The 3rd of four posts. The lead protagonist of the long-running grand manga/anime series One Piece, will appear on the cover of Men’s Non-No fashion magazine in their January issue. Monkey D. Luffy, the series’ main character, will be the first manga/anime character to appear on the cover in the magazine’s 24-year run. It is also Eiichiro Oda’s first cover illustration for a magazine that is not manga or anime related. Very cool! [More at AnimeNewsNetwork]

The first eight pages of this issue will showcase models who resemble various characters from the One Piece universe such as Nami, Robin, Zoro and Sanji.
This goes to show the status of the One Piece franchise. I say give it 5 to 6 more years, and One Piece will reach the level of influence, grandness and omnipresence that Dragonball had and still has. Oda explicitly states that his biggest influence was Akira Toriyama and his mammoth Dragonball franchise, so it isn’t far-fetched to say that One Piece will follow in his footsteps. They DID get together to create a one-shot collaboration, Cross Epoch. Sidenote: Doesn’t Luffy’s outer jacket resemble a something Gokou wears?

Another leading man on the cover of a magazine is Korea-superstar Rain on the Korean Allure magazine, promoting his latest blockbuster film Ninja Assassin. [More at AllureKorea]

Not much to say here. Asian men, feel inadequate? (:

-phibz.

Akira Toriyama, the famed creator of the immortal Dragonball franchise, is releasing a new manga mini-series!

Toriyama is BACK! …well, for now. It IS only a mini-series. He hasn’t released a full-fledged series since Dragonball, and that ended 14 years ago. But then again, who needs to release ANYTHING when you created the single most-successful manga/anime franchise in history. Then Hollywood and James Wong went and ruined it for everyone… EVERYONE! FUUUUUU-

Akira Toriyama has collaborated with DNA² creator, Masakazu Katsura, and created a new manga mini-series titled Jiya (if you haven’t read DNA², check it out, it’s very sexy) . It slated for release in 2010′s first issue of Weekly Young Jump magazine on December 10th. The story is said to be a “super science-fiction action” with an “alien of justice” as the protagonist:

[More at AnimeNewsNetwork]

In keeping with the science-fiction genre, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 released its latest promotional poster. It looks like mobile-suit heaven.. I made the mistake and watched the leaked bootleg footage of the film shown at the latest Comic-Con. After that, I was screaming like Kate in Paranormal Activity, because I wanted to watch the film so f***in’ badly! So for your sake, I won’t post the link of that god-forsaken video.

On a less frustrating note, notice the similarities with Iron Man and Jiya? They both have that cat teeth thing going on with their masks.

[From IWatchStuff]

Spoiler: Warmachine got shorter, slimmer and hustles less in Iron Man 2.

-phibz.

I came home still awemazed (yes, that is a portmanteau of awesome and amazed) by the divine epic-grandness that is Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, at the Waterloo Festival of Animated Cinema. Play-by-play of our experience is on Twitter @ twitter.com/bananatimes or to the right of this post –>

Like I said, I was still and continually will be blown away by this film. Basically, I was in a GREAT mood despite the 3:30am orz figure floating over my head. And then, I saw this horrific piece of news..

Claiming the record for the biggest one-day gross, The Twilight Saga: New Moon raked in an estimated $72.7 million on approximately 8,500 screens at 4,024 sites. The Dark Knight was the previous title holder with $67.2 million on around 9,300 screens at 4,366 sites.

More at Box Office Mojo

Great mood, evaporated, in an instant. I questioned what kind of world we live in, where shit like this can happen. And I thought 2012, the end of time, could not come any sooner.
No wait. It came, and it was a horrible movie (Okay, I haven’t seen it. But since Day After Tomorrow, I’ve lost hope in Roland Emmerich).

What? New Moon? What’s that? I can’t see it. Can you? So they screwed up werewolves too?

-phibz.

PS: At least The Dark Knight still holds the record for biggest weekend (Fri-Sat-Sun) ever: 158.4 million

Warning: This post will be short, random and kind of lame.

So I was on my way walking towards a friends place to watch Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, (3rd time watching it FTW!) and then I bursted into laughter because I saw this:

Then, this was my train of thought, “GEE! GEE! GEE! GEE! … I Jooooooeeee!!”
And I thought of this, and cracked up even more.

And to top it off, Girl’s Generation’s Gee music video..but DANCE version

-phibz.

The Banana Times reporting from Hong Kong!

I have decided to continue the nerdiness and write another post about Anime and Manga because.. Well. Why the hell not?

Since I returned to Hong Kong from Beijing, I made sure I had my Canon Digital IXUS 75 in my pocket ready to capture some interesting images for myself and for the blog at any given moment. Ever since Hong Kong allowed unlimited customization on license plates, its been a lot easier to not only catch Anime/Manga references, but also easier to make fun of the locals and their English (I guess I used to be one? Not anymore? I’ve been Bananaized).

Helo Kity? So its hee-low kai-tee. Looks like something from Engrish.com

D…Gary-Man?! Another lost child of Engrish. Satoshi Tajiri is gonna be piiissed. Or rather, whoever came up with the English names for the Pokemon characters is gonna be pissed. How the fuck does Satoshi become Ash Ketchum? (ZOMG EVA REBUILD 1.0 DVD!!!)

Okay, this isn’t Anime or Manga related (a Winnie The Pooh manga would be kinda cool?) but its pretty post-worthy. Look how he judges us with his ignorant smile..

Okay. WSJ means Wall Street Journal, but it can also stand for Weekly Shonen Jump! The most popular manga magazine in the WORLD? Duh. I know its a stretch, but hey, it works. And what’s the deal of releasing the Wall Street Journal on September 11th..

Yamada! Hermes is EVERYWHERE in Hong Kong!
I know its a popular luxury fashion brand and its in a lot of places,  but the train man inside of me just had to take picture. And to end it off:

Suneo from Doraemon says FOK!

I have a few more days left in Hong Kong, so the search for more Anime/Manga references continues! Until next time.

Yes. This is where I am, where I grew up, where The Dark Knight was filmed (and yes, I did take this photo).

-phibz.

Also known as ACGHK, it is Hong Kong’s annual comic, animation, games and book fair held every summer. The games and comics fair were separate but merged in 2008. The day before we flew to Beijing, The Banana Times took the opportunity to catch the last day of the fair with hopes of seeing what was left of manga and anime awesomeness. First things first, I had to find the Alchemist.

I was watching some Hong Kong television and I managed to catch an episode of FMA:B in Cantonese, and they were only ONE episode behind the Japanese release schedule. But they translated the new series as “Fullmetal Alchemist FA”, which is just saying the title twice..

The Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood stall:

The Hong Kong Convention crowd:

Hey, that’s a pretty cool-looking action figure. It kinda looks like a – no way…

Your eyes are not deceiving you. That is some sort of manga character made out of a shoe. Remember that great South Park episode with the Chinpokomon? Someone took it way too seriously (0:34 mark).

One Piece x Dragonball Z Cross Epoch! Son Luffy! Awesomeness! And my nerdiness would not be complete without wearing a t-shirt that had “manga” written printed on it (or man hua/man hwa if you’re Chinese or Korean).

I wish I could compare the atmosphere, structure and fandom of Asian conventions and North American conventions but unfortunately, due to my ignorance and inexperience, I have yet to attend an Anime or Manga convention in the West. But I can say one thing for sure. Geeks, nerds and Otaku are everywhere, and we’re only growing. Hell, the term “Densha Otoko” has crept its way into contemporary Hong Kong culture already.

Anime North 2010, I’ll see you soon.

-phibz.

I have heard in passing about the dolphin killings in Taiji, Japan but never got the grasp with the whole situation until a friend sent me this trailer. I am not a huge animal-hugger and I do believe that natural selection or survival of the fittest applies somewhat to modern life. This film is dolphins, conspiracy theories, poison, public jeopardy and ultimately, a documentary. This I have to see.

Critics say its a cross between Flipper and The Bourne Identity, because of all the state-of-the-art surveillance equipment they use. I can’t even picture how Flipper and Bourne are able to intertwine, which is why I need to watch this.

I don’t think you have to be an activist or a documentary-phile to enjoy this movie. Its about a real issue and a group of people who break the law for the greater good. Then again, the situation in Taiji should not be seen as a generalization for the whole of Japan. Every country has its secrets.

I haven’t been so excited about a documentary since Fahrenheit 9/11.

-phibz.

Jun Ji-Hyun (My Sassy Girl) is set to star in the upcoming vampire action flick, Blood: The Last Vampire, a live-action adaptation of an anime movie of the same name, from the creators of Hero. It was also adapted into an anime television series called Blood+, which you should all stay far away from. Its pretty bad. It had so much potential. The characters were well written but the story drove the series into the ground.

But who am I to talk, apparently it was named “recommended as an excellent work” by the Japanese Media Arts Festival in 2005. But seriously, do not watch it. The Banana Rating speaks for itself:

out of 10

As great as My Sassy Girl was, I still have serious doubts about Blood. I think its less credible if they abandon the World War II context of the original animated film, which worries me since the trailer did not show any hints of the time period. The way they designed Saya’s (the protagonist) school girl outfit is also not very appealing. Why are they not using the sex appeal of Jun Ji-Hyun!? Chris Nohan, c’mon. AH! Just watch the clip!

Shorten the skirt or something! Lose some buttons? Have the chiropterans (that’s what they call their excuses for vampires) rip off her clothing? NOTHING!

Anyway, here are the latest clips from the live-action Blood: The Last Vampire:

Anyone see that up-skirt flash?

-phibz.

Edit:

The title Sayonara Davey reminded me of a crazy, funky and geek Japanese rock band called Sambomaster, whom I thorougly recommend, and their song “Sayonara Baby!”. Listen below:

Sayonara Baby – Sambomaster

———————

For those of you who don’t know, George Simmons is a character in Judd Apatow’s upcoming movie Funny People played by Adam Sandler. They made a website for George Simmon as a way to virally advertise the movie, and on their site is their is a movie within a movie called Sayonara Davey. which you can check out in the player below (Ken Jeong from Apatow’s Knocked Up and recently The Hangover is also in the clip).

So Ken Jeong’s Japanese accent was not great and the humor in general was acceptable. Adam Sandler is just portraying what he is typcasted as. Haven’t we overused the foreign mispronunciation of English words that make it sound like curse words too much already? I think Austin Powers milked it for all its worth:

The line where the wife says, “You’ve opened our eyes! Well…as wide as we can open them”. I mean that’s just uncalled for. Funny? A little bit, but it could’ve done without it. Judd Apatow makes good comedy sandwiches with occasional dramatic fillings, but I think his sense of humor for foreigners could use some work. Like in Forgetting Sarah Marshall he had to put an Asian couple stereotypically taking pictures of themselves with empty plates…actually that was not bad. Apologies to Asian empty-plate-photographers.
More Ken Jeong goodness on Jimmy Kimmel:

I can’t help but feel Asians are still being subtly prejudiced and stereotype in Hollywood. But I guess that goes for most non-Caucasian portrayals in American films

-phibz.

Anime fans and otaku, hold on to your cosplay outfits and instant ramen, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone is finally coming to North America!

You Are (Not) Alone is a four-part remake of the critically acclaimed (except for the final episode – ARGH!) anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion by Hideaki Anno. The first of the four-part remake is finally syndicated (dubbed I presume, ew) and awaiting release all over North America starting in LA’s Anime Expo on July 2nd. It will be screened across America for various periods of time and at anime-related events. EVA 1.0 will then end its release schedule on 67 screens in Canada on September 30th. How long the film will stay in theaters is unknown. A more detailed schedule can be found at ANN.

The subsequent movies of the Rebuild of Evangelion will be titled:
Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance
Evangelion: 3.0
Evangelion: Final

The title for the final part is yet to be confirmed for both Japanese and English. The Japanese titles for the first three films are translated as Evangelion New Theatrical Version: Beginning, Division and Emergency.

Go check it out when it releases in your city! You will not regret it. You can even do your homework and watch the original anime series and the movies beforehand.

Wow.

-phibz