Dijima, the same company behind Comic Gumbo, has announced a new seinen magazine called Comic Akibana. A limited number of a preview Issue 0 of the magazine will be distributed in Akihabara this October.

Archer is a popular character from Type-Moon's visual novel Fate/stay night. In the game, he is the Servant (someone who fights for his or her master) of Rin Tosaka, one of the series' main female casts. Archer is a skilled fighter at projectile weapons, and has a Reality Marble (think of a special sorcery that creates an alternate reality) called "Unlimited Blade Works." To activate "Unlimited Blade Works," Archer first needs to complete a special chant.

Due to Archer's popularity, many variations of his chant can be found around the web made by fans.

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A new desert named after Japan's Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso was recently sold in Akihabara. The desert, "Taro's Milk Castella," first appeared in Akihabara near the end of 2006. The cake sold at 525 yen a piece, and was said to be inspired by Aso's love of milk cake.

Taro Aso is famous for being an anime and manga fan. Due to his love for PEACH-PIT's Rozen Maiden, he received the nickname "Rozen Aso" (ローゼン麻生). Last September Aso's campaign speech at Akihabara received great response from the otaku audience.

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In Genshiken, Kanako Ohno once declared that "Homo-hating girls don't exist!!" While the validity of the statement could be contested, yaoi-loving females, otherwise know as fujoshi, have since used it to defend their hobby.

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Akiba Blog reports that recently telephone cards from Akihabara shops, which featured Rena and other characters from the new PS2 adaption of the visual novel Higurashi no Naku koro ni, were toned down due to inappropriate images.

However, there has been no official statements from the creator of the game regarding the edits, and any questions were met with the vague response: "Due to reasons that can't be made public." According to leaked info, the edits were related to recent government effort of keeping inappropriate content away from children.

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11/21/06 (Los Angeles, California) - Pop Japan Travel, established in 2003 by Digital Manga, Inc., is proud to announce its long-due site renewal, along with the showcase of the much-anticipated Spring 2007 tour schedule. The new site layout (www.popjapantravel.com), which boasts easier navigation and a much more attractive design, ushers in with it a new era for Pop Japan Travel. There are exciting things going on, and we are eager to bring them to you!

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From ANS comes a report of this year's Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) as well as an exclusive screening report of Shin Seiki Evangelion Movies Death (True)2, Air, Magokoro Wo, Kimi Ni (The End Of Evangelion) and more at animecs T!FF In Akihabara 2006."

Akihabara is known around the world for its otaku culture and maid cafes. Not only is Akihabara a hot tourist spot, but it also serves as a place for geeks and otakus to "heal their spiritual wounds."

A few days ago, a shocking event took place in this otaku heaven that sent tremors throughout the otaku world - a maid was threatened, and subsequently molested, by a man. This incident is now being called "Maid Hunting," named after the controversial "Otaku Hunting" event that took place earlier this fall in Akihabara.

According to reports, around 7:00pm on October 17th in front of the JR Akihabara Station, a 18 year old girl dressed as a maid (who was handing out flyers) was approached by a man. The man asked, "Are you a college student? Where do you work?" The maid was then asked to bring the man to the maid cafe she worked at. When they were climbing the stairs of the maid cafe, the man suddenly took out a small knife, and proceeded to forcefully molest the maid's lower body.

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Recently a figurine of Saber (from Fate/stay-night) given away as a "hand-made collector's edition item" by a Chinese comic magazine called "Donghua Jidi" (Anime Base) became a hot topic of discussion in both China and Japan. The cause of the debates was the figurine's ugly appearance.

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The second annual Akihabara Entamatsuri Festival will take place from Saturday, October 21st to Sunday, Octover 29th in Akihabara. The event will be hosted in conjunction with the 9-day Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) in an effort to draw more international attention to Japanese anime, manga, and videogames.

Many anime series will be shown at one particular event called "animecs T!FF in Akihabara," which will include series such as Mobile Suit Gundam, Ghost in the Shell - Solid State Society, Fist of the North Star Raoh Side Story Junai Arc film, and Neon Genesis Evangelion The End of Evangelion.

Details of the upcoming film version of Media Work's Shakugan no Shana, Kino no Tabi, and Inukami! will be announced on stage in AKIBA_SQUARE. Also, videogame fans will also be able to try out the new Playstation 3.