Otaku International

To start off with, I would like to apologize for the lack of udpates lately, I have been really busy with classes and projects. I will try to update more often (no promises though).

As we all know, Japanese commercials have some crazy antics in it, hell some are just downright hilarious. There are quite a few American celebrities out there that have been in Japanese commercials (some of which is ridiculous). Here are a few videos of some of these celebrities doing these wacky commercials with one that includes the current governor of California Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger (my favorite video personally).

Arnold Schwarzenegger

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This season, the Pallavolo Modena team of the Italian Volleyball League is dressing two of its players in official jerseys emblazoned with Monkey D. Luffy, the young pirate captain that is the main character in Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga and anime.

This isn’t the first time Modena wore awesome jerseys for their libero; before this was Spider-man and Iron Man, both sponsored by Marvel. One Piece seems to be pretty popular over in Italy at the present moment, with an average audience of 1.7 million viewers; enough for Toei Animation to sponsor these jerseys

News Via: Japantor, ANN

Dengeki Bunko (Dengeki = electric shock) is a publishing label known for having released popular light novels. Their release list includes titles like “Shakugan no Shana” as well as “Spice and Wolf.”

On September 23rd they opened up a special gallery event to commemorate the first release 15 years ago. At Akihabara’s Anime Center it shows various writers’ and illustrators’ limited works and photographs. The exposition will be going on until mid october but on the 5th there will be a big event as part of the Akihabara autumn festival. During this event held at the UDX 2nd building one can meet and receive autographs or signings from writers and illustrators during event hours.

For more information on this event please head over to Akiba Today.

October 3 - 5, 2008

• Providence Anime Conference

  Providence, Rhode Island (USA)

• Shimakon

  South Padre Island, Texas (USA)

October 4 - 5, 2008

• Expo Comics Cancun

  Cancun, Mexico (Site language is Spanish)

• Mid-Ohio-Con

  Columbus, Ohio (USA) - (Primarily a Comics Convention)

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Now for all of us not living in Japan, it is pretty darn hard for us to view Japanese television programs let alone watching them live. There are 2 programs that allow us to stream Japanese television programs live. Now granted the quality is of Youtube quality and do not even expect to have HD of any sort, but this is the next best thing we have to Live Japanese TV without actually living in Japan. I found these programs from Tofugu and Ota desho, so all the credit of finding these programs comes from them.

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A poll conducted by women’s website PoshMama.com for E for All discovered that many of them would rather play games than sleep period. The website polled 120 women, and then dug some interesting statistics out of the 71% of women who tested gaming-positive. For instance, many of the women admitted to playing video games when they should be doing more important things, such as sleeping (more than 33%), on the phone (32%), or while at work (20%). A whopping 53% admitted that gaming had made them late for family and social gatherings.

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Hulu.com adds an anime channel. It currently offers Mushi-Shi, Naruto and Death Note. Hulu promises that it will add more anime like Bleach, Basilisk, Black Blood Brothers, School Rumble, and more. The videos are of high quality and interspersed with 10-second commercials. That’s right, there are now five anime shows on Hulu. You can get classics like Speed Racer and Astro Boy, as well as more modern series like Naruto, Mushi-shi and Death Note. Even better, both Death Note and Naruto remain in their unspoiled, un-dubbed glory.

Like Hulu, Joost.com also offers streaming anime from Viz.

News Via: Japanator