Some random thoughts jotted down on several pieces of scratch paper, in between thoughts of Kawaii Kon happening later this week:

» As a critic, I want to keep an open mind and believe that “;Dragonball: Evolution,”; the live-action film adaptation of the classic anime/manga series opening Friday in theaters, will be worth watching. As a fan, I can't help but think all the charm of the source material has been sucked out and replaced with the spirit of Generic Martial Arts Beat-Em-Up No. 58991759.

Which side will prove correct? I'm not sure I want to brave a movie theater to find out.

» A moment of silence, please, for Anime Insider. Issue No. 67, available now, will be the last in an eight-year run for Wizard Entertainment's monthly magazine that featured anime and manga news and reviews and other tidbits about Japanese pop culture.

Anime Insider is the third anime/manga-focused magazine to close in the last four years; Animerica shut down in 2005, while Newtype USA and its spiritual successor, PiQ, ended publication last year. The shutdown leaves two U.S. periodicals with an anime/manga focus: Protoculture Addicts and Otaku USA. On occasion, if you're lucky, you might also find the United Kingdom import Neo Magazine at larger bookstores as well.

» “;Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”; debuted in Japan on Sunday, and Funimation has already called dibs on it for North America, announcing it would stream English-subtitled episodes on its Web site, http://www.funimation.com, starting Thursday.

There's no official word on the cast for the English-language dub, but I would be surprised if most, if not all, of the original “;Fullmetal Alchemist”; cast didn't return. I just don't think the legions of Vic Mignogna and Travis Willingham fangirls would allow anyone but them to be the voices of Edward Elric and Roy Mustang, respectively. Question is, can Aaron Dismuke still pull off the voice of Alphonse Elric, or has he aged out of the role?

Coming in HILife

Kawaii Kon. You might have heard of it, having watched news break about it countless times in this column over the past year or so. The waiting ends this weekend ... and for the fifth year I'll be offering a preview of this year's convention. As for what that preview article will be about ... well, watch for your weekend HILife section in Thursday's paper. It'll be worth the wait.

A shift in time

Change is coming to the Star-Bulletin next week as we switch to our new tabloid format. Meanwhile, I'll be taking the week off. The break's purely intentional, though, because I'll be packing up this “;Cel Shaded”; circus and moving to a new day of the week.

So look for “;Cel Shaded”; on Sundays starting April 19. Otanoshimi ni (that's Japanese for “;It'll be fun”;)!

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”;Cel Shaded,”; a weekly look at the world of Japanese anime and manga, appears every Tuesday. Follow Jason S. Yadao on Twitter at twitter.com/ jsyadao or e-mail him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).