Japan 377
Durarara!!x2: Ten
By Andrew Osmond. For the benefit of newbies to this franchise, Durarara!!x2: Ten is not where you want to start. This release is effectively volume three of a madcap crime-comedy-fantasy series set in modern Tokyo, with a headless faerie biker and an army of Anonymous keyboard warriors. All the earlier episodes are available from Anime […]
Black Butler Music: AKIRA
By Tom Smith. Fashion and music often go hand-in-hand (Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and 6%DOKIDOKI, Kanye West and Yeezus, Lady Gaga and steak), but Black Butler end theme provider AKIRA takes it one step further by being involved in anime, too; the holy trifecta of Japan’s entertainment industry. She’s appeared on the cover of alternative fashion […]
Books: Ambient Media
By Jasper Sharp. Studies of Japan’s media have predominantly focused on commercial cultural products such as anime, manga, film, music and literature, while sidestepping the provocative notion that, with its variegated patchwork of sounds, flashing lights and screens that play such a key role in defining the moods and tempos of its distinct urban areas, […]
Ajin: Demi-Human
By Andrew Osmond. Based on a red-hot manga by Gamon Sakurai, Ajin is part of the resurgence of horror anime which began with the world-beating Attack on Titan. The protagonist is Kei Nagi, a withdrawn Japanese schoolboy. He lives in a present-day Japan, but with a tweaked history; seventeen years ago, a number of ‘Ajin’ […]
The Shinkai Effect?
By Andrew Osmond. This June an eye-catching TV advert debuted in Japan, promoting the humble cup noodle. The advert reinterpreted, of all things, Kiki’s Delivery Service. Technically, that’s not the same as a reworking of Studio Ghibli’s Kiki. Kiki was a book before it was Miyazaki’ed, and it’s had non-Ghibli incarnations as a live-action film […]