Did you know that Ken Akamatsu, the mangaka behind such hits as Love Hina and Negima!, is sometimes asked to advise the Japanese government on manga-related issues? Just recently he was called before the Diet and talked about how manga can succeed in the next …Read more »
Minare Koda is mad. She’s mad about the breakup with her boyfriend. She’s so mad she decides to go drinking and rant to the stranger sitting next to her. It turns out that stranger works for the radio. And he records her whole rant. And …Read more »
A building in Tokyo that once housed multiple mangaka, including Osamu “God of Manga” Tezuka, was taken down in the early 1980s. However, so many people have wanted to see what it looked like that a new museum duplicating it has been created, called the …Read more »
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was one of the most successful video games of 2019. So, in 2020, we have the manga Sekiro Side Story: Hanbei the Undying. The manga opens with war and power-hungry leaders in the Sengoku Period of Japan. If you look at …Read more »
Need a reusable tote to go shopping? Want people to know you’re an otaku? Studio Ghibli has you covered. They’ve just announced two new tote bags with adorable plushies attached. So which plushie would you prefer — the fox squirrel or Boh and Yubaba’s bird? …Read more »
An unnamed chef inherited a very special restaurant from his grandfather. Sometimes the restaurant is called Western Restaurant Nekoya. And sometimes it’s called Restaurant to Another World. That’s because on Monday through Friday the restaurant serves humans. On Saturday, it serves mythological and folkloric creatures. …Read more »
This past year Kyoto Animation has been through a number of trials and tribulations. When the company was attacked by an arsonist last year, more than 30 of its employees were killed, and a similar number were injured. The good news, though, is now it’s …Read more »
Mio likes listening to the radio, because it helps her feel less alone. At the same time, she prefers to be alone, because being around other people makes her phobic. She is a student at a correspondence school, while her popular fraternal twin brother Yuta …Read more »
With, a popular Japanese women’s magazine, has more than its usual makeup and clothing articles in its latest issue. This time it also sports a specially designed Sailor Moon marriage registration form. This isn’t the first time there’s been a Sailor Moon marriage registration form, …Read more »
Tokyo: Day By Day gives ideas for 365 things to do in Tokyo, one for each day of the year. It was probably written in mind for tourists going to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Because of unfortunate circumstances, the Olympics and pretty much any tourism …Read more »
Junji Ito, one of Japan’s masters of horror manga, has his own art book out at long last: Twisted Visions. It’s a pretty good title that covers Ito’s knack for depicting darkness, the absurd, and the creepy. The book opens with art samples from Tomie, …Read more »
Normally artists can’t make money off fan art, because they’re working with other creators’ material. However, Eiichiro Oda—the mangaka behind One Piece, the most successful manga series ever—is waiving some aspects of his copyright laws for a year to let fans make money drawing his …Read more »
Anime fandom has gone global, and globally, people and companies are increasingly interested in Eastern animation. Variety just covered two such examples: American comics publisher Lion Forge has been reaching out to China, South Korea, and India for animation, and Saudi Arabian company Manga is …Read more »
Cells at Work!, the popular franchise about anthropomorphized cells that makes biology fun and goofy, has expanded into several spinoff manga series, including Cells at Work and Friends! The Red Blood Cell and White Blood Cell we know and love from the original manga are …Read more »
Tencent, the enormous Chinese tech company and largest video game creator in the world, has its eyes on anime and manga. According to Bloomberg, it “has in recent months scooped up slices of two prominent local studios, the brains behind smash hit NieR: Automata and …Read more »
Danica Davidson
