Eastward Ho! Dept.

Among the goodies from this week's AICN Anime report:

• FUNimation has the live-action Kamui film for the U.S. This was adapted from a long-running manga — also adapted into a very 1980s animated production (Kamui no ken / Dagger of Kamui) which is worth checking out. The manga itself was released abortively by Viz in English, and I've been clamoring for them or someone else to pick up the whole thing whenever possible.
• They also picked up RoboGeisha, which promises to be greater than Avatar and District 9 put together. Yes, I'm being a fantard. Live with it.
• Ditto FLCL, which I plan to re-review when it drops, partly because my original review was pretty terrible and said nothing of substance about the show.
• And Axis Powers Hetalia. I'll probably catch hell for saying this, but I found the show offensive on too many levels to even consider watching. It's the sheer alleged guilelessness of the whole enterprise that I find doubly risible. Expect a full essay about my POV on this particular carbuncle before long.
• Most of us by now are probably aware of the live-action Space Battleship Yamato and Gantz projects. The former I can get behind; the latter, eh. My feelings about Gantz can be summed up by saying it's about how no good deed goes unpunished, and little more than that.
  
• "Takehiko Inoue confirmed that Vagabond, the fictionalized biography of samurai legend Miyamoto Musashi, will end in within the next two years." Vagabond is easily one of the three best manga currently running, next to Berserk and [insert name of Naoki Urusawa manga here], so this would be a good time to get caught up in it. Go for the VIZBIG 3-in-1 reprints; you'll get more for your money that way.