Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan are bringing 4 new anime-style cartoons to television in 2011.

Entertainment-themed network G4 will air all four of Marvel’s upcoming series, which center on franchise superheroes Iron Man, Wolverine, Blade, and the X-Men.

Warren Ellis, comics extraordinaire behind Transmetropolitan, has been hired to “guide” each of the 12 episode series.

The point of the series, other than the fun of giving everyone excuses to fight ninja and samurai, is to bring the heroes to Asian markets. And for some franchises, the move is easy; for instance, the series plans to adapt the famous Frank Miller/Chris Claremont run on Wolverine that brought the mutant to Japan.

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Greetings, Rama readers! Your friendly neighborhood David Pepose here, coming to you with some advanced reviews from the post-SDCC craziness, including books from Dynamite, Top Cow, Oni Press, Aspen Entertainment -- and even a sneak peek at Marvel's Iron Man Anime. Looking for more? Have no fear, you can check out more reviews at the Best Shots Topic Page! And now, let's let Lan kick off the column with a look at Top Cow's years-in-the-making new event, Artifacts...ne of the thirteen. Listen to me. You must know this. Separately each artifact is an immense power. All have bearers, chose by fate to carry those burdens." -- the Curator

This is it.

For months now, Top Cow has been giving us hints, teasers, and even a #0 issue that came out on Free Comic Book Day this year, and it's all lead to Artifacts #1, and by George, it is glorious.

Much like with most things he does with Top Cow, Ron Marz has made it accessible to new readers without them worrying about who's who and what's what. It's right there, in black in white. Well, not exactly black and white, but you get the gist. There is a character dossier, a two-page origin of the Witchblade (written by Marz and drawn by Marc Silvestri), and so much more. With all of that, you would never feel lost even in the slightest.

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Anime fans geared up for Tampa Metrocon: As a sword-wielding samurai took out a ninja assassin, it became clear this was no ordinary game of chess. The pieces were alive, the weapons were real and the costumes expertly made. In place of rooks, pawns and bishops stood actors dressed as characters from Japanese animation and video games. Instead of the usually quiet movement of the game, choreographed make-believe battles ensued to determine a winner.

It was all part of Florida's largest anime convention, Metrocon. The three-day event brought lovers of Japanese animation, video games and comic books together for costume contests, panel discussions and more this weekend at the Tampa Convention Center. The human chess match took three months and more than 50 people to create, said Reko Rivera, who played a Japanese anime character in it.

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Lucy Montgomery's classic 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables has been adapted into a variety of media, ranging from theater to an animated TV series. But the film Akage no Anne: Green Gables e no Michi (Anne of Green Gables: Road to Green Gables), which began screenings last week, is a long time coming, as it is now being screened for the first time although it was complied from episodes from the TV series about 20 years ago.

The film is based on the first six of the 50-episode animated series that began airing in 1979. The TV show was produced by Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies and Pom Poko), who also directed this film, several years before becoming one of the founding members of Studio Ghibli. Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki planned the film, while Ghibli director Yoshifumi Kondo designed the characters.

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SuG have just released their last single "Koakuma Sparkling", which ranked 7th within the ORICON Weekly Ranking as of July 12th as they are already heading out with their next piece. From this month on their new song "R.P.G.~Rockin' Playing Game" will be airing as the new opening song for TV Tokyo anime "FAIRY TAIL", as the band is presenting a its typical punk-ish pop sound in a fresh way. While the track is already available for mobile download, the CD release is scheduled for the first of September.

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I could tell after one look at the Premium Edition of Persona: Trinity Soul that this series was not going to fit in among my shelf of anime DVDs. Literally.

The Premium Edition of Persona: Trinity Soul throws in a hardcover artbook filled with episode summaries, character references, background art, mini-comics, and some Q&A with the creative staff. Flip the book over and it becomes an illustrated picture book referenced in the show. The artbook is visually impressive and helps make sense of the anime.

The hiccup about the Premium Edition is that with the keepsake box housing the first 13 episodes of Persona: Trinity Soul in two DVD thin cases side by side with the artbook underneath, the result is an anime series that awkwardly sticks out from my DVD shelf. It would have been more practical for NIS America to use conventional DVD packaging for the anime series and include the artbook as a separate case for the Premium Edition so I could at least incorporate the book into my bookshelf of anime artbooks. At least both would fit into their respective shelves.

While the packaging is different and a bit awkward, Persona: Trinity Soul as a show is familiar territory. A trio of brothers reunite in a city. While the oldest is investigating mysterious deaths as the police superintendent, the younger two adjust to their new schools, befriend quirky classmates, and get pulled into a rather dangerous school fad. Eventually the older brother's investigation intersects with the extracurricular activities of the younger brothers as the body count rises and the antagonists responsible for events gradually reveal themselves and their plans.

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The evening will feature a variety of activities, including an anime marathon, card swap, manga drawing workshop and a costumed tea party. Manga is the Japanese word for comics.Registration varies for the events. Tickets are required for the anime marathon and are available at the library's information desk. Seats are limited for the manga drawing workshops and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration for the costumed tea party is required and must be completed at the library's information desk. Participants must have a costume, which is not limited to anime or manga.


 

As athletes, delegates and officials from around the world continue to descend on Metro Moncton for the World Junior Track and Field Championships, volunteers, media and people hired by local vendors to provide services are realizing just how smoothly things move along when a plan is well executed.

However, as with anything, some folks are learning that even the best-made plans can have mild growing pains. For example, some workers of companies that will be providing a number of services over the next few days have seen delays in the processing of the identification cards that are mandatory for them to wear in order to gain access.

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Luffy’s goal is to become pirate king and to achieve the greatest treasure one piece left by gold roger. What inspired him to get a crew together was a man named Shanks. Shanks is luffy’s childhood hero since Shanks saved Luffy’s life.

Luffy ate the gomu gomu no mi fruit or rubber fruit and now is a rubber man. Eating the so called devil fruit will make you king of the land, but at the cost of zero weight if you fall in the sea. Luffy has traveled to many places with his crew from east blue to the grand line, Alabasta, sky island and to water 7 etc. When face upon a menacing opponent Luffy unlocks a new power called gear 2nd.

When PlayStation Store senior manager Grace Chen promoted the first episode of TV-MA anime "Queen's Blade" as one of PSN's deals of the week this morning on the PlayStation Blog, she must not have actually watched the giant, naked breast-filled episode.

Featuring more naked boobs than a Russ Meyer flick, including a scene with acid-spitting nipples, the episode, "The Vagrant Warrior," was offered in the Free TV section of the PSN Store until IGN contacted Sony about its mature content this morning.It's not unheard of for Sony to offer previews of mature-rated shows for free in the PlayStation Network Store.

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