Ok, so here is the cover of the new reprint of my 2006 book Otaku in USA. Goes on sale in Japan on July 10. This is a bunko paperback edition from publisher Takeshobo that, like many great Japanese technological advances is smaller, compact, and more efficient.

At first, we planned on updating the original cover by using a new picture of an American LUM cosplayer, but they all turned out to be flaky or demented. Artwork is lots easier to work with, so we commissioned a fancy new illustration by utomaru with design and layout by Yoshiki Takahashi.

Seven years is a long time in the otaku game (shit man, even three months is a lifetime for anime fans now…), but I guess the publisher figures that ribald tales about Kojiro Abe and co. (as translated by Tomo Machiyama) might still tickle a few funny bones out there. Either way, the book contains a new introduction by myself that tries to get things up to speed: the death of DVD, the rise of the streaming anime wars, and the new jack swing of stalking Japanese people via social media and the significance of otaku stoners.

Most of that lot are on the plate in greater detail for my next book for Japan, due “real soon”. In the meantime, got a spare 819 yen? Because here's the....

Amazon.jp page for 

オタク・イン・USA:愛と誤解のAnime輸入史 (ちくま文庫)[文庫]

A new week means new streaming anime announcements from Crunchyroll for the summer 2013 season, and the first of the day is the historical fantasy Gifu Dodo!! Kanetsugu and Keiji, based on the manga by Tetsuo Hara of Fist of the North Star fame. 

 

This new series is set to broadcast every Tuesday starting on July 2, at 11:00a.m. Pacific Time for its premium members, with free members able to watch one week later.

 

The show page will be up soon at www.crunchyroll.com/gifu. 

 

 

Story and background

 

Taking place in an alternate telling of Japan’s warring states era, Gifu Dodo!! Kanetsugu and Keiji focuses on the possibility if the famous daimyo Uesugi Kenshin had an illegitimate child. The champions of the Warring States era - Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu - knew, desired, and feared the truth... Hiding within his heart the secret of his lord's illegitimate child while risking his life to protect him, Uesugi Kenshin's chief retainer, Naoe Kanetsugu, teamed up with the legendary warrior known as history's most flamboyant warrior, Maeda Keiji. In an age of inconceivable rivalries between warlords, the two men, though different in position and rank, were lifelong friends and kindred spirits who would die for one another. Never once yielding to any number of powerful men, Kanetsugu and Keiji continue to blaze through the turbulent latter days of the Warring States era, faithfully fighting for justice and their own way of life...

 

Originally based off of a manga created by Fist of the North Star author Tetsuo Hara, the anime adaptation of Gifu Dodo!! Kanetsugu and Keiji will be directed by Bob Shirohata, whose other works include Hetalia and Gravitation, with Studio DEEN of Hakkenden and Hell Girl fame animating the show. The cast includes Daisuke Namikawa, also known for his roles as Ulquiorra Schiffer from Bleach and Shota Kazehaya from Kimi ni Todoke, as Naoe Kanetsugu, and Takuya Sato, Cardfight!! Vanguard’s Toshiki Kai and Caesar Zeppeli from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, as Maeda Keiji. 

 

Gifu Dodo!! Kanetsugu and Keiji will be available to Crunchyroll’s Premium members in the following territories: North and South America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand, and to Free members in the following territories: US, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, and South Africa. 

 

STAY TUNED FOR MORE NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS TODAY. WHAT COULD THEY BE?!?!??!?

 

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Patrick Macias is editor in chief of Crunchyroll News. He also runs the Japanese Fashion Inferno tumblr blog. Follow him on twitter at @Patrick_Macias.

Welcome to The Midterms, 2014 Edition. Bereft of Obamacare, Republicans are desperately trying to keep at least one of their scandals alive. Since the IRS is always an excellent enemy to use as a weapon, Fox News was happy to oblige them. John Roberts let Rep. Trey Gowdy go at them, and Lois Lerner in particular, with everything he had, including the suggestion that if he were Jack Bauer, he'd just torture information out of her.

That certainly speaks to the casual attitude these people have toward torture, doesn't it? As bad as that little joke was, the actual segment was worse. Gowdy maintains that Lerner's statement made before she invoked the 5th amendment was actually testimony and so she technically waived her right to remain silent.

But for Gowdy and Roberts, Lerner's reliance on the 5th amendment should be viewed as though she were a criminal defendant.

Testimony before Congress is not a criminal trial, no matter how Fox News and Gowdy want to frame it. It is testimony. A statement before Congress is not testimony. It is a statement. Even if one were to argue that an assertion of innocence is somehow testimony, the 5th amendment protects the defendant from making self-incriminating statements. Saying one is innocent should be viewed just like a plea in court, not testimony.

But again, that doesn't fit the narrative, which Gowdy was very careful to massage. The IRS is not to be trusted because government cannot be trusted." Despite overwhelming evidence that the IRS was simply doing the job they are supposed to do, Fox and the Republicans need a villain, and the IRS will do nicely. The Jack Bauer comment just places that in a context their base will understand.

Strangely, I haven't seen anyone on the morning shows ask any member of Congress about why they allowed student loan interest rates to double, or why the sequester is still in effect when both bodies have passed their own versions of the budget, or why they continue to block the president's nominees for the cabinet. Those are the real scandals, after all.

Nintendo 3DS strategy RPG Fire Emblem: Awakening's Dark Mage Tharja is set to be the subject of a large, 1/7th scale, 20cm figure due from Max Factory this December. First shots of her prototype were shown at February's Winter Wonder Festival, long with the announcement that the game series' Marth will be released as a figma.

 

• Product Name Tharja (さーりゃ)
• Series Fire Emblem: Awakening
• Manufacturer Good Smile Company
• CategoryPVC
• Price 10800円 (including tax)
• Release Date 2013/12
• Specifications Painted 1/7th scale PVC figure with stand included. Approximately 205mm in height.
• Sculptor Shining Wizard @ Sawachika
• Planning/Manufacturing Max Factory

 

 

-------
Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

The internet has spent years putting the "hentai" faced Revoltech Woody figure to demented use. Well, the Toy Story hero now has a comrade in scarring the psyches of web browsers. Though Idiocracy worthy comedian Egashira 2:50 has been named Japan's most enjoying entertainer, the shock comic inspired a new figma this month.

 

Fans immediately found frightening opportunities for the figure.

 

the figure itself...

 

figma Egashira 2:50

• Product Name figma Egashira 2:50 (ふぃぐま えがしら にじごじゅっぷん)
• Series Egashira 2:50
• Manufacturer FREEing
• Categoryfigma
• Price 3800円 (including tax)
• Release Date 2013/06
• Specifications Painted ABS&PVC non-scale articulated figure with stand included. Approximately 150mm in height
• Sculptor FREEing
• Cooperation Max Factory
• Released by FREEing
• Distributed by Good Smile Company

 

bit of his routine...

 

What happens when fans get a hold of the figure...

 

 

 

 

-------
Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

i think Doflamingo might actually be the final antagonist because of what he represents. He stands for everything Luffy is not. #onepiece—
Typical Manga Fan (@TypicalMangaFan) June 26, 2013

Narutaki pointed out that tweet to me to see my opinion on the matter. It did start making me think of my old post on how I saw One Piece ending all the way back in 2010. There has a been a good deal of story since then so maybe things have changed enough that now my initial theories are wrong or at least not as accurate. Has Doflamingo risen up to be the main antagonist of One Piece? A little less than three years of story can change your perspective.

I still think my initial claim is correct. I think Blackbeard is going to be the final opponent. I have a few reason to back up my theory at this point which I think are still fairly strong.

There are still a lot of little reason for me thinking Blackbeard is the Big Bad of the series.

First of all it would be personal. Doflamingo is sort of this manipulative bastard but he is this manipulative bastard who has tried to screw over the world at large with the Straw Hats being sort of being swept up in it all. In the Punk Hazard Arc and Dressrosa Arc is has gotten a little more personal but Doflamingo seems to be playing far more against Law than anyone else.

But Blackbeard has personally stabbed Luffy in the heart several times. First he tried to capture him in hopes of becoming a Shichibukai. When that failed he captures Ace instead. While Blackbeard does not personally kill Ace his actions lead to his death. A fact that he taunts Luffy with when they meet in Impel Down. He also kills Whitebeard and then steals his devil fruit power. As Whitebeard acted like a father to Ace his murder is almost as powerful as Ace’s.

Plus with Marshall D. Teach now gunning to kill the other three Yonko so it would not be unthinkable for him to be the person to kill Shanks as well. Other than killing a member of his crew there is no one left that could be killed that would cause a great desire for vengeance from Luffy like killing his beloved mentor.

Also Doflamingo has a very defined power that is great for stories about manipulation and will probably make a great fight when he finally has to put his money where his mouth is. But Blackbeard already has two Devil Fruit powers and I’m sure he will gain at least one more before the end of the series. As the only known character with multiple Devil Fruits he makes for a good last boss on powers alone. Someone like that who can not only whip out multiple super powers but also combine them in various ways would make a final battle that would not be topped by anyone else.

My final point is that Doflamingo is opposition to Luffy from without whereas Blackbeard is opposition to Luffy from within.

Doflamingo is the polar opposite of Luffy. He believes in control, fear, scheming, betrayal, might makes right, and the foolishness of dreams. Doflamingo is a calculated schemer who always works in the system to abuse it. He is the perfect representation of the corruption of the World Government and everything Luffy stands against.

Blackbeard is Luffy through a dark mirror. Blackbeard believes in freedom, instinct, making your own path, and the power of dreams. The both have a connection to the Will of the D. as well. They both have a gluttonous and vicarious attitude towards life. But he is a dark reflection if Luffy. While they share many of the same beliefs Blackbeard holds all the same ideology and methods as Luffy but always for cowardly and selfish reasons. He is what would happen if Luffy that went down the wrong path towards darkness.

I think it makes a greater impact to have the hero first face the evil that is their philosophical opposite and then have their final confrontation be an externalized inner conflict. At first battling the demons without but having then having the true showdown being the demons within. While hardly most people’s favorite game in the series we see this same progression in Zelda II. Link first faces the last boss of the final palace but his true final battle is against his shadow self. With someone like Luffy it is not an opposing force that is the most threatening but an equal but opposite force.

Just because I think I’m right hardly means that Typical Manga Fan is necessarily wrong. Despite everything I wrote above I don’t think it is too hard to see how he could still be correct. Doflamingo and Marshall D. Teach are both definitely characters who are not going to go down easily. More than some one arc characters Oda has clearly built them up over the years far too much for them to just be casually fought in some random fight in some minor arc. I see them both as characters who will play major roles in the last arc. I would be a little surprised if that were the case. I think my case is strong but it is hardly bullet proof.

There are lots of theories for the final antagonist that I would place money against. Doflamingo is not one of them. Perhaps the hero can only defeat the true evil that lurks in the world after he has defeated the darkness within himself before the final battle. So it is very well possible that Blackbeard will be the speed bump before taking on Doflamingo in the climax of the story. That is hardly the worst thematic conclusion.

I’m curious who people think the “final boss” of One Piece will be. Do you agree with me? Are you a crazy person like Daryl Surat and think it is going to be Dragon? Do you even think it is a character who has yet to be introduced?

Filed under: Character Studies, Editorials Tagged: One Piece

In Okayama Prefecture, there’s a whole lot of Naruto-loving going on right now. Some rice farmers have made Naruto art out of their fields - after all, Okayama is home to Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto.

 

The rice was planted on May 19^th:

 

 

This is what it looked like on June 2^nd:

 

 

 

June 8^th:

 

 

 

June 17^th:

 

 

And the finished product, on June 25th. The different colors are made by planting different strains of rice. 

 

 

And while we're at it, here’s some more pictures of the train:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would you ride around town on a Naruto train?

 

Via Japan Otaku Channel 

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Amanda Rush is the Associate Editor for Ani.Me and contributor for OtakuCollectionDX. She swears in the middle of the night on Twitter as @TheAnimaven.

It’s pretty clear the director of Aku no Hana is deliberately trolling, nay, attacking anime fans. By making the characters some ungodly 2D-3D hybrid, he’s, without a doubt, trying to say that 2D anime ladies are “ugly." And by substituting otaku with the main character, it becomes apparent that he’s making a statement that anime fans that love 2D women are corrupted/creepy unlike those that lust after of 3D women (which was the god damn point of the original).

I won’t stand for that.

That is a hateful and misguided message to send to one’s audience. It encourages the continual uphill battle anime fans have to face every day to justify a totally normal feeling. There is nothing wrong with you. At all. Saying otherwise is deceitful and boneheaded. Those of you who support this message: STOP. If you wouldn’t support slavery, don’t support this message. If that doesn’t entice you, then please don’t support this show because of it’s perversion of the original mangaka’s message at the very least.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied married same-sex couples the benefits and protections afforded to married couples under federal law. Many right-wing media voices expressed displeasure with the result. This item will be updated throughout the day.

Fox News Contributor Todd Starnes: "Supreme Court Overrules God." In a series of tweets following the DOMA decision, Todd Starnes claimed the court had "overrule[d] God" and speculated that it "won't be long before they outlaw the Bible as hate speech" and "haul pastors out of the pulpit":

[Twitter.com,  6/26/13]

[Twitter.com,  6/26/13]

[Twitter.com,  6/26/13]

American Family Association's Bryan Fischer: DOMA Ruling "Has Now Made The Normalization Of Polygamy, Pedophilia, Incest And Bestiality Inevitable." In a tweet following the DOMA decision, AFA President Bryan Fischer argued that normalizing bestiality and incest is now "inevitable." He also tweeted that "Sodomy-based marriage is an egregious violation of the 'Laws of Nature and Nature's God.'"

[Twitter.com, 6/26/13]

[Twitter.com, 6/26/13]

Accuracy In Media's Don Irvine: "Country Just Went To Hell In A Handbasket. DOMA Struck Down By Supreme Court." In a tweet following the DOMA decision, AIM Chairman Irvine claimed the country "just went to hell."

[Twitter.com, 6/26/13]

Fox Contributor Mike Huckabee: "My Thoughts On The SCOTUS Ruling That Determined That Same Sex Marriage Is Okay: 'Jesus wept.'" In a tweet following the DOMA decision, Fox Contributor Mike Huckabee summed up his thoughts in two words, "Jesus wept."

[Twitter.com, 6/26/13]

A claim pushed dozens of times by Fox News that security forces were ordered to "stand down" during the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks on a U.S. diplomatic facility collapsed after the commander of those security forces testified that he received no such order.

More than a month after the attacks in Benghazi killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, Fox began airing accusations that security forces present in Libya at the time were ordered to "stand down" by the Obama administration. Fox's confused coverage over the months claimed that both a reaction force that was dispatched to Benghazi and suffered two casualties while trying to defend the facility, and a group of four special forces troops in Tripoli received "stand down" orders. This accusation was given new fuel after former Deputy Chief of Mission Gregory Hicks May 8 remarks made before a congressional committee appeared to confirm claims that Lt. Col. Gibson, who commanded a small team of special forces troops in Tripoli, was ordered to "stand down." Fox baselessly speculated that either President Obama or then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave the alleged order.

A search of the Nexis database shows that the accusation that these security forces were ordered to "stand down" was made in 85 segments on the network's primetime shows by Fox hosts, contributors, guests, and in video accompanying news reports and commentary.

But now even Republicans are admitting that a "stand down" order was never given. According to The Associated Press, Gibson told a Republican-led congressional committee on June 26 that he was never ordered to "stand down."

The former commander of a four-member Army Special Forces unit in Tripoli, Libya, denied Wednesday that he was told to stand down during last year's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

In a closed-door session with the House Armed Services Committee, Lt. Col. S.E. Gibson said his commanders told him to remain in the capital of Tripoli to defend Americans in the event of additional attacks and to help survivors being evacuated from Benghazi.

"Contrary to news reports, Gibson was not ordered to 'stand down' by higher command authorities in response to his understandable desire to lead a group of three other special forces soldiers to Benghazi," the Republican-led committee said in a summary of its classified briefing with military officials, including Gibson.

Link:

In a highly anticipated ruling today, the Supreme Court ruled the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.

"DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment," SCOTUSblog reports.

The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, barring federal recognition of same-sex marriages for purposes such as Social Security survivors' benefits, insurance benefits, immigration and tax filing.

Section 3 of the law defines marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife" and a spouse as "a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife." That provision had been struck down by eight lower courts before the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in United States v. Windsor.

The majority opinion was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy.

By Bryan Alvarez
bryan@wrestlingobserver.com

Regarding reports online that the Briscoes are done with Ring of Honor, we can confirm that they have been written out of storylines per the latest set of TV tapings. However, online reports that this has to do with Sinclair officials being upset about ROH Champion Jay's controversial tweets a month or so back are incorrect. The reason Briscoe vs. Briscoe for the title was booked last weekend in what seemed like a rushed storyline (one would have presumed brother vs. brother for the belt would have taken place further down the road) is that for whatever reason (and right now I don't know what the reason was, but there are people who believe there was a WWE deal on the table) the plan was to write them out of storylines after this iPPV. These plans were made long before Jay made any tweets, and according to a source in ROH the tweets had absolutely nothing to do with the current situation. It is true that their contracts have expired, and while I don't know this to be the case, there are people in the company who believe that unless they get a big money offer from WWE or elsewhere, at some point they'll be back with the company.

Veteran producer, Anime Mirai director coming to Baltimore convention in August

Conservative commentator Glenn Beck ran to the defense of celebrity chef Paula Deen's right to use racial slurs without fear of being fired from her lucrative deals with the Food Network, QVC, and others. Deen came under fire after she admitted to using the racial slur on several occasions. Beck claimed her critics were engaging in "McCarthyism" and described Deen's words as "violations of political correctness, nothing more."

Deen is being sued by Lisa T. Jackson, a manager at Deen's restaurants in Georgia, over allegations of sexual and racial harassment. A deposition from the proceedings revealed that Deen repeatedly used racial slurs and other offensive language. From The Daily Beast:

In her testimony, Deen admits to using the N-word, reveals her ambivalence towards people watching pornography at a place of work, and--the arguably racist, definitely bizarre bit that's made headlines Wednesday--details the Southern plantation wedding of her dreams, in which black waiters serve guests slave-style.

In the aftermath of the deposition's release to the public, Deen issued a recorded apology. The Food Network announced that her contract will not be renewed, and QVC -- the home shopping network -- is reviewing their business relationship with Deen.

On his June 24 web show, Beck used the backlash against Deen as a platform to rant about what he believes is the active destruction of Constitutional principles, arguing that attacks on Deen over the content of her speech are symptomatic of the nation's decline. Remarkably, Beck invoked the name of African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. to defend Deen's use of racial slurs and attack the use of public boycotts -- a tactic King and others utilized to great effect during the civil rights movement.

[h/t to Heather for the video. Be sure to sign the petition]

That hissing sound you hear is the last of the so-called IRS scandal melting away forever. Like every right-wing faux outrage, it's yet another example of how effortlessly they light up our ADHD media, creating smoke but no fire. First it was Benghazi and now it's the IRS non-scandal which is now an embarrassment for Darrell Issa in a very, very big way.

Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee released 15 lists of terms that the IRS agency used and has provided to congressional investigators. Some of the lists, which evolved over time, used the terms "progressive" and "Tea Party" and others including "Medical Marijuana," "Occupied Territory Advocacy," "Healthcare legislation," "Newspaper Entities" and "Paying National Debt."

The lists were dated between August 2010 and April 2013 — the month before the IRS targeting of conservative groups was revealed. They ranged from 11 pages to 17 pages but were heavily blacked out to protect sensitive taxpayer information.

Oopsie! So it wasn't just conservative groups who were "persecuted" while spending $500 million or so on the election last year? There were liberal groups, too? Worse yet, the IRS was just doing the job they were supposed to do, albeit incompetently to some extent?

Darrell Issa must be crying in his megabucks today. He was so sure he had a live one, despite all of the evidence to the contrary. We have been saying since the beginning that conservatives were inflating the story to make it sound like they were persecuted, when in fact, the IRS was scrutinizing all sorts of different organizations.

Bob Cesca:

Come to think of it, we’ve kind of known since the beginning that liberal groups were also examined and rejected for non-profit status. Back when the scandal originally broke,Bloomberg reported that at least three liberal groups were scrutinized, and two of the groups were denied tax exempt status. Later, we discovered that out of 176 organizations that were granted tax exempt status in 2010, 122 were conservative and 48 were liberal/non-conservative. In other words, more than twice as many conservative groups were approved over liberal groups.

We’ve been aware of these massive gaps in the integrity of the story because many of us asked very serious questions from the beginning. We endeavored to discover how the IRS handles non-profit applications, what events and decisions created the influx of 501(c)4 groups and whether the scrutiny was a matter of routine or if politics skewed the process.While some of us were asking questions, the Republican Party, led by the conservative entertainment complex, blindly lost its collective shpadoinkle and engaged in histrionics that almost entirely superseded its histrionics over the Benghazi non-scandal.

[...]

At some point, the repetitive outrage could become the boy who cried wolf. It already has with the Republicans who are convinced that every presidential fart is an impeachment-worthy trespass. After the monstrous IRS-gate turned out to be a great big Nothing-gate, I doubt anyone will take the Republicans seriously the next time they cry scandal.

He's wrong about the Republicans being taken seriously. At the very least, the stupid cable news networks will pretend like it's a real scandal and quote all of the idiotic hyperbole spewed by people like Darrell Issa and Mitch McConnell. By the way, Mitch McConnell has already given up the ghost on this silly story.

PoliticusUSA noticed it last week:

Towards the end of his speech, McConnell ruled out Obama involvement, “There might be some folks out there waiting for a hand-signed memo from President Obama to Lois Lerner to turn up. What I’m saying is that a coordinated campaign to use the levers of government to target conservatives and stifle speech has been in full swing and open view for years. It’s been carried out by the same people who say there’s nothing more to the DISCLOSE Act than transparency, and no more to other disclosure regulations than good government.”

Now he can't even say there was a coordinated campaign to use the levers of government to target conservatives. It's clear the IRS had a list of terms that were political, and they were right to ask more questions about them. They faltered on what questions they asked, but it wasn't wrong for them to scrutinize those applications.

As Lawrence O'Donnell keeps saying over and over, the solution is easy. Revoke the IRS regulation that changed "exclusively" into "primarily" and there's no debate.

One of the 1st Japanese-animated color shows available now in 26-episode set

Bigger and badder than our first effort, The Last American Fanzine 2: The Quickening features over 70 perfect-bound pages of full-color anime content. Contributing writers to this issue include notable Internet anime fans like Benjamin Ettinger (Anipages), Patrick Macias (Otaku USA, Crunchyroll News), David Merrill (Let’s Anime and the first Colony Drop fanzine), Mike Toole (Anime News Network), and Daryl Surat (Anime World Order and Otaku USA).

Articles cover a variety of anime-related topics. Here’s a rough rundown:

• The seminal Cream Lemon episode Pop Chaser.
• Patlabor’s real-life influences.
• A discussion with two Japanese journalists about anime publishing.
• The VHS-based lifestyle of fans during the Reagan administration.
• The underbelly of the U.S. anime convention scene.
• Fandom during the dial-up era.
• 1980s basic cable programming and To-Y.

There’s also a heap of original fanart and photography, a couple comics and the subtle reminder that anime fans can, on occasion, be productive individuals.

As with the first issue, we’re releasing it via the print-on-demand website MagCloud. It’s also more expensive than the first issue, due to the larger size, rising costs and binding. Currently there are no plans to release it via PDF.

 

 

Created to promote the company’s flagship VIDAN electric shaver series, 19-year-old Izumi Matsumoto was designed by illustrator Shikiuta, and is dressed in a costume resembling one of Izumi Products’ electric shavers.

 

The limited edition moe shaver utilizes a different color scheme and design from the company’s previous offerings, and features Izumi Matsumoto printed on both the shaver’s body and the accompanying microfiber bag.

 

The shaver is available exclusively at electronics stores in Akihabara, including Yodobashi Akiba, Don Quixote Akihabara, Edion Akiba, and Sofmap Akihabara. In addition, Yodobashi Akiba will be giving away Izumi Matsumoto business cards and leaflets at their event booth.

 

Izumi Matsumoto Profile Video:

Links:
Izumi Matsumoto Official Site
Izumi Matsumoto YouTube Channel
Izumi Products

 

Source: YATTAR JAPAN

50 fans can win tickets to LA screening with writer Masahiko Otsuka

"tonight, the girls face yet another sour battle against the turning point of their lives"

CoMix Wave Film's (5 Centimeters Per Second) original content Anime Bancho youtube channel is back with the first short in a new series. Trigger (Little Witch Academia) cofounder Masahiko Otsuka and Ren Shimorenjaku bring us Turning Girls, as in "tonight, the girls face yet another sour battle against the turning point of their lives." Get a look after the jump.

Republican strategist Karl Rove is encouraging Americans to support massive National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance programs because fictional police officers monitor phone calls on television dramas.

"If you don't like this program, which we now know was accessed 300 times last year, then you've got to be against local law enforcement being able to access routinely business records of the telephone company in their local investigations as well," Rove told Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday.

"You cannot turn on a cop drama on television where there is not somebody who's pinging somebody's cell phone or taking a look at the phone calls made from some landline or telephone booth to help solve some crime on television," he added. "And it is routinely done in a large scale at the local law enforcement level."

Rove argued that the NSA program "requires a warrant to be able to search the record of any American."

"That's not what happens with local law enforcement, which can simply get a phone company to run a trace on a phone or give you the connection of a phone number," he insisted. "How many times have we sent the police to that hotel on Route 1 because we searched that phone record? You gotta be consistent."

It is so nice to be able to have a whole section on guests for AnimeNEXT again. I missed being able to see people like Kenji Kamiyama or Harold Sakuishi and not have to go several states over and spend lots of money I don’t have. This year Sayo Yamamoto and Hiroshi Shimizu were a special treat. Sayo Yamamoto’s two major directorial credits are Michiko to Hatchin and Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine which are both extremely nice bullet points to have on your CV. She has also storyboarded some extremely visually inventive animation like both openings to Arakawa Under the Bridge and the Attack on Titan ending. Hiroshi Shimizu on the other hand has been a key animator on more anime than some fans have ever seen in their lives. He was also apparently the voice actor of Duke Todo (whom I guess is a Duke Togo parody) in the second Kochikame movie.

At the same time on the American front I am sure several people I know were super sad that they were not able to attend a convention where Mike Toole was a guest. Lets put it this way: As people are getting their panels rejected left and right for Otakon more often than a case of Near Beer at Oktoberfest it seems that Mike Toole had his panels auto-accepted as soon as they were submitted. I think that fairly well sums up his status as a respected commentator on anime.

I saw two of Mike Toole’s panels. I would have seen Dubs that Time Forgot but I cemented my dojikko status by forgetting my laptop after my Tomino panel and got locked out of the area. But Anime Cult Classics and Bad Anime By Great Creators were all fairly strong representations of his work so I can’t feel too bad.

While Anime Cult Classics is a fairly deceptive title it will always be trumped by Vincenzo Averello’s PONIES! panel from Anime Boston (a panel that came up several times during the weekend). While you might think it is a panel about shows with a small but fervent following it is actually about anime that was funded by cults. Of course that means lots of Happy Science movie clips. By law the clip where Hitler summons his Infernal Elephant Avatar™ as is contractually and morally obligated whenever anyone mentions Happy Science movies. Also Aum Shinrikyo has to come up despite how reprehensible they are. Or maybe because they are so horrible it would be irresponsible not to talk about them. Always a bizarre if enlightening panel.

Actually considering how much Ko Ransom is obsessed with the insanity of Happy Science I guess the panel was a bit of both meanings of Cult Classics.

Whereas I had previously seen an older version of the Anime Cult Classic panel the Bad Anime By Great Creators was all new to me. It was 12 anime from people who we know can do good work but prove that even the best of us can produce some real stinkers. As many as greats people such a Tezuka may have created that will forever influence the genre they also had a hand in a few things like Cleopatra: Queen of Sex. Of course Tomino had to appear on the list with a double feature of Garzey’s Wing and The Wings of Rean. Narutaki was a little surprised he did not go with Brain Powerd when I mentioned the panel to her but I think Garzey’s Wing has gained an almost The Room like fandom on parts of the Internet.

I went to two Q&A panels and one press interview with Yamamoto and Shimizu. So I think I got a decent broad understanding of their styles. I find it interesting that Sayo Yamamoto seems to have gained a reputation as the woman you bring in when you need someone to direct sexy female characters. Although she was brought in do one episode of Panty and Stocking when she mentioned she never got along well with her sister. Shimizu thought that character design and movement was his greatest strength. Both of them said that their biggest weakness was they both did not really do sci-fi and mecha well.

By the way when asked what anime influenced them the most as children said Dokonjō Gaeru and Ms. Yamamoto picked The Rose of Versailles and Urusei Yatsura. Clearly Ms. Yamamoto is a woman of refined and elegant tastes. It also proves how insanely influential The Rose of Versailles was when it came out. It is probably harder to find women in the anime industry who were NOT influenced by it as a child if it was on TV when they were growing up.

Most of the questions over the weekend were about The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. I myself learned two valuable tidbits of information. When I asked her what the Japanese reaction was to the show’s unique take on Inspector Zenigata. I felt like in America the reaction to Zenigata was highly divided but Ms. Yamamoto said the character was well received in Japan. It also seems that the New Wuthering Heights opening song was an already existing song that was modified to be the opening of The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. The song’s title never made a good deal of sense to me how it fit in thematically so the song not being written for the show itself made much more sense.

I will say that once one person asked a High School of the Dead question the door was opened that door never full stayed shut. She mentioned that the director asked that all storyboards for the episode she worked on either should have an emphasis on either being sexy or comedic. (Which explains that show to a T). But after that it was just questions about when season two was coming or the lack of realization of minor characters from the series. All things a storyboarder for one episode would not know. I guess it shows that American fans are still interested in that anime if nothing else.

Random but important information. Mr. Shimizu really likes the American TV shows Burn Notice and House. His favorite characters are Michael Westen and Gregory House respectively.  He loves House because the main character is such a compelling eccentric and the show touches on medical issues the go unaddressed in Japan. Apparently he loves watching Burn Notice because Michael Westen’s Japanese dubbed voice actor is Kanichi Kurita. Seiyu fans might realize that he is the current voice of Lupin which is a fact that tied everything together nicely. He is clearly a man with tastes compatible with the Reverse Thieves.

My greatest regret is simple: I totally forgot to ask Sayo Yamamoto about her time working on the Galaxy Angel anime. Clearly I not only failed myself but my readership as well. I can only ask your forgiveness.

I think one of the biggest problem with drumming up interest in Japanese guests is the language barrier. Guests like American voice actors can easily be large and in charge and connect to an audience without the artificiality of a translator. Also there is the fact that the American voice actors are well … actors and therefore almost always have a generous amount of charisma and panache whereas artist tend to a more introspective nature. That last part is hardly a hard and fast rule but stereotypes rooted in some amount of truth tend to color our expectations despite the truth of the matter.

So the question is how can artists entertain an audience at a Q&A panel while answering questions in a way that is not as dry as melba toast in the middle of the Sahara. The answer is they should do what they do best: ART! At both panels Sayo Yamamoto and Hiroshi Shimizu did a bit of drawing to entertain the audience while they answered questions from the audience.

On the panel on Saturday Mr. Shimizu first drew Fujiko turning and drawing a gun. On Sunday he drew Lupin and Jigen running being hit by the AnimeNEXT sign. The thing is that he did not draw them as single pictures. He drew them both as a series of rough key frames so they could be animated in a flip book format. Not to be totally outdone Sayo Yamamoto demonstrated how she would create storyboards as she answered questions. While she was clearly not on the same level as Mr. Shimizu it did add and engaging visual element to her presence on stage and give a bit of insight into her works as storyboarder and director. It was also the quickest and easiest visual way of see something as abstract as directing and storyboarding without a detailed analysis of a scene in a film school analysis format.

I don’t think that dynamism alone will make Japanese guests have lines as long as the Nile I do think they add a layer of  interest and flair to their panels. I’m hoping that a little more showmanship and creativity will drum up more interest in these sorely underappreciated artists. I’m not expecting them to be the most popular events at the convention but I hope they stop being some of the least attended part of the con as well.

One of the comic highlights was when they had one of the staff members pick up the camcorder and use it to show the audience Ms. Yamamoto’s quick storyboards. While the staffer quickly moved from panel to panel when he got to the one panel with naked breasts his tourist on a schedule attitude was quickly interrupted. That panel was not only paused on but got the only loving zoom in. It was a bit awkward for everyone in the audience.

I’m so very glad to see the guest line up we saw this year from AnimeNEXT. If nothing else the comments by staff on the previous parts of the con report give me a good amount of confidence that next year will be just as good if not even better in that regard.

Other AnimeNEXT 2013 Coverage:

AnimeNEXT 2013: Tweets
AnimeNEXT 2013: General Impressions
AnimeNEXT 2013: Panels and Events

Filed under: AnimeNEXT, Events Tagged: AnimeNEXT

Based on Ishinomori's classic female cyborg manga in 1960-70s

It is confirmed today that a live-action adaptation film of Shotaro Ishinomori's classic manga 009-1 will be released in Japan on September 7th as his 75th birthday anniversary project. The female cyborg protagonist Miléne Hoffman is played by Mayuko Iwasa (SHINOBIDO, Space Police). Check the trailer after the jump!