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My Deer Friend Nokotan Voice Actor Interview

Date: 2024 July 07 11:02 | Posted By: Joe

Madcap school comedy anime My Deer Friend Nokotan hits streaming services today. It's already caused a stir on social media with many fans hooked on the concept of a former delinquent school girl making friends with deer turned human.

The anime will be available on multiple streaming services including Crunchyroll and Amazon Prime.

Being intrigued about the anime adaption, we decided to get in touch with the Japanese Voice actors of the show to ask them more about it. So here's our interview with Megumi Han who plays Noko Shikanoko "Nokotan" and Saki Fujita who plays Torako Koshi "Koshitan".

Otaku News would like to thank Megumi Han and Saki Fujita for being available for interview and giving such awesome answers to all our questions. The anime will be available on multiple streaming services including Crunchyroll and Amazon Prime. The manga will be available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Human Versus Machine Japanese Translation Mini Battle

Date: 2024 May 09 20:06 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The manga tech start up Orange Inc recently raised over 19 million USD in funding for machine translated manga. We were quite intrigued because machine translation hasn't always worked out in the past for manga titles. One recent example was the Ranking of Kings Manga that had to be pulled because the quality of the translations were so poor. What's worse was the lack of quality control from everyone involved in the publishing of the title.

As we were curious, we reached out to some professional translators to ask their opinions on the current state of translation.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Sophie Poteratchi of City String Ensemble

Date: 2023 October 25 19:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

With the City String Ensemble due to play a special 2 hour Best of Anime performance this December, we thought it would be a good idea to find out some more details. We got in touch with Sophie Poteratchi, the founder and violinist of City String Ensemble to find out more. Sophie tells us she loves performing music from numerous genres despite her classical training. "It is my vision to find more immersive and innovative ways to perform music from modern culture and in turn inspire audiences to come and watch a "classical concert" which is usually associated with instruments like the violin etc."

It's not every day you get string quartet performing anime tunes in London, why not read our interview with Sophie to find out more!

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Japanese Actor Okamiyu Kurumu

Date: 2023 September 05 20:03 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

We've been captivated by The Garden of Words Stage play currently running in London. In November the play moves to Tokyo with a Japanese cast. Playing Takao for the Tokyo run is actor Okamiyu Kurumu. The actor is familar with anime on the stage having played Eren Yeager in the musical adaption of Attack on Titan, Yatora Yaguchi in Blue Period The Stage, Yuri Briar in the musical of Spy x Family to name few. We caught up with him while he was in London last month preparing for his new role.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Alexandra Rutter Director of the Stage Adaption of The Garden of Words

Date: 2023 July 10 18:59 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

Makoto Shinaki's anime The Garden of Words is the story of an out-of-step woman and an offbeat teenager meeting by chance in a Japanese garden. As the kindred spirits bond, the relationship they build could save them or equally ruin them. Melancholy and original the story has just been adapted into a stage play set to run at London's Park Theatre from Thursday 10th August until Saturday 9th September 2023. It's also set to to be staged in Tokyo too.

The play has been adapted by the Whole Hog Theatre who have previously also brought Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke to stage.

We caught up with Alexandra Rutter, who directed and co-adapted The Garden of Words from the material from the anime and novel. Having been aware of this project since before the COVID-19 pandemic, we were keen to find out more about the production and hear what Alexandra has to say.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Makoto Shinkai Director of Suzume

Date: 2023 April 10 19:02 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Makoto Shinkai's latest movie hits cinemas around North America, UK and Ireland from Friday 14th April 2023. We caught up the with the acclaimed anime director while he was in London to ask him about his new film.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Ballmastrz: Rubicon The Anime An Interview with Christy Karacas

Date: 2023 February 16 19:08 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Fans of Adult Swim will be aware of Ballmastrz: 9009 an anime inspired animation about THE GAME. The next logical step for the series was to get an anime studio to actually animated it. The result was the special Ballmastrz: Rubicon, animated by Studio 4℃ in Japan (Mind Game, Tekkonkinkreet, Detroit Metal City) with Takashi Nakamura (Robot Carnival, AKIRA, Yatterman, Catnapped!) serving as animation director. Keen to find out more we got in touch with Ballmastrz creator Christy Karacas to talk about this anime space opera.

Ballmastrz: Rubicon arrives Monday, February 20 2023. It premiere at Midnight on Adult Swim and the next day on HBO Max and digital retailers. All episodes of Ballmastrz: 9009 are now available on the Adult Swim hub on HBO Max.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Captain Corinth: The Galactic Navy Officer Becomes an Adventure Manga Release Details and Translator Interview

Date: 2022 December 02 19:34 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Manga publisher One Peace Books have sent us the details about an up coming release Captain Corinth: The Galactic Navy Officer Becomes an Adventurer. It's an isekai manga with a twist, the space captain Alan Corinth crashes into a world of swords and magic. The manga is based on the popular light novel series. The art for this manga by Tomomasa Takuma while translation is from Laura Egan.

Captain Corinth will be available on December 13th 2022. You can pre-order from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and all good booksellers.

Usotoki Rhetoric Manga Release Details and Translator Interview

Date: 2022 October 09 14:11 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The good people from manga publishers One Peace Books have sent us details of their up coming manga Usotoki Rhetoric by Ritsu Miyako. This shojo manga stars the downtrodden 16-year-old Kanoko, exiled from her village for possessing a curious power - the ability to hear lies. She runs into handsome but down-on-his-luck detective Iwai Soma and together form an unexpected but dynamic duo, capable of solving the towns local mysteries. Set in the 1920's it's something a bit different and fun.

Along with the press release we were lucky enough to interview translator of the manga Molly Rabbitt.

Usotoki Rhetoric is out from October 13th 2022. You can pre-order it from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and all good booksellers.

Volume 2 is expected on the romantic February 14th 2023.

An Interview with Belle Virtual World Designer Eric Wong

Date: 2022 June 29 19:52 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Interviews

The amazing anime film Belle is out on home video this week (from Monday 27th June 2022). To celebrate it's release we got in touch with Eric Wong, the designer of Belle's virtual world of "U". Wong, a full time architect, was asked by Oscar-nominated, visionary director Mamoru Hosada to create the virtual world "U" that provides the backdrop for the film BELLE. Wong sketched out his dazzling "U" world during his daily commute, creating a labyrinthine wonder for this timely re-imagining of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale, the story of Suzu, a country girl who becomes a music sensation in the virtual world of "U" with the mesmerising avatar Belle.

Thanks to the good folks at Anime Limited we were able to ask Eric some questions behind what it takes to create a virtual world while existing in the real one.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

ODDTAXI Voice Actor Interview

Date: 2021 July 07 19:39 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

One of the surprise hits for the Q2 / Spring 2021 Anime Season has been ODDTAXI. It's a mystery show set in a world where all the characters are animals. The show follows the adventures of Odokawa a taxi driver who is also a walrus. We thoroughly enjoyed the quirky show and wanted to know more about it's production. The good folks at anime streaming service Crunchyroll obliged and gave us an interview to publish with voice actors Iida Riho who plays Shirakawa the alpaca nurse and Kimura Ryohei who plays Goriki the gorilla doctor.

An Interview with Sara Linsley Manga Letterer

Date: 2020 December 14 20:51 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Localising manga is more than just buying the rights and getting it translated, there's also sorts of factors to consider to bring it to market. While people often consider the translation there's another part of the localisation process to consider, the letterer! All the words you read on the page aren't just magically put into place, there's actually a lot of art and craft to lettering a manga page. So we thought we'd catch up with a manga letterer to find out more about the process.

Sara Linsley is a software developer and comic book letterer living in NYC, she has done lettering for manga including Sweat and Soap, Spoof on Titan, LDK and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches. Recently she's also just released a font of her own intended for manga use! We thought we'd catch up with Sara over e-mail to find out how letterer can make or break a good localisation.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Interview with Eunyoung Choi, producer and co-founder at Science SARU about Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Date: 2020 January 17 07:03 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

We're currently really enjoying anime studio Science SARU's latest show Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!. It's a delightful series that really captures of the passion, joy and excitement of being anime fan. Not only that, but it enthusiastically explains what makes certain anime titles so great.

Along the for the imaginative ride it takes us on we were keen to find out more. The good folks at anime streaming service Crunchyroll helped us by sending us an interview with Eunyoung Choi who is producer and co-founder of Science SARU. They've even let us publish the interview ahead of their news letter.

An Interview with Anime Directors Shinichiro Watanabe and Motonobu Hori

Date: 2019 November 09 17:06 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

MCM Comic Con London and Anime Limited frequently team up to bring great guests to the event. MCM Comic Con London October 2019 was no exception, with not one, but two guests of honour - anime directors Shinichiro Watanabe (best known for Cowboy Bebop) and Motonobu Hori a rising star in the anime industry.

We caught up with the two directors at MCM Comic Con London to talk about their latest project the fanatic Carole & Tuesday.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Jonathan Ross on Anime, Manga and Japanese Toys

Date: 2019 November 06 21:54 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

The geek event that was MCM Comic Con London October 2019 has ended. One of of the anime highlights was Jonathan Ross introducing two anime shows for Crunchyroll.

During the event, he revealed that he got mistaken for a cosplayer at San Diego Comic-con. He also admitted he enjoyed anime with yokai eating, erm certain parts of people (we'll leave the rest to your imagination).

The good folks from anime streaming service Crunchyroll interviewed Jonathan Ross and he shared his love of anime and Japanese toy lines.

An Interview with Anime Director Yuichiro Hayashi

Date: 2019 August 23 19:18 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Anime Limited and MCM Comic Con London always team up and bring great anime guests to the event. May 2019 was no different with anime director Yuichiro Hayashi appearing as Anime Guest of Honour. Best known for his recent work as the director of gambling school anime Kakegurui he has also the director of GARO the Animation. He's also be involved in 2012 CGI anime production of 009 Re:Cyborg.

We caught up with Yuichiro Hayashi at MCM Comic Con London May 2019 to hear what he had to say about Kakegurui and the anime industry.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Urasawa Naoki a Master of Manga

Date: 2019 June 09 21:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Japan House London are currently hosting a manga exhibition of Urasawa Naoki's work. His manga is hugely popular with his books having sold over 127 million copies in Japan alone. He's responsible for manga including Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto (the re-imagining of Tezuka's Astroboy).

Urasawa himself was in London to set up the exhibition and also was a guest at events run by Japan House, such as QAs and a few live drawing sessions. Urasawa's live drawing performances aren't like anything else we've seen before. The multi award winning manga artist is also a singer/song writer who has released two albums and performed songs that have gone on to be on the live action versions of some of his manga. His live performance at Japan House started with him singing and playing one of his songs on guitar, then he activated his loop pedal so the guitar tune continues and walks over to a drawing desk and draws for everyone to see on a projected screen. Once he finished drawing he returned to his guitar to finish the song!

We caught up with the manga master at Japan House London to hear what he had to say about the exhibition.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Studio Khara's Hibiki Yoshizaki

Date: 2019 February 19 22:01 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

MCM Comic Con London and Anime Limited always team up to bring excellent guests to the twice yearly London geek event. The October 2018 event was no exception where they invited anime director Hibiki Yoshizaki to be the anime guest of honour. You may have seen his work at Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (aka Evangelion Q), where he directed the Sakura Nagashi music video (we've also interviewed Paul Cater it's composer). He's also responsible for the rather bouncy music video ME! ME! ME! with Teddyloid and DAOKO.

We were very eager to interview Mr Yoshizaki about his career and he did not disappoint. So read on to find out more.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

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

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

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

toco toco interview Yoshitoshi ABe

Date: 2018 June 04 21:00 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Websites

I am falling, I am fading, I have lost it all. Well we haven't really, but we've got that theme song from Serial Experiments Lain in our heads thanks to the folks from the team behind toco toco - a short documentary series showcasing Japanese creators and the places that inspire them. They've just told us that their latest video interviews Yoshitoshi ABe, illustrator, mangaka and character designer of various animation series like Serial Experiments Lain, NieA_7 or Haibane Renmei. While practising photography in Tokyo parks, his latest hobby, he recalls his 25-years drawing career.

You can watch the interview free (and legally) on toco toco's YouTube Channel.

Souce: toco toco

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

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

An Interview with Masaaki Yuasa

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

Category > Features

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 Stefan Riekeles curator of Anime Architecture at House of Illustration

Date: 2017 June 01 12:55 | Posted By: Voxie

Category > Events

Opening just last Friday 26th May, London’s House of Illustration is holding Anime Architecture, the UK’s very first anime backgrounds exhibition.

Yes, you read that right, it’s a gallery dedicated to looking behind the scenes at the silent art within the anime world. This is no doubt a progression for the anime genre in the West, where anime and manga are still known for their big eyes, big boobs and science fiction. If there's anything that can justify the artistic finesse within anime, it's the background art. We quizzed Stefan Riekeles, curator of the exhibition.

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

An interview with Japan Camera Hunter

Date: 2014 July 09 14:15 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

Normally on Otaku News, when we talk about otaku we mean fans of anime and manga. There are plenty of other areas worth exploring. Today, we'll introduce you to someone who loves cameras.

With the world going increasingly more digital, the photography scene around the world is seeing a resurgence of film and there is a demand among amateur and professional photographers alike for good film cameras. Film photographers enjoy the tangible nature of the photos and the fact that film slows the whole process down. Developing the picture is something to look forward to, it doesn't give instant gratification like a digital camera.

Certain cameras are now regarded as classics of their era. Japan is the natural place to go if you want a nice film camera because the country is ubiquitous for photography and cameras with so many camera brands being Japanese. While in other countries things are going on-line, physical camera shops both for new and second hand goods are a thriving business.

Bellamy Hunt lives in Tokyo. He runs a website called Japan Camera Hunter. He's passionate about photography and film. If you want a decent camera sourced from Japan, he's your man.

Our editor Joe caught up with him over a coffee in Shinjuku.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An interview With Anime Director Shinichiro Watanabe

Date: 2013 July 27 16:38 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

It's not every day you meet an anime director, yet alone one from one of the most highly regarded anime series of all time. Thanks to good folks at Anime Limited we were able to catch up with Shinichiro Watanabe, who is best known as the director of Cowboy Bebop. He has also directed the hip-hop samurai mash-up Samurai Champloo and more recently the jazz anime Kids on the Slope.

We caught up with Shinichiro Watanabe at the May 2013 London MCM Comic Con. He was in town to promote the new release of Cowboy Bebop on Blu-ray along with the DVD and Blu-ray release of Kids on the Slope.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview With Anime Director Kenji Kamiyama

Date: 2013 June 03 15:20 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

April 2013, it's spring time in London, it should be warm and sunny, but instead it's snowing sideways. We're off to meet renowned anime direction Kenji Kamiyama, writer and director of hit titles like Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Eden of the East and Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An interview with Production I.G.

Date: 2013 January 12 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.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Amecon Interview with Brad Swaile

Date: 2013 January 06 11:49 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Anime

Back at Amecon last August thanks to the convention committee we got to spend lunch with voice actor Brad Swaile. It's taken me a bit of time to get the interview written up as Brad made a lot of interesting points and I didn't want to miss anything.

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