Currently, many Otakus are in the middle of their "sacred war" over in Japan with the ComiKet 73 event going on. A comic exhibition that takes place twice every year, lasting for three days and sells a large selection of rarely printed Doujinshi (self-published media). Mostly Manga showing characters from popular series such as Code Geass in... situations you wouldn't normally see them in in the official works. These items are usually sold at a much higher price after the event.

Over half a million people attend during this time and many queue overnight. Many popular character designers produce Doujinshi such as Tony Taka who did the designs for Shining Tears and, Manga artists such as Ken Akamatsu (famous for Love Hina) and Clamp also started off with such works.

This of course means Aniplex can't miss out on a chance to market the new Persona Anime show. The official blog has a number of photos showing what they've been doing to raise awareness such as a row of posters next to escalators and these giant bags for people to carry around. If you go to Akiba now you'll see plenty of these bags decorated with all kinds of illustrations (VNSFW). Even one that reminds you of the "Nice Boat" incident. Makes you wonder why the holiday programmes introducing the maid cafes and Akiba in Japan don't give a warning about this kind of stuff.

Besides that, the official show website has been updated too. From late January 2008 onwards, two four panel comic strips will be published on the website and via the Dengeki Maoh games magazine every month.

Furthermore, the site mentions part one of the "Persona Radio" programme featuring Nobuhiko Okamoto (Shin), can be heard over the internet via Onsen Radio between December 31st ~ January 14th. I might listen to it.

Story section has been updated with a very brief outline of episode one. It's nothing you don't know already from the teaser so if you really want to know what to expect, you'd be better off reading the spoilers from the première instead.

We also get to meet three other members of the investigation team.

Eiko Nikaido (CV: Sae Kobayashi)

A medical officer who works at the Northern Japan Medical Institute. She is an old friend of the Kanzato brothers and is someone who Shin aspires to. She thinks of both Shin and Jun as her younger brothers. It appears during the time the brothers were away from Ayanagi City, Ryo has grown closer to her.

Kunio Itou (CV: Eisei Egawa)

A sergeant of the Ayanagi Criminal Affairs Department. An old fashioned man who likes to make decisions on the spot and lost his chance of promotion due to a certain case. He is always challenging Ryou for keeping all the information he has about the bizarre series of unexplained incidents happening in Ayanagi City a secret.

Tomohiro Narasaki (CV: Toku Kawahara)

An investigator of the Ayanagi Criminal Affairs Department. A young abled body who is full of loyalty, justice and passion but, due to his almost two metre height, he isn't good at stakeouts or trailing. A big hearted, naive twenty four year old.

Now why is it I'm not notified of these updates via the mail magazine? They stopped it already or something?