Japanophiles living near Cardiff have a reason to be excited because on May 25th there will be a Japan Day event packed with all sorts of events, demonstrations and performances ranging from martial arts and music to animation and poetry. Here are the details:

Cardiff Central Library,
Saturday 25th May, 11am -4pm

Come and experience a taste of Japan. Free and fun activities for all to enjoy!

Cardiff Central Library will be hosting Japan Day to celebrate Japanese Culture and Literature. Japan Day is organised in partnership with local Japanese community members, Routes into Languages and the Cardiff based Saturday Japanese School in Wales.

Events Programme
* Please contact the Library to reserve your place

Between 11am - 12noon
Children's Hand bell performance
Language taster session *
Tea Ceremony *
Animation Workshop *

Between 12noon - 2pm
Kendo Martial Art demonstration
Kimono fashion show
Koto Music performance

Between 2pm - 4pm
Story telling session
Japanese poetry reading
Language taster session *
Tea Ceremony *
Animation Workshop *

All Day events & exhibition
Origami, Japanese Calligraphy, Haiku poetry writing
How to use chopsticks, Traditional children's games & toys
Yukata (cotton kimono) dressing
Children's paintings display
Exhibition of Japanese paintings
Japanese artefacts display
Bonsai display
Japanese food for sale
Exhibition of Japanese Tea House created by Japanese architect Takeshi Hayatsu and Cardiff University Architecture students

and much more!

Sounds like a great day out. For more information contact the library through its website, by email or by phone on 02920 382116

The MCM London Comic Con takes place next week (May 24th-26th) and AUKN have been given something of a rundown of what will take place at their booth:

LIVE MANGA PODCAST

Manga Entertainment are pleased to inform that this year they will be enthralling show visitors with another fantastic live podcast! Come and check out MCM Theatre A for big new announcements, exclusive clips, all the latest hot off the press news on upcoming releases and as always, lots of entertainment and fun. Not to be missed!

MANGA BOOTH

Head over to the Manga booth which comes with all the traditional highlights including:
- the lively Cosplay Area with free photo-booth. Manga are generously offering £100 worth of free Manga DVDs and Blu-rays to the Best Male and Best Female cosplayers and a £200 bag worth of Manga goodies to the best group. Winners to be announced on MangaUK.com after the event!
- the Viz Media booth which will have special Expo exclusive prices and offers.
- Terratag and Urban Species Tees with exclusive Laughing Man, Transformers, My Little Pony & DC comics T-shirts.
- the awesome Manga stall - all catering to your retail needs, including stacks of amazing bargains with DVDs and Blu-rays at rockbottom prices (DVDs starting at £2, Blu-rays from £5).

EXCLUSIVES

When perusing the Manga booth, keep an eye out for some fantastic exclusive offers, available only at Comic Con. Key highlights include an limited edition One Piece Collection 1 tote bag, complete with cool One Piece merchandise and box set and High School of the Dead: Drifters of the Dead OVA on DVD. Many other great titles such as Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn are available too!

MAGNIFICENT MANGA UK MEGA MAMMOTH PRIZE DRAW

The ultimate anime prize is up for grabs at Comic Con! 
Every anime fan’s dream comes alive with a plentiful bounty of anime goodies including every Dragon Ball Z Box set to date (Seasons 1-7), and an abundance of merchandise, Blu-rays, DVDs and more!

Bathe, luxuriate and indulge in an incredible hamper of anime collectibles worth over £1000! From Evangelion to Fullmetal Alchemist, Ghost In The Shell to Tiger & Bunny, there’s something for everyone in this prize draw!

You will automatically receive a free raffle ticket when you spend over £5 at the Manga stall. Entrants must enter before 2pm Sunday 26th. 20 runners up will also win a copy of Hellsing Ultimate: Vol. 5-8 Collection.

For more about Manga Entertainment, visit their website and twitter feed.

TV Tokyo have released the first five minutes of Makoto Shinkai’s latest film just after its premiere at the Gold Coast Film Festival and ahead of its release in Japan.


Synopsis

We met, for each of us to start off.

Takao was skipping high school, sketching shoes in a Japanese garden, trying to become a shoemaker, when he encounters a mysterious woman, Yukino. Without arranging it they end up meeting again and again, only on rainy days, deepening their relationship and opening up to each other. But the end of the rainy season soon approaches...

The film lasts for 46 minutes but I am sure we all agree based on this clip that those 46 minutes are going to be sublime. Garden of Words goes on theatrical release in Japan on May 31st.

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Hey UK cosplayers, AUKN have gotten word of an awesome sounding event where you can meet two veterans of the cosplay world and take part in a workshop orchestrated by them. Here are the details:
Cosplay Workshop at Asia House

On 18th May, Asia House in London will host a cosplay workshop with veteran cosplayers Emily Bastian and Adelaide Filippe, as part of a day of fun manga activities. The workshop will be a chance for cosplayers to get hands-on experience of different techniques.

Emily has been cosplaying and making her own costumes since 2001 and is the organiser for the cosplay contests at Hyper Japan, while Adelaide is a professional creature artist in the movie industry but also makes costumes for fun.

We’ll kick off the workshop with a short talk, explaining how to go about putting a costume together and to introduce participants to some simple sewing and prop making techniques. Then everyone will have two hours to work on either sewing or prop making – your choice.

You can bring your own costumes to work on, or have a go at making your very own cosplay accessory with the materials provided. Choose from making a pair of cosplay ears, a small piece of armour or your own design. Emily and Adelaide will take you the making process through step by step. Everyone who takes part in the workshop will also receive a worksheet and fabric sample pack to take home.

The workshop costs £12 for 3 hours, including materials (£10 for concessions). You can book tickets here: http://fal-cosplayworkshop.eventbrite.co.uk/

There will also be a manga market on the day which is open to the public, free of charge. Why not come in costume and get some photos in the lovely surroundings of Asia House?

For more information and to book tickets, please visit this site.

Where: Asia House
63 New Cavendish St
W1G 7LP London
United Kingdom

When: Saturday, May 18, 2013 from 1:45 PM to 3:15 PM (BST)

Anime UK News has had a press release about the upcoming release of One Piece Collection 1 courtesy of Manga Entertainment. This release is uncut and features 650 minutes of action. It is released on May 27th and it is available to pre-order from Amazon.

Here’s the PR:

Shiver me timbers, if it isn’t the UK’s most requested anime series! Featuring the first 26 episodes of the smash hit anime, One Piece: Collection 1 follows rubber-limbed Monkey D. Luffy and his crew of Straw Hat Pirates as he searches for the fabled One Piece treasure in a bid to become the next King of the Pirates. Super-powered action, barrels of laughs and occasional tear-jerking moments await Luffy and friends as they set sail on the ultimate of sea adventures. A true anime classic!

Synopsis:

Monkey D. Luffy is a boy with big dreams. This daring rubber-man refuses to let anyone or anything stand in the way of his quest to become king of all pirates. With a course charted for the treacherous waters of the Grand Line, Luffy strikes out in search of a crew – and a boat. Along the way he’ll do battle with scallywag clowns, fishy foes, and an entire fleet of marines eager to see him walk the plank. The stakes are high, but with each adventure, Luffy adds a new friend to his crew of Straw Hat Pirates! Like his hero Shanks, this is one captain who’ll never drop anchor until he’s claimed the greatest treasure in the world – the Legendary One Piece!

Special Features:

• Staff Commentaries
• Textless Songs
• Trailers

The UK anime community heard some great news when it was revealed that Shinichiro Watanabe will be attending the London MCM Expo (May 24th-26th) but it seems that Watanabe-san will be spending some time in the north of the UK as well since he is going to be making an appearance all the way in Edinburgh.

Scotland Loves Animation (SLA) has confirmed on its websites that Shinichiro Watanabe, director of Cowboy Bebop and Kids on the Slope, will visit Edinburgh on Tuesday, May 28th for a Q&A.

According to the SLA website, the event takes place at the Scotsman Screening Room (inside the Scotsman Hotel and just out from Waverley station).

The address is: Scotsman Hotel, 20 North Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1TR

19:00 - Doors open
19:10 - Introduction from Shinichiro Watanabe
19:15 - Screening of two [episodes] from Cowboy Bebop - picked by the director himself!
20:05 - Q+A session
20:40 - Signing session, 1 item per person.

£5.99: Entry to the event plus an exclusive A4 print – only available at this screening. These go on sale on Tuesday the 7th of May.

£19.99: Entry to the event + 2 x A4 prints AND a copy of Cowboy Bebop Collector's Blu-Ray – Part 1 when it's released at the end of July courtesy of Anime Limited and on sale now!

SALES LINK FOR TICKETS

Source

Anime Limited has revealed what were the top ten best-selling anime in April and over the course of the year so far.

Highest Sales Overall

 

1)    Pokemon 4ever – Canal UK
2)    Persona 4: The Animation – Box 2 – Kaze / Manga
3)    Spirited Away – Canal UK
4)    My Neighbour Totoro – Canal UK
5)    The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – Manga UK
6)    Howl's Moving Castle – Canal UK
7)    Arrietty – Canal UK
8)    Okami-San & Her Seven Companions – Manga UK
9)    Redakai: Season Conquer the Kairu – Manga UK
10)  Naruto Shippuden: Box Set 12 – Manga UK

All of these releases sold over 300 copies, with Pokemon 4ever selling over 1,050. The range given is reportedly "not out of the ordinary" for a regular month, but may change over the next few months due to the return of HMV.

Top Selling New Releases in April

 

1)    Persona 4: The Animation – Box 2 – Kaze / Manga
2)    Okami-San & Her Seven Companions – Manga UK
3)    King of Thorn – Manga UK
4)    Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan – Series 1, Part 1 – Kaze / Manga
5)    Fractale – Manga
6)    Tiger & Bunny: Part 2 – Kaze / Manga
7)    Oblivion Island – Manga
8)    Loups=Garous – Manga
9)    Shana: Series 2, Part 2 – MVM
10)  Ga-Rei Zero – MVM

All of these releases sold over 100 with Persona 4 selling under 800. Vampire Princess Miyu narrowly missed out, coming 11.

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Naruto, the hugely popular manga and anime series, celebrates 10 years of ninja action and success and as part of a tribute to Masashi Kishimoto’s title, some of Japan’s most well-known manga-ka have created illustrations showing Naruto done in their style like this great example from Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo creator Yoshio Sawai.

Thankfully Rocketnews 24 have collected the images together where there are other highlights like Akira Toriyama mixing DBZ and Naruto characters so why not check them out and let us know what you think.

Anime News Network reported information about the release for Studio Ghibli’s last film From Up On Poppy Hill last Friday. According to a representative of StudioCanal, "It will probably primarily be the English dubbed (version) with just 1 or 2 (screens) doing the Japanese dub." The English dubbed version features a cast including Gillian Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Beau Bridges, Christina Hendricks, Ron Howard, Chris Noth, Aubrey Plaza and Anton Yelchin.



Set in 1963 in the run up to the Tokyo Olympics this coming of age tale takes place in Yokohama and follows the life of a high school girl named Umi Komatsuzaki. Her father, a sailor, is missing and her photographer mother travels frequently so she helps run a lodging house with the rest of her family. Umi's efforts to protect the lodging house draws new emotions from her friendship with two boys, Shun Kazama, a school newspaper member and Mizunuma, student council president.

There will also be a cinema release of “the 1988 Ghibli films My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies, to celebrate their joint 25th anniversary. The re-release will be "in cinemas nationwide on May 24."

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