.

A sequel of the anime OVA Cencoroll is green lighted for production, after the creator, Atsuya Uki, announced on his website. The storyboard and design for the anime is now in production.

Cencoroll, the anime that was made by a one man studio, Director, animator and producer Atsuya Uki. The anime itself is a 1 episode OVAA produced and released in the year 2007.

The original story involves a girl, who discovered and then took over the monster controlled by a young man, named Tetsu. Cencoroll have also been shown at many other arts festival in Japan and since have been critically acclaimed worldwide.

Source: 2ch Via ANN | Niralog
Website: Cencoroll website

Another do it all person would be Makoto Shinkai(Voice of a Distance Star), before he joined up with his current studio. I really admire people like them, they are so good at what they are doing and have the patients to endure thur the whole production process…

That reminds me… Where did my DVD went to?

Popularity: 3% [?]

On August 24th 2010, Director Satoshi Kon, aged 46, died suddenly due to pancreatic cancer, and the world loss a brilliant director that to me changed the anime scene.

I will not profess on how much I love him, since I hardly know him personally… But he is an important man for the way he used the anime media, giving it a boost when he directed Perfect Blue. An anime that is as good as a art film, showing that anime as a media is just as powerful as any others.

Of the movies that he have directed, I have watched all of them other then Paranoia Agent, without a doubt they are very big influence for me. From the first one shown by my polytechnic friend “Tokyo Godfather” during a camp and to the latest “Paprika”.

These films open my eyes to a world where anime is not just a medium to reach the children, they are more than it. It can be serious, and matured. Anime is not like the American’s animation, where everything is really mean to be at most a PG. It’s a serious media, where a message can be passed along for serious thoughts.

Not all Anime is childish and I only truly understand it for the first time in my life when I first watched “Tokyo Godfathers”. This line of thinking is further reinforced by Satoshi’s other titles, “The Millennium Actress”, “Perfect Blue”, and finally “Paprika”. Of course, there are other directors that produces the same genre of anime, but Satoshi Kon’s influence is the one that got me started at looking from a different view.

Much like how Yoshihiro Tatsumi changed the manga scene, Satoshi Kon to me changed and matured the anime scene.

If you haven’t seen any of Satoshi Kon’s work, do seek it out and take a look. I sure hope the person taking over his role as Director in “The Dream Machine” will be able to continue in spirit, his creative, goodwill and legacy.

One of his final works as a director, from the Ani*Kuri project, “Ani*Kuri 15: Good Morning”.

To the family of Satoshi Kon, you have my condolences. For we too have loss a great director, a talented artist and an influential leader.

You will forever have my thanks and will be missed, so Rest In Peace, Director Satoshi Kon.

Popularity: 4% [?]

ACME II is coming this Saturday and if you think you can just waltz into the event hall and buy everything that you wanted like that plushy or that merchandise of a certain anime than you will be sorely disappointed, since the more popular items will be gone. Snapped up by the people who are well prepared.
The rest will be left with the left-over to be contented with.
So here at Ani-culture.net, we have prepared a list of things to take note of. It’s for a more present experience at ACME II

Home-Work

The first thing you should get ready should be your shopping list. It’s a tradition of Charafest to release a list of merchandise on sale, a few days before the actual event.

Information taken from ACME Website:

The long awaited announcement from Chara Fest!

The list of merchandises will be uploaded latests by this Wednesday, 25 Aug 2010.

KKnM will be doing the same this year, so it’s your job to make a list of what you want to buy, in advance, instead of standing at the booth pondering.It’s a possibility that they might just serve the ones behind you first, who came more prepared. Even if the crew don’t mind, the one’s behind will!

Of course, it’s also your job to bring enough cash for the items you want to buy. Cash is preferred, since it’s unknown if they will be accepting Nets or Credit cards.

Preparing for the Queue

Well, I’m not an expert when it comes to queuing, in fact I hate it! But for this article, I have made a visit to the pros, nope, not the StarCraft II guy… but better.
These pros have been to Japan and have participated in one of the longest and hashest queues of Japan. They are also veterans, when it comes to queuing for the Chara-fest.
Their advise is a no-brainer but it’s still practical, simple and easily overlooked.

• Water Bottle
• Some Snacks
• Things to do, a book, a pack of cards or your PSP
• Something to Sit on, like a mat or a stool(if you don’t like the floor) but make sure it’s easy to be kept.
• Some Knowledge of the area(Toilets, Mini-marts and etc)
• Your Phone
• A Sleeping bag!
• A Friend
• And lastly, Your common Sense, which includes that spirit of the SINGA Lion!

Where is the location?

It’s address is 155 Middle Road, Sculpture Square, Singapore 188977‎. Still don’t get it? Nevermind, just goto google map for a look.

The Location

A reproduction of the Layout based on Spy photos and FIF Intel

ACME II is held at the sculpture Square for the first time. It’s just next to the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and is a Heritage building as it used to be a Church built in the 19th Century. It’s now converted to becoming a Art’s Venue used by Artist as a location for exhibition or festival like events.

Where and when to queue from

If you want to queue overnight, you can look for the Queue master only after 20:30 hours at the Sculpture Square. Before that, there might be an exhibition going on… And remember, follow the instructions of the Queue master.

Instruction taken from ACME website.

Queue for A.C.M.E II
As announced earlier, there will not be member’s priority queue this year.

All who are queuing overnight, please look for the queue master at the venue on 27th Aug, Friday, after 8.30pm. Please note that you are doing this at your own risk, please ensure you have enough to eat and drink. Please behave in an orderly manner or you will be asked to leave.

When you are Queuing

You are at the event grounds and have join the queue, so what are you going to do now? The pros who taught me about queuing gave me advise like talking to the people queuing with you and make some friends.
After all, you are all interested in the same things yah?

Of course, you are expected to behave properly when queuing and not litter the area.

At the Event

Finally! ACME II started! During the event everyone is invited to look at the booths and buy whatever you liked and generally enjoy the event.
But a few things should be noted

• ACMEII is not a Cosplay event. A lot of people will be around the small area and thus Cosplay is really not advised.
• NO Shop Lifting, Anyone caught will be punished according… Police report…. …
• Please do not litter! Keep the area clean and we can all have fun.
• DO NOT do anything Disruptive or Destructive or Disturbing…

And Lastly from the writers of the Ani-Culture.net, we wish you a fruitful and enjoyable ACME II!

Popularity: 4% [?]

(Soho Host Club. From L-to-R: Alex, Christian, Andy, & Ken)

Hey everyone, I just wanted to do a quick follow-up on the entry I did on host clubs. I want to inform you guys about a “host club” I met at a mini-convention in Soho, NYC a few weeks ago (a very positive club, I might add). These fine, outstanding gentlemen you see above are the Soho Host Club. I met them at AniMiniCon Soho. They went around interacting with all the attendees of the 3-day event, especially the females. I think a few girls even got crushes on them. :]

I spoke to one of the organizers of the event, Alexandra Honisberg, about the concept behind the Soho Host Club.

She told me why and I quote.

“I’ve been in the arts since I was a kid. And especially lately as a single musician and newly-minted into the whole anime/manga scene the past 3-4 years or so. I’ve noticed some things. Dating is crazy and both sides of all ages and all cultures complain about it. The arts are being devalued, especially in this recession, because they’re seen as stuffy and superfluous. People are tense and losing their patience with each other.

I play at or go to an arts event and the coupled people stay in couples or hang out with other couples and the single adults tend to do just what we did in 8th grade — stand on either side of the room, huddled in same-sex groups that have little or nothing to do with sexual orientation. So, basically, beauty is sorta wasted because too many people are uncomfortable in the social settings and are not experiencing its value.

Then a friend showed me Ouran Host Club back in October and I laughed and cried and fell in love (I was the awkward, smart, poor kid who’d gotten into a fancy school on scholarship and hung out with the gorgeous rich guys who mostly treated me like their buddy). And in the January doldrums, after the holiday crush of arts and socializing, late one night alone, a light bulb went on — why should the kids have all the fun? Why should the arts suck? Why should dating suck? Why can’t we have a Host Club for adults that focuses on chivalry & elegance, is relaxed enough for them to be ladies & gentlemen, and enjoy the arts, the world of beauty, for real?”

Alexandra did a lot of research on Japanese host clubs and wanted to make sure that her club wasn’t like them. She emphasizes realism & sincerity in all the hosts she chose. You have to give her huge props & respect because she is using an idea that may not be well-liked by certain people and turning it into something that can build a community for a positive purpose.

One more thing I would like to add is a conversation I had with one of the hosts, Ken. I asked him if he knew about the nature of host clubs in Japan and he said yes. Ken went on to point out one, very important thing and I quote.

“You have to understand, Japan is very sexual.”

As much as people can blame host clubs for certain things, Japanese society can be blamed as well. Their harsh standards can force people to ignore their love life. They also look down on those who stay single. Sexual frustration develops and women/men resort to going to the red-light district for their sexual needs. Host clubs don’t just highlight the flaws of people involved in host clubs. They also highlight the flaws of society in general. Why do you think we have people dating body pillows?

At first, I was a little skeptical about the Soho Host Club. But, after meeting them, they were pretty cool guys. I thought to myself that they did an amazing job in chatting with the attendees. More importantly, the hosts were absolutely enthusiastic & had fun interacting with them. The attendees were really receptive towards the hosts. AniMiniCon had an AMAZING turnout despite being on the same weekend as Otakon.

For those looking to start a host club in a positive manner, the Soho Host Club can be a source of inspiration on how to get it done. Who said chivalry was dead?

- Tony

You can find this article and much more at Manga Therapy (http://www.mangatherapy.com)!

Popularity: 4% [?]

The Tokyo city have released an anime to encourage visitors to go visit the city. It comes with a map and the anime that features the many place in Tokyo.

The 11 minutes long anime is about a girl from the future, coming to the present to look for/take Happiness from the city of Tokyo. She even got(kidnapped) a guide to bring her around the places that made Tokyo such a wonderful city. In the end, she found out how true happiness is obtain and released all that she has taken.

Her life is greatly improved by the trip to Tokyo and you can follow her route based on the Google map embedded on the site.

It’s really a very interesting and eye opening anime short to look at. It even comes with 7 languages to choose from. It’s also great to note that, the studio behind the animation is STUDIO4℃.

What I don’t get is why did the anime used 40 million yen to make… Either way, it’s a really good production and it really make me wish I can goto Tokyo again… soon…

Website: Welcome to Tokyo: Honey Tokyo

Popularity: 5% [?]

Mel Kushida

Wacom have recently updated it’s Youtube channel with a new series of videos entitled Drawing with Wacom, with famous artists drawing with a Cintiq, the version where a 21″ LCD screen is the drawing board…

It’s currently into it’s 8th episode with featured artist like Mel Kushida(Character designer, So.Ra.No.Wo.To), KEI(Character designer, Hatsune Miku), Ryousuke Sawa aka Ryochimo(Key animator, Evangelion 1.0; Character designer, Birdy the Mighty Decode) and etc.

I know a cintiq is wasted on me, but they sure know how to use it good…

KEI

Ryousuke Sawa

To view the rest of the series you can goto Wacom’s Youtube Channel.

Popularity: 13% [?]

World Cosplay Summit aka WCS will be on live on UStream!

That would mean that if you can’t fly to Nagoya to watch the cosplaying representatives of the world perform, you can now watch it online LIVE.

For the starters, you might want to check out tomorrow(31st July)’s Cosplay Parade at 2:30 pm(SG Time), and then the Competition performance on the the 1st of August at 8pm(SG time).

Of cos, the Singapore Representatives will be in the show too, so do support them! Tan Jun Mao and Christy Bell Goh Ganbatte! Do Singapore proud!

Free video streaming by Ustream

So here are the Schedule again on the WCS Channel,

31st July 2010, 2:30pm: The Cosplay Parade

Synopsis: Where in the previous years, the world’s representatives lead the cosplayers in a parade around parts of the city of Nagoya.

1st August 2010, 8:00pm: The World Cosplay Summit

Synopsis: This is the stage, where the best cosplayers from various countries, represent their country to determine who is the best in the world, much like the Olympics of Cosplay.

All in Singapore Time, GMT+8.

Credit: The Cosplay Chronicles

Website: World Cosplay Summit | WCS, UStream Channel

Popularity: 8% [?]

This puchi Nenodroid set will be coming with every purchase of the Black Rock Shooter Blu-ray or DVD, to be released in the month of December at 4200 yen.

Extra features of the Blu-ray and DVD will be including subtitles of 7 languages, English included, there will also be a making of video in the releases along with the 30 sec stock-motion video made in L.A with the remix of theme song.

The first batch of the Blu-ray and DVD will include a twin cover and an illustration booklet , while the standard release will still be getting the 36 page BRS illustration booklet, drawn by Huke.

Pre-order have already started at CDJapan. So have fun!

Source: Danny Choo.com | Good Smile Company

Popularity: 8% [?]

Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s autobiography manga that is as thick as an encyclopedia won 2 Eisners yesterday at the awards presentation in Comic-con USA.

The manga won an award in the Best US release of the year for the publisher and Best Reality-Based work of the year, and I have to agree with the them on this one. Even thou Yoshihiro-san is not able to accept the award himself, he left a message based on his experience of Comic-con in 2006.

Here is the the excerpt from ANN:

Peggy Burns of Drawn & Quarterly accepted the awards on Tatsumi’s behalf and noted that Tatsumi attended Comic-Con International as a special guest in 2006. She added that his biggest observation of that visit was that he had never even signed a book for a woman in Japan. Tatsumi’s works have now sold 60,000 copies in North America. Burn said, “He really is the embodiment of everything that is great with comics. He went to the drawing board every single day and drew what he believed in.”

I finished the book despite the very long process which I must say, I enjoyed… I even managed to astonish some of my workmate and on lookers with the thickness of the book and my concentration when reading it.

Confess I must, that all the credit for my above stated achievements should be credited to Yoshihiro-san for creating such an interesting book that can suck me in for that long 2 hour period in a hot and humid hall…

With that said, I’m really looking forward to the local animation movie directed by Eric Khoo. It will be the first of such movie made in Singapore… But I am very afraid that it might become a “cannot make it” movie… Well that is one fear, at least it’s not made by Jack Neo, yah?

Eisner Award: The Will Eisner Comic Industry Award, It’s an award for American Comic creators created in honer of the pioneer artist and writer, Will Eisner.

Other winners for the 2010 awards can be found on the Comic-con website

Source: The Beat, Newsarama, The Warp via ANN | Sindieonly|

Popularity: 3% [?]

“Pure love is completely gone in the real world. As long as you train your imagination, a 2-D relationship is much more passionate than a 3-D one.”

With that said, I’m going to touch on a rather interesting subject that’s been creating a decent amount of attention: the phenomenon of anime body pillows. Also known as dakimakura, they are basically pillows with covers of anime characters. A overwhelming majority of these pillows have covers of cute anime girls. There have been instances of people even dating these pillows and treating them as if they were real girlfriends/boyfriends. From a Korean man who married his pillow girlfriend to a Japanese otaku who wants to die with his pillow girlfriend in his arms, you have to wonder if the concept of love is dying & whether we should treat those who love fictional objects a great deal of respect.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 15% [?]

Warning: This is a very picture intensive post.

This year my cosfest is not really filled with Cosplay, in fact I missed most of the cosplay competitions and stage event due to the 2 block of booths blocking away most of my view.

But all is not lost, as I actually spend more time going around checking out the artist booths and bought some very nice artworks.

Here are some that I have bought, be it a dojin, a sketch book, or a print out.

First up, congrats to Umeda Minako(Her Artist Name) for her release of Black Heart 2 at Comix Pandora. This is one of the series that i really quite liked, due to the comical, lightheartedness of the story and drawing. But this time, there is an improvement in the art style, and it’s really more or less standard thru-out.

The release is named Black Heart: The Legend of The Boo and it’s available in both English and Chinese.

This guy is the main character’s beau and if you compare, his personality is really like Usui-kun.

Next also from the Comics Pandora camp, a production by JiaZai, “How to Counsel A Detainee”. It’s a rather thin book with a rather interesting story, and violent parody of Singapore’s “please stand behind the yellow line” campaign at our Mass Rapid Transport Stations.

It’s worth the look at for it’s entertainment value.

This is a dojin, it’s a Hetalia dojin. The story of Arther and Alfred, the cats in the manga/anime, Hetalia.It’s a production by Manda.

The story is extremely good, paired with excellent art, and good packaging. This dojin is easily my best buy at cosfest.

This fanart is by Collateral Damage Studios(CDS), and it’s almost as good as the official prints… It comes even in 2 sizes. An A3 and a A2 version… The artpiece has already been on sale since SOY, but they do still have some left.

Next also by CDS, is this long scroll of the anime “Working”. It is just too cute for me to resist… I would like to ask, If you have already got it, does the material allow you to stick on the rear wind screen?

Nevermind, I’ll try that out later…

This is a sketch book, and it doesn’t really contain as completed artworks, but it has thou is the drawing from the view of the artist. And it’s by Wahid.

This, my friend is a Durarara!!! print, on a watercolour paper… The texture is very nice and the drawing is good.

It’s done by the Luo Lan at the NUS Anime and Comic Club. Good job!

Then the show stopper,

Stunning art pieces by the very talented, isxelle. She brought along 8 works, and 1 2011 calender for the show. In the process, she is even working on another art piece, which she completed and then presented to her Mom, whom is helping out at the booth. So sweet…

If not for my $15 dollar a booth limit, I would have got one of everything… Lets hope I’ll see her again…

End of my purchases… I’m now not sure if I can last till end of the week… Haiz…

But there really are more items on show at Cosfest than I can buy and they are also good. Too bad if you have missed them by not attending the festivals however, most of the artist will also be around for A.C.M.E II in August, so don’t miss them again!

Website: Comix Pandora | Wahid | Manda | isxelle | NUS Anime | Daiyaku | A.C.M.E II

Popularity: 7% [?]

Hi hi!

By now, you should have seen our background. It’s Black Rock Shooter(BRS), a soon to be anime developed from the a music video by Hulk for a Hatsune Miku Song.

The 50 minutes OVA will be released 24th July, on DVDs to be given out for free thru magazines or figurines. So you will definitely see it somewhere.

Now for the Background, it’s done specially for us after I saw the print at Cosfest yesterday, they are so fast!

This artwork is drawn and coloured by Jiemi, using both digital and traditional methods. You can also own a piece of this artwork, for they are going to be on sale this coming A.C.M.E II at Sculpture Square, Singapore on the 28th of August.

Do make a lookout for them!

Website: BRS Wikia | Daiyaku

Popularity: 5% [?]

SGCafe, a Singapore forum and now news portal is looking for a new mascot to replace the their rather scary looking meido… Aw, she just started work even… Thou her shadow is not engaged for the job… temporary.

Now you can head over to the request page and take look and provide some submissions. You will after all win a prize.

So head over and win something! Good luck!

Website: SGcafe contest thread | SGcafe Blog Post

p.s: did you know, we are also getting a mascot? And it’s done by an award winning group! So look forward to it!

Popularity: 2% [?]