Two announcements from Anime USA this week. has announced that voice actress Monica Rial and Tony Oliver will be appearing at their convention. Her resume includes titles such as Burst Angel, High School of the Dead, Kiddy Grade, and RahXephon. Most old school anime fans (self included) know Tony by the the small role he played Robotech when he portrayed Rick Hunter. His humble resume includes Lupin (Lupin the 3rd) and Hibiki Toukai (Vandread). Also Anime USA will be taking place November 18th to the 20th at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA. For more information visit animeusa.org.

Pacific Media Expo announced that their Anime Nightclub will include the roast of Richard Epcar. Some of you may know him as the voice of Zangetsu from “Bleach”, others may know him as Batou from “Ghost in the Shell”. No matter what he has been a major influence to the Anime industry here in the US. Pacific Media Expo will be taking place from November 11th to the 13th at the LAX Hilton in Los Angeles, California. For more information visit PacificMediaExpo.com.

FUNimation announced on Thursday that it has acquired the rights to Hellsing Untimate OVA 8 in addition to 1 through 7. The OVA series is a retelling of the series with even darker elements than the TV series. FUNimation will begin releasing the series next year.

Nobuo Uematsu and his group Earthbound Papas will be performing at the upcoming MAGFest. MAGfest X will be taking place January 5-8, 2012, in and around National
Harbor, MD. CAKE! MAGFEST! CAKE! MAGFEST! CAKE! MAGFEST!

Sorry about the lack of Weekend Update last week. There was a death in the family and it’s been a pretty insane October.

Grove Street!

Rockstar released the anticipated trailer for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V. The video confirms that the game will be taking place in San Andreas once again.

IMHO: Featuring a montage of settings varying from Los Santos, Red & Flint County, the backdrops are extremely impressive. Now if they can only keep my cars from disappearing whenever I visit my old home on Grove Street.

GTA V is expected to be released sometime in twenty twelve.

Sentai Films has announced that they have acquired the distribution rights to “The World God Only Knows”. The story about a cynical young man that is a visual novel fanatic who must help exorcise demons out of women by making them fall in love with him. The first season is planned for released on DVD and Blu-ray this coming January.

Exist†trace announced that they are planning an American tour starting in March. There are currently three East coast cities including Boston, MA, New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA

Pacific Media Expo made two GOH announcements this week, first off we have Anime Director Yasuhiro Imagawa from mecha titles like Giant Robo, Tetsujin 28, Mobile Fighter G Gundam and Shin Mazinger Sh?geki! Z-Hen. Later on PMX announced that Mecha Designer Tsuyoshi Nonaka who also worked in Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen. Pacific Media Expo will be taking place November 11th to the 13th at the LAX Hiltion in Los Angeles. For more information visit PacificMediaExpo.com.

FUNimation announced on Friday that they acquired two new titles first off is the melancholic series and movie “Fafner”. They then immediately after announced that they have acquired distribution rights to the movie “Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror”. No word on when they will be released.

Seven Seas Entertainment has announced the licence for two new titles Alice in the Country of Clover plus Angel Para Bellum. Alice in the Country of Clover is based on the character of Lewis S. Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland”, while Angel Para Bellum is about a young man named Mitsuru who must be protected by two beautiful angels after his family is murdered. Both titles are set for release in June and July 2012 respectively.

Rock Star games announced that will now be ported to the iOS and Android. Just in time for the ten year anniversary.

Pacific Media Expo announced on Monday that Visual Kei Band D will be performing at the convention this year. Due to the high demand, the group will be performing TWICE, on November 11th and 12th. The convention also announced later that week that Manga-ka Suzumi Atsushi will be a guest of Honor this year. Pacific Media Expo will be taking place from November 11th to the 13th at the LAX Hilton at Los Angeles, California. For more information visit pacificmediaexpo.com.

Kawaii Kon announced two more guests for this year’s convention. The list now includes martial artist, voice actor, Johnny Yong Bosch, and the group Eyeshine. Kawaii Kon will be taking place at the Hawaii Convention Center from March 16th to 18th. For more information please visit: kawaii-kon.org.

Florida Anime Experience announced this week that Terri Hawkes will be appearing at their convention next year. If you don’t know her name, you’ll know her by the phrase “In the name of the moon, I’ll punish you” – it’s all coming back to you ain’t it? Florida Anime Experience will be taking place May 27th to the 29th at the nternational Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida with registration opening tomorrow. For more information visit floridaanime.com.

Attendees at the upcoming London Comic con will be getting an opportunity to demo Soulcalibur V, Dark Souls.

Sentai Films announced that they have acquired the distribution rights to the anime series “And Yet the Town Moves”. The series revolves around a girl named Hotori Arashiyama, who has started a job at a Maid Cafe. The series will be available digitally this winter and the DVD release is set for next year.

First thought: Silent protagonist is silent.

A while back I managed to read a the manga adaptation of Persona 4. While the main character did share some thoughts at the start of the series, I noticed that the story was really driven on the hardships of the other characters, leaving main character was left somewhat standing on the side lines (something I like to call “The Obi-wan”). Persona 4: The Animation was released in Japan today, and was also (legally) available here in the United States via Anime Network; sure enough, the main protagonist barley said more than ten words in the entire episode, and the story is set to auto-pilot.

Sorry P4, but this calls for a slew of parody comics.

While I give everyone credit in my sources, I want to give a quick shout out to hiimdaisy, whose jokes kept popping into my mind as I watched the episode, and inspired to of the comics.

Sources: Anime Network, FUNimation, hiimdaisy

NO! Your name’s gonna be SEXY TEACHER!

Found another little nugget today. It’s another new face called Runawayturist and the series is Infinite Stratos.

While the theme and punchlines are heavily borrowed from PurpleEyesWTF, there is a lot of good original material. In fact it’s like watching Suzaku hold the show without Lelouch.

Source: YouTube (Runawayturist)

Looking at women in magazines, and questioning my sexuality…

In my quest to find abridgers who can hold their own, I found one doing a parody of Fairy Tail. Believe me when I say that they had me at the Rock.

Source: YouTube (FairyTailAbridge)

DO NOT TRUST SHEPARD!

WCPToronto posted a new video on their YouTube Channel today. It’s another homage to the Modern Warfare universe.

IMHO: While it doesn’t seem canon at first, it squeezes itself between the ending of COD 4 and MW 2, giving a better explanation as to how Price ended up in the gulag.

Source: YouTube (WCPToronto)

You know I could never say no to you…

Spillios, rejoice! The first video review of The Loading Bar has been posted on Spill.com and YouTube! Their first game is El Shaddai – Ascension of the Metatron.

For this review, Corey is joined by Professor Jeff, Jason “The Murph” Murphy, and Kevin? “No Nickname Having Motherf*cker” Baird.

Nice platform guys.

Source: YouTube (Spillcom