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Is KyuuCON a Scam?

Date: 2005 August 25 17:36 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

After posting the press release from KyuuCon yesterday, it's been brought to our attention by various members of UK anime fandom that there is something fishy about KyuuCON. Firstly it appears that the venue mentioned the Plymouth Pavillions has not heard of KyuuCON or the organisers in question. The second major alarm bell is where the payments are going, into a personal bank account and not a building society account/non-profit account in the conventions name.

What's also interesting is their sudden change of heart, and the way they've just moved everything back a year. Plus this thread brought to our attention at the AyaCon Forum. At this current moment in time, based on what we have heard, we believe that KyuuCON is either very poorly organised or a cash grabbing scam, either way, we suggest you avoid KyuuCON for now.

KyuuCON 2006

Date: 2005 August 25 04:41 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Events

2006 looks to be a busy year for fans with the announcement of a third convention in the UK. KyuuCON 2006 will run from the 2nd - 4th of June at the Plymouth Pavillions. The convention will have a capacity of 1500 with the weekend price being £50.

Amecon and Auchinawa Convention Details

Date: 2005 August 17 16:59 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Events

Those of you attending Ayacon and planning on attending next year's conventions Amecon 2006 (August 11th - 13th, 2006) and Auchinawa(November 23rd -
26th, 2006) will be interested in a joint registration scheme which will be running during Ayacon this weekend. The scheme will allow con goers to pay for one con in full and a deposit for the other at the same time.

London Anime Club is Next Weekend

Date: 2005 August 06 11:39 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

A quick reminder to our London based readers, the London Anime Club which is normally held on the first Sunday of every month, will be on 14th August so not to clash with the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow which has an anime events run this weekend.

Souce: London Anime Club

Japan Manga Tour

Date: 2005 August 04 16:44 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

UK Travel company Japan Journeys have sent us details of their package holiday Japan Manga Tour a package departing from London to Tokyo. The highlights include a visit to the fantastic Ghibli Museum, the historical Meiji Shrine, the fashionable Harajuku and the Aladdin's cave of an anime store that is Mandarake.

All of the above places are worth visiting for one reason or another from the cultural value, to the outright wacky. The Otaku News Crew suggest you add the locations to your list of places to visit, for when you're in Tokyo next! ^_-

AmeCon 2006 Details

Date: 2005 August 02 17:26 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

With AyaCon about to kick off in a few weeks, the AmeCon Crew have sent us the details of their Leicester based convention. Set to run from Friday 11th August to late on Sunday 13th in 2006 the convention looks like it's going to be good. The press release they've sent us has the full details and covers pretty much all the questions you could ask at this stage. It's great to see they've got the details sorted out even a year before the events set to run.

The guests include Monica Rial who was a real hoot at last years Amecon and interviewed really well, along with fellow voice actor Greg Ayres.

The AmeCon Crew have also decided to host a Cosplay Ball, which sounds exciting and attendees are advised to wear cosplay or formal wear (which basically means cosplay as Tuxedo Mask ^_-). The Otaku News Crew were at the first AmeCon and we've already paid the deposit for next years.

Spirited Away Makes BFI Must See List

Date: 2005 July 20 07:01 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

According to BBC News, the British Film Institute have complied a list of films that every child should have watched by the age of 14.

The list was put together with help from the public and is intended to spark debate about what children should watch.

Unsurprisingly, The Wizard of Oz, ET and Toy Story are listed, but it also seems that BFI (or perhaps the public in general) know what they're talking about by suggesting Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki's tale of a girl drawn into a world of magic after her parents pig out on forbidden food.

The BFI selected 50 films and eventually whittled them down to 10.

Souce: BBC News

MinamiCon 12 Registrations Now Open

Date: 2005 July 12 13:50 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

London Anime Club President Dragon, has just informed us that registrations for the MinamiCon 12, the Southampton, UK based anime convention are now open. It's set for the 17th-19th March 2006. Registration costs £42 per person for the full weekend, and for an extra £10 you can also get a convention t-shirt.

Souce: MinamiCon 12

J-Pop Go July Still Go!

Date: 2005 July 11 16:56 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Our club bunny readers will be pleased to hear that despite recent tragic events in London, J-Pop Go July is indeed still Go and set for Wednesday 13th July. Tickets are still available at venue on the night.

The Otaku News Crew advise that you allow extra travel time to get the venue Fluid.

Regular contributor Voxie went to the last J-Pop go and has written a report of the event.

J-Pop Go July!

Date: 2005 June 23 17:12 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The funky people over at J-Pop Go have just told that that their tickets are now available for their next event. It'll be on Wednesday 13th July at Fluid in London. This time around you can buy their magazine separately from the tickets, so even if you can't go you can read up about all the latest J-Pop events.

Our very own resident club bunny Voxie has written a report on the first J-Pop Go too. ^_^

Only 49 Places Left at AyaCon

Date: 2005 June 21 19:07 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Popular UK Anime convention AyaCon are now down to their last 49 places. The convention always proves a hit and once it has sold out getting a ticket to the event is very hard, normally people have to wait for registered members to cancel.

AyaCon 5 is set to be the biggest UK anime convention to date with 1200 fans in attendance. Currently hosting an anime convention of this size is tricky and it's always nice to know that the people running the convention have experience and a proven track record at organising anime conventions. So book now to avoid disappointment.

What will be interesting to see is where will anime conventions go after this. Anime and manga is getting increasingly popular in the UK and more events are being held all the time. Surely more people will want to go to anime conventions run by anime fans like AmeCon, AyaCon and MinamiCon, however there are a only a limited number of venues that can cater for a fan run anime convention in the UK larger than 1200 people, anything bigger and all sorts of logistical factors kick in making organising an event a lot more complex. The Otaku News Crew wonder what will happen next, will these conventions continue with the same capacity, or will they be able to find even bigger venues to hold larger events? Whatever happens we certainly look forward to future fan run anime conventions.

Souce: AyaCon

J-pop Go Returns

Date: 2005 June 06 13:26 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Events

Following on from its recent success J-pop Go is back at Fluid on the 13th July. Please click Read More for the latest press release.

IMAF Winner Featured on BBC

Date: 2005 May 24 12:14 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Those alert people at UKAnime.com (who seem unable to hyperlink to us correctly when mentioning our articles) have discovered an article on the BBC Birmingham Website which reports on the talented Asia Alfasi, winner of the Kids Character Design in the IMAF 2004 competition, who drew on her heritage to create Monir a feisty young Arabian. Details of the other winners can be found on this previous Otaku News article.

Souce: BBC Birmingham

Blood At AyaCon

Date: 2005 May 19 17:57 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The popular UK anime convention AyaCon have announced that their guests for this year will be visual kei band Blood. The last AyaCon had MegaTokyo artist Fred Gallagher who proved to be an excellent choice (a detailed report can be found here).

This seems like an interesting choice for guests, since Blood do not have a direct connection to Anime fandom, unlike MegaTokyo which is read by many anime fans. The Otaku News Crew wonder if more Visual Kei, J-Pop and J-Rock fans will register for the convention, who have no real interested in anime, with just over 300 places left at the time of writing this article AyaCon is selling out fast normally the last 200 or so places tend to go very quickly. We also wonder if the popular J-Pop/Rock party at AmeCon last year had any influence on the committee members.

It's good to see that UK anime conventions are experimenting with the type of guests they have and also take the standard anime convention in a new direction. This is the fifth AyaCon, and based on our previous experiences there the convention is normally very well run and certainlly well worth attending.

Interaction to Preview Howl's Moving Castle

Date: 2005 May 12 18:47 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

We've just received some very exciting news about Interaction, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention, which will be previewing Howl's Moving Castle. It's the long awaited latest movie from Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki, who is also responsible for Spirited Away (the first anime film to have won an Oscar).

They'll also be showing anime musical Interstella 5555, with music from Daft Punk, it's directed by Leiji Matsumoto & Kazuhisa Takenôchi, and has the distinctive Matsumoto character designs, even if they are blue aliens instead of humans! The convention are even screening Appleseed, a CGI movie based on the popular manga by Masamune Shirow (who is best known for Ghost In The Shell).

It appears that the event coordinator David 'Dragon' Cotterill has been a busy man, not only has he helped to secure the film screenings, but he has also managed to get leading anime experts like Jonathan Clements (co-author of the Anime Encyclopedia and the Dorama Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese TV Drama since 1953), to step onboard to run panels and discussions.

The Otaku News Crew are pleased to report that this makes the convention worth while for anime fans, since the film line up is interesting, and being the first to see Howl's Moving Castle in the UK makes it worth the visit alone! It's also refreshing to see that they've got established and experienced anime experts who actually know what they are talking about, more recently we've noticed that there are quite self declared experts appearing at smaller events who have only really got into anime because it's "cool", in reality such people jumping on the bandwagon know little and often turn events into disasters. We've seen Jonathan at previous events and found him to be entertaining and informative.

Manga Art Competition At London Expo

Date: 2005 May 10 18:20 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Sonia Leong from UK manga style art group Sweatdrop Studios has just sent us the details of a Manga Art Competition which will be held at the London Expo this weekend. The competition is sponsored by Letraset who will be giving the winners some highly desirable colour professional Letraset Tria Marker collections, worth over £70 each.

So if you can draw and will be at the London Expo then why not give it a shot? ^_^

Su Doku Newspaper Wars

Date: 2005 May 10 18:09 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Current Affairs

BBC's Newsnight show, have just run a TV version of this BBC News article about Su Doku. The article basically explains that a news paper war has broken out in the UK over the Japanese number puzzle Su Doku, an addicting game that can be solved using logic, so those with a phobia of mathematics can play! The game is becoming so popular it's actually now a selling point on newspapers front pages. Su Doku can be computer generated, so if you want to play take a look at Sudoku.com.

Souce: BBC News

Otaku News Adds DVD Reviews

Date: 2005 May 08 18:45 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Websites

Here at Otaku News we listen to you, our readers comments and will always try to improve the site based on what we hear. The most common request we've had so far is for a review section. So the Otaku News Crew started to work away, writing reviews and also writing the code for you to navigate the reviews. At the moment we've put up some DVD reviews for you to read, over time we intend to add a lot more. Currently all editions of Otaku News will show all DVDs, regardless of their region. Eventually once we have a substantial number of reviews the UK and US Editions will only display reviews from their region.

We've also adopted a policy of being honest, so far one review already has a rating of 2 out of 10! We hope you find this addition to the site helpful and enjoying reading our opinions, of course if you don't like it and think you can do better, then by all means tell us, we are always looking for talented contributors to write news articles, reviews and anything else of interest to otaku!

Souce: Otaku News DVD Review Section

J-Pop Go Report - A Successful Night!

Date: 2005 May 05 07:13 | Posted By: Voxie

Category > Culture

J-Pop Go, possibly the first night of its kind in London town – a club night dedicated to pleasing its crowd with Japanese pop and rock sounds! And that it was, with popular classics from the likes of J-rockstars L’Arc En Ciel, to some of the latest from J-pop groups HALCALI and Puffy.

The night was held at the Japanese-themed social spot Fluid, and the best of its kind I’ve seen so far! Coloured in striking red shades, two floors/bars, with artwork, katakana and anime clips playing across the walls, it proved a perfect venue for the night! The catering was in check, there was Asahi beer and sushi on the menus, as well as some interesting cocktails, including a ‘wasabi martini’! You could only get away with it in a bar like this one!

Anime Costumes Required For WorldCon

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

Category > Fandom

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

Souce: Miki Dennis

First Ever UK Tokyopop 'Rising Stars Of Manga' Competition

Date: 2005 April 28 17:09 | Posted By: Ash

Category > Manga

Following on from our earlier story Tokyopop are to offer a chance for UK creators to earn prizes and receive a chance to have their own Graphic Novel.

Garnier Release Manga Hair Styling Product In UK

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

Category > Freaky Things

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

J-Pop Go - Wednesday 4th May

Date: 2005 April 19 16:14 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The people over at J-Pop Go have just sent us an update. The event is scheduled to take place at Fluid in Charterhouse Street, London from 7:00pm to 12:00am on Wednesday 4th May. Tickets are priced at £8 each and are now available online.

Souce: J-Pop Go

IMAF Announce Winners

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

Category > Events

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

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

Sweatdrop At London Expo

Date: 2005 March 24 12:14 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Press Releases

UK manga style art group Sweatdrop Studios has announced that they will be attending the London MCM Expo and will be running the artists alley section of the 'anime village'. The MCM Expo is running on the 14 & 15th May.

Manga Collector Required

Date: 2005 March 09 17:57 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The Otaku News Crew have been sent this request from a Publisher who requires someone with a large manga collecton -

Publisher seeks manga collectors in South East England with collections of 75-100 plus translated titles, mostly non hentai. Author and publisher would like to visit you and look at your titles as part of picture research for new book. Small fee and thanks in book. If interested send your list of titles/authors and your address to

chippymouseuk@yahoo.co.uk

Souce: Publisher

A Last Minute Anime Convention for London!

Date: 2005 March 06 22:07 | Posted By: Voxie

Category > Events

I say last minute, because anime conventions are usually given advance notice months in advance. However with the RHUL Anime & Manga convention, it's being held in little over two weeks from now! Held by the society at Royal Holloway University, the event is open to the public. And despite the late notice, it seems they've got everything set up, including anime showings, gaming, a cosplay competition, a raffle, and on-site games including 'Hunt the Mews Mews!' and 'Find the Chibi'..! Representatives of ADV, TokyoPop and Manga Entertainment will also be there. And did we mention the on-the-door entrance fee is just a mere £1.50?? What more reason do you need?

There are rarely any events like this in the London area, so I'd recommend this to anyone who doesn't 'do' conventions becuase they're too far!

Channel 4's 100 Greatest Cartoons Results

Date: 2005 March 04 14:56 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > TV

Following on from our previous stories reporting on Channel 4's 100 greatest cartoons as voted for by Channel 4 viewers, it was revealed last Sunday that The Simpson's was the voters favourite cartoon.

Here are the results for anime titles:

8th - Spirited Away
16th - Akira
21st - Princess Mononoke
37th - Transformers
45th - Pokemon
72nd - Legend of the Overfiend

It's good to see that Spirited Away proved popular with lots of voters, beating lots of very popular mainstream cartoons that are more well known in the UK.

J-Pop Go Update!

Date: 2005 February 27 08:00 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Events

The folks at J-PopGo! have updated their site and given an updated date Wednesday May 4th for the event.

Anime All Nighter In London

Date: 2005 January 19 18:03 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

Lucky otaku who can get to London in the first weekend of February are in for a real treat. The Sci-Fi-London event will be running an anime all nighter with support from Redbull and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream (make mine Chocolate Fudge Brownie) and with free Tea and Coffee everyone's sure to stay awake from the midnight starting time until 9:30 am the next day!
They'll be screening:

- Lady Death
- Parasite Dolls
- Sky Blue (a Korean animation also known as Wonderful Days)
- RahXephon The Movie.

We suggest that hardcore otaku go to the London Anime Club afterwards for a total weekend of anime!

Sweatdrop At The Artists & Illustrators Exhibition 2005

Date: 2005 January 09 15:16 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

We've just got news from the nice people at UK manga style art studio Sweatdrop that they'll be representing the UK manga community at the Artists & Illustrators Exhibition 2005 event and also provide workshops, and four 90 minute long presentations covering aspects of Manga-styled art and it's creation.

The event is scheduled for July 21st - 24th at London's Business Design Centre, last years event attracted over 14,000 visitors!

The Sweatdrop crew can be seen regulary at UK anime events, such at the London Anime Club and other UK anime conventions like AyaCon and AmeCon. Recently Sweatdrop also ran a stall at the London Comic Festival, with great success. Regular readers of Otaku News, will also remeber some of our lovely Christmas Desktop Wallpaper created by Sweatdrop artist Wing Yun Man.

Japonisme - Cultural Crossings between Japan and the West

Date: 2005 January 07 15:02 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Culture

Phaidon Press have sent us details of a new book they are publishing - Japonisme: Cultural Crossings between Japan and the West, by Lionel Lambourne. It focuses on the history of Japanese of the West's extraordinary love affair with Japan. It's due out in May and sounds like an interesting read.

Cover Competition - The Anime and Electronics Shopping Guide to Tokyo

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

Category > Fandom

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

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

Souce: David Cotterill

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

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

Category > Events

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

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

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

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

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

Souce: Anime.org.uk

AyaCon Five: Launch Announcement

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

Category > Events

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

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

Manga Tour of Japan 2005

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

Category > Events

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

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

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

Souce: JapanJourneys.co.uk

December 2004 London Anime Club Update.

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

Category > Fandom

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

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

Souce: Otaku News

December 2004 Biggest London Anime Club yet?

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

Category > Fandom

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

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

Souce: Otaku News

The Laughing Man - Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex's Hacker Logo

Date: 2004 November 29 11:08 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Production

The hit series Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex, features a logo for hacker and cyberterrorist "The Laughing Man", in the show he is only identified by his logo which forms a distinct part of the Standalone Complex imagery. I discovered that Paul Nicholson of Terratag designed the logo for Production I.G.

Join us as Otaku News interview Paul about creating an icon in anime!

Auchinawa Glasgow Convention for Otaku

Date: 2004 November 29 08:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

One of our contributors Voxie from MAME has just discovered plans in Scotland for Auchinawa which "strives not to be an "Anime Convention" but an "Otaku Convention". Our Mission is to create a Convention/Expo in Scotland, the first of its kind, which caters for your needs and wants as fans."

They plan to screen anime, have DDR machines and will also be catering for J-Music fanatics and furries.

It's not set to run until the summer of 2006 so many of the details aren't finalised yet. However it's always good to plan ahead and conventions in the UK often get booked out quickly, so go take a look and get saving to get to Glasgow, if you're not near there already.

Souce: Auchinawa

Strong Yaoi Sales on Amazon.com

Date: 2004 November 14 08:34 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

ICv2 are reporting an interesting trend with Amazon.com's manga best seller list. Apparently Yaoi is three of the top five, four of the top ten and six of the top fifteen manga titles. ICv2 point out that these sales are only on Amazon.com as the American Bookscan list doesn't not match with these sales figures, with only Del Rey's Tsubasa Volume 3 appearing at the top of both lists.

ICv2 speculate that people purchasing Yaoi prefer the privacy and relative anonymity that on-line reatilers offer and that the two main Yaoi publishers Digital Manga and CPM Manga don't have the marketing clout or number of titles compared to other publishers with titles at the top of the graphic novel lists.

Souce: ICv2

Otaku News UK DVD Reader Survey

Date: 2004 November 07 19:32 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

With your support Otaku News are keen to compile a definitive survey for 2004 about what anime titles our readers would like to see released onto DVD in the UK. This can include TV series, film, OAV old and new. We are not going to do a web based poll, since that would limit the options, we are going to do an open survey to hear what you really want to be released in the UK. To take part please email your suggestions to AnimeSurvey@otakunews.com

Your e-mail address will only be used for this survey and once the results have been collated your details will be deleted. They will not be passed on to a third party for any reason. This survey will run until the 24th of December.

Souce: Otaku News

J-Pop Go In London

Date: 2004 November 07 14:35 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Otaku News have learned about an event scheduled soon in London. J-Pop Go promises to be an evening celebrating a broad range of popular Japanese music, from J-Pop to J-Rock and everything in-between! The event is planned for a central London venue and they'll post up more information regarding tickets, pricing, playlists etc in due course. If you have suggestions, ideas or queries then you can always contact them too. If you're interested in attending then you add yourself to their mailing list for future updates.

We've seen posters, flyers and spoken to the even organisers and they've got lots of cool ideas about this event, so if you're into the Japanese music scene then go take a look.

Souce: J-Pop Go

Channel 4 Viewers to Vote on 100 Greatest Cartoons.

Date: 2004 November 01 14:59 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

British anime fans will like to know that Channel 4 are currently running votes on the 100 Greatest Cartoons. Akira as always is present along with Pokemon, as is Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, and (rather worryingly) Legend of the Overfiend. Each person gets to vote for their top 10 favourite shows, so head over there and vote!

This show should be interesting to watch I wonder who they will get in to talk about anime when it's broadcast, and who would admit to enjoying hentai on national TV?

Souce: Channel 4

TokyoPop and Sweatdrop Attract Interest At London Comic Festival

Date: 2004 October 23 17:51 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The Otaku News Crew have just returned from the London Comic Festival, an event that focuses on the British Comic Book industry, it consists largely of underground/independent UK comic book publishers. Representing the UK manga/anime scene were professional manga publishers TokyoPop UK and original UK manga studio Sweatdrop. It was nice to see the interest and enthusiasm both groups generated. All the exhibitors there had a fair number of visitors to the their tables, I didn't do a proper count or survey, but throughout the day it was clear that both TokyoPop and Sweatdrop generated a large amount of interest, more so than any of the other comic book publishers.

Souce: Otaku News

UK Conventions Set For 2005 And 2006

Date: 2004 September 29 18:32 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

It seems at almost exactly the same time, both AyaCon and AmeCon have officially announced more details regarding their next conventions!

It was announced at AyaCon 2003 that there would be no AyaCon in 2004, but now they've updated their website saying that "We are currently planning to stage our latest event, AyaCon Five, in Summer/Autumn 2005. We're aiming to make AyaCon bigger and better than ever!" As yet, they haven't revealed a venue for the convention.

AmeCon have also just updated their website. Stating that "The Convention will not be running in 2005, but will be running at Aston University, Birmingham, in 2006. Registrations for 2006 will open shortly."

Read More... | Souce: AyaCon / AmeCon Websites.

Terratag London Exhibition - 'Pornograffiti'

Date: 2004 September 29 17:49 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

We've just got an e-mail from Paul over at Terratag. Terratag t-shirts have been sold at most of the UK anime conventions and Paul even had a stall at the Japanese Food Festival in London this August.

Terratag are also very naughty and as a result, I've always debated if I should add them to the Pirate Anime FAQ. The more astute otaku will know there is a range of Terratag t-shirts with Gundam designs on, Terratag have not paid for a license from Bandai to use any Gundam images, or their likeness. Technically this is a copyright violation, and that generally flags them as a bootlegger. This could land Paul in trouble with Bandai's lawyers, and he could face a hefty fine at least.

Anyway, Paul wanted to point out that he's holding an art exhibition at the Notting Hill Arts Club, his show runs until November 1st, he helpfully points out on the night of October 4th there are going to be 4 scratch DJ's from Tokyo playing live. The crew is called En and features Mc Raita with Dj's Jif Rock, Kiccio and Kaitaro. There will also be a jazz/hip-hop dance crew. So fans of the Japanese music scene will want to get over there!

MAME Fanzine Interview

Date: 2004 September 22 18:48 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

It's always fun to keep an eye on UK anime fandom, which is why you should read the interview currently on Anime UK News, it covers Rhoda Villegas and her up and coming anime fanzine MAME. Unlike other fanzines we've seen MAME is a bit different, the page count alone is impressive for a fanzine, with issue 2 being 60 pages, but it's also a high quality publication which is jam packed with all sorts of little gems of information.

Souce: Anime UK News

Sweatdrop Launch Free Webcomics

Date: 2004 September 20 15:52 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Webcomics

Talented up and coming British manga artists Sweatdrop Studios have just launched a webcomics section. They've posted comics by Dock, Laura Watton, Emma Vieceli, Selina Dean, Fred and Sonia Leong.

Even if you're not in the UK, it's always nice to check out some of their lovely artwork.

Souce: Sweatdrop

Animejin Suspended

Date: 2004 September 19 09:12 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Websites

Successful UK anime website Animejin is to be suspended indefinitely.

Animejin is one of the oldest UK anime websites that is still currently running, it's been around since 1993 in print form and then in 1995 made the transition to a website. For a long while it was the primary news source of UK Anime fans on-line. Animejin also posts regular news bulletins on Usenet and to e-mail subscribers.

Mamoru Oshii to Answer Fan's Questions On-line

Date: 2004 September 03 13:57 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

We've just had details in from the folks at Dreamworks.
Mamoru Oshii the director of Ghost In the Shell 2: Innocence will be answering questions posted to the offical Ghost In the Shell 2 Site's forum. Sign up and Join this thread - http://www.ghost2.com/board/showthread.php?t=62.

Fans will already know that Oshii was behind the original Ghost in the Shell Movie, and the first two Mobile Police Patlabor Movies.

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