It’s the Fourth of July, Independence Day here in the United States. It’s a time for us to remember the struggles of an oppressed colony fighting against a powerful monarchy. It’s a time for us to remember that freedom is worth fighting for.

But it’s also a time to kick back and slack off for a day!

But while most Americans will be stuffing their faces with beer and barbecue, I think Anime fans should sit down with some pocky or mochi and appreciate the merits of an anime that’s all about fighting for freedom: Code Geass.

Sure, the founding fathers didn’t have Knightmare Frames or Geass powers, but they did have a sense that the Empire that controlled them had gone too far and ignored their rights as human beings. This is what drives Lelouch in his rebellion in Code Geass. The Code Geass series has many parallels with the American War for Independence, the most obvious being the revolution against the British/Britannian empire initially led by a handful of ragtag rebels with only bravery and righteousness on their side.

So, on this Independence Day, let’s sit down for a spell, and enjoy some of the finer points of Code Geass and its statement about fighting for truth, justice, and freedom. There’s a special feature on the fifth DVD of the Japanese series where C.C. and Lelouch talk about George Washington and Ben Franklin and the American Revolution. It’s worth a peek if you can find it (sadly not available on DVD here in the states yet).

And to further inspire you, I’ve photoshopped a patriotic picture of Lelouch. Yes, I know, an American flag for a Japanese character doesn’t quite fit, but call it artistic license.

Technorati Tags: 4th of July, independence, Code Geass, Lelouch

Popularity: 15% [?]

Google Video surprises me again with another Hayao Miyazaki masterpiece. This time it’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, a wonderful tale with strong environmental/conservationist messages (classic Miyazaki). Originally released in 1984, this has become an anime classic. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch it now!

Technorati Tags: anime, Hayao Miyazaki, nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Popularity: 26% [?]

Some good news in the anime industry today.  FUNimation and its parent company Navarre have announced a deal with Geneon to distribute anime titles in North America.

From the press release:

FUNimation Entertainment, has entered into an exclusive agreement to distribute select DVD titles in North America on behalf of Geneon Entertainment, a leading producer of Japanese animation.

Under the terms of the agreement, FUNimation Entertainment obtains the exclusive rights in North America to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of established Geneon titles, including Ergo Proxy, Hellsing Ultimate and Black Lagoon.

This is bigger news than it seems at first glance because many American anime fans thought that Geneon had abandoned us forever.

Back in Semptember of 2007, Geneon Entertainment announced that it was ending its DVD sales and distribution business in the US and closing down Geneon USA. David Smith at IGN wrote a detailed piece on the shakeup called The Fall of Geneon. Geneon had already started distributing series like Hellsing Ultimate and Black Lagoon, but then back out and left the fate of tons of shows in limbo. We were all hoping another licensor would move in and make things work, and it seems like Navarre/FUNimation have done just that.

It makes sense. FUNimation is the largest seller of anime home video in the USA, and some of Geneon’s titles like Hellsing Ultimate and Black Lagoon were extremely popular among fans. It’s a match made in heaven, and anime fans can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Technorati Tags: Anime, Geneon, Navarre, FUNimation

Popularity: 42% [?]

It’s well known that the anime industry is declining in Japan these days, but this news makes the situation seem a bit more bleak. The Tokyo Stock Exchange notified investors on Monday that GDH, the parent holding company of the highly regarded Gonzo anime studio, has been put on a one-year grace period to improve its finances or face delisting. Kinda sad.

Back in May, Gonzo announced a net loss for the fiscal year of about $35 million, and their liabilities may exceed their assets. Here’s hoping that things pick up for them. Go buy some GONZO DVDs or something!

Anime News Network has more details

Technorati Tags: Anime, GONZO, Tokyo Stock Exchange, anime industry

Popularity: 41% [?]

According to a press release today, the New York Anime Fest will once again host the World Cosplay Summit during the festival in September.

The World Cosplay Summit is an international costume competition that is the equivalent of the Olympics of Cosplay. It features cosplayers from nearly every continent competing before famed anime and manga creators, with previous judges including Leiji Matsumoto (Galaxy Express 999) and Go Nagai (Cutie Honey). New York Anime Festival’s partnership with the World Cosplay Summit will make the convention, September 26-28, 2008 at the Jacob Javits Center, the site of the World Cosplay Summit’s Official USA Preliminary Round — with the winners of the convention’s Cosplay Masquerade receiving trip a Japan to represent the USA in the World Cosplay Summit Finals.

“This is the Olympics, the Super Bowl, or the World Series of cosplay,” Lance Fensterman, NYAF’s Show Manager stated. “We’re honored to offer American cosplayers the chance to have their costumes and talent recognized on the international stage and look forward to seeing the best cosplay in America!”

Last year’s winners, Sonnya Paz and Renee Glogger (collectively referred to as Cosplay Team USA), will be travelling to Japan at the end of this month to compete in the World Cosplay Summit Finals, a contest that’s sure to be truly epic and host scores of people with entirely too much time on their hands.

Sonnya Paz and Renee Glogger, cosplay team USA

Paz and Glogger have a website up, http://www.cosplayteamusa.com/, where you can support their upcoming efforts. And if you’re interested in joining this year’s competition, check out the 2008 New York Anime Fest site

Technorati Tags: Cosplay, New York Anime Fest, World Cosplay Summit

Popularity: 45% [?]

Shin Chan is one of the most refreshingly funny anime adaptations ever made. The writers obviously have a lot of fun while making the show, and their naughty sense of humor spreads throughout the official MySpace pages of the show’s main characters.

When I wrote the The Top Ten Characters to Watch in Shin Chan for IGN, I wanted to include links to each character’s MySpace account, but they wouldn’t let me. But that’s okay! I have a blog where I can do whatever the hell I want.

So without further ado, I present the MySpace accounts for the Shin Chan characters

www.myspace.com/shinnohara - Shin

As the main character, Shin has the most stuff on his page. There are quite a few YouTube videos from the show and the show’s writers, and Shin’s characteristic crude but somehow cutesy humor shines.

www.myspace.com/masolovesdance - Maso

So the ongoing joke in the show is that Maso is a closet homosexual. Further evidence is provided on his MySpace page which sports a background image of a wet and topless Daniel Craig as James Bond. His favorite music list includes Madonna, Cher, Bette Midler, and Barbra Streisand. The evidence sure is piling up.

www.myspace.com/pennymilfer - Penny Milfer

Her profile tagline is “Friend me, or I’ll cut myself!”, which pretty much sums up the barely suppresed bipolar disorder that Penny displays throughout the show. Sadly, besides some references to her stress relief toy named Happiness Bunny, her profile is a bit lacking in fun items.

www.myspace.com/georgieprescott3 - Georgie Herbert Walker Prescott III

Georgie, Shin’s best friend, constant suck up, child of privilege, and staunch Republican. In the show he’s portrayed as an extreme conservative prissy snob, and his MySpace certainly keeps up that persona. His MySpace song is “Hail to to the Chief”, and his tagline is “Georgie for President, 2040!”. To go with the political theme, his friends list includes Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain. Funny quote in his bio, “By the way, I’m only trying out Myspace because Mr. Murdoch owns it. I will follow that man anywhere.” Ahh, so fun.

Technorati Tags: Shin Chan, MySpace, FUNimation

Popularity: 85% [?]

Michael Turner, legendary comic artist, died on Friday. He battled bone cancer for many years. His most notable work for anime fans was on the Witchblade comic which later became a popular anime series produced by GONZO. He was a masterful artist, well known for his work on various comic covers for Marvel and D.C. He was only 37 years old.

Technorati Tags: Michael Turner, witchblade, Top Cow, Aspen MLT

Popularity: 61% [?]

Back when TokyoPop announced their restructuring and layoffs, they mentioned that their new direction would include more focus on their digital distribution channels. One of those channels is what they call iManga. I actually hadn’t even heard of their iManga efforts until I read that press release, so I went over to their Youtube channel to see what all the fuss was about.

The iManga are like a cross between video and comics. They include full voiceovers from actors that do a passable job (about as decent as your usual English dub). The main difference is that instead of full animation they used clipped still art from the manga and animate them with a variety of effects like pan and blur and zoom. I suppose it’s a neat middle ground where they can get some of the benefits of animation but with only a fraction of the work.

Their best iManga is for their popular Bizenghast OEL manga. The storyline takes place in the sleepy town of Bizenghast, where a young girl named Dinah suffers from fits of hysteria. The conflict of the story starts out with Dinah and her loved ones trying to figure out if she’s delusional or actually seeing ghosts.

I’ve included episode 1 here. What do you think about it? Clever idea or just a waste of time? If you want to see more you can go to their YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/tokyopoptv

Technorati Tags: TokyoPop, iManga, Bizenghast

Popularity: 78% [?]

From xorsyst.com, a collection of fashion designs from André Lima that are based on origami paper designs. Fashion has always been weird, but this is kinda taking it to a new level.

Technorati Tags: fashion, origami, André Lima

Popularity: 81% [?]

There’s news from Publisher’s Weekly, and it’s kind of flown under the radar in most of the manga blogosphere. Shueisha and Shogakukan—the two Japanese publishers that own the American-based manga publisher Viz Media—have entered into a new partnership to expand the company’s licensing and mechandising arm. Shueisha has invested in Shogakukan Productions Inc. or Sho-Pro, Shogakukan’s licensing and merchandising unit, which will be renamed Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions Co., Ltd. to reflect the new joint venture. Viz is now poised to take more control of the licening and development process because this new company will provide the various property rights in a unified form.

In a time when people are wondering if we’re about to hit a “bubble” in the anime/manga industry, I think this news is a great of example of how a company with good strategy is still doing well and expanding their operations.

TokyoPop’s recent announcement of restructuring and layoffs was big news, and i wrote about it in detail in my Tokyopop’s Challenges article at IGN. In that article, I concluded that while the American publishing industry as a whole is suffering, much of TokyoPop’s troubles are their own damn fault for placing quantity over quality and putting subpar products against what Viz and Del Rey are offering in the market.

The Viz Media CEO has said that they will also be active in developing the digital distribution of anime and in the future, manga properties. The new company will also bring manga derived chapter books and picture books for the U.S. market. This goes right with what TokyoPop is looking to do, but I have a feeling that Viz will once again be more successful. They’re just better at executing their plans, and they have proven their ability to bring what’s hot in Japan over to the U.S.

Read the whole Publisher’s Weekly news release

Technorati Tags: Viz, manga, Tokyopop, anime

Popularity: 100% [?]