Hacker Cracks Funimations Servers Putting One Piece Simulcast on Hold

Late this fine Saturday evening ICv2 is reporting:

Funimation Entertainment, which, with the cooperation of Toei Animation, was planning to simulcast a subtitled version episode #403 of the One Piece anime series at 9pm (CDT) on Saturday night, just one hour after its Japanese premiere, has announced that their servers were hacked, and that the hacker posted episode #403 online.

Funimation issued the following statement on Saturday, “As a result of this illegal act, all U.S. and Canadian fans will be deprived of access to this great anime series for the immediate future. We will make every effort to locate and prosecute the perpetrator(s) to the fullest extent of the law and will provide updates regarding this most serious matter.”

Funimation and Toei’s plan to make new episodes of One Piece available within an hour of when they air in Japan was the latest development in a growing movement to make anime available online legally even faster than fan-subbed versions can be produced, but it appears that the actions of one individual may have jeopardized the entire program.

My guess is that the 'Hackers' are probably outside of the country anyway, so any 'effort to locate and prosecute' them will most likely be a waste of time.

I really don't understand why this would jeopardize Funi's online simulcast programming unless it put them in hot water with Toei over their license arrangements. In my mind's eye I can imagine a phone call or e-mail from a Teoi executive telling them to pull that content until they can guarantee they have a secure platform for it.

Something like this could further complicate any R1 studios plans to try to monetize Anime content online. If they can't guarantee the Japanese that the content will be secure and used only as agreed, they may find them reluctant to enter into future partnerships for online content. After all, the whole purpose of those 'licensed' simulcasts is to crack down on fan subs and torrents (good luck is all I have to say to that). If hackers can grab the content and make it available outside the licensed venue anyway, that pretty much defeats the purpose.

It also has to make you wonder what other info those hackers could gain access to, especially if the simulcast or download site offers free or paid subscriptions and has a database of customer information. Funi better have their IT crew in there plugging those holes quick. I hope they work weekends. :-)

It certainly is an interesting development. I'll post more as it becomes available. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Funimation has officially cancel One Piece simulcast for now, and the series has also been removed from both Hulu and Joost. The really strange thing is that Hulu has licensed the content directly from Toei and not via Funimation.

ANN is also reporting:

The North American anime distributor Funimation is not currently streaming episodes of the 2009 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime series on its website, even though it has been simulcasting episodes since it premiered in Japan and overseas last month. This series was one of the three television anime that Funimation was slated to stream this season within a week of the Japanese airings. Funimation has not announced if the new Fullmetal Alchemist anime's unavailabilty on its website is temporary or not. The series is still available on Hulu. The other two anime that Funimation had planned to simulcast were One Piece and Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~. Funimation cancelled its simulcast of One Piece on Saturday (the same day it was to have started) and cited the leak of the latest episode before it aired in Japan. Phantom episodes are still available for streaming.

Nothing ever seems to go as planned in this business...

Child actor Yumi Adachi's mom to debut as a porn star at age 51!

Everyone, meet Yuri Adachi. She is a new porn star — her first DVD comes out in July. Apparently, the 51-year old spend $60,000 getting full body cosmetic surgery and increasing her bust size by 3cm to get ready for her big debut.

The most interesting thing about Yuri Adachi is that she is the mother of Yumi Adachi, one of the first and most famous child actors in Japan. Yumi Adachi debuted in 1993 at the age of 11 as a pop singer, and then became really really famous after starring in a drama about an orphan a year later. Actually, scratch that. Yumi Adachi made her debut at the age of zero, when she started modeling for baby magazines.

So now everyone in Japan is gossiping about how screwy the parents of child actors must be to want to have their kid in the spotlight from such an innocuous age — Yuri Adachi has quickly become the epitome of that bad parent. I bet all the hype will drive a lot of people to watch her porn though.

Source : Tokyo Mango

First 'New' Season 2 Haruhi Episode Posted by Kadokawa

Kadokawa has begun streaming the eighth episode in this year's "renewed" airing of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime series on their YouTube channel. This episode, "Sasa no Ha Rhapsody" (Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody) is the first 'new' episode that did not air during the original 2006 run. It's REALLY good! - just brush up on your Japanese first... :-)

Horikita Maki @ Kindai (June 2009) Magazine

Otsuka and The Rolling Stones

This isn’t a “real” collaboration, but I thought it was pretty neat. Ai-chan has put together a new T-shirt representing her and the Rolling Stones.

On the front, it has a “maru-bero,” which is basically the Rolling Stones logo with Otsuka’s typical circle around it. On the back, it says “The Rolling Stones,” but the O’s have been replace with the “maru-bero” and the I has been replaced with the “maru-ai” (which is supposed to be the kanji 愛 inside a circle, but at this resolution it’s hard to tell.


I’m digging Ai-chan’s outfit with the shirt and skirt here:


The shirt’s on sale this month, available online and at the shows on her upcoming tour. It apparently comes in different colors, and is being sold in both men’s and women’s sizes.

Source : Tokyograph Blog

Obama Sushi

President Obama Illustration?? This is, in fact is sushi!

The ingredient is made from small shrimp and rice for the skin, black sesame seeds for the hair, and processed fish paste for the teeth. Let’s take a look at the final product, plus how all the little pieces were made.



This right here, though it doesn’t quite look it, is one of several cars which appear on the main platter. The window is made of cucumber, and the lights are made from mountain burdock root (山ゴボウ).



The American flag portion was made with lots of raw fish (what else?). The red stripes are made from Tuna, and the white made from raw squid. This is going to be the best portion, for sure.



Of course, nothing is complete without a big “USA” somewhere in it. To do this, leftover cooked egg was put in a food processor (will it blend?) with some rice. Let me tell you now, that’s only one way to make yellow rice. Back in my day…




Also made from the “yellow rice” were these smiley faces. Won’t be so happy when they get eaten. Well, it’s about time, let’s look at the finished product!



There it is with the master himself (Mr. Kawazumi). So, Are u interested to make this sushi? :D

Source : MSN Japan

Oldest Hotel on Earth

The Ryokan (japanese word for "traditional hotel") Hoshi is the oldest hotel in the world, since it was build in year 717! And the same family have run it all along this centuries. Placed in Hokiruki (Japan), the Hoshi Hotel looks like the perfect place to have a japanese old style vacation, including thermal baths, being one of the few places where both men and women can entered the baths together. Ok, it's 300 euros (385 US$) per night, but it's definitely a place I would like to visit before I die.



Source : Mymodernmet

Pepsi Shiso

There`s a new launch from Pepsi company in Japan..it`s called Pepsi Shiso.It`s been a discussed before by pepsi company, Two summers ago, it was Cucumber Pepsi. Last summer, it was Blue Hawaiian Pepsi. The disgusting novelty Pepsi flavor of this summer will be: Shiso-flavored Pepsi! It will hit convenience stores across Japan on June 23rd and be available for a limited time only.

Another Batch of Upcoming Figures Now Available for Pre-Order!

We've been doing more real work this week! :-)

We have a huge number of new Q3 and Q4 manga releases (about 300 books total) to compile and add to the site - this will take a couple of weeks while we work on them 'as time permits'. We also have about 60 new Q3 and Q4 pre-book figure releases to get up on the site. We made some progress on that front today, adding the following figures to the store site for pre-order:

Candy Boy: Yukino Sakurai 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Candy Boy: Kanade Sakurai 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Comic Unreal Vol. 2 CoverGAL Succubus Silvia 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Golgo 13: Golgo 13 Figma Action Figure w/ di:stage Basic Base
Gurren Lagann: Yoko Real Image Version 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Gurren Lagann: Yomako Teacher Version 1/8 Scale PVC Figure [DreamTech]
Gurren Lagann: Nia Swimsuit Version 1/8 Scale PVC Figure [DreamTech]
Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens Zange-chan 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Lucky Star: Kagami Hiiragi Gym Uniform Version 1/4 Scale PVC Figure
Persona 4: Rise Kujikawa Bikini Version 1/8 Scale Figure
Project Dynamite: Naked Star 1/5 Scale PVC Figure
Strike Witches: Yoshika Miyafuji 1/8 Scale PVC Figure [Alter]
To Heart 2: Silfa 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Vocaloid: Hatsune Miku 'The World is Mine' Vocal Series 1/8 Scale Figure w/ Frame (Brown Frame)
Vocaloid: Hatsune Miku 'The World is Mine' Vocal Series 1/8 Scale Figure w/ Frame (Natural Frame)

As always, we are posting the ones that I like the best to the site first. I know, this may not seem fair as opinions vary, but it's not a democracy is it? LOL! -_^ Enjoy!

Sgt. Frog Coming in September / Spice & Wolf Licensed!

Funimation has announced that it will begin releasing the Sgt. Frog Anime series on DVD in September, and we should have it available for pre-order around the 3rd week of June, so stay tuned.

Sgt Frog Synopsis - Keroro is a frog-like alien sent from his home planet on a mission to conquer Earth. But when his cover is blown, his battalion abandons him and he ends up in the home of the Hinata family. There, he's forced to do household chores and sleep in a dark basement that was once supposedly a prison cell haunted by the ghost of an innocent girl. He even spends his free time assembling Gundam model kits. During his stay, Keroro meets up with subordinates who were also stranded during their failed invasion.

In other news, Funimation announced at Anime Boston over the weekend that they have licensed Spice and Wolf, and we could be seeing that available on DVD as early as Q4 this year!Sweet!

Spice and Wolf Synopsis - Kraft Lawrence, a 25 year old peddler travelling from town to town selling and buying various things to make a living during a period much like Europe in the Middle Ages. One night when stopped at the town of Pasroe, he finds in his wagon a 250 year old pagan wolf deity girl named Holo. She appears to be that of a 15 year old girl, except for a wolf tail and ears. She introduces herself as the town's goddess of harvest who has kept it blessed with good harvests of wheat for many years. Despite having the responsibility to watch over the town, she wants to go back to her homeland in the north called Yoitsu, she believes the people have already forsaken her anyway and that she has kept her promise to maintain the good harvests. She manages to bargain her way out of the village by making a deal with Lawrence to take her with him. As they travel, her wisdom helps increase his profits, but at the same time, her true nature draws unwanted attention from the church.

More Manga Price Inflation Coming

I included the following blurb in our weekly newsletter a few weeks ago regarding upcoming manga price increases by Del Rey:

The days of $11, $12, and even $15 manga volumes seem to be coming back. As the total number of new manga releases continue to shrink, some publishers are looking to make up the difference by increasing prices - not exactly the smartest strategy during a recession. TokyoPop started the trend last year breaking from the well established $9.98 MSRP, raising the price of many new releases to $10.98 MSRP or higher. Now Del Rey will be following this pattern as well, announcing this week that they will be raising the MSRP by $1 on several upcoming releases including Alive 7, Nodame Cantabile 16, Le Chevalier d'Eon 7, Ghost Hunt 10, Pumpkin Scissors 5, Pastel 14, Minima! 4, Gacha Gacha: The Next Revolution 10, and Dragon Eye 8.

The thing that really vexes me about Del Rey (before I go on) is that their direct discounts stink for retailers like us, and they are already the least profitable manga line we carry by margin. And because we pay more on the wholesale side, they already have a higher margin on their books at the same MSRP vs. other publishers, and they are still raising prices.

But this apparently is the preferred method among all publishers for dealing with reduced sales volumes - increase prices on the front end. Now both Viz and Dark Horse Comics will be hitting everyone with higher MSRP levels for several future releases - in some cases as much as a 10-20% increase. These will include higher prices, as an example, for Naruto #46 and #47 (at $9.99 MSRP) and Berserk volume 31 (at $14.95 MSRP).

Viz told the folks at ANN:

"Viz Media made the decision to stay consistent with the pricing in the marketplace for this industry, which, in some cases might be a slight increase from previous years."

$2 doesn't sound like a lot of money, but it's 20%, and that level of increase certainly cannot be characterized as 'slight'. What if gas went up 20%? Ouch. Back in the 'good old days' (that's what I refer to anytime you ask me when Anime was actually a profitable business) there were maybe 50 manga releases in a whole year, and average MSRP's ran in the $15-$20 range per volume. This was before the sensation took hold and publishers moved to the smaller Japanese book trade format and standardized pricing at basically $9.98 MSRP for main line, and $7.98 MSRP for high sell through manga. The lower pricing was possible because the sales volumes made up for it. Now it's pretty clear that as sales volumes fall back to earth due the the economy, the studios will be edging pricing back up towards the old $15 average per volume level, and these recent increases (notice they tend to be on the MOST popular, highest selling series) here and there are their way of testing the waters. Those publishing execs have long memories but little imagination.

But some people argue "who cares? The retailers will just discount the books more".

Sure, let the retailers take the hit. Who cares about them. The reality is that if retailers have to cut prices way off MSRP to move manga (and cut their margins respectively), there are going to be a lot fewer choices for fans in the future. The current trend is very disturbing, and these price increases just put retailers like us in a box. Do we pass the increases on and risk reduced sell through, or keep the current price levels at decreased margins? It's the Kobayashi Maru scenario.

At some point retailers will no longer be able to subsidize stocking the low selling manga series against the revenue from the hit series. No one will be able to keep stocking much manga except the very best sellers on 10% (or lower) margins. Who would want to? The publishers are not doing us any favors with these price increases.

And I actually stuck up for Viz awhile back for sticking to their guns on pricing while everyone else was announcing increases. Apparently that was premature. Of course, if they are looking to drive another 1/4 of the existing market into Scanlations, I can't think of a better way. If anything, they should be dropping prices 10% - that would allow us to sell them to you at lower prices, keep more copies in stock, maintain our margins, and help fans that are having to stretch their budgets. ~sigh~

Funimation's August Releases - Now Available for Pre Order!

Funimation sent over their August release schedule last last week, and we've just completed building the items for pre-order on the store site. Here's what we've got:

Big Windup! Season 1 Part 1 DVD Boxed Set (Thin-Pak)
Darker Than Black, Vol#6 DVD
Devil May Cry Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Thin-Pak)
Devil May Cry Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set [BluRay]
Full Metal Panic the Second Raid Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Remastered)
Full Metal Panic the Second Raid Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Remastered) [BluRay]
Fullmetal Alchemist OVAs DVD
Gunslinger Girl Season 2 DVD Boxed Set (Thin-Pak)
One Piece Season 2 Part 2 DVD Boxed Set (Eps #66-78) (Uncut)
Pumpkin Scissors Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-24) (Thin-Pak)
Romeo X Juliet Collection Part #2 DVD Boxed Set (Eps #13-24)
Slayers TV Complete Series DVD Boxed Set (Slayers / Slayers Next / Slayers Try)
Welcome to NHK Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-24) (Thin-Pak)
When They Cry: Higurashi, Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Thin-Pak)

I'm glad to see Funi finally taking the initiative and scheduling some re-releases in BluRay format (faster please), and I'm also very happy to see both the 2nd season of Gunslinger Girl and Alchemist OVA's get on the schedule. The Fullmetal Alchemist OVA DVD will contain all 4 OVA short stories totalling about 30 minutes.

i am terribly sorry.

Still in crazy busy mode. Anime North went well and there was much classic anime discussioning, but I still have obligations to fulfill and miles to go before I sleep, or at least before I get a free couple of hours to write something on this blog. In the meantime you should go out and purchase this:



It's the latest issue of Otaku USA magazine, featuring a big article by yours truly all about Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999, with extra sidebar material by Tim "Star Blazers" Eldred! Additionally there's work by the always great Darius Washington, Mike Toole, Daryl "Destroy" Surat, and others much more talented than myself. So don't let my lazy behavior keep you from wallowing in 1970s Japanese cartoons, go buy magazine! Talk at you soon!!

Remember...

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row;
That mark our place;
and in the sky The larks,
still bravely singing,
fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.
Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved,
and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw The torch;
be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

Horikita Maki Docomo`s CM collection

Download Horikita Maki Docomo`s Cm :



Video 1 : Download Here
Video 2 : Download Here
Video 3 : Download Here

~Kitano Kii~ gallery 1

Some gallery of Kitano kii from her Blog…

 

Kitano Kii

New Idol!...i put a new idol link for this site..and she`s "Kitano Kii". ^_^

here`s some biography of her from wikipedia :

Kii Kitano (北乃きい, Kitano Kii, born on March 15, 1991 in Kanagawa Prefecture) is a gravure idol and an actress in Japan. She is under the Foster agency. Her real name is not disclosed. Her main hobbies include shopping and playing piano.Her favourite foods are melon, nattō, moyashi, galbi, tamago kake gohan and fried prawn. Kitano's manager chose to call her Kitano Kii because her manager thought she had an image of yellow. Kitano is a former member of the celebrity girls futsal team Miss Magazine. In 2005, Kitano won a Miss Magazine Award, becoming the youngest (age 14) to receive that award. In 2007, Kitano was chosen for the first time star in the drama Life. To properly portray her character, Kitano saved up and bought every volume of the manga, which the drama is based on. With Kofuku no Shokutaku, she has won 31st Japan Academy Award in the New Actor category. In February 2008, she has also won the 29th Yokohama Film Festival with the same film. After acting in Life and Kofuku no Shokutaku, she gained popularity, and then she was chosen to appear in the promotional video for the single released on October 10, 2007 by Little. Between December 2007 and January 2008, she was chosen as the third cheering manager for Japan's Highschool Soccer Tournament, following Maki Horikita and Yui Aragaki, who became so notable in 2005 and 2006, respectively, starring in drama series. She is too fond of watching MMA and a heavy fan of the Thai K-1 kick boxer Buakaw Por. Pramuk. She described Buakaw as her ideal man.

Gundam 00 Release Bumped Up About 5 Weeks

In yet another in a series of schedule changes and bumps from Bandai, we just got the word that both the Gundam 00 , Vol #1 DVD (Eps #1-9) and the Gundam 00 , Vol #1 DVD Special Edition (Eps #1-9) have been bumped from June 16th to July 21st.

Bandai cited a "slight manufacturing error that is being corrected before release". Don't blame me folks, I'm just the messenger.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Another Maki Pics

x

New Batch of Upcoming Figures Now Available for Pre-Order

We're currently working on our big weekly manga update (which will be published out shortly), but we've managed to get about twenty upcoming figures posted and available for pre-order before we had to settle in and do some real work today. :-) The following figures are now available for pre-order:

Capcom Girls Collection Final Fight: Poison Black Version 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Comic Aun Lala Pipiruno Pipiru Paparemmo 'Fresh Peach Version' 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Comic Aun Lala Pipiruno Pipiru Paparemmo 'Dark Grape Version' 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Creator's Labo #021: Emaretta-chan (Shunya Yamashita) 1/7 Scale PVC Statue
Creator's Labo #020: Roxanner (Shunya Yamashita) 1/7 Scale PVC Statue
Gurren Lagann: Yoko Swimsuit Version 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Hyakka Ryoran Samurai Girls: Yagyu Jubei 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen: Kanu in Apron 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen: Sonsaku Hakufu Figma Action Figure
Ikki Tousen Great Guardians: Ryomou Shimei in Apron 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Jiburiru the Devil Angel: Black Aries 1/8 Scale PVC Statue
Lineage II: Dark Elf Female 1/8 Scale Limited Edition PVC Figure
Odin Sphere: Mercedes SIF EX PVC Figure
Persona 4: Rise Kujikawa 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Queen's Blade Rebellion: Mirim ExModel Core 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Queen's Blade: Echidna (Ekidona) ExModel Core Special Edition 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Shakugan no Shana: Shana 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Shion no Yakata: Fujisawa Renji 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Shion no Yakata: Kiryu Asheryka Natsuki 1/7 Scale Figure
Strike Witches: Yoshika Miyafuji 1/8 Scale PVC Figure

We only have 24 of the Lineage II: Dark Elf Female Figures coming in, and since they are sold out just about everywhere else I recommend you secure your place in line before she's all gone!