Red Hot Chili Samurai's Katagiri Launches New Manga

Red Hot Chili Samurai (Kokaku Detective Story) manga creator Yoshitsugu Katagiri launched a new series called Tsuki ni Tsubame to Migi ni Kage (A Swallow Flying in the Moonlight and a Shadow to the Right) in the July issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Asuka magazine on Tuesday. The action comedy follows a secret organization who fights supernatural beings called "yokuka" who possess humans. The first chapter, which is online, depicts a seemingly ordinary boy named Ensuke Azuma who goes to school by day and works for the organization to exterminate "yokuka" by night.

Red Hot Chili Samurai had run in Kadokawa's Beans Ace magazine until the magazine ended publication in October 2009, when the manga then migrated to Monthly Asuka. Tokyopop licensed the manga in 2009, and had released four volumes in North America before the company announced it would shut down at the end of this month.

The Conductor manga (pictured at left) by Psychic Detective Yakumo's Manabu Kaminaga and the Akaki Tsuki no Mawaru Koro manga by Arata Kigawa are both ending in the July issue of Monthly Asuka.

Source: Comic Natalie

New Haruhi Novel Ships in Several Countries Tonight

513,000 limited first-edition sets of Nagaru Tanigawa's next Haruhi Suzumiya light novel, Suzumiya Haruhi no Kyōgaku (The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya), will officially go on sale at midnight on Wednesday in Japan (11:00 a.m. on Tuesday EDT). The two-volume novel will also go on sale in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. However, since some retailers shipped earlier than others, some readers have reported receiving their copies already.

Five Animate stores and three Gamers stores will open at midnight in Japan to sell the novel as early as possible. Staff members in some Animate stores will be cosplaying in the light novels' high school uniforms, complete with SOS Brigade armband, and customers will receive one of five random SOS Brigade Supporters Cards with every 1,000 yen (about US$12) they spend on Haruhi Suzumiya items. The Animate and Wawabooks stores in Taipei, as well as two more stores in Taichung and Kaohsiung, will also open at midnight in Taiwan.

Source: Niji ni Kubittake!, Comic Natalie

2.2% of Consumers Purchase 81% of Blu-ray in Japan

According to a survey conducted by Japan Video Software Association, very small number of consumers support the DVD and Blu-ray market in Japan. 4.1% of the consumers spent >30,000 yen ($370) on DVD and Blu-ray software in 2010 and their consumption made up 67.4% of the whole disc media sales. Within the Blu-ray market, the tendency gets even stronger: 80.9% of the Blu-rays were purchased by 2.2% heavy users, who spend >30,000 yen on Blu-ray softwares a year. The biased distribution of consumers reflected the fact that anime videos account for 63.2% of the Blu-ray market in Japan.

In 2010, the percentage of DVD & Blu-ray buyers was 21.2%, down 10% from the previous year. However, the average expenditure on DVD & Blu-ray has increased by 30%: $289 in 2010 and $221 in 2009. These data show that the disc software market has been losing general customers and the heavy users have been getting even "heavier".

Source: Anime!Anime!

Live Action TV Drama of Ouran High School Host Club Announced

According to Natalie, a live action TV drama of Ouran High School Host Club was announced to start this July.

Cast
Fujioka Haruhi: Kawaguchi Haruna (official website)
Suoh Tamaki: Yamamoto Yusuke (official website)
Ohtori Kyoya: Daito Shunsuke (profile)
Hitachiin Hikaru: Takagi Shinpei (profile)
Hitachiin Kaoru: Takagi Manpei (profile)
Haninozuka Mitsukuni: Chiba Yudai (profile)
Morinozuka Takashi: Nakamura Masaya (profile)
Nekozawa Umehito: Ryusei Ryo (profile)

Source: Natalie
We apologize for delayed post.

2011 Summer list!

Lets check this new 2011 Summer list and we have tons of promising anime coming! Exciting.