It seems there is a trend of companies looking to cash in on the growing popularity of manga. In particular, I've seen a lot of firms start targetting the aspiring manga artists. It didn't really surprise me much when I saw that Wacom, creators of those nifty drawing tablets for pcs and macs, have now released a "manga package".

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TV Asahi has posted their annual list of Japan's favorite Anime series. It's always interesting to see what's hot in Japan, as it often reflects the cultural differences between the West and Japan. Still, one thing is clear: the Elric Brothers are popular with anime fans no matter where you go.

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Recently there's been a lot of buzz about Hayao Miyazaki's oldest son, Goro. He's following in his father's footsteps, with his work Gedo Senki. But it seems that the elder Miyazaki and his son are in a bit of a feud when it comes to their art.

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I've been watching Samurai 7 on IFC for some time. They aired the last episode last night. Now that it's all over, I have to say that I was fairly disappointed in it. I was expecting something with Akira Kurosawa's name attached to it to be much more...what's the word I'm looking for...dramatic, that's it. I mean it was okay, just not nearly as thought-provoking or cinematic as I would have liked.