Anime and Manga

A Series on the Japanese Animation of Studio Ghibli Returns to L.A.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Turns 10 This Year. Here's Why the Sci-Fi Anime Series Is Still Important

It's 2030. War has left its mark on the world, with newly powerful nations rising in the place of the old guard, but terrorism is still a threat and governments can still be corrupt. In the midst of this is Public Security Section 9, Japan's elite group of crime solvers now set with the task of trac ... More >>

Anime Expo 2012: Cosplayer Yaya Han on Turning Her Hobby into a Business

See also: "Anime Expo 2012: Tiger & Bunny and Puella Magi Madoka Magica Draw Huge Crowds at AX" On Sunday afternoon at Anime Expo, I met Yaya Han. The Atlanta-based cosplayer was at her booth inside the exhibit hall, surrounded by cat ears, unicorn horns and pegasus wings. Han is part of a growing ... More >>

Anime Expo 2012: Tiger & Bunny and Puella Magi Madoka Magica Draw Huge Crowds at AX

What makes an anime series a hit? That's hard to say, but after years of hitting up L.A.'s thriving convention scene, one thing is certain. Amongst the slew of new shows that come out of Japan every few months, the ones that grab the most attention here are those that do something different. They pl ... More >>

Where to Pick Up Chicks Who Look Like Dolls

Meet May'n: Singing Sensation For Anime Series Macross Frontier Plays L.A. Tonight

In the anime world, there are few franchises as beloved as Macross. The sci-fi epic is filled with outer space battles, complicated love stories and tons of pop songs. With three TV series -- The Super Dimension Macross, Macross 7 and Macross Frontier -- along with loads of other other related media ... More >>

Top 5 Things You'll Find in an Anime Convention Exhibit Hall as Seen at AM2

See also: *14 Essential Items to Bring to Every Fan Convention *Homestuck Has Me Hooked Last weekend, AM2 returned to Anaheim Convention Center for another weekend of anime, manga and music. The annual event is relatively new to the convention scene -- this is its second year in Anaheim -- but it's ... More >>

Eat Totoro Watch the Film: Jan. 26 Feb. 12

Cuteness is the mother of invention, and Totoro is the proof. The mythical creature with the lovable paunch and adorable expression from Hayao Miyazaki's anime film My Neighbor Totoro has inspired countless spinoffs. We mean the kind you can hold in your hand -- backpacks to booties and pillows to p ... More >>

Animé Los Angeles 2012: The Changing Face of the Anime Convention Community

See more photos in Shannon Cottrell's slideshow, "Anime Los Angeles 2012." I've been to Animé Los Angeles five times now. For my first three years, I visited ALA as a regular attendee (unlike many other conventions, they don't offer press passes). But, for the past two years, I've attended as a pa ... More >>

Art of Akira's Joe Peacock on What Might Go Wrong with Hollywood's Stab at the Anime Classic

Akira production art courtesy of Joe Peacock/Art of Akira​Though talk of a Hollywood-made version of Akira has been around for years, it's been all the buzz amongst fans of the classic manga and anime since the project was greenlit last month. Unfortunately, that buzz hasn't been good. Many ha ... More >>

Asia-Vu

We Heart Performing for Japan Reunites Cowboy Bebop Cast and More

Dianne GarciaStephanie Sheh, who organizes We Heart Japan events, at Meltdown Comics in March​Days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Los Angeles-based voice actor Stephanie Sheh, known for her roles on popular series like Bleach, FLCL, Naruto and The Melancholy of Haruhi Su ... More >>

ThunderCats to Appear at San Diego Comic-Con Before Cartoon Network Premiere

Shannon CottrellEthan Spaulding, Michael Jelenic, Dan Norton of ThunderCats​ThunderCats art director Dan Norton has a sign in his office that reads, "This is the day you dreamed of when you were 12 years old." "I was a ridiculous ThunderCats fan," he says. "I mean, you would run home from ... More >>

Durarara!! Remains a Big Hit at Anime Expo 2011

Shannon CottrellDurarara!! cosplayers at Anime Expo 2011​When we covered Anime Expo back in 2010, we noted that characters from a new series called Durarara!!, then only available in the U.S. through Crunchyroll, were amongst the most memorable cosplays of the convention. We saw numerous femal ... More >>

Chocolate Covered Cosplay Debuts at Anime Expo, Next Stop San Diego Comic-Con

Shannon CottrellChocolate Covered Cosplay​Roughly two weeks before the start of Anime Expo, Chocolate Covered Cosplay was born. The group of six women-- Ashphord Jacoway, Neko Nivi, Ginger Burton, Angel Drake, Danielle McRae and Deanna McRae-- came together for cosplay with a purpose. "No ma ... More >>

Yoshiki News: X Japan Drummer Composes Theme for New Buddha Film, Launches SiriusXM Show

Kevin Scanlon​ On May 28 Tezuka Osamu no Buddha: Akai Sabaku Yo! Utsukushiku, the long-anticipated big screen adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's manga Buddha, will be released in Japan. This is a big deal for a lot of reasons, primarily that Buddha is an acclaimed work (it even won Eisner Awards in ... More >>

Otaku Sanctuary Presents SoCal Cosplay Ball

Shannon CottrellGinger Burton of SoCal Cosplay Ball​See more photos in Shannon Cottrell's photo gallery, "SoCal Cosplay Ball." Back in January of 2009, when Shannon Cottrell and I covered Anime Los Angeles together for the first time, we met Ginger Burton. At the time, Burton was a student at ... More >>

Anime Fans Get Together at Tomo Neko Maid Cafe for Comedy, Games and More

Shannon Cottrell​See more photos in Shannon Cottrell's gallery "Tomo Neko Maid Cafe." Sunday afternoon, we went to a maid cafe. Well, we kind of went to a maid cafe. No, we still haven't made our way to Tokyo. Instead, we were inside the Miyako Hotel in Little Tokyo for Tomo Neko Maid Cafe, ... More >>

Artist Camilla d'Errico Talks Femina & Fauna, San Diego Comic-Con and Her Anime Fan Secret

Camilla d'Errico is part of a generation of artists whose work is as recognizable in art galleries as it is at fan conventions. Equally known as a painter and comic book creator (Tanpopo), d'Errico frequently depicts female characters that appear both hauntingly beautiful and fearless. Her new book ... More >>

Sunday Afternoons for Kids

Eight Reasons We Love Anime Los Angeles

Over the past few years, Anime Los Angeles has become a special convention for us. It was the first convention one of us attended and, after that, the first Shannon Cottrell and I covered together. This year, it became the first con where we sat on panels. Shannon Cottrell​ We think ALA, as i ... More >>

Anime Babes from Sailor Moon to Rei Ayanami: This Isn't Cosplay, This Is Burlesque

See more photos in Shannon Cottrell's gallery "Devil's Playground Presents Anime Babes." Over the course of the past two years, we've seen the burlesque performers from Devil's Playground channel fan favorite characters like Link and Zelda (Video Game Girls), Catwoman (Comic Book Vixens), and, of c ... More >>

Pikachu Girls: Dressing Up Like Pokemon, The Cute, The Bad, The Slutty

Why do cute girls like to dress up as Pikachu? It's a question for the ages. Pikachu is Nintendo's small, chubby, ground-dwelling rodent whose main powers are electricity and getting cute girls to wear short yellow skirts. You'll see them at every anime or comic book convention, rain or shine. I'd p ... More >>

Top 10 Memorable Cosplays of Anime Expo

Check out more photos in "Anime Expo 2010: Thursday, Day One," "Anime Expo 2010: Friday, Day Two," and "Anime Expo 2010: Saturday, Day Three." For Fourth of July weekend, tens of thousands of anime fans headed downtown to the Los Angeles Convention Center for Anime Expo. Many of them were in cospla ... More >>

Adult Swim to Air More Episodes of Bleach Beginning in August

Saturday morning at Viz Media's Anime Expo panel, the manga and anime company reiterated an earlier convention announcement that Adult Swim will begin airing more episodes of Bleach, the anime responsible for many an AX cosplay, on August 28. The popular series will continue beginning with Episode 1 ... More >>

'Trigun: Badlands Rumble' to Screen Saturday at Anime Expo

Check out photos from Anime Expo in Shannon Cottrell's slideshows "Anime Expo 2010: Thursday, Day One" and "Anime Expo 2010: Friday, Day Two." Trigun: Badlands Rumble will make its English subtitled premiere Saturday at Anime Expo, Funimation representatives announced Friday at the convention. The ... More >>

Andrew W.K. Cosplay Spotted at Anime Expo

Check out photos from Anime Expo in Shannon Cottrell's slideshows "Anime Expo 2010: Thursday, Day One" and "Anime Expo 2010: Friday, Day Two." One of favorite cosplays from Anime Expo (so far) isn't an anime character. It's Andrew W.K., musician and host of Destroy Build Destroy. Shannon CottrellAn ... More >>

Cosplay Guide: What to Expect at Anime Expo

Going to Anime Expo for the first time this year? If so, prepare yourself for the onslaught of cosplays. Even a diehard anime-watcher could get stumped trying to identify every character on the convention hall floor. With that in mind, we created a small sample of the titles you're likely to see rep ... More >>

The Fandom of Haruhi Suzumiya

Thursday night, we headed to Laemmle's Sunset 5 for a special screening of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. The movie, released last February in Japan, is based upon the fourth novel in the popular Haruhi Suzumiya series. Shannon Cottrell​

Ten Anime Series You Should See Before Anime Expo

Check out photos from Anime Expo 2009 in Shannon Cottrell's slideshow "Anime Madness: Cosplay Characters at Anime Expo '09." This Thursday, tens of thousands of anime fans will head downtown to the Los Angeles Convention Center for Anime Expo. The largest anime con in the U.S., AX will feature fou ... More >>

WARNING : THE FOLLOWING BLURB CONTAINS SENSORY OVERLOAD

Cosplay in America Celebrates the Diversity and Creativity at Anime Cons

In 2008, photographer Ejen Chuang decided to head out to Anime Expo, which had just moved to downtown Los Angeles. He thought he would be there for just a few hours, but ended up spending the entire weekend at the anime mega-con photographing cosplayers. A year later, Chuang was setting up his porta ... More >>

Greg Hignight & Del Martin: Founders, Tune in Tokyo

Cosplay in America: The Interviews

Throughout 2009, Ejen Chuang spent five months traveling to anime conventions across the U.S. The result of his labor is Cosplay in America, a slick photography book documenting the creativity within the cosplay community. Sunday night, Royal/T will be hosting a release party for the book. Chuang a ... More >>

Exquisite Mana "Le Ciel" Cosplay Documented on YouTube

Ashley Conyers is a cosplayer who has undertaken the seemingly daunting task of transforming herself into rock star and fashion icon Mana for Seattle's anime convention Sakura-Con. Not only has she tackled the artist who popularized gothic Lolita, but she chose one of Mana's more elaborate costumes- ... More >>

DJ Nujabes' Anime Legacy: Samurai Champloo

When word spread yesterday that beloved Japanese DJ/producer Nujabes was killed in a car accident in late February, fans were stunned. Followers of hip-hop and DJ culture mourned the loss of an artist who had a knack for twisting together one sophisticated track after the next and the founder of acc ... More >>

NOT FOR BETTY OR VERONICA

Rock Band Anime K-On! Second Gets Second Season, but is a US Release In Store?

Yesterday, the buzz amongst anime fans on Twitter was that K-On!, the mega-popular, comedy series based on a four-panel comic strip about high school girls starting a band, got the green light for a second season. (Check out Tokyo blogger Danny Choo's post about it.) Of course, this bit of news is m ... More >>

Top Ten Anime Themes of the Decade

Though anime has had some sort of presence in the US for decades, it wasn't until the turn of the century that we've seen so many titles hit the domestic market. Combined with the increasing number of conventions and other related events, this could be considered the decade when anime became almost ... More >>

Buxom Anime Heroine Gets Dolled Up

Shannon Cottrell​If you go to anime conventions or Japanese pop culture events, chances are you'll see at least a handful of people armed with Dollfies, the incredibly detailed and very pricey Japanese ball-jointed dolls that double as works of art, and another handful of people cosplaying the ... More >>

How Stephanie Yanez Became an Akihabara Cosplay Idol

Stephanie Yanez (center) at Dear Stage in Akihabara​ Anime convention regulars are probably readily familiar with Stephanie Yanez. Since winning the AX Idol contest at Anime Expo in 2004, the singer has traveled across the country performing cover songs of anime themes as well as her own mater ... More >>

Something About Lily

The Japanese Are Mad About Robots!

Fullmetal Trekkie: Voice Actor Vic Mignogna to Direct Star Trek: Phase II Episode

You probably wouldn't recognize the actor as he sits down to eat a burger at Mel's Diner, but if youYoung Vic Mignogna in Star Trek cosplay watch enough late-night TV, you might recognize Vic Mignogna's voice from many an English dub anime. The recent LA transplant has voiced characters in over 100 ... More >>

Heroes of the Final Frontier: Top 5 Space Cowboys from TV and Film

William Shatner said it best at the beginning of every Star Trek episode, "Space, the final frontier." For decades since, life amongst the stars has unfolded on screens big and small like western epics, with bounty hunters, gunslingers and the losers of grand wars wandering through lawless lands, th ... More >>

The Anime Collective: Baka Deshi Productions

Where the otaku world and music geekdom collide

Paprika

Anime Magnetism

Mighty Tezuka!

The God of Manga