News - by Ian - April 3, 2010 - 15:21 Europe/London - Be first to Comment!
Not a real Chinese Pirate...
It’s been published today in The Times newspaper that the Japanese animation industry estimated it lost $2.4 billion (227 billion yen or £1.6 billion) owing to piracy in China.
It has long be said that piracy in China is costing the anime industry across the world a significant amount of money; however, Japan have now managed to put an actual figure against everyone’s guesses. To put this into perspective, this is more than twice the amount that Japan made in profit from foreign exports of anime.
A spokesperson for Production IG (makers of Ghost in the Shell and many other huge hits) stated:
..that short of closing down the internet altogether, there was little the company could do to stop piracy.
Source: The Times
Reviews - by Ian - January 12, 2010 - 11:13 Europe/London - 4 Comments
Ouran High School Host Club is a school for the rich, famous and beautiful and in the case of Haruhi Fujioka a scholarship student who is unfortunate enough to break a several million yen vase and end up being forced to work as a man in a Host Club. This is not a hard-hitting exposé of the life of cross-dressing hosts, but a lighter than life comedy about an unfortunate girl who stumbles across more than fortunate boys.
Part 1 of this acclaimed anime series left us on a high, Haruhi had just been through a vision roughly based around Alice in Wonderland where she was being tried for various crimes before she realised that she was in a dream. We catch up with the unlikely group of people back at school and the school newspaper is suffering from a decline in readership and need the Host Club to help them get back on their feet.
The next twelve episodes of Ouran High School Host Club mange to continue with the high quality that was experienced throughout Part 1, with fun being poked at class, gender and many facts of life for “normal people” as well as expanding into areas of emotion and divide whilst maintaining the easy going flow of the show. There is hints of a complicated storyline being developed by the latter episodes of Part 1 and Part 2 only go to expand upon that. Whereas many animes attempt to have multiple plots running at the same time end up being a mess of random episodes tied together, Host Club effectively manage these plots and subplots throughout the entire series. There are some references that only the “otaku” culture may understand, such as growing mushrooms in a dark corner, but for the most part the universal humour that was seen in Part 1 has translated through to the remainder of the show.
Granted Host Club is entirely unbelievable in almost every aspect – super rich kids essentially enslaving a poor person at a school where apparently no work is done and teachers allow half naked boys running around empty music rooms. But the character development is strong, for the entire cast, not just the two lead characters. This is a rare occurrence in any form of media, let alone anime. Based on the first volume of this series it would be easy to believe the characters to only be 2.5 dimensional, a bit flat with a tiny bit of history. This volume really fleshes the characters out from the twin’s insecurity, Kyoa’s inferiority complex, Honey and Mori’s extensive history to Tamaki’s less than pleasant relatives. These issues are also all dealt with, but in a manner that leaves other issues open for the characters to inhabit and dwell in, of course this is a comedy show and all issues are dealt with in amusing ways. Fake feuds, exaggerated worry and various other techniques are used to keep the viewers attention but keep the emotional undertones in full view.
To maintain this level of detail the script needs to be next to perfect and fortunately the same high quality writing has managed to be marinated throughout the entire series. This has led to no filler episodes and even fewer duds. As this is only a 26 episode series with nothing on the horizons for a Series 2 the writing and plot has had to be very tight and this attention to detail shines through.
The animation quality also remains very high, with every character being bright, distinct and easily recognisable. There are a few scenes where characters are doing fiddly jobs and the animation is smooth – the temptation to simply have music playing the background whilst there’s a freeze-frame on the character has fortunately been ignored.
In terms of voice acting, the Japanese cast is best; however, the US voice actors have done a superb job at getting much of the maniacal laughter and emotion across. All of the characters match their voices and it’s all performed very well – just unfortunately they’re not as good as their Japanese counterparts.
In terms of extras, well last time I managed to get a copy of the US disc and there were some amazing specials that didn’t fly across to the UK release which is a huge shame. Those extras really made the DVD super special. Unfortunately the extras again have been missed off of the second volume for the most part. Maybe next time eh?
» Final Score
10/10
With a gentle storyline that helps the character’s development and engages with the viewer, Host Club manages to achieve what many anime attempt and miss: an engaging, personal experience.
News - by Ian - December 7, 2009 - 18:59 Europe/London - Be first to Comment!
Logo © Yen Press
Whoops! Looks like someone mixed their dates up and forgot to announce to the world Yen Press’ Christmastime manga offerings. As a form of apology, the below are all available immediately from all good retailers and some Waterstone’s stores as well. With a metric ton of manga, some of which are truly brilliant (such as Higurashi) and need to be bought immediately. These mangas are:
- Black God: Vol 7
- Cat Paradise: Vol 2
- Comic: Vol 8
- Crimson Shell
- Croquis Pop: Vol 6
- GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class: Vol 2
- Goong: Vol 7
- Higurashi When They Cry: Curse Killing Arc: Vol 1
- Ichiroh!: Vol. 2
- Jack Frost: Vol 2
- Sarasah: Vol 2
- Sugarholic: Vol 2
- The Antique Gift Shop: Vol. 9
- Very! Very! Sweet: Vol 5
- You’re So Cool: Vol 5
- Zombie-Loan: Vol 7
These mangas have been available since the 3rd December.
News - by Ian - December 5, 2009 - 21:56 Europe/London - Be first to Comment!
Logo © Yen Press
Recently the well known manga distributor, who distribute manga from Soul Eater to Yotsuba!?, have announced that they will be serialising the successful Gossip Girl TV show as a manga in the monthly Yen Press Anthology.
Gossip Girl: For Your Eees Only will be an original reimaginations of the grils’ senior year focusing on the lives of Vanessa and Blair, which will be written and illustrated by HyeKyung Baek.
Kurt Hassler, Publishing Director of Yen Press says: “There are few series in the publishing world that have been as impactful or successful as Cecily von Ziegesar’s GOSSIP GIRL. The novels have captured the imaginations of young women around the world, and we look forward to demonstrating with GOSSIP GIRL: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY that graphic novels as a medium can be just as welcoming to girls as it is to boys.”
The Yen Press Anthology is available in the UK monthly via Yen Press’ official website.
News - by Ian - November 24, 2009 - 09:15 Europe/London - Be first to Comment!
Scotland tends to get missed off of the anime spectrum, everything seems to occur in the South or at the very furthest North Leeds. This is going to be rectified by the second D-CON event.
D-CON is the biggest, free, anime convention in Scotland. Exhibitors and the public don’t pay a single penny (or sen, or yen for that matter) to enter or set up a stool. All you need to do is just turn up and start selling. All money any artist makes is kept by them and the public, well, they get a great day out.
With support from MVM Entertainment, BORDERS and Tokyo15, D-CON is already gaining the support of many different companies across the company.
Where:
Dundee University Union Building
When:
6th and 7th March 2010
To get more information on D-CON, you can check out their official website here.
Source: UK Anime News
News - by Ian - November 5, 2009 - 09:00 Europe/London - 1 Comment
Once a month the lovely Yen Press decide to gift the UK market with some new manga and this month is no different at all. Available from today, the below titles are available to purchase immediately and of course, there are some mammoth titles available. Soul Eater, Haruhi and Yotsuba& just to name a few! The full list is as follows:
- 13th Boy: Vol 2
- Goong: Vol 6
- Hero Tales: Vol 1
- Legend: Vol 6
- Nabari No Ou: Vol 2
- Nightschool: Vol 2
- Soul Eater: Vol 1
- Spiral: Vol 9
- Sumomomo, Momomo: Vol 2
- Tale of the Waning Moon: Vol 1
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Vol.4 (Manga)
- Yotsuba&!: Vol 5
- Yotsuba&!: Vol 6
So you’d better start ordering those Mangas now!
News - by Ian - October 13, 2009 - 19:49 Europe/London - Be first to Comment!
The UK manga publisher Yen Press likes to publish manga once a month, after all, we all like to get all of our manga in one fell swat and then read like madmen. So to keep us happy in the lovely cold month of October, they have released the following seven titles:
- B. Ichi: Vol 4
- Bamboo Blade: Vol 2
- Cynical Orange: Vol. 8
- Higurashi When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc: Vol 2
- With the Light: Vol 5
- Yotsuba&!: Vol 3
- Yotsuba&!: Vol 4
These titles are available at all good retailers and have been available since the 1st October.
Reviews - by Ian - July 27, 2009 - 09:00 Europe/London - Be first to Comment!
In a world where people are harmed, murdered, mugged and probably pillaged on a daily basis it’s one of the modern moral dilemmas what to do. Is it safe to stop and try and help the poor soul, just to end up going to prison or being sued because of the criminals “human rights” or does walking on by sound like the best option. Either way it’s highly unlikely that anything really, really bad would happen.
Unlike poor Shibuya, the protagonist in Kyo Kain MAOH! He was casually riding his bike one day when he saw someone being mugged, someone he knew, and felt morally obliged to go and help him. Unfortunately the other person did a runner and left Shibuya to face the wrath of the two muggers/bullies who were attacking him. After only offering them a pitiful 2,000 yen they decided that a good, old-fashioned “bog-washing” was in order.
Much to Shibuya’s surprise he found himself not just in the pan of a woman’s toilet, but being sucked into this chasm and after a flashback, suddenly in some new world. After a lot of confusion, and assumptions that the poor lad had fallen into a cosplaying European theme park he quickly learnt that he was not just average Shibuya. Shibuya was actually royalty from another dimension. If that’s not enough for him to comprehend, he was also a demon and was now faced with the difficult challenge of killing all humans and burning their land to a crisp in this new and strange world.
However it would appear that not all in Shibuya’s new kingdom agree with killing all of the humans, regardless of how scared some of the children may be of them. Shibuya himself has trouble coming to terms with this statement as well; after all, it is genocide. Yet the manga is not serious enough for the moral issue of genocide and just glosses over the issue for the most part.
It’s clear that this manga is meant to be humorous and it takes itself very lightly as the protagonist falling into their new kingdom via a toilet is certainly a way of keeping the atmosphere of the manga light. Although it does have an element of internal conflict, magic, training and various other themes that are expected in a fantasy manga.
Fortunately all of the characters in Kyo Kain MAOH! are very distinct, with a character design that is brilliant. Although following all industry conventions each of the characters are easily distinguished, especially as they are well drawn and attempt to go for the semi-realistic route that a lot of manga has been doing recently. Additionally the characters often find themselves in situations that they have never known before, especially the lead character. This could easily be mishandled making the characters spew over used clichés and other painful expressions; luckily, these do not occur at any point.
» Final Score
7
Kyo Kain MAOH! is an interesting opening to a series that is going to be dealing with various issues from the word go. Falling through into the world through at toilet sets the light tone throughout the entire manga, although it touches on issues that are much darker. With magic, strength, battles and humour, Kyo Kain MAOH! ticks many of the boxes that people want in a manga.
