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       

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.

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.

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

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 :)

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:

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   

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).

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:

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 

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

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