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An Interview with Paul Carter Composer of Sakura Nagashi

Date: 2018 December 07 22:19 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

At the end of the most recently released Evangelion movie viewers were treated to a special music video for the song Sakura Nagashi. It marked the end of the movie and Hikaru Utada's return. While the film ended, the music stayed with us. We wanted to know more. So we tracked down the song's composer - Paul Carter and caught up with him in his London Studio to find out about the creative process behind the song and geek out over Yoko Kanno.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai Review

Date: 2018 October 23 21:00 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda's latest movie Mirai hits UK screens on Friday 2nd November 2018 (subtitled) and Sunday 4th November 2018 for the dubbed version. The good folks at Anime Limited are distributing it in the UK and had even set up an exhibition dedicated to the director's work in London. If you want to catch the movie then find screening near you by visiting miraifilm.co.uk.

Before you do you'll want to know is it any good?! There's a lot of anticipation around this movie we feel this marks a turning point in Hosoda's work, so read on for our review of the anime film.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Gray Haddock of Rooster Teeth About New Show gen:Lock

Date: 2018 September 19 21:15 | Posted By: Lee

Category > Anime

Gray Haddock is the Head of Animation at Rooster Teeth and is the writer and director of the highly anticipated new mecha anime series gen:LOCK due for release in January 2019. While at RTX London 2018 we were lucky enough to catch up with Gray for an exclusive interview and a chance to chat to him about the show!

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms Review

Date: 2018 June 21 21:03 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

Anime feature film Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms is due to hit UK cinemas nationwide from Wednesday 27th June 2018 thanks to super-duper anime distributors Anime Limited. This finely crafted film marks Mari Okada directorial debut and is certainly worth catching on the big screen while you can.

To find a screening near you visit www.maquiafilm.co.uk.
You can catch Maquia in cinemas across the UK from Wednesday 27th June 2018. To find a screening near you visit www.maquiafilm.co.uk.

The film will also be released in the US and Canada on July 20th, 2018 via Eleven Arts. Visit their website to find out screening details.

We were lucky enough to catch it before hand. So read on if you want to know more about this lavish title.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Shouji Gatou Writer and Creator of Full Metal Panic!

Date: 2018 June 10 13:24 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

The MCM London Comic Con always has interesting anime guests of honour. This May 2018 was no exception with Shouji Gatou the creator of Full Metal Panic! visiting London as the anime guest of honour. Mr Gatou wrote the original Full Metal Panic! Light Novels and also works as an anime screen writer having worked on the anime version of Full Metal Panic!, Hyouka, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star. He also created Amagi Brilliant Park as a light novel, which also became a popular anime series.

We caught up with Shouji Gatou on the Saturday of MCM London Comic Con May 2018 to ask him some questions about his career and his works.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion I - Initiation - Review

Date: 2018 March 19 22:19 | Posted By: Guest Contributor

Category > Anime

Thanks to the good folks from Anime Limited Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion I - Initiation hits UK Cinemas on Wednesday 21st March 2018 for a special screening. You want to know is it any good? Well we sent Nes Long occasional Otaku News contributor and Lelouch cosplayer to find out.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Ichibuns - Japanese Burgers and more in London

Date: 2018 January 29 15:58 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

The restaurant scene in London is vibrant. No matter what you like to eat, there's a restaurant that caters for you. Japanese cuisine is no different. There are all kinds of Japanese places to eat, from cheap and cheerful Japanese home-style cooking to the decadent, creative and experimental nuvo cuisine.

Recently we discovered Ichibuns, a Japanese inspired restaurant like no other. Influenced by Hokkaido cuisine, it's a Japanese Rock and Roll American diner from the creative minds of Robin Leigh (who is best known for the legendary Nobu and Busaba Eathai) and Endo Kazutoshi (of Zuma).

On hearing about this we didn't really know what to expect. On visiting it was clear that Ichibuns is something a bit special.

The first thing that hits you is the design, which is a love letter to Japanese popular culture. When you walk in, the faces of popular shonen manga character stare down at you from the entrance. There are pages of manga all over the ceiling and Pachinko machines on the wall. You start looking and there's all sorts of interesting Japanese memorabilia like Oni (demon) masks on the walls, and adverts from old times. The staircase wall is made of whole telephone book sized weekly editions of manga. The eclectic style works because it isn't a restaurant designed by someone trying to copy Japanese concepts, it was designed by Noriyoshi Muramatsu of Tokyo’s Studio Glitt.

After eating there we wanted to know more about this place. It's like a portal into Japan. We don't normally do articles on restaurants, but were intrigued and eager to know more about this place. So we got in touch with Brendan Fong, Executive Chef at Ichibuns to find out more.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Tokyo Ghoul Live Action Movie Review

Date: 2018 January 22 16:21 | Posted By: Guest Contributor

Category > Anime > Film

UK fans of Tokyo Ghoul will want to keep Wednesday 31st of January free and find a cinema near that that'll be screening the new Tokyo Ghoul Live Action Movie. You can find a screening near you by visiting http://alltheanime.com/cinema.

But is it any good?! We sent Christine off to review the movie to find out.

Software tester by day, gamer by night. Christine's top three anime titles are Attack on Titan, Tokyo Ghoul and Parasyte (There seems to be a pattern here...). She also often enjoys cosplaying as characters from obscure games that she's never played.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Lu Over The Wall Review

Date: 2017 November 29 16:42 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

The good folks from Anime Limited are releasing Masaaki Yuasa's latest film Lu Over The Wall in cinemas across the UK on Wednesday 6th December 2017. You can find a screening near you by visiting LuOverTheWallMovie.co.uk.

We recently interviewed the director asking him about the film and his other feature Night Is Short, Walk On Girl.

If you're curious about the Lu Over The Wall then read on to enjoy our spoiler free review.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Toshimichi Mori of Arc System Works

Date: 2017 November 13 16:25 | Posted By: Lee

Category > Features

Rooster Teeth recently invited Otaku News to attend London's first ever RTX (Rooster Teeth Expo). While attending their animation panel we were surprised to see our good friend Toshimichi Mori of Arc System Works was also in attendance to announce that Weiss Schnee of RWBY will be appearing in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle along side Ruby Rose!

We couldn't miss the opportunity to catch up with him again so we rushed to see him after the panel and had the honour of performing an exclusive interview where we talk about BlazBlue, it's collaboration with Rooster Teeth and the future of the series.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Katsura Sunshine

Date: 2017 November 12 09:43 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

Japan is a place with many traditions and art forms. It even has its own traditional form of comedy rakugo. The performer sits down on stage and tells an amusing story using only two props a fan and hand towel. Katsura Sunshine is one such performer, a Canadian who discovered the art form while in Japan. You may have caught his show Dive into Ukiyo-e on NHK World.

We caught up with Sunshine over a coffee in London on a warm day in May to discover more about rakugo and his performances.

He's just recently completed a set of shows at the Leicester Square Theatre. He'll be performing at Hyper Japan in November 2017, and then have an off Broadway show at the Soho Playhouse in New York for a year.

This article interview is one of those relaxing long reads, we could have split it into many parts, but felt it's best to keep it as one whole article, so you too can imagine you're having coffee with Sunshine. Apart from those interested in Japanese culture, we think this article will also be interesting to people following stage performances, improv or stand-up comedy.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Little Witch Academia Creators

Date: 2017 November 06 14:46 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

The October leg MCM London Comic Con has been and gone, we caught up with the anime guests of honour from Little Witch Academia. They were in town to promote the new game from Bandai Namco - Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time.

We interviewed series creator and director Yoh Yoshinari, series producer Naoko Tsutsumi who worked for Gainax and has worked at Studio Trigger since it started. Joining them was Yosuke Futami producer of the new game.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Perfect Blue UK Halloween Cinema Screening Review

Date: 2017 October 24 16:40 | Posted By: Guest Contributor

Category > Features

UK Anime fans can catch the Satoshi Kon Classic Perfect Blue at UK Cinemas Nationally on 31st October 2017. Visit perfectbluemovie.co.uk to find a screening near you.

We sent James and Lee to review the movie. Our editor found them after the screening rocking back and forth in the corner of the room, muttering about perception of reality and something about an unreliable narrator, he didn't care that this movie freaked them both out, he just wanted his 500 word review. So after some special counselling involving a unicorn chaser of both seasons of K-On (plus the movie) we managed to get a coherent review. Although they are still on edge a bit when they see J-Pop Idols for some reason...

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Masaaki Yuasa

Date: 2017 September 29 16:51 | Posted By: Guest Contributor

Category > Features

Cult anime director Masaaki Yuasa was in the UK recently, being eager to quiz him about his two upcoming films Night is Short, Walk On Girl which hits cinemas on 4th October 2017 (visit the official website to find a screening near you) and Lu Over the Wall on 6th December 2017.

Rather than just send anyone to interview this great director, we wanted to send someone we knew who is one of Masaaki Yuasa biggest fans. So we sent Katy.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

My Experience of seeing Your Name at the IMAX

Date: 2017 August 17 13:38 | Posted By: Voxie

Category > Features

As I leave Cineworld Leicester Square, trying to pull together the memories of what I had just watched, I smile and sense a melancholic joy well up inside of me. Watching Your Name reminded me of all the subconscious thoughts, moments and dreams we might have all forgotten through the motions of everyday life, an inevitable cycle of the human mind... and yet there I was, trying not to let go of what I had just seen, trying to fathom the beauty of the film’s meaning and put it into words. Makoto Shinkai had done it again!

But I'm not here to review the film today (you can read our earlier, spoiler-free review here). Instead, I'm here to talk about the experience of watching the world’s first anime to be released in IMAX format!

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Napping Princess Movie Review

Date: 2017 August 12 18:47 | Posted By: Guest Contributor

Category > Anime > Film

Napping Princess hits the UK Cinemas on Wednesday 16th August 2017. You can find a screening near you by visiting NappingPrincessMovie.co.uk. It's being distributed by good folks at Anime Limited. We sent Otaku News contributor James off to a sneak peak of the film.

James is a full-time cynical geek who's probably getting too old for all this. Although he hates to admit it, the reason he's still watching anime after all these years is because some of it is actually pretty good.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Danny Choo

Date: 2017 July 26 15:27 | Posted By: Lee

Category > Features

One of the great things about writing for Otaku News is that you get to meet interesting people. At Hyper Japan we caught up with Danny Choo a professional otaku, entrepreneur, Japanese Cultural ambassador and inventor of the Smart Doll Fashion Doll.

Danny was born and raised in the UK and has been living in Tokyo since 1999. We managed to get an exclusive with interview him at his Smart Doll Booth and he revealed some interesting up products. Read on to find out more.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An interview with Tim Clark the Curator of Hokusai: beyond the Great wave at the British Museum

Date: 2017 May 23 15:08 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

The British Museum will be hosting a Hokusai Exhibition from Thursday 25th May until Sunday 13th August 2017.

Dedicated to the Japanese master the exhibition entitled Hokusai: beyond the Great wave will feature two magnificent painted ceiling panels of wave subjects loaned by Hokusaikan, Obuse, done in 1845 for a festival cart, along with many other fabulous bits of artwork.

Naturally being fans of Japan we know you're eager to find out more about this. So we go in touch with Tim Clark the exhibition's curator.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Michaël Dudok de Wit Director of The Red Turtle

Date: 2017 May 22 15:49 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

In a change of production the much loved Studio Ghibli decided to look overseas for a director to create their latest film - The Red Turtle. They teamed up with Oscar winning director Michaël Dudok de Wit who wrote and directed the animated feature. We caught up with him for an exclusive interview to talk about the film, which hits UK cinema screens from Friday 26th May 2017.

This interview is spoiler free.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

The Red Turtle Review

Date: 2017 May 22 15:49 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

In an interesting move from Studio Ghibli, rather than look just in Japan for the talent to direct a new animated movie the fabled studio looked around the world to find someone suitable. They found Michaël Dudok de Wit. The movie they made together was The Red Turtle.

We caught up with the director for an exclusive interview.

The film is set for release at UK cinemas from Friday 26th May 2017.

We know you're wondering Is the movie any good? Well read our review and find out!

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale Movie Review

Date: 2017 April 07 16:28 | Posted By: Guest Contributor

Category > Features

The new Sword Art Online movie hits cinemas in the UK and Ireland on Wednesday 19th April 2017. You can get tickets at a cinema near you by visiting saothemovie.co.uk. Before you do, you'll want to read our review to find out more about Kirito and Asuna's biggest challenge yet!

Although our editor is a massive SAO fan if he went along he'd just go YEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Go see it. So instead we decided to send another fan of the series along - NatT a guest contributor who is more otaku than she claims.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

A Silent Voice Cinema Review 2

Date: 2017 March 06 15:35 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

We're all talking about A Silent Voice this week. This is the second of two reviews of the emotional roller-coaster anime film arriving in UK Cinemas on Wednesday 15th March 2017. Although Lee and I saw the same film we both came out with different opinions of the title. Rather than just mash it into one review, we've published both reviews for you to compare and contrast.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

A Silent Voice Cinema Review 1

Date: 2017 March 06 15:25 | Posted By: Lee

Category > Anime

As we've said before anime film A Silent Voice will hit UK cinemas on Wednesday 15th March 2017. Fresh from the success of Your Name, the folks at Anime Limited are distributing this title in the UK and Ireland. We could have written one review, but after heated discussion our editor and I interpreted the movie differently, so we're going to publish both reviews.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

The Red Turtle UK Release Details

Date: 2017 January 26 15:43 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

Ghibli fans in the UK will want to set a date in their diaries (or use the Otaku Calendar) for Friday 26th May 2017 as that's when The Red Turtle gets a UK cinema release. The Michael Dudok De Wit film is co-produced by Studio Ghibli. The film contains no dialogue and follows "the milestones in the life of a human being".

As you'd expect it's beautifully animated, heart-warming and emotional. This is one of those movies we suggest you catch on the big screen while you. We know May is far away now, but this is the first we've heard about the UK release from Studio Canal.

Read More... | Souce: Studio Canal

Talking to toco toco tv

Date: 2017 January 25 16:12 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

We've interviewed a lot of interesting people in the anime industry over the years and were delighted when we discovered the mini-documentary show toco toco tv. The series available on YouTube has a simple and effective format they talk to various Japanese creators and introduce places they like in Japan while telling the viewer about their work.

The show is aired on the French TV channel Nolife since 2011 and YouTube (with English and French subtitles) since 2015.

Being intrigued about the show we wanted to know more, so decided to interview Anne Ferrero the show's director.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Animation Director Takeshi Honda

Date: 2016 December 29 15:55 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

UK anime company Anime Limited are great for getting guests over to the UK, this year alone they had Makoto Shinkai the director of hit anime Your Name, Psycho-Pass director Naoyoshi Shiotani, plus anime director Michael Arias.

Most of these guests appeared at either the May or October 2016 MCM London Comic Con. Our last interview of the year is no means the least. Here's our interview with animation director Takeshi Honda. He's probably best known for his work on the rebuild of Evangelion movies. He's an industry veteran having worked on the original Evangelion TV series and the original movies as well. He's also recently directed his own short anime.

We caught up with Mr Honda at the MCM London Comic Con in October 2016 for an exclusive interview.

What makes him interesting to interview was that he's worked with so many top notch directors, Hayao Miyazaki, Hideaki Anno, Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Hosoda and many more. From an interviewer's stand point we could easily talk to him for a few hours about any of these individual directors to gain insight. We know academics who would have a million questions for Mr Honda and picking a limited set of questions was a great challenge. For this interview we carefully selected a range of questions to cover his career and we hope that you find these insights interesting.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Kiki's Delivery Service Theatrical Adaptation an Interview at the Southwark Playhouse

Date: 2016 December 14 15:33 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

The holiday season is always a good time to relax and catch a performance at the theatre. There's always something for everyone in London. This year the Southwark Playhouse have looked to Japan for some inspiration and produced stage play of Kiki's Delivery Service.

The title is best known as the much loved Studio Ghibli feature film, which is based on the book by Eiko Kadono. Being fans of Japan we were certainly intrigued. We caught up with the Southwark Play House's Artistic Director and CEO Chris Smyrnios for an exclusive interview to find out more about the play.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An interview with Psycho-Pass Director Naoyoshi Shiotani

Date: 2016 November 29 15:49 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

The MCM London Comic Con is always great for anime guests! This time around at the October 2016 event on of the anime guests of honour was Naoyoshi Shiotani. Working for Production I.G, he's directed a few titles including the hugely popular dystopian future anime Psycho-Pass. The good folks at Anime Limited arranged to the director over to the UK just in time to promote the UK home video release of the Psycho-Pass Movie.

Rather than sending our editor to interview him, we wanted to send in a Psycho-Pass super fan. So we sent in Nes who cosplayed as antagonist Makishima while interviewing Mr Shiotani. Not only did it make for an interesting interview, Nes managed to find some interesting insights into the series that many fans may have not been aware of!

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Makoto Shinkai's Your Name Review

Date: 2016 November 17 15:41 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

Makoto Shinkai's latest movie Your Name is due for a UK wide cinema release on Thursday 24th November 2016. You can find a screening near you by visiting YouNameTheMovie.co.uk.

We saw the the movie before it started to climb at the Japanese box office and become one of the highest grossing movies of all time in Japan.

We also interviewed the director Makoto Shinkai asking him lots of interesting questions about the movie.

Now the question you're asking, is the movie actually any good? Well wonder no more. We wrote this review before the hype picked up. So read on to get thoughts on the film!

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Makoto Shinaki Director of Your Name

Date: 2016 November 15 15:52 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

Makoto Shinkai's latest movie Your Name is about to hit the UK nationally on Thursday 24th November 2016. Last month we were lucky enough to catch up with Mr Shinkai to talk about Your Name while he was in London for the BFI London Film Festival.

You can catch the box office smash hit by going to YourNameTheMovie.co.uk to find a screening near you.

This isn't Makoto Shinkai's first time in London. We interviewed him in 2008 last time he was at the BFI promoting 5 Centimeters Per Second.

You can read our Your Name review too if you're interested to know more about the film.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Lindsay Jones and Barbara Dunkelman of RWBY

Date: 2016 November 11 17:00 | Posted By: Lee

Category > Features

Lindsay Jones and Barbara Dunkelman voice Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long in the popular anime RWBY. The fourth season of the show has just been launched and we were lucky enough to catch up with them at the MCM London Comic Con for an exclusive interview and the chance to chat to them about the show, what we can expect from Volume 4 and the life of a voice actor and all round community figure at Rooster Teeth. RWBY Volume 4 can be seen on Rooster Teeth with new episodes being released every Saturday.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview Hirokatsu Kihara - Horror Writer and Studio Ghibli Production Manager

Date: 2016 July 27 16:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

One of the fun parts about running Otaku News is that you get to meet interesting people. In July 2016 we went to Japanese Cultural Festival Hyper Japan and met Hirokatsu Kihara. The former Studio Ghibli Production Manager is now a horror story writer and yokai expert. Hirokatsu Kihara sounded just like the kind of person you'd be interested in hearing from. So we caught up with him for an interview.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Anime Director Michael Arias

Date: 2016 June 06 15:59 | Posted By: Lee

Category > Features

Lots of anime fans aspire to join the anime industry. Very few from the west make it. Even fewer people go on to direct well known titles like Tekkonkinkreet, or produced the Animatrix. Michael Arias was a guest at the MCM London Comic Con this May 2016. We were lucky enough to catch him for an exclusive interview, while he was here to promote Harmony, his latest feature film, it's due for a home video release in the UK sometime in Q4 2016 thanks to Anime Limited.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Ray Gigant (PS Vita) Review

Date: 2016 May 10 15:46 | Posted By: Guest Contributor

Category > Features

Today we're posting a guest review by Ashley McNeil who is an actual scientist and blogs about comics, games and other awesome nerdy subjects at http://www.sciencepunk.co.uk.

Ash is reviewing Ray Gigant from Experience Inc.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Ozarin: Anime Japan 2016 - An Adventure in Odaiba!

Date: 2016 April 22 16:11 | Posted By: Bryoz

Category > Features

I was lucky enough to attend Anime Japan, a massive entertainment focused event in Odaiba, to check out some of the latest and upcoming Japanese animation!

Read More... | Souce: Ozarin

Sherlock Manga Release Details Update

Date: 2016 March 26 15:21 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

We've already published details about Titan Comic's up-coming release of the Sherlock Manga. As news is spreading we wanted to know more details about the actual release. So we go it touch with Titan Comics editor Andrew James to talk about the release.

Read More... | Souce: Titan Comics

Katsushika O-Ei - The Real Miss Hokusai

Date: 2016 February 05 15:54 | Posted By: Guest Contributor

Category > Features

Production I.G's latest cinematic masterpiece Miss Hokusai has just hit cinema screens in the UK. We've seen it and recommend you do too. Although a lot is know about the master himself, we were curious to know more about the real life Miss Hokusai. We started to research her history, then remembered we know experts in Japanese woodblock prints! The Japanese Gallery who sell Japanese woodblock prints, antiques and even anime cels, they would already know a lot about Hokusai and his artistic daughter. We asked them what tell us all about the real O-Ei.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Miss Hokusai Screening Review

Date: 2016 February 01 13:43 | Posted By: Voxie

Category > Features

Whether I'm reviewing or not, when I go in to watch a new feature film, I try to read up on it as little as possible. With Miss Hokusai, I had only seen the short Japanese trailer (on purpose, so I wouldn't understand everything), and later skimmed the first few paragraphs of the production notes, handed to me when I walked into the screening. What I was expecting was something of a behind-the-scenes, biographical approach to Katsushika Hokusai's life, through his daughter's eyes. But instead I got something a little different.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Viewster Omakase Kill la Kill Box Review

Date: 2015 November 24 17:19 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

The good folks from streaming anime company Viewster have just sent us a complementary Omakase box to review. The service itself is an interesting one. You pay $29 USD (plus shipping and handling, which we're told is $19 USD to the UK, brining it up to $48 USD) for a 2 months on-line access to Viewsters HD ad-free anime streaming service, plus they'll send you a box full of goodies. Currently the service is available in the US, Canada and the UK. For UK based readers the customs charges are already factored into the shipping and handling costs, so the price you pay to ship is the price you'll pay to receive the anime goodies.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Shigeto Koyama - Anime Character Designer

Date: 2015 November 06 18:31 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

The May and October MCM London Comic Cons are without doubt the biggest geek events in the UK. With over 130,000 people attending this October. It caters for all geeky tastes. Anime fans are also well looked after, each event regularly has an anime guest of honour. The October Comic con played host to Shigeto Koyama, renowned designer, he designed Baymax from Disney movie Big Hero 6. He was also involved in the character designs for fan favourite anime show Kill La Kill, as well as designing the weapons and lots of gear in the well loved game No More Heroes. We were lucky enough to catch up with him and ask some interesting questions.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with WIT Studio's Kotomi Deai and Hiroshi Shimizu

Date: 2015 October 10 15:51 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

MCM Group Events are always great for anime fans. At the end of September 2015 Kotomi Deai and Hiroshi Shimizu of WIT Studio were anime guests at the MCM Scotland Comic Con in Glasgow. We were lucky enough to be able to interview them and discuss their latest project The Rolling Girls and what it's really like to work in the anime industry.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Space Dandy writer Kimiko Ueno

Date: 2015 August 04 02:31 | Posted By: Eeeper

Category > Anime > TV

As fans of anime, we often wonder how some of our favourite shows get put together by the staff. While it's true that directors, actors and character designers shape the look of the show, it's anime writers who tell the characters what to say.

One writer who is getting more exposure these days is Kimiko Ueno. Having written for long running shows such as Shin Chan, she's currently writing episodes for Space Dandy, the hit show from Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe (released by Anime Limited) While in the UK for MCM Manchester Comic Con 2015, Miss Ueno was kind enough to sit down and have a chat with us about Space Dandy, Shin Chan and what she looks forward to when travelling abroad.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Karen's Bridge on Location with Kinmoza

Date: 2015 August 03 16:02 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

It's no secret that our editor has a soft spot for moe anime show Kinmoza. We even took a trip to see Alice's house a while ago, revealing the location used to the world.

There are other locations used on the show that fans might be interested in visiting. Caron Cooper of Fosse Farm B&B has just told us about a local bridge featured on the show.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Inside The Industry: Anime Talk - Report

Date: 2015 July 14 16:27 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

It's not often you get to see behind the scenes of the anime industry and find out what it's really like. This week the Japan Foundation in London hosted a talk called Inside The Industry: Anime.

The event brought together:
Hirokatsu Kihara who worked at Studio Ghibli before becoming a best selling author.

Michihiko Suwa who works as Chief Producer at the Animation Department of Yomiuri TV and credits include Detective Conan (aka Case Closed) anime.

Aya Suzuki a British/Japanese Layout artist, 2D Character/FX animator and occasional animation lecturer. Projects worked on include (but are not limited to) Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises at Studio Ghibli, plus Mamoru Hosoda's Wolf Children.

Stephen Cavalier acted as chair, bringing his two decades experience in the animation and games industries along with authoring a book on The World History of Animation

The event ran on Monday 13th July 2015. It was free to attend and it was so popular there was waiting list. The audience was a mix of anime/manga fans along with animation students and animation industry professionals.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Hidetaka Tenjin Mechanical Illustrator and Mecha Designer

Date: 2015 June 01 15:36 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

As children we've often spent our time drawing giant robots and fighter jets. Many of our readers would still do this for fun now and again. But what if you want to do it professionally? We were lucky enough to meet one such man - Mecha Designer Hidetaka Tenjin. He's does technical illustrations and designs cool mechanical things. He's done technical illustration for Macross Zero, Macross Frontier, Macross Frontier: The False Diva and Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye.

He's got a few art books to his name too. Plus he also does lots of box art for model kits.

We were lucky enough to catch up with Hidetaka Tenjin at the May 2015 MCM London Comic Con where he was invited by streaming service Viewster to be the anime guest of honour.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Interview with Jerome and Andrew from Animatsu UK

Date: 2015 February 25 13:00 | Posted By: Eeeper

Category > Anime

With their recent company launch, Jerome Mazandarani and Andrew Hewson from Animatsu UK sat down and answered some of our questions about their upcoming titles, explain what their plans for the year are and sell us on their awesome coffee.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Mizuho Nishikubo director of Giovanni's Island

Date: 2015 January 10 18:06 | Posted By: Eeeper

Category > Anime

Recently, we got a chance to interview Mr. Mizuho Nishikubo, director of Giovanni's Island, and ask him about the film and some of his other works.

The film is going to be released on DVD and Blu-ray by Anime Limited.

You can enter our competition to win a copy of the film.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

The Giant Ghibli Clock - Nittele Big Clock

Date: 2015 January 01 15:42 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

For a Ghibli fan heading to Japan, Mitaka is a the natural place to go for a pilgrimage to the Ghibli Museum. However the modern Tokyo district of Shiodome should not be overlooked for something something interesting and entertaining: the Nittele Big Clock (Nippon TV Really Big Clock).

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

The Story Behind Toyota UK's Manga Inspired Adventure

Date: 2014 November 25 17:01 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

Toyota UK have decided to do something a bit interesting with their Japanese roots. At the October 2014 MCM London Comic Toyota revealed a new manga styled adventure to launch their new Aygo.

Specially commissioned by UK based artist Sonia Leong to create the manga. Toyota also commissioned an animated version of the comic too.

We caught up with Nik Pearson (Manager, Press Relations) at Toyota to talk about the campaign. We were lucky enough to get an exclusive interview about the project.

Thanks again for your time Nik. It's always interesting to see how production of manga based marketing campaigns work.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview With Anime Director Shinichiro Watanabe

Date: 2014 November 02 12:22 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

The MCM London Comic Con is always a treat for top notch anime guests. The October 2014 weekend was no exception. Renowned anime director Shinichiro Watanabe returned to London as a guest of the event to promote the up and coming home video release of Space Dandy as well as the newly launched show Terror In Resonance.

He attended the Anime Limited stand on Saturday and Sunday of the show as well as appearing on stage to answer questions for fans.

We've been lucky enough to interview Shinichiro Watanabe in May 2013 at his previous appearance at the MCM London Comic Con. It's was then he first revealed Space Dandy.

We caught up with the Mr Watanabe to talk about music from a cold country, Terror In Resonance and a bit of Space Dandy. As we knew a lot of people would be asking about Space Dandy, we were keen to focus more on Terror In Resonance, as it had just finished it's run.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview With Manga Artist Junko Mizuno

Date: 2014 October 16 16:03 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

Renowned manga artist Junko Mizuno is jetting over to the UK. She'll be here to attend Comica Festival and Lakes International Comic Art Festival. She'll also be visiting London to give an exclusive talk. Art gallery Atomica will be exhibiting and selling her original works in London.

Just before jetting off from the United States to the UK we were lucky enough to catch up with her for an exclusive interview.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

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