The other day, Sunrise posted the first two episode titles on their website and at the same time may have pissed off quite a few manga fans.

1. Naraku's Heart (奈落の心臓)
2. Kagura's Wind (神楽の風)

I'm not in a spoiling mood today, but these titles do make me worry a bit about potential pacing. The main issue though is a question of where the anime will start and titles do seem to imply that there might be a jumping or breezing through a dozen or so chapters from where the first anime left off.

On an unrelated note, I'd like to confirm that the first episode will premiere on Sunday, October 4th at 2:20AM on Nippon TV.

Sources:
Sunrise
2ch

(Click on image for larger size.)

After a bit of a dry spell with information, we finally have something new to talk about.

Inuyasha Final Act will premiere on October 4th on Nihon TV at 2:20AM JST and on October 6th on Yomiuri TV at 1:44AM JST. The opening will be performed by Do As Infinity (they did the 2nd and 5th endings for the first anime and ending for the 4th movie) and the ending will be performed by AAA.

I had honestly thought that Do As Infinity was done after they broke up a few years ago. Even though I knew they came back last year, having them do another song for Inuyasha is a pleasant and quite appropriate surprise.

Source: 2ch

Edit: In other news and in case you haven't heard over the past few weeks, Anime-Kraze has confirmed that they will be fansubbing the series.

This isn't really what one could consider "big news", but I thought I'd share this with you anyway.

• Sunrise website
• Yomiuri website

As far as I can tell, the only new information is a confirmation of the cast and crew.

Viz sent out a nice email and press release this afternoon in which they announced their acquisition of Inuyasha Kanketsu-hen.

This was expected to happen sooner rather later and shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

Of course, announcing so soon with a logo and such does lead to suspicions that Viz is planning a English-subbed simulcast of the new series.

Sources: 
http://inuyasha.viz.com/ 
http://www.therumicworld.com/series/inuyashaanime/

Edit 1: According to Higurashi of Inuyash Information from Japan and Patches of Inu-Goya, the anime is rumored to be only 26 episodes in length. I hope to god this isn't true since sane pacing and preserving as much material as possible would require 52 to 104 or so episodes at the very least.

Edit 2: YTV has put up their new Inuyasha website.

Edit 3: The DVD containing the Black Tessaiga OVA as well as the Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura OVAs will be sold for the equivalent of $150 to $200 in Japan. Ouch. >___<

(click to enlarge)

Anime News Network and 2channel can now confirm the rumor.

Inuyasha's back!

Inuyasha Kanketsu-hen (犬夜叉 完結編 Inuyasha Final Chapter)

This new anime will cover the manga material that the first anime didn't. This isn't a Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood-esque rehashing though. Only volumes 36 through 56 will be animated.

Thank you to Rumiko Takahashi, Sunrise, Shogakukan, and Yomiuri TV for making this possible.

Edit: The DVD release for Inuyasha: Black Tessaiga, the Ranma 1/2 OVA, and the Urusei Yatsura OVA is January 29, 2010.

Courtesy of the Rumic World and Inuyasha Information From Japan blogs:

The Shonen Sunday #31 reveals that a big news about InuYasha is announced in #34 on July 22.
Generally speaking, this description means the 2nd anime series starts in October.

I'm a good friend of Higurashi, the webmaster of inu-yasha.org (IIFJ), and I am utterly shocked by this news coming from her. Not so much by the news, but how it was delivered.

Higurashi wouldn't dare make such a confidently worded announcement about a new Inuyasha anime unless she was close to 100% sure that it was a reality. I've known her for at least 5 years and I trust her conjecture on this matter. If she's wrong, I won't hold it against her. If not a new anime, the only other thing it could would be regarding the release date of the Black Tessaiga OVA.

I myself have long stood by the notion that the Inuyasha franchise (not counting manga releases in the US) would only be relevant for one year after the manga finished in Japan. Additionally, I have held that there existed a critical now-or-never window of opportunity between the Fall '08 and Fall '09 seasons inclusively, for a new anime or continuation to be announced.

After 5 long years, is this the news we've all been anticipating?

Edit: To the best of my knowledge, Sunrise has not scheduled any series for this Fall. A new Inuyasha would be the only thing they'd be working on other than the Gundam Unicorn movie.

Edit 2: It is quite possible that the news may leak on Saturday the 18th when the Shonen Sunday issue layout is leaked.

Shitty quality is shitty, but hey, it's better than waiting until January.

You need XviD (use Combined Community Codec Pack) to view the video.

It’s a full 30 minute OVA.

• Torrent
• Direct Download

In other news, seeing people defeat Viz's security for the Rinne manga is quite amusing. It's almost a fraction as bad as what happened to Funimation with their Phantom, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and One Piece leaks.

It takes a lot to impress a scanlator. Today, I am not only impressed, I stand in awe. This evening, Viz finally put their scanlation ('digital chapter' sounds lame) up online at their new "The Rumic World" site. The chapter is extremely well done: Good translation, preserved honorifics, preserved sound effects, page stitching, and most importantly…

CLEAN, TANKOUBON-QUALITY PAGES!

I wouldn't be able to compete with that even if I wanted to.

Also, I'm not gonna spoil the chapter.

• Flash viewer (Medium Quality)
  
• Image directory (High Quality) *Kikyou, thanks for the tip!

Note: If you reside in a country other than the United States or Canada, you will not be able to read the chapter. If you use a U.S. or Canadian proxy, you may be able to. Edit: Some people are recommending Hotspot Shield or IPMask. It works with Windows and Mac. As for my fellow Linux users, I'll find something for you too. :3

As for the Inuyasha announcement, just read on and try not to wet yourself.

(Read on …)

Before I forget, the expanded summary that I managed to miss:

As a child Sakura Mamiya mysteriously disappeared in the woods behind her grandma's home. She returned whole and healthy, but since then she has had the power to see ghosts. Now a teenager, she just wishes the ghosts would leave her alone! At school, the desk next to Sakura's has been empty since the start of the school year, then one day her always-absent classmate shows up, and he's far more than what he seems!

NOW, IF YOU WANT TO BE SLIGHTLY SPOILED, READ ON TO SEE THE IMAGES!

1 revision since publication

(Read on …)

Yesterday, I learned that Shogakukan and Viz is pulling a rather stunning move: Simultaneous releases of Kyoukai no Rinne in Japan and North America. The English title is apparently just "RIN-NE" or "Rin-ne" or even "Rin-Ne". No explanation of the significance of the title has been made yet.

mapWhile the two companies have been good friends for a number of years, this is something I was not expecting. When Viz first announced that they were aiming for a volume 1 release in 2009 for Kyoukai no Rinne, I admittedly scoffed at the idea. I had deduced that Viz was only going to just make it by the end of November or December simply due to the nature of how it takes roughly 6 months for a tankoubon to get released after a magazine publication.

Needless to say, I and others were dead wrong. But what does this mean for scanlations?

(RANT INCOMING! Also, 1 edit added.)

(Read on …)