Naruko Anjo, aka Anal, appears fetchingly clad in a dress for one of Kotobukiya’s latest figures,  awaiting her summer release in June 2012.

Naruko can be pre-ordered now.

Budding fans of the Vita’s upcoming real-time fairy dating game Ciel nosurge have been aghast to learn that the game is episodic and will take over a year to finish and cost 2-3 times the price of a normal title.

According to calculations made by a concerned “game shop employee,” the game may be the most expensive yet for the Vita:

It’s actually quite a bit different to how most games are sold.

The game has 13 “episodes” and a further 3 extra episodes, only the first of which is included with the game itself.

Each episode is going to be released monthly, and they will cost ¥500 each.

So to finish it will cost ¥5040 + (15 x ¥500) = ¥13,040 [about $170]

I’m a bit concerned about how many people will be able to keep playing a game like this for over a year without losing interest along the way…

Never has so much enthusiasm evaporated so quickly:

“So this is the Vita’s killer app!”

“Who’ll be playing this in a year!”

“After a year they will just be releasing the complete edition, count on it.”

“So they are selling an incomplete game and charging as you go.”

“Won’t people finish each episode in a few days?”

“It’s a real time game so there’s only so much you can do over a given period.”

“The retailers will really suffer if they keep playing this stuff for a year.”

“This is like Bandai…”

“It would be better at 1,000 each episode and the main game free.”

“Nobody even knows what kind of game it is.”

“It’s just a normal galge ADV.”

“The Vita itself might not be around in a year!”

“I’ll still give it a try!”

“Expect there to be tons of DLC too.”

“This is shocking, if true. I’ll cancel my order unless it really has the volume going for it.”

“If the DLC is scenario rather than just costumes it could work out well.”

“I’d spend that much on an limited edition set, but I’m concerned about losing interest in the instalments.”

“Gust DLC is normally pretty nice, although this looks like it might be different. I hope they get the balance between moe and serious story right.”

“Half of the games on the Vita have DLC which costs more in total than the game.”

“It doesn’t sound like you’ll get the whole experience without playing in realtime either, so you end up having to follow it on the boards and play it like an MMO…”

“I’m just wondering if there is sufficient volume in the  initial package?”

“She dresses loose from the start, imagine what she’ll be wearing in 16 episodes guys!”

The game is available for pre-order now.

The supposed popularity of K-ON! amongst actual schoolgirls is once again the subject of incredulity and wonderment amongst fans, with TV introducing a group of high school girls who joined their school keion-bu and started a band for good measure – all thanks to K-ON!.

Creepy otaku fans are delighted, if sceptical:

“Nice!”

“How heart-warming…”

“That wasn’t too harsh, at least.”

“Is there really a boom though?”

“Wait… Band boom amongst schoolgirls caused by K-ON! and full seats at the movie – but all the seats are occupied by men!?”

“It looks too bright for them to be actually watching anything in any case?”

“Still, focussing on girls is a nice way to cover anime.”

“You lot are their only customers though! I guess they must have a few girls watching though.”

Moeblob fans have been marvelling at the increasingly steamy scenes on show in the K-ON! manga, and not least the undeniable revelation that Ritsu, like Yui and the enormous Mugi, seems to have been doing some growing…

The possibilities inherent in “100 mugi” (Manga Time Kirara has made it to 100 issues, no doubt in large part thanks to the influence of K-ON!) have also been attracting attention:

London’s newly won position on the K-ON! “seichi” pilgrimage circuit appears to be well in hand – fans of the K-ON! movie are already hunting through its frigid and grimy recesses to find the various locations fictionally graced by their moeblob icons.

This otaku’s pilgrimage includes such fascinating essentials as “the side of their hotel,” “Mio’s bus stop” and of course “Ricchan’s gravestone”:

The rise of the anime pilgrimage package tour seems only to be a matter of time.

The element most anime fans are looking for in the anime they watch may come as a surprise to some, considering its near total absence from so many popular late-night anime titles…

The ranking, of “elements you stress in the anime you watch”:

1. Story

2. Character

3. Seiyuu

4. Art style

5. Music

6. Art quality

7. Performance

8. Gags

9. Visuals

10. Moe

Vipper cosplay fans have been challenged to share the cutest cosplay ever, and the eye-wateringly cute selection they provide certainly validates their conclusion that “there is no way anyone could dislike cosplay!”

The amazing possibilities of the “bukatsu” school club anime for allowing Type B fans an uninterrupted stream of cute and sexy schoolgirl antics have resulted in the below ranking, featuring just about every conceivable type of club activity – save the one most obviously in demand, perhaps.

The ranking:

1. K-ON!

2. Haruhi

3. Saki

4. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

5. Chihayafuru

6. Ro-Kyu-Bu!

7. Prince of Tennis

8. Ookiku Furikabutte

9. Slam Dunk

10. Sasamekikoto

11. Lagrange

12. Yuruyuri

13. Ouran High Host Club

14. Mashiroiro Symphony

15. Softenni

16. Ben-to

17. Touch

18. Genshiken

19. Sora no Otoshimono

20. Umisho

21. MM!

22. Sexy Commando Gaiden

23. The Knight in the Area

24. Sketch Book

25. Sora no Manimani

Lamentably, Bible Black apparently does not qualify as a club anime…

The interminable controversy over the ethnicity of anime-styled characters and the pedestal upon which many Japanese ensconce white girls is being stoked by the image above – cute anime girls, it maintains, are drawn with Caucasian bone structure.

The points the image makes:

Whites have a convex forehead, (East) Asians a concave one

The rear of a Caucasian skull is convex, the Asian concave

Caucasians have a protruding chin and concave jaw, Asians a protruding jaw and receding chin

Caucasians have lower positioned eyes, Asians higher positioned ones

Not surprisingly, this has provoked the usual debate:

“What a cruel choice of models!”

“They really were right when they said they are designed off of white people…”

“And the usual video:”

“The people who make this stuff are aggravating our white people complex, it’s creepy!”

“I’ve never seen a skull like the one on the right in an anatomy book or an art how-to.”

“Yui-chan is so cute…”

See also the previous discussion of the topic…

Gust’s upcoming PS Vita moeblob-dating sim “Ciel nosurge” has been attracting a great deal of favourable attention online, and looks set to become the most hotly anticipated title on the Vita – at least amongst the creepy otaku demographic.

Ciel nosurge – Ushinawareta Hoshi-e Sasagu Uta (シェルノサージュ ～失われた星へ捧ぐ詩～ – “Ciel Nosurge – A Song Dedicated to a Lost Star”), is being developed by Gust (which was recently reduced to a fully-owned subsidiary of Koei) as their first entry onto the PSV.

The game reportedly revolves around fairy courting, possibly the only theme which can compete with the schoolgirl dating so common to the sub-genre. The setting is a standard science-fantasy setting, with a musically-themed magical system.

The busty animal-eared fairy main heroine (who, of course, suffers from amnesia and needs help finding something precious) revealed so far is Ion. Needless to say, she has already started to develop a following. She is accompanied by the obligatory harem of fairies, lest she not prove enough.

The actual game is said to incorporate “7-dimensional communication” as a major element, which appears to be a reference to heavy use of Love Plus-style virtual interaction features, coupled with Persona and Ar Tonelico style RPG-dating game features – although it appears to be closer to an adventure game or visual novel than an RPG with dating elements.

All this combined with the relatively high quality graphics of the Vita and the extremely high quality of Gust’s moeblobbery has served to rapidly drive anime otaku gamers into heights of excitement not seen since the advent of little Totori.

The game’s Japanese release is due on the 26th of April, 2012.

Whether and when the title will see the light of day in the barbarian lands is as yet undetermined – although with Gust’s other English-language Atelier releases having provided model localisations for some time, the chances of a happy ending seem reasonable.

Thankfully popularity of the fan (or yaeba) still lies mainly in the real of 2D – and fang fans have been keen to reinforce this point with a handy ranking of the cutest snaggle-toothed anime girls.

The ranking:

1. Kirino (Ore no Imouto)

2. Kyouko (Madoka)

3. Sena (Tomodachi ga Sukunai)

4. Mayoi (Bakemonogatari)

5. Tsuruya-san (Haruhi)

6. Fumino (Mayoi Neko Overrun!)

7. Misao (Lucky Star)

8. Lingyin (Infinite Stratos)

9. Ranka Lee (Macross F)

10. Moeka (Rosario+Vampire)

Fans of the fang are not just restricted to 2D any more, and it seems even some real women are opting to preserve or even create their own cute little fang – however there are still a great many who consider the phenomenon best restricted to 2D…

The “fang” tooth configuration (an out-of-alignment canine tooth in the upper jaw) which is such a staple element of moe character design is known as “yaeba” (八重歯) in Japanese, and the term is often encountered in non-otaku contexts (“kiba” (牙) also enjoys some currency as otaku jargon – meaning simply “fang”).

The fang itself is subjected to orthodontic correction with much less frequency than in the west, and treated with much greater forbearance.

In fact, thanks to the influence of moe the reputation of the fang as merely a dental defect rather than a “charm point” seems to have eroded to the extent that some women are actually opting to get dental work to enhance their fangs – even if only to better milk creepy otaku fans:

Pretty celebrities who can now get away with showing off their naturally occurring fangs are probably rather more common:

Plenty of otaku are adamant that fangs are best kept in the superior realm of 2D, however:

Charlotte will be wearing her rather hot bikini for an extremely appealing figure, due to be released in August 2012 courtesy of Alphamax. Her hair can be let down or tied back for those of stringent requirements:

Charlotte is available for pre-orders now.

The K-ON! Movie has been awarded an Academy Award – if only Japan’s knock-off domestic version, although this is still being hailed as quite the accomplishment.

The 35th annual Japan Academy Prize (in Japanese both the real Academy Awards and the Japanese clone share the same name, but the official English naming cheekily avoids the issue) ceremonies granted the K-ON! movie an award for Excellence in Animation, the most prestigious prize any moeblob anime is ever likely to get.

The award of an “Academy Prize” is probably amongst the least of the real distinctions the movie has earned – the film grossed almost 15 million dollars (1.14 billion yen) in its first month, being seen by over a million people (or possibly a much lower number considering the propensity of otaku to make multiple visits), all quite unheard of for a late night anime.

Top moeblob Akiyama Mio‘s birthday is once again drawing hordes of creepy otaku celebrants, all keen to show off their ever more elaborate cakes and ever more extensive collections of Miorabilia…

Recently unveiled “Korean Vocaloid” SeeU is the subject of this cosplay by the equally Korean Tomia, veteran of so many stunning Miku cosplays.

League of Legend players and non-players alike will undoubtedly appreciate the very acme of ero-kawaii cosplay as delivered by Miyuko‘s foxy portrayal of the game’s nine-tailed Ahri.

Anime fans voting for the best anime of 2011 deliver up a list of not always universally popular anime – although their number one choice at leasts looks to be uncontroversial.

The ranking (including sequels, continuations and so on):

1. Puella Magi Madoka Magica

2. Ano Hi Mita Hana

3. Working!!

4. Dog Days

5. Hanasaku Iroha

6. Nichijou

7. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

8. Baka to Test II

9. Ro-Kyu-Bu!

10. YuruYuri

11. Tamayura -hitotose-

12. Ika Musume

13. Natsume’s Book of Friends

14. Infinite Stratos

15. Hidan no Aria

16. GOSICK

17. Blue Exorcist

18. Ben-to [tied]

19. Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

20. Chihayafuru

21. Mashiroiro Symphony

22. Mayochiki!

23. The World Only God Knows

24. Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

25. Heaven’s Memo Pad

If 2010 was the year of Kyoto Animation, 2011 appears to belong to Shaft…

Sana Inui from Mashiroiro Symphony is to receive a Nendoroid figure by Good Smile Company and set for a May 2012 release, looking cute even for a Nendoroid.

Sana can be pre-ordered now.

Moeblob fans are sure to appreciate Lenfried‘s cosplay of little Azunyan, faithfully recreating as it does her charmingly juvenile swimwear…

Figure makers Max Factory and Phat Company went all out with the creation of this adorable Popura Taneshima Nendoroid, a release accompanied by the Wagnaria restaurant.

The Nendoroid:

Wagnaria part A (Customer Seating):

Wagnaria part B (Kitchen Set):

All are set to be released in April 2012.

Those looking for a Millhiore figure fully capable of obscene poses with Woody need look no further than Max Factory’s Millhiore Figma, set to be available in April 2012.

Millhiore Figma can be pre-ordered now.

The lovely Miku in her “Love Ward” nurse outfit is here cosplayed by equally lovely if dimensionally challenged Korean cosplay queen Tomia, making for some excessive moe.

Ready to wait on her customers in May 2012, Popura has received a new figure incarnation thanks to Alter, looking as cute as ever.

Popura is available for pre-orders now.