Time for a jpop update >< and quite a lot going on atm (so BIG POST coming up)!!!
So much so it’s hard to know where to start… But I guess you can’t go wrong starting with this.

New PV from Tamaki Nami - ‘Brightdown’
HQ stage6 divx version here
Those of you watching D.Gray-Man will be familiar with this since it’s the second opening theme

I really dig the direction Tamaki is taking with this new release, it’s more jrock than jpop tbh, I really love the early trance infused stuff too from Tamaki like Heroine, Believe etc, but this is exaclty what I was looking for now, it’s got power and good energy >< Read more »

Studio Ghibli’s Tales from Earthsea is currently showing in Cineworld, Dublin!

It’s playing every day at 10:10, 12:40, 15:20, 18:00, 20:40.

Depsite reports that this is not a great effort on the part of the famous studio, I think everyone who watches anime should go see this and show that there is an anime community in this country
I’ll be organising an eirtakumeet trip to this shortly, so if you’re interested, check the forums!

I know I posted ages ago about doing some manga reviews, which I should hopefully get around to soon as I’ve just finished reading several volumes of Phoenix. Actually I can do a one word review right now: Unbelievable.

So anyway, I was looking around anidb (a slow moment during my work day), and out of curiosity I put in the names of some old series I remember watching on TV in the 80s:

• Dogtanian (called “Wanwan Sanjushi” in Japan)

• Sherlock Hound. I’m pretty sure I remember seeing this on VHS years ago, unless there was another sherlock holmes-based story with anthropomorphic dogs. And this was a Miyazaki work

Obviously, when I saw them at the time I’d no idea they were even Japanese. However I was huge fans of both - especially Dogtanian. So technically this makes me an Anime fan for a lot longer than I’d thought, over 20 years in fact I’ve probably mentioned this before but I normally regard the first Anime I remember as being Anime was Project A-KO, and I first saw that around 1994 or so.

So does anyone remember series that aired here or were released on VHS that you’ve since realised were Anime? The only other obvious ones I can think of were Mysterious Cities of Gold and Ulysses 31.

From Production I.G’s site: The Sky Crawlers: Mamoru Oshii’s New Film Unveiled!

Official site.

It’s been sitting there for a while, but forums user Drakon has taken the reigns as sysop and is writing up a few articles.

Check out the Wiki Index for some of the new (and old) articles!

If you would like to contribute to the wiki, just create an account (takes about ten seconds) and start working away.
Starting an article is as easy as typing wiki.eirtaku.com/WhateverYouLike into your browser.

Yo! F1rst P0st!

At the moment I’m working my way (slowly) through various manga that have been recommended to me:

• Phoenix - Osamu Tezuka
• Lady Snowblood - Kazuo Koike
• Ode to Kirihito - Osamu Tezuka
• Abandon the old in Tokyo - Yoshihiro Tatsumi

I’m planning on writing up some reviews of these over the next while, so watch this space.

Check it out.

Chinese production Warrior, which took four years and 15 million yuan, opens in China on July 6th: Official site, view trailer here.

The short film Shin SOS Dai Tokyo Tankentai, featuring character designs by Katsuhiro Otomo, opens in Japan this month: Official site with trailers.

Highlander: The Search For Vengence-Watch five clips here.

There is now a second trailer for Vexille up on the official site. There is also a section on there called Infobadge, where bloggers can get a Java script code to embed on their page, featuring footage from the film and a soundtrack sample. Twitchfilm.net’s review here.

After much fiddling, the problems with umai and the radio are now fixed!

For some reason we’re starting to get serious problems with umai, I can’t tell what exactly the problem is yet, but it looks like a possible DoS attack, so I’m taking them down until I can figure out what’s going on.