It's been nearly 20 years since Spring Logan of Tulare fell in love with Japanese animation known as anime. Marriage and two kids later, her attraction to the art is as strong as ever. "I like the art and storytelling," Logan said. "In Japan, they aren't afraid to use animation as a medium. Anime voice actors are treated like rock stars."

Logan, 35, her husband Frederick and sister Belle Morrow are members of Anime Visalia, a local anime club that meets monthly. Anime Visalia meetings are typically held the last Saturday of the month at the Tulare County Library.

Gregory Lipscomb, the clubs moderator, said the meetings are loose knit and no membership is required to join. The five-hour meetings include anime viewing, board games and video games. "Some come just for specific episodes depending on what they like," he said. "But anyone can come at any time."

Attendance at meetings is currently at about 30, but Lipscomb said it's different people all the time, including parents. "I applaud parents for coming to see what we have so they can make a decision on what their children can see," Lipscomb said. "We try and keep everything PG-13 or lighter but with the cultural differences sometimes things get by."

American influence
The popularity of Disney cartoons in the 1930s along with the American comics brought to Japan after World War II by American GIs inspired Japanese artist to create something similar, Lipscomb said.

Graphic novels known as manga were born and targeted to all ages. Traditional manga, Japanese for comics or cartoons, are read right to left. Some versions in the United States are flipped for American readers. Textbooks at major universities in Japan sometimes include manga to help teach subjects like electronics and quantum physics.

Anime Visalia meetings also include manga readings. "[Anime] is popular all over the world. It's a unique export from Japan," Lipscomb said. "It was inspired by American comics and animation and we're cashing in our dividends of inspiration after World War II."

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Welcome to Capsule Computers’ weekly anime segment, Anime Say! Each week I will be diving into some of the biggest anime related topic of the week and having my say on anything that matters in the anime world. This week, I go discuss the state of anime piracy. Is it still a problem facing the anime industry? You can check out this week’s Anime Say! below.

Got any questions for Anime Say? Send all your queries to anime@capsulecomputers.com and I will do my best to answer anything you can throw at me. What do you think of the tenth episode of Anime Say? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.

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Welcome back the Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse, heroes of the “Fullmetal Alchemist” franchise. You may not know them, but plenty of anime fanatics do: a manga that began in 2001, the property later became two television series (one still on the Cartoon Network) and later a feature. (“The Sacred Star of Milos” is the sequel.)

You’ll find only eye-blink references to their origins in “Sacred Star” (devotees only, I’m afraid). So, for the uninitiated: when Ed and Al’s mother died, Ed used the forbidden practice of human alchemy to bring her back, but at a dear price. He lost an arm and a leg, and Al lost his body. Now Al inhabits a robotic frame (resembling a shorter, spiked cousin of the title character in “The Iron Giant”), and Ed uses high-tech prostheses. The two seek a philosopher’s stone (not to be confused with the British title to the first Harry Potter book) that will enable them to reclaim their bodies.

And where are they now? In a vast canyon housing the Milos, poor people oppressed by the Cretans, who live above. There the brothers join forces with the Milos, as well as with Julia, a budding alchemist, and her mysterious brother, Ashleigh. Let the animated phantasmagoria begin: explosions, bolts of enchantment and colorful conflagrations signifying little to this viewer.

That said, early steampunk flavorings, including the Black Bats — flying female antagonists in Art Deco regalia — have charm. And the widescreen canvas is an improvement over television’s limited expanse. But if you’re not among the indoctrinated, don’t bother.

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Horipro, one of the major talent agencies in Tokyo, annouced an Anime Vision Development initiative to cultivate new voice actors and anime theme song singers. One of their talents, May'n, who had her big break doing the singing parts for Macross Frontier's Sheryl Nome, has been a hit on her Asia tour in places like Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Singapore. She has a solo show coming up in March at the Yokohama Arena (which has a capacity of 17,000 people).
 
Inspired by her success and eager to emulate it, Horipro held their first Future Generation Voice Actress Audition event last year as their 36th Talent Scouting Caravan. Over 10,000 people applied! Check out the winner, Azusa Tadokoro:

It's not as if it's rare for Horipro talents to be involved in anime related projects—Tatsuya Fujiwara played the title role in the live action Kaiji movies and Kenichi Matsuyama co-starred in the live action Gantz movies—but now the office is even investing in animated movies, such as Letter to Momo, which hits Japanese theaters this April.

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A lot of cosplayers do not attempt to cosplay as characters from older anime, or shows that are not easily recognized. We've all been there: when not a single person walks up to you and asks you for a picture… not because your cosplay isn't good but because they simply don't know who you are cosplaying as. This happens for a few reasons. One: they feel embarrassed for not knowing what series you are from, and two: you aren't from Naruto, and you aren't a Vocaloid, so they just don't care.

Recently, my special friend Danielle and I attended the Winter edition of Sacramento’s own Sac-Anime as “Kazumi Amano” and “Noriko Takaya” from studio Gainax’s 1988 original Gunbuster series, known to Japanese fans as Top o Nerae! or “Aim for the Top!” A few older fans recognized us, saying things such as, “I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d see a Gunbuster cosplay again,” and “Gunbuster was my very first anime, 16 years ago...”

The thing about cosplaying obscure characters is that, sure, not a lot of people will recognize you, but the ones that do will flip out! They will fan so hard it’ll make all the times that someone asked what you were from worth it. Danielle and I were asked who we were/what we were non-stop, and eventually we just told everyone we were from Naruto.
 
A lot of people cleverly guessed that we were cosplaying from the Battle Athletes Victory series, which aired almost ten years after Gunbuster, to which we replied, “We wish.”

So, why did we choose to cosplay characters from Gunbuster? Because we like the series, of course! In this great era of cosplay, you see the same characters done over and over again. This year, Poison from Final Fight was very popular, as well as Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt characters. Although the cosplayers themselves did a great job, seeing the same characters over and over again removes some of the shock factor. So what’s an attention-seeking, energetic cosplayer to do to break the mold? I say, look to the stars! By which I mean, the classics, and that’s what we did.

To sum up the plot of Gunbuster: Noriko and Kazumi are mecha pilots who train together with Coach Ota and representatives from all over the Solar System, in preparation for their attack on the “Space Terrible Monster Crowd.” Genius, right?
 
Our costumes were very easy to make, and cost us nearly nothing. We both reused wigs from previous cosplays. Mine was formerly an Alto Saotome (Macross F) and Danielle’s was used first for Kumi Mashiba (Eyeshield 21). We ordered leotards from a Dance Wear site online (after failing to dye our own TERRIBLY) and painted the white stripe on with fabric paint. The sweaters were purchased and modified, then painted with velveteen fabric paint to give them a tracksuit-like feel. We made the socks, wristbands, and hair accessories ourselves. I think I spent a total of 20 dollars, thanks to recycling pieces from older cosplay.

So, although not many people noticed us, we had more fun than anyone else at the con. From working out in the hotel gym, to hardcore dancing outside while the DJ spun Pokémon song remixes, we were constantly running around. It’s hard not to be energetic while wearing a leotard.  I encourage all of you to start working on your full body Devilman cosplays now!

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Recently added to Crunchyroll's streaming lineup, mystery-horror anime Another will also be joining Sentai Filmworks' stable this year. Sentai has announced plans to release the anime digitally "soon," with a DVD and Blu-ray release to follow later in 2012.
 
The 12-episode series is based on the light novel by Yukito Ayatsuji, which features illustrations by Haruhi Suzumiya's Noizi Ito. Another is directed by Tsutomu Mizushima (Blood C, Kobato, xxxHolic), with series composition by Moribito's Ryo Higaki, and character design adaptations by Persona - Trinity Soul's Yuriko Ishii.
 
Sentai's synopsis of the series:
Mei Misaki was cute, athletic and one of the most popular girls in her school.  Why should a little thing like death change that? Now, 23 years after Mei’s mysterious demise, a new transfer student discovers that not only is his school’s student body one corpse short of a full roster, but that some secrets never leave high school.  And what’s more, all of this may somehow be tied into his own family past.  What is the secret and how does it all connect?  And even if Kouichi does figure it out, will that knowledge help save him?  As the school bells toll a deadly dirge and students begin to die, things that were never properly buried come back to haunt the high school of the damned in ANOTHER!

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Welcome to Capsule Computers’ weekly anime segment, Anime Say! Each week I will be diving into some of the biggest anime related topic of the week and having my say on anything that matters in the anime world. This week, I go through my first impressions of the Winter 2012 anime season. What do I think of this season? You can check out this week’s Anime Say! below.

Got any questions for Anime Say? Send all your queries to anime@capsulecomputers.com and I will do my best to answer anything you can throw at me.  What do you think of the ninth episode of Anime Say? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.

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Harold Perrineau may never get the chance to play a live-action version of the half-vampire superhero Blade, so thank goodness for animation. Perrineau voices the bloodsucker-hunting Eric Brooks in Blade, the latest Marvel original animé series airing 12 half-hour weekly episodes on G4 beginning Friday night (11 ET/PT). The previous three animé series based on Marvel Comics characters —X-Men, Wolverine and Iron Man— have all proven successful for the cable network. G4 called Perrineau and offered him the role of Blade, and the actor had been a big fan of Wesley Snipes' three movies as the stylish supernatural guy.

"When the first one came out (in 1998), me and Wesley were friends and I said, 'Yo! If there's another one, I gotta be in it!' But that never happened," Perrineau says, laughing. "This was my chance to jump in."
Perrineau wasn't familiar with the Marvel comics, so he has learned on the fly about Blade's origin and how his mother was bitten by a vampire. That monstrous bloodline gives Blade super strength and a desire for the old plasma, but he's also invulnerable to sunlight. (He doesn't sparkle, however. That would just be silly.)

The actor says the animé takes place in a universe similar to Snipes' films, where there's a council of vampires and Blade has friends when things get bad, such as fellow hunter Makoto. But because the animé was originally done in Japan, Perrineau says there's "this great Asian influence" as Blade travels to Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines and other places searching for the villainous Deacon Frost (who was played by Stephen Dorff in the movie).

All these locales have different mythology about vampires, Perrineau says, "so the vampires that Blade fights are all just a little bit different." Plus, he adds, "this is the first time you've had some more back story about Blade: where he comes from, why he was made, what his mission is."

Perrineau says he was wowed by the original animation. "There's a lot of love and loss and fighting and cool stuff in it. It is really, really beautiful to look at it, so if you're a fan of the comic, this is going to set you off in a really great way." But it also helped him connect with the character. While Snipes' Blade made sense in the 1990s, this Blade is a little more updated. Perrineau sees him as a cross between Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Mike Tyson.

"They're both really threatening guys but they have a different edge," Perrineau says. "He's got the tattoos on his head à la Mike, but he's really a big strapping dude that practices his martial arts."Hearing the Japanese version also enabled him to figure out the timbre he needed his voice to be and then make it his own.

"Blade is an introverted guy, so I deepened it as much as I can," Perrineau says. "He doesn't have a life minus tension. It's just always intense. I tried to find a low sort of growl that he could express things on his way to getting (stuff) done."

The Brooklyn native is excited about revisiting geek-friendly projects, since he has had quite a few: He played the troubled Michael Dawson on Lost and the pilot Link in the Matrix trilogy. (He's currently filming the upcoming TBS comedy The Wedding Band.)

There's a bit of sympathy and torment in those characters, and that stuff reads into his acting, Perrineau says. "But (Blade) is strong and powerful and vulnerable so it's cool to come back, and hopefully people will hear some of the things they've heard in my voice if they know my work. "In real life, unless I get to the gym and work out 200 hours a day, I'm never going to play that character," he adds, laughing. "But I'm hoping that you still buy my voice."

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We're just days away from the Friday, January 13th, premiere of the Blade anime series at 11:00 pm on G4TV, and to entice you further into the animated world of the Daywalker, we have the first clip hot and fresh for you right here. Dig it!

Blade was directed by Mitsuyuki Masuhara (Chi's Sweet Home, Kobato) and written by Kenta Fukasaku (Battle Royale). Tetsuya Takahashi (Appleseed, Resident Evil: Degeneration, previous Marvel anime series) handles the music.

"Harold Perrineau voices Eric Brooks, the supernatural Daywalker known as Blade, making his animated series debut with more action, terrifying villains, and bloodthirsty monsters than you've ever seen before. Following in the steps of other hit Marvel anime series, Blade offers viewers 12 half-hour weekly episodes destined to leave you wanting more, exclusively on G4."

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Welcome to Capsule Computers’ weekly anime segment, Anime Say! Each week I will be diving into some of the biggest anime related topic of the week and having my say on anything that matters in the anime world. This week, I go through my top 5 worst anime series of 2011. What anime made the cut for worst anime of 2011? You can check out this week’s Anime Say! below.

Got any questions for Anime Say? Send all your queries to anime@capsulecomputers.com and I will do my best to answer anything you can throw at me. What do you think of the seventh episode of Anime Say? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.

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