I have stated my opnion on this site (several times) that America needs more yuri manga up in here. I’m glad to see that the LGBT magazine The Advocate agrees with me: Read This Article! It’s a very interesting, in-depth article about yuri in Japan and its slow journey to America. It also explains better than I ever could the [...]

Our comrade-in-arms AnaKhouri loves Mushi-shi, and now that FUNimation is bringing over the live-action film, thought it would be cool to import the series from Hulu. Alas, they’ve only got the first 12 episodes, but that should be plenty of Mushi-shi to induce you to buy the DVD’s. Episode 1: The Green Seat

I won’t bother re-iterating everything that was said at this year’s ‘State of the Anime Industry’ panel, especially since Toon Zone did such a bang-up job of summarizing it, but I would be remiss in not mentioning some of the high points. Overall, the anime biz is not headed over a waterfall, but there is still much work to be [...]

I think if you ask most people whom they regard as Japan’s greatest filmmaker, the consensus would undoubtedly be Seven Samurai director Akira Kurosawa. A recent article at the Japan times, aptly titled ‘Hayao Miyazaki – Japan’s Greatest Director’, wonders if that august title might not fit their greatest animator…oh and, um – sorry about the picture…I couldn’t resist. Most [...]

Did anyone watch the debate on Friday night? No, not the one where your parents spat expletives at each other after drinking copious amounts of alcohol – the one between John McCain and Barack Obama. During the debate, McCain brought up the height-gap between presumptively healthy South Koreans and impoverished North Koreans…and while I’m willing to give him the benefit [...]

Les Bonnes Fees is a really cool webzine that publishes fiction and non-fiction related to folk and fairy tales. In their relatively young life, they’ve published some amazing stuff. So it’s quite surprising that in the September 2008 issue, they are publishing me. Read! My short story “Snow As It Falls” is a loose retelling of the Japanese folktale “The [...]

[rating:5] 1001 Nights (or Arabian Nights) is a collection of stories gathered over many years by Middle Eastern scholars. The stories themselves are less famous than the framing tale in which they were placed: Shahryar, a mad sultan, begins taking girls into his harem, spending one night with them, and then having them executed in the morning. Scheherazade is a [...]

Manila-born director and producer Cirio Santiago died of lung cancer on Friday. Santiago directed and produced dozens of films both here and in his native Philippines. Among his efforts were T.N.T. Jackson, Bloodfist 1 and 2 (starring Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson’) and the drive-in classic She-Devils in Chains. Not surprisingly, Quentin Tarantino counted Santiago among his many influences. Here are [...]

The Guardian’s Book Blogs columnist Ned Beauman recently commented on the death of Minx, DC’s attempt to woo Western teenage girls away from the manga racks. Beauman raises some interesting points. But that specific audience is Japanese, not American; and the odd result is that just as British kids of my generation grew up watching so much Saved By the [...]

Normally I’m not too thrilled with live-action versions of anime (while Death Note wasn’t too bad, Tokyo Babylon 1999 was pretty wretched…still haven’t watched my live-action Dororo but I’ll get around to it soon). But I’m a huge fan of Mushishi, and I’m curious to see the live-action version (also, it’s directed by Katsuhiro Otomo!) and how it compares to [...]

[rating:2 1/2] In the author’s comments section at the end of volume one, mangaka Makoto Tateno claims she didn’t know if Steal Moon would fit in the boys’ love genre, since it is a science fiction manga. She should have no worries on that account. Steal Moon is as much a science fiction story as Brokeback Mountain is a Western; [...]

The rapidly aging Japanese population has led to an interesting invention… Airbags for Pedestrians They seem pretty reliable. But if you fall forward, you’re still screwed. I should get one of those. I’m pretty clumsy. But only if they print the airbag vest with Hello Kitty! That would look much cooler.

China’s latest space shot was so successful, that they’ve managed to breach the 4th dimension – travelling into the future and sending back reports which were published before the craft even took off. The Associated Press besmirches China’s claims of a successful launch, going so far as to claim that the reports were not in fact sent from THE FUTURE, [...]

Yes, reality television has all the intellectual value of competitive nose-picking, but fans of the pro-gaming scene might be interested in checking out tonight’s debut of Survivor: Gabon, featuring 22-year old Super Smash Brothers champ Ken Hoang. And lots of hot chicks, if that’s your thang… Personally, I’m still chuffed that Malay contestant Yau-man Chan didn’t make the cut a [...]

Otaku-friendly right-wing politician Taro Aso has been elected Prime Minister of Japan. Whether this will result in new trade regulations prompting a tide of hentai and vinyl figures onto U.S. markets is unclear – but is a much-hoped for result, if you ask me. Aso has also managed a rare feat among LDP members — he’s popular among the young. [...]