Otaku Review

Yup, it’s definitely the spring season around the corner (though technically it has already started) as trailers are coming in like wildfire now. The first trailer to be posted today is for the upcoming series based on the children’s toy line from Sanrio, Jewelpets. And because I know you’re all DYING to see this one, here it is:

Why yes, it is going to be impossibly cute and sweet. How did you ever guess?In more spring premiere news, the promotional video shown at TAF for the upcoming series ‘Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood’ has been uploaded for fans to watch. The four minute gives fans its first real look at the new series beyond the fifty billion fifteen to thirty second commercials that were released over the last month or so. The video contains a ton of story and action footage finally giving fans a genuine reason to be excited about seeing Ed and Al again.

A couple of updates were posted while I was in the shower (naturally) but here they are. The official website for the upcoming drama ‘Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~’ has posted a new promotional video and commercial (both links require windows media player). They both essentially show the same animation though the promotional vid is a full two minutes long while the commercial is only thirty seconds. While I know I said I was skeptical at first due to less than amazing character designs… seeing more of this series via a preview has done wonders for that attitude. The Bee Train animated action series premieres April 2^nd.

Also posted to their official website today is a new fifteen commercial for the upcoming sci-fi series ‘Shangri-la’ (click the green CM). I admit that the trailer doesn’t show much but seeing a teenage girl take out multiple military tanks with a giant boomerang looks very, very cool. The Gonzo animated series premieres April 5^th with a streaming premiere on Crunchyroll soon after.

Sanrio and Sega revealed (via Famitsu Magazine) at the Tokyo Toy Forum that the ‘JewelPet’ line will be getting an anime series. The ‘JewelPet’ line are toys in the form of impossibly cute animals all named after various jewels. The toys are aimed at young girl in Japan who can access a special website with a code included in each toy. I’m not really sure what the girls do after going to the website (since as AnimeVice points out, you can’t actually look at the website unless you’ve bought one of the toys). No further details have been released as of yet.

In a quick and unrelated note, the official website for the upcoming series ‘Hanasakeru Seishonen’ has opened. The TV series will be adapting the manga of the same name first serialized in the late 80’s to early 90’s in LaLa. So far only a couple of names have been revealed as attached to the project including seiyuu Aya Endo (‘Lucky Star’, ‘Sora Kake Girl’) in the role of Kajika Burnsworth and Chiaki Kon (‘Higurashi’, ‘Nodame Cantabile: Paris’) as director. The Studio Pierrot series will air in April ’09.