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 »
In light of Funimation’s re-release of the TV series X , directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, we decided to look back at his classic film Wicked City , as well as Kawajiri’s early work. Released in Japan in 1987, Wicked City (or ‘Supernatural Beast City’ as …Read more »
Originally created by Takao Saito, the world of Golgo 13 is a harsh one grounded in the very real arenas of government politics, brutal crime, sex and intrigue. Despite many helpings of action, most of the stories focus on people who may fear G13’s existence …Read more »
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 …Read more »
Mario is as synonymous with gaming as, well, there aren't many other contenders out there aside from the likes of Pac-Man, or maybe Tetris for the sheer "my mom still plays this" factor. Thanks to Shigeru Miyamoto and the fine folks at Nintendo, we've come …Read more »
It's a shame that Dark Horse's release of the first two Dirty Pair novels by Haruka Takachiho went unnoticed upon their 2007 release in America. I myself didn't become aware of them until that year's Otakon when the first book, the Seiun Award-winning Great Adventure …Read more »
The American public education system doesn't teach anything about Japanese history, so all that I—and most US anime fans—know about the subject is what is conveyed within pop culture, and most of that focuses on samurai or ninja since they’re the ones with the sharp …Read more »
I'll confess right now: I never played the original version of Pokémon Gold and Silver , and my reasons for not doing so are phenomenally dumb. I was super pumped for Red and Blue when they came out back in the day, but got hung …Read more »
If there's ever been a game with more half-baked ideas than Last Rebellion , I don't want to know. It sounds cute on the surface. A single character RPG, persistent buffs that raise your stats to absurd levels, a combo system where every part of …Read more »
If you've never heard of Cave Story , don't feel too bad. While the 2004 game may be one of the least obscure titles as far as PC-developed indie games go, it still remains under the radar of most. Let that no longer be the …Read more »
“A hapless, average guy finds himself surrounded by beautiful women, all of whom love him inexplicably for simply existing and have one or two defining personality traits. The guy lacks the backbone to pick just one girl, so he’s content to keep things as they …Read more »
The name Nintendo has been associated with the lighter side of gaming for as long as most people can remember, and that's not gonna change any time soon. Many will recall the disappointment of owning a "superior" version of Mortal Kombat on Super Nintendo, only …Read more »
If you’ve picked up the most recent issue of OUSA, you’ve likely read a review of the shoujo drama Glass Mask . In doing a bit of research for that review, we came to learn about previous incarnations of the story and found one of …Read more »
If people in America know Space Adventure Cobra at all, it tends to be because clips from the movie were used in the music video “Girlfriend” by Matthew Sweet. But that was nearly 20 years ago at this point, and most people who can even …Read more »
Erin Finnegan
Daryl Surat
Darius Washington
Joseph Luster
Mike Dent
Heidi Kemps
David Riley
