The Anime Blog – We Go Beyond Anime!

The Anime Blog reader and contributor Liz Ohanesian has a feature on Detroit Metal City over at L.A. Weekly. Here’s an excerpt:
Like the popular animated series Metalocalypse, Detroit Metal City lampoons the conventions of death metal, the obsessive adherence to “evil” images and “brutal” music. The language is coarse, really coarse, but there’s a purpose [...]

Tokyopop has a pair of contests. However, they both require the contestant to do more than just send in an entry form.

First, Tokyopop has teamed with Glico for an art contest. The entry has to be an original piece of artwork or a 1 to 3 panel comic which includes images of Pocky. [...]

June 2, 2009
Viz Media

Baby & Me, Vol. 14
Bleach, Vol. 27
Dragon Drive, Vol. 14
Eyeshield 21, Vol. 26
Happy Happy Clover, Vol. 2
Honey and Clover, Vol. 6
Hoshin Engi, Vol. 13
Knights of the Zodiac (Saint Seiya), Vol. 26
Mixed Vegetables , Vol. 4
Monkey High!, Vol. 6
Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, Vol. 11
NORA: The Last Chronicle of Devildom, Vol. [...]

Return to Labyrinth Volume Three (read my review of volumes one and two) is Tokyopop’s number one manga! Here’s their synopsis:
For Toby, as it is for all who enter the Labyrinth, the way forward is sometimes the way back… Through danger untold and hardships unnumbered, Toby has finally arrived at the day of his coronation. [...]

May has quite a few exciting anime/manga contests and sales. RightStuf is giving away tickets to Anime Expo 2009 and continues their ‘Year of the Otaku Contest’; Viz Media has a Naruto Shippuen contest; and Mania gives you a chance to win a Sakura Matuou Figure! Also, be sure to check out anime/manga sales from [...]

It’s almost summer, and there’s a bunch of manga just in time for vacations, breaks from school. Manga titles of note this month include Tokyopop’s Return to Labyrinth volume three (finally! – editor), Dark Horse’s Blood+: Adagio Volume One TPB; CMX’s King of Debris, Volume One; VIZ Media’s Black Cat, Volume 20, D.Gray-Man, Vol. 13 [...]

The current economic situation has taken its toll on the anime and manga industry. This 2-part series will take a quick look at the various parts of the industry. Part 1 looked at manga. Part 2 will concentrate on anime, primarily in Japan and North America.
ICv2 has not yet released their figures for North [...]

RIN-NE is the first new manga from Rumiko Takahashi since her epic INUYASHA (published by VIZ Media) ended in 2008 in Japan. Here’s a rundown of the story:
As a child, Sakura Mamiya mysteriously disappeared in the woods behind her grandma’s home. She returned whole and healthy, but since then she has had the power to [...]