news provided by TokyoPop
Picture perfect: The Kyoto International Manga Museum will be home to “Manga Style — North America,” an exhibition of three North American artists who draw manga-style works. From January 5 through February 5, the gallery will feature superhero comics artist Takeshi Miyazawa, young mens’ manga author Felipe Smith and shojo genre artist Svetlana Chmakova.
Title: Rosario + Vampire Season 1 & 2
Original Story: Akihisa Ikeda (Shueisha)
Director: Takayuki Inagaki (Gonzo)
American Publisher: Funimation
American Release Date: December 20, 2011
Format and Length: DVD, 2 seasons
Genres: Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Shonen
Age Rating: TV MA
Overall Personal Rating: B+
Similar Titles: FLCL, The Familiar of Zero, Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple and Magical Shopping Arcade Abemoboshi
The new Rurouni Kenshin anime project announced the title and Blu-ray/DVD release date for the first of the anime’s two volumes. Aniplex will ship Rurouni Kenshin: Shin Kyoto-Hen Zenpen Homura no Ori (Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc Part I: Cage of Flames) on March 21, 2012. The second volume is slated to be completed next summer. On Friday, the website presented the latest screenshots from the first volume.
City Under Siege Blu-ray & DVD Combo pack
Director: Benny Chan
Writers: Benny Chan & Tsang Kan-cheung
Actors: Aaron Kwok, Shu Qi, Collin Chou, Wu Jing and Zang Jingchu
U. S. Distributor: FUNimation
U. S. Release Date: Dec. 27th, 2011
Format: Blu-ray / DVD / 111 minutes
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action / Adventure
Age Rating: TV 14
Overall Personal Rating: B+
I wonder what the Hulk would do if he was in Malaysia and ran into some very odd and nasty mutants? Well, I bet he would have to become a martial arts expert and knife thrower to boot.
news provided by japantrends.com
At the 19th International Robot Exhibition (IREX) held at Tokyo Big Sight displaying the world’s most advanced, innovative and sometimes plain bizarre robots. Over 270 different companies and organizations joined this year’s theme of “Robot Technology, Making a Future with Robot”. Amongst the technologies on show were singing robots, climbing robots, industrial robots and even a robotic bear like pillow aimed at stoping snoring.
news provided by ANN and Otakomu
Attached to the wraparound jacket band on the 10th volume of Keitar? Takahashi’s Jormungand manga is announcing on Monday that a television anime adaptation by the studio WHITE FOX (Steins;Gate) has been green-lit. The story centers on an underground weapon seller and her accomplices, and it begins when a quiet boy who hates weapons joins the team.
The action manga began in Shogakukan’s Monthly Sunday GX magazine in 2006, and it will end in the February 2012 issue on January 19. Viz Media began releasing Jormungand in North America in 2009, and the company’s English edition of the eighth compiled book will ship on January 10.
New Full Color Art Book Features Illustrations From The Bestselling Manga Series Of All Time And Includes Works Never Seen Before Outside Japan
San Francisco, CA, December 15, 2011 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, has announced the release of a new collection of manga (graphic novel) creator Eiichiro Oda’s artwork from the bestselling pirate adventure, ONE PIECE, with the publication of the ONE PIECE COLOR WALK Vol. 2 on January 3, 2011. The new art book is rated ‘T’ for Teens and will carry an MSRP of $19.99 U.S. / $22.99 CAN.
First look at Steve Wang’s Epic “Mourningstar” Costume
Laguna Hills, CA – December 15, 2011 – Red 5 Studios™ announces the launch of its first professional cosplay program, aimed to encourage and inspire the cosplay community by sponsoring passionate and creative individuals. Well-known cosplayer, Crystal Graziano, has been selected for Red 5’s first yearlong sponsorship. She was chosen from a pool of top cosplayers for her previous quality work and passion for videogame roles.
Tokyo – Dwango Co. and Yamaha Corp. announced that on Dec 16th 2011, a virtual characters live event “Vocafarre!! -Act. 0- ” will be held at Nicofarre in Tokyo’s Roppongi. This event is to celebrate the release of Yamaha’s Vocaloid 3, a singing synthesis software with a female persona that enables
users to synthesize singing by typing in the lyrics and melody.
In the event, the new characters from Vocaloid 3, such as Gumi, Tone Rion, Aoki Lapis, SeeU, CUL, IA, Yuzuki Yukari, Ring Suzune etc, will be introduced on the stage using the latest VR(Virtual Reality) and AR(Augmented Reality) effects, which enable the virtual characters and live performers to be combined.
VIZ Media has extended its recently announced holiday digital manga promotion. Now through Midnight (PST), January 8th, 2012, all VIZ Media manga titles on VIZManga.com and the VIZ MANGA App for the Apple iPad®, iPhone® and iPod® touch will be up to 20% off (regular prices range from $4.99 to $9.99).
The promotion gives readers an opportunity to explore the new SHONEN JUMP DIGITAL WARP ‘speed-ups’ of selected titles such as ONE PIECE and BLEACH, that will quickly bring U.S. readers up-to-date with Japanese releases, catch up with other ongoing VIZ Media manga series, or discover brand new ones!
news provided by TokyoPop and GeekChicDaily
A modern retrospective of the future of fandom
Dress up your coffee table with an otaku’s dream book. LA-based photographer Ejen Chuang trekked across the country in 2009, attending anime conventions and capturing some 1,651 cosplayers during that period. Two years later, Cosplay in America, his 272-page hardcover photography book featuring 260 cosplayers from around the country, will be available at booksellers nationwide in February 2012. Between the publication of his book and a critically-acclaimed cosplay exhibition at The ICON in Los Angeles, running until December 16, this has been a very good year for Chuang and cosplay in general.
If a hardcover book isn’t enough to satisfy your appetite for cosplay, check out Chuang’s site, which features interviews with most of the cosplayers featured in his book, and his YouTube Channel, which serves as a repository for video travelogues of each convention he attended. Can’t make it to a convention? Between Chuang’s book and his videos, you can live vicariously as a virtual otaku.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Volume 8
Written by: Naoyuki Kageyama
U. S. Publisher: Viz Media
U. S. Release Date: Jan 3 2012
Format: Manga/ 208 pages
Genre: Shonen
Age Rating: A for All Ages
Overall Grade: C
Similar Titles: Pokemon
Jaden Yuki, a student of the duel academy, is about to face Aster Phoenix, a member of the American duel academy and a professional duelist. Aster uses Vision Heroes in his deck and this duel will be the premiere of Jaden’s new deck with Masked Heroes. So, this will be a fight between Vision Heroes and Masked Heroes. Jaden may be a good duelist, but is he good enough to defeat Aster?
Naughty or Nice, All Players Get Presents This Year
IRVINE, Calif. – December 13, 2011 – Gamania Digital Entertainment announces its Zodiac inspired social MMORPG, Lucent Heart, has begun its holiday festivities. Players are invited to join the Winter Festival, running through December 31st, for special quests, items, and events.
Trailer: http://youtu.be/M6Cj9_sRiNk
Holiday Quests – In Acadia even the naughty get presents. Players can choose to help out Jolly Father Winter or Naughty Ice Miser for stockings filled with goodies. Exclusive red or black Winter Holiday Sets are waiting to be found.
“The Radius”:
Title: Love Hina; The Complete Collection
Artist/Author: Ken Akamatsu
Distributor: FUNimation
American release date: Nov. 15, 2011
Genre, Format and length: Comedy Shojo Anime, 4 DVDs
Publisher/Industry Age Rating:
Overall Personal Rating: B
Similar series or titles to check out: Ah My Goddess, Negima, Chobits
True love is hard to achieve when a childhood dream gets in the way.
Bigger obstacles are even harder to overcome when they come from within. Can’t you just tell your crush how you feel? No! After all-it’s a comedy, and shojo at that.
Loups = Garous on Blu-ray
Director: Junichi Fujisaku
Studio: Production I. G. and TransArts
Writers: Midori Goto and Sayaka Harada
U. S. Distributor: Sentai Film Works / Section 23
U. S. Release Date: Nov. 29th. 2011
Format: Blu-ray / 98 minutes
Genre: Sci Fiction, Drama, Murder Mystery
Age Rating: TV 14 for Violence
Overall Personal Rating: A-
Similar Titles: Eden of the East
Even when the world seems to have found a way to truly respect life, is it possible for humans to really follow the path, or will the demon buried deep down inside humanity resurface?
news provided by TokyoPop and GeekChicDaily
Get a clue and enter to win a copy of the martial arts mystery today!
Listen up, gumshoe! It’s no mystery that director Tsui Hark (Seven Swords) can craft a fantastic film and his latest creation, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, is a cinematic cocktail of wuxia, mystery, comedy and suspense that goes down smooth. Touted as “Sherlock Holmes meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon…but more fun,” Detective Dee looks set to deliver on that promise in gravity-defying, action-packed spades. Better yet, we’re giving you the chance to win a copy of the film and exclusive swag.
HOUSTON, December 13, 2011 – Home video distributor Section23 Films today announced its March slate of releases; including GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES. Now digitally remastered and restored, it is one of the rare films that truly deserves to be called a masterpiece. It will be released on DVD by Section23 client, Sentai Filmworks.
Product details follow, in order of release
Coming March 2012
Title: GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES REMASTERED EDITION
Published by: Sentai Filmworks
Distributed by: Section23 Films
Run Time: 89 min.
Street Date: 3/6/2012
Title: Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 8
Original Story: Masashi Kishimoto
American Publisher: Viz Media
American Release Date: Oct 11, 2011
Format:3 DVD box set, 12 half hour episodes (300 minutes) episodes 89-100
Genre: Fantasty, Action, Comedy, Ninjas
Rating: T+ for older teen
Overall Personal Rating: C
Synopsis:
Title: 20th Century Boys Vol. 18
Author: Naoki Urasawa
Distributor: Viz Media
American Release date: 12/20/2011
Format: Manga
Genre: Sci Fi, Action
Publisher Age Ratting: T+ (for older teens)
Overall personal ratting: A+
Similar Series: Monster
There is an intruder at the Northern checkpoint and the border patrol is in a panic. It was believed that all the people north of the border were gone, but they have proof that he is there. He calls himself Yabuki Joe and carries a guitar on his back. The border patrol seems to think he’s a space alien but maybe he’s just a crazy guy on a motorbike.
