​Natsuna Watanabe can Gantz. Mostly because she's playing Kei Kishimoto in the live-action movie of the preposterously violent, often quite naughty manga -- well, that, and she's pictured above. I'm not going to lie; that's a hell of a picture. I can't imagine that Ms. Watanabe managed to slide into that outfit by herself; it probably takes a team of assistants, including one to cover her in baby powder first, so she doesn't chaff. Best job in Japan? I'd say odds are good. (Via AnimeVice)

​• Stargate: SGU-1
Wait a second. Does this mean the show's real name is "Stargate: Stargate Universe-1"? Fantabulous.

• Dante's Inferno
The anime of the videogame based on the classic work of literature in that a character is called Dante and it takes place in hell. I'll pass, thanks.

• The Guild Season 3
Felicia Day and pals continue to have wacky hijinks in and out of the World of Warcraft. I think. Probably. I haven't watched it.

• Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai
Apparently this is a classic Japanese movie about several generations of a samurai family that won some awards. Sounds kind of cool.

• XIII: The Conspiracy
All I know about XIII is that it's a French spy comic, and the only reason I know that is because of that PS2 game from a few years ago. I didn't know there had been a movie starring Val Kilmer until I got on Amazon about 20 minutes ago.

Stan Lee has been senile as hell for a few years now. Stripperella? Who Wants to Be a Superhero? Ugh. For the most part, the American entertainment industry has recognized him for effectively creating part of a massive sector of the pop culture industry by letting him have tiny cameos in his superhero movies, and then mostly tried to ignore him. Alas, Japan is possibly even more crazy than Stan Lee is, which is why he's been making a manga series called Ultimo, and now has an anime coming out in April called... Heroman.
​Yes, Heroman. Hero-fucking-man. About a boy named Joey Jones -- apparently Steve Starspangledbanner wasn't quite American enough -- and the above red, white and blue giant robot. Now, I have no idea if it's any good, or bad, or will be as insanely pro-American yet-only-running-on-Japanese TV as it seems. But by sheer fact that the series is called "Heroman" makes me doubt the creative credibility of the entire enterprise. Now, if Heroman wore a football helmet, boxing gloves, and carried two guns, that'd be something else... (Via AnimeVice)

I don't think you have to be an anime fan to appreciate this utterly insane feat of stop-motion animation. Admittedly, the video of the "apple" existed previously -- you can watch it by itself right here -- but to print out all of the frames of animation and then have them move around like this? Impressive. Hell, I wouldn't have enough enough to print out all those goddamn copies. (Via AnimeVice)

​My mind is blown. If yours isn't, let me see if I can explain this to you.

• When the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG first came to America, it was Upper Deck who made the cards. They had the license for six years.
• Upper Deck has been a respected and popular trading card company for 20 years, making all manner of professional sports cards, and TCGs like the Marvel Vs. system and the World of Warcraft card game.
• In 2008, Konami -- the owners of the Yu-Gi-Oh game, who gave the license to Upper Deck -- found some bootleg Yu-Gi-Oh cards distributed by a company called Vintage Sports Cards.
• Vintage Sports Cards said they got the counterfeit cards from Upper Deck.
• AND THEY DID.

Last week, a court found Upper Deck liable for counterfeiting and trademark infringement, which means UPPER DECK WAS SELLING BOOTLEG YU-GI-OH CARDS. WHEN THEY WERE THE ONES MAKING THE LEGAL YU-GI-OH CARDS. Is that not the craziest shit you've ever heard? Who would do that? Honestly, the only sellers of anything I can think of are drug dealer, who cut in flour with cocaine and nonsense like that. Hasbo doesn't make those crazy Spader-Man bootlegs you see in shady mall kiosks, because... well... it doesn't make any sense. At any rate, nowadays Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are made directly by Konami, and Upper Deck and Konami just settled out of court, with Upper Deck agreeing to pay an undisclosed sum to Konami. Let that be a lesson to all you people who... uh... decide to produce illegal versions of things you can make legally. Or something. (Via Anime News Network)

When Super Street Fighter IV comes out in April, it'll have more than new characters and moves; Capcom has hired anime studio Gonzo to do some new animation for the game, a trailer of which is above. As with most Gonzo's work, the animation is swell, and it's nice to see a few of the Shadaloo-hating street fighters in action. And as with most Street Fighter anime, it's only about 35% fighting and 65% people standing around and talking and doing things we don't care about because they aren't fighting. Can you imagine a Street Fighter anime that was actually mostly Street Fighter characters fighting each other? I know, it's too horrible to think about! Thanks to Dan M. for the tip.

​• Surrogates
Question for anyone who saw this story of Bruce Willis investigating non-blue furry avatar murders -- is there any reason I should watch this instead of rewatching 12 Monkeys for the 10th time?

• Naruto Shippuden Box Set 1
When Naruto made the jump to Shippuden, I was genuinely excited (I'm a sucker for shonen stories, what can I say). But I've read enough of the Shippuden manga to know that author Masashi Kishimoto not only doesn't have a grand plan for his characters, he's making shit up on a week-to-week basis. It's just terrible. I pity anyone who's collecting the anime and watching this nonsense while it's padded out for TV.

• Sherlock Holmes
Couldn't wait to see Sherlock Holmes and Ianto tussle with some dinosaurs? You're in luck, because Asylum's goofy-ass DVD movie come out today. Let me know how it is.

• Rifftrax
There are a bunch of Rifftrax DVDs coming out today, including riffs of old movies like Planet of Dinosaurs, Voodoo Man and the DVD of the recent and awesome Plan 9 from Outer Space live riffing held back in August. But the gems, as always, are the two discs of shorts -- Shorts-Tacular Shorts-Stravaganza and Wide World of Shorts. There's so much entertainment on each of these that's it's criminal that they're only $10 each. Buy them. Do it. I promise you will not regret it.

• Parker Lewis Can't Lose: The Complete Second Season
I tried to watch some of the first season on DVD. I remembered why I liked it as a kid, but couldn't get back into it as a bitter, jaded adult. I don't hold this against Parker Lewis, it's just an observation.

• The Real Ghostbusters Vol. 2
Five discs and 31 episode of real ghostbusting action.

• Alone in the Dark II
If you need to own a sequel to a Uwe Boll movie -- a sequel that Uwe Boll turned down, meaning that IT WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR UWE BOLL TO CONSIDER DIRECTING IT -- on Blu-ray, no less, I... no, I can't even imagine such a person existing. I won't.

Some nerd named IvanKW got tired of all the Akira fan-films with crappy CG motorcycles and decided to do something about it -- he got real motorcycles and filmed the above fan video. It's less a short film than a collection of scenes including one of Kaneda's crew losing a motorcycle fight, Kaneda at the bar, then Kaneda driving through the city. The effects are great for a fan video, even if it appears it was edited by a monkey on cocaine -- I don't think any shot lasts longer than three seconds. Still, it's impressive work and worth sharing, I thought. (Via Comic Book Movie)

Ah, Beck. A fantastic manga and anime, whose title inevitably confuses people because of Beck the musician and Jeff Beck the other musician. Now Beck is on its way to becoming a live-action movie, and should baffle a whole new audience trying to understand if either Beck is actually involved. I've enjoyed Beck, and there's nothing about the trailer that makes me not want to give the movie a shot. My question is who's actually doing the music? Are they using the same songs from the anime? Is someone composing all new music? Who's playing it? Will they still be using Beat Crusaders' "Hit in the U.S.A."? Because that song is awesome.

​Meet Hinako. She's the star of a DVD where she sleeps, titled -- wait for it -- Sleeping with Hinako. The intention is to put in the DVD and hit play just as you go to bed, and thus you can hear the dulcet sounds of a large-breasted anime girl tossing and turning and snoring beside you. It's like having a real girlfriend, except not at all.

Hinako starred in a previous DVD called Training with Hinako, which was an exercise DVD where Hinako would lead exercises in a variety of skimpy outfits -- which, although pervy, is a pretty good idea, actually. But a DVD that pretends someone's sleeping next to you? That's just sad -- although it's also pervy, because I believe Hinako can be programmed to pleasure herself at some point during the night. Sigh. Japanese guys, I'm sorry, but unless it comes with a mechanism for stealing the sheets and putting cold feet on you, Hinako's not even close to a realistic experience. From one who knows. (Via Danny Choo)