Nick Simmons Copies from Famous Manga?

By akgoemans on 3/2/10 6:20am
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Comparing Simmons' and Kubo's workComparing Simmons' and Kubo's work

Photo Source: Gene Simmons' Son Plagiarizing Bleach? (Livejournal)


With the Nick Simmons case doing the rounds, there's no use talking about anything else, is there? Well, here goes.

First of all, let's talk about the Nick Simmons case. Simmons is an artist for a comic book series called Incarnate. Recently, it came to light that he might have been 'borrowing' heavily from his idols. To this effect, fans of various manga series found that the characters depicted in his comics bore a startling resemblance to characters from Bleach, Death Note and a number of others. Folks are looking into the matter and from what I last read, they are not going ahead with his comic until this issue has been sorted out, one way or another.

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A Hairy Issue

By akgoemans on 2/16/10 7:57am
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So, where do I fit in?So, where do I fit in?
It was one of those weird conversations that lead to a blog post. A friend and I were discussing manga and anime characters that don mustaches or beards and found ourselves struggling to name many. Alright, so we could name quite a few but a lot of them were bad guys. Could it be that tons of facial hair was synonymous with an evil temperament in such series? Yea, I am feeling bad for Hagrid if he ever ends up in anime format.



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To dub or not to dub

By akgoemans on 2/8/10 7:11am
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Sub is better .... no, dubbing is!Sub is better .... no, dubbing is!
Oooh, that age old debate – subbing versus dubbing. I'm not about to argue both sides with pros and cons. This is more because I lean towards the subtitles school of thought (all voice actors must be cursing me right about now). But if you are interested in the arguments against subs (along with pros for dubbing), do check out the link here and here. Nah, for this article I wanted to point out the most common reasons why fans cringe and gag whenever they come across a dubbed version of their favorite anime show.

Subs, dubs, what's it all about?

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Live Actions Adaptations to Avoid?

By akgoemans on 2/1/10 8:00am
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The actual stills weren't too bad thoughThe actual stills weren't too bad though

What is it with folks making weird Live Action adaptations of everyone's favorite manga/anime series? Alright, so not all adaptations are bad but … a lot of them do make fans want to poke themselves in the eyes and flee the room whilst screaming like a banshee. I have been avoiding the rumors of the Death Note remake (which thankfully might not happen) but in the process, missed out news about these possible remarks. Say it isn't so!

All who hate live action adaptations, say 'Aye!'All who hate live action adaptations, say 'Aye!'

Full Metal Alchemist


I have not got into this one yet. It has been highly recommended by friends and I know one too many FMA fans. So it's safe to say this one's a winner, at least for a number of folks who gets their happy fix from it.

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More Historical Manga

By akgoemans on 1/26/10 7:34am
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And thus, he won that argument?And thus, he won that argument?
The idea for this list came while talking to a friend about history novels. She was pointing out that history books can be fascinating if done in manga format and thus, I set off, looking for some fun recommendations. Well, not all of them have bishonen characters (sorry, good buddy) but two of three is not bad.



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Huggable Henchmen

By akgoemans on 1/18/10 9:32am
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Grr, who ate the boss' lunch?Grr, who ate the boss' lunch?
You know what's interesting about anime and manga that detail diabolical plans for world domination and what not? Lovable henchmen, that's what. Show me a story that has an evil genius hellbent on taking over the world and, more often than not, he will have a charismatic minion who distracts most of us from the rest of the story. Or worse, have us rooting for him throughout the tale. Of course, creating likable henchman is not an easy task; many have epic fails when overtaking such a venture. Well, let's check out those that make it to this list.



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450 000 Fans Visit Manga Shrine

By akgoemans on 1/11/10 7:50am
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You heard her!You heard her!

Guess how some manga fans celebrated the New Year? By hopping over to the Washinomiya Shrine depicted in the popular Lucky Star manga/anime series. The shrine was the backdrop for the slice of life series and devoted fans would of course think of it rather fondly. Check out the opening theme where you can also catch a glimpse of the shrine.

Looking for numbers? According to various reports, around 450,000 (a lot of whom where otaku) dropped by the shrine this year. Apparently the number of visitors have steadily increased with the popularity of the show itself.

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Healing the Nation with a bit of Manga Love?

By akgoemans on 1/7/10 8:05am
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Oooh guys, I have a surprise reading assigment for you!Oooh guys, I have a surprise reading assigment for you!
Hmm, so some folks are restricting young adults from accessing manga and others are using them to promote unity and all that? We do live in a strange little world. As for the 'manga for world peace' reference, it was about the recent manga promotion effort in Taiwan.



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Anime for Tourists in Tokyo

By akgoemans on 12/28/09 5:00am
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Ooh our guide looks like Edward!Ooh our guide looks like Edward!

At least these city folks know how to get tourists' attention! The City of Tokyo has announced an interesting anime project which will hopefully reel in more visitors to the area. The guys are planning to make anime about various city locations.



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More Manga Genres

By akgoemans on 12/21/09 11:42am
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It's fairly innocentIt's fairly innocent

I recently talked about the various genres you can expect to find in anime and manga. They were a basic description of the first few (safe) ones I could come up with. Well two separate incidents made me think it was time for another genre list. First there was a chat with a friend about women reading male-oriented romances which lead to a yaoi discussion. The second incident there was the slightly bizarre request for the more daring genres. Ookay! I might not be explaining ecchi in great detail but I think another list might help at this point.



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