The Anime Almanac

Kotaku writes a very lengthy and very fascinating article on how an event on the message board 4chan in 2006 gave birth to a very unusual amateur video game called Kawata Shojo, or “Disabled Girls.” The game is a Japanese-style visual novel about, you guessed it,  psychically disabled girls.

This article really surprised me because I haven’t stepped foot on 4chan in years. But I was active on the boards in 2006 and I vividly remember the night Damaged Goods began. I found myself fascinated with the poster’s highly detailed narrative. I didn’t believe a word of it, but still, I was hooked on the story. I couldn’t help but to think at the time that this was going to be the American version of Densha Otoko.

Well, it didn’t become the American version of Densha Otoko, and I thought the saga ended shortly thereafter. But apparently it still lives on after all these years in this video game, so be sure to check out the full story over at Kotaku.

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Hey Peeps!

So in my quest of ever expanding this blog and gaining new readership, I occasionally try out something different to test out the waters a bit. Last month, I experimented with the whole comments thing, since people have been telling me for years that it is necessary for every blog to have comments. But honestly, it didn’t make a difference at all in the month I had them open. So comments are gone again, and for the next month, I’m testing out a new feature on the blog: The Daily Almanac.

If you’ve been following my Twitter feed, then you pretty much know how I like to do anime news bits. I link to a webpage with a worthwhile news item, and then provide a line or two of my witty, thoughtful, and often sarcasic analysis. The Daily Almanac will essentially be the same thing, only not broken into 140 characters. These posts will be shorter and far more casual than my normal reviews and features.

Many other blogs do this type of reporting, and they all do it very well. Will my unique take of the day’s news stand out among everyone else? Well, we’ll find that out a month from now. So let’s get this started with all the news from today!

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Bandai has begun their huge Gundam push today by streaming a number of the classic series on various anime video sites. Crunchyroll will be running the original Mobile Suit Gundam series and ANN has the Z Gundam series. Bandai had already been streaming the Gundam 00 series on YouTube for the past year.

All this promotion is for the upcoming release of the newest OVA series, Gundam Unicorn. UC will be seeing a global release on March 12, and fans in America can buy the first hour long episode on Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Yup, one episode with MSRP of $50. And that’s actually really cheap compared to the normal price of Blu-ray anime in Japan. That’s like the cost of an R2 anime DVD.

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FACT: Scott likes cute girls in short skirts…

On Site:

Scott from The Anime Almanac	Deb Aoki from About.com: Manga	Jon I. from JANAiBlog
DJ Ranma S from Anime Jam Session	Edward Sizemore from Comics Worth Reading	Michael Pinto from Anime.com
NYAF from New York Anime Festival	OutOfTimeProd from Out Of Time Productions	Greg
Vampt Vo from Ani-Gamers	Brigid from MangaBlog	Vince A
Hisui from Reverse Thieves	Dave from Subatomic Brainfreeze	Ed Chavez from Vertical Inc.
ANN_Bamboo	funimation	Reni Mimura from ReniReni.com
Patz from The Gaming Dungeon	Erica Friedman from Okazu	Carl from Ogiue Maniax

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So what’s the protocol for taking a photo inside of the bathroom?

On Site:

Scott from The Anime Almanac	OutOfTimeProd from Out Of Time Productions	Erica Friedman from Okazu
Brigid from MangaBlog	Jon I. from JANAiBlog	Deb Aoki from About.com: Manga
NYAF from New York Anime Festival	Vince A	Edward Sizemore from Comics Worth Reading
Greg	funimation	Michael Pinto from Anime.com
TOKYOPOP	DJ Ranma S from Anime Jam Session	Dave from Subatomic Brainfreeze
ANN_Bamboo	Narutaki from Reverse Thieves	Carl from Ogiue Maniax
Kyle Hebert	Peter Tatara from New York Anime Fest	Reni Mimura from ReniReni.com
Patz from The Gaming Dungeon	Ed Chavez from Vertical Inc.	Hisui from Reverse Thieves
bandaient

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“Well, Mell was swell as hell.”

On Site:

Scott from The Anime Almanac	Jon I. from JANAiBlog	Kim
Edward Sizemore from Comics Worth Reading	animevice from Anime Vice	Greg
Peter Tatara from New York Anime Fest	OutOfTimeProd from Out Of Time Productions	Alex from alexleavitt.com
Carl from Ogiue Maniax	DJ Ranma S from Anime Jam Session	Vampt Vo from Ani-Gamers
Toshifumi Yoshida	Narutaki from Reverse Thieves	Patz from The Gaming Dungeon
funimation	bandaient	Hisui from Reverse Thieves
Frederik L. Schodt from Homepage

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