Although the plans have been in motion since last year, Kodansha comics has finally confirmed with Publishers Weekly that it plans to directly publish manga into English in the US. This means that certain publishers, like Tokyopop and Del Ray, will likely lose some of their current titles at some point in the future – [...]

Compared to fifteen years ago, anime fandom in South Africa has come a long way. Back then it was a whole different ballgame. The Internet was in its infancy at the time, and downloading quasi-legal fansubs was unheard of. No, we had to rely on a handful of distributors to keep us in a steady [...]

Here’s something else for Western manga-fanatics to pine about. It seems that the Japanese PlayStation Network will be receiving a new category: digital manga. This distribution channel will provide Japanse manga fans with an alternate method of acquiring the latest manga. Already signed on are publishers Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan, Square Enix, Hakusensha, the Kadokawa group, [...]

It seems that 73-year-old horror manga artist Kazuo Umezu, creator of series such as Drifting Classroom, Makoto-chan and Cat-eyed Boy, will be teaching beginner classes in manga on Japanese TV starting on November 5th. The series will be entitled Chūkōnen mo Guwashi! Umezu Kazuo no 4-Koma Manga Nyūmon, a mouthful which apparently translates into “Even [...]

It seems that a Tokyo-based manufacturer of artificial teeth, Bitec Global Japan, uses a very interesting and unusual method for determining whether potential employees have the delicate assembly and painting skills required for their positions. What they do is have up to five applicants at a time assembling and painting a model of a Zaku [...]

Anyone who is familiar with Shinichirou Watanabe’s directorial style probably always expects something unusual. One of his favourite quirks is the way he likes to take two far-removed themes or ideas and mix them together. Cowboy Bebop, for instance, with its odd mix of jazz and science fiction, had a very unique flavour, and the [...]

It seems that the creator of one of Japan’s most beloved manga series, Crayon Shin-chan, was found dead at the bottom of Mount Arafune’s Tomoiwa cliff. Yoshito Usui had been reported missing by his wife some days before, after he didn’t return from one of his usual mountain hikes. The sighting of his body was [...]

You just never know what the Japanese are going to come up with next. In this case, a game based on the upcoming anime, Sasameki Koto, has been made available for free on Apple’s online Store, most likely as a promotional vehicle for the anime. The game allows users to practice kissing the anime’s main [...]

According to Shueisha’s V Jump magazine, to commemorate Yu-Gi-Oh!’s 10th anniversary, a new Yu-Gi-Oh! feature film will be produced and screened in Japan early in 2010. Apparently it will feature 3D graphics, although this cryptic statement wasn’t specific as to whether it will be entirely in 3D, or hand drawn with some 3D elements. Guess [...]

It seems that 70-year-old manga artist, Keiji Nakazawa, has been forced to stop work on his current manga project, Barefoot Gen, due a cataract in his right eye and a damaged retina in his left eye. He underwent surgery for this recently, but reportedly can no longer see fine lines – a serious impediment for [...]

According to the website Box Office Mojo, Studio Ghibli’s anime film, Ponyo, has just claimed the spot of the fifth highest grossing anime film in the US, having made an estimated $14 300 000 ($656 000 in the opening weekend alone) so far in theatres across the US. This puts it behind the other four [...]

According to the Japan Video Software Association, sales of anime, including DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, UMDs and video cassettes amounted to 127.731 billion yen as of the first half of 2009. This is almost a 10% drop in total sales compared to the same period last year. DVDs are still the strongest seller, but Blu-ray sales [...]

Konami Digital Entertainment has announced that the popular trading card game Yu-Gi-Oh! has received a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling trading card game to date. That would put it ahead of giants like Magic: The Gathering and Vampire, which might be hard to believe for followers of these more [...]

If there is one genre of anime that grates more than any other for its lack of originality, it’s the shounen genre. Shounen is an action focused genre aimed at boys and young male adults – for those who don’t know. Some famous examples of shounen anime are Dragonball, Naruto, and Yu Yu Hakusho. It [...]

I’ll admit, I’m a bit jaded as an anime fan, but then I’ve been watching for roughly fifteen years, so I have my reasons. After so long, it really does become apparent how bland and unoriginal the anime industry can be, and it’s getting worse, lately. For anyone for who is over the buzz of [...]

If you don’t know the whole story of Robotech, then you’d probably best check out the Wikipedia article on it, because we don’t have space to explain it here. But to sum it up, what we call Robotech in the West was actually three completely separate, yet remarkably similar, anime series which were rewritten in [...]