A one-day anime convention will be staged at the Central Methodist Hall in Kingston-upon-Hull on 30th September. For more information, see the event website at www.mangattack.co.uk.

Bandai UK have launched a new retail area on their website. Titles sold to the UK and Ireland audience include: Spirit of Wonder, .hack, Cowboy Bebop, Crest of Stars, Escaflowne, My Hime, Planetes, S-CRY-ed, Stratos 4, Witch Hunter Robin, Patlabor, Wolf's Rain, Yukikaze, Mobile Suit Gundam Universe, and Ghost in the Shell.

This is reportedly an experiment; if the titles sell well, there will be a greater selection available online in the future.

Name: FuyuCon

Dates: Friday 19th October - Sunday 21st October 2007

Guest: Helen McCarthy

Venue: Britannia Hotel Nottingham

Spaces: 500

Price: £20-£40 (dependant on membership type)

URL: http://www.fuyucon.org

We have been very lucky to get Helen McCarthy to appear at our convention; this will be her first UK appearance in several years, a full biography of her achievements can be found on our main site.

Registration went live today and this convention will be open to anyone aged 16 on or before October 19th, we will be carrying out checks at registration a list of acceptable identification will be posted on the forums before the convention.

We are going to be offering three types of membership for this event all of which have different benefits.

Firstly we will be offering a full weekend membership, this will cost £40 and include; your weekend membership badge, giving you access to every event we are running. Your conbag this includes your conbook.

There are two different payment options first off there is a one off payment of £40 or if you wish to spread payments over 3 months then we offer a payment plan of £20 then two payments of £10 every 30 days.

For those of you who will not be able to make the full weekend but still wish to come to the event on the Saturday or Sunday we are offering day memberships at the cost of £20 this includes; Your Saturday or Sunday day badge, giving you access to convention events from 00:01 to 11:59 on the day of your choice. You will also have a conbag including the conbook.

Finally for those of you who cannot make the event or are under the age of 16 we are offering supporting memberships at the cost of £20 which will include; A supporting member convention badge, a conbag including the conbook and a convention t-shirt.

Anybody wishing to help out in promoting FuyuCon please feel free to email me back and ask about flyers or other promotional materials we may have, your help in this will be greatly appreciated.

If you have anymore questions please feel free to Email me and I will try my best to get you a speedy answer.

Yours Sincerely

Joe Smith

Chairman of FuyuCon 2007

http://www.fuyucon.org

The winners of the first TokyoPop Rising Stars of Manga UK & Ireland competition will be introduced by John Parker, President, TOKYOPOP and Dennis McGuirk, Sales Director, TOKYOPOP UK, the ceremony to be held at London MCM Expo at 11:00am on Saturday 27th May 2006.

"About Rising Stars of Manga UK & Ireland: A Manga revolution is sweeping the U.K., and a new generation is being inspired by Manga. As the market leader in localized Manga and the sponsor of the first-ever Manga competition in the U.K., TOKYOPOP is on a mission to identify and nurture the artists whose work will define Western Manga in the years ahead. In 2005, Manga creators living in the U.K and Eire and working in English were invited to submit their work annually. The top seven entries, as selected by TOKYOPOP's editorial staff, are published by TOKYOPOP in the first Rising Stars of Manga U.K. anthology, on sale now. In addition, all the winners are invited to pitch a full-length Manga story idea to TOKYOPOP executives for possible development as a graphic novel series."

Source: London Expo website

The series chronicles the Great Race of Oban, an intergalactic competition which takes place every 10,000 years to determine the winner of the mysterious Ultimate Prize and the balance of power within the Galaxy.

All competitors have their own agenda for risking their lives in this frenzied race. For Earth, the Great Race provides an opportunity to vanquish their deadly and aggressive alien neighbours, the Crogs, who have an evil plan to annihilate the human race. Renowned race manager Don Wei gathers star-pilot Rick Thunderbolt, feisty gunner Jordan and ‘assistant’ Molly, who, unbeknown to Don Wei is his estranged daughter. After escaping from boarding school, Molly secretly hopes to reconcile with her father and get answers to why he left her 10 years earlier, following the death of her mother.

The close collaboration between Japanese and European animators has heralded a unique and artistic mix of Japanese anime with western sci-fi styling which includes richly detailed landscapes and scenery, diverse alien species and amazing race vehicles. Made in high-definition, the gripping races are in high-quality 3D and give Oban Star-Racers a visual impact rarely seen on TV. The serialised story develops in epic style across 26 half-hour episodes to be screened exclusively on Jetix from 21 October 2006.

Venue Change

After much deliberation, Auchinawa, Scotland's first large-scale J- culture event, has decided to change to an all-new venue within Glasgow. The Crowne Plaza (FKA Moat House) was deemed somewhat unsuitable for our purposes as time went on, and we felt that a new venue was required in order to fully benefit our attendees as much as possible.

As such, the new venue will be The Quality Hotel (known to some as the Central Hotel), which is located in the very heart of Glasgow's town centre and is partially inside Glasgow Central train station.

Not only does the new hotel give us a lot more space to run the many events we have planned but it also has a much more old fashioned, Victorian styled decor making it the perfect setting for cosplay photo shoots.

This change of venue also gives our attendees access to the entire town centre pretty much on the doorstep! Right outside the station are the best of Glasgow's shops, restaurants, pubs and even nightclubs (including one that is cosplay friendly!), all within falling distance of the hotel infact the station itself is home to several eateries and bars.

Given that the hotel is inside Glasgow's biggest train station, it makes travelling much easier with trains direct to Central from all over the UK and there are also station connector busses that travel from Glasgow airport to the Station as well as a circular bus that connects all the major bus and train stations in the city making travelling to the hotel from anywhere as simple as can be.

Travel and hotel information (room rates, alternative accommodation, parking etc) will follow shortly.

Date Change

Unfortunately, moving to a new venue means that we have to change our dates ever so slightly. Auchinawa will now be running exactly a week later. The new dates are 30th Nov - 3rd Dec.

We do appreciate that the date changes will affect some of you, so please don't hesitate to get in touch with us if this is the case.

Attendee Numbers

While switching to our new venue enables us to run a far more exciting event than was possible in our previous one, the downside is that we will have to lower our maximum attendee numbers from 650 down to 450. As such, if you want to guarantee yourself a place at Scotland's first ever Japanese Culture Convention then you better sign up fast as we expect the remaining places to fill up quickly.

New Guest: Paul Gravett

Adding to our already packed line-up of guests, we are proud to announce that Paul Gravett will be joining us in addition to our previously announced guests Jan-Scott Frazier and Dave Cheung.

Mr Gravett founded and edited Escape Magazine (influential British Comic Book magazine) between 1983 and 1989, but is perhaps better known as the author of Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics, a highly detailed history of Japanese comics from a western perspective. Additionally, he contributes to NEO Magazine as a regular columnist, and is a speaker at the IMAF (International Manga and Anime Fair - based in London). We look forward to having Paul join us for Auchinawa.

New Guests: Mugenkyo

Provisionally announced at Minamicon 12 this March past, we are also proud to announce that Taiko Drumming band Mugenkyo will be performing at Auchinawa this year.

The first and, in fact, only professional Taiko Drumming group in the UK, Mugenkyo were formed in 1994 by Neil Mackie and Miyuki Williams, who both lived and trained in Japan with Masaaki Kurumaya Sensei, Master Drummer, and perform over 100 times a year across the country. As a taste of a powerful and traditional Japanese musical art, this is one performance no one will want to miss.

Finally, please keep your eyes on our official forums and website for more upcoming announcements over the next few weeks, as well as an upgrading of our website and the long-awaited implementation of our official members list (just finishing ironing out the bugs)

-The Auchinawa Committee

About Auchinawa

It's time to add a Scottish twist to Japanese fandom culture. The brainchild of a group of diehard Glaswegian anime fans who decided "Let's invite the Southerners up HERE for a change!", Auchinawa is the first of it's kind north of the border and promises to mix the best parts of Japanese animation, comics, music, alternative interests and famous faces into one of the biggest and most extravagant events in the UK anime calendar. Set in the Quality Hotel, right in the heart of the City of Glasgow, Auchinawa will be an event you don't want to miss. And you won't - it's well signposted.

Sunday 23rd April, 2pm-5.30pm
at Cafe Manga (near Namco Arcade), London County Hall, South Bank

Nearest tube: Waterloo, Embankment

Normal Entry: £2.50
Wearing costume: £1.50

You are welcome to the UK's first cosplay 'only' event for cosplayers, kameko and their friends! We have many activities planned, including:

PHOTOSHOOT
Have a photo taken of your costume with London\'s beautiful scenery. Cafe Manga is situated in an area with great views and architecture - imagine your costume set against the River Thames, Big Ben or even the London Eye! Photoshoot will be free and photos will be emailed to participants after the event.

TALK/WORKSHOP
Come and swap ideas with other cosplayers or ask more experienced costumers for advice. The subject of the talk will be confirmed closer to the event.

QUIZ
Join in the quiz and win some great goodie bags, courtesy of TokyoToys.com!

ANIME/LIVE-ACTION SHOWINGS
We will be showing a full program of subtitled anime, live-action shows and music videos from Japan throughout the day.

SWAP TABLE
You can swap your left-over fabric, accessories, dress patterns, cosplay clothing items and reference magazines etc. Each person will receive one 'swap token' for each item they donate, which can be exchanged for another item at any time during the day.

**Please note items will only be accepted if they re of a mimimum value and deemed useful to cosplay- or example, pieces of fabric must be at least 80cm in length and certain clothing items may not be accepted. However, there will be a 'scraps bin' provided for getting rid of small fabric pieces.

Cosplay is not compulsory at this event, but we would like to see as many people in costume as possible!

Changing rooms and cloakroom facilities will be provided for all cosplayers and a wide range of refreshments will be available.

To join the mailing list, email pkcosplay@hotmail.co.uk with the subject title 'COSPLAY CAFE'. Updates will be also posted at http://www.cafemanga.co.uk

Hope to see you all there supporting cosplay in the UK!

http://www.sweatdrop.com/webcomics/

NEW SWEATDROP WEBCOMICS

The Sweatdrop Webcomics section has got a lot of new titles up now for you to read, including the following;

Dragon Heir Issue 2 - by Emma Vieceli
Biomecha 3.5 - by Laura Watton
Biomecha Special 1 = Colour by Laura Watton
Biomecha Intro by Laura Watton
Pinkaa Fairy - in web-only FULL COLOUR! by Laura Watton
Reluctant Soldier Princess Nami - Part 1 by Laura Watton

NEW COMICS (Soon to appear in the shop):

Killer Cake by Marbles
Squishy-chan's Adventure by Laura Watton
Artifaxis 4 by Morag Lewis
Illusional Beauty 3 by Bex
Those who can dance on the feathers 3 by Denji

PERFECT BOUND VOLUMES (soon to appear in the shop):

Revolution Baby volume 1 by Subi
Looking for the Sun volume 2 by Morag Lewis

Furthermore, Fantastic Cat volume 1 by Selina Dean is back in stock and available to buy online.

He is, as you know, the artist of one of THE RING horror manga books, published in English by Dark Horse in 2004, and was also in Boychild Productions MANGA MOVER book. He has done lots of other stuff in Japan, is a frankly brilliant artist, with a unique style.

Him and I are just finishing off our first collaborative book now, a unique new manga book: THE JAPANESE DRAWING ROOM, which I have written and he has illustrated. Its published by the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth, UK in assocation with Boychild Productions. This is the first time a British Museum has commissioned a long manga book! It will be launched at the Bristol Expo, with a series of events in Bournemouth the week after.

Preview pages of the book can be seen at:

http://bristolpreview.monkeyswithmachineguns.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91771983@N00/

And soon at the boychild and the Museum's websites.

Copies of the Japanese Drawing Room can be ordered NOW from Diamond's March 'Previews' catalogue, page 243 (code: MAR06 3078). High quality manga format, 5x8, 100pgs, B&W, $9.99 US, £5.99 UK.

Thanks,
Sean

www.boychildproductions.co.uk
- Comics as graphic literature

Acknowledgement: The Japanese Drawing Room project is funded by
Renaissance SouthWest, UK.

From Ruth Downes, president of the Anime & Manga Society at Derby University:-

"We're thinking about hosting a cosplay night at the new bar thats being built at kedleston road campus in Derby. But we cannot book the bar without interest in the event So what would be great is to get some feedback, and if you're members want to go! They will be Djs, music, and a fantastic prize for the winner of the best costume :D People don't have to come in costume if they don't want to, but it'll be great to meet new people that love anime as much as us and to socilise with others! We're hoping to hold it on the 6th of May (a Saturday) in the evening (hopefully 7 onwards) More then likely we'll charge to get in, about £3-4 but it'll be worth it ;D

Any feedback would be great, the more I get back, the more likely it can be organised!"

Contact Ruth Downes at <boris_no_no@hotmail.com> for more information.

ADV are repeating their free screenings at Cafe Manga (near London County Hall), with showings of Noir, Last Exile and Kino's Journey:-

Thursday 9th March: Kino's Journey episodes 1 and 2
Friday 10th March: Last Exile episodes 1 and 2
Saturday 11th March: Noir episodes 1 and 2

Further episodes from these shows will be shown in the same slots each week, depending on audience reaction.

From the press release: "The newly refurbished Café Manga is the ideal spot in the centre of
London to chill out in, read from the manga library they will be stocking, and watch anime on their dual plasma screens on either side of the bar. The latter two plans are developing as you read - watch out on their website for more information and details of upcoming screenings.

Also in development is a larger area inside the hall which is planned to operate as a proper Tokyo-styled Manga café - turnstile entry, priced by time spent, manga library, anime on screen, j-lounge on the sound system, bento boxes, cakes, drinks, and some form of networked gaming. This also will be used for future screenings and other events, so keep an eye out for a possible April opening."

"Kicking off just the way a classic role-playing game should – with a village burned to the ground and a main hero in turmoil – Magna Carta begins with a bang and doesn’t let up. Painstakingly crafted by Korean developer Softmax and produced by Japanese publisher Banpresto, Magna Carta is an epic RPG with gorgeous visuals, exciting heroes, a sweeping orchestral score and a unique and enthralling battle system.

Your name is Calintz, a mercenary from the military unit known as “Tears of Blood”. Your aim is to exact revenge against a powerful race of human-like creatures called the Yason. During your path along the mystical land of Efferia - a land of nature and powerful magic ravaged by the Human-Yason war - you’ll experience battles, friendships, and new encounters with mysterious strangers. One such meeting is somehow the key to your journey. A young woman called Reith, suffering from a strange amnesia, seems to have a special link with your mission of vengeance and a connection with the Magna Carta – an intense magical ritual that has the power to turn the tides of war against the Tears of Blood.

Being a member of a hardened military unit, battles feature heavily in Magna Carta. The game’s unique and comprehensive battle system offers players a dazzling array of fighting styles, magical spells and combo effects with which to devastate your rivals in battle. Innovations include a mixture of real-time and turn-based combat and a Leadership meter, where the more respect your recruits have for you, the higher your leadership will be and the more frequently you can act in battle. Leadership and respect are gained by protecting your friends, encouraging them regularly and even by giving them gifts.

Magna Carta also features an innovative “Dash or Detect” system for exploring the field, which eliminates random battle encounters. When exploring towns and non-hostile areas it’s safe to use Dash mode, but where danger might be lurking, a press of the R1 button switches to Detect mode which widens the field of view around Calintz, allowing players to see enemies at a greater range, spot treasure chest and secrets, as well as ambush enemies from behind in surprise attacks.

In addition to the exciting battle system and compelling exploration, Magna Carta features sky-high production values, with two high-profile artists on board: character artist Hyung-Tae Kim and landscape and concept designer In-Jung Jang. Towns and cities are brought to life with vibrant colours and minute attention to detail and there is a rich cadre of beautifully drawn characters to meet and recruit to your cause.

With its epic themes of friendship through adversity, the hardships of war and the mystery surrounding the Magna Carta ritual itself, Magna Carta is a powerhouse of an RPG. It offers accessible yet highly rewarding gameplay and an extensive quest, set against a gorgeous backdrop drawn from the minds of expert designers. Magna Carta is without a doubt an RPG force to be reckoned with, and releases on 7th April, priced £29.99"

There are plans for a new anime convention named FuyuCon, to be staged on 19th-21st October 2007, at a currently unconfirmed location in Nottingham. The convention is being organised by the East Midlands Anime Group. For more information, see the FuyuCon website.

From that date, Manga fans will be able to pick up a Manga Collector's Card. Every time they buy a Manga title from either Tokyopop or Orion's extensive range of titles, they will get a stamp on their card. Once they have three stamps, they can pick any book from the selection and get it free of charge.

"Graphic novels have been a real growth area for Ottakar's over the last few years," said PR manager Jon Howells, "and Manga sales have rocketed. We've been extending our range constantly, and have consistently offered the best Manga range on the High Street, outside of specialist comic shops. However, we don't want to rest on our laurels, so we've introduced our Manga Collector's Card to make sure that when people think Manga, they think of Ottakar's."

Initially the promotion includes titles from Tokyopop and Orion. "These are the two leading Manga publishers in the UK," said Ottakar's Graphic Novel Buyer Janine Cook. "Nearly every Manga title we sell comes from one of these publishers, so Manga fans will have no problem filling their Collectors Cards!"

Among the many titles included in the promotion are Orion?s Dragonball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh! Tokyopop series include the bestselling Love Hina, Chobits, Battle Royale and many, many more.

The Manga Collector's Card will be available from Ottakar's Bookshops nationwide from March 1st. For details of your nearest branch of Ottakar's, visit www.ottakars.co.uk.

• Sony Music official site
• BBFC database entry

• Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum Edition - 07
• Elfen Lied - Vector One
• DNAngel: Magical Girls
• BoogiePop and Others (live action)
• BoogiePop Phantom Complete Collection

GRAND PRIZE
Paul Duffield of Winchester, England
Manga Title: Falling Star

SECOND PLACE
Sonia Leong of Cambridge, England
Manga Title: Fatal Connection

THIRD PLACE
Patrick Warren of London, England
Manga Title: Dojo Dynasty

RUNNERS-UP
Jin Sun Oh of Nottingham, England
Manga Title: Legend of the Future

Sinead Lynch of Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland and L. Hamilton of Duleek, County Meath, Ireland
Manga Title: Rose By Any Other Name

Emma Vieceli of Cambridge, England
Manga Title: Between the Lines

Roxanne Chen of West Yorkshire, England
Manga Title: Prince of Cats

Vee Chayakul of Leicester, England
Manga Title: Modern Day Catastrophists