Saturday 18 August 2012

FMA Movie Double Pack and Tokyo Fish Attack Delayed

Unfortunately, it is time for some sad news. Those of you that were looking forward to the releases of Tokyo Fish Attack and the Full Metal Alchemist Blu-Ray Movie Double Pack have now been delayed. Tokyo Fish Attack was due to be released this coming Monday, and the FMA Double Pack was due to be released on 3rd September.

New dates for these releases have already been announced, with Tokyo Fish Attack now being released on 3rd September, and the Blu-Ray Full Metal Alchemist movies are due to be released in 'December'.


Tokyo Fish Attack is based on the manga by Junji Ito. As you may have guessed by the title and cover, the sea is inhabited by Sharks with metal legs who then take to the land, specifically Tokyo, to attack Japan.












The Full Metal Alchemist movie double pack includes both The Conqueror of Shamballa and  
The Sacred Star of Milos. The DVD release of these
movies is unaffected and will still be released on
the 3rd September.

UK Anime and Manga Releases - 20/08/2012 to 26/08/2012

It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the releases coming to you this week.

I'm FINALLY getting back to completing this post on a weekend, and i feel bad that i have barely posted recently, so I'm going to try REALLY hard to get back to posting regularly like i used to.

Another bit of a lull in the releases again this week, but quite a major release coming out next week, but either way the constant drip-drip-drip of releases is better than no releases at all!

Anyway, here are the new releases this week:
UPDATE: Tokyo Fish Attack has actually been pushed back to 3rd September, additional blog post coming soon. (here)

Sunday 12 August 2012

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 13/08/2012 to 19/08/2012

It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the new releases coming to you this week!

I'm getting terrible at this blogging business, everytime i turn the laptop on to blog i end up watching a load of anime or studying (not exactly a bad way to spend the evening, but just shows my attention can be easily distracted). I will however try to always make sure I post this every week, as I like looking at all the new releases, and like passing on this information to everyone :)

Without further ado, here are the new releases this week:

Saturday 21 July 2012

Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection

A big announcement for anyone who loved the old DBZ PS2 games (and thankfully not the 3D Tenkaichi games...), both Dragon Ball Z Budokai 1 and Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 are being remastered into HD and put together on a single disc, called Dragon Ball Z HD Collection. Oddly, there is an obvious lack of DBZ Budokai 2, but the developers at Namco Bandai had said that these 2 games were the 'fan favourites' of the series and were therefore the only ones remade into HD.

The games are due to be released on both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 this Winter in both the European and American markets. Thankfully, for the trophy/achievement hunters amongst you (you know who you are!) the game will support both of these reward systems. I personally hope there are a few trophies for the power struggles, as that was one of my favourite additions to DBZ Budokai 3.

Finally, for your enjoyment here is the announcement video from Gamespot, which includes quite a few fan-questions, along with a Goku vs Gohan battle between the developers at the end!


Monday 16 July 2012

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 16th July 2012 to 22nd July 2012

Hello again friends!! Apologies for the LONG hiatus, but between moving house and not having the internet changed over for a good few weeks I have barely had the time to blog recently, but at least now that things have calmed down a little i can get back in to blogging again!

And why not start off again with a 'weekly releases' post, one of my favourite posts and generally one of the most read posts on this blog.

Only two anime releases this week, but they are some fairly big releases. On the manga side of the releases we have quite a large amount of reading material this week, which also includes a couple of the more popular series' for the Shonen Jump fans out there.

Without further ado, here are this weeks new releases:

Sunday 10 June 2012

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 11/06/2012 to 17/06/2012

It's that time of the week again where we have a look at all the new releases coming to you in the following week.

Once again, there are only a couple of anime releases this week, one of those being a 'complete collection' release and the other being a movie release. Other than that, quite a large amount of manga coming out this week, so plenty to read once again!

Without further ado, here are the new releases for this week:

Thursday 7 June 2012

Dragon Ball Z Kinect Trailer

"Finally, a blog post" I hear you say, and this is one blog post that I really cannot show any enthusiasm for as I personally think it looks ridiculous, but I would love to hear your opinions on the subject.

A trailer has been posted for the Xbox 360 exclusive Dragon Ball Z Kinect game, due to be released in October in both Europe and North America. You control the game with your body movements, throwing punches and holding a guard being the main two motions shown in the trailer, but disappointly does not show how to throw a Kamehameha...

Here is the trailer, then followed by my opinion on the game:

Monday 4 June 2012

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 04/06/2012 to 10/06/2012

Once again, I am SOOOO sorry for not posting as regularly as normal at the moment, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel as the repairs appear to have been completed on our laptop so I should be back to normal once we get it back (it should be delivered to the store on Wednesday).

Anyway....

It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the new releases coming to you this week.

It's another Shonen Jump fan week again, with two big releases coming from one of the biggest series' in that publication, and is also one that I need to start collecting along with the manga (i already have the first 3 volumes in one book, just waiting for the next one to be delivered).

Without further ado, here are the new releases for this week:

ANIME
Monday 4th June
Naruto Shippuden - Box Set 9
Naruto Shippuden - Complete Series 2 Box Set

MANGA
Tuesday 5th June
Alice in the Country of Clover: Bloody Twins
Bloody Monday - Vol.6
Kitchen Princess Omnibus - Vol.1
Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan - Vol.9
Pokemon Adventures - Diamond and Pearl/Platinum - Vol.5
Slam Dunk - Vol.22
Thursday 7th June
Oresama Teacher - Vol.8
Friday 8th June
Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service - Vol.12
Saturday 9th June
Dance in the Vampire Bund - Vol.12         

Wednesday 30 May 2012

My Laptop Is Out Of Commission :-(

Just a quick update to let you all know that my blog posts may be coming out a lot slower than usual (i know I haven't been as good at posting them regularly recently, but I was about to improve that...) as my laptop is currently getting fixed :-(

It had been a little bit slower recently, and then the dreaded HP error code of (90b) reared its ugly head, meaning a fan had broken and it was warning me it will get a lot hotter than usual and probably melt in to an indistinguishable puddle of plastic if I carried on using it...

So we carried on using it.... Well I thought it wouldn't be a problem as it has 2 or 3 fans so surely the others would have takeb over and everything would be fine. That theory actually proved to be correct until my wife decided to stream a film on it and it shut itself down during the film, she panicked and asked me what was happening and a new error message appeared saying 'i took over and shut down the laptop, I don't care what you were doing, do you want a puddle of plastic on your sofa? I thought not...'

Long story short, it was still under the manufacturers warranty so I took it in to get repaired and should have it back in about 2 weeks. In the meantime I will be blogging from my phone (at least this shouldn't overheat...) so bear with me!

Monday 28 May 2012

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 28/05/2012 to 03/06/2012

(Apart from being one day late) It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the new releases coming to you this week. Sorry for not putting this up over the weekend, I had to take our laptop in to get it repaired so I shall be attempting to post from my phone for the next week or two.

Quite a few releases this week, with quite an even spread of anime and manga releases. Although the releases that will overshadow everything else are the Bleach anime movies, all released today.

Without further ado, here are this weeks releases:

ANIME
Monday 28th May
Baka and Test: Summon the Beast - Complete Series 1
Clannad - Series 1 vol.1
Bleach Movies (1st, 2nd and 3rd)

MANGA
Tuesday 29th May
Fairy Tail - vol.19
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - vol.5
Puella Magi Madoka Magica - vol.1
Soul Eater - vol.9
Sumomomo, Momomo - vol.12
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - vol.12

Saturday 19 May 2012

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 21/05/2012 to 27/05/2012

It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the new releases coming to you this week.

We have a couple of new anime releases due on Monday, one of these being an OVA 'spin-off' from one my favourite anime movies (the film is one of those that tends to be the first bite of the anime pie for a lot of people) which I have yet to see, but as I have already seen the other spin-off I may have to pick this up!

On the manga front there are few big Shonen Jump releases, and outside of those there is a huge stack of new manga coming at you early in the week again, so get ready for some serious reading time!

Without further ado, here are this weeks releases:

Friday 18 May 2012

Pokemon Black and White - Darkrai Event Now Live

For those of you still playing either Pokemon Black or Pokemon White on the Nintendo DS a new treat arrived a little earlier in the month for you, the legendary pokemon Darkrai.

Darkrai is available via the Mystery Gift option on the main menu, the same as all previous legendary pokemon on the games, and once received you will need to speak to the delivery man in the Pokemon Centre to receive it. The Darkrai in question comes to you at level 50 with the Bad Dreams ability. The moves list it will have are: Dark Void, Ominous Wind, Faint Attack, Nightmare.

Be sure to get Darkrai before he disappears, as the event is only running between the 9th May and the 10th June.

Thursday 17 May 2012

NEO Magazine 98 out Today!

UK Anime, Manga and all-round Japan filled magazine NEO is out today in all good magazine stockists (or in your post box/on your doormat if you subscribe to them). This months magazine features all the articles you would expect, but a large section of the space including the cover is filled with one of the most popular anime series to ever hit these Western shores:


That's right, Dragon Ball Z! The entire first series is due to release in July and NEO are giving their readers who are unaware just who Goku is, or what the heck a Kamehameha is either, the low-down on all the characters, backstories and the related series' and movies.


NEO magazine is on sale today for £4.25

Sunday 13 May 2012

BFI Southbank - 3 Day Anime Film Fest in June

The BFI Southbank in London (quite close to Waterloo Station) have announced they will be holding a 3 day anime film festival on the weekend of 8th - 10th June. They will be showing 8 different films over the weekend, 2 on Friday evening, and with 3 films being shown on both Saturday and Sunday. For more information on all of the films on show have a look at their website here.

The films on show will be:

Friday 8th June
From Up On Poppy Hill - 6pm
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos - 8pm (Followed by Q&A with the Director & Producer)

Saturday 9th June
Oblivion Island - 4pm
Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below - 6.30pm
Gintama: The Movie - 9pm

Sunday 10th June
A Letter to Momo - 4pm
The Princess and the Pilot - 6.30pm
Akira - 8.40pm 

Tickets for this event are already on sale, they went on sale on the 8th May to the general public and the 1st May for all BFI members. All contact details are available on the BFI website.

Tickets will become available to the general public on Tuesday May 8. Members of the BFI will be able to book a week earlier on Tuesday May 1 (at 11.30 a.m.).

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 14/05/2012 to 20/05/2012

It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the new releases coming to you this week.

A big release for those of you upset by the end of long-running Shonen Jump series Bleach, as the second part of the eighth series is coming to you tomorrow.
Other than that, it is quite a quiet week this week, with only 3 releases due tomorrow, two of which are manga and the last being the aforementioned Bleach.

Without further ado, here are the new releases:

Monday 7 May 2012

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 07/05/2012 to 13/05/2012

Sorry for the delay again this week, we are in the process of moving house so we have spent the weekend just gone packing up the majority of our belongings ready for the move date (which should be the end of this week, or some point next week depending when the solicitors decide what they are doing...)

Anyway.... It's time to have a look at the new releases coming to you this week.

Another slightly quiet week this week, but we do have one full series release again this week (albeit, the only anime release this week). Couple that with a few manga releases and you have the entirety of the new releases.
(EDIT: I've just had a quick look at next weeks releases, and there is quite a big one coming then!)

Here they are for your reading pleasure:

Thursday 3 May 2012

Japanese Studies - 1st and 2nd May

I really wish I would post more often about my Japanese language studies, I just never seem to have the laptop for long enough before my wife steals it back, so this post is coming to you from the Blogger android app instead! (i apologise in advance for any spelling mistakes, I am now at the mercy of autocorrect on a touchscreen Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray)

I've finally started to get back in to studying on a daily basis, which I haven't successfully managed to do for a few months now. The amount of study I have completed has not been anywhere near it should be for a 'serious' self-studying student (try saying that a few times quickly :-P) which is something I am still working on.

However, only yesterday I installed the AnkiDroid app on my phone and can now use the anki JLPT cards that some kind people have uploaded, and this is already proving a brilliant alternative to standard notebook based revision.

Anyway, back to the studies, 2 lessons completed today (with maybe one more crammed in before I go to sleep tonight), one being a continuation of a previous dialogue about Japanese voicemail systems, and the second teaching a valuable grammatical lesson of how to say "please do not".
As I cannot really check everything on this phone that easily I shall end the description here and leave you with the pictures of my studies:


Monday 30 April 2012

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 30/04/2012 to 06/05/2012

Wow, I apologise for not posting this on the weekend, I was having far too much of a lazy weekend....

Anyway, It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the new releases coming to you this week.

Thankfully I was reminded that I needed to post this today as there is one big anime release this week that I shall be buying as soon as I get paid again, as I must admit I am quite a K-ON! fanboy! Along with this there is a mountain of manga for you to sink your teeth in to this week, so enjoy it!

Without further ado, here are the new releases:

ANIME
Monday 30th April
K-ON! Complete First Series (4-Disc)

MANGA
Tuesday 1st May
20th Century Boys - Vol.19
Gantz - Vol.22
Natsume's Book of Friends - Vol.11
Sailor Moon - Vol.5
Wednesday 2nd May
Ai Ore! - Vol.5
Case Closed - Vol.41
Fluffy, Fluffy Cinnamoroll - Vol.3
Kimi no Todoke: From Me to You - Vol.12
Oresama Teacher - Vol.6
MM9 (Novel)
Thursday 3rd May
No Longer Human - Vol.3       

Friday 27 April 2012

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - Complete Series Release


UK anime distribution company Manga Entertainment recently tweeted that a 10-disc, full collection of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is due to be released at the end of August this year. The series has already been released as 5 seperate DVD's, containing all 64 episodes, but for those who didn't pick them up (myself included) this looks like a much better purchase.

Another point to mention, also from Manga Entertainment's twitter profile, is that they have not yet obtained the rights to the OVA's of the series, but as soon as they do get the offer then we will FINALLY get to see them on UK shores.

Tuesday 24 April 2012

J-Metal Spotlight: Crossfaith

It's weird just how quickly you can become obsessed with a band, and this happened to me in the space of about 10hours yesterday with the band Crossfaith. I was reading the most recent copy of NEO Magazine on my lunch break at work and stumbled upon their interview with the Japanese Hardcore Metal band Crossfaith. I personally hadn't ever heard of them, and a quick look online says they formed in November 2006 and their first album was released in October 2009, so they are relatively new to the scene which may explain this. Whilst reading the article something just cliked in me that said 'you have to listen to this band right now and find out how they sound'. It may of had something to do with the article mentioning that they are influenced by Western Metal bands Killswitch Engage and Atreyu. I had a quick youtube search and found their track Snake Code (Caribbean Death Roulette), a song mentioned in the interview, and was instantly hooked. So much so that I even bought their album The Dream, The Space yesterday evening after only knowing the band for around 8hours.

Saturday 21 April 2012

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 23/04/2012 to 29/04/2012

It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the new releases coming to you this week.

Unfortunately it appears there are no new anime releases this week, but the manga releases should make up for that as there are quite a lot of them. Hopefully there will be a few there to keep you going until next week!

Without further ado here are this weeks new releases:

MANGA
Tuesday 24th April
Bakuman - vol.10
Black Butler - vol.9
Black God - vol.16
Durarara!! - vol.2
Highschool of the Dead - vol.6
Higurashi - When They Cry: Atonement Arc - vol.4
Negima! - vol.34
Rosario + Vampire: Season 2 - vol.8
The Betrayal Knows My Name - vol.3
Tokyo Mew Mew Omnibus - vol.3

Thursday 26th April
Bleach - vol.39
Blue Exorcist - vol.7
Toriko - vol.9

Wednesday 18 April 2012

ThatBritOtaku Networking Details Updated

After toying with the idea for a couple of weeks I finally decided to take the plunge today and create a dedicated email address for That Brit Otaku so that I can more easily see the messages i receive from everyone on here, twitter and Google+ as they were starting to take up a LOT of space on my personal email account.

The site maintenance this evening was to transfer the blog from my personal email account to the new email account, and I have also created a Google+ 'fanpage' that is not linked to my personal email address either. This way I can keep things seperate and make it easier for me to connect with people. Also, if the opportunity ever arose, it would make it easier for me to let people guest write on this blog or for me to guest write on other people's blogs.

The new contact details for me (which will have a dedicated page soon) are:

Email: thatbritotaku@gmail.com
Twitter: @ThatBritOtaku
Google+: Profile (the link for this is RIDICULOUSLY long, hence only the word 'profile' lol)

Thank you for your support and continued returns to my blog, I love seeing all the varied people who read my blog from all over the world and hope my new contact details make it easier for you all to speak to me :)

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Twin Sword Trading Prints

It's not very often that I get a surprise when I come home from work, but in the middle of last week I actually did. A couple of mine and my wife's friends had sent us a few prints that they have started creating and selling under the banner of Twin Sword Trading (Official Website). It all started in March 2012 and has already proved quite popular in such a short time, and will even be attending the London Film & Comic Con in July.

All of the prints that we received are standard 6x4 photograph size but the artists, Lewis Terry and Ian Terry, state on their site that if you would like a different size just to send them a request and they should be able to accomodate you.


These are the 5 prints that we received, 4 of which aimed more at me as they are the Japanese styled prints, whereas the fifth print in the bottom right of Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is for my wife as she has quite a thing for him!!

Hello From Japan

Suzume at the Crossroads

Lucky Kitty (or 'Maneki Neko' to us Japanese students!)

The Fate of the SS Anne (Pokemon Red FTW!!)

Spike (James Marsters)

All of the prints are very high quality and all priced at £3.50 each, but they are currently running a promotion where if you buy two prints you get the third free by using the code '2FOR1' so if you want to take advantage of this you had better get in quick before the promotion ends!!

As mentioned above you can purchase all of the prints, and have a look at the new prints due to be available, on the official website or check out their twitter account @TwinSwordTrades. Also a quick mention to Lewis's fiance Kayleigh who runs a popular computer game blog called 8 Bit Girl or her twitter account @8_bitgirl and I would like to thank the pair of them for sending me the prints, I just apologise for not putting the pictures on my blog sooner :S

Japanese Studies - 17/04/2012

I can't believe just how long it has been since I last posted about my Japanese studies! Although, it does have quite a lot to do with me not studying anywhere near as much as I usually do.

One of the main reasons that my Japanese studies almost stopped was due to my most recent Tae Kwon Do grading, which I managed to pass with an A grade for my efforts, but I had been cramming all of the phrases prior to the grading for at least 2 weeks. As a result of all this cramming I had barely any time for Japanese studies, and the time I did have to my studies were just for revision to make sure I didn't forget anything when I did start studying again.

Anyway, enough with the backstory, I finally completed a new lesson today. The lesson was another Japanesepod101.com podcast, with the lesson being about the Japanese voicemail services and the options that you would face if you ever left a voicemail message for anyone.
All of the phrases in today's lesson were new to me, so I may have to go over it again today or tomorrow just to keep everything in my memory, but I know that I would be using a few of the words again in the future (like connection, within or message) so would no doubt remember them quite easily.

Without further ado, here are my notes of today's lesson:


Sunday 15 April 2012

Pokemon Black and White 2 Gameplay Trailer Released

As most of you may know by now, I am a bit of a Pokemon fan. I've been playing ever since Pokemon Red when I had just entered secondary school (around the age of 11 for those who use a different school system from the UK) and instantly fell in love with it. However, the new games Pokemon Black and White 2 didn't appear to be doing it for me and I thought I had finally 'grown up' and lost my love for the game.... until I saw the new gameplay trailer.

There were a few details released earlier in the week in CoroCoro magazine that showed a few of the new additions (new legendary pokemon, new trainers, new rival, new professor, new gym leaders etc). The game still takes place in the Unova region, the same as Pokemon Black and White, but the game starts in the new Hiougi City. The new professor of the game is Professor Akuroma, who wants to do some research on Pokemon strength. This is obviously just a precursor to you Catching 'em All though, as it has been in all the games before it.

Here is the gameplay trailer for the new games:

X Japan win 'Best International Band' at Golden Gods 2012

The Japanese Heavy Metal (Visual Kei) band X JAPAN have been announced as the 'Best International Band' at the Golden Gods Award 2012 this week. The awards took place in Los Angeles, California this week, and if like me you needed to re-read the name of the award it is NOT the Golden Globes (which Yoshiki from X JAPAN composed the theme music to this year) but is actually the Golden Gods which was created by the music magazine Revolver back in 2009.



X JAPAN are actually the first Japanese, or Asian band for that fact, to win the award. The other nominees were Rammstein (Germany), Lacuna Coil (Italy) and Sepultura (Brazil). During the awards ceremony Yoshiki had this to say to the fans:
“Thank you. Thank you for acknowledging us.” He continued, “Right now, we are finishing up our first worldwide debut album. We are planning on doing another world tour. And also to our beloved fans, thank you so much for your support. We are going to keep on rocking. We love you!"

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 16/04/2012 to 22/04/2012

It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the new releases coming to you this week.

There's quite a big anime release this week which has been garnering a lot of interest on twitter and various anime fan sites, which if i had some money I would be getting myself as well!
The manga releases have slowed down a little this week also, but there are still a few to get you by for the week.

Without further ado here are the releases coming to you this week:

ANIME
Monday 16th April
Mardock Scramble: The First Compression
Birdy The Mighty: Decode - Complete Collection

MANGA
Tuesday 17th April
Air Gear - Vol.23
Dorohedoro - Vol.6
Love Hina Omnibus - Vol.3   

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Japanese Studies - 11/04/2012 (and the past couple of weeks...)

I can't believe how long it has been since I updated you all on my japanese studies. To be honest, I haven't studied anywhere near the amount that I used to, but this is due to all of my studytime being transferred to learning Korean phrases for my Tae Kwon Do grading (which I passed with an A grade, and it makes me a 1st Kup Black Tag in the art). Now that the grading is out of the way I am starting to get back in to studying Japanese, but I seem to be getting in to it slower than usual.
There have been a few other distractions in the last week or so, such as Easter, a family wedding, family get-togethers, and finally reaching one of my favourite parts from the Naruto manga in the anime series and being absolutely hooked on it! (oh, and the new Rock Lee spin-off series).

Anyway.... As my studies had taken a bit of a knock back I started a little slowly getting myself back in to the swing of things, so most of my time has been filled with revision of vocabulary and kanji. Thankfully for the most part I remembered everything that I had studied, but had forgotten a few words and a couple of Kanji (it's annoying just how well I remember the kanji characters, but seem to forget some of the less commonly used words...).
My focus for the last couple of days though has been Kanji, and as things are going quite slowly at the moment I have only learnt a few (some of which I forgot the same day... then relearnt them the following day lol). The kanji I am currently learning are all N4 characters in preparation for either the JLPT N4 or N5 at the end of the year depending how far along my studies get.

Here are the Kanji I have been learning, one is a standard picture and another is me trying out the new Android version of Instagram (I have joined the fad, and must admit I quite like it at the moment, but the novelty may wear off, only time will tell).


Tuesday 10 April 2012

Brain Controlled Cat Ears to go on Sale

Cat Ear Headbands are a very common sight to any anime otaku, or any person with an interest in Japan, and have been on sale for a very long time now. However, a company called Neurowear (official site) have made one major adjustment to the standard ears and have made a pair that are controlled by Brain Waves! The ears can twitch, fold down, perk up, or just plain rotate like a cat's ears all with the power of your mind. In the video below featuring J-Pop singer Miu Sakamoto the ears perk up whilst she listens to the instructions, and then relax afterwards.

The ears, called Necomimi (which literally translates to 'Cat Ears'), are due to go on sale to the public at the Nico Nico Choukaigi event on the 28th and 29th April for a special price of 7.900 yen (£62), before the retail release which will cost 8.980 yen (£70). The company have also announced that a North American version has been completed, but as of yet no formal release in Europe. However if you want to see the product in the flesh, there will be a demonstration at the Gadget Show Live event, which takes place from the 11th to the 15th April in Birmingham.

The video below was released a year ago and shows Miu Sakamoto demonstrating the ears in motion:


Monday 9 April 2012

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II Release Date Announced


The wait is finally over for all of you who purchased Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I as the second episode has now got a confirmed release date for the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade- the 16th May! There will also be an iOS version due to be released in May, an Android version for June, and a Windows Mobile version in July, all of which without a set date as of writing.

A trailer for the new episode was posted back in February (see below) and includes one Sonic's sidekicks.... TAILS! I know quite a lot of people who hated Tails (especially whilst playing in one-player mode on Sonic 2 and he would just wander in to any trap or enemy he saw fit) but I personally loved him more than Sonic, so much so that I may have to purchase this episode (I didn't buy the first one) just to play as him.

Here is the trailer for Episode II:

Dragon Ball Z - Complete Series 1 to Release in July

As I have not been able to post as often as I would like recently I have missed quite a few pieces of quite big news, and this is one of those news articles I wish I had noticed sooner.

The UK Anime distributor Manga Entertainment have announced that the complete first series of Dragon Ball Z is due to be released on the 2nd July 2012. The DVD's will be a 12 certificate and will RRP at £34.99. One of the biggest selling features of the release, besides being the first time the full series will be available on DVD in the UK, is that it will be digitally remastered and "captured in high-definition widescreen".

But wait, there's more! Not only is the first series being released, but dates are being set for EVERY Dragon Ball Z series DVD release over the next 18months. They are as follows:

Series 2 - 27th August 2012
Series 3 - 1st October 2012
Series 4 - 5th November 2012
Series 5 - 7th Jan 2013
Series 6 - 11th March 2013
Series 7 - 13th May 2013
Series 8 - 15th July 2013
Series 9 - 16th September 2013

The Full Press Release is available below:

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 09/04/2012 to 15/04/2012

It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the new releases coming to you this week.

Apologies for, once again, being a little bit late for this post, but as it was Easter I have been out and about to various family events.

Unfortunately there are no new anime releases this week, but there are a couple of quite big releases coming next week instead so keep an eye out for those.

Without further ado, here are the new releases for this week.

ANIME
No new releases this week

MANGA
Tuesday 10th April
Bloody Monday - Vol.5
Cross Game - Vol.7
Excel Saga - Vol.23
Gon - Vol.5 

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Toonami May Return - Cartoon Network

After an April Fool's joke played by digital television channel Cartoon Network (and Adult Swim), where they brought back the Toonami channel/program block, a new twitter 'poll' has been posted by them to see if there is enough demand to actually bring back Toonami.
During the day they aired many classic anime shows, including Dragon Ball Z, Mobile suit Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo!, Outlaw Star, Blue Submarine No.6, and Trigun.

In the UK, as far as I am aware, Toonami was the easiest way to watch plenty of anime before online streaming started to take off. I used to watch it every day after school or college and it was definitely one of the catalysts that started my obsession with Japan and Anime. I also discovered quite a lot of anime that are now my favourites, like Dragon Ball Z, Tenchi Muyo, and Pokemon.

I hope that if they do decide to bring back Toonami it will be aired in the UK again, and I may have to kick the wife off the TV to watch a lot more anime.

Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals - First Episode Now Live on Crunchyroll









The first episode of the spin-off series from Naruto is now live on anime streaming website Crunchyroll. The series has had a change of name since being announced a few months back and is no longer Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden but is Naruto Spin-Off: Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals.

I have yet to personally watch this episode, but shall be watching it either later today or tomorrow, but after reading the manga I have been looking forward to this series. As you can see from the image above, the series is drawn in the super-deformed 'chibi' style, making all the characters from the Naruto series look a lot smaller and slightly different but still recognisable.

The Crunchyroll page for the series can be found here, and the direct link to the episode can be found here

Monday 2 April 2012

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 02/04/2012 to 08/04/2012

It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the new releases for the coming week.

Apologies this post is a day later than usual, i couldn't get the laptop away from my wife for long enough to complete this lol

A couple of big anime releases this week, and a lot of manga to get through, so get your wallet prepared this week!

ANIME
Monday 2nd April
Naruto Shippuden - Movie Double Pack
Naruto Shippuden - The Movie 2: Bonds

MANGA
Tuesday 3rd April
Arisa - Vol.7
Cage of Eden - Vol.5
Kieli: The Sunlight Garden Where It Began, Part 2
Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei - Vol.14
Skip Beat - Vol.27 
Slam Dunk - Vol.21

Wednesday 4th April
Gunslinger Girl - Omnibus 4 

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Brighton Japan Festival - 23rd June to 1st July





The Brighton Japan Festival will be returning again this year, and their website has been updated for the 2012 event. The festival will be running between the 23rd June and the 1st July, so is 8 days long (much longer than most of the other festivals in the UK).
  
The festival events will be launched with a Moshi Matsuri on 23rd and 24th June, which will include "Japanese music and performances, traditional children's games, workshops and street processions, as well as a profusion of shitamachi-style stalls selling all sorts of street food and Japanese goods".
It will also include an Asahi Anime Festival, 30th June and 1st July, which is "A delirious and colourful celebration of all things anime, with Cosplay contests, manga drawing and karaoke competitions galore".
Lastly, there will be evening events at the Festival Hub, 22nd June to the 1st July (the official site states the 22nd June, yet the event starts on the 23rd June...) which will include "A series of classy, quality evening events held in a specially erected tent next to Moshi Moshi in Bartholomew Square"

For more information on the event please check out the official site. Performers, sponsors, stallholders and volunteers who would like to be involved can apply here.

Sunday 25 March 2012

UK Anime and Manga Releases - 26/03/2012 to 01/04/2012

It's that time of the week again where we look at the upcoming releases for this week.

There is only one anime release this week, but it is a full series release of a very popular series. There are however a lot of manga releases coming this week to keep you going.

Without further ado, here are the new releases:

ANIME
Monday 26th March
Black Butler: Complete Series Box Set
 
MANGA
Tuesday 27th March
A Bride's Story - Vol.3
Bamboo Blade - Vol.12
Bunny Drop - Vol.5
Is This a Zombie? - Vol.1
Negima! Omnibus - Vol.4
Pandora Hearts - Vol.9
Spice and Wolf - Vol.6
The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan - Vol.5

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden - Promo Trailer Released

A trailer has finally been released for the Naruto spin-off series Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden, which is due to premiere on 3rd April in Japan.

If you are unaware of the series, it began as a spin-off manga from the Naruto series, but with a lot more focus on comedy than the standard manga. It is drawn in a chibi style, and as such all the characters look visibly different than their Naruto series forms.
This series is also being produced by the same studio who create the Naruto anime. The full name of the series is Naruto SD: Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden, with the SD in the title meaning 'Sugoi Doryoku' or 'Super Determined', although generally SD is used to mean 'Super Deformed'.


New Naruto Shippuden Movie Announced - Naruto: Road to Ninja

In the newest edition of Weekly Shonen Jump a new Naruto movie has been announced. The major announcement of this movie is that it will be designed and wrote by mangaka Masashi Kishimoto, who created the Naruto series.

The film, which is the ninth Naruto film in total, but the sixth Naruto Shippuden movie, will open in Japan on 28th July.

Unfortunately there are not many details regarding the plot etc at the moment, but as they are released i will post them here.

Monday 19 March 2012

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 19/03/2012 to 25/03/2012

It's that time of the week again, albeit one day later than usual, where we have a look at the new releases coming to you this week.

It's quite a slow week this week, with only 2 releases, one an anime release and one a manga release. However it looks like that is set to change next week, as has been the recent trend.

ANIME
Monday 19th March
Bleach: Series 8 - Part 1

MANGA
Tuesday 20th March
Animal Land - Vol.4   

Saturday 17 March 2012

Japanese TV - Gaki no Tsukai

I had a new idea for an extra type of post on this blog, and that is Japanese TV. I, like most of us, used to stereotype Japanese TV as mad, unusual, and weird (and quite a lot of it is) and it is this type of TV that makes me love Japan. They are not afraid to create something weird and put it on at a primetime slot, and to an outsider it appears they are not just trying to please shareholders like Western studios appear to, and are more interested in making sure that their program is entertaining.

One such show is Gaki no Tsukai. I was told about this show a friend of mine, @Bekkii_chan , whilst we were completing a charity walk with our Tae Kwon Do club. The show is quite similar to Takeshi's Castle but on a larger more extreme scale, as the videos below of a 24 hour game of 'tag' will show. There were 5 episodes of this I believe, and I have only seen the first one but will definitely be seeing the others if I can find them online.

I hope you enjoy the videos as much as I did. If you are a fan of Takeshi's Castle you will definitely love this. The entire show lasts for around an hour and a half so you may wish to watch it over a few days like I did or make some space in your diary to see it, as it is hilarious.



New Anime Convention - SunnyCon

A new anime convention will be taking place in Sunderland on the 24th and 25th March called SunnyCon. It will be taking place in the Crowtree Leisure Centre, next to the Bridges Shopping Centre.
Tickets are £20 for the weekend, and can be bought etiher from the Tucky's Anime site, or you can send a cheque with a registration form with details posted on their FAQ.

The event will include a Japanese Fashion Show, a Cosplay Contest, and an AMV Competition amongst other things.
There will also be guest stars attending, among those being two dub actors for anime shows. One of those being Christopher R Sabat who voiced Louis Armstrong in both the Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood series', and also voiced Daisuke Jigen in various Lupin the Third movies. The other guest attending is Veronica Taylor who voiced Ash from the Pokemon series.

Other guests include Gina Lucia, editor of the Anime Picks website; Lawrence "MasaKox" Simpson of TeamFourStar; and Sonia Leong of Sweatdrop Studios.




The organisers of Sunnycon posted this message on their site regarding the tickets:


With SunnyCon now just over a week away we are very excited. We have sold just fewer than 500 tickets so far and it's shaping up to be a fantastic turn out for a first time convention. On Tuesday 20th March we will stop online ticket sales to make sure everyone has their tickets in time. However tickets will still be on sale at the venue. From Saturday 17th you will be able to pick up in person from Crowtree. Remember you can also arrange a special pick up if you live in Sunderland just e-mail donna@sunnycon.co.uk to arrange ticket pick up. Remember our allocation is 1000 for the event so we still have just over 500 tickets left for sale so at this moment in time tickets are being made available for purchase on the doors. This can change depending upon sales however we will keep you updated on Facebook and Twitter with how sales are going.
According to SunnyCon's facebook page, tickets will be on sale on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.

Manga Entertainment Acquires Rights to Blue Exorcist

The UK Anime Distributor Manga Entertainment announced yesterday that they have obtained the rights to publish the supernatural anime Blue Exorcist. As of writing a date has not yet been announced though. They have however mentioned on their twitter account @MangaUK that it will be solely subtitled on a double disc DVD (no mention of blu-ray release yet).



The anime revolves around the main character of Rin Okumura. He was raised by a famous exorcist named Father Fujimoto, who tells Rin he is actually the son of Satan. After this announcement Rin decides to become an exorcist and rid the world of demons, only hindered by using his fathers sword that unleashes his dark power within.

The people behind the series have some great credentials also, as it is directed by Tensai Okamura, the man behind Darker Than Black, and animated by A-1 Pictures who also animated the Black Butler series.

Saturday 10 March 2012

Yakuza Dead Souls - American Pre-Order Gifts

With the upcoming release of Yakuza Dead Souls at the end of the week, 16th March for Europe, American computer games stockist Gamestop have announced the pre-order gifts you can get for the game. The items will include new weapons, new costumes for all the main characters, extra costumes for the hostess, and... Karaoke?? Hopefully some items will be announced for other areas, but these appear to be the only ones shown at the moment.

You can see them all the video below:

UK Anime & Manga Releases - 12/03/2012 to 18/03/2012

It's that time of the week again where we have a look at the new Anime and Manga releases for the coming week.

Following the recent trend, there is only one new anime release this week, but there are multiple manga releases. However, this week the manga releases are spread out a little bit more.

ANIME
Monday 12th March
Phantom: Requim for the Phantom - Part 2

MANGA
Monday 12th March
A Certain Scientific Railgun - Vol.3

Tuesday 13th March
Gate 7 - Vol.2
House of Five Leaves - Vol.6
Sailor Moon - Vol.4
Shugo Chara Chan - Vol.3

Thusday 15th March
Black Bird - Vol.13
Naruto - Vol.55
One Piece - Vol.61         

Monday 5 March 2012

Japanese Culture - Hinamatsuri

Hello All, and welcome to first lesson in Japanese Culture (one that I have been promising for quite some time now). This first Japanese Culture event takes place on 3rd March every year, and is called Hinamatsuri, or Girls Day. It is also called Momo no Sekku, but it is called this as much as it is called Hinamatsuri.

Although I have learnt about this previously in a Japanesepod101.com lesson, for this post I have been looking up bits and pieces from Wikipedia, and the lesson notes from JPod, to rattle my brain to bring back the information to pass on to you.

Hinamatsuri is a festival to celebrate all the female children in Japan (boy's get their own day later in the year, called Kodomo no Hi or Childrens Day, and is technically to celebrate both genders but is recently more for boys). The festival is to celebrate the birth of girls and their future happiness.

The reason it is sometimes called Momo no Sekku is that Momo means 'Peach Flowers'. In the old Japanese lunar calendar 3rd March signified the season of Peach Flowers, hence the name of the festival. The festival is believed to have originated from the Heian Era (794 to 1185AD).

One of the major parts of Hinamatsuri is displaying a set of dolls, which are dressed in ancient court costumes, on a 5 to 7 tier set of shelves called Hina Ningyo. The main dolls for this set are the Emperor, Empress, Courtiers, Court Ladies and Imperial Musicians. All of theses dolls are collected for girls as they are believed to protect them from illness and evil spirits.


 The dolls are displayed in a specific order, and each doll is meant to be put on a certain level of the tiered shelves. The emperor and empress are placed on the top shelf, the court ladies are displayed on the second shelf, and the court musicians are placed on the third shelf.

These dolls are displayed for a few weeks prior to the 3rd March, but must be taken down immediately after the 3rd March. This is another superstition, as if the dolls are not put away quickly then it will delay the daughter getting married.


As with the majority of the Japanese festivals there is special food associated with it. In the case of Hinamatsuri the 2 foods mentioned on the sources are Hina Arare (a type of sweet rice cracker) and Hishi Mochi (a 'rhombus shaped rice cake'). A drink associated with this festival (seems a little odd to me as the day is celebrating young females...) is white sake , or Shirozake.

Hina Arare
Hishi Mochi
Shirozake
 Lastly, there is a song associated with the festival, and the lyrics are as follows:


Akari wo tsukemasho bonbori ni
Ohana wo agemasho momo no hana
Gonin-bayashi no fue taiko
Kyō wa tanoshii hinamatsuri

(English)

Let's light the lanterns
Let's put peach flowers
Five court musicians are playing flutes and drums
Today is a joyful Doll's Festival