If you think #9 is an exaggeration, you may not be acquainted with something called “shōjo manga.”

(via 9gag)

CNNGo reports that Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc. is teaming up with Marvel Entertainment to take famous Marvel heroes, such as Iron Man, the X-Men and Blade, turn them into cartoons with a Japanese studio, then broadcast them globally, beginning with cable and satellite broadcasts on Animax Broadcast Japan starting October 1.

We were directed via @jmittell to Japanese writer Makiko Itoh‘s blog, where he has graciously translated filmmakerSatoshi Kon‘s parting words, composed not long before died, and later posted onto his blog by his family members.

As Itoh notes, the document is “rather long and rambling,” but it’s a moving portrait of a wonderfully talented and hardworking artist coming to terms with a death that came sooner than he had imagined.

Some choice excerpts after the break:

Cut Magazine has an interview with Hayao Miyazaki where the venerable animator confesses that if their upcoming Arietty the Borrower doesn’t do well in the box office, plans are already in place to shut down Studio Ghibli.

Suzuki-san is making a dissolution program for Ghibli. No joke, we talked about it the other day. For example, Ghibli should be able to continue with about five staff members as a copyright management company even if we smash the studio. So, Ghibli can say ‘We stop film production. Goodbye’. I do not have to be there.

Presumably Miyazaki means the American box office, as the film has already been released in Japan.

You may loathe him for his handle-revving pheonomenon “Crank That,” but DeAndre Cortez Way–better known as the rapper Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em–probably thinks he’s doing anime fans worldwide a favor by recording two tracks for his upcoming Dre album titled “Anime” and “Goku.” Rejoice: We’ll no longer be thought of as oily hermits that wear large-breasted anime maids on our oversized t-shirts! Now we’ll just be thought of as oily hermits that wear large-breasted anime maids on our oversized t-shirts and listen to Soulja Boy!

This is the same guy that told Daily Beast columnist Touré, “Shout out to the slave masters! Without them we’d still be in Africa.” And not to compare this issue in the slightest, but I’m just sayin’: Without Soulja Boy, otakus would still be in their parents’ basements; or still in America, instead of their study abroad programs in Japan. So shout out! I have to give them where they’re due.

(The rest of this post contains some NSFW lyrics.)

Sometimes, things get into other things that they don’t belong in. There could be a fly in your ointment or a bear in your oatmeal, for example. Well if you live in Japan, you could soon find some manga in your Magic: the Gathering decks. But here’s the thing. As bad as that idea sounded when I first heard it, I’m actually kind of a fan.

Here are the three things I know about Supernatural: There are two brothers who have some supernatural powers and have to fight some bad guys who also have supernatural powers, Mark Pellegrino, who played Jacob on LOST, plays Lucifer on Supernatural, and some people are obsessed beyond belief with this show. It’s the biggest phenomenon show The CW has had in recent memory, possibly ever. It is, basically, a more fangirl-oriented LOST in that regard.

Here’s the fourth thing I learned today: There will soon be a full anime series adapted from the CW hit.

This anime still comes from what I would call an unlikely source. Or at least a source with unlikely inspiration. The image comes from Dante’s Inferno: The Animated Epic, a series of anime shorts inspired not by Dante’s original Divine Comedy, but by the video game Dante’s Inferno.

Also mysteriously in existence is Halo Legends, an anime series based on the Halo franchise. Because when someone says “film adaptation of the Halo franchise,” the first thought I have is “anime.”

And now this morning brings the announcement of yet another anime adaptation of a western video game: Dragon Age. Like all these other game animes, it’ll be direct-to-video, with a 2011 release date.

While I find this trend to be downright odd, there’s undoubtedly some potential. Halo, at least, has a sufficient fan base that there could be an audience for the anime, and it’s not a stretch to guess that there would be overlap in the anime and Halo markets. But Dante’s Inferno and Dragon Age are each a bit of a stretch to justify. But who knows, they might be great.

Which brings us to the bulk of our exercise. Here are 10 Western games that I know would make for sweet anime adaptations, ranked from how much I would salivate over it, in ascending order:

The first Americanized episode of Dragon Ball Z Kai airs tonight at 8 PM Eastern Time on the Nicktoons Network.

The word Kai in this title means something along the lines of “revisited.”  DBZ Kai is basically Dragon Ball Z with all of the filler cut out.

Yes, you heard me.  A DBZ that doesn’t crawl along at the pace of a dazed tortoise: half flash backs, and half characters yelling at each other in lieu of plot development.

Sweet Jebus, that is something else. Japanese theme park Fuji-Q HighLand has announced that it will be adding a new section to its park, Evangelion: World – Life-Size EVA-01 Construction Project. In what will certainly become the centerpiece of the place, they are going to build a “life-size” replica of EVA Unit 01, the terrible mecha of Shinji Ikari, the series’ main character, inhabited by the trapped soul of Shinji’s dead mother. But only from the chest up.

Look at the picture above, and tell me that that isn’t enough for anyone.