DC Nation Weekends on Cartoon Network

Preview: Batgirl, Supergirl, and Wonder Girl

[Source: Spinoff by Kevin Melrose] TV Guide provides our first look at Batgirl, Supergirl and Wonder Girl together from Super Best Friends Forever, the new animated shorts by My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic creator Lauren Faust appearing as part of Cartoon Network’s new DC Nation programming block. (The Supergirl art at right surfaced over the weekend.) The image also finally answers any questions about which version of Wonder Girl we’ll see. Yes, she’s Donna Troy.

DC Nation, which premieres Saturday, March 3 at 10 a.m. ET/PT, will be anchored by Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice, with animated shorts and live-action interstitials scattered throughout. The TV Guide article reveals that, in addition to previously announced characters like Plastic Man, Doom Patrol, Amethyst and the Teen Titans, the shorts will include such second- and third-tier DC Comics characters as Black Lightning, Dr. Fate and Vibe. Yes, Vibe.

But back to Super Best Friends Forever — or S.B.F.F., as the kids say — which Faust says “has plenty of action and fighting, but is really much more focused on comedy and laughs and how much fun it is to be a superhero. It’s like taking a teenage experience but putting a superhero spin on it, in one episode, Supergirl and Batgirl try to convince Wonder Girl to sneak out in Wonder Woman’s invisible jet to go for a joyride.”

(TV Guide scan via Lauren Faust)

Iron Sky

Nazis on the Moon

The first four minutes of the upcoming alt-history flick Iron Sky, which imagines a future where the Nazis left Germany and set up shop on the moon, has been released online—and it looks awesome. The story follows the space Nazis as they prepare to attack Earth in 2018.

Quantic Dream's Kara

The Pleas of Artificial Life

Why I am leaving the Empire

By Darth Vader
(A parody of the Goldman-Sachs CEO's resignation letter)

'I no longer have the pride, or the belief' 

TODAY is my last day at the Empire.

After almost 12 years, first as a summer intern, then in the Death Star and now in London, I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its massive, genocidal space machines. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.

To put the problem in the simplest terms, throttling people with your mind continues to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making people dead.

The Empire is one of the galaxy's largest and most important oppressive regimes and it is too integral to galactic murder to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of Yoda College that I can no longer in good conscience point menacingly and say that I identify with what it stands for.

For more than a decade I recruited and mentored candidates, some of whom were my secret children, through our gruelling interview process. In 2006 I managed the summer intern program in detecting strange disturbances in the Force for the 80 younglings who made the cut.

I knew it was time to leave when I realised I could no longer speak to these students inside their heads and tell them what a great place this was to work.

How did we get here? The Empire changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and killing your former mentor with a light sabre. Today, if you make enough money you will be promoted into a position of influence, even if you have a disturbing lack of faith.

What are three quick ways to become a leader? a) Execute on the firm's 'axes', which is Empire-speak for persuading your clients to invest in 'prime-quality' residential building plots on Alderaan that don't exist and have not existed since we blew it up. b) 'Hunt Elephants'. In English: get your clients - some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren't - to tempt their friends to Cloud City and then betray them. c) Hand over rebel smugglers to an incredibly fat gangster.

When I was a first-year analyst I didn't know where the bathroom was, or how to tie my shoelaces telepathically. I was taught to be concerned with learning the ropes, finding out what a protocol droid was and putting my helmet on properly
so people could not see my badly damaged head.

My proudest moments in life - the pod race, being lured over to the Dark Side and winning a bronze medal for mind control ping-pong at the Midi-Chlorian Games - known as the Jedi Olympics - have all come through hard work, with no shortcuts.

The Empire today has become too much about shortcuts and not enough about remote strangulation. It just doesn’t feel right to me anymore.

I hope this can be a wake-up call. Make killing people in terrifying and unstoppable ways the focal point of your business again. Without it you will not exist. Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much non-existent Alderaan real estate they sell. And get the culture right again, so people want to make millions of voices cry out in terror before being suddenly silenced.

 

Akira: The Live-Action American Remake

On a budget... a very low budget...

"Everyone is up in arms over this AKIRA remake, 

so we thought we'd do something about it."

Frankenweenie - Trailer

From the mind of Tim Burton...

Frankenweenie is an upcoming 3D black-and-white stop motion-animated film, directed by Tim Burton, and it is a remake of the Burton's 1984 short film of the same name. Like the 1984 version, it is a parody of and a homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein based on Mary Shelley's book of the same name. In the film, a boy named Victor loses his dog and uses the power of science to bring it back to life. The film is scheduled for release on October 5, 2012, and it will be the first stop-motion film to be released in IMAX 3D.

Plot:
After the death of his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor harnesses the power of science to bring him back to life. Victor tries to hide his creation, but Sparky gets out and causes havoc in the town.

Official Websites: http://www.facebook.com/FrankenweenieMovie

 

Gyo - "The Fish"

The ocean's denizens fight back!

 

Anime adaptation of Gyo (ギョ, lit. The Fish) - horror manga by Junji Ito.
Studio Ufotable.

The plot of Gyo centers around the "death stench", a revolting smell first encountered in connection with creatures appearing to be bizarre fish with scuttling, sharp metal legs. At first they appear merely as smaller fish, but later also as larger sea creatures such as sharks and even a whale.

The creatures are eventually revealed to consist of a small metallic, legged structure with the carcass of a dead animal (and later, human) strapped on top. Germs infecting the rotting body produce a gas - responsible for the terrible smell that surrounds the creatures - that makes the metal construct move.

Later, it is found that the Japanese Army was researching germs that produce the death stench during World War II in a desperate effort to turn the tide of the war. Infection by the germ produced large amounts of foul-smelling gas from body tissue, and since infection quickly killed the test animals, walking machines were built to carry them further, allowing them to reach and sicken enemy troops. Enemy planes sunk the ship carrying the prototypes for the walking machines, which ran entirely on the gas.

Underwater the machines have attached themselves to the fish and moved from the island to the mainland, attacking the humans. Later it is found that the death stench gas might have a will of its own, and that the machines are not man-made: the disease has apparently mutated to be able to construct the walkers from the metal hulls of sunken battleships.

 

Avatar: The Legend of Korra

Coming Soon...

"I'm the Avatar! You gotta deal with it!" 

MESSAGE FROM BRYAN KONIETZKO 

(co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Korra says, “HEY! Don’t worry. Be happy.”

This is a good time to be a fan of Korra. No, I can’t tell you the release date at this moment, but I can assure you the announcement will be very soon. I just wanted to clear up some of the confusion and misinformation out there. It was originally announced that Korra would premiere “sometime in 2012” which was right on track with when we’d be ready to show it. Then right before the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, Mike and I learned that the network was going to push it back to 2013, which is what we reported at the panel. That was true for a time, but plans have changed again, as they are prone to do. So although I can’t reveal the exact release date here today, I can assure you all that Nickelodeon is not delaying the series or anything of the sort. In fact, they are putting their full support behind it.

You will see Korra as soon as it is ready to be aired, which is soon! I know it is easy to be mad at a big faceless corporation, but the truth of the matter is that now the only thing keeping you from seeing the show is the reality of how long it takes us to make this many episodes of animation at this level of quality. We need to have enough episodes finished to air them regularly, or else you guys would probably get mad again!

Korra has taken longer to produce than Avatar, precisely and solely because we asked for a longer production schedule so we would have more time for the storyboarding, design, art direction, animation, etc., all in the interest of crafting a higher quality show, and Nickelodeon gave us the support to do that. (Ask around and find another studio that backs its shows like that… You’ll have a hard time.) We may not love every decision that comes down the pipeline, but the fact remains that this network has made it possible for us to create a series we are very proud to share with you. We fully appreciate your enthusiasm, and we know just how lucky we are to have so many people eager to see our work. But we are only interested in putting out quality work, not doing it on the “fast and cheap” just so we can hurry up and get it out there.

So don’t be mad, unless you want to be mad at us for being slow (or more specifically me, the slowest of them all), or mad at animation for taking so long (a daily emotion for me). So be happy! There is much to be happy about.

Thank you! Sincerely!

Pray For Japan

One year ago, a massive earthquake hit Japan...

On March 11, 2011, Japan's Tohoku coastal region was destroyed by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and devastating tsunami that followed. PRAY FOR JAPAN takes place in the devastated region of Ishinomaki, Miyagi - the largest coastal city in Tohoku with a population of over 160,000 people. Filmmaker Stu Levy - an American living in Japan - filmed the tsunami aftermath during his trips to Tohoku as a volunteer and over a period of 6 weeks, captured over 50 hours of footage. PRAY FOR JAPAN focuses on four key perspectives of the tragedy - School, Shelter, Family, and Volunteers. With each perspective we meet victims who faced significant obstacles and fought to overcome them. Through these four vantage points, the audience is able to understand the vast ramifications of this large-scale natural disaster - and the battle these real-life heroes fought on behalf of their loved ones and their hometown. 

 

Jean “Moebius” Giraud dies at age 73

Highly influential French comic artist passes away

Jean "Moebius" Giraud
(1938 - 2012)

[Source: Nerdage] Mark Evanier is reporting the death of comic-book artist Jean Giraud, 73, who also worked under the name of Moebius.

“Moebius was a staggering talent and his career a model of high craft, push-the-boundaries experimentalism and attention to detail,” wrote Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter on twitter. “Until his passing, Moebius was one of the tiny handful of artists that could be argued was our greatest living comics-maker. Segments of Moebius’ career were entire, formidable, sparkling careers. The collective wellspring of human imagination is poorer for Moebius’ passing, and better for his gifts; rest in peace.”

The French artist was among the world’s leading cartoonists, reaching acclaim in Europe, Japan and the United States. He created Lieutenant Blueberry, which became one of the pre-eminent European Western comics. He illustrated science fiction stories under the “Moebius” name.

Giraud co-founded “Metal Hurlant,” which featured his “The Airtight Garage.”  “Arzach” also began in the pages of “Metal Hurlant.” He also collaborated with Alejandro Jodorowsky on “The Incal,” among the properties that led to each of them being regarded as science fiction masters. 

American audiences may be most familiar with Moebius for his two-part “Silver Surfer” series created with Marvel’s Stan Lee in 1988.

Giraud also worked on storyboards for films including “Alien” and “Tron.”

Comic creators and fans responded on twitter.

“Moebius made art that inspired other artists, pushed the boundaries of the medium and imagination, and changed comics forever!” wrote artist Becky Cloonan.

“Sandman” writer Neil Gaiman shared his remembrances as well.

“RIP Jean Giraud who wrote and drew as Moebius. His art inspired me when I was 14, & his stories did too, because I didn’t understand them,” Gaiman wrote. “In Endless Nights, “Death in Venice” was written for Moebius to draw. He was too sick, so I wrote the last Destiny story for him, & hoped.”

J.M. DeMatteis added, “Moebius was one of a kind. His work was unique, inventive, mind-expanding and utterly magical. What a loss.”

Writer Joe Keatinge, who is bringing a European influence, among others, to his Image Comics work, shared his response on twitter as well.

“Very broken by the news of Jean “Moebius” Giraud’s passing,” Keatinge wrote. “My all-time favorite artist and massive inspiration. Thank you for everything.”

Find out more about the life and career of one of comics’ greats at Lambiek.

- Matt Price

Anime Viewing Program for March 10, 2012

Building K, Room 131, Noon to 8:00 pm

Calvin and Hobbes - The Anime Version!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Noon - 12:50   Ben-To 3-4
12:50 - 1:40    Ano Hana 9-10
1:40 - 2:30      Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) 9-10
2:30 - 3:20      Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing 7-8
3:20 - 3:45      Fate/Zero 4
3:45 - 4:45      Club Meeting / Announcements
4:45 - 6:00      Gosick 22-24 [Series Finale]
6:00 - 6:50      Kamisama no Memo-chou 8-9       
6:50 - 8:00      Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail OVA 4-5 [End]

Noon - 12:50   Ben-To 3-4

Ben-To

[Source: Wikipedia] While innocently reaching for some half-priced bento, Yō Satō finds himself beaten up on the floor of a supermarket. He soon learns that getting half-priced bento is an all-out brawl between customers. Yō is invited to the Half-Priced Food Lovers Club by one of the top fighters, Sen Yarizui, in order to train to compete in these battles.
Episode 3 "Large Serving of Cheese-Filled Katsu Curry 1080kcal": Yō gets a lot of hassle from the class president, Ume Shiraume, due to him hanging around Hana. As Yō and Hana go to a supermarket, they meet a kendo club member named Yamahara, who invites them to join a group called the Hounds, who use teamwork to help members get half-priced bento. As Yō and Hana take a trial period with the group, Yō feels the bento he obtains this method don't taste as good as he thinks. After reminiscing about old times, Yō turns down Yamahara's offer, realizing that food tastes best when you fight for it. Having realized the true meaning of half-price bento, Sen gives Yō and Hana keys to the club room. The next morning, Yō finds his cousin, Ayame Shaga, sleeping in his bed.
Episode 4 "Ginger Fried Pork Bento 852kcal": Sen gets Yō and Hana to join the Half-Priced Food Lovers Club and starts training them in the ways of Bento Brawling. During one of the supermarket visits, they encounter the 'boar', a fat woman who raids all the half-priced bentos before a battle starts. The next day, Yō meets Yū 'Wizard' Kaneshiro, who encourages Yō to stand up to the boar so that the bento battle can properly take place. Yō comes to understand the pride of the 'wolves' and comes out with his first victory, obtaining a bento with an honor seal from the 'God of Discounts'. Yō then returns to the clubroom, where Sen congratulates him on his first victory and shows him a scrapbook showing the victories Yū managed to obtain.

12:50 - 1:40  Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai 9-10

Ano Hana

[Source: Wikipedia] A group of six childhood friends drift apart after one of them, Meiko "Menma" Honma, dies in an accident. Several years after the incident, the leader of the group, Jinta Yadomi, has withdrawn from society and lives as a recluse. One summer day, the ghost of an older looking Menma appears before him and asks to have a wish granted, reasoning that she cannot pass on into the afterlife until it is fulfilled. Since Menma does not remember what her wish is, Jinta gathers his estranged friends together once again, believing that they are the key to resolving this problem. However, hidden feelings, internal conflicts, and lingering feelings of bitterness from Menma's parents result in complications for the group as they struggle to help not only Menma move on, but more importantly, themselves as well.  
Episode 09  "Menma and Company": The gang go round to Jinta's house, where they witness Menma's presence first hand, though it is shown that Menma is unable to write anywhere but the secret base. Afterwards, Atsumu says they should continue their efforts, going with Chiriko the next day to beg Menma's father for permission to have the fireworks made. As work on the fireworks begins, Atsumu becomes frustrated that only Jinta can see Menma, while Naruko is upset that she can't compare to her. As Atsumu tries to cheer Naruko up, Chiriko overhears Atsumu mention that he would go out with Naruko. After spending the evening with Tetsudō, Menma spots a carp in the river and goes to investigate, which scares Jinta when he spots her near the river, letting out that he wants her to stay forever.
Episode 10  "Fireworks": As the gang holds a party in Menma's honor in preparation for next day's fireworks, Chiriko becomes cold towards Atsumu, mentioning that on that day, Menma apparently wanted to do something for Jinta. On the night of the party, Atsumu has Naruko and Tetsudō pressure Jinta into admitting his true feelings for Menma in front of everyone. As Naruko laments his answer, Chiriko reveals to her that she loves Atsumu, to which Naruko admits she loves Jinta. Jinta asks Menma if she would rather stay here so that they could be together, to which Menma responds that she plans to go on to heaven and be reincarnated. On the day of the firework launch, Satoshi comes to watch while Jinta has doubts of going through with it. Jinta wants to stop the firework, however, he's too late. As the firework launched, Jinta suddenly heard Menma's voice: he looked behind and saw Menma admiring the fireworks.

1:40 - 2:30    Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) 9-10

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 royal 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. In order to survive, Yuki tries to find allies, with one of them being another diary user named Yuno Gasai, a girl who is madly in love with him. As the game continues, Yuki soon learns that not everyone can be trusted, not even Yuno, whose obsession to keep both of them alive no matter the cost terrifies him. Yet despite her faults, Yuki continues to trust Yuno since he manages to survive the game thanks to her. Originally, Yuki had no desire to win the game and stoop as low as the other contestants who either cheat, lie, manipulate or kill in order to win. However, that all changes when late in the game, Yuki's parents are killed. Yuki suffers a breakdown over his parents death until Yuno seduces and convinces him that if he becomes the new God of Time and Space, he can bring his parents back to life. Now having a reason to win, Yuki becomes a ruthless, backstabbing, and manipulative terrorist who causes the deaths of thousands of civilians and destruction throughout the city in order to kill the other contestants. Yuki's actions shock his friends, in particular Aru Akise, who had suspicions about Yuno and her motives. By the time Yuno and Yuki becomes the last contestants, Aru and the rest of Yuki's friends chastis him on how he has become just as bad as the other contestants. Aru tries to warn Yuki that Yuno is manipulating him and that she has an ulterior motive. Refusing to accept the truth and wishing to bring his parents back, Yuki kills them until Aru manages to stop him and gives Yuki a clue over Yuno's true identity before he is killed by Yuno herself. Eventually, Yuki learns that the Yuno he known is actually an "impostor" as this "Yuno" is actually from a parallel universe who won the Diary Game. In that universe, Yuno and Yuki were the last contestants and Yuki committed suicide so that Yuno will be the new God and resurrect him. But Yuno became distraught and more insane when she learns that while she can resurrect the dead, she cannot bring back their souls. With the help of Muru Muru, Deus' assistant and now Yuno's after she won the Diary game, both of them travel back in time to Yuki's universe and manipulated it where she killed the Yuno of Yuki's universe and took her place so she could play the game again and find a way to bring back "her" Yuki. As Yuno is about to kill him, Yuki is saved by Minene Uryu, one of his allies and another Diary user who he believed died in the game but was saved by Deus, who had suspicions that the Muru Muru in his universe is not the one he knows but the one from the parallel universe working with Yuno, and gave Minene some of his powers before his death. Their plans foiled, Yuno and Muru Muru travel to another universe to start over again but are followed by Yuki and Minene who are trying to stop them. Finally, Yuno and Muru Muru are stopped when the former learns in this new universe, all the terrible things that happen to everyone in the previous universes never happen including one where her parents were never abusive and lead to her insanity. With Yuno's Muru Muru stopped by Yuki's universe's Muru Muru and the help of the new universe's Diary users, Yuki convinces Yuno to come to her senses and surrender as he loves her. Realizing her mistakes, Yuno instead kills herself, believing this is the best for him and making Yuki the new God of his universe. In the end, despite becoming the new God of Time and Space, Yuki refuses to rule his universe as he has lost everything that he ever loved and cared; his friends, parents and Yuno. But in an unexpected Deus ex machina, the Yuno of the new universe arrives and invites Yuki to her universe as Yuki's Muru Muru had given Yuno and the others of the new universe their other universes memories which convinced that universe's Deus not to hold the Diary game and instead make Yuki and Yuno his new heirs. The series ends with Yuki reuniting with Yuno, his friends, parents and the Diary users in a new, happier universe.

Episode 09   "Blocked Call": In a flashback, Hinata receives the Breeder Diary from her dog breeder father, who wants her to eliminate Aru. When Hinata demands Aru's diary, he challenges her to guess which hand he's hiding a coin in, with his diary as the forfeit. Despite using Yuki's diary, Hinata loses and has to release Yuki. Yuno, however, realizes that Aru is not a Future Diary owner, relying on bluff and observation instead. Unfazed, Aru proposes one more round of his game, with Yuki's diary on the line. By intending to tell Yuki that he lost, no matter what the outcome, Aru manages to neutralize Yuki's diary, since its predictions are based on Yuki's perception. With the game thus reduced to a 50/50 gamble, Aru manages to guess correctly. Mao attempts to destroy Yuki's diary, but Yuno injures her. Yuki, Yuno, Aru and Kousaka leave the park, while Hinata uses her diary to send the dog pack after them. Yuki decides to return to Hinata and try to reason with her, but Yuno reaches her first and threatens to kill her, as well as anyone who attempts to come between her and Yuki. To pacify Yuno, Yuki is forced to declare her his girlfriend. Hinata's father communicates with everyone via radio, explaining that he mistook Aru for a diary owner and warning Yuki about Keigo before being killed by him.
Episode 10   "Family Plan": While making bombs for Keigo, Uryu remembers the time she was captured by a detective called Nishijima while confronting the third. Although they develop a rapport as they evade and defeat the killer, Uryu ends up knocking Nishijima out to escape. Aru sets up Yuki and Yuno on a date to a bridal fair, where they meet Keigo's wife, while he investigates Yuno's house. When Yuki and Yuno return, they find Aru at the door of the room with the corpses. However, the wall has been demolished and the corpses buried in a deep hole in Yuno's garden. Even though this is Yuno's doing, she has no recollection of the event, nor of Yuki visiting her house before. Aru theorises that Yuno's mental balance is so fragile that she modified her own memories as a defense mechanism. Meanwhile, Keigo frames Yuki and Yuno as suspects for his murder of Hinata's father.

2:30 - 3:20    Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing 7-8

Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing

[Source: Wikipedia] Taking place two years after the events of Last Exile, Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing is set on Earth, the original home world of the colonists of Prester. The new story focuses on Fam Fan Fan and Giselle Collette, two vespa pilots who work as Sky Pirates where they capture and sell battleships for a living. Fam and Giselle get into an adventure when they and the Sky Pirates rescue the Princesses of the Turan Kingdom, Liliana il Grazioso Merlo Turan and her younger sister, Millia Il Velch Cutrettola Turan, from the clutches of mighty Ades Federation. Led by Empress Sārā Augusta and Premier Luscinia Hāfez, the Ades Federation is on an all out war against the nations who are descendants of immigrants who came back to Earth by Exile ships. As Ades was the only nation to stay on Earth when the planet was in state of chaos and ruined, Luscinia believes the immigrants of Exile have no right to return to Earth since their ancestors abandoned Earth when it was in chaos only to return when Earth was viable to live on again and force the original inhabitants of Earth off their lands to form their own nations. To return these lands to their original inhabitants, Luscinia leads the Ades Federation to conquer the immigrant nations and destroy their armies with Turan being one of them. After Luscinia kidnaps Liliana, who has the ability to control an Exile, Luscinia summons an Exile to destroy the capital of Turan, killing its soldiers and the King of Turan, leading to Turan surrendering to Ades. With everything she cared for lost, Millia is given refuge by the Sky Pirates where Fam promises to help Millia regain her kingdom.
Episode 07   "Weak square": Sara announces to her subjects in Morvarid about the arrest and purge against the nobles who were working against Ades and plans to attack the nations North of the Grand Lake. Despite showing a strong face to the crowd, Sara secretly confines to General Vasant that she is sadden for people who die for her name. Meanwhile, Tatiana and Alister learns the first nation that Ades will be attacking North of the Grand Lake will be Glacies but the nation has a isolationist policy and would attack anyone who would enters their country which they hope Vincent can convince them otherwise to join their side while the Silvius heads to their border. Elsewhere, Giselle is starting to doubt her friendship with Fam as the latter continues to get close with Millia and Fam's overconfidence to capture 8 battleships being transported to Ades instead of capturing one ship to finish their deal with the Silvius. As Fam and Giselle head to the harbor where the Ades ships are, they are join by Atamora's and his Sky Pirates who are glad to see Fam and Giselle are safe and are also heading to same area as well. However, they realize too late that they went straight into a trap when the Third Ades Fleet lead by General Ōrang appears from the sky and bombard the Sky Pirates with their new auto-cannons. As they try to find a way to escape, Fam and Giselle have an idea and signal the Sky Pirates to bait Ōrang's fleet into heading into a valley and shoot a glacier and dropping it which sends a strong gust of wind to everyone and sending a giant flock of Grand birds to blind the fleet, allowing Fam, Giselle and the Sky Pirates to escape. As everyone laments their lost, Atamora's Sky Pirates head home while Fam and Giselle, who wishes to go back home, heads back to the Silvius. Unfortunately, Fam and Giselle were followed by the First Ades Fleet lead by General Sadri who gives an ultimatum to the Silvius; surrender Millia to them or be destroyed.
Episode 08  "Distraction": With the First Ades Fleet and Silvius engaged in battle near their border, Glacies launch Rocket Vanships towards the combat zone. Meanwhile, despite Sadri's message to the crew of the Silvius to surrender Millia and themselves in exchange for their safety, Tatiana ignores his demands and orders her crew to prepare for battle. They attempt to break through the Ades Fleet formation with skilled use of vanships and a smokescreen. The Silvius seemingly escapes the fray only to encounter Sadri's flagship, the Anshar. Under heavy attack, Tatiana orders the Silvius to the mountain range near the Glacies border. Feeling responsible for the current situation, Fam asks Tatiana to allow her to help, and she immediately sets out to do so by capturing one final battleship to fulfill their agreement. In a rush, she takes Millia as her Navi. With the Silvius hiding in the clouds and suffering damage from the Ades Fleet's depth charges, Tatiana orders the Silvius to head towards the weakest point of the mountain side. They blast it with their weapons to enable passage of the ship through. At the same time, the Rocket Vanships arrive and begin their assault on the Ades Fleet. Sadri orders most of the fleet to leave the Glacies border, with only the Anshar and three other battleships to continue the pursuit of the Silvius. One of the Rocket Vanships attaches a cable on the Silvius and orders the crew to surrender. A massive chunk of debris ejected by the earlier mountain blast suddenly hits the Silvius, forcing the ship under the clouds. The attached Rocket Vanship is dragged under and their crew is knocked unconscious. As the Rocket Vanship swings helplessly Fam and Millia rush to its aid until the crew regain consciousness. Another Glacies vanship destroys the cable and escorts their colleagues away from the Silvius. With the Silvius skilfully avoiding a crash into the Grand Lake, Fam flies around to the underside of the Anshar. Millia shoots and disables the Anshar's Claudia engine, forcing the crew to abandon ship. With the resulting capture of their 15th and final battleship, Fam and Millia return to the Silvius and a heroes' welcome. The Ending Theme song "Starboard" is sang in Russian while pictures of the first fourteen battleships Fam and her friends captured are shown. 

3:20 - 3:45   Fate/Zero 4

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 04   "Blade of the Demonic Spear": Saber and Lancer fight while respecting each other skills and chivalry. At the same time, Kiritsugu and Maiya are scouting the battle with Kiritsugu spotting Lancer's master hiding but is deterred from snipping him after spotting Assassin, who is relaying the battle to Kirei and Tokiomi. Lancer's master orders Lancer to use his Noble Phantasms, Gae Dearg, the anti-magic spear and Gae Buidhe, the cursed spear that inflicts wounds that cannot be healed which Saber recognizes Lancer as Diarmuid of the Love Spot while Lancer recognizes Saber's identity after using Gae Dearg to temporarily dispel Saber's Invisible Air spell and see her sword. Now knowing each others identities, Saber, who's left tendon was wounded by Lancer's Gae Buidhe, is about to give it her all against Lancer, who is about to do the same, until Rider, who was watching the battle afar, rides down to the harbor on his Gordius Wheel with Waver against his wishes and interrupts the battle.

3:45 - 4:45    Club Meeting and Announcements

 

Brave

-  Preview of New Anime this Season
-  Animation News from around the world
-  Cosplayers/Skits/Masquerade
-  Anime Music Videos
-  And other weird, interesting stuff...

4:45 - 6:00    Gosick 22-24 [Series Finale]

Gosick

[Source: Wikipedia] Gosick takes place in 1924 in a small, French-speaking fictional European country of Sauville. The story centers on Kazuya Kujo, the third son of a Japanese Imperial soldier, who is a transfer student to St. Marguerite Academy, where urban legends and horror stories are all the rage. There he meets Victorique, a mysterious yet beautiful and brilliant girl who never comes to class and spends her days reading the entire content of the library or solving mysteries that even detectives can't solve. The series mostly focuses on Kazuya and Victorique getting involved in different mystery cases and their struggle to solve them, at the same time forming important bonds with different people. 
Episode 22  "A Christmas Carol Decorates the Windowsill's Happiness": Kujo is enjoying Christmas together with Victorique when he is taken by force from the Academy as King Rupert declared that all foreign citizens should be sent back to their home countries because of imminent conflict in Sauville. However, Kujo manages to escape and returns to the Academy eager to meet Victorique again, unaware that he became a hostage in Albert's hands as a mean to ensure her cooperation with his plan.
Episode 23   "Call Checkmate on an Ash-Colored Chessboard": All the pieces of Albert's plan have fallen into place. Kujo has been deported and Victorique has been imprisoned in the Sauville royal palace. Using her wisdom, Albert exposes Jupiter Roget's identity as a Gray Wolf to the other nobility and runs him out, then persuades King Rupert to make an alliance with the rising power of Germany. Kujo has been enlisted into the Japanese military, Albert is soon to be named the new Prime Minister of Sauville and has Grevil bring Victorique out during the ceremony to show off his power. However, sometime before the ceremony Cordelia switched places with Victorique, and confronts Albert, revealing his crimes to the entire country. When one of the Brian Roscoe twins stages a terrorist attack on the ceremony, Cordelia engages Albert in a sword fight using a pair of short swords as weapons and successfully kills him, but is slain herself by one of Albert's minions. Meanwhile, the other Brian, who has taken Victorique away in a stagecoach, attempts to kill her to erase Cordelia's "pain" as he sees it.
Episode 24 "Looking at Eternity over the Grim Reaper's Shoulder": After trying to kill Victorique, the Brian Roscoe who was with her fell from a cliff and was seriously injured, while his brother died with Cordelia in Sauville. Victorique saved him and took him to the port where they were found by Grevil who had orders to capture them, but lets them escape instead. In a boat leaving the country, Brian states to Victorique that Cordelia was the kind of mother he and his brother always wanted, and was envious of Cordelia's love for her. Begging her to keep living for her mother's sake, he passes on. She is then approached by Jupiter Roget, who was bringing with him Kujo's letters to her. After the war ends, the academy is reopened, Grevil, who had now paid his debt to Victorique sports his old hairstyle again, and Kujo returns safely to a war-torn Japan to meet with his family where Victorique, who made use of the letters to find her way to his home and lived there since then was also waiting for him. Once again reunited, Kujo and Victorique state that no matter how the world changes, they will always be together.

6:00 - 6:50    Kamisama no Memo-chou 8-9

Kamisama no Memo-chou

[Source: Wikipedia] Narumi Fujishima is an ordinary high school boy who remains isolated from his fellow classmates. One afternoon fellow classmate Ayaka Shinozaki invites Narumi to join the gardening club and introduces him to a reclusive detective named Alice. Alice hires Narumi as an assistant and puts him to work solving the strange mysteries of Angel fix, an illegal drug. Little does he know it could put him and Ayaka in serious trouble. Alice is a mysterious girl who lives on the third floor over Hanamaru ramen shop. Her age is unknown, but looks like a 12 or 13 years-old girl. She is short, pale white and has long black hair. She calls herself Alice (a mixed reading of the kanji for Yūko) and a "NEET Detective". She is a hikikomori and a cracking genius. Her diet is based practically only on Dr Pepper and she suffers a severe insomnia. She always wears bear patterned pajamas and she is always surrounded by a pile of teddy bears. She is the brain of the NEET Detective Team and gathers information to solve the cases with her laptop without stepping out of her bedroom.
Episode 8  "I Don't Believe in Fate" and Episode 9  "The 21 Balls of That Summer": During summer vacations Yondaime is organizing an event and Narumi helps with the promotion of the band. But the other founder of Hirasaka-gumi, the man who gave it its name, has returned to Tokyo. It seems something had happened between Hirasaka and Yondaime. Hirasaka acts friendly towards Narumi but then mobilizes a group to impersonate Hirasaka-gumi and blacken its name, endangering the realization of the event.

FEATURE PRESENTATION:

6:50 - 8:00    Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail OVA 4-5 [End]

Roberta's Blood Trail

[Source: Wikipedia] Rock has anticipated most of the action so far, but is waiting for a final piece to fall into place. Roberta runs into Revy's group. Fabiola tries to confront her, but Roberta is in a daze. She leaves and Revy's group chases after her. Garcia realizes that the soldiers who have taken him were the group that killed his father and drove Roberta to her present state. He tries to shoot the captain with a gun he found in an alleyway but is tackled. The captain of the US troops offers his gun to Garcia, saying he has the right to take revenge. At this point, Balalaika intervenes, telling the US troops over the radio that Roberta is right above them. Balalaika's group fires on Roberta from the roof of the opposite building. Roberta gets away. Revy's group tries to continue to chase Roberta, but is stopped from ambushing the US troops by Balalaika's group. Revy is injured in the process. Garcia opens the envelope Rock had given him earlier. It has instructions to bring the US troops to an extraction point. Eda arrives at Rock's car, revealing that she had sold him a large amount of supplies, and tells Rock that he's going to have to call the missing piece himself. The missing piece in Rock's plan is Dutch, who must agree to take a job. Rock calls Dutch, smoothing things over; Dutch then gets a call from Mr. Chang, asking him to ferry the troops out of the city. Balalaika continues to escort the troops, shooting Roberta with machine gun fire and RPGs as Balalaika talks the US captain on the radio. It is revealed that Balalaika was discharged after being caught by the international media helping a child refugee. The troops make it to Dutch and Benny, along with Rock, Revy, Garcia, and Fabiola. Benny reveals that they are heading up a river to the "Golden Triangle," a place where Thailand, Burma, and Laos share a border. Fabiola and Revy get into a squabble. Rock is surprised to find that Garcia is carrying a gun, and tells Garcia that he requires more of his help. Roberta is shown boarding a plane where she is greeted by Eda. Roberta accepts Eda's help, saying she'll kill her painlessly after finishing her current chase.

New Avengers Trailer

Japanese Trailer for BRAVE...

Reveals more story on the lines of PRINCESS MONONOKE

Next Club Meeting is this Weekend!

 March 10, Building K, Room 131, from Noon - 8pm

ANIMATRIX NETWORK

When: Saturday, March 10, 2012, from Noon to 8:00 pm

Where: College of DuPage, Building K, Room 131

  "Listen up! The meeting is this weekend!"

(Located near the Intersection of S. Lambert Road and Fawell Blvd)

Click for Regional Map and Local Map for Directions.

A Viewing Schedule will be posted soon.

Geek Love

Sci-Fi Speed Dating

Dating's never easy, but try dating in a Darth Vader mask or Wonder Woman ensemble. Now meet nerd-tastic Ryan Giltch, founder of Sci-Fi Speed Dating, who will bring viewers into the fun, quirky and sometimes bizarre world of geek-focused speed dating on TLC's new special GEEK LOVE. Two half hour specials have been ordered and will air back to back on December 18th at 9PM (ET/PT).

Glitch sets up speed dating at events like Comic-Con, bringing like-minded people together to embrace their quirkiness and find love. When comic and sci-fi fans can't find someone to share their passion, they turn to Glitch. Viewers will get an insider's look at the stories behind the daters and witness their journey throughout the speed dating session at New York's Comic-Con.

 

Prometheus/Alien Connection Revealed

Ralph McQuarrie dies at age 82

Legendary Star Wars Designer Passes Away

Ralph McQuarrie
(1929 - 2012)

His death was announced at McQuarrie's official website with a short, touching tribute: 

It is with the deepest sadness that we announce the passing of Ralph McQuarrie.

People say you should never meet your heroes. Ralph was the exception to that rule. We were all fans of his amazing art long before we were blessed with his friendship. But once you got to know Ralph it was impossible not to become a fan of Ralph the man.

Ralph was a very special person for many more reasons than his undeniable brilliance with a brush. He was an especially kind, sensitive, deep, modest, funny and fascinating gentleman. And as fine a role model as any one could have wished for.

His influence on design will be felt forever. There's no doubt in our hearts that centuries from now amazing spaceships will soar, future cities will rise and someone, 

somewhere will say...

"that looks like something Ralph McQuarrie painted."

Godspeed, Mr. McQuarrie. You will be missed. 

John Carter of Mars

Opens March 9

 

The Lorax

Opens Today!

From the creators of Despicable Me and the imagination of Dr. Seuss comes the 3D-CG feature Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, an adaptation of the classic tale of a forest creature who shares the enduring power of hope. The animated adventure follows the journey of a 12-year-old as he searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world. Danny DeVito will lend his vocal talents to the iconic title character of the Lorax, while Ed Helms will voice the enigmatic Once-ler. Also bringing their talents to the film are global superstars Zac Efron as Ted, the idealistic youth who searches for the Lorax, and Taylor Swift as Audrey, the girl of Ted's dreams. Rob Riggle will play financial king O'Hare, and beloved actress Betty White will portray Ted's wise Grammy Norma. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is the third feature created by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, Hop). 

 

Atomic Robo Needs Your Help!

Click here for more info