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The official website for the upcoming AKB48 anime series, which is now scheduled to air in the Spring of 2012, revealed the premise of the new series. AKB0048 (could this be a shout out to Gundam?) will take place in an era where the Earth has been annihilated by a world war over interplanetary travel technology. As a result of the destruction, humans flee the ruined Earth in droves and mark a new age in cliche plots.

In all seriousness however, the "Super Galactic Alliance" (honestly, the name is still pending) institutes a ban on all forms of entertainment since it can corrupt the minds of people. Of course this leads the disappearance of super talented idols such as AKB48. However, there is an underground resistant movement. A new generation of "illegal idols" who hold "guerrilla concerts" to bring light back to such a dark work have appeared. They are AKB0048. Believe it or not this is just the back-story. The series actually takes place in 48 years after all this happened and follows the 77th class of trainees who are aspiring to be the new members of AKB0048.

Well like they say, you can't make this stuff up. I feel like I've said enough for one day about this topic. Please refer to the accompanying promotional images and in case of emergency use the kit located here. Also be sure to let us know what you think in the comments below.

It wasn't too long ago that we first heard that there would be a fourth season of the popular pink-haired tsundere anime, Zero no Tsukaima. Today we have the first promotional videos ready for viewing. The 4th season, Zero no Tsukaima F, will be the final season of the series which is based on a series of light novels. For those who aren't familiar with the story or have forgotten the horrors that occurred since it began, you can watch the 3 and a half minute long official CliffNotes version here. The series is scheduled to premiere January 7, 2012 in Japan.

Check out the trailer and more after the jump.

Happy Friday readers! In today’s issue of Manga Hermit, I decided to change things up a bit. If any of you have noticed, I’ve been on a slice-of-life run for the last couple of articles. Knowing full well that you’ll be getting more than enough of that wholesome, communal feeling during the holiday season, I had to think deep and hard about a manga that defied reality more than a human having god-given abilities. Cooks, assassins, families, music, overly compensating males – what haven’t I thought of yet?

…How have I not done any mechas yet?

In the land of Cruzon, the numerous countries have eked out a lifestyle though the use of a curious material called Quartz. There are numerous types of quartz that can be found in this realm and their applications are all but limitless. What makes Quartz truly unique is how this material is manipulated. You see, almost the entire population of this realm can use “magic” – the ability to manipulate and conjure Quartz into numerous forms and applications, from the day they are born till the day they die. Life is unfair, and sadly there are a select few who cannot utilize magic, thereby making a Quartz-reliant lifestyle a tad difficult.

Rygart Arrow is one of these “un-sorcerers”, but he’s got bigger problems than having to make a fire just to have breakfast. His beloved country of Krisna is on the verge of decimation by its neighbor - the Nation of Athens. Out-gunned, out-manned and barely having the advantage on tactics, Krisna’s eventual fall grows closer with each passing day. The king of Krisna believes that they have one last ploy to use - the discovery of a never before seen and highly advanced Golem (bipedal war machines) encased in Quartz. The problem is that it seems said golem is unaffected by magic. On a whim, the king calls in his old war cadet friend Rygart, just to get his opinion on the war and the new golem when everything goes wrong. But, curiously the golem begins to respond to Rygart’s presence…

Written by Yunosuke Yoshinaga in 2007, with 10 volumes in print and a whole mess of mecha-on-mecha action, Break Blade is one manga that breaks the mold without actually breaking the mold. An interesting mix of mecha and fantasy, readers will be hungering for more battles where Rygart and the Delphine get to show off their mettle. Break Blade’s story is solid, though there is a demand for answers on the growing conflict between Krisna and Athens. No anime/manga plot remains that straightforward after so many issues.

The media has been saying recently that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been investigating the applications of the Geneva Convention, a group of agreements between nations regarding the humanitarian treatment of war victims, and it's applications to video games. The idea is that if you kill virtual people in unspeakable an manner (ie. shooting medical personnel & civilians on the battlefield, T-bagging CTs in Dust, ect.) on screen does it count as doing the real thing.

The fact that anyone believed this is to be true is surprising to me but just in case anyone was worried the ICRC put out a statement denying media claims. The humanitarian group stated earlier today that "serious violations of the laws of war can only be committed in real-life situations." However, they don't mind working with video game makers to promote a better understanding of basic humanitarian laws since several companies who put out these kinds of games also create war simulators for military use.

At some point on the afternoon of November 26, 2011 the server hosting leetneet.com was attacked. Our (former) hosting provider, inMotion Hosting, which has failed to provide security multiple times before reacted to this not by defending against the problem but rather by suspending our hosting account.

As a response to their lack of professionalism and quality of service we will be requiring a new host. Unfortunately we will face large amounts of data loss. If you have created an account with us on or after October 18, 2011 you will have to create it again. We are also missing all articles from this past week.

We apologize for the inconveniences but as you can see our previous hosting company sucked so much that we had no choice in our actions. Do not worry, your data (rather what's left of it) has not been exposed to others. Hopefully we'll be back up and running soon.

If you've been dying to watch Makoto Shinkai's latest film and didn't see it at the Waterloo Festival of Animated Cinema (WFAC) in Canada since it was canceled, don't fret. The reason it was canceled is because it's been licensed in North America. Details of the license are currently unknown. They did not even reveal the name of the license holder. Luckily, some of our staff managed to see the film at NYCC and we guarantee it's worth the wait.

The film follows a young girl named Asuna who befriends a mysterious boy named Shu. When Shu dies, Asuana sets out on a journey to understand loss.

It's not uncommon for multiple versions or cuts of a movie to be made, but for one to double the length of the original cinematic cut is nearly unheard of. Ken Akamatsu, the mind behind the Negima manga series, tweeted that the DVD version of the recent Mahou Sensei Negiama! Anime Final movie has been extended 84 minutes from it's original 44. The DVD is supposed to be bundled with the 37th volume of his manga, which is slated for a February 17, 2012 release. Akamatsu added that the re-cut film, Negima Movie: Supervisoer Ken Akamatsu's Cut, will be officially announced on Thursday.

While it's quite suspicious to add such a tremendous length to a movie (read as: Was the movie even complete when they released it?), Akamatsu said that the dialog was revised to make the character's sound a bit smarter. The film which already faced changes between the screenplay and the actual released product was originally part of a double-feature with the Hayate no Gotoku! Heaven is a Place on Earth movie. Perhaps due to this, time constraints forced a shorter and less complete version of the Negima film to be shown in theaters.

The Negima film is supposed to be an alternate official version of the manga series' final chapter in which Negi's class of 31 students graduates.

Source: [ANN]

If you haven't gotten your zombie fix lately, there's some news to look forward to. Last night's "×× Book Walker" announced that there will indeed be a second season of Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? also known in English as Is This a Zombie?. The new season will start to air in April 2012. According to the announcement, the cast of the first season will return and be joined by Hitomi Nabatame as Chris, Ayumu's school teacher.

Source: [Crunchyroll]

If you were at Nekocon this previous weekend, you may already know that Sentai Filmworks has licensed detective anime, Un-Go for home video digital distribution. But for the rest of us, they've kindly released a statement indicated that they do indeed have the license and will release it on DVD and BluRay in 2012.

Un-Go which currently airs on Fuji TV's Noitamina animation block and is being animated by studio BONES and directed by Seiji Mizushima of Full Metal Alchemist and Gundam 00 fame. Check out a description and a trailer after the jump. You can also see our first impression of Un-Go here if you haven't already.

Thank you based Madoka! According to the Anime News Network, the December issue of Newtype magazine will be announcing the there will be a theatrical film of Madoka Magica. Although it was expected that there would be another Madoka related project, since writer Gen Urobuchi has been mulling it over since the television anime ended, most people expected another anime series. There isn't any further information available yet, but we'll keep everyone posted.

UPDATE: According to Crunchyroll, the image of the December cover of Newtype has not been confirmed to be real. But it looks pretty real so we'll have to wait until Thursday to know the truth.

UPDATE 2: Anime News Network has confirmed that Newtype magazine will be announcing the Madoka Magica theatrical film project.

UPDATE 3: More info about the Madoka Magica movie has come in. Instead of being a single movie it will in fact be 3 movies. Two of the movies will recap the series (no surprise there) and the third will be a completely new story. What that entails is a mystery, but director Akiyuki Shinbo and writer Gen Urocuhi are on the case! There are currently no further details but we're stoked!