Comics artist and movie director Katsuhiro Otomo, internationally renowned for his manga “Akira” and other works, has been inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame. The announcement was made at the San Diego Comic-Con International convention on July 13. The prestigious Eisner Awards are given for outstanding achievements in comic books by U.S. comic industry professionals.

Otomo became the fourth Japanese artist and the first in eight years to be inducted. He was initially scheduled to make a guest appearance at the Comic-Con, but he had to cancel. The Hall of Fame was introduced in 1987. Past inductees include greats such as the awards' namesake Will Eisner, along with Stan Lee, Moebius and Winsor McCay.

The previous Japanese inductees are Osamu Tezuka (2002) and "Lone Wolf and Cub" creators Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima (2004). It is rare for artists outside of the United States to be inducted.

In recent years, the Eisner Awards judges select two persons to be automatically included into the Hall of Fame and choose a dozen or so nominees from which industry professionals select four winners through a voting process.

Otomo was the first Japanese artist to be chosen through voting, a measure of the high regard in which he is held. This year, "Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths" (Drawn and Quarterly), an autobiographical manga by Shigeru Mizuki, won the award in the Best U.S. Edition of International Material--Asia category. The manga previously won the Heritage Award at the Angouleme International Comics Festival in 2009.

In addition, "A Bride's Story" by Kaoru Mori (published by Yen Press); "The Drops of God" by Tadashi Agi and Shu Okimoto (Vertical); "Saturn Apartments" by Hisae Iwaoka (Viz Media); "Stargazing Dog" by Takashi Murakami (NBM); and "Wandering Son" by Takako Shimura (Fantagraphics) were in the running in the category. Naoki Urasawa's "20th Century Boys," which was nominated in the Best Continuing Series category with four other works, missed out this year.

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"Hakaiju," an apocalyptic horror manga series by Shingo Honda, has been adapted into a live-action short film. The promotional video clip was produced by horror film "Henge" director Hajime Ohata and special effects director Kiyotaka Taguchi.

The video clip is available on the "Henge" official website. "Hakaiju" is a popular manga series currently running in Akita Publishing Co.'s Gekkan Shonen Champion monthly comic magazine. Spanning seven volumes of manga digests, the manga has sold more than 1 million copies.

The story depicts ferocious monsters that appear out of nowhere in a town. They destroy buildings and prey on people running for their lives. The live-action short was produced to celebrate the July 11 release of "Henge" on Blu-ray and DVD, and the July 6 release of the seventh volume of "Hakaiju."

The two directors took 10 days to shoot scenes in Tokyo's busy Shinjuku district and edit them into the 80-second short. The project got off the ground after Honda and Ohata met at a theater showing "Henge." During the event, they shared an enthusiasm to produce a live-action adaptation of "Hakaiju.""I wasn't sure if a live-action adaptation could really be made," Honda said. "But the video came out so cool, and I am really excited."

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This October, many of us will come down with an interesting ailment known as Pokemon Fever. However, the good news is that the majority of its side effects are positive, meaning that most of the afflicted will experience bouts of enjoyment along with a great deal of technological addiction. After all, you’ve gotta’ catch ‘em all, right?

To get us even more excited about Pokemon Black Version 2, as well as Pokemon White Version 2, the games’ development team has released a brand new six and a half minute-long anime trailer. It sets the stage for some epic elemental battles by showing some devoted trainers and their colourful pets as they battle against one another in visceral fashion.

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My dreams sort of came true when it was announced that Marvel Entertainment would team up with the Japanese animation studio Madhouse to deliver stylish television cartoon series starring some legendary superheroes.

The latest complete sets to arrive on DVD, Blade Anime and Wolverine Anime (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, not rated, $19.99 each), each offer two discs comprising a dozen 23-minute episodes loaded with anime-inspired action.

In the past, I’ve chronicled my beef with the lazy superhero cartoon design seen in many of the stand-alone animated movies spearheaded by Marvel and DC. The only standouts, including “Batman: Gotham Knight” and “Halo Legends,” caught my attention because of some amazing work from a stable of anime artists.

So this appears to be a perfect opportunity to let sequential art shine through the animated format. Let’s start with “Wolverine Anime,” a series highlighting the feral mutant’s tragic time in Japan and his attempt to rescue his true love, Mariko Yashida.

Legendary comic writer Warren Ellis crafts a template for the adventure based on the work of Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s miniseries from the 1980s.

Unfortunately, the totally miscast voice of actor Milo (“Heroes”) Ventimiglia as Logan is twinned with a horribly misshapen, elongated and lanky design for Wolverine. The gruff, growling Canuck no longer resembles the compact, squatting bull in a china shop fans know and universally love. And is that a mullet? Yikes!

All is not lost, as viewers get an M-rated video game’s worth of bloody, hack-and-slash violence with plenty of stylish killing as our hero pulls out his Adamantium claws and challenges the crime organization Kuzuryu and A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics) terrorists.

Viewers will find lots of grunting, cries of anguish, perspiration droplets on brows and strategic sprays of blood along with beautiful females with doe eyes to appreciate. Guests such as Assassin Yukio and X-Men’s Cyclops might hold the comic-book fan’s interest.

I also enjoyed a pair of early episodes that highlight a satisfying fight between Wolverine and a Soviet mutant, the mercenary Omega Red.

Next, “Blade Anime” does not disappoint on any level, with the sword-wielding half-human, half-vampire Blade realized for his ultraviolent mission to stop his fanged brethren.

Warren Ellis offers an adaptation of Blade’s conflicted mythos (including his origin) through an adventure across Southeast Asia that also introduces Far Eastern mythology and lore tied to blood-sucking predators.

The story finds our hero out to stop mortal enemy Deacon Frost from unleashing a vampire civil war upon the world and, while in pursuit of this supervillain (who killed his mother) he runs into a bizarre creature in nearly every episode. There are tentacled torsos that split from bodies, winged harpies with blood-sucking tongues, an army of pint-sized red demons let out of a bottle, a variety of creepy mutant creatures and even an organic steel vampire to cross Blade’s exotic paths.

The series is clearly in the comfort zone of Madhouse (consider its work on “Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust”) with some incredibly visceral battles, explosive vampire kills (reference the animators’ work on Blade’s deadly sword technique and residual move used against a werewolf and a Watertiger) and unusual camera perspectives.

Actor Harold (“Lost”) Perrineau does an admirable job as the voice of Blade, while the character design deviates from the 1970s Marv Wolfman/Gene Colan version. This Blade is bald, with cranial tattoos, tinted Bono-style glasses and a mustache and goatee. He looks like a meaner version of actor Wesley Snipes’ film portrayal of the vampire killer.

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Written by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro Miyazaki, From Up on Poppy Hill is the latest animated film from Studio Ghibli to grace our shores.  Based on a popular manga by the same name, From Up on Poppy Hill follows a group of teens who attempt to prevent their school clubhouse from being demolished by a local developer.  The trailer steers away from that plot and focuses on an interesting dynamic between a young boy and girl.  From Up on Poppy Hill was released in Japan on July 16th of last year, but will be distributed domestically by GKIDS in March of next year.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer.

Thanks to The Playlist for bringing the trailer to our attention (via Punch Drunk Critics). While it doesn’t feature the fantastic elements of such classics as My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away or even last year’s The Secret World of Arrietty, it does appear to have the deft emotional touch we’ve come to expect from the studio.  You can watch the trailer below and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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The talent behind this October's anticipated A-1 Pictures' (Blue Exorcist, Anohana, Idolm@ster, and Space Brothers) adaptation of One Thousand and One Nights inspired manga series Magi - Labyrinth of Magic has been announced. Koji Masunari (Read or Die, Kamichu!, Welcome to the Space Show) will be directing the adaptation of Shinobu Ohtaka's manga, with Code Geass/My-Hime's Hiroyuki Yoshino (plus Accel World and Guilty Crown more recently) doing series composition writing.

Making the animation that much more promising, recently impressive Toshifumi Akai (And Yet the Town Moves opening, Birdy the Mighty Decode) is the character designer/animation director, while veteran Takashi Hashimoto (Project A-ko, Macross Plus) is handling the effects. Ayu Kawamoto (No. 6, Durarara!!) is on art director duties.

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To deliver an anime theme song well, you simply have to deprive it of any overly distinctive traits. Take it from Japanese singer, popular voice actress, cosplay star and television personality Shoko Nakagawa, who has single-handedly built a reputation over the past 10 years churning out theme songs for popular anime series.

The youthful-looking, doll-faced 27-year-old - whose hits include the songs for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Pokemon: Arceus And The Jewel of Life and Beelzebub - told LOUD in an e-mail interview: "Rather than make these songs my own, I always try to familiarise myself first with the world view of the anime series.

"Also, I'd imagine the anime characters in my head...It's like, I'm drawing the hero or heroine of the anime on my lyric sheet as I sing."Nakagawa, who goes by her nickname Shokotan, will be in town this Saturday for a solo concert.

It'll mark her second visit to Singapore, following her previous performance at the Anime Festival Asia in 2009. The talented multi-hyphenate brings the same commitment and work ethic to her voice acting (the art of providing voices for animated characters) projects.

One of the most memorable characters she has taken on so far is Rapunzel, for the Japanese-dubbed version of Disney's animated movie Tangled (2010), said Nakagawa. "I really love voice acting because through it, I can have extraordinary experiences which are impossible in daily life, such as fighting, wild adventures, even becoming a boy.

"The most difficult thing about voice acting is not to reveal too much colour and flavour of Shoko Nakagawa... I don't want viewers to be constantly reminded of my face while they're watching the anime."

A huge anime fan herself - Nakagawa's all-time favourite series are Sailor Moon and Neon Genesis Evangelion - she hopes local anime lovers will be just as enthusiastic at her upcoming debut solo gig here.

"I'll be doing an anime song medley, so please sing along if you know the songs... Please dance with me at the dance corner too," she urged. "We shall all enjoy, there are no language barriers too big."

One can also expect multiple costume changes from the avid cosplayer, who has donned the outfits of several classic anime and manga characters before, including Sailor Moon and Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

As much as she adores animation, Nakagawa said that growing up, her idol was actually Hong Kong gongfu legend Bruce Lee. "I started to have showbiz dreams because I love Bruce Lee and the Green Hornet TV series," she said.

Aware that there is a burgeoning anime fan scene in the West, one of Nakagawa's wishes is to head there sometime in the future. "In the next decade of my career, I would like to try my best to hold a concert in Europe or the USA," she said.

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Watching anime with an society of anime enthusiasts leads to two things, people shouting funny things at the screen and realizations based on those things being shouted at the screen.  The audience will establish nicknames for characters that will sum up the character pretty well, such as the main character of Darker than Black basically being Chinese Electric Batman and Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) basically starring Kung Fu Action Jesus.  It was then that it occurred to me that there really only three different male leads in a show; Jesus, Batman, and the Dolt.

What entails the Jesus male lead?  First off, the title isn’t to aggravate, but most easily get the point across.  This male lead is basically there to save the world or a specific group of people, they also tend to have some supernatural or unbelievable power that they wield.  As stated before Kenshiro of Hokuto no Ken is pretty much this, though he isn’t the pacifist type, so the preceding ”Kung Fu Action” classes him better.  Other examples are Adam Blade of Needless, Apollo of Genesis of Aquarion, and Takuto of Stardriver.  It’s also pretty common to see these leads will to sacrifice themselves to save everyone, but not all Jesus leads do this nor all characters who do this are Jesus leads.

What about that Batman lead?  Batmans don’t have over and beyond powers, simply being better trained or practiced.  More often than not, Batmans fight for a better cause or have some ideals though not always or right away like Hei from Darker than Black.  Batmans are generally more martial arts, but they can be an intellectual better too.  Other examples of a Batman lead are Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop, Kino from Kino’s Journey, and Kaito from Phi Brain: Puzzle of God, who listeners of the podcast may have already heard me refer to as Puzzle Batman.  Another common theme may be the Batman lead being an orphan, or losing family members at a young age, like say parents being killed by a puzzle (no, seriously).

If you really have to ask about the Dolt, you haven’t been watching enough anime.  The Dolt exists for almost no reason other than maybe advancing plot a little or just to have a male lead.  You may notice them doing absolutely nothing, making everything completely wrong, or ridiculously solving everything by accident.  There are pretty much countless examples of this in anime.  The male leads from both Deadman Wonderland and The Future Diary exist as Dolts to further the more bad-ass female leads.  This is even almost on a whole different level with Italy from Hetalia.  These are more or less are there for the audience to relate to I suppose, as well as comic relief.

Don’t think that is simply the end of it either.  Even though there are only three different male leads in anime, there are some variation with either a male lead having more than one lead type, like Vash the Stampede being Desert Dolt Jesus in Trigun or Lupin being Thief Dolt Batman in any Lupin the 3rd.  The male lead can actually transition from one type of lead to another as well, such as Rock going from Business Dolt to Business Pirate Batman in Black Lagoon.  See any flaws in my thinking or more examples of the types of male leads in your favorite anime?  Post a comment below.

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At the foot of a wrecked shrine, a beast is born in fire and destruction. Plunged into an age of war, chaos and starvation, and taught to eat human flesh by the madwoman who gave birth to him, he is called “Asura,” for the warlike Buddhist spirit, or “anti-god.”

Toei’s anime feature ASURA (????, Ashura) will begin its Japanese theatrical run on September 29th. The film has already made its North American premiere; screening at the New York Asian Film Festival/Japan Cuts in July, with the Canadian premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on August 1st.

Based on George Akiyama’s legendary banned manga (originally serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Young Magazine in 1970-1971), ASURA is a brutal anti-Miyazaki movie about the depths we’ll sink to in the worst of times. Directed by anime veteran Keiichi Sato (TIGER & BUNNY, KARAS) and featuring two legendary Japanese voice actresses, Masako Nozawa (DRAGON BALL, GALAXY EXPRESS 999) and Megumi Hayashibara (COWBOY BEBOP, NEON GENESIS EVANGELION), the film is harsh, uncompromising and relentless. But underneath the scars it has a battered, bleeding, burning human heart.

Mid-15th century Japan. Flood, drought and famine have transformed the landscape of the capital of Kyoto into a barren wasteland. More than 80,000 have perished in the three years between 1459 and 1461. This desolate state served as the backdrop to the beginning of the country’s greatest civil war. The victims of this dark period in Japan’s history were too great in number to include in the pages of history.

Orphaned as an infant after his mother tries to eat him alive, Asura is forced to learn the means to survive in the wild. He becomes a pint-sized murder machine, killing and eating everything in his path — human and animal alike — until he meets a beautiful village girl, Wakasa. Wakasa nurses him back to health, teaches him to speak, and works to turn him away from the path of barbarism. Through love she tames Asura’s beastly heart and teaches him the lessons of humanity.

But times are hard, and as disease and starvation bear down on Wakasa’s village, her poverty-stricken neighbors prove unwilling to accept the strange outsider and lash out against Asura. Though he was taught kindness, love and empathy, it is jealousy and prejudice that drives Asura as he reverts to his animalistic mindset. But he can’t help remembering the words of the Buddhist monk who tamed him once before, and the sacred, purifying sutra chant he was once taught. In this world Asura never asked to be born into, he must conquer the beast within, or die trying…

ASURA was produced using a new technique Toei Animation has developed called Hybrid Animation. It mimics “watercolor in motion”, the next evolution in traditional animation. All of the characters are animated in CG while the backgrounds are painted in traditional fashion. This allows the camera to move freely in the environment and adds realism to animation. Forging the composite between CG and 2D elements was a challenge, but Toei feels the end result is innovative and distinct, marking a new age in the history of Japanese animation.

“ASURA is a deeply moving film reflecting the destructive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan just over a year ago,” explained the film’s producer, Yoshi Ikezawa. “It personifies the collective consciousness of a people heartbroken by unimaginable disaster, only to embrace humanity and find strength in each other.”

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The screenings of winners of the 24th CG Anime Contest will be held on Oct. 27 at the Kyoto Computer Gakuin school in Kyoto to coincide with the CG Animation Cup international competition, it has been announced.

Entries for the CG Anime Contest are now being accepted through July 31. The long-established CG Anime Contest has been hosted by Osaka-based Project Team DoGa, an organization set up to promote personal animation works, since 1989. It has produced a number of professional artists. They include Makoto Shinkai, Romanov Higa and Yasuhiro Yoshiura.

Winners are usually announced on the day of the screenings. But this year, the announcements will be made on Sept. 22 at the Miyakomesse complex in Kyoto as part of the Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair 2012 to be held Sept. 21-23.

The CG Animation Cup competition has been concurrently held with the CG Anime Contest since the 20th installment of the contest. The event shows five Japanese anime works selected from the winners of the CG Anime Contest and five foreign-made animation works in a style similar to a one-on-one elimination match.

In the previous installments except for the first one, Japanese animated works were pitted against their counterparts from France. But this year, the Japanese team will compete with the EU and Taiwanese teams.

The EU team will include graduation projects produced by students at the Animation Workshop in Denmark and animated works created under the Open Workshop program offered by the animation school.

From Taiwan, animated projects recommended by the Taipei Computer Association and other entities will compete. The two events will also be available for viewing over the Internet this year on YouTube and the Nico Nico Live live-streaming website.

The online audience can get to vote for their favorite works through the Google+ social networking service by clicking the "+1 button." The service will interact with a system that can measure the sound levels of applause from the audience at the venue.

In addition, the Nico Nico Live will stream shows related to the CG Anime Contest on Saturdays during the one month period prior to the screening event to showcase previous winners of the contest.

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