Author: Jonathan Clements

May 8, 2015 · 0 comments

By Jonathan Clements. An illustration by Tsuyuki Kocho shows the famous artist Hokusai at work with his assistant, his daughter Oei (or Oi). The picture is dated 1843, only a few years before Hokusai’s death, when he was increasingly reliant on his divorcee daughter to care for him. Hokusai himself is partly obscured, crouching over […]

May 5, 2015 · 0 comments

By Ellis Tinios. Hokusai (1760-1849) is the best-known Japanese artist on the world stage and enjoys equal renown in his homeland. The appetite for his art appears to be insatiable — ‘Hokusai’ exhibitions invariably draw huge crowds. His print image ‘The Great Wave’ is firmly established as a global icon. The Hokusai manga (Hokusai’s sketchbooks) […]

May 3, 2015 · 0 comments

By Paul Browne There’s a grittiness to the song ‘Uragiri no Yuyake’ by funk rock outfit Theatre Brook that seems perfectly in-step with the themes of Durarara!!, the anime it opens for. The series explores the lives of a group of friends on the streets of Ikebukuro, in particular Mikado Ryūgamine and Masaomi Kida, friends […]

April 30, 2015 · 0 comments

By Paul Browne The anime series Tiger & Bunny delivered a fresh take on the concept of superheroes. Set in a fictionalized version of New York, the series focuses on the work of sponsored heroes – in particular the veteran Kotetsu T. Kaburagi aka “Wild Tiger” and his new young rookie partner Barnaby Brooks Jr. aka “Bunny”. […]

April 28, 2015 · 0 comments

By Meghan Ellis. There are two things that jump out at you when you first play Hakuoki, whether you’re familiar with the visual novel genre or not; firstly, that it’s been made by people who obviously really love what they’re doing, and secondly that this game is going to school players in 19th century Japanese […]