Something Anime

Site Status And How Things Are Going

angelssin — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:05:51 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve posted up on here and that comes with good reason! Around October last year I had decided to quit my job because I was getting messed around with getting paid. I’m still chasing them up for it. Luckily, as dramatic as that sounds, I managed to land another job at a company called Whisk. I’m really enjoying work there at the moment because it gives me an opportunity to work on an application which extends the skills I will need to use to create Something Anime. The downside to this is that the hours are rather long so there’s not much opportunity for me to blog, although I am going to try more often.

So what’s going on with the site? Well, to be honest, not a great deal to see right now. Currently I’m working on creating an admin system that will allow me to easily create content for it. I’m also thinking of making it a platform for clients to licence, much like Danny Choo’s Mirai Gaia. It’s becoming a lot of work, especially since the time I have after my work with Whisk is already stretched really thin, so I’m spending a couple of hours a night working on getting this system as robust and as secure as possible before starting work on Something Anime.

I’m aiming to post something at least once a week to get the ball rolling on this again, however, because I don’t have a great deal of time for much else right now, posts will likely consist mostly of site/progress updates. I’ll also be posting any interesting links I find and photos onto the facebook page.

If you’re interested in what I’m doing here, please get behind me by joining in with the community on facebook or send me a tweet on my twitter account. Every bit of support helps make this worth it!

3 Anime Movies You Need To See

angelssin — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 06:02:37 +0000

I can’t really decide how I feel about anime movies in general. In one hand you don’t get the kind of character development or long-spanning story that a series offers, but in the other you get kick-ass animation and they tend to be pretty epic.

Either way, I really enjoy sitting down to watch an anime movie every now and again. I think sometimes they can really be overlooked by the community and don’t get the attention they deserve.

That thought inspired me to write this post recommending a bunch of different movies for you to try out. Let me know if it’s inspired you to give one a go and report back on your own thoughts.

Brave Story

This one is first on my list with good reason. As a massive fan of the fantasy genre, regardless of the medium, I’m actually pretty disappointed when it comes to anime. There just aren’t many series or movies that do it, and even fewer that do it well. However, those that do are mindblowing.

Brave story is epic both in scale and the world it creates. It’s a great movie that all of the family can watch and enjoy. Read the synopsis and watch the video below for more.

“When eleven-year-old Wataru is told he can change his destiny by entering a magic gateway into another world, he jumps at the chance. But on his quest to find the Tower of Fortune and be granted any wish, he must conjure up all his bravery to battle a world of demons, his own friends and ultimately himself.”

The girl who leapt through time

What can I say? This film is simply a modern classic. If there was one film I could recommend to show someone that isn’t into anime, it’d be this one.

The film is a heartwarming one taking you through a rollercoaster ride of emotions, so it’s a great movie to watch if you’re feeling a little down.

“A teenage girl finds that she has the ability to leap through time. With her newfound power, she tries to use it to her advantage, but soon finds that tampering with time can lead to some rather discomforting results.”

Summer wars

How can I possibly mention The girl who leapt through time without talking about Summer wars?

Basically this movie feels like its the offspring of The girl who leapt through time and the first Digimon movie.

Again, like TGWLTT, it’s a heartwarming movie but with a much more epic storyline.

“A student tries to fix a problem he accidentally caused in OZ, a digital world, while pretending to be the fiancé of his friend in her grandmother’s 90th birthday.”

Apologies for the shortness of this post, I’ve been really busy recently so I’ve not had much time to write it. However when I get more time I want to create a section to the site dedicated to resources and recommendations, so keep an eye out for that!

Something Anime Social Network Site Update

angelssin — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 07:54:54 +0000

I figured I’d let you all know that the dream of the Something Anime social network hasn’t died. There’s a hell of a long way to go but I thought I’d update you on the current state of the site even though it isn’t very far along. I’ll likely give these updates when I hit certain milestones on the sites build so I’ll probably update once every couple of months.

To be honest, progress is slow at the moment due to work and various other projects I’m working on during any free time I get. It’s hard to find the free time to work on this but any time I can, I always get into gear and work hard at it.

As it stands, I’m still working on the admin system. I figure that if I have a good admin system in place before building the main website, the foundations for managing such a huge website will be strong. So far I’ve added the ability for admin or mods to add new anime and categorise them by genre. Keep in mind that I’m actually learning a lot along the way of doing all of this so although it may not seem like much, It’s actually been hard work getting at least this far. I’ve also added the ability to create new Genre’s and manage them too.

At the moment it’s all very simple because I don’t want to overcomplicate things, but if you have any suggestions on what else I may need to manage, for example adding series directors, voice actors, animation studios etc (I’m at least going to add in Directors and animation studios), please feel free to put your suggestions forward because hey, this site’s for you.

Hopefully I’ll have a more fruitful update for you next time!

Resources & Links Every Otaku Should Know

angelssin — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 22:30:53 +0000

Here we are again with another bunch of resources. In my last post I shared some links for buying online, kind of like an online shopping guide for anime fans. In this post I’m going to be sharing links to websites you can find more information, join communities and other resources you’ll find useful.

Anime News Network

ANN is one of the largest anime sites out there, which comes as no surprise when you see the sheer amount of content and contribution from the community they get. Overall it’s a great news website that you’ll likely come back to again and again.

Danny Choo

The life story of Danny Choo is incredibly inspirational and he simply lives the otaku dream. His site and community are both very vibrant and lively making it a great site for your bookmarks.

Danny Choo works very closely with some big companies such as Good Smile Company so his site is a great resource for keeping up to date with news related to them.

Tomopop

This is currently my favourite place to go for figure news, reviews and previews. They keep on top of what’s coming out and do a great job of providing excellent quality imagery. The only downside to this site is they’ll make you want to spend all your money on figures.

Wallbase

While not directly an anime website, you can find some fantastic wallpapers here, most of them being really high in quality. In fact I don’t use anything else to get wallpapers any more so if you change your desktop wallpaper as often as I do, this is one for you. A neat feature is that if you sign up, you can toggle whether you want to see “naughtier” pictures or to steer clear of them entirely. This is great if you just want to clear out the smut that might come up when you search or vice versa if that’s exactly what you’re looking for.

Anime Picks

Anime Picks is not too far from what I want to do here until the social aspect of Something Anime gets up and running. They’ve established themselves as one of the top UK anime news and reviews websites which they thoroughly deserve due to their constantly updated content, they keep up to date with the latest DVD releases here in the UK as well as figure reviews, news and general articles discussing several topics surrounding otaku culture.

Sankaku Complex [NSFW]

Let me stress that this site is definitely not safe for work as it contains a lot of adult content. That said, from time to time they do provide some insightful information about new games, series and figures coming out. They also post up a lot of ratings from Japanese polls so you can see what’s popular in Japan right now. It’s a good resource for the bookmarks list if you want to keep checking back every now and again.

Japanator

If you’re familiar with Destructoid, you’ll be at home with Japanator as they’re on the same network of sites, also sharing some of the same editors. It’s a very opinionated news site and I feel that Descructoids gamers rub off a bit on here. Whether or not that’s a good thing is up to you to decide.

Anime Vice

To be honest I discovered this site through Comic Vine which is one of its networked sites alongside Giant Bomb. While some of their main news seems a bit watered down, their site is very slick and they have some very good information on individual shows if you dig around enough.

Neo Mag

Neo is an established Japanese culture magazine based in the UK. They do a great job of keeping people updated with Japanese news regarding anime and manga releases, events, music and more. They also keep an eye out for UK releases, releasing a schedule every month of upcoming DVD’s, Bluray and Manga. Their site is also just as useful.

Baka Updates

While their site is probably as old as me, they provide a great deal of information about manga coming out in Japan. The site makes it easy to find any new releases by your favourite author or artist.

While the list is short, I do intend to add to it and perhaps create a resources page in the future if I’m able to get enough links together, so please contribute and add your thoughts.

Anime and Game Figures You Need to Pre-Order Now!

angelssin — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 22:34:03 +0000

Seriously, these are some awesome figures. I often keep an eye out for the latest figures coming out and once in a while one will catch my eye. This month however, there’s quite a few up for pre-order that I recommend wholeheartedly. If you’re interested in what you see and have the kind of wallet to match their combined price tags, go for it!

Black Rock Shooter TV Animation Ver.

First up we have the Black Rock Shooter Figma. What can I say? The detail on this looks immense for a figma, even with the high standard of quality they’re known for. As with all other figmas, she’s poseable and comes with multiple accessories.

I’m personally not a massive fan of BRS (I like it, just not to a fanboy level), however for fans of the series, whether you’re a figure collector or not, this is a must. Order from Kid Nemo, Play Asia.

Nendoroid Petite “Tales of” Series BOX

The “Tales of” series has really started to take off in the west now so it won’t be too surprising to see these Nendoroids sell like hotcakes. They are petite versions, but the detail and quality is definitely there. I personally prefer the petite versions because I think it suits the chibi style much better, but that’s just my preference. Regardless, be sure to pre order these while you can. Order from AmiAmi.

Star Wars ARTFX BISHOUJO – Jaina Solo

This Star Wars inspired Bishoujo figure is definitely my favourite so far in the Bishoujo series of figures. As a massive fan of Star Wars, that goes without saying, but even without that, this figure stands up pretty well on its own with the level of detail and the amount of accessories she’s holding is great. AmiAmi.

Bakemonogatari Hajime Ueda ver. Figures

I left these til last because they’re pretty funky. I don’t think I’ve seen figures of a major series done like this before, they kind of have a bit of a FLCL look to them don’t they? Either way they’re definitely unique and therefore deserve a place on just about anyone’s figure shelf. Order from AmiAmi (Mayoi), AmiAmi (Hitagi).

Anime / Manga Resources You Might Find Helpful

angelssin — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 12:14:23 +0000

I often wonder which sites I can go to in order to find something out or maybe buy a product. It’s difficult having a hobby which originates from a country that’s difficult to connect with. For example, shopping for goods from Japan can be extremely difficult simply because of the language barrier. In this post I aim to help people that are new to this, and maybe provide some use for those that are more seasoned Otaku.

Buying Anime (Bluray / DVD)

Let’s start off with the easiest shall we? I feel kind of lazy here but you can pretty much pick up anime DVD’s and Bluray from just about any decent media-based retailer. Here in the UK, you can get them from shops such as:

In the US I’m not so sure, if anyone has any links they’d like to share for US based sites, please link them and I’ll update this portion of the post.

Buying Manga

Buying manga online is pretty similar to buying anime, with the exception that manga can be bought from just about any comic retailer. Here’s a few for the list:

Buying Games

With anime gaining more and more popularity each and every year, it’s no surprise that we’re seeing more games come overseas from Japan. Sometimes it feels like we still have to fight to get certain games published in the west, however we can’t complain at the amount we get these days. There’s plenty of places you can find these games, however if there’s one piece of advice I can give, it’s to buy up any games you think might sell out quickly. If all else fails, it doesn’t hurt to try out Ebay.

When anime related games come out, they tend not to stock up on them too greatly. Take Tales of Vesperia for example, which I bought on the day of release and I’ve only seen it in the shops once since then. Check out any decent online stores or local retail outlets and pre-order before it’s too late. I recently wrote an article on Zavvi’s current offer on JRPG’s so make sure you take a look at that if it’s of interest.

Buying Merchandise

This is where it gets slightly tricky. Official Japanese merchandise simply isn’t sold in western stores, or at least they can be incredibly difficult to find. Let’s break down the different types of merchandise you may be looking for and list where you may be able to find them.

Figures

Anime figures are generally an Otaku’s prized collection, partly because they are hard to find and partly because they can become incredibly difficult to find after even a week of going on sale, making them incredibly valuable.

Here’s a few places you can buy figures online:

Music

Like many Otaku, I got into J-music through really enjoying opening and ending songs to my favourite shows. Below is a list of places you can pick up Japanese music.

Play Asia

If anyone knows of any other / better places to attain J-music, please let me know!

Misc

I’ve found that the random bits and pieces you can’t find anywhere seem to pop up at conventions and expo’s so I advice attending at least one of these every year. Here in the UK we have the MCM expo’s in London, Manchester and Telford as well as yearly conventions like Ayacon and Amecon.

Confectioneries

I’m a sucker for a bit of Pocky as I’m sure most otaku are, so it’s nice to know that it’s widely available as well as other Japanese food and sweets. Here’s a few places you can get your mits on these goodies.

If anyone has anything they’d like to add to this list, please send us your links and I’ll update the post for everyone’s use. Thanks!

Note: Part 2 of this post will be coming soon, all about finding news and information online.

Olympics to Push Back Certain Anime Series

angelssin — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:25:02 +0000

To be honest I hadn’t put two and two together before I heard about this. Due to the Olympics being a worldwide event, certain anime series will be held back in order to broadcast Olympic events instead. Details are sketchy on which anime will be affected, but it seems to be down to which tv station they are broadcast. The only series that I know of at the moment that seems to have been pushed back is Eureka Seven.

If anyone can relay any further information about this, please post it onto our Facebook page or send us a tweet with more info and I’ll keep everyone updated.

[Source]

Japanese Manga Rankings for July

angelssin — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 07:13:31 +0000

It’s nice to see Hajime no Ippo up there and getting the attention it deserves. This list also gives me a few manga I might look into myself, Magi in particular looks pretty good

View the list

Zavvi Have Gone Crazy On JRPG’s

angelssin — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 08:14:44 +0000

Check out the deals on JRPG’s on Zavvi. There’s some pretty good deals on there at the moment.

JRPG Offer on at Zavvi

Puella Magi Madoka Magica First Movie Trailer

angelssin — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:08:10 +0000

A trailer for the first film of Madoka Magica has been released. You can see the story over at Anime News Network.

View it here