Otaku Culture

Aniplex USA is offering an early look at the English dub for the Blue Exorcist anime, which is set to be part of Viz Media's upcoming Neon Alley network. Bryce Papenbrook provides the voice of Rin Okumura, and Johnny Yong Bosch handles Yukio Okamura. More cast information should roll out of San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, but for now check out the preview of their work below. What do you think of the English dub so far? Source [Crunchyroll]

Source: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Inc. press release Official Movie Site: disney.go.com/arrietty (US) Coming this fall, the third highest-grossing movie of all time and the #1 movie in the world, MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS assembles as you’ve never seen it before on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital and On-Demand platforms on September 25, 2012. In anticipation of this release, Marvel is also launching an all-new App in July -- “The Avengers Initiative: A Marvel Second Screen App” (available for the first time on iPhone) -- that gives fans unprecedented access to exclusive content building up to the home entertainment release. Providing viewers with the ultimate in-home experience, the premium 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack provides 5-unique ways to enjoy MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS (on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy and Digital Download of “Avengers Assembled” Music from and inspired by the film) and brings to life the Super Hero team-up of a lifetime in a whole new dimension on Blu-ray hi-def with stunning visual effects, superior sound and unparalleled bonus content. Continued...

New Action-Packed Film by Dante Lam Source: Well Go USA, MPRM Communications Official Movie Site: theviralfactormovie.com Special Thanks to Leif Helland Rising superstars Jay Chou (THE GREEN HORNET, TRUE LEGEND) and Nicholas Tse (SHAOLIN, THE STOOL PIGEON) team up in award-winning Director Dante Lam’s (THE BEAST STALKER, THE STOOL PIGEON) all-action, bio-terror thriller THE VIRAL FACTOR (逆戰, Ni Zhan, 2012), debuting on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital August 28th from Well Go USA Entertainment. The film also stars Andy On (WHITE VENGEANCE, THREE KINGDOMS) and Bing Bai (SHAOLIN) in the story of an International Security Affairs agent (Chou) who gets caught up in a deadly, international crime ring developing biological weapons. The release includes a new English dub. Continued...

Is it Batman? Is it an X-Man? No, it's a Hero!

Source: Sentai Filmworks press release Official Site: taritari.jp (Japan) Special Thanks to David Williams Sometimes you lose your voice, and sometimes you find it with a little help from Sentai Filmworks’ latest acquisition, TARI TARI (タリタリ, 2012). Direction and series composition by Masakzu Hashimoto (PROFESSOR LAYTON & THE ETERNAL DIVA) and featuring character designs by Kanami Sekiguchi (CANAAN) and music by Shiroh Hamaguchi (AH! MY GODDESS, GIRLS UND PANZER). The last year of high school is always a time of both looking forward and looking back. Before of you lives the future, alternately bright and scary. Behind you lie memories, both happy and sad. And somehow, in the course of one year, you have to reconcile those two and decide where your life is going to go. For Wakana Sakai, who had started studying music, it’s time to face the tragedy that made her abandon that path. For Sawa Okita, it’s about her dreams of riding professionally. And for Konatsu Miyamoto, it’s about bringing her friends together through the magic of song. Continued...

Recently I was lucky enough to take a "break of dawn" kayak excursion with none other than the legendary Pappysoup, over at Bare Hill Pond in Harvard, MA.

Of course I brought along a few companions for the trip, as evidenced by the lily pad crouching going on in the above pictures (iPod shots). What an incredible place, with a glass like surface on the water that looked unreal. Pappy was a fishing machine and we explored just about every corner of the pond (I saw a turtle as well).

All of these outdoor shots have been part of a process that is leading up to our end of July release, as nature plays an important part of certain aspects related to what we have been cooking. We want to make this drop something extra special, in honor of our 5th anniversary of making full production toys (which is this month).

Thanks for bearing with all of these nature shots, I personally hope some of you have been enjoying at least a few of them. They were really fun to shoot!

Michelle, Marc, Megan, Jesse and I would  like to wish everybody an awesome SDCC this week! We already miss seeing all of our old friends, but have been having a great time being with our families after so many years of heading out west for the big show.  On a related note, NYCC is shaping up to be pretty packed with a solid roster of awesome artists, so maybe keep some time open in October and be prepared to eat after the show!

Sneaks of the July release are on deck and will be popping up very soon!