Newest Figma Madoka Kaname!

The official blog of the figma action figure line has announced their newest product "Madoka Kaname" from the popular anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica on June 1. The Madoka figma is scheduled to be released in September, 2011. The retail price is 3,200 yen (roughly US$39.45).

Figma is an action figure line produced by Max Factory and distributed by Good Smile Company.

[Figma official site]

Source: figma blog via Hatena Bookmark News

© Magica Quartet／Aniplex・Madoka Partners・MBS

Hatsune Miku's Snow Costume Wanted

Good Smile Company is now inviting the public to join the design contest for their Nendoroid Snow Hatsune Miku 2012 version at PIAPRO, a community site for creators of variety categories. The company is well-known for their Nendoroid and figma product lines. Hatsune Miku is one of the most popular characters in the lines.

The contest requires to design the Miku's costume using the jewels of snow or ice theme. The winner's design will be used for the actual Nendroid Snow Miku 2012 product in this winter. You have to register the PIAPRO website to join the contest. The contest is running from May 31 to June 20.

Nendoroid Snow Miku 2010

Nendoroid Snow Miku 2011: Snow Playtime Edition

Source: Netolabo

© Crypton Future Media, Inc.

New Descendants of Darkness Manga Chapter Runs in June

This year's 13th issue of Hakusensha's Hana to Yume magazine is announcing on Saturday that Yoko Matsushita will draw a new chapter in her Descendants of Darkness (Yami no Matsuei) fantasy manga in The Hana to Yume spinoff magazine on June 25. Not only is Matsushita drawing the Descendants of Darkness Special Edition (Yami no Matsuei: Tokubetsu-hen) chapter, but she is also drawing the main characters Tsuzuki and Hisoka on the front cover of The Hana to Yume magazine.

Matsushita serialized the main Descendants of Darkness manga in Hana to Yume from 1994 to 2002. There was a eight-year gap between the 11th Descendants of Darkness book volume and the 12th volume, which shipped in Japan last January.

Viz Media published the 11th volume of the manga in North America in 2006. J.C. Staff animated a 13-episode television series from 2000 to 2001, and Central Park Media released the anime in North America. The anime has since run on America's Sci Fi Channel.

The same issue of The Hana to Yume magazine will also run a 32-page one-shot story from Maki Minami's S.A. romance manga, whose main storyline ended in 2009.

Source: Manga News

New Haruhi Novel Sells 341,000 to Top Weekly Chart

The limited first-edition set of Suzumiya Haruhi no Kyōgaku (The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya), Nagaru Tanigawa's first new Haruhi Suzumiya light novel in four years, sold 341,000 units (rounded to the nearest thousand) to top Oricon's bunko (trade paperback book) sales chart for the May 23-29 week. The light novel also set a record for the most sales in one week in the bunko category since Oricon began publishing its book sales charts in 2008. Suzumiya Haruhi no Kyōgaku actually shipped in two volumes due to its 600-page length. It received a 513,000-set print run — a record for light novels. A number of stores in Japan and Taiwan sold the book at midnight on May 25, although some readers reported receiving their copies early.

Source: Oricon, Mantan-Web

Related: New Haruhi Novel Ships in Several Countries Tonight

CoMix Wave Films / Makoto Shinkai Facebook Page Launched

An official CoMix Wave Films / Makoto Shinkai Facebook page has launched at http://www.facebook.com/cwfilms. Content on the page currently includes an English subtitled trailer for Makoto Shinkai's new film Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below (Hoshi O Ou Kodomo).

CoMix introduces themselves

• We began in creative contracting and currently engages in animated movie production, distribution and package sales as well as overseas sales.
• With a small number of highly skilled people, we hope to create works that will both fully display its creators' abilities and stand the test of time.
• Our mission is to work with imaginative artists to deliver heartfelt works to the people all over the world.

Other CoMix projects include
Makoto Shinkai: Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5 Centimeters per Second
Ryoichi Mori: Peeping Life
Jun Awazu: NEGADON: The Monster from Mars, PLANZET
YamatoWorks (Shuhei Morita and Daisuke Sajiki): Kakurenbo
Akitaro Daichi: Grrl Power!: Makasete Iruka
Kengo Takeuchi: Yonna in the Solitary Fortless
Toshikazu Matsubara/Akio Watanabe: Hoshizora Kiseki
Naoto Iwakiri: Kaede Newtown
Tact Aoki: The Asylum Session
Chang Hyung Yun: My Dear Coffee Samurai

Shinkai made his mark with 2002's sci-fi informed relationship story Voices of a Distant Star. The anime followed a decidedly normal relationship between a teen boy and girl, bent by the girl serving in the anime-typical role of piloting a robot against alien adversaries. The two keep in touch through texts, but the time between messages from her grows more protracted as she travels into space at relativistic speeds. It was a nice, effecting story, told over the course of 25 minutes, taken as a real artistic statement due to the story of its production; Voices was originally written, directed and produced by Shinkai on his Power Mac G4, with characters voiced by Shinkai with his wife.

His works continued to impress with their beautifully rendered backgrounds and touching relationship stories.

Source: CoMisWave / Makoto Shinkai Official Facebook page