The-O Network Online has been undergoing some staff changes as of late, and we're all very lucky and very glad to have snapped up a new anime reviewer, Ken Ohata! Ken will be laying the smack down on the good, the bad, and the ugly of Japanese animation, so keep a lookout for more from him. After the jump we have his first official review, Working!! Read and enjoy! --Stephen Bajza, Editor

Another convention-themed podcast! Well, it is convention season after all, so dig in. Fanime is a San Jose based convention that does an excellent job of staying true to the "by fans, for fans" tagline. The whole thing is pretty much one giant anime and J-Pop themed party, and we've got plenty to discuss about Fanime 2011 antics. The second half of the podcast focuses on convention survival tips, so newbie and veteran con attendees alike should tune in and glean wisdom from the masters. We'll have a full article about this very topic posted soon, so check back in about a week for the update!

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The title may sound too ridiculous to be true, but it's not. According to the Comic Books Legal Defense Fund, the CBLDF, a U.S. citizen was flying from his home in the States to visit a friend in Canada and, while at the airport, security searched his laptop, iPad, and iPhone. Customs determined that the manga found on his laptop was child pornography, and he is now being charged with possession and importing these materials.

There's no mention of what type of manga the man, a computer programer in his mid-twenties, saved to his laptop. It's possible that Canadian officials determined ecchi, titlating but not erotic situations, or moe, situations involving cute girls, were actually erotic, or worse yet, they opened the wrong page in any number of Japanese titles containing benign child nudity. In the event that he was in fact holding on to lolicon or shotacon hentai, pornographic manga involving underage girls or boys respectively, support for him may wane drastically as was the case in 2007 with Christopher Handley who ended up serving a six month sentence in jail.

If the accused man had saved something not meant to be erotic, then the comic book, anime, and manga fan communities will need to act in unison to defend materials that may be perceived as illicit or perverted. However, if the manga in question are fully pornographic and involve small children, the issue becomes far more complicated. Many would say art is always art, and censoring any form of it is wrong and that there is no crime committed in simply looking at the materials. On the other hand, others would say that such materials are indicative of pedophilic tendencies or are in some way morally harmful to living children.

The debate is ongoing, and as anime and manga becomes more prevalent around the world and government actions against lewd or indecent materials and behavior seem to step up in intensity, what the future will bring is a matter of theory.

If you would like to support the unnamed U.S. citizen, you can donate here to the CBLDF to support his case, and you can read more from the original article and another that provides additional information.

Japanese visual-kei metal band, Exist Trace made their electrifying American debut in Seattle Washington earlier this year at Sakura-Con 2011. Check out our photos of this all girl band!

Don't forget to check out the band's autograph session photos: 

http://www.t-ono.net/Gallery/Convention-Photos/Sakura-Con-2011/Exist-Trace/

You can also find more information about the group and purchase their music over at JapanFiles.

In an interesting twist, a hacker had apparently broke into new comer anime convention, AM2 site over the weekend and fabricated a false message stating the convention had been cancelled and that the musical guests would be performing at Anime Expo.

We have contacted AM2 in regards to the possible compromise of account information, and Chase Wang, who is an organizer for the event, has reassured us that no data was lost or breached.

Wang also had commented earlier this morning, "I am extremely disappointed that there are individuals out there that are so willing to stoop to such levels to disrupt and harm our event after all the work and planning that has been done to bring as much fun to our attendees as possible."

AM2 will be hosted from July 1 to 3 at the Anaheim Convention Center on the same weekend as North America's largest anime convention, Anime Expo. There is clearly a rivalry between these two conventions...

Viz Media LLC has been a long time rock in the North American anime and manga industry. Titles like Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, and Dragonball have all helped keep the titan afloat despite major setbacks that seem to strike out each year. Viz Media is known for publishing kid and teen friendly titles, so it comes as somewhat of a surprise that they are currently seeking an editor specifically for the yaoi/BL genre. For those who don't know, yaoi is a term English speakers use to define male homosexual content that typically involves erotic situations of widely varying degrees of graphicness. The BL stands for Boys Love.

It seemed possible, given the squeaky clean track record Viz has in regards to mature content if we're not counting Black Lagoon and Biomega, that this posting may have referred to manga involving homosexual romance devoid of erotic content. However, it specifically states that, "Knowledge of yaoi/BL genre and market, and ability to work on adult-oriented materials A MUST." There is little room for interpretation, but again, due to the nature of the yaoi/bl genre, the graphic nature of such "adult-oriented materials" may be nothing more than suggestive dialogue and titilating imagery.

What this means for Viz Media's future publication choices is left to speculation. It's possible this is an attempt to corner areas of the manga market left previously untouched by Viz to make up for losses in teen and young adult entertainment. The anime and manga industries in North America have been suffering losses for the past few years, the reasons for which are as divergent as they are complex. You can check out the job posting here.

For those who have not been pleased with the recent plush offerings of Kyubey from the popular series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, figure maker Good Smile Company is offering a life sized 1/1 scale soft vinyl version. 

Unfortunately, he will only be sold at the 2011 Summer Wonder Festival (7/24/2011) and on the company's Japanese online store for a limited time (7/24 - 8/1, 2011). Although you won't have to make any 'costly contracts' to obtain Kyubey, he still comes with a hefty price tag of 10,000 yen. More pictures inside!

On the last day of this year's FanimeCon, a special charity auction was held by one of the guests, Mamoru Yokota. Nineteen amazing colored sketch and autographs done by popular artists were up for auction including Rui Araizumi (Slayers mangaka [manga writer/creator]), Nobuhiro Watsuki (Rurouni Kenshin mangaka), Tamiki Wakaki (The World God Only Knows mangaka), and Akio Watanabe (Bakemonogatari Character Designer).

The grand total for the auctions came out to $38,800, with proceeds going towards the relief efforts in Japan. No organization was specified as the recipient for the money; however, it was stated that Yokota-san and his colleagues would be distributing food to areas affected with the auction money.

Interestingly, Warsuki's sketch of Kenshin netted $15,000 alone.

We have included the sketch images, descriptions, and final prices courtesy of FanimeCon.