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Human Versus Machine Japanese Translation Mini Battle

Date: 2024 May 09 20:06 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The manga tech start up Orange Inc recently raised over 19 million USD in funding for machine translated manga. We were quite intrigued because machine translation hasn't always worked out in the past for manga titles. One recent example was the Ranking of Kings Manga that had to be pulled because the quality of the translations were so poor. What's worse was the lack of quality control from everyone involved in the publishing of the title.

As we were curious, we reached out to some professional translators to ask their opinions on the current state of translation.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron Wins An Oscar

Date: 2024 March 12 17:41 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron has won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film 2024.

The highly coveted gold statue is considered the biggest award in Hollywood circles. Miyazaki is not only the first and only Japanese director to have won in this category, but he has also won it twice! Spirited Away won the Oscar in 2002.

Miyazaki's other movies Howl's Moving Castle and The Wind Rises have been nominated in the past, but did not win. While other Ghibli movies The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, When Marnie Was There and The Red Turtle have all been nominated previously too.

This is an exceptional achievement and marks another award on the shelf for The Boy and the Heron, which also won a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA.

Souce: The Oscars 2024

Akira Toriyama Manga Legend and Creator of Dragon Ball Dies at 68

Date: 2024 March 08 07:34 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Current Affairs

It's been announced today on X (the site formally known as Twitter) and on the official Dragon Ball site that Akira Toriyama passed away on 1st March 2024 due to acute subdural hematoma. He was 68 years old.

It's a massive understatement to call Toriyama a legend, the popularity and influence of the Dragon Ball Series by itself is huge. He's also had success with other projects including the artwork and character design for video games Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger. The up coming game based on his work Sand Land is due to be released on multiple formats this April too.

You can read the official statement from the Dragon Ball Official Website, BBC News, The Guardian also pretty much every news outlet has an obituary of some kind.

Akira Toriyama work was iconic and his passing will surprise many fans around the world. As news of his death spreads around internet many industry professionals are posting condolences and also admit that it's because of him they first got into manga and anime in the first place.

Souce: Dragon Ball Offical

Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron Wins BAFTA Award

Date: 2024 February 19 20:27 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron has won the BAFTA for Animated Film 2024. It was running against Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Elemental and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

The Ghibli film was the only anime film running this year, and also the first to win a BAFTA. Interestingly this is the first anime movie to be nominated for this category. Generally only three or four films are nominated each year for the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts are the most coveted awards in the UK entertainment industry.

As we've reported previously The Boy And the Heron won a Golden Globe Award.

Souce: 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards: The Winners and Nominations

Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron Wins Golden Globe Award

Date: 2024 January 09 21:24 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron has won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Animated 2024. The coveted award forms part of Hollywood's Award season. Miyazaki is the first Japanese director to have won this category (which was established in 2007).

Anime has been nominated in the past (such as Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai and Masaaki Yuasa Inu-Oh), but has until now failed to win. This year the film went up against Makoto Shinkai's Suzume, Wish , The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Elemental.

The Boy and the Heron was also nominated for Best Original Score - Motion Picture for Joe Hisaishi's work, however he Ludwig Göransson won this category for the Oppenheimer score.

The Boy and the Heron has been shown in the US and UK will probably get a wider release due to award win.

Hayao Miyazaki was also the first Japanese Animation director to win an Oscar for Spirited Away.

Souce: The Golden Globes

United Publications to Exit Anime and Manga Retail Market

Date: 2023 December 06 19:29 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Retail

The goods folks from retailers United Publications have sent us news that they're to retire from the anime and manga retail market.

The UK based retailers and publishers were a regular fixture at UK anime conventions, they also had a presence at the MCM London Comic Con. You may remember them for their bold yellow banners with black text similar to a warning sign. They were a popular source of import anime DVDs and later blu-rays, but also had a big selection of manga and figures.

Anime fans of a certain generation will remember them fondly from the London Anime Club (which ran until 2008) as one of the main two retailers there. Fans would places orders to collect at the club and discover new titles over the dealers table and enthusiastically trade recommendations.

However change and reconciliation in the market has made anime and manga retail impractical for them and they've slowly started to wind down that side of the business.

We're told you should check their website for bargains, as MVM has given them some nice discounts on all titles as they reduce stock for the new year.

An Interview with Sophie Poteratchi of City String Ensemble

Date: 2023 October 25 19:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

With the City String Ensemble due to play a special 2 hour Best of Anime performance this December, we thought it would be a good idea to find out some more details. We got in touch with Sophie Poteratchi, the founder and violinist of City String Ensemble to find out more. Sophie tells us she loves performing music from numerous genres despite her classical training. "It is my vision to find more immersive and innovative ways to perform music from modern culture and in turn inspire audiences to come and watch a "classical concert" which is usually associated with instruments like the violin etc."

It's not every day you get string quartet performing anime tunes in London, why not read our interview with Sophie to find out more!

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

The 16th Manga Jiman Competition Results

Date: 2023 April 01 10:36 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The Embassy of Japan in the UK revealed the winners of The 16th Manga Jiman Competition. The awards ceremony for the prestigious competition was held at the Japanese Embassy in London on Friday 24th March 2023.

This years first place went to C M Kevin Li for Jonathan in Agony!, while Ewan Gallagher took second place withAUX. Third place went to Alex Brennan-Dent with Signal.

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2023 Online Talk Series

Date: 2023 March 15 19:40 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

The good folks from the Japan Foundation London have sent us details of some up coming online events they'll be hosting. As part of their touring film programme, they'll be hosting a series of online talks with various directors from the movies shown.

Talks include in conversation with director Nishikawa Miwa, who directed Under the Open Sky. This is set to run on Thursday 23rd March 2023 at 13:00 (GMT).

There's also talks with Tanada Yuki who directed My Broken Mariko. This talk is set to run on Monday 27th March 2023 at 13:00 (BST).

They have plenty of interesting talks lined up, The events are free to attend online and registration is required.

Leiji Matsumoto 1938-2023

Date: 2023 February 26 11:05 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Current Affairs

This week it was announced that renowned manga artist Leiji Matsumoto had died on 13th February 2023 of acute heart failure in a Tokyo hospital, at the age of 85.

You may have encountered his highly influential works such as Galaxy Express 999, Queen Emeraldas, Space Pirate Captain Harlock or even Interstella 5555 his collaboration with Daft Punk.

You could read the BBC Obituary or equally well written Financial Times Obituary , but the best write up we've found is on Anime Limited's Blog it's written by anime expert Helen McCarthy, who has written numerous books on anime including a collection of Essays on Leiji Matsumoto.

Souce: Anime Limited

Marugame Udon Arrives in the UK

Date: 2023 February 23 20:29 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Cuisine

London based readers might have noticed a new arrival in town. Marugame Udon is the world's largest world's largest udon and tempura restaurant with over 1,250 sites globally. The chain prides itself on it's speed of service, quality and value for money with udon bowls ranging from £3.45 to £11.95.

They offer a great range of rice bowls and tempura along with plenty of vegan options. They also serve Ramune. The experience is straight forward. You grab a tray and go along and say what you want, with the meal made in front of you and served rapidly. You then find a table and sit and enjoy.

You can find Marugame Udon at multiple places around London including Spitalfields (Middlesex Street), Bond Street, Oxford Circus, Canary Wharf, Waterloo, Kensington Arcade, The O2, Brent Cross. There'll be new ones opening soon at Liverpool Street Station, The Strand and further afield at Reading.

If you're looking for some quick authentic Japanese food in London you really should give Marugame Udon a try.

What's on NHK World?

Date: 2023 January 29 13:05 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > TV

Being a fan of anime, manga and Japanese stuff in general it's always good to find a great source of content. Most fans will hunt on DVDs and blu-rays for those extra features, read magazines and articles and various bonus features included in books and so on. They'll even read websites like this one, but one resource that we find that is frequently overlooked is NHK World.

NHK is the national state broadcaster for Japan. NHK World is it's international arm. It's content is available in a selection of languages including either dubbed into English or in Japanese with English Subtitles. The service is free to access and is available on a wide range of satellite and cable providers in the US, UK and further afield. You can also watch it free and legally on the website or app that's offered on many platforms including iOS (iPhone and iPad), Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android, Roku and more. You can watch the live broadcast or the video on demand service.

A lot of the content there is excellent for anime and manga fans.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

One Piece Film: Red London Landmark Takeover

Date: 2022 November 23 20:44 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

The good folks from Anime Limited have just sent us details of a One Piece Film: Red London Landmark takeover. On Saturday 26th November 2022 between 18:00 - 23:00 video projections of the iconic anime pirates will appear opposite the London Eye and other key locations.

This follows a similar bit publicity at London's Kings Cross and a recent take over of New York's Times Square.

Visit onepiece.red to find screening near you in the UK and Ireland or go to https://ado.lnk.to/UtasSongsSO to enjoy the soundtrack.

You can also read our One Piece Film: Red movie review.

Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited

Kadokawa World Entertainment agrees deal to purchase Anime News Network

Date: 2022 November 09 16:49 | Posted By: Eeeper

Category > Anime

Kadokawa Corporation, Japanese media conglomerate, announces the purchase of Anime News Network's media business, via their US holding company, Kadokawa World Entertainment.

Crunchyroll Commission Anime Mural in London's Shoreditch

Date: 2022 May 18 19:22 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The good folks from anime mega company Crunchyroll have taken marketing to the next level in the hipster central part of London by commissioning a mural in Shoreditch.

The hand painted artwork features mascot Crunchyroll-Hime along with promos for Spy x Family,
he Rising Of Shield Hero Season 2 and One Piece. The 14.5m x 6.6m mural is on Chance Street, near Shoreditch Overground opposite Box Park.

The mural was done by Global Street Art Agency who also did a great Belle mural in Camden this February to celebrate the cinema release of Mamoru Hosoda's latest film.

Crunchyroll would also like you know that they'll be screening Spy x Family and The Rising of the Shield Hero at MCM Comic Con London this May too.

We hope that anime murals become a regular thing in London! It's great seeing anime getting such prominent advertising in London.

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Poster Giveaway for the Heartwarming Anime Josee, The Tiger and The Fish

Date: 2021 August 09 19:42 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

From Wednesday 11th August 2021 Josee, the Tiger and the Fish hits cinemas around the UK and Ireland. To celebrate it's launch we've teamed up with the good people from Anime Limited to give away a limited edition one sheet poster. Want a chance to win it? Then read on.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Akemi Tanaka 1959 - 2021

Date: 2021 June 12 12:56 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Current Affairs

In sad news this week we learned of the passing of Akemi Tanaka. She died of cancer on Monday 7th June 2021. Many anime fans will remember Akemi as a lively ambassador of Japanese culture. She'd often attend anime events as guest to lecture and explain the world of Japanese culture. An expert in Japanese etiquette she'd often be a kind and eccentric presence at events.

When the 2011 disaster hit Japan Akemi set up the charity Aid For Japan to support the orphans of the earthquake.

Our thoughts are with her family and friends.

Key Stateside Crunchyroll Talent Joins UK's Anime Limited in Expansion Move

Date: 2021 April 15 21:05 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The good folks at anime distributors Anime Limited have just sent us details of their new hire and key leadership promotion.

The anime firm have announced that they've hired Miles Thomas as their new Chief Marketing Officer. Miles was previously at the anime streaming giants Crunchyroll for 8 years making waves as he expanded their social media network and setup the Editorial Programming department. He brings his industry and domain knowledge to an already strong firm.

Internally there's been a bit of a restructure with Jessica Poce having also been appointed Chief Operating Officer and Kerry Kasim has been promoted from her position as VP Marketing to the role of General Manager, UK and Ireland.

The details of the expansion plan aren't fully explained in the press release, they hint at expanding to other territories and verticals. Reading in-between the lines we're guessing they intend to expand their music offerings and maybe their streaming services, but we're just inferring this from their press release.

It's interesting to see the next stage in the anime industry as Manga Entertainment fades away as it gets absorbed into Funimation, which in turn also owns Crunchyroll.

Anime Limited has always had excellently presented releases. Their collectors and ultimate editions always contain a ton of extra content and are fantastically packaged (we're eager to get our hands on their upcoming release of Violet Evergarden). They've also always been good at cinema releases, bringing Your Name and Mirai to name a few to the big screens. Anime Limited have also gone the extra mile at events as they tend to bring guests from Japan to events like the MCM London Comic Con. We hope they continue with these core strengths as they expand and are interested to see what they've got planned.

Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited

MCM Comic Con Set to Return to London and Birmingham with Physical Events in 2021

Date: 2021 January 09 19:43 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The good folks from geeky event MCM Comic Con have sent us details for their plans for 2021. They intend to continue with some virtual Metaverse events in the spring and summer and then MCM Comic Con London is set to return on Friday 24th to Sunday 24th October2021. MCM Comic Con Birmingham is set for Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th November 2021. We're told that due to COVID-19, these will be the only physical MCM events taking place in 2021.

They'll release the show format and health and safety measures in the coming months.

At it's peak pre-COVID-19 MCM Comic Con London attracted over 136,000 attendees over the 3 days and a combined total of over 489,600 attendees spread across all their events in a single year. In COVID-19 time the 10 months to October 2021 is a long way away, it's not certain when normal events can resume. Other events by other organisers in London have started advertising various events in London for September 2021. So it seems there is some consensus with other organisers in other industries.

We're reassured that in the past MCM Events have always considered safety a priority. On the MCM Comic Con after the Manchester Arena attack in May 2017, MCM had to drastically increase security of the event at short notice and this required a lot logistics in order to keep attendees safe. In 2020 MCM cancelled it's events due to COVID-19. At this stage we're uncertain how safe it will be to run an event in October 2021 or what kind of restrictions and limitations any events will have. We are certain though that MCM will make the event safe or postpone it depending on the situation in October and November 2021.

McDonalds UK are selling Katsu Curry Chicken McNuggets

Date: 2020 December 31 19:44 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Cuisine

We've just discovered as of 30th December 2020, McDonalds UK are selling Katsu Curry Chicken McNuggets.

The fast food outlet describes them as "100% chicken breast meat in a bold Katsu Curry crispy breadcrumb coating served with a sweet curry dip, ready to dive in!"

The Japanese inspired nuggets are being marketed on social media with the hashtag #KatsuAtMcDonalds.

They're available in packs of 6, 9 or 20 and prices seem to vary depending on location and delivery app used. We've seen them priced around £3.89 for 6, £4.39 for 9 and £5.89 for 20.

Souce: McDonalds UK

Sony Buys Crunchyroll for $1.175 Billion USD

Date: 2020 December 10 21:14 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The news is out! Streaming anime platform Crunchyroll have just been bought by Sony for $1.175 billion (USD). In their corporate structure Sony will put Crunchyroll as part of the Funimation Global Group.

This means Sony now own a substantial amount of the English speaking distribution companies, in the UK they own Manga Entertainment UK along with Funimation UK and in Australia they own Madman Anime Group (which was a part of Madman Entertainment) and in the US they own Funimation.

Crunchyroll's General Manager Joanne Waage says:

"We are excited to embark on this new journey. Crunchyroll has built a world-class brand with a passionate fan-base of over 3M subscribers, 50M social followers and 90M registered users. These amazing fans have helped to propel anime into a global phenomenon,

"Combining the strength of the Crunchyroll brand and the expertise of our global team with Funimation is an exciting prospect and a win for the incredible art form of anime."

Lots of people are publishing their own opinion on this acquisition. At Otaku News our own opinion on this is neutral to negative. We've been hearing whispers of this deal for at least a month. Funimation now have a large chunk of the English speaking anime distribution market and a monopoly of anime streaming services. Worldwide their competition includes Netflix which have been releasing some truly excellent and innovate anime recently. Also consider Amazon Video who do have some good titles such as Vinland Saga but is limited and discovery of decent anime on the Amazon platform is difficult at best.

Additionally less competition generally means less innovation and a lower likelihood of beating their rivals offerings. So those nagging issues with video play back on certain versions of certain players might not be prioritised to fix any more. The question remains what will happen now that Funimation has two streaming platforms with their own Funimation offering and Crunchyroll. Will they be merged under one brand? Will they be kept separate and the technology consolidated? When such technology platforms get merged, it isn't always the best platform that wins, there could be other internal considerations that don't always present as a good result to end users.

Will all the Funimation titles be ported across to Crunchyroll now or vis-versa? Will some titles where the streaming rights are owned by other companies be pulled from Crunchyroll now they're owned by a rival? What will happen to staff with duplicated roles in both companies? At this stage it's all speculation and we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

Anime Limited Acquires Latest Masaaki Yuasa Film INU-OH

Date: 2020 June 19 19:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

We're all excited about Anime Limited's latest announcement. They've acquired the rights to the latest Masaaki Yuasa film INU-OH for the UK, Ireland and France.

Anime Limited have previously released Masaaki Yuasa other excellent features including Ride Your Wave, Lu Over the Wall, and The Night is Short, Walk on Girl.

Character design for the film is by manga artist Taiyo Matsumoto, who has worked with Masaaki Yuasa before on Ping Pong. You may also be familiar with Matsumoto's other works Tekkonkinkreet and the slice of life series Sunny.

The movie will be hitting cinemas sometime in 2021.

If you're interested in reading more about his past works we interviewed Masaaki Yuassa a few years ago last time he was in London.

Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited

Crunchyroll Voice Actors Dub from Home

Date: 2020 May 11 19:48 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The good folks from anime streaming service Crunchyroll have sent us news about their current dubbing process. Dedicated to bringing you anime under lockdown their current cast of voice actors are currently recording from home to ensure you'll still keep getting English dubbed versions.

They've now switched to a fully-remote workflow. We wonder if this will become the new normal for voice actors? Normally most anime voice actors in the US are based in industry hubs near LA, Texas and sometimes New York, but now will they be able search for new talent further afield?

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Call For Papers - Anime and Manga Fandom Before the Year 2000

Date: 2020 February 09 11:09 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Culture

Readers in academic circles may be interested to hear about this call for chapter proposals. It's for a book devoted to archival research in anime and manga fandom before the year 2000. Co-edited by anime and manga expert Helen McCarthy and Dr. Darren-Jon Ashmore, Professor of Anthropology, Yamanashi Gakuin University.

Helen McCarthy tells us "Independent scholars are welcome to submit, you don't have to be attached to an institution, anime and manga don't have to be your primary areas of study if you are. We're really keen to get new thinking and rigorous archival research"

Details can be found on https://cfplist.com/CFP/25594.

Souce: CFP List

The Garden of Words Stage Production To Hit London This Summer 2020

Date: 2020 January 22 21:05 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Culture

While everyone is talking about Makoto Shinkai's latest smash hit Weathering With You, we can't help but wonder what the next Makoto Shinkai offering will be. Whole Hog Theatre have got in touch with to reveal that they'll be performing a stage adaptation of The Garden of Words.

The official stage production is set to run from 16 July - 15 August 2020 at Park Theatre in Finsbury Park, London.

Whole Hog Theatre are not new to adapting anime, having run a mesmerising stage version of Princess Mononoke.

We're excited to see what creative ideas Whole Hog Theatre will bring to life.

Studio Ghibli Movies Hit Netflix

Date: 2020 January 20 20:51 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Streaming service Netflix have just announced that they'll be adding Studio Ghibli films to their list of movies. Fans from Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America will be able to enjoy films. The films will be subtitled in 28 languages, and dubbed in up to 20 languages.

Studio Ghibli are renowned for creating high quality masterpiece movies. Hugely influential Studio Ghibli is the only Japanese anime studio to have won an Oscar with Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away.

The movies release to Netflix will be spread across 3 months, on 1st February 2020, 1st March 2020 and 1st April 2020.

Totoro, Kiki and Porco Rosso will all be in the first wave movies. Up until now Studio Ghibli have been reluctant to allow their titles available for streaming.

All these movies are fantastic in their own right and we can't say in stronger words go out and watch them. With the exception of Tales from Earthsea which was a trouble production, skip that one.

The US, Canada and Japan are noticeably absent from the list of countries the films will be available from. We suspect another company has streaming rights to these countries.

KitKat Chocolatory - Japanese Style KitKats Arrive in the UK

Date: 2020 January 01 20:27 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

While wandering around John Lewis we discovered KitKat Chocolatory. Apparently there had been a pop up shop earlier where you can make your own KitKats. Having experienced the premium KitKat Chocolatory before in Tokyo, we wanted to see how the UK version weighs up.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Crunchyroll Reveals UK Anime Fans Shun Cosplay in Favour of Books and Boardgames

Date: 2019 December 11 21:01 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Anime streaming service Crunchyroll have sent us an interesting press release. They highlight that most UK anime fans would rather read a good book than cosplay. Surveying their premium UK members (who pay for the service to remove ads and get earlier access to titles) they discovered that less 7% are into cosplaying. In comparison 10% write or read fan fiction!

We could speculate as to why this is. Could it be that cosplayers would rather spend their disposable income on cosplaying? Instead using the free access areas of Crunchyroll? Does it reflect fandom in general, are less than 7% of anime fans involved in creating cosplay?

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Jonathan Ross on Anime, Manga and Japanese Toys

Date: 2019 November 06 21:54 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

The geek event that was MCM Comic Con London October 2019 has ended. One of of the anime highlights was Jonathan Ross introducing two anime shows for Crunchyroll.

During the event, he revealed that he got mistaken for a cosplayer at San Diego Comic-con. He also admitted he enjoyed anime with yokai eating, erm certain parts of people (we'll leave the rest to your imagination).

The good folks from anime streaming service Crunchyroll interviewed Jonathan Ross and he shared his love of anime and Japanese toy lines.

Read More... | Souce: Crunchyroll

Japan Matsuri in London - Sunday 29th September 2019

Date: 2019 September 25 20:46 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Fans of Japanese culture in London this weekend will want to head to the Japan Matsuri in Trafalgar Square. Now in it's 11th year the free event is set to run from 10am to 8pm on Sunday 29th September 2019. As always there'll be lots to see and do. Including a watching expert martial arts demonstrations, Japanese music and dance performances.

One of the main draws is always Japanese street food. We've also been told that Japanese fast food favourite MOS burger will be making their UK debut. There's always so much good Japanese food there it can be hard to choose what to eat! Yakisoba! Sushi! Hmmm. It's hard not to drool thinking about food while typing this!

There's also a great family activity tent will teach parents and kids alike manga, calligraphy, origami
and more.

This year's Matsuri marks the official opening of the Japan-UK Season of Culture - an exciting and varied programme of events taking place until the end of 2020.

An Interview with Anime Director Yuichiro Hayashi

Date: 2019 August 23 19:18 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Anime Limited and MCM Comic Con London always team up and bring great anime guests to the event. May 2019 was no different with anime director Yuichiro Hayashi appearing as Anime Guest of Honour. Best known for his recent work as the director of gambling school anime Kakegurui he has also the director of GARO the Animation. He's also be involved in 2012 CGI anime production of 009 Re:Cyborg.

We caught up with Yuichiro Hayashi at MCM Comic Con London May 2019 to hear what he had to say about Kakegurui and the anime industry.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Tragedy at Kyoto Animation

Date: 2019 July 19 22:09 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

On Thursday 18th of July at 10:30am tragedy struck Kyoto Animation. An arsonist started an explosive fire. The resulting fire killed 33 people and injured 35 others, with most of the victims dying from carbon monoxide posing as a result of the fire. This attack is the deadliest in post war Japan, killing more people than the 1995 sarin nerve gas attacks on the Tokyo Subway system.

Kyoto Animation is affectionately abbreviated to KyoAni. They've produced many hit anime titles including The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, K-On, Full Metal Panic, Free!, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid and Violet Evergarden. They've had success with movie adaptations of various series plus have created popular movies such as A Silent Voice.

KyoAni are renowned for their animation quality and for producing memorable titles with a gentle charm to them. They are a studio with a special relationship with their staff, the staff hired as salaried employees and not paid by frame like some other animation houses.

There's been an outpouring of grief and support from fans all around the world.

US distributors Sentai and Aniplex have both set up crowd funding campaigns help.

You can read more about this story on:

Souce: NHK World

Our Road to Recovery: An Anime Studio in Fukushima - Talk at Japan House London

Date: 2019 June 27 19:57 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Japan House London have been hosting a lot of great events for anime and manga fans recently. Continuing with this trend they'll be hosting Our Road to Recovery: An Anime Studio in Fukushima. The talk is by Asao Yoshinori of Gaina (formally called Fukushima Gainax). The talk is set on run on Tuesday 2 July 2019 and has two sessions the first at 15:30 to 17:10 and the second at 18:30 to 20:00 (which is followed by a drinks reception).

In this event, Asao Yoshinori explores the role that animation has played in the recovery and revitalisation of Fukushima and introduces a screening of two of his studio's representative works that have been specially subtitled in English for this event at Japan House.

The event is free to attend, booking is required.

An Interview with Urasawa Naoki a Master of Manga

Date: 2019 June 09 21:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Japan House London are currently hosting a manga exhibition of Urasawa Naoki's work. His manga is hugely popular with his books having sold over 127 million copies in Japan alone. He's responsible for manga including Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto (the re-imagining of Tezuka's Astroboy).

Urasawa himself was in London to set up the exhibition and also was a guest at events run by Japan House, such as QAs and a few live drawing sessions. Urasawa's live drawing performances aren't like anything else we've seen before. The multi award winning manga artist is also a singer/song writer who has released two albums and performed songs that have gone on to be on the live action versions of some of his manga. His live performance at Japan House started with him singing and playing one of his songs on guitar, then he activated his loop pedal so the guitar tune continues and walks over to a drawing desk and draws for everyone to see on a projected screen. Once he finished drawing he returned to his guitar to finish the song!

We caught up with the manga master at Japan House London to hear what he had to say about the exhibition.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Manga Exhibition at The British Museum a Review

Date: 2019 June 03 21:27 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The British Museum have just opened the largest Manga Exhibition outside of Japan. Naturally being keen manga fans we were curious. What was it all about? Was it any good? We were invited by The British Museum to check out the new exhibition and find out for ourselves.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

This is Manga - The Art of Urasawa Naoki in London

Date: 2019 June 03 19:49 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Japan House London have just sent a reminder that manga artist Urasawa Naoki is in town. He's best known for manga such as Monster, 20th Century Boys, Master Keaton, and Pluto (his adaptation of Tezuka's Astroboy).

He's in London to promote his exhibition This is Manga - The Art of Urasawa Naoki. The exhibition has a wide varity of his artwork on display, from his early childhood drawings to now. It includes a lot of original pages from his manga where you can see all the original details of his art. Along with huge prints of some of his amazing work. The exhibition is free is to ender and is set to run from Wednesday 5th June to Sunday 28th July 2019 at Japan House London in Kensington.

As Urasawa-san is in London he's also hosting a few events including a booking signing on Friday 7th June 2019 (from 16:00 to 17:00), but places are limited. On the same Friday Urasawa will be also hosting a live drawing live signing session All Talking All Singing All Drawing! Urasawa Naoki Live in Concert, this is set to run from 18:30 to 20:00. It's also free, but booking is essential.

Japan House London will also have wide selection of merchandise for sale at their shop. This includes his manga, plus t-shirts, mugs, plastic wallets and other goodies.

Their restaurant Akira have also teamed up with Urasawa to create a Yawara themed dish of fish and chips, with deep fried, bread-crumbed eel topped with umeboshi (pickled plum) tartare sauce, lime and egg yolk shavings. A Monster cocktail will also be available which is made with Dewa no Sato sake from Yamagata Prefecture, Czech spirit Becherovka, ginger liqueur, peppercorns, lime juice, fresh ginger and cloves topped with a white chocolate liqueur foam sprinkled with matcha!

Funimation Acquires UK Anime Distributor Manga Entertainment Limited

Date: 2019 May 29 21:00 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

The good folks from anime distributors Manga Entertainment UK have just sent us some interesting news. They've been acquired by anime distributor Funimation. The details of the acquisition have not been revealed.

It's not exactly clear at this stage what will happen to Manga Entertainment UK in the long term. They're strong anime brand in the UK releasing popular shonen titles including Dragon Ball Z, Bleach and Naruto. They frequently have a big presence at events like MCM Comic Con London. They've always been around in one form or another on the UK anime scene. Clearly the executives at Funimation have a plan for Manga Entertainment UK, but at this stage it's not clear what it'll be. Will they slowly be rebranded and absorbed into Funimation? Or will they remain a subsidiary? Only time will tell.

My Brother's Husband Manga Artist Tagame Gengoroh in Conversation with Book Curator Haba Yoshitaka at Japan House London

Date: 2019 May 16 20:03 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

London based fans of manga artist Tagame Gengoroh are in for a treat! On Wednesday 22nd May 2019 Japan House London will be hosting Tagame Gengoroh in conversation with book curator Haba Yoshitaka.

The event forms part of their new library display LGBTQ+: Diversity in Manga. Artist Tagame Gengoroh is a superb pick for the event having created the manga My Brother's Husband, a tender story about a single dad meeting his estranged brother's husband.

While My Brother's Husband is known to be a sensitive story Tagame's other work doesn't shy away from more mature and gritty renditions of gay life.

We're very excited about this event, as it's rare you'll get a chance to see a talk like this in London.

The event is free to attend, but booking is essential. As always we advise booking early to avoid disappointment.

Monkey Punch has Passed Away

Date: 2019 April 17 20:05 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Current Affairs

Renowned manga artist Kazuhiko Kato more famously known as Monkey Punch passed away on 11th April 2019 aged 81. Best known for his lovable rogue thief Lupin III the manga made a massive impact in the 1960's and has been around ever since. Lupin III has been animated many times including a movie by a certain Hayao Miyazaki in 1979 called The Castle of Cagliostro (which is currently on Netflix).

Anime expert Jonathan Clements has written a more in-depth obituary on the Anime Limited Blog.

Souce: Otaku News

Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai Gets An Oscar Nomination

Date: 2019 January 26 21:17 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Mamoru Hosoda's latest movie Mirai has been nominated for an Oscar for Animated Feature Film. It made the the list of final nominees which also includes Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Ralph Breaks the Internet and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Mirai's nomination is significant as it's the first anime film to be nominated that isn't from Studio Ghibli. Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away was nominated in 2002 and won the Oscar, being to date the only animated movie from Japan to win the prize.

Fosse Farmhouse wins Best B&B Story of the Year for it's Anime Connection

Date: 2018 May 01 21:36 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Anime is always a way of escaping reality, but it's always fun discovering when anime meets reality. We revealed Fosse Farmhouse was used as the real world location for anime Kinmoza. The Cotswold Bed and Breakfast featured as main character Alice's house.

The story behind Fosse Farm was found to be so interesting by the Bed and Breakfast industry it was awarded AA B&B Story of the Year 2018-19 as part of the Bed and Breakfast Awards.

The panel were impressed by B&B owner Caron's cross cultural adventures promoting British Culture in Japan.

Of course you can buy Kinmoza! Season 1 on Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk in the UK or Amazon.com for the US.

Season Two - titled Hello! Kinmoza! is available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk in the UK or buy now from Amazon.com in the US.

You can also get the original manga from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

Don't forget to read our feature about Fosse Farm and Kinmoza.

Mirai - the first Japanese animation to receive a world premiere at Cannes Film Festival

Date: 2018 April 18 20:11 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

The good folks from Anime Distributors Anime Limited have sent us details about Mamoru Hosoda's latest film Mirai which will receive it's World Premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in May as part of Directors' Fortnight. Significantly this is the first Japanese animation to ever to receive a world premiere on the Croisette.

The film will receive a UK cinema release later in 2018 via Anime Limited and their cinema partners National Amusements.

We've covered Anime Limited's acquisition of Mirai before.

Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited

Japan House will be opening on Kensington High Street in 2018

Date: 2018 April 14 13:34 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

Readers heading to London will be interested to hear about Japan House. The new venue is set to open on Kensington High Street in 2018. It forms the London hub of an international project to spread the word about how awesome Japan is.

"JAPAN HOUSE is a project which aims to nurture a deeper understanding and appreciation of Japan in the international community, by creating a number of hubs from which to showcase and communicate Japan as a country of countless charms, able to enrich the rest of the world."

"Each hub features an exhibition space, a multi-purpose space with theater facilities, a retail space, food and drink, books, online connectivity, and a cafe space".

To find out more visit their website and sign up to their mailing list, follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to find out more.

Studio Ghibli co-founder and animation director Isao Takahata passes away in Tokyo

Date: 2018 April 07 11:31 | Posted By: Eeeper

Category > Anime

Isao Takahata, the co-founder of the legendary Studio Ghibli, has passed away in Tokyo at the age of 82. The animation director who worked alongside fellow director and studio founder Hayao Miyazaki was an integral part of the studio as well as being one of the major directors throughout its history. Among his many personal accomplishments were the animated films My Neighbours the Yamadas, Pom Poko, Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday and the Oscar-nominated The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

ReedPOP Acquires UK MCM Comic Con

Date: 2017 October 23 17:14 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

It's almost time for the MCM London Comic Con! It hits this weekend from Friday 27th October to Sunday 29th October 2017 at London's Excel Centre. Traditionally we post news about what's happening at the event, but this time we're going to post something about the MCM Comic Con itself. MCM Comic Con have been acquired by ReedPOP, the worldâ€™s largest producer of pop culture events.

ReedPop are boutique group within Reed Exhibitions, part of RELX Group who are behind events such as New York Comic Con. The press release states that its impact will begin to be seen and felt on all 2018 events. What this impact means exactly remains to be seen.

Forbes have an interesting analysis of the acquisition and the article quotes "Right now we are still in the discovery stage of really getting to know the MCM team and their shows so I don't want to make any assumptions [about operational changes]," said Lance Fensterman, Global Head of ReedPOP.

From a business perspective, if you're looking to gain new markets internationally it makes sense to buy an existing established business. If you're looking to set up a Comic Con in the UK why compete with the biggest when you can become the biggest by buying it? It also means you'll get an established team of event runners. You can observe what they do well and fold it into your other operations too.

Having attended MCM events for years now, we've noticed how they will refine and tweak things to make them better for attendees. Last London Comic Con in May 2017 they had to change the whole entry process and include bag and security checks following the tragic attack in Manchester. They did this at very short notice, we believe they made it work well and whoever was working behind the scenes to make this happen did a stunning job.

MCM London Comic had a over 130,000 people attending the event in May 2017 alone. We must admit we're curious what ReedPop will do to the event.

An Interview with Danny Choo

Date: 2017 July 26 15:27 | Posted By: Lee

Category > Features

One of the great things about writing for Otaku News is that you get to meet interesting people. At Hyper Japan we caught up with Danny Choo a professional otaku, entrepreneur, Japanese Cultural ambassador and inventor of the Smart Doll Fashion Doll.

Danny was born and raised in the UK and has been living in Tokyo since 1999. We managed to get an exclusive with interview him at his Smart Doll Booth and he revealed some interesting up products. Read on to find out more.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

MCM London Comic Con May 2017 Attendee Figures

Date: 2017 June 05 17:06 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The huge event known as MCM London Comic Con has just finished and they've sent us the attendee numbers. The May 2017 event attracted 130,212 people over the 3 days.

These numbers are slightly down (1,096 people) from the 131,308 attendees at the October 2016 event and down by 2,938 people from 133,150 from the May 2016 MCM London Comic Con.

Considering it was just after the tragic attack in Manchester, this could have impacted the number of attendees with some people not being keen to go to a large event so soon after an attack. From our observations, the MCM group did everything within their powers to increase security at the event and also minimise disruption for attendees.

Additionally, you can't really expect the huge growth the MCM Events have had to always continue. While the London Comic Con is their flagship event. They've experienced consider considerable popularity with their regional events. It makes us wonder, have we hit peak geek? Can these numbers continue to grow, or has the market for geek events hit it's logical limit? After all, there are only so many geeks in the UK and only so many events they can attend each year.

Japan struggles to find enough English Speakers for Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020

Date: 2017 March 30 16:08 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Current Affairs

BBC News has an interesting article about Japan's preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games. As hosts they're keen to make sure they have enough English speakers. The article mentions that "...the government needs to ensure a supply of English speakers to be Olympic volunteers and work in the accommodation, tourism, and retail industries."

Interestingly the article reveals that "Japan is 40th out of 48 countries on the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), and last year it fell from 'moderate proficiency' to 'low proficiency' on EF's English Proficiency Index."

The trouble it seem is with Japanese culture, in their quest for perfection, many students will only speak if they know they're saying it the right way. If they think they're going to make a mistake, they'll rather remain silent.

The article also highlights that generally written English is better than spoken English in Japan. So teachers in Fukuoka Prefecture have been using Fawlty Towers and Red Dwarf to get students accustomed to hearing spoken English. We wonder if these students will assume Smeg-head is common parlance?!

Souce: BBC News

Talking to toco toco tv

Date: 2017 January 25 16:12 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

We've interviewed a lot of interesting people in the anime industry over the years and were delighted when we discovered the mini-documentary show toco toco tv. The series available on YouTube has a simple and effective format they talk to various Japanese creators and introduce places they like in Japan while telling the viewer about their work.

The show is aired on the French TV channel Nolife since 2011 and YouTube (with English and French subtitles) since 2015.

Being intrigued about the show we wanted to know more, so decided to interview Anne Ferrero the show's director.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Makoto Shinkai's Your Name Review

Date: 2016 November 17 15:41 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

Makoto Shinkai's latest movie Your Name is due for a UK wide cinema release on Thursday 24th November 2016. You can find a screening near you by visiting YouNameTheMovie.co.uk.

We saw the the movie before it started to climb at the Japanese box office and become one of the highest grossing movies of all time in Japan.

We also interviewed the director Makoto Shinkai asking him lots of interesting questions about the movie.

Now the question you're asking, is the movie actually any good? Well wonder no more. We wrote this review before the hype picked up. So read on to get thoughts on the film!

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Makoto Shinaki Director of Your Name

Date: 2016 November 15 15:52 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

Makoto Shinkai's latest movie Your Name is about to hit the UK nationally on Thursday 24th November 2016. Last month we were lucky enough to catch up with Mr Shinkai to talk about Your Name while he was in London for the BFI London Film Festival.

You can catch the box office smash hit by going to YourNameTheMovie.co.uk to find a screening near you.

This isn't Makoto Shinkai's first time in London. We interviewed him in 2008 last time he was at the BFI promoting 5 Centimeters Per Second.

You can read our Your Name review too if you're interested to know more about the film.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

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