Providing some numbers, the group claims to have - for the year of 2008 alone - already “taken down a total of 10,738 infringers, including: 5006 Movie file-sharing links, 2123 Picture file-sharing links and 3609 Blog post”.

Full Press Release contained here-in after the jump.

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Tim Van Rellim reveals that Goku dies in the beginning of the second part of Dragonball

At least that’s what recently commented Tim Van Rellim, producer of Dragon Ball, in an exclusive chat in el Siglo of Durango, in which he spelled out precisely the death of the protagonist will be the beginning of the second part of the story, it it is also very likely to be recorded in Durango.

“Durango has been a phenomenal place to record. We had many sets and the truth never felt paparazzis or harassment of the press and elsewhere and in other productions. It is a very quiet place, we were treated very well, “he said.

More after the jump (more…)

The “Jump Super Anime Tour” will be one of eight projects that mark the 40th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine.

[ Muhyojo via ANN ]

Dreamworks, who aims to produce a live action version of Ghost In The Shell, originally released Ghost In The Shell: Innocence in North American theaters and on DVD, however, there was only English subtitles and no dubbing present.

According to Bandai, Innocence’s dub will be produced by the same studio which dubbed the television movie, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society.

Source: ANN [ Image © Shirow Masamune/Kodansha • IG, ITNDDTD ]

Ghost In The Shell ( 攻殻機動隊, Kōkaku Kidōtai ) , first published in 1989, is a futuristic police thriller dealing with the exploits of Motoko Kusanagi, a member of the covert operations section of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission, Section 9, which specializes in fighting technology-related crime. She may be named after one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan and Shirow makes reference to them at the end of the second manga. Although supposedly equal to all other members, Kusanagi fills the leadership role in the team, and is usually referred to as “the Major” due to her past rank in the armed forces. She is capable of superhuman feats, and bionically specialized for her job — her body is almost completely mechanized; only her brain and a segment of her spinal cord are organic. [ Wikipedia ]

According to Variety, Seaside Entertainment will be producing the feature while Jamie Moss has signed on to write the script for the adaption. Universal and Sony also attempted to gain the rights to Ghost in the Shell, however, Steven Spielberg is reported to have taken great personal interest in the property, thus leading to its’ reception by DreamWorks. “Ghost in the Shell is one of my favorite stories,” Spielberg was quoted as saying. “It’s a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks.”

The Defamation charge was brought about due to his usage of the photograph of a fellow student in an attempt to displace the blame from himself by leading police to the other student.

Although he may have embedded Trojan Horses, Viruses, and other Malware within these images, Japan does not have laws against such and therefore he is not being charged with any crimes in relation to doing so.

Nakajutsi has acknowledged the creation of these images and their malware as being to place hindrance upon Winny - the file-sharing network in which he distributed these images - and also as something he just did “for fun”. Prosecutors are seeking a two year prison sentence.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun [ via ANN ]

Tokyo Toys started off as an online store for all things otaku, and a few months ago they opened a physical store in the London Trocadero. If I remember correctly it was on the top floor at the back (the front being the side you enter from the Leicester Square direction).

Below is a collection of images from the trip, click the thumbnails to see a full size view:

The London Trocadero:

Tokyo Toys:

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Terra Tag store façade:

Anime T-Shirts:

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While playing in a sandbox in his family’s backyard - along with five of his peers (including three brothers and two friends), the boy requested of them to help him recreate a scene from Naruto by burying him in the one-foot-deep sandbox, head-first, from his head to his chest.

Once he was buried, the boy was said to have been thrashing around violently. After witnessing this, his friends realized that something was wrong and called for the help of adults. Upon arrival, the adults immediately called for medical help, pulled Cody from the sand and began to administer CPR to get him breathing once more.

Cody Porter; Image: KSDK News

Medics took Cody Porter to the Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center located in Seattle, Washington where he is currently listed in critical condition. After interviewing the five children who were in the sandbox with Cody, the Sheriff’s department named it as a “tragic accident”.

Here is what Cody’s half brother had to say about it:

“They watch a cartoon where they were like sand masters or something and they can manipulate sand or something like that. They came up with the idea that if he were to do this then he would be able to be one of them”

Seattle ABC affiliate, KOMO-TV, did a broadcast of this story which is available online. In it, various clips of Naruto are shown with Gaara (pictured left, above) performing Sand attacks and the characters are described as “sand ninjas” (ANN).

Remember kids, Naruto is an anime, do not try and immitate the fight scenes from the show in real life.

Sources: King 5, Komo-TV (via ANN)

Papa Midnight would like to remind you that picking on people is not cool. Let’s try to be nice and let this kid have some peace, especially when he goes back to school where he’s most likely to get the brunt of his insults (save, The Internet, of course).

Update:  Cody Porter was pronounced dead Monday afternoon. No doubt there will be some idiots who are quick to say that anime is evil and should be banned, but lets hope the fallout isn’t too bad. Comments along the lines of ‘it is a good thing for the gene pool when this happens’ are a little insensitive, the kid died, so try and refrain from doing so if at all possible.

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The Live-Action film will star the Half-Japanese, Half-Armenian-American pop-singer Stephanie - who debuted in 2007 under Sony Music Japan with her single, 君がいる限り (Kimi ga Iru Kagiri). Directing the feature will be Shūsuke Kaneko who you may remember from the Death Note Live-Action.