Japan To Send Humanoid Robot "Maido-kun" To The Moon

Akihabara News recently announced that Japan will send a humanoid robot named "Maido-kun" to the moon in 2015.  Maido-kun will be a $10.5 million two legged robot funded by the Space Exploration Agency of Japan (JAXA).  Simply love that space is getting in the news again.  The age of Gundams is coming soon! ^^

Chuck's Anime Shrine Logo / Banner Contest

Want to get your hands on the Black Rock Shooter Nendoroid or the Figma figure?   How about both?  Long overdue on this site is a fresh new contest.  So to make up for the lack of contests in the past year I'll make the winner of this one have BOTH of those figures! (...and a bit more (read on))

Chuck's Anime Shrine has been around for some time and back in 2002 I created this site to be a shrine to anime with anime sections representing various series (more on those old sections in a future post).  Also for years I've been throwing around some mascots that my fiancee came up with in 2003 and with life's little challenges, these mascots have been kept on the back burner for WAAAAY too long. Time to change that once and for all!

Fumi is the name of my main mascot (Fumi Kobayashi to be exact) and she also has two other characters with her.  No I'm not copying Danny Choo's three mascots;  If I just simply focused more on them, you'd have seen them before even Danny's wonderful trio ^^;;  Fumi is still to eventually be a part of a game I want to make and she can transform into an Angel or Demon version of herself  ^^ (more on that below)

Since the figure business part of this site has been on the grow, I have to do what any legit business needs to do, create a logo.  It's not exactly good that I continue to use copyrighted characters in my banners ^^;; so it's time to bring my personal trio of mascots to the limelight and brand this site...so I need YOUR help.


The goal of the contest; create a logo for this site using our three mascots, Fumi, Lily and Yumi.

I know many of you are talented or budding artists and I want to give you all hand in both exposure and maybe even employment.  Since Chuck's Anime Shrine is a legit business, you can use any potential logo creation as an entry in your portfolio for employers (and I'll gladly reference you..heck down the road).  The winner of this contest might also get future logo/advertisement work with this site/business and if I get to the point hiring in the next year or two, that option can be on the table as well ^_^

What I'm looking for in a logo:

• A shrine image, (which by the way is the Yasukuni Shrine in the current logo...).  Use this as the base of the image, but if you can, design your own shrine top.
• An image of either Fumi (her normal school girl, angel or demon forms), Lily, and/or Yumi (can have all or a mix of them.  Example images and character bios below for direction.

Prizes:

Grand Prize:  

• 1 Nendoroid Black Rock Shooter Figure
• 1 Figma Black Rock Shooter Figma Figure
• Logo featured on site (rotating banner)
• Logo featured on the store section, CAS business cards and any other potential promotion material*
• Artist's own bio section on this site with links to other works, deviantart site, etc

Secondary Prize (up to 4 runners up)

•  Your logo rotating on this site and blog

*By entering a logo/banner to this contest, you agree to allow me and my company, Chuck's Anime Shrine, to use your initial logo for business cards, magazine ads or any other type of advertisement.  The landing/bio page about you will be to help credit you for the work (as well as the figures won in this contest with any future deals done)

Simple mascot bios and resources for the logo creation:

Fumi Kobayashi:

• Typical anime school girl but has psychic powers and can transform in either an angel or a demon at will.  Ok, still somewhat a typical anime girl ^^;;
• Her normal form is that of a school girl in the good old Japanese uniform, aiming for the old-school blue hair for her.
• In her angel form she gets long blond hair and loks like a princess/goddess
• In her demon form, she sports more of a sexy, sinister look; sporting black or red hair

Lily:

• Fumi's guardian and the typical chibi character, but not in the chubby/stubby chibi proportions.  She's a tiny pink haired fairy about the size of the fairies in say, Shugo-Chara.

Yumi:

• She's meant to be the guide of this site.  She's a chibi shrine maiden with reddish pink eyes, and ruffled brown hair.  She wears the typical white and red shrine maiden outfit
• She carry's around a "Chuck" doll; basically a plush of me with X_X eyes that has spiky blond hair and a blue dress-shirt

Images we came up with in the past to help you out:

Here's some images that have been on the site for years of Fumi that I did and this blog post:

I don't have any images of Lily at the moment ^^;;  my fiancee Danielle did draw her but hopefully the description of her will help.

Here's what Yumi looks like in the eyes of Danielle as well as Fumi too:

Contest will go on until I get 5 solid entries.  If  I get a bunch in before July, then I'll have the cut off date be July 15th or when the Black Rock Shooter Figures arrive to my store.

Email your logos here

oh and the logo/banner size should be 982px × 249px, .png or .jpg (almost forgot to specify this ^^;;)

Good luck and have fun ^^

Sora no Otoshimono: 1/7th Scale Ikaros Figure

 
Gramoe is a new manufacturer and they sure are giving very good first impressions.  I'm a big fan of Sora No Otoshimono and this figure of the Angeloid Ikaros will be in my personal collection for sure.  She does cost a pretty penny though at around 9300-9800 yen (~$110-$125), but she is a 1/7th scale figure that has detail comparable to Alter, AmiAmi, and Good Smile Company.  As long as the final production model looks just like this, I'll be a happy otaku.

Pre-order her here, or email us to be on the waiting list.


...more images ^^ (thanks to Nekomagic for the images that even us retailers can't get sometimes o_O)

Clalaclan Swimwear Figure Pre-orders Begin

Here's an anime figure that I'm certain will sell out all too soon.  She might be a little NSFW ^^;; but a testament to why the Japanese make better figures.

Up for pre-order is the beautiful Clalaclan from the game Shining Wind.  She's part of the Max Factory 1/7th scale Swim Wear set that includes thus far, Seena and Kureha.  She retails at about 6800 yen (~$80-$90) and is set for an October release..so sadly by the time she comes out..you'll have fond memories of summer but hey, she'll be there to remind you ^^;



Pre-order her here or email us to get on the waiting list.

...more images here: 

 

Bang Zoom! CEO: "Anime is going to Die..."

Not the words I'd like to hear from the CEO of the studio I just recently did a freaken anime dubbing class for!!  There is [some] truth (and a bit of giving up) from Eric Sherman's statement though.

So who's killing anime:  Fan Dubbers.  Ok, I'm a big fan of Team Four Star's DBZ Abridged but let face it, fan dubbing IS killing the industry; but as I've said in a previous post, this is a two way street.  We have to ask the question of why anime fan dubbing has gone rampant.  Other than us anime fans wanting to be a part of anime in every way; part of the blame goes to studios here in the US that see a very popular anime...but fail to get it here in due time.  The result, fandamonium and thus fan dubs galore and then no DVD/Blu-ray/download sales. Combine that with the way DVD and Blu-ay sales are being replaced by online and downloads...and thus you will see sales drop.

If I was Eric Sherman, I'd do what any CEO needs to do, and that's getting with the times.  Observe FUNimation; they now take in many fan dubbers and many fans into anime series (of course you still have to go through the voice acting grind).  As Tony Oliver o Bang Zoom! saw from the voice dubbing classes, there's a slew of great voice talent that when combined with the love of anime, it's a potent combination.  Though compared to commercial or video game dubbing, anime dubbing is low pay (at about $70/hour compared to $500 in 4 hours in other dubbing mediums)..but it sure as hell beats what's currently out there in the job market!

Hey, anime sales effect me too since I am a legit anime retailer, but from one CEO to another, Eric, please, don't give up on anime.  The fans are more crazy than ever, the popularity of both DBZ and Sailor Moon will bring back a new age of anime fandom, sales, etc, with or without the help of has-been networks like Cartoon Network.  Also...I was planning on flying to Burbank from here on Long Island, NY so I can drop you guys $1300 for a voice demo CD...so you have future business; don't give up.  There ARE places making money online from anime.  My store profits alone equal that of my (still needed for now) day job and let's not forget Crunchy Roll, they bank good $ from showing mainly free and 100% legit anime on their site.

Here are my suggestions for the anime business to make money:

1. License/Dub popular anime. Why in the hell K-On! is still exclusive to Japan makes any marketing person do a facepalm.
2. More simulcasts.  This is the 21st century and Japan isn't closed from communication.  Get in touch with studios in Japan and get cracking on the dubbing and get the anime series released in BOTH parts of the world.  any anime studios in Japan STILL think there are no such thing as fans of anime outside of Japan.  If that means doing anime dubbing in ::gasp:: the group format they do in Japan as oppose to the one-by-one format we do here, then do it.  The internet created the NOW generation.  Get the dubs out NOW for a series that comes out NOW...otherwise, who'd want buy an anime series in English if they already saw it in Japanese a year earlier.  I post figures the day of their pre-order release in Japan for my anime store because by tomorrow..it's old news..same for the actual anime series.
3. Let the fans guide you.  Following marketing trends in the anime business is the same in other businesses but in anime, the fans stay longer so if an anime is hot, go with it and STAY with it through since the fans will and still are there.  Use sites like Danny Choo, this site once things really get rolling or anime figure trends.  If  I had the money you studios have to licence series, I'd make sure I'd have K-On!, Touhou Project and Black Rock Shooter, Sailor Moon (yep SM again) in the bag RIGHT NOW, not 3 years later...NOW.

As for you fan dubbers...well, in defense of Eric Sherman, yeah, calm it down.  Do what I did 8 years ago (and maybe again soon) and make more AMVs.  They aren't as bad in copyright infringement as fan dubbing is and it allows you all to be creative while at the same time promoting an anime for free that will catch on that you love.  I used to and STILL get people telling me that they found an anime from my AMVs.  90% of Fan Dubs are crude, dull and rather pointless on the grand scheme of things (obviously some are pretty good..but hey..it IS killing the industry). I've been in a real anime dubbing booth and sitting in front of your computer and putting a 4 minute piece together with your mom's $40 mic isn't going to get what you want done :-/.

One thing is certain though, anime won't EVER completely die.  Vegeta does have a word for you all though on what might before anime does...

4Kids Nabs Dragon Ball Z Kai

I love the fact that Dragon Ball Z is coming back to the air, but now 4Kids is in this, too?!  You heard that right, on top of Dragon Ball Kai's airing in America to debut on Nicktoons, it'll also be on TheCW4Kids Saturday morning block for this year and 2011.  As per marketwatch.com. FUNimation gave 4Kids the rights to air the series.  For us hardcore fans of the series, this means more laughable edits that will make you face-palm.  The silver lining in this is that anime IS going to get back into the mainstream, but of course at the cost of hacking up a good anime series to make it good for the kiddies to watch.  Cartoon Network must be maiming their marketing people now after hearing that even 4Kids wants a piece of the Dragon Ball Z/anime empire that they still firmly reject.

Anime Blog SEO

 
Thanks to Google blogger forcing the removal of the FTP blog, many sites, like mine that had great SEO, that had a following and took a few years to build, probably saw what I have seen for the past few weeks...THE ENTIRE THING FALL TO %^&!! -_-

Just an idea on how bad the switch to blogger custom domain has been...take a look at what my traffic did at the end of March (and is slowly, slowly gaining back)

Yeah, not exactly SEO friendly to go from FTP to custom domain.  So, since not much of you are viewing the site, I can say anything I want, hahaha... j/k... I kinda already do.  For those who have been loyal, I'll post the newest contest this week and you'll be happy you still stayed here and didn't escape like the rest of the internet.  It's related to Black Rock Shooter so, I think you guys would want to stay tuned...and NOT run away.

I did improve the SEO of the anime store though....observe any item and the item's title is in the URL and the html title, plus I added multiple images per product (observe BRS figma) plus images on the product pages are no longer randomly tiny.... so take THAT Blogger! -_-

The Return of Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon fans will be so happy to hear this bit of news. As per a post by ICv2, Toei animation is doing what it should have done a few years back and put the 200 episodes of Sailor Moon up on the auction block. More specifically, Toei will offer the episodes on the MIPTV market at the Cannes film festival soon. Basically this means that they are offering the show to any network and licensee who wants to possibly air it on their networks.

Hey Cartoon Network. Want to make a third BIG FAIL and ignore this offer? Your marketing morons missed out on Naruto Shippuden to Disney AND just recently Dragon Ball Z Kai to Nickelodeon. It's ok, you guys can continue to ignore anime... and also hate money...keep airing Tim and Eric's cheap live action show at night, I'm sure the 5 people who watch that will make your advertisers happy.

We'll see who takes Sailor Moon but if an American network takes the obviously smart choice...it'll include ALL the episodes. This includes the beginning episodes that the fools at Dic cut as well as the last season (Sailor Moon Stars) that NEVER showed here in America back when Sailor Moon got a second major airing in the US on Toonami's block, early last decade. The reason why the last season was never shown here in the US was because the last 3 Sailor Scouts was a boy band that transformed into girls during battle. At that time, boy bands like N'Sync and Backstreet Boys were the big fad and such a popular show probably would have pissed off some people. Of course, we find out about 10 years later, Sailor Moon's last season would have simply brought out the truths about the former boy bands.

Funny enough, my fiancee just ordered the entire Sailor Moon manga series that she didn't have AND ALL of the subbed, uncut episodes ^^;; I guess we should have waited just a bit.

Sailor Moon is anime 101 and if you haven't seen it or at least know of it, you are not officially an anime fan -_- Watch Sailor Moon un-cut and you will see that it's NOT some Japanese Barbie show, dispute what most may think. If Disney or Nick get it, there will be some parts edited out but hopefully not the ridiculous editing/ Americanization of names that Dic did so many years ago.

Time to celebrate... Sailor Moon is BACK ^_^

Dragon Ball Z Kai On Nickelodeon

Nicktoons will be airing probably the best cartoon to date on their lineup (ok Ren & Stimpy and Invader Zim need some creds). In case you haven't heard, Dragon Ball Z Kai will be airing on Nickelodeon starting in May. The days of anime on Nick haven't really been around since the mid 80's back when I used to watch Grimm's Fairy Tales and The Mysterious City of Gold. I remember being about 4 years old and 6-8am on Nick was a very interesting stew of odd pre-Nicktoon American cartoons like Count Duckula mixed with badly edited-for-US-audience, old school anime like the two I mentioned.

Anyways, the part my little trip to the past that links to this new DBZ info is that the days of over-editing anime for the "kiddie" audience is back in full force. Ninjas will "sweat" and "faint" when stabbed with a knife on the Disney XD airing of Naruto Shippuden and expect to see the revival of the "blasted to another dimension" reference when somebody "dies" in DBZ Kai from a ki blast. Granted, it IS FUNimation doing the Dragon Ball Z Kai dub so, it's uncertain if they will follow in the old "kiddie" voice edits from the Ocean Dub days.

Though this is a WTF moment for us hardcore fans. It is a good marketing scheme for FUNimation, Toei Animation, the DBZ franchise, anime stores like mine and maybe for the revival of anime into mainstream again (without the help of CNN promoting Rapelay -_-). Of course, if you want to see the series un-cut and in their best forms..Buy the DVDs and Blu Rays. Things will get silly when the editing comes into play..believe me.

As for the people over at Cartoon Network...expect the execs to probably hang themselves in due time for missing out on now 2 HUGE franchises to other networks. A commenter on the Dragon Ball Z Kai Nicktoons commercial below said it perfectly that Cartoon Network has stupidly abandoned anime for "window-licking" cheap live action and Flash animation homegrown shows.

Yes, it was Adult Swim that brought Family Guy back to life x10 and the ratings of Family Guy for some time destroyed the ratings of even the best anime...but, lets be honest Cartoon Network, I'm speaking to you now; Anime fans are not like American animation fans. We stay loyal to a series all the time. American animation fans are very many but the ratings are fleeting since the American mainstream is rather flaky and not very focused. When ratings fall from a show even as cool and funny as Family Guy...it's a major fall. Major and minor anime series will have a constant viewership that will always be $ in the bag for you and your advertisers.

As both a business owner and a major anime fan, the move by Cartoon Network to abandon anime for cheap, home-made live action and mainly amateur animation (minus FG and Venture Bros.), will be your greatest downfall. I'd fire your marketing team right now for some people who actually know what they are doing. You guys missed out big...again.

Love Plus: Nendoroid Manaka Takane

 
Also announced today are the pre-order reservations for Nendoroid Manaka Takane of the popular dating sim game, Love Plus.


Here's her link to in the store for you to claim your reserve, before it's too late.

Here's an email request link for those who want to be on the waiting list via email ^_^

Manaka Takane will be the first of 3 girls from the game that will be put in Nendoroid form.  She's set to come out around August or possibly September/October for us here in the US who still sadly get these wonderful figures last :-(

Love Plus is the dating sim that made world wide headlines since a player apparently married one of the characters o_O

Here's some more images of her:

Nendoroid Strike Witches: Francesca Lucchini

 
Just announced today are the pre-order reservations for the very cute Francesca Lucchini from Strike Witches.


Here's her link to in the store for you to claim your reserve, before it's too late.

Here's an email request link for those who want to be on the waiting list via email ^_^

Lucchini is a bit more pricier than the other Nendoroids due to her very cool accessories, like her Strike Witches leg attachment (forgot what they called it in the series..I just saw episodes 1-6 too ^^;;) and also she can be set up to make it look like she's flying.  Very cool and should be around some time in the summer.

Here's more images of course:

Sora no Otoshimono: Ikaros Figure

A joyful Monday morning this was as I saw the announcement of this adorable Ikaros figure.  As a big fan of the anime Sora No Otoshimono, this is a MUST have for me ^o^

Created by AmiAmi, this Nendoroid-like figure is set to arrive around August.

Naturally, I made sure to not take them all from you guys and I have her listed in the store ;-)

If you are scared to use the storefront...an email to get on the waiting list is ok too.

Just a few posts back I noted that the second season of Sora No Otoshimono was announced so expect to see more of Ikaros soon and that's a very good thing ^_^ (though it would be nice if Crunchy Roll would put season 1 back on -_-, I was up to episode 8 or so)

Anime Figures and... Swarovski Crystals? Part 2

Swarovski fans will rejoice and anime fans might give a o_O face but as I stated last month, I've brought back to life my Swarovski line of products.  It started slow but it's about to get a BIG jump start as there are now brand new figures that have been released as of 3/29 and a little of all of them will be gracing my store ^_^

Never heard of Swarovski crystal figures?  Well, in short, they are figures, most rather small to some that get decent in size (and price ^^;), which are made almost entirely of genuine Austrian crystals.  These gems definitely fall in the "kawaii" type of figures. 

As with anything I promote in the store section of this site, they are 100% legit and brand new.  Since I run my business legitimately, these figures for now HAVE to be at the full retail price or I'd piss off the people over at Swarovski :-/  I will however offer FREE shipping to US buyers and discount shipping to international buyers so hopefully it balances the red tape there.

For those into all that is Swarovski, which some of you anime figure collectors are, here's the new lines that I should be getting in by the end of the month:

• The Newest 2010 Lovlots, including Spike, Ziggy, Ted, etc
• 2010 Crystal Moments, Happy Ducks and the Bejewelled Butterfly
• The new Crystal Paradise figures (for those with a big wallet ^^;;), including the Light Topaz Seahrses and Surgeon, Scuba Blue crystals.

Here's an example of them, the Bunny Figure, Bella

Click here to view them all

Shining Wind: Kureha Swimwear 1/7th Scale Figure

Up for preorder reserves today is the very beautiful Kureha from the game Shining Wind.  Fans of Kureha figures know that they are very fleeting and sell out very fast...with scamming eBayers quickly overpricing them to astronomical prices shortly after reserves run out -_-  
Don't believe me?  Go to ebay and look up the price of the old Kotobukiya Kureha and once you finish laughing at the stupid sellers that honestly want to charge $300+ for a $50 figure, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Don't let the ebay scalpers con you come late September/October when she arrives and then after.
I made sure to reserve a decent amount for the store and hopefully save my fellow anime fans some $$

Click here to view her store page to make your reserve 

or 

Email us to get on the waiting list ^_^


Now back to this wonderful figure on hand.  She's a beautifully designed 1/7th scale figure...and she's under $100 for once.  Yep, a 1/7th scale figure in these strong yen,pathetically weak dollar times that is under $100.  At 6800 yen or about $75-$80, she's a decent one to go into the collection.  I'm certain to add her to my personal collection as well ^o^


Observe her images below (and yes, this would be considered a #FanServiceFriday tweet...need to bring those back ^^;;)