Nakama Britannica

Magic performing alchemists, L singing Blur karaoke and Solid Snake vanishing into a cardboard box! This year’s MCM Expo had more magic (and mischief) than previous shows but mixed in with the same old regulars: the gaming section, manga artist alley, scandalous cosplay kids were a few extra addictions. This year’s expo included some of [...]

 Even manga and anime fans get credit crunched. I learnt this the hard way. Anyone who has watched the anime classic, Genshiken, will know the dilemma faced by an otaku when he walkes into a clothes shop, reluctantly, being forced to buy new clothes. I mean, seriously, being an anime and manga fan costs a [...]

When people think of Japanese stereotypes, samurais and ninjas must be the most disseminated ones in pop culture. Ninjas were spies and assassins, warriors said to possess the powers of ninjutsu, the ninja techniques, and the image of the ninja dressed all in black is a powerful one.
Samurais in their full armour are also a [...]

Sometimes you can just watch too much anime even if you don’t watch that much. The amount of new series being released can be overwhelming to the point where you just have to step back for a while because you can’t tell if a series is good or if a series is bad anymore, it [...]

Albeit that when I had the epiphany, I didn’t actually intend it to be in anyway sequential, I realise now that one of the notes I most wanted to convey in my last article (that anime characters are strangely diverse, likeable and unique), must inevitably occupy the same territory as those at the heart of [...]

Shounen is absurdly popular, period.  And just like Naruto or Bleach, other shounen shows helped anime sneak into Western pop culture way before most would expect.
The oldest anime I remember watching was Astro Boy. Astro is officially the first anime serialization of all times and it defined many aesthetic standards of what is called anime. [...]

One of the more poignant news items I’ve read recently is that the London Anime Club (LAC) intends to “close doors” by the end of 2008. The cited reason is plain and simple: low attendances, with the popularity of “the London Expo”, “fansubs” and the accessibility of popular anime and manga in “mainstream shops” all [...]

Silly as it may seem posting an article like this on an anime related blog but the internet does the wonderful service of giving the user whichever degree anonymity they so choose. Well thank heavens for that because if the people I know found out I watched cartoons then I would have to carry that [...]

I’ve found that often being a fan of anime and manga goes hand-in-hand with an interest in Japanese culture and tradition. The influence Western media has had on them is well-known of course, but to my mind it had more of a bearing on the superficial, aesthetic side of things; from a thematic and character-driven [...]

On Saturday, I returned home from my holiday in Hastings. Incidentally, it was fantastic! On our return home we always visit somewhere on the way back in order to delay our return home. This particular time we visited the De La War Pavilion at Bexhill-on-Sea. Exhibited there was a collection by artist Nathan Coley. Coley’s [...]