12:30pm, and it’s already been a long day…

Anime:
- I got an anonymous tip pointing me to this post by former PiQ editor Kevin Gifford talking about why the magazine (and other magazines) fail. In it he also mentions the status of his former employers: “…the parent company is more-or-less run by the creditors at the bank, my 401(k) got cut off a couple weeks earlier and health insurance was undoubtedly following soon after, and the office was more empty and barren than most of New Mexico…” Ouch.

- SaiAni reports on the Gunslinger Girl OVA, which will be getting its own website soon.

- Aaand Moon Phase has cast details for the upcoming anime adaptation of Ga-Rei. Tooru will be voiced by Tomoaki Maeno, who is also in this summer’s Someday’s Dreamers sequel as Gouta; Eri Kitamura (Blood+’s Saya) will voice Natsuki; Tetsuya Kakihara (Minamike’s Fujioka) will play Masaki. Mami will be voiced by Masaki Fukuen (Darker than Black’s Yin) and Kudou will be played by Rikiya Koyama (Hajime no Ippo’s Mamoru Takamura).

Manga:
- Should have posted this ages ago: Same Hat! Same Hat! has acquired a copy of the first US edition of a manga ever: Barefoot Gen, published back in 1978 by a group of anti-nuclear activists. How awesome is that?

- ANN has the scoop on the second International Manga Competition from Morning, as well as information on the upcoming third competition, taken from MangaCast.

- The PW Beat has learned that cute/crazy artist Junko Mizuno is going to be doing some work for Marvel…although the original link has disappeared. Still: do want.

Cons:
- Anime Expo has announced their AX Backstage hosts in the form of a video. The hosts are: Addy (the “AX Backstage Funky Fresh Fashionista”), DeMo (”Demosthenes,” or “AX Backstage Funny Man,” or as I’m going to call him, “that Shatner Wannabe”), and Luna (”AX Backstage Professional Diva”). A so-so video with so-so personas, but I do give them kudos for the Jem reference though. HELL YES JEM.

In Japan:
- In an attempt to counteract conceptions of Akihabara being dangerous, cops have started doing random searches of peoples’ stuff. In an attempt to counteract the searches, there has been another Akihabara stabbing. That does not bode well.

Required Reading:
- Newsarama has a wide selection of responses to TOKYOPOP’s recent changes from Tpop’s current and former creators.

- This Yomiuri has a nice article on the Toy Show and “toy otaku” in Akiba, if you’re interested. And I know you are.

Posted by gia in Features, Roundups • Comments (8)

Well, some of you, anyway. Or rather, one of you. Yes, one lucky permiere ticket holder at Anime Expo’s Jyukai concert will receive a most-expenses-paid trip from Intermixi, which is also where the winner will be announced.

The winner gets to choose one of three tours offered by Intermixi: the “Kame Hame Kansai” Kyoto/Osaka/Tokyo tour (which includes something called the “Samurai Sword Fighting Experience,” which worries me), the “Neo Tokyo” tour (which also includes the sword-fighting, but stays in Tokyo), and the “Tokyo Game Show” tour, which hits up the Tokyo Game Fair, among other destinations.

Which would you pick? I think I’d go for the Game Fair, personally.

Posted by gia in Cons, Misc, News, Otaku, Western News • Comments (1)

Yaoi publisher 801 Media has announced a mini-contest: take an Engrish ‘poem’ by Mio Tennohji in the BL manga Meeting You Now and rework it into something intelligible and, ideally, poetic. The winner gets their name in the upcoming translated release of the book plus an artbook by Uki Ogasawara, creator of the upcoming 801 title Black Sun and the previously-released Drama Queen title Virtuoso di Amore.

The bit goes like this:

I am having met you and got to know true love. I will consider love as you —
I can never let go of you. Since you are the last sweetheart in my beginning —
Mio Tennohji Presents//It goes to meet you./How to find kiss gentle to, —
For example, it is a morning bus stop.

For rules and instructions, check here. You do have to be 18+ though.

Posted by gia in Manga, Misc, News, Western News • Comments (1)