Kitsune Art Exhibition at Hyper Japan: who is #moonpride ?

Recently I attended the Christmas themed Hyper Japan market, (14th-14th November, at Olmpia) the focus was more on shopping for kawaii (cute), hand made gifts, anime merchandising, cultural souvenirs and Japanese food.

Upstairs nestled between the many lolita fashion stalls and anime merchandise was a wall filled with colourful illustrations dedicated to Sailor Moon. Kitsune Art had showcased many illustrations by 100 different artists on the wall. This was not all #moonpride had to offer.

Fiunder of Kitsune art Lucia and accompanied by Renee did 'live art' by painting dunnies from Kidrobot. This resulted in a gorgous Sailor Moon and all three cats; Luna, Artemis and Diana.

This was all sold and proceeding given to Plan B charity.

Now what is Kitsune Art?

Kitsune is Japanese for 'fox' - this is all headed by Lucia Fioretti.

Born in Italy, in a town near Venice and Treviso, she was surrounded by beautiful landscapes and constantly breathing the scent their glorious artistic heritage.
Drawing has been her passion but after much manga, anime, Disney's movies, comics and fairytales/fantasy/gothic books she decided to follow the path of imaginative art as a self taught artist.
Lucia's illustrations have been shown in some collective exhibitions in north Italy, Rome, Los Angeles and Now London - Hyper Japan.

Review: Inazuma Eleven 3: Team Ogre Attacks

After much badgering from my fellow anime nerds I was obligated to try the Inzuma Eleven series of games since I was hearing more good things than bad - but the anime was so contrived I found it hard to take the game series seriously.

Inazuma Eleven was originally an anime released in 2013 using a combination of football (we're British we call it football not soccer)with magic. Starving to get into the championships. Overall not a favourite anime. However shortly after the first IE game came to DS. After a friend urged me to give this 3DS version a try after saying the magic world JRPG, this clearly is not an average sports game.

I half expected the game to be a mini Fifa but with anime cut scenes and Japanese VO. Being the first IE game on the 3DS I expected some sort of summary of the game or the story thus far, that doesn't happen you meet the man character and loads more across the world.


 Story wise your in the future, your the main character's grandson you bump into Team Ogre it’s here that we are suddenly thrown back to the present where the main character Mark Evens is training for the world cup after “his most recent victory” that is never elaborated upon.

The general jist is we follow him and his group of friends as they try to become the best players in the world, while also trying to save football against the antagonists. They are a team from 80 years in the future called 'Team Ogre' and come with the mission of destroying the Raimon Soccer Club. The game assumes that we the player are aware of the complex story and all of the character connections hates and friendships. Nope, so from what little details I remembered fro the anime I played clueless-ly to all the references. It's a shame since it's a JRPG and the crux of the game is storyline and talking.

I really enjoyed the game-play there is none other like this it's comprised of playing football and solving tasks, talking to people, finding items similar to Pokemon just no monsters! Also it's a 2D game and it's surprising easy on the eye and I liked that quality and I'm glad it wasn't 3D. Enjoying their over the top hair in chibi form! It was also cute that we could customise the equipment like we could in battles for other games, instead this is for stars to help football.


The main bulk of the game is the football matches play out with the typical rules of footie with a mix of 4v4 and 11v11 games, the player starts with the ball and uses the touch screen to control the players by dragging and tapping the screen. If the carrier comes into contact with a member of the opposite team, the game pauses and allows the player to choose their next action from a menu, they can try to dodge / charge, or they can perform a super move that will drain their SP. Every time a move is selected the game shows a short cinematic of the characters performing the action with a little number by each player showing their stats. I think it's a combination of stats and skill on the stylus.

Looking at the previous titles, not alot has changed in the game play mechanics. It's a an RPG but with spurts of football rather than fighting so it would be  an excellent game for the pre-teens to get some non violent gaming ingrained into their brains. The controls aren't easy well they are, the 3DS doesn't always interpret them the right way. So I'd say layer up your screen with a few protectors you don't want to rage scratch your precious 3DS.

I can see that Level-5 RPG had incorporated all the anime sequences well like the Professor Layton games but sadly IE did lack in other departments. The failure to integrate previous story-lines did leave me disorientated but I got the jist f what i needed to do and looked past story references and looked more towards graphics and strategy. Mixing sport with an RPG - who would of thought the unlike two could pair up to make something so fluid and enjoyable.  8/10 ~Aisha Anime~

Writing for Anifest

I totally missed the fact Anifest have added an introducing article on me on their team website.
They recently asked me to be on the team and I was ecstatic, will be nice to have a website hub again. I miss Animepicks immensely.

Hopefully will be able to bring lots of great content to Anifest- more interviews, anime reviews, music reviews, game reviews and what not XD

WHAT IS UKANIFEST ?

 UKAniFest is an anime and Film event on an epic scale, like grind house for all things asian!!

We will  incorporate everything that the avid cinema lover / Asian film lover would want at a cinema festival...

Three films that incorporate how Asian, Korean and Japanese film has finally landed to the U.K.

WHEN AND WHERE??

This will be held in a small 'arthouse' venue in 2013 and at a major London cinema in 2014.

We will showcase one anime film, one anime to live action film and one movie premiere in 2013 and 2014 will see a premiere.

We also hope to have a dealers area in the cinema so you can purchase all your figures, anime and film related merchandise!

Colourful Review & Interview with director

This year’s Japan Foundation UK annual touring film programme used a variety of enlightening movies as an introduction to Japanese cinema through the framework of ‘youth’. Showcasing one anime in the mix showing how the adults of tomorrow have been portrayed in Japanese cinema

Colorful was released originally in Japan  2010, this animated feature film is directed by Keiichi Hara. Hara-san was famous for directing hit anime from our childhood such as Doraemon and was the longest running director for Shin-Chan, the anime are important as they were the first to hit the West in Japanese and English dub and make a bridge for more to become recognised worldwide.

This anime is based on a novel of the same title by Eto Mori. Hara-San tells us (in the Q&A) that he saw the script and liked the story and decided to make it into the anime alongside animation studio Ascension. For the beautiful soundtrack he tells us he commissioned a few music producers to come up with a soundtrack that was simple but not boring and chose Kow Otan. Otan was famous for working on lot of big titles in the anime and game world such as Gundam Wing (1995), Outlaw Star (1998), Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz  Cross Fire (1998), Cross Fire (2000), The SoulTaker (2001) to9 name a few.

The story revolves around a newly dead soul reaching a train station representing limbo, an Angel named Purapura approaches the soul and explains that he is 'lucky' and will have another chance at life. He is placed in the body of a 14-year-old boy, Makoto Kobayashi, who recently committed suicide. Purapura watches 'Makoto' and advises him with hints to figure out the big sin 'Makoto' did.  The soul must figure out what his greatest sin in his former life within a time limit or else the soul will be ejected from the body and Makoto will die forever. Whilst trying to complete this task he is faced with making friends, understanding his family and their dark secrets. His crush at school isn't the cheery and happy go lucky person she makes out to be while creepy a classmate stalks him and he can't figure out why. Will this journey motivate him to want to live again?

This anime is not a typical slice of life, it holds deeper meaning, searching for ones identity and place in life. Also dealing with challenging situations and reacting within ones restraints. A movie with lot a of social behaviors explored, the nice and the grim.

Watch this interview with Hara-San and his take on Colourful, how he felt about the reception it received, how it felt to make popular anime that entered the West. Special thanks to the Japan Foundation for Showing this amazing animation and bringing Hara-San to answer the audiences questions.

For more news on anime, cosplay, games and Japanese culture follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Aisha Anime ^_^

Culture Japan Night London with Danny Choo

Culture Japan Night London with Danny Choo

Over the years, Japan Foundation have become well known for their hands on approach to showcasing Japanese culture by bring over great guests, providing top notch workshops and curating exciting film festivals. On Wednesday 5th March they had none other than Hackney born Japanese business/blogger sensation  (and son of famous shoe maker), Danny Choo, give a talk about what he’s been working on at Culture Japan Night London.

Armed with his mascot Mirai Suenaga Smart Doll, (was her Birthday on the 3rd March too) Danny Choo talked about a variety of different things such as the development of the doll, his website and culture japan show, as well as his insights into japanese culture and a few nuggets of information on how business is conducted in japan. During the talk, Danny mentioned that his current main focus is the smart doll project and to expand the functionality of the doll over the coming years. During its continued development, Danny and his team have wracked their brains to come up with a design that not only accommodates the necessary electronics within the limbs but also to make it cost effective to to help reduce the final cost of the doll to the consumer.

Mr Choo and Mirai doll!

Past models of the smart doll can be moved remotely using the controls on a Bluetooth paired Android Smartphone. Choo wants to go a step forward and make a walking, talking smart doll with artificial AI. As many are getting used to the likes of Siri on the iphone, imagine having a doll version of that which can talk and respond to your speech. The Mirai doll will have its own voice, but Danny hopes to make it possible for users to download and install additional “voice packs” utilizing the vocals of famous seiyuu voices which could really excite the Otaku consumer. An interesting facet of the production process of the dolls is that they are aimed at other countries rather than focusing on japan. When asked about the time delay from the manufacture of the dolls in Japan to when it would be available for overseas customers, he answered this was aimed exclusively for the rest of the  world not Japan!

Amongst talk of his latest doll projects he talked about anime and licensing from his experiences in interacting with several anime studios. Even when you’re in contact with the staff at a particular company and everything seems fine, things can sometimes turn sour if said company has a problem with how you may be utilizing their IP. Even things like the company not approving of your fan art of their anime could cause talk of lawsuits to be thrown around with shorter than a week’s notice.

Another difference in how the market for anime differs in Japan is that the average Japanese consumer for anime and manga are content with having to pay as much as £350 for a Blu-Ray set for a series, which most people overseas would call extortionate prices since many fans in the UK would expect to pay around £40-60 max for a full season on blu-ray in their local retailer or online. Therefore the Japanese industry rarely feel they need to bother with considering the western anime market when consumers in their home territory are already prepared to pay much higher prices for anime and than those abroad.

In reference to Danny’s appearances at events, the most noteworthy being the Culture Japan Con created by his company, many people in the audience asked if he had any plans to attend UK conventions. To this, he said he’d happily attend if he were invited and they didn’t clash with his other events. When quizzed further about future Culture Japan events, Danny mentioned that the next event is likely to be in Malaysia, where he held the Culture Japan Con last year. So if you are in demand of Mirai merchandise, it would be a great experience to save up your money and go to the next convention abroad perhaps?

At the end of the Q&A Danny happily chatted to people and insisted we all networked with each other and make at least one new friend. This was easy as there were a variety of people in the audience of all ages, including students, business owners and cosplay fans. After a sprint to take all the Mirai poster off the walls, people queued to get photos with Choo and interviews. We even had a few cosplayers in midst of the crowd to stand with Danny and the Mirai doll in all our group photos. Jade (@woodlandbunny), one of he cosplayers in attendance, even came dressed as Mirai Suenaga, accompanied by her doll companion, also dressed as Mirai.

The Parallax Play team got a short and snappy one with Choo about Games, anime and breasticles. Listen to the audio interview here.

This was a great event, free hosted by Japan Foundation, Danny was in high spirits joking around about how London has changed since his last visit four years ago and how the buses have still not improved since. To keep up with the latest info on Danny’s Culture Japan series, the Mirai smartdoll or his snippets of life in japan, check out his site at www.dannychoo.com

To find more details about future events at Japan Foundation go here: www.jpf.org.uk

Article originally written for Parallax Play.

LAGC 2014

Cosplay !

London Anime Convention with additional Gaming has set out in the same venue but with an extra building to accommodate the games and with a sponsorship of £1000 from Game, they had lots of offer.

With a whopping turn out of 2,000 people, LAGC really performed better than it’s predecessors with a more spaced out games area showcasing Game, Namco/Baindai, League of Legends and even card games.

The Otaku Fashion show was now overseen by new management and Boy Kitten selected models for their fashion input which had to be Japanese related. They had a mix of Sweet Lolita, punk and corsets with an array of models with variety of looks and sizes. The cosplay varied and they had some League of Legends mascots turn up alongside some popular anime series characters like Danganrompa and human-pokemon variations.

Otaku Fashion show with me

Alongside the Cosplay guests including Chiquitita Cosplay, Stacey Rebecca, Lisa Marie, Tabitha Lyons with Artyfakes. Chiquitita Cosplay, Stacey Rebecca, Lisa Marie, joined myself and Rebecca Moriarty on stage for the cosplay on TV panel, where we talked about the perceptions of cosplay, how staged TV is and how you film a lot of footage but alot can be used to convey the opposite.

Sweet Lolita's at Otaku fashion show :)

One of the joys LAC is famous for is bringing over fantastic voice actors. This year it was the friendly Coleen Clinkenbeard. Voicing many of our favourite characters like Yuko from xxxHolic, Trinity Blood – Esther Blanchett, One Piece – Monkey D. Luffy, Fairy Tail – Erza Scarlet, Summer Wars – Noriko Jinnouchi, Borderlands – Lilith,  Space Dandy – Scarlett and so much more. Despite being pregnant, she happily signed peoples posters, took photos with fans and did a great Q&A.

Chiquitita Cosplay, AlienQueen, Hariett and me

YY Kawaii decoden XD

The cosplay masquerade was an especially great show this year, with impressive character skits and on stage marriage proposal between Zelda and Link, people really got their monies worth with tutorials with ArtyFakes, performances from Ellie Monty, Maid’s of England and Abridgers.


Ai My Maid set up a pop up cafe at LAGC supplying some delicious cakes by D’s Karen’s Kakes and

Selling out fast on the Saturday, get your hands on one of these quality art pieces here: https://www.facebook.com/canime.ltd

Another highlight was YYKawaii run by Yik Yun the CEO who makes decoden phone cases and now mirrors to suit our kawaii needs. Using Japanese figures and cute accessories to make commissioned pieces too:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/YY-Kawaii

Charming Kitsune studio makes some of the highest quality animegao kigurumi masks out of Japan. You may have seen them at Hyper Japan and MCM not saying a word but posing for photos. They also offer skin suits to go with the heads. I took the opportunity to try one on and suprising it is comfortable, light weight and easy to navigate as the eye holes are reasonably sized.

Prices vary on the models: http://www.charmingkitsune.com/
Krafts, it’s great to see the anime community working side by side together. Great stalls around the venue include Caime selling there exclusive print canvases designed by the brothers themselves.

www.charmingkitsune.com/

As the evening went on the live music began on stage by the bar and people were partying hard. A great event to socialise, enjoy fashion, cosplay and buy merchandise.

This article was originally written for Animepicks.co.uk which is no more, photos belong to Caroline Mound photography.

Find out more about London Anime & Gaming Con here: http://www.londonanimecon.com/

For more events, news on anime, games, J fashion and Jculture follow me on Twitter and Facebook. ^_^ Aisha Anime

Monster Hunter Community Event with Ryozo Tsujimoto

Anyone who is a fanatic about Monster Hunter can tell you how loyal company Capcom is to their fans. Apart from sponsored events around London offering never before seen previews, help from the experts and chances to win exclusive merchendise. Their latest community event, held at the Capcom Europe offices in London offered even more to long-time fans of the franchise.

Upon entering the fabulous reception we were greeted by the zombie mascot and Jake who escorted us to the hustle and bustle of 120 gamers getting there streetpass on. After a few competitions for Japan-exclusive plushie meat  (vacuum sealed for freshness) , people were left to their own devices to mingle with other fans, play co op quests on big screen or on the 3DS’s.

It hadn’t been made clear what was going on but all the gamers were so engrossed in their quests it didn’t matter. I inquired to the plan of events and was pleased to find out that the Executive producer of monster hunter Mr. Ryozo Tsujimoto would be joining us!

After much suspense, he entered and we all made an orderly queue, people brought along their Monster Hunter art books, games, DS consoles to get signed and Ryozo san was more than happy to oblige. After everyone’s trinkets got signed we all gathered to have group photos, and there were a lot of us to squeeze in.  With Ryozo san being so kind to get photos with everyone, he bid us a farewell. We then grilled the Capcom representative for information on the new Monster Hunter and then were left to our own devices.

A great opportunities to catch up with fellow online hunters! Hopefully Capcom will arrange more community events in the future as this was spectacular with a great turnout!

Article originally written for Parallax Play.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity Review

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Axew is a RPG style video game following the perspective of the Pokemon rather than the trainer. The games features the Pokemon navigating through a randomly generated dungeons using turn-based moves, trademark of Mystery Dungeon games.

These games are based in dungeons, where a floor map is randomly generated. In the dungeons, players fight other Pokémon while obtaining items, and finding steps to the next floor. Similar to Ertian Odessey and Guided Fate Paradox, this is not a style of RPG I like but I appreciated the animation and story.

At the beginning you choose a Pokemon to be Pikachu, Oshawott, Tepig, Snivy, or Axew, then you chose another Pokemon to be your sidekick. The game really utilises the 3DS' capabilities instead of the usual 2D sprites.

The story begins with you waking up as a Pokemon (of your choice) you bump into your partner (of your choice) and you run a farm together, I mean piece of land and it's all very romantic and you have to hire other Pokemon to make your land liveable and it means you have to go to the Mystery Dungeons to get gems and chase mean Pokemon. There are moral dilemmas in this game, Pokemon love to rob you. They add lots of popular Pokemon into the story and you pretty much have an easy ride.

The game also uses the 3DS' camera and sensors for the players to find round objects and turn them into portals, I haven't quite mastered it, it has to be obviously round, so checking people on the train is not advisable. The portals aka Magnagates need to be unlocked, and act as gateways to new dungeons.

The game features both free and paid downloadable content, in the form of additional dungeons. You can also go to the official site and play mini-games to unlock passwords to receive special items in the game too. The game has changed from its predecessors and is a great stand alone game to buy, people new to Pokemon can pick it up and play. It has an easy to use interface though walking through the dungons is a bit sluggish for my liking.

If your a Pokemon fan and enjoy more focus on them this would be a game to get, because of the difficulty. It's aimed at a younger audience, though that isn't to say you wouldn't find a challenge in the dungeons. The story is simple with comical conversations and lots of trait Pokemon behaviours. You can really appreciate the lush backgrounds and 3D Pokemon going about their day in the game. this is more for people who like more action than story.

East Side Stories: Otakus in Love

Otakus In Love and Love Strikes! were recently part of the East Side Stories touring film festival by the Japan foundation at the ICA London and other locations.

Where: ICA London/ Belfast/Bristol/Dundee/Edinburgh/Newcastle upon Tyne/Nottingham/Sheffield
When: 31 January to 27 March 2014
Website: http://www.jpf-film.org.uk/
[rating=7]

Otakus in love (Koi no Mon) follow's tramp, or more accurately low maintenance Mon Aoki (Ryuhei Matsuda) - a mis-understood 'manga artisan' who can’t seem to hold down a steady job. Mostly due to his run down appearance and his stubborn belief that one day his art will actually sell.

The problem is that his concept of manga isn't a comic strip, he arranges and paints rock in wooden boxes which freaks most people out. One day as he follows a hand drawn map on his hand which wasn't too clever as the rain washes most of it off. He bumps into Koino Akashi, she promptly maims Mon with lethal stiletto heel as he reaches for a beloved rock and he proceeds to arrive late at his new part time job at Tsugino Happy Inc.

Coincidentally she also works at Tsugino Happy Inc. The boss is perpetually-enraged at Mon's lateness and poverty stricken look and fires him at his welcome party after Mon reveals his love for manga. Koino immediately becomes fascinated as she is a full bred otaku, and if you watch the film you will find out to what extent.

Thus begins their topsy-turvy 'relationship' complete with mandatory cosplay and panty shots. Imagine getting lucky with the girl of your dreams. This film has, as one of Koino’s fans would put it, “a gift for reckless plot twists” with lots of slap stick humour and geeky references. It's great to see an infusion of over the top otaku moments contrasted with the hatred of Mr Happy and Marimoda at the job trying to tear down Mon's beliefs and talent.

Director Suzuki Matsuo is best recognised internationally for  Ichi the Killer. Matsuo dabbles in playwright, stage direction, novels, columns, essays, and occasional manga artist. Otakus in love was his debut as a film director. His adaptation of Jun Hanyunyuu's manga is fast-paced and vibrantly whatever the mood of the character. Ironically Matsuo himself plays the most laid back character of the manga bar boss.

If you're looking for a film with two hours of geek culture, this is it. From 2004 you can feel it's a bit outdated but some of the references are classics so it wouldn't matter anyway. There are a wide array of characters from the odd circus troupe or band housemates who live with Mon to the quirky people hanging around the manga bar.

Kawaii corner: Kekiko

Photo by Caroline Mound Photography

I asked the founder of the company Amy Leung why she chose pandas.

"Pandas are my all time favourite animal. They are cute, huggable and just adorable fluffy creatures. This is why I chose to have them as my mascots. So far I have a girl panda, Keki, and a boy panda, Kiko, both who I'd like to feature on tote bags, t-shirts and stickers in the future."

Amy the founder of Kekiko has been planning this new store for a year now and has finally introduced it to the world during the MCM Expo weekend 2013. The online store is now up and running  you can visit it at: www.kekiko.com

The headgear were the top sellers at the Kekiko stall, these included the kitty and bunny ears, the tokidoki snapbacks and the bunny ear beanie hats. Everyone loved them and thought they went well with almost any outfit. Amy had also hand made some cute panda bookmarks and little hair pins that were received very well at the expo.

Our favourite items Kekiko sells include:

Molang

Molang is a small and lovable animal.  He’s very curious and a big dreamer. Molang loves to have fun and to make/give/blow kisses. But what he loves the most is to eat strawberries. As soon as Molang catches a whiff of this fruit, its cheeks turn a little pinker and its eyes shine a little brighter. A very kawaii large size Molang Bunny born and bred all the way from Korea! Soft and cuddly and awaiting your love.

Kawaii White Sheep Hand-Warmer Plush Toy Cushion

Keep your hands warm during those cold nights or mornings with these adorable little fluffy sheep hand warmers. Great as gifts or to use as a cushion. Really soft to cuddle. Each comes in a different colour, equipped with its own little scarf. This is one of the most useful things I discovered on Kekiko's site especially for Britain's chilly winter. Keep warm and kawaii with this top product!


Bunny Ears Beanie Hat

This hat is crafted in polyester, featuring a chunky knit design, bunny ear embellished to the crown and a turn-up brim with a ribbed edge. At just $14.00 you can free the J-fashion diva in you  in Black, Navy, Rose Red Beanie, Light Grey colours, why not get a few.

Handmade Kawaii Kitty Ears

Release your inner kawaii neko with these adorable, super soft and fluffy kitty ears. Great for dressing up or everyday use. Simply clip on and go. As you can see these clip on ears won me over with there small but authentic design. For a bargain price of $6.20 two. Comes in bunny style too.

Amongst the headgear and plushies Kekiko also offers a variety of stationary, keyrings, and phone cases with Molang on them too. Great fashionable items and presents for friends. Kekiko bring adorable goodies all the way from Japan and Korea to your doorstep.

FInd updates and giveaways via here Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Kekiko