So , here it is , the Fall 2009 Version 1 Anime list , Personally im looking forward to Inuyasha and Darker than black , but lets see how things turn out.

Trigun fans behold! Those who loved the series will get chills , even though English voice acting isn’t that great , its still here! ( well , its more like engrish)

But , let me not keep you waiting further , off you go ! Clicky Clicky!

Japanese variant of hot pot. The dish is related to sukiyaki in style, where both use thinly sliced meat and vegetables, and usually served with dipping sauces. However, it is starkly different in taste; shabu-shabu is more savory and less sweet than sukiyaki. It is considered a winter dish but is eaten year-round.

The dish is traditionally made with thinly sliced beef, though modern preparations sometimes use pork, crab, chicken, duck, or lobster. Most often, tender ribeye steak is used, but less tender cuts such as top sirloin are also common. A more expensive meat, such as Wagyu, may also be used for its enhanced flavor and texture.

(On a side note : The wagyu cattle’s genetic predisposition yields a beef that has a high eating quality through a naturally enhanced flavor, tenderness and juiciness, and thus has a high market value.)

Shabu-shabu is usually served with tofu and vegetables, including hakusai Japanese cabbage, chrysanthemum leaves, Japanese nori (edible seaweed), onions, carrots, Japanese shiitake mushrooms and Japanese enokitake mushrooms. In some places, Udon, Mochi and/or harusame noodles may also be served.

Shabu-Shabu is a lot like Fondu , well , the concept of fondu – Boiling your food and preparing it in a certain way you like.  You basically take your piece of meat , and swirl it around in the water when the meat is cooked (which is rather fast , because usual shabu-shabu meat slices are very thing) you usually dip it in some sort of sauce (ponzu and goma , Ponzu which is citrus bases , and goma Sesame seeds) and then eating with a bowl of steamed rice.

After all the meat and vegetables are finishes , the Broth in the pot is usually combined with the remaining rice , as a sort of rice soup.

Here is a short video i found , ignore the the girl talking , only reason i chose this video was because its one of the few i could find that gives you a good idea how everything looks.

And then this video , only for a select few , but it made me laugh , Chinese Music Video on Shabu-Shabu:

After a lot of speculation last summer when rumours of reports of a second season were leaked we can finally confirm a second season for DTB.

It will be directed by  Tensai Okamura with Character Design / General Animation Director  Komori Takahiro. Lets Hope BONES studio pulls through and makes an amazing sequal

(Note that opinions on this anime varies quite a lot , and i know a lot of people will be really happy about this , while others will say “Dont they have better things to do?” )

So , Here is the first version of upcoming Anime for the summer! (Thanks to chartfag for the chart). A few of them have been mentioned before – There’s quite a few I’m looking forward too , but its still some time before they arrive which means for now we drool over K-ON!

Heres a roundup of the names so far: ( remember that these are not final and can change)

June:

• 「ToLOVE-Ru (OVA)」- *Volume 2 (06/04)
• 「Weiß Survive」- *on TBS (06/05) ~16 episodes
• 「La Corda D’Oro ~secondo passo~ Episode 2」- *on Kids Station (06/05)
• 「Chinyuuki ~Tarou to Yukai na Nakama-tachi~ (OVA)」- *Volume 1 (06/12)
• 「Kawa no Hikari」- *on NHK (06/20)
• 「Minami-ke (OAD)」- *bundled w/ 6th Manga Vol. (06/23)
• 「Utawarerumono (OVA)」- *Volume 1 (06/24)
• 「Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas – Meiou Shinwa (OVA)」- *Volume 1 (06/24)
• 「Fight Ippatsu! Jyuden-chan!!」- *on AT-X (06/25)
• 「Akane-iro ni Somarusaka Hardcore (OVA)」- (06/26)
• 「Cobra The Animation: Time Drive (OVA)」- *Volume 2 (06/26)
• 「Evangelion: 2.0 You Can [Not] Advance (Film)」- (06/27)
• 「Suzu 3 Tarou」- *on BeeTV (06/2009)
• 「The Asylum Session (Film)」- (06/2009)
• 「Miyamoto Musashi: Souken Ni Haseru Yume (Film)」- (06/2009)

July:

Primastea will be releasing an animated work-out OVA, entitled 「Issho ni Training」, and will star a busty 16-year old named Hinako. The DVD promises to instruct its viewers with daily exercise routines — such as push-ups, sit-ups, and squats — needed for muscle training. Over 30 different variations are included. The new 24-minute disc is scheduled for release April 24th — retail price: 2,100 yen.

So , its not really the middle of the year , but DAMN do i wish it was ^.^  , the anime scene is looking quite promising for the next few months . July is looking a bit dry , with no specific releases announced yet , but when June hits a whooping  7 new series have already been announced!

The past month we’ve seen some pretty interesting stories , one of which is K-ON! (which I’m loving by the way ) and Full Metal Alchemist : Brotherhood ( Like , erm…It’s like…JUST GET IT!).  Dragonball fans should be loving the new remastered , re-recorded and improved Dragonball Kai , which is a remake of the previous episodes in HD. I haven’t gotten around to watching Shangri-La or 07-Ghost , but be sure ill inform you guys when I’ve seen it!

Click Here For a Short summary of  Spring selection of anime!

Now , Lets take a look at a few of the Anime coming in July :

Bakemonogatari (TV)

Bakemonogatari is an upcoming TV anime by studio Shaft, based on the supernatural comedy novels signed by NisiOisiN and set to begin in July 2009. A pretty obvious play on words, the title Bakemonogatari is formed from “bakemono” and “monogatari”, loosely translating it to Monster Stories (Monstories?). Each chapter of the original novels revolves around one heroine with different powers (e.g. vampire, weightless etc.), and each chapter’s story plays an important role in the next one. The series primarily focuses on a conversation between characters; it contains a certain amount of parody to other series, media, word plays and meta humor

Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~ (TV)

A magical girl action anime series based off a pachinko game has been green lit for this summer. ‘Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~’ (which from here on out is going to be referred to as ‘Umi Monogatari’). Names attached to the project are actually fairly impressive so far: ZEXCS (Sister Princess, Chrome Shelled Regios) will be producing the animation while fantasy magical girl heavyweight Junichi Sato (Sailor Moon, Kaleido Star, Aria) and Yuu Kou will be serving as series directors.

The “transforming magical girl action” story centers on Marin and Urin, two “pure” sisters who live alongside the fish in the sea, but yearn to be in the world beyond the water and above ground. One day, a beautiful ring falls in the middle of the sea, and Marin and Urin retrieve it. The two decide to leave their waterbound world for the first time to deliver the ring.  After an arduous journey, they come across an isolated island where a high school girl named Kanon lives. The encounter between Marin and Kanon — the maiden of the sea and the maiden of the skies — awakens a hidden power as the world is threatened by an enveloping darkness.

Hitomi shimatani , compared to some other popular Japanese artists , shes fairly “New” to the music industry , Having released her first Debut Single in 1999.  All that i’ve got to say about her is … DAMN i love her music. I can listen to her music over and over on repeat all day long , and every song just fits right in!

Her music has been popping up all over the Japan ,appearing in more than one popular anime series ( The Law of Ueki,  InuYasha)

On July 16, 2008, Hitomi released her seventh studio album, Flare. On March 4, 2009, she released her thirtieth single, SMILES, which is being used as the theme song for the drama Parallel, in which Shimatani herself stars.

(on a side note , i absolutely LOVE the new single SMILES )

Shimatani had a part in the Prince of Tennis Live-Action Film as the character of Sumire Ryuzaki. She plays a young and optimistic girl who is Nanjiro Echizen‘s classmate. She was also in the 11-episode drama Boku dake no Madonna (She is my only Madonna / …and I love her). Though she wasn’t actually in the movie, she did a cover of Vanessa Hudgens’ song “When There Was Me And You”, titled “Anata To Ita Toki”, from the hit Disney film High School Musical.

Two of her songs id highly recommend if you are into J-Pop:

Destiny

SMILES

Hitomi Furuya is one of my personal favorites when it comes to J-Pop , Shes funky and her music just grabs you from the first time you hear it.

Born January 26 1976 ,  she was quite active and at 15 one wouldnt have thought her ever being an idol ,as she was an enthusiastic athlete , playing baseball , soccer and basketball.  At 16 she was spotted by a modeling agency and signed a short modeling contract , appearing in magazines while she was still in High School!.

At 17 , Furuya was spotted by eminent Avex Trax music producer Tetsuya Komuro at an audition. Komuro signed Furuya to Avex, put Furuya through vocal training, and decided that she should use an all-lowercase ‘hitomi’ as her stage name. Thus the start of big things!

Her first single was rather dreadfull ( Let’s Play Winter ) and while i found her 2nd sinlge a lot better ( WE ARE “LONELY GIRL”) neither of them did well on any japanese music charts. Her 3rd Single however , Candy Girl, was used for the theme of a Kodak CM , and made it onto the Top 20 Oricon Music charts for Japan.

A lot of her songs have been featured on a wide range of products. Examples include “I am,” which served as an opening song for the popular anime InuYasha, “kimi no tonari,” which was the theme song for a PlayStation video game Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and “IS IT YOU?” was used as a theme song for a popular FujiTV drama series “dekichatta kekkon”. In addition, hitomi is a perennial favourite of clothes, cosmetics and accessories brands like Trussardi and Gillette for her modeling experience, photogenic features, and slender figure. Hitomi is currently the spokesperson for Gillette Venus shaver in Japan.

In 2007 she released an Album “Peace” which had all her most popular songs from the Album “TRAVELER” and some of her singles on. The album sold over 8,830,000 copie.

July 2008 she announced that she was pregnant , and during that time she released only one new single called “Fight for Your Run”. All hitomi fans can look forward to her new single ” WORLD! WIDE! LOVE!“, to be released on May 20 2009 and “LOVE LIFE 2“, her ninth studio album, to be released June 10, 2009.

ps. hitomi gave birth to a baby girl on December 23 

If you want a taste of how she sounds , take a look at this video , one of my personal favorites from Hitomi : Japanese Girl

So , i’ve been offline for almost a week due to some technical issues , but do not fear , J-addiction is back and packed full for this upcoming month! To make up for the past week ill kick start with a Double Post on two of Japans Hitomo musical wonders!

Enjoy!

(Note , The Sign at the top says “Sorry” in Japanese , and the writing style is known as Kanji. This is also verbally pronounced as “Gomen-nasai”)