Howdy ya’ll. Seems I left the ole’ computer on, whilst I was doing my dishes… and wouldn’t you know it? While I was elbow deep in last night’s meatloaf pan, a smattering of windows were sitting on my desktop, collecting dust. Dust be damned! Being that I’m the generous sort, how about I share em’…
For part 1 of this article, click here. The Soul Reaper Academy (every society needs an academy – see Plato, Aristotle, Hogwarts), founded 1000+ years ago by Commander-General Yamamoto, graduated the youngest person to ever become a captain, Hitsugaya Toushiro. Serious in countenance, sharp of mind, fierce in battle, child-like in stature (brilliantly voiced by seiyuu Romi…
One of the great symbols of Japan to a Western audience – equal to pagodas, kimonos, and that exaggerated white makeup – is the katana. (Well, any vaguely Japanese sword, to be honest – it doesn’t have to be precisely a katana as long as the profile is right and it’s declared to be incredibly…
Being a Philosopher, I see Philosophy everywhere and talk about it all the time. But sometimes I am surprised by where I find it and in what abundance. And rarely do I find in one body of work ideals that cover Aristotle’s thoughts on friendship and justice (Nicomachean Ethics), Confucius’ ideas of Right Association (Great…
Manga-format comics have a tropism for high school even stronger than that of sunflowers for the sun – it is possible to find manga without a hint of high-schoolery in them, but serious digging is required. But you couldn’t loose an arrow in a manga warehouse without hitting at least one book about girls in…
Picture a world where people gather and interact in joy and harmony, where groups of gaily-clad youths break into spontaneous song and dance at regular intervals, where spontaneous conga lines of diverse peoples stretch for blocks and wind through the market stalls, where merchants sell and people buy with easy affability and business is brisk,…
Where would comics be without the stories of young people with amazing powers? Oh, sure, you could cobble together a world canon of stories with no supernatural stuff at all, but it would have to be a masterpiece of the gerrymanderer’s art. And why would you want to – when you can have all of…
Get ready for a special “still-recovering-from-fasting-on-Yom-Kippur” edition of ComicMix Quick Picks. Yesterday was pretty busy, and here’s a roundup of the stuff we didn’t get to: New York Anime Festival attendance was up 16 percent from last year. And according to data from this past August, comic sales have held very steady, even through the…
No, really. The energy level here is amazing. We’ll have more for you later, but man, I am impressed by the reaction.
[[[Ponyo]]] (“[[[Gake no ue no Ponyo]]]”), an animated feature film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Dubbed English voices by Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Cloris Leachman, Betty White, Lily Tomlin, Frankie Jonas, and others. In advance of its August 14 limited release, Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film [[[Ponyo]]] made its East Coast debut at…
The room was packed for Viz Media’s Shonen Jump panel, which took place at 10:30 am in Room 10. The company announced two new series: Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro’s Toriko, about a “gourmet hunter” of the same name who apparently tracks down the most dangerous and tasty beasts, which he sells to exclusive restaurants; meanwhile, the metafictional…
A new CG-animated version of the classic manga and anime, “Astro Boy,” created by the “god of manga,” Osamu Tezuka in the 1950’s, debuted clips at Comic-Con 2009. This seminal work about a heroic boy robot was a generation’s first exposure to the Japanese art form when it aired in the U.S. in the 60’s,…
