Danny Choo’s latest book entitled Otacool 3: Worldwide Workspaces has hit the shelves in Japan. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept of Otacool, it’s a book that basically details an aspect of otaku culture. The first volume dealt with otaku rooms/living areas, while the second book dealt exclusively with cosplay. This third volume, currently available via J-List, deals with — you guessed it — otaku workspaces. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen some pretty awesome workspaces — the book has plenty of them, and some of them are pretty impressive — but honestly, I fail to grasp the concept of a workspace, otaku or otherwise, being cool. Read more…
Are you fond of betting with fictional currencies because you have nothing to carry your cash with? That probably won’t be a problem for much longer — Star Trek Mighty Wallets are on the way. In case you you don’t know what those are, Mighty Wallets are basically seamless, seamless, stitch-less wallets constructed from high density polyethylene. That’s the same material used to create those nearly-indestructible tags you’ll find on mattresses. Of course, the wallets are slightly thicker. These specific wallets feature some amazing art from the original Gold Key Star Trek comics published during the ’60s and ’70s — making one a must have for anyone who loved those classics. They go on sale next month, but you can pre-order yours for a mere $15 here. There’s also a short trailer if you’d like a closer look.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Aug 18, 2010 in Videogames
I have to admit that I’ve never taken the time to sit down and play Metroid. It’s not that I haven’t had opportunities over the years, but I’ve always wanted to start from the beginning in order to better understand the on-going plot. Fortunately, Nintendo has gone through the trouble of explaining history of the series for us with this interesting trailer for their upcoming title Metroid: Other M. While Samus Aran’s voice over might seem a bit stiff, she does a decent job of catching us up on the series. So far, I’m pretty excited about it. This latest game will feature a mixture of third and first person gameplay, and is currently set for release on August 31st. Read more…
Generally, Japanese commercials tend to be a bit more outlandish than our own TV spots, so I was a bit surprised to learn that Apple hasn’t really done much to change the format of their recent iPhone 4 ads for an international market, aside from hiring Japanese actors of course. It would seem that Apple has focused almost entirely on their Face Time feature, hoping that live video chat would be enough to sell anyone on their reception-impaired smart phone. To be fair, a simple case can fix that, but why should there be a problem in the first place — right? Any ways, the commercials are still pretty cute. I just wonder if it’s enough to steal NTT Docomo’s loyal fan base.
There’s been plenty of news from last weekend’s Celebration V event floating around the net, but everyone seems to be talking about the upcoming Star Wars Blu-ray release, set for 2011. As you can imagine, I wasn’t too excited about the prospect of having to purchase yet another set of these films, no doubt remastered with more pointless and potentially annoying edits by George Lucas — let’s face it, Han shot first. Fortunately, I can justify the purchase as the discs will include never released deleted scenes. While the exact number or content of scenes have yet to be revealed, a short clip of Luke building his lightsaber in Return of the Jedi was shown during event. The clip was subsequently uploaded by fans to YouTube, but Lucasfilm was quick to have it removed from the site. If you’d like to try and catch a glimpse of it while you still can, you click here.
In the 80s the Amiga was eons ahead of everyone else in the PC market: They had everything from the ability to play full color animations to multitasking. However this amazing platform just never took off. Why? Because the user base took advantage of the first generation of floppy disks and BBSs to pirate pretty much every last bit of software that was written for the platform. Because of this Microsoft never created a version of Word for the Amiga and WordPerfect lost a great deal of money thanks to cheap users. In fact the only winner that came away from the Amiga was the NewTek Video Toaster which was pretty much dongle protected due to the hardware aspect of the product. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 17, 2010 in Comic Books
Yes I know the that the name of this book sounds like Image Comics talked to an SEO expert and took all of the top trends and baked them into a title: However if that was true they would have included the key words Vampires and Zombies as well! This series has impressed me since it came out and issue #8 which comes out this Wednesday is no disappointment as Riley Rossmo’s drawings keep you eye moving from panel to panel in the book. The minimal color palette is also a nice touch as it add just enough to the artwork without becoming too distracting — and the drawings in those panels remind me of Bill Sienkiewicz too: Read more…
I believe very strongly that Google has an unhealthy monopoly on the internet, so for the past week or so I’ve switched all of my browsers to use Bing as the default search engine. For the most part Microsoft has done an amazing job of going from nothing to something to create a great search engine in a short amount of time, however there are still a few things that they need to beat Google. Having been born with dyslexia one of the things I love about Google is that their spell checker is amazing — in fact often when using Microsoft Word I’ll pop out of the program when I can’t get the spelling of a more obscure word. And this is the very sort of feature that not only does Bing need badly, but something that should also be incorporated into the online version of Microsoft Office. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 16, 2010 in Comic Books
I’ve been really enjoying following the comic book King City which is by Brandon Graham and presented by Tokyopop. Issue #11 will be out this Wednesday and is well worth checking out. What I love about Brandon’s work is that his drawings have a highly animated feeling to them and have just a slight sense of surrealism that reminds me of Krazy Kat by George Herriman. The only thing I regret about this series is that they didn’t color it, although the black-and-white pages show off the artwork pretty well: Read more…
Come Monday those in power in Hollywood will be looking at the box office from this weekend and the stakes are high. If Scott Pilgrim vs. The World does badly you can bet that Hollywood will never touch an indie comic book for many years to come — but on the other hand if it does well it may open the door for other indie comic books to be made info feature length films. Right now when Hollywood thinks of comic books they just see action adventure films with superheroes running around into their underwear, however if Scott Pilgrim can score stories that aren’t about “stuff blowing up” might have a fair chance at the screen. In return that would encourage more folks to read indie comics and then the big guys like Marvel and DC might take more chances. And the price for this? Just one movie ticket and a bucket of popcorn to change the world a little bit.
Any proper Star Wars geek (or Japanophile) knows Danny Choo, aka the Tokyo Stormtrooper. Choo famously shoots videos of himself in Stormtrooper attire dancing around Tokyo, including in geek-town Akihabara, on a Tokyo subway…you get the idea.
But now a few others have gotten into the act. Read more…
Posted by Guest Author on Aug 13, 2010 in Animation
You can talk all you want about what you think is the biggest anime surprise to occur in the last year. For me, that debate starts and ends with the popularity of Hinako. Produced by Primastea and launched in the spring of 2009, Training with Hinako became a hit with fans for reasons I’ve chosen not to think about too much. A few months later the sequel, Sleeping with Hinako, became another surprise hit. It’s now being reported that the studio is going to strike while the iron is still hot and release a third Hinako feature for fans to enjoy privately. Read more…
If you’re a Clamp fan and are lucky enough to be in japan this August you may be able to get your hands on this very cute Kobato Hanato figurine from the manga (and anime) series Kobato (こばと。). Also included in the package is the blue stuffed dog Yogisanmo and a handy traveling bag which will set you back 1890 yen: Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Aug 12, 2010 in Videogames
Or more specifically, I should say Peter Molyneux won’t. Known for his penchant for over-promising and under-delivering, Molyneux has gone on record to state that the next title in the popular Fable franchise will focus more on story, and balance, than introducing new features, and gameplay mechanics — a move clearly designed with casual gamers in mind. While I hardly consider myself a casual gamer, I actually welcome this news, as I’ve quickly grown tired of Molyneux’s incessant need to clutter his games with features that distract me from the point of the game itself.
If you’re reading this, you probably own an iPhone, and if you pride yourself on being an otaku, there’s a good chance that you love Touhou Project too. If you’re not really sure what that is, don’t worry, I can explain. The Touhou Project is series of indie games developed in Japan that has immensely grown in popularity over the last decade. The series later evolved into a franchise with everything from light novels, to doujinshi. It’s primarily popular amongst Japanese otaku, making this iPhone case a must have accessory for those of you who want to show off to your otaku friends — that is, assuming your still own an iPhone 3G ,or 3GS.
Plan on visiting Hoth anytime soon? Can’t afford a Taun Taun? Don’t worry, Adidas has you covered. The latest addition to their Star Wars inspired Adidas Originals line happens to be a Wookie inspired jacket. I’m fairly certain that no Wookies were harmed in order to make these, but they definitely look warm enough. I just wonder if it actually comes with Chewie’s signature bandolier, as pictured above. Sure, it seemingly served no purpose, but you have to store your thermal detonators somewhere, right? The jacket will be available later this year, and while there’s no current price listed, expect to pay handsomely.
I, for one, never really cared for Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The art aesthetic never really spoke to me, and I suppose I can understand why — it was being marketed to kids after all. To me, trying to sit through an episode is like having to experience Jar Jar, or the Ewoks, for extended period of time. My personal tastes aside, the series certainly has its fair share of fans, both young and old. Given the current climate of social networking and the subsequent move toward casual gaming, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to cash in. Read more…
I love it whenever my favorite toy and figure companies pick up a videogame license, so it’s no surprise that I’m excited about this little venture I’ve stumbled upon. Capcom and Medicom have recently teamed up to create a line of Mega Man inspired Kubricks and Be@rbricks! Each Kubrick, Mega Man and Protoman respectively, come packed with their own 1Up Be@rbrick. Each set will be limited to 500, and are currently available exclusively through the Capcom US online store. Now, they won’t be available until August 12th, but you can pre-order them now for $39.95 each, and if you buy both sets together, you can save $5 off your total. Sure, they might be a little expensive, but they’re limited edition. Besides, if you’re any fan of those classic Nintendo games, you owe it to yourself to pick one up — I know I will.
As you can probably imagine, the leaked Lost epilogue has been pulled from many fan sites around the net since it hit the web yesterday. Disney was quick to pull the plug, though you can still catch it here if you’re lucky. For those of you who’d rather wait until the DVD box set hits shelves later this month, the epilogue promises to answer some, but not all, of those lingering questions that we had once the series finale aired back in May. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 10, 2010 in Animation
Yes I know that the furthest thing from your mind is celebrating a happy new year — but for hardcore otaku in Japan it’s the season to start thinking about which anime calendar to select for 2011! Shown here are a preview of a few of the calendars which will be available for pre-orders in Japan on September 26th. Shown above is One Piece and below is Naruto: Read more…
The amount of $#*! that William Shatner has to deal with mind-numbing! After waiting years for a decent payday he was left out of the reboot of Star Trek last year, and then just to rub salt in his wound they let Leonard Nimoy have a major role. Then Nimoy announces he’s retiring from acting which then scuttles the next film for Mr. Shatner. But William Shatner never says die! He manages to stick it to Hollywood and land the leading role in a television series Shit My Dad Says. But some people (the folks at the Parents Television Council) were unhappy with the title — so CBS changed the title to $#*! My Dad Says. But nooooooo that still wasn’t good enough for them: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 9, 2010 in Star Wars
In the disco era this mural is what every sci fi fan would have loved in their bedroom (well every sci fi fan who still wasn’t hoping that Star Trek would come back): This Star Wars Classic Full Size Wall Mural is a huge nine-by-fifteen feet and will be available later in August. While the price tag is a bit high (over $250) what’s nice about this mural is that it isn’t peel-and-stick but is “water activated” so it’s easy to take down. Although if you’re looking for a more traditional fanboy decoration you might check out this place that offers these nifty uncut printers proof posters (which are just a tad more expensive): Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 8, 2010 in Comic Books
One of my joys is to walk through a Japanese bookstore and to gawk at all of the beautiful cover illustrations — they’re always so inspiring as a designer. Although I should note that with this collection that these these illustrations aren’t all covers for comic books — but sometimes covers for books that are done in a manga style. Shown above is Hoshikawa Ginza 4-Chome which caught my eye due the wonderful use of pastel colors. What follows are ten illustrations from Japan that recently caught my eye: Read more…
You can talk all you want about what you think is the biggest anime surprise to occur in the last year. For me, that debate starts and ends with the popularity of Hinako. Produced by Primastea and launched in the spring of 2009, Training with Hinako became a hit with fans for reasons I’ve chosen not to think about too much. A few months later the sequel, Sleeping with Hinako, became another surprise hit. 
