Samurai Shodown!

Posted by on Feb 25, 2011 in Japan, Video Games | 0 comments

Ah, Neo Geo arcade games… they bring back memories. What I also remember is the cost for the home system and the games. Some of the games were going for $300 each. Crazy times indeed.

Anyway, now that  I am reminded of my wasted youth spent in arcades, check out this cool video. It’s “Taichi Saotome, Special New Year Performance of Dragon and Peony, Sword Dance and Shadowgraph 2nd to the 5th of January 2011 at the Galaxy Theater Tokyo.”

I can only imagine how must coreographing was needed for this. Only in Japan. Enjoy and stay out of arcades! Oh wait… arcades died in the early mid 90s… by bad.

Osamu Tezuka’s Hand-Drawn Notebooks Published

Posted by on Nov 2, 2010 in Anime, Art, Manga | 0 comments

From Anime News Network: “Shogakukan Creative will publish for the first time Tezuka Osamu Sosaku Note to Shoki Sakuhin-Shu, a collection of conceptual notes and early works from the manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka, on December 24 in Japan. Tezuka is best known for creating Mighty Atom (Astro Boy), Jungle Emperor (Kimba the White Lion), Hi no Tori(Phoenix), Metropolis, and dozens of other influential manga classics.”

There were 75 handwritten notebooks discovered after his passing and the pages contain “early story concepts, dialogue drafts, and preliminary sketches for Mighty Atom, Jungle Emperor, Metropolis, Kurubeki Sekai (Nextworld), and other stories from around 1948 to 1959.” The material was put on paper by Tezuka between 1948 and 1959 and Shogakukan Creative will publish ten of Tezuka’s notebooks on December 24th of this year.

I know I am a geek but I was really exited when I went to Japan and was able to visit the Astro Boy museum in Kyoto. So for me and many others, these books are exciting news indeed and hopefully they will gain distribution outside of Japan so the rest of the world can enjoy Tezuka’s genius.

Stereographics (Small Planets Or Ultra-Wide Fisheye)

Posted by on Nov 1, 2010 in Art, Photography | 0 comments

Heiwa4126 has a great collection of stereographic photos which are basically panoramas and ultra-wide fisheye images. Most of the pictures were shot in Tokyo and if you’re interested in making your own, Flickr user gadl has a page with his own pictures and some instruction.

Gothic Horror Illustrations By Tatsuya Morino

Posted by on Oct 31, 2010 in Art | 0 comments

Pink Tentacle has posted a gallery of illustrations from the book Kaibutsu Genso Gashu by artist Tatsuya Morino. He has drawn some gothic literature monsters like Frankenstein’s Monster and Dracula and from such authors as H.G Wells and Edgar Allen Poe.