Category > Culture
BBC News have just published an interesting article about their stroll in Akihabara the otaku heartland.
The article introduces readers to the area, then they go on a tour around the district. They cover the hardware hacking scene in the area, focusing on the component shops. This is then followed by a mention of the surveillance equipment available. It then concludes with the homemade software culture, the article calls it unlicensed software, but we think they mean doujin software.
"This underground amateur culture has always been a big part of Akihabara and 'otaku' culture, back from home made comic books, now moving into homemade hardware and software."
Souce: BBC News
Category > Manga
The next Neon Genesis Evangelion spinoff will be light on the giant robots and heavy on the romantic comedy.
Read More... | Souce: Publishers Weekly
Category > Events
Fans of manga and cross stitching in London should head over to The Japan Foundation on Wednesday 1st July 2009, where Helen McCarthy will be present a unique event focusing on cross-stitch designs inspired by Manga and Anime, there will be a fun workshop too!
Read More... | Souce: The Japan Foundation
Category > Manga
A keen eyed Otaku News reader has sent us details of the up coming book Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater it's due to be released in September. It traces the history of the art form which forms part of the origins of modern manga.
It's available to pre order on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
Read More... | Souce: Abrams
Category > Events
London based fans of Chinese Manhua should head over to Orbital Manga on Friday 26th June 2009, from 5pm to 7pm. Artist Benjamin, will be demonstrating his excellent technique, and will be signing copies of his books, including limited edition landscape-format hardback of "Orange", his latest lavish art book "Flash", Chinese Youth, Remember, One Day (in French) and Images and Prints on the day of the signing.
Read More... | Souce: Orbital Manga
Category > Art
British readers with artistic talent should considering entering the Manga Jiman Competition. Run by the Japanese Embassy in London, this years theme is 'sun'. The competition is open people to over 14 years old. The closing date for the competition is Friday, 25 September 2009.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Jiman Competition
Category > Anime
London has a some great places for otaku to visit. The trouble is finding them. Using our London Otaku News Correspondents we've assembled a list of good places for anime and manga fans to visit while in London.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Technology
Wired have discovered Ubunchu, a manga series featuring the Linux Distribution Ubuntu. The manga was originally authored by Hiroshi Seo and has been translated in English and a few other languages too.
Operating Systems have been covered by manga before with the OS-tans, Ubunchu sets out to be more informative. The manga is billed as romantic school comedy and is a great introduction to Ubuntu for new users.
Souce: DoctorMO\'s Blag
Category > Manga
Rin-Ne, the latest offering from manga superstar Rumiko Takahashi, will be published simultaneously in Japan and North America beginning April 22, 2009.
Read More... | Souce: Publishers Weekly
Category > Retail
Anime and merchandise naturally go hand in hand, with some titles just a thin excuse to create merchandise. Generally the more popular the series, wider and crazier the variety of merchandise available. With Neon Genesis Evangelion, regarded one of the most popular titles of all time, I thought it would be worth looking into the more unusual merchandise available from the franchise. When researching this article I expected to find some oddities, after all you can even get an Eva Unit-01 mountain bike. However I was really surprised by what's out there!
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
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.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Manga
The good folks at Deux Press have sent us some details about Cigarette Kisses by Nase Yamato. I'm sure our readers who are yaoi fans will be interested.
Read More... | Souce: Deux Press
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.
Souce: Schoolgirl Milky Crisis Blog
Category > Manga
The Independent are running a great article about the global reach of manga and how it has influenced British artists.
Helen McCarthy, Sweatdrop Studios, Emma Vieceli, Sonia Leong, the Manga Bible and Manga Shakespeare all get a mention in the article.
Souce: The Independent
Category > Events
UK anime fans who can get to Leeds will want to keep the 13th to the 16th November 2008 free for the Thought Bubble Festival. The Festival will have a great selection of anime and manga stuff, including film screenings too.
The Convention on Saturday 15th November 2008 (10am - 5pm) will have free entry to cosplayers!
They'll be screening the following films:
Sword of the Stranger
Mind Game
20th Century Boys
Detroit Metal City
We've already seen Sword of the Stranger, and watching it on a big screen is recommend.
Read More... | Souce: Thought Bubble Festival
Category > Press Releases
We've been sent a press release for a new book that sounds perfect for otaku paying a trip to Tokyo. The Akiba: A Manga Guide to the Akihabara (published by Japan Publications Trading), is an interesting blend of manga and travel guide.
Update: We've reviewed The Akiba: A Manga Guide to the Akihabara
Read More... | Souce: Japan Publications Trading
Category > Manga
Boing Boing have posted an article about the discovery of a manga version of Batman from 1966. Apparently these comics have been lost for ages and have recently been found and compiled into a new book Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan.
The book features the authentic manga by Jiro Kuwata, who was commissioned to do a regular Japanese version of Batman. It's aimed at a Japanese audience with different expectations than those in the west.
"The result was stunning: a weird blend of genius suspense and gonzo weirdness, as villains turn into dinosaurs, commit strange crimes, rise from the dead, and rampage through a mangified Gotham City that has the streamlined wonderfulness of space-age Japanese pop culture."
Souce: Boing Boing
Category > Anime
Sky News are running an article about the possibility that manga could inspire murder, and how it frustrates anime fans. It cites the current case of Meredith Kercher, a 21 year old student who was stabbed to death in Italy in a house she shared with other students. It mentions that the prosecution of the case are highlighting that Raffaele Sollecito (one of the accused) was acting out a "dark fantasy", inspired by his manga collection. BBC News have more coverage of the same story.
Read More... | Souce: Sky News
Category > Fandom
UK anime fans looking for convention fun in April 2009 will be pleased to hear that Kitacon will be holding a Fan Choice Awards, where fans get to vote for their favourites, anime, manga, characters and more. They'll even be able to collect them on behalf of the nominees. This does sound like an interesting concept.
Read More... | Souce: Kitacon
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.
Read More... | Souce: MTV True Life
Category > Events
We've received some interesting details about a very special Kami-shibai showing in the UK. The paper theatre performances from Japan used to entertain children in an age before television. This is form of story telling had a direct influence on the evolution of manga.
Fans in the UK should keep their September free to attend at least one of these extremely rare events:
Friday 19 September: Chester Beatty Library, Dublin www.cbl.ie
Saturday 20 September: Urbis, Manchester www.urbis.org.uk
Sunday 21 September: Liverpool Biennial 08 at "Atelier Bow Wow" www.biennial.com/content/LiverpoolBiennial2008MADEUP/Artists1.aspx
Monday 22 September: Japan Foundation Language Centre, London workshop for Japanese language teachers
Tuesday 23 September: Barbican Centre, London, as part of "Osamu Tezuka 80th Anniversary Season (18 - 23 Sept 2008)" www.barbican.org.uk/ilm/series.asp?id=600
As always with popular events we recommend booking early to avoid disappointment.
Read More... | Souce: Japan UK 150
We've received some exciting news from the London Barbican about a special Osamu Tezuka Season they'll be running from Thursday 18th to Wednesday 24th of September 2008.
The season is curated by anime expert Helen McCarthy (who's written tons of good books and articles on anime and manga). The line is up a great showcase of Tezuka's work, with The Film Is Alive: Osamu Tezuka Filmography looking especially interesting, as it we're certain Helen will bring an informative take on the panel with the event.
Osamu Tezuka is the granddaddy of anime and manga, without doubt the most influential and inspiration artist, as always with these events we suggest you book early to avoid disappointment.
Read More... | Souce: Barbican
Category > Culture
PiQ's July issue to be its last.
Read More... | Souce: Anime News Network
Category > Culture
Time to get drawing! The Japanese embassy in the UK has launched another manga contest. This time on the theme of '150'. Entrants must be over fourteen and live in the U.K, the manga must be between six and eight pages. The closing date is the 26 September.
Prizes are as follows:
The amazing First Prize is two (2) return air tickets to Japan, courtesy of All Nippon Airways!
The Second Prize is a fabulous TOSHIBA laptop computer.
Third Prize is a superb RICOH digital camera.
Souce: Embassy of Japan (UK)
Category > Events
Fans of the graphic novel version of Heroes who can get to London next week will want to head to Orbital Manga, just in-between Leicester Square and Covent Garden, where they'll be having a signing with graphic artist Jason Badower.
Read More... | Souce: Orbital Manga
Category > Current Affairs
Some anime and manga fans in the UK might have heard about the new proposals which would ban obscene images of children. The proposals mainly cover drawings and computer-generated images, however due to certain parts of the proposals being a bit vague, it's not exactly certain what images are classed as obscene. The mainstream press are keen to wrongly cite manga as one such example.
Read More... | Souce: BBC News
Category > Events
We've got some exciting news for American anime fans who can get to the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con International, where Tite Kubo the creator of Bleach will be making an appearance from July 25th.
Read More... | Souce: Viz
Category > Events
Readers who can get into London on Friday 16th of May 2008 will want to get to King's College London, from 1pm to 6pm to attend a seminar on Japanese comic book and animation industries.
The line up of speakers looks good, but Yoko Ono is not THAT Yoko Ono. It'll be interesting if they mention the difference between manga and manga style artwork in the talks too.
To go to the talk you will need to register via e-mail.
Read More... | Souce: King\'s College London
Category > Freaky Things
Mainichi Daily News have an interesting news story about the new craze in Otaku Cafe, the Mother Cafe.
Mother Cafe is in the new Mandarake outlet in Osaka (Mandarake are a chain of shops for anime and manga fans, and are evil as they are often packed full of delights to tempt otaku). Apparently the maids take on a maternal air, as they greet guests in motherly tones. Staff's age range from 19 to in their 40's, and they look older than they actually are. The aim is to become a therapeutic cafe, where people can open their hearts to the staff.
Souce: Mainichi Daily News
Category > Art
BBC News are currently running an interesting story about Chinese comics or Manhua and how the publications in the Chinese mainland have to be government approved.
Souce: BBC News
Category > Press Releases
We've received a press release from PiQ LLC, the magazine which is essentially the replacement for NewType USA. The magazine is due out from March 14th 2008. Issue 1 will feature articles about Appleseed: Ex Machina, Code Geass and xxxHOLiC.
Read More... | Souce: PiQ
Category > Manga
Today the UK's largest group of manga-style pioneers, Sweatdrop Studios turned six years old! And to celebrate, they're offering some of the biggest discounts off their catalogue and a few more bonuses:
- Huge 50% off comics until February 2008
- Free international shipping on orders over £15/$30
Read More... | Souce: Sweatdrop Forums
Category > Manga
Those intending to buy the latest volume of The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga, might want to turn up at the Orbital Manga store on 23rd February. Four of the artists featured in the book Karen Rubins, Chie Kutsuwada, Nana Li and John A Short will be present.
There will also be a chance to get signed illustrations from the artists themselves, as well as an art competition!
Read More... | Souce: Digital World Tokyo
Category > Events
Starting from March later this year, the Manchester's huge exhibition center will be displaying it's own "How Manga Took over the World" exhibition on Level 1 of the venue.
The event will be running from 13th March to 27th September 2008.
Read More... | Souce: Urbis
Category > Manga
The good folk at Viz have sent us the details for their new manga releases for the first quarter of 2008. They include:
Sand Chronicles
High School Debut
Ral Ω Grad
Monkey High
Honey and Clover
Switch
Plus they’ll be launching Library Editions of popular titles, these hard cover versions will be the first volumes of successful manga series including Bleach, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Inuyasha, Naruto and Ranma ½, and are intended to be a bit more rugged to withstand long term library use.
Read More... | Souce: Viz
Category > Manga
News from the first annual New York Anime Festival this weekend: Manga sales in the U.S. are up, but sales of anime DVDs are down.
Read More... | Souce: Publishers Weekly
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.
Souce: Wired
Category > Fandom
Anime Insider, the anime and manga oriented spin-off of Wizard, has just reached its 50th issue! And they're going all out to celebrate. In addition to their regular monthly features (including articles about the new season of Black Lagoon and the upcoming Pumpkin Scissors), the commemorative issue sports a ranking of the 50 best anime ever (check to see where and if your favorite title made the list), and a cover featuring two of the beauties of Evangelion, pilots Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu offering a special cake.
Anime Insider is also offering their biggest contest to date with this issue. For a huge grand prize of a pack of anime goodies worth over $1500, all you have to do is write a haiku. That's right, the Japanese-style poem of three lines and 17 syllables (5, 7, 5). The poem can be about the magazine, fandom, giant robots, or your favorite character. Winners will be chosen from each category, with one grand prize winner for the big one. Grab a copy of the magazine for rules and entry form. And also enjoy the magazine in general.
Souce: Anime Insider
Category > Manga
The Times on-line are currently running an article written by Paul Gravett, about how manga is conquering Britain. It focuses on how groups outside of Japan are creating works in a manga style and calling it manga (in a subject frequently debated by fans, if the artist isn't Japanese does that make it manga). The article also mentions up and coming Sweatdrop Studios and how manga style artwork is increasingly being produced in the UK. The article mentions a few titles, but it is rather short on sales figures, so it's hard to measure how successful the local publications are.
Souce: Times On-line
Category > Manga
UK fans of Ghost in The Shell will be pleased to hear the details Titan Books have sent us about the release of Ghost In the Shell 1.5 Human-Error Processor. The manga is due out in the UK on 23rd November 2007. It bridges the gap between the Ghost in the Shell 1 and 2 manga (hence the 1.5 name). We've been waiting for this to come out as one book ever since we heard about it and highly recommend it to Ghost in the Shell fans.
Read More... | Souce: Titan Books
Category > Manga
The Sweatdrop crew have always been inventive with the titles they've released and they've sent us details for some titles due in April 2008 and June 2008 (that's a while away isn't it? We don't normally get details for titles that are 6 months ahead anyway...).
They'll be releasing 4 books next year:
- Be creative by R. Bevan, J. Middleton & T. Wright
- Find true love by S. Dosani, L. Helmanis and P. Cross
- Beauty secrets for babes by L.Helmanis
- Sort out your money by J. Middleton
All the lovely artwork will be done by Sonia Leong, and we'll be curious to see how they do this.
Will they have an otaku take on things? Eg: Sort out your money - buy less DVDs and manga to save money. Beauty secrets for babes - wear cat ears. Be creative - draw more stuff. Find true love - ermmm, otaku aren't exactly good at that, erm, join a relatives house which happens to be populated by lots of hot babes and enjoy the hilarity that ensues.
We look forward to seeing what these guides will look like next year.
Read More... | Souce: Sweatdrop Studios
Category > Manga
As a slightly strange side effect of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announcing his exit, shares in manga retailers in Japan have surged with speculation that manga fan Taro Aso is the leading candidate to replace Mr Abe.
According to BBC News, Mr Aso is a big promoter of manga abroad. They cite the rise of manga publisher Broccoli gaining 71% and Mandarake (a retail store in Japan which is a treasure trove for otaku), jumping 13%.
The article states that Mr Aso served as foreign minister, and suggested that embracing Japanese pop culture was an important step in cultivating ties with other countries. If this is the case the Otaku News crew would like an invite to Japan to meet with Mr Aso to help promote manga and anime. ^_-
Sadly the BBC gets some facts wrong about anime and manga stating that they have "psychedelic colours and outlandish story lines", and emphasises the more explicit side of anime and manga. They also manage to mention Spirited Away and Quentin Tarantino in the same sentence, which I'm sure can lead to all sorts of associations for those who haven't actually seen the wonderful family film that is Spirited Away.
The article also states that Mr Aso created an International Manga Award to honour non-Japanese cartoonists.
Souce: BBC News
Category > Manga
The folks at Viz Media have sent us details about a special Yuu Watase Absolute Boyfriend cover for the September 2007 issue of Shojo Beat Magazine.
Read More... | Souce: Shojo Beat
Category > Manga
Dark Horse signs CLAMP to make new manga for 2009!
Read More... | Souce: Anime News Network
Category > Manga
Hooray it seems to be the season to rescue manga I wanted to buy from rights hell. Viz announced at Comic-con that it will be publishing basket ball classic Slam Dunk. There will be an initial preview in Shonen Jump before collected volumes in 2008.
CMX are rescuing fowl mouth manga Crayon Shin-chan presumably after FUNimation's success the anime on US adult swim.
I am already predicting I will be broke in 2008.
Souce: Anime News Network
Category > Manga
Smash hit webcomic Megatokyo is set to be published in Japan by Kodansha. Japanese readers will get their first peak at Megatokyo via a 30 page preview in Faust magazine.
It will be interesting to guage Japanese fans reactions. Especially since volume one contains the very first Megatokyo strips in a four panel format.
Souce: Publishers Weekly
Category > Manga
The Yomiuri Shimbun is holding a cartoon contest, and this year the theme is teeth According to the site:
"Teeth are hard and sharp, and sometimes can work as a weapon"
The contest is open to international readers as well as those in Japan.
Souce: Yomiuri Shimbun
Category > Manga
The Mainichi Daily News have posted an interesting article about a new manga publication called Comic Yell, Japan's first girl's manga for men. With girly titles like Honey and Clover and Nana proving to be popular with male readers and 50% of Shonen Jump's readership being female, it shows people are attracted to good stories, regardless of it's intended target gender.
Targeted at men from their 20s to 40s, the magazine doesn't have girls in maid's outfits or girls wearing animal ears. There is however the occasional panty shot to keep the male reader happy.
Feedback has been mixed, with hardcore otaku readers wanting more "zing", and mainstream readers happy that it isn't pandering to hardcore otaku tastes. Some readers have even requested that it made more girly. The official Comic Yell Website can be found here.
Souce: Mainichi Daily News
Category > Manga
UK publisher Titan Books have sent us details about the UK release of the Akira Club artbook. It's one of those nice additions for fans of the movie and manga collection. It's due to hit the shelves on the 27th July 2007 and is priced at £24.99. Hunting around Play.com have it on pre-order for £14.99.
Read More... | Souce: Titan Books
Category > Manga
No, the hero of the popular manga and anime series isn't going to die in a fiery death. But his fans may want to start saving their money over the summer. Starting this September and through December, VIZ Media plans to release not 1, but 3 new volumes of the Naruto manga a month. With a total of 12 volumes, 16 to 27, that means fans will have 3 years worth of new material in those 4 months, as opposed to simply 1 volume every 3 months as in 2006.
The reason for the boost is to catch the American releases up with their original Japanese counterpart before a new storyarc begins in Volume 28 of the Naruto manga. Set 2 years after the storyline ending in Volume 27, the storyline will focus on an older, wiser and taller Naruto and his new adventures. This move will enable American fans to enjoy the series with a bit of surprise without getting a hold of spoilers from the internet.
Souce: ICv2
Category > Current Affairs
Following on from our story about the Manga Bible, it seems that many religions want to remain accessible to a wider audience, according to the Catholic News Agency manga will be used to promote vocations in the UK.
The article states: "We have chosen the Manga cartoons for the 2007 campaign, because we hope it will appeal to young people under twenty as well as people in their thirties," Fr. Paul Embery, Director of the National Office for Vocation, explained to the Italian Religious Service.
A new website has been launched too - www.calledtoday.com which features artwork in a manga style and tells the stories of various people dedicated to the church.
Souce: Catholic News Agency