Monday Anime and Manga news RoundUp!: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

Tutorial: how to draw Feet/Shoes by Mark Crilley and MangaLessons

12:31 PM

Toki Nakamura

Two of the best tutorials for this often overlooked subject when learning to draw manga:

Naruto Shippuden anime May 2012 schedule!

12:30 PM

Toki Nakamura

After we got screwed over in April with retro recap fillers, it seems we have the real thing this month with the war between Madara and the Alliance between all ninja villages!

Episode 261 "For My Friend" (友のために) May 3, 2012
Episode 262 "War Begins!" (開戦!) May 10, 2012
Episode 263 "Sai and Shin" (サイとシン) May 17, 2012
Episode 264 "The Secret of Reanimation" (穢土転生の秘密) May 24, 2012
Episode 265 "Reunion With an Old Enemy" (宿敵との再会) May 31, 2012

12:06 PM

Toki Nakamura

Hagio will be the first female manga creator to receive it. (Composer and Studio Ghibli's frequent collaborator Joe Hisaishi received the honor in 2009, while Only Yesterday singer Harumi Miyako received it in 2010.)

The Japanese government announced on Saturday that it will award manga creator Moto Hagio with the Spring 2012 Medal With Purple Ribbon, which honors academic and artistic achievement.

The award is given twice a year, and 674 individuals and 20 organisations are receiving it this spring, including actor Kōji Yakusho (Shall We Dance?).

As part of the award, Hagio and other recipients will hear comments from the Japanese Emperor. A number of titles by Hagio have been or will be released in English, such as the Fantagraphics editions of Heart of Thomas (Thomas no Shinzō) and A Drunken Dream and Other Stories.

source: ANN

11:59 AM

Toki Nakamura

Another teaser trailer has sufficed, featuring Zeto, the character created by Eichiro Oda himself.

Tatsuya Nagamine is directing the film with Eiichiro Oda executive producing. The movie will hit Japanese theaters on December 15.

11:55 AM

Toki Nakamura

Set to premiere in October and directed by Masayuki Miyaji, the story is about a teen girl named Hamaji who hunts dog-human hybrids known as Fuse. It is an adaptation of the novel by Kazuki Sakuraba.

Tutorial by Mark Crilley: 100 ways to draw manga eyes

5:55 PM

Toki Nakamura

This is perfect if you want to find which is your eye drawing style, or have guidelines and trends on how manga eyes are drawn generally.

There's no unique formula, as long as it adds dimension to the face you're drawing.

5:36 PM

Toki Nakamura

It's not really easy to nail the Espada's look in real life. However, cosplay is about having fun recreating your favorite characters.

This last one is particularly good, the cosplayer got Grimmjow's attitude well :D

Discotek acquires the rights to Saint Seiya classic movies for American DVD release!

12:05 PM

Toki Nakamura

Finally! We will see these movies released in DVDs with English subtitles and great quality!

Discotek has announced plans for a debut American release of the original four Saint Seiya theatrical films on subtitled DVD. The 1987 and 1988 films will be released on a single DVD while the second 1988 film and the 1989 film will be released on a single DVD.

While AD Vision released the television series’ first 60 episodes on domestic DVD, and Crunchyroll has streamed the Saint Seiya prequel series “Lost Canvas” and sequel series “Omega,” the four theatrical films from the 1980s have never previously had an official American release.

Great year for Saint Seiya all around!

source: AnimeNation

11:55 AM

Toki Nakamura

This 45-second teaser highlights "Z" (Zetto), the Straw Hat pirate crew's "strongest enemy yet." One Piece manga creator Eiichiro Oda personally designed Z. It will premiere in Japan on December 15.

11:51 AM

Toki Nakamura

The live-action adaptation of Kanan Minami's manga, the story is about Tsubaki, a girl who is indifferent to both romance and fashion, even though she loves giving other people adorable hairstyles. On the first day of high school, she happened to sit next to Kyōta, a mean-spirited boy who teases her. In retaliation, she spontaneously pulls out scissors and cuts off his long tresses of hair. Thus begins the long love-hate relationship between Tsubaki and Kyōta.

The film will open in December.

The manga was serialized in Sho-comi magazine on 2008 and it ended on November 2011 in its 14th volume. Actress Emi Takei, who plays Kaoru in the Rurouni Kenshin upcoming film, plays Tsubaki, whereas actor Tori Matsuzaka, known as the seiyuu of Kakeru Tanaka in .hack//The Movie, plays her counterpart, Kyota.

11:40 AM

Toki Nakamura

This is a last version that is only available in the official website. The film's story is set in Tokyo one year after the Blood-C vampire television series.
The film will open on June 2. Niconico, the English version of the online video service Nico Nico Douga, streamed the television series outside of Japan as it aired. source: ANN

11:21 AM

Toki Nakamura

The most important news of the week, the series by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata of Death Note fame will end on chapter 176, which will make the 20th volume that will go on sale on July.

Meanwhile, a 3rd season of the anime has been greenlit, scheduled to premiere on October of this year.

The manga has been running in Shonen Jump since 2008. Viz Media is publishing the 11th volume of the manga in North America in June, as well as serializing in Shonen Jump Alpha.

New manga university in Osaka seeks approval by the Ministry of Education

1:35 PM

Toki Nakamura

Manga Maker (Photo credit: marioanima)

Great news that manga art is getting more and more recognized as a career!

In an inquiry held on Friday regarding the establishment of new educational institutions for the 2013 school year overseen by Hirofumi Hirano, Japan's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, approval was sought for a private university that would focus on manga education.

The university would be named the the "Osaka Sōgō Manga Geijutsu Kōka Dai" (Osaka Technical Institute for Manga Art).

The different departments would initially teach manga, comic art, digital manga, and digital comic art to 90 students, then increase its size to 110 students three years later. The university's goal would be to cultivate talented manga and comic artists that would be able to create work on an international level.

According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), it would be the first university with the word "manga" in its name. A decision regarding the approval of the school is scheduled to be made near the end of October.

The Osaka Technical Institute for Manga Art, along with Kyoto Seika University, would be the accredited colleges for studying manga art in Japan.

source: ANN

1:16 PM

Toki Nakamura

Power Girl, from JSA Classified #1 (2005). Art by Amanda Conner. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Not sure what to think of this. If only they hadn't shut down their manga division CMX :(

"American publisher DC Comics announced on Friday that it will launch a weekly digital comic called Ame-Comi Girls. The series is "based on the best-selling product line from DC Collectibles that brings the distinct Japanese influence of anime and manga to DC Comics' female heroines and their foes."

The title characters will face off against a female Braniac and other "bad girl" super villains. Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are writing five character arcs that will lead into one storyline with all the characters:

Wonder Woman art by Amanda Conner and Tony Akins
Batgirl art by Sanford Greene
Duela Dent art by Ted Naifeh
Power Girl art by Mike Bowder
Supergirl art by Santi Casas

Ame-Comi Girls is part of a new DC Comic digital lineup with five titles every week.

1:06 PM

Toki Nakamura

The film story about the Fairy Tail heroes encountering a mysterious young women with amnesia was composed by Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima. Mashima also designed the movie’s new characters. Masaya Fujimori (You Are Umasou) directs at studio A-1 Pictures. The action/comedy movie will hit Japanese theaters on August 18. source: ANN

12:52 PM

Toki Nakamura

Usagi in her school uniform, as drawn by Naoko Takeuchi. Takeuchi consistently portrays Usagi as a lazy daydreamer, but one with an enormous heart. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Not bad at all :)

The fourth volume of Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon manga ranked #2 in Nielsen BookScan's list of top 20 graphic novels in American bookstores for March, with only the series 'The Walking Dead' by Robert Kirkman, outdoing it at #1 spot.

Whereas the 55th volume of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto manga placed #3, and the Naruto: The Official Character Data Book came in at #20. The other two manga titles in the top 20 are the 13th volume of Kanoko Sakurakoji's Black Bird (#11) and the 61st volume of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece (#14).

12:43 PM

Toki Nakamura

Can't wait till the premiere!! Takeru Satoh plays the main character and the film opens on August 25.

This special shows the actor practicing his sword moves.

Related articles

Miyavi - What's my Name? Lyrics

5:50 PM

Toki Nakamura

From the 2010 album titled also 'What's my name?', this is an instant classic song by this visual-kei group.

The song and the beat is the essence of the city of Tokyo all over.

Hi my name is MYV yo wa sup I got a MIC
From Tokyo to rock u all with the bling bling six string thing

U know it's time to bang
Get u the sound made in zipang
Rock, punk, hip-hop & funk
Bet you guys can't stop the dance

What's my name?

Yellow, blue black & white, borderless party overnight
It's gonna be tight, let's feel the vibe
World peace through good music, right?

I don't care what they may say this is my way
Today's the day to break away

By the way, you guys know my name?

What's my name?
What's my name?
What's my name?

Yellow, blue black & white, borderless party overnight
It's gonna be tight, let's feel the vibe
World peace through good music, right?

I don't care what they may say this is my way
Today's the day to break away

By the way, you guys know my name?

What's my name?
What's my name?
What's my name?

What's my name?
What's my name?
What's my name?
What's my name?
What's my name?
What's my name?
What's my name?
What's my name?

Tutorial by Nao Yazawa: Drawing Manga Character

11:29 AM

Toki Nakamura

I found this tutorial to be descriptive and wonderful. A great way to kickstart this section that will compile the best drawing manga tutorials that I can find online. You can subscribe to Nao Yazawa's channel on Youtube.

Aside from the blue pencil method, you can use your mechanical pencil to sketch softly and then define the lines by pressing further as you draw and clean the lines.

Uchiha Itachi in nurse uniform

12:03 PM

Toki Nakamura

Courtesy of user Aika in NarutoForums.

10:14 AM

Toki Nakamura

It can be complicated to recreate the dystopian futuristic look of the series, but never impossible :)

Amazing job by the cosplayers!

If the upcoming live action movie was this realistic, I wouldn't mind! (but we all know this won't be necessarily the case)

Bakuman fanarts (1)

5:04 PM

Toki Nakamura

Bakuman by miyanushi

A coloring of the character CROW in Bakuman, by FEE-MUH

The always charismatic Niizuma Eiji by Megan Uosiu

All courtesy of DeviantArt :)

'K' trailer

1:00 PM

Toki Nakamura

The quality of this series by GoHands studio is outstanding! I always had a thing for series with a single letter title, remember C: the money of soul and possibility control? LOL

12:49 PM

Toki Nakamura

Crunchyroll has announced plans to stream this season’s Mysterious Girlfriend X (Nazo no Kanojo X), Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Apollon), Phi Brain second season, Kuroko’s Basketball (Kuroko no Basuke), and Tsuritama television series.

Nazo no Kanojo X will premiere on Japanese TV on April 7 and begin streaming on Crunchyroll the following day. Sakamichi no Apollon premiered on Japanese TV yesterday and will begin streaming on Crunchyroll on the 12th. Tsuritama will also premiere on Crunchyroll on the 12th. Crunchyroll will stream the complete first season of Phi-Brain along with this month’s second season, beginning on the 8th. Kuroko no Basuke will premiere on Crunchyroll tomorrow.

source: ANN

12:37 PM

Toki Nakamura

The movie, titled Naruto Shippuden: Road to Ninja, will premiere on Japanese theaters on July 28, the story and character designs were personally conceived by the creator himself, Masashi Kishimoto. The premise is around Madara's plan to entrap the world in a massive genjutsu and only Naruto can stop him.

12:19 PM

Toki Nakamura

A feast for Thermae Romae fans!

North American manga publisher Yen Press announced at Sakura-Con yesterday that it has licensed Thermae Romae manga.

The publisher will release Mari Yamazaki's Thermae Romae in hardcover format with two volumes of the series in each omnibus. Yamazaki launched the time-traveling comedy manga in 2008, and the fourth compiled book volume shipped in December. The work won the Manga Taisho (Cartoon Grand Prize) award in 2010, followed by the Short Work Prize in the 14th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prizes.

It has since sold over 5 million copies and inspired a short television anime. People who attend screenings of the live-action Thermae Romae film, which will open in Japan on April 28, will receive a "special edition" of the manga drawn by Yamazaki, while supplies last.

Source: ANN

Related news:

Naruto Shippuden anime April 2012 schedule

10:13 AM

Toki Nakamura

We have plenty of canon material as the war against Kabutomaru's Edo Tensei resurrects and Madara approaches! The issue is that Naruto must NOT know anything about it or Madara will get him! Sasuke is bent on destroying Konoha at all costs!

Update April 13th: no, this is not quite the canon material month :( We are getting retro Naruto fillers which are not bad since they serve as recap and show how much the characters have evolved.

Episode 257 "Meeting" (出会い) April 5, 2012
Episode 258 "Rivals" (ライバル) April 12, 2012
Episode 259 "Cracks" (亀裂) April 19, 2012
Episode 260 "Schism" (離別) April 26, 2012

Zetman trailers, premieres tomorrow April 2

12:53 PM

Toki Nakamura

No comments

Directed by D.Grayman's anime Osamu Nabeshima, this series premieres on April 2. The official website began streaming 4 15-second television commercials on Friday. The first video highlights the opening theme song by Hitoto and Mummy-D, while the other three features the characters Zet and Alphas, as well as the Evol group.

From the manga by Masakazu Katsura, the story centers around Jin, a homeless boy whose true form is the new superhuman lifeform "ZET," and an industrial magnate's heir named Kōga with his own secret.

Source: ANN

Trailer 1:

Trailer 2:

Trailer 3:

And Trailer 4:

12:37 PM

Toki Nakamura

No comments

We are for a great treat this year! Fuji TV posted the information and trailers this week on its official site. You can always subscribe to Noitamina Official Youtube channel

Psycho-pass: I'm really intrigued by this one. It will premiere in October and Fuji TV refuses to give information. This is a teaser trailer:

Robotics;Notes: if you loved Steins;Gate like me, this is our year! From the same developer .5pb/Nitroplus, the quality not only looks impressive but it can mark a significant comeback of truly epic mecha anime. It is produced by Production I.G, whereas Steins;Gate was produced by White Fox.

Based on the console game, it will premiere also in October, and the story follows the "scientific adventure" format, set in a future world with realistic augmented reality technology. It follows a robotics club in danger of being disbanded. The console game will be released on June 28.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous: an adaptation of Haruka Kawachi's Natsuyuki Rendezvous manga, this series will premiere in July.

The romantic josei drama, collected in four volumes, tells the story of a love triangle between Hazuki, a young man who works part time at a flower store, Rokka, the widow who owns the store, and the ghost of Shimao, Rokka's deceased husband.

Moyashimon Returns: another series that premieres in July, it is based on the manga by Masayuki Ishikawa, published by Kodansha. The story revolves around Tadayasu Sawaki, a young man with a very strange ability: he can talk with bacteria/microscopic beings. He enrolls at Tokyo Agriculture College, where people seem to be just as abnormal as he is. This is the sequel.

Tsuritama: I'm amazed with each trailer that comes out. Directed by Kenji Nakamura and animated by A-1 Pictures, the story takes place in Enoshima, where Yuki is a high school student who's never been good at making real friends thanks to his abnormally poor communication skills. Haru is the self-styled alien who decides to teach Yuki to fish. Natsuki is an irritable born-and-raised local. Akira is the mysterious Indian who watches them all from a distance. These four meet, fish, and find big adventures on their little island.

It will have 11 episodes and it will premiere on April 12.

And last but not least:

Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Apollon):

Summer, 1966. Kaoru Nishimi has moved to live with relatives in Kyushu. He's been an aloof honor student his whole life, but that starts changing when he meets Sentarou Kawabuchi, the school's notorious bad boy. Through him, he learns the appeal of jazz and forms his first real friendships.

Set for 12 episodes, it will premiere on April 12 too.

Already loving the slash between the protagonists and the sorta rockabilly aesthetics ^_^ *in cloud 9*

Hopefully this series will liven up this year that started with cancellations of series like Bleach, Gintama and Beelzebub.

11:41 AM

Toki Nakamura

6 comments

Dan Mazeau is known as the screenwriter for the Wrath of the Titans movie and is currently working on the live action adaptation of Bleach.

Mazeau explained that both getting the rights and the scriptwriting itself were a long process for Bleach: "But early on we set down with Tite Kubo the creator and the publisher of the series, and we had a long meeting, making sure we're respectful to the property. Nobody wants to, well… Let's just say that if you enjoyed [the live-action] Dragon Ball Z movie, that's great, but I thought it was a noble effort that ultimately didn't succeed. That's what we're trying to avoid. We want to make sure this movie lives up to what the manga is."

He added, "I'm currently working on Bleach and the idea is to set it in Japan and really be respectful to the source material. It's an amazing story. I've been shorthanding it as an 'action-adventure Sixth Sense,' but obviously on a bigger canvas than that. So I'm incredibly excited about that. It's a good one.”

11:23 AM

Toki Nakamura

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It will premiere on April 7, this trailer was also aired on Anime Contents Expo with new scenes! NicoNico and Crunchyroll will simulcast it.

11:18 AM

Toki Nakamura

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The cast of the Oreimo (Ore no Imōto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai) television anime series announced today during their stage event at Anime Contents Expo that production on a second season has been green-lit.

source: ANN

11:13 AM

Toki Nakamura

TV Asahi just posted in its official youtube account the trailer for this upcoming anime adaptation of the novel by Yusuke Kishi.

Here's the link (opens in a new window):
From the New World (Shin Sekai Yori) trailer

There's no date of release yet, but the premise looks very good, I'm looking forward to this!

The story is set in Japan a millennium from now. Five children — the protagonist Saki, Satoru, Maria, Mamoru, and Shun — have been born and raised in a tranquil town that can be described as a utopia, overflowing with water and green foilage. The world is ruled by people who have the "cursed power" or the "gods' power" of telekinesis.

After a certain incident, Saki and the others come to realize the true nature of their world. Before long, they learn everything, including the bloody history that brought humanity to this state. The five throw themselves into life-threatening adventure and fighting to protect friends and a world on the brink of collapse.

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Monday, April 30, 2012

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Friday, April 13, 2012

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By the way, the 5th Naruto movie, 'Blood Prison', comes out on DVD/BD on April 25.

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Monday, April 2, 2012

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