By Patrick Macias

Satoshi Kon, 1963-2010 As I sit here typing this, word is breaking on Twitter and elsewhere on the web that anime director Satoshi Kon has died, age 47. Although the details are still sketchy, both the co-founder of studio Gainax and studio Madhouse have already confirmed the news. Fan reaction all over the world is a united front of pure shock and sadness. There have been other bad days like ...

By Joseph Luster

Until recently there really wasn't much point in trying to convert non-fans to the world of Dragon Ball Z . Either you love it or you don't, and no amount of cropping for 16x9 or touching up will change that fact. With Dragon Ball Z Kai , however, there may yet be hope. If you want the full, down-low nitty gritty on this iteration of the buckwild-brawlin' classic you can read the feature in th...

By Darius Washington

On Saturday, July 3 during this year’s Anime Expo, attendees filled a very large screening room for Funimation’s premiere of Trigun: Badlands Rumble . Although it debuted at Seattle’s Sakura Con even before its theatrical run in Japan, this was the first time anyone had see the movie officially with English subtitles. Funimation’s Marketing Director, Lance Heiskell, came to warm up the crowd b...

By David Cabrera

At the start of the Otakon showing of Welcome to the Space Show , the Aniplex representative told us to come to the panel after the movie and tell the staff how much we loved it. Normally I’d call this hubris, but after watching the trailer online I came into this movie fully expecting something I would go rave about afterwards. As things turned out, it was hubris after all. The film is a like...

By Fernando Ramos

Ever since Spirited Away took the Oscar in 2000 for Best Animated Picture, Studio Ghibli seemed to have hit a creative doldrums. Howl’s Moving Castle was pleasantly forgettable, Tales from Earthsea was execrable; and Ponyo was overall delightful but disappointing for those expecting something meatier. Now, two years later with Karigurashi Arrietti , Miyazaki has once again gotten off the direc...

By Joseph Luster

Zombie-related entertainment used to be something I would flock to blindly; all I needed was a hint that the shambling dead would be present and I was ready and rarin'. Sadly, as is the case with most great things—like ninjas, pirates and cats—the Internet has run the whole zombie thing pretty darn ragged. I hate to let this kind of thing get to me, but it's a fact of life online, and it can m...