Hey, this is Patrick here to drop a little more info for those interested about the nuts-and-bolts behind the making of the newest episode of my web series OTAKU-VERSE ZERO . This episode—number five for those of you counting—is set inside the legendary Tokyo grindhouse …Read more »
Hey, this is Patrick! Since a new episode of my wacky web show OTAKU-VERSE ZERO (co-hosted by comely and alluring voice actress Yuu Asakawa) has gone on-line this week, I figured this would be as good a time as any to take a few minutes …Read more »
Tough work, but someone has to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbpE4Wv0xsc Dear Otaku USA readers (website, magazine, or otherwise)! This is your humble editor-in-chief inviting you to check out my new extracurricular activity: co-hosting a web show in Japan! And thus, do I give you episode zero …Read more »
Yoshinobu Nishizaki in his early '80s prime. Note gold rope and watch you can't afford. “Galaxies collide ! An empire crumbles! An entire planet is flooded!” Sunday, I woke up to read the news online that Space Battle Yamato producer and co-creator Yoshinobu Nishizaki—a towering …Read more »
Osamu Tezuka and Fred Patten once conspired to make you "watch cartoons in a language you can't understand". As even casual observers of paradox and head-scratching conundrums know all too well, the life of a time traveler can get complicated fast. Just a few days …Read more »
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 …Read more »
Roman Album book cover for the 1979 Galaxy Express 999 movie. Boffo b.o.! Call me old-fashioned, nostalgic, or just plain crazy IF YOU WILL, but I just can’t stop thinking about the year 1980 and what it meant to anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture …Read more »
Now that's what I call ART: Nirasawa's creepy creatures! Document Four: “Mysterious Thief - Electromagnetic Transmission Burglar” *Spoilers* Being sick on your own in Japan can be a drag. I know the hard way because that was me a few weeks back, suffering the slings …Read more »
Food, folks, and fun (as well as slot machines and statues of one's self) are always on tap at the Antonio Inoki Saka-Bar. Document Three: “Blitzkrieg Magic Battle! A Program of Assassination” The question of the age: Whatever happened to Tokyo Terminal Diary? Why, it …Read more »
The Mad Gamer (R) and co. play some "hot licks" while vintage boom boxes graze on the sound waves. Document two: “The Poison Spider Mansion Ambush” I’m thanking my lucky stars. I’m praying to a pantheon of dark gods that don’t even exist and hopefully …Read more »
Outside: the devil himself would recoil from such heat! Document one: “Prelude to the Japanese Islands Fragmentation Plan” Oh hey. It’s Patrick. Hello from the floor of a tiny shower/bathroom in an apartment somewhere on the west side of Tokyo. Welcome to my office, my …Read more »
Stop the press! Otaku USA Magazine has joined forces with Japan's Weekly Famitsu magazine! And now, the Land of the Rising Sun's most legendary video game magazine wants to ask YOU a few questions about your burning passion for anime, manga, and games that you …Read more »
They said it couldn't be done, but because YOU DEMANDED IT, we've gone off our rockers and succumbed to the siren's call of "moe for this issue's installment of Hobby Lobby. For the uninitiated, "moe is a hard-to-translate (and arguably hard to understand) word that …Read more »
Mobile Suit Gundam became the massive science fiction franchise it is today largely thanks to the runaway success of Gunpla (aka Gundam plastic model kits). But there's a whole other side to the Gundam phenomenon that remains a bit less explored by otaku-dom at large: …Read more »
Shinjuku Saturday night and the long crawl from West exit through Kabuki-cho. A wide trail of pleasure lovers and profit seekers gets in the way to NATURAL BORN ROCKERS night at the live house known as Shinjuku Red Cloth. Suddenly, a line of vintage scooters …Read more »
Patrick Macias
