WOWOW (I always feel silly typing that out…) has announced the broadcast of and launched the official site for Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club. Currently, the site only contains the broadcast announcement, an intro page with some information about the show, and a staff page with… well… staff information. The series is set to air on WOWOW this April.

Quick Note: It was a slow news day, as you've maybe noticed. Look for additional news and figure information later on tonight early tomorrow(?) as it comes in.

The Miyazaki film, Howl's Moving Castle, has been nominated for an Oscar in the category of Animated Feature. The film, based on the British novel of the same name by author Diana Wynne Jones, was nominated alongside such films as Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride. The Oscars are set to air at 8PM EST on March 5th on ABC.

Did you guys get excited about the Natsuki figure I linked in the last Weekend Rollup? You remember… from this morning. Well Akibajin has the stuff you need in their latest photoshoot. They start with the classic poses. Then they go for some low angle stuff. Then they take her skirt off. So, if you're at work and such a thing would be inappropriate, I have to say… don't follow that link up there.

Just for fun, I'll post two of the pictures after the jump for those of you who just HATE going to those crazy Japanese language sites. Or if you're at work!

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Idea Factory has come together with Atelier-sai to bring Spectral Force 3 fans a quality piece of PVC. They are offering a special Hiro PVC along with a pre-order of the game. The figure is due out in March and the game has a projected release date of… sometime this April. Of course, the standard delays apply, so if it doesn't come out by then, don't cry to me, just be happy with your figure.

Full figure after the jump. And yes, I cropped out the logo from the other site. It was bothering me. Also the image was a bit wide. Also, there are two other images on the linked site.

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You like free stuff, right? Well Seven Seas Entertainment is offering up a free online preview of the upcoming Boogiepop and Others novel. The book is due out on February 14th wherever fine Japanese novelizations are sold. Oh, and let's give Seven Seas three cheers for offering up the Try-Before-You-Buy action. Other companies could learn a thing or two from those nice boys at Seven Seas. Be proud of your licenses people!

Figuratively, of course. VIZ has announced that it won't be releasing all of its newly acquired properties for home-direct consumption. That's right. It's planning to dangle the property teat out in front of the hungry networks and see what happens. What does this mean? In short, it means that shows that have already finished their runs, or large amounts of their runs, will first be dubbed, then be put on American TV, THEN be released on DVD for the same price as all the other DVDs that anime companies put out.

If it sounds like the fans who helped build VIS up are getting the raw deal, that sounds about right to me too. Among the series being offered to networks are The Prince of Tennis, MÄR, Zoids Genesis, and Megaman NT Warrior: Axess. Full press release after the jump.

Editor's Note: Please ignore my obvious bias here. I just think it's bad enough what they do to fans in the US as it is. All we want is our anime fix.

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The official site for the Bincho-tan animation is sporting a shiny new trailer for the upcoming show. The one-minute trailer is in Windows Media format, so good luck to all your Mac users out there. The series is set to start on February 2nd, so be sure to tune into TBS (in Japan, people…) and record the show so fansubbers can work their magic.

British fans of The South Bank Show and anime, rejoice! Apparently, the two are coming together for an upcoming episode of the show. Their site is an completely useless piece of crap for getting information, but ITV1 will be airing the episodes on February 19th. So be on the look out for that. The show is set to include information about the art form and, mostly, interviews with anime industry representatives.

Word on the street is that the Gintama manga from Hideaki Sorachi is going to be turned into an anime for TV Tokyo. Sunrise will be handling series animation and the show is due on TV this April. Just for sake of background, the series is about a samurai who is around in a time when samurai are no longer needed. I imagine comedy ensues. The manga began its serialized run in Shonen Jump in 2003.

Poison's old guitarist Richie Kotzen, along with a group called ZxR, is set to release an album of covers of famous Gundam songs. Presumably the songs have been reworked a bit and the album will include such hot artists as Cyndi Lauper. The album, entitled Ai Senshi, will be on store shelves March 22nd and the live tour (that's right) will also begin this March.

You'll have to forgive my sarcasm about this whole thing, but I stand fiem in my assertation that there is no meter for social taboos in Japan. As if the anime inspired musicals weren't proof of this… Of course, you have to appreciate that the guy has expanded out to other places and themes. Also, who doesn't just lie awake at night wishing for a Cyndi Lauper comeback… I mean… come on! That's all they really want. Some fun. When the working day is done… girls… they wanna have fun. Oh, girls just wanna have fun.