Popular Nitroplus/huke visual novel Steins;Gate, originally released on the Xbox 360 and with a PC version on the way, is due to receive an anime adaptation.

The terse announcement comes by way of the official 5pb Twitter account – further details can be expected later.

An indirect sequel to Chaos;Head, the plot of Steins;Gate follows the struggle of a group of Akihabara otaku who inadvertently stumble upon dark experiments in time travel, with the original visual novel featuring an innovative interactive storyline advanced through mobile phone messaging.

The original visual novel is also noted for its distinctive character designs, created by none other than huke, the artist responsible for Black Rock Shooter and others.

A maid cafe in Akihabara is currently holding a nearly two week long promotion for psychological-guro series Chaos;Head timed to coincide with the brand new Vol. 1 DVD release, and the Chaos;Head Noah Xbox 360 release of the game last week.

The café is is chock-full of Chaos;Head art, posters, dakimakura covers and other assorted trinkets, and the maids are, of course, appropriately dressed for the occasion in the school uniforms from the series.

A must-see sight for all Chaos;Head fans, along with the memorable Chaos;Head Ita-Bus.

The café is the Cure Maid Café, which frequently gets a redecorating to suit a particular theme – for the majority of February the theme was Macross F.

For the unfamiliar, Chaos;Head was originally a popular visual novel, which was turned into a 1-cour TV series for the Fall 2008 season, and has just received an Xbox 360 port that has been heavily promoted with at several locations.

Rimi looks good on a glass jar, just as she did when on the cover of the Chaos;Head Potato Chips.

Dakimakura covers being used as tapestries.

Note the blood stained one.

Even Yua’s cute phone frog-thing has its own memorabilia.

A maid, dressed in a very accurate cosplay of the girl’s school uniforms.

The maid displaying the proper use of what is called a “straw” to transfer liquids from a cup or other receptacle to one’s mouth.

The café menu has been themed for the event, much as we saw with the To Aru Majutsu no Index / Toradora! Maid Café:

その目・・・だれの目？プレート

“Those eyes…whose eyes are those?” Plate

¥700

The blood-ketchup and plastic sword thrust into one of the “eyes” is quite fitting!

The maid’s cosplay is good enough to serve as its own decoration.

The Chaos;Head Maid Café is running from Feb. 25 to March 8, so there are still some days left to attend. More information can be found at the official Cure website.

If you cannot attend, but wish you could, there is at least our past Maid Café coverage to tide you over…

Via Akiba Map.

The special figures accompanying the DVD releases of Shibuya carnage anime Chaos Head may not be too recognisable as the characters they are supposed to represent, but they are least faithful to the production values the show itself enjoyed.

There is some painful copy accompanying the awakened (first) version:

“G-God! This level can truly be called godly…”

For shame, Dengeki.

Those still after the DVDs can order them now.

This weekend’s Tokyo Auto Salon had on display not only ludicrously expensive sports cars, but also an assortment of  beautiful itasha, including an official Chaos;Head car, and the previously covered Hatsune Miku Super GT racer.

As one blogger put it, “This is the age where itasha can be put on display even at the Tokyo Auto Salon.”

The Tokyo Auto Salon is the world’s biggest auto exhibition, involving around 300 companies with over 600 cars on display and lasting three days (Jan. 9 – 11). The usual gist of the exhibition is much as one would expect from an auto show, with many new car models on display, after-market parts and custom shops selling their wares.

However, our area of concern lies with one particular style of car…

This Chaos;Head itasha comes from Nitroplus, maker of the original visual novel that the recent anime was based on, and is another promotional tool being used to advertise the upcoming XBox 360 port of the game, Chaos;Head Noah.

The franchise’ owners seem to have a fondness for dressing up vehicles to promote the series; you might remember the giant Chaos;Head Ita-Bus that was seen in Akihabara earlier.

In case you’re having trouble reading the text…

If you are God, and the delusion becomes reality.
About what kind of the noids you get?
Is it the sensual world? The despotic society?
The destructive sanctions?
Or…

Does anyone know what “noids” are?

I’m not certain why these monitors were put in at the back of the car instead of the dash?

The making of the lovely Chaos;Head itasha was also well photographed; there may be more details later…

The Hatsune Miku racer was also on display. As we reported back in August, the car (a BMW Z4) was made for the Super GT, Japan’s largest sports car racing event.

Melonbooks, one of the largest manga and doujinshi stores in Japan, had their own official itasha on display.

If you’re curious, the green-haired moekko is Melonbooks’ mascot, Melon-chan.

It’s quite shiny…

A random race queen from the event.

See the rest of the itasha coverage at Neko ni Koban.

A promotional ita-bus for the upcoming XBox 360 port of Chaos;Head has been seen in Akihabara, advertising the game with its bus sized ita-artwork and 15 full size TVs built into the sides of the bus all simultaneously playing a promo video for the game.

The bus made began making its appearance on the first day of Comiket 75, which must be an auspicious day for the likely otaku consumers of Visual Novels such as Chaos;Head.

The marketing stunt seems to be doing well, judging by the throngs of Akiba denizens crowded around it.

However, this is not the first time Chaos;Head has used such an unusual advertising tactic – some of you might remember the Chaos;Head Potato Chips promotion.

The game itself, Chaos;Head NOAH, will be the XBox 360 port of the original Chaos;Head PC game whose TV series recently concluded. It is scheduled for a February 26, 2009 release date.

The ita-bus in a past life, when it was being used to promote the Clannad Theatrical Movie.

You may also recall a similar tactic used in support of Platonic Heart…

For the curious, below is the promo video that was being shown on the ita-bus’ banks of TVs:

Via Akiba Blog.

You wil doubtless recall that none too convincingly animated psychological strangeness anime Chaos;Head is set exclusively in Shibuya; call it tracing, Photoshopping or otherwise, the resemblance has been carefully achieved (or perhaps just cheaply obtained) by way of reworking photographic scenes, which you can see in comparison below:

Clannad, Kannagi, Ga-rei Zero… there seems to be a multitude of anime employing this technique heavily of late. As long as they do not go to excess, as exemplified by Someday’s Dreamers, few seem inclined to complain.

You can find more details at source.

In a rather bizarre piece of marketing we are presented with the opportuninty to buy Chaos;Head themed potato chips (or crisps if you prefer), in fact they are “fish burger” flavoured “Nanami Chips”; but what really stands out is the price: ¥700 ($7) for a 60g packet (which normally would cost about ¥125 or less in a conbini). On top of that there is another ¥630 in shipping…

Though there may yet be an otaku market for this kind of item, however strange that may be.

Shibuya psychological thriller and suspense anime Chaos;Head finally makes its appearance. An adaptation from the popular visual novel by Nitroplus (not an eroge as such), the title promises, and delivers, a very contemporary vision of murder and delusion in Shibuya and on the Internet.

What it does not deliver, however, is much in the way of sound production values.

The protagonist collects figures and lives in a shipping container playing MMORPGs, so he is something of a hikikomori prince, and perhaps worthy of tremendous respect or derision as such.

I particularly like how close he has his fridge to his computer (bonus points for it being full of coke bottles), although in practice a fridge is best kept in an adjoining room to reduce noise. About the only nice touch in the show, however.

What really surprised me about this anime is how cheap the animation is and how shoddy the character designs look, especially compared to the original CG. It may not be bad throughout, but in most places a distinct lack of quality and effort is evident.

Seiyuu work is mediocre to my mind; the protagonist is appropriately whiney but intensely annoying as a result, and the female characters are a little overdone.

Music is poor – I’d really expect an edgy or avant-garde score from this, but what is provided is bad J-pop.

No censorship seems evident; it looks as if people being nailed to walls with metal stakes is currently more palatable to stations than the prospect of seeing their pantsu or otherwise. There is no service to speak of either.

If you look at his figures, you can see some interestingly familiar ones. The nicely detailed figures are a little spoiled in a later shot when they are shown from a completely different perspective but are not redrawn in the slightest.

The ED is amongst the worst you’ll ever see. For that matter, they don’t even bother with an eyecatch in the breaks.

The actual story seems fairly interesting, though very little is actually developed in the first episode save establishing the fact that the protagonist is already out of his mind even before the murders and hallucinations start.

I’m not at all convinced by this title; though it may yet pick up and deliver an engrossing story in later episodes, the lack of effort and poor production values in the all important first episode suggest it is destined for mediocrity.

Fans of the original visual novel and those intrigued by a very contemporary psychological thriller with strong otaku overtones may well embrace Chaos;Head, but I have my doubts about the reception it will receive elsewhere.

First an anime, due to air October 9th in various late night slots, now a port to the Xbox 360, due 2009 and to be titled Chaos;Head Noah, acclaimed adventure game Chaos;Head seems to be in the throes of conversion into a mixed media franchise.

One issue that has been raised is the degree of censorship likely to occur; although close to an eroge, the original title had little in the way of sexual material, so this is unlikely to be a point at issue in either format.

What it did have, however, is much in the way of blood – this seems likely to pass without issue into the game, but it will be interesting to see whether the stations make the same sort of fuss over the blood as they have over pantsu or the wickedness of the female form recently…

More on the Xbox version, and the air dates.

Recent and well received visual novel CHAOS;HEAD, by Nitroplus (Blassreiter, etc), is set to receive an anime adaptation, it has been announced in the latest issue of Comic Alive.

Should you not be familiar with the title, it is a gory psychological tale of murder set in realistically depicted Shibuya, with the protagonist a hikikomori. Aside from the quality of story and production, it has attracted attention for the “Delusion Trigger”, where the player can trigger a variety of delusions at various points in the story, giving alternative scenes.

It should be noted that this title is purely a visual novel, with erotic elements downplayed, though plenty of gore is present.

Reading about the game it looks as if some of the more innovative elements of the title will not survive the transition to anime, but presumably the strength lies in the story so this may not be an issue.

For a title only released in April to have already received a manga, and now anime adaptation, is rather striking, so this may be the onset of another strong mixed media franchise.