Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 31, 2010 in Animation
I was filled with horror looking at the above sneak peak poster from the Captain Harlock computer graphics film that Toei has planned for 2012. Clearly Toei has learned little from the horrible AstroBoy film that came out last year. I’ve some some amazing anime that’s been done in 3D, but very rarely have I seen a studio be able to pull off translating a 2D character into 3D. The first problem I noticed with this harlock poster is that while the clothing is just right, there’s something not quite working about the face and the hair. The result is that Harlock starts to look like Howard Stern with too much makeup on: Read more…
With the anime series set to launch in April the folks behind the Nendoroids have decided to introduce a Nendoroid Black Rock Shooter. Sculpted by master craftsman Abe Masato this Nendoroid features extra hair parts based upon the illustrations of HUKE. Here’s a preview of the anime series to give you a taste of the show: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 27, 2010 in Animation
It took me a while to recognize the actor gazing into the mirror on the cover of Cookie issue #5. After a bat I realized that it was none other than Kenichi Matsuyama who is best known for playing the character L in the live action Death Note films in addition to being a voice actor in the animated series. The mirror concept in this cover reminds me a great deal of the amazing 80s music video Take On Me which was directed by Steve Barron: Read more…
If you grew up on Star Blazers, Galaxy Expresss 999 and Captain Harlock you may want to think of sporting the Leiji Matsumoto Romantic Collection Watch on your wrist. I have to say that this beautiful timepiece really captures the look of Matsumoto mecha — it looks like a spare widget from the bridge of the Yamato or the Arcadia. Of course you may need to be a rocket scientist to actually read the watch as it features “quadrants have been demarcated with lines along with more minute lines which delineate the seconds”: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 26, 2010 in Animation, Fandom
I was recently very privileged to be part of an Anime 3000 podcast with legendary anime author Helen McCarthy who has written so many vital reference books like The Anime Encyclopedia (with Jonathan Clements) and Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. Also on the podcast were Tim Maughan and of course Sean Russell who’s really done a great job creating a podcast with the who’s who of anime. The conversation covers everything from Yona Yona Penguin to iPads and is also available on iTunes. Read more…
Kikyo was cuter. Much cuter! It’s hard for me to believe it but to many anime fans Inuyasha is thought of as old school anime at this point — the show went on the air almost ten years ago in October of 2000. So for me it was a pleasant surprise to see this wonderful figurine of Kikyo which is produced by the BOME modeling house. From what I can gather from my source article is that this figurine first came out in 2009 as a limited edition but will be re-issued in June. Read more…
Touch is a manga that ran in Japan from 1981 until 1986 in Weekly Shone Sunday, along with Urusei Yatsura it was on of the most popular comics in that magazine during the early 80s. The manga which became an anime series in 1985 was a combination of baseball with romanic comedy. What’s cool about this commercial is that you can see the wide range of merchandise the show inspired — from a musical album to a “Happy Bag” of goodies that was sold through the Japanese drug store chain Lawson. I love the added touch of having the two characters from the show standing outside an anime version of the drugstore in the last shot. Read more…
I was brought up with the belief that coffee isn’t for kids — of course as an adult I see that this was a clever plot to keep more of the good stuff for the grownups who are so addicted to it. So I was a bit surprised to see a line of coffee beverages from Japan designed just for kids! On March 22nd in Japan Pokka will be introducing Café-au-lait Flavor Kizzukafe which features characters from the anime series Penguin Problems: Read more…
As of today the latest Uniqlo anime themed t-shirts are hitting the street — this latest batch includes shirts based on old school favorites Galaxy Express 999, Saint Seiya, Dr. Slump, Dragonball and Devilman. In April a new set of shirts will be released which will be based on Cobra, One Piece and Mazinger Z. Here are the Devilman shirts: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 13, 2010 in Animation
In Japan package design is very influenced by the idea of gift giving — and as an otaku I’ve always love the fact that attention to detail and inclusion of little goodies tends to find its way into DVD packaging. The above illustration is for the DVD set Kimba the White Lion: The Courage to Begin a New Future. Of course Kimba is quite an old lion of anime at this point, but I love how the studio has the courage to play with a new look and take a chance with the illustration. But as if that wasn’t enough the package itself is a mini collection of all sorts of goodies: Read more…
Least we think that only fanboys grow up to yearn for their youth behold the collection of chopsticks aimed at fangurls who grew up in the 80s with the countless magical girl anime series of that era! Shown above are the chopsticks which are based on Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel (魔法の天使クリィミーマミ) which aired in 1983 — here’s an illustration from that show which features a ten year old girl who thanks to magic can transform into a sixteen year old girl: Read more…
I’m always amazed at the amazing variety of anime merchandise: Back in the day you were lucky to find your favorite toy robot hidden away in Chinatown, but now there’s every type of anime themed goodie that you can imagine thanks to the net. And this One Piece Jolly Roger Towel is proof of this concept — as you can now go to the beach and proudly proclaim your Luffy allegiance amongst dunes, surfers and sunscreen. Read more…
This animated Japanese commercial for Karno struck a real chord with me — the spot is so simple yet so very powerful. This advert is a real case of less is more as you have very graphic character designs accompanied by minimalist child’s sing song. Yet the story of a little girl crying and being cheered up by her mother offering her a candy is quite universal and heartwarming. People always identify the complexity of anime as a visual trademark, but having looked at quite a few educational animated segments from NHK I can tell you that isn’t the case. To me what sets anime apart is more than just the craftsmanship but also the storytelling. Read more…
I’ll be honest to me Holo always looked more like a fox than a wolf, however that said I’m sure the hardcore Wolf and Spice fans out there would disagree with me. However there’s no question to me that this canis character is quite catchy so I was quite taken with the Toys Works Collection 2.5 Wolf and Spice II (トイズワークスコレクション にいてんご 狼と香辛料 II) which was issued to celebrate the second season of the series. The collection features multiple Holos with a Lawrence and a Fermi Amati figurine thrown in as well: Read more…
I’m really impressed with the level of detail on the drum kit that accompanies this K-ON! figurine which is due out in May. The figurine also does a nice job of capturing the personality of Ritsu Tainaka who plays the drums because she doesn’t quite have the dexterity to handle more complex musical instruments: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 19, 2010 in Animation, Tech
Anybody who grew up with Star Blazers is going to want to download this Yamato iPhone app right away! The app was released to promote the new Yamato film which came out last year — the only catch is that he navigation is in Japanese, so here’s a quick tour: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 17, 2010 in Animation
This is the teaser trailer for the next Studio Ghibli film which will be titled Karigurashi no Arrietty (借りぐらしのアリエッティ). The name of the film translates to The Borrower Arrietty and is an adaptation of Mary Norton’s novel The Borrowers. The film will be directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi who worked on previous Ghibli films as a key animator. The plot of the film will cenrer around tiny people who “borrow” things from normal humans in 1950s England. Here is a preview poster and a screenshot of the website: Read more…
Square Enix Products had on display three beautifully crafted Bleach figurine prototypes. The figures weren’t painted, but I was impressed with how true they stayed to the character designs. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 14, 2010 in Animation
There’s an old saying that behind every good joke there’s just a bit of truth: And the poster above seems to capture a certain contradiction about anime and anime fans which is interesting to say the least. I think part of the reason for this is that on a meta level most entertainment aimed ay kids is made to be so saccharine sweet that it seems that all of the life has been beaten out of it. For example if you look at the Disney channel so many of the shows look and sound like gentle sitcoms from a long past era — however my guess is that a certain number of kids want something more. In fact the best way to get a kid to read a book is to tell them that “you’re too young to read this book” and I think anime has that attraction to it. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 13, 2010 in Animation
This is an episode of Kaito Lenya which features the voice talents of Morning Musume member Reina Tanaka. What I love about this short is that they do a good job entertaining you even though the animation is low budget. By the way I realized looking at the animation that a few months ago on the DogaDoga7 Newtype YouTube channel that Noto Arisa mentioned this project (she’s pointing to the character that she does the voice over for): Read more…
Sometimes some of the best game concepts are the simple timeless ones, and Jenga is a great example of this: The games designed by Leslie Scott a Swahili speaking Brit living in Africa who designed the concept in the 70s and then brought it to the London Ty Fair in 1984. Since then 2.7 billion Jenga blocks have been sold owing to the joy of destroying your own leaning tower of Pisa. Doraemon Darake adds a Japanese twist to this old favorite by replacing those dull wooden blocks with (you guessed it) every anime fans favorite blue cat! And then instead of merely pulling out cats you have to do the opposite and construct a cat tower using chopsticks: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 10, 2010 in Animation
A good friend just gave this poster to me and I have to say that just seeing it made my inner child scream for sheer joy! Also fans of Star Blazers should take note: Amy Howard Wilson (the voice of Nova) has announced that at the ICON science fiction convention this year that Eddie Allen (the voice of Leader Desslok), Ken Meseroll (the voice of Derek Wildstar) and Tom Tweedy (the voice of Mark Venture) will be in attendance! The convention takes place March 26-28th in Stoney Brook, New York.
I was filled with horror looking at the above sneak peak poster from the Captain Harlock computer graphics film that Toei has planned for 2012. Clearly Toei has learned little from the horrible AstroBoy film that came out last year. I’ve some some amazing anime that’s been done in 3D, but very rarely have I seen a studio be able to pull off translating a 2D character into 3D. The first problem I noticed with this harlock poster is that while the clothing is just right, there’s something not quite working about the face and the hair. The result is that Harlock starts to look like Howard Stern with too much makeup on: Read more… 
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Sometimes some of the best game concepts are the simple timeless ones, and 