"The Avengers" - Alternate Opening Deleted Scene

Anime Screening Schedule for September 1, 2012

Glen Ellyn Public Library

Meeting Room B, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

"Can't... stop... watching... anime..." 

Saturday, September 1, 2012

10:00 - 10:25    Accel World 5
10:25 - 10:50    Haiyore! Nyaruko-san 2
10:50 - 11:15    Space Brothers 4

11:15 - 11:40    Rinne no Lagrange 6
11:40 - 12:30    Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) 21-22
12:30 - 1:20     Sakamichi no Apollon 9-10
1:20 - 1:45       Fate/Zero 9
1:45 - 2:45       Club Meeting / Announcements
2:45 - 3:35       Another 7-8
3:35 - 4:25       Kokoro Connect 3-4
4:25 - 4:50       Jinrui wa Suitaishimashita 1

10:00 - 10:25   Accel World 5

"Be strong, Kuroyukihime! I'll save you!"

Accel World

[Source: Wikipedia] In the year 2046, Neuro-synchronization, a technology system that allows humans to manipulate their five senses, has become widespread where people can access the internet and enter virtual worlds. Haruyuki "Haru" Arita is a short, fat boy who due to constant bullying has low-self esteem. To escape the torment of real life, he logs-in to the school's virtual world network where he plays squash alone and always gets the highest score. One day Haru attracts the attention of the Student Council Vice-President Kuroyukihime who offers him Brain Burst, a secret program which allows a person to make time appear to stand still in their surroundings by "accelerating" their brainwaves in the real world. Unfortunately, there is a limit to how many times a person can accelerate due to Brain Burst points and the primary way to get more points is to fight and defeat other Brain Burst users in the program's virtual reality massive multiplayer online (VRMMO) fighting game. However, if a user loses all of his/her points the Brain Burst program will uninstall itself and block all re-installation attempts, thus permanently removing the user's ability to accelerate. Kuroyukihime wants Haru's help as she wishes to reach Level 10 and meet the creator of Brain Burst to learn its true purpose. But in order to do that, she must defeat five other Level 9 users who just so happen to be "The Six Kings of Pure Color", the leaders of the six most powerful factions in the Brain Burst world. For helping him, Haru agrees to help Kuroyukihime not only to repay her but to overcome his weaknesses.

Episode 5 "Aviation": As Haru learns just how horrible of a person Takumu is, he flees from Cyan Pile's attacks, losing one of Silver Crow's arms in the process. Haru initially gets the advantage thanks to his speed, but is soon hit by Takumu's special attack and loses a foot as well. As Takumu vents his anger on how Chiyuri is always thinking about Haru, he hits him with a powerful attack that leaves him with a fraction of health. Haru finds himself in a basement where he finds Kuroyukihime's sleeping avatar, whose beating heart reminds him how strength isn't always about winning. Just then, Haru gains a new power in the form of wings, making him the first flying Brain Burst avatar and allowing him to fly back up and overcome Takumu's attack. In leau of defeating Takumu, causing him to lose all his points and his Burst Linker status, Haru asks him to become one of his allies and start over. Afterwards, Kuroyukihime appears and decides to reveal her avatar's true form, Black Lotus, announcing her goals to the spectators. Everyone was shocked to see that Black Lotus is still alive. Later, as Haru visits Kuroyukihime in hospital, she asks him to call her by her first name.

10:25 - 10:50   Haiyore! Nyaruko-san 2

"Its Cthulhu Mythos with a twist! 

She's Nyarlathotep! Here to protect you... against your will!"

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san

[Source: Wikipedia] The story of Haiyore! Nyaruko-san centers around Nyaruko, a formless Cthulhu-deity of chaos (Nyarlathotep) who can take on the shape of a seemingly ordinary silver-haired girl. Mahiro Yasaka is a normal high school boy who is being chased by a fearsome black alien one night, until Nyaruko saves him. She explains that the creatures from H. P. Lovecraft's works are actually races of aliens, and that she has been sent to Earth to protect him from being kidnapped by an alien trafficker. Eventually, Nyaruko and two other Lovecraft-creatures, Cthugha and Hastur, end up being freeloaders at Mahiro's place.
Episode 2 "Goodbye, Nyaruko": Mahiro and Nyaruko head to R'lyeh to find the culprit that's been chasing him, Nodens. However they also bumped into someone from Nyaruko's past, Kuko who is a Cthugha "The Living Flame".

10:50 - 11:15   Space Brothers 4

"If I pass the exams, I come one step closer to my dream."

 

Space Brothers

[Source: Wikipedia] When they were young, the brothers Mutta and Hibito promised each other they would become astronauts. Now, in 2025, Hibito has followed his dream to become the first Japanese on the moon, but Mutta has just been fired from his job. His brother reminds him of their childhood promise, and Mutta decides once again to aim for space.
Episode 4 "Next to Hibito": The final part of the second round of examinations is an interview, with Mutta facing a little difficulty when he is asked an obscure question at the end of his interview. Meanwhile, Hibito hears of a family support program. As the exams come to a close, Mutta becomes worried about how he did in his interview, but cheers up when Kenji gets him Serika's e-mail address. The next day, Mutta receives a call from Hibito who invites him to come to Houston to spend some time at NASA.

11:15 - 11:40   Rinne no Lagrange 6

"Woof is, in fact, an official Earth greeting. So woof you!"

Rinne no Lagrange

[Source: Wikipedia] Madoka Kyouno, a schoolgirl from Kamogawa, is the sole member of the Jersey Club and always ready to help others out. One day, she is approached by an alien named Lan who asks her to pilot a robotic aircraft to defend mankind against an evil force.
Episode 6 "Wind, Fire and Water Above Kamogawa": Madoka, wanting to take revenge against Villagiulio, stands against him in a battle. However, Muginami ends up activating her Vox unit and standing in Madoka's way, telling her that she's only being selfish in trying to take revenge on her behalf. As Madoka argues with her, a mysterious occurrence causes a mysterious flower known as Lagrange to rain from the sky.

11:40 - 12:30     Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) 21-22

"You still like me, right? If not..."

Mirai Nikki

[Source: Wikipedia] Yukiteru "Yuki" Amano is a loner who never really interacts with people and prefers writing a diary on his cell phone with his only companion being an imaginary friend named Deus Ex Machina, the God of Time and Space. However, Yuki soon learns that Deus is real when he makes Yuki participate in a battle royale with eleven other people. Within this "Diary Game", the contestants are given special diaries that can predict the future, with each diary having unique features that gives them both advantages and disadvantages. Within the next 90 days, the contestants must try to kill each other and survive until there is only one person standing, the winner becoming the new God of Time and Space.
Episode 21 "PIN": Yuki and Yuno wreak havoc, demanding that Balks release their friends and commit suicide. Balks locks himself in a vault belonging to Yuno's parents' bank, which can only be unlocked by himself, Yuno's parents, and the real Yuno. Uryu, reasoning that Yuki can no longer eliminate Balks for her, starts hunting him. As she does, she tells him how she lost her parents in the Middle East as a child and grew up under the constant threat of death. At the same time, Yuno frees Yuki's friends and goes to kill Kamado, but she is stopped by Aru. In a tense showdown between Uryu and Yuki, the former sees her innocent child self in the latter and lets him shoot her. Uryu then destroys her diary voluntarily in order to detonate a bomb triggered by her death, intending to destroy the vault door for Yuki. However, the door withstands the blast. Yuno arrives, sends Yuki away to destroy HOLON, and somehow manages to open the vault door and kill Balks. A few days later, dark vortices appear all over the city. In Deus' realm, Murmur is panicking over the world ending sooner than expected, when Kamado appears with Aru, who asks Deus if it is really possible for his successor to return the world to the way it was. 
Episode 22 "Disconnection": Shocked at Deus' answer, Aru attempts to tell Yuki, but Deus stops him. Deus reveals that Aru is an entity created by him to observe and record information on the survival game and starts disassembling him, promising to spare him if he proves he has done anything out of his own free will. Aru succeeds when he reveals he had Kamado make his diary into an apprentice diary, demonstrating his will to change the future and save Yuki. As Yuki and Yuno arrive at Aru's apartment to kill Kamado, they're held off by Aru. Yuno starts fighting Aru, while Yuki chases after Kamado and his friends. When he runs into Hinata, she tells him what Aru learned from Deus: even the divine power bestowed to the winner of the survival game cannot bring the souls of the dead back. Meanwhile, Yuno, who has been cornered by Akise, stabs herself and calls Yuki, tricking him into thinking everyone is deceiving him. Yuki kills Hinata, Mao and Kousaka, believing he can bring them back to life later. Aru reaches Yuki and warns him that Yuno plans to kill him before kissing him as Yuno catches up and attacks provoked by Aru's actions. Although Aru breaks Yuno's diary, she doesn't vanish; she produces a second cell phone from her pocket, claiming the first one was a fake, and slashes at Aru's throat. As Yuno kills Kamado, a dying Aru, who knows the diary he destroyed was real, suddenly has an epiphany about Yuno. Since he can no longer talk, he writes a message in his phone and shows it to Yuki, allowing Yuno to finish him off as Deus collapses. 

12:30 - 1:20     Sakamichi no Apollon [Kids on the Slope] 9-10

"The girl I grew up with has a crush on my best friend."

Sakamichi no Apollon [Kids on the Slope]

[Source: Wikipedia] The beginning of summer, 1966. Because of his father's job situation, freshman high school student Kaoru Nishimi moves by himself from Yokosuka to Kyushu to live with relatives. Until then, Kaoru was an honor roll student who tended to keep to himself, but meeting notorious bad boy Sentaro Kawabuchi starts to change him. Through his devil-may-care classmate, Kaoru learns the attractions of jazz and finds the first person he can call a “friend.” He also discovers how much fun it is to play music with a pal. Other characters include Sentaro's kind childhood chum, Ritsuko, who is the daughter of a record shop owner; the mysterious upperclassman, Yurika; and Brother Jun, the much-admired leader among their peers.
Episode 9  "Love Me or Leave Me": Junichi is offered a chance to work for a friend's publishing company in Tokyo and decides to accept, then visits Yurika to tell her he's leaving town. Sentaro and Ritsuko attend Christmas mass together while Kaoru decides to attend a Christmas party at Seiji's house, hoping to distance himself from them. Finally aware of Ritsuko's feelings for him, Sentaro apologizes to her for not knowing how she felt, but the two end up renewing their conviction that they are just like family to each other. Ritsuko talks to Yurika and decides to let Kaoru know how she feels. Meamwhile, Kaoru insists that Sentaro should talk Junichi before he departs, even slapping him after Sentaro tells him to drop the subject. Sentaro then challenges Junchi to one last session with the band, to which he attends, and they 'duel' to Miles Davis' "Four". The train taking Junichi to Tokyo is about to leave when he is approached by Yurika, who begs him to take her with him, but he insists that they should part ways. Just before the train starts moving, Junichi hears Yurika's parents at the station, angry at her for leaving in the middle of a matchmaking meeting they arranged for her. Junichi pulls her into the train at the last moment, and the two embrace as the train leaves the city. Back at the record store, Kaoru opens the piano cover and finds the blue gloves Ritsuko knitted for him. 
Episode 10 "In a Sentimental Mood": Kaoru wonders if the gloves are a present for Sentaro, until he finds that Sentaro didn't get a gift from Ritsuko. He puts on the gloves and thanks her during a snowball fight with Sentaro. Upon learning that Sentaro is at risk of repeating the year, Kaoru helps him with his studies. During study break, Sentaro's young sister has an 'accident' while sitting on Kaoru's lap, and he takes a bath at Sentaro's. He doesn't realize it's a shared bath, and Ritsuko walks in on him while he's bathing. While in the tub, Kaoru questions her feelings for him, and she sadly walks away. Kaoru leaves but catches a cold on the way home, and Sentaro forces Ritsuko to pay him a visit. Kaoru gets annoyed at first, knowing that it was Sentaro who insisted on her visit, but upon knowing her true feelings for him, he reaffirms his love for her. Just before he kisses her, he collapses in her arms from his fever. Some time later, Kaoru and Sentaro learn about Seiji's challenge against them for the upcoming school festival, and the duo start practicing every day. However, after Sentaro learns that his father is returning home from his job in another prefecture, he decides to run away from home. 

1:20 - 1:45     Fate/Zero 9

"I'll destroy anyone who stands in my way!"

Fate/Zero

[Source: Wikipedia] Fate/zero takes place 10 years prior to the events of Fate/stay night, detailing the events of the 4th Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City. The War of the Holy Grail is a contest in which seven magi summon seven Heroic Spirits to compete to obtain the power of the "Holy Grail," which grants a miracle. After three inconclusive wars for the elusive Holy Grail, the Fourth War commences. Founded by the Einzbern, Matō, and Tōsaka families centuries ago, the Einzbern family is determined to achieve success after three successive failures, no matter the cost. As a result, they have elected to bring the hated magus killer, Kiritsugu Emiya, into their ranks, despite his methods and reputation as a skilled mercenary and a hitman who employs whatever he can use to accomplish his goals. Though Kiritsugu had once wanted to become a hero who could save everyone, he has long since abandoned this ideal upon realizing that saving one person comes at the cost of another's life. For the sake of humanity, he will ruthlessly destroy anything and anyone who threatens the peace of others. However, Kiritsugu finds himself deeply torn between the love he has found for his new family - his wife Irisviel and their daughter Illya - and what he must do to obtain the Holy Grail. Meanwhile, Kiritsugu's greatest opponent appears in the form of Kirei Kotomine, a priest who cannot find any sense of fulfillment in his life and sets his sights on Kiritsugu as the possible answer to the emptiness he feels.
Episode 9  "Master and Servant": Kayneth wakes up with his body tied to a bed. Sola tells Kayneth that his Magic Circuits were destroyed by Kiritsugu's bullets and he can never use magic again. At Sola's mercy, Kayneth has no choice but to relinquish Lancer's command to her. Despite Sola becoming his new Master, Lancer wishes to remain loyal to Kayneth, but Sola convinces him to keep fighting with her, using Kayneth's honor as a pretext. Kiritsugu decides to hunt Kayneth down despite Saber and Iri's wishes to stop Caster. Meanwhile, Waver and Rider manage to find Caster's lair, where they are horrified to see the mutilated bodies of his victims. Before setting Caster's lair on fire, Rider kills an Assassin targeting Waver and drives off two more. With Waver and Rider now knowing their secret, Tokiomi orders Kirei to send his Assassins to spy on them. 

1:45 - 2:45     Club Meeting and Announcements

SDCC 2012

-  More Convention Coverage
-  Animation News from around the world
-  Cosplayers/Skits/Masquerade
-  Anime Music Videos
-  And other weird, interesting stuff...

"Watcha lookin' at?"

 

2:45 - 3:35   Another 7-8

"When Death comes to your school to play, don't expect it to go away."

Another

[Source: Wikipedia] In 1972, a popular student named Misaki who was in class 3-3 of Yomiyama North Middle School suddenly died partway through the school year. Devastated by the unexpected loss, the students and teachers behaved like Misaki was still alive, leading to a strange presence on the graduation photo. In Spring 1998, a 15-year old boy named Kōichi Sakakibara transfers into Yomiyama's class 3-3, where he meets the peculiar Mei Misaki, who is seemingly ignored by her classmates. The class is soon caught up in an epidemic where students, or people related to class 3-3 students, are caught up in mysterious deaths. Learning these deaths have something to do with the mystery of 1972, it is up to Kōichi and Mei to discover the cause of these mysterious deaths and figure out how to put an end to it before it puts an end to them.
Episode 7 "Sphere Joint": Picking up where the last episode left off, Mr. Kubodera runs the knife into his neck in front of the class, leaving most of the students traumatized. Kōichi and Mei learn from Chibiki that, before killing himself, Kubodera had also murdered his comatose mother. This proves that the countermeasures in effect so far have been unsuccessful, so Mei and Kōichi's existence are once again acknowledged by their classmates. Afterwards, Kōichi meets up with Yūya, Naoya, and Izumi in a cafe, where Yūya's older half-sister Tomoka tells them about Katsumi Matsunaga. A former Class 3-3 student, he managed to stop the phenomenon in 1983, leaving information on how he did it for future students to find. However, it seems as though he does not remember what or where this information may be. Kōichi explains the situation to Mei, including his fear of being the "extra one" behind this year's calamity (induced by a guilt-driven nightmare), to which she responds that: "Don't worry. You are not the one. You're not the 'extra one', Sakakibara." 
Episode 8 "Hair stand": Kōichi, Reiko, Naoya, Yūya, Izumi, Takako Sugiura, and Junta Nakao go to a nearby beach resort to meet Matsunaga. Although tense at first, they manage to relax when they successfully leave Yomiyama without incident, convinced that the curse is ineffective outside town. As Katsumi is busy, they decide to go to the beach, where Kōichi discovers Mei nearby. The group spends the afternoon having fun, even undergoing a fishing contest for food. Katsumi joins them later on, but still doesn't remember what or where the clue is, though he does mention that it wasn't paper. Suddenly, the weather acts up, and a gust of wind blows the group's beach ball far into the water. Nakao volunteers to bring it back, but drowns in the process. Shortly after, his body is torn up by a motorboat, prompting everyone to realize that the curse may not be limited in Yomiyama. Kōichi hears the shocked Katsumi mutter: "But I...I protected them... I left it for them...in the classroom." 

3:35 - 4:25   Kokoro Connect 3-4

"Switching bodies can be so much fun!"

Kokoro Connect

[Source: Wikipedia] The story involves five high school students, Taichi, Iori, Himeko, Yoshifumi and Yui, who are all members of the Cultural Research Club. One day, they begin experiencing a phenomenon in which they randomly swap bodies amongst themselves. As these five friends face many different phenomena at the whims of a mysterious being known as Balloon Vine, their friendship is put to the ultimate test.
Episode 3 "Jobber and Low Blow": As Taichi questions Himeko about what she said in front of Maiko, she implies to Taichi that he has feelings for Iori whilst also worrying about how the body swapping could eventually break them. Later, Taichi and Yoshifumi learn that Yui has a fear of men. That night, as Taichi switches with Yui, she revealed she gained that fear after almost being raped in middle school, believing there was no way she could beat a man in a fight. Wanting to help her get over her fear, Taichi teaches Yui about the one weakness that all men possess; the crotch. The next day, as Yui becomes a bit more confident and decides to take up martial arts again, Himeko suddenly collapses before Taichi. 
Episode 4 "Twin Feelings": As Taichi and Iori escort Himeko home, the girls get Taichi to spill the beans about what happened between him and Yui, leaving Iori a bit shocked as she was unaware of Yui's androphobia. After dropping Himeko off, Iori tells Taichi about the troubles she faced due to her mother constantly getting remarried, constantly changing her personality to fit the tastes of others that she had forgotten who she originally was, feeling that the personality swapping would cause her to just fade away. The next day, Taichi confronts Himeko, who eventually reveals that she cannot trust them to use another's body for evil deeds, hating herself for feeling that way. As Taichi tells Himeko she does not need to change who she is to be accepted by others, he tells her a secret that he has thought of her and the other girls in a sexual manner. Moved by his confession, Himeko decides to share her issues with the others and finds the others accept her. 

4:25 - 4:50  Jinrui wa Suitaishimashita 1

"Humanity has declined!"

Jinrui wa Suitaishimashita

[Source: Wikipedia] Jinrui wa Suitaishimashita is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the human civilization has regressed and mankind keeps decreasing in numbers. The story follows an unnamed girl who acts as a mediator between humanity and the "fairies" who are small dwarf-like creatures attracted by sweets and happy things, but also have the habit to cause trouble to her with their powers in their endless search for amusement.
Episode 1 "The Fairies' Secret Factory (Part 1)": In a world where mankind is nearing extinction, the main character, a girl who acts as a mediator with fairies, is sent to turn chickens into meat, but the chickens escape. After some strange FairyCo products show up in the village, including a tonic that restores her hair, our heroine, her grandfather, and her assistant go to a fairy factory where mass-produced fairy products are made.

Hunter X Hunter New Movie

Also coming from Madhouse, their adaptation of Hunter x Hunter is getting a new movie next year, and like the recent One Piece, Naruto and Dragon Ball Z Shonen Jump movie ventures, the manga creator will be involved. The 34th issue of this year's run of the Japanese edition of Shonen Jump has published a visual promoting the January 12, 2013 anime movie Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge, which confirms that the film will feature series creator Yoshihiro Togashi's story of Kurapika Kuruta's conflict with the Phantom Troupe.

Fuse Teppo Musume no Torimonocho

Coming in October

Fuse Teppo Musume no Torimonocho, the animated feature film based on the novel Fuse Gansaku Satomi Hakkenden by Kazuki Sakuraba (Gosick light novels), looked impressive before, but the animation is really spectacular in the latest trailer. Masayuki Miyaji (Xam'd: Lost Memories, assistant director on Spirited Away) directs with visuals from okama (Kamichu!, Rebuild of Evangelion), character settings by Seiichi Hashimoto (key animator on Turn A Gundam, Cowboy Bebop), and music by Michiru Oshima (Tezuka Osama's Buddha, So Ra No Wo To). The script adaptation is by Ichiro Okouchi (Eureka Seven, Code Geass). The movie is scheduled to be released in October.

Next Club Meeting is September 1, 2012

This Weekend!

Hi! Welcome to the club!

Glen Ellyn Public Library

400 Duane Street

Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

Meeting Room B

Saturday, September 1, 2012

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Map
Public Transit Options

Our next club meeting will be at the Glen Ellyn Public Library, Meeting Room B, on September 1, 2012, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM (when the library closes).

There is public transportation available. A Metra train-stop is located within walking distance. 

Please note: If you are driving, please park your car furthest from the building to make room for library patrons. Bring light food only (a sandwich and bottled water). There are no vending machines available. Please keep the room clean. We hope you understand and do your part in making our new meeting location a nice place to stay.

A Viewing Schedule will be posted soon.

Hope to see you all there!

Regional Map

 

Local Map

Tatsunoko's 50th Anniversary Celebration

Tatsunoko's (Speed Racer, Gatchaman, Tekkaman) 50th anniversary celebrations include the release of OVA Ippatsu Hicchuu!! Devander on the October 19th date of the studio's founding. A new three minute trailer shows off how much self reference and self parody has been packed into what ultimately looks like a pretty bizarre venture. Speed Racer's Hiroshi Sasagawa directs the OVA, with a scenario by Futago Kamikita (Naruto, One Piece, Hayate the Combat Butler) and mecha design by the legendary Kunio Okawara (Gundam... and a large slice of the other major mecha from Gatchaman, Time Bokan, and the original Tekkaman to Votoms and GaoGaiGar).

Neil Armstrong, 1st man on the moon, dies

Neil Armstrong

(1930 - 2012)

CINCINNATI (AP) — Neil Armstrong was a quiet self-described nerdy engineer who became a global hero when as a steely-nerved pilot he made "one giant leap for mankind" with a small step on to the moon. The modest man who had people on Earth entranced and awed from almost a quarter million miles away has died. He was 82.

Armstrong died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures, a statement Saturday from his family said. It didn't say where he died.

Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969, capping the most daring of the 20th century's scientific expeditions. His first words after setting foot on the surface are etched in history books and the memories of those who heard them in a live broadcast.

"That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong said.

In those first few moments on the moon, during the climax of heated space race with the then-Soviet Union, Armstrong stopped in what he called "a tender moment" and left a patch commemorate NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who had died in action.

"It was special and memorable but it was only instantaneous because there was work to do," Armstrong told an Australian television interviewer this year.

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the lunar surface, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs.

"The sights were simply magnificent, beyond any visual experience that I had ever been exposed to," Armstrong once said.

The moonwalk marked America's victory in the Cold War space race that began Oct. 4, 1957, with the launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, a 184-pound satellite that sent shock waves around the world.

Although he had been a Navy fighter pilot, a test pilot for NASA's forerunner and an astronaut, Armstrong never allowed himself to be caught up in the celebrity and glamor of the space program.

"I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer," he said in February 2000 in one of his rare public appearances. "And I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession."

A man who kept away from cameras, Armstrong went public in 2010 with his concerns about President Barack Obama's space policy that shifted attention away from a return to the moon and emphasized private companies developing spaceships. He testified before Congress and in an email to The Associated Press, Armstrong said he had "substantial reservations," and along with more than two dozen Apollo-era veterans, he signed a letter calling the plan a "misguided proposal that forces NASA out of human space operations for the foreseeable future."

Armstrong's modesty and self-effacing manner never faded.

When he appeared in Dayton in 2003 to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of powered flight, he bounded onto a stage before 10,000 people packed into a baseball stadium. But he spoke for only a few seconds, did not mention the moon, and quickly ducked out of the spotlight.

He later joined former astronaut and Sen. John Glenn to lay wreaths on the graves of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Glenn introduced Armstrong and noted it was 34 years to the day that Armstrong had walked on the moon.

"Thank you, John. Thirty-four years?" Armstrong quipped, as if he hadn't given it a thought.

At another joint appearance, the two embraced and Glenn commented: "To this day, he's the one person on Earth, I'm truly, truly envious of."

Armstrong's moonwalk capped a series of accomplishments that included piloting the X-15 rocket plane and making the first space docking during the Gemini 8 mission, which included a successful emergency splashdown.

In the years afterward, Armstrong retreated to the quiet of the classroom and his southwest Ohio farm. Aldrin said in his book "Men from Earth" that Armstrong was one of the quietest, most private men he had ever met.

In the Australian interview, Armstrong acknowledged that "now and then I miss the excitement about being in the cockpit of an airplane and doing new things."

At the time of the flight's 40th anniversary, Armstrong again was low-key, telling a gathering that the space race was "the ultimate peaceful competition: USA versus U.S.S.R. It did allow both sides to take the high road with the objectives of science and learning and exploration."

Glenn, who went through jungle training in Panama with Armstrong as part of the astronaut program, described him as "exceptionally brilliant" with technical matters but "rather retiring, doesn't like to be thrust into the limelight much."

Derek Elliott, curator of the Smithsonian Institution's U.S. Air and Space Museum from 1982 to 1992, said the moonwalk probably marked the high point of space exploration.

The manned lunar landing was a boon to the prestige of the United States, which had been locked in a space race with the former Soviet Union, and re-established U.S. pre-eminence in science and technology, Elliott said.

"The fact that we were able to see it and be a part of it means that we are in our own way witnesses to history," he said.

The 1969 landing met an audacious deadline that President Kennedy had set in May 1961, shortly after Alan Shepard became the first American in space with a 15-minute suborbital flight. (Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin had orbited the Earth and beaten the U.S. into space the previous month.)

"I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth," Kennedy had said. "No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important to the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."

The end-of-decade goal was met with more than five months to spare. "Houston: Tranquility Base here," Armstrong radioed after the spacecraft settled onto the moon. "The Eagle has landed."

"Roger, Tranquility," the Houston staffer radioed back. "We copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."

The third astronaut on the mission, Michael Collins, circled the moon in the mother ship Columbia 60 miles overhead while Armstrong and Aldrin went to the moon's surface.

In all, 12 American astronauts walked on the moon between 1969 and the last moon mission in 1972.

For Americans, reaching the moon provided uplift and respite from the Vietnam War, from strife in the Middle East, from the startling news just a few days earlier that a young woman had drowned in a car driven off a wooden bridge on Chappaquiddick Island by Sen. Edward Kennedy. The landing occurred as organizers were gearing up for Woodstock, the legendary three-day rock festival on a farm in the Catskills of New York.

Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, on a farm near Wapakoneta in western Ohio. He took his first airplane ride at age 6 and developed a fascination with aviation that prompted him to build model airplanes and conduct experiments in a homemade wind tunnel.

As a boy, he worked at a pharmacy and took flying lessons. He was licensed to fly at 16, before he got his driver's license.

Armstrong enrolled in Purdue University to study aeronautical engineering but was called to duty with the U.S. Navy in 1949 and flew 78 combat missions in Korea.

After the war, Armstrong finished his degree from Purdue and later earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. He became a test pilot with what evolved into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, flying more than 200 kinds of aircraft from gliders to jets.

Armstrong was accepted into NASA's second astronaut class in 1962 — the first, including Glenn, was chosen in 1959 — and commanded the Gemini 8 mission in 1966. After the first space docking, he brought the capsule back in an emergency landing in the Pacific Ocean when a wildly firing thruster kicked it out of orbit.

Armstrong was backup commander for the historic Apollo 8 mission at Christmastime in 1968. In that flight, Commander Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell and Bill Anders circled the moon 10 times, and paving the way for the lunar landing seven months later.

Aldrin said he and Armstrong were not prone to free exchanges of sentiment.

"But there was that moment on the moon, a brief moment, in which we sort of looked at each other and slapped each other on the shoulder ... and said, 'We made it. Good show,' or something like that," Aldrin said.

An estimated 600 million people — a fifth of the world's population — watched and listened to the landing, the largest audience for any single event in history.

Parents huddled with their children in front of the family television, mesmerized by what they were witnessing. Farmers abandoned their nightly milking duties, and motorists pulled off the highway and checked into motels just to see the moonwalk.

Television-less campers in California ran to their cars to catch the word on the radio. Boy Scouts at a camp in Michigan watched on a generator-powered television supplied by a parent.

Afterward, people walked out of their homes and gazed at the moon, in awe of what they had just seen. Others peeked through telescopes in hopes of spotting the astronauts.

In Wapakoneta, media and souvenir frenzy was swirling around the home of Armstrong's parents.

"You couldn't see the house for the news media," recalled John Zwez, former manager of the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum. "People were pulling grass out of their front yard."

Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were given ticker tape parades in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and later made a 22-nation world tour. A homecoming in Wapakoneta drew 50,000 people to the city of 9,000.

In 1970, Armstrong was appointed deputy associate administrator for aeronautics at NASA but left the following year to teach aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati.

He remained there until 1979 and during that time bought a 310-acre farm near Lebanon, where he raised cattle and corn. He stayed out of public view, accepting few requests for interviews or speeches.

"He didn't give interviews, but he wasn't a strange person or hard to talk to," said Ron Huston, a colleague at the University of Cincinnati. "He just didn't like being a novelty."

Those who knew him said he enjoyed golfing with friends, was active in the local YMCA and frequently ate lunch at the same restaurant in Lebanon.

In 2000, when he agreed to announce the top 20 engineering achievements of the 20th century as voted by the National Academy of Engineering, Armstrong said there was one disappointment relating to his moonwalk.

"I can honestly say — and it's a big surprise to me — that I have never had a dream about being on the moon," he said.

From 1982 to 1992, Armstrong was chairman of Charlottesville, Va.-based Computing Technologies for Aviation Inc., a company that supplies computer information management systems for business aircraft.

He then became chairman of AIL Systems Inc., an electronic systems company in Deer Park, N.Y.

Armstrong married Carol Knight in 1999, and the couple lived in Indian Hill, a Cincinnati suburb. He had two adult sons from a previous marriage.

At the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles on Saturday, visitors held a minute of silence in memory of Armstrong.

The voice of the Count dies

Jerry Nelson

(1934 - 2012)

LOS ANGELES — Jerry Nelson, the puppeteer behind a delightful menagerie of characters including Count von Count on "Sesame Street" and Gobo Fraggle on "Fraggle Rock," has died. He was 78. Nelson, who suffered from emphysema, died Thursday night in his Massachusetts home on Cape Cod, the Sesame Workshop said Friday. "Every description of his characters describes Jerry as well," said "Sesame Street" executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente. "Silly, funny, vulnerable, passionate and musical, for sure. That voice of his was superb." Although he'd been in declining health for some time "his attitude was never bad," Parente said Friday. "He was always so grateful for what he had in his life." "We're having a rough day on the Street," she said. In a tribute posted online by the nonprofit Sesame Workshop, Nelson was lauded for his artistry and the "laughter he brought to children worldwide" with the Count and other Muppet puppets including Sherlock Hemlock, Herry Monster and the Amazing Mumford. Nelson was part of other projects featuring Jim Henson's Muppets, including the 1984 movie "The Muppets Take Manhattan" and TV series including the 1980s "Fraggle Rock" and 1990s "Muppets Tonight." In recent years, Nelson gave up the physically demanding job of operating the Count and other puppets on "Sesame Street" but still voiced the characters, the workshop said. The show's new season launches in September and Nelson's voice will be heard. In 2010, he released the album "Truro Daydreams," the title that referred to the Massachusetts town. Survivors include Nelson's wife, Jan, Parente said. Funeral plans were not immediately available. 

In this June 2012 publicity photo released by "Sesame Street," puppeteer Jerry Nelson is shown with "Sesame Street" character Count von Count in New York. Sesame Workshop announced that Nelson, who suffered from emphysema, died at age 78 on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012, in his Massachusetts home on Cape Cod. (AP Photo/Sesame Workshop, Gil Vaknin) (AP2012)

New Dragon Ball Z anime movie

Coming March, 2013

Creator Akira Toriyama is onboard for a new Dragon Ball Z anime movie, slated for March, 2013. It's been stated that new movie will take place between Dragon Ball manga chapters 517 and 518, in the 10 year timeskip after Goku defeats Buu, before before the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

New Anime Series

The dream anime for many is the 25 year old multi-genre cult manga Jojo's Bizarre Adventure which is getting an anime TV series this fall.

HERO

Animator Shingo Natsume (Gurren Lagann, episode 12 of Panty and Stocking) steps up to direct the anime adaptation of HERO's web manga turned 10-volume Square Enix series.

Eva-08 alpha

Promotion for the November Release

[Source: aicn.com] Always looking for clues, an Evangelion fan tracked down the Hideaki Anno sketched paper lamp produced for the Bonbori Matsuri (Paper Lamp Festival) and was puzzled to find "Eva-08 alpha" promoting the November release of Evangelion 3.0.

Last year's Anno lamp was a more straight forward, if still provocative...

Director Tony Scott Dies

Tony Scott

(1944 - 2012)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tony Scott, director of such Hollywood hits as "Top Gun," ''Days of Thunder" and "Beverly Hills Cop II," died Sunday after jumping from a Los Angeles County bridge, authorities said.

The 68-year-old Scott's death was being investigated as a suicide, Los Angeles County Coroner's Lt. Joe Bale said.

"I can confirm that Tony Scott has passed away. The family asks that their privacy is respected at this time," Scott's spokesman, Simon Halls, said in a statement.

Several people called 911 around 12:35 p.m. to report that someone had jumped from the Vincent Thomas Bridge spanning San Pedro and Terminal Island in Los Angeles Harbor, according to Los Angeles police Lt. Tim Nordquist.

A dive team with Los Angeles Port Police pulled the body from the murky water several hours later, Nordquist said. Scott's body was taken to a dock in Wilmington and turned over to the county coroner's office.

One lane of the eastbound side of the bridge was closed to traffic during the investigation. Cargo vessels moved at reduced speeds through the east side of the port's main channel during the search, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

Investigators found a note in Scott's black Toyota Prius, which was parked on the bridge, according to the Los Angeles Times. That note listed contact information. A suicide note was later found at his office.

The British-born Scott, who lived in Beverly Hills, was producer and director Ridley Scott's younger brother. Distinct visual styles mark both siblings' films — Ridley Scott mastering the creation of entire worlds with such films as "Gladiator," ''Blade Runner," ''Alien" and this year's "Prometheus," Tony Scott known for hyper-kinetic action and editing on such films as his most recent, the runaway train thriller "Unstoppable," starring regular collaborator Denzel Washington.

Scott was a thrill-seeker himself in his personal life, an avid rock climber who also liked driving fast cars and motorcycles. Still, filmmaking was his real thrill.

"The biggest edge I live on is directing. That's the most scary, dangerous thing you can do in your life," Scott said in an interview for his 1995 naval adventure "Crimson Tide." ''The scariest thing in my life is the first morning of production on all my movies. It's the fear of failing, the loss of face and a sense of guilt that everybody puts their faith in you and not coming through."

Tony was the first of the Scott brothers to enjoy blockbuster success with "Top Gun," starring Tom Cruise, the top-grossing film of 1986 at $176 million. Scott teamed with Cruise again four years later on the hit "Days of Thunder." He also had a sequel to "Top Gun" in development.

But Ridley Scott later managed more and bigger hits than his brother and earned a level of critical respect never achieved by Tony Scott. "Gladiator" won the best-picture Academy Award for 2000 and earned Ridley Scott one of his three best-director nominations; Tony Scott never was in the running for an Oscar, and critics often slammed his movies for emphasizing style over substance.

Even Scott admitted that it was a challenge to infuse drama into some of his scenarios — for example, cars racing in circles in "Days of Thunder." In an interview for that 1990 summer hit, Scott was blunt about where some of the ideas came from.

"I went back and I stole from all race movies to date," Scott said. "I took the better elements, then tried to build on them. Really, the speed, the energy and the placement of the audience inside some of the cars came in the editing room. ...

"I'm always pushing for something new and fresh in the way things are shot, and the rest happens in the editing room. ... The real speed comes from the cutters and what they do with the celluloid."

While Ridley Scott had an auspicious start to his film career with 1977's acclaimed period drama "The Duellists" and 1979's "Alien," Tony Scott bombed with his debut, 1983's supernatural romance "The Hunger," with David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve.

He vaulted into Hollywood's top ranks the next time out, with "Top Gun," followed a year later by "Beverly Hills Cop II," both with producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

The two brothers ran Scott Free Productions and were working jointly on a film called "Killing Lincoln," based on the best seller by Bill O'Reilly. Along with countless commercials, their company produced the CBS dramas "NUMB3RS" and "The Good Wife" as well as a 2011 documentary about the Battle of Gettysburg for the History Channel.

Tony Scott said he gained perspective by mixing things up between film, TV and commercials.

"I like changing the pace of my life, changing my discipline. It gives me ideas for how to see the world differently," Scott said in a 2007 interview.

Besides "Unstoppable," Scott worked with Washington on four other movies: "Crimson Tide," ''Man on Fire," Deja Vu" and "The Taking of Pelham 123."

In a tweet Sunday, director Ron Howard said, "No more Tony Scott movies. Tragic day."

Director Jon Favreau tweeted, "Such sad news about Tony Scott. Heartfelt condolences to his family and friends."

Other Scott films include "True Romance," written by Quentin Tarantino, "The Fan," with Robert De Niro, and "Enemy of the State," starring Will Smith.

Scott was married to actress Donna Scott, who appeared in several of her husband's films. They have twin sons.

Completed in 1963, the 6,060-foot Vincent Thomas Bridge links rises 185 feet at its highest point above the Los Angeles Harbor. Many have taken their lives by jumping from the span.

The bridge has been used in many Hollywood productions, among them "Charlie's Angels," ''Gone in 60 Seconds" and "The Fast and the Furious."