Oct
18th

Tetsuo Hara to Launch Keiji Spinoff Naoe Kanetsugu

Posted by Kristen Barghout

Fist of the North Star manga artist to revisit samurai friend of Maeda Keiji

This year’s 46th issue of Shinchosha’s Weekly Comic Bunch magazine has announced on Friday that Fist of the North Star artist Tetsuo Hara is launching a spinoff to his Hana no Keiji -Kumo no Kanata ni- manga about the historical samurai figure Maeda Keiji. The new Gifū Dōdō Naoe Kanetsugu -Maeda Keiji Tsuki-Gatari- series will begin in the magazine on November 7. According to Hara’s comments in the current Weekly Comic Bunch issue, he feels that he didn’t delve far enough into the life of Maeda’s close friend, the samurai Naoe Kanetsugu, when he drew Keiji from 1990 to 1993. A four-installment Keiji short story that focuses on Maeda and Naoe’s first meeting is already running in the magazine.

Hara and his writer Mio Aso loosely based their samurai stories on a novel written by Keiichiro Ryu. The defunct North American manga publisher Gutsoon! Entertainment published portions of the original Keiji manga in its Monthly Raijin Comics magazine.

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Jun
17th

Database Lists Over 60 Years of Manga Mags Online

Posted by Kristen Barghout

The "Post-War Japanese Shōnen and Shōjo Magazine Database" has launched on the Internet on Monday with Japanese listings for 1,221 magazines. The database is split into two parts: "The Era of Post-War Shōnen and Shōjo Magazines and Monthly Magazines" covers 24,841 volumes of 619 magazines with about 200,000 works from 1945 to 1962, while "The Era of Shōnen and Seinen Magazines and Weekly Magazines" covers 5,488 volumes of 602 magazines with about 173,452 issues from 1955 to 2007. For example, the first section lists 1908-1955’s Shōjo no Tomo text and manga magazine. The second section lists last year’s defunct Comic Charge magazine and 1,200 manga titles and features that have appeared in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. (The 1,200 listings only represent part of Shonen Jump’s manga and features — more are being added to the database.)

The Contemporary Manga Library, Kawasaki City Museum、and the Japan Society for Studies in Cartoon and Comics oversaw the development of this database. There are different levels of access to the data, ranging from no-charge browsing to an annual 6,000-yen (about US$60) "Course C" fee for individual subscribers and an annual 380,000 yen (about US$3,800) "Course A" fee from complete access. (Academic institutions and public libraries have discounted fees.) Browsers can look up a magazine’s company, publishing dates, volume count, manga titles, and authors in the database’s second half without charge. Paid subscribers can access information about individual issues, editorial staff, price, and details about color inserts. Paid subscribers can also search by keyword.

source: animeanime.jp

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May
1st

The truth about Hentai

Posted by Kristen Barghout

As you may be aware, Hentai plays a large part in the world of anime, and has done since it was introduced many years ago.wallpapers.jpg

The actual translation of the word Hentai is Pervert…and random fact for you there.  Hentai was originally created to prevent Japanese women from exposing themselves to the porn industry.  They believed that by replacing real women with those of anime characters, less women would have work within the porn industry, and therefore would be respected within the Japanese community.

It was thought that if women were used for pornographic material, they would be seen as objects of desire and lust, and not those of affection.  However, the Japanese porn industry did continue to make movies (as many of you will be aware of) as did the anime industry.

The reason I believe that hentai maintained its status within culture, alongside the porn industry, is because it was able to offer something that the porn industry couldnt.  Due to the use of anime characters within hentai movies and series’, these characters can participate in the most surreal ‘activites’, and of course, for every fantasy a man…and for that matter, a woman, can have, can come true through the use of anime.

What is strange about hentai is, even though most women have an issue with their boyfriends/partners/husbands watching porn, should they be caught watching hentai, it seems more often than not, the women simply do not care as they deem it as a cartoon.  Im not entirely sure if this is the case within Japan (being that Hentai began its life there) but it is defintely the case in the UK, and I can only guess throughout the US,

I personally dont really mind hentai, more often than not its comical, and has an actual story to it (like ‘Adventure Duo’) and I think that most anime fans have at least once watched a hentai, though its defintely not something to watch whilst your gran is in the room.

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Apr
14th

Megatron!!!

Posted by Kristen Barghout

This is a bargain, and I have to tell EVERYONE about it.  www.animeexchange.co.uk have a Cybertron Leader Megatron for sale.

Just to let everyone know why this is so cool I have to tell everyone…well, the Cyberton Leader Megatron is really rare, so rare, even on ebay, it is hardly evermegatron_med.jpg there!  And yet, somehow,  Anime Exchange has managed to get a hold of a few.

The best part about this, is that even though they know just how rare this item is, they are selling it for only £44.99…I know that that is in fact a lot, but not in comparisson to ebay where I have seen people bid up to £75 for this one item.

Obviously, the price doesnt include the p&p, but come on, its a real bargain.  Now I would buy myself one of these, but however, I was one of those foolish people who decided to purchase it on ebay for an extraordinarily large amount of money, considering how cheap it is here.

seriously, all you transformers out there, get hold of this whilst you can, because soon you wont be able to get hold of them at all…even Play.com doesn’t have them anymore…neither amazon, and only very rarely does ebay.

I have used this company before and they are brilliant.  Fast delivery, and a perfect service, so trust me when I tell you to go and buy this now!!!

 

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Apr
11th

Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro - Japanese Horror

Posted by Kristen Barghout

The translation of this is "Tales of Terror from Tokyo" and is made up of Fifteen 5-minute horror films from Japan,Terrifying and sensational tales of ghosts hold

Japan in the grips of fear.  These horror films are meant to be made up from real ghost stories…creepy.

This begins with the story of the Bus Lady, an old lady that gets on the bus, and always asks "Do you want to hear a scary story?", and she will not accept no for an answer.

The next story is that of the "Elevator", when a young woman enters into her apartment block and selects the elevator to go up, however, as she watches the elevator decend, the doors in front of her randomly open up…but why is the lift here when it is still decending?

"The School Excursion" is the next story in this series, and is about a school trip to an ancient inn, however, upon visiting the bathrooms late at night, one of the girls finds an occupant of a different kind.

The third story is "Kengo Nishioka" and is about a wife alone at home whilst her husband works late.  She hears some noises coming from the wardrobe.  when she builds up the courage to confront it, it tells it that it is a former employee of her husbands and wishes to know where he is so that he can take him to hell.  But what happens when the wife refuses to divulge the location of her husband?

 The next story, "The Visitor" is my personal favourite, mainly because it is so creepy.  When the doorbell rings, the youngest daughter Mika is told to go and open it.  When she asks who is at the door, the ‘thing’ claims to be her Aunt Machiko.  Mika doubts this as the voice is different so goes to look through the letter box and is greeted by a zombie-esque entity.  Will the entity simply go away upon refusal of entry, or will some foolish individual open the door and grant it access to the abode and its tennants?

"Covering the 1000 Tales" is about a journalist who goes to take part in this event where people take turns to tell stories late at night.  As she sits there they begin to talk about how they died, and she notices characteristics of such a death presenting themselves on their bodies.  She can’t believe what she is hearing.  What will happen when it gets to her turn?

The next story, "Cassette Tape" is about a guy who can’t sleep so decides to reminice about his past.  He finds a cassette containing songs he wrote and sang in his youth.  As he is singing along, he receives a phone call from his old friend, informing him of the recent suicide of one of the female members of the band.  But who is that talking on the cassette?

"Split Water" is the story of a young girl who’s fatehr died when she was merely a child.  She remembers only his shoes about him as she had an interest in these when she was very young.  As the anniversary of his death comes around, her mum and herself decide to buy a melon for her father as it was his favourite fruit.  As they buy the melon and make their way home, the young girl stops and looks down, and sees a pair of shoes she recognises…but who do they belong to?

The story "Backward Suit" revolves around a young girl living with her drunkard father.  Every night he comes home drunk, until one night, he takes a different route and when he enters the door his suit is back to front, something that his daughter is not amused at.  After this event her father stops coming home drunk.  However, one day, the daughter takes the same route home from work.  Could it be her dad is making it all up, or will the strange event happen to her as well?

 "A Forgotten Item" is about a young girl who moves into a new flat.  However, every night at about 1am she receives a phone call telling her to "Give it back".  This phone call occurs every night, so the girl decides to unhook the telephone, thinking this will solve the issue, however, the caller simply calls her mobile.  What is it that has been left in the flat?  And will the previous occupant simply enter to find it?

The next installement,  "Video", begins with a girl being invited to her sisters apartment for a house warming.  As she enters the apartment block she sees a man walk behind her and up the stairs.  And as she gets to her sisters apartment, she sees the man walk in.  Upon entering, she sees that the man has left his shoes in the hall, but upon asking her sister if there is anyone else there, she is informed that she is the only other person there.  Who is this mysterious person, and will they make themselves known?

 "A Drop of Blood" is my least favourite of the short stories.  A girl is heading to an interview, however, when she gets there the place is empty.  She also notices that instead of getting there on time (as she set off an hour early) that she has actually arrived an hour late.  She tries to find someone to give her CV to, but the store is completely empty…until she receives a phone call.  Who is on the other side of the line?

In "Enlightenment", we are brought back to the young woman from the first story "Elevator" as she enters into her home.  She decides to look back over the years as she is about to get married.  Upon looking through old belongings, she finds a book that she wrote, informing her to read it when she was older.  Upon reading it, she is shocked to find a message that couldn’t possibly have been there.  What is this message and what does it mean?

The final story, "Waiting Time", is simply the conclusion to the preceeding story.  It explains what the message means and where it came from.  For this reason I’m afraid I cannot tell you any more about it, without revealing spoilers.

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Apr
10th

Mizuchi - Japanese Horror

Posted by Kristen Barghout

This story is also known as Death Water, or Water of the Dead. This horror story is about a journalist investigating a mysterious series of deaths in an isolated

region of Japan. People all over are starting to commit suicide, by first puncturing their eyeballs and then, if that is unsuccessful, then continuing to kill themselves through any method possible.

Our journalists interest in the Death Water theory begins when she finds that her lecturer has killed himself under mysterious circumstances. His journal

reads only “Water of the Dead…Do Not Drink!”. What is this about the water of the dead and how can our journalist stop the spread of this cursed water?

This story is suprisingly enjoyable, though I must admit, there were times when I was tempted to turn it off. However, this was merely because there is a story between the journalist and her ex-husband that is completely pointless in reality. It plays a very small part in the plot of the story.

However, the overall story of this movie is actually really good, and definitely something that I have never seen before in a movie. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie, and watching the truth of the story unfold. Definitely worth a watch!

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Apr
9th

Kowai onna - Japanese Horror

Posted by Kristen Barghout

This Japanese horror consists of the short stories "Rattle Rattle","Hagane" and "The Inheritance".  My favourite of these is definitely "Rattle Rattle"…by far.  The story begins with a young woman walking home, but she hears a strange rattle sound above her.  When she looks down on the floor there is an earring which looks like the ones her fiance just gave her.  When she looks up, she is thrown to the floor by something.

As she is unconscious, weird events take place within her mind, involving the rattle sound that she heard before.  The reason I like this film is because the rattle of the creature, reminds me of the choking noise of the Ju-On, which added LOADS of suspense and a sense of danger to the story.

The next story in the anthology is "Hagane", and let me tell you, this is weird.  Hagane is not a horror story as such, its more of a thriller.  The basic story is that the main character gets set up on a date with his bosses sister.  Upon meeting her, he sees that she has a potato sack over the top half of her body.  The question is what is it that lies underneath this?

The worst story in this anthology is "The Inheritance".  The story begins where the mother is a child, and she sees her younger brother enter into their shed at night, only to never come out again.  It then comes back to modern day, the mother has recently divorced and has decided to go to live with her mother again.  However, once they enter into that old house again, strange things keep happening involving her son.  Is history repeating itself again?

The reason I dont like this story is it simply doesnt entirely make sense, the story is never made 100% clear, and the story that you are left with is poor at best.  It didnt entertain me in the slightest, and I certainly was not scared, though I did feel sorry for the son.

So even though the last story is poor, the other two make up for it ten fold.  If you ever get the chance to watch this, I would definitely go for it.

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Apr
8th

Black House (Geomeun Jub) - Korean Horror

Posted by Kristen Barghout

Black House is based on the Japanese writer Kishi Yusuke’s award-winning hit Psychological horror novel.The story centers around an insurance agent that suspects a family murdered their son to receive his insurance policy.

The story begins when the main character is sent to a difficult clients house, after apparently being asked for by name.  When he gets there, he is invited to sit

down in the lounge.  The father then calls his son, calling him rude for not showing his presence.  When the son does not appear, the father tells the insurance agent to go and get his son, something which the agent finds extremely weird. 

When he enters into the boys room, he finds him hanging there.  At this the father stands up and walks over to the room.  What is that we see in his expression?  Shock at the events that have occurred under his roof?  Or guilt at the death of his son?

This film was REALLY good, in fact, so good, I didn’t even expect the ending, I was too drawn into the stories that occur throughout.  The movie shows the story of the insurance agents attempt to prove the guilt of the father, as well as the breakdown of his relationship as he becomes too engrossed in his work.  If you want to watch a movie that is not your typical horror, then this is the one for you.  It’s not so much a horror, as a psychological thriller, and a brilliant one at that.

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Apr
4th

Home Sweet Home - Chinese Horror

Posted by Kristen Barghout

Home Sweet Home is a Chinese Horror based around a young couple purchasing their first apartment.  Their weird experiences begin on the day they first move into their new apartment, when Baby (the nickname they have given their child) gets lost, and from then on their experiences enter in the realm of the surreal.

During one of their new neighbours birthday party, the mother is asked to join in a conversation with the other mothers, to which she agrees and sends Baby out to play with the other children.  She is told about the rumours of a ’stranger’ dwelling within the building.  After a short conversation the weather takes a turn for the worse and all the children come inside….except Baby.  Frantic, the mother runs outside to find him, only to see him dragged over the wall by a mysterious presence to him ’supposed’ death….but looking over the wall, where is the body?

This story is based around the mothers quest to find Baby again, and destroy that which is holding him, whilst battling against the police who seem to believe that she has somehow, for some reason, disposed of her son.  She also faces disgruntled neighbours who seem to think she has gone insane, and it appears that she not only fights for the life of her son, but to prove her innocence and her sanity.

Whilst this film is definitely not your typical Chinese horror story, it is still full of suspense and those ‘jumpy’ moments we all know and love from this genre of film.  I enjoyed the change of pace from your typical horrors, so it was a nice and fresh change to see this film, and whilst I cant say it is the best Chinese film I have ever seen, I still enjoyed it, and would even consider watching it again.

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Apr
3rd

Ghost Train - Japanese Horror

Posted by Kristen Barghout

As you may have noticed, recently most, if not all of my blogs have been about Thai, Korean and Japanese horror movies.  This is simply me sharing my interest in such movies, and providing yourselves with an accurate description of the film.

The horror story Ghost Train is so far one of my favourites but for reasons I couldn’t say without ruining the surprise.  However, I will tell you that this film is completely

unlike any Asian horror film that I have previously seen and reviewed.  For starters, there is no ‘typical’ asian female ghost, with the creeping around like in Ju-On and Ringu, the female ghost simply appears, more often than not she simply appears and it’s too late to do anything about.

Also, the music do not deliver any suspense, therefore you can never anticipate the moment that the ghost may attack, making it the most jumpy film I have ever seen.

The basic plot synopsis is:

Strange things are happening on the underground.  A young girl, Nana, becomes involved, when she is told by her little sisters (Noriko) friend that an old woman told him he would die because he picked up a lost train ticket.  Nana tells him that the woman is just joking and heads to the hospital to see her sick mother.  However, when the boy gets on the train, it comes to a halt due to an apparent body on the lines.  The next thing he knows, the train doors open and he is dragged from the train, no time to even scream!

What is happening on the trains, why are people disappearing?  And who is that body on the lines?

This film kept me entrawled throughout the whole movie, actually,  dont think I got bored at any point.  A really good Japanese horror movie.

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