservice. On that note, this series does have fanservice, but it is rare and restricted to the upper body. (nothing is really shown) Finally, Koizumi is cool and collected. He helps Kyon cope with the strange events happening around him, but always seems far too laid back and happy. He's interesting, but lacks a really fun personality.

Kyoto Animation worked an absolute miracle on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, animating the show with amazing brightness, clarity, and quality. The incredibly clean art and lively character designs are clear proof of the ability of animation to greatly enrich a series. You aften forget errors in the story because the characters move so realistically and express themselves so vividly. Hirano Aya, J-pop singer and voice actress for Haruhi Suzumiya's character in the show, sings all of the show's songs. She sings with a lot of emotion and has some ealy good range. Of course, Aya sounding exactly like Haruhi really connects these songs with the show as well. Plus, the music is just so catchy!

The voice acting is surprisingly good not only across the board, but across the languages. Fans of the Japanese performances (which were great) will be pleased to find very skilled American voice actors lending their voices to the characters. Crispin Freeman pins down the deadbeat Kyon nearly perfectly, Wendee Lee works wonders with the energetic part of Haruhi, while Johnny Yong Bosch, Michelle Ruff, and Kari Wahlgren also deserve mentions for their performances as Koizumi, Yuki, and Tsuruya respectively. Each of these actors and actresses was cast extremely well, and the credit for that goes to Bang Zoom! Entertainment, who have worked on a huge number of dubbed series, among them such classics as Rurouni Kenshin, Mahoromatic, and Eureka Seven. The only problem in the voice acting is the same problem seen in the characters. Mikuru is voiced in both versions by annoying high-pitched women. While they capture her character well, they end up being jarring and unrealistic.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is quite simply an otaku's dream. The plot is quick, exciting, and funny, and the characters are some of the most unforgettable in recent years. While the show can get off-track and a little too weird and serious for its own good sometimes, it still rings true as a modern anime classic. Even for those who have seen the fansubbed versions, (come on, you know you have) the dub is worth watching for its new (and refreshingly well-produced) take on the series. TMoHS is a thrilling adventure as much as a heartfelt romance, a powerful sci-fi as much as it is a hilarious comedy. It is my belief that Haruhi is destined to become a fan classic in the years to come, and it surely deserves the honor.

Animation:		4.0		Average: (3.5 stars)
Plot:		3.0
Voice Acting:		3.5
Sound:		3.5
Overall:		3.5