Category > Anime
The good folks from anime distributors Anime Limited have just announced they've teamed up with anime studio STUDIO4°C to launch a Kickstarter for animated film Mind Game to help bring about a blu-ray release. The film is directed by Masaaki Yuasa who is best known for anime The Tatami Galaxy, The Tatami Galaxy, plus the series 6 episode of Adventure Time Food Chain.
Masaaki Yuasa also worked with Production I.G to create Kick-Heart, we interviewed Production I.G. asking them what it's like to work with the director.
Anime Limited are no strangers to successful crowd funding campaigns having launched Mai Mai Miracle campaign, then later a Patema Inverted UK Kickstarter which was funded in 5 hours!
The Mind Game Kickstarter launches on Thursday, 30th March at 12pm BST.
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
Anime fans will want to head over to the Glasgow Film Festival 2017 Screening of A Silent Voice. The good folks from All The Anime (aka Anime Limited) tell us that the director Naoko Yamada will make a rare trip abroad to promote the film at the festival.
She'll be attending the screening of the film on Thursday 23rd February 2017, this will be followed by a Q&A session with the director. This session will be hosted by anime expert Jonathan Clements.
This a great and rare opportunity to ask the director about this film. As always, we advise booking tickets early to avoid disappointment.
For those that can't catch it in in Glasgow, or at the ICA London this weekend. A Silent Voice will also be released theatrically across the UK on Wednesday 15th March 2017.
Read More... | Souce: All The Anime
The good folks from Manga Entertainment UK have sent us details of their latest acquisition. They now have the UK home video rights for Saban's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. From April 2017, they'll be releasing the original Saban's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Charge and Power Rangers Dino Super Charge.
Recently Manga Entertainment UK have released various children's movies, including the original Pokemon movies (along with more recent releases such as Pokemon The Movie: Hoopa And The Clash Of Ages), and the original 1980's Transformers Movie (in a newly remastered edition). We suspect that the nostalgic market for adults wishing to relive their childhood and parents wishing to show their kids what TV used to be like has produced promising sales for these titles.
We also think that the upcoming 2017 live action Hollywood remake/reboot of The Power Rangers will result in good sales for adults wanting to rediscover the show and kids who want to see the original source material.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
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
The good folks from Anime Limited have just sent us details about their Your Name screening. The film has grossed £108,372 at the UK and Irish Box Offices across 104 screens. They tell us it breaks the record for a single day gross and is the widest ever screen release for an anime film.
During the campaign the film received positive praise from the mainstream press including Mark Keromode who gave it a great review on his film show and on his film column
If you've missed the movie you can find a screening of Your Name by going to YourNameTheMovie.co.uk, alternatively you can see if there will be another screening near you via the on-demand cinema platform Our Screen.
You can read our review of the movie and our interview with director Makoto Shinkai.
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
Category > Events
While Makoto Shinkai is in London promoting is latest smash hit move Your Name, it might be a good time to remind UK readers that they can catch it nationwide on a special one day screening on Thursday 24th November 2016. You can check the official Your Name Movie UK Website to find a screening near you. We suggest you book early to avoid disappointment.
We don't say smash hit lightly either, it's grossed more than $100 million USD at the Japanese box office and is on track to be the 5th highest grossing movie in Japanese box office history.
If you're a fan of Makoto Shinkai, you might not be aware of the special artbook, A Sky Longing for Memories: The Art of Makoto Shinkai. It's a lavish full colour artbook which is packed with art from many of the movies he directred, with hundreds of background from 5 Centimeters per Second, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, Voices of a Distant Star, and a TV advertisement for the Mainichi Newspaper. It doesn't feature Your Name, as it was published before the film was released, it does however feature a section on software and techniques behind CoMix Wave’s animation, which. This English also features an interview with Makoto Shinkai and other key members of his studio. You can buy the book from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.
If you're already a fan, you should already be aware of The Place Promised in Our Early Days / Voices of a Distant Star Twin Pack on Blu-ray and DVD. That's due out on Monday 21st November 2016. It's in full collectors packaging along with another artbook. You can pre-order this from Amazon.co.uk.
Souce: Your Name the Movie UK Website
Category > Events
In case our UK readers haven't already guessed, it's almost time for the MCM London Comic Con. UK anime company Manga Entertainment have just sent us a press release detailing their antics at the event. As always they have a big presence at the Comic Con. They'll be running an Anime Karaoke, hosting a panel revealing their newest acquisitions and distribution plans. On the Friday at 3.30pm they'll be showing a mini showcase for In This Corner of the World which includes trailers for the film and a clip.
They'll also be supporting charity Polished Man. The press release mentions a way to get stickers from Manga Entertainment too, we're keen to grab some, we bet you might be too!
MCM London Comic Con is set to run from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th October 2016 at Excel London.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Events
We've already mentioned that Psycho-Pass director Naoyoshi Shiotani will be at the MCM London Comic Con this October. We've just heard from the good folks at MCM that Evangelion animator Takeshi Honda will also be at the event. He worked on the original Neon Genesis Evangelion and went back for the reboot acting as mechanical animation director on Evangelion: 1.0, animation director on Evangelion: 2.0 and then chief animation director on the latest in the series, Evangelion: 3.0.
He's got lots of top titles on his CV too, being involved in Millennium Actress, Perfect Blue, Ponyo, The Wind Rises and The Boy and the Beast. Such an industry veteran will have lots of interesting insights to reveal.
MCM London Comic Con is set to run from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th October 2016 at Excel London.
Read More... | Souce: MCM London Comic Con
Category > Events
When it comes to anime guests the MCM London Comic Con never disappoints. For this Comic Con they've just announced the special anime guest of honour Psycho-Pass director Naoyoshi Shiotani. Best known for directing dystopian future anime, he's also directed Tokyo Marble Chocolate and worked on Production I.G’s first 3DCG animated feature, Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror.
He'll be at the comic con to present an on-stage panel as well as signing autographs. So if you fancy getting your Dominator signed, now's your chance!
MCM London Comic Con is set to run from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th October 2016 at Excel London
Read More... | Souce: MCM London Comic Con
Category > Anime
We've got news from the good folks at the BFI, who'll tell us that Makoto Shinkai’s "Your Name" to Screen in Competition at the 60th BFI London Film Festival. This is significant as for for the first time in its history, it will host a Japanese animated film in the competition.
Makoto Shinkai's new film, which blends comedy, drama, heartbreak and wonder, will also open nationwide at 78 UK cinemas on Thursday November 24th 2016.
We caught up with Makoto Shinkai and interviewed him last time he was at the BFI promoting 5 Centimeters Per Second.
Read More... | Souce: BFI
Category > Events
Anime fans heading to MCM Scotland Comic Con in Glasgow will be interested in this anime guest of honour. Reo Kurosu is an anime producer with an impressive list of top titles to his name, including Fullmetal Alchemist, The Heroic Legend of Arslan and the new Berserk adaptation. We really want to ask him questions about the the fan favourite Saint Young Men.
He'll be presenting a panel on the Saturday of the Glasgow show, as well as meeting fans on both days of the event.
The event is set to run from Saturday 24th to Sunday 25th September 2016 at the SECC.
Read More... | Souce: MCM Scotland Comic Con
Category > Culture
Fans of Japanese Culture looking for something to do over Christmas will want to to head to the Southwark Playhouse in London. They'll be hosting the world premiere of a brand new theatrical adaptation of Kiki's Delivery Service. The play is based on the best selling book by Eiko Kadono, and was adapted into a much loved film by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.
The play is set to run from Thursday 8th December 2016 until Sunday 8th January 2017.
The Southwark Playhouse have previously hosted a production of Howl's Moving Castle in 2012.
They've yet to announce any casting or creative details. We'll be very curious as to who they cast for Jiji, if it'll be a human or some kind of stage craft puppetry.
This is all we can reveal at this stage, and we're keen to book tickets already! As always when tickets are release, we suggest you book early to avoid any disappointment.
Read More... | Souce: Southwark Playhouse
Category > Events
Fans of Nintendo with an artistic streak will be interested to hear about Uniqlo's UTGP'17 T-shirt design competition. The grand prize is £7,000 and will be judged by Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto (along with a special team of judges). The design competition is open world wide. The theme is simply Nintendo. So if you've got an idea for a Nintendo themed t-shirt you've been itching to get made, now is the time to get submitting!
The winning t-shirts will be sold through Uniqlo in Spring 2017.
The competition is due to close on Wednesday 31st August 2016.
Read More... | Souce: Uniqlo
Category > Anime
We've just been sent details from Animatsu Entertainment, an affiliate company of Manga Entertainment UK. They've just announced that they've secured global distribution rights animated feature In This Corner of the World. The film is based on the the award-winning manga written by Fumiyo Kouno. It tells the tale of Suzu, who in 1944 moves to the small town of Kure in Hiroshima.
This is an interesting move by Animatsu, until now they've mainly acquired rights to distribute titles in the UK and Ireland. Often partnering with American and Australian anime companies for resources such as the subtitles and English language dub. We asked Animatsu to elaborate on their new acquisition strategy, but they can't divulge anything as yet.
Read More... | Souce: Animatsu Entertainment
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
Category > Events
It's not long until it's time again for the MCM London Comic Con. They're always a treat for anime fans having already announced that they'll be hosting hosting the EU premiere of Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin III plus Sunrise Special Guests. Keen to keep anime fans content, they've also got anime director Michael Arias who made Tekkonkinkreet and produced the Animatrix. He'll be at the Comic Con to talk about his latest film Harmony. He's CV is like an otaku's dream which includes working closely with Studio Ghibli on Miyazaki masterpieces Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.
The MCM London Comic Con is set to run from Friday 27th to Sunday 29th May 2016 at the Excel Centre in London.
Michael Arias will also be at the BFI Southbank London - Anime Weekend 2016.
Read More... | Souce: MCM London Comic Con
Category > Events
Mecha fans in the UK will want to head over the MCM London Comic Con this May. The major geek event have just announced mecha designer and producer, Mika Akitaka and Osamu Taniguchi will be guests at the Comic Con. They'll also host the EU premiere of Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin III. They'll both be signing autographs for fans and presenting a panel on the Saturday of the Excel London show.
The MCM London Comic Con is set to run from Friday 27th to Sunday 29th May 2016 at the Excel Centre in London.
Read More... | Souce: MCM London Comic Con
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
Category > Events
Fans of Japanese culture looking for something fun to do near Christmas will be interested in Hyper Japan Christmas Market. It's set to run from Friday 27th to Sunday 29th November 2015 at Tobacco Dock in London.
There's a ton of things to do at this event. They'll be lots of Japanese food, plenty of stalls with things to buy. Along with a whole host of musical performances from the virtual artist IA to the the cute and rather strange Lady Baby.
Cosplayers and fashion fans will be well represented too.
Anime fans will be pleased to hear that anime studio Production I.G will be represented too with anime director Naoyoshi Shiotani (who directed the Psycho-Pass TV series and movie) and producer Rui Kuroki, who will be giving talks throughout the event.
Read More... | Souce: Hyper Japan Christmas Market
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
Category > Manga
The good folks from publishers Stone Bridge Press have just sent us details for a new book out in July 2016. They'll be publishing The Osamu Tezuka Story A Life in Manga and Anime by Toshio Ban & Tezuka Productions. This is going to be a huge book weighing in at over 900 pages, it covers the entire life of Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astro Boy and man seen as the founding father of modern manga and anime.
This book is translated by Frederik L. Schodt. He's known for many things in including translating the original Ghost In the Shell manga into English (with Toren Smith). He's also written numerous award winning books books on manga. He knows his stuff!
You can pre-order the book from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
Stone Bridge Press publish high quality books on Japanese culture, anime and manga. They're the publishers behind the The Anime Encyclopedia.
Read More... | Souce: Stone Bridge Press
Category > Events
The good folks at MCM London Comic Con have just sent use details about an anime panel running at the Cominc Con on Sunday. It'll be presented by Eri Suziki from Sunrise's international department and it'll focus on the Gundam franchise and the next phase of their partnership with UK anime firm Anime Limited.
Sunrise are best known for being the studio behind Gundam, they've also created the anime versions of Cowboy Bebop, Love Live, Code Geass and Tiger & Bunny to name a few.
Anime Limited are also running the MCM Loves Anime Event on the Saturday.
The MCM London Comic Con is set to run from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th October 2015.
Read More... | Souce: MCM London Comic Con
Category > Events
We keep saying that the MCM Comic Con keep having interesting anime guests at their events. The October run of the MCM London Comic Con is no different. This time around Shigeto Koyama will be the anime guest of honour. He's been responsible for the design of Big Hero 6's robot Baymax, and been involved with Kill la Kill and Hideaki Anno's Rebuild of Evangelion movies. He's got a whole host of credits to his name for A-list anime titles including Gurren Lagann, Space Dandy and Ghost in the Shell SAC: Solid State Society.
The MCM London Comic Con is set to run from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th October 2015. Anime fans will also be interested in the MCM Loves Anime side event.
Read More... | Souce: MCM London Comic Con
Category > Events
Anime fans in Glasgow are in for a treat, we've already mentioned Scotland Loves Anime 2015, however just before that the MCM Scotland Comic Con is set to run on Saturday 26th to Sunday 27th September 2015. The anime guests this time around are are WIT Studio's Kotomi Deai and Hiroshi Shimizu. WIT Studio are best known for the megahit anime Attack on Titan.
Both are experienced in the anime industry, and have been involved in titles such as The Rolling Girls, Silver Spoon, Kids on the Slope, Sword Art Online, Samurai Champloo and Space Dandy.
They'll be presenting panels, meeting fans and signing autographs at the Comic Con.
This is not first time WIT Studio staff have appeared at an MCM Event, we caught up with WIT Studio at the October 2013 MCM London Comic Con. The next MCM London Comic Con set set to run from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th October 2015.
Read More... | Souce: MCM Scotland Comic Con
Category > Anime
Anime fans in Scotland are in for a treat this October as popular anime film festival Scotland Loves Anime returns to Edinburgh and Glasgow for it's 6th consecutive year. They'll also have some screenings in Aberdeen too.
Scotland Loves Anime have just announced the event is set to run in Glasgow from Friday 9th to Sunday 11th October 2015 and Edinburgh from Monday 12th to Sunday 18th October 2015. The line up as always is awesome. They've got all sorts of anime, plus the new live action Attack on Titan movies. Guest wise anime director Keiichi Hara who recently directed Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai, will be at Glasgow, along with renowned anime expert Jonathan Clements (saying he's an expert is a bit of an understament, as) he's written tons about anime in books and magazines, plus is the co-author of the The Anime Encyclopedia.
Scotland Loves Anime 2015: Edinburgh Line-Up
Monday 12th to Sunday 18th October 2015
Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai
Empire Of Corpses
Expelled From Paradise
The Case Of Alice & Hana
Dragonball Z: Resurrection ‘F’
Attack On Titan – Live Action Film 1
The Last: Naruto The Movie
Boruto: Naruto The Movie
Love Live! The Movie
Madoka Magica – Film 3: Rebellion
Attack On Titan – Part 1
Attack On Titan Part 2 – Jiyuu No Tsubasa
Ghost In The Shell: The New Movie (2015)
Scotland Loves Anime 2015: Glasgow Line-Up
Friday 9th to Sunday 11th October 2015
Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai
Empire Of Corpses
The Case Of Alice & Hana
Dragonball Z: Resurrection ‘F’
Attack On Titan – Live Action Film 1
Attack On Titan – Live Action Film 2
Boruto: Naruto The Movie
Read More... | Souce: Scotland Loves Anime
Category > Anime
Anime fans keen to know about the origins of their hobby will be very interested to tune into NHK World this weekend to catch Artist in Motion: Anime Pioneer Osamu Tezuka. The documentary looks at the famed manga and anime creator who often considered the founding father of modern anime. It focuses on the triumphs and tribulations of an artist driven to new forms of expression.
It will be broadcast on NHK World on
Saturday 29th August
23:10
Sunday 30th August
5:10, 10:10 and 17:10
All times are in UTC (as NHK world is a global channel).
NHK World is free to access, and is broadcast on most satellite providers. It broadcasts it's content in English, either dubbed into English, or in Japanese with English subtitles. Details on how to watch it can be found here.
UK based readers can find NHK World on:
Sky Channel 507
Freesat Channel 209
Virgin Media (with certain packages) Channel 625
Australian based readers can catch it on Foxtel Channel 656
American readers can get it with different cable or satellite providers.
You can also watch a live stream on the NHK World Website or download their live streaming app for your tablet or smartphone.
Read More... | Souce: NHK World
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
Category > Events
The MCM London Comic Con frequently has top notch anime guests of honour. It seems now that the good people at MCM are expanding and bringing an anime guest of honour to their MCM Manchester Comic Con event. Space Dandy's Kimiko Ueno will be the guest of honour at the event which is set to run from Saturday 25th to Sunday 26th July at Manchester Central.
She's a script writer for anime Space Dandy and also written scripts for favourites such as Crayon Shin-chan.She'll be their signing autographs and presenting an on-stage panel on how anime screenplays are developed. This is an interesting part of anime production that will be good to gain insights on!
Space Dandy Season 2 will be available in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray from Monday 3rd August 2015.
Read More... | Souce: MCM Manchester Comic Con
Category > Fandom
It's unusual to ask our readers this! Are you a UK based single male anime fan, looking for romance? A production company making a documentary for Channel 5 are looking for eligible bachelors who are interested on going out on a date for the documentary with another anime fan. The lady in question is an anime fan and loves attending conventions.
So if you're looking to find a like minded individual, a bit of romance, while on TV, now's your chance!
Read More... | Souce: ITN Productions
Category > Events
The MCM London Comic Con is almost here for it's May run. They always have top notch Japanese guests, and this time around it's no exception. For the May 2015 London Comic their Anime Guest of Honour is Hidetaka Tenjin the mecha illustrator, sci-fi artist and mechanical designer. He's worked as a mechanical artist on titles such as Macross Zero, Macross Frontier, Macross Frontier: The False Diva and Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye. Other anime credits include Hellsing Ultimate, Gundam Evolve, Genesis of Aquarion and its sequel series Aquarion Evol.
He's been invited by Viewster the on-line streaming service that has a great selection of anime which we've covered before.
Hidetaka Tenjin will be meeting fans on Friday and Saturday at the event. The MCM London Comic Con is due to run from Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th May 2015.
Read More... | Souce: MCM London Comic Con
The good folks from UK based anime company Anime Limited have sent us the details of their newest acquisition. Miss Hokusai, a film from anime studio Production I.G (best known for all the Ghost In the Shell titles, plus so much top notch anime). The movie is based on the manga Sarusuberi by Hinako Sugiura.
It's yet to be released in cinemas in Japan! It opens in Japan on 9th May 2015, with a UK and Irish cinematic release following in October to November of this year, with a home video release to follow.
Production I.G are well known for their high quality animation, so it'll be interesting to see what this feature is actually like.
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
Category > Anime
Things are getting interesting in the UK anime industry. We've just received details about a new UK anime distributor animatsu. The company has been set up by former Manga Entertainment UK employees Jerome Mazandarani and Andrew Hewson.
They've partnered with Manga Entertainment UK who will provide Animatsu with key backend services including sales and distribution.
Animatsu have also closed a UK license deal with Sentai Filmworks for 8 brand new titles including Blade And Soul, Comic artist and His Assitants and Coffin Princess. They also state they're negotiating for more titles too. The company will reveal more titles in the up coming issues of Neo and MyM magazines.
Read More... | Souce: Animatsu Entertainment
The good folks from Manga Entertainment UK have sent us details about the delayed blu-ray and DVD release of Evangelion 3.33. They confirm that the release has been pushed back indefinitely, but they will still be releasing the title. There is currently no set date for the anime features release.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Anime
We've just received a press release from the good folks at Anime Limited. They've just told us about their newest recruit Jeremy Graves. Although new to the company roster he's not new to the anime industry. Regular anime fans will be familiar with his role as Manga Entertainment UK's Community Liaison and regularly replied to anime fans on Twitter, as well regular appearances on the Manga UK Podcast,
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
Category > Anime
UK based anime fans will be pleased to hear about a competition we're currently running. The good folks from Anime Limited have given us one copy of Giovanni's Island to give away on Blu-ray.
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
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
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
Category > Production > Studio Ghibli
The internet has lit up with the news that Studio Ghibli is to close down. Being the internet it's also full of misinformation. According to sources, Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki said on the MBS Channel that they're restructuring Studio Ghibli. They are considering closing animation department. Many speculators in the industry are not surprised by this.
Kotaku have a good analysis of the story and it's details. As they correctly point out, an event like Studio Ghibli closing down would be all over Japanese News sources. Currently it is not.
Update: We've changed the source of this article to Kotaku, as they have a great analysis of what's going on.
Read More... | Souce: Kotaku
Category > Features
A few weeks ago two of the production staff behind the Blue Exorcist Movie were visiting the May 2014 MCM London Comic Con. They were there to promote Manga Entertainment's UK release and catch up with fans. We were lucky enough to meet and interview Takamitsu Inoue the film's Producer and Atsushi Takahashi the director.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
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 folks from Anime Limited have sent us details of their soon to run Kickstarter. This is to enable the company to produce a definitive edition of the movie for UK home release.
The film will be hitting select UK cinemas from Friday 2nd May 2014.
Producing an ultimate edition like this with so many awesome extras can be risky, as it can be hard to gauge the demand for this kind of release. Launching a Kickstarter is a sensible way to figure out the demand. Anime Limited are not new to Kickstarter. They recently ran a hugely successful campaign for Mai Mai Miracle, that smashed stretch goal after stretch goal.
Read More... | Souce: Patema Inverted Kickstarter
Category > Anime
The big news in anime circles this week has been from Anime Limited and their Kickstarter campaign to bring Mai Mai Miracle to home video.
Within the first 18 hours the Kickstarter hit it's $30K (USD) funding goal. So now they're going for a stretch goal. If they hit the goal of $60K, they'll be able to fund a dub. At the time of writing (with 26 days left on the Kickstarter), they have reached just over $54K. You can keep up to date with news about the Kickstarter here or check out Anime Limited's own website.
Souce: Mai Mai Miracle Kickstarter
Category > Events
It's that time of year again when the MCM London Comic Con announce their guests. Anime fans are in for a treat as they've got Studio WIT, the studio behind the anime version of Attack on Titan.
Present at the event will be producer George Wada, Katsuhiko Kitada (character designer on Hal, animation director for Attack On Titan), Tetsuya Nakatake (animation producer for Attack On Titan) and one of the studio's rising stars, Ryotaro Makihara. They'll be their to show off their latest movie Hal.
The MCM London Comic Con is set to run from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th October 2013. We don't yet know if the London ExCel centre is a suitable venue for using 3D maneuver gear or defending from hoards of man eating giants, I'm sure we'll find out in October though!
Read More... | Souce: MCM London Comic Con
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
Category > Features
For most otaku it would be a dream come true to be contacted by an anime studio wanting to use their home as a location in a new anime series. For Caron Cooper, it is just the latest unlikely chapter in her incredible life story.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Events
The good folks from NHK World have sent us details of their latest European adventures.
They'll be at the Japan Expo 2013 in Paris from 4th to 7th July 2013. NHK world will have a host of events at the Expo, highlights include a Shironuri Makeup Session with leading shironuri artist Minori.
We've been told that they'll also be at Hyper Japan 2013 in London on Friday 26th to Sunday 28th July 2013.
For the latest event schedule, please visit their Japan Expo 2013 Website.
UK based readers will be pleased to hear that you can now watch NHK World on Virgin Media Channel 625, along with FreeSat Channel 209 or on Sky Channel 507.
Read More... | Souce: NHK World
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 anime fans will want to head over to the BFI Southbank in London on Thursday 4th April 2013 for a very special screening of 009 Re:Cyborg. The director Kenji Kamiyama will be there for a QA session, he also directed the hugely popular Ghost in the Shell: SAC, along with Eden of the East.
If you're in the UK and can't get to London, fear not 009 Re:Cyborg will be hitting UK cinemas in June 2013. It'll be released by new anime company on the block Anime.Ltd.
Read More... | Souce: BFI Southbank
Category > Culture
A few months ago, we posted some exciting news about Princess Mononoke being adapted for the stage. The Whole Hog Theatre are about to start auditions for the stage adaptation!
Auditions will be open to all, but the number of people they can see will be limited. The roles will be unpaid and voluntary (as are all roles within Whole Hog Theatre), but this is a great chance to get involved with an amazing theatrical event. People wishing to audition will need to sign up on-line from 8am on Thursday 25th October 2012.
Audition dates as follows:
Thursday 22nd November 2012 - New Diorama Theatre, London
Friday 23rd November 2012 - The Band Factory, Leamington Spa
Saturday 24th November 2012 - Warwick University Campus, Coventry
They'll also be looking for technical people too, such a Set Designer, Costume Designer, Technical Manager / Lighting Designer, Stage Manager, plus Hair and Makeup Design.
Read More... | Souce: The Whole Hog Theatre
Category > Events
London based Studio Ghibli fans will be pleased and surprised to hear about the world's first staging of Princess Mononoke. Hayao Miyazaki's renowned title is being transferred to the stage by the Whole Hog Theatre Company.
The performance will use be using "giant puppets made from recycled materials, visceral, physical storytelling and original live music".
This project has been in the works for over a year.
Performances are set to take place from Tuesday 2nd to Saturday 6th April 2013 at the New Diorama Theatre in London. Tickets are available now for £12.50 or £10.50 for concessions.
Update: The tickets have sold out for the weekend already, you can still buy tickets for the Wednesday.
Read More... | Souce: New Diorama Theatre