Category > Events
London readers looking for some fun this weekend should take a look at the next J-Pop Go event. It's scheduled for Saturday March 21st 2009. At a new venue for the event, The London Stone.
Read More... | Souce: J-Pop Go
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 > Events
Otaku couples in London looking for something to do this Valentine's Day (on Saturday February 14th 2009), might want to head over to Orbital Manga. From 2pm they'll have some UK artists drawing cute portraits of you and other half for a fee. They also say don't worry if you're single, as they'll get the artists to draw you with your favourite manga character.
Our question is what if you're not single and you want to be drawn with your favourite character? Well this might make you single afterwards! I guess it depends on what/who you get them to draw.
They'll also be running an art contest as a chance to win prizes.
Read More... | Souce: Orbital Manga
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.
Souce: RightStuf Anime Today Podcast
Category > Anime
We've just recived an exciting press release from Crunchyroll, who will be streaming Naruto Shippuden on-line an hour after Japanese broadcast. This sort of distribution model has been talked about for ages in the anime press, but until now it's never actually officially happened.
Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll
The good folks from LDMS, in partnership with ADV Films, have sent us the DVD release details for their January and February 2009.
They've got the following lined up:
Area 88: Complete Collection - 26th January 2009
Get Backers, Season 1: Complete Collection- 26th January 2009
Angelic Layer: Complete Collection - 9th February 2009
Aquarian Age: Complete Collection - 23rd February 2009
Pretear: Complete Collection - 23rd February 2009
The selection of boxsets offers great value for money.
Read More... | Souce: LDMS
Category > Cuisine
We don't normally plug stuff like this on Otaku News, but the press release itself is a great example of Anglo-Japan cross cultural collaboration, which we always like hear and shout about. Vegetarians who are up for a Christmas holiday get away might want to pay a visit to Fosse Farmhouse in North Wiltshire in the UK.
Not only are they a good UK tourist attraction, they got close ties with Japan, and will be offering from Saturday 20th December 2008 to Sunday 4th January 2009 a special Mominoki vegetarian dinner menu. So if you want to eat like Paul McCartney and his band over Christmas then pay them a visit.
Read More... | Souce: Fosse Farmhouse
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 > Events
We've got some exciting news for cosplayers in who can get to London this weekend. I'm sure you already know about the Grand International Cosplay Ball on Sunday 30th November 2008, which has an interesting line up of guests including Electro Pop Idol Hiko Suzuki.
On Saturday 29th November 2008 at selection of great cosplayer guests will be making an appearance at TokyoToys in the Trocadero, Picadilly Circus. Yaya Han, Laura Sindall, Jacob Kimber, Kahman Fong, Isabelle Jeudy, Damien Ratte and Brian Boling will all be there, giving talks and interviews. There will also be a prize draw thanks to the great people at KOEI Entertainment.
Read More... | Souce: Grand International Cosplay Ball
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
The nice folks at Revelation Films have sent us details of their 2009 Q1 line up. For the first three months of 2009 promises to see the UK release of:
Fullmetal Alchemist Season One Part One - January.
Spiral The Complete Series Box - February
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (the final instalment) - March
Tsubasa The Complete Series Box Set - March
What's interesting in the press release is that it actually states sales figures, something you rarely see for the anime industry. It'll be nice if all anime companies releases sales figures for their titles. However this is valuable information for sales and marketing teams, which is why most companies like to keep this these details secret.
Read More... | Souce: Revelation Films
Category > Events
A keen eyed Otaku News reader has sent us details of a world record attempt, for the largest gathering of people dressed up as video game characters, which will occur on Satury 25 October 2008 at the London ExCel centre for the London MCM Expo.
Cosplayers should note that the characters have to been in video games before other media.
Eg: Sonic the Hedgehog started out in a video game, so he's fine to cosplay as.
Batman however started out in a comic book, so he does not count.
Read More... | Souce: London MCM Expo
Category > Events
We've got some exciting news about the Grand International Cosplay Ball, which is set for Sunday 30th November at the Clapham Grand, London, England.
This is the first event to our knowledge that is aimed at cosplayers, and not an event like an anime convention with cosplayers as a feature.
The event looks to be a sure fire hit, with live bands, DJs, ballroom dancing, a kimono fashion show, fire and burlesque performances and even an Alice-In-Wonderland themed photography area.
As always with such events we advise that you book soon to avoid disappointment.
Read More... | Souce: Grand International Cosplay Ball
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
The good people from Viz Picture have sent us details of the US DVD release of the live action feature film version of Death Note. Which is due to hit the shelves on September 16th 2008.
Read More... | Souce: Viz Pictures
We've received details about the ever popular Sci-Fi London Event, which returns for a special event scheduled for Friday 3rd October 2008 called Oktoberfest.
It's got a great line up of anime and other Japanese films.
Tickets are on sale now from the Apollo West End box office.
Tel: 020 7451 9944
As always with these events we advise booking early to avoid disappointment.
Read More... | Souce: Sci-Fi London
UK anime fans in Manchester are in for a real treat on Saturday 20th September 2008, where Urbis will be hosting free back to back screenings of 3 feature films from 11am to 5pm. In a nice twist Urbis are allowing people to vote for the final feature.
Seeing these movies on a big screen is great and a must see for every anime fan at least once!
Read More... | Souce: Urbis
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 don't normally post articles of this nature, as it's got nothing to do with anime, manga, Japanese culture, but this will be of interest to some of our London readers.
Orbital Comics, will be hosting a book signing for Lost Girls the new work of Melinda Gebbie and Alan Moore
Date: 13th September 2008
Time: 2pm - 4pm
Location: Orbital Comics
Address: 148 Charing Cross Road, London. UK
Souce: Orbital Comics
Category > Events
UK fans of Japanese culture should head over to Durham from the 5th to the 7th of September 2008 to enjoy the Festival of Japan, which will have lot of fun events including a cosplay masquerade, traditional taiko drumming, koto playing, martial arts demonstrations, butoh dance, and even some geisha and maiko!
Read More... | Souce: Festival of Japan
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.
Read More... | Souce: Ilex Press
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.
Souce: The Pirate Anime FAQ
Category > Events
With Leicester based UK anime convention AmeCon less than a month a way, they've decided to launch a great competition where you can win two tickets to the convention, plus free accommodation for the length of the convention.
The press release also details the guest for this year will be voice actress Kari Walgren, who has done a large variety of voice work, including the American dubs for a few anime series - Haruko in FLCL, Scarlett in Steamboy, Robin in Witch Hunter Robin and Lavie in Last Exile.
Read More... | Souce: AmeCon 2008 Competition Page
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
Fans of Studio Ghibli will be interested to know that the BFI have just published a new book on Spirited Away, written by Andrew Osmond.
Read More... | Souce: BFI
Fans of killer stationary supplied by death gods should take a note that we've received the UK DVD release details for the first Death Note Live Action Movie. The DVD will be released on 28th July 2008. 4Digital Media will also be releasing the other two Death Note features, with Death Note The Last Name showing in cinemas from 4th July 2008, and L Change The World coming soon.
Read More... | Souce: 4Digital Media
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 > 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 > Retail
We've been sent details from UDON Entertainment about the new Street Fighter Tribute Hardcover artbook, which is now available for pre-order and features art from J.Scott Campbell, Adam Hughes, and Penny Arcade's Gabe, lvin Lee, Arnold Tsang, Omar Dogan and others.
Read More... | Souce: UDON Entertainment
We've been sent a press release from the nice folks at Viz about the US DVD release of the live action NANA film, based on the popular shojo manga. The manga has a proved very popular with fans, and it's good to see the DVD of the movie hitting shelves on April 8th 2008.
Although we haven't seen this film yet, we must admit the casting for Nana Osaki is excellent.
While Viz seem to be releasing some great live action titles on DVD at the moment. We do wish they would release the live action Train Man TV series.
Read More... | Souce: Viz
London's Barbican have a great selection of films over the next couple of months, with Kihachiro Kawamoto, Akira Kurosawa and a little bit of anime, with Helen McCarthy continuing her popular anime talks, focusing on horror followed by a screening of Le Portrait de Petite Cossette.
As always with these events we recommend booking in as soon as possible to avoid disappoint, Helen's talks in particular tend to sell out quickly.
Read More... | Souce: Barbican
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.
Read More... | Souce: Dream Theater
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
We've received a press release from LDMS who will be now be distributing ADV DVD titles in the UK, after ADV closed their UK offices. The press release details the release schedule up until May 2008.
After ADV UK closing down it's good to see that their titles will be still be distributed, but it's sad to see that ADV UK had to shut shop, the UK staff there were more than just people doing their jobs, they were actual anime fans with a passion for what they were doing which does make a difference. ADV UK's presence at anime events will be sorely missed. They were more than just another company, they were actually part of the UK anime scene. It was a shame to see these people lose their jobs. We wish them the best of luck in finding a new careers.
It will be interesting to see if LDMS will be active in anime fan circles as ADV UK was.
Read More... | Souce: LDMS
Category > Events
UK Anime fans who can get to Manchester from 3rd July to 20th September 2008 are in for a treat as Urbis will be showing 31 films over 36 days as part of their new exhibition - How Manga Took Over the World.
Highlights include:
Steamboy
Cowboy Bebop
Kiki's Delivery Service
Jin Roh
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Princess Mononoke
Howl's Moving Castle
Millennium Actress
They'll be showing plenty of other films worth watching too. As always we advise booking in advance to avoid disappointment.
Read More... | Souce: Urbis
The Otaku News Crew have teamed up with the good folks from Optimum Releasing to give you the chance to win a copy of the movie on DVD along with some great anime goodies.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Events
The Yamato Drummers of Japan will be performing the UK premiere of their new show Shin-on in London from Wednesday 19th to Sunday 30th of March. Fans of the traditional Taiko drumming will certainly be in for a treat, and if you haven't seen such a performance before, this is a rare chance to see such a special show. Performances will be in the Peacock Theatre, and as always with popular events, we recommend booking early to avoid disappointment.
Read More... | Souce: Peacock Theatre
Category > Retail
The good folks at ADV Films UK have sent us details of their sale, due to "streamlining" they'll be having a stock clearout. Prices start from £1 while stocks last. So grab those titles while you can.
Read More... | Souce: ADV Films UK
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
We've received details from Optimum Releasing about their UK DVD release of Tales from Earthsea. The 2 disc edition is due for release on 28th January 2008. The DVDs feature the English dubbed and Japanese subtitled version of the film, with the second DVD containing all the bonus features, include a making of, an NTV special, a behind the microphone and a trailer reel. You can read our review of Tales from Earthsea here.
Read More... | Souce: Optimum Releasing
Category > Events
UK anime fans will be pleased to hear that we've received news from the Amecon Crew about the next anime convention set to run at Leicester University from August 8th to 10th 2008. Registrations will open on 18th November 2007. Guests as of yet haven't been confirmed (it's still a bit early for that), voice actress Monica Rial has already expressed an interest. At the moment it looks like they may have more live music, plenty of cosplay and the usual interesting selection of industry and fan run panels.
We look forward to the convention (many of the Otaku News crew have been to the previous three Amecons and had a blast) and we advise to book early to avoid disappointment as popular anime conventions in the UK tend to be fully booked quickly.
Read More... | Souce: Amecon
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 > Events
Those good people from J-Pop Go have sent us the details of their spooky Halloween themed j-pop gathering in London. It'll be on Saturday 20th October at Cafe Manga by County Hall, near Westminster Tube. The fun is set to start at 7pm, tickets will be £5 (with discounts for flyers and cosplayers). As always they've got a good line up, along with some great prizes from ADV. Readers should also note that this event is for over 18's only.
Read More... | Souce: J-Pop Go
Category > Events
Fans of Japanese art and culture that can travel to London from October to December 2007 will want to pay a visit to SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies), where they'll be hosting a exhibition of Treasures, which are used as objects of instruction, a suitable tie in for a place of education.
They'll have lots of very interesting things on display, including the late 14th Century Japanese Reisai yawa (Chinese: Lengzhai yehua; Evening Discourses from the Cold Studio). This is the oldest printed book in the SOAS library and one of few known copies of its kind in the West.
Head to the Brunei Gallery at SOAS, it'll be open from 11th October to 15th December 2007, on Tuesday to Saturday 10.30 – 17.00 Admission Free.
Read More... | Souce: SOAS
Fans of Japanese cinema who can get to London from 25th September to 7th October 2007 will want to go to the West End to catch the Raindance Film Festival, where they'll be showing the following films of interest:
- The Amazing Lifes Of The Fast Food Grifters
- Prisoner
- Uncles Paradise
- Its Only Talk
- M
- What The Snow Brings
As always with such advents we advise that you book early to avoid disappointment.
Read More... | Souce: Raindance Film Festival
Anime fans in the UK will be pleased to hear those nice folks at the Barbican in London will be showing some more anime from October 2007 until June 2008. As with the last season each title will be introduced by anime expert Helen McCarthy who really makes the screenings worth seeing with the extra details she brings to light with each title.
They've got a great line up too. Tickets cost £8.50 (£7 members and concessions), £4.50 under 15s and they also have a special offer if you buy 3 or more tickets you'll get them for £6 each.
They'll be showing the following titles:
Romeo X Juliet (15) Tuesday 30 October 2007 - 8.30pm
Speed of 5 Centimeters per Second (Byosoku 5 Centimeters) Tuesday 27 November 2007
Tales from Earthsea (Gedo Senki) (PG) Tuesday 29 January 2008
Yugo the Negotiator (15) Tuesday 26 February 2008
Area 88 (15) Tuesday 25 March 2008
Patlabor II (PG) Tuesday 29 April 2008
Le Portrait De Petite Cossette (15) Tuesday 27 May 2008
Metropolis (PG) Tuesday 24th June 2008
The Barbican screenings have been known to sell out quickly so as always we recommend that you book early to avoid disappointment.
Read More... | Souce: Barbican
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
UK Anime fans will be pleased to hear that Satoshi Kon's latest masterpiece Paprika will be released on DVD on 24th September 2007, Tekkonkinkreet also hits the shelves too and we look forward to catching it.
To be honest, we can't recommend Paprika highly enough, it's the best English language anime release of 2007. This is one you must simply add to your collection, especially if you like Kon's other works (Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers and Paranoia Agent), then you'll really get a kick out of Paprika, Kon's on top form here (as always), and uses animation in his usual mind bending ways.
Read More... | Souce: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Fans of Afro Samurai in the UK will be pleased to hear that on 15th October 2007 the directors cut DVD of the show will be available in the UK. It includes 15 minutes of extra footage, unedited dialogue, features with the voice actors of title too and much more.
Fans who have already bought the limited edition version of Afro Samurai we mentioned earlier may be disappointed to hear that they're releasing an uncut version so soon, as it's always bad to feel as if you're being milked by a company, on the other hand, at least the limited edition version was affordable.
Read More... | Souce: Gonzo
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