More from Cartoon Brew: They have a first look at Okami kodomo no ame to yuki, a new 2D anime feature directed by Mamoru Hosoda. The title translates as The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki. Here’s the basic press release: “From the director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars, the story of a college student named Hana who marries a ‘wolf man’ and gives birth to two wolf children. When the wolf man dies, Hana and the children move from the city to a quiet rural town.” The film is being distributed by TOHO Studios, and it’s set for release (at least in Japan) this July. There’s not much yet on the film’s web site (and what’s there is in Japanese), but they’ll add to it as the year goes along.

image c. 2012 TOHO Studios

The Cartoon Brew website has just (2 January) posted an admittedly incomplete preview list of 19 animated feature-length films announced for release during 2012.

Many such as Madagascar 3, Ice Age: Continental Drift, and Norm of the North will feature anthropomorphized animals. However, Japanese film The Wolf Children, featuring two human-wolf hybrid children, sounds likely to especially appeal to Furry fans:

Okami kodomo no ame to yuki (The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki). From the director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars, the story of a college student named Hana who marries a “wolf man” and gives birth to two wolf children. When the wolf man dies, Hana and the children move from the city to a quiet rural town.

You are probably thinking of the USA's World War II propaganda animated cartoons. There were certainly lots of them!

Long articles could be (and have been) written on the adventures of Donald and Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Gandy Goose and Homer Pigeon. In the last decade, most American propaganda cartoons have been re-released on DVD, so we can see them for ourselves; they are also on YouTube.

Volumes could also be written of the wartime funny-animal comic book and newspaper comic strip characters who fought the Axis, usually on the Home Front against saboteurs and hoarders. World War II's talking-animal propaganda novels are less well-known. In fact, they are forgotten today except in movie-adaptation credits. That’s too bad, as the books are still enjoyable reading.

Pokémon meet feudal Japan in this crossover with a popular turn-based strategy RPG. [relee]

The game is set in an alternate version of the Sengoku period. Players must conquer 17 castles in the fictional Ranse¹ region of Japan, with assistance from their fuzzy partners.

It's early days yet, but fans are already arguing about the inclusion of lab-born Mewtwo.

¹ A play on Ransei, meaning "turbulent times"

Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have combined non-contact motion detection with animatronics to build a fursuit head which reacts to a performer's facial movements.

The technology, exhibited at the 19th International Collegiate Virtual Reality Contest, allows the wearer to control the eyes and mouth; ear and eyebrow control is planned. [scottbob3]

Neurowear is developing a pair of cat ears which respond to the brain activity of their wearer.

Called "necomimi", the ears are mounted on a headband containing sensors, which pick up brain activity and move the ears accordingly. As the wearer concentrates, the ears point upwards, and when they relax the ears flop down and forwards.

Judging by compensation payouts, almost 50,000 households were affected by evacuations from the vicinity of the Fukushima I nuclear power plant – not counting those who died in the tsunami. Many kept pets, and were forced to leave them behind when the call to leave came.

The animals are now trying to survive on what they were left or can scavenge from the area. Reports of a breeder's pack of shelties in Minamisōma led to a rescue mission, but many fled.

Local cats are also affected. While some have been fed and rescued, others found their own food (note: graphic imagery). [furryne.ws: 1, 2]

Fifty artists have banded together, offering gifts in kind to organizations aiding victims of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. [tip: Banrai]

Their work is to benefit Direct Relief International, Doctors Without Borders and the Japanese Red Cross, and is being sold via group auctions organized by Quaylak and JakeJynx.

The first auction was launched last night and ends Monday. The second began a few hours ago. Three more are to be posted in subsequent days. Artists wishing to join in can do so until Friday.

Update (11 Apr): The third, fourth and fifth auctions have been posted.

Another Japanese dog has survived the terrible earthquake and tsunami — this time, by clinging to the roof of its floating home after it was swept out to sea. The dog (named Ban) was rescued by the Japanese Coast Guard (with some assistance from nearby American disaster relief workers and the JSDF) during a search for survivors after its house was washed away three weeks ago. Thomson Reuters had reported that the dog was found on the roof of its home, floating 1.8 km (1.1 miles) off the coast of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, in northern Japan. See also: Japanese dog stays by injured canine comrade after disaster

We've been hearing of the horrible tragedy in Japan over the past week caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami and nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Plant, but there is one story of hope from the striken oriental nation: rescue workers discovered a dog guarding a fellow dog that was injured in the earthquake.

At first, the dog would not let rescue workers near its friend, but they were able to gradually bring the injured dog to an animal hospital in the city of Mito. The guardian dog was taken to a different shelter in the city; both are recieving medical treatment for their ordeals.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have come up with a new theory to explain the death of the famous dog, Hachikō (also known as chūken ['faithful dog'] Hachikō).

Hachikō was an Akita Inu who was born in Japan in 1923. He became the pet of Professor Hidesaburō Ueno of the University of Tokyo. For around a year Hachikō would meet his master, at the end of the day, at Shibuya Station.

On 21 May 1925 Prof. Ueno died from a stroke while at the university. For the rest of his life Hachikō continued to make the trip to the train station and wait for his master. Hachikō finally died in 1935.

Cat cafés are coffee houses including a seperate room where customers are able to play with cats. They are particularly popular in Japan, perhaps due to many apartments forbidding pets, with Tokyo having between 30 and 40 such cafés.

At the request of Jerry Coyne, Japanese blogger Yokohamamama visited one of these cafés, the Neko Café Leon, and posted a report about her experiences.

So get out your katana, because this time it's kemono style!

Almost a month ago on 31 December 2010, Snoopy007 found a very interesting page on the website of Japanese game company Sankando.

Solatorobo, a prequel to the furry PS1 game Tail Concerto (previously covered on Flayrah) was released in Japanese for the Nintendo DS late last month. Many hope for an English translation by next year, but game developers CyberConnect2 have not released any news.

Fans of the series wishing to play this game in English may want to petition CyberConnect2 and Atlus (the U.S. publishers of Tail Concerto) to encourage them to invest in a translation.

Editor's note: A beta version of the game has been seen in French. Check out the game's 100 ad spots, which reportedly aired in one eight-hour period on Tokyo MX TV a week before release.

Are you a carnivore or a herbivore? The question might not mean what you think. [tip: Relee]