Way back during the Nineties when the VHS was king and not Blu-Ray/DVD, there were tons of classic and beloved anime that were released into the United States.  One particular series, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, holds a special place in my heart as one of the first anime series I really got into and one of my personal favorites. It is also perhaps one of the first anime brought over here to the West to incite the cyberpunk genre fandom for English speaking audiences.

The event held by VIZ Media on Saturday, January 28th at the West Hollywood Library in Los Angeles was to introduce their brand-new digital manga website, Shonen Jump Alpha, to the public. The new format is going to replace the printed version of Shonen Jump Weekly.  With a mini-convention feel to it, it featured tons of cosplayers, raffles, snacks, goodie bags and of course a sneak preview of Shonen Jump Alpha. In Japan, the issues of Shonen Jump are weekly and for that reason most people in Japan don't keep them. They just read them and dispose of them like they would with any other newspaper-style format.

 If you had the power to delude anyone into seeing the world the exact way that you want them to, what would you make them see? Studio Madhouse's (the Girl Who Leapt through Time, Chobits) adaptation of Nitroplus' (Demonbane, Saya no Uta) 2008 visual novel Chaos; Head, the first entry into their dark-and-gritty science fiction visual novel line, attempts to answer this as well as other philosophical issues on existentialism and the nature of being. All the while mixing it up with a romantic subplot revolving around an otaku protagonist. Sounds a lot like your typical anime fan's dream philosophy class, doesn't it?

Fashion retailer Mobacolle is collaborating with anime studio Gainax to release cat eared parkas based on the hit Evangelion series. The parkas are based on each of the Evangelion units (00 yellow, 01 purple, 02 red) and will be reversible. Unfortunately the parkas are only currently available for preorder in women and kid sizes and will retail for 7245 yen from the Official Gainax store.

As a note, over the years, artists have created various fanart involving the series as hoodies. Probably the most popular are the hoodie adaptation of the plug suits that each pilot wears. Pictures of fan art and of the parkas inside.