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Leader Desslok’s Wine Goblet: Please Don’t Drink and Drive Space Battleships
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 7, 2009 in Animation, Hobbies and Collections
As a Star Blazers fanboy at heart I have to admit that I feel slighted by the slew of high quality Gundam merchandise I’ve been seeing hitting the streets of Japan. Well as if to answer my prayers I just spotted this amazing new replica of Leader Desslok’s wine goblet that just came out: Read more… Sgt. Frog Invading America
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 6, 2009 in Animation
This is the latest trailer for the Sgt. Frog season one DVD release from FUNImation (which comes out on September 22nd, 2009). Frog is one of the most beloved anime fanboy series due to the generous cultural references to Gundam, Space Cruiser Yamato, Dragonball and Evangelion (just to name a few shows). I’m really happy that FUNImation has decided to invest their resources into a fan favorite, and with 263 episodes and several movies it would be ice to see them get the support to bring over more episodes. A Proper Otaku Porsche
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 6, 2009 in Animation, Hobbies and Collections
Oh sure any fanboy can put an anime emblem on their car — but it takes a very special otaku to tattoo their beloved Porsche with the characters from Lucky Star and Hatsune Miku! Read more… Gundam Cosplay Heaven: Char Aznable’s Helmet
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 5, 2009 in Animation, Hobbies and Collections
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam there will be a special full scale replica of Char Aznable’s helmet released this month. I think this has to be one of the most distinctive hat designs in the history of anime, on par perhaps with Darth Vader’s infamous helmet: Read more… Clever Ninja Hattori-kun Escaped My Attention for Dozens of Years
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 4, 2009 in Animation
After all these years I’m always amazed by how much I don’t know about anime: Case in point is the comedy series Ninja Hattori-kun which started life as a manga. Shown above is the opening title to the TV series based upon the manga which aired from 1966 until 1967. So looking at those opening credits you’d just assume that it was an anime series? Wrong! The opening titles were animated but the show is live action — but the show looks very strange as they have live action characters wearing manga like masks: Read more… Anime 3000 Podcast: The State of the Anime Industry
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 4, 2009 in Animation
I’d like to thank Sean Russell for having me on as a guest on his podcast! This episode of his show (click here to listen) was quite amazing (I was scribbling notes during the show) — the theme was the State of the Anime Industry and the two guests other were Justin Sevakis of Anime News Network and Patrick Macias of Otaku USA and Japress. I have to say that Justin painted one of the most devastating accurate portraits of the field that I’ve heard in a long time (well worth hearing for anyone into anime) — and Patrick’s inside view of life in Japan is always fascinating. This Lucky Star Drive Makes Me Purr!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 28, 2009 in Animation, Hobbies and Collections
As a Lucky Star fanboy I always feel left out! Sure there are like a billion action figures associated with the show, but I’ve always found a lack of USB merchandise to satisfy my geeky side. Well it seems someone in Japan answered my prayers by designing this Lucky Star Nyamo USB Drive. The drive features the abstract cat character Nyamo, who is said to be a self-portrait of manga artist Kagami Yoshimizu (the man created Lucky Star to begin with). Read more… Strange Sgt. Frog Commercials
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 28, 2009 in Animation, Japanese TV
To celebrate the latest Sgt. Frog publications Kadokawa has been putting out these very surrealistic commercials on YouTube. Although the frog themed water bottle looks quite cool: Read more… Osaka Maid Cafe Exchange Program with Taipei, TaiwanI think this somewhat serious looking NHK news video is showing an cultural exchange program between the city of Osaka, Japan and Taipei, Taiwan. The cosplay maids are being deployed to the largest anime and manga event in Taiwan this week. Part of the exchange program is to help the local Japanese tourism trade which was down by 44% last year due to the avian flu and the recession. I think we should pray for the success of the cosplay maids in their diplomatic mission! Gulliver’s Travels Beyond the Moon: A Breakthrough Anime Film from 1965
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 23, 2009 in Animation
Usavich: The Ultimate Soviet Bunny Shopping Mall
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 22, 2009 in Animation
When Usavich came out it got quite a bit of novelty interest because it didn’t quite looks like anything else that anyone hasd seen before — after all how many Anime CGI series do you see that features the adventures of two Soviet bunnies? Well I’m happy to report that MTV in Japan has kept producing the show which is now in its third season. Read more… The Dark Knight Goes Anime
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 22, 2009 in Comic Books, Hobbies and Collections
When I first laid my eyes on this Batman Ame Comi Statue I have to say that I was impressed! The folks at DC Comics actually did a good job of giving the dark knight that anime touch — even down to the Captain Harlock belt treatment. But then I started thinking: Why no improve this and bring to the next level? So on the photo above I added my own captions to show what accessories a mangaesque Batman might be adorned with. And not to be left out I gave the same treatment to the Robin Ame Comi Robin Vinyl Statue: Read more… Senki Gundam: Giant Robot Combat Thrills for Old School Anime Fanboys
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 19, 2009 in Animation, Videogames
Shown above is the latest commercial for the upcoming action videogame Senki Gundam for the Playstation3 and is due out on September 3rd, 2009. The developers behind this game also did the well remembered Dreamcast and Saturn games — so Gundam fanboys are pretty psyched about this. Below is a video from earlier in July which shows some actual gameplay: Read more… FUNimation Otakon Announcements
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 18, 2009 in Animation
The frustrating thing about Twitter is reading the tweets of all of my anime pals who are at Otakon this weekend: For me the highlights of these cons is to hear about all of the anime shows that are making their way into America. But the nice folks at FUNimation have actually taken their panel and uploaded it to YouTube. The good news is that it looks like they’ll be bring over Casshern Sins, Eden of the East, Daytime Drinking, more Case Closed movies. By the Daytime Drinking isn’t an anime series but is an award winning film by Korean director Young-seok Noh: Read more… The Gundam Big Face Encyclopedia
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 17, 2009 in Animation, Hobbies and Collections
If you love Gundam you may want to get your hands on The Gundam Big Face Encyclopedia which was just released in Japan. This soft covered book features 125 faces from various giant robots in the classic anime series which is now celebrating its 30th anniversary. Of course you just don’t get he faces, there are smaller full body shots of each mecha with commentary in Japanese. Here’s a preview of the book shot by an otaku for an Akihabara focused blog: Read more… Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Movie Website Opens
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 15, 2009 in Animation
The Japanese website for the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha film (魔法少女リリカルなのは) just went live today. Nanoha started life as a spin-off of the Triangle Heart anime series — what makes the show unique is that unlike other shows in the magical girl genre Nanoha actually features physical combat (well as physical as animated characters can get). This first film is logically titled Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st and features a parallel history story: Read more… An Ancient Flyer from Pokémon: The First Movie
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 15, 2009 in Animation
It’s frankly amazing for me to think that Pokémon: The First Movie came out over ten years ago — the release date was July 18, 1998 in Japan, which was followed by an opening in the United States in November of 1999. For a generation of fanboys (and fangurls) this would be their first introduction to the world of anime. This film would be the high point of Pokémonmania, although a shocking 11 other films have been produced not to mention countless TV episodes (605 and continuing!) since 1997. Read more… Japanese Politician Outed as Fanboy!
In what seems to be a growing trend of politicians coming out of the closet to embrace their fanboy roots in Japan it seems that Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Shigeru Ishiba (石破 茂) has announced to the public that he is an otaku and proud of it! Ishiba made the announcement on a radio show in which he sited growing up with AstroBoy and being a huge fan of Space Battleship Yamato which is known as Star Blazers in the United States. Least you think that Ishiba is a slacker he did hold the position of Minister of Defence of Japan for a year and was up for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency in 2008. Vintage Kimba the White Lion Candy from the 70s
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 13, 2009 in Animation, Hobbies and Collections
It’s always amazing to me what gems people can save from another era: In this case this vintage box of Meiji Creamy Candy from the 70s features a powerful Kimba the White Lion theme on the packaging. The strong use of primary colors really gives this little box a powerful roar: Read more… Sgt. Frog Reporting for USB Duty!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 12, 2009 in Animation, Hobbies and Collections
I think Sgt. Frog (ケロロ軍曹) is one of the most beloved anime series of recent vintage, so this Sgt. Frog USB Companion defiantly meets with our fanboy seal of approval! And what exactly does a USB companion do? When plugged in Sgt. Frog will move at random and react at your voice and sound. Not very practical, but then that isn’t what frog friendship is about. Read more… Fullmetal Alchemist: Prince of the Dawn
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 10, 2009 in Animation, Videogames
Here’s the latest trailer for the Wii game Fullmetal Alchemist: Prince of the Dawn. What I like about this trailer is that while he pre-rendered animation looks great (when doesn’t it?) the actual game play scenes look pretty good too. This impresses me because as much as I love the Wii as a gaming platform it leave’s something to be desired in the rendering department. Here’s another video preview from a bit ago which shows more of the gameplay, including cut scenes: Read more… True Tears: Behind the Scenes
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 8, 2009 in Animation
This nicely done mini-documentary shows off the studio behind the anime series True Tears. The video starts off by showing off the real world town that True Tears, but then quickly moves to show the animators in action. It’s interesting to see that all of the drawing is done by hand, and the level of draftsmanship in those key drawings is just amazing. Here’s the opening titles from the show if you haven’t seen it: Read more… Infinite Space: Sega’s Anime Game will Feature Bad English Dubbing!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 2, 2009 in Animation, Videogames
I’ve been getting excited about the Sega science fiction game Infinite Space for a while, but of course my main fear was that we’d never see this cool anime spaceship themed saga in English. Well be careful what you wish for because the above trailer shows the English dub is shown above, and the voice acting is kind of average to say the least. You’d think that Sega would have learned from the Anime industry in the United States, but that isn’t the case here. However on the flip side even if the voice acting is bad what counts is the game design which looks impressive from what I’ve been seeing so far… Miyazaki’s Fish Story: A First Look at the Disney Release of Ponyo
Posted by Joe Strike on Jun 30, 2009 in Animation
Everyone’s had that tingling feeling running (as they say) up and down one’s spine when they experience something awesome. Last night I saw a preview of Hayao Miyazaki’s new film Ponyo — and the feeling hasn’t gone away yet. Read more… |
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