Los Angeles-based manga publisher Tokyopop is currently seeking a junior film editor to work at the company's offices for four to six weeks to edit the company's Internet-based reality show, America's Greatest Otaku. The show was announced in May, and throughout the summer convention season, Tokyopop CEO Stu Levy and associate producer Daisuke Kinouchi joined six interns traveling to conventions, bookstores, and libraries around the country. The show's goal is "to find America's Greatest Otaku, the person who best exemplifies a truly unique fervor and passion for all things influenced by Japanese pop culture."
Aniplex USA has announced plans to release a domestic Blu-ray boxed set containing the complete R.O.D. anime franchise this winter. The bilingual five-disc set will contain the 3 episode OVA series from 2001 and the 26 episode sequel television series from 2003.
The OVA series was previously distributed on American DVD by Manga Entertainment. The TV series was previously distributed on American DVD by Geneon.
A list of the top words and phrases to be unleashed upon Akihabara in 2009 provides results unlikely to surprise anyone familiar with the year's top stories…
60% of Japanese women questioned in a recent survey report "turning into men," with 70% reporting "there are men more feminine than I am around me" and 94% "I'd like to become more womanly."
The survey, covering unmarried Japanese women aged 25-35, also found some other vaguely masculine traits, with 32% at times wanting "a wife or secretary" themselves, and 42% liking to drink alone.
Even more tellingly, 69% said they were conscious of being insufficiently womanly.
The developers of hit hostess seduction simulator Dream C Club have expressed their desire to bring the game out on the PlayStation.
D3 have the following to say about it:
"By the way, a lot of people are saying 'We'd like to see Dream Club on the PlayStation,' and we'd like to accommodate those wishes."
Observant souls will notice just which PlayStation platform is not specified, leaving the door open for some half-baked PSP port.
The Xbox 360 is lately in such dire straits in Japan that it seems even Microsoft is reluctant to keep throwing good money after bad; "development assistance" to help keep the title Xbox exclusive seems unlikely…
cardit skkcp
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New episodes to launch on web, mobile phones in March 2010
A third season of the anime adaptation of Hidekaz Himaruya's Hetalia - Axis Powers comedy web manga has been green-lit for production. Like the first two seasons, it will run on the Animate.tv computer website and on the Japanese mobile phone site Mobile Animate starting in March of 2010. More details will be provided on the official Hetalia.com homepage, in Gentosha's Monthly Comic Birz magazine, and through other sources.
The "cynical gag" manga and anime take the archetypal characteristics of about 20 countries and regions, and anthropomorphize them as (mostly) bishōnen characters. The story re-imagines various historical eras including World War I and II. A theatrical film was previously announced for an early summer 2010 opening in Japan.
The first hall event for the franchise, the tentatively titled Marukaite Kanshasai, will be also held on March 7. The castmembers Daisuke Namikawa (Italy/South Italy), Hiroki Yasumoto (Germany), Hiroki Takahashi (Japan), Aki Kanada (Chibitalia), and Atsushi Kousaka (Estonia/Prussia) are scheduled to attend. The event is planned to have a video screening, a discussion section, and various other parts.
Keiji Nakazawa to donate 30 boxes of materials to museum
Keiji Nakazawa, the creator of the semi-autobiographical manga Barefoot Gen about one boy's experience with the Hiroshima atomic bombing, will be entrusting his original drawings and other materials to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
The museum has stored 2,735 original drawings of Barefoot Gen since 1994 when the museum held an exhibition of his work. These original drawings were also used for the English version of the series. Nakazawa will donate 30 more cardboard boxes of his original drawings, magazines, books, and movies relating to his works to the museum.
"I will be happy as long as the materials are properly preserved at the museum in my hometown Hiroshima and if the original drawings go on show across Japan," Nakazawa said.
The 70-year-old manga creator based his 10-volume story on his own experiences in the aftermath of the atomic bombing at Hiroshima. At the age of 6, Nakazawa survived the 1945 Hiroshima bombing and the loss of his entire family except for his mother. He moved to Tokyo in 1961 and became a published manga creator at the age of 24 in 1963. Since then, Nakazawa has been a proponent of nuclear non-proliferation.
Last Gasp Publishing picked up the manga's English-language rights in 2004 and just published 10th and final volume in November. Last Gasp used a new translation produced by the Project Gen group from the Japanese city of Kanazawa.
Nakazawa announced in September that he will not be drawing a planned sequel to Barefoot Gen due to his worsening eyesight.
Barefoot Gen has been adapted into two animated films and a live-action television drama special in Japan. Producer Northrop Davis and a partner have been pitching the story to Hollywood studios.
Source: Mainichi Daily News
Update: Last Gasp has pushed back its last English volume of Barefoot Gen to February. Thanks, Gatsu.
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will be provided on the official Hetalia.com homepage, in Gentosha's Monthly 