Ra Ra, Ah,Ah,Ah! Jubi, Oo La-La! Now that I have your full attention… Hey! Don’t close the window! As usual, I have dissected the news stories I like from the past week, and have them all prepped up nice and pretty on this platter. From the Pokeymanz, to a Leeeeeeroy Jeeeeenkins Sex Scandal, all the news you want is looking scrum-diddley-umptious, just beware the elephant who shoots peanuts. It is on in a manner similar to that of Donkey Kong between him and the pitch-fork wielding clowns.

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As reported in iStalk 410, Simon & Schuster, the North American book distributor for Viz Media, recently listed 2 new Pokemon manga titles, Pokemon Adventures: Platinum Volume I and Pokemon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life, as set for release in February 2011. Pokemon Adventures: Platinum is a continuation of Hidenori Kusaka’s Pokemon Adventures manga series, the equivalent to the 30th volume of Pocket Monsters Special in Japan. Pokemon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life is the manga adaptation of the 12th film in the Pokemon franchise that was released last year.

Book publisher, The Penguin Group, recently announced that they will be releasing Tetsu Saiwai’s biographical manga about the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. For those of you who do not know, cause I know I wasn’t exactly sure, the Dalai Lama is a Buddhist leader of religious officials of the “Yellow Hat” branch of Tibetan Buddhism, who is also believed to be the reincarnation of a line of enlightened beings. The current Dalai Lama was born in 1935, and was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama at the age of 2. Tenzin Gyatso began his duties as Dalai Lama at the age of 15 in 1950, and received the Nobel Peace Prize for his lifetime achievements in 1989. Just interesting information, but moving back to the manga, it will be titled The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography, and will be released in book form on September 28th.

The ANIMATE character goods store is celebrating its 10th anniversary of its mascot character, Anime Tenchou, with 10 projects that will premier at the Ichioshi Bishojo Matsuri event on November 20th. Two of the projects are being collaborated with the anime studio ufotable, most notably the production of the “Anime Tenchou x Touhou” animation project that will combine Anime Tenchou and the dojin game franchise Touhou Project. The other project which is being done by the two groups is new commercial footage titled “Anime Tenchou Gekijo-ban.”

The World Intellectual Property Organization of Japan, or WIPO, recently announced that they would be holding a contest with publisher Kadokawa Shoten. The point of the contest is for applicants to create a manga that’s purpose is to educate the reader about the dangers of counterfeit goods. The winner of the contest will receive 1.2 million Yen ($14,000), and will be signed to a 6-month contract to publish their counterfeit manga with Kadokawa Group Publishing, with the manga also being translated into 6 languages. The contest is running until October 15th, and is open to Japanese citizens over the age of 16, be them amateur or professional manga artists.

Coming up this week, September 26-October 2, the American Library Association and other various organizations will be holding their annual Banned Books Week event. The event challenges people to read a book that has been banned from a library due to sexual content, language, or violence. There are of course famous titles in the mix such as Harry Potter, but the event also sponsors banned mangas, such as Death Note and Dragon Ball. I actually have seen flyers for this event around my campus, but did not realize that they incorporated banned manga as well until I did some further research. It is nice to see the librarians fighting for their right…to read.

Here is the Crunchyroll update for the week, as it seems I always end up updating their newest additions. As of last Friday, the French-Japanese series Time Jam: Valerian Laureline, produced by Satelight, was added. The series is available to subscribing members in its entirety of 40 episodes, and will be available to everyone else in 5-episode batches. The anime series is based off of the science-fiction graphic novel Valerian et Laureline, by artist Jean-Claude Mezieres; the fellow who did the set design for the movie The Fifth Element.

Not horribly long ago, Capcom and Level-5 had teamed up, but had not released information on the game which they were working on together. This week however, Level-5’s Jiro Ishii reported on his Twitter, “Huh? Oh, Gyakuten XX. I’m making it, with Mr. Takumi!”Confused? Well, Gyakuten is the Japanese name for the Ace Attorney games, and Mr. Takumi is more than likely referencing the games director, Shu Takumi. Note, this information is not confirmed, but it is looking more and more likely.

Announced on Saturday, the CEO of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, Michael Lattanzio, is stepping down from his post on good terms. Lattanzio was hired as the chief executive officer in 2009, and oversaw this past year’s Anime Expo, which featured one of the largest guest line-ups in the past several years. Lattanzio was also the third formal CEO of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation since 2005.

According to iStalk 411, the anime studio ufotable, previously mentioned this week, announced on Monday that two drawings from the production of the Bakemonogatari anime series were stolen from the Bakemonogatari Original Art Exhibition on September 7th. The exhibition was held to celebrate the sixth and final Bakemonogatari Blu-Ray Disc/ DVD volume release. According to Hikaru Kondo, the director of ufotable, the two drawings stolen were correction drawings done by an animation director. He also reported that there were no backups of the stolen drawings, and that they were very important for the future production of the Bakemonogatari series or related products.

Announced on Sunday in Japan, during the last episode of Sengoku Basara Two a confirmation of an all new theatrical film has been green-lit for 2011. In North America, anime distributor Funimation will be releasing the first season of Sengoku Basara on DVD next month, and are currently streaming the second season on their website. The title of the new film set for next year has not been named yet, but I will make sure to keep you updated!

The first of two World of Warcraft stories this week, a super special questline that will be available in the next expansion, Cataclysm, recently had a video(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWI5XTmGrmo&feature=player_embedded) leaked on Youtube. The newest questline will take place in the Hillsbrad Foothills, but here is the real kicker, it is basically Plants vs. Zombies, Azerothian style. You acquire sun, shoot seeds at ghouls, plant Peaceblooms, and it gives a substantial experience boost at all levels, so you can even do the quest when you are level 80 and beyond and still get something besides a good time. It is not completely surprising that this quest is being featured, as the relations between Popcap and Blizzard seem to be quite strong, hence the Bejeweled and Peggle World of Warcraft addons. Also, after completing the questline players can repeat (get it?) the game to unlock various achievements that are associated with the mini-game.

Keeping with a World of Warcraft theme, a mother of 5 children and avid World of Warcraft player, Angie L. Jenkins, was recently arrested for “enticing an underage person into sexual activity.” Reportedly, Jenkins (35) and an unnamed male (15-16) met each other in the world of Azeroth, with Jenkins posing as a 21 year old and the unnamed male pretending to be a 20 year old. This of course moves on to the two of them rendezvousing and engaging in sexual activity, which lead to the case. It is believed that that Jenkins was tracked down by the FBI once they obtained her World of Warcraft username, which was enough to warrant information from Developer Blizzard for her name and contact details. So remember kids, do not always trust that beautiful Blood Elf…they could totally end up wiping the raid that is life…

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Another week of news has passet…but don’t worry fanatics, the next week will pass by fast! I will be back next week at the normally agreed upon date, with brand new news that is oh-so delicious. Until then, make sure you brush your underpants and wear clean teeth every single day! Wait a tick…