Otaku Review

Funimation has done the not entirely unexpected and announced that they will be streaming a simulcast of the upcoming ‘Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood’ sequel series. The new chapter in the FMA story will begin airing on April 5^th while the streaming episodes will be made available via Funimation’s website just four days later on April 9^th. There are some varying reports regarding what time the streams will go live but I have an email out to clarify that right now.

Taking a huge step towards the surprising department however, Funimation also released a press release this morning announcing a new partnership with Toei animation. In the new partnership, Funimation will begin streaming the first few episodes of a number of Toei series including: Air Master, Fist of the North Star, Pretty Cure and others.

ETA: Just heard back from Funimation, the correct time is Thursday April 9th at 10am Central (11am Eastern/8am Pacific).

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.

BONES will be releasing a new special on Japanese television this July titled ‘Tokyo Magnitude 8.0’. The special will tell the story of an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hitting Tokyo completely changing the face of the city. This will include the collapse of Tokyo Tower and other landmarks. A middle schooler and her younger brother are at a robot exhibition when the earthquake hits and they must find a way to get back home. The anime was announced at TAF where the studio said that they were going to be creating the series after looking at earthquake data and interview professionals in the field. There was no mention in the report on if the special was going to be just one episode or spaced out though.

A website for the special has already been released complete with a promotional video and blog. The sixty second trailer shows some early footage but nothing from any of the disaster scenes.

A new trailer has begun streaming for the latest ‘Gurren Lagann’ movie. The new trailer is a full 105 seconds long and unfortunately has to be opened in IE (which is why I’ve uploaded it below; you’re welcome ^_^). As you would expect from the franchise, the trailer is filled with all your favorite characters along with plenty of battle scenes. Even I have to admit that despite the fact that I don’t even really like the series that much (you can express any disbelief to that statement in the comments if you feel the need) this movie looks like it’s going to be entertaining if nothing else.

The GAINAX animated ‘Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Lagann Chapter’ premieres in Japanese theaters on 4/25.

Update: The fourth commercial for the upcoming Fullmetal Alchemist sequel (premiering 4/5) has begun streaming on the official website. The new trailer is only sixteen seconds long and really doesn’t show anything new to fans. If you’re one of the rabid faithful eagerly awaiting the new premiere however, this will be right up your alley.

Fullmetal Alchemist 2
aka: 鋼の錬金術師
Genre: Action Adventure
Premiere Date: 4/5/09
Studio: BONES
Official Website

Story

Brothers Ed and Al return in the second season of the hit series from Bones. Little has been revealed regarding what the story of the second season will be however.

Artwork

The promotional effort behind this series has been pretty nonstop ever since the official announcement went out. At least one trailer a month has been released since the start of the year though most of them qualify more as teasers. Ignoring that however, the animation released so far does not make me think that this series is going to be anything short of fun to look at. The action and digital effects all look strong so there seems to be little in terms of the animation to disappoint.

Early Impressions

Ironically, I’m not really that excited about this anime series. My dirty little confession of the day is that I actually have not seen all of Fullmetal Alchemist yet. I have caught bits and pieces of it but just never got around to watching the entire series. What I am interested in tracking is the fan reaction to this series once the first couple of episodes have finished airing. As I’ve reported earlier, FMA2 is returning with an almost entirely new cast. While Romi Paku and Rie Kugimiya are reprising their lead roles, it will be interesting to see if fans embrace the rest of the new seiyuu quickly or not.

A new trailer for Fullmetal Achemist 2 aired over the weekend following an episode of Gundam. The new trailer is only fifteen seconds long and really doesn’t reveal much of anything new. However, this still seems to be enough to get fans excited to see the second season so here it is in its beautiful glory. The new season animated by BONES premieres this April with a mostly all new cast .

The cast for the new Fullmetal Alchemist series has been released and oddly enough, fans are going to have to get used to some changes. Most of the time with sequel series, the cast and crew stay largely the same. In this case however, many roles have been recast. The leads stay the same with Romi Paku playing Ed and Rie Kugimiya playing Al but almost everyone else is different.

Here’s the new cast list:

Megumi Takamoto - Winry Rockbell

Shinichiro Miki - Roy Mustang

Fumiko Orikasa - Riza Hawkeye

Kenji Utsumi - Alex Louis Armstrong

Keiji Fujiwara - Maes Hughes

Yuji Ueda - Jean Havoc

Kenji Hamada - Vato Falman

Kaori Nazuka - Maria Ross

Hidekatsu Shibata - King Bradley

Kenta Miyake - Scar

Kikuko Inoue - Lust

Tetsu Shiratori - Gluttony

Minami Takayama - Envy

Hiroyuki Yoshino - Kimblee

Kouichi Yamadera – Isaac

The new season animated by BONES premieres next month on Japanese television.

Following up on the story that I posted a few days ago, In the February issue of Newtype, a lot of names were revealed to be attached to the next ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ series. Directing it will be Yasuhiro Irie who has previously directed episodes of ‘Alien Nine’ and ‘Vision of Escaflowne’. Along with that though he also directed the series ‘Kurau: Phantom Memory’ (released in the US by ADV in 2007).

Also attached to the series is Hiroshi Ohnogi (‘Area 88’, ‘Arjuna’, almost a dozen ‘Eureka Seven’ episodes among others) as script supervisor. Hiroki Kanno (‘RahXephon’) has signed on as the character designer. Finally there will be Akira Senju (‘Red Garden’, ‘Mobile Suit Victory Gundam’) as the series composer. This series will be the first produced in the new D Studio by BONES.

Oh and by the way, I asked Funimation about the sequel series and if fans could be looking forward to license announcement of any kind. Their reply was “It’s certainly something we’d love to be a part of!” Well, that’s good to know at least. ^_^

Source: ANN

It has been confirmed via the official website that the sequel to ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ will air in Japan this year. Not only that but it’s going to air in April of this year. As in three months away. Yes, you can be excited now. The series has been rumored and vaguely hinted at for months but this is the first time that an actual month was given for the premiere. The series will be produced by Studio BONES and the official trailer was released at the end of December attached to an episode of ‘Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season’.

There is absolutely zero word from Funimation regarding a license of the series (though I already have emails out to my contact to get an official statement) but given the monumental popularity of the first season here one would assume that it’s only a matter of time.