SacAnime's Winter 2013 convention marked the beginning of a new era for the organization as they transitioned into the Sacramento Convention Center. Not only did they expand their convention however, but this time they featured a star-studded lineup, including Japanese voice actress Mai Aizawa. Known for her roles as Minene Uryuu in Mirai Nikki and Natsumi Murakami from Mahou Sensei Negima!, we had an opportunity to sit down with Mai and ask her a few questions about her career and future projects.
Japanese pop music idol duo ClariS has caused a huge stir in Japan and has caught the attention of mainstream media for starting their career when they were only in junior high school. While the pair have not revealed their true identities, they are best recognized through their illustrations drawn by popular artists often from the anime titles they are involved in. Their music has appeared in popular anime series such as Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and Nisemonogatari. Learn more about the duo and find out how they feel to have their first album "Birthday," released in the United States (iTunes, Amazon)! If you're a fan, definitely do not miss The-O Network exclusive with ClariS's FIRST English interview!
This year MangaGamer brought acclaimed eroge voice actress Tamiyasu Tomoe with them to Anime Expo 2012 as an industry guest. Tamiyasu's extensive resume includes her role as Yayoi in OVERDRIVE's Deardrops and as Rin/Riki/Sasasegawa in KEY's Little Busters!. Tomoe was gracious enough to sit down with our resident staffers, Benjamin Chu and Jason Young, to give us the lowdown on her career as a voice actress and who would win in a dispute between Rin and Yayoi!
Kia Asamiya is an unique artist who has worked on American comics such as Batman and X-Men. Back home in Japan, he has work on popular manga titles like Silent Mobius and Martian Successor Nadesico. While at this year's FanimeCon, we caught up with the man and discussed briefly about some of the differences between American and Japanese works and also a little about his current titles in Japan. Read also about his future projects such as the possible continuation on Silent Mobius!
Retsu Tateo (館尾冽) is a female Japanese mangaka best known for her illustrations in Full Metal Panic! She has followed the main story of series as closely as possible by collaborating with the author of the original light novels, Shoji Gatoh. Tateo-san is also the artist of her own manga, Endless Eden. At this year's Sakura-Con in Seattle, we had a chance to talk with Tateo-san discussing how she started working on Full Metal Panic!, her experience illustrating the series, and of course, her mascot frog.
Japanese artist Alpha made her first visit earlier this year to Anime Expo 2011 held in Los Angeles. Alpha is an illustrator for the visual novel company, Akabeisoft2 and has worked on the award winning game, G-Senjou no Maou (G線上の魔王). While some may have never heard of Alpha, a legion of American fans lined up to meet her at MangaGamer's booth.
Hear what Alpha had to say about her experience at Anime Expo, a little about how she got started into the industry, current projects she is working on, and a special message for all her American fans!
Independent music group, supercell has taken the Japanese otaku community by storm! In March 2009, their popularity had caught the attention of record label Sony Music Japan earning them their first commercial album titled after themselves, supercell. In July of the same year, their new single Kimi no Shiranai was chosen as the ending theme song for the hit ghost anime series, Bakemonogatari.
In tracing their history further back, the group was started by independent music composer under the alias ryo. He is probably most well known for his music videos including Black Rock Shooter, which utilizes Yamaha's voice synthesizer program, Hatsune Miku. The video has received over one million views on the popular Japanese video site, Nico Nico Douga. The song’s influence has led to an anime adaptation that is set to air on Japanese televisions in April 2010.
The group now consisting of nine main members, has been shrouded in mystery as none of the members have made public appearances. Learn a bit more about what the group’s leader and composer ryo, and vocal singer nagi had to say about themselves and their current and past works in our exclusive first English interview!
また、日本語に
May Nakabayashi, best known as May'n on stage, made her major break in 2008 as the singing voice of Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier. May'n returned to perform at this year's Animelo Summer Live, one of the largest anime themed concert, on August 22, 2009. Unfortunately due to scheduling issues, we were unable to arrange for a full interview. We were able to get a quick photoshoot and a few questions in briefly with her.