Shirokuma Café (しろくまカフェ) is one of the rare gems that I picked up for this anime season because the gags are so hilarious. Unfortunately, the series creator mangaka Higa Aloha ヒガアロハ has announced via twitter that the manga series would be put on indefinite hiatus.

The problem actually lies with the anime adaptation, where Higa had not received any royalties payment nor given access to voice her thoughts on the anime production. Hence, she decided to stop the manga and got an intellectual property specialist to draft paperwork to Studio Pierrot.

It looks like her message finally gotten through to the management, where there is now a change of tone and she is allowed to overseee the anime production and perform checks on the character design and script. She was previously upset that the polar bear was drawn with four fingers instead of five.

Source: ANN and オタク.com｜オタコム

Alter has commenced preorder for this really cool looking scaled figure of the Accelerator, the most powerful esper in Academy City, in the anime/manga series To Aru Majutsu no Index (とある魔術の禁書目録).

He is scheduled for release in Oct 2012 and will be retailing for 8,190 yen. Interested folks can place your preorders with Hobby Search, Hobby Link Japan or CDJapan.

For Today’s Japan Photo, we enjoy this gorgeous photo capturing the golden lights of the setting sun in Shinjuku, Tokyo. It almost feels as if time stood still while photographer diloz took this shot.

Image Credit: diloz flickr

Yahoo Japan has posted a preview trailer of the first 8 minutes of the upcoming anime movie “Blood-C: The Last Dark” that is scheduled to premier in Japanese cinemas on 2 Jun 2012. I’ve captured some screenshot of the preview so folks can get a good sense of what to expect ^^

The story will take place in Tokyo one year after the television series. Folks who are not residing in Japan will still get a chance to watch the movie, because it will be streamed with English subtitles via NicoNico Douga after it is released in theatres.

Biglobe conducted a poll asking anime fans which is their favorite character in the anime series 咲-Saki-, the show that revolves around competitive mahjong.

In the end, 20827 votes were casted and the show’s protagonist Miyanaga Saki (宮永 咲) was chosen as the top favorite, followed by Onjouji Toki and Haramura Nodoka.

So how many of you watch the show? And who is your favorite? ^^

Yahoo! Japan has been streaming a new trailer for the next movie trailer for the upcoming “Berserk Golden Age Arc II: The Battle for Doldrey (ベルセルク 黄金時代篇II ドルドレイ攻略)”. The movie is scheduled to premier in Japan on 23 Jun 2012.

The first part of the trailer is a recap of the first movie, and the second half highlights some of the epic battle in the film. I particularly enjoy the part where Guts takes down 100 soldiers by himself.

Kotobukiya has commenced preorder for this lovely scaled figure of Charlotte Dunoa from the anime series IS <Infinite Stratos>. I just love those kawaii bunnies that are clinging onto her legs ^^

She is scheduled for release in Oct 2012, and will be retailing for 8,190 yen. Interested folks can place your preorders with CDJapan, HobbyLink Japan, and Hobby Search.

FREEing has commenced preorder for this sexy scaled figure of the “Electronic Warfare Angeloid” Nymph (ニンフ) from Sora no Otoshimono the Movie. Nymph is wearing a sexy bunnygirl outfit just like Ikaros and Astraea, which were announced earlier.

GoodSmile Company has commenced preorder for the Nendoroid figure of Takatsuki Ichika (貴月 イチカ), the female alien protagonist from the anime series Ano Natsu de Matteru (あの夏で待ってる).

Ichika comes with plenty of optional parts including some misted-up glasses so she seems like she feeling really flustered. She even comes with the two puppets that appeared in Kaito’s daydreams as well as the ray gun that was used during the filming of a movie in the series.

For Today’s Japan Photo, we take a look at this special Boeing 777 from the JAL which has features the portrait of one of the Olympic gold medal hopeful – gymnast Kohei Uchimura. Along with the portrait is the phrase “Gambare Nippon! to cheer him and the rest of the Japanese athletes on. JAL had inaugurated the aircraft to cheer on Japanese athletes participating in the London 2012 Olympics in the summer.

Image Credit: MSN Sankei

Fans passion for an anime series is often expressed through cosplay, but here’s a rather cool form of expression where Pokemon has inspired some really cool eye make-up that looks good enough to wear for a party.

Source: RocketNews24 

This year L’Arc-en-Ciel celebrated their 20th Anniversary with an awesome World Tour covering many cities, including Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai, Taipei, New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Jakarta, Seoul, Yokohama Osaka, Tokyo and Honolulu.

If you had missed out on them because they were not able to travel to your country, you might have a better chance for the next round because the band is launching a special campaign on their official website where fans can vote which cities the band would travel to for their next World Tour.

So do remember to cast your vote when voting starts! I’m definitely hoping this awesome band would return to Singapore for another time having been awed by their performance.