KrisZ on Anime, Manga, Cosplay and Video Games

Yoko Hikasa 日笠 陽子 Born: 7/16/1985 Behind great anime are memorable characters that stick with you long after the series ends. A great character is comprised of well-written dialogue, interesting character design, a wonderful dynamic with the rest of the cast, and a great voice actor. The role of the voice actor is to turn the script into reality by bringing the characters to life and add personality through intonation. One of my favorite Japanese voice actors is Yoko Hikasa. Since 2007, she has brought to life some of my favorite characters through her wonderful voice acting such as Mio Akiyama from K-On , Shino Amatsuka from Setokai Yakuidomo , Houki Shinonono from Infinite Stratos , and many more.

My favorite cosplayer as Knives Chau from Scott Pilgrim In the past, comic conventions were smaller, more intimate affairs as people had a chance to attend panels with their favorite comic book artist and buy older volumes or the newest releases in the exhibit hall. The premiere comic convention on the West Coast has been Comic Con International, held in San Diego. This convention draws out 130,000 attendees over the course of four days and has badge sellouts within a manner of minutes. The comic convention world is growing, with Comikaze Expo having 35,000 attendees in its inaugural year and well over 75,000 attendees in its second year, and the New York Comic Con having 116,000 visitors in 2012. These events among many others have had explosive growth periods; I will delve into the explosive growth of comic conventions in the United States. Comikaze Expo One of the single largest forces in the growth of comic conventions is the influence of Hollywood in the creation of co...

With the creation of many industries, there have been times of boom and bust. For many industries, a cyclical occurrence is determined by the needs and wants of consumers. When an industry crashes heavily from record highs to lead to a sustained long period of depressed earnings, it is an industry bubble. There are many examples of it occurring in the last 30 years, with the gaming crash of 1983, the internet bubble that collapsed in 2001, and the housing bubble in 2008 that led to the greatest economic recession in the past hundred years. There are many examples of bubbles that we can see, what leads to an industry bubble and how does it affect industry? For most gaming fans, one of the most relevant industry bubbles was the events that led to the gaming crash of 1983. Revenues of the video game industry went from $3.2 billion dollars in 1983 to $100 million in 1985. The reasons for the videogame crash in North America are numerous. There was too much competition in the market, w...

Black Butler Cosplay The Japanese manga industry has a long and fabled history in Japan. Due to its ubiquity among Japanese culture, it is a popular medium across a vast section of the Japanese market. The manga market’s large size means that smaller, niche markets can thrive. One of the most popular niche genres are Yaoi manga, better known as “boys love” manga. This market is large enough in the United States that the genre itself has survived the great manga crash relatively unscathed. One of conventions that is dedicated to this genre is Yaoi-con, which has moved to Southern California after it was acquired by Digital Manga Publishing. Here are my thoughts on Yaoi-con’s first convention in Southern California. Sword Art Online Before I go into the convention report itself, I will first explore the genre in which this convention is centered on. Yaoi is a genre that focuses on homosexual relationships between men that are mainly written by women for the female-dominated mar...

NIS America has announced that they will be releasing Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory to the USA. It will be getting a PS3 release in Spring 2013 along with a Neptunia iPhone application. Neptunia Victory is the direct sequel to Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 , a PS3 that I enjoyed quite a bit. This game is the third game in the series and it follows the eponymous lead of the franchise, Neptune, as she goes into the video game world of the 1980's. The franchise has been fairly popular in the USA with its cute designs and interesting game premise. Look forward to a full review in Spring. Links Neptunia Victory USA Site Neptunia V JPN Site

The Premium console There are few companies that are as well known in the gaming world as Nintendo. In the handheld realm, they have dominated the world with the Gameboy brand the DS brand. In the world of consoles they have a storied legacy that has its fair share of ups and downs. Their last console, the Nintendo Wii came out of the park and smashed sales records left and right. The successor to the Nintendo Wii was announced in E3 2011, but details about the console have been slim to none. On September 13th, 2012 Nintendo had unleashed the gates and has flooded the gaming world with details on its upcoming console. The console will be launching first in North America in November 18, 2012. The console will feature a basic model that has 8 GB of storage for $300. Taking some cues from Sony and Microsoft, they also announced a Deluxe model that includes 32GB of storage, while including NintendoLand, a stand, and a digital media promotion for $350. The console will launch in the E...

In one of the biggest licensing announcements in a very long time, RightStuf has announced the licensing and acquisition of Rose of Versailles. The 40-episode saga will be published on DVD on 2013 through the label Nozomi Entertainment. This is a major coup since this franchise has never seen the light of day in the United States. Rose of Versailles is based off of the revolutionary 1972 manga by Ryoko Ikeda. The manga and the anime that was influenced by it follows the story of a fictional knight known as Oscar on the court of Marie Antoinette in the Versailles royal court before and during the French Revolution. The shojo was revolutionary since it had a strong focus on gender bending, with Oscar being a young woman who comes from French nobility that plays the male role of being a knight. She was raised from childbirth to be a man, even if her physical body says otherwise. It has a powerful, emotional storyline that is still unmatched in the world of anime and manga. I had th...