Anime And Manga

The first TV spot for the anime adaptation of Ruri Miyahara’s four-panel school comedy manga Renai Lab has appeared online. The Love Lab slice-of-life bishoujo television series will be animated by studio Dogakobo (Yuruyuri, GJ Club) with Masahiko Ohta (Yuruyuri, Mitsudomoe) directing, Takashi Aoshima (Yuruyuri, Mitsudomoe) writing, and Chiaki Nakajima (Yuruyuri) providing animation character design. The show will tentatively premiere in July. Source: Anime News Network

Japanese publisher Kodansha has formally announced word that Tsutomu Nihei’s current mecha action manga series Knights of Sidonia (Sidonia no Kishi) will be getting an anime adaptation. Nihei launched the ongoing manga in 2009. Vertical currently publishes the manga in English. Nihei’s 1997 cyberpunk manga Blame! was adapted into a 2003 web anime and a 2007 OVA. Source: Anime News Network

The advertising obi found on new copies of the Japanese BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger novelization confirms that an anime adaptation of the fighting game franchise has been green-lit. Arc System Works’ BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger 2D fighting game debuted in Japanese arcades in 2008 Source: Anime News Network

A series of monthly two-minute anime films based on Yuusuke Kozaki’s surreal animal comedy manga Donyatsu will begin screening before features in T-Joy Cinemas on June 1. The ongoing Donyatsu manga that premiered in December 2011 features animal/snack-food hybrids that live in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district after all humans have mysteriously disappeared. Anime studio Gathering (PUCHIM@S, Tono to Issho) will produce the theatrical shorts with Mankyu (PUCHIM@S, Tono to Issho) directing. Source: Anime News Network

Premiere sees highest ratings on Saturday's six-hour late-night block

The Anime Mirai project has announced the next four productions that will receive production funding from the Japanese government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. Director Yasuhiro Yoshiura (Eve no Jikan Kimi no Iru Machi) will direct the “Arumoni” short at studio Ultra Super Pictures. Director Ayumu Watanabe (Uchuu Kyodai, Danchi Tomoo) will direct the “Okii Ichinensei to Chiisana Ninensei” (Big First-Year Student and the Small Second-Year Student) short at studio A-1 Pictures. Director Kazuaki Imai (Doraemon & Senjo no Valkyria episode director) will direct the “Paroru to Miraijima” (Paroru and the Future Island) short at studio Shinei Animation. Director Naoyuki Onda (animation director for Gundam ZZ & Hiiro no Kakera) will direct the “Kaze no Sorashita” short at studio 4°C. The purpose of the Anime Mirai project is to fund one-shot anime productions animated by novice professional animators supervised by experienced directors & producers in order to provide on-the-job training. Source: Anime News Network

Yuichi Okano’s 2012 four-panel manga Pekorosu no Haha ni Ai ni Iku about a middle-aged man taking care of his senile mother will be adapted into a live-action feature film. 89-year-old actress Harue Akagi will co-star in the film. The movie will be her first film role in 33 years. Ryo Iwamatsu will play the devoted son. The manga originally serialized by the Nishinippon Newspaper Company draws attention to Japan’s real-life problem of an increasingly elderly population. The feature film will debut this fall. Source: Anime News Network

Question: I finally was able to see Asura for the first time and I absolutely loved it. I came across a very negative review online which really bothered me. I don’t often agree with your opinions, but I think you give strong reasons for why you feel the way you do. I would appreciate knowing your opinion. If you have seen it, what did you think about Asura? Answer: The nature of last year’s historical horror adventure anime film Asura demands critique from two distinct fronts: the narrative and the animation. The short movie is based on George Akiyama’s 1970 manga. Akiyama is a respected talent notable for working in a variety of genres. Apart from Asura, I’ve personally watched the 1982 samurai anime film Haguregumo and the 1989 Koiko no Mainichi yakuza slice-of-life drama both based on Akiyama manga series. So while the film’s story may have a precedent for quality, its animation is rendered in an unusual CG style that evokes as much Zac Snyder’s 300 as Zomanov Higa’s Catblue Dynamite and Urda. The 76-minute-long Asura movie is condensed from the original three-volume manga. The result is mostly positive. Due to the film’s short length, the movie necessarily relies on numerous montage sequences and narrative suggestion. The wandering monk that frames the story provides thematic context, clearly explaining the film’s philosophical conflict over whether human beings are innately civilized or bestial. The monk’s most memorable scene is one of the film’s most shocking moments but also one of the film’s most bluntly didactic. The character is vital to the film’s narrative progression, but his role in the film also feels a bit heavy-handed, existing to overtly spell-out the meaning of the movie for viewers that can’t interpret the film’s theme on their own. The character Wakasa is a charming and fearless girl, but like the monk, she’s regrettably used more as a plot device than an individual. Like the monk, she’s a foil for Asura to compare himself to, a role-model for Asura to live up to. While Wakasa is a very admirable character, the movie provides very little explanation for why Wakasa is so devoted to her father or exactly how she perceives Asura, whether as a friend or as a pet. The film’s narrative strength partially lies in the fact that its characters are depicted objectively. The films has no clear heroes or villains. The wandering monk encourages Asura but does nothing to help the boy nor anything to prevent the boy from killing again. Wakasa takes pity on Asura but never tries to understand him. The local lord is the film’s most obvious antagonist, yet his behavior and actions are entirely justified and rational within the context of the story. Asura himself is a sympathetic monster, a vicious and brutal creature shaped by his environment rather than any sense of malice. Fascinatingly, the film inspires viewers to compulsively wonder whether Asura living or dying would be for the best. The horror pervasive throughout the movie arises entirely from circumstances and setting. The movie is horror not because it contains bloody violence but rather because it occurs in a horrific time when the threat of starvation causes people to resort to barbarism merely to survive. The way the film evokes strong viewer reactions and an intense atmosphere all without relying on cliche tropes or conventional narrative formulas is fascinating and memorable. The decision to animate a 43-year-old manga, especially one set in the 15th century, with ultra-modern computer-generated imagery seems incongruous. The actual design of the animation, even more so, evokes strong viewer reaction. Certain full CG anime productions, such as Hottarake no Shima and Hipira-kun, utilize organic design that enhances the effect of the film and draws viewers deeper into the universe of the anime. The CG animation used in Asura does a good job of ev

?????: ??? SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Madarame, Kenji, and Kuchiki are in the Genshiken club room discussing anime, much to the annoyance of Rika and Yajima. Ogiue comes in and is shocked to see Kenji not in drag. She's further surprised when he says he's given up dressing as a girl. Ogiue asks about his commitment to do some illustrations for her, but he assures her he'll do it, even if he has to cross-dress again to get it done. Rika asks if Ogiue will need assistants for the winter Comifest, like she did for the summer one. She says that won't be necessary and later at her place, she sows off her latest purchase -- a LCD monitor tablet. As such, Ogiue wants to try to do everything herself since these devices are supposed to be very helpful to manga-ka. As Rika, Yajima, and Kenji walk home, they discuss this, leading Rika to probe on whether Kenji is planing to become a manga-ka. He says no. At Yajima's place, Rika asks why Yajima is not speaking to Kenji. She says his sudden decision to dress normally is like him asking not to be asked about the neck incident with Madarame, so Yajima is respecting that. At Kenji's place, he's unable to draw as a guy, so he goes to his closet where he'd packed up all his female stuff. He puts on an outfit and is able to complete his work in rapid fashion. He ponders for a bit and wonders if it is the cross-dressing he wants to give up or the BL stuff. Sometime later at the Genshiken club room, Madarame and Kuchiki discuss Kenji's change and giving up something he clearly loved. That leads Kuchiki to ask why Madarame keeps coming to the club room, or why he quit his job. Madarame doesn't want to discuss it and reminds Kuchiki that he will be able to attend all three days of Comifest to help with the purchases. Ohno pops in, surprised that none of the girls are present. She finds out that Yajima, Rika, Kenji, and Yabusaki are cheering Ogiue on, since she's having more trouble with the new pad than she'd thought. Kuchiki asks if Angela is coming, causing Madarame to break out in a sweat. At the airport, Sue is there to greet Angela, but gives a warning to Angela in her own, special way. Meanwhile, Keiko calls Ogiue wanting to know about attending Comifest. Thoughts/Review: When one truly gives something up, it is gone. When one has given something up but doesn't really want to give it up, then it is easy to come up with excuses on why one MUST do the thing they've give up one more time. From there, it is a massive, downhill slide. As such, I figure we'll see Kenji in drag again. He'll find excuses to do it, then he'll adopt the F-I attitude and just do it. As he thought to himself, is it the drag he wants to give up or the BL materials. Angela's return and Keiko's sudden desire to come to Comifest means that a storm is brewing. The one part I'm NOT looking forward to is Kenji's role in this little drama. Were he not in the equation, I'd be looking forward to seeing Angela hit on Madarame and watching Keiko's reaction to that. Sue's warning not withstanding, I think Angela is going to try to score with Madarame again, since girls like a challenge and Madarame is a challenge, seeing as how he has resisted her. I wonder if Kio-sensei was addressing fans of the original Genshiken by having Kuchiki, who got the most time in a chapter in a coon's age, join Madarame and Kenji for an anime discussion like they used to have back in the day. It was almost as if Kio-sensei was saying, "We can never go back to those days." Finally, I was amused by Kio-sensei's commentary on the changes in how manga is created these days. Digital drawing is how so many manga-ka are doing things today. Eventually, no one will do it "old school" pen-and-paper style. So an interesting chapter here. Let's see what fun Kio-sensei has in store for us.Originally posted at astronerdboy.blogspot.com. If you are not reading this on another blog, it has been scraped from

The impression I generally have of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is that it possesses attractive qualities similar to anime, especially when it comes to the more episodic types of magical girl anime. The way MLP respects its assumed younger audience while presenting a variety of characters with fleshed-out and admirable personalities who show many valid ways for girls to be girls and more generally for people to be people reminds me most strongly of Ojamajo Doremi. However, it is the case that not every MLP fan is an anime fan nor vice versa, and it is even the case that some anime fans found themselves more attracted to My Little Pony, undergoing a transformation from otaku to brony. While this could be argued as a failure of anime to retain its audience, and sometimes fingers are pointed at whatever current trend there is, I think it is important to not just look at what anime “had then” and what it “lacks now,” but to also consider the possibility that different anime fans came to anime in the past with varying expectations and areas of adaptation. Picture two anime fans of the same show who love the story and the characters equally much. The first fan loves the fact that anime is from Japan. It’s different, perhaps even exotic, and to view animation from another country with its own tropes and cultural assumptions and elements is part of the fun. He’s not necessarily a Japanophile, nor does he think that things are better if they’re from Japan, but the fact that it isn’t his own culture adds to the appeal. For the second fan, however, that cultural difference feels more like a barrier. Rather than it possessing an inviting quality, the culture gap is something which the second fan feels he must work through in order to get to the story underneath. Certainly this fan genuinely enjoys this anime, but if he could get the same show only with the cultural elements naturally familiar to him, then he would much prefer that. There’s plenty of middle-ground between these two types, but I think this hypothetical scenario is one example of what has happened with people who might have been anime fans but aren’t, or at least anime fans who have found greater resonance with cartoons which are not anime. My Little Pony is similar to Ojamajo Doremi in a number of respects, but MLP assumes an American audience first where Doremi assumes a Japanese one, and having the characters behave in ways more culturally familiar can have a significant impact on the connections people make with a show, even if it were basically the same work as the one that is less culturally close. This can even be as simple as information and access just being easier in your own language. I can’t find the source, but I recall at an interview or a pnael for Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel The Legend of Korra, the creators stated that when making the series, they specifically had their Korean animators look at American body language and mannerisms. Like MLP, Avatar is a show which bears similarities to anime in a number of ways, but this cultural consideration was seen as a way to convey some of those “anime-like” qualities to people who are not necessarily receptive to anime, and perhaps by extension, those who are tolerant of anime’s differences but could do without them either way. This is not an indictment of the first fan for prioritizing Japan too much, or the second one for not being open to other cultures, nor do I think that this explains everything about the landscape of fandom between anime and other cartoons. There is plenty more to discuss, including fans of both anime and American cartoons in other countries (including Japan!). Instead, I wanted to just bring up the idea that fandom can be quite a malleable thing, and that we may assume there are more connections within a fandom than there might actually be.