Stephanie Yanez's new song, Ultimate Miku World, was released in late June, during the time when I was absent from my usual post. The song, a crossover between American Jpop singer Stephanie Yanez, and international sensation Hatsune Miku, was originally aired on TinierMe.com, where Stephanie acts as a sponsor and virtual idol. The song can be purchased on iTunes, where it has averaged a rough ✩✩✩✩✩ in user votes.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ultimate-miku-world-single/id447189581

In 2000, CLAMP began Legal Drug, a manga about two boys, and the drugstore they work for. After publishing only three volumes, the series was put on hiatus in 2003. TokyoPop released the volumes between 2004-2005. CLAMP will resume the manga in the December issue of Young Ace. (Released Nov. 4th).

Lets start the ball rolling with Aniplex USA:

  Aniplex USA announced Friday, at it's Otakon Panel, that it is slated to release the Oreimo series DVD Box Set in October. Amongst the extras included will be a 16 postcard set, and a 24 page booklet. As far as episodes go, there will be the 12-TV epsiodes, as well as four English subtitle only.

   Aniplex also has obtained the rights to translate the hugely popular magical girl series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica.  Aniplex also announced this Friday.

  Aniplex also announced that Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Crackle will begin to streaming an English-subtitled version of Star Driver Kagayaki no Takuto, on August 17. The 1st two episodes will air then, and will be followed by weekly episodes aired every Wednesday. http://www.star-driver.net/ (Japanese)


(Image is copyrighted to BONES/Star Driver Production Committee.)

Moving away from Aniplex, the Another horror novel's anime adaption launched an official website preview. It confirmed that the show will begin airing sometime next year, and that Noizi Ito, known for his work on Haruhi Suzumiya, is responsible for the original character designs.

The novel, 1st released in 2009, centers on a school class that has fallen subject to some strange curse, which results in a string of unavoidable deaths.

The official website for Negima, and Hayate the Combat Butler, negihaya.com, began to stream trailers for the two at midnight this morning. The two films are set to be released together on August 27th.

Lantis, Bandai's music label, began to stream a new animated music video from idol group, μ (pronounced Muse.). The group's third single, and animated music video, "Natsu-iro Egao de 1, 2, Jump!" will ship on August 24th. Costing 2,000¥, or roughly 25$ U.S. The album will include a DVD with the music video, voice dramas,  song, and karaoke tracks. 

JManga, a legal place for reading online manga, will launch on August 17th. When the website launches, it will host Naruto, Manga Science, Crayon Shin-chan, Dragon Girl, Kekkaishi, and more.  The website will also have mangaka interviews, and social networking features, so fans can keep in touch.  Behind the site is Digital Comics Association, an industry group of 39 Japanese publishers. After a limited beta test, they opened up a public beta test, where anyone could sign up to get a advance look at JManga.

"Oki" a Japanese sushi chef, living in Osaka, runs a website, My Sushi World, where he displays his various cooking and sushi masterpieces. Recently, he updated the blog with some Pokemon Sushi. His creations, created with vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes, and food coloring. He brought these to his daughter's kindergarten class as a surprise. Characters from the Star Wars series also appear.

For the rest of the images here:
http://sushichefjapan.blogspot.com/2011/07/pokemon-carving.html

Predating anime legends and pioneering manga/anime such as Astro Boy,  Gajo Sakamoto's 1934 Tank Tankuro has been translated into English by Japan's PopPress. The Comics Journal published an 8-page preview, along with a detailed description of what will be included in the 1st volume- 240 pages of comics, and extensive papers,essays and biographical materials. The TCJ also inquired into the reasoning behind PopPress' decision to delve into Pre WWII manga.

PopPress representative Yasutaka Minegishi included this in his response:

"Looking at the variety of Japanese manga published in English up till now, from mainstream manga, alternative manga, shojo-manga, to the genre of “gekiga,” I felt that in these past few years, the English-speaking audience became ready for manga that could bring them one step further into the real history of Japanese comics."---http://www.tcj.com/preview-tank-tankuro/

 Tank Tankuro follows the struggles of Tank Tankuro, lovable robot, and his counterpart, the villain Kuro Kabuto, or Black Helmet, in a pre-war era.  

The 1st volume ships tomorrow, July 20th, while the 8 page preview can be viewed here:
http://www.tcj.com/preview-tank-tankuro/2/

Sources:
ANN
http://www.tcj.com/preview-tank-tankuro/