I was a high schooler when I discovered Twin Spica on that floating consortium of manga called Amazon.co.jp. Since then, I occasionally noticed its reappearance from time to time during my perusal of the Internet and its subsidiary manga news outlets. I am not a big fan of the slice-of-life genre, but when I started my venture into manga scanlation my mind was set on getting this jewel of nostalgia onto the mainstream. Unfortunately, due to my abrupt spasms of eccentricity and no thanks to the idiots that worked with me in my scanlation group; I am sad to admit that no headway was made and the project disappeared into notoriety. I assume some other group attempted to translate it at some point. However, that’s irrelevant to me, since by that point I was losing interest in providing scanlation to ingrates. Fortunately, a rare foray into Kinokuniya after years of absence (due to my work) had me stumbling upon this title once more.

Vertical, Inc. acquired the rights to Twin Spica about a year ago; and I guess at some point this year the first volume was released. I of course, bought it with my pocket change and haven’t regretted it. I plan on purchasing all sixteen volumes as they come out, and helping out the dwindling manga companies still hanging on by loose threads here in America. In all honesty, Twin Spica is a perfect demonstration of good choice and foresight I never expected to see from a domestic publisher. If only Dark Horse and Viz could start making the same improvements.

The story for Twin Spica is simple, but like most simple manga, tends to become convoluted with complex emotional details and character ordeals. I usually become infuriated by such titles because story progression is marred by drawn-out conflicts, and usually with no significant actions to depict. Still, I must admit conjuring emotions out of me is a better alternative to feeling nothing at all. And in that respect, Twin Spica truly inspires a side of me that I thought died along with the rest of my childhood. I highly recommend this manga to just about anyone with a sweet tooth.

Summary? You want a summary? Okay fine, I’m not very good at that… but okay, here I’ll try it.

Asumi Kamogawa has dreamed of being a “rocket driver” since she was six-years-old. Now aged 14, she passes her entrance exam to Japan’s Tokyo Space School, being one of the few accepted into its Astronaut Training program. Countless trials and tribulations await her at this school for the gifted, and can little Asumi pull through them all? Her short stature fools most into thinking she doesn’t have what it takes, but just like a star needs a closer glance to display its size, she proves she’s much bigger and brighter than anyone could have imagined.

Ugh. I hate these things.

I’m a bit behind the times; no thanks to StarCraft II. Goddamn, I feel ashamed.

In any case, I just found out that Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, or SoreMachi for short, is getting animated. By manglobe of all people. That almost sounds like a bad thing, since the only anime I liked from them is… well, I can’t remember liking anything from them.

Cafe Seaside’s site doesn’t seem to have anything right now, except three guys comparing waist sizes. To be honest, I didn’t even think SoreMachi was all that popular. After all, aside from me I don’t know anyone who reads it. But geez, now it’s even featured on the front page of TBS’s Anime FESTA! So the discontinued project that I never got around to continuing will hopefully get picked up by a far better (and more active) translator…

I’d suggest buying the manga, if only just to enlarge your penis length.

Just reposting the image, should TBS take it down.

In between the new titles the manga publisher Tokyopop licenses, they picked a series from many that they mass dropped to return. They previously released the fifth volume with some major lag between the time they released the later books because licensing issues. Volume seven will hit stores August 31st despite being announced canceled July of 2008 along with volume six, even though six apparently came out December of 2009 last year. Lagoon Engine is one of many that appear on Tokyopop’s site which falls behind in lack of news, people moving on, bookstores not carrying it, or has people assuming it’s canceled for good.

Lagoon Engine is another series by Sugisaki Yukiru of DNAngel, Rizelmine, and Candidate for Goddess. All three of those even made it to an anime form and DNAngel had quite the following way back then. The story of this manga gives you two brothers who can’t speak each others real name or they’ll be easily defeated by spirits called Maga. Yen is the brighter of the two and much more serious while Jin is the impulsive and a little dim. You have a grown up cross dresser, mystery around some of the main characters that the author hints to, and a neat mildly chibi style for many of the characters. I personally won’t be surprised by another delay in release or even no release of volume seven though. Thanks Tokyopop.

Image Source – Pixiv
Source – Anime News Network

Sometimes I wonder if I’m too critical towards shounen publications. I mean, they are intended for young boys, so perhaps I shouldn’t even be reading these things… Well, if that thought had ever crossed my mind I’d be doing something productive like finding a job. Here’s my ranking on various monthly magazines targeted toward teenage boys. more…

The fourth volume of Hen-Zemi will come coupled with an OVA. That is, unless Kodansha is lying to me again. Regardless of the circumstances, I’ve already pre-ordered it.

Granted, this news is old. Old as the stars. I did a google bing search on my “discovery” and found an anime news network article already announcing what I thought to be my little secret. I’ve ordered the third volume of Hen-Zemi, but it’s been nearly three months now and I still haven’t received it, thanks to my brilliant stupidity and the extremely cheap SEA shipping option offered at bk1. So I never had the chance to see this little announcement in the back that would have made clear this information.

But I’m not blaming anyone in particular here… The only thing we can really blame is my lack of enthusiasm in perusing the internet for the metaphorical scraps of smut from the tabletop. In any case, Hen-Zemi’s OVA will be amazing. I’m sure of this for several reasons:

1. Kana Hanazawa will voice the female lead, Nanako Matsutaka. Kana has several merits going for her, the least of which is that she’s younger and prettier than me. Her most notable role, faithfully represented with great enthusiasm I might add, happens to be Potemayo from the anime of the same name. I believe her lesser roles include Kobato (Kobato.), Zange (Kannagi), Suou (Darker Than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini), and stuff.
2. XEBEC will handle the animation. Throughout history, XEBEC has managed to make even the greatest concepts into a neat mediocre anime series. 
3. The script is written by someone who has yet to write anything amazing, and the director has hardly any repertoire. When you dig a hole as deep as this, then you’re bound to strike oil.
4. Did you know that Gregory, our token furry-eared foreigner swallows goldfishes?
5. There is an animated condom on their front page.There is an ANIMATED CONDOM on their front page!

So essentially, I am looking forward to it.

You can read the first entry about this here.

Google deleted the thread asking them to contact me for more information. Admittedly, it had turned into a shitstorm of abuse. They have not contacted me, despite the fact that several Google employees have been active in that forum over the period that it was posted.

So, I take this to be a sign that we should accept that our block is not going to be overturned, nor are they willing to communicate why.

So be it, that’s their right. They’re a company, and can do whatever they feel is best for them. I find it to be a slightly impolite way to treat someone, but whatever.

As for where we go from here, I think fighting this in a traditional sense is going to be futile. I don’t even know who or what we’re up against. WordPress seems to have declared support for us in that they haven’t deleted us yet. They’ve surely received a load of complaints over the last few days, but we’re still here. For that I thank them, and urge you to support them if you can.

You can read the full story from its source. There’s even a neat quote from Charlton Heston about civil disobedience. And again, link page is safe, but the rest is mostly not safe for work or school.

Google has also reported them to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, even though the site contains none that relates to them. The poster of this announcement lives in Japan and is fairly safe from legal actions, but those who work with him are not. They’re brave enough to continue from this loss and they’ll surely do fine with how wide spread their torrents and fans are. I may not be a fan of lolicon of any sort, but I wish them the best of luck and I’m heavily considering dropping anything Google related. Microsoft’s Bing search engine isn’t too bad, I can easily switch back to Safari from Google Chrome, and I have already found myself using Nico Nico Douga more than Youtube. Such content is purely subjective.