Category > Anime
A quick reminder to UK based anime fans who will be excited to hear about Manga Entertainment UK's upcoming release of Psycho-Pass Complete Series One Collection. The whole series is being released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 1st September 2014.
You can pre-order Psycho-pass Complete Series One Collection from Amazon.co.uk on DVD and Blu-ray.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Events
UK based fans of Scott Pilgrim will be very pleased to hear about Bryan Lee O'Malley's new book Seconds. To celebrate it's launch Bryan will be in the UK for some book signings at Gosh! Comics in London on Thursday 14th August 2014, The British Library in London on Friday 15th 2014, plus Forbidden Planet in Edinburgh on Sunday 17th August 2014.
We've already updated the Otaku Calendar with these details.
Update: More details the signings have been announced including, Leeds, Manchester and Dublin.
If you can't make it to the signings, you can always pre-order Seconds from Amazon.co.uk.
Souce: Raidomaru.com - Bryan Lee O\'Malley\'s Website
UK Anime fans will be pleased to hear the news that Manga Entertainment UK have sent us. We've been told as it's the 25th anniversary since the original Masamune Shirow manga was released, the film will receive a limited theatrical run at select Picturehouse Cinemas from 27th September 2014. Following on from that on Monday 29th September the movie will get a HD Blu-ray release with a bonus 22-page booklet, in a limited edition steel book. Fans will note that this the first time the original movie has had a high-def release in the UK.
The limited edition Steelbook is available to pre-order now from the Amazon.co.uk now.
Read More... | Souce: Amazon.co.uk
Category > Events
Fans of Japan looking for something to do this weekend will want to head over to Earl's Court for Hyper Japan. The Japanese Culture event is set to run in London from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th July 2014. As we've mentioned before, there's lots to see and do this weekend.
Souce: Hyper Japan
Category > Events
UK based anime fans and geeks in general will want to head to Manchester this weekend for the MCM Manchester Comic Con. The event is set to run from Saturday 19th to Sunday 20th July 2014 at Manchester Central. Popular anime companies will be there including Manga Entertainment UK and Anime Limited will be there selling their wares.
So head over to stand number 811, to find Manga Entertainment UK, Anime Limited and MVM titles on sale.
They'll also be some voice actors at the show including Bryce Papenbrook (who'll be voicing Eren in Attack on Titan), DC Douglas, along with Vic Mignogna who is best known as voicing Edward from Fullmetal Alchemist (he's voiced loads).
Plus the MCM Manchester Comic Con will play host to the EuroCosplay Championships where on Saturday one talented person will be selected to represent the UK for the 2014 finals.
You can download the official show guide here.
Read More... | Souce: MCM Manchester Comic Con
Category > Press Releases
UK Anime fans of the Fairy Tail series will be pleased to hear the news from Manga Entertainment UK. They've sent us details of the upcoming movie release on DVD and blu-ray. Fairy Tail The Movie: Phoenix Priestess will be released on Monday 28th July 2014.
You can pre-order the blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.co.uk.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Events
The MCM London Comic Con for May 2014 has just finished. We're still recovering from the huge event. So much always happen at them! The good folks from the Comic Con have sent us details of the attendance figures. The May 2014 event attracted 101,600 addendies, up from 88,000 in October 2013, and just over 70,000 people in May 2013.
To cope with this huge growth the people running the event booked more floor space at the London Excel Centre and even arranged for extra cash machines to be brought in to cope with all the demand.
At this current growth rate it'll interesting to see how big the October 2014 MCM London Comic Con is!
Read More... | Souce: MCM London Comic Con
Category > Anime
Patema Inverted is out now in selected cinemas across the UK. To celebrate, we've got a very nice quad poster of the anime film to give away. What's a quad poster? Well film buff would already know, it's the standard size poster used in UK cinemas to promote films. They are 40 inches by 30 inches in landscape format.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
UK anime fans keen to get their hands on the hi-def release of the original Ghost in the Shell Movie, will be pleased to hear that Amazon.co.uk are now taking pre-orders for the title on blu-ray. The limited edition steelbook is due out on Monday 29th September 2014.
Souce: Amazon.co.uk
Category > Anime
Once again Anime Limited have proved to be masters of the Kickstarter Campaign, by meeting their crowdfunding target for the definitive edition of Patema Inverted in 5 hours! Not 5 weeks, or even 5 days, but 5 hours! As a result, they've had to add extra rewards too.
The movie is also now out at select UK cinemas. So check out www.patema.co.uk for a screening near you.
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
Category > Retail
Anime expert Jonathan Clements has just updated his website revealing that The Anime Encylopedia will have a third edition and is schedule for publication in December 2014.
The popular book written by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy has been expanded with over 1,000 new entries, over 4,000 updates and corrections. This book is one of those amazing multiple purpose references. If you're an anime fan you should own a copy. If you're an academic it's essential. If you're running a website dedicated to news for fans of Japan (just like this one), you'll already have the first and second editions and regularly use them to fact check and research, so you'll be keen to get your hands on the third edition.
You can pre-order the book from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. Remember that Amazon's pre-order price promise means you'll also pay the lowest price offered by Amazon, so if the price dips between now and when it's released, you'll only pay the lowest price.
Souce: Jonathan Clements Website - Schoolgirl Milky Crisis
Category > Anime
The good people from Manga Entertainment UK have just sent us some more news about the up coming release of Ghost In the Shell on Blu-ray. They'll be releasing the original film in hi-def (not the 2.0 version), on a worldwide exclusive limited edition steel book. Manga Entertainment UK have proved very popular with fans with their previous releases of Akira and Ninja Scroll on Blu-ray.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
UK based anime fans will be pleased to hear that the good folks from Manga Entertainment UK have given us one copy of Dragon Ball Season 1 on DVD to give away.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Anime
It's almost time for the big MCM London Comic Con in May. The event is set to run from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th May 2014. As is tradition super t-shirt company Genki Gear have produced a special exclusive design for the event. The theme this time around is a Teeny Tiny Ninja!
It's available as a limited edition pre-order only from the 7th April until the 16th May at Genkigear.com for £16.99. There is also a subtle design change with the MCM logo on the arm this time around.
Read More... | Souce: Genki Gear
The good folks from Manga Entertainment UK have sent us some details about a HMV exclusive version of Blood C: The Last Dark. The title is due out on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 24th March 2014.
The HMV Exclusive version of Blood C: The Last Dark will be a double play, containing the film both on DVD and Blu-ray, come with a slip cover, a poster and 4 art cards containing visuals from the film.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
For UK anime fans who have been watching Space Dandy on Wakanim you'll already know that it's due out on DVD and blu-ray on 24th November 2014. Amazon.co.uk have just started to take pre-orders for the DVD and blu-ray.
Souce: Amazon.co.uk
UK Fans of the anime series Rurouni Kenshin (also known as Samurai X for some releases), will be pleased to hear that Warner UK will be releasing the live action movie on Monday 17th February 2014. The film features events from the first story arc of the anime/manga, but is not a direct retelling as some concepts and events from the original series have been changed. You can pre-order the title on DVD and Collectors Edition Steelbook Blu-ray
Souce: Warner Bros UK
Category > Anime
After spending a few days teasing followers to guess, Anime Limited have announced the details of their Kick Starter Campaign to bring Mai Mai Miracle to the UK and US.
The film has yet to get any English speaking territory home video release, only being shown occasionally at anime film festivals. We first discovered the film at a Barbican Screening in 2009 and were immediately fans. It's made by Mad House, the studio well know for hight quality releases. The film itself has that nostalgic Ghibli like feel to it, with it's own touch of whimsy. We've been wondering why it hasn't had an English language blu-ray or DVD release yet, and we always recommend people see it if they can. It's one of those rare must see family movies.
Anime Limited are aiming to bring it on blu-ray to both the UK and US! For us this is a no brainer. This is a case of shut up and take my money.
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
Category > Retail
We've just seen an interesting advert on TV for a new brand of mega volume mascara Miss Manga. It's designed to give you the manga look. L'Oreal want people to embrace the Japanese Kawaii attitude.
Beckkii Cruel has reviewed the product.
Read More... | Souce: L\'Oreal Paris
Category > Anime
The good folks from UK anime company Anime Limited have just unvealed their 2014 release line up.
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
Category > Anime
UK based anime fans will be pleased to hear that the good folks from Manga Entertainment UK have given us two copies of Wolf Children to give away. The film is directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who also directed Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Press Releases
Without doubt one of our most popular articles this year was our on location coverage of Fosse Farm - Alice Cartalet's house from Kinmoza. Key scenes in the anime set in England used Fosse Farmhouse as Alice's house.
Caron Cooper who owns and runs the B&B has just got in touch with us to let us know about a special Christmas offer for Otaku news readers -
Double or twin bedrooms in The Stables Cottage (Alice and Shino's Hanafuda house) £99.00 per room per night B&B.
Available from 20/12/2013 - 26/12/2013 inclusive.
Plus a few spaces remaining for our delicious 4 course Christmas Day lunch at £48.00 per person.
Please email caron@fossefarmhouse.com for further details/booking.
Of course if you can't make it to Fosse Farm over Christmas, they do take bookings around the year too!
Souce: Fosse Farm
Category > Retail
From the feedback we've been getting a fair few of our readers are planning on heading into London over Christmas. With this in mind we've just updated the London Anime and Manga Shopping Guide with details of updated shops. We hope this will you help you get a bit of real world otaku retail therapy!
Regardless of where you do go shopping, we always suggest some caution. There are some retailers around that are less than honest and will sell pirate goods. To help you avoid getting ripped off we suggest you read the Pirate Anime FAQ.
Souce: Otaku News
Category > Art
The good folks at the Japanese Gallery in London have sent us details of the cel sale, or as they call it cel sell! The event runs from Friday 6th to Sunday 8th December 2013. They'll be offering people who visit the gallery 20% off all anime products as long as you bring this voucher along. You may have seen the Japanese Gallery's anime cels being sold at events like Hyper Japan and the MCM London Comic Con. They actively welcome and encourage cosplayers at this sale.
Read More... | Souce: Japanese Gallery
Category > Anime
Christmas as come early for many Ghibli Fans in the UK. Porco Rosso has just got a Blu-ray release in the UK. The adventures of the Crimson Pig over the Adriatic Sea is a classic Miyazaki movie. it's got all the hallmarks you'd expect, aviation, air fights, sea plane pirates and a touch of magic. It's a must see movie.
Keen readers of the Otaku Calendar will already know that Monday 25th November marks the release date of 4 Ghibli Steel Book Sets in the UK. Each set contains the movie on DVD and Blu-ray and comes in a shiny steel case featuring artwork from each film. They'll be releasing My Neighbour Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo and Nausicaa.
We're already drooling over these sets and different members of the Otaku News crew have expressed interested in different copies of these steel books. I'm dropping subtle hints to santa that I would like a copy of *cough* Totoro *cough* on Steel book, even though I've got the original Japanese DVD and UK Blu-ray releases. Yes! I am that much of a Ghibli fan. ^_^;;
Souce: Otaku Calendar
Category > Retail
It's that time of year again the MCM London Comic Con returns to the Excel Centre from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th October 2013. As is tradition, t-shirt brand Genki Gear have an official and exclusive design for the event.
Read More... | Souce: Genki Gear
Category > Retail
London's well known Japanese shop Japan Centre has just announced that they'll be closing their doors on Sunday 22nd September 2013. Currently their store is just around the corner from Piccadilly Circus. The new location and opening details will be announced soon.
The shop has been popular with fans of everything Japanese for years, as it stocks Japanese food, books and current magazines. In the meantime they'll still sell everything via their website until the new location is revealed.
Update: The Japan Centre will reopen at 19 Shaftesbury Avenue in October 2013.
Read More... | Souce: Japan Centre
UK based anime fans will be pleased to hear that the good folks from Manga Entertainment UK have given us one copy of Deadman Wonderland The Complete Series to give away.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Over the weekend of AyaCon on Sunday 18th August 2013 Manga Entertainment UK announced the release details of the of the highly anticipated Sword Art Online. Like the US release the UK edition will be released over 4 parts.
Release details are still to be confirmed, but they're aiming to release the first volume in December 2013 and the last volume by March 2014.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Retail
The good folks from Genki Gear have got in touch with us to tell everyone about their summer sale. Otaku News readers can use the discount code SUMMERSALE (all one word), to get an extra 10% off the sale price of anything in our summer sale sections. This offer end 31st August 2013.
Souce: Genki Gear
Category > Events
The good folks from Hyper Japan have sent us details from the first day of their event. The 3 day event's third and final day is Sunday 28th July 2013. There's still lots of fun to be had! Including cosplay, culture and plenty of food.
Read More... | Souce: Hyper Japan
The good folks from Manga Entertainment UK have got in touch with us about a unique opportunity in relation to Steins;Gate Part 2. They are giving people the chance to vote on what cover design they would like to see used on their DVD and Blu-ray release.
With Steins;Gate Part 1 out now on DVD and Blu-ray Manga Entertainment have used unique artwork. This is actually the original Japanese design that the licensor has given special permission to use, making this artwork a UK exclusive in English speaking territories.
For Steins;Gate Part 2, Manga Entertainment have been given that same chance, but they would like the Manga UK community to vote for which design they want on their shelf.
There are 3 designs to choose from and the cover that receives the most votes will be the one submitted for approval. The closing date to vote by is 11:59pm on Thursday 25th July. Only one vote per person.
Head over to http://www.mangauk.com/SteinsGateVote to cast your vote today!
Steins;Gate Part 2 comes to DVD and Blu-ray on 30th September.
Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
UK based anime fans will be pleased to hear that the good folks from Manga Entertainment UK have given us one copy of Steins Gate: Part 1 to give away.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Events
The good folks from London based Japanese culture event Hyper Japan have sent us details of their 2013 event. It's set to run at Earl's Court Two from Friday 26th to Sunday 28th July 2013.
They've got something for every fan of Japan, from Food and drink to anime and cosplay. Fashion, J-Music and lots of lovely Japanese technology.
Read More... | Souce: Hyper Japan
Category > Retail
The good folks from UK based anime and manga mail order firm United Publications have sent us news that they've got the exclusive stock of High School of the Dead: Drifters Of The Dead Edition (OVA Only). So if you've already got High School of The Dead and just want the OVA only, they're the ones to turn to.
Souce: United Publications
Category > Retail
The good folks at the Japanese Gallery have sent us news that they'll be at the MCM London Comic Con from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th May 2013. They'll be there with cels from anime for sale. They've got cels from Hunter x Hunter, Dragon Ball Z, Transformers, Pokemon, and 2 from Studio Ghibli films!
They've also got some free Otaku News Postcards to give away at their stall. We normally only give these out at anime conventions so they're rare and hard to get. Just head over to their stall and ask for one! If you can't get to the comic con, you can always download our wallpaper which features designs from our postcards.
Update: The details in the Comic Con book aren't exactly clear. The Japanese Gallery can be found at booth 302.
Read More... | Souce: Japanese Gallery
Category > Retail
It's almost time for the MCM London Comic Con which will run from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th May 2013. The good folks from t-shirt company Genki Gear have sent us a reminder about their MCM line up.
Read More... | Souce: Genki Gear
Category > Manga
The good folks from the Kansai Club have sent us details of their Kickstarter to get Osamu Tezuka's The Crater published in English. They intend to publish it as a limited edition run of 2,000 high quality copies.
This is not the first of Tezuka's works to be crowd funded for an English release. Last year DMP ran a successful Kickstarter to get Unico funded.
Read More... | Souce: Kansai Club\'s Kickstarter page
Category > Press Releases
It's almost that time again! The MCM London Comic Con weekend is set to run from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th May 2013. As you'd expect the great folks from Manga Entertainment UK will be there and they'll have lots of lovely things at their booth (number 510).
Cosplayers can have their photo taken for free, plus the best cosplayers can win hundreds of pounds worth of goodies! They'll also have exclusive prizes and offers. They've got DVDs starting at £2 and blu-rays starting at £5. So when you get to the Expo, head over to booth 510.
They've got a ton of prizes to give away too, including a hamper full of anime collectibles worth over £1,000.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Gaming
We love giant robots. What could be better than flying around in space and blowing stuff up in a giant robot? We love them so much that we've teamed up with the good people at Born Ready Games to run a competition. You can win a copy of Strike Suit Infinity (to download via Steam).
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Events
The good folks from Letraset have sent us details of their Manga Alley Art Competition which is set to run at the MCM London Comic Con in May 2013. The theme for this art competition is Onwards and Upwards.
Read More... | Souce: Letraset
Category > Events
As May gets closer, so does the build up for the MCM London Comic Con, which is set to run from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th May 2013. As is tradition for the event the good folks at Genki Gear have prepared an exclusive T-shirt for the event. The theme this time around is the true meaning of emoticons!
Read More... | Souce: Genki Gear
Category > Events
Anime fans who can get to the MCM London Comic Con on Friday 24th to Sunday 26th May will be in for a real treat. Anime director Shinichiro Watanabe will be at the event as Anime Guest of Honour. The director is the man behind Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Kids On The Slope. He also directed two shorts on the Animatrix - Kid's Story and A Detective Story.
Attending all three days of the show, Shinichiro Watanabe will be taking part in on-stage panels and promoting both Anime Limited's upcoming HD release of Cowboy Bebop and the UK debut of his latest series, Kids On The Slope, released by MVM Entertainment.
Kids On The Slope is currently streaming on crunchyroll and is available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on DVD and Blu-rayand other retailers.
Cowboy Bebop Collectors Edition Part 1 is available to pre-order on Blu-ray.
Additionally, if you pre-order Cowboy Bebop from Amazon.co.uk or HMV and bring proof of the pre-order to the show you can receive an exclusive A4 Bebop print to get signed (while stocks last).
Read More... | Souce: MCM London Comic Con
Category > Anime
UK Studio Ghibli Fans will be pleased to hear that Studio Canal will be releasing the classic Miyazaki movie Kiki's Delivery Service on Blu-ray on Monday 27th May 2013. Details are not yet up on the Studio Canal website. You can pre-order the title from Amazon.co.uk.
The title will also be released in Australia by Madman on Wednesday 22nd May 2013.
Souce: Otaku Calendar
Anime fans in the UK will be pleased to hear that MVM Entertainment will be releasing Kids On The Slope Complete Collection on DVD and blu-ray on 24th June 2013. The show is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll. The series is directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (who is best known for Cowboy Bebop and Macross Plus) with music by Yoko Kanno (who is best know for the music behind Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex).
You can pre-order the DVD and blu-ray from MVM's mail order website Anime-on-line. However due to security issues with the site last year, we suggest using a more secure retailer.
Souce: Otaku Calendar
Fans of pirate adventures will be pleased to hear that Manga Entertainment UK will be releasing One Piece! The first DVD release will be One Piece Collection 1 Episodes 1-26 Uncut, it's due out 27th May 2013. As it's the uncut edition they won't have any weird digital editing with Sanji's cigarettes replaced with lollipops.
You can pre-order the collections off Amazon.co.uk:
One Piece Collection 1 Episodes 1-26 Uncut - Release date 27th May 2013
One Piece Collection 2 Episodes 27-53 Uncut - Release date 1st July 2013
One Piece Collection 3 Episodes 54-78 Uncut - Release date 23rd September 2013
One Piece Collection 4 Episodes 79-103 Uncut - Release date 11th November 2013
Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Press Releases
The good folks from Neo Magazine have sent us details of issue 107. It's out now from all good news agents.
Read More... | Souce: NEO Magazine
Category > Retail
We've just heard that popular on-line retailer Play.com will stop "first party retail sales" by the end of March 2013. They intend to focus on it's Marketplace business. Play.com were sold to the Rakuten Group in 2011 for £25m. With the price reflecting the close of the tax loophole that allowed them to sell their DVDs from the Channel Islands, without paying VAT.
This basically means they will not directly distribute goods, but instead act as a market place to allow third party companies to sell stuff.
Read More... | Souce: Play.com
New UK anime company on the block Anime Limited have just announced on Twitter (and other social media) that their first title will be Cowboy Bebop on DVD and Blu-ray. It'll be released sometime in Q3 of 2013. The TV show has been released in the UK a few times on DVD before but has been out of print for a while and UK copies of the DVD are hard to find.
It has never been released on blu-ray in the UK. A hi-def version of the series has the potential to look amazing as the series was cel animated with some CGI, if done properly the blu-ray release would be worth grabbing!
The series was voted number 2 on the top anime of all time list by 11,700 Newtype USA readers (Neon Genesis Evangelion the TV show was voted number 1).
Cowboy Bebop, like Evangelion is one of those landmark must have titles that all anime fans should see. Additionally, Bebop isn't just about the anime, it's also about the music, The Seatbelts (Yoko Kanno's band) do an amazing job on the Bebop soundtrack.
Souce: Anime Limited Twitter Feed
Category > Retail
The good folks from Manga Entertainment UK have just sent us details about a great deal on Play.com selling Dragon Ball Z for £15.99 each. Both titles include free postage.
Dragon Ball Z Season 1 on Play.com
Dragon Ball Z Season 2 on Play.com
Our price aware readers will know that this is currently cheaper than Amazon.co.uk.
Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Press Releases
The good folks from Neo Magazine have sent us details of the latest issue - 105. It's out now from all good news agents.
Read More... | Souce: NEO Magazine