I’m off on my travels again – not Japan this time, but the sun soaked Socialist republic of to Havana. Ten days of snorkelling, rum, fat Cuban cigars and blissfully internet free chilling awaits me. As a result there will be no updates here for a while – and my ninja-like accomplice Flotsky will be moderating comments here – and I’ll reply to them all when I get back. Apologies in advance.
First off I’d just like to say a huge thank you to everyone that read my list of ten anime films you should see before you die – the response has been phenomenal – not just the number of people that read it, but also those that took the time out to get involved in the following discussion at Reddit, Stumbleupon, Twitter as well as here on TMB. Some people loved my selections, some people thought I was well off the mark, but it was clear that there was no way I was going to be able to avoid putting together another list, this time of TV series and OVAs.
I’ve been wanting to check out the bestselling Manga Guide series since I first saw images of them when they were published in Japan, so I was thrilled this week when I received the first four English translations, courtesy of their US publisher No Starch Press. I’ve already got a large and random collection of teach-yourself, ‘Dummies guide’ style manuals covering everything from web development to postmodernist theory, so combining that format with manga artwork was obviously going going to snare my interest. The question was though, where the books serious study aids or just another Japanophile curiosity?
Images courtesy of the brilliant Ghibli Blog.
You may remember that earlier in the year I reported that animation god Hayao Miyazaki was drawing an aviation based manga Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises) for Japanese magazine Model Graphix. Well, it seems he’s been enjoying returning to his mangaka roots, and is now considering penning a sequel to his classic film Porco Rosso for the magazine. He prototyped the movie in manga form for the mag back in 1990 in the form of Hikōtei Jidai, the French translation of which being the source of these fantastic images. Anime News Network has the lowdown:
