New Seiyuu for Roy, Scar, etc. in Fullmetal Alchemist 2

As said in Anime News Network, this coming Tuesday, the main seiyuu cast for the Fullmetal Alchemist remake this spring 2009 will be announced in Newtype, Animage and Animedia. Some of the main cast, like the Flame alchemist Roy Mustang and Ishbal survivor Scar, have changed seiyuu. Here’s a rundown of some of the cast with notes on who their old seiyuu were, if they are changed.

Edward Elric – Paku Romi
Alphonse Elric – Kugimiya Rie
Winry Rockbell – Takamoto Megumi (formerly Toyoguchi Megumi)
Roy Mustang – Miki Shinichirou (formerly Ohkawa Tooru)
Riza Hawkeye – Orikawa Fumiko (Neya Michiko)
Alex Louis Armstrong – Utsumi Kenji
Maes Hughes – Fujiwara Keiji
Jean Havoc – Ueda Yuuji (formerly Matsumoto Yasunori)
Scar – Miyake Kenta (formerly Okiayu Ryoutarou)
Vato Farman – Hamada Kenji (formerly Murozono Takahiro)
Maria Ross – Nazuka Kaori (formerly Saiga Mitsuki)
King Bradley – Shibata Hidekatsu
Lust – Inoue Kikuko (formerly Satou Yuuko)
Gluttony – Shiratori Tetsu (formerly Takato Yasuhiro)
Envy – Takayama Minami (formerly Yamaguchi Mayumi)
Zolof Kimblee – Yoshino Hiroyuki (formerly Ueda Yuuji)
Isaac – Yamadera Kouichi

Personally, I’m a bit disappointed that Ohkawa Tooru is not reprising his role as Roy Mustang. Roy was one of my first anime crushes and I love everything about him. I’ve imbibed that voice into his personality. MikiShin’s voice is good, but it’s of different quality and timbre and I don’t know if I can get used to it. I’m also sad that Okiayu is not Scar anymore, because he’s one of the strongest and most emotional characters in the series. Like with MikiShin, I don’t have anything against Miyake Kenta, but I was hoping they’d keep the original cast, especially with the main.

I guess we can’t have everything, especially since this is a remake that will follow the manga more closely.

Shin Tennis no Oujisama: First Chapter Released!

As announced last December 2008, a sequel to the Prince of Tennis manga has started in Shueisha’s Jump Square magazine this March 04, 2009. Lucky people who got the magazine earlier than those who will hit the stores tomorrow have shared previews of the long first chapter (a whopping 59 pages including the ads). Three colored ads with a shot of the little Hyoutei boys (flashback) with the announcement that it will be an OVA soon, ten colored pages into the chapter and the rest a peek at some players from Seigaku and other schools, this chapter is a promising win for me. From here on, I’ll try my best to share my thoughts, or shall I say spazz, about the new chapter. Please note that I don’t understand a thread of the dialogue, since they’re in Chinese o.o.

The next part will contain spoilers for the previous series, too.

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger Pilot – Not Your Average Sentai Series

I am no sentai fan. The sentai series I’ve watched are merely a handful and mostly old school like Bioman, Maskman, Jetman, Fiveman and Turboranger (mainly because they’re aired in our local TV channels). I have sporadically watched Magiranger, Gekiranger and Go-onger enough to know the story and to establish my thoughts towards the series but not enough to give conclusive and informative review of the series. So, you can say that I have next to no knowledge of sentai jargon and aesthetics. Please take this review with a grain of salt and take into consideration that I’m no expert at this genre.

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger is the first sentai series that I have actually flailed and obsessed about. I admit, I’m biased towards the series because it stars Aiba Hiroki, one of my favorite actors. It also appealed to me because the ‘samurai’ concept sounds new to me. I think ninjas have been done before, but not samurais. Still, I was planning to drop it from my watch list if I don’t like it, since my watching schedule’s already pretty crowded. I guess it is a good thing (or bad for my watch schedule) that Shinkenger is spurting with traditional yet novel ideas that are quite different from the older series (Gekiranger, Go-onger, and the likes).

From here on will contain spoilers to the series, so consider yourself warned. There will also be considerable Shinken-lingo, but most of them will be explained.

Hetalia’s Pilot Episode — Moving Crack

Hetalia‘s first episode was finally made available for viewing and loyal fans did not waste any time streaming it off animate.tv and seeing for themselves how good Hetalia would be if it’s moving. I’m pretty sure everyone has heard of Hetalia and the troubles it met after the announcement of its airing, but to those who are new to the whole Hetalia affairs (a rather steamy affair, indeed!), here is a little primer.

Axis Powers Hetalia started as a webcomic published in Himaruya Hidekaz’s blog. It’s immense popularity allowed it to be published as a manga and it earned even more followers. The series is set in World War timeline where the countries involved are represented by human characters. Each person!country’s personality is loosely based on the stereotype characteristics the original country has during WWII, according to Himaruya’s view. The word Hetalia itself is a play on words “hetare” (useless) and “Italia” to make a pun regarding Italy’s attitude during World War II.

Some readers regard the webcomic as cracky and almost satirical. Some, though, discover lesser known facts regarding WWII and some countries by reading between the lines and looking beyond the comedy. Because of certain issues, like the characterization of the countries and other historical facts, this series earned a lot of criticism. Some of the complaints and issues caused the upcoming anime to be pulled out of being aired in local television channels and was instead brought to the public through mobile download and streaming.

Anyway, back to my initial topic. The first episode of Hetalia has been streamed and it’s supposed to follow the published manga form (the main historical arc, if I’m not mistaken). There are over 40 countries mentioned in Hetalia, but only the few are recurring, most of them were those who took part in WWII.  Since I’ve been waiting for this to be available for viewing even more than I’ve been waiting for Gundam OO episode 16, here are some highlights of the five-minute pilot episode, including the cast of characters that were initially mention. I’m also thankful that there’s a Chibitalia insert! Really, an episode wouldn’t be complete without that adorable little boy…girl…boy…

Warning: IMAGE HEAVY, but crappy screencaps.

Winter 2009 Anime — Of Sequels and Sci-fi

The year 2009 promises another phase of wonderful anime, most of them continuation of series released the previous year. Here is the lineup for this season. I’m a bit late but ignore that XD;. These are arranged alphabetically, with the usual info like date, seiyuu cast and a short summary. I did not include pictures, but you can find links to each series’ official site.

Again, my watching verdicts are: YES, NO, and MAYBE.

At last! The Skip Beat Anime Trailer

The elusive trailer of the anime Skip Beat has finally appeared, a week before it airs ^^;. However, this is the Taiwanese release version of the PV (hence the subs). WTF Japan? Why won’t you give us a trailer?

Nikki says:

Hm, I cannot say anything against the character designs. Of course, the manga as the original work, will always be better, but I appreciate that the character designs are made as close to the manga ones as possible. Wait, I can’t say that since I haven’t even seen Ren moving yet xD;. Anyway, so far, the art doesn’t disappoint me. I just hope it’s not full of no-face people like in Vampire Knight XD;.

Inoue Marina is doing a great job as Kyoko XD;. Her voice seems versatile, which is important in voicing Kyoko (very, very important). Mamo-chan has my trust. I know he can do Shou justice and crack. Konishi, though, still has my doubts. I’ve been brainwashed to think Morikawa Toshiyuki = Ren, so until I hear the real thing, I will not talk about Ren XD;.

Credit: my-cartoon.tv