AnimeNation Anime News Blog

The seventh issue of GEN Manga continues to evolve from its doujinshi roots into something more like a genuine underground, alternative manga culture anthology that encapsulates upcoming Japanese creators presenting their own unique and personal manga inspired by their own distinct influences. GEN no longer feels like a tentative, experimental project or an attempt to clone Kodansha’s Morning or Afternoon magazines. The periodical now feels like a confident, eclectic primer on varieties of contemporary Japanese manga outside the mainstream of shounen, shoujo, and otaku-centric themes. Fans of conventional manga may find GEN now even more alien while fans of both the manga art form and alternative comics – Japanese or otherwise – may find GEN becoming more rewarding and essential monthly reading.

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Husband and wife creative team “Yamaaki Doton” have won numerous Japanese awards for their original manga yet remained unknown in the English speaking world until the recent publication of their first English language translation. One Peace Books has done a great service to English speaking manga readers by providing an accessible adaptation of Yamaaki Doton’s masterwork tragedy manga Breathe Deeply, as published in Japan in 2010 as “X-saibou ha Fukaku Iki wo Suru” (X Cells Breathe Deeply).

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Model kit from last month’s Spooky Empire horror convention in Orlando, Florida. Paint job courtesy of Justin Cartisano.

The sixth issue of Gen Manga (pronounced with a hard “G” in reference to the Japanese kanji character for “origin,” although I’m told by editor Robert McGuire that pronouncing the title with a soft “G” is fine too) is available to subscribers and consumers now. The October issue introduces the first chapter of a new, ongoing serial, Ryo Hanada’s Good-bye Geist, and shifts the magazine even further toward being America’s exclusive and foremost introduction to contemporary Japanese alternative and gekiga manga.

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The personality of Arrietty and her parents, some degree of Haru’s personality, and the rapid cut editing of this first American trailer for Ghibli’s Karigurashi no Arrietty completely reinterpret & misrepresent the spirit and tone of the original Japanese picture.

After a number of years, I’ve finally managed to obtain the final remaining collection of Risky Safety production art from the collection of a fellow AnimeNation staffer, adding the two boxes of hand-drawn genga art to my own collection. I am pleased.

The fourth and fifth issue of Gen Manga continue to evolve and mature, further developing ongoing stories while more obviously stepping closer to becoming the cutting edge alternative manga showcase that the magazine promises to be.

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The increasing scarcity of certain domestic anime DVDs has surfaced as a topic of conversation in the American otaku community lately, so here’s my contribution to the discussion. Just because I’ve been collecting domestic anime discs for so long, I’ve got a fairly extensive collection. But there are still some noteable gaps in my collection. Anybody want to assist me?

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I couldn’t resist this adorable Ichigeki Sacchu! Hoihoi-san Legacy diorama that features Hoihoi-san, Combat-san, and Pest-X in pajamas. It’s due out at the end of the year, and I can’t wait.

This past Saturday I attended the 12th annual Anime Festival Orlando convention. I didn’t buy very much, but my dealers room haul is below:

The striking, stark and powerful cover images of Gen Manga issues 2 & 3 immediately inform readers that what these books contain is not necessarily the typical mainstream, mass consumption manga that readers may be most familiar with. Gen Manga issues 2 & 3 continue to serialize the four stories begun in issue one. While these subsequent issues reveal some development from the first issue, some of the weaknesses of the first issue also persist.

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In terms of cinematic quality, the 90 minute long Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3D CG movie falls in-between the Resident Evil: Degeneration and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children CG pictures, landing significantly closer to Advent Children, thankfully, than the atrocious Degeneration. However, seemingly by design, fans hoping for and expecting the thrills, gritty cyberpunk atmosphere, and bone-crushing fights of the popular Tekken game series and its wonderful CG movie sequences may find themselves disappointed by the feature film.

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Tampa was overcast by a lightning storm on the morning of Friday, July 8, which caused my departure to Chicago, on my way to Toledo, Ohio for Glass City Con III, to be delayed by about 15 minutes. The transfer at O’Hare went smoothly, and I lounged in the Toledo Express airport for ten minutes before Mimi arrived to pick me up. During the drive to the Comfort Inn down the road from Owens Community College, I learned through conversation that steampunk is much more popular up North than it is down in Florida. At the hotel, I was walked to my room around 2pm and left to my own devices. A can of Coke for lunch and a 20 ounce bottle of Coke for dinner may not have been especially healthy, but I had little motivation for anything more substantial. Without a plan or schedule, I woke Saturday morning, lightly partook of the hotel restaurant’s free breakfast, and sunk into a hotel lobby chair with the idea of making myself easy to find. Eventually a convention staffer arrived, and Matt Greenfield, followed shortly by his wife, Tiffany Grant, entered the lobby. With opening ceremonies looming, Matt & I were chauffeured by the McDonalds drive-through so Matt could grab a bite, then taken directly to the convention’s opening ceremony. On the way Mr. Greenfield mentioned that I seemed to have gotten stuck with attending the little con while my compatriots had attended the previous weekend’s Anime Expo. I realized that Matt had confused my affiliation with AnimeNation with Anime News Network but said nothing. To my pleasant surprise, during the opening ceremony introductions, Matt recognized his mistake and jovially apologized.

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New York City based independent publisher Gen Manga Entertainment has made its first step into the exciting but tenuous waters of original manga publishing with the first issue of its original manga anthology Gen issue 1. The premiere digital issue is 71 pages presented in PDF format (the equivilant of 142 print pages) containing four original manga stories from independent Japanese artists. Unlike typical manga published initially in Japan then exported to America, the stories contained within Gen Manga are created specifically for Gen and published first with translated English dialogue.

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Saturday I opened the front door of my house to discover that someone had left two mid-1990′s Hobby Japan magazines and a 1997 Otakara Figure Daizukan magazine on my doorstep. I’m certain that there are worse things I could find waiting at my door, and I’m certainly pleased to have anime related goods donated to my collection, but I’m also quite surprised and a bit confused by this unanticipated windfall. Presumably the magazines were left by someone I know. But in that case I’m curious why the contributor didn’t knock on my door to say hello, or leave a note. The alternative explanation is that someone I don’t know happens to know where I live and know that I collect anime merchandise.