Sorry for the long delay between updates. I've been working on the 3x3 Eyes Digest.
Cool Nuku Nuku Website
I recently came across NK-1124's
Shrine to Atsuko "Nuku Nuku" Natsume. There's a lot of good
information there, so go check it out.
Banneko DASH! character
designs
I noticed that Enrico has a picture of the new character
designs for Nuku Nuku and Ryunosuke on his Italian 3x3 Eyes
webpage Il mondo
di 3x3 Occhi. See, green hair! I'm not sure I want to know why
Ryuunosuke is blushing...
Opening / Ending Themes
Single
The OP/ED themes for DASH! will be sung by Megumi H. and
will be available on Sept. 4. See below for more info.
Delays
The release date for the final TV episodes has been pushed back from
July 24 to August 21, the original release date for the OAVs. It looks
like they are indeed creating some new animation for the final volume.
I'll try to translate the text on the Starchild page sometime. (It may
be designed to tie the TV series to the OAV series.) The OAV dates have
also been pushed back, and the first release is now scheduled for Sept.
23.
Merchandise Updates
I have more info on the
third TV soundtrack now that it is available. The final title is
the rather boring "Vocal and Soundtrack Album". Visit the Starchild site
for the track listing (in Japanese). Two of the tracks are the TV opening
and ending themes, and these are likely the full versions since the
TV-size versions were on the previous two CDs. (I guess they figure
they've sold enough CD singles by now.) This is also the first CD to
have BGM from the show, but that doesn't excite me very much. I do
love the CD cover art, though.
I'm expecting the first collected manga volume of Shin Bannou Bunka Neko Musume to be available soon. I'll post a date when I find one.
The Facts & Figures have been updated with the latest information. The third TV series LD and video has been released, and the laserdisc comes in a box with new art by Yuzo Takada designed to hold all four LDs. By the way, each LD comes in a gatefold sleeve even though only one laserdisc is included, apparently for the purpose of providing twice the cover art and filling more of the box. It looks like the first DASH! volume will also come with a box.
On the subject of boxes, there is a new merchandising trend of selling empty laserdisc boxes and videotape cases. Check out the new Commercial Break section for more information on these and other Nuku Nuku merchandise.
New OAV Series!
Just when you thought the Nuku Nuku strangeness was over, a new OAV
series is announced. (Yes, I must eat my words from the last update.)
Bannou Bunka Neko Musume DASH! is being
developed by the TV series staff, including director Yoshitaka Fujimoto
and character designer Seiji Kishimoto. The OAV series is planned to
have three video/LD releases starting in August of
this year, each release containing four 25-minute episodes. That means
that the OAV series will be just as long as the TV series, which
I find very interesting.
The OAV series looks to be slightly more serious and action-oriented than the TV series, without all of the classmate characters. The returning characters include Nuku Nuku and her family, the office ladies Arisa and Kyoko, and (from the TV series) the girl next door and her mother, and the young president of Mishima Industries. None of the characters have masked costumes (thank goodness), but Nuku Nuku does get to wear the "battle suit" that appears in the introduction to the TV series, and Akiko (Ryunosuke's mother) has a pilot suit for some reason. The series is set three years after the TV series, when Nuku Nuku is 19 and Ryunosuke is 14 (the age of puberty). Nuku-chan is a college student, and she now has light green hair, which looks very odd. For the planned release schedule, see the Facts & Figures section below.
Site Premiere
Welcome to the new page; I hope you like it. Most of the information
here now was copied from my Takada News page, since its days are numbered.
All 3x3 Eyes information will be moving to a new web account, but the
Nuku Nuku information will reside here.
Stats and Ratings
I noticed in the latest Newtype that the ratings for the Nuku Nuku
TV show are pretty low, at about 5%. Most shows average around 7-8%,
and popular shows often hit 15% or more. That number is the percentage
of Japanese households that watch a given show. About the only shows
lower than Nuku Nuku were the after-midnight shows, which are lucky
to get %2, especially considering most of them are only aired in the
Tokyo area. I doubt this has much to do with the short run of the
TV series, but you can bet that if they were getting high ratings
they'd find a way to extend the series into OAVs or something.
Ah, Now I Understand
OK, as usual new anime mag day = amazing new scoops. Bannou Bunka
Neko Musume, the TV series, will end with episode 12,
at the end of this month. It seems it was only a winter filler show that
is making way for better things with the start of the new TV season in
April.