Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 5, 2012 in
Anime 
Earlier this week Bandai announced that they would cease production of video and manga aimed at Americans: This is huge news as this is the company had amazing A+ titles like Cowboy Bebop which you could hardly say were niche. Is this the end for anime in America? No, but the era of dubbed anime titles and translated printed manga seems to be in very bad shape to say the least. Now you can argue that this is part of a larger transition from physical media to digital — and you can also question how good Bandai was or wasn’t at marketing — however to be fair one has to admit that piracy hasn’t helped the industry: And that’s exactly what Kyle Hebert is talking about in this video: Read more…
Tags: Cowboy Bebop
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 30, 2011 in
Anime,
Videogames 
I’m not a big Dragon Age fan, but even I can tell that fans probably won’t be happy with this latest trailer for the Dragon Age anime film by Oxybot. Let’s face it: the CGI is terrible. The only things passable are the dragons, and even then that’s pushing it. It’s almost humorous when they’re treating it so seriously and the animation fails to help that in any way. Also, to help add legitimacy to the whole affair, GACKT is doing the theme song. Yup. Read more…
Tags: Dragon Age
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 23, 2011 in
Anime,
Hobbies and Collections 
I have a huge love for classic anime films, especially Miyazaki. A little Lupin III doesn’t hurt either. Castle of Cagliostro is one of my favorite films, but if you’re a figure collector there’s only been a few worthwhile items out there (although they did make a model of the castle itself). Luckily, Dive has been bringing out several Lupin III figures, with their most recent being a Castle of Cagliostro version of Fujiko Mine. She’s roughly 8 inches tall, and is going for ¥6,825. Read more…
Tags: Castle of Cagliostro, Lupin the 3rd
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 23, 2011 in
Anime 
Now, I don’t always like to bring up every little new anime series that gets announced, because frankly there are too many out there. However, the popularity of Eureka Seven is undeniable and while I had some issues with the first season, it was still a fairly solid series and the fans adore it. So I’m sure they’re happy to be hearing that a second season, called Eureka Seven AO, has been confirmed for April 2012 by the official website. Read more…
Tags: BONES, Eureka Seven
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 15, 2011 in
Anime,
Hobbies and Collections 
In March 2012 Bandai will be releasing the Bravism: Bleach Styling set of Bleach figurines. You can buy them individually or in a pack, and if you’re lucky enough to be in japan on December 17th at the Jump Festa 2012 you can see them in person — but if you can’t make it here’s a preview: Read more…
Tags: Bleach
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 9, 2011 in
Anime 
Given the reputation of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli as a whole, it’s sometimes surprising how little theatrical attention is given to their work. Read more…
Tags: GKIDS, Studio Ghibli
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 7, 2011 in
Animation,
Anime 
What I love about calendars from Japan is that it gives you that something different — something fanboy to look at all year. Read more…
Tags: Anime, Japan
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 26, 2011 in
Animation,
Anime 
In the early 80s two short animation films created for the Diacon science fiction convention would give a start to an animation studio that would become known as Gianax. I first watched these animations on well worn VHS tapes in that era and all these years later the animation still holds up. But it seems that some younger otaku have adopted the shorts and made them their own by doing a recreated and updated 3D version which looks pretty nice — check it out: Read more…
Tags: Anime, Japan
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 14, 2011 in
Anime,
Videogames 
I have to hand it to Atlus. Just when you think they’re ready to move on, they find a way to surprise us. After they announced the Persona 4 anime, and fighting game, I seriously thought that would be the last we saw of the series. It wasn’t long before they announced a port of the original for Sony’s Playstation Vita, which will launch stateside next year. Now, they’re even discussing plans for a stage adaptation of the game to debut next March. The show’s being produced by Marvelous AQL, who some of you might recognize from games like Harvest Moon, and Rune Factory. They also happen to be involved in musical theater, television series, and other forms of media, so they’ve had experience with this sort of thing in the past. In fact, they recently produced a popular musical based on the anime Prince of Tennis.
Read more…
Tags: Atlus, Persona 4
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 11, 2011 in
Anime,
Hobbies and Collections 
This collection of illustrations reminds me of an anime take on those Strawberry Shortcake characters from the 80s: Read more…
Tags: Anime, Fan Art, Japan, manga
