I was tweeting on how I hope that robotic research will now see a push into emergency and rescue-ready “mobile suits,” instead of the glorified house servants we tend to see (which I realize have their use, in aiding the ederly). Then my friend Kat replied with the image above. Yes, exactly, imagine what one of those could have achieved during this past week’s disasters.

Here’s the first trailer — in the form of a TV commercial — for the upcoming live-action Space Battleship Yamato film.

Over at CNNGo, Matt Alt presents a timeline of anime over the last decade, tracing the highs and lows the industry has known over the past 10 years.

Studio Ghibli has announced that it will be releasing a new film next summer, to be directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, an animator for the company (this will be his directorial debut). The film’s title is The Borrower Arrietty, and is based on the British story The Borrowers, “an enchanting story about miniature people living under the floorboards of a home.” Via Spoon & Tamago.

Satoshi Kon’s next film is called The Dream Machine, and unlike his previous complex and adult work (Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika, Paranoia Agent), is being described as a family-friendly film. Here’s what Kon has to say about the film (taken from this interview):

On the surface, it’s going to be a fantasy-adventure targeted at younger audiences. However, it will also be a film that people who have seen our films up to this point will be able to enjoy. So it will be an adventure that even older audiences can appreciate. There will be no human characters in the film; only robots. It’ll be like a “robot movie” for robots.

The film’s official site now reveals a few images from the film, including the one pictured above. Via /Film.

As a follow-up to the post on “Fumiko’s Confession,” here’s another short directed by Hiroyasu Ishida (Tete). Via Tim Rudder.

Simply amazing: the above short, “Fumiko’s Confession,” was completely animated by one person, a student known only as “Tete.” Please, studios, give this person some money to produce a series or a film. Via Japan Probe.

Update: The short was actually produced by a team of five — they are listed here (in French). “Tete,” or Hiroyasu Ishida is the director.

Matt Alt highlights a few bits on the recent state of the Japanese anime industry from a report in Cyzo magazine on the Japan Anime Collaboration Market 2009 symposium held earlier this month.

Patrick Macias has a new episode of his Hot Tears of Shame podcast, and fans of otaku culture will not want to miss it. “Otaku Internationale: The Shinjuku Summit” brings together Patrick #1, Patrick #2 (that would be The Otaku Encyclopedia‘s Patrick W. Galbraith), PhD student Renato Rivera, and Otaku2 co-founder Adrian Lozano, covering a host of otaku-powered topics.

Let me also add that if you’re hosting a session of The Beatles: Rock Band and you need a singer, Patrick is your man.

The next film from Mamoru Oshii (Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell, Sky Crawlers) is Assault Girls, a live-action sci-fi flick starring Meisa Kuroki — who I must admit I have a crush on — and Rinko Kikuchi. It’s a follow-up to a planned trilogy that started with the short “Assault Girl ‘Hineko the Kentucky,’” below. Via Warren Ellis.

Patrick Macias gave a lecture this past week at California State University, covering “Theoretical Perspectives on Manga, Anime and Otaku,” and he’s now made if available as a download as an episode of his Hot Tears of Shame podcast series (#33).

As Patrick explains, “[w]hile some of this territory was covered before in my speech earlier this year at Temple University Japan Campus, there’s a lot of new stuff here (including sections on American fandom and Hating the Otaku Wave) in this one hour-long recording.”

I’ve mentioned it a few times already, but let me take some time to try and convince you why you should be picking up a copy of The Otaku Encyclopedia: An Insider’s Guide to the Subculture of Cool Japan. The book was written by Patrick W. Galbraith, and if anyone was to write a guide to otaku culture in English, I don’t really think you could find someone who was better suited — sure, I’m not forgetting our good friend Patrick Macias, but his take on otaku culture wouldn’t be quite the same. Patrick G. is not only an otaku himself — take a look at his Otaku2 site — but he’s a researcher in the field as well, currently still hard at work on his Ph.D at Tokyo University. And guess what, he also happens to give weekly tours in Akihabara, dressed in full Super Sayajin (of Dragonball) gear, AND he is the narrator of the upcoming Tokyo Realtime audio guide to Akihabara. So he knows his stuff.

Next point, it was edited by Andrew Lee, a name you’ve certainly seen mentioned plenty here, since he’s the terrific art director of Arcade Mania (and Matt Alt’s Yokai Attack too). Even though he didn’t design this book, he had a strong hand in directing the visuals, and The Otaku Encyclopedia has ended up with the same sort of fun pop look that I think helped make Arcade Mania a visual tour as much as a textual one. So don’t think that the “Encyclopedia” in the title means you’re just getting a long list of term definitions: the entire book is as fun to leaf though as it is to read.

So time to get your hands on the current DEFINITIVE guide to all things otaku. The book is out now in Japan, and is available for order online with shipping worldwide from both Amazon Japan and through Kodansha International directly. The book will be available in stores in the rest of the world in October — here’s the pre-order page on Amazon US — but remember that this will be the exact same book that you can already buy now.

And if you still need some convincing, or want more of a peek inside the book itself, here’s a post from PechaKucha Daily where you’ll find all the images that Patrick used in his PechaKucha Night presentation last month, and here’s an extremely visual review from another otaku celebrity, Danny Choo.

Lastly, even if you missed last month’s launch party — yes, it was held in Akihabara — another party to celebrate the book’s launch is happening this Saturday (July 18) at the Vitamin Water event space (8th and 9th floor of the H&M building in Harajuku) from 15:00 to 18:00. Free drinks for everyone, and the author will be in attendance, so a good chance to get copies signed.

I’m sure you’ve all heard about and seen the giant 1:1 replica Gundam statue in Odaiba, but have you seen lit up at night? Very nice gallery here, courtesy of Pink Tentacle.

More depressing news on the state of the Japanese anime industry from Matt Alt.

The video above is part of a new campaign for Nissan’s “ECO” line-up (low-fuel), created by the Golden Eggs team. There are short TV commercials, but the video above is a web-only short. My wife has watched this at least 20 times, and cracks up every single time.