Features 566
Books: Last and First Idol
By Jonathan Clements. For the second year in a row, Gengen Kusano managed to cause a stir at the Seiun Awards, clambering ahead of the competition to secure the prize for best short story for his tale “Dark Seiyuu”. Unless I’m much mistaken, he added another achievement to his resumé by becoming the first Japanese […]
Music: Konomi Suzuki
By Shelley Pallis. Anime music has always played a large role in the life and career of singer Konomi Suzuki. The 22-year-old star boasts that it was the sight of Sheryl Nome, the blond-tressed “Galactic Fairy” from Macross Frontier, who first inspired her to seek a career in music. Macross Frontier wasn’t released until 2008, […]
Books: BM Manga
By Jonathan Clements. From the exacting way that curator Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere’s introduction refers to her British Museum exhibition as “Manga マンガ”, it seems that almost everybody who attended has failed to realise that the word is supposed to be said twice. This is not the BM “manga” exhibition, it is the BM “manga manga” […]
Of Flesh and Blood
By Jeremy Clarke. In the West, Hirokazu Koreeda remains Japan’s highest-profile, living, live-action film director. Shoplifters (2018) picked up over eighty awards nominations this year including the Best Foreign-Language Picture Golden Globe and Oscar. A Blu-ray box set of four key films, each with a new commentary, plus some excellent extras and a useful book […]
Gun Gale Online 2
By Andrew Osmond. If you haven’t seen the first volume of Gun Gale Online, we introduce it here; it’s spun off from the Sword Art Online franchise, but it’s quite possible to start with Gun Gale if you want. The end of the first volume set up the plucky Karen, known online as the pink […]