Snow, apparently.

I’m sure you’ve heard the news by now, but Aria has been licensed for North American release. For some reason, I’m not surprised. Right Stuf has gotten into the habit of licensing a lot of my favorite shows.

What’s interesting, however, is that the distributor held off on making their licensing announcement until a month after the show’s final season finished airing in Japan. I can’t help but wonder if they’re acknowledging the fact that many, if not most, of their buyers have been following the series in fansub format over the years, and would have been disappointed in a licensing announcement immediately prior to the series actually ending. It could just be a coincidence, of course, but the timing sure is suspicious.

Anyway, Aria is one of those rare shows that I’m always in the mood to watch an episode (or sixteen) of, so you can bet I’m looking forward to owning it on DVD. And I know I’m not alone. There’s an Aria fan born every minute, after all.

It may have been a cold and gloomy day with snow flakes flying, and I may have destroyed a hard disk the day before, and I may be thinking, “you know, a vacation sounds nice right about now,” but the news that more Clannad is on the way makes me smile all the same.

Not that it comes as much of a surprise, of course. I haven’t watched the final two episodes of the first season yet, but based on what I’ve heard, it ends in fairly ambiguous fashion. And given that the anime series didn’t even acknowledge a full third of the original game’s content, it only stood to reason that some sort of continuation would be in the works. After all, Kyoto Animation was relatively thorough in its adaptations of Air and Kanon, so I would expect the same for Clannad.

Personally, I’m as happy as can be about the news. I really have found Clannad to be an engaging and enjoyable show, and because the pacing of the story has been very slow and very deliberate, it’s only gotten more engaging and more enjoyable with time. I’m not ready for it to end. No way, no how.

My condolences, of course, to the Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi fans out there still waiting for news on a second season of that particular series. It’s no secret that I’m not the world’s biggest Haruhi fan, but I still look forward to a second season of the series because, one, it’ll probably be a fun watch, and two, people will finally shut up about it.

I’ll take more Clannad first, though.

Yes, you can has third season.

This news is already a few days old, but I just wanted to mention that the recent announcement of a third season of You’re Under Arrest really caught me by surprise. Even to this day, You’re Under Arrest is one of only a few shows that I can rewatch time and time again and yet never grow tired of. The series is representative of a certain era of anime that, in my opinion, ended far too soon. So, you can’t imagine how happy I am to hear that more is on the way.

I do wonder about the content of the new season, however. Will it pick up where the second season left off? Or will it jump forward into the future? Like most of Fujishima Kosuke’s creations, You’re Under Arrest has quite the gadgetry fetish. In fact, one of the most charming things about the series is how it depicts the emerging technology of the 1990s. I can’t tell you how much of a kick I got out of watching Miyuki go all wobbly at the sight of a 200 MHz PC workstation at one point during the first season, for example. Pure nostalgia, it is.

So, I have to ask: will the third season bring You’re Under Arrest into the 21st century?

In case you haven’t heard the news yet, Simoun has been licensed for North American release by Media Blasters. For those of you just dropping in, Simoun was my favorite show of the past year.

I can’t say I’m all that surprised, seeing as I’ve suspected the show would be licensed eventually, if not within the year. Also, rumors of the show’s licensing have been floating around for a couple of months now.

Still, even if I’m not surprised by the announcement, I’m happy as can be. So, if you will allow…

MEDIA BLASTERS BANZAI! JOHN SIRABELLA BANZAI! SIMOUN BANZAI!

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi has been licensed for North American release by… someone.

Just last night, I stumbled upon the old teaser for Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters Per Second and thought to myself, “Isn’t it about time for a new trailer?”

Yup.

Just like last time, a high definition version is available. You can download it here. Note that the trailer will only be available for a week, so grab it while you can.

I would advise having a towel on hand, by the way… you’ll probably have to clean some drool from your keyboard.