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10.03.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

Hatsune Miku Town!?

I was passing through a dirty little patch north of Yokohama when I happened to see this sign: Hatsune-cho. Perhaps this be the mythical town of Hatsune Miku...?




Tags: Nico Nico Douga Travel 0 Comments

07.03.2009 · by Adrian A. Lozano

Congratulations Jamie!!!!

It's so wonderful to see friends making their dreams a reality. On my way to work the local 7/11 had the new issue of Jump Square featuring "Shin Tennis no Ōji-sama" (New Prince of Tennis) in the window which my good friend Jamie Lano has worked long and hard on. Jamie is an inspiration for me personally and for many others out in the world. Congratulations Jamie, from the first time I saw your original art I knew you had what it takes.

More on Jamie at www.animenewsnetwork.com

Tags: Manga Comiket 0 Comments

05.03.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

Moe magazine

Heh heh, it's a magazine for kids called moe. And I found it in the library. That's all.

2 Comments

03.03.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

Uma Uma advertising...

This is an ad for Suntory's "Jokki Nama" beer. Pretty rancid stuff, but the girl on the right is saying, "It's uma uma!" kind of slang for tasty (click here).

I am interested in this because the term uma uma became a big hit on Nico Nico Douga last year thanks to a retarded dance timed to a dempa version of "Caramelldansen." Listeners thought the Swedish words of the songs sounded like "uma uma," and thus was born the ear worm of the day.

Apparently ad agencies are not as ignorant to Internet trends as predicted, though they are every bit as talentless.




Tags: Nico Nico Douga 0 Comments

03.03.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

Tokyo Game Show press release

Tokyo Game Show has released details for the 2009 event to be held at Makuhari Messe September 24-27 (Thursday to Sunday). The first two days will be business days. The theme is “Game, it’s so energetic!”

The 2008 show featured 1,768 booths exhibiting 879 titles, both record highs, and this year is projected to be even bigger.

"Despite the sagging global economy, it is not only games market that is thriving today, but also the entire computer entertainment market," says a statement from organizers. "Filled with free thoughts and ideas, revolutionary stories, innovative expressions and creativity, games energize people."

This year’s show will also focus on these three objectives:

1. To act as a hub for up-to-the-minute information

2. To enhance the business side of the event and further internationalize it in terms of media appeal, visitors and exhibitors

3. To cater more to new and light game users.

As part of this, the 2009 show will include a new Advanced Mobile & PC Area, in addition to the usual areas: General, Game School, Kids', Sales and Business Solutions.

Tags: Games Event 0 Comments

27.02.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

8th Annual Tokyo Anime Awards results

The official announcement will be made at the Tokyo International Anime Fair at Big Site on March 20, but here are the results:




Anime of the year: "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea"

Best TV anime: "Macross F" and "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion"

Best OVA: "Detroit Metal City"

Best director and original work: Miyazaki Hayao ("Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea")

Best script: Ookouchi Ichiro ("Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion")

Best art: Yoshida Noboru ("Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea")

Best character design: Nishio Testuya ("The Sky Crawlers")

Best seiyuu: Fukuyama Jun ("Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion")

Best music: Yoko Kanno ("Macross F")

Tags: Anime Event 0 Comments

27.02.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

Best game in the world is...?

"Super Mario Kart," or so say the publishers of "Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer's Edition." Crazy stuff, and you can see more over at "Wired." This has become something of a topic in Japanese circles, as six of the top 10 games on the list were made in Japan.

Tags: Games 0 Comments

26.02.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

Animelo Summer Live event info

Dwango held a press conference for Animelo Summer Live 2009, one of the biggest shows in the anisong business. Here are the details on the event.

The title will be "RE:BRIDGE," a reference to the first event, "BRIDGE," and a message of hope that anisongs can bridge the gap between people across time and space. The message is artists and fans, artists and artists, Japan and the world all can be connected by the power of anisongs, now in these dark times more than ever.

Animelo Summer Live will take place at the Saitama Super Arena on August 22 and 23 from 4 pm (doors open at 2 pm). Tickets go on sale from 10 am on June 20 and cost 8,500 yen.

Confirmed performers for August 22 include Ayane, Chiaki Ishikawa, ELISA, JAM Project (Hironobu Kageyama, Masaaki Endo, Hiroshi Kitadani, Masami Okui and Yoshiki Fukuyama), Minori Chihara, and August 23 will be Yui Sakakibara, savage genius, Aya Hirano, Nana Mizuki and Chihiro Yonekura. Others are expected to be added to the roster.

Organizers are promising a "stadium-mode" event with 25,000 people in attendance.

There will be a theme song CD release (to be announced) and a DVD and Blu-ray of past events (8,900 and 9,800 yen, respectively, on sale March 28) .

Tags: Anisong Event Seiyuu J-Pop 0 Comments

24.02.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

Awesome Lina cosplay!

This is pretty awesome stuff. I have been watching the new season of Slayers, and think these cosplayers are fantastic! They are making quite a stir on the 2channel Gourry thread. Keep it up, fellows! Check out more here.

Tags: Anime Cosplay 0 Comments

22.02.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

No Street Lives in Akihabara

Beginning to feel like spring now, and the streets of Akihabara are beginning to liven up. Cosplayers are coming back, as are tourists.

The efforts of local officials seem to be doing the trick, and a revival might be at hand, which seemed almost impossible after the horrific events of June 8, 2008.

Police are still saying that Chuo-dori will remain open to traffic and the Pedestrian Paradise will be suspended for the forseeable future. They have also put up a signs reminding the public that "live performances are banned" (click above picture).

Meanwhile, longtime street idol Yumeiro Monster is still performing on the 5th floor of Don Quixote, a free "street live" event space has been opened on Chuo-dori and the Akiba Sunday Live continues once a month.

Tags: Akihabara Idols Event 0 Comments

20.02.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

Evangelion movie release announced

The second in the new series of "Evangelion" movies will be released in Japanese theaters June 27, 2009. The title is "Development," or "Ha" in Japanese, referencing the structure of traditional Noh play but using the kanji 破 for destruction. The subtitle is, "You can not advance."

Tags: Anime 0 Comments

20.02.2009 · by Admin

Pardon our dust!

The site had some bad mojo on it for the past few months and we couldn't touch it at all. Cursed little data mites! At any rate, we have moved to a new server and shall now resume regular transmission. Our apologies!

0 Comments

25.01.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

Roland Kelts joins Otaku2 Tour!

Roland Kelts, author of "Japanimerica," joined the Otaku2 Akihabara Tour this week. He was a visiting professor at Sophia University in Tokyo this past year, and brought his pop culture students down to experience otaku culture. Thanks to Lisa Kato for the images, and to Mr. Kelts for his kind review.

Tags: Tour Akihabara 0 Comments

17.01.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

Otakuma is born!

I have built a bear. I shall call him Otakuma (オタ熊), the otaku bear. May he live forever in all his glory! In fact, his radiance was too great to fit in that thumbnail; click and behold the coming! Perhaps I can get the Rirakkuma people to mass produce him, only in a more rounded and cuter fashion.

Tags: Otaku 0 Comments

16.01.2009 · by Patrick W. Galbraith

New developments for Akihabara?

In a meeting of local leaders held January 15 in Akihabara, Kobayashi Takaya, a Chiyoda Ward councilman, made several proposals that will affect the area in coming months:

1) Surveillance cameras to prevent crime coming into the months, especially Kanda Matsuri in May
2) A variety of events to commemorate the disastrous Kato attacks of 2008, and to put the lost souls to ease
3) Tap local performers and personalities to revive the lively spirit

More details in coming weeks as this series of meetings continues.

Tags: Akihabara Event 0 Comments

09.01.2009 · by Eva

New Resource: Volks Shop Finder

Given the invaluable nature of the Volks Shop to doll and hobby enthusiasts, but the near impossible task of tracking one down, we are pleased to present a detailing all of the Volks Showroom and Volks Tenshi no Sumika locations in Japan.

It has been many a sad time, when I have run into Tokyo sightseers distraught at near barren Volks shelves in Akihabara, but have been unable to describe other nearby locations save for personal escort. Hopefully this tool will enable everyone to find and visit the various and plenty Volks locations across the country. A link to the map will be archived in our Resources section, though you can also access it Hobby 0 Comments

07.01.2009 · by Adrian A. Lozano

Some people.

Sorry if anybody experienced any trouble with the site, all fixed now.

0 Comments

05.01.2009 · by Eva

Happy New Year's from Japan Post

On January 1, the Japanese postal workers do a little overtime to deliver New Year's postcard greetings, along with a little ad swag from the Japan Post. This year's card featured Sho Sakurai, from the new Takashi Miike Yatterman film. Though certainly awesome, it might have been just a little more awesome if the message didn't have a cheesy line about "acting (his) heart out to to bring a smile to just one more face." Shall we go see his movie anyways?

Tags: Anime 1 Comment

02.01.2009 · by Mikamix

The Jump Way

"Dragon Ball," "Naruto," "One Piece," "Bleach," "Prince of Tennis"…All of these manga are very popular not only in Japan, but also around the world. And all of them appeared first in the pages of "Weekly Shonen Jump" (WJ). WJ is issued in every Monday and has a readership of over 2 million in Japan alone. I, like most young male Japanese, have read WJ since childhood, or around 15 years. This is not necessarily a proclamation of otakuhood, as many people read WJ. How is it that WJ can maintain its sales and draw such a diverse audience? The answer is their original method, the Jump Way (jyampu houshiki).

Any manga fan worth his or her salt knows the Jump Way, though it is not well represented in discussions outside Japan. The way is very simple: "Continue the manga that readers support." It's like American capitalism – survival of the fittest. Regular reader surveys keep mangaka on their toes. For example, if reader polls change and sales drop, even the juggernaut "Naruto" would be cancelled. There is no difference between rookies and veteran mangaka. In fact, WJ prefers to use rookies because they tend to be more creative. Of the manga mentioned above, "Naruto" and "One Piece" are by newcomers and "Bleach" and "Prince of Tennis" were created by minor mangaka.

Many great manga were born at WJ because of its fast turnover. But the Jump Way has its problems. One is the pressure on mangaka who are constantly in fear of having their works cancelled and so pander to readers. It is also a well-known fact that WJ pays rookies pennies for their work. I hear that the payment for rookies at WJ can be 2000 yen (about $20) per page. That is, a mangaka makes about 150,000 yen by month. In Japan, we can get over 250,000 yen working part time at a fast food place.

What do you think of the Jump Way? It is clear this keeps WJ running in the top position among the weekly manga magazines, but at what cost? The US version of WJ is published by Viz Media once a month and costs little. It definitely worth a browse if you are interested in not only anime, but also Japanese manga culture.

Tags: Manga 1 Comment

01.01.2009 · by Adrian A. Lozano

あけましておめでとう

Happpy New Year!!!!!! Most of us here at Otaku2 have returned from our holiday trips and are geared up for 2009.

1 Comment

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