The Warner Bros. releases Halo Legends today which includes eight anime short episodes created by many of the top directors and studios in the business. Studios involved in the Halo Legends project include Bones Inc., Casio Entertainment Inc., Production I.G, STUDIO4°C and Toei Animation. Directors include Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed), Hideki Futamura (The Animatrix), Daisuke Nishio (Dragonball Z), Hiroshi Yamazaki (Karas), Toshiyuki Kanno (Black Lagoon), Koichi Mashimo (Blade of the Immortal) and Koji Sawai (Patlabor); directors/action designers Tomoki Kyoda (Eureka Seven, Evangelion 1.0) and Yasushi Muraki (Macross Plus, Vampire Hunter D); and writer Dai Sato (Cowboy Bebop).

Halo Legends features eight animated shorts, each running about 10-17 minutes in length.

I am quite familiar with the works from Production I.G and STUDIO4°C. Batman: Gotham Knight, which is also released by Warner Bros. in 2008, is still in my collection and I enjoyed that very much. A bit darker from most anime, but enjoyable.

Halo Legends is available on DVD and and Blu-Ray. The standard edition is priced at $15.16, while the two disc special edition is priced at $19.16. The Blu-Ray version is $23.76. You can get it online from the official Warner Bros. Studio online store, but I think I will wait. I got the Gotham Knight two-disc special edition for only $12.00. It’s cheaper to buy original here than buying it online.

Here’s a new clip from the release, from the episode Prototype.

You saw Wolverine yesterday. This is the Iron Man teaser. Looks cool.

Earlier, Marvel Entertainment announced that Anime powerhouse Madhouse will produce four new Anime series featuring adapted Marvel characters. Two of the characters include Wolverine and Iron Man.

This is for the Japanese market and will be adapted to incorporate Japanese culture and history. The Anime version is set to debut in the spring of 2010.

What is Daicon? This is what I copied from the official website:

DaiCon is an expo, being organized on a scale rarely seen in Malaysia. It is an expo that has been created for the sole purpose of showcasing the latest and most innovative in the world of modern Japanese visual culture, from audio to video, print as well as interactive media.

There will be exhibitions on all facets of modern Japanese visual culture, live hands-on demonstrations, as well as numerous competitions. Besides that, you’ll also be able to get an inside look at the thriving and ever-expanding ACG (Anime, Comic and Games) community in Malaysia, with cosplayers showcasing their elaborate and intricate costumes, and fan artists showcasing their high-quality productions for purchase at affordable prices.

Ah, but there will be a few surprises in store for you on the day itself. We don’t want to spoil it, so make sure you come to DaiCon and discover them yourselves.

Just not to put any high expectation, I went there as if I have never attended any convention nor heard of anime/manga before. I brought my kids along. I introduced Anime and Manga to my eldest a few years back. Starting with Detective Conan, Macross Frontier and then Gundam 00. Some translated Manga as well. Since he’s new, I would like to see his views on Daicon.

Upon arrival, one thing struck me. It’s small. There’s nothing to see or do. I am in and out less than an hour.

My son was very excited to see the Macross booth. My daughter was also happy by the way she asked me to take photos of the figurines at The Figure Mall booth and of course there’s the meet Chihara Minori session and mini concert, but that’s it.

And I wonder why they did not have a separate venue for Daicon and the mini concert?

Anyway, back to my son’s expectation, well … what can I say. He’s new, and the people manning the booth were not very friendly, helpful nor attractive. Why not put someone to cosplay Sheryl Nome at the Macross booth or at least say hello and smile when there’s people around. Same goes to the rest. The only place that I noticed with friendlier people were the Maxis, Dell and the Japanese Tourism booth. Others were just too busy with themselves.

As for the Cosplayers, they were great. My kids enjoyed taking photos with them, although there’s always the question – why would those people want to dress like that? Anyway, what do you expect, one is 10 and the other is only 7 years old.

I just hope that, if there’s another Daicon in the future, please make it better by at least 100% and do it in KL not at a not so happening place like Cyberjaya.