Logo handmade by Bannister
Column by Scott Green
Win a Signed Summer Wars Poster
Event News
Giant Robot San Francisco grsf is presenting Free Kawii Makeovers at The Shibuya Girls Real Japanese Kawaii on Saturday February 5th, 6:30-10pm
Dress up kawaii to win a special present by Sugarpill! Celebrate with a FREE kawaii makeover!
Sugarpill Cosmetics celebrates the opening of Real Japanese Kawaii by offering lucky attendees kawaii makeovers with their brightest colors! Learn how to achieve your own look, too! Sugarpill kawaii makeovers are first come - first serve on February 5, 2011 between 6:30pm - 10:00pm. Makeovers are located at the Sugarpill Popup Shop inside Giant Robot. Don't miss out!
That's not all! The first 25 attendees who show up dressed kawaii will receive a special present from Sugarpill Cosmetics! Tutorials shall consist of a personal consultation, during the makeover, on how to achieve a "€kawaii look at home. Each giveaway shall consist of 1-2 eyeshadows.
Appointment times are 30 minutes each (with a 15 minute cushion)- 6:30pm, 7:15pm, 8:00pm, 8:45pm, 9:30pm.
LA's GR2 will presents a series of events this weekend too
Sat 6:30-10pm Year of the Rabbit art show
February 5 - March 2, 2011
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 5, 6:30 - 10:00 PM
Giant Robot is proud to host Year of the Rabbit, a group art show celebrating the 4709th resetting of the lunar calendar. Pieces will include illustrations, oils, pencils, prints, watercolors, sculpture, and other media–all dedicated to one of the most stubborn, but also most creative (and cute) animals in the Chinese zodiac.
Contributors will include the following:
Andrice Arp
Jesse Balmer
Robert Bellm
Aaron Brown
Ako Castuera
Sean Chao
Louise Chen
Shawn Cheng
James Chong
Lola Dompe
Dutch Door Press
Evah Fan
Jesse Fillingham
Matt Furie
Clement Hanami
Lisa Hanawalt
Nao Harada
David Horvath
Michael Hsiung
Martin Hsu
Mark Ingram
Mari Inukai
Kaori Kasai
kozyndan
Tessar Lo
Miso
Gary Musgrave
Tru Nguyen
Saejean Oh
Ming Ong
Martin Ontiveros
Sidney Pink
Ferris Plock
Jarrett Quon
Jesse Reklaw
Albert Reyes
Grant Reynolds
Jenny Ryan
Ryan Jacob Smith
Ryohei Tanaka
Daria Tessler
Kelly Tunstall
Aiyana Udesen
Edwin Ushiro
Christine Vincent
Jing Wei
Justin Wood
Yoskay Yamamoto
Kohei Yamashita
Jeni Yang
Sat 4:30-7pm Dog and Cat Adoption
For a few hours, dogs and cats will be available for adoption via the LA Shelter, specifically the West LA shelter just blocks away. They'll bring a selection of friends for you to check out. It runs during our Year of the Rabbit Opening reception. Keep in mind they take off at 7 PM!
Also bring a donation of a towel(s) so the dogs and cats can keep warm at night during the exhibition from February 5-March 2nd and receive a 15% off coupon that works at Giant Robot, GR2, and gr/eats.
It's not applicable to sale items, pop up store items, and artwork. The coupon expires March 2nd.
The towels will be donated to the West LA Animal Shelter.
Sunday 2-3pm Mike Kim Signing
Giant Robot is proud to host a book signing with Mike Kim, author of Escaping North Korea.
Mike Kim has now shared his stories of inspiration, courage, and hope on five continents. Come hear Mike, who worked with refugees on the Chinese border for four years, recount their experiences of enduring famine, sex-trafficking, and torture, as well as the inspirational stories of those who overcame tremendous adversity to escape the repressive regime of their homeland and make new lives.
About the Author: On New Year's Day 2003, Kim gave up his financial planning business in Chicago, Illinois and left for China on a one-way ticket carrying little more than two duffle bags. While living near the North Korean border, he operated undercover as a student of North Korean taekwondo, training under two famous North Korean masters from Pyongyang—eventually receiving a second-degree blackbelt. He founded Crossing Borders, a nonprofit dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance to North Korean refugees. During his time in China, he learned of the hundreds of thousands of North Koreans fleeing to China through a 6,000-mile modern-day underground railroad in search of food and freedom. He has interviewed hundreds of North Koreans and in his book he recounts their experiences of famine, defection, sex-trafficking, and torture in gulags. He frequently appears in the media and has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and CNN AC360. Escaping North Korea is being developed into a motion picture with the book-to-movie project represented by William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.
Notice: RKTV (Radio Korea TV) in collaboration with Arirang TV will be filming for an “Arirang Today” news program on Mike Kim and his work.
Read more about Mike Kim and Escaping North Korea
Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as an online equivalent.
The signing will take place on Feb 6 from 2:00 - 3:00 PM.
.*
A tribute to Nujabes, known for his music in Samurai Champloo will be held in Maryland February 17th*
Run, Salaryman, Run! - A Retrospective of Sabu's Film Works*
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival announced that manga creator Natsume Ono will make her first-ever North American public appearance as a Featured Guest at TCAF 2011.
Hailing from Japan, Ono is one of the most exciting and unique women working in the medium today, and she will appear on panels and sign books in support of her English language works at Toronto Reference Library, May 7 and 8 2011. Ono appears with the support of her English-language publisher VIZ Media.
“Ono’s fantastic work fits squarely into the ‘art comix’ idiom that’s at the core of the Festival,” enthuses Festival Director Christopher Butcher. “It’s the type of work we try to encourage. She’s a true auteur, working in a variety of styles and on different subjects, and her work is sure to find favour with fans of our other Featured Guests including Chris Ware, Jillian Tamaki, Mawil, and Adrian Tomine.”
With a loose, gestural and even melancholic style that is at odds with most fans’ view of contemporary manga, since VIZ Media began publishing Ono’s work in English two years ago she has quickly become a favourite of North American readers. Touching on themes of family bonds, abuse and neglect, and responsibility, her works have a surprising weight, and the types of characters and settings she employs are rarely seen in comics on either side of the Pacific.
not simple © 2006 Natsume ONO/Shogakukan*
Tickets are now on sale for the March 4-27 New York Int'l Children's Film Festival
The line-up includes
NYICFF AWARDS, BEST OF FEST, AND CLOSING NIGHT PARTY
VARIOUS, VARIOUS, 2011, 94 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: ALL AGES
Sun Mar 27 DGA THEATER 4:00
AURELIE LAFLAMME'S DIARY
CANADA, CHRISTIAN LAURENCE, 2010, 108 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 8 TO ADULT (SUBTITLED)
Sat Mar 5 SYMPHONY SPACE 3:30
Sun Mar 20 IFC CENTER 11:00
BOY
NEW ZEALAND, TAIKA WAITITI, 2010, 87 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 12 TO ADULT (IN ENGLISH)
Sat Mar 5 SYMPHONY SPACE 6:00
A CAT IN PARIS
FRANCE, GAGNOL/FELICIOLI, 2010, 65 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 6 TO ADULT (IN ENGLISH)
Sat Mar 5 CANTOR FILM CENTER 6:00
Sun Mar 13 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 11:00
Sat Mar 19 IFC CENTER 11:00
CHANDANI: THE DAUGHTER
OF THE ELEPHANT WHISPERER
SRI LANKA, ARNE BIRKENSTOCK, 2009, 52 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 8 TO ADULT (SUBTITLED)
Sat Mar 5 CANTOR FILM CENTER 2:00
Sat Mar 19 ASIA SOCIETY 12:00
THE DREAMS OF JINSHA
CHINA, CHEN DEMING, 2010, 85 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 8 TO ADULT (SUBTITLED)
Sat Mar 5 CANTOR FILM CENTER 11:30
Sun Mar 13 IFC CENTER 11:00
Sun Mar 20 ASIA SOCIETY 12:00
ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW
HONG KONG, ALEX LAW, 2010, 112 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 10 TO ADULT (SUBTITLED)
Sat Mar 19 ASIA SOCIETY 2:30
MIA & THE MIGOO
FRANCE, JACQUES-RÉMY GIRERD, 2011, 92 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: ALL AGES (IN ENGLISH)
Sat Mar 26 IFC CENTER 11:00
Sun Mar 27 IFC CENTER 11:00
SAMMY'S ADVENTURES: THE SECRET PASSAGE
BELGIUM, BEN STASSEN, 2010, 88 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: ALL AGES (IN ENGLISH)
Sun Mar 27 DGA THEATER 1:00
THE STORYTELLING SHOW
FRANCE, JEAN-CHRISTOPHE ROGER, 2010, 77 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 7 TO ADULT (SUBTITLED)
Sat Mar 5 CANTOR FILM CENTER 11:00
Sat Mar 12 SYMPHONY SPACE 11:00
TIME OF EVE
JAPAN, YASUHIRO YOSHIURA, 2010, 106 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 11 TO ADULT (SUBTITLED)
US PREMIERE - Covering territory explored by Blade Runner and I, Robot, Time of Eve is an exquisitely drawn, sci-fi allegory that probes questions of artificial intelligence and emotions, while flirting with the moral and personal implications of human-robot romance.
Sat Mar 12 SYMPHONY SPACE 4:00
Sat Mar 19 ASIA SOCIETY 6:00
WELCOME TO THE SPACESHOW
JAPAN, KOJI MASUNARI, 2010, 136 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 7 TO ADULT (SUBTITLED)
US PREMIERE - With an intergalactic cast of thousands, Kojo Masunari’s colorfully explosive debut feature sets a new high for visual spectacle and sheer inventiveness of character design – in what has to be one of the most gleefully surreal depictions of alien life forms ever portrayed in cinema.
Sun Mar 6 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 5:00
Sat Mar 12 SYMPHONY SPACE 1:00
Sun Mar 20 ASIA SOCIETY 3:00
SHORTS FOR TOTS
VARIOUS, VARIOUS, 2011, 65 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 3 TO 6
Sat Mar 5 CANTOR FILM CENTER 10:30 12:30
Sun Mar 6 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 10:30
Sat Mar 12 SYMPHONY SPACE 12:00
Sun Mar 20 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 10:00
SHORT FILMS ONE
VARIOUS, VARIOUS, 2011, 70 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 5 TO 10
Sat Mar 5 CANTOR FILM CENTER 2:30
Sat Mar 12 SYMPHONY SPACE 2:00
Sun Mar 20 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 12:00
Sat Mar 26 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 11:00
SHORT FILMS TWO
VARIOUS, VARIOUS, 2011, 75 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 8 TO 14
Sat Mar 5 CANTOR FILM CENTER 5:30
Sun Mar 6 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 2:45
Sun Mar 13 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 1:00
Sat Mar 26 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 1:15
FLICKER LOUNGE:
FOR TEENS & ADULTS ONLY...
VARIOUS, VARIOUS, 2011, 80 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 12 TO ADULT
Sat Mar 5 CANTOR FILM CENTER 6:30
Sat Mar 26 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 6:00
HEEBIE JEEBIES:
SPOOKY, FREAKY & BIZARRE...
VARIOUS, VARIOUS, 2011, 80 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 12 TO ADULT
Sat Mar 5 CANTOR FILM CENTER 4:15
Sat Mar 26 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 3:30
GIRLS' POV SHORTS
VARIOUS, VARIOUS, 2011, 80 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 10 TO ADULT
Sat Mar 12 IFC CENTER 11:00
Sun Mar 20 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 2:30
PANEL: BREAKING INTO
THE BOYS CLUB
VARIOUS, VARIOUS, 2011, 75 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 10 TO ADULT
Panel includes:
Lisa Cortes (producer, Precious)
Killer Films' Christine Vachon (I'm Not There, Boys Don't Cry)
Claudia Raschke (cinematographer, Mad Hot Ballroom)
Lisbeth Scott (composer, The Chronicles of Narnia)
Pixar's Kori Rae (Up, The Incredibles, Monsters, Inc.)
Additional panelists to be added!
Filmmakers will share their experiences, discuss gender-based roadblocks they’ve faced in the industry, and offer advice for aspiring young filmmakers.
Sun Mar 20 SCHOLASTIC THEATER 5:00
WORKSHOP: GREEN SCREEN
VARIOUS, VARIOUS, 2011, 75 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 8 TO ADULT
Presented in partnership with Take Two Film Academy. www.taketwofilmacademy.com
Sun Mar 13 CANTOR FILM CENTER 4:00
WORKSHOP: MUSIC AND SOUND FOR FILM
VARIOUS, VARIOUS, 2011, 75 MIN
RECOMMENDED AGES: 7 TO ADULT
Date Theater Buy Tickets
Sat Mar 5 CANTOR FILM CENTER*
Pop Japan Travel announced that the Tokyo Anime Fair Tour ( March 21 through March 28) has been renamed the "Anime Insider Tour" in response to the passage of Bill 156 by the Tokyo Government. The tour will take guests to the brand new Anime Contents Expo at Makuhari Messe Convention Center, as well as a visit to Studio Pierrot*
New York's Japan Society will be presenting the Bye Bye Kitty!!! Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art exhibition March 18-June 12.
A shimmering taxidermy deer and a gasp-inducing canvas depicting a tumulus of minuscule salary men are among the compelling works set to greet visitors to Japan Society Gallery from Friday, March 18 to June 12, 2011. The occasion is Bye Bye Kitty!!! Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art, an exhibition introducing American audiences to a new wave of Japanese artists who challenge their country’s long love affair with the kawaii (cute) aesthetic.
Many of the paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, and videos in Bye, Bye Kitty!!! illustrate the manner in which today’s vanguard artists in Japan freely and creatively sample Japanese pictorial conventions, ultimately reframing tradition—whether it be the conservative aesthetic of traditional Japanese painting and sculpture, the graphic ingenuity of Ukiyo-e prints, or neo-traditional styles developed in the early decades of the last century.
A two-panel work by Makoto Aida, for instance, emulates the traditional decorative form of painted screens, but with imagery—two massively heroic schoolgirls squared off against one another, each hoisting a South Korean or a Japanese flag aloft—that is a biting commentary on today’s uneasy East Asian relations. Similarly, in a large-scale triptych entitled Defeat at the Single Blow, Robust and Magnificent Feature, Gallant and Brave Behavior (2008), Hisashi Tenmyouya supplants the religious imagery one would expect from the format with a depiction of battle as a feral experience. In two views of Narita International Airport (2005), Yamaguchi Akira employs the pictorial devices associated with the 17th-century “famous views” of Kyoto, only to insert scenes of environmental despoliation within the familiar golden, misty clouds (which one now suspects are petrochemical smog). Other works in the show meditate on the natural environment and our precarious relationship with it. Haruka Kojin, at 27 the youngest artist in the exhibition, contributes an eerily reflective installation made from multi-hued cut paper forms that seem to float in space. Rinko Kawauchi’s constellation of 46 different-sized photographs depicts the minutiae of moments in an allusive world.
The 16 artists represented in Bye Bye Kitty!!! are Makoto Aida (b.1965); Manabu Ikeda (b.1973); Tomoko Kashiki (b.1982); Rinko Kawauchi (b.1972); Haruka Kojin (b.1983); Kumi Machida (b.1970); Yoshitomo Nara (b.1959); Kohei Nawa (b.1975); Motohiko Odani (b.1972); Hiraki Sawa (b.1977); Chiharu Shiota (b.1972); Tomoko Shioyasu (b.1981); Hisashi Tenmyouya (b.1966); Yamaguchi Akira (b.1969); Miwa Yanagi (b.1967); Tomoko Yoneda (b.1965).
Related Programs
Cordoning the Child, Killing the Kawaii
Saturday, March 19, 2011, 12:30 pm
j-CATION 2011: Beyond Cute
Saturday, April 9, 2011, 11 am-11 pm
Art Cart: Super Scenography
Sunday, April 17, 2011, 2-4 pm
Going Public: Artists Critique Consumerism, Corporations, and Cultural Narratives
Thursday, April 21, 2011, 6:30 pm*
Natsu Onoda Power will be preseted a Theatricality in the Works of Osamu Tezuka talk at The Ohio State University February 18, 2011
On North American TV
Syfy will be running Chrono Crusade starting on February 22nd.
FUNimation Channel On Demand is now available for Charter digital customers.
Worth Checking Out...
Insight
Akihabara has been re-opened to pedestrians almost three years after the rampage
2D Takes Over the 3D City: Akihabara in Otaku Subculture
Otaku-Verse Zero at Bandai HQ - promotional item museam
Identity Crisis, what does "Otaku" mean?
Dark Horse talks up Blade of the Immortal
Alan Moore x Hideaki Anno: Their Failed Assassinations of Their Genres
Mike Toole on unwatched anime and pioneer Shotaro Inshinomori
Rumiko Takahashi Hates Men? Since When? - also A Drunken Dream and Other Stories
On The Manga Curmudgeon
reviews of a few Yoshinaga manga
imperial court period piece The Story of Saiunkoku
the notably particular Kinderbook
Matthew J. Brady finishes off a look through the AX Alternative Manga anthology
Sean T. Collins on AX
an interview with its editor, Sean Michael Wilson
Yen Press on Sundome and mature manga
Colony Drop - 1972 Literary Incest Comics: Ayako
other manga by Sexy Voice and Robo's Iou Kuroda
Sci-Fi Japan reviews Katanagatari
Brian Ruh on Tow Ubukata's Mardock Scramble, Lunar for Kindle and sports manga
The Best Manga You’re Not Reading: Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro
Otaku USA on Japanese fantasy novels and the Yukikaze novel
on the anime side, the classic Macross Plus
Patrick Macias reports from the premiere of live action Gantz
also on 1981's Adieu Galaxy Express 999
also 1981's movie and TV anime
Jason Thompson on ballet manga Swan
Jonathan Clements examines the legacy of Ranpo Edogawa, the Japanese master of mystery and imagination, and his infamous master-thief K20.
Slate compares Tetsuya Nakashima's (Kamikaze Girls, now Confessions) work to Citizen Kane
Midnight Eye looks at the best of 2010 - Shinya Tsukamoto and his Tetsuo Bullet Man
MonsterTalk talks Ninja Attack
Media
Neat Fullmetal Alchemist fanart
Novel illustrations - cool stuff from folks like CLAMP and Samura
Dan Hipp draws Faye Valentine
neat TMNT art
via AnimeNation
Takeshi Honda MAD
Gen'ichirou Abe MAD
updated version of the Soichiro Matsuda MAD
Bleach animator annotations
One Piece animator annotations
Fullmetal Alchemist movie animator annotations
Shota Sakamoto work, from gainax.co.jp's welcome page
Janurary animation highlights
For fans of Summer Wars, Mamoru Hosoda's
Nadja opening
his Alice SOS opening
Gundam F91 fan OP
Polish Anime Movie Posters - Animal Treasure Island, Puss in Boots 3 - and kaiju
Paper Ghibli, Panty and Stock, Professor Layton, ect
Studio Ghibli tribute illustrations
Hayao Miyazaki illustrated "Tree"
Tatsuyuki Tanaka on Youtube
Misc
Prime Minister Naoto Kan launched an English language blog
Getter Robo x Anpanman
Evangelion hotel room
Evangelion-themed Pachinko Parlor
Yoshitoshi ABe drawing on iPad with oStylus
Kumar Sivasubramanian, who does a big slice of Dark Horse's manga translations, has a web comic
Sephora Hello Kitty cosmetics
Big O by Max Factory due in April 2011
fingerless Totoro gloves
Natural Born Comics on Megumi Fujii
SPACE GIANTS villain Rodak invades a frat party
you know you want a Maruo Suehiro iphone case
Think Geek's Akira tribute
not itasha (pain car) drivers, Champion itasha drivers
Schoolgir Milky Crisis' infamous index isn't in the Kindle version, so, it's now online
Is Hello Kitty's new friend Mell a reclusive hikikomori?
Dengeki's Favorite Anime Director Survey
Speaking of surveys, Sailor Moon, Star Wars, Strawberry Shortcake, Superman and sex
Comiket in 1981
1985
Paul Gravett's Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics, banned in libraries again
anime industry figures on twitter
