An interview with ADV voice director Steven Foster has been posted on ANN. The interview centers on Foster’s history in the field, his controversial creative decisions, and his current title Le Chevalier D’Eon.

Illumitoon Entertainment‘s first announced anime series license, Beet the Vandel Buster, has arrived to show off what the new company can do. Beet the Vandel Buster: The Sacrifice introduces us to Beet, a young would-be adventurer who seeks to defeat the Vandel demon race which has plagued the entire world into the Century of Darkness. Pulled from the pages of Monthly Shonen Jump and animated by Toei Animation, Beet’s journey spans two series as he gathers a group of friends and warriors to help bring peace to the land. (more…)

Weekly Shonen Jump’s insane adult-styled parody series is in America. Of course, if you have Cartoon Network then you probably already know what BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo is. OK, who am I kidding? You’re probably still trying to figure it out and aren’t alone. Bo-BoBo takes adult humour, bizarre cultural references, and lots of anime parodies to create a “running gag” show that makes you wonder how long they got away with it (76 episodes). Illumitoon Entertainment has taken up the job of releasing the series “uncut,” according to the packaging, which adds back in the Japanese track and subtitles. But how does Bo-BoBo: Bo-nafide Protector fare from the new company? (more…)

Space Station Liberty is hosting a interview with veteran voice actor Richard Epcar tonight at 10 PM EST/7 PM PST on Talkshoe. The interview will be streamed live, and listeners can call in with questions. The interview will also be available for download afterwards, along with previous ones with people like Melanie MacQueen and Chase Masterson.

In the wake of expanding ocean-related terrorist activities, the Peace Keeping Navy (PKN) form an alliance of the greatest naval fleets to protect the world. However, the terrorist revolutionaries of the Undersea Silence Revolution (USR) don’t take this move against them lightly and open up a new war commanded by Admiral Red. Only the wits of the seasoned sub captain Hayami and his 707 crew can mount a challenge to stop the USR from transforming the world into Red’s ideals. Submarine 707R: The Movie from Geneon Entertainment brings the two-episode OVA submarine adventure to the US where far too few naval titles have seen the light of day. (more…)

Type-Moon‘s second visual novel game and their first commercial project, Fate/stay night, gained the benefit of a group more aware of how to work in the industry after creating the succcessful game Tsukihime. Both erotic PC games also benefit in terms of animation studios converting the story and characters into a general-audience TV-series that everyone can enjoy. Animated by Studio DEEN and licensed for US release by Geneon Entertainment, Fate/stay night: Advent of the Magi follows Shirou Emiya’s kind-hearted nature forced into a battle royale for the Holy Grail. (more…)

The most recent Geneon podcast features the return of actress, script adapter and director Stephanie Sheh, talking about her early days in the industry as a “starving artist” and how she got started as an voice actress.

Rightstuf and Geneon are currently offering regular anime podcasts on their sites, featuring news, details on new releases, and talks with producers, directors, and actors involved in creating the English language versions. Recent guests have included Jonathan Klein, Patrick Seitz, Stephanie Sheh, Carl Macek, Crispin Freeman, Liam O’Brien and Sam Regal. You can subscribe to the podcasts at Anime Today and Geneon Talk Radio respectively, or find them at the iTunes store.

Votes for the first annual American Anime Awards are now being accepted at the official website. Focusing on the American side of the business, the awards have several categories for dub actors as well as over all quality of the titles. Nominations were made by American anime companies, as well as various media representatives like AnimeOnDVD and Anime Insider.

The results will be presented at a ceremony on Saturday, February 24th, at New York Comic-Con, hosted by ADV actors Christine Auten, Jessica Boone, Shelley Calene-Black, Luci Christian, Alice Fulks, Hilary Haag, Taylor Hannah, and Serena Varghese.

Kadokawa Pictures USA has started their first in, no doubt, a series of amusing ways to promote their licensing of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It appears (and this is the wee hours of the morning) to be Patricia Ja Lee cosplaying as Haruhi as she promotes her plans to conquer America. This isn’t uncommon to see in Japan, but fairly rare in the US to take this kind of promotional route. Bandai Entertainment will be distributing the series on DVD and ### ##### will be dubbing it in ######.

 Haruhi Ed. Note: You can’t tell them who is dubbing it yet, that’s my fun!

Update: We can now reveal that Bang Zoom! Entertainment will be dubbing the series and have updated the cast page.