If you’ve been collecting anime for a while or been around folks who have, you may have heard about a character known as Captain Harlock (or Herlock, depending on the romanization). A strong-willed space pirate with a heart of gold, this character has been a …Read more »
Theatrical anime movies don’t come out in America very often anymore, and perhaps that’s part of why they don’t really get made as much anymore compared to how things were “back in the day.” Movies require more time and money to create than television shows …Read more »
The cover of Animation 1980 featuring Osamu Tezuka's should-have-been-massive Phoenix 2772. This is it. The final revelation of the sweeping saga known as “2010 is 1980”… The last glance back at what the heck the anime and manga scene looked like an incredible thirty years …Read more »
In the final installment of this travelogue for my recent Space Battleship Yamato -themed trip to Tokyo, I'm going to switch gears and talk about... Space Battleship Yamato . Some of you may have read my early review of the new live-action movie here in …Read more »
Walter Amos, Tim, Matsumoto, Gwyn Campbell, Anton Kholodov, and Patrick Macias Sword Takeda, Patrick Macias, Gwyn Campbell, Walter Amos, and I convened in Shinjuku on the evening of December 4 and blasted off to Oizumi Gakuen, the Matsumoto-themed train station near Toei Studio in the …Read more »
Sword Takeda, Tim, Yuki Hijiri, Mie Hasegawa On December 2 I teamed up for the second time with Sword Takeda and made for the little-known district of Jimbocho. Little known to American anime/manga fans, that is. I learned about it while researching my first trip …Read more »
Tim and the 50-foot Yamato: pals Anyone who has followed my exploits at starblazers.com knows that I'm on the Space Battleship Yamato news beat pretty much all the time. Occasionally that means taking one for the team and going all the way to Japan to …Read more »
If you're a fan of FLCL —Gainax's kinetic, Pillows-infused 2000 OVA that graces the cover of our latest issue—then you're no doubt an admirer of director Kazuya Tsurumaki. Despite having been involved in Gainax projects since his work as an animation director for select …Read more »
I mean this in the nicest possible way, but I’m pretty certain that this is the single most screwed up One Piece movie ever made. One Piece reigns supreme as the top-selling manga in Japan and one of the most watched anime. According to Japan’s …Read more »
There is a small, albeit significant, minority of anime fans out there for whom the feature film Redline encapsulates the spirit of what they wished most anime produced was like. I consider myself one of them, which is why it’s that much more crushing that …Read more »
Mako and Sayuki, otherwise known as the racing team Impact Blue, are just a couple of girls trying to make it in the male-dominated world of Initial D. Much like real world racing, females in Initial D are few and far between, and the …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 »
Akihabara can be a dirty place. Whether it be posters for the latest high school mini-skirt parade or the no fewer than two multi-story “novelty item” stores that hug the town’s entrance, there certainly is a case to be made for that. Harmless wish fulfillment …Read more »
As an otaku, or just a regular anime/manga/Japan-obsessed nerd, the holidays present a seemingly golden opportunity to introduce friends and relatives to your hobby. This is your chance to reach out to people. You are (practically) an ambassador of Japanese pop culture. Don't mess up …Read more »
Between Birdy the Mighty: Decode and having designed the new Vocaloid character Gumi—aka “Megpoid” due to her voice being provided by Megumi Nakajima, best known for being Ranka Lee in Macross Frontier —Yuuki Masami has experienced a sort of popularity resurgence within the last few …Read more »
Darius Washington
Daryl Surat
Patrick Macias
Tim Eldred
Joseph Luster
Alexandria Hill
Fernando Ramos
Erin Finnegan