If you haven’t already heard, Stan Lee, the co-creator of the Spider-Man and X-Men comics, has been planning this new animated series for television with the same BONES studio behind Fullmetal Alchemist and Soul Eater.
The official website for Tamon Ota’s manga version of BONES and Stan Lee’s Heroman project has opened with a 90-second trailer of the television anime. The first compiled book volume of the manga shipped on March 20, while the anime will premiered in Japan on April 1. The story follows a boy named Joey who discovers a toy robot in Center City on the west coast of the United States. The toy becomes Heroman, a giant robot that Joey pilots against the mysterious Scrag beings invading Earth.
There’s still no word on when or if Heroman will ever (legally) make it to the States, but it should be interesting to see how Japanese audiences respond to Stan Lee’s animated adventure.

The anime studio Production I.G (Ghost In The Shell, Blood: The Last Vampire, Kill Bill) has announced that it is working with the Singaporean production company Storm Lion Pictures, writer Tow Ubukata (Le Chevalier D’Eon, Fafner, Heroic Age), and director Atsushi Takeuchi (Star Wars: The Clone Wars “Lair of Grievous”) on a 3D computer-animated feature film called Titan Rain. I.G President Mitsuhisa Ishikawa made the announcement at Anime Festival Asia’s Animation Asia Conference 2009 in Singapore.
Ubukata and Storm Lion CEO Edmund Shern co-created the story of Titan Rain. While I.G has revealed few details about the story, Takeuchi noted that “In order to survive in today’s complexed society, the human race needs to be strong. Facing the harsh reality of life is one of the main themes of this project and I’m truly excited to be able to present this in the form of an anime to the world.”
Afro Samurai creator Takashi Okazaki will design the characters and concepts in Titan Rain. Bear McCreary, the composer of Battlestar Galactica, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Caprica, and Eureka, will write the music. Takeuchi served as a mechanical designer on Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed, and several other anime titles before becoming the first Japanese director on Lucasfilm Animation’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. The companies plan to start pre-production work in 2010 with an eye towards an international theatrical release in early 2012.

Tatakau Shisho: Book of Bantorra

Armed Librarians Book of Bantorra

Start Date: October 2009
Genre: Fantasy, Light Novel, Love-Romance, Novel

This series takes place in a world where dead people turn into books and are stored away in the Bantorra Library, which is guarded by the Armed Librarians. Anyone who reads these books learns everything about that dead persons past.

The Armed Librarians are elite fighters that wield special weapons and mysterious powers. Their main enemy is a religious group that goes by the name of Sindeki Kyoudan.

The main character is a boy by the name of Koria Tonisu. Tonisu’s memory has been erased and a bomb placed within his chest in order to kill Hamyuttsu Meseta, the strongest armed librarian in the world. However, he falls in love with her (can’t blame him, she’s a hottie) and gets pulled into a large fight between 2 factions for the library.

I think this series looks really interesting and the trailer shows some top notch animation/art style. Join us in October as we cover Tatakau Shisho: Book of Bantorra episodes each week.

The Sacred Blacksmith

Seiken no Katanakaji

Start Date: October 2009 – Japanese t.v.
Genre: Action, Fantasy

The Sacred Blacksmith’s story takes place in a land that was forced under the devil’s contract during a large war. Peace has been restored and the power of the devils contract is now forbidden.

The main character Cecily Campbell is a high spirited girl who has joined a knighthood and is the daughter of a former noble. She meets a man who possesses a curious looking sword and the power of the “devils contract”. She has been seeking a blacksmith to fix an old sword handed down from her father, and this powerful man “Luke Ainsworth” turns out to be a blacksmith. This encounter kicks off their travels and adventures together.

I think out of all of the anime series starting this fall (2009), The Sacred Blacksmith is one of the titles I am looking forward to the most. The character design looks awesome, the animation looks super slick, and the action plentiful from the looks of the trailer.

Join us this fall as we cover weekly reviews of The Sacred Blacksmith.

Start Date: October 2009
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

This series revolved around a bandit hunter named Kanu, who lost her family to bandits and pledged to fight against them in order to prevent others from having to feel the same pain she had known. She rapidly becomes a famous hunter and is feared by many bandits. She makes many friends and followers along her adventure who support her cause.

Start Date: October 2009
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Picking up right where season one left off, the Queen’s Blade is a tournament held every 4 years where the strongest warrior will receive the title of queen. As long as the contestant is female and over the age of 12 there are no other restrictions. They do not even need be human and weapons and killing are permitted.

Reina and friends have just arrived at the Gainos Capital as the tournament is officially beginning. Who knows what lays in store for our big breasted heroines. Perhaps we’ll be able to finally meet the swamp witch.

It took me awhile to get into the first season of Queen’s Blade but the art style, music and animation more than make up for the fan service overkill. We will be covering the “Heir to the Throne” the 2nd season of Queens Blade coming this fall.

Start Date: October 2009
Genre: Action, Romantic comedy

Natsuru Senou, a regular high school student one day wakes up and finds that he has mysteriously transformed into a female. A stuffed tiger toy named “Harakii Tora” tells him to battle as a girl psychic combatant “Kampfer”. Poor Natsuru doesn’t really get what’s going on but quickly gets involved fighting against other Kampfer.

Start Date: Fall 2009 in TBS
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, School Life

Junpei Kosaka is a high school student who has a deep hatred for feline types (CATS) and is very allergic to them. Unfortunately he has a mad crush on his fellow student Kaede Mizuno who happens to love cats.

After school one day Junpei kicks an empty can and nails the neko-jizō-sama (guardian deity of cats).

Junepei can now understand the cat language, and is given the task of granting one hundred wishes from cats or else he will turn into one himself.

Natsu no Arashi 2

Storm of Summer 2

Start Date: Fall 2009 in TBS
Genre: Romantic comedy, Supernatural

Hajime Yasaka moves to a small town, and meets an older high school girl Sayoko Arashiyama in a coffee shop. The 2 make a bond together that allows them to travel through time and sometimes are able to save those that died in World War 2.

Start Date: Fall 2009
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy

This is a sequel to the Darker than Black – Kuro no Keiyakusha series. Hei and Yin are on the run after leaving the Syndicate and leave Japan. Shortly after Hei meets Suou Pavlichenko, a young girl who gets tangled up in the war of factions and contractors lusting for power.

Hells gate is still standing in Japan despite Hei’s efforts to prevent the Saturn Ring anti-gate particle weapon from activating.

Misaki Kirihara and her team work to keep the Syndicate at bay and deal with the large amount of Contractor cases. The story takes place in both Russia and Japan.