Continuing the ‘Otaku Shopping in London’ series, I will today be looking at Tokyo Toys…

Tokyo Toys started off as an online store for all things otaku, and a few months ago they opened a physical store in the London Trocadero. If I remember correctly it was on the top floor at the back (the front being the side you enter from the Leicester Square direction).

Below is a collection of images from the trip, click the thumbnails to see a full size view:

The London Trocadero:

Tokyo Toys:

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Terra Tag, the company behind the laughing man logo, have recently opened a small store in London selling their merchandise (primarily t-shirts). Since it seemed like more fun than revising, I thought I would check it out! Click the images to see an enlarged view.

Terra Tag store façade:

Anime T-Shirts:

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There is a reason why you should not imitate what you see on TV. Sadly, 10-year-old Cody Porter (Pictured Right, Below) of Seattle, Washington learned that the hard way this past weekend.

While playing in a sandbox in his family’s backyard - along with five of his peers (including three brothers and two friends), the boy requested of them to help him recreate a scene from Naruto by burying him in the one-foot-deep sandbox, head-first, from his head to his chest.

Once he was buried, the boy was said to have been thrashing around violently. After witnessing this, his friends realized that something was wrong and called for the help of adults. Upon arrival, the adults immediately called for medical help, pulled Cody from the sand and began to administer CPR to get him breathing once more.

Cody Porter; Image: KSDK News

Medics took Cody Porter to the Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center located in Seattle, Washington where he is currently listed in critical condition. After interviewing the five children who were in the sandbox with Cody, the Sheriff’s department named it as a “tragic accident”.

Here is what Cody’s half brother had to say about it:

“They watch a cartoon where they were like sand masters or something and they can manipulate sand or something like that. They came up with the idea that if he were to do this then he would be able to be one of them”

Seattle ABC affiliate, KOMO-TV, did a broadcast of this story which is available online. In it, various clips of Naruto are shown with Gaara (pictured left, above) performing Sand attacks and the characters are described as “sand ninjas” (ANN).

Remember kids, Naruto is an anime, do not try and immitate the fight scenes from the show in real life.

Sources: King 5, Komo-TV (via ANN)

Papa Midnight would like to remind you that picking on people is not cool. Let’s try to be nice and let this kid have some peace, especially when he goes back to school where he’s most likely to get the brunt of his insults (save, The Internet, of course).

Update:  Cody Porter was pronounced dead Monday afternoon. No doubt there will be some idiots who are quick to say that anime is evil and should be banned, but lets hope the fallout isn’t too bad. Comments along the lines of ‘it is a good thing for the gene pool when this happens’ are a little insensitive, the kid died, so try and refrain from doing so if at all possible.

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Pride, a manga by Yukari Ichijo about two Opera singers who go from being rivals to “best partners”, is reportedly being adapted into a Live-Action film which is set to be released near the end of January 2009.

The Live-Action film will star the Half-Japanese, Half-Armenian-American pop-singer Stephanie - who debuted in 2007 under Sony Music Japan with her single, 君がいる限り (Kimi ga Iru Kagiri). Directing the feature will be Shūsuke Kaneko who you may remember from the Death Note Live-Action.

I was just browsing GaijinPot (a site for finding jobs in Japan) and noticed that J-List have recently added a job posting which is very relevant to us otakus.

The job is for an anime-related product description writer/web designer. A snippet from the description is as follows:

The job is for a description writer who can write interesting descriptions for the products our website. Ability to write interesting and informative descriptions that will add value to our image with customers. Ability to use Adobe Photoshop to aid in web graphic creation and InDesign to help make magazine ads is also a plus. We’re looking for someone with a passion for Japanese pop culture and the desire to be involved with one of the most famous companies selling Japanese animation related products directly from Japan. NOTE: if you don’t know what Fate/stay night, Newtype and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya are, unfortunately you won’t have the skills we’re looking for and you should not apply.

To qualify you must currently reside in Japan and have passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test at level 2 or above.

Full details at: Gaijin Pot

In an attempt to reach the Japanese market, Disney is partnering with Toei Animation in order to create three television shows using Toei’s Computer Generating technology. In addition, Disney will be partnering with Madhouse Co. and Jinni’s Animation Studio.

Disney will be starting out with a short animated film project about a robot which is scheduled to debut in the Japanese market this May.

This partnership provides both Toei and Disney with business opportunities. For Disney, it provides them an opportunity to expand outside of its traditional market and expand its image from the traditional style of The Little Mermaid, Mickey Mouse, Aladdin, and other Intellectual Properties. It also provides Toei - which is responsible for animations such as Dragonball, Sailor Moon, Voltron, and Digimon - with a wider market outside of Japan through Disney’s vast network of distribution.

Source: Forbes [via a geek by any other name] .

Update: According to ANN, Disney will be producing a Lilo & Stitch! spinoff, currently titled Stitch!, in conjuction with Madhouse Co.. Additionally, the name of the previously mentioned Robot series in conjunction with Toei will be titled Robodies. Additionally, Disney is also planning to release a 3D rendered animation film short titled Fireball.  Fireball is a comedy set in the near future on another planet and centers on the character by the name of Rosselle and her two steward robots. All these productions are being created specifically for the Japanese market.

The Tokyo International Anime Fair’s homepage is announcing that a scheduled press event for March 30th, 2008 during the convention will be used for hosting a formal public announcement of Appleseed: Genesis.

The series will be presented in a 3D Computer Generated format which will be directed by Romanov Higa ( Urda, Catblue Dynamite, Tank Police Dominion Tank S.W.A.T. 01).

Source: Tokyo Anime [via Moon Phase via AnimeNation]

Neo Magazine reports on ADV Films’ recent closing of it’s UK branch in London and it’s new found partnership with the UK based distributor Lace Digital Media Sales.

In an interview with NEO Magazine regarding these actions, ADV Films CEO, John Ledford had the following to say:

Perhaps if so many fans weren’t getting their anime from illegal file sharing sites or unlicensed streaming sites, we might have expanded our UK catalogue more quickly. As it stands now, however, we have a better shot at growing our business with Lace than maintaining an overseas branch.

Citing File Sharing and Sites which provide anime for downloading and streaming by anime licensing companies is nothing new. Companies such as Odex and FUNimation Entertainment have been previously cited as condemning fansubbing and file sharing.

Source: Neo Magazine [via ANN]

This is a notice to all those in New York City, the surrounding areas, or those who will be in New York City tommorow and/or Saturday.

The Independent Film Channel  (IFC) center in New York City will be screening Appleseed: Ex Machina on Friday and Saturday at midnight. According to ANN, the film will be digitally projected from a non-optical media source in high-definition (720p, 1080i, or 1080p was not specified).  It will be presented in Japanese with English Subtitles.

Starlog’s Fangoria website has posted the English trailer for Viz Picture’s first Live-Action production of Death Note (デスノート ,Desu nôto).

According to Anime News Network, The trailer for the film is voiced over in English, but the movie will be released in North America with Japanese Audio and English subtitles.

About Death Note:

Death Note (デスノート, Desu Nōto?) is a series of two live-action Japanese films released in 2006 and based on the Death Note manga series by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The films primarily center around a university student who decides to rid the world of evil with the help of a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it. The two films were directed by Shūsuke Kaneko, produced by Nippon Television and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan.

A spin-off film directed by Hideo Nakata by the name of “L: Change the WorLd” was released on February 9, 2008.

Light Yagami is a university student who resents the crime and corruption in the world. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the “Death Note”, lying on the ground. The Death Note’s instructions claim that, if a human’s name is written within it, that person will be killed. Light is initially skeptical of the Death Note’s authenticity, believing it is just a prank. However, after experimenting with it and killing two criminals, Light is forced to admit that the Death Note is real. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a Shinigami named Ryuk, Light seeks to become “the God of the New World” by passing his judgment on criminals.

Soon, the number of inexplicable deaths of reported criminals catches the attention of the International Police Organization and a mysterious detective known only as “L“. L quickly learns that the serial killer, dubbed by the public as “Kira” (derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the English word “Killer), is located in Japan. L also concludes that Kira can kill people without laying a finger on them. Light realizes that L will be his greatest nemesis, and a race to prove mental superiority between the two begins.

Plot Summary - Wikipedia: Death Note (film)