Sunday News Bites: July 8th

Can you believe that we’re onto the fourth edition of Sunday News Bites already? This week, we’re joined in the newsroom by Kira Yamato of Gundam Seed and Destiny fame, who takes a break from saving the universe to chime in with his opinions.

Fanboys rejoice
Yes, everyone else posted about it already, but why dedicate an entire and more timely blog post just to tell everyone that yes, a second season of Haruhi is on its way? Those who can still remember all the way back to 2006 will recall that I wrote not one but two rants about how Haruhi had disappointed me- and that my blog was so unpopular at the time that it provoked no comments or fanboyish rantings whatsoever. With that in mind, will I follow the crowd and tackle seaon two? Possibly, but I only hope that it covers the events of the fourth novel, which was the only one I really enjoyed.

Kira says: Haruhi is overrated- what everyone really wants is more Gundam Seed! I can’t wait to pilot the Strike Justice Friendship Freedom Gundam.

I already told you the other day, but…Emma is licensed
I’ve mentioned it twice already, but Victorian Romance Emma seasons 1-2 have now been licensed by Right Stuf, to be released in sub-only boxsets at $49.95 per season. Currently the sets are up for pre-order with a placeholder release date of December 2012, and the first 1000 people to place an order can have the dubious privilege of having their names listed in a “thanks to” section of the credits (exactly who is going to bother to read through those thousand names remains a mystery). As a big Emma fan, I will of course be buying these sets, but I have to admit that I just wanted to see the last three episodes subbed before this happened (yes, I wanted to have my cake and eat it- flame away, purists).

Kira says: While it obviously isn’t as good as Gundam Seed, Emma is a worthy series, if a niche one. Don’t be afraid to check it out.

More blood and gore for your money
After a long period in which it seemed like it would never be picked up, Dark Horse has licensed the long-running Gantz manga, the only series to call 200+ chapters “part one”. With Berserk already under their belt, Dark Horse is no stranger to releasing the sort of series designed to appeal to adult male readers, but how many people are actually going to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to yet another long-running series? Would you be willing to invest in Gantz, even though you may have read much of it for free online already?

Kira says: Why read Gantz when there’s Gundam manga available?

2008 a busy year for FUNimation
FUNimation have been no slouch at putting out new releases of varying quality this year, but now their 2008 line-up is getting pretty packed, with Jyu-oh-sei, Darker than Black and Negima!? all set to hit shelves alongside the previously announced Tsubasa series 2, xxxHOLiC series 1 and a re-release of Love Hina. As it turns out, most of these series are ones I either dropped or would never want to subject myself to again, but provided it doesn’t fizzle out in its second half, Darker than Black should be worth picking up.

Kira says: Support Bandai instead by buying Gundams!

Media Blasters
Sick of all this licensing news? Anyway, Media Blasters will be bringing us yuri-fest Strawberry Panic, boob-fest Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny, yaoi-fest Winter Cicada, Kujibiki Unbalance and the Genshiken OVA, among other titles. Given that original Kujibiki OVA was included on the Genshiken TV series DVDs, it’s possible that this release could be the other way round, which is good for completion but bad for those of us who want the OVA without the TV series.

Kira says: This Kujibiki business sounds like a cheap moneymaking spin-off- not something you’d catch the Gundam franchise doing…*cough*…er, I have to go now.