If you’ve heard a hip-hop track in a recent TV anime, chances are you were listening to the vocal stylings of Lotus Juice, a Tokyo-based musician and rap artist. Born in Japan but raised in New Jersey, Lotus Juice has made a name for himself …Read more »
Growing up, I always dreamed about how awesome it would be if there was a Dragon Ball Z theme park. Well, more than a decade later, my wish has (kind of) come true through J-World Tokyo. Opening this past July in Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City shopping …Read more »
Back at the beginning of 2013, we ran a story about Anime! Real vs. Dream , a book on the state of the anime industry written by insiders at Studio Madhouse. What kind of insights lie inside? Let’s take a look. Anime! Real vs. Dream …Read more »
Studio Kara’s Hidenori Matsubara has been working in the trenches of the anime industry for over 25 years. Chances are he’s worked on something you liked without your even realizing it. The list of his key animator credits alone is staggering: Evangelion , Patlabor: The …Read more »
We've already done a bit of after-school activity with Girls und Panzer on this website. As a bonus to the current issue's cover story, we discussed director Tsutomu Mizushima's earlier work, Haré+Guu , but don't let that keep you from the main event. In the …Read more »
The world of anime still has a handful of directors that make everyone stop and take note. Obvious choices include heavy hitters like Hayao Miyazaki , Mamoru Hosoda , Hideaki Anno , and Makoto Shinkai , the latter of which recently unveiled his latest work, …Read more »
Picture this: A couple, madly in love, is flying aboard a hot air balloon. They’re in trouble: the load must be lightened or the balloon will crash into a ravine. “Maybe I should jump,” says the man. “You’d have a good life.” “No!” screams the …Read more »
The worlds of manga and modern art have long been connected, with artists like Takashi Murakami combining the two to international acclaim. More recently, the launch of Japanese art sites like Pixiv has spawned a new movement of internet-based artists working in an anime-influenced style. …Read more »
Gatchaman still manages to be relevant today thanks to an upcoming feature film and even, though quite a few degrees further separated, the new anime series Gatchaman Crowds . Its enduring legacy can be chalked up to just how well Tatsunoko Production's original series holds …Read more »
One Piece may seem as fortified against intruders as the infamous prison Impel Down at this point, but there are still some standalone ways for the uninitiated to enjoy the adventures of Luffy and his crew of Straw Hat pirates. One such method is the …Read more »
Most Tokyophiles are well aware of Akihabara, east Tokyo’s hub for all things anime, manga, and general otaku-related shopping, and readers of Otaku USA e-News have also gotten a peek at Nakano, west Tokyo’s slightly hipper, grungier answer to Akiba. One Tokyo neighborhood we haven’t …Read more »
Attack on Titan is one of the biggest anime out there right now, and we're right on top of it in the latest issue of Otaku USA magazine! Our One Piece Strong World cover nearly caved from the ramming speed of a colossal titan, but …Read more »
Helen McCarthy has published ten books on anime and manga (so far) and is a leading expert in her field. Catching up with her at Anime Central, she spoke about how she first got into anime and manga, how she founded the magazine Anime UK …Read more »
Anime has a long and proud history of gender-bending and stereotype challenging, be it for comedic purposes or awkward romantic entanglements. But there is a through-line of three girls in particular who don’t just mirror each other, but directly inspired each other’s creation. One was …Read more »
The 13-episode run of the divisive Flowers of Evil anime has come to an end, wrapping what we first favorably spoke of a couple months back . Guess what? It's still divisive! That's ok, because truly interesting entertainment often finds its viewers split down the …Read more »
Jason Moses
Anthony DeVito
Otaku USA Staff
Matt Schley
Danica Davidson
Kara Dennison
Joseph Luster