Girls who are part robot confuse my boy parts.

The latest light novel to anime conversion is Infinite Stratos, a relatively new and unknown series by rising author Yumizuru Izuru. The science fiction series has sold 400,000 total copies over five books so far, which is a modest success but nothing to write home about – for comparison, the To Aru Majutsu no Index novels have sold 7.7 million over 20 books.

Infinite Stratos is about a world where a new type of powered suit can only be operated by women. This newtechnology, known as the Infinite Stratos (IS), leads to a revolution in society, changing the world into a matriarchy. But, since there are Rules about these things, a boy named Orimura Ichika accidentally activates an IS system and becomes instantly famous. “The only boy in the world who can use an IS” is immediately drafted into an elite IS pilot academy where, because there are Rules about these things, he runs into a lot of his childhood friends amidst the gaggle of cute girls who are all fascinated or threatened by his presence.

All of this is pretty much an excuse to have a high school romcom/robots hybrid, with a Strike Witches-style twist where the girls are hybridized with the mecha. There also seems to be a shortage of pants, judging from the book covers, but I am strangely okay with that.

The most interesting thing announced so far about this anime is that it’s going to have Kikuchi Yasuhito (Macross Frontier) at the helm, while Eight Bit (Macross Frontier: Itsuwari no Utahime) will handle the animation. I have a lot of faith in those two names, and that upped my assessment of this announcement from “another light novel to throw into the pile” to “This could explode in popularity like K-On!” Time will tell.

Why wasn't it Vysaga? Boooooo...

Update: The Super Robot Wars official anime page is up, and gives the new anime a fall season start date!

What’s this I see on the Internet? A new Super Robot Wars OG series that takes place after the overly-political Divine Wars series? And it’s subtitled The Inspector, just like the first villains of OG2? And the promotional images include Lamia Loveless and Axel Alma, the stars of the Shadow Mirror arc of OG2 with their Angelg and Soulgain mechs?

Well. It looks like after a complete failure to bring Super Robot Wars OGs to the US (my source says that this was due to the exorbitant cost of creating a dub track for the game, which Sony insisted on), we have another chance to bring the glory of Super Robot Wars to American audiences.

Seeing this makes me want to pull out my copy of SRW OGs again – though if you make me play all 50-some turns of Chapter 22 (the first Inspector map) again, complete with the dozens of saves and reloads that come from the bosses frequently one-shotting Gilliam, Viletta, and Ryuune, I may just hang myself.

Anyway, The Inspector will be a TV series, covering the events of OG2 much like Divine Wars covered the events of OG. It has a very experienced staff behind it, with Oobari Masami (Gravion) in the director’s seat and respected names like Katoki Hajime (Virtual On, G Gundam) and Kotobuki Tsukasa (Godannar) filling out the long, long roster of character and mecha designers.

Out of curiosity, how many of you have played Super Robot Wars and know what the hell I’ve been talking about with my name-dropping of mechs and miscellaneous levels of Japanese mecha strategy RPGs? Hit the jump for some awesome videos from the game series, which you’ll see in animated form soon enough.

All of Angelg’s attacks in order: Shadow Lancer, Mirage Sword, Illusion Arrow, Mirage Sign, Phantom Phoenix

All of Soulgain’s attacks in order: Seiryuu Rin, Genbu Goudan, Byakko Kou, Mai Suzaku, Kirin.

Rampage Ghost, ‘cuz it’s awesome:

Tatsumaki Zankantou, because real men ride each other:

And, finally, Royal Heart Breaker. Because I hate myself.

Whee, more vague details.

Hey look, some answers about the mostly mysterious Fafner project! The new details are that the new Soukyuu no Fafner: Heaven and Earth will open at Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro on Christmas of this year. Beyond that? No real details. Could we see some actual trailers please, guys?

Or better yet, some music?

Robot + swimsuit episode = ???

Stan Lee’s Heroman continues to march on in anime form. While many of you probably dropped it after its plodding-but-necessary origin episodes, the official site now contains a trailer for the second half of the show that promises nonstop greatness in the near future.

The fusion of American comic and Japanese animation looks ready to kick itself into a higher gear, with an anti-hero standing in opposition of everything Heroman represents as well as a hero who now does a whole lot more than just shout and press a button to save the day.

If you’re not familiar with Heroman, I highly recommend watching it – but skipping to around episode 8. It has way more potential than its kiddie look and time slot would suggest, and once it gets rolling, it’s a huge blast to watch.

In my mind, this means that the US game plan is simple.

Ghana's midfield in action

- Ghana will most likely play an attacking 4-3-3 formation, with Gaia, Ortega, and Mash ready to counter any of Landon Donovan’s efforts. However, it will be easy for him to pierce the midfield defense because their tactics will always be the same: the three Black Stars will line up and first try to tackle him, then try to shoot him with a bazooka, then try to tackle him again. Should the referee not issue an instant red card for bringing beam swords and bazookas onto the field, Donovan can easily defeat this maneuver by jumping on Gaia’s head and continuing his run.

- Should Gyan manage to ambush Tim “RX-78″ Howard, the US keeper will not be in any trouble. Howard’s spaceborn birthright allows him to thwart all of Gyan’s attacks with ease, and even with bruised ribs, one arm, and no head sensors, Tim will be able to punch the ball out of goal.

Tim Howard performs an amazing one-handed save

With those two basic tenets in mind, US victory should be assured unless the Titans panic and start gassing people, that’s an automatic red card.

Not the direction I expected the franchise to go, no.

So, do you guys remember Jinki: Extend? It was a relatively forgettable mecha anime back in 2005, though the manga has been running on and off since 2002. Today, I was a bit shocked to see it in the purple section of Moon Phase dedicated to adult games. It turns out that the manga property is being adapted into game form by famed PC game maker Giga (publisher of such games as Maid Cafe Curio and Baldr Force) under the name Jinki Extend Re:Vision.

According to the developer diary on the official site, which I will not link because there will soon be adult content on the site, this project has been in the works for two years. It has the full blessing of original creator Shirou Tsunashima, who will provide character designs for the game but leave the writing to Giga’s team of Kyousui Kiduki, Tarou Kajiya and Team Birth-tale.

This is notable to me for two reasons. First, I’ve never heard of a non-adult manga getting an adult game adaptation. Second, I absolutely love mech games made by Giga – I own every game that Team Baldrhead has ever done. This is definitely going to be an interesting story to follow as more information is released…

I don't know what they were smoking, but I want some too.

I’ve watched this three times now, and I still can’t find any rhyme or reason to it. For the seventh episode of Mayoi-Neko Overrun!, the animation staff apparently went completely insane and did the whole thing as a pastiche super robot show. Almost all signs of the boring fan service show disappeared and were replaced by straight-up giant robot tale in the tradition of the Yuusha series. Heck, they even named the fake show Yuusha Choujin Grandbraver (“Superman of Braves Grandbraver,” and yes, I meant to translate it that way) and commissioned a different opening song from anime legend Fukuyama Yoshiki.

It’s kind of awesome, and certainly more interesting than the random nakedness and unfunniness of the main series. It also feels like their skimpy animation budget was just being saved up to make this episode, with better character designs, some big-name voice actresses (they brought in Tamura Yukari just for this episode, who has Yuusha cred thanks to her role as Tenryuujin in Gaogaigar), and new music from people who can actually carry a tune.

The question remains: why did they do it? And will they do it again? If so, I may just pick this show back up.

Above is the main reason I’m excited for a new season of Code Geass. I’ve always had an obsession with Spanish guitar, and between composer Nakagawa Koutarou and singer/songwriter Sakai Mikio, they’ve delivered the goods on guitar since 2001′s s-CRY-ed.

Sure, the second season of Code Geass was an exercise in shark-jumping until there were no sharks left to jump. But let me tell you: if Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito has songs like Mikio’s “Callin’,” “Picaresque,” and “Tabidachi no Kane ga Naru,” I don’t care if the story has rocket emperors, God flying around in a spaceship, or Lelouch’s ghost flying around and killing of all the younglings.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4E0LhNM37A]

Sadly, sine the Black Knights have zero reason to show up in the new series, I don’t think we’ll be hearing their guitary goodness anymore. That’s okay, though, because hot damn, is “Black Knights” a good track. Sunrise better deliver!

Hell, I’ll even accept Sakai’s randomly happy stuff, like the Planetes ending:

But oh man, if they don’t bring back Nakagawa and by extension Sakai, I’m going to scream bloody murder…

Sadly, this is the least cryptic screenshot.

The tease for the new Code Geass anime is officially on! On the official Code Geass website, creators Taniguchi Goro and Okouchi Ichiro have released the first solid details about the much-anticipated third series. The details are a bit sparse, but fans will be tickled pink to know that the tentatively titled Code Geass Gaiden: Boukoku no Akito (Code Geass Side Story: Akito of the Ruined Country) brings  back almost all of the important staff from the first two series.

CLAMP and Kimura Takahiro will once again team up to design the characters. Morita Akira returns as the head writer. Yasuda Akira will keep on designing Knightmare Frames. Okouchi Ichiro and Taniguchi Goro are still the masterminds behind the whole thing, with the backing of Sunrise. The only newcomer is Akane Kazuki, who will be the director for the new series. His other credits include Tetsuwan Birdy: Decode, Noein, and the Escaflowne movie, so at the very least, he’s very experienced in the genre.

So rest assured, Geass fans – the new series will look, move, and flow  just the same as its well-loved predecessor. Personally, I couldn’t care less about all that – the real question is, will it sound the same? I need to hear that Nakagawa Koutarou is back to do the soundtrack before I get excited. I’d be in musical heaven if he and his partner in crime Sakai Mikio came back.

I feel a Tuesday Tunes coming on…