Tekkonkinkreet
, also known as ''Black & White'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Taiyō Matsumoto, originally serialized from 1993 to 1994 in Shogakukan's manga magazine '' Big Comic Spirits''. The story takes place in the fictional city of Takaramachi (Treasure Town) and centers on a pair of orphaned street kids – the tough, canny Black and the childish, innocent White, together known as the Cats – as they deal with yakuza attempting to take over Treasure Town. A pilot film directed by Kōji Morimoto was released in January 1999. A feature-length anime film directed by Michael Arias and animated by Studio 4°C premiered in Japan in December 2006. Plot The story follows two orphans, and , who dominate the streets of Takaramachi, a once-prosperous metropolis now reduced to a violent slum controlled by warring gangs. Black is a ruthless street fighter who views the city as his territory, while White exhibits childlike innocence and often retreats into ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michael Arias
Michael Arias (born 1968) is an American-born filmmaker active primarily in Japan. Though Arias has worked variously as visual effects artist, animation software developer, and producer, he is best known for his directorial debut, the anime feature ''Tekkonkinkreet'', which established him as the first non-Japanese director of a major anime film. Early life Michael Arias was born in Los Angeles, California. His father, Ron Arias (born 1941) is a former senior writer and correspondent for ''People magazine'' and a highly regarded Chicano writer. Michael Arias' mother, Dr. Joan Arias, was a professor of Spanish and IBM Software Sales Specialist. When still a young boy, Arias often watched movies in the theater with his parents and borrowed 16mm prints from a local public library for screening at home; it was at this stage in his life that he developed his passion for cinema. Arias graduated from the Webb School of California at the age of 16. He then attended Wesleyan Univers ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Taiyō Matsumoto
is a Japanese manga artist. Active as a professional manga artist since the 1980s, he is known for his experimental style and genre-blending works such as '' Tekkonkinkreet'', ''Ping Pong'', and '' No. 5''. Influenced by Katsuhiro Otomo and French bande dessinée, his art combines psychological depth with rough, expressive lines. Matsumoto has won multiple awards, including the Eisner Award and Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. Career Matsumoto was born in Tokyo. Originally, he wanted to become a soccer player. but changed to artist as an occupation instead after reading Katsuhiro Otomo's ''Domu: A Child's Dream''. While studying literature at Wako University, he started drawing manga. He was an admirer of the manga artist Seiki Tsuchida and sent his work to the newcomer contest Comic Open of Kodansha's magazine ''Morning'' that Tsuchida was working for. After his initial success in the Comic Open contest, he did a self-financed tour of France in 1986, visiting the Paris-Dakar R ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Plaid (band)
Plaid () are an English electronic music duo composed of Andy Turner and Ed Handley. They were founding members of The Black Dog and used many other names, such as Atypic (Andy Turner) and Balil (Ed Handley), before settling on Plaid. They have collaborated with singers Mara Carlyle, Nicolette and Björk, and have released records on the labels Clear, Peacefrog, Black Dog Productions, and Warp (along with Trent Reznor's label Nothing Records). Aside from their own material, Plaid have done extensive remix work for many other artists, including Red Snapper, Björk, Goldfrapp, and The Irresistible Force. '' Parts in the Post'' (2003) and ''Stem Sell'' (2021) contains a lot of Plaid's remix work to date. Plaid collaborated with video artist Bob Jaroc for their live performances and on the 5.1 audio/visual project entitled '' Greedy Baby''. The project was completed on 20 July 2005, and was first shown at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the South Bank Centre, and subsequently ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Big Comic Spirits
is a weekly Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. The first issue was published on October 14, 1980. Food, sports, romance and business are recurring themes in the magazine, and the stories often question conventional values. The magazine is published every Monday. Circulation in 2008 averaged over 300,000 copies, but by 2015 had dropped to 168,250. In 2009, Shogakukan launched a sister magazine, ''Monthly Big Comic Spirits''. History ''Big Comic Spirits'' launched on October 14, 1980, as a monthly magazine. The following June, it changed to a semimonthly magazine published on the 15th and 30th days of each month. Beginning in April 1986, the magazine became weekly, with new issues published every Monday. Currently running manga series Finished series 1980s * ' by Takashi Iwashige (1980–1985; moved from ''Big Comic'') * '' Maison Ikkoku'' by Rumiko Takahashi (1980–1987) * '' Wounded Man'' by Ryoichi Ikegami and Kazuo Koike (1982–1986) * '' My N ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Viz Media
Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, LLC. In 2005, Viz and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current Viz Media, which is owned by Japanese publishing conglomerates Shueisha and Shogakukan, as well as Japanese production company Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions (ShoPro). In 2017, Viz Media was the largest publisher of graphic novels in the United States in the bookstore market, with a 23% share of the market. History Founding Seiji Horibuchi, originally from Tokushima Prefecture in Shikoku, Japan, moved to California, United States in 1975. After living in the suburbs for almost two years, he moved to San Francisco, where he started a business exporting American cultural items to Japan, and became a writer of cultural information. He also became interested in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pulp (manga Magazine)
''Pulp'' was an American manga magazine and literary imprint published by Viz Media from 1997 to 2002. The magazine, which primarily published English-language translations of ''seinen'' manga, was the first English-language magazine that published manga aimed at an adult readership. History During the anime boom of the 1990s, the initial wave of manga and anime titles localized for English-language audiences were aimed at children, such as ''Sailor Moon'' and ''Pokémon''. Upon launching in 1997, ''Pulp'' became the first English-language manga magazine to publish manga aimed at an adult audience, and emerged as one of several magazines (along with '' Raijin Comics'', '' Animerica Extra'', and others) to publish manga titles aimed at demographics outside of children's manga. ''Pulp'' published editorial features, media reviews, and longform articles in addition to manga. The magazine expanded in February 2000 to incorporate a wider range of content on Japanese culture, su ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Studio 4°C
is a Japanese animation studio founded by Eiko Tanaka and Kōji Morimoto in 1986. The name comes from the temperature at which water is most dense. History has produced numerous feature films, OVAs, and shorts. Early film titles include ''Memories'' (1995), '' Spriggan'' (1998), and '' Princess Arete'' (2001). In 2003, through a joint production with Warner Bros., created five segments of '' The Animatrix''. The following year, they created the award-winning avant-garde film '' Mind Game''. 's next film '' Tekkon Kinkreet'' (2006), won six awards, including Best Animated Film at the Fantasia 2007, Lancia Platinum Grand Prize at the Future Film Festival, and Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. It was also submitted for 2007 Oscar in Animated Feature Film category of Academy Award in USA. The year 2007 saw the release of the anthology film '' Genius Party'', a collection of seven short films. '' Genius Party Beyond'', a collection of five short films, was release ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the world. Hong Kong was established as a colony of the British Empire after the Qing dynasty ceded Hong Kong Island in 1841–1842 as a consequence of losing the First Opium War. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and was further extended when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. The territory was handed over from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China under the principle of one country, two systems. Originally a sparsely populated area of farming and fishing villages,. the territory is now one of the world's most signific ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most populous urban areas in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of six neighboring Prefectures of Japan, prefectures, is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with 41 million residents . Lying at the head of Tokyo Bay, Tokyo is part of the Kantō region, on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. It is Japan's economic center and the seat of the Government of Japan, Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers Tokyo's central Special wards of Tokyo, 23 special wards, which formerly made up Tokyo City; various commuter towns and suburbs in Western Tokyo, its western area; and two outlying island chains, the Tokyo Islands. Although most of the w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Japan Times
''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by on 22 March 1897, with the goal of giving Japanese people an opportunity to read and discuss news and current events in English to help Japan participate in the international community. In 1906, Zumoto was asked by Japanese Resident-General of Korea Itō Hirobumi to lead the English-language newspaper '' The Seoul Press''. Zumoto closely tied the operations of the two newspapers, with subscriptions of ''The Seoul Press'' being sold in Japan by ''The Japan Times'', and vice versa for Korea. Both papers wrote critically of Korean culture and civilization, and advocated for Japan's colonial control over the peninsula in order to civilize the Koreans. The newspaper was independent of government control, but from 1931 onward, the pa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cartoon Brew
Cartoon Brew is an animation news website created by Amid Amidi and animation historian Jerry Beck that was launched on 15 March 2004. Cartoon Dump It also created '' Cartoon Dump'', a weekly podcast showing poorly made TV cartoons featuring ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''s Frank Conniff. Reception The site has published news articles, commentaries and reviews regarding the animation industry. The Comics Beat called it the "essential cartoon blog", while animator Francis Glebas cited it as "the place to go for the latest in animation news". Criticism On August 14, 2020, the site attracted criticism, firstly from Dana Terrace, the creator of ''The Owl House'', for their story, "Disney Executive Tried to Block Queer Characters in 'The Owl House,' Says Creator." Terrace clarified that her push for queer characters like Luz and Amity in ''The Owl House'' had been "extremely supported" by executives for the show, and that she was "excited for future shows", while Owen Dennis o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Banana Fish
''Banana Fish'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akimi Yoshida. It was originally serialized from May 1985 to April 1994 in '' Bessatsu Shōjo Comic'', a manga magazine publishing manga (girls' manga). Set primarily in New York City in the 1980s, the series follows street gang leader Ash Lynx as he uncovers a criminal conspiracy involving "banana fish", a mysterious drug that brainwashes its users. In the course of his investigation he encounters Eiji Okumura, a Japanese photographer's assistant with whom he forms a close bond. The visual and narrative style of ''Banana Fish'', characterized by realist artwork and action-oriented storytelling, represented a significant break from then-established manga conventions of highly stylized illustration and romantic fantasy-focused stories. While the series was aimed at the audience of adolescent girls and young adult women, its mature themes and subject material attracted a substan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |