Something smells. Also, what I'm anticipating in 2011 (part 1)

Sorry if I haven't been posting here in a long time. Life happens. Also, laziness. If you want more from me, find me on Twitter and read my random thoughts/brainfarts. You may consider them to be pointless. You may think I don't know what I'm talking about or purely speaking out of my own ass*. But I'll tell you this: I know more than you. Because there's no chance in Hell Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt will be licensed in the US by Aniplex US, a company mainly serving as an extension to its anime-making Japanese parent and will 99.9% not release an anime from a rival company.

Another thing is that I want to do a writing and posting exercise. With 2011 on the horizon as of this writing, I want to share what pieces of entertainment I'm anticipating in the following 12 months. I have managed to think of 35 40 television shows, games, movies, books, and media events that I have more than a passing interest in. The list is presented in alphabetical order with no ranking whatsoever because 1) it's a pain to do, and 2) you will hate what I think would be numero uno. Some items, you actually are interested in. Others, not so much. Heck, I guarantee you that there's one thing in this list you might say is not worth being interested in. To which, I reply, "Too bad. Create your own list, butt-horn."

This will be spread through five days. First eight is below and the remaining 32 over the remaining days.


Anime Weekend Atlanta 2011
An event that has become a working vacation I enjoy doing. Every year in mid-to-late-September, the Renaissance Waverly Hotel in Atlanta, GA becomes host to a three-day convention for those who enjoy things connected to anime. You can watch anime, read manga, attend some panels, meet famous people, play video games, dress up in cosplay and get your picture taken by people who will post it on the Internet, buy massive amounts of stuff, and/or hang out with your fellow con-goers and do stuff like in the video above from the most recent AWA. For me, it is a great way to recharge my batteries as I merge my normal vacation time (buying crap, hanging out with past friends and acquaintances, doing what I want to do) with my duties for nerd news blog gaijINside (reporting, but mainly take pictures and video that will be flooded into the site's Twitter feed). My wallet's been ready.


Chaos;Head
An adaptation of a Japanese visual novel of the same name, Chaos;Head follows Takumi, a high-schooler who lives the life of a shut-in, as he becomes involved in a mass conspiracy, strange events, and a string of murders known as "New Generation" Madness. As his mind gets closer and closer to crazy town, he encounters others who would lead him to his purpose, including a fellow high-schooler who Takumi saw at a murder scene. Upon seeing it last year, I felt that it could be adapted to US television as a live-action series with New York as the setting. It could be done and done well, but the rest of the details will be at a later time. In either case, Funimation announced in May that they got the series and I am anticipating its English-language release. I did enjoy watching it and want to see it again, this time on DVD.

Claymore Vol. 17
This is cheating. It's supposedly coming out next week, but to hell with it. I love Claymore, Norihiro Yagi's brutal shounen fantasy epic. I have the anime, wall scrolls, figures, and an art book that are all connected to this franchise. I will name my daughters after the main characters; if I have twin daughters, they will be called Clare and Teresa. This is my favorite series ever since I picked up the first English volume in 2006, and the wait for the official English-language volumes has become a major pain as it would have been over half a year between the sixteenth and seventeenth volumes. Not painful enough that I would have to resort to unofficial scanlations to figure out what's going on, but still agonizing. COME TO ME, ALREADY!

Crackle.com following up Anime Overdrive
Crackle.com is a video portal owned by Sony that is used to showcase movies, television shows, and original productions. In the past year or two, Crackle began to debut some anime that never made it to US shores, beginning with their dub version of Rurouni Kenshin produced for their network Animax Asia and following it up with another Animax dub, Nodame Cantabile. A couple of months ago, Crackle debuted a new collection called Anime Overdirve and added a different series or movie every week, beginning with the Animax dub of Humanoid Monster Bem and ending with the original HD CG production LaMB. Sure, Anime Overdrive was loaded with anime that is available on other platforms like Macross, which was on Hulu.com well before Crackle, and shows from Toei that have been available on Crunchyroll.com and Funimation.com, but that broke the mold for the site that was mainly a platform for Sony-produced projects. They said on Twitter and Facebook that after LaMB, they will continue adding anime in 2011 which excites me. Some on Toonzone's forums want Cyborg 009 to emerge from Sony's vault and onto Crackle. I want them to break out the dub for Nodame Cantabile: Paris.

CrossGen rebirth
If you don't know about CrossGen, here's a brief story. In 2000, CrossGen Comics became the newest comic book company to release comics to the masses. They were unique as they specialized in a variety of genre comics like fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and horror that were connected by a common theme. In 2004, as the CrossGen Universe was building up to an anticipated mega-event, the company imploded and declared bankruptcy; by year's end, the company's assets were bought by Disney, who proceeded to do almost jack with the properties. In 2008, Disney bought Marvel. Two years later, Marvel announced that they were going to do something with the CrossGen properties. In March, Marvel will reboot CrossGen with two titles: the epic sci-fi/fantasy Sigil and Victorian mystery title Ruse. For me, who was interested in CrossGen but lacked the funds to get the titles, this may be a way to get into it. Plus, with Ruse being pretty much what it was back then, I won't get strange looks from the die-hard CG fans who are ticked that Sigil is not Sigil and that there's no chance Negation War will finish up.

Dogs: Bullets & Carnage Vol. 5
Like Claymore, this is another monthly series from Japan whose official English translation has caught up with the Japanese volumes. Volume 5, the most recent Japanese volume, came out in March 2010 and will come to the US sometime in 2011. I love the intense action and the art presented by Shirow Miwa. The manga focuses on four anti-heroes - an old assassin, an investigative journalist/information broker, a young swordswoman, and a gunslinger/genetic experiment - as they proceed to go deeper underground of a futuristic dystopia. While plot is not yet there, it is enjoyable and the action, art, and character designs make up for it.


E3 2011
Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation fame might say otherwise, but heck the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is at least worth anticipating. Every year, gaming companies come to Los Angeles to show off their latest and upcoming video games. And gamers and fanboys anticipate it every year as a way to bicker over which company is "the best" or which company delivered "the worst." In either case, E3 marks the time when the second half of the year gets less fuzzy and we will begin to anticipate the destruction wallets will receive - your wallet, the wallets of others giving you Christmas gifts, or both.
Also, for those of you who said that Nintendo had the best showing at E3 2010, you are wrong. Konami had the best E3. Yeah, they debut the 3DS, but I don't have a big boner for it until Nintendo reveals they abolished the Friend Code. Plus, Reggie went from the bad-ass mythical creature from E3 2004 to creepy in E3 2010. Konami created performance art of the highest caliber, resulting in videos like the one above highlighting what went down. And that seem to forget the high school choir used to promote Karaoke Revolution: Glee.


Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance
When it was announced that seminal anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion was getting a reboot/retelling via a four-movie saga. Anime fans around the world became excited and interested. One of the biggest, most influential, and most controversial anime series is getting a big-screen treatment with 100% brand-new animation and probably an ending that isn't a head-scratching WTF. While the first movie was pretty much a rehash of the first 5-10 episodes, the sequel is where the new movies diverge from the original series and follow-up movie. A new EVA pilot joins the three main protagonists as they try to save Earth from doom. Or, maybe, bring doom upon the Earth since some characters may have ulterior motives. The movie will get a limited theatrical run in the States before coming to home video as the spruced-up Evangelion 2.22. I'm so buying it.

Eight more tomorrow.

*I'll admit that sometimes I speak out of my own ass. But, I am damn good at it. That type of writing got me by Intro to Anthropology with a B instead of a C many moons ago and gave me the confidence to pursue writing. I can tell you that story at a later date.