Sort of. The game doesn’t go on sale officially until the 29th, but Sofmap and other other shops are getting their stocks (more than 100,000 copies nationwide) today, and all new CDs and game releases are “out” the moment one of the otaku employees sneaks a copy home and uploads it onto Share.

ToHeart2 AnotherDays is a sequel (with new characters) to the popular visual novel ToHeart2, which in turn is a spin-off from the not-as-popular cult favourite ToHeart. It was announced more than a year ago in 2006 and will finally be out on Friday. As you should know, I am a certified Tama-nee fanboy, so this makes me quite :) (And if you didn’t, now you do.)

And the best thing in this game, not counting a new story path for Tama-nee because she obviously bulldozes the competition, is that Maaryan-senpai (with her awesome kick) is now a kouryaku character. Woohoo! This will be awesome! My copy is being delivered to me by magical electronic pixies via the intertubes now.

Continue reading for more details.

Everything here has been translated from this magazine scan. I’m not sure which magazine this is from, but it’s definitely not Comptiq or G’s Magazine, which are basically the only ones I can get in this country. :|

• The second game will feature the sub heroines of “ToHeart2 XRATED” as the main characters.
• It will switch to a ADV system instead of Leaf’s traditional visual novel display

The five girls shown in the scan are Ma-ryan-senpai, Yocchi, Charu (Konomi’s friends), Nanako-chan (girl who appeared in Lucy’s path) and Harumi (new character).

The game is slated for this winter. Yay!

And in a related announcement according to Moon Phase Zakki, Aquaplus has confirmed that the new To Heart 2 OVA will consist of a total of 3 volumes, with the first volume coming out this winter. Let’s hope it finally does justice to the game.

[アニメ]「新世紀エヴァンゲリオン 新劇場版」前編、中編、後編、最終話の4部作にて製作決定。

以前のタレコミ情報では、TVシリーズの総集編3部＋完全新作の全4部作という話だったけど、4部全てが新作という位置付けらしい。続編でもリメイクでもないとか。タレコミ情報を頂いたæ‚は、正直まゆつば情報だと思ってたんだけど、本当に4部作で再映画化だったとは。

Un-moon-ed:

“New Evangelion Theatrical Version” will be a 4-part project.

According to previous leaks, it was thought that the new project consisted of 3 summary movies of the TV series and 1 new movie, but now it turns out that all 4 movies will be new productions. Also, the movies are neither sequels nor remakes. We had previously thought that those leaks were faked, but apparently there really are going to be 4 new movies…

Here’s the scan (from Newtype I presume) linked by the article that supposedly proves it:

The words on the left say　劇場４部作で描かれる「新作」 or “A new project consisting of 4 theatrical releases”.

So it seems like we are getting 4 new Eva movies that are neither sequel nor remakes… Hmmm… I guess we just have to wait for Newtype October, though Moon Phase is pretty reliable so there’s a pretty good chance that it’s true. Also, Hideaki Anno will once again be in charge, for good or for bad.

Yay! Now we can look forward to 10 more years of Evangelion merchandise! (Okay, so it was going to happen any way)

UPDATE: Just want to add that the first movie will be out Summer 2007, about one year from now.

This confirms my prediciton that episode 8 comes from the middle of book 3, which was between either the chapter 「笹の葉ラプソディ」 (Sasanoha Rhapsody) or 「ミステリックサイン」 (Mysteric Sign).

Now if everything follows, the anime shouldn’t go beyond the fourth novel, which may mean a possible sequel…?