It looks like Spike Spiegel, Jet Black and co. are headed to the big screen again, this time in live action. Producer Erwin Stoff is helping adapt Cowboy Bebop for Fox and says that he’s doing his best to remain as faithful as possible to the source material. Nice words, sure, but Stoff’s track record as a producer adapting properties has been pretty uneven. Some of it remarkably faithful, some of it not so much. One thing’s for sure, between this, the upcoming Dragonball movie, the proposed Akira adaptation and Steven Spielberg’s interest in doing Ghost in the Shell, Anime adaptations may just become the new comic book adaptations in Hollywood.

Live Action Cowboy Bebop Movie In The Works (via iF Magazine)

By Stewart Smith

All those supermodels starving themselves to look like walking hangers may be out of a job soon, if the Robot Research Institute has anything to say about it. The organization has developed a design for robots which can be manipulated via cellphone into human like poses, specifically for marketing and modeling purposes. The frames can then be covered by artificial skins to look more “human.” Surely the finished products will not be too far removed from the skeletons that currently grace the fashion worlds’ runways, so maybe the RRI is onto something here!

Institute Develops Robot That Can Pose Like Fashion Model (via Japan Today)

By Jesse Mann

I don’t know how many people thought a live-action movie version of Dragon Ball Z was a good idea, especially coming from an American studio and starring an American actor…but that’s exactly what is coming our way early next year. Marketing materials have started to surface courtesy of Japanese magazines and the recent ComicCon, and it’s certainly not making this writer any more confident about the projects’ prospects. Take one look at the photo above. It’s hard to imagine this looking like anything more than one incredibly expensive cosplay session. But, for all of you who were but wee otaku lads back when Dragon Ball first hit these shores, it could be interesting to see another manifestation of all this anime/comic/manga frenzy throughout Hollywood.

Dragon Ball: The Movie (via DB Blog)

By Jesse Mann

Need an extra-steady hand when trying to sink that 18th hole putt? Robotics artist Crabfu has just the thing with this (rather cute) putting robot. Sure, it’s a novelty, but it’s full of personality! Personally, I think Johnny Chung Lee needs to team up with Crabfu to come up with a totally sweet Wiimote mod for some robotic golf shenanigans.

Video of Crabfu’s Putter Bot (via IEEE Spectrum Blog)

By Stewart Smith

It may be pretty apparent that we kind of love Mega Man here at New York-Tokyo, but when such great things like this come along, it’s hard to stay quiet about it! Capcom has recently announced the release of Mega Man 9 on Nintendo’s WiiWare service, Xbox Live, and Sony’s Playstation Network, but the real news was that the title would be a true old school NES throwback!

Those of us who grew up with the blue bomber will get to relive our fondest memories with full on 8-bit graphics and music! Capcom then went one step further and commissioned artist Gerald de Jesus to make a wonderfully bad retro boxart design for some limited edition t-shirts! Those that owned Mega Man 1 or 2 as a little tyke will know just how great this is.

Mega Man 9 (via Capcom Blog)

By Jesse Mann

The iconic Hello Kitty has cornered just about every market you can think of. We reported on her conquest of the MMORPG gaming market a couple months back, and a few of you may have been spooked by her mysterious crop circle appearance back in 2004.

Now, in these trying times, with the war on terror being waged around us every day, it’s good to know that everyone’s favorite white cat has our safety in mind too. This “Disaster Kit” has everything you might need to protect yourself. Who better than Hello Kitty to ensure that we all prepare ourselves for the unthinkable? Thank goodness, I feel MUCH safer now.

Hello Kitty Disaster Kit (via Japundit)

By Jesse Mann