Chronopin: upcoming release dates, events and other important dates

Gainax's original mecha series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann begins airing, following underground-village boys Simon and Kamina after they unearth a mysterious mech and fight their way to the surface world.

Michishio Nagasumi's life couldn't be any more normal. In an odd twist of events, during his summer vacation he ends up almost drowning in the sea. Luckily, the cute mermaid Seto San appears to save him.

A specially configured TGV trainset, Project V150, reached 574.8 km/h on the LGV Est line near Le Chemin, France, the fastest a conventional wheeled train has ever run.

In Tokyo, an impenetrable field known as "Hell's Gate" appeared ten years ago. At the same time, psychics who wield paranormal powers at the cost of their conscience also emerged.

Liebherr unveils the LTM 11200-9.1 mobile crane at bauma 2007 in Munich, boasting a 100-metre telescopic boom and a 1,200-tonne lift capacity, the longest telescopic boom of any crane.

A brief bonus scene tucked into Japan's 2007 tenth-anniversary Rurouni Kenshin DVD-BOX, animated by Studio Deen — the same studio behind the original 1996 TV series. Rather than expanding the story, it restages the manga's own ending beat as a short coda for the boxed-set release.

Shrek the Third is a 2007 American animated fantasy comedy film loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book Shrek! by William Steig and produced by DreamWorks Animation. Directed by Chris Miller and written by Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman, Miller, and producer Aron Warner, it is the sequel to Shrek 2 (2004) and the third installment in the Shrek film series.

M.S.C continues The Prince of Tennis's National Tournament arc with the Semifinal OVAs, pitting Seigaku against the Kansai champion Shitenhouji Middle School.

Itoshiki Nozomu is always in despair! Even simple things like paying for the toll on the subway can send him to a despair so deep only attempted suicide is the answer.

The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film directed by David Silverman and based on the animated television series The Simpsons created by Matt Groening. The film stars Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, and other recurring actors reprising their roles from the series, with Albert Brooks joining for the film.

During the early 1930s in Chicago, the transcontinental train, Flying Pussyfoot, is starting its legendary journey that will leave a trail of blood all over the country.

Death Note: Relight begins release, a two-part TV special condensing the Death Note TV series into re-edited compilation films narrated from the shinigami Ryuk's perspective, with new dialogue, music, and some previously unseen animation.

Volvo Trucks turned its Ghent, Belgium plant fully carbon-free in September 2007, powering assembly of the FH-series with onsite wind turbines, biomass, and bio-oil heating instead of fossil fuels.

Hal Film Maker releases ARIA The OVA ~ARIETTA~, a single-episode continuation of the ARIA anime in which Akari Mizunashi, newly a Prima Undine, doubts her own readiness and seeks out her mentor Alicia for advice.

Sword of the Stranger opens in Japanese theaters, an original samurai-era action film from Bones about a nameless ronin who takes on the job of protecting a young boy from Ming assassins.

The television anime Clannad begins airing, a Kyoto Animation adaptation of Key's visual novel about delinquent high schooler Tomoya Okazaki and the people he meets, including gentle upperclassman Nagisa Furukawa.

Production I.G's Tsubasa: Tokyo Revelations begins release, an OVA continuing the Tsubasa Chronicle saga as Syaoran and his companions arrive in a war-torn Tokyo in search of Sakura's stolen memories.

Macross F: Close Encounter - Deculture Edition, an extended recut of Macross Frontier's first episode, releases in Japan.

Childhood friends Danny Harris and Marco DeGeorge, already the owners of T-shirt maker Bella+Canvas, start Alo - named for air, land and ocean - as a yoga apparel brand in Los Angeles.

Fairplayer's twin 900-tonne cranes combine for an 1,800-tonne tandem lift, among the largest of any heavy-lift ship afloat. Built by Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania, she entered service with Dutch heavy-lift specialist Jumbo Maritime in 2008.

Having finished high school, Gorou Honda sets his sights on becoming a professional baseball player.

More crazy antics abound as Nozomu Itoshiki, a.k.a Zetsubou-sensei, who is the world's most negative person, tries to teach class 2-H about how life is filled with despair and darkness.

The peddler Kraft Lawrence travels through the world selling all kinds of things. After visiting a village, he discovers a sleeping girl under the pelts in his cart. She has wolf ears and a tail.

Adif's Madrid–Barcelona high-speed line opened in full on 20 February 2008, cutting the 621km journey to about 2 hours 30 minutes and becoming the backbone of the AVE network that engineering crews are now upgrading for 350km/h running.

Baccano! Bangai-hen premieres, three DVD-exclusive episodes rounding out Brain's Base's adaptation of Ryohgo Narita's light novels with extra material for the 1930s Prohibition-era cast.

Still working to get his wish complete, Watanuki finds himself into more mess than he can handle when certain facts about his everyday life gets revealed and when he needs to learn the lesson of Yuuko the hard way.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2, Sunrise's second-season continuation of the mecha-political thriller, begins airing as exiled prince Lelouch vi Britannia resumes his hidden war against the Britannian Empire.

Soul Eater begins broadcast, Bones' adaptation of Atsushi Ohkubo's manga set at the Death Weapon Meister Academy, where weapon-and-meister pairs collect souls to forge new Death Scythes while defending Death City from monsters.

M.S.C releases Tennis no Ouji-sama: Zenkoku Taikai-hen Final, the concluding OVA arc of the Prince of Tennis National Tournament storyline, as Seigaku faces the tournament's strongest team, Rikkaidai.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a 2008 high fantasy film, directed by Andrew Adamson, and written by Adamson, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. It is based on the 1951 novel Prince Caspian, the second in the children's book series by C. S. Lewis, and the second installment in The Chronicles of Narnia film series.

Hal Film Maker releases Aria the Origination: That Little Secret Place..., a bonus special adapting a bridging chapter of the Aria manga and set between episodes five and six of the Aria the Origination TV series.

Jan De Nul's Cristóbal Colón, a 223-metre dredger with a 46,000 cubic metre hopper, was launched at the La Naval shipyard in Sestao, Spain on 4 July 2008, becoming the largest trailing suction hopper dredger ever built.

Yuno, Miyako, Hiro, Sae and the rest of the denizens of the most fascinating piece of surreal estate in Japan are back.

Natsume has always been an outcast because he inherited his grandmother's ability to see yokai.

Kyoto Animation releases Clannad: Another World, Tomoyo Chapter, a single-episode OVA retelling the anime's finale from an alternate timeline centered on Tomoya and Tomoyo's relationship.

InuYasha: Kuroi Tessaiga debuts, a 30-minute InuYasha special screened at Rumiko Takahashi manga exhibitions across Japan before it was later folded, slightly re-edited, into an episode of InuYasha: The Final Act.

Studio Rikka begins streaming Time of Eve, a near-future ONA in which high-schooler Rikuo discovers a hidden cafe where humans and the androids he was taught to treat as tools are met as equals.

The Detroit Metal City OVA begins release, a Studio 4°C-animated comedy adapting Kiminori Wakasugi’s manga about a mild-mannered pop musician forced to front an extreme death-metal act.

The Garden of Sinners Chapter 5: Paradox Paradigm, the fifth film in ufotable's adaptation of Kinoko Nasu's novel series, opens in Japanese theaters, following Shiki Ryougi as she shelters a runaway boy convinced he has murdered his own mother.

The Shanghai World Financial Center opened in 2008 after developers were forced to redesign its circular summit opening into a trapezoid when the public read it as a Japanese flag.

The Loro Parque Company opened Siam Park in Costa Adeje, Tenerife, a Thai-themed water park that would go on to be ranked the world's best by TripAdvisor.

Kyoto Animation releases a standalone Lucky☆Star OVA, six unconnected bonus vignettes starring Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and the rest of the cast, including an MMORPG story arc and a surreal dream sequence.

The television anime Toradora! begins airing, a J.C.STAFF-produced romantic comedy adapting Yuyuko Takemiya's light novels about an unlikely alliance between mild-mannered Ryuuji Takasu and the diminutive, fierce Taiga Aisaka.

Kyoto Animation's sequel series Clannad: After Story begins airing, following Tomoya Okazaki and Nagisa Furukawa into adulthood after the events of the first Clannad season.

In Victorian-era Europe, a young boy loses everything he once held near and dear to a vicious plot. In his moment of death, he strikes a deal with a demon: his soul, in exchange for revenge.

Having been given the opportunity to study in Paris, Noda accompanies Chiaki to Europe as he strives to become the accomplished conductor he always dreamt to be.

Shaft releases Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, a follow-up OVA continuing Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei with more stories about the terminally pessimistic teacher Nozomu Itoshiki and the eccentric students of Class 2-H.

A paper titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, signed Satoshi Nakamoto, is posted to a cryptography mailing list. It describes a chain of proof-of-work timestamps that lets strangers transact without a trusted third party.

GONZO releases the first episode of a two-part Seto no Hanayome OVA, new stand-alone shorts reuniting the cast as San and Luna's overprotective fathers keep testing Nagasumi's nerve during their third year of school.

A privately financed airport built to rival Madrid-Barajas opened near Ciudad Real in December 2008, before closing within four years as one of Spain's most notorious infrastructure failures.