New Akibaranger S2 Hyper Hobby Magazine Images

The April issue of Hyper Hobby magazine features more scans for Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger Season 2! In addition, the scan also gave us a preview of the new Akibaranger-related S.H. FiguArts.


Akihabara's unofficial Super Sentai team is back with a new member replacing the original Blue! But that's not all, our heroes will have some upgrades as they will face new enemies and Malsheena finally transforming?

Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger Season 2 will premiere this April 5th at BS Asahi and on April 8th on TOKYO MX and Kansai's Sun TV.

S.H. FiguArts Kamen Rider Beast Official Images

Bandai Tamashii Nations has just unveiled the official images of S.H. FiguArts Kamen Rider Beast! This figure represents the transformed form of Kousuke Nitou in the Kamen Rider Wizard TV series.


The figure stands 150mm tall and comes with the Dice Saber with 6 extra die parts, interchangeable hands and two bottles of mayonnaise. It will be released this June at 3675 yen.

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters V-Cinema Cover, Plot Revealed

The DVD cover of Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Animal Sentai Go-Busters V-Cinema is finally revealed! The cover features the Animal Sentai Go-Busters team in the center and their transformed forms on the left side of the cover.

The V-Cinema takes place in an alternate universe, what if the incident that happened 13 years ago didn't happen? The costumes are throwbacks to classic Super Sentai shows and that the team will have a Go-Busters Ball finisher.

The Animal Sentai Go-Busters is composed of Red Cheetah, Blue Gorilla, Yellow Rabbit, Gold Beetle, Black Puma, Pink Cat and Green Hippopotamus.

The said V-Cinema will be released this June 14 (rental DVD) and June 21 (retail DVD), and is directed by Hiroyuki Kato and written by Kento Shimoyama.

Additional info from 4chan's /m/ board.

S.H. FiguArts Kamen Rider Odin & Gold Phoenix Set Official Images

Bandai Tamashii Nations has just announced the upcoming release of S.H. FiguArts Kamen Rider Odin and Gold Phoenix Set. The figure represents Shiro Kanzaki's puppet in the Rider War that happened in Kamen Rider Ryuki.


The figure stands 150mm tall and comes with a set of interchangeable hands, the GoldVisor, Sword Vent, Guard Vent and some small Advent Cards. This figure is set for a June release for 4,725 yen and comes with an exclusive Tamashii Stage.

Super Hero Taisen Z: VS Sharivan & More Space Related Stuff

The latest issue of Figure-Oh revealed the latest scans of the upcoming Kamen Rider x Super Sentai x Space Sheriffs: Super Hero Taisen Z! One spread features Kamen Riders Wizard and Beast and GokaiSilver facing Space Sheriff Sharivan.

Another scan features Space Ikadevil with the Space Shocker combatants, Yoko and Usada discovering Psychoron, Gai infiltrating the Space Shocker base, Inazuman and Fourze teaming up to fight Space SpiderMan and the space Riders with Decade with the space-related Super Sentai teams.

Produced by Shinichiro Shirakura (Super Hero Taisen), this movie is directed by Osamu Kaneda (OOO - Den-O - All Riders: Let's Go KAMEN RIDERS) and written by Shoji Yonemura (Kamen Rider Kabuto). Super Hero Taisen Z will premiere on April 27, 2013.

Madara Uchiha Playable in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3!

This year's 14th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump confirmed that Madara Uchiha will be a playable character in the Nartuo Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 game for the PS3!

The issue also promotes the "ultimate Ninja War battle" with Madara vs. the legendary five Kage in the game's story mode. The game will be released in Japan this April 18, 2013.

Pre-orders of the game are now available on CDJapan! Click any of the links below to begin ordering and to receive exciting bonuses!

PS3 (7124 yen/US$ 75.94) | XBOX 360 (7124 yen/US$ 75.94)

Kamen Rider Blade Short Story "Tasagore"

Kamen Rider Blade ended years ago but to those who don't know, series head writer Sho Aikawa wrote a short story called "Tasagore" that ties up loose ends of the show's finale.

The story is about a dying old woman (Amane) who tells her grandson the story of the 4 Kamen Riders. The story covered what happened to the 4 after Kenzaki went missing after his fight with Hajime.

Hajime lurks around Amane, and stayed by her side during her last moment. He looked exactly the same as they first met. Mitsuki, Hirose, and Koutaro died due to old age. Koutaro's book about Kamen Rider was so popular that it later became a TV drama and merchandise, which made a lot of money for the Kurihara family.

Tachibana became the head of the BOARD. He kept on researching on the Undeads and did experiments on himself. He gained long longevity from his research and kept an eye on the 2 Jokers. He is also Amane's health insurance.

Tachibana found information about an unknown beast attacking armed insurgency in Africa. The beast was trying to keep homeless kids safe from the war zone. That beast is likely to be Kenzaki in his Joker form.

In addition, outside the short story, Kamen Rider 555 was supposed to have an extra episode wherein Kenzaki meets Takumi. Sadly, this was never released in public and was only brought up the Kamen Rider BLADE DVD round table discussion.

Source: 4chan's /m/ board (link 2)

Kamen Rider: Seigi no Keifu PS2 Game - Why is This Game Canon?

4chan's /m/ board is sometimes (more like most of the time) is a gold mine when it comes to Kamen Rider or Super Sentai related production stuff. This time around, we have stuff that has something to do with Kamen Rider: Seigi no Keifu, a crossover game for the PS2.

This crossover game features Kamen Riders #1 & #2, V3, BLACK and Agito. The premise of the game is simple, it takes place after the end of Kamen Rider Agito and Shouichi ends up meeting the past Riders who were voiced by the original actors via a plot device known as time travel.


Fans have debated if the game is part of the Kamen Rider mythos. 2ch agrees that the game is canon mainly because most of the original actors consider it canon, Toshiki Inoue considers it canon, and the Agito website listed it within the Agito timeline before the site was taken down.

The game was also one of the external materials that brought up the fact that Agito is based on a golden Chinese dragon. It is also one of the rare times Agito is being referred to as a Kamen Rider.

Special thanks to 4chan's /m/ board for the info and Kamen Rider Wikia for the info about the game.

Oreimo's Second Season Will Premiere this April!

The official website of Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai (or Oreimo) has just announced that the show's second season will premiere this April 7 at midnight on Tokyo MX TV, TVK, Tochigi TV, and Gunma TV stations!

The upcoming anime will be animated by A-1 Pictures and will feature the same cast from the first season. In addition, the 2nd season will cover the entire light novel series till its last volume.

Source: Anime News Network

Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman 05 – Of Eggs & Twin Action

Double Action - Black & Yellow Form

In Fiveman's 5th episode, Zone's latest plan has something to do with creating Condor Men... by turning babies into eggs? What?! Speaking of eggs, a galactic egg is looking for his parents and ends up thinking that Dongoros is his daddy! Can the Fiveman save the babies turned eggs?

This is yet again, another crazy episode of Fiveman and this time around, this features the twins Fumiya and Remi! Okay so we have a Remi focused episode last time and now, it is focused on the twins?! I am supposed to complain about it because I love my focus episodes in intervals, like Blue has this focus episode today and next episode is about Pink and etc. But in the case of this episode, I am not disappointed about it because this focus episode has something to do with their parents that they never met.

As we all know, the twins are still babies when their parents died. The only time they knew about them is via pictures, so basically, they understand how the galactic egg feels and what the feeling of not meeting your parents, especially if someone will separate them from you. In this case, we are referring to Zone. Because they are the ones who understand the feelings of the babies better, they are the ones who lured the MOTW by having Fumiya disguise as a baby and Remi as his mother. It's cute seeing Fumiya act like a baby and Remi is cute wearing glasses. So yeah, I can't help but melt every time I see Remi in this episode. You see, I have this glass fetish.

Back to the episode, the plan worked only for the galactic egg to interfere because he decided to save his "daddy"! Yup, the scene is kinda annoying but hey, he is still a kid and he is not aware who his parents are. The only thing that helps him in searching for his parents is his instincts. Because of the said instincts, Fumiya and Remi used it to their advantage when it comes to searching Zone's base in this episode.

Because of the galactic egg's presence, he starts looking for his parents, which leads to the egg getting rejected a couple of times by the members of Zone. The scene is entertaining but it needs to end. Thankfully, Dongoros finally end the egg's annoyance by telling that maybe, he is one of the survivors of one of the planets they destroyed, and thus, he helped the Fivemen by freeing the babies trapped inside the eggs.

Now that the babies are freed, the twins finally transformed. This is when I observed something; Remi's change is different from Fumiya's. Remi's changer is more of a crest rather than a pen-like device. Assuming that Gaku also has the same changer like that of Fumiya's, it is best to assume Remi and her sister have the same kind of changer. Because this is an episode focused on the twins, we see really great action scenes coming from these two. The teamwork of the twins is beautiful and that word basically describes their teamwork, it's beautiful.

After they defeated the MOTW, the giant battle begins. The only thing interesting about it is that we see a lot of punches coming from the Five Robo, to be more specific, flashier punches. After doing the finisher, the giant fight is over and the babies are back to normal and now back to their parents. As for the galactic egg, he will continue to travel the world, looking for his parents, which we are not sure if there are still alive.

Toriko, One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Crossover Key Visual Art Revealed

This year's 14th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump revealed a key visual art for the upcoming Toriko, One Piece and Dragon Ball Z crossover special! The said special will air on April 7th at 9:00 am.

In the special, Toriko's International Gourmet Organization has sponsored "Tenkaichi Shokuōkai," a merciless race with no rules. The showdown may determine the strongest of the three franchises' leads: Toriko, Goku, or Luffy.

The characters that will appear in the special are:

Toriko: Toriko, Sunny, Zebra, Coco (the "Four Heavenly King" Gourmet Hunters), Komatsu, Rin, Setsuno
One Piece: Luffy, Nami, Chopper, Sanji, Zoro, Franky, Robin, Usopp
Dragon Ball Z: Goku, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Kame Sennin, Android No. 18, Vegeta, Piccolo, Krilin, Announcer, Mr. Satan

Source: Anime News Network

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Animal Sentai Go-Busters Cast Revealed

More info about the upcoming Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters V-Cinema release titled "Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Animal Sentai Go-Busters" was revealed recently. The Animal Sentai Go-Busters are the alternate versions of the original Go-Busters.

The characters of Animal Sentai Go-Busters are:

• Hiromu Sakurada/Red Cheetah played by Katsuhiro Suzuki
• Ryuji Iwasaki/Blue Gorilla played by Ryoma Baba
• Yoko Usami/Yellow Rabbit played by Arisa Komiya
• Masato Jin/Gold Beetle played by Hiroya Matsumoto
• Takeshi Kuroki/Black Puma played by Hideo Sasaki
• Rika Sakurada/Pink Cat played by Risa Yoshiki
• Atsushi Domyoji/Green Hippopotamus played by Tatsuhisa Suzuki
• Kami-sama played by Syo Jinnai
• Kikai Nyotei Trange Star played by Ayame Mizaki

In addition, the theme song of Animal Sentai Go-Busters performed by Yukio Yamagata was recently leaked online. You can listen to the song here. The said V-Cinema will be released this June 14 (rental DVD) and June 21 (retail DVD), and is directed by Hiroyuki Kato and written by Kento Shimoyama.

Source: Alpha Hero Shock

New Anime Legal Streaming Site Called "Daisuki" to Launch this April

A new anime streaming and commerce service for overseas anime fans called "Daisuki" will be launched this April! This new streaming site is a collaboration of 7 anime studios and production companies.

These companies will have a share in this new anime streaming site. These companies and their breakdown of their share are as follows: Asatsu-DK Inc. (26.3%), Aniplex (13.4%), Sunrise (13.4%), Toei (13.4%), TMS Entertainment (13.4%), NAS (13.4%) and Dentsu (6.5%).

According to the service, titles such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Mobile Suit Gundam, One Piece, Lupin the 3rd, and Prince of Tennis are "ready to be delivered." These anime titles are currently streaming on various legal anime streaming sites. Daisuki also plans to stream anime titles nearly simultaneously with their Japanese broadcasts, as well as live events. Lastly, Daisuki plans to sell anime tie-in goods on its website.

Source: Anime News Network

POLL: Top 17 Anime Titles the Japanese Would Like to Recommend to Foreigners

In a recent survey conducted by Japanese business market research company Neo Marketing revealed the top 17 anime titles they would like to recommend to foreigners. The survey asked 500 Japanese people between the ages of 20 and 69.

The 17 anime titles were picked by the respondents and they are allowed to pick multiple choices in this question. The top 17 results are:

1. Doraemon (42.6%)
2. Sazaesan (40%)
3. Dragon Ball series (29.0%)
4. One Piece (25.0%)
5. Chibi Maruko-chan (22.6%)
6. Mobile Suit Gundam series (19.8%)
7. Evangelion series (15.2%)
8. Captain Tsubasa series (14.4%)
9. Rurouni Kenshin (12.2%)
10. NARUTO (12.0%)
11. Pokemon/Pocket Monster (11.8%)
12. Yu Yu Hakusho (9.6%)
13. Sailor Moon (9.4%)
14. Inuyasha (8.8%)
15. Urusei Yatsura (8.0%)
16. Ghost in the Shell (7.4%)
17. Sakura Taisen/Sakura Wars (5.0%)

So what do you guys think of the final results of the poll?

Source: Crunchyroll News

Voice Actress Mai Kadowaki Just Got Married

Voice actress Mai Kadowaki announced that she got married to a person unrelated to her industry last February 26, 2013. She added that she has been learning about a lot of things as she deals with the various procedures involved in marriage.

She is best known for playing the role of Illyasviel "Illya" von Einzbern in Fate/stay night and its spin-offs. For more info about her voice acting roles, you can check this list compiled by Anime News Network. From all us here, congratulations to your recent marriage!

Source: Anime News Network

VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION AND UPCOMING RELEASE OF NEW POKÉMON MANGA TITLES

VIZ Kids Imprint To Debut POKÉMON THE MOVIE: KYUREM VS. THE SWORD OF JUSTICE Tie-In Manga, As Well As New POKÉMON ADVENTURES: HEARTGOLD AND SOULSILVER And A New Edition Of POKÉMON ADVENTURES: BLACK AND WHITE

San Francisco, CA, February 26, 2013 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, thrills fans of the venerable POKÉMON franchise as it announces the acquisition and forthcoming debut of an array of new POKÉMON manga (graphic novel) titles.

Leading the new releases will be the brand-new POKÉMON THE MOVIE: KYUREM VS. THE SWORD OF JUSTICE tie-in manga editions scheduled to debut on March 5th. These will be followed by the release of the POKÉMON ADVENTURES: BLACK & WHITE and POKÉMON ADVENTURES: HEARTGOLD AND SOULSILVER manga series later this summer. Titles from VIZ Media’s extensive POKÉMON catalog are published under its popular VIZ Kids imprint.

“VIZ Media’s extensive catalog of POKÉMON titles continues to expand with these fantastic new titles,” says Beth Kawasaki, VIZ Media Senior Editorial Director. “From the exciting release of the tie-in manga to the latest feature film, POKÉMON THE MOVIE: KYUREM VS. THE SWORD OF JUSTICE, to the debut of the new POKÉMON ADVENTURES: HEARTGOLD AND SOULSILVER manga series and the publication of a new edition of the critically acclaimed POKÉMON ADVENTURES: BLACK AND WHITE series, there will be plenty of imaginative adventures to look forward to throughout the spring and summer!”

New 2013 POKÉMON Manga Releases Include:

POKÉMON THE MOVIE: KYUREM VS. THE SWORD OF JUSTICE Manga·
Rated “A” for All Ages · MANGA MSRP: $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN ·
Available March 5th

Keldeo is determined to become a Sword of Justice, but to do so he must defeat Kyurem, one of the most powerful Dragon-type Pokémon in the world. Keldeo challenges Kyurem, unleashing a destructive force even Ash and Pikachu may be powerless to stop!

POKÉMON ADVENTURES: BLACK & WHITE MANGA, Vol. 1 ·
Rated “A” for All Ages · MSRP: $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN ·
Available July 2nd

Meet Pokémon Trainers Black and White in this new full-size graphic novel edition of the popular series previously published in a special edition format. His entire life, Black has dreamed of winning the Pokémon League! Now he embarks on a journey to explore the Unova region and fill a Pokédex for Professor Juniper. White has an exciting career as the Trainer of a talented troupe of performing Pokémon. She dreams of making her Tepig Gigi a star! Together, Black and White continue on their journey... What surprising new Pokémon – and people – will they meet next?!

POKÉMON ADVENTURES: HEARTGOLD AND SOULSILVER MANGA, Vol. 1 ·
Rated “A” for All Ages · MSRP: $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN ·
Available August 6th

Your favorite Pokémon Trainers Gold and Silver are back! Crystal too! And so is Team Rocket... In this two-volume thriller, troublemaker Gold and feisty Silver must team up again to find their old enemy Lance and the Legendary Pokémon Arceus. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is on the rampage: digging up, stealing, and collecting 16 mysterious plates for some nefarious purpose known only to them... What is the hidden power of the 16 plates, and what do they symbolize...?

For more information on VIZ Media’s POKÉMON manga and anime titles, please visit www.VIZ.com/Pokemon/.

For more information on other VIZ Media kids titles, please visit http://www.vizkids.com.

About VIZ Media, LLC
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan. Owned by three of Japan's largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular digital manga anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and INUYASHA, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages. VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products. Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.

© 2013 Pokémon.
© 1998-2012 PIKACHU PROJECT. TM, ®, and character names are trademarks of Nintendo.
KYUREM VS. SEIKENSHI KERUDIO © 2012 Momota INOUE/SHOGAKUKAN

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods 2nd Trailer

Cinema Today has just posted the 2nd full trailer of the upcoming Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie. The new trailer featured FLOW's cover of "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" as the movie's theme song.


Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods takes place after the defeat of Majin Buu and before the end of the Dragon Ball Z anime and manga. Directed by Masahiro Hosoda (DBZ episode director) and written by Yūsuke Watanabe (Bloody Monday), the movie will be released this March 30, 2013.

JoJo's Bizarre Female Dating Sim Adventure

What is JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a visual novel game catered for the female audience or in simpler terms, an otome game? This new game, based on Konami's popular Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side series, ladies can now date any of the four main JoJos!


The game features Jonathan Joestar, Joseph Joestar, Jotaro Kujo, Josuke Higashikata, Caesar Zeppeli and Dio Brando attending Morioh High! This "official" JoJo otome game will be released by the Speedwagon Foundation for the PSP this 20XX.

Source: Crunchyroll News

Tori Matsuzaka Ranks 9th in Oricon Style's Dream Celebrity Boyfriend Poll

Oricon Style posted the results of their recent poll asking 500 Japanese women in their teens to 40's for the Japanese male celebrity that they would like to be their boyfriend.

As expected, most of the actors leading in the poll came from the popular male idol group Arashi with Sho Sakurai (Yatterman) leading the polls. Ranking 9th on the polls is Tori Matsuzaka best known for his role as Samurai Sentai Shinkenger's Takeru Shiba aka ShinkenRed!

To those who are wondering the top 10 results of the poll, here it is.

1. Sho Sakurai
2. Osamu Mukai
3. Masaharu Fukuyama
4. Hidetoshi Nishijima
5. Jun Matsumoto
6. Masaki Aiba
7. Toma Ikuta
8. Satoshi Ohno
9. Tori Matsuzaka
10. Kazunari Ninomiya

So ladies, what do you think of the results?

Source: Crunchyroll News

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 17 – Highway to Hell

Stylin' on you~!

Joseph and Caesar must face their final test with the Ripple. Caesar's test is going on smoothly while as for Joseph, he ends up facing ACDC because his master is dead. Can Joseph defeat ACDC once and for all?

But before talking about the battle between Joseph and ACDC, we also learned the history behind the Stone Mask and why Cars, ACDC and Wham are looking for the Red Stone of Aja. The quick history lesson also gave us an idea why Cars created the Stone Mask; it is for them to acquire immortality. Granted, they are immortal beings but they want to seek something greater than immortality, something that can turn them into immortal beings. It intrigues me that they only way to achieve it is with the Stone Mask. With that in mind, I am a bit intrigued on what will happen to a vampire once s/he wears the Stone Mask for the second time.

This is when the Red Stone of Aja comes in; the stone has the ability to refract light millions of times. This is when we learned that there is more than a single Red Stone of Aja. This made me ask, why the heck they are seeking for a single stone once owned by a Roman emperor? It makes sense when they explained that the stone they have is not perfect enough to crush their brains that can help them turn into ultimate beings.

Much to Joseph and Caesar's surprise, Lisa Lisa owns the perfect Red Stone of Aja, which you can call a Super Aja. This is when Joseph pointed out that they can just destroy the stone to end this once and for all. But for some reason, Lisa Lisa doesn't want to destroy the stone because of an old legend. This caused me to become a bit bothered, I mean it's an old legend! But hey, it is best to stay on the safe side when it comes to this mystical ancient science stuff in regards to the Stone Mask and stuff related to it.

Before going to Joseph's fight, Caesar's fight is quite brief and there is nothing worth talking about it. So let's proceed to Joseph's fight against ACDC. The fight is seriously amazing. We see how Joseph improved when it comes to the use of the Ripple. Aside from this improvement and how he applied his knowledge about the Art of War, we saw him do tricks that until now, I still can't believe that he can pull it! But hey, this is Joseph we are talking here; the guy basically pulled a Tommy gun out of thin air one time just to kill a vampire!

During the fight, ACDC lost his arm and saw him cry like a little girl. To be honest, that scene scared me. It scared me because I saw a fully grown man cry like he is a little girl then all of a sudden; he calms down and acts like he didn't cry at all! After grabbing an arm coming from Messina's dead corpse, we learn more that he is also aware of the Art of War and even applies it their battle!

This is when we saw the Blazing ACDC and boy, his skill kinda creeps me out for the fact that he has tendrils coming out of his body and releases blood coming from these tendrils and burns Joseph's body with it! It feels like it came straight on some tentacle monster movie! To make it a bit worse, ACDC first targeted Joseph's mouth but thankfully, his breathing mask saved him from this rather crazy kind of slow death. And with that, Joseph is on great trouble and it seems that he is running out of ideas to defeat ACDC, which leads us to the use of yet another string related move.

His latest string move is not as crazy as the first one but it is not as effective as the first one for the reason that ACDC figured it out. Running out of options now that ACDC will attack him with some blazing attack, we saw Joseph pull probably, one the greatest tricks he did in this series. To be honest, I didn't expect that he will use sleight of hand, a bit of acting and most importantly, timing just to defeat ACDC. Once again, this scene showed us why Joseph is my favorite JoJo; he knows how to turn a disadvantage into his own advantage.

Now that he got ACDC to where he wants him to be, he finally performs the finishing move, completely evaporating ACDC in the process... that's what he thought. After drinking the antidote for one of the rings, we saw one creepy sight, ACDC still lives, well to be more specific, his brain still lives and is clinging on Joseph's back. Guess the battle between Joseph and ACDC will still continue next episode.