The official site for the upcoming anime series “Moyashimon Returns (もやしもん リターンズ)” has been updated with an announcement, confirming that the series will start airing on 5 Jul 2012.

Here’s the hilarious micro-organisms introducing the characters in the show:

The latest movie trailer for the upcoming anime movie “Blood-C: The Last Dark” previews the lovely theme song “METRO BAROQUE” that is performed by Mizuki Nana, whom is also the seiyuu behind the protagonist Kisaragi Saya (更衣 小夜).

The movie is scheduled to premier in Japanese cinemas on 2 Jun 2012 and the story will take place in Tokyo one year after the television series. Folks who are not residing in Japan will still get a chance to watch the movie, because it will be streamed with English subtitles via NicoNico Douga after it is released in theatres.

Animucharts has finally released the visual compilation of the upcoming anime series that will be aired for the upcoming Summer Season 2012.

After running through the list, do share with us what you are planning to catch for the next season. Series that I really look forward to include:

• Moyashimon Returns
• Hagure Yuusha no Estetica
• DOG DAYS’
• Kokoro Connect
• Binbou-gami ga!

Alter has commenced preorder for their lovely scaled figure of Menma (Honma Meiko), the ghost girl from the very touching anime series Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. (あの日見た花の名前を僕達はまだ知らない).

This is probably one of the best-looking Menma figure compared to the version announced earlier by MaxFactory, Sen-ti-nel, anbd Kotobukiya. Apart from the accurate capture of her expression, they have included a very cool base that reminds you of the  Super Peace Busters hideout.

She is scheduled for release in Oct 2012, and will be retailing for 9,240 yen. Interested folks can place your preorders with CDJapan, HobbyLink Japan, and Hobby Search.

I had featured many different Japanese castle but we have yet to enter one and see how it looks like from on top of the castle. Hence for Today’s Japan Photo, we shall head to the top of Matsumoto Castle 松本城 located in  in the city of Matsumoto, in Nagano Prefecture, and take in the majestic view that feudal lords once enjoyed.

You can see how Matsumoto Castle look like from the outside in an earlier post.

Image Credit: rwoan

Following the release of Yami Yugi, Kotobukiya has followed up with the preorder for Kaiba Seto (海馬 瀬人), Yugi’s arch-enemy from the popular franchise Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (遊☆戯☆王 デュエルモンスターズ).

He is scheduled for release in Sep 2012, and will be released for 8,190 yen. Interested folks can place your preorders with CDJapan, Hobby Search, HobbyLink Japan.

In a follow-up to their earlier scaled figure of Kashiwazaki Sena, Kotobukiya has followed up with a scaled figure of  Mikaduki Yozora. This time she is sporting the short hair after her hair had caught fire in the anime series Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (僕は友達が少ない).

She is scheduled for release in Sep 2012 and will be retailing for around 7,140 yen. Interested folks can place your preorders with CDJapan, Hobby Search and HobbyLink Japan. Personally I thought Kotobukiya had done a really good job with Sena but this scaled figure of Yozora seems rather disappointing.

GoodSmile Company has commenced preorder for the Nendoroid figure of Kuroyukihime (黒雪姫), the beautiful female protagonist of the ongoing anime series Accel World (アクセル・ワールド). She is posed with her lovely black butterfly wings and comes with three expressions including a standard face, a smiling face and a pouting face for whenever she is feeling jealous.

She is wearing a lovely jet black dress with a matching parasol included both open and closed allowing you to decide how to display her. Haruyuki is also included in his standard avatar form of an adorable pink pig ^^

She is scheduled for release in Sep 2012, and will be retailing for 3,500 yen. Interested folks can place your preorders with CDJapan, HobbyLink Japan, and Hobby Search.

For Today’s Japan Photo, we take a trip down to Asakusa and visit the famous Kaminarimon 雷門, which literally translate to “Thunder Gate”. It is the outer of two large entrance gates that ultimately leads to the Sensou-ji. The gate, with its huge lantern and statues, is popular with tourists.

Four statues are housed in the Kaminarimon. On the front of the gate, the statues of the Shinto gods Fūjin and Raijin are displayed. Fūjin, literally the god of wind, is located on the east side of the gate, while Raijin, literally the god of thunder, is located on the west side. Two additional statues stand on the reverse of the gate: the Buddhist god Tenryū on the east, and the goddess Kinryū on the west side.

Image Credit: kiddo75

Nissin has released a new series of commercial featuring a couple of AKB48 members introducing a new way to enjoy instant cup noodles during the warm summer season.

First you add hot water to cook your cup noodles, and then you add freezing ice-cubes after the 3 minutes is up.

So who is feeling adventurous to try this new way of eating cup noodles? XD

Namco Bandai has opened a new teaser site with a countdown of 19 days to the announcement of the next game in the Tales franchise.

The announcement will be made during the Tales of Festival event on 2 Jun 2012. In addition, the website also reveals that a teaser promo will be aired during the broadcast of music show “Hey! Hey! Hey!” on Fuji TV on 21 & 28 May 2012.

Source: Gigazine

Mika-tan has updated the GoodSmile Company blog with some lovely preview images of the upcoming Nendoroid figure of Kuroyukihime (黒雪姫), the beautiful female protagonist of the ongoing anime series Accel World (アクセル・ワールド). She even comes with her beautiful black wings, and Haruyuki in his cute pink pig form!