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Gunslinger Girl UK DVD boxset release details

Date: 2007 April 03 16:22 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > DVD

We've been sent some details from Revelation Films about the UK DVD release of the Gunslinger Girl boxset. All three volumes will be released in a collectors boxset on 21st May 2007, Catalogue Number FUN72700. It retails for around £29.99, but if you hunt about Play.com are taking Preorders for £23.99.

Souce: Revelation Films

Hokusai's Mount Fuji

Date: 2007 April 02 16:11 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Art

The nice people at Abrams have sent us details of a new book they're publishing Hokusai, the artist who created one of the most famous bits of Japanese artwork, often called Tsunami by Hokusai or The Under the wave off Kanagawa. The book is printed excellent quality paper. At £15.95 it's superb value for money especially considering it's all in colour. It's due out 30th April 2007. We only wish the book was bigger so that they could print the artwork larger, but I guess we've been spoiled by looking at anime artbooks all these years. The book has some great examples of Japanese culture in the period and come highly recommend by the Otaku News crew.

Hokusai: First Manga Master

Date: 2007 April 02 15:38 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Art

The good folks at Abrams have sent us details of a new book they're publishing about the groundbreaking artist Hokusai. The book contains lots of lovely selection artwork from Hokusai and is a great example of the variety of work he did. The book is well worth £10, for curiosity or academic interests. It hits the shops on 30th April 2007.

Viz US DVD release dates until August 2007

Date: 2007 March 19 16:30 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > DVD

The good folks from Viz Media US have sent us their DVD release schedule for titles up until August. If you like Inuyasha, Bleach or Naruto on DVD, then check these release dates.

Oh My Goddess! Manga hits the UK

Date: 2007 March 15 14:57 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

We've got news from Titan Books that they'll be releasing the hugely popular Oh My Goddess! manga in the UK. On April 27th 2007 Volume 1 and 2 should be released. We think it's great that Titan Books are doing this, we just hope they pick up the rights to What's Michael? too.

MegaTokyo Volume 4 UK release details

Date: 2007 March 14 17:06 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

We've been sent a press release from the folks at Titan Books, detailing the release of MegaTokyo Volume 4 in the UK. Why should we care when volume 5 is almost out in the US and most bookshops stock it volume 4 already? Well this is actually great news as some places like libraries and their book suppliers will only deal with books that have an official UK release. Now that MegaTokyo has an official UK release you should be able to pester your local librarian to get a copy in. ^_- This also applies to the other Titan books we've put press releases up for as they've already had US releases, but would be hard to stock in some places.

MegaTokyo Volume 4 is due to hit the bookshelves on 27th April 2007.

Anime Encyclopedia UK release details

Date: 2007 March 14 16:43 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

We've been sent a press release from the folks at Titan Books. They'll be releasing a new updated edition of the Anime Encyclopedia for the UK on 27th April 2007. This edition has a black cover, along with over 40% new material. The Anime Encyclopedia is a must for otaku, as it's a accurate and well researched guide to the subject unlike a few other books which are nowhere near as good. Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy know their stuff and we highly recomend this guide. Hunting around on Amazon.co.uk will produce a bargain price below the suggested retail price. You'll save money by reading about the type of anime you'd want to avoid, but the only trouble is you'd want to watch more of the titles you've discovered by reading it.

Eden: It's An Endless World - UK release details

Date: 2007 March 14 16:27 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

We've been sent a press release from the good folks at Titan Books. They've aquired the rights for the Dark Horse version of Eden. It's due to hit the bookshelves on 27th April 2007.

Slam Dunk adapted into Live-Action

Date: 2007 March 11 03:47 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Anime > TV

According to Akadot the popular anime and manga Slam Dunk by Takehiko Inoue will be adapted into a Live-Action movie by Taiwan's Chang Hong Channel Group and Shanghai's Film Television Group. Cast will be headed by Taiwanese pop star, Jay Chou, Charlene Choi, Chen Bo-lin, and Yee Chung Man. The movie will be released in winter 2008.

The manga sold more than 100 million copies in Japan and received various awards as well.

Souce: Akadot

AmeCon 2007 registration and guest details

Date: 2007 March 01 02:59 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The good folks from Leicester UK convention AmeCon 2007 have sent us more details regarding registration and guests at the convention. Following our earlier story about the convention being open for registration it seems that a lot of people have now registered with more than 673 fans registering for the convention, this means that half of their capacity has been filled in 4 days! They have a total capacity of 1,300 which once filled will not be extended due to insurance and tax issues. We suggest you book now to avoid any disappointment.

Guests this year are voice actors Monica Rial and Chris Patton, who also attended last years AmeCon and proved to be popular guests.

The Manga Bible release details

Date: 2007 February 26 09:21 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

We've received a details from publishing house Hodder and Stoughton regarding the Manga Bible. We're not talking about some sort of ultimate must have guide to manga, but the New Testament produced in a manga style. Using the TNIV (Today's New International Version) as the basis, London based artist Siku, who is best know for his work on 2000AD.

Geneon Spot audio podcast

Date: 2007 February 24 18:58 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

We've just got an e-mail from the pioneering folks at Genoen who'd like to let us know that they've posted up the latest Geneon Spot audio podcast, featuring an interview with Taliesin Jaffe (the ADR director of R.O.D -The TV-, Hellsing, Hellsing Ultimate, BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad, etc.), who talks about script adaptation work and the realities of being an anime voice actor.

Souce: Geneon Spot audio podcast

Nintendo composer Koji Kondo to perform in San Francisco

Date: 2007 February 20 12:55 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

For a special event of the closing night ceremony of Video Games Live, Nintendo composer Koji Kondo will be making an appearance at the event and is set to perform one of his favourite melodies from his career with Nintendo. Tickets for the March 9th event are priced from $38.50 to $65, and are now available at LiveNation.com.

Udon release Megaman and Street Fighter artbooks

Date: 2007 February 20 12:41 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Capcom fans will pleased to hear about Udon Entertainment's new artbooks, one for Megaman Zero and another on Street Fighter.

Final Fantasy XII UK launch details

Date: 2007 February 16 13:23 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Gaming > Consoles

We've been sent a press release from Square-Enix about the official UK launch of Final Fantasy XII. It'll be at the Oxford Street Branch of HMV in London. The first lucky 100 people to buy a copy of the game at the event will also be given an exclusive moogle soft toy and a CD with five specially selected tracks by Hitoshi Sakimoto. The next 200 people to buy the game will also be given the CD which has been produced just for the launch event. Gifts can be secured by getting a wrist band from the store at 9am on February 23rd.

The best cosplayers will also be awarded goodies at the event. Plus there is a chance to win a trip to Japan for everyone at the event.

Tomo-Dachi 2007 details

Date: 2007 February 07 08:41 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The Tomo-Dachi committee have sent us a press release about their next convention in Northern Ireland. It's set to run from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th of August at the University of Ulster’s Magee Campus in Londonderry. This years guest of honour is ADR director, scriptwriter and voice actor Mike McFarland, who's done ADR work on Fullmetal Alchemist, Trinity Blood and Dragon Ball, as well as a selection of voice acting roles. Too-Dachi is now open for pre-registrations, so book early to avoid disappointment.

Tanoshimi let fans vote for manga

Date: 2007 January 31 09:19 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Random House UK imprint Tanoshimi have sent us some details about a nice fan oriented campaign. From February 7th Fans and vote on their website and select which title they want Tanoshimi to publish next, the people behind Tanoshimi have confirmed that it is likely they will only publish the winning title.

Fans can vote for the following:

Genshiken
Kagetora
Othello
Wallflower

All voters will go into a draw for a chance to win a Nintendo DS Lite.

MaMoo, Letraset and NEO magazine T-shirt design competition

Date: 2007 January 31 05:50 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

Folks from the UK T-shirt company MaMoo have sent us some details about a competition they’re running with Letraset and NEO magazine. The competition gives you the chance to submit your design for a t-shirt and the winners design will be sold on the MaMoo site, along with a nice set of Letraset markers. So creative people get to work if you want your t-shirt design on MaMoo.

Final Fantasy XII cosplay contest

Date: 2007 January 24 09:17 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Gaming > Consoles

We've just been sent a very interesting press release from Square Enix, who are running a cosplay competition to celebrate the release of Final Fantasy XII in Europe and other PAL regions. Three lucky winners will each get a two night trip to London to show off their costumes on stage at the official launch event and they'll also get a Final Fantasy goodie bag.

This is a great chance for cosplayers to demonstrate their creative skills making Final Fantasy XII costumes and also meet some interesting people in the games industry.

Tanoshimi UK February 2007 releases

Date: 2007 January 24 05:01 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

We've just been sent a press release from Random House imprint Tanoshimi detailing their releases in the UK for this February 2007. They'll be releasing the following titles:

Free Collars Kingdom Volume 1
Airgear Volume 3
School Rumble Volume 3 and 4
Guru Guru Pon Chan Volume 7

All are due to hit the shelves on 1st February 2007.

Free Collars Kingdom is a new title to Tanoshimi that should interest the furry fan readers with lots of catboy antics.

Paprika misses out on Oscars

Date: 2007 January 23 08:23 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

The nominations for the 2007 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards have been announced, no anime is running this year. Satoshi Kon's Paprika was on the shortlist of 16 animated features, but failed to be one of the three titles nominated.

Cars, Happy Feet and Monster House have been selected for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year.

Interestingly Paprika may have missed a nomination due to technical difficulties, five Oscar nominations for this category would have been allowed if all 16 films on the shortlist were screened in LA. Arthur and the Invisibles failed to get a screening when required, so the number of Oscar nominations were reduced to three in accordance to the rules.

Souce: Oscar.com

Manga Shakespeare

Date: 2007 January 16 16:17 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

We've been sent an interesting press release from SelfMadeHero about their Manga Shakespeare series. The bard's classic tales have been reinterpreted into a manga style. With Romeo and Juliet the action has relocated to Shibuya in Tokyo, with yakuza talking the place of the more traditional families in the original. Hamlet is still set in Denmark, but in the future cyber world of 2017. SelfMadeHero inform us that the series keeps true to the text of Shakespeare, but is specially abridged for use in the manga. Sweatdrop Studio's very own Sonia Leong illustrated Romeo and Juliet, while Emma Vicieli illustrated Hamlet.

Both Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet are due for release on 1st March 2007, priced at £6.99. The Tempest and Richard III are due to be published in Autumn 2007. Othello, Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream are planned, but no release date is mentioned.

Our readers still in education might want to show this to their English and drama teachers, while our other readers might just enjoy reading a new interpretation of Shakespeare's works.

This is not the first time Hamlet has been made into a manga in English, our good friend Amethyst Angel has done a fan version using characters from Slayers, entitled Hamlet: The Manga.

The Taste of Tea US Screenings

Date: 2007 January 15 16:45 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

We've just been sent some interesting news from Viz Pictures in the US, who will be screening a Taste of Tea across New York, Chicago, Seattle and Portland. It's a live action flick, from the writer/director Katsuhito Ishii, who directed Shark Skin Man & Peach Hip Girl, Party Seven and the animated section of Kill Bill Volume 1.
US readers can catch the screenings at the following venues:

New York
General opening: February 16-22, 2007
The ImaginAsian
239 East 59th St., New York 10022
http://www.theimaginasian.com

Chicago
General opening: March 2-8, 2007
FACETS CINEMATHEQUE
1517 West Fullerton Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614
http://www.facets.org/asticat

Seattle
March 16-22, 2007
GRAND ILLUSION CINEMA
1403 NE 50th St., Seattle, WA 98105
http://www.grandillusioncinema.org

Portland
April 6-12, 2007
The Hollywood Theatre
4122 N.E. Sandy Blvd., Portland, OR 97212
http://www.hollywoodtheatre.org

London based anime convention for summer 2008?

Date: 2007 January 11 17:20 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

We've received an e-mail from an "anonymous tip". As such we can't say how true this is, it could be a hoax, it could be a genuine anonymous tip, or on the other hand someone could be trying to do a spot of astroturfing for their anime convention, we don't really know.

It's about an anime convention called Kanacon. The e-mail mentions the MCM Expo and JapanEX, so which may imply that they are running it, on the other hand they may not be. It then states that London "has yet to have a full blown Anime & Manga convention", which is wrong, as London has had Shin nen kai before.

The release concludes suggesting that it might be intended to get some hype going. Is this hoax, or real? Who knows, I guess we'll have to find out in 2008, one thing for sure, running an UK anime convention anywhere is tricky and a logistical nightmare, with venue bookings to worry about, insurance, events, support from fandom and millions of other factors, choosing London to run a convention is a bold move because of cost implications. So lets wait and see. We've already spoken to representatives from two major anime companies who have not heard about this convention, we're wondering who in the industry has been contacted.

We hope the people who tried to launch the disastrous KyuuCON are not involved.

Read More... | Souce: Strange \"Anonymous Tip\"

Manga Force a new UK DVD magazine

Date: 2006 December 28 14:49 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > DVD

We've just discovered some interesting TV adverts in the UK for a new magazine publication called Manga Force. The magazine will be published fortnightly, with an anime DVD and the magazine will focus on that title. Manga Force is a joint effort between Manga Entertainment UK and Hachette Partworks. As usual for a publication from Manga Entertainment they insist on calling anime "manga", which has often led to confusion when people discover Japanese animation. The magazine states it's the perfect partner to your DVD collection, and will give you everything you need to build your manga knowledge (check our FAQ for recommend books which will really help you do that), each issue will have synopses, filmographies, writer bibliographies and behind the scenes footage. Issues will cover the following Manga Entertainment titles:

Evangelion (It's not clear which Evangelion movies will be released with the issue)
Blood The Last Vampire
Akira
Ghost in the Shell
Macross Plus

The first issue is priced at £2.99 with all subsequent issues priced at £8.99, which is reasonable considering that the average Manga Entertainment title sells for £12.99 without a magazine.

Their website has some introductory subscription deals, although we're curious to see what they could fill a full 50 issues with. No start date is published on-line.

Watch Coyote Ragtime Show on-line

Date: 2006 December 13 17:28 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > DVD

The kind folks from ADV Films US have sent us details about the Coyote Ragtime Show. US readers can watch the full first episode officially here, while UK readers can watch it here. It's released in the US on January 16th 2007, while ADV Films UK inform us that they're planning a 16th April 2007 release.

Souce: ADV Films

Hellsing Ultimate website launches

Date: 2006 December 05 15:18 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Websites

The nice folks at Geneon Entertainment have sent us news that they've launched a website for Hellsing Ultimate, the OAV incarnation of the fan favourite anime series. The website contains some details about the series, it's creator, DVD release dates, along with a host of downloads like desktop wallpaper and chat icons.

Learn Japanese on-line with Urban Japanese

Date: 2006 November 28 16:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

We've been sent a press release from Japanese video game and toy concept development company Gamewax, who have developed a interesting concept in learning Japanese remotely. They claim to be the UK's first fully interactive recordable on-line Japanese language school, Urban Japanese. Distance learning is nothing new, as universities and other education institutions have been tinkering with the concepts for years now, but this is certainly the first private company in the UK we're aware of that offer Japanese lessons.

Farewell Ranma

Date: 2006 November 07 14:58 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The nice people from Viz Media have sent us a press release detailing the conclusion of the long running fan favourite manga Ranma 1/2. Volume 36 of the manga ends the series with a letter to North American fans from Rumiko Takahashi, the author of Ranma 1/2 and another huge favourite Inu Yasha. The final volume is due out in North American on November 14th. So now's your chance to say goodbye to everyone's favourite gender changing comedy martial arts manga!

ADV acquires Le Chevalier D'Eon for the UK

Date: 2006 November 02 16:58 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

The friendly guys over at ADV Films UK have sent us details of their latest acquistion from Production IG, Le Chevalier D'Eon. Currently they haven't set a release date which is a bit of a pain, not even a rough time frame is mentioned, however it does say that they have UK Video, TV and Video on Demand rights.

Read More... | Souce: ADV Films UK

Seven Seas Goes Yuri

Date: 2006 October 27 08:18 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

Seven Seas Entertainment will be launching a new publishing imprint for its library of manga titles. Called Strawberry, this new imprint will focus on yuri, or girl-on-girl, flavored romantic titles. The first titles of the new line are expected to be released sometime in 2007.

Pink and Blue - Double release from Sweatdrop Studios

Date: 2006 October 24 08:48 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Sonia from Sweatdrop Studios the manga styled art group has dropped as a line about their latest publications. The books are supposed to be paired together and explorer the differences between shojo and shonen manga, apparently each book can be enjoyed alone or with it's partner book. The shojo book is called Pink is for Girls, while the shonen book is titled Blue is for Boys. We like the comparison of sparkles versus speedlines in their press release. The book is due for release on Saturday 28th October at the London MCM Expo at the Sweatdrop Studios stand.

Naruto Wins Quill Award

Date: 2006 October 15 13:04 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The folks from VIZ Media have sent us details about Naruto winning the 2006 Quill Award for best graphic novel, apparently this is the first time a manga title has one the category. The Quill awards are unlike normal awards as they are more consumer orientated, so in other words it looks at sales figures rather than panellists decisions.

J-Pop Go Halloween Special Fright Night

Date: 2006 October 08 15:15 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The vampires from J-Pop Go have sent us the details for their next event, set for Saturday 28th October with a Halloween theme - Kowaiathon night. J-Pop Go will be held at thier regular venue of Cafe Manga, near the Westminster Bridge end of County Hall in London. Tickets will be £5 with discount for cosplayers at their discretion. We suggest Ring and Grudge based costumes for a frightning night!

ADV Bring Wii to your Living Room

Date: 2006 September 30 18:14 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > DVD

Those busy folks at ADV Films UK sent us this some details of their lastest cross promotion, which is covered in Wii (Nintendo Wii that is).

In the first wave of titles for the Wii is Red Steel, a game with swords and guns is being approartely crosspromtoed with Samurai Gun, an anime title with swords and guns. Which makes a good tie in if you ask us!

In a nutshell the first run of Samurai Gun Volume 1 will contain an extra free bonus disc with a sneak peak of the Red Steel game.

While the first run of the Red Steel game will receive a Samurai Gun episode and some extra ADV materials on a bonus disc.

Read More... | Souce: ADV Films UK

ADV UK Release New DVD Sampler - Bento Box

Date: 2006 September 20 15:25 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > DVD

The nice folks from ADV Films UK have sent us the details of their lastest DVD release. Unlike the usual monthly release, they'll be releasing a DVD with selected episodes to sample. They're marketing it as a taster DVD, or to give it a more Japanese theme a Bento Box. The disc will have 4 episodes on a single DVD, retailing at a very reasonable £5.99, considering a normal anime DVD with 4 episodes on would retail for more than twice the price. It's due for release on 16th October 2006.

The DVD will contain:

- Area 88 - Episode 1
- Gilgamesh - Episode 6
- Get Backers - Episode 9
- Cromartie High School - Episode 9

This should prove a great way of sampling episodes, after all, splashing out £6 to find out if you like a selection of different series is a lot better than paying for a whole disc with the same series on and finding it's not your thing.

Read More... | Souce: ADV Films UK

Tomo-dachi 2007

Date: 2006 September 15 03:26 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

We've been sent some details from the Tomo-dachi Crew about their next convention, set for Friday, August 31st - Sunday to September 2nd, 2007 at the UU Magee Campus in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Bookings before March 31st are £25 and £30 after. As of yet, they've not released a guest list, however if the last Tomo-dachi is anything to go for they'll have some good industry guests.

Sweatdrop Release Two How To Draw Manga Books

Date: 2006 September 14 14:52 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

We've been sent a press release from the nice people over at UK manga inspired art group Sweatdrop. They're both aimed at beginners, Draw Manga By Sweatdrop Studios and Drawing Manga by Selina Dean. Draw Manga focuses on basics, with a series of tutorials on how to draw character elements such as eyes, hair, hand and clothing, along with step by step projects showing how to put individual elements together to create a manga style character.

Drawing Manga by the talented Selina Dean focuses more on character design with posing characters. It includes tips on drawing people monsters and mascots. In addition it includes comic creation techniques such as developing storyboards, creating layouts, scripting, including backgrounds and colouring and inking techniques.

Draw Manga by Sweatdrop Studios is due out on 15th October 2006, while Drawing Manga by Selina Dean was out on 4th September 2006.

We think it's great that some UK based artist are producing books on how to draw manga, however we're curious as to why they've released two books within the space of two months with the same purpose at the same price (an affordable £9.99), we wonder if the books are significantly different, would it have been better to combine the contents into one bigger book? Perhaps the writing styles are different allowing a potential artist to chose the style they prefer.

ADV UK DVD Releases for Winter 2006

Date: 2006 September 12 15:17 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > DVD

Those nice folk from ADV UK have sent us the details for their winter release schedule. It seems that they've targeted the anime fan's Christmas list with the majority of titles being released on 20th November 2006.

- Samurai Gun Volume 1 (16/10/06)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum Complete Collection (20/11/06)
- Yugo The Negotiator Volume 1 (20/11/06)
- Area 88 Volume 2 (20/11/06)
- Gilgamesh Volume 4 (20/11/06)
- MADLAX Volume 5 (20/11/06)
- Samurai Gun Volume 2 (04/12/06)
- Get Backers Volume 10 (04/12/06)

ADV UK will be releasing a superb looking Evangelion Platinum boxset in a nice shiney box with tons of extras which are exclusive to the European release! The 7 disc release includes all the episodes with remastered video and audio, along with 4 directors cuts episodes, 4 documentaries a nice 60 page booklet and many more bits. The box set is retailing for £99.99, but the more price senstive otaku can get it from Play.com for £72.99 or Sendit.com for £69.89, other retailers might have similar deals too. This is a limited edition set, so if you want it, you better put it at the top of your Christmas list. This was also the highlight of ADV UK's Industry panel at AmeCon this year.

Read More... | Souce: ADV Films UK

Pirates vs Ninjas at J-Pop Go

Date: 2006 August 31 17:54 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Those nice partying folk at J-Pop Go will be having the final ultimate showdown (of ultimate destiny) to decide who really does rule, ninjas or pirates. The popular London J-Pop event is set to run on Saturday September 23rd at their regular venue of Cafe Manga.

Who will win on pirates versus ninja night? Otaku News will be betting on the ninjas to win, being favourites by far as they have real ultimate power! Although we wouldn't put it past the underdog pirates of having some chance of beating the sneaky ninjas, however ninjas would only lose to trick the pirates into a false sense of security before flipping out and killing all the scurvy sea dogs! ^_-

Souce: J-Pop Go

ADV UK DVD Releases for October 2006

Date: 2006 August 25 12:39 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > DVD

September isn't here yet, and already those nice people from ADV have sent us their October DVD line-up.

They'll be releasing:

- The Place Promised In Our Early Days
- Cromartie High School volume 4
- Get Backers volume 9

The Place Promised in Our Early Days, is a full length feature from up and coming director Makoto Shinkai, Voices of a Distant Star, which caused a stir for being an anime title directed and produced completely on his Mac. We recommend it to see how Mr Shinkai is progressing and some fans may have already seen this feature at the NFT earlier this month. We've been enjoying Cromartie High School as well. Get Backers is always worth watching too.

Read More... | Souce: ADV Films UK

Rare Games Collection Stolen

Date: 2006 August 20 15:36 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

We've been passed a press release from DDR:uk, a group of hardcore Dance Dance Revolution fanatics, on the 18th of August their equipment was stolen (with the exception of their custom build DDR machine, as it too big to easily move), their £25,000 collection includes a wide variety of rare and sought after games, most of which are no longer in production, along with specialist hardware and games controllers.

Since the items in question are rather unique, we would like to ask community minded otaku to be aware of the items stolen and keep a look out for them on places like popular auction sites, specialist games dealers and other places second hand goods are traded. The DDR:uk crew are offering a reward for any information.

The DDR:uk crew also help run events at anime conventions such as the games room, which was a huge success at AmeCon 2006, with the DDR machine being a huge attraction, along with the more unusual classic games. DDR:uk also put a plea out for hardware and games donation to help replace what was stolen.

On a side note the AmeCon manga library (which is made up of generous donations from Tokyopop and Tanoshimi and is stored with the DDR:uk hardware), was also vanadilised by the same criminals, with boxes of manga thrown out onto the street into the rain, and is now spoiled as a result.

We've deliberatly posted this to all editions of Otaku News, as although the items in question were stolen in the UK, many of the items stolen are rare they're desirable internationally, so all our readers should be made aware.

Free Visual Novel Construction Tool Released

Date: 2006 July 24 03:58 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Gaming > PC

Fans of dating games will be pleased to hear that the nice folks from CuriousFactory and Buredo have released a free game engine and construction kit, designed at making Visual Novels easy to produce in English. In a nutshell this will allow users to create their own interactive stories, anime and manga fans will probably be most familiar with dating games, but the companies are keen to promote that you can also produce other games using their game engine.

A good story is a must, good artwork is always nice too, but there are some crafty ways around this, such as taking photos of things and then using a bit of photoshop magic. It’ll be interesting to see if any otaku take up developing games on this engine. Currently the engine is Windows only.

IMAF 2006 Launches

Date: 2006 July 20 15:48 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Art

The good folks from IMAF have got in touch with us to tell everyone about their third International Manga and Anime Festival, which will run on Friday 10th to Tuesday 14th November 2006, at the usual venue of County Hall, Westminster, London.

If you're like me and can't draw you can go and look at all the lovely artwork submitted. On the other hand if you are artistically talented you can enter for a chance to win part of the $85,000 overall prize fund! Entrants take note, the deadline is 30th September, 2006, no later than 5:30pm. This is a real chance to show how skilled you are and can lead to even things. So get scribbling!

BFI NFT London Anime Screenings

Date: 2006 July 16 17:20 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The BFI have sent us some great news about an August Anime Season kicking off at the NFT in London. Following the success of last years anime season, they've decided to hold another one, which is always a great sign for London based fans. Highlights include director of Negadon: The Monster from Mars making an appearance on stage for a conversation session on Friday 18th August. They'll also be screening:

The Place Promised in Our Early Days
Negadon: The Monster from Mars + Yonna in the Solitary Fortress
Tetsujin 28: The Movie
Patlabor: The Movie
Mind Game
Area 88: Episodes 1-4
Karas: The Prophecy
Otakus in Love (Koi no Mon)

The following two Ghibli titles also get special extended runs:
Pom Poko
Spirited Away

They've got a great selection of titles and we highly recommend attending some of these screenings.

Random House Launch New Manga Label

Date: 2006 July 16 17:01 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The good folks at publishers Random House have dropped us a line to tell us about their new manga publishing label Tanoshimi. They'll be releasing some great titles in the UK including xxxHOLiC, Tsubasa and Negima. Their new website is due to launch on 3rd August 2006, in the mean time you can sign up for a chance to win an iPod Nano.

Souce: Tanoshimi

Tokyopop Music

Date: 2006 July 14 10:42 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Anime

Tokyopop announces their own music line to release tunes based on hit anime.

Seven Seas Launches 3 New Web Comics

Date: 2006 July 11 18:22 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Webcomics

Last week the good folks from Seven Seas sent us details of three new web comics in a manga style. They are keen to promote the title as manga, even though the authors are not Japanese, some more precise companies would say that this is work in a manga style, or influenced by manga.

The art for all three web comics is of a high standard and we recommend you take a look.

Rapture TV to Screen Mezzo DSA

Date: 2006 July 04 16:37 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > TV

Those nice folks from ADV Films UK have sent us details about teaming up with UK Satellite TV station Rapture TV. From July 6th they'll be screening Mezzo DSA. New episodes will be screened on Thursdays and then repeated on the Sunday anime block at the same time too.

Read More... | Souce: ADV Films UK

Manga Summer Reading

Date: 2006 June 30 10:29 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

Tokyopop teams up with the Los Angeles Public Library to launch manga summer reading program.

Viz Media announces end of Rurouni Kenshin manga series

Date: 2006 June 29 13:15 | Posted By: Dallas Marshall

Category > Manga

Manga publisher Viz Media brought some news that fans of the Rurouni Kenshin manga series would not want to hear. Viz has announced that this widely popular series will end after its 28th volume is released on July 5.

Fans do not need to be sad though, for Viz has also announced that there will be a Rurouni Kenshin fiction novel. This is the first of its kind and will be unleashed to the masses on October 17. The novel is called Voyage To The Moon World and is written by Kaoru Shizuka, it is Shonen Jump's first fictional novel release, and will retail for $9.99. Voyage To The Moon World features Kenshin Himura in a brand new adventure. Viz will also release a new manga series, Buso Renkin from the creator of Rurouni Kenshin, Nobuhiro Watsuki on August 1. And not only that, Mr. Watsuki himself will be a guest at Comic-Con International in San Diego this July!

The final volumes of the series have been greatly anticipated by fans, as they have not been animated before.

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