Shiroi Hane's Anime Blog

Negima LE Manga 23-25 and OSTs available for pre-order

2008-05-16T13:01:07Z

All three of the Limited Edition volumes of Negima including the new OVA discs are now available for pre-order on Yes Asia:

Magister Negi Magi 23 (Limited Edition / w DVD)
Magister Negi Magi 24 (Limited Edition / w DVD)
Magister Negi Magi 25 (Limited Edition / w DVD)

All three are priced at $55.2 and are due out on August 14th, November 16th and February 16th respectively.

Kiddy Grade 2 cosplay

2008-05-10T21:31:28Z

I've randomly discovered some quite good Japanese cosplay pictures of Ascule and Que Feuilles on Touchi Ginko's site Monpari:

http://monpari.raindrop.jp/kd2_aws_1.html
http://monpari.raindrop.jp/kd2_aws_2.html

http://monpari.raindrop.jp/kd2_askl_01.html
http://monpari.raindrop.jp/kd2_askl_02.html

Kiddy Grade flyer

2008-05-05T17:14:15Z

It's not a big update, but it's an excuse for adding a new picture to the blog. The official Kiddy Grade site has added a picture of a flyer for the DVD boxes. Naturally I want one, but since picking one up requires either a physical presence in Japan or extortionate charges on Yahoo! Auctions through SMJ I may have to stick with the picture for now.

[edit="a little later" /]I've not done this for a while, but since my Kiddy Grade iGoogle plugin just flagged a couple of major hits, thought it was time for another links dump:

Ask John: Where is Kiddy Grade 2? (Animenation blog, 20080501)
I Want My Kiddy Grade (Impartially Biased blog, 20080504)
Kiddy Grade Fan Site (new fansite by a member of the FUNimation forums)
Kiddy Grade 2 (Advanced Anime forums, 20080306)
Kiddy Grade 2 (the waiting's simply killing me) (Viki Rosenzveig's blog, 20070705)
Season 2 Coming Soon (IMDb Kiddy Grade forums, 20061002)
Kiddy Grade 2?! (Felix's Anime Gaming Tech Ramblings, 20070122)
Kiddy Grade 2 pilot (Felix's Anime Gaming Tech Ramblings, 20070526)
KG2 (nebby_99's Livejournal, 20070528)
Date on Kiddy Grade 2? (Hongfire Anime Network forums, 20080205)
Kiddy Grade FanClub (MyAnimeList)
New season of kiddy Grade's single announced (Minitokyo forums, 1y 14wk ago)

(Like I said, some are really old but it's been a while since the last dump, and some only turned up relatively recently)

Kiddy Grade box art

2008-05-02T01:18:24Z

Amazon have added new box art to their listing for the first DVD box. I don't know if it is final or just a prelimiary mock-up, it has logos etc. on it this time around, but is different to what was pictured in the promo video.

kiddy Grade re-runs

2008-04-26T08:48:34Z

I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but since the news has been posted up on the official site to remind me thought I'd give it a mention. The original series is being repeated on AT-X starting the 28th of April:

http://www.at-x.com/program_detail/index.html/2240/

The second episode is scheduled foth the 5th which means, if they keep showing an episode a week, that they will show the last episode ~~some time around the end~~ on the 6th of October by my reckoning. The optimist in me says that, like the movies and the box sets, this resurgence of interest in the original series is leading up to the broadcast of the sequel, but it is fairly safe to assume that this is not going to happen till after the original series has finished it's re-run at the earliest.

Kiddy Grade DVD box PV

2008-04-24T10:46:37Z

A short promotional video for the forthcoming DVD boxes has been posted up on the relevant page of the official site . The only real thing of interest is what appears to be mockups of the boxes themselves with the images posted before against some sort of background. ~~I can't take screencaps on this PC but when I can I'll post it below.~~ The direct link to the video is http://www.kiddygrade.com/1/pv/kiddydvdbox.wmv.asx.

Kiddy Grade site update

2008-04-11T23:19:21Z

The original Kiddy Grade site has been updated (for the first time since 2004, apart from the pulling of the BBS) with a new page detailing the boxes. There's nothing new to see there, but the the product pages on chara-ani (below) make note that the movies did very well, especially for a late night weekend showing, and that the K-G.2 pilot DVD sold 8000 copies.

http://www.chara-ani.com/details.asp?prdid=K22803002
http://www.chara-ani.com/details.asp?prdid=K22803003

Kiddy Grade box 2

2008-04-03T00:56:38Z

Details on the second Kiddy Grade box are now up on Amazon Japan (not on CDJapan or Yesasia yet; I'll add the links when I have them)
Extras are another interview with Keiji Goto, another new sound layer (audio drama), a "Chevalier Chapter" with Norio Wakamoto this time, and a new jacket illustration by Megumi Kadonodono (presumably the one included below). As with the first box there are 7 discs (6 for the episodes and one for the extras) in a digipak.

[edit=20080304]
Now listed on Yes Asia: kidhigureidobokkusu02shokai
[/edit]

[edit=20080425]
Just had the following from CDJapan:

To secure your first press copy of any of the items listed
below, preorder on or before May 3.

*********************************************
KABA-4602
Animation/Kiddy GradeDVD Box 2 [Limited Release] DVD
19000 yen US$180/105.38 Release Date:2008/06/27
Description:Second DVD box set from anime series "Kiddy Grade" includes episodes 13 through 24 on six DVDs plus one bonus DVD with director's interview and audio drama "Special Sound Layer 2."
URL - http://cdjapan.jp/d.html?KEY=KABA-4602
[/edit]

Gocky Club 22

2008-03-14T00:36:27Z

The Gocky Club site has had a bit of a redesign. The only new thing, except maybe a couple of new banners, is that Gokikura 22 will be out in August 2008 (At comiket 74 in other words). The (provisional) title is Gocky Colour 02, which means it will likely be full colour again like Gokikura 14 (aka Gocky Colour 01). I've never actually scanned the cover of that one (it is on Minitokyo and has Eclair on the front, Lumiere on the back and "keep out!" tape) but I do have a scan of Manatsu from the inside cover.
In other news, they are showing re-runs of Kiddy Grade on AT-X starting on the 28th of April.

Kiddy Grade Japanese box sets

2008-03-08T01:31:20Z

I've just spotted a listing for "kidhigureidobokkusu01shokai" on Yes Asia. A more sane translation of this would be "Kiddy Grade Box 1" and the release date is the 23rd of May.
It's not on CDJapan so I don't yet have a product code, and the official site has not been updated. Yes Asia for whatever reason also attach the Japanese product info as jpegs so I can't autotranslate it, but it contains the first 12 episode so is the first of two boxes and apparently also has interview(s) and a new "Special Sound Layer" audio drama. The major downside is the price of ¥19000 - $180.99 (over £90) using Yes Asia currently conversion rate.
The obvious question to ask myself is: do I really want to spend yet more oodles of money on this series for a relatively small amount of extras? I probably will, but not without wincing.
If/when I find any more info I'll update this post.

[update1]
OK, the product code is KABA-4601 and I've found it on Amazon (completely skipped my mind to look there earlier).
Amazon has a little more info than Yes Asia: there is an extra discs containing an interview with Keiji Gotoh. The new Sound Layer is an "Eclipse Chapter". The jacket is illustrated by Kadonosono Megumi and features Eclair (the second box will presumably be Lumiere). It will be a Digipak.
Yet again, it appears we are being shafted with regards to commentary tracks (has Aya ever done any commentaries yet?), which might suggest that they were just releasing the original discs again without remastering however asread is credited with production assistance again so, unless this is an error or is referring to something on the extra disc, then some sort of modifications have been made to the original Gonzo animation (possibly inserting reanimated scenes from the movies or something).
~~The following image is from Getchu:~~
While it is clearly not an actual package illustration it is a piece of art that I've personally not seen before.

[update2]
Tower Records has the second box, KABA-4602, slated for the 27th of June.

[update 3 - 2008-03-26]
Now up on CD Japan and Neowing. They say:
"DVD box set release from anime series "Kiddy Grade" includes episodes 1 through 12 on six DVDs plus one bonus disc with interview with the director, audio drama, and more!"
The fact that the first half of the series is again over six discs suggests that they are just repackaging the original DVDs.

[update 4]
Changed the image to a slightly better one from Amazon, below.

Kiddy Grade figures

2008-02-07T08:51:32Z

FUNimation have switched distrubution from their own ZStore to Righstuf. I've just noticed that they have those exclusive pre-assembled and coloured figures also. Assuming that you can now order them from Europe, which is why I never got them when they were in the ZStore, I'm going to be out of pocket again sometime soon...

Kiddy Grade Figure: Duo $81.95
Kiddy Grade Figure: Eclair $70.95
Kiddy Grade Figure: Lumiere $52.95

Gigantic Formula manga

2008-02-04T22:17:46Z

The first volume of a Gigantic Formula manga by Oka Shouhei has just been released (it's possible been running in Dengeki Daioh without me realizing it since I don't get that magazine)

Dengeki page
Yes Asia
Took me a while to find, as it is under "kishin taisen giganteitsuku fuo miyura" (the DVDs use "kijin taisen"). Eventually nailed it by misspelling the author as "oka shiyouhei".

FUNimation's Kiddy Grade site redesign and two streaming episodes

2008-01-30T06:12:46Z

FUNimation have a new version of their Kiddy Grade site up at http://www.funimation.com/kiddygrade/. It is again 100% flash but has a nice splash page and also features the first two episodes streaming in a (very small) window. The downside, and it is a big one, is that they have removed all the actual content related to the series (much of it fairly unique as they had access to translations of the Japanese material that all I can do is squint at.. luckily I have a copy of it all on my harddrive still). They have also nixed the domain (intentionally or not I'm not sure) - http://www.kiddygrade.tv/ is currently returning a 404 error however http://www.kiddygrade.tv/index.html works. I suspect it is because the two sites are served from the same physical location and they have renamed the index file without updating the config for the domain.

Comment on comments

2008-01-13T01:40:55Z

Just thought, having just turned up some valid comments from months ago that were lost in this blogs junk filter, I'd point our that all comments on this blog are moderated and may well not appear, if ever, or be replied to quickly since, due to the volume of spam comments, I have the filters turned all the way up and it takes hours either paging through deleting junk manually or running custom SQL queries to sieve out the valid comments (ironically, the only comments that make it through the junk filter are usually junk..)
For general comments or queries I would recomment visiting the forums rather than relying on comments.

In other news, Gotoh has put a now top image up on his site for the first time in over a year.

Kiddy Grade Truth Dawn

2008-01-04T23:44:55Z

The DVD has finally made it though the post, so Here's some photos and screencaps. Not really a great deal to say since there's really no new scenes or dialog, just the new stills I mentioned earlier. The's a couple of short scenes of Chevalier in his office (the first one watching the news from the end of ep18 and the second monitoring the construction of the Deucalion while holding the key) I can't place exactly so I need to check back through the DVDs at some point. The ending theme (Anata no Yō desu by Savage Genius) starts playing during the epilogue, in the reception scene with Fleur after the scene with baby Che. The original ending montage of Eclair, Lumiere and Armbrust on the Calliope has been dropped and replaced by another montage of all the major characters like the one in the first movie. The short scene of Epilogue-verison Eclair in action has also been dropped. The on-disc extras is a "long" interview with Gotoh on location at a radio telescope array or something similar.

Anyway, a breakdown of how everything was squished down this time:

0:00:00 - 0:00:06 Presented by gímik & KADOKAWA SHOTEN PUBLISHING CO.LTD
0:00:07 - 0:00:15 Chevalier
0:00:16 - 0:14:37 Episode 19 (14m21s)
0:14:38 - 0:14:52 Chevalier
0:14:53 - 0:30:17 Episode 20 (15m26s)
0:30:18 - 0:42:51 Episode 21 (12m34s)*
0:42:52 - 0:57:26 Episode 22 (14m35s)
0:57:27 - 1:11:56 Episode 23 (14m30s)
1:11:57 - 1:26:37 Episode 24 (14m19s)

*there was some overlap between the end of ep21 and the start of ep22 but neither epsiode has exactly the same scenes in exactly the same order and some more were cut for the movie so it was really hard to place the cutoff point. It is defnitely somewhere between 0:42:23 and 0:42:52 (which are the positions of the last and first scenes that are only in one of the episodes respectively) and the bits in between have more in common with ep21 (the "Deucalion ga!" line being in a slightly different place) but there is no natural cutoff, FTB or musical break.

links:
Kiddy Grade: Truth Dawn (NyanNyan anime blog)