Category > Features
Anime feature film Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms is due to hit UK cinemas nationwide from Wednesday 27th June 2018 thanks to super-duper anime distributors Anime Limited. This finely crafted film marks Mari Okada directorial debut and is certainly worth catching on the big screen while you can.
To find a screening near you visit www.maquiafilm.co.uk.
You can catch Maquia in cinemas across the UK from Wednesday 27th June 2018. To find a screening near you visit www.maquiafilm.co.uk.
The film will also be released in the US and Canada on July 20th, 2018 via Eleven Arts. Visit their website to find out screening details.
We were lucky enough to catch it before hand. So read on if you want to know more about this lavish title.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Features
The MCM London Comic Con always has interesting anime guests of honour. This May 2018 was no exception with Shouji Gatou the creator of Full Metal Panic! visiting London as the anime guest of honour. Mr Gatou wrote the original Full Metal Panic! Light Novels and also works as an anime screen writer having worked on the anime version of Full Metal Panic!, Hyouka, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star. He also created Amagi Brilliant Park as a light novel, which also became a popular anime series.
We caught up with Shouji Gatou on the Saturday of MCM London Comic Con May 2018 to ask him some questions about his career and his works.
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Category > Anime
Thanks to the good folks from Anime Limited Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion I - Initiation hits UK Cinemas on Wednesday 21st March 2018 for a special screening. You want to know is it any good? Well we sent Nes Long occasional Otaku News contributor and Lelouch cosplayer to find out.
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Category > Features
The restaurant scene in London is vibrant. No matter what you like to eat, there's a restaurant that caters for you. Japanese cuisine is no different. There are all kinds of Japanese places to eat, from cheap and cheerful Japanese home-style cooking to the decadent, creative and experimental nuvo cuisine.
Recently we discovered Ichibuns, a Japanese inspired restaurant like no other. Influenced by Hokkaido cuisine, it's a Japanese Rock and Roll American diner from the creative minds of Robin Leigh (who is best known for the legendary Nobu and Busaba Eathai) and Endo Kazutoshi (of Zuma).
On hearing about this we didn't really know what to expect. On visiting it was clear that Ichibuns is something a bit special.
The first thing that hits you is the design, which is a love letter to Japanese popular culture. When you walk in, the faces of popular shonen manga character stare down at you from the entrance. There are pages of manga all over the ceiling and Pachinko machines on the wall. You start looking and there's all sorts of interesting Japanese memorabilia like Oni (demon) masks on the walls, and adverts from old times. The staircase wall is made of whole telephone book sized weekly editions of manga. The eclectic style works because it isn't a restaurant designed by someone trying to copy Japanese concepts, it was designed by Noriyoshi Muramatsu of Tokyo’s Studio Glitt.
After eating there we wanted to know more about this place. It's like a portal into Japan. We don't normally do articles on restaurants, but were intrigued and eager to know more about this place. So we got in touch with Brendan Fong, Executive Chef at Ichibuns to find out more.
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UK fans of Tokyo Ghoul will want to keep Wednesday 31st of January free and find a cinema near that that'll be screening the new Tokyo Ghoul Live Action Movie. You can find a screening near you by visiting http://alltheanime.com/cinema.
But is it any good?! We sent Christine off to review the movie to find out.
Software tester by day, gamer by night. Christine's top three anime titles are Attack on Titan, Tokyo Ghoul and Parasyte (There seems to be a pattern here...). She also often enjoys cosplaying as characters from obscure games that she's never played.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
The good folks from Anime Limited are releasing Masaaki Yuasa's latest film Lu Over The Wall in cinemas across the UK on Wednesday 6th December 2017. You can find a screening near you by visiting LuOverTheWallMovie.co.uk.
We recently interviewed the director asking him about the film and his other feature Night Is Short, Walk On Girl.
If you're curious about the Lu Over The Wall then read on to enjoy our spoiler free review.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Features
The October leg MCM London Comic Con has been and gone, we caught up with the anime guests of honour from Little Witch Academia. They were in town to promote the new game from Bandai Namco - Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time.
We interviewed series creator and director Yoh Yoshinari, series producer Naoko Tsutsumi who worked for Gainax and has worked at Studio Trigger since it started. Joining them was Yosuke Futami producer of the new game.
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Category > Features
UK Anime fans can catch the Satoshi Kon Classic Perfect Blue at UK Cinemas Nationally on 31st October 2017. Visit perfectbluemovie.co.uk to find a screening near you.
We sent James and Lee to review the movie. Our editor found them after the screening rocking back and forth in the corner of the room, muttering about perception of reality and something about an unreliable narrator, he didn't care that this movie freaked them both out, he just wanted his 500 word review. So after some special counselling involving a unicorn chaser of both seasons of K-On (plus the movie) we managed to get a coherent review. Although they are still on edge a bit when they see J-Pop Idols for some reason...
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Category > Features
Cult anime director Masaaki Yuasa was in the UK recently, being eager to quiz him about his two upcoming films Night is Short, Walk On Girl which hits cinemas on 4th October 2017 (visit the official website to find a screening near you) and Lu Over the Wall on 6th December 2017.
Rather than just send anyone to interview this great director, we wanted to send someone we knew who is one of Masaaki Yuasa biggest fans. So we sent Katy.
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Category > Features
As I leave Cineworld Leicester Square, trying to pull together the memories of what I had just watched, I smile and sense a melancholic joy well up inside of me. Watching Your Name reminded me of all the subconscious thoughts, moments and dreams we might have all forgotten through the motions of everyday life, an inevitable cycle of the human mind... and yet there I was, trying not to let go of what I had just seen, trying to fathom the beauty of the film’s meaning and put it into words. Makoto Shinkai had done it again!
But I'm not here to review the film today (you can read our earlier, spoiler-free review here). Instead, I'm here to talk about the experience of watching the world’s first anime to be released in IMAX format!
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Napping Princess hits the UK Cinemas on Wednesday 16th August 2017. You can find a screening near you by visiting NappingPrincessMovie.co.uk. It's being distributed by good folks at Anime Limited. We sent Otaku News contributor James off to a sneak peak of the film.
James is a full-time cynical geek who's probably getting too old for all this. Although he hates to admit it, the reason he's still watching anime after all these years is because some of it is actually pretty good.
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Category > Anime
In a change of production the much loved Studio Ghibli decided to look overseas for a director to create their latest film - The Red Turtle. They teamed up with Oscar winning director Michaël Dudok de Wit who wrote and directed the animated feature. We caught up with him for an exclusive interview to talk about the film, which hits UK cinema screens from Friday 26th May 2017.
This interview is spoiler free.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Features
In an interesting move from Studio Ghibli, rather than look just in Japan for the talent to direct a new animated movie the fabled studio looked around the world to find someone suitable. They found Michaël Dudok de Wit. The movie they made together was The Red Turtle.
We caught up with the director for an exclusive interview.
The film is set for release at UK cinemas from Friday 26th May 2017.
We know you're wondering Is the movie any good? Well read our review and find out!
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Features
The new Sword Art Online movie hits cinemas in the UK and Ireland on Wednesday 19th April 2017. You can get tickets at a cinema near you by visiting saothemovie.co.uk. Before you do, you'll want to read our review to find out more about Kirito and Asuna's biggest challenge yet!
Although our editor is a massive SAO fan if he went along he'd just go YEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Go see it. So instead we decided to send another fan of the series along - NatT a guest contributor who is more otaku than she claims.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Anime
We're all talking about A Silent Voice this week. This is the second of two reviews of the emotional roller-coaster anime film arriving in UK Cinemas on Wednesday 15th March 2017. Although Lee and I saw the same film we both came out with different opinions of the title. Rather than just mash it into one review, we've published both reviews for you to compare and contrast.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Anime
As we've said before anime film A Silent Voice will hit UK cinemas on Wednesday 15th March 2017. Fresh from the success of Your Name, the folks at Anime Limited are distributing this title in the UK and Ireland. We could have written one review, but after heated discussion our editor and I interpreted the movie differently, so we're going to publish both reviews.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Ghibli fans in the UK will want to set a date in their diaries (or use the Otaku Calendar) for Friday 26th May 2017 as that's when The Red Turtle gets a UK cinema release. The Michael Dudok De Wit film is co-produced by Studio Ghibli. The film contains no dialogue and follows "the milestones in the life of a human being".
As you'd expect it's beautifully animated, heart-warming and emotional. This is one of those movies we suggest you catch on the big screen while you. We know May is far away now, but this is the first we've heard about the UK release from Studio Canal.
Read More... | Souce: Studio Canal
Category > Features
UK anime company Anime Limited are great for getting guests over to the UK, this year alone they had Makoto Shinkai the director of hit anime Your Name, Psycho-Pass director Naoyoshi Shiotani, plus anime director Michael Arias.
Most of these guests appeared at either the May or October 2016 MCM London Comic Con. Our last interview of the year is no means the least. Here's our interview with animation director Takeshi Honda. He's probably best known for his work on the rebuild of Evangelion movies. He's an industry veteran having worked on the original Evangelion TV series and the original movies as well. He's also recently directed his own short anime.
We caught up with Mr Honda at the MCM London Comic Con in October 2016 for an exclusive interview.
What makes him interesting to interview was that he's worked with so many top notch directors, Hayao Miyazaki, Hideaki Anno, Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Hosoda and many more. From an interviewer's stand point we could easily talk to him for a few hours about any of these individual directors to gain insight. We know academics who would have a million questions for Mr Honda and picking a limited set of questions was a great challenge. For this interview we carefully selected a range of questions to cover his career and we hope that you find these insights interesting.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Features
The MCM London Comic Con is always great for anime guests! This time around at the October 2016 event on of the anime guests of honour was Naoyoshi Shiotani. Working for Production I.G, he's directed a few titles including the hugely popular dystopian future anime Psycho-Pass. The good folks at Anime Limited arranged to the director over to the UK just in time to promote the UK home video release of the Psycho-Pass Movie.
Rather than sending our editor to interview him, we wanted to send in a Psycho-Pass super fan. So we sent in Nes who cosplayed as antagonist Makishima while interviewing Mr Shiotani. Not only did it make for an interesting interview, Nes managed to find some interesting insights into the series that many fans may have not been aware of!
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
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
Category > Features
Lots of anime fans aspire to join the anime industry. Very few from the west make it. Even fewer people go on to direct well known titles like Tekkonkinkreet, or produced the Animatrix. Michael Arias was a guest at the MCM London Comic Con this May 2016. We were lucky enough to catch him for an exclusive interview, while he was here to promote Harmony, his latest feature film, it's due for a home video release in the UK sometime in Q4 2016 thanks to Anime Limited.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Manga
We've already published details about Titan Comic's up-coming release of the Sherlock Manga. As news is spreading we wanted to know more details about the actual release. So we go it touch with Titan Comics editor Andrew James to talk about the release.
Read More... | Souce: Titan Comics
Category > Features
Production I.G's latest cinematic masterpiece Miss Hokusai has just hit cinema screens in the UK. We've seen it and recommend you do too. Although a lot is know about the master himself, we were curious to know more about the real life Miss Hokusai. We started to research her history, then remembered we know experts in Japanese woodblock prints! The Japanese Gallery who sell Japanese woodblock prints, antiques and even anime cels, they would already know a lot about Hokusai and his artistic daughter. We asked them what tell us all about the real O-Ei.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Features
The May and October MCM London Comic Cons are without doubt the biggest geek events in the UK. With over 130,000 people attending this October. It caters for all geeky tastes. Anime fans are also well looked after, each event regularly has an anime guest of honour. The October Comic con played host to Shigeto Koyama, renowned designer, he designed Baymax from Disney movie Big Hero 6. He was also involved in the character designs for fan favourite anime show Kill La Kill, as well as designing the weapons and lots of gear in the well loved game No More Heroes. We were lucky enough to catch up with him and ask some interesting questions.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Features
It's no secret that our editor has a soft spot for moe anime show Kinmoza. We even took a trip to see Alice's house a while ago, revealing the location used to the world.
There are other locations used on the show that fans might be interested in visiting. Caron Cooper of Fosse Farm B&B has just told us about a local bridge featured on the show.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Features
It's not often you get to see behind the scenes of the anime industry and find out what it's really like. This week the Japan Foundation in London hosted a talk called Inside The Industry: Anime.
The event brought together:
Hirokatsu Kihara who worked at Studio Ghibli before becoming a best selling author.
Michihiko Suwa who works as Chief Producer at the Animation Department of Yomiuri TV and credits include Detective Conan (aka Case Closed) anime.
Aya Suzuki a British/Japanese Layout artist, 2D Character/FX animator and occasional animation lecturer. Projects worked on include (but are not limited to) Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises at Studio Ghibli, plus Mamoru Hosoda's Wolf Children.
Stephen Cavalier acted as chair, bringing his two decades experience in the animation and games industries along with authoring a book on The World History of Animation
The event ran on Monday 13th July 2015. It was free to attend and it was so popular there was waiting list. The audience was a mix of anime/manga fans along with animation students and animation industry professionals.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Anime
With their recent company launch, Jerome Mazandarani and Andrew Hewson from Animatsu UK sat down and answered some of our questions about their upcoming titles, explain what their plans for the year are and sell us on their awesome coffee.
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Category > Features
Toyota UK have decided to do something a bit interesting with their Japanese roots. At the October 2014 MCM London Comic Toyota revealed a new manga styled adventure to launch their new Aygo.
Specially commissioned by UK based artist Sonia Leong to create the manga. Toyota also commissioned an animated version of the comic too.
We caught up with Nik Pearson (Manager, Press Relations) at Toyota to talk about the campaign. We were lucky enough to get an exclusive interview about the project.
Thanks again for your time Nik. It's always interesting to see how production of manga based marketing campaigns work.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Features
The MCM London Comic Con is always a treat for top notch anime guests. The October 2014 weekend was no exception. Renowned anime director Shinichiro Watanabe returned to London as a guest of the event to promote the up and coming home video release of Space Dandy as well as the newly launched show Terror In Resonance.
He attended the Anime Limited stand on Saturday and Sunday of the show as well as appearing on stage to answer questions for fans.
We've been lucky enough to interview Shinichiro Watanabe in May 2013 at his previous appearance at the MCM London Comic Con. It's was then he first revealed Space Dandy.
We caught up with the Mr Watanabe to talk about music from a cold country, Terror In Resonance and a bit of Space Dandy. As we knew a lot of people would be asking about Space Dandy, we were keen to focus more on Terror In Resonance, as it had just finished it's run.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Features
A few weeks ago two of the production staff behind the Blue Exorcist Movie were visiting the May 2014 MCM London Comic Con. They were there to promote Manga Entertainment's UK release and catch up with fans. We were lucky enough to meet and interview Takamitsu Inoue the film's Producer and Atsushi Takahashi the director.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Anime
While Hayao Miyazaki's latest offering The Wind Rises awaits it's special UK preview on Wednesday 23rd April 2014, it is currently being shown in the US and Australia. We were lucky enough to catch a screening in English recently.
Here's our review of the film.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Manga
Phillip looks at the Android version of VIZ' popular Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. But it isn't all plain sailing.
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Category > Events
Written by Voxie and Franki Webb.
What does a gamer look like? Today this is an impossible question to answer. It's 7:45 pm, and as we walk into REZtron, we see a crowd ranging from 20s to 40s, male and female, from a range of backgrounds. It's clear that a gamer as no specific look.
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Category > Features
Standing amongst glamorous bars and restaurant in Soho is Inamo on Wardour Street, the restaurant had a special day on 3 September. Renowned for its oriental fusion cuisine, the restaurant celebrated its 5th anniversary. The occasion was marked with delicious appetisers, champagne and a tour of the premises.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Events
London based Japanese culture event Hyper Japan has become a regular feature the calendar for fans of all things from Japan. Since it first started in 2010, it's organically grown bigger and bigger each year. Last year due to the London Olympics booking out all the large London venues in the summer Hyper Japan decided to run two events, the first in February 2012, and the second in November 2012.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Features
For most otaku it would be a dream come true to be contacted by an anime studio wanting to use their home as a location in a new anime series. For Caron Cooper, it is just the latest unlikely chapter in her incredible life story.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Art
The ICN gallery London opened this month with the first in a series of exhibitions exploring the iconic historic Japanese artist movement, Ukiyo-e. The works explore the tradition and an influential legacy that has shaped the face of modern Japanese artistry.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Events
There are few bands that make the list of "must see in my lifetime". The Japanese band L'Arc-en-Ciel have been top of this chart for as long as I have been a fan of their music. Having never had the chance to see them in the UK before, I was thrilled to see London on the line up of performance locations for the band's 20th Anniversary Tour.
The band played in London on Wednesday April 11th 2012.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Culture
Publisher for new UK/Ireland magazine MyM gives an interview to Otaku News and discusses the magazine, it's upcoming launch and it's content and direction.
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Category > Anime
Audio interview with Manga UK representative Jerome Mazandarani where we talk about Manga UK's upcoming releases, their plans for blu-ray anime releases, streaming rights (yes, I ask a K-On! question) and more.
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Category > Anime
Audio interview with Kazé UK representative Andrew Partridge where we talk about Kazé UK's origins, their plans for blu ray anime releases, Anime On Demand and more.
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Category > Production
Every now and again at Otaku News, we like to interview voice actors, the very people who provide the voices for anime. At the May 2011 MCM London Expo we were lucky to catch up with Ben Diskin and Brian Beacock.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Art
This article features coverage of the Takashi Murakami Exhibition at London's Gagosian Gallery.
Due to the nature of some of the artwork on display in this article, we issue a NSFW content rating.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
On Wednesday 6th July 2011 we went to the London Barbican sell out screenings of the latest Ghibli movie to make it over to the UK.
Arrietty is due for a wider cinema release in the UK on 29th July 2011.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Anime
We're going all nostalgic here at Otaku News and have decided to dig up some old articles from our archive that are not published on-line, either because they were originally for print or from websites that are now off-line.
Just because they're old doesn't mean they're not relevant to today's otaku.
We start with an article originally published in the AmeCon 2007 Conbook about why UK anime fans owe a debt of gratitude to their Australian counterparts. Please note that it was written for a UK anime audience in mind, Australian readers might find it interesting to know how important they are to the UK industry and how the UK industry helps Madman out.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Culture
As an avid follower of Japanese popular culture and a regular anime viewer, I am more than familiar with the style of dance routines that have become inseparable from so many titles and credits sequences. From classics such as Urusei Yatsura and more recently popularised by Kyoto Animation's iconic series Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu, shows have taken to inserting dances at any available opportunity to arrest a fan following with catchy tunes and infectious dance moves. The indigenous para para dance style steps are synonymous with series such as Super Gals! where character Kotobuki Ran regularly regales audiences through her hyper rhythmic routines.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Red Line is about the biggest racing game of the universe and it's only held once every 5 years. And naturally everyone wants to take part. Follow the racing skills of men and women alike.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Events
For Japanese culture fans, October began with a bang at Hyper Japan, a new and highly anticipated event on the UK otaku calendar for 2010. Hosted by Eat-Japan (the number one site for Japanese food, sushi and sake), the show was a sensational success, drawing in excess of 15,000 visitors over the 3 days, a remarkable feat for what was the debut of this cultural festival. The event was located in the heart of London's Shoreditch at Brick Lane, an area well known for its offbeat character and for the eclectic, hip and chic. Standing in the line with the eager attendees, the atmosphere was alive with the building excitement as cosplayers, anime fans and the culturally curious all assembled to enjoy a different class of convention. The preshow campaign, organised and delivered by a Japanese enterprise was loaded with ample incentive for any fan of Japan to take a look at what the exhibitors had to offer. I, in my cosplay guise as Queen's Blade's spectral maid Airi, lined up with the happy crowds all eager to meet and greet, eat and shop! After conquering the queue and ascending the staircase in my heels, a veritable treasure trove was to be found, serving the many delights of Japanese culture and cuisine.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Events
The London J-Culture scene is an interesting one, with new events popping up every year. October 2010 marked the first run of a 3 day Japanese cultural event called Hyper Japan.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Anime
London has a some great places for otaku to visit. The trouble is finding them. Using our London Otaku News Correspondents we've assembled a list of good places for anime and manga fans to visit while in London.
We've been maintaining this guide for over 15 years now. We always aim to keep it up to date.
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News
Category > Cuisine
UK readers might have noticed adverts on TV, for a product called Mikado, which looks strikingly like the favourite otaku snack Pocky.
In this article we'll do a taste comparison and reveal the differences, and answer the question, is Mikado Pocky?
Read More... | Souce: Otaku News