MAY 2009 NEWS

Anyone familiar with the Crows RAWS floating around the web are most likely aware that Volume 6 comes to an abrupt halt about midway through Chapter 22. Harumichi was able to provide the missing pages from the Korean scans, but they were of a slightly lesser quality and half the size of the Japanese pages we've been currently releasing. nakea45 put in a lot of extra effort cleaning this chapter. I for one think it looks great considering what she had to work with, but thought I should explain just to clear up any confusion to those reading.

Chapter 22: DDL | MU

We knew they were coming, but that didn't make the waiting any easier. Dive finally revealed the newest additions to their Crows Zero II Flashback Generation line-up today. This second wave of figures includes; Bitou, Izaki, and Narumi. I'm guessing this will be the last batch of new characters from the Crows Zero films for a while. I kinda had my hopes up for Makise and Rindaman, but at this point I'm grateful they chose to go beyond the typical Genji-Tamao-Ken pattern they followed up until now.

These are available exclusively through TBSishop individually or sold as a set.

It never ceases to amaze me whenever I click on Dive's homepage. Sometimes I know exactly what to expect, but more often than not, it's a complete surprise. It's true, another Bouya is hardly shocking, but when it's a totally new sculpt with an original design, you won't hear any complaints from me!

New schools, new friends, new rivals, same Bouya.

Chapter 21: DDL | MU

Aladar from D-M posted a torrent to the much anticipated sequel to Crows Zero yesterday. Normally I'd suggest waiting until a DVD rip surfaced in the next few weeks, but I'd say this is a pretty decent copy, considering. The sound is a little rough, especially if you have the volume up too high, but other than that, it's completely watchable. Besides, like me, you wouldn't wait anyway.

Thanks to Aladar for the heads up and for taking the time to tweak the original source material a bit. Those of you unable to use torrent programs can head over to Tobenaitsubasa's blog for Megaupload links of the original file. Be sure to download both parts 001 and 002.

And no, it's NOT subbed!

Finally some news regarding new Crows X Worst Medicom figures. While the regular edition Murata Shougo RAH was revealed some time ago, this newly announced Glam Exclusive shows Shougo wearing his (actually Kousei's) signature bomber jacket, jeans, and bandana. Bandou, only glimpsed previously in a photo on a Korean toy site, has also been officially confirmed. Both Shougo and Bandou are each limited to 500 pieces.

Thanks to forum member Cowboy76 for the heads up.

Dive and Linda announced the next series of Crazy Kids will focus on members of T.F.O.A. Like the previous series, Series 2 contains 7 characters, 1 secret and will be offered in cases of 12.

Not only is this my favorite chapter of the series so far, but also the last chapter of the first Crows story arc. We may have gotten off to a slightly rough start, but I feel we've finally come into our own. We still aren't perfect, but we never claimed otherwise.

On behalf of P.A.D., we'd like to thank everyone for all of your support. So far, it's been a blast. We look forward to continuing to share all the greatness that is Crows with you. There are still more than 20 Volumes to go, so stick around. You ain't seen nothin' yet!

Chapter 20: DDL | MU

Genba, Sakota, and Butcher have been eliminated from Dive's "The Monstrous Ones" Flashback Generation voting poll this week. The Final 8 have been determined. Only two weeks of voting remain until the winner is announced, so get those votes in! If you don't care who wins, then vote for Hideomi! He's gonna need all the help he can get against the rest of these monsters.

It's been over three months since Dive and Linda announced a new Crazy Heads, and the wait was well worth it. We knew more T.F.O.A were coming by the teaser image posted a few months back. I pretty much figured this line-up would mainly focus on Fifth Generation members as well, but I have to admit I wasn't expecting a 5th Gen. Tesshou. I think this is going to have to be the first Crazy Heads I add to my collection. I'm really diggin' the expression, the pose, and that Regulus variant is just plain killer!

Tesshou is pictured above and will be offered in a Regular version as well as Dive, Official Hiroshi Takahashi Fan Club (FUN), Linda Garage, and Regulus exclusives.

The following chapter should contain all pages as well as a credits page that directs readers to D-M's actual site! Enjoy.

Chapter 19: DDL | MU

I did say we weren't perfect, right? While going over the chapters last night I noticed a couple of major problems with two of our releases. Both chapters 11 and 16 were actually missing complete pages! While I'm not pleased, I am somewhat relieved these omissions weren't parts of key scenes. I suppose if they were, someone would have alerted us to the issue before now.

All revisions ending in "v2" are the corrected versions. As with the last screw up, since only a single page is in question, anyone with the original chapters can simply download the missing pages below. All full volume DDLs have also been corrected to include these missing pages. Again, my apologies. We're new at this!

Chapter 11: pg 138 | Chapter 16: pg 40

Chapter 11.2: DDL

Chapter 16.2: DDL

Volume 3.2: DDL

Harumichi arrived at the 4th warehouse to find a bound and tortured Yasuda. Meanwhile, Megumi prepares to face off against the venomous Issei while Pon, Mako and Hiromi continue their battle against Anzai and his lackeys. Will our heroes survive this onslaught by the dreaded Front Of Armament...?

Chapter 18: DDL | MU

Results for Week 2 of Dive's "The Monstrous Ones" Flashback Generation voting poll are in! Combatants knocked out of the running this week are Tsutomu, Nara Akira, and Zen. Of the 11 remaining, it looks like all three of my favorites still have a shot at becoming the next FBG. Hideomi gets my vote again this week. I'm betting he's monstrous enough to at least make it to the final 8.

Dive announced the next figure in their Flashback Generation line to be none other than 5th Generation Armament member, Kai Yasunori. It's still unclear at this time as to whether Kai is part of "The Monstrous Ones" line-up or the more recently announced series featuring Mitsumasa. A comparison of the Japanese featured on their corresponding images would lead to me to assume the latter.

When we last left off, Yasuda was taken captive by the evil henchmen of the villainous Front of Armament. Will our beloved fair-haired hero make it to the 4th Warehouse before it's too late? Fear not, true believers!

Chapter 17: DDL | MU

More Banchou. More Worst. More Armament! Today is good day.

Torrent | DDL

Another chapter of Worst from the guys at Delinquent-Manga. This release marks the end of Volume 20. You can grab the torrent from their home page.

From this day forward I hereby appoint myself America's Number 1 Yasuda fan! Have a nice weekend.

Chapter 16: DDL | MU

Lucky Rudy posted images of what has to be one of the coolest Bones yet! Yeah, yeah, it's another repaint in a long line of Crows variants, but this one is a zombie! Maybe not officially stated as such, but he's got a hand in his bag! It's a well known fact that skeletons don't eat human flesh, so there's just no denying it. I bet that crow on zombie Ken's shoulder is a zombie crow as well! Get it?! Zombie crow?! Yeah, I don't either. BRAAAAAAAAAINNNNNNNS!

Flashback Generation and variants go together like fire and smoke, ketchup and french fries, hookers and cok...you get the idea. Anyway, up for the offering is a monochromatic version of the previously announced Takiya Genji from the Crows Zero II line. This version of Genji is offered exclusively through Puerta Del Sol's online shop.

Dive have added even more Flashback Generation figures to their Crows Zero II line-up. Shown here are the film's key players, Genji, Tamao and Ken. These, like the previous films incarnations will be offered exclusively through TBSishop.

There's no doubt these look great, but word on the streets is other characters from the film will be making their FBG debut in the very near future. Hopefully we'll get some official images soon.

The voting continues in Dive's Flashback Generation "The Monstrous Ones" poll. Daito, Senda, Gaga, and Enjou were all eliminated in the first round. That leaves 14 men still standing. So far all of my favorites remain, including Hideomi. Did your pick make the cut?

Who will emerge victorious, Ryuushin or Bouya? There can only be one!

Chapter 15 (P.2): DDL | MU

I'd totally be lying if I told you I knew what these images were. Here's a snip from the Babel Fish'd article posted on CXW Dive Diary:

"...in the underpants the soldier of love...".

Right. That's what I get for not learning Japanese. I'll go ahead and guess it's an art contest of some sort and leave it at that. Anyway, the pictures are cool, so I thought I'd post them.

The origin of The Armament continues! Available in your choice of torrent or DDL. Go get it!

This release marks the completion of Volume 4. I also added full volume DDLs to P.A.D.'s release page for any new readers just catching on. Enjoy!

Chapter 15 (P.1): DDL | MU

I'm not the biggest fan of Crazy Heads, but these are pretty cool, actually. I'm thrilled to see characters from the films other than the big three make their way into the toy lines. Now if only some of them would get the Flashback Generation treatment as well.

Seen here are Izaki and the Mikami Brothers. Click the thumbnails above or check out all the details on Dive's CZII page.

Don't forget to cast your votes in Dive's Flashback Generation poll for the character you want to see made in their Monstrous Ones line-up. I voted for Hideomi. What of it?!