Gunota Headlines
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Deborah Sale Butler interview
As pointed out on Toonzone's boards, an interview with voice actor Deborah Sale Butler by Hellcat is up on her official site. Some discussion of SD Gundam Force's second season can be found.
DESTINY new MS
Treasure Capsule has a pic of the line-up for SD Gundam Full Color Stage: 55, which features DESTINY MS. In the final pic, next to Neo Lorrnoke's MA, is an SD representation of the up 'till now unannounced Windam. The print is hard to make out but it's either a successor of the Dagger L or a commander version of it, depending on which Japanese message board posters you listen to.
Friday, October 29, 2004
Bandai has announced their adjusted sales estimates for the fiscal year 2004 (April 2004 to March 2005). Their overall numbers have declined compared to their original estimates released back on May 11th. Bandai mentioned poor sales and uncertainty in the distribution area in the US market as one of its reasons for this.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
The official site now hosts the Tokyo Game Show 2004 trailer for Project Pegasus.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Two scans from a TV Magazine article entitled "Revived! Two Great Musha Of Legend!":
1st scan
Mobile Musha Daishinshou (Great God General)
"A giant god of war who is said to be unable to handle anything other than the job of General. Genkimaru and Kibaomaru climb aboard..."
Cobramaru Black
"Cobramaru had been hitching a ride on the Gundamusai but powers up to become Cobramaru Black with the Armor Of The Last Secret Successor (Saishuu Ougi Denshousha No Yoroi)."
Other characters shown:
Cobramaru Yellow
Hyper Captain Gundam
2nd scan
"Bakunetsumaru, who had awakened a pure heart, got his hands on the Armor Of Bakushin and within the power of Genkimaru's Igeta Gate, Daishinshou came to life. The battle will grow in intensity."
Cobra Ningun (Cobra Ninja Group)
"Ninjas who came to serve the family of Kibaomaru since the days of old. They attack with a mysterious art."
Bakushinmaru
"Bakunetsumaru, wearing on his body the Armor Of Bakushin. The Bakukaitenshou explodes in flames and blows away enemies."
"Without a person of pure heart, one can't approach the Armor Of Bakushin."
Other characters shown:
Zero, The Winged Knight
Cobramaru Red
Cobramaru Blue
Cobramaru Green
According to Asu Ni Egao De Te O Futte, the SEED DESTINY Original Soundtrack I is to be released on December 16th. It'll include a Lacus Clyne character song. The same day, Gundam SEED Original Soundtrack IV will go on sale. That one will include a TV-size version of Find The Way. Price is given as 3,045 yen for each.
Tamashii Web has new pages not linked to the top for the following MSiA:
Prototype Gundam
Duel Gundam
Chaos Gundam
Gaia Gundam
Abyss Gundam
PSP news - Bandai's press release announced future PSP games currently under development. Of course, that list included Mobile Suit Gundam along with other titles like Lumines, Patlabor, Naruto, Onepiece, and Dragon Ball Z. At the same time, Bandai will release a visual disk title "Mobile Suit Gundam for PSP" for Spring 2005. "Mobile Suit Gundam for PSP" will include animation, picture contents, linearts, and staff interviews.
GBA news - Bandai opened the official SEED DESTINY GBA site.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Internet Watch reports that a 24 year old Canadian college student living in Japan was arrested by the Gunma Prefecture Police for selling Gundam SEED DVD bootlegs on Bidders.com. Apparently the student made close to 2,000,000 yen in profits between Jan 1, 2003 and now by selling Chinese bootlegs through Yahoo! Auction and his site. Gunma Police was tipped by Computer Software Copyright Association (known as ACCS in Japan) after the student ignored repeated pleas by ACCS to stop selling bootlegs.
SEED DESTINY: The Edge will be a new comic drawn by Chimaki Kuori, who has previously done cover arts for the republished Mobile Suit Gundam Hi-Streamer novels. The Edge will center around Athrun. The Jan 2005 issue of Gundam Ace (coming out Nov 26th) will feature color prologue while the Feb 2005 issue will mark the start of the series.
The Origin: Char & Sayla Edition - Section 2
With the death of Zeon Deikun and the assassination of Saslo, Side 3 is under anarchy. With the public believing the Earth Federation was behind Deikun's death and the Ral family behind Saslo's assassination, Degwin, Kycilia, and Ramba Ral each make their own move. Degwin ordering Gihren to let the Deikun family leave Side 3. Kycilia meeting face to face with Casval. Ramba Ral asking Hamon to arrange an escape for his father Jimba along with the Deikun family to Earth.
DESTINY Astray
This time Matias arranges a meeting for Jesse Rabble with Edward Harrelson aka "Ed the Ripper". Bernadette Leroux, a reporter for ZAFT, was also invited for the interview with Edward. Here, both are disappointed to see Edward's personality, which was the opposite of Ed the Ripper. When the interview concluded, EA sent 3 Raider Gundams to attack Edward, which Edward defeated. Jesse becomes more interested in Edward so he decides to stick around more. Meanwhile EA sends its top ace pilots, "Sakura Burst", "Moonlight Mad Dog", and "White Whale", to finish him off.
Characters
Bernadette Leroux - 22 year old female coordinator. She has won several awards in the past for her journalistic work.
Edward Harrelson aka Ed the Ripper - Originally part of the South America Force but became part of the Earth Alliance when the Atlantic Alliance annexed South America via force. He went AWOL in the final battle between ZAFT and EA to rejoin the South America Force for its fight for independence. He is wanted by the Earth Alliance for treason. He pilots the Sword Calamity.
Gundam X - Under the Moonlight
The manga kicks off with this issue. The crews of Mirage and Rosa Rosa square off in a salvage duel. Their prize is a treasure hidden beneath the ocean. As Rick and Rosa II battle each other, both were interrupted by other gun-happy salvagers. Inside a sunken battleship, Rick and Rosa II discover a Gundam and awaken Kai, the pilot who was in hibernation inside the cockpit.
Gundam Best 10 (Favorite Male Character featured in Gundam Ace)
1) Char Aznable (The Origin)
2) Lowe Guele (Astray)
3) Canard Pars (Astray)
4) Amuro Ray (The Origin)
5) Char (Gundam-san)
6) Prayer Reverie (Astray)
7) Rolan Cehak (Wind of the Moon)
8) Gai Murakumo (Astray)
9) Garcia Romeo (The Origin)
10) Tobia Aronax (Crossbone Gaiden)
Z Gundam Best 10 - Male Character Edition
1) Quattro Bageena
2) Kamille Bidan
3) Amuro Ray
4) Jerid Messa
5) Henken Bekkener, Paptimus Scirocco
7) Yazan Gable
8) Bright Noa
9) Katz Kobayashi
10) Kai Shiden, Kacuricon Cacooler
Female Character Edition
1) Emma Sheen
2) Four Murasame
3) Haman Karn
4) Fa Yuiry
5) Reccoa Londe
6) Sara Zabiarov, Beltorchika Irma
8) Maua Pharoh, Lila Milla Rira
10) Sayla Mass
Some magazine scans turned up that depict some near future scenes in the series: 1st scan
"In order to stop Junius Seven, ZAFT's GuAIZ R Team heads toward it..."
"Slash Zaku Phantom - In order to destroy Junius Seven, Yzak and company also rush forth."
"Force Impulse Gundam - In order to protect the Yzak Team, Shinn sorties as well."
"Zaku Warrior - Together with former colleagues, Athrun fights, too."
2nd scan
"Junius Seven - Many lives were lost in the Plant when it was destroyed by the hands of the Earth Alliance. Even though it's in ruins, it is still extremely large."
"In spite of Earth's crisis, the three powerful Gundams attack!"
"Through someone's conspiracy, Junius Seven begins its drop towards the Earth. If it continues down its path, the lives of many people will perish."
Yahoo! Japan has a weekly DVD sales ranking for October 18 through the 24th (the 3rd SEED Special Edition came out on October 22nd):
1) Casshern
2) Pika☆☆Nchi Life Is Hard Dakara Happy (Limited Edition)
3) The Day After Tomorrow (Standard Edition)
4) Mobile Suit Gundam SEED SE: Rumbling Universe (Mecha Box)
5) Initial D Fourth Stage Vol. 3
6) Mobile Suit Gundam SEED SE: Rumbling Universe (Character Box)
7) Silmido
8) Aladdin Special Edition
9) Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Standard Edition)
10) Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig 08
Monday, October 25, 2004
The perpetually delayed Zeta Gundam Region 1 DVD box release has been delayed once again to December 14th according to Jerry Chu on Animeondvd.com's forums.
Pics of the PG Strike can be seen at Rakuten Market.
Minor character update on the official site:
Yzak Joule - Commanding officer of the ZAFT army's Joule Team. Wears the white clothes that other commanding class officers, like Talia, do. Pilots a Slash Zaku Phantom that uses close quarters combat equipment.
Dearka Elsman - Member of the ZAFT army's Joule Team. Doesn't wear the red clothes of a top gun but an ordinary soldier's uniform and pilots a Zaku Warrior.
Just a brief mention that Sunrise's site says the upcoming singles releases come with character ID cards: Shinn Asuka with Ignited and Alex Dino with Reason.
Gundam X Web updated with a gallery showing off the box art and half of the inner jacket artwork. Also up is two Windows Media Player commercials for the DVD set, one 3-minute version and one 30-second version.
The official site updated with a new front page image, a 360 degree Quicktime View of the bust of the Zuda, and several character and mobile weapon profiles.
Characters
Jean Xavier
Domenico Marquez
Mechanics
HOTOL
RB-79 Ball
Mobile Suits
RGM-79 GM
Sunday, October 24, 2004
TBS' schedule lists the 3rd episode of SEED DESTINY as the ep being broadcasted in the regular weekly timeslot this Saturday (Oct. 30). MBS' DESTINY site now says the same.
According to Animeondvd.com, ADV announced at OniCon that they have the license for the 1989 theatrical anime version of Mamoru Nagano's Five Star Stories.
The official Japanese site for the game updated with a list of characters:
Captain Gundam variations (counterclockwise from upper left) - Assault form, Destroyer (Jpn name: Destroy) form, Saber form, Gunner form, Accelerator (Jpn name: Accelator) form
Zero variations - Aquarius form, Paladin form, Chronos form, Luxion form, Cyclone form
Bakunetsumaru variations - Benkei form, Kabuki form, Tatsujin form, Shinobi form, Beast form
Support Team characters - Gunbike (Jpn name: Gunbiker), Gundivers, Guneagle
Duel Force characters - Duel Zero, Duel Captain, Duel Maru, Kuchi Kuchi (referred to as the brains behind the De'Scar force)
Neotopia stage characters - Fort Braw Bro, Spin Adzam, Destroyer Kämpfer (Jpn name: Destroyed Kämpfer), Cursed Gogg, Volt Acguy (Jpn name: Volt/Bolt Agguguy), Zako Soldier, Balloon Zock, AcgTank, Hygogg Assassin, Gyan Commander, Gelgoog Sniper, Bit-Da-Elrello
Lacroa stage characters - Chief Maganac, Master Mereate (Jpn name: Great Demon Mereate), Pawn Aries, Mirror Tallgeese, Mage Taurus, Pawn Leo, Heavy Knight Virgo, Maganac (Jpn name: Maga Tribe), Bishop Taurus, Knight Scorpio, Serpent Golem, Crystal-Da-Libra
Ark stage characters - Fallen Warrior (Jpn name: Arachno Ochimusha), Skullmaru, Karakurimaru, Cannon Busshi, Nobusshi, Pesca Tengu, Vagabond Nobusshi, Zako Busshi, Minaret Saber (Jpn name: Bewitched Sword Minaret), Kairikimaru, Phantom Moth (Jpn name: Fantoma Moth), Da-Rama-Dara
De'Scar characters - Shatarn, Jababa, Gu-Zoola, Zooloo, Geekeng, Shasha, Zooloodia, Zoolooati, Cuntei, Da-Goola, Chick-Yarju, Dimension Halo
Edit: Now using the official English names for the characters as provided by TigeronStarfire at Toonzone.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Though neither are linked to their pages just yet, one can watch the preview for DESTINY ep 4 as well as the commercial for Gundam Evolve 7 by dropping those two linked URL's into your Windows Media Player.
A strong earthquake, registering magnitude of 6.8, hit the Niigata region shortly before 6pm Sat in Japan. While TBS aired the first half, the network decided to pull it off air after 2 strong aftershocks were felt. Mokei bbs boards also confirm this as people from various parts of Japan posted this. Both TBS and MBS have announced through their sites that they will rebroadcast the episode at a later date.
Friday, October 22, 2004
A 13-second commercial for Super Robot Wars GC can be downloaded here (3.5 MB zipped .avi file).
Gundamofficial.com updated its Gundam SEED section for the next round of televised episodes. New character & mecha profiles and a glossary entry for that acronym that just happens to be the title of the show...
Thanks to Boaz on the Gundam Mailing List for pointing out this amusing comic on Funbolt's Rakugaki Dojo. Don't click on it if you don't want spoilers for Zeta Gundam though. And it being Japanese, you read it from right to left, top to bottom.
Softbank Games put up a gallery of Bandai products from the Tokyo International Entertainment Market 2004. Pics are shown of Gundam Mini Figure Selection Plus, Zeonography Zaku II F2's, and the Gundam Micro Figure Collection.
And pics from Hobby Japan on Mokei.net's uploader board:
GFF Hyaku Shiki
EX Model Musai
HG Zaku Warrior
HG Force Impulse Gundam
From the ongoing Gundam SEED series integrated thread on 2ch's Mokei board:
DESTINY Astray
Gundam Astray Out Frame & Raysta
YMF-X000A/H Dreadnought H (the letter stands for "eta" from the Greek alphabet)
DESTINY MSV (?)
GINN High Manuever 2nd model
Blaze Zaku Warrior
Thursday, October 21, 2004
The official SD Gundam Force site has been updating steadily with new character pics and seiyuu listings (seiyuu not listed on the official site are taken from Useless Gunota's Notebook's weekly SDGF reviews):
-SDG-
Captain Gundam Option V
Elmechu - Sawa Ishige
Hyper Captain Gundam Option F
Gunpanzer - Eiji Yanagisawa
-Lacroa-
Lilijimarna Miya Do Lacroa - Miyu Matsuki
Evil Warrior Epyon - Taiten Kusunoki
Wyvern Epyon
Steel Dragon
Deed, Knight Of The Shining Blade - Kentarou Itou
Battle, The Crimson Knight - Tamotsu Nishiwaki
Rock, Knight Of The Hot Sands - Takuya Kirimoto
Nataku, The Bronze Knight - Takayuki Kondou
-Ark-
Oshogo (Hiryugo & Kakuryugo)
Buritenmaru (Britainmaru?), Kinkaku, & Ginkaku - Eiji Maruyama, Makoto Yasumura, & Masanobu Kariya
Tohofuhai Bakuhamaru - Tetsuo Komura
Tenkenzetto Mokinmaru - Official site says Tetsuo Komura, Useless Gunota says Daisuke Namikawa
Shishiosoha Kijumaru - Official site: Hirofumi Nojima, UGN: Tamotsu Nishiwaki
Shohokoko Haganemaru - Official site: Daisuke Namikawa, UGN: Hirofumi Nojima
Zakobusshi
Nobushi
-Dark Axis-
????
Trend Micro Enterprises has details on the recent appearance of a virus named Zaku.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Video Research Ltd. lists the top 10 anime in Japan for October 11th through the 17th. Notable this time is the absence of SEED DESTINY from the list after the stellar performance of the premiere episode. This would seem to lend weight to theories that the first episode's ratings received a boost from people staying indoors thanks to Typhoon Ma-on hitting Japan the same evening.
Sony Music Shop updated with a track listing for the SD Gundam Force Soundtrack +:
1) Neotopia
2) His Name Is Captain
3) Flying Zero
4) Blazing Bakunetsumaru
5) Dark Axis
6) Zapper Zaku
7) Magna-Musai
8) BaguBagu
9) Zakrello Gate
10) Assault
11) Encircling Net
12) Re-equip Ring
13) Battlefield
14) Brave -Yuuki-
15) Zako Zako Hour 2
16) I'm Sayla
17) Let's Make A Cake
18) Zako Zako Hour 1
19) Zako Soldier
20) Hidden Zako
21) ZGD
22) Fate Zako
23) An Important Person
24) Shute's Shed
25) Professor Gerbera
26) Happy Cleaning
27) Dragon Fight
28) Mana
29) Labyrinth
30) Spirits
31) The Princess Of Lies
32) The Legend Of Lacroa
33) Darkness Mana
34) The Princess Of Lacroa
35) Affection
36) Two People
37) The Best In The World, Genkimaru
38) Contention
39) Tenchijou
40) Parent & Child Musha Wars
41) Friends -Tomo-
42) Sunrise (TV edit)
43) Shinjiru Chikara (SD Gundam Force edit)
44) Love & Peace (SD Gundam Force edit)
45) Kokoro Odoru (SD Gundam Force edit)
46) Taiyou Ni Kogarete (SD Gundam Force edit)
47) Kimi To Boku (TV edit)
48) Koishikute... (TV ver.)
Even though it's not directly Gundam related, future Gundam-related games will probably come out for this system. Gaming Headlines is reporting that the upcoming handheld system by Nintendo, Nintendo DS, will be region-free. Thanks again to resident gaming newshound Psycho Al for the tip.
Official Zeta site was updated with a mini-article on Gackt's song and its premier at the TIFF 2004 along with an updated staff credits. However, the links for the mecha and character sections no longer work as of now.
Monday, October 18, 2004
Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival posted an article on the Zeta premiere. Although it's in Japanese, the article includes pics and comments by Tomino, Ikeda, Tobita and Furuya.
Another article is up at Softbank Games. In it, Tomino is quoted as saying at the end of the event, "I think this production differs 180 degrees as a result of having extracted the tragic nature of the story that existed in those days. It's become a work that's okay for people who were middle and high school students at that time and have now become fathers and mothers to show to their children."
Finally, a 12-minute video of Tomino and the 3 cast members introducing the movie surfaced (25 MB, Quicktime).
Sunday, October 17, 2004
The staff of Gunota would like to thank Silver Khosla, CNAnime Coordinator, for allowing us to post his first impressions and a pic from the Zeta movie event. The Q&A was done through the magic of instant messaging.
General impressions?
Silver Khosla: fast...90 mins breezed by
The animation?
SK: I wasnt the only person who thought the mix of old and new footage at times was a bit..okashii..
*okashii means strange/weird in Japanese
Can you describe the okashii part?
SK: like..its just the transition.. i.e camille reccoa quattro going down a hall..old scene.. camera angle changes...new footage... continue down hall..old footage
So there were noticable differences?
SK: yup. tv to ova/movie quality back to tv kinda thing
How about the job done by the mechanical animation director, Morifumi Naka?
SK: mecha..was like...wow...too see the alexandria launch... with all the zeon suit around.. I was kinda giddy
How about the job done by the character animation director, Naoyuki Onda? Don't know if you read every single post by us, but Onda (from his diary) at times was depressed about his job with Zeta. What did you think of his art style compared to Yas or even Kitazume?
SK: characters were...abit ugh. I didnt enjoy the chara designs myself. you know..what theyve said in the past media...its sooo hard for even Kitazume to duplicate his old style..cuz he's past his prime. That's why when u see Rosamia in the gaplant... I was like cool gaplant! .wtf..she looks kinda ..thin
Music, SFX, audio?
SK: I thought the soundeffect drowned out the vocals at time..but it might just be theatres setting.
Were the sfx similar to the MSG SE trilogy or the traditional anime style?
SK: fx was really good..I thought.. but its like..watching the redone gundam movies.. somestimes feels weird. If the whole movie was reanimated...then it would have meshed well.
Thoughts on Gackt's song?
SK: I dunno call me a Gackt hater or whatever.. but it doesnt belong in zeta.. Women's vocals are important especially in zeta because women's roles are so prominent in this tomino work..
mother complex boy, strong female leads.. the whole addressing woman's role in society at that time.. mid 80s (the whole tomino schtick)
Last, we asked about the general flow of the story. WARNING Spoilers!!!
Starts off with Kamille already under MP's authority.
AEUG gundamjacks Mk-IIs.
Emma and Franklin takes Bask's letter to Argama.
Emma defects while Franklin escapes and dies.
*The Moon arc episodes were eliminated.*
Bright/Fa joins Argama after being rescued from Scirocco's attack on Temptation.
Jaburo re-entry.
*Kennedy Spaceport arc was eliminated*
Amuro re-uniting with the Kobayashi (Fraw, Katz, Letz, Kikka).
Amuro and Katz escape.
Amuro ramming his aircraft and reunites with Char and Kamille.
Lastly, Silver Khosla was kind enough to send us a picture before the showing. (From right to left: Yoshiyuki Tomino, Toru Furuya, Nobuo Tobita, Shuichi Ikeda)
Saturday, October 16, 2004
The one time showing of Zeta Gundam: A New Translation at the Tokyo Fantastic Film Festival 2004 ended and information about the movies is trickling in at 2ch's Zeta movies thread:
Cast
Quattro Bageena (Char Aznable) - Shuichi Ikeda
Kamille Bidan - Nobuo Tobita
Bright Noa - Hirotaka Suzuoki
Henken Bekkener - Jyurouta Kosugi (also Narrator)
Emma Sheen - Maya Okamoto
Reccoa Londe - Masako Katsuki
Fa Yuri - Satomi Arai (changed from Miyuki Matsuoka)
Blex Forer - Kouji Ishii (changed from Takaya Toudou)
Astonage Medoz - Shingo Hiromori
Roberto & Saegusa - Kouzou Shioya
Apolli - Toru Ohkawa (changed from Hiroyuki Shibamoto/Kenta Abe)
Amuro Ray - Toru Furuya
Kai Shiden - Toshio Furukawa
Hayato Kobayashi - Nobuyuki Hiyama (changed from Kiyonobu Suzuki)
Fraw Kobayashi - Rumiko Ukai
Katz Kobayashi - Daisuke Namikawa (changed from Keiichi Nanba)
Jerid Messa - Kazuhiko Inoue
Bask Om - Daisuke Gouri
Jamaican Daningan - Keaton Yamada
Kacricon Cacooler - Kouji Totani
Paptimus Scirocco - Bin Shimada
Buran Blutarch - Hidetoshi Nakamura
Rosamia Badam - Yuu Asakawa (changed from Kayoko Fujii)
Lila Milla Rira - Mayumi Asano (changed from Kimie Sawaki)
Franklin Bidan - Ikuya Sawaki (changed from Takkou Ishimori)
Hilda Bidan - Gara Takashima
Torres - Hiroyuki Shibamoto (aka Kenta Abe)
Caeser - Kenichi Mochiduki (changed from Shunsuke Takamiya)
Matosshu - Hiroshi Matsumoto (changed from Ikuya Sawaki)
Deeba Baro - Katsuya Fujiwara (changed from Hideki Fukushi)
Changes in the movie (spoiler space since some may want to know nothing)
- New seiyuu for many lesser parts, as noted above
- Franklin Bidan, piloting a Hizack, goes to Argama along with Emma to deliver Bask's letter
- Re-entry occurs after Franklin Bidan escapes Argama in the Rick Dias
- During the re-entry battle, Lila dies in space while Kacricon dies in the atmosphere
- After the re-entry battle, it's mostly new animation
- Not too surprisingly, apparently the pace of the film is pretty fast
- The MS battles are said to be intensely cool
- At the end of the movie, there's a logo for the second film with Beltorchika and Four on either side of it and the words: The story goes on to... Mobile Suit Z Gundam II
Yahoo! news reports the OP/ED to Zeta Gundam: A New Translation will be performed by Gackt, who happens to be a big fan of Gundam himself. The OP song is titled "Metamorphoze" while the ED is re-arranged version of "Kimiga Matteirukara (Since You Are Waiting)". "Metamorphoze" will be the main theme song for all 3 movies, which will come out in theatres, according to the article, starting in May 2005.
From Amazon.com via Animeondvd.com. On their message boards, IanC also pointed out the pic of the UC movie pack.
MBS' DESTINY site now has a preview for episode 3 up.
Gundam-Evolve.net updated with a streaming commercial for Gundam Evolve 6 (Hyperion vs. Dreadnought). The music for this and Evolve 7 is actually being done by Sumitada Azumano. The song in the commercial, "Black Stars", will be paired up with an untitled song by chino and released as a single with the overall title "Gundam Evolve Monthly Theme Song 1 October - November". That comes out on November 21st for 1,155 yen. A new commercial will air every week, the theme song will change every month, and every two months will see a new pair of theme songs released as a single.
People have asked us about something like it before and we've finally gotten around to messing with site feed. We were using an RSS Feed for a short time but were informed that the Atom XML feed that comes with Blogger is working fine so we put a permanent link to that on the side column now.
Friday, October 15, 2004
According to Media Create's weekly software rankings, Owaranai Asu E for the PS2 was the #1 selling game for the week of October 4th though the 10th. Even so, the 169,985 copies sold in it's first few days of release is noticeably lower than even the first day sales of other Gundam games for the PS2.
According to National Console Support, Inc, Another Century's Episode will come out on January 27th. And it came out a day or two back that Super Robot Wars GC will be released on December 16th.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Toon Zone has an interview with Sean Akins, manager for Cartoon Network's Toonami. Among many other topics, he briefly speaks about Gundam SEED and SD Gundam Force and their performances on the network.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Nikkeibp.jp reports that after a year of development, the Kao Corporation, a skin & hair products manufacturer, is going to be marketing an aromatic product called "Haromatherapy" starting October 25th. It comes in a battery-powered, Haro-shaped container that shakes and flutters its ears for about 30 seconds after you press a switch on it and then releases a fragrance (rosemary from the green version, camomile from the pink). It's mentioned that while Gundam is mainly popular with men, Haro himself is popular with females and the stated target audience in the press release is women in their 20's to 30's and families. Haromatherapy will be going for about 1,750 yen and it's expected to sell 100,000 units by the end of March.
Hamapika Shop states that the upcoming SEED arcade game is being done by Capcom.
According to Video Research Ltd., the debut episode of Gundam SEED DESTINY got an 8.2 rating, making it the 5th (or 6th; the Anime 7 block is actually two shows rated together) most watched anime in Japan on TV. This is a higher rating than any episode of the original SEED got during its run on the air. In fact, it is a higher rating than any first-run episode of Gundam has received at least since ZZ. The rest of the top 10 for the week of October 4th through 10th:
1) Sazae-san - 20.4%
2) Chibi Maruko-chan - 14.4%
3) Detective Conan Aki No Honkaku Mystery Special - 14.3%
4) Anime 7 (One Piece and Kochikame) - 10.8%
5) Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY - 8.2%
6) Konjiki No Gash Bell! - 7.3%
7) Futari Wa Precure - 7.2%
8) NHK Anime Playhouse: Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot & Marple - 6.6%
9) Channel Alpha Dragonball (DB reruns on Fuji TV) - 6.5%
10) Prince Of Tennis Special - 6.1%
