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Browsing CategoriesPage: < Previous [1] [2] Next >
A Quick Reminder About Pirate Goods
Date: Sunday May 12th 2013 [9:40] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Retail
With convention season kicking off it's time to remind everyone to keep an eye out for pirate goods. Do you know if the event you are going to has a pirate goods policy? Do you know how to spot and avoid pirate goods? We find that pirate goods are still present at some events. If you haven't already, please read the Pirate Anime FAQ and learn how to avoid dodgy merchandise.
Manga Industry Pioneer Toren Smith Passes Away
Date: Friday March 8th 2013 [16:00] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Current Affairs
Readers will be sad to hear that manga industry pioneer Toren Smith passed away on Tuesday March 5th 2013.
We could write an obituary about the man who brought manga to the English speaking world, but we don't have the words. We suggest you read the one written by Jonathan Clements.
We've never had the privilege of meeting Toren. For many of us, ourselves included, his work were fundamental in discovering the world of anime and manga.
The news was first broken on Twitter and Anime News Network.
An interview with Production I.G.
Date: Saturday January 12th 2013 [15:28] | Posted By: Priss
Category: > Anime
Returning for the second time in 2012, the fourth Hyper Japan festival in November welcomed thousands of visitors to Earls Court for a three day extravaganza of entertainment. The event flourishes every time with an array of Japanese cultural experiences, encompassing fashion, film, games, cuisine and of course anime and manga for people to see.
For anime fans, this Hyper Japan was host to an astounding public event - a panel chaired by Helen McCarthy in which Production I.G. President & CEO Ishikawa Mitsuhisa was joined by esteemed anime critic Hikawa Ryusuke. It was an exciting opportunity to gain unique insight into the Japanese animation industry from one of today's greatest studios and a major modern figure in Japanese cultural criticism.
An interview with director Kazuya Murata and producer Masahiko Minami of Fullmetal Alchemist - The Sacred Star of Milos
Date: Tuesday June 26th 2012 [16:08] | Posted By: Priss
Category: > Anime
Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi or Hagaren for short) is a series that has made a significant mark on anime fans across the world. With the conclusion of the manga and the anime adaptation Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood over the past year, it is with great excitement that we are once again given the chance to join the Elric brothers on their second cinematic adventure - Hagaren the Movie 2011 - The Sacred Star of Milos.
For fans of the series they will enjoy return to the world of their favourite characters. Mystery, intrigue and all converge in this epic that calls into question the bonds of blood and national loyalty. The film was made to slot into the timeline of the Brotherhood series narrative. This new adventure, however, has a very different look and feel to the Hagaren previously produced by Studio Bones (株式会社 ボンズ Kabushiki Kaisha Bonzu).
France is the biggest manga market in Europe
Date: Thursday February 2nd 2012 [17:36] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Manga
Facts and figures for the the manga industry always make an interesting read. CNN's Geekout Blog has a good article about the European Manga Industry.
Did you know that France accounts for 50% of VIZ Media Europe's manga sales? The article also highlights that combined Europe and the Middle East generates more manga sales than America -
"'In Europe, manga is most popular in France, then Italy and Spain,' said Hyoe Narita, president of VIZ Media Europe, which is headquartered in Paris. Annual manga sales in Japan are about $5 billion, he said, whereas American manga sales are $120 million and Europe and the Middle East combined make $250 million. This combined number given out is probably because VIZ Media Europe distributes to the Middle East as well. Japan is still the huge maker, but these numbers show that manga is moving well outside of Asia."
"The popularity does vary by country, but France is by far the leader in European otaku interest, as it brings in 50% of European manga sales. Narita said it’s the same size or a bit bigger than the market in the United States."
Digital Manga Inc Launch Anime Cel Art Shop
Date: Friday November 25th 2011 [14:27] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Retail
We've received some rather interesting news from Digital Manga Inc. They've just opened a new site Anime Cel Art, which like the name implies is dedicated to selling anime cel art. They've currently got Naruto, Bleach and One Piece cels for sale.
Collectors should note, that these are not production cels used to make the anime as production now is digital. These are officially licensed reproductions. They are hand painted, and made exactly the same as production cels, but these images have never been used to make anime. As a result you get more for your money. You get a high quality image along with a background for a reasonable price.
American Comic Companies battle for readers
Date: Monday August 22nd 2011 [4:47] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Manga
BBC News are running an interesting story about Marvel and DC's current strategy of expansion into Asia.
"With sales in decline at home, US comic-book giants Marvel and its old rival DC Comics have been looking towards foreign markets to grow their businesses."
CB Cebulski at Marvel declares that "Sales are down and we've been losing market share to things like video games, social media, to film, to piracy."
The article highlights the difficulties DC and Marvel will have with manga and it's culture strong established in the Asian market. It also mentions that sales of manga are falling in Japan as well. The Japanese government are trying to fix this.
"The Japanese government has recently announced a new plan to aggressively further promote its pop culture and content, including manga, to international markets"
We've already seen this at events like the JETRO talk at Hyper Japan.
The article concludes with Marvel's current strategy of hiring local talent in Asia to draw comics and that they are given more creative control. It ends with an table of percentages of market share of Japanese manga versus American comics in Asia.
An Interview with Voice Actors Ben Diskin and Brian Beacock
Date: Monday July 25th 2011 [16:37] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Production
Every now and again at Otaku News, we like to interview voice actors, the very people who provide the voices for anime. At the May 2011 MCM London Expo we were lucky to catch up with Ben Diskin and Brian Beacock.
AM2 to screen Mai Mai Miracle for passport holders only
Date: Tuesday May 31st 2011 [17:30] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Events
US readers who can make it to Anaheim, California should head over to AM2 on July 1 to 3 2011 get a chance to view a special Passport holders only screening of Mai Mai Miracle.
We've seen Mai Mai Miracle, and must say it is worth seeing, especially on the big screen. It's everything you'd expect from a high budget Madhouse production. It's one of those films screaming out for a Blu-ray release. It's a title making the effort to get out and watch. It's in instant classic.
Tokyopop to Close at the end of May 2011
Date: Friday April 15th 2011 [15:07] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Manga
Manga publisher Tokyopop are to close in the US as of May 31st 2011 . The company's film, TV, and European operations, including its Hamburg, Germany-based publishing and international rights sales will continue. ICv2 have more details along with Bleeding Cool News and The Beat which broke the news. As always Anime News Network has coverage of the story too.
Tokyopop's Founder Stu Levy has posted a personal statement.
As the details were announced today we have no idea what impact this will have on their release details, as well as what will happen to the rights of existing Japanese manga and original English language comics also published. Any artists who have worked with Tokyopop should read the small print of their contracts now.
An Interview with Figure Sculptor Momiji
Date: Sunday February 27th 2011 [14:00] | Posted By: Priss
Category: > Production
Last year, the second annual MCM London Expo returned to bring together a myriad of media and popular culture exhibitors and merchants. It is an exciting occasion for anime fans who attend to meet, mingle and fight their way through the melee of merchandisers and organisers.
Expo is an event that I attend on the front line behind the dealers' tables as an assistant for sales. I am predominantly positioned ready and waiting to serve customers who are on the hunt for anime, manga and figures from the store United Publications. It is an intense and demanding event and catering for the volume of visitors is often a challenge that affords little time to explore the wonders of the wider event. This time, however, I had to make the exception for a remarkable appearance amongst October's exhibitors.
Schoolgirl Milky Crisis now on Kindle
Date: Wednesday September 15th 2010 [14:42] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Retail
Anime expert and industry insider Jonathan Clements has just posted details on his blog about Schoolgirl Milky Crisis being released on Kindle.
It's available to buy from Amazon.com in the US and Amazon.co.uk in the UK.
Anime director Satoshi Kon passes away
Date: Thursday August 26th 2010 [12:53] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime > Film
Acclaimed anime director Satoshi Kon passed away 2 days ago on 24th August 2010. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on 18th May 2010.
Satoshi Kon has directed several popular films which generally have a cerebral dream like element to them, where the imagination, dreams and reality all mix together. He directed the films Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika and the TV series Paranoia Agent. Satoshi Kon was working on a feature film called Yume-Miru Kikai, which is unofficially known as Dream Machine in English.
News of death spread like wild fire on the internet, with many anime fans expressing their sadness of his death.
Prominent food and bento blogger Makiko Itoh has translated Satoshi Kon's last words.
The New York Times also have a detailed obituary.
Anime expert Helen McCarthy points out that "at that age Miyazaki hadn't finished Totoro, Tezuka hadn't created Black Jack, Kurosawa hadn't made Yojimbo."
The Anime News Network have details from his wife.
The Guardian also has a good write up.
High School of the Dead hits North America
Date: Friday July 2nd 2010 [19:41] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime > DVD
Want zombies with your anime? The good folks at Sentai Filmworks and Anime Network are willing to provide you with infected flesh eating monsters! Sentai Filmworks have the license for High School of the Dead. and will be releasing it subbed and dubbed throughout North America.
The Anime Network will also be showing the first and second episode from Monday July 5th to subscribers in North America.
Interview with Daisuke Ishiwatari and Toshimichi Mori the creators of the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue series
Date: Sunday June 13th 2010 [13:46] | Posted By: Dallas Marshall
Category: > Gaming
On the memorial day weekend at Fanimecon, a bay area anime convention in San Jose California, I had the privilege of sitting down with both Daisuke Ishiwatari and Toshimichi Mori of ARC System Works. The studio that brought you the Guilty Gear series and BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger and the soon to be released BlazBlue:Continuum Shift.
Multi-National Manga Anti-Piracy Coalition Formed
Date: Tuesday June 8th 2010 [16:47] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Manga
Multi-National Manga Anti-Piracy Coalition Formed
We've received some very interesting details from VIZ Media about the formation of a Multi-National Manga Anti-Piracy Coalition.It seems that the industry has grown tired of Scanlations - manga scanned into a digital format and distributed without the copyright holders consent. The coalition include the 36 members of Japan's Digital Comic Association, Square Enix, VIZ Media, TOKYOPOP and Yen Press.
Originally scanlations were manga translated by fans into their native language from Japanese. This can be seen as the manga equivalent of anime fansubs. Some scanlation sites branched out to scans of manga that was already official translated and licensed outside of Japan.
This has cost the manga publishing industry significant amounts of money, not just in lost book sales, but lost opportunities in the relatively new market of eBooks and mobile devices.
The coalition intend to target scanlation sites and aggregators of scanlation sites. They've drawn up a list of 30 sites to targeted for action. First they will ask the sites to cease distributing scanlations. If the sites fail to cease distributing further action will be taken depending on the jurisdiction of each site. Actions include legal injunctions against the sites, reporting the sites to governmental anti-piracy units of law enforcement, including the US Justice Department, local law enforcement agencies and the FBI.
Fans curious about piracy in the anime and manga industry should read the Pirate Anime FAQ.
This is not the first time the anime and manga industry has attempted to stop piracy in the industry, but this is the biggest and most coordinated international effort so far. With many companies in the industry forced to make cut backs, closing down offices, laying off staff, we wonder if this is the start of a new approach? Will more companies pursue legal options? Are fansubbers next?
The Art of Osamu Tezuka nominated for 2010 Eisner Awards
Date: Sunday April 18th 2010 [14:13] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Manga
The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga by Helen McCarthy has been nominated for the prestigious 210 Eisner Awards. The book is up for Best Comics-Related Book, it competes against the following titles -
- Alan Moore: Comics as Performance, Fiction as Scalpel, by Annalisa Di Liddo (University Press of Mississippi)
- The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics, by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle (Abrams ComicArts)
- Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater, by Eric P. Nash (Abrams ComicArts)
- Will Eisner and PS Magazine, by Paul E. Fitzgerald (Fitzworld.US)
The Otaku News crew congratulate Helen McCarthy and the team behind the book for the nomination and wish them the best of luck in winning the award.
Preview the first 7 minutes of Gundam Unicorn
Date: Tuesday March 2nd 2010 [15:20] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime > DVD
The good folks from Beez have sent us details about the upcoming release of Gundam Unicorn on Friday 12th 2010 on Blu-ray disc. The release will be worldwide simultaneously in the 7 territorial areas of Japan, US, Canada, UK, France, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
You can view the first 7 minutes of the OAV on the Beez Website.
The Art of Osamu Tezuka God of Manga out November 2009
Date: Tuesday October 13th 2009 [15:40] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime
Fans of Osamu Tezuka, the founding father of modern anime and manga will be pleased to hear that a new book is due out November 2009. Written by prominent anime and manga expert Helen McCarthy the hardcover book published by Ilex Press reveals what makes Tezuka one of the key figures of 20th century pop culture.
It includes 350 colour illustrations and a 45 minute DVD documentary never aired outside of Japan before.
The publication coincides with the annual Comica Festival.
Buy from Amazon.co.uk
Buy from Amazon.com
ADV Films Shuts down
Date: Wednesday September 2nd 2009 [17:51] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime
US based Anime company ADV have closed. A detailed write up can be found on Anime News Network.
Apart from the asset transfers to other companies registered in Texas (where ADV was based), the details are still coming to light.
Below we've included the press release from ADV along with the press release from Section23 Films.
Anime Expo 2009 Guest of Honor - Seiji Mizushima
Date: Monday May 18th 2009 [16:53] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Events
Los Angeles, California anime fans who haven't already marked July 2nd to 5th 2009 on their calendars may really want to do so now. Anime Expo have anime director Seiji Mizushima as their official guest of honor.
Schoolgirl Milky Crisis Book Competition
Date: Thursday March 5th 2009 [15:28] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime
We've teamed up with the good folks at Titan Books to give away copies of the new book Schoolgirl Milky Crisis: Adventures in The Anime And Manga Trade. The book written by Jonathan Clements reveals in inner workings of the anime and manga business.
Helen McCarthy on RightStuf's Anime Today Podcast
Date: Tuesday January 20th 2009 [16:12] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime
Anime fans will want to check out RightStuf's latest podcast. It features an interview with anime expert Helen McCarthy who promotes her book 500 Essential Anime Movies. In the podcast she explains how she narrowed down her choices in the book to just 500 shows. Along with how anime production and writing about anime has changed over the years.
Schoolgirl Milky Crisis Blog
Date: Friday December 5th 2008 [18:49] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Production
Anime expert Jonathan Clements has just launched a blog to promote his new book Schoolgirl Milky Crisis: Adventures in the Anime and Manga Trade, which is due for publication in early 2009.
The blog has some interesting insights that will no doubt also appear in the book, even an article about writing the index for the book proves to be amusing.
An interview with Kari Wahlgren
Date: Sunday September 7th 2008 [11:01] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime
Thanks to go the great folk at AmeCon 2008, we were able to interview their main guest, voice actress Kari Wahlgren. You may have heard her in the American dub of FLCL as Haruko, or Robin in Witch Hunter Robin or Scarlett in Steamboy to name a few of her roles. As well as many video games you've probably played.
Fanboys wanted for MTV's True Life
Date: Tuesday August 19th 2008 [16:09] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Fandom
Our US based readers who like the idea of appearing on TV should consider this request from MTV who are keen to do a True Life episode on Fanboys.
500 Essential Anime Movies by Helen McCarthy - out now
Date: Tuesday August 5th 2008 [18:01] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime
We've received details regarding anime expert Helen McCarthy's new book 500 Essential Anime Movies. It's out now in the UK and will be released in the US in a few weeks. You can buy it Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
We've always recommend Helen's books for several reasons - they're well written and they're well researched that and they're enjoyable to read. ^_^
Helen goes to a lot of effort to check the facts and details when writing books and it does show. We also recommend Helen McCarthy's publications when researching anime and manga, especially for academic purposes, you can never go wrong citing her work.
The Pirate Anime FAQ Returns
Date: Sunday August 3rd 2008 [16:31] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime
8 years ago, I wrote an FAQ about piracy in anime, and how to avoid buying pirate goods. It started off as a simple guide as part of a site called Anime Digital, but evolved and improved over the years. It's generally regarded as the most comprehensive guide to pirate goods in anime fandom. A mini version has been printed at many anime conventions and distributed among convention staff to quickly spot pirate goods. The anime industry also use it to make anime fans aware of bootleg goods.
For the last 8 years the Pirate Anime FAQ was hosted on the London Anime Club's web server. Unfortunately it's been unavailable since April because of server problems so we have decided to host the guide on Otaku News instead. We'd like to thank the London Anime Club for hosting the Pirate Anime FAQ for the last 8 years.
The Pirate Anime FAQ has been translated into French and German, thanks to the kind help of anime fans. I'll put the French and German translations up soon. However I've made a few small changes to the FAQ to make sure it will fit with the formatting of Otaku News. As a result the translations will need to be updated too.
The old content from Anime Digital is not lost and we're currently deciding if we should integrate the articles into Otaku News, or archive them as a separate site.
So please update your bookmarks, the new URL for the Pirate Anime FAQ is http://www.otakunews.com/piratefaq.php.
An interview with Makoto Shinkai
Date: Sunday June 22nd 2008 [18:17] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime > Film
Otaku News went to a BFI screening of Makoto Shinkai's 5 Centimeters Per Second and was lucky enough to get an exclusive chance to have a private chat with Mr Shinkai, the writer and anime director.
Bandai Visual USA to be liquidated
Date: Wednesday June 4th 2008 [19:44] | Posted By: Eeeper
Category: > Current Affairs
Bandai Namco Holdings has announced the liquidation of the American division of their Bandai Visual releasing arm effective July 1st 2008.
GONZO make progressive metal music video
Date: Monday March 31st 2008 [17:13] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Production > Gonzo
We've been sent some interesting details about anime studio GONZO, who have produced a music video for progressive metal band Dream Theater.
Five Girls Name Moe talk now on-line
Date: Thursday January 10th 2008 [16:46] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime
Jonathan Clements' talk "Five Girls Name Moe: The Anime Erotic", from Swansea Animation Days, is now up on-line as a web stream. You can watch his talk on-line, while it's up. As we've come to expect from Jonathan it's amusing, informative and backed with solid figures and statistics.
Wired for manga
Date: Tuesday November 6th 2007 [19:26] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Manga
This months (November 2007) issue of Wired Magazine has an excellent feature called Japan Ink about the manga industry, the impact dojinshi has on the copyright of manga and how an unspoken agreement benefits fans and companies alike, suggesting that the model can be spread out to other media industries like the music biz.
Wired have also made manga their cover feature for this month and have produced an article in manga format about the history of manga in America, although it's very biased towards Viz, being written by a former Viz senior editor, it practically ignores the fact fandom exists.
Dark Horse and CLAMP Team Up For New Title
Date: Friday August 3rd 2007 [20:17] | Posted By: Jeremy
Category: > Manga
Dark Horse signs CLAMP to make new manga for 2009!
Miyazaki's New Movie
Date: Thursday March 22nd 2007 [22:06] | Posted By: Jeremy
Category: > Anime
Hayao Miyazaki currently working on his latest movie!
Geneon Spot audio podcast
Date: Saturday February 24th 2007 [18:58] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime
We've just got an e-mail from the pioneering folks at Genoen who'd like to let us know that they've posted up the latest Geneon Spot audio podcast, featuring an interview with Taliesin Jaffe (the ADR director of R.O.D -The TV-, Hellsing, Hellsing Ultimate, BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad, etc.), who talks about script adaptation work and the realities of being an anime voice actor.
Naruto DS game will hit American shores soon
Date: Wednesday January 10th 2007 [14:37] | Posted By: Dallas Marshall
Category: > Gaming
Owners of the Nintendo DS will finally be able to get their hands on a brand new Naruto game. TOMY Corporation and D3Publisher of America, INC. (D3PA for short) today announced the upcoming release of Naruto: Ninja council 3 for the Nintendo DS. Expected to be brought to America in the spring of 2007.
Afro Samurai Set for January Release
Date: Thursday November 2nd 2006 [9:18] | Posted By: Jeremy
Category: > Anime
Afro Samurai set to make its debut in January on Spike TV.
YouTube take down nearly 30,000 Japanese Clips
Date: Friday October 20th 2006 [12:36] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Websites
BBC News and many other news sources are currently reporting that 29,549 clips have been removed from YouTube after the Japanese media companies complained of copyright infringement. The popular video hosting site (recently bought by Google for $1.65bn USD) frequently had clips from Japanese TV shows along with some anime as well.
It is not clear from the article what content has been removed, if it's Japanese TV programmes, more extreme quiz shows, comedy sketches and skits such as Matrix Pong, users of YouTube will have to discover that for themselves. What will be interesting to find out is if YouTube will automatically take down any future content or if the Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) will have to file more requests.
Kiddy Grade: The Sequel
Date: Friday October 13th 2006 [11:26] | Posted By: Jeremy
Category: > Anime
Kiddy Grade sequel in the works!
Anime Popular Around the World
Date: Thursday October 5th 2006 [11:00] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime
Regular readers of Otaku News will no doubt be unsurprised to find that anime is popular around the world. The Yomiuri Shimbun has an interesting article that reports on how popular anime is, with Captain Majed the soccer anime (better known as Captain Tsubasa) being a big hit in Iraq. The Japanese government used Tsubasa's popularity by putting his image on Japanese supply trucks in Iraq, this proved popular with Iraqi children and it shows that anime characters can be goodwill ambassadors.
The article then moves to Simona Stanzani Pini an Italian translator of manga, who states that she grew up watching anime on her local television, and how Japanese animation has become a part of Italian culture.
Interesting facts are also revealed, with an Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry estimate stating about 60 percent of the worlds animation coming from Japan. Which leads on the Japanese companies moving into foreign markets, mentioning that in 2004 Toei Animation Co, (now 50 years old), opening local offices in Los Angeles and Paris acting as a direct sales contact instead of through a third party. It's interesting because many industry insiders in the west have predicted that anime companies would one day cut out the middle man and sell directly to their foreign markets.
Toei has also created an anime version of the Powerpuff Girls, giving them a distinctly Japanese look. Called Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z, the series is currently showing on TV Tokyo and is scheduled to be shown worldwide on Cartoon Network in the near future.
All New Evangelion For 2007
Date: Monday September 18th 2006 [11:05] | Posted By: Jeremy
Category: > Anime
Four all new Evangelion movies are in the works, with the first to be released summer 2007.
Earthsea Scores Big in Japan
Date: Saturday August 5th 2006 [11:40] | Posted By: Jeremy
Category: > Anime
Tales From Earthsea tops Pirates of the Caribbean at Japanese box office.
IMAF 2006 Launches
Date: Thursday July 20th 2006 [15:48] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Art
The good folks from IMAF have got in touch with us to tell everyone about their third International Manga and Anime Festival, which will run on Friday 10th to Tuesday 14th November 2006, at the usual venue of County Hall, Westminster, London.
If you're like me and can't draw you can go and look at all the lovely artwork submitted. On the other hand if you are artistically talented you can enter for a chance to win part of the $85,000 overall prize fund! Entrants take note, the deadline is 30th September, 2006, no later than 5:30pm. This is a real chance to show how skilled you are and can lead to even things. So get scribbling!
Mainichi Daily News Release Manglish - Manga in English
Date: Monday July 3rd 2006 [8:14] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Manga
The Mainichi Daily News have started to release Manga in English on their website. They've called it Manglish (manga in English), taking talents from their MangaTown site, and providing an English translation of the original text by rolling your mouse over the Japanese text.
The debut story is called Six Feet Girl, about a 16 year old girl who is 180cm tall (which actually makes her 5"9'). Apparently she gets depressed every time she starts a new school when the other students laugh at her height. The manga is by Gyugo (or Jugo) Hazuki. Looking at the site it's not clear how good the translation will be, especially if English speaking readers are used to a certain standard, it appears to by translated by a Japanese speaker into English. Currently MDN have posted two pages, and will add a new page each weekday.
Billingual Manga for Japanese people wishing to learn English isn't that uncommon and is frequently sought after by English speaking collectors outside of Japan. However this marks an interesting start - a Japanese publisher releasing free daily manga direct from Japan, some industry analysts predicted this a few years ago and it's good to see that MDN are now publishing manga in English, hopefully more Japanese firms will start soon too.
Death Note Manga Proves Popular
Date: Sunday June 18th 2006 [17:22] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Manga
The Mainichi Daily News is currently running a story about the popular manga Death Note in their national news section, they state it's now established as one of Japan's greatest-ever manga. The 11 volume series of books have already sold a combined total of 18 million issues.
Unusually little is known about the author and artist Tsugumi Oba, not even his/her gender as Tsugumi can be use by a boy or girl.
The story focuses on Raito, a boy who finds a notebook that gives him the ability to kill people by simply writing their name down in it, along with how they die. Anime and video game versions are currently in production.
Neon Genesis Evangelion Features
Date: Tuesday May 9th 2006 [17:41] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime
The Mainichi Daily News are currently running an interesting set of features about Neon Genesis Evangelion, they contain all sorts of great bits of information. Be warned there a lot of spoilers in each article!
Evangelion Special: From phenomenon to legacy - Forms an overview of the series and how it differs from previous anime titles, along with the impact Eva had on the Japanese media and public.
Evangelion Special: For producer Otsuki, success not always a bed of roses - Interviews producer Toshimichi Otsuki who talks about some of the history of Evangelion and the difficulties in being a producer, along with how influential Eva is.
Evangelion Special: Genesis of a major manga - Focuses on the history of Gainax and the origins of Evangelion, fans of Gunbuster will already know that this is referred to as it's original Japanese title Top wo Nerae!" (Aim for the Top).
Then they have the episode synopsis which form a brief outline of each episode.
Evangelion Episode Synopsis - Episodes 1 to 5
Evangelion Episode Synopsis - Episodes 6 to 10
Evangelion Episode Synopsis - Episodes 11 to 15
Evangelion Episode Synopsis - Episodes 16 to 20
Evangelion Episode Synopsis - Episodes 21 to 26
The Success of Dragon Quest
Date: Wednesday April 26th 2006 [3:22] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Gaming > Consoles
Although it's a few weeks old we haven't found anyone else that's covered it yet, the Times On-line have published an interesting article about the popular RPG Series Dragon Quest, released in the US and Europe. The article mentions that the game series was so popular that in 1988 Japanese parliament passed a motion that requires the games makers to limit new releases to school holidays, as too many schools kids were skipping school to buy it!
The article goes on to mention Yuuji Horii the creator of Dragon Quest who was originally a freelance manga story writer, and was inspired to create the game after buying his first computer.
Part of the games success is down to the regular collaborators such as Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, who provides the character designs for all the Dragon Quest Games. This helps keep the game consistent through out its 20 years of releases.
The article also explains why Horii has been reluctant to release it in the UK, apparently because the game is caption based lots of the games success depends on the language you use. In Japanese Horii can phrase things to match the character on screen, but things could be lost in translation, so to avoid this voices have been added to the character captions, so the accents can emphases key character traits (the Japanese version has no voices).
Refreshingly the voice talent used for this game are British rather than American, after a lot of consideration Horii thought it would be worth the risk and hired English actors to speak in regional accents.
Italian Police Raid Firm Selling Pirate Anime
Date: Monday April 3rd 2006 [15:00] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Anime > DVD
According the Mainichi Daily News, Italian police have raided firms in the first European case of pirated anime DVDs. As the author of the Pirate Anime FAQ, I've been aware of pirated anime DVDs ever since the format was released, however, it seems that the Italian authorities have started to clamp down on them, seizing around 400 titles, which included Naruto, New Getter Robo, Hinotori and Mazinger. The company raided originally sold leg anime, but started to sell Hong Kong bootlegs in 2002. Around 20,000 to 30,000 copies were sold each month for 25 euros each. The article states that the company and other companies being investigated are accountable for 90% of all pirated copies on the Italian market, as well as 60% of the legitimate market! It also shows that these companies make huge profits, (900,000 euros a year apparently), and that the companies in question are also being investigated for tax evasion.
This article is interesting since I've always had trouble getting solid figures for pirate anime merchandise, as a result it's been hard to gauge how much it's been hurting the anime industry. These figures present an insight to how much anime fans are being ripped off by pirate DVD companies and the retailers that sell them. Apparently this is the first time authorities have exposed a case of pirated Japanese anime Europe, I have a list of many other retailers and will be happy to pass them on the authorities if requested.
Maybe this is the first of many such raids, a sign of things to come to those other bad anime retailers out there, but I also hope that the authorities do not mistake legitimate import DVDs from other countries (often called grey imports) as pirate DVDs.
Three Ghibli Shorts: An Interview with Hayao Miyazaki
Date: Sunday January 15th 2006 [17:01] | Posted By: Joe
Category: > Production > Studio Ghibli
The Daily Yomuiri have a very interesting interview with Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese cultural icon and the Oscar winning director of Spirited Away. He talks about three shorts which can only be seen at the Ghibli Museum. It also focuses on the films Miyazaki would like to animate, along with children's relationships with visual imagery. It also briefly touches on the tension between Miyazaki and his son Goro, although it's not exactly clear what the issues are between, although this doesn't stop fans speculating. The article concludes on a high note, stating that Studio Ghibli is the world's best studio in terms of potential, something that many fans had known, since they first saw Nausicaa, many moons ago.
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