Recently in Uta∽Kata Category

Now available from Amazon via WTK on Anime on DVD is Sentai's box art for their upcoming US release of the series.

What they say:

Through the mirror... a tale told darkly

Before you make a deal with a girl in a mirror, reflect seriously on the source of the offer. Ichika Tachibana fails to take this advice in order to retrieve a lost charm, and as a result suddenly ends up with the magical forces of a Djinn at her command. Sounds like a good deal, right? Wrong. At first things seem wondrous, with her new friend Manatsu assisting her via text messages and the occasional spell; but as her powers grow, Ichika's situation quickly goes from magical to nightmarish, and she finds herself drawn into an ever expanding web of deceptions, lies and increasingly dangerous situations. For what she's really done is subjected herself to seeing mankind as the Djinn see them. Unfortunately, they don't seem to place a high value on human life. Not all fairy tales are for children as small charms lead to deadly conclusions in UTA∞KATA- THE COMPLETE SERIES!

Note that there are some errors here:

• They have substituted a lemniscate (∞) for the lazy-s (∽) symbol used in the title.


• Manatsu doesn't own a mobile phone and I don't recall her actually performing any spells.

As already revealed by translator Sam Pinansky, the two short live action specials featuring lead seiyuu Youko Honda and Masumi Asano on location in the show's setting of Kamukura are included. The full list of extras:

Uta∞kata Specials 1 & 2
Japanese Copyright Warnings
Japanese TV Safety Warnings
Uta∞kata Alternate Next Episode Previews
Clean Opening & Closing Animation
Trailers

The 13 episodes (including the unbroadcast OVA episode) are split over two DVDs with a runtime of 325 minutes. Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 as with the Japanese DVDs. The series has been rated as TV-MA (mature audience) in the US with sub-rating of "S" for sexual content, and 14+ in Canada.

The seiyuu commentaries which were available for every episode on the limited edition Japanese DVDs have not been included, presumably since they would add little value for the high cost of translating the unscripted conversational dialogue.

Section23 and Sentai Filmworks (aka ADV Films) have announced via DVD solicitation that they are releasing the complete series of Utakata on subtitled DVD on the 2nd November priced at $49.98.

Blurb:

SYNOPSIS: Before you make a deal with a girl in a mirror, reflect seriously on the source of the offer. Ichika Tachibana fails to take this advice in order to retrieve a lost charm, and as a result suddenly ends up with the magical forces of a Djinn at her command. Sounds like a good deal, right? Wrong. At first things seem wondrous, with her new friend Manatsu assisting her via text messages and the occasional spell; but as her powers grow, Ichika's situation quickly goes from magical to nightmarish, and she finds herself drawn into an ever expanding web of deceptions, lies and increasingly dangerous situations. For what she's really done is subjected herself to seeing mankind as the Djinn see them. Unfortunately, they don't seem to place a high value on human life. Not all fairy tales are for children as small charms lead to deadly conclusions in UTA-KATA- THE COMPLETE SERIES!

Links:

Section23 Films Announces November Slate (ANN Press Releases)
Section23 Films Adds Utakata, Taisho Baseball Girls (ANN News)
Sentai Licenses Utakata, Taisho Baseball Girls Anime Series (Anime on DVD)
Utakata Collection 1 (AoD review goes here)
Sentai Licenses Utakata, Taisho Baseball Girls Anime Series (AoD forums)
Section23 Films Announces November Slate (AoD Forums)
Uta∽Kata To Be Released In North America (Super Spong Brothers)
Sentai Filmworks/Section23 Announce New Nov. Titles Including "Uta-Kata" (toonzone)
Sentai Filmworks license Uta Kata and Taisho Baseball Girls (UK Anime Network)
Sentai Scores Uta-Kata, Taisho Baseball Girls (AnimeVision)
Sentai Filmworks Picks Up Taisho Baseball Girls and Utakata (Otaku Review)
Sentai Announces New Titles (AnimeNation)
Sentai Licenses Uta Kata and Taishō Baseball Girls (AnimeNation forums)

Uta Kata is getting a box set re-release on the 23rd February under Bandai's "Emotion The Best" label at the ultra cheap price of 7800yen. It contains all 12 TV episodes plus the 13th OVA episode on three discs. Considering that the two Summer Memory boxes cost 18000yen each and the seven individual DVDs were 5000yen this is an absolute steal for anyone yet to pick this underrated series up (although I don't know if any of the extras are included and there's no mention of a booklet), and I'm tempted to get it just for completion.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BCBA-3800
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B002W71U12
http://www.yesasia.com/global/1021627440-0-0-0-en/info.html

I've just discovered that not one, but two new Gocky Club doujins were released at the recent Comiket (Which makes three this year!). Both appear to be about Uta Kata, and I'm trying to get myself copies of both from Yahoo Auctions since Comiket Service hasn't uploaded anything new yet and the last time they sold out right away anyway.

The 15th edition of Keiji Gotoh's Gocky Club doujin was released today (well, yesterday now, in my time zone at least) and there are already copies up for sale on Yahoo Auctions along with a clear file. The book appears to contain sketches of the Uta Kata characters. For more information:
http://forums.thenexxus.org/index.php?showtopic=1955

I'm going to watch through this again so I'll be back with more detail and hopefully screencaps later, but I'll start with some brief notes (spoilers, naturally)