Eleven Engaging Japanese Calendars for 2011
As an anime fanboy I think one of my most bitter lessons one year was waiting until the last minute to order my new year’s calendar — sadly every one was grabbed up. Part of the reason for this is that often the Japanese fans will grab them quite a bit in advance leaving the sad crumbs for poor gaijin otaku like myself. Well I learned my lesson and I started to plan my wall decor well in advance. Shown here are my top suggested picks for 2011 starting with the beautiful Bleach (B) 2011 Calendar shown above. Here are my other favorites:
Totoro 2011 Calendar Go Go Cart ~ Ghibli Desktop
It’s hard to not love Totoro: What I love about this calendar is that it sort of doubles as a toy!
For those who don’t know Pixiv is THE illustration website, and this calendar does a nice job of showcasing that.
The Borrower Arrietty 2011 Calendar
Borrower Arrietty will be the big Studio Ghibli film for 2011 — owning the calendar is a great way to celebrate the film before it comes out.
Maid Sama! ~ Kaicho wa Maid-sama 2011 Calendar
I became a fan of Maid Sama! when I started reading the manga, the calendar here shows off the anime series.
Kamen Rider for me represents everything cool about early 70s Japanese TV, this calendar does a nice job of capturing some of that magic.
Ikki Tousen ~ X Treme X Ecutor 2011 Calendar
Ikki Tousen is best described as cheesy cheesecake sci fi, and this calendar takes that theme to the X Treme.
Not all anime has to look like a manga drawing: Dokodemo Issho is the cat mascot from one of Japan’s national TV stations.
And in contrast to Dokodemo Issho the artist Hajime Okamoto does a wonderful job of taking the look of old school Japanese artwork and adding a touch of whimsy with his Lucky Cat illustrations.
This calendar is for the girls — although another cool aspect of this T.M. Revolution calendar is that it also features some nice illustrative typography in addition to the beefcake.
Yuko Oshimia is a super kawaii looking member of the J-pop group AKB48; although if you’re not the marrying type the cover photo may scare you off.
My thanks to Peter Payne of Jlist for helping out with this article!