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Kelly Osbourne: Turning Japanese

Date: 2007 February 01 05:34 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > TV

UK readers who can view ITV2 may want to tune in tonight (Thursday 1st February) to catch Kelly Osbourne:Turning Japanese, it starts at 9pm and is repeated on Sunday 4th February at 10pm. Kelly Osbourne embarks on a working holiday exploring aspects of Japanese culture.

The first episode alone has her managing a Love Hotel in Tokyo, training with Samurai and working in what appears to be an otaku Maid Cafe. The second episode has her going to a manga convention in cosplay!

Read More... | Souce: ITV2

Japanorama Episode 2 - Otaku

Date: 2006 September 13 12:18 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > TV

UK viewers able to access BBC Three, will want to tune into Japanorama on Thursday 14th September 2006 at 11pm. The show will be reporting on otaku the Japanese nerds (if you're reading Otaku News, you should already know what an otaku is ^_^).

It looks like the show will be focusing on the rise of otaku and why so many of them can only feel love for manga, anime and model collecting. Host Jonathan Ross will also be reporting on Cosplay, as well as Maid Cafes. We're guessing Japanorma will also cover Akihabara, Train Man (Densha Otoko) and if we're lucky a convention like Winter WonderFest.

Souce: BBC Three

Japanorama Returns

Date: 2006 September 04 03:57 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > TV

Keen readers of TV guides may have spotted the return of Japanorama, Jonathan Ross' TV show focusing on the more cool and bizarre side of Japanese culture. The previous season was well worth watching, and this latest instalment promises to be just as entertaining and informative.

UK Viewers (with freeview/cable/satellite) can catch Japanorama on BBC Three starting Thursday 7th September at 11pm, this weeks episode Ross explores the meaning of kakoii, Japanese for cool.

Souce: BBC Three

Britain Goes Sodoku Mad

Date: 2006 January 10 15:09 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Freaky Things

Amusingly Crisscross are currently running an article about Britain's current Sodoku Craze, it briefly covers the history of the numbers game and how The Times started the Sodoku wars in the national newspapers.

Souce: Crisscross

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.

Read More... | Souce: Anime Fandom

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

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.

Read More... | Souce: Garnier Beauty Bar

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

Robots Learn Etiquette

Date: 2004 November 03 18:19 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Technology > Robotics

BBC News are running an interesting article about a study at the University of Hertfordshire. They intend to learn about robots and robotiquette by playing games like pass-the-parcel. The idea of this experiment is develop the way future robots should behave in social situations. Anime and manga of course have many different solutions to this and in some cases I don't think the robot will pass the pacel along once it has it! ^_^

The BBC are also reporting that the demand for robots will increase increase drastically by 2007.

Souce: BBC News

Yo! Sushi Tycoon to Launch Capsule Hotels in UK

Date: 2004 September 12 12:30 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Freaky Things

The Scotsman.com is running a story about Simon Woodroffe (the entrepreneur behind Yo! Sushi) latest plans to bring Japanese style Capsule Hotels to the UK.

Read More... | Souce: Scotsman.com

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