KrisZ on Anime, Manga, Cosplay and Video Games

Larissa in her Beautiful Cosplay The city of Riverside unfortunately gets lots of dissension for being a commuting city that does not really have a vibrant social culture. Some of the most vocal dissenters are the local residents who have lived there for a long time. Thankfully, events like the Riverside Lunar Festival is adding some charm to the city and bringing out the large Asian communities in the Inland Empire. Riverside Lunar Festival is an event that started recently and this year I was the principal organizer to get the anime/cosplay community to come out to the event. Over the course of the day, there were around 70 cosplayers in the event, including 40 participants in the Cosplay Fashion Show. There was also heavy support from the Inland Empire anime community and the Anime Expo staff. For an event that had zero cosplay before to have such a heavy cosplay presence was amazing to say the least. When I heard that the City of Riverside was starting a Lunar Festival to cele...

Titles Reviewed: Fudanshifull #2 Dusk Maiden of Amnesia #1 As many of my loyal readers have noticed, my blog articles seem to be arriving in dribs and drabs compared to the regular release that had been the traditional norm in the past couple of months. I have been extremely busy working on graduate school, Anime Expo, and cosplay events for the Riverside Lunar Festival. I am neither omniscient nor omnipotent, my scheduling of the busy world around me came at the cost of writing as regularly as I used to. As I try to get back the regular rhythm that once had dominated my aforementioned life, I am resurrecting a not so popular segment of my blog, which is this section. Without an established following of people who reference my manga reviews, it seems to be one of the more unpopular sections of the blog. Regardless, I feel that I should still continue it since it develops the standard of excellence that this blog prides itself on. Prepare your hiking boots and your withered topolo...

Due to my insanely busy schedule I can't keep this blog up as frequently as I have in the past, so here are some interesting tidbits and news stories that I felt was important that has happened over the past couple of weeks. They span all the major topics that this blog covers, including anime, manga, cosplay, and video games. Enjoy!! Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 Dated and Rated Atelier Meruru release month announced Dusk Maiden of Amnesia gets Anime on Spring 2012 Riverside Lunar Festival Cosplay Fashion Show Tidbits Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 Dated and Rated Hyperdimension Neptunia got quite a bit of focus because of its cute character designs, funny script, and interesting take on the console wars. The game was popular enough to have a sequel produced and to have this sequel be released in North America. Nippon Ichi Software America has announced that Hyperdimenion Neptunia Mk 2 is getting a European Release Date of February 24, 2012 and a North American release date of...

The medium of anime and manga have an eclectic variety of genres that are used to tell the story. Of the variety of genres out there, only a few of them are unique to anime and manga. One of those genres that started and remain mostly exclusive to anime and manga is the harem genre. The harem genre is one of the most criticized and one of the most loved of the anime and manga genres. A harem anime is defined as having a story which has three or more female characters that are in love with the male lead. As controversial as the genre is, it has a rich and unique history and it has quite a large following of male and female fans. A harem series is defined as having three or more female characters that are in love with the male lead character. If there are only two female characters it is a love triangle more than a harem series. What makes this genre easy to spot is that it has a couple of telltale signs to distinguish it from a variety of other genres. The first sign is a mostly all-...

I have been attending anime conventions for close to ten years, one of my favorite conventions is a medium-sized convention that happens every January, Anime Los Angeles. If you have read my report on the convention this year, I write ebulliently on how well the convention was run and how Anime LA was able to differentiate itself from the  many conventions out there. Thanks to the great leadership of ALA and the staff that ran the convention, my convention experience was a great experience that I will continue to visit. In my report, I noted that the convention got really packed and that later on it became very difficult to move around the pool deck. The reason was simple, because Anime Los Angeles smashed its 2011 attendance records. Anime Los Angeles 2010 - 3,209 unique attendance Anime Los Angeles 2011 - 3,598 unique attendance (12.1% yoy) Anime Los Angeles 2012 - 4,211 unique attendance (17.0% yoy) As you can see with the numbers, the attendance for this year's Anime Los ...

As a person who has started attending anime conventions with a massive destination convention like Anime Expo, a smaller con was a foreign concept. I went to my first small convention and was disappointed because I was merely expecting a smaller version of large mega-convention like Anime Expo. My mindset about smaller conventions changed when I attended Anime Los Angeles in 2010. I had such a great experience that I have started to expand the conventions I attend every year to include large and small conventions. Small issues aside, the convention was another memorable experience to remember. Can't get enough Kingdom Hearts My Anime Los Angeles day started when I arrived at the LAX Mariott. This led to the two of the most frustrating issues I had in what was otherwise a great day. I arrived at the convention site at around 9:30am expecting to park in hotel parking. As I arrived I paid my $13 and proceeded to park in the underground parking lot. I drove around the parking lo...

The new year has barely started and it is already off to a horrible start. Bandai Entertainment, the American publishing arm of Namco Bandai is closing shop. Started in 1996, the company has published some of the most influential anime in the United States. The decision was made in October and word has only started to get out recently. Thanks to the great reporting of Anime News Network , we have a good idea of why this storied company was shuttered by its Japanese parent company. Using ANN's great report on the situation along with my understanding of the issue, I will break down what led to the situation and analyze the consequences of the situation on the Anime and Manga market in the North America. Symptoms:  The North American anime market has shrunk substantially from the past Prices of Anime kept on dropping Symptoms are the the result of what the problems create. In this situation, there are two main symptoms that are a result of all the problems that is in the anime m...

One of my favorite experiences of the year is attending an anime or comic book convention. It brings joy to my heart to go to a place where people can go together for the common love of anime, manga, video games, comic books regardless of social status, education, ethnicity, and religion. Starting this weekend is the beginning of my incredibly packed year of attending these conventions. In these conventions I go as an executive representing Anime Expo, but I also go as a general fan to do cosplay photography, hang out with friends, and make new friends. Without further ado, here are the conventions I will be attending for 2012. Conventions I will be attending (barring any catastrophic events): Anime Los Angeles (January) - Saturday Wondercon (March) - Friday Anime Conji (March) - Saturday Anime Expo (July) - All Convention Comic Con International (July) - Saturday Comikaze Expo (November) - Saturday Pacific Media Expo (November) - Saturday I will be attending these eight conv...