The 7th annual Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) was held on March 28-30 at Tokyo Big Site. TAF is the one of the largest animation fairs in the world with the participation of around 290 animation related businesses and more than 100,000 visitors this year.
The 2nd Seiyu Awards (声優アワード; Seiyū Awādo) were presented at the UDX Theater in Akihabara, Tokyo, on March 8, 2008. The awards are presented for recognition of the voice acting talents in anime (and other media) in Japan.
Mamoru Miyano won the best lead actor award, while Aya Hirano claimed the best lead actress award. Complete list of winners available on Wikipedia.
Wonder Festival is an biannual event in Tokyo which showcases figurines and miniatures which attracts thousands of Otakus each time. The 2008 winter fest was held in late February.
You can view more pictures at Akibana, Akiba-Ch, Akibablog, Heisei and Dengeki. Mind that some of the pics are not safe for work.
A weird, cute and fun Japanese video with 3D computer graphics (and animations)…
The main character (with turquoise hair) of the video is Hatsune Miku (初音ミク), a character from Vocaloid, a singing synthesizer application software developed by the Yamaha Corporation that enables users to synthesize singing by just typing in lyrics and melody.
The first song is titled “Kurutto, Mawatte, Ikkaiten”, adapted from the ending theme of anime “Sgt Frog” (ケロロ軍曹; Keroro Gunsō). I am guessing that the voice is how the software (or Hatsune Miku) should sound like.
The 2nd song is “Caramell Dansen” by Swedish group Caramell. (Hat tip to reader Brighty)
Hong Kong actor and director Stephen Chow is working with Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox to produce a live movie adapted from popular Japanese manga “Dragon Ball”.
The best 100 anime theme song selected by popular Japanese forum, 2Channel’s users…
“The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu; 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱) is a 2006 television anime based on the light novels of Suzumiya Haruhi. It is one of the most popular animes in recent years.
The anime adaptation is directed by Tatsuya Ishihara; the main original Japanese voice actors/actresses (seiyū) include Aya Hirano, Tomokazu Sugita, Minori Chihara, Yuko Goto and Daisuke Ono etc.
Buy the anime series – Volume 1
Japanese paper goods company Banbix has teamed up with newspaper manga artist and TV celebrity Yakumi Tsuru to sell toilet paper with his manga drawings and 4 panel comics printed on it. [Hat tip to Japansugoi]
Japanese manga fans can enjoy their reading while doing serious business now…
