JULY 2009 NEWS

Thursday?! Sure, why not?

Chapter 31: DDL

Just like Guriko, this Flashback Generation sure gets around. Dive, as well as many others, have been known for milking an existing sculpt for all it's worth. Being a toy collector for many years, variants have always been more of an annoyance to me than anything else. Now that I've abandoned the completist mentality, I'm able to view FBG repaints in a different light. Maybe it's a blind love for all things CXW or perhaps an admiration for the talented sculptors creating these toys, but I like that a collector (or casual fan) can simply get the version they like. With so many choices, there's something to appeal to everyone.

Phases are cooler than steps. Volumes 1-20 of Worst have been uploaded to the Worst Manga Scans section. All newly released chapters will still be available at Delinquent-Manga for the first couple of weeks, then we'll go ahead and host them here after the bulk of new downloads levels off.

There are so many different offshoots and variants of Lucky Rudy's Bones, I sometimes forget about the original line-up. This 5th entry in the popular Bone In The T.F.O.A line, by Glam and Lucky Rudy, is aptly modeled after the 5th Head of The Front Of Armament, Takeda Kousei. Also included in this edition is an alternate head for optional display purposes.

All previous news articles have been properly archived by the month and year in which they were originally posted. These pages can be located in the main News Archives.

I never said all of these upgrades would be mind-blowing, did I? This is just one of those things that should have been implemented from the beginning. The main page should load a lot faster now! That's exciting, right? Right...?!

While it's certainly convenient blaming my typesetting duties on Crows as the primary reason for letting this website get a bit backlogged, I think maybe that's just an excuse for my laziness...

Isn't it great how every couple of chapters a new character appears? After years of knowing them as just drawings and toys, or simply by name alone, we finally get a proper introduction. In this chapter, two more familiar faces arrive in town...

Chapter 30: DDL

A single thought ran through my head the second Dive's page loaded and these dirty muggs appeared. It's about friggin time! The Arson Brothers, Zenmei and Koumei, were previously hinted upon when Mitsumasa was announced back in April. Not to mention, their mysterious exclusion from Dive's FBG voting poll last month pretty much assured they were a lock. It was a long time coming, but here they are in all their michievous glory. They look great, too! Something tells me these two popular bastards may even bring a few of our non collecting brothers over to the dark side.

I'm not exactly sure what's up with the specific editions at this time. Zenmei is listed as the regular version, while Koumei is only shown as a "Dive Limited Edition". The Takahashi Hiroshi Fan Club are getting exclusives of both brothers, and Regulus have yet to announce anything at this point. I'll keep ya posted.

Perhaps our regular readers need no introduction, but the majority of Western civilization surely does. Erik Jansen; fan, forum member, and now reporter, has written an expose on the phenomenon that is Crows X Worst toys and collectibles. Being the article in question has been featured on the premiere English language anime and manga news site, Anime News Network, perhaps it will serve as a stepping stone for those otaku looking for something that goes against the grain.

Thanks to Erik for taking the time to put this piece together. Hopefully it will generate some interest in a relatively unknown area of pop culture in the West. I'd also like to entend my hand to anyone from ANN whose interest was piqued enough to drop by after reading Erik's article. Have a look around the Toys Section, read a few chapters of manga, or drop by the forum if you have any questions. Welcome to CXW.

Nothin' much, just neglected to fill in a little ole' speech bubble in Chapter 29 Part 2. If you're downloading V.2, you're good. Everyone else can simply swap out page 33 with the corrected version.

Chapter 29 (Part 2) V.2: DDL

Hopefully you're not all hangin' out at the beach on a Saturday afternoon missing out on new Crows chapters! I wonder if maybe I should create a Twitter account in order to alert everyone of new releases and other life altering CXW headlines? God knows, Harumichi and the boys' adventures are far more pressing than real life. Besides, I'm always up for feeling more relevant. Nothing strokes an ego like gathering "followers", ya know?

Still, maybe someone who had to Google what Twitter is shouldn't bother, huh? Oh well, Crows will be here when you get back.

Chapter 29 (Part 1): DDL

Chapter 29 (Part 2): DDL

T-shirts, jackets, figures, hats, flags, wallets, pants, posters, art books, and bandanas, why not pins and bracelets, too?

Click on the thumbnails above for a larger view or check out all the specifics on Dive's product page.

I wasn't gonna post this on the main page, but what the hell. It seems some Crows fans took it upon themselves to reenact Crows Zero in its entirety! Yeah, seriously. I haven't had the chance to watch more than a few minutes, but I can't help but be reminded of simpler times when I might have made a Crows fan film of my own. I dunno if I would have taken this particular road, but I'll go ahead and give them a solid "E" for effort, regardless.

The film is broken up into 11 parts, so I'll just direct you to the following thread where I've already posted the individual links.

Dive X Linda have announced Inada Genji as the next member to join the Crazy Heads line. It's been known for some time that 5th Generation T.F.O.A would be the focus of Crazy Heads over the next few months from a teaser image originally posted on Dive Diary. Now that both flag-toting members have been revealed, it's pretty obvious who's going to fill those remaining two spots.

No sign of the Regulus variant yet, but they're usually a little late to the party. We'll keep ya posted.

Fridays and Crows. Always a good thing.

Chapter 28: DDL | MU

I previously reported last month that Crows Zero was finally getting the Blu-ray treatment in August. However, that was a French release and if region coded accordingly, wouldn't do fans in North America much good. I figured a Japanese release was imminent and we now have confirmation as well as the announcement of Crows Zero II.

Both Crows Zero and Crows Zero II Blu-rays will be released on October 2nd.

There will be 11 various configurations in which to purchase Crows Zero II on DVD this coming October. I'm not about to get into all specifics here, but the short version is as follows; There are only two actual versions of the DVD as far as packaging and disc content are concerned, a Standard Edition and Premium Edition. Everything in between entails some form of bonus collectible in the form of CZ flavored Crazy Heads or Flashback Generation figures.

All versions will eventually be broken down and featured in the Crows Zero II DVD section of the site. Yeah, yeah, more promises. In the meantime you can check out the product page on TBSishop.for all the pertinent info.

All versions hit Japan on 10-2-09.

As I've said in the past, Dive never fail to surprise me. These functional piggy banks of Tsukishima Hana and Hanaki Guriko stand 18cm tall and retail for about $30 USD. Hana and Guri will be offered separately or as an exclusive variant set available through Jet Moon.

What can I say? Now we have the perfect place to save spare change for onigiri and rubbers! HA!

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I've been meaning to add these for a while now, but just got backlogged with a million other things. Ultimately there will be a Media section accessible from the main page which will include quick links to everything from music, subs, scans, trailers, and the Crows OVAs. In the meantime, I'll post them here.

Again, my apologies for slacking off with new site content. I never wanted this to be one of those websites with interminable "Coming Soon" or "Under Construction" banners filled with empty promises, but it sorta has. When Crows manga is completed, I will be able to make this place my main focus again. Until then, Crows is top priority. Without it, CXW can only be half a website, anyway.

Crows Zero OST (zip)

Crows Zero II OST (zip)

Pay no attention to the credits page! Just pretend you're reading it last Thursday...

Chapter 27: DDL | MU

I was beginning to think Dive were on strike on something. There haven't been any significant CXW related toy announcements made since the "The Monstrous Ones" contest wrapped up last month. Today they break the silence in a big way with the announcement of the next Flashback Generation, Sera Naoki.

My preferences over the last few months have decidedly steered towards Crows, but it's still cool to see Worst getting some FBG love for a change, and you can't go wrong with Sera!

Damn, I love this manga.

Chapter 26: DDL | MU