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Princess Ai Collectible Dolls out in Summer

Date: 2005 May 12 08:32 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Anime

According to ICv2 12" and 7" collectible Dolls of the famous series Princess Ai will be available for sale this summer. Bleeding Edge and LA Based Collectible Manufacturer will be manufacturing the line of collectible dolls.

Geneon Release Anime On PSP

Date: 2005 May 09 18:29 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Anime News Network are currently highlighting a story on Modojo.com about anime on Sony's PSP Handheld system, Geneon Entertainment plan to release Appleseed and Samurai Champloo on UMD on July 5 in North America. Appleseed will be priced at $19.95 only a few cents less than the DVD version, while Samurai Champloo will be $14.98, with the DVD version around $23. It should be noted that the UMD versions will not have the extras that the full DVD versions will have. For more details check a full report on Video Business Online

Souce: Anime News Network

Anime Postage Stamps

Date: 2005 May 07 07:06 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Retail

Japanese ministry of posts and telecommunications will release a set of stamps dedicated to the 'Anime Hero and Heroine' series of stamps during 2005 with the 1st to the 3rd print run designed already.

Anime Costumes Required For WorldCon

Date: 2005 May 02 16:56 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

We've had news from Miki Dennis who is currently organising an international costume display at Worldcon 2005. Currently she is looking for top quality anime costumes, only one or two will be selected, with no money, or prizes involved, but plenty of prestige. She promises transport and secure safe display for the costumes. If you want to take part, e-mail one full length photo per costume to Miki Dennis. The winners costumes will be seen by thousands of people, so cosplayers get submitting! ^_^

Souce: Miki Dennis

Garnier Release Manga Hair Styling Product In UK

Date: 2005 April 26 18:03 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Freaky Things

Anime and manga fans in the UK have always dreamed of their favourite hobby becoming more mainstream, without doubt over the last year or so this has happened. What key indicators are we using for this? Sales figures in highstreet retailers? Availability of manga in bookshops? No, we're using hair products. Anime and manga characters have always been noted for having very distinct hairstyles and beauty products company Garnier have just released Fructis Style Manga Head styling putty in the UK. It seems that either their marketing department are cool and hip or Garnier have found a niche market of otaku who want to emulate their favourite characters.

Tokorozawa City Campaign On-line for Totoro House

Date: 2005 April 26 16:10 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

Following on from our coverage of Satsuki's and Mei's House and how lots of local Japanese governments want to get the house moved into their area, it seems that some of these groups are actually now campaigning on the internet targeting English speaking anime fans!

Tokozawa Junior Chamber Inc Sent us an e-mail, which basically says the same as this page on their site. This is interesting because to our knowledge it's the first time a Japanese organisation has directly targeted anime fans for a political matter like this. The e-mail and webpage want people to fill out an on-line petition, here at Otaku News, we're always cynical of such things, since they don't often carry much weight in the real world and because it's so easy to automatically generate fake results.

Toonami And Cartoon Network This Year

Date: 2005 April 25 12:53 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Anime > TV

Toonami UK will be premiering new Dragon Ball Z movies from Monday 30th May. Also starting will be Pokemon Chronicles and Code Lyoko. Toonami also say that we’ll get a new series of Rave Master later in the year. HiHi Puffy Ami Yumi is also set to start on Monday April 9th at 4pm on Cartoon Network.

Souce: Toonami

Bleach To Become Rock Musical

Date: 2005 April 25 12:17 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Anime

A new Rock Musical based on the popular Anime Series Bleach by Taito Kubo will be launched later this summer. Takuya Hiramitsu known for directing the Hunter x Hunter series and Morning Museme Musicals will take care of directing this project.

Inuyasha Figures In Japan

Date: 2005 April 25 12:02 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Anime

At the End of June new Inuyasha figures will be available in Japan. These figures include Kagome, Inuyasha and Shippou.

Howl's Moving Castle US Release

Date: 2005 April 24 04:39 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Anime > Film

Hayao Miyazaki's latest animated film Howl's Moving Castle, is set to debut in the US on June 10th in L.A, New York and San Francisco and is set to expand to 60 cities by June 17th. Howl's Moving Castle was released nearly a year ago in Japan, bringing in $100 million at the box office.

Skwigly Interviews Mitsuhisa Ishikawa

Date: 2005 April 20 12:38 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Production > Production I.G.

UK animation magazine Skwigly features a brief interview with Mitsuhisa Ishikawa producer of Ghost in the Shell 2 in it's print edition (with the Valiant cover page 15). Among other things it discusses Production IG’s international ambitions and Ishikawa’s strong thoughts on 'British Anime'. The magazine is available from the website.

Souce: Skwigly

IMAF Announce Winners

Date: 2005 April 19 13:51 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The International Manga and Anime Festival have just announced the winners of their first international competition. The London based event started last year as a trial run and has proved very successful indeed. The entrants work was displayed in London County Hall in December. This was a very high profile event, located near the famous London Eye, with a $75,000 prize fund which even ran adverts in national newspapers. We covered the story originally here.

The Otaku News Crew would like to congratulate all the winners in this competition, especially talented artist Wing Yun Man, who is well known in UK anime fandom as part of the Sweatdrop Team, she is also a member of the Otaku News Crew and finds time post the occasional story and draw lovely artwork for us!

Connichi 2005 The Big Anime Convention In Germany

Date: 2005 April 14 16:39 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The folks running Connichi an anime convention being held in Kassel, Germany have sent us their press release for their 2005 convention which will run from Friday the 16th to Sunday the 18th of September.

Last year they had over 7,500 visitors. They plan to have competitions, cosplay, trading card games, an eating contest (yum), a dealers room and even a Go Tournament too! Otaku News have also discovered that like many other European conventions the video programme will have English subbtitles, with one video room in German only. This convention is well worth visiting, so you can even stick around for a week before or afterwards and check out out some of the local tourist sites. The convention will be held in the luxurious Kongress Palais, which quite frankely looks like one of the best venues to host an anime event!

Everyone Wants The Totoro House

Date: 2005 April 12 15:29 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Production > Studio Ghibli

According to the Daily Yomiuri On-Line the Totoro House at the Aichi World Expo 2005 has many local Japanese governments staking their claim to the property.

Many local authorities are keen to get Satsuki's and Mei's 1950's style house from the anime classic Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) moved to their prefecture, not only will it prove a big hit with locals, but it will surely make a major tourist attraction too. The house is already one of the most popular features at the Expo and has been covered on Otaku News before. The Youmiuri article has more details such as "The wooden house was built using joints, not nails, and the glass used in the windows is not new, as the panes were all salvaged from old buildings."

The Otaku News Crew are currently considering collecting signatures so they'll let us live in it! ^_^

Souce: Daily Yomiuri On-Line

Powerpuff Girls Go Anime!

Date: 2005 April 11 17:30 | Posted By: Wing

Category > Anime

News of a Powerpuff Girls anime was announced at the Tokyo International Animation Fair recently. Based on the popular cartoon by Craig McCracken, the anime will be a collaborative effort between Cartoon Network, Toei Animation (Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Digimon) and Aniplex (Ojamajo Doremi, Full Metal Alchemist). The new anime project will be called "Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z" (tentative title). The 'Z' is a possible parody of the Dragonball Z logo, as it is styled in the same way. More info, images and video clips can be seen at this fansite here.

Souce: Anime News Network

One Piece Starts Today

Date: 2005 April 11 09:57 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Anime

One Piece starts today on Toonami UK, fans might want to take note that it starts at 5pm with Rave Master following. One Piece has been dubbed by 4kids the people behind the Pokemon dub.

Souce: Toonami UK

ANN Interview Yoshitoshi ABe and Yasuyuki Ueda

Date: 2005 April 03 16:46 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Those nice people over at Anime News Network have just published an interview with Yoshitoshi ABe and Yasuyuki Ueda. ABe is best known for Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei, while Ueda the producer has been involved in everyone of ABe's shows.

Souce: Anime News Network

Newtype USA April 2005 Issue

Date: 2005 March 30 16:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Those nice folks from Newtype USA have sent us the details of their April Issue, which has features on Fearless Females (including the cute and shocking Elfen Lied and Gunslinger Girl), along an with interview from Seiji Mizushima the director of Fullmetal Alchemist. The free DVD includes the first episodes of Maburaho and Gravion Zwei.

Travels For The Otaku

Date: 2005 March 26 19:00 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

Asahi.com have a very interesting article about the Japanese tourist industry and western otaku who are willing to go to all sorts of lengths to go to the home of anime and manga. Tour companies are now featuring things to please hardcore fans with their primary packages and even local governments in Tokyo are keen to promote anime attractions. Studio’s Pierrot and Ghibli are mentioned in the article.

Souce: Asahi.com

Visit Satsuki's and Mei's House

Date: 2005 March 21 17:28 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

We've been sent details from renowned anime author Helen McCarthy and journalist Ake Sasaki about the World Expo 2005 In Aichi, Japan, it looks like a dreamland for otaku!

For anime fans the highlight has to be Satsuki's and Mei's House, a replica of the house featured in Studio Ghibli's landmark My Neighbour Totoro. Just like the Ghibli Museum, entry to the house is limited to a set number of special ticket holders each day. Expo attendees must enter a lottery in advance to win the privilege of entering the house. As a result some lucky winners have taken to auctioning their tickets on-line, currently the free tickets are going for around $100 USD.

ADV Manga Job Cuts

Date: 2005 March 16 17:36 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The Anime News Network have brought to our attention problems caused by a saturated anime market, this may be good for otaku with plenty to choose from and more anime than you can possibly buy in a month (unless you've got a very big disposable income), according to Publisher's Weekly ADV's manga unit has had to make some cuts. Rumours are that as many as 40 employees have been either transferred to their publishing division (which also produces Newtype USA) or made redundant.

NASA Educate Using Pokemon Cards

Date: 2005 March 04 17:58 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Freaky Things

The keen eyes over at BritAnime have found out that NASA have teamed up with the Pokemon Trading Card Game to develop an in-school education tool! The new Deoxys cards are designed to explore viruses, metorites, DNA and the ozone layer.

Competition: RahXephon On DVD

Date: 2005 February 27 19:21 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The Otaku News Crew have teamed up with the nice people from ADV Films UK who have kindly offered our UK readers the chance to win the complete series of RahXephon on DVD, along with the movie. Two runners up will also get a copy of the movie on DVD!

Naruto for the UK (and Italy)

Date: 2005 February 27 08:23 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Anime

Tucked away on a news item on Anime News Service is the news that Naruto could be heading to the UK! According to ANS ‘Besides the USA the animation's debut in the EU sphere also advances with telecasts planned for Britain and Italy’. This means that Naruto isn’t confirmed for UK and Italian fans but talks are underway. It also appears that merchandise and other Naruto franchises including the incredibly popular Naruto games might be heading this way far sooner than we thought! What’s interesting is that it’s TV Tokyo that made the announcement and not a European or American company. This may mean that the Japanese have finally sat up and started to take note of the way their titles are handled abroad. It’s thought that the very reason Naruto took so long to get licenced was Japanese awareness of it's popularity abroad.

Newtype USA March 2005 Issue

Date: 2005 February 26 11:41 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

The folks at Newtype USA have sent us the details about the March 2005 Issue of their magazine.

They've got some Madlax artwork on the cover that has been exclusively drawn for the Newtype USA, they've also got more coverage of Fullmetal Alchemist and Samurai Champloo, along with Maburaho and Scrapped Princess. The cover DVD has both dub and sub versions of Cromartie High School and Divergence Eve.

Newtype USA Vol. 4, Issue 3 will be available March 1, 2005.

New Media Blasters Series

Date: 2005 February 24 13:01 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Anime

Media Blasters has announced several new titles at their Katsucon panel; Oh! My Goddess TV series, Genshiken, Hinotori, and Phantom. This goes to show that anime is being licensed at an increasingly fast rate, Oh My Goddess TV has only recently been premiered on Japanese TV.

Souce: Anime News Network

Channel 4 To Reveal Viewers 100 Greatest Cartoons.

Date: 2005 February 22 17:22 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Following on from our story last year about Channel 4 viewers voting for their 100 greatest cartoons, the TV programme this vote was taken for will be aired on Sunday 22nd February at 8pm. Channel 4 run shows like this every so often and the last greatest cartoon show had the Simpson's coming in first place. It will be interesting to see where UK voters placed the anime titles.

These shows often interview cast members, production teams and relevant experts, so it will also be good to discover if they actually interviewed an anime expert to talk about the titles in question or if they just used a C-list celebrity.

Souce: Channel 4

Metrocon Seek Human Chess Pieces

Date: 2005 February 20 12:46 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Florida anime convention Metrocon are currently seeking Cosplayer volunteers to participate in their Anime Human Chess Match. So if meet all their terms and conditions and can cosplay as one of the characters listed on their site why not give it a shot? It's also interesting to note that they've got ninja and pirate pawns.

The Otaku News Crew are pondering which anime characters are going to be which pieces, we suspect that Gendo Ikari will be a king for one side, while Rosette Christopher will be a bishop!

Souce: Metrocon

Young Americans Revel In Japanese Pop Culture

Date: 2005 February 20 11:19 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

A syndicated article that appears on Designerz.com covers anime fandom in general and explains that fandom is on the rise with young Americans. It also mentions Katsucon and states how some Japanese exports are edited to local tastes, such as the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, which had footage refilmed with American Actors.

Souce: Designerz.com

Global Anime And Manga Market Worth US$100 Billion

Date: 2005 February 20 11:04 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

J-Marketing.net have just published a story reporting that globally the anime and manga market is worth a massive US$100 billion! Yes, you read that right one-hundred billion US dollars. The article also states that products based on characters from anime and manga always prove very popular.

Souce: J-Marketing.net

An Interview With Frederik L. Schodt

Date: 2005 February 17 18:19 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Animation Insider have published their interview with Frederik L. Schodt and experienced Japanese language interpreter, manga translator, and author, Schodt has written some very excellent books on manga, translated both volumes of the Ghost In The Shell manga as well as many other projects. Schodt is highly respected in the anime and manga community and has even worked the late Osamu Tezuka (who is often regarded as the founder of modern anime and manga). The interview has lots of great bits of information and we really recommend reading it.

Souce: Animation Insider

Naruto Confirmed For US TV Screens!

Date: 2005 February 17 11:34 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Anime > TV

It certainly looks like things have been moving fast behind the scenes. As Cartoon Network confirms Naruto for US screens stating it is to air in the third quarter. Naruto will air in the Toonami slot not adult swim. There's no confirmation yet but that will likely mean some edits.

Also confirmed for the Toonami slot are Pirate series; One piece in May (around the same time it will air in the UK so there is hope for Naruto in the UK too) and comedy Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo.

Toonami is Cartoon Network's anime programming block which airs Saturday nights from 7-11 p.m. (ET, PT).

Souce: Animation Insider

Naruto Now Licensed

Date: 2005 February 15 16:39 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Anime

The anime series Naruto has finally been licensed in North America and Latin America. Questions about the status of the series have become an almost standard joke at conventions. The series has been licensed by ShoPro, which is set to merge with Viz who currently publish the manga in the US Shonen Jump as well as graphic novels.

London MCM Expo Celebrates Anime - Manga & Cosplay

Date: 2005 February 13 17:18 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The folks over at the London Expo Event have sent us details of their anime and manga lineup. Not only will they have Cosplay events on both days, but they've also arranged sponsorship from MVM and Neo Magazine.

Guest wise, the Expo has Teryleryl Rothery who plays Dr. Janet Frasier in Stargate SG-1 and has been a voice actress in Dragon Ball playing Agent Mai in the 1995 dub and Raven in the first Dragon Ball Movie. She's also played A-ko Magami in Project A-Ko and Kodachi Kuno in various Ranma ½ features.

Jonathan Clements Interview By AnimeOnDVD.com

Date: 2005 February 06 16:10 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Production

Incredibly nice guy Paul Jacques over at AnimeOnDVD.com went out to a pub with Jonathan Clements (writer, translator, anime expert etc...), so as well as drinking many beers (as the photo's show ^_-) Paul decided to interview Mr Clements about anime and it's good to see that as always Jonathan is refreshingly honest with his opinions.

The interview is devided into three parts:

Part 1 - in which they try to determine who buys anime, and why there were only 500 people at 1990s conventions when Overfiend sells in the tens of thousands. Jonathan also mentions a new show "Magical Princess Fluffy Tosspot", we belive this is like Schoolgirl Milky Crisis! ^_-

Part 2 - in which they discuss the values of television and ask whether the quality of anime is not strained.

Part 3 - in which they talk of critics and the media’s strange habit of redefining "anime" to mean whatever they need it to mean on any given day.

Souce: AnimeOnDVD.com

The Sagara Family Out Now

Date: 2005 February 06 15:50 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Gaming > PC

Some of our more avid gamer readers will be pleased to hear the details from PCR Distributing/JAST USA. of The Sagara Family, an interactive anime-style game for adults ported to English by G-Collections, like most games of it's genre, the main player has somehow found themselves surrounded by the beautiful members of the all-female Sagaras. Hmmmm, that sounds like a plot from a million other anime series we could list too! ^_-

Little My Maid Shipped

Date: 2005 February 05 14:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Gaming > PC

We've got details in from PCR Distributing Co that JAST USA has shipped dating game Little My Maid. If you're like Piro from MegaTokyo, then no doubt you'll like a dating sim or two.

Toonami UK confirms new anime titles.

Date: 2005 January 08 11:14 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Anime > TV

The UK channel Toonami has confirmed that it has acquired the rights to two new shows: One Piece and Rave master. Rave master will start first in February taking the 17:30 slot. One Piece will begin in April.

Both series are popular action adventure titles based on shonen manga. Rave Master is based on the manga by Hiro Mashima, which is available from Tokyopop, whilst One Piece is based on the pirate manga by Eiichiro Oda available from viz,and has been runing in it's American edition of Shonen Jump.

Toonami also hint that they are looking at a UK adult swim block. Their FAQ mentions a few series, but doesn't mention any of the more adult anime titles it aired as CNX.

Souce: Toonami

Cover Competition - The Anime and Electronics Shopping Guide to Tokyo

Date: 2005 January 06 18:55 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

David Cotterill (aka Dragon) has dropped us a line about his new book - The Anime and Electronics Shopping Guide to Tokyo, a self published using print-on-demand technology to ensure that each copy ordered is as up to date as possible, it's due for publication in February. Currently Dragon is running a competition for his book to design the front cover and inside icons for the book. The winning entry will get a free copy of the book and DVD of your choice from United Publications. More details can be found on Anime.org.uk's News Section.

The Otaku News Crew suggest the winner selects a nice DVD boxset. ^_-

Souce: David Cotterill

AnimationHQ Hosting Wandaba Style Chat Session

Date: 2005 January 05 02:17 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

AnimationHQ have just sent us details of a chat session they'll be hosting:

"AnimationHQ will be starting off 2005 with a special chat session with the cast from ADV's latest anime series, Wandaba Style. Come join us as we welcome voice actresses Monica Rial, Kira Vincent Davis, Nancy Novotny, Hilary Haag, and voice actor/series director John Swasey on Friday, January
7th at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT. This will be Monica's third chat session with AnimationHQ and the first for Kira, Nancy, Hilary, and John. The chat session will be a moderated event.

For further information about our guests, instructions on how to reach our
chatroom, or to connect directly to the chat itself, visit AnimationHQ's "Current Events" page at http://AnimationHQ.net/v2/features/events.htm.

Mark your calendars and we'll see you all there!"

Otaku News readers should already know Monica Rial, she's a riot ^_-

Souce: AnimationHQ

End of an Era? Anime Industry In Crisis!

Date: 2005 January 02 15:44 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The Otaku News Crew are still in holiday mode, which explains our rather relaxed coverage recently (I am aware that a few of the crew have had far too much eggnog and mulled wine over this holiday season). This doesn't mean that the news stops however.

As if it was timed to coincide with Sky Cinema's UK Screenings of Spirited Away the alert folks over at AnimeUKNews.net have discovered that The Telegraph Arts Section has a very interesting article on the future of anime, Hayao Miyazaki's future retirement (Princess Mononoke was supposed to be his last film, as was Spirited Away) and how little an animator in the Japanese animation industry earns.

It explains that animators start as passionate otaku wanting to be part of the industry of their childhood dreams and by the time they are thirty or so realise that most supermarket clerks earn more than them so as a result decide to leave for a better paid job. It then goes on to mention the danger of foreign influences leading to anime it loosing it's appeal and it's soul.

The article has quotes from anime expert, translator and writer Jonathan Clements.

An another interesting part of the article is the bullet point at the end stating that Howl's Moving Castle will be released in the UK in the autumn. The Otaku News Crew look forward to this and will bring you more news on the subject when avaible. ^_-

Souce: Telegraph Arts Section

Evangelion iPod

Date: 2004 December 28 17:06 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Retail

TechJapan have discovered that Bandai Networks will be releasing a special Neon Genesis Evangelion Edition iPod. Only 2,000 of them are available, it has the NERV logo featuring heavily, it's engraved on the back metal casing, it's also on the screen protector and the special headphones. The included carry case has been made to look like Rei Ayanami's plug suit too! ^_^

The Eva iPod based on is the 20 GB model and is set to retail for 47,250 yen.

Souce: TechJapan

London MCM Expo 2005 Is Interested In Anime/Manga Presence!

Date: 2004 December 15 19:30 | Posted By: Voxie

Category > Events

Following up a post made on the boards at www.anime.org.uk, it seems the organisers are very interested in adding some anime and manga presence to the event, held in mid-May next year.

According to the post, plans are already on the go, with anime/manga distributors MVM due to attend. There are also other plans for cosplay and prizes to be up for grabs.

The post also reads that if you (as in anime/manga fans) have any further ideas in mind, you should email them directly at info@londonexpo.com and it is much appreciated.

The event will be held from 14-15th May 2005, at Royal Victoria, London E16. Advance tickets are now available to buy.

London MCM Expo Website: http://www.londonexpo.com

Souce: Anime.org.uk

AyaCon Five: Launch Announcement

Date: 2004 December 14 18:40 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

I've just received the details for AyaCon 5, the next edition of the successful UK anime and manga convention which always proves popular. AyaCon 5 will be held from 19-21 August 2005. Their venue will be the Warwick Arts Centre (University of Warwick near Coventry).

The convention will have use of the entire Arts Centre and extra faclities including a bar, restaurant and additional conference rooms, along with the full nightclub facilities in the nearby Students' Union for two parties on the Friday and Saturday evenings.

Manga Tour of Japan 2005

Date: 2004 December 13 18:08 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Those alert people over at BritAnime have discovered a manga package holiday from 29 March to April 2005 for our British readers.

The price seems good considering the flights and everything, although personally I prefer to go around Japan without a tour guide, discovering things by yourself is a lot of fun! However it is nice to have the option for the less adventurous, or for those who enjoy the convenience of having everything ready for them, especially since many anime fans have a limited Japanese vocabulary, including words such as baka (idiot), which doesn't really go down well when you're trying to book a hotel room!

The 8 day trip includes a visit to the Tokyo International Animation Fair, the fantastic Ghibli Museum, a visit to Akihabara (for all your electronic needs) and also the wonderful Meiji shrine, with huge Tori gates by it's entrance.

Souce: JapanJourneys.co.uk

US Game Pirates Arrested.

Date: 2004 December 12 18:20 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Current Affairs

Reuters are reporting on arrests of Game pirates in Washington D.C., for selling modified games consoles which are able to play pirated video games, the machines in question already had 15 games copied across. This is an interesting story, because it is not clear in the article if the modifications have been done for "backup purposes", or just for the sake of piracy. It should also be noted that Anime News Network mention that the retailer in question had been boycotted in the past at Otakon 2000 because they were selling bootleg anime.

Souce: Yahoo! News

Move Over, Mickey Mouse-san

Date: 2004 December 12 17:31 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The Associated Press have a good write up on the Success of anime in the US, it features John Ledford of ADV Films, who describes ADV as the "anti-Disney". Since it's syndicated, it appears on quite a few news sites. Well known store Wizzywig Collectibles gets mentioned too. We recommend that you check out The Sun Herald's copy of it, even if you don't live in the South of Mississippi. ^_-

Souce: The Sun Herald

December 2004 London Anime Club Update.

Date: 2004 December 08 18:47 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

Following on from our previous article, where we guessed that the Christmas London Anime Club attendance would be higher than their last largest recorded attendance in April, when over 206 anime fans visited for the club's 10th anniversary.

This months LAC attendance was high, but not high enough to beat their previous record with around 165 anime fans showing up. As always Christmas treats were available with free entry to the London Anime Club for December, along with a raffle where people won items ranging from an Xbox to Newtype USA and Neo Magazine. Interestingly, there were lots of new faces at this months LAC. There are always new people showing up, but for some reason this month seemed to have a larger amount of new attendees than normal.

Souce: Otaku News

Anime Network Issuse A Call To Arms For All Anime Fans

Date: 2004 December 07 17:08 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > TV

The Otaku News Crew have just received a newsletter from Anime Network the cable and satellite channel that broadcasts nothing but anime (yay).

They've issued a "call to arms for all Anime Fans" with the headline:
"Anime Fans of America: YOUR TIME IS NOW!"
The newsletter states that Anime Network's continued operation and expansion is in jeopardy and to help improve things the channel wants anime fans to either fax or e-mail the cable companies' decision makers directly via www.theanimenetwork.com. The Anime Network also advise you to get everyone you know to do the same. You can even phone Comcast directly on (215) 665-1700 and say that you'll switch for Anime Network.

The Otaku News crew are uncertain how necessary this is, if it's a marketing ploy from the very clever folks at Anime Network, or if they are indeed in trouble and need fan support.

Souce: Anime Network

December 2004 Biggest London Anime Club yet?

Date: 2004 December 04 15:58 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

The London Anime Club is the largest anime club in the UK, in some ways it's a bit like a mini anime convention, but with fewer a cosplayers. Located in the City of London the LAC's central location means anime fans from around the country make a monthly trip every first Sunday of the month to watch anime and talk to like minded fans.

To date the London Anime Club's largest recorded attendance was 206 people for their 10th anniversary in April 2004. The Otaku News Crew are guessing that tomorrows LAC will be the biggest one yet, since more people are getting into anime and manga all the time and Christmas LACs tend to have high attendances. Fans often like to meet up around Christmas time too, especially since the London Anime Club does not run in January, as the first Sunday of the year is in the Holiday season. The Otaku News Crew will report back with the attendance figures as soon as we get them! Before we do, some of us (as always) will be at the London Anime Club, if you're there too, find us and say hello! We want to know what our readers think! ^_-

Souce: Otaku News

Newtype USA Vol. 3, Issue 12 Out Now

Date: 2004 December 04 12:09 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Newtype USA Vol. 3, Issue 12 Out Now

The folks from Newtype USA have just sent us details for their December issue, which is out now. It has a cover feature on Ah! My Goddess, with details on the OVAs, the movie and the TV series which is currently being produced in Japan.

Other features include details on shows like Chrono Crusade, Samurai 7, Wolf's Rain and Gankutsuou.

The Otaku News Crew recommend that you take a look at the two page feature on Howl's Moving Castle, which has some nice shots of the Ghibli artwork and we also suggest you read their Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide, since that way you'll know what to buy us for Christmas! ^_-

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