And no, he will certainly not be giving many of today’s manga artists any praises if they have any thing related with child pornography.  Especially, it’s expressed too much in a very graphic way.

There’s been a recent uproar on the public system legalising the practice of placing child pornography content onto manga medium content, which is not right at a hindsight

Many respectable manga artists like Go Nagai etc are placing their support in banning the online child porn bill, which really sickens me to death.  Good on him for making him stance clear.  This is coming from a fact that Cutie Honey was one of this best works during the 70’s, which I understand it’s a manga whose focuses around the women characters, who barely shed anything off other than their ripped tees across their chests!!

Here’s another news publication (written in Spanish) on Go Nagai’s (and other authors’) thoughts on the crackdown on the crackdown of child pornography used in comic books.

Here’s the translations of the source.

The Assembly has hit Tokyo’s manga artists in its attempt to reduce the sexual content of comic books. Authors such as Go Nagai (Mazinger Z) and Fujiko Fujio (Doraemon) have signed a statement criticizing a law prohibiting the eroticism of child-like characters, which punishes the artists with fines of up to 300,000 yen (2,400 euros).

This protest has led the authors that the legislation, which should have been voted on Friday, stay for the time being in dry dock. According to Nagai said this week, this law is against freedom of expression for artists, but also undermines the manga industry, considered a strong source of revenue for Japan. For Nagai, regulation is also very vague, especially under the definition of fiction.

The legal language prohibiting any manga or anime character that could be perceived as minor in age, clothing, accessories, grade level, the scenario where you are, the age of other characters or his voice.
Project worrying

After learning this content of the law, Carlos Santamaria, director at the Comic and Manga de Barcelona, gives reason to Japanese artists: “It is a project of considerable concern, as well as being very vague, contains the sensor element and can anyone give power to ban a cartoon. ” For others such as Josep Maria Berenguer, editor of The Dome, the law is a contradiction, as “childlike features are typical of Japanese comics. They are part of their culture.”

It is not the first time that parliaments seek to regulate the eroticism in comics from veto to pornography with minors. In March 2009, a clause in a bill against child pornography UK Government drew the ire of artists.

This clause prohibiting “the possession of any images of sexual activity with children.” For the group Comic Shop Voice, this text could lead to censorship of graphic novels such as Lost Girls, Alan Moore. Finally, this law was passed last November, although to date there is no evidence of any comic book censorship.
Censorship in Philippines

In April 2009, the House of Representatives of the Philippines also banned the sale of those manga that show erotic scenes with characters from children’s appearance.

“This type of controversy is part of the general rightward shift caused by the crisis which we live. We have entered a political correctness that is limiting the cultural world”, adds Berenguer. Santamaria says, for its part, the dire consequences of putting everything in the bag of child pornography: “It should be clear that child pornography is a crime. But another thing is that it shows the romance of some high school kids. If that happens in real life, why they will not be able to read? “.

• Source: Kotaku.com, Publico.es

Speaking of Transformers, Heard that Dreamworks are setting their sights for making Transformers 3 a reality on the 21s July 2011 and they’re keen to hire more people on board to get the ball rolling!

Rumours been circling around that they’re going to pay $200 a day for someone’s time to be part of the movie set. Isn’t that a great part of the deal of what?!? So for those who are living in Los Angeles City and you’re a die hard Transformers fan, what are you waiting for???

Go for it!!!!

Source: Tformers.com

Never heard of these new animated series of Transformers.

Said to have been around for past few years during its airing on America’s The Cartoon Network, and were based on Transformers G1 toy line.

And here’s the Japanease toy commercial toy for the show, by Takara Tomy.

To be honest, I’m not really impressed with the way the series’ been produced, let alone its artwork.  It’s not that because the artwork was anything but “clumsy”, but rather it lacks its unique appeal as compared to the 80’s classics. And because I’m such an avid old school mecha fan,  I felt whole plot and content of the show was more……

“Kiddie-like”

Sure the original series was aimed for kids too.  But (on a personal note) I just felt this is very wrong for new animated series to have reduced itself to a type of show where people could not fully grasp on the whole picture why Transformers G1 was made as one of the pop culture phenomenon of that decade!  I mean that’s what made it special.

But this…. I’m just not too sure.  Maybe I’m a bit biased?

What do you think?  You’d think the new Transformers animated series live up to its expectations of the original?

Not long ago, I read a video feed from one of my news feeds from another mecha blogger.

It’s about an upcoming new video game by Hasbro (produced by Activision) called Transformers: War on Cybertron.

It’s a game that’s filled with high-octane serious action of combat and war that certainly get a lot of Transformers fans out there wanting to get the taste of this. I thought it would be nice to share with everybody else in this forum, in case anybody else out there missed out!^^

Here’s a video clip of the game preview:

Enjoy!!

Source: Youtube.com

Was reading this post from AltJapan. They surely got this amazing talent of making (or should I say, crafting)  robot toys.  And it’s not one of those ordinary die-cast materials you would be expecting.

This time.  It is made out of……

GUESS WHAT?

WOOD.

Like plain chopping wood. 0.0

Have a look below

I know it’s crazy. But it’s possible now you’re seeing them with your very own eyes.  Apparently it started with this little small shop called Take G toys in the Tokyo where people can come in and order themselves a new Jumbo-sized wooden robot. However, the toys are not on sale online. But you can still view them at the exhibit that the company’s looking forward to put it on display.

The exhibition starts between 30 March and 14 April.

Before I finish off writing this post, I thought it would be nice to show the 3D video rendering all the three robots featuring in todays’ post. (see video)

Enjoy!

Source: Altjapan, Take-G

It’s been more than a week since my last post in the beginning weeks of March.  It was more of friends catchup, rather than focusing on blogging work when it should be…

Nevertheless.  I’m back to posts a few more interesting notes during my absence.

Whilst it came be seen here, we have plenty of Gundam Unicorn merchandise on display.  Since its late February premier, people starting to come up to this shopping complex called Makuhari Complex in Tokyo. Lots of excitement are brewing all over the shopping complex with several of its toy exhibition around the complexes.

All pictures are sourced(and copyrighted) from Gundam Info.

Plenty of impressive range of Gundam UC toys to be seen.

At the end of the page there, you will find several commentators expressing their thoughts on the Gundam UC products covering everything from magazines, artworks to electronic devices and gave the public audience a good view on why they are so hot for sale!

Really neat huh?^^

Really wish I could buy the entire store all to myself, if given the crazy opportunity to do so.

Source : Gundam Info

Now that Gundam UC is happening underway, there’s this one little surprise I uncovered lately.  But I couldn’t seem to put a finger on it….

Does anybody remember this actress?

Recognise the skirts?  The socks?  The Japanese uniform?  And the swinging metallic ball with razor-shapped blades stickin out??!?!

Boy, she was nasty for Uma Thurman’s nemesis!

And 7 years later, here we have her performing as a singing actress for the recent Gundam Unicorn movie and she’s singing its openining theme,

Check out her videos below! (her music video vs the movie trailer)

Source: LA Weekly

While the new Votoms trailer release is under way, let us give ourselves a recap on Votoms TV series.

It’s a strange fact. But…

I never actually get to watch the series during the 80s. They must have been broadcasted in other countries but never in my back to my home country of Malaysia…. Or perhaps it never occurred to me that it was broadcasted for a long while and I wasn’t even aware of it.

Whatever the reason was, I’m glad to know it’s available for Generation Mech fans like us to get use to remembering what the series ever looked like actually….

So here’s the video footage of the series for those who wish to recap…

The original opening.

Whilst I went online reading more about this, I encountered this detailed info from online American otaku site.

In U.S. anime fandom, many point to Mobile Suit Gundam (whichever incarnation may be currently available) as the premiere series combining politics and mecha combat. However, for nearly as long, though not quite as popular, there has been a franchise in Japan that is very extensive and more focused on the ground aspects of mecha combat, while often telling pretty good stories to boot. That franchise is Armor Trooper Votoms, which originally started as a 52 episode TV series and has since spun off into several side stories. Although the primary focus of the Import Report section is meant to look at new shows not released in America, the current show in question is geared towards long-time followers, so we’ll take a look at the original series which has been released here as a primer for the current installment.

Armored Trooper Votoms

The series takes place in the distant future, when humanity has spread to various parts of the galaxy. The story begins at the tail end of a hundred year-long war between the Gilgamesh and Balarant star systems which has devastated population and resources. The emergence of robotic suits called VOTOMs (Vertical One-man Tank for Offense and Maneuvers) changed the course of the war and an uneasy cease fire was eventually reached.

It is at this point we are shown a group of Gilgamesh soldiers in Votoms breaking into a military space station. One of them, Sgt. Chirico Cuvie, is following orders to the best of his ability having just transferred to this particular unit. Chirico is a bit horrified to discover the station belongs to HIS OWN army, but he continues to follow orders. When he asks about the true objective of the mission, the rest of the squad simply tells him to stand guard after the initial break-in, and cut off his frequency. Through a series of mishaps, Chirico winds up in an empty chamber where a single capsule is stored. The capsule opens to reveal a strange glow surrounding a nude female, who instantly turns to stare at Chirico. It’s at this point the rest of the squad appears, saying the capsule is their true objective. Chirico is ordered back outside, but just as he leaves, one of the squad leaves a bomb in his path and the resulting explosion knocks him out.

Chirico wakes up in an interrogation chamber where he’s being repeatedly tortured and asked about the break in, as well as something called “The Prototype.” He tells all he knows about the squad’s activities, but can’t convince the inquisitor that he knows nothing more. The inquisitor, Captain Rochina, decides to take the prisoner back to his homeworld Melkia for further interrogation. Chirico is less than happy to be there since ¾ of the population has been wiped out and the dejected survivors have crowded in a place called Voodo City.

Chirico endures all manners of suspicion, betrayal, and recaptures over the course of this story arc. He eventually gains a small set of friends but not without emotional and physical cost, having to deal with enslavement in a labor camp, arena mech combat, and a large bounty offered for his capture or death, not to mention former squadron members who’d like to silence him forever.

This struggle is part of the reason I’ve grown to like Armored Trooper Votoms. They don’t make mech shows like this anymore. Hell, they didn’t even make them much in the 80’s when this was made. Many of them followed the plot model of Mobile Suit Gundam, focusing on teens who were finding themselves and trying to get better or more powerful as the series progressed. Chirico though is an established soldier who demonstrates skill and resourcefulness right from the start. He’s a bit fallible but fights through his troubles with conviction. As I experienced this story, I really wanted to see him get to the bottom of the conspiracy around him and get revenge. Chirico doesn’t have time to do the angsty whining bit; he’s too busy kicking ass. Casual viewers might dismiss Votoms as just another big robots anime, but focus and development of the main character instead of his weapons is what makes this a compelling show.

I also liked how the mech combat is done differently than many similar series of that decade. In works like Aura Battler Dunbine and Heavy Metal L-Gaim, pilots would battle each other and become practically invincible in their special suits, absorbing all kinds of damage with not much consequence. Votoms works completely the opposite way in that ground soldiers will simply see a mech as just one big target they can destroy with 3 or 4 well placed shots, and a suit’s longevity will depend on the skill of its pilot. Outside of Mobile Police Patlabor, I can’t think of any other anime which treats combat mecha in this way, as this adds an element of vulnerability to the harsh world series creator Ryosuke Takahashi (SPT Layzner, Gasaraki, Hi No Tori) put together here.

I got to reading a bit more about that world in the extras section of the disc, where PDF files on the DVD-ROM section were placed. Combined with the informative director’s commentary on, I was satisfied with the background materials this set provided (Thank you, Tim Eldred!), though I would’ve liked to have seen clean opening and closing sequences on here such as other importers have placed on their classic anime collections. This is honestly a minor quibble though.
I also liked the video and subtitle quality of the episodes. It’s especially nice when you consider the first time Central Park Media released Votoms on DVD (with assistance from Image Entertainment), they placed 3-4 episodes per disc, the video quality (though decent) had no real enhancement, and the subtitles were larger and hard coded on the picture. This re-mastered version you are reading about places 13 episodes on 2 DVDs, but with bolder picture coloring and removable subs. The audio remains the same, but this is good in my view because of late, when audio has been redone on classic anime such as Mobile Suit Gundam and Robotech, the foley have been completely changed to weak-as-hell modern effects completely different from the 80’s originals. So in terms of overall presentation, I have to say CPM did some pretty nice work with this set.

Source: Otaku US Magazine

Image Sourced from HB.qq.com

Within less than 3 weeks to go before its official release date, I ran into this Chinese post a while back.  It’s about how they expressed their view of bringing the good ole’ classics back into the TV sets.  Back to where it all began!

Here’s excerpt of the chinese article of what the article said.

From leading film production company, Cinematoday news, comes a television broadcast of classic mecha series lasted “Armored Cavalry Votoms” (1983 – 1984), which is recently released.   Its works are done and overlooked by Takahashi Ryosuke, Igarashi Purple Zhang, heavy Tiandun Division, Otsuka Tian Ting-style animation and other key staff fully played.  Serving as the main animation direcotyr Mr. Tsukada, who’s also the co-producer for  “Armored Cavalry Votoms Case: IRVINE“, “Votoms Viewfinder” and “Armored Cavalry Votoms“.  These three works will still be based on the original animated view of its original animation works, in the past based on the story that are not part of Jiemi further decryption. However, it will be part of the series  series of that represents a whole new dimension of depth that they’ve never done before, and the audience will find this very engaging and are eagerly looking forward to the show. The crowd get a sense that the old Votoms  production team with its superb production technology and performance techniques are proven to be a promise for audience to appreciate all the elements of human emotions that are moving and uplifting (which they originally wanted to do in the first place).

Source: HB.qq.com