I CONTINUE ANTICIPATING! (What I'm anticipating in 2011 - Part 3)

Got eight more items I'm anticipating, along with eight more paragraphs explaining them and a mix of pictures/video to illustrate.



K-ON!
I got curious about K-ON! back at AWA 2009 when I saw the first two episodes and watched the rest of it earlier this past year. It was a good slice-of-life series about the members of a high school's "light music"/pop music club and their band. Sure, they do more talking and non-music activities than play music, but that's part of the charm. And, when they do play, the songs are very catchy. Bandai Entertainment is releasing it on DVD sometime in 2011, and I will be buying it. Hopefully, the English dub will deliver.


Kotobukiya's Bishoujo Statues
This is my purchasing vice. These are some of the best statues out there. And that's disregarding that the previous attempt to create superhero/anime crossover statues was the terrible Ame-Comi line from DC Direct. In 2009, Marvel's relationship with Japanese collectible maker Kotobukiya led to them creating a line of figures designed by talented artist Shunya Yamashita. The result are the header pic at the top of the post: very well-designed figures that make Marvel's superheroines sexy and appealing. It was so successful that in 2010 Koto announced that they would make bishoujo, or "pretty girl", figures based on DC characters in addition to their Marvel output. In December Koto released Emma Frost and Batgirl, and will release Catwoman (above) in March. Is my wallet ready? Nope.


Maid-Sama!
IT'S A SHOUJO SERIES! RUN FOR THE HILLS! Kidding aside, I actually began reading Maid-Sama earlier this year out of curiosity from looking through Barnes & Noble. It is a charming series, which got an anime adaptation back in April and got licensed by Sentai Filmworks in June. The series centers around Misaki Ayuzawa, the first female student body president in the former all-male Seika High School. She desires to have the school be more female-friendly and is tough around the boys. However, after school, she works at a maid cafe, where she shows a softer side. And, when Japan's equivalent of Ferris Bueller accidentally discovers her secret, the story begins. Sure, it is loaded with clichés, but somehow everything comes together in one entertaining package. It's a guilty pleasure at least. I've seen bits of the anime but have waited for the DVD release, which may come out in 2011. From what I've seen, I liked.


Mardock Scramble
I've been reading good things about it and that is what got me interested into it. It's a unique sci-fi story from Japan's Tow Ubukata that won the Nihon SF Taisho Award in 2003. It's about a hooker who dies tragically and comes back to life illegally as a cyborg. She then has to obey the person who resurrected her - who then orders her to kill her murderer - and deal with her low self-esteem and new abilities. Those that have come in contact with the series have enjoyed it from what I've seen and read. While there is an anime movie - and first in a series of films - out in Japan, the US will get the novel and the manga adaptation first; Viz will release the novel in January while Kodansha will release the first manga in the summer.


Marvel's Movies
This is cheating, as I got two entries for the price of one. But, to hell with it.
I'm more of a Marvel guy than a DC guy: growing up watching the 90s Marvel cartoons, collecting the Marvel trading cards more than the DC ones, and reading and getting their comics. I have this attraction to the Marvel universe and characters more than the DC ones beyond mainly Batman. A bit of that attraction stems from the fact that Marvel movies tend to be better than DC's films, and that was before Marvel decided to self-finance their own films and try to unify the movie franchises into one coherent universe. Heck, I thought that Robert Downey Jr. would make a great Iron Man before seeing him in action. And now, there's going to be two main Marvel movies this year that ties in to the upcoming Avengers movie: Thor, in which Chris Hemsworth plays the thunder god in a movie directed by Shakespeare fanboy Kenneth Branagh; and Captain America: The First Avenger with Chris Evans throwing that mighty shield. I know I'm taking opening night off for both movies as I think they will be the best of the summer season.


Marvel Vs. Capcom 3
The Marvel Vs Capcom fighting game series have been my favorite series. Marvel characters and Capcom characters getting together to beat the living crap out of each other in a fast-paced frenetic fighter. This game is making me consider buying an $150 FightStick. Hell, I'm so psyched I have this on loop.

Now you know where I got "Fuck The Knicks," if you haven't already.


Mortal Kombat Tournament Edition's arcade stick
For those not into video games, FightSticks and other arcade sticks essentially replicate the feel of playing an arcade game. Instead of a D-Pad or thumb stick you got a actual stick to move your character. The buttons are huge. And the ones I linked to earlier feature authentic Japanese arcade parts and a layout similar to a Japanese arcade cabinet. For the revival of Mortal Kombat, a very American game compared to contemporary Street Fighter's Japanese roots, it is getting an arcade stick that will be released as a part of the game's "Tournament Edition" package. It also uses authentic arcade parts that would have been used in an actual MK cabinet and sports a button layout that reduces the amount of games you can play with it to, well, Mortal Kombat. Still, I'm willing to spend the $150 to get the package. Or at least offer it separately from the game by 2011's end.

Onion on Television
Satirical newspaper The Onion has embraced new media with The Onion News Network, tackling how television news is covered in their own way. It has since expanded, parodying not just the 24-hour cycle but also punditry, daytime talk, ESPN, and even C-SPAN. And, in January, it will invade TV in two new shows. The first, above, is Onion SportsDome on Comedy Central, continuing the OSN segments that parody sports and The World Wide Leader. The second, and below, is straight up called Onion News Network on IFC, but is mainly the home to the ONN series FactZone with Brooke Alvarez. Both look well done and looks like The Onion is not skimping on their budgets. Or at least gave their graphics department new toys.

More tomorrow.