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Auchinawa Glasgow Convention for Otaku

Date: 2004 November 29 08:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

One of our contributors Voxie from MAME has just discovered plans in Scotland for Auchinawa which "strives not to be an "Anime Convention" but an "Otaku Convention". Our Mission is to create a Convention/Expo in Scotland, the first of its kind, which caters for your needs and wants as fans."

They plan to screen anime, have DDR machines and will also be catering for J-Music fanatics and furries.

It's not set to run until the summer of 2006 so many of the details aren't finalised yet. However it's always good to plan ahead and conventions in the UK often get booked out quickly, so go take a look and get saving to get to Glasgow, if you're not near there already.

Souce: Auchinawa

Neo Magazine First Issue Out Now

Date: 2004 November 25 19:15 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Just a quick reminder to our UK readers that the first issue of Neo Magazine is out now. The publication covers anime, manga, videogames, gadgets, and all things Japanese. It's available from WH Smith, Borders, HMV, Martins Spar, Virgin Store, Forbidden Planet and some independent newsagents, it should also be available from Diamond Comic stockists.

For more information check out our previous write up on Neo Magazine, Anime UK News also has an interview with the editor as does UK-Anime.net

Souce: Neo Magazine

Mail On Sunday Portray Manga In A Bad Light

Date: 2004 November 21 21:08 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Following on from our report about The Educational Value of Manga In The UK, British News Paper The Mail On Sunday have just written an article about the topic titled "Child murder, incest and rape... is this really how our schools should be encouraging boys to read?", this is in stark contrast to previous articles we have reported on in other publications that portray anime and manga in a more positive light. When dealing with the Daily Mail and Mail Sunday our readers outside of the UK should note an Ian Hislop quote where he says that to the Daily Mail even Yoghurt is scary (I can't find the exact quote right now).

Educational Value of Manga In The UK

Date: 2004 November 16 18:33 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The Times Education Supplement (a Times newspaper for teachers and people working in the education sector) are running a story about the educational value of manga, interestingly enough they make the same common misconceptions about manga - "Mangas depict wide-eyed heroes, often in varying states of undress". The Reading Agency, an organisation that promotes literacy, is encouraging schools to buy Manga comics, it seems they want to get as many children to get into reading by introducing them to manga. They've compiled a list of 150 recommended Manga titles, deemed suitable for teenagers and are sending them to all libraries and schools. The Otaku News crew imagine that this will help TokyoPop UK's already very healthy sales figures! ^_-

Souce: TES

Strong Yaoi Sales on Amazon.com

Date: 2004 November 14 08:34 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

ICv2 are reporting an interesting trend with Amazon.com's manga best seller list. Apparently Yaoi is three of the top five, four of the top ten and six of the top fifteen manga titles. ICv2 point out that these sales are only on Amazon.com as the American Bookscan list doesn't not match with these sales figures, with only Del Rey's Tsubasa Volume 3 appearing at the top of both lists.

ICv2 speculate that people purchasing Yaoi prefer the privacy and relative anonymity that on-line reatilers offer and that the two main Yaoi publishers Digital Manga and CPM Manga don't have the marketing clout or number of titles compared to other publishers with titles at the top of the graphic novel lists.

Souce: ICv2

NEO Magazine UK

Date: 2004 November 09 17:46 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Retail

Charlie from Crazy Ninja has sent us a the details about NEO Magazine. Neo Mag's publicity states that they are the UK's only newsstand magazine dedicated to Anime, Manga, videogames, gadgets, and all things Japanese.

Their market overview text states "Anime and Manga have been popular in the UK for over 10 years now, and the market has never had a dedicated quality publication which appeals to the core fan, and also provides for the broader mainstream markets". I always thought that this was part of Manga Mania / Max's brief.

Neo Magazine is due out on 25th November, with a Dead Leaves Cover and features articles on the American remake of The Grudge, Tekken, also interviews with Chiaki Kuriyama (of Battle Royal and Kill Bill fame), and voice actress Monica Rial.

Souce: Crazy Ninja

International Manga and Anime Festival Launches

Date: 2004 October 27 18:20 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

We've just got a press release from a group called IMAF, who will be holding an international competition to find the best manga and anime talent in the world, entrants stand a chance to win big bucks with a total prize fund of $75,000!

The entrants work will be shown at London County Hall from 16th - 19th December. Judges include Koike Kazuo who is best known for writing Lone Wolf and Cub and Crying Freeman.

TokyoPop and Sweatdrop Attract Interest At London Comic Festival

Date: 2004 October 23 17:51 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The Otaku News Crew have just returned from the London Comic Festival, an event that focuses on the British Comic Book industry, it consists largely of underground/independent UK comic book publishers. Representing the UK manga/anime scene were professional manga publishers TokyoPop UK and original UK manga studio Sweatdrop. It was nice to see the interest and enthusiasm both groups generated. All the exhibitors there had a fair number of visitors to the their tables, I didn't do a proper count or survey, but throughout the day it was clear that both TokyoPop and Sweatdrop generated a large amount of interest, more so than any of the other comic book publishers.

Souce: Otaku News

Newtype USA Celebrates Its Second Anniversary

Date: 2004 October 18 18:04 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The good folk at Newtype USA have sent us a press release regarding their second anniversary. To celebrate the popular anime magazine will bring back it's free DVD insert, which became a subscriber only bonus item. We've heard that Newtype USA stopped the free DVD due to retail issues, original store clerks removed the free DVD to pass on to friends, this in turn meant that the opened issue could not be sold. It seems that the people at Newtype have been listening to their readers. We welcome the return of the DVD since it means more free anime! ^_^

Samurai History Papers - Quarterly Newsletter

Date: 2004 October 16 16:03 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Culture

We've just got details in from Ridgeback Press, apparently they will be launching Samurai History Papers, a quarterly newsletter from Romulus Hillsborough (whose research on the history of the Meiji Restoration spans over twenty years). It focuses on the facts behind many samurai anime series, such as the Shinsengumi (central to Peacemaker Kurogane and Rurouni Kenshin).

Jonathan Clements Launches New Website

Date: 2004 October 16 13:26 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Websites

Jonathan Clements, writer, translator, co-author of the Anime Encyclopedia, The Erotic Anime Movie Guide, The Dorama Encyclopedia and I Love My Tamagotchi (under the name of Bronwen Komatsubara), has just e-mailed with some details regarding his new website -

"Don't know if this counts as news or not, but if it does, there is much anime goodness to be found at my website, including the English version of my Afterword to the deluxe edition of Akira, the unpublished Afterword to the Anime Encyclopedia, and several anime columns from Newtype and the Sci Fi channel."

Considering how much Jonathan Clements has done in the anime industry, I think it does count as news, so go on and have a look at his website. I'm off to find Schoolgirl Milky Crisis.

Souce: Jonathan Clements

Sweatdrop Launch Free Webcomics

Date: 2004 September 20 15:52 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Webcomics

Talented up and coming British manga artists Sweatdrop Studios have just launched a webcomics section. They've posted comics by Dock, Laura Watton, Emma Vieceli, Selina Dean, Fred and Sonia Leong.

Even if you're not in the UK, it's always nice to check out some of their lovely artwork.

Souce: Sweatdrop

Manga Live! At The ICA In London

Date: 2004 August 30 14:14 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

I've just found out about an event at the ICA in London. It's called Manga Live, and is divided into two events Manga Live (Fri 03 Sep) and will discuss if Manga can take off in the UK.

The second event (Sat 04 Sep) is the Manga Live! Manga Masterclass which forms a practical demonstration and workshop. The masterclass will also have a special preview screening of Rogue Farm.

Anime News Network readers unhappy with Newtype DVD change

Date: 2004 August 24 17:57 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

The Anime News Network have just published an article regarding a recent reader poll. The poll asked readers for their opinion on Newtype USA's decision to remove the free DVD from non subscription issues of the magazine.

Sweatdrop Studios Announces New Anthology

Date: 2004 August 04 12:21 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Fandom

UK based manga studio Sweatdrop is set to release a new anthology. It's their largest and most ambitious yet. "Sugardrops" features art from 15 artists on the theme of cute.

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