u p d a t e   h i s t o r y

lots of good things on the horizon! aside from receiving more translations (which i will post once i have time to work on them), the anc anime is on its second episode now, and a bevy of anime-related goodies are coming my way.
check out our anime stuff page for full details. we have an mpeg movie of the ayashi no ceres opener, an mp3 of iwao junko's op song "scarlet" (which is awesome--you should go buy it now!), and screen captures of the first two episodes of the anime. this should be enough to whet your appetite and get you wanting more...
...which you'll soon be able to have! a fansub group named naresome studio has plans to fansub at least the first eight episodes of ayashi no ceres. there are other subbers who also have such plans, so no matter which way you look at it, the fans win!
please note that naresome studio is not a distributor, and only either trade or deal with established distributors. please do not ask them to send you copies; they will announce on their page when they have a distributor.

watase-sensei has written an open letter to the fan community. please visit our petition page to see what you can do to help ayashi no ceres!

well, as a result of no longer working at my isp, i no longer have free web hosting. therefore, i'm in the process of moving ayashi.net to the icestorm network. with luck, this will go through without a hitch... however, the site and my email may experience some brief downtime at some point over the course of the next week. please be patient through this--and if you happen to notice any links or such that don't work due to changes in the directory structure, please let me know!

as you know, the ayashi no ceres anime is currently in production, and is scheduled to debut in april on the wowow network. however, there's a problem--currently, only 24-26 episodes are planned for the series--which would mean compressing a series the same length as fushigi yuugi into half as many episodes. this would be impossible to do without cutting out some elements of the story, and we can't have that!
therefore, watase-sensei is requesting the help of her international audience to persuade studio pierrot and bandai visual to extend the series. first of all, please visit the following site and sign the petition guestbook:

http://www.nuriko.net/HelpWatase.html

second of all, please email studio pierrot (funlink@pierrot.co.jp and bandai visual (mailto:webmaster@visual.bandai.co.jp) and (politely, please) express your support for watase-sensei, and how much you'd like to see ayashi no ceres extended. thank you all in advance for your help!

well, it got delayed a week or so longer than i intended, but i finally have the translations of part 3 of volume 11 posted! also, my pictures from animazement came back, and although many didn't come out well (that's what i get for using cheap disposable cameras), i figured people might want to see what i have. i don't have the time or inclination to make a page for them at the moment, so i've dumped the scans in a directory at http://ayashi.net/images/am2k/. watch for other updates today as well.

what a busy birthday for me. after i finish this update, i get to go down to the japanese consulate and take the level 3 proficiency test. fun! ^_^
anyway, this is a brief update, as i'm extremely busy with school, work, and getting ready for animazement, but there's something i couldn't resist sharing. studio pierrot, the studio who did the fushigi yuugi ovas and is doing the anc tv anime, now have a site up about the anime, with production drawings and other cool stuff! check it out at http://www.pierrot.co.jp/title/ceres/ceres/.
i have received translations for volumes 3 and 11 recently, but i won't have time to post them before animazement. rest assured, however, that as soon as i return that'll be the first thing i do. perhaps i'll see some of you there!

two more seiyuu have been decided for ayashi no ceres: the part of alec will be played by seki tomokazu, known for (among many others) touya from card captor sakura, and everyone's beloved wandering mage, chichiri. ^_~ the part of aya will be played by a lesser-known seiyuu named kakazu yumi. more detailed information on these and other seiyuu can be found at the excellent seiyuu database.
the confirmed date for the anc anime is april 20th at 6:30pm, on the wowow network. if you can get it, do!

thanks to the tag team of emmy and junko abe, the translation for part two of volume 11 has been completed! go for it. ^_^
in other news, the ayashi no ceres artbook will go on sale on march 25th in japan. i'll have isbn numbers as they become available. the first novel will come out on april 25th. also, watase-sensei's new manga series will be entitled "imadoki!", and will be a campus romance comedy.

i'm in the process of scanning my 1999 ayashi no ceres calendar. this may take some time--the calendar is easily two feet high and one and a half across, and needless to say doesn't fit on my scanner... so i have to take about eight different scans of each page and make a composite. (if you think this sounds easy, try doing it without ending up with mismatched edges and seams)
for the moment, i have the title page of shokomi 3, the cover of the calendar, and the september/october page. these are really nice--check them out in the group pictures section of the gallery.

more information on the ayashi no ceres anime, and some other news from yuu watase as well. the anime will consist of 26 episodes, and there is an (unconfirmed) possibility of a sequel if the series does very well. at this point, it's unsure whether or not the series will be made available on video, but if it even approaches the popularity of fushigi yuugi, then i think it's safe to say that's a done deal. ^_^
other ayashi no ceres merchandise will also become available around that time--most likely by the end of april or the beginning of may. in the works is an anc artbook, including one new b/w and 12 new color illustrations. also, an ayashi no ceres novel will go on sale around the same time--title pending.
finally, a new manga series by watase-sensei will begin in shokomi issue 8 in march. shokomi 9 will include furoku and in case you didn't know already, yuu watase will be a guest of honor at animazement 2000 in north carolina from march 10-12! if you can make it, this is an event not to be missed!

yes, friends, part three of anc volume 2 has been completed and posted! i'm now working on getting part 4 assembled.

more information on the upcoming anc anime. *v* this is per watase yuu herself, and there will also be an announcement in shokomi 4 (scheduled for release in japan today), so you can treat it more or less as gospel.
currently the details that can be released are few, but here's what's out at the moment:

• it will be done by the same team who did fushigi yuugi, with roughly twice the budget to work with.
• it is slated for airing on the "wowwow" network, which is a japanese cable-based service, in april of this year. i'm currently trying to find out whether terebi japan (a company which pipes japanese television channels to american consumers) can get this to me on a subscription basis.
• the only seuyuu which i have firm information on is iwao junko, who has been cast in the part of ceres. those with keen memories will recognize her name as tomoyo of card captor sakura, and hikari from evangelion. a lesser-known part for her, but one which is perhaps more fitting as a basis of comparison for ceres, is tomoe from the rurouni kenshin OVAs.

more to be posted as details become public knowledge!

sitewise, this is a fairly small update. i've fixed some bad links here and there, made a japanese version for the image gallery, and am gradually working on a variety of things--htmlizing translations, getting the japanese mirror up to speed with the main site, and such on. i've added an info page for volume 13, and updated the status of a few translations. one kind soul decided to translate the remainder of volume 8, and i'll do my best to get that up soon as well.
that's not the least of the news, though. as some of you may know, and some of you may not, shokomi 4 is going to be released in japan two days from now--on january 20th. this issue is the finale of ayashi no ceres! if you have any way to get shokomi, if there were ever any favors you had to call in to do so, you should get shokomi 4. it should reach the states in a week or so. and that brings me to my next bit of news...
the ayashi no ceres anime has been officially confirmed and is in production! this is from a very, very reliable source, and there should be some corroboration to be found in shokomi 4. i'll have more details as they develop and i find out what can and can't be announced.
on a related note, an ayashi no ceres artbook is in the works, and is slated for release in mid-march. this will come with a poster and will most likely be along the lines of the fushigi yuugi artbooks in terms of layout and price.
keep an eye on ayashi.net for updates as they develop!

i picked up volume 13 today, and was immediately seized by the absolute necessity of scanning the back cover sleeve art and turning it into wallpaper. it's an stunning picture of mikagi and ceres (if you don't know who mikagi is, don't ask unless you want severe spoilers ^_~), and even if you don't read japanese you should buy the manga just for the fantastic art.
as a side note, if you're currently buying shokomi, i recommend a really cute new series by kaoru tsuge, called "mikansei soumeikyoku" ("unfinished sonata"). artsy types and music buffs will especially enjoy it.
one minor structure change--i've moved the update history for 1999 into its own page, to make room for plenty of updates in the year 2000. ^v^ you can access the link at the bottom of this page.

i finally got off my rump and finished the facelift for the anc translations page. aside from being much prettier, it's also more informative, with graphical indicators for which parts of which volumes are completed or not. any part that's 100% complete will have a icon, parts with nobody currently translating then will have a icon, while incomplete but in-progress parts will have a icon. thanks to yasha, who nudged me about how necessary this was. as a result, the name of the translation page has changed from anc.html to anc.shtml. please update any favorites you have pointing at the old address!
oh, and ayashi.net passed 25,000 hits this week. thanks to everyone who keeps coming back despite the occasional delays in updates!

belated happy new year everyone! apologies for being my usual scarce self. anyway, just so that you're aware, progress is being made on volume 2 (really!). we've also got a new translator on the team, so now that i have your attention, please enjoy irene-chan's excellent translation of volume 9, part one!
well, good news and bad news this month. the good news? i got a scanner for christmas, so watch for new additions to the image gallery. the bad news? i had to take my computer home from work, which means my actual online time is presently limited to a few hours at night on a modem connection.
nevertheless, thanks to the diligent attentions of many of ayashi.net's visitors, i've cleaned up a large number of broken links and bugs in the page. there's still this strange stylesheet bug with the main page buttons that seems to have magically appeared over the course of a month (without anything even being changed!), but i'm working on tracking it down in between school, work, etc.