Anime Vice Anime/Manga News

A lot of people have a distressing amount of free time right now: perhaps you live in Texas and your school has been cancelled due to swine flu, or maybe you've gotten laid off, or perhaps you're George W. Bush (...low blow?).

Well, FUNimation and ADV have each announced new access to various titles to fill those empty hours of your lives, and I'm betting plenty of them are in the “I've been meaning to check that out” category for you guys, so be sure you read on!

FUNi's Rojas literally points out the three shows they'll be adding to the FUNimation Channel. The first is Jyu Oh Sei, which is a rather unique anime based on a slightly older manga (which TOKYOPOP is printing), a shoujo sci-fi mystery drama in which twin boys find themselves on a planet for criminals and they must battle its leaders and become the Jyu Oh Sei if they want to go home. Next up is Aquarion, set in a vaguely Matrix-esque world (sans the Matrix itself), where humans are being harvested for their energy by creatures known as Shadow Angels, and only a trio of advanced fighter planes that can combine to become Aquarion.

And finally, a major favorite of mine: Ouran High School Host Club, in which Haruhi, a student of meager family, attends Ouran High, the school for the fabulously wealthy, on a scholarship. Trying to find a quiet place to study on the first day of school, Haruhi accidentally stumbles instead on the school's own Host Club and knocks over an expensive vase, falling into massive debt for the club. Haruhi becomes the club's gopher briefly, until they realize the scholarship student's potential as a host and make Haruhi over to be a sweet prince like themselves. Oh, and eventually they realize that Haruhi's a girl, too. Excellent stuff. Yes, it's got a lot of fanservice for girls, but it's got a lot more of that, including some of the best comedy of its season (the only competition really being The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, IMO).

ADV's Anime Network has teamed up with Nozomi Entertainment to stream three of its titles, starting with “atmosphere” anime ARIA, which tells the tale of young girls in the future training to become gondoliers on the planet of Neo Venizia. Light yuri high school tale Maria Watches Over Us is next; this appears to be the first seasn only of the adventures of Yumi Fukuzawa and her attendance at an all-girls Catholic high school.

And finally, the original Toward the Terra movie of 1980, which is definitely on MY “haven't checked out but should” list. Based on the classic manga by Keiko Takemiya, this sci-fi tale takes place in a world where some of humanity has developed into Mu, people with telepathic and other paranormal abilities (not in broad varieties like X-Men, mind), and the normal humans fear and try to destroy them.

Excellent stuff all around, and I bet most of you haven't already seen all six of these shows (I haven't)-- so I don't want to hear any whining that there's nothing to watch!

...Unless you don't have access to the FUNimation Channel or Anime Network On Demand.