Category > Events
With COVID-19 still limiting what you can do across the UK, the fan favourite anime convention AmeCon rescheduled their AmeChibi to April 2021. They've now revealed that the April 2021 event has been postponed. The committee are being transparent and clear that it's unfeasible to run the event as it stands in April 2021. They're currently figuring out all the details with the venue about their options and will let everyone know what will happen next in due time.
It should be noted that AmeChibi hasn't been cancelled (as incorrectly reported elsewhere), but postponed until a future date. At the moment there is too much uncertainty so they cannot commit to a date.
Souce: AmeCon
Category > Anime
Update: Due to COVID restrictions The Leeds International Film Festival 2020 have had to move online for the whole event.
The Leeds International Film Festival always offers some interesting movies. In 2006 they ran the UK Premiere of Paprika by the late great Satoshi Kon. They've just launched the LIFF 2020 programme.
Anime fans will be interested in Liz and the Blue Bird from Naoko Yamada (A Silent Voice) and Kyoto Animation. It is set to play at City Varieties Music Hall on at 10:00 am on Saturday 7th November and 1:45pm on Sunday 8th November 2020. At this stage it's not clear if it'll be a subbed or dubbed screening. The film is a must for fans of the Sound! Euphonium Series (which you can pre-order from Anime Limited).
We're also waiting for the festival to reveal more details around it's screening of The Message - Onoe Caponoe as part of it's music video competition. The music video is from creative duo TOCHKA. You can catch the part animated video here.
Some of the festival will be taking place in the real world, while other bits will be online via the Leeds Film Player.
Thanks to Jordan Scott for sending us details of the festival.
Souce: The Leeds International Film Festival 2020
Category > Events
UK based artists will be very interested to hear about the Manga Jiman competition. The theme this time around is technology. The long running competition lets you submit a short manga entry for the chance to win some amazing prizes, in the past they've included laptops and flights to Japan. The competition is organised by the Embassy for Japan in the UK.
The competition closes on 16th November 2020. So get drawing!
Read More... | Souce: Manga Jiman
Category > Anime
With the ongoing trend of everything moving online due to the constraints of COVID-19, the Scotland Loves Anime Film Festival have teamed up with Screen Anime to bring the 2020 festival online. The collaboration is an obvious choice as the founder of the Scotland Loves Anime is also the CEO and founder of Anime Limited, which runs Screen Anime.
The online festivities will run from 25th October until 25th November 2020. Additionally to help the ailing cinemas industry. Screen Anime will also be supporting the festival's crowdfunding efforts, donating two-thirds of all proceeds made during the festival to its usual hosts, the Edinburgh Filmhouse and Glasgow Film Theatre cinemas.
You can help support their funding efforts by visiting their Crowdfunder page, you can receive some nice goodies for supporting the festival too.
Highlights for the festival include a lot of the lovely Lupin III (try saying that twice as fast), along with some Love Live!, breaking the letter L convention they'll also be showing some upside Patema Inverted, some Penguin Highway, plus Weathering With You with an exclusive optional commentary track featuring Dr. Jonathan Clements. We haven't heard the commentary track, but if it's anything like his other commentaries it will be well worth listening to in order to gain extra insight into the movie and anime production in general.
Plus they'll have the Production I.G. Short Film Collection, and some work in progress features around The Tiger and the Fish and Inu-oh.
Read More... | Souce: Scotland Loves Anime Festival 2020
Category > Events
With COVID-19 still placing restriction on events the good people at Japan Foundation London have got a great range of talks and workshops appearing online soon.
One talk we're excited about is the Spirits of Action: Japanese Manga and Sports . Yoshimura Kazuma will discuss the position of 'sports manga' in Japanese culture and how its contents have evolved to reflect the time. After the presentation anime and manga expert Rayna Denison will join in the conversation.
The online event is set to run at 12:00pm (BST) on Wednesday 28th October 2020. The event is free to attend virtually but places are limited and registration is essential.
Read More... | Souce: Japan Foundation London
Category > Anime
While many events have had to be cancelled this year due to the current COVID-19 crisis a lot of events have been able to shift online. As a result it means there are some great festivals and talks you can go to while staying comfy at home while not having to travel. So the good folks at the Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival will be celebrating their 10th anniversary with short film screenings and events on their YouTube channel and via Zoom.
We've been told there will be 3 Zoom meetings and 4 short film programmes featuring award winning film makers and emerging talents from various universities across Japan.
All films are in Japanese with English subtitles and everything is free to view. Some events do require booking. Content wise the stream is declared safe for children, the equivalent of a U rating in UK cinema. So will be appropriate for all ages.
The Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival has always had a great line-up, so now you just need to keep a weekend free to appropriate some truly lovely animation!
Everything is set to run on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th October 2020.
Check out their festival programme for more details and remember that streaming times are in the UK times.
Read More... | Souce: Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival 2020
Category > Anime
With COVID-19 still limiting peoples movements online virtual events have been proving popular. Animex The International Festival of Animation, VFX & Games has moved on-line and is set to run from Monday 21st September to Friday 2nd October 2020. The event is free to virtually attend this year so book now to grab a place.
The event is packed with workshops, screenings, Portfolio Reviews, Talks, exhibitions and much more.
Founded 20 years ago by Teesside University the festival aimed at creating a world-class inclusive festival that would draw some of the games and animation industries' brightest lights and future stars together to share their knowledge with the next generation.
This is event will be of interest to those who want to get into the animation industry, regardless of if you want to work in VFX, video games, animation or something else! Or for those who are curious to see the inner workings of a creative industry.
Read More... | Souce: Animex - International Festival of Animation, VFX & Games
The good folks from Manga Entertainment UK have just revealed that they'll be bringing the 4K edition of Akira to cinemas around the UK and Ireland soon. The screenings will include select IMAX screens and up to 300 other locations.
At the moment locations are to be confirmed, but you can register your interest on the booking website.
Akira is regarded one of the most seminal anime movies ever made. It's a classic dystopian future has influences on movies, cyberpunk culture and even predicted that the 2020 Olympic games would be held in Tokyo! It's one of those movies you just have to see on the big screen to fully appreciate.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Events
UK based aspiring artists will want to watch the online launch event for the latest Manga Jiman Competition.
The details for the competition will be streamed at 7pm on Wednesday 1st July 2020. Previous winners Katja Hammond, Shangomola Edunjobi and Tori Jones will join the stream for a chat as well.
The manga competition is run by the Embassy of Japan in the UK. The competition often marks rising stars in the UK industry and is a great place to showcase talent.
The live stream is free and you can register here.
You can see more details about the previous 2019 Competition here.
The Embassy have also just posted some fun quizzes on Japan, so give it a go if you want to test your Japanese knowledge!
Souce: Embassy of Japan in the UK
Category > Anime
With social distancing still in place across the UK virtual events are proving to be a popular alternative. Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival have just sent us details of their 2020 offerings, which include a free online screening event on Saturday 25th July 2020 at 11am and 6pm (UK time).
They've got a line-up of fun films that range from stop motion to 2D and it's all for free. All people have to do is go to the Kotatsu Festival YouTube channel at either 11am or 6pm to watch the films.
Animators include current names like Miho Yata and Arisa Wakami and veteran animator Fusako Yusaki. So why not tune in on Saturday morning or evening to enjoy some insight into animation?
Read More... | Souce: Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival 2020
Category > Anime
While lock down has impacted events for anime fans around the globe there is a good range of virtual events cropping up. Up this weekend is Cloud Matsuri. Set to run online from Saturday 30th to Sunday 31st May 2020, the event will play host to top Japanese industry figures along with UK based and US anime firms.
You can access all the streams for the event for free with details to do so via Cloud Matsuri's website.
Read More... | Souce: Cloud Matsuri
Category > Anime
We've just received a press release from the good folks over at ReedPOP, the group behind MCM Comic Con events. They've told us that due to the COVID-19 virus multiple MCM Comic Con Events are cancelled. The upcoming MCM Comic Con events in Birmingham, London, Manchester and Scotland are affected.
At this stage it's uncertain when the next MCM Comic Con event will be. This doesn't just impact ReedPOP itself, but it's exhibitors. We are aware of a many specialist small business that make the majority of their income from events like MCM Comic Con. If there's a stall like that you enjoy buying stuff from that's normally at your favourite geek event, check out their website and maybe buy something from them. Every little helps.
Read More... | Souce: MCM Comic Con
Category > Anime
On Sunday, 10 May 2020 at the closing award ceremony of the 27th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS), this year's Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award for Animated Film - named after the German-born silhouette animator who made the earliest surviving animated feature, and awarded to the jury's choice of the best graduation film by a film student - was awarded to Japanese animator Mizuki Kiyama for her graduation film Bath House of Whales (くじらの湯 Kujira no yu, 2019), produced at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Kiyama, who now stylizes her name as Kiyamamizuki (キヤマミズキ), animated and directed the 7-minute-long short in paint on glass; it was produced by Oscar-nominated indie animator and Tokyo University of the Arts professor Koji Yamamura, along with Yuichi Ito, Mitsuko Okamoto and Taruto Fuyama.The festival has now finished, but the short is still available to view officially on the YouTube channel of Osaka-based organization Knowledge Capital.
Her name was previously written as 木山瑞嬉, and while going by this rendering she made independent shorts including the 5-minute Futatsume (ふたつめ, 2016), 1-minute Metatarō (メタ太郎, 2017) - both on her Vimeo channel - and 3-minute On the way home (かえりみち Kaerimichi, 2018) and worked for Science SARU as an animator and digital animator on episodes of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!.
The Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award includes €10,000, sponsored by MFG Film Funding Baden-Württemberg. The jury at this year's festival comprised Jon Frickey (who made the Japanese-co-produced Cat Days, featured in this year's Best of Animation program), Waltraud Grausgruber, Ben Mitchell, Cécile Noesser and Gerben Schermer.
Japanese productions that have won awards at Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film before include Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea in 2010, Makoto Shinkai's The Garden of Words in 2014 and Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai in 2019, all of which won the AniMovie Award for the best animated feature film screened at the festival.
Thanks to Otaku News reader Jordan Scott for bringing this to our attention!
Souce: Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film
Category > Anime
It's the start of convention season, while events are inevitably being postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19 online events are becoming a sensible alternative and Anime Limited are stepping up with their buddies to launch Cloud Matsuri.
The virtual convention is set to run on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st May 2020. The event is completely free.
The show will feature exclusive interviews and talks with special guest from the world of anime and more.
They're hinting that there will be more guests to announce, but the line up they're showing us at the moment is fantastic with Eunyoung Choi - CEO & Executive Producer, Science SARU (most recently responsible for the fabulous Keep Your Hands off Eizouken). Eiji Inomoto President & Founder, Studio Orange. The CG specialists created Land of the Lustrous and Beastars. Shuzo Shiota president of Polygon Pictures (who are involved in Knights of Sidonia and AJIN: Demi-Human to name a few). They'll also have Yasuhiro Kamimura CEO of GroundWorks Co., Ltd who will talk about his career to date and share stories with managing the Evangelion brand.
Read More... | Souce: Cloud Matsuri
Category > Anime
While events in the UK have had to be postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19, some event runners have switched to online sessions as an alternative. Japan House London will be running a Drawing Kimono: Online Session with Kutsuwada Chie. It's set to run on Friday 15th May 2020 at 14:00 to 15:00 UK time. Booking is required, but the event is free.
Kutsuwada Chie is a Brighton based Japanese artist who will show people attending the online session how to draw a male figure wearing a kimono.
Read More... | Souce: Japan House London
Category > Anime
UK readers will be very interested to hear that the BFI have just announced a fantastic new season called BFI Japan 2020.
Starting with Akira Kurosawa and other classics in May, they'll then run different themes every month until October with some J-Horror (just in time for Halloween). We you know you'll want to watch some anime too, which is why they'll be showing anime in July, this will include films from Hayao Miyazaki, Mamoru Hosoda and the late great Satoshi Kon, plus some other top tier titles too.
There is pretty is much something for everyone during this fantastic season. Currently catering for the audience at lockdown at home they aim to bring cinema to you via their BFI Player and BFI YouTube.
When the cinemas reopen (which the BFI anticipates will be late 2020 or early 2021) the BFI will also re-release the Akira Kurosawa classic Seven Samurai, along with monthly seasons at the BFI Southbank in London.
Additionally the BFI will be releasing some DVDs and Blu-ray features too including Ozu's Tokyo Story, The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, Toshio Matsumoto's Funeral Parade of Roses, along with a Takeshi Kitano Blu-ray boxset featuring Sonatine, Violent Cop and Boiling Point.
Read More... | Souce: BFI Japan 2020
Category > Culture
Are you artistic? Well, with so many people at home right now, it is the perfect time for another manga competition. The application for the 14th Japan International Manga Award. The competition is organised by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
The deadline is 19th June 2020. Entries can be posted to us at the Embassy in London. If you're outside the UK you can submit entries to your local Embassy of Japan. Entrants to the Manga Jiman Competition are encouraged to enter.
Souce: 14th Japan International MANGA Award
Category > Anime
It's that time of year again! Recently the Embassy of Japan in the UK revealed the winners of the prestigious Manga Jiman Competition 2019. The competition often marks rising stars in the UK industry too. Competition prizes range from an amazing two flights to Japan for the 1st place winner, to lovely A3 scanners for second place and so.
This years first place went to Tori Jones for A Heart of Gold or Some Other Metal, while Alexandra Cook took second place with Kiyomi's Prequel. Third place went to Mina Ghosh with The Last Day of Uther Adriss.
Many of the shortlisted artists were first time entrants, showing that the competition has endured for the 13 times it's been run.
Read More... | Souce: Embassy of Japan in the UK
Category > Anime
My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is the latest cinematic offering for the My Hero Academia series. It hits cinemas around the UK and Ireland on Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th February 2020. Of course you want to know is it any good? Well read on to find out!
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Events
Fans of Japanese culture in London will want to head over to Japan House London to experience the Windowology: New Architectural Views from Japan exhibition. It's set to run from Thursday 16th April to Sunday 28th June 2020. Admission is free.
The exhibition explores the architectural side and also the abstract and meaning of windows. Of course they've also got a window into manga, with the classic manga Sazae-san being displayed. They've selected some great strips on the themes of windows too! Sazae-san is one of Japan's most popular manga series. It's presented in the classic yonkoma (4 panel) strip style.
So why not visit Japan House London to get a view on this exhibit!
Read More... | Souce: Japan House London
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.
Read More... | Souce: Whole Hog Theatre Company
Category > Anime
UK Fans of Japanese are in for a great treat. The Japan Foundation have just revealed the line up for their Touring Film Programme 2020. The theme for this year is Happiness is A State of Mind: Joy and Despair in Japanese Cinema. Films will be screened all around the UK from 31st January to 29th March 2020.
There's plenty of excellent films to choose from too:
Read More... | Souce: The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2020
2019 isn't over yet, but Manga Entertainment UK have started to look forward to 2020 and revealed that they'll be releasing the One Piece Stampede Movie in cinemas around the UK on Sunday 2nd February 2020. The screenings of the latest One Piece cinema outing will be at select cinemas for one day only, both subbed and dubbed.
To find out more and to register your interest on the booking site visit onepiecefilm.co.uk.
Read More... | Souce: One Piece Stampede UK Movie Site
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
Category > Events
It's geek super event MCM Comic Con London this weekend. Anime streaming service Crunchyroll have just revealed that Jonathan Ross will host the UK Premiere of brand new anime at MCM Comic Con London. The premiere is for two anime titles - In/Spectre and Somali and the Forest Spirit.
The screening will be at the Main Stage, Friday 25 October 2019 from 5pm to 7pm.
It's well known that Jonathan Ross is an anime fan. He's made a few shows about manga and going to Japan. Plus he commissioned creepy-artist artist Junko Mizuno to create the logo for his production company Hotsauce TV.
Read More... | Souce: MCM Comic Con London
Category > Events
UK based Theatre Company Whole Hog Theatre have just revealed details of their latest production The Garden of Words. Based on the anime of the same name by director Makoto Shinkai. The play will be performed in London at Park Theatre from 15th July to 15th August 2020.
It will also be performed in Tokyo with Japanese Animation stage production specialists, Nelke Planning (Sailor Moon stage production).
Curiously the performance promises to be an interdisciplinary adaptation visually emotive story using puppetry, movement and projection art. Performed in English with occasional Japanese. The Whole Hog Theatre Company are not new to anime adaptations, having performed Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke on stage. While Princess Mononoke naturally lends itself to puppetry, The Garden of Words could have been done as conventional play. So we're very interested to see what Whole Hog have up their sleeves.
Anime and manga being adapted for the stage seems to be an on going trend in the west, with Kiki's Delivery Service being adapted by Southwark Playhouse and Urasawa's Pluto getting a performance at London's Barbican.
While popular franchises are frequently adapted for the stage in Japan by theatre companies such as Nelke Planning.
We're excited to see what Whole Hog do and suggest you book tickets soon to avoid disappointment.
Read More... | Souce: The Whole Hog Theatre Company
Category > Events
As autumn fades into winter and the evenings get darker Japan House London have been thinking ahead. They've just announced details a new exhibition to brighten things up. WOW: City Lights and Woodland Shade is set to run at Japan House from Thursday 21 November 2019 until Sunday 22nd March 2020.
The two installations by WOW looking at both the urban future and timelessness of rural Japan.
The installation will offer mesmerising digital displays, images of Tokyo by night projected in a mind-bending 360-degree reimagining of Japan's capital city by night. Plus POPPO is an excursion into the folk art of Japan's countryside.
The exhibition is suitable for all ages and is free to attend.
Read More... | Souce: Japan House London
Category > Events
As far as images of Japan goes, you can't get more Japanese than an image of Geisha. The traditional Japanese entertainers will be making an appearance at Japan House London on Friday 18th October at 12:30 to 13:30.
You'll get a rare chance to meet Geiko (aka Geisha) and Maiko (apprentice Geiko). They'll perform signature dances and also take part in a conversation with Japan House.
The event is free to attend.
Read More... | Souce: Japan House London
UK based fans of Studio Trigger are in for a treat. Anime Distributors Anime Limited have just announced they've acquired the rights to Promare.
Studio Trigger are responsible for TV series Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia, director Hiroyuki Imaishi was also behind GAINAX's Gurren Lagann. Promare marks the studio's first theatrical outing.
On Tuesday 26th and Thursday 28th November 2019 there will be screenings at select cinemas around the UK and Ireland.
If you're lucky enough to be in Scotland and and get to the Glasgow Film Theatre on Sunday 13th October 2019, you can get to the UK premiere! There will also be a Promare Special Events Screening at Edinburgh on Saturday 19th October 2019, with major creative talent behind this film. Plus there's also a screening at the Edinburgh Filmhouse on Monday 21st October 2019.
Read More... | Souce: Anime Limited
Category > Events
It's October. Which means it's almost time for MCM Comic Con London. The massive geek event is set to to run from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th October 2019 at the ExCel Centre in London.
They've just announced two very special anime guests of honour. First up we have Shinichiro Watanabe, best known for the major anime series Cowboy Bebop, but he's also done some other great shows including Terror in Resonance, Samurai Champloo, along with Kids on the Slope. You can also see his latest show Carole & Tuesday on Netflix. Shinichiro Watanabe is credited as the supervising director / chief director of the show.,
Guest number two is Motonobu Hori who is the director of Carole & Tuesday. The show marks his directorial debut, while he's worked on n key animation, animation direction and storyboards for a wealth of anime, including Napping Princess, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc, and episodes of Psycho-Pass in the past.
Both guests will be hosting an Anime Guest of Honour panel at the Centre Stage on Saturday, 26th October from 11:15AM, and will also be attending free signing sessions on both Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th October from 14:30-15:30.
As always we're very excited about this as it's a great chance to see some top talent from the anime industry. We look forward to find out what insights from anime production they'll reveal at this panel.
Read More... | Souce: MCM Comic Con London
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.
Read More... | Souce: Japan Matsuri
Category > Events
London based fans of virtual pop idol Hatsune Miku will want to head to the O2 Academy Brixton on Saturday 11th January 2020 for the London leg of the Hatsune Miku Expo 2020 Europe Tour. This will be her second European tour. Miku will start the tour in London then will jet off to Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and Barcelona.
Tickets for the vocaloid sensation start at £45.00 and go up to £125.00 for VIP. Tickets are on sale now at livenation.co.uk and ticketmaster.co.uk.
Read More... | Souce: O2 Academy Brixton
Category > Anime
London based culture vultures will be interested to hear about Imaginary Solutions. It's an upcoming collaboration between the Tokyo-based Butoh dancer/martial artist Takahiro Tomatsu, and the acclaimed London-based experimental music ensemble ARCO, led by composer performer Neil Luck. The performance is set to run on Friday 15th November 2019 at The Horse Hospital in Bloomsbury. Tickets are £8 or 6 for concessions.
The performance is an official event of the Japan-UK Season of Culture 2019-2020.
Read More... | Souce: Imaginary Solutions
Category > Anime
Fans of anime who can get to Cardiff or Aberystwyth are in for a treat as the Kotatsu Japanese Animation Film Festival returns for it's 2019 run. As you'd expect they've got a great line up of films, plus other events including an Anime-Themed Disco, a Masterclass with stop motion animators Takeshi Yashiro & Satoshi Akutsu.
Movie wise they've got some great titles that are worthy to catch on the big screen including Birthday Wonderland, Penguin Highway and A Silent Voice. They'll also be showing Tamako Love Story as a nod to KyoAni and their recent tragedy.
The festival is set to run in Cardiff at Chapter from Friday 4th to Sunday 6th October 2019 and at Aberystwyth Arts Centre Saturday 19th to 20th October 2019.
Read More... | Souce: Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival
Anime fans in London looking for a day of films can't wrong by heading over to the first The Anime Film Festival. It's set to run on Saturday 7th September at Picturehouse Central in London's West End. They've got a sterling line up of films that should all really be enjoyed on the big screen.
All films will be shown in Japanese with English subtitles.
They'll be showing the following:
Read More... | Souce: Anime Film Festival
Category > Events
Manga fans in London are truly being spoilt with all the guests and events currently available over the last couple of months. This trend is continuing with a Special talk event with legendary manga artist - Keiko Takemiya. Known for her shojo manga, pioneer of the Boys' Love genre and author of the iconic manga including To Terra... and The Poem of Wind and Trees. Comic book expert Paul Gravett will be talking to Keiko Takemiya from 2:30pm to 4:30pm on Sunday 25th August 2019 at Foyles Charing Cross Road.
The talk will be followed by a Q&A and an opportunity for books to be signed bring them along with you!
This exclusive UK event is in partnership with Japan Foundation London.
The event costs £8 per person or £5 for students and Foyalty members.
Read More... | Souce: The Japan Foundation London
Category > Events
UK anime fans looking for a nice little convention to attend in the summer of 2020 are in luck. The good folks at AmeCon have announced that they'll be running AmeChibi at Northampton Park Inn on Friday 7th to Sunday 9th August 2020. It's called AmeChibi as it's smaller than their usual university campus events, running in a hotel instead. This means it'll have a different more cosy atmosphere than the larger events.
Registration for AmeChibi 2020 will open on Tuesday 1st October 2019. Pricing details have yet to be revealed.
The last smaller format AmeChibli was held in 2015 and registration sold out in 6 hours. So we advise you to book early on Tuesday 1st October 2019 if you're keen to go.
Souce: AmeCon
Category > Anime
Manga fans in London looking for an academic taste into the world of manga will be very pleased to hear about the Manga Symposium: What is Manga? Exploring Japanese Manga and Visual Narratives. The day long event gathers a range of manga academics at The British Library, Knowledge Centre Theatre. It's set to run on Friday 23rd August 2019 from 10:00 to 17:30.
Tickets cost £15 for adults or £8 for students under 18s and other concessions. We can think of nothing better than spending a learning about manga. Visit https://www.bl.uk/events/manga-symposium to book tickets.
Read More... | Souce: The Japan Foundation and The British Library
Category > Anime
Anime fans in London are in for a treat. The Barbican have got anime expert Helen McCarthy to curate a season of anime screenings. Anime's Human Machines is set to run from Thursday 12th to Monday 30th September 2019.
Each screening will have a special introduction by Helen McCarthy. They've also got super mecha designer Shôji Kawamori. Anime fans will best know him for his mecha designs in Macross. He also co-directed Macross Plus. Other famous designs include a series of Dicalone toys for Japanese toy company Takara. This was a collection of transforming robots. Hasbro licensed these toys and rebranded them as Transformers. Mr Kawamori designed a certain truck called Convoy who was rebranded as Optimus Prime!
Shôji Kawamori will be introducing the Ghost in the Shell Movie (the 1995 animated version), at the Barbican on Wednesday 18th September 2019 at 20:45. Kawamori did some of the mechanical design for this film too!
This season has a whole host of awesome films that are all really worth watching on the big screen (Helen's spoilt us for choice). We suggest booking early to avoid disappointment.
They'll also be showing the mind bending Paprika, Patlabor the Movie, Mamoru Hosoda's Summer Wars, plus a few other awesome films.
Not content with just films, they've got a couple of drawing workshops too!
Read More... | Souce: Barbican
Category > Events
UK based anime fans looking for a convention to go to will be pleased to hear that AmeCon will be announcing details of their next event. On Saturday 3rd August 2019 they'll have a livestream at 8:30pm along with a Q&A.
From what we can gather, they'll be announcing when and where the next AmeCon will be, along with when it opens for registration.
To be the first to find out tune in on either Facebook or YouTube.
You can also submit questions to them in advance via Facebook or @AmeCon on Twitter.
AmeCon is one of the UK's largest Japanese animation, comics and culture conventions. It's run by fans for fans.
Souce: AmeCon
Category > Events
Fans of Japanese culture in London looking for something a bit different this August are in luck. We've just been sent details about an Anglo-Japanese Theatre/Opera/Live Art Production Origami Soundscapes / The Crane. It's set to run at the arcola theatre in East London on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th August 2019. The Friday showing will be at 20:00, while there will be two showings on Saturday at 15:00 and 20:00.
The performance folds origami and music together in a multi-media opera installation exploring classical Japanese traditions with a uniquely avant-garde twist. You can always check out the trailer to get more of an idea.
This is supported by Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and has been recognised as an Official Event of the Japan-UK Season of Culture 2019-2020.
It will be sung in English and Japanese without subtitles.
Tickets range from £12 to £22.
Read More... | Souce: arcola theatre
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.
Read More... | Souce: Japan House London
Category > Anime
The good folks from anime company Manga Entertainment UK have announced that Okko's Inn will be screened in select cinemas around the UK.
The film is directed by Kitaro Kosaka of anime studio Madhouse. The fantasy follows the adventures of Okko a girl who after losing her parents in a car accident moves in with her grandmother in the countryside. Okko's grandmother runs a traditional Japanese inn. Okko then discovers that the inn is inhabited by spirits only she can see.
The film is pitched as having storybook charm. It'll hit cinemas around the UK at select cinemas on Sunday 14th July 2019.
If you can make it to screening near you ticket holders will also receive a free, exclusive postcard featuring character artwork - available on a first come, first served basis while stocks last.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Anime
In the window of Japan House in Kensington, a standee of a schoolboy with a baseball cap and backpack beckons. "Hey! Come look at this!" a speech bubble by his head says, inviting you to join him and his two friends inside. The characters have been drawn in the distinctive style of legendary mangaka Urasawa Naoki, and their invitation is for THIS IS MANGA - THE ART OF URASAWA NAOKI, which is open to the public until 28 July 2019.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
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
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
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!
Read More... | Souce: Japan House London
Category > Events
London based fans of Zelda are in for a treat this weekend as Legend of Zelda manga duo Akira Himekawa will be in town for MCM Comic Con London and a special signing at Forbidden Planet (which is handy if you can't make it to MCM over the weekend).
The London branch of the Sci-Fi super store Forbidden Planet will be playing host to the manga duo for a special signing event. The signing event is on Friday 24th May from 6pm to 7:30pm. It's free, but you do need to get a wrist band from Forbidden Planet first in order to attend. No wrist band, no entry. To find out how to get a wrist band visit Forbidden Planet's website for details.
Akira Himekawa will also be at the MCM Comic Con London and attending the event throughout the weekend for signings and panels with manga publisher VIZ. Akira Himekawa's featured spotlight panel will take place on Saturday on the Main Stage at 14:15 and includes a special announcement of new titles, a live drawing session and awesome trivia questions for prize giveaways.
Read More... | Souce: MCM Comic Con London
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.
Read More... | Souce: Japan House London
Category > Anime
The good folks from Manga Entertainment UK are getting ready for the May run on MCM Comic Con London. So to get things moving they've set up a fundraiser for the event. This time around they'll be supporting Mermaids the charity that supports gender variant and transgender children, young people and their families.
If you'd like to help you can buy a raffle ticket for a chance to win a nice selection of Dragon Ball Super / Dragon Ball Z goodies.
Read More... | Souce: Manga Entertainment UK
Category > Events
It's May which means it's almost time for the first MCM Comic Con London of 2019! As is tradition, they've got an anime guest of honour lined up to share great insights about the anime industry. For May 2019 anime director Yuichiro Hayashi will be Anime Limited's guest of honour. The director is best known for GARO the Animation and Kakegurui. He's also be involved in 2012 CGI anime production of 009 Re:Cyborg.
Yuichiro Hayashi will be taking to the Centre Stage on Saturday of MCM Comic Con London to discuss his roles as series director, storyboard artist and episode director over the years, among his involvement in major anime productions.
Anime Limited will also be running panels on the Friday and Sunday. No doubt they'll reveal some interesting information about up coming licenses. We're very excited as they've always got something interesting up their sleeve.
Kakegurui is currently showing on Netflix, so you can catch the series before catching the director in person.
MCM Comic Con London is set to run at the London ExCel Centre from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th May 2019.
Read More... | Souce: MCM Comic Con London