Hope for Japan

"Hold hands, and we can get through this together."

It's been over a month now since Japan has literally been shaken to its core due to a series of large earthquakes and hard-hitting tsunamis that occurred as a result. To this day, the vulnerable archipelago is still suffering through more aftershocks and the nuclear disaster scare continues to escalate. All of this has taken a huge toll on the people of Japan as shown by the reactions of the government and the mass media. Foreign press praise the Japanese for handling the situation relatively well and there's also no doubt that much credit should be given to the architects and engineers who helped create buildings designed to withstand the violent effects of the quakes. Before I go further into what I think about how the population is handling itself during this time of disaster, I want to put it into perspective of a certain anime that aired a couple years ago.

GANTZ: The Movie Impressions

Last night, the worldwide premiere of the live action GANTZ movie allowed fans of the popular manga and those curious to watch in theaters before those in Japan when it comes out on the 29th. The actors of the two main characters, Kazunari Ninomiya (of Arashi fame) and Kenichi Matsuyama (Death Note, Detroit Metal City), even made their way to Hollywood to introduce the film and hold a Q&A session in front of screaming, adoring fans. Was it all worth it in the end? Find out after the jump.

Top Ten Anime of 2010

Happy New Years, everyone! Forgive me for taking half the month to finally have this entry ready but break makes me kind of lazy. Well, it's the start of a new year but before the next winter season of anime really gets rolling, I would like to give my take on the ten of the best shows 2010 had to offer. I can't say it's been the strongest year for anime but, of course, some stand outs exist among the mindless moe and boundary-pushing ecchi content that has over-saturated the industry. Now without further ado and in no particular order...

Character Feature: Black★Rock Shooter

Original illustration by huke

VOCALOID vs. The World

The war against their detractors is on.

Hatsune Miku and her VOCALOID character cohorts have been taking the world by storm. Press from various European nations have covered the musical net phenomenon's "live" virtual performances and an announcement at New York Comic Con 2010 said that if the plateau of 39,390 fans on Hatsune Miku's fan page were to be reached, an English version will be considered for release in the near future. Unsurprisingly, that petition's goal was accomplished within a month's time.That said, there are plenty of people out there who are skeptical of the virtual idols including a couple of established names who have spoken out.

Seen It Once, Seen It All

Let's face it. There's so little that is unique in the anime we watch these days. We are so far removed from the golden age which I generously attribute as the 80's to the end of the 90's. Regardless, I religiously keep up with whatever shows might be airing every season for the past several years which has led me to realize how very little surprises me in the content I see. A few days ago, I watched a video that shows that one doesn't even have to look beyond the ever important opening scene to see just how much trace and paste anime is especially these days.

Figure Collection via Animoto

Ever since I was a young child, I had a huge fascination with collecting action figures. Like many Japanese boys in their preschool years, I was very into the whole tokusatsu scene which is internationally familiarized as the Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger series. As I grew up and out of that phase, my attention turned toward Star Wars, a franchise made famous well prior to my birth and continued to grow bigger as I did. I remember one of the first things I spent my own money was on a Millennium Falcon mini-playset and that led to buying countless amount of figures ranging from the main characters to the most obscure ones. Now at an age where one may feel "too cool" for toys, check out this Animoto video (after the jump) to see what spending my cash on these days.