Anime

Convention Coverage: Anime Festival Asia 2008
Over the weekend of November 22-23, the country of Singapore held one of its signature anime expositions. Anime-Source.com ASRT Staff Member Jsy3k attended the 2-day con with camera in-hand. Read on to see his coverage of the press preview-day and his impressions of the weekend overall.

Living in Japan: The Cost of Living
The latest installment in my series educating the anime/manga-fans out there about the realities of living in Japan. This month, we're talking about money and how far a couple hundred thousand yen will get you. Don't get too excited though... it may sound like a lot... until you realize that one yen is only equal to about one US penny.

What's New this Week: Even More Manga!

Do you come around Anime-Source every now and then? Well, we'd like to thank you. Like any work or production, we would love to hear feed back. What would you like to see more of? What don't you like? Is there a section you visit more than others?

The manga staff have kindly put together new manga for you to read. Four awesome titles to put on your list.

What's New this Week: Survey Results!

Hey folks. Our front news page has been swarming with activity and I'm sure you know why. One of our biggest events had recently ended. Now the results are complete! How did your picks do this year? Any surprises? If you missed out on voting this year, I guess you'll have to wait another year. But don't worry! We have vast ideas for surveys, so stick around and see what we bring up.

Releasing the survey results wasn't the only thing that happened. "Read More" to find out what other updates have occurred.

With the first 50 characters taken care of in
Wave 1, I'm sure everyone is now looking forward to the rest. Well, wait no more!

It's that wonderful time of year again when we announce the results of one of our biggest fan-surveys of the year!! In October, we opened the polls asking members and visitors to vote for their Favorite Characters of All-Time. This is the third year we've done this, and though the procedure has generally been the same each time, the results are always drastically different.

Did you vote? Did your characters place well? It's time to find out!!

Have you eagerly waited for the next set of results? Well, here you have it. So far, you have probably seen the top characters for ranks 100-25. Are we giving you the rest? NOT YET! "Read More" to find the link to the article for Wave 3.

Beck OST
Anime Soundtrack Review

Not Beck the 90's hipster who's most famous for "I'm a loser baby", but Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, the kick-ass drama that makes you want to pick up a guitar and have a life. Filled with the wonderful and inspirational music from the TV series, The Beck Soundtrack is just about everything you could hope for in an anime OST.

As others have pointed out, the only glaring omission is "Hit in the USA" is not on this album, but all the other great songs such as "Slip Out" and "I've Got a Feeling" are there and overall, it's a pretty good balance of the best of what the series has to offer.

If Beck has recently made your life a better place to be, then you'll need this soundtrack to complete your metamorphosis.

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad
Anime DVD Review

Tanaka Yukio, better known by his nickname Koyuki is a 14 year old who feels disconnected from life in general. He leads a pretty normal, lousy teenager life until, through the act of saving a mismatched dog, he meets guitarist Minami Ryuusuke, and becomes involved in Ryuusuke's new band BECK. Koyuki's life starts to change as the band struggles towards fame. Even girls start to like him. Maybe life isn't so crummy after all.

Being released by Funimation in July 2007, we predict that Beck will skyrocket to the top pick for every teen/tween (emo or not!), and will very likely become a regular part of Adult Swim. The music rocks. The story speaks volumes and the characters hit just the right notes.

Beck doesn't rely on giant mecha battles, super-powered ninja showdowns, speed-line swordplay, or any of the other anime cliches to keep the audience interested. Instead, it uses something rarely seen in anime or manga -- real character development and characters that you are actually interested in to hook the audience and keep them watching episode after episode.

Soap opera formula? Yes. Does it work? Absolutely. Watching Koyuki's social life and musical talent develop are pretty compelling, and probably will act as a powerful metaphor for your own sad existence. Keep trying grasshopper, things do get better.

Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, June 2007

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad
Manga Review

Beck is a dog. We're not saying this as an insult. It's absolutely true. Beck is a big old dog that's been through one too many violent scraps. This has left one too many scars. So many that his body looks like a patchwork quilt. But he isn't the focus of this manga despite the title of this book.

Beck's owner is rock-and-roller Ryusuke Minami. He's sixteen years old but he's already got a reputation (both good and bad) in both the music business and with girls. He and his sister just returned to Japan, and might have gotten too strong an influence from their stay in America. But they aren't the focus of this manga.

Ryusuke has gotten chummy with Izumi Ishiguro. She's a fourteen year old with a smashing body. She's a big fan of the hot group, Dying Breed. She heard that Ryusuke used to be in a band with their guitarist, Eddie. As the two got to know each other better, they found they had similar tastes in music. But she isn't the focus of the manga.

Izumi used to be classmates with Yukio Tanaka. He's fourteen years old. He's not doing too well in school. He considers his life incredibly dull. He himself is incredibly dull. He has no interests to speak of. His tastes in music don't rise too far above anime theme songs. If this keeps up, Yukio fears he won't have anything worth writing about in his autobiography. (He doesn't even know if he can write an autobiography.)

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad is a manga by Harold Sakushi. It is the story of Yukio Tanaka, the boring fourteen year old. One day, he found himself involved with these other characters. One day, he found himself captivated by music. One day, he found his life turned upside-down. Now, boring isn't that big a problem with him. And, he's wondering if music (a subject he was never really interested in) is his calling. He's also wondering if he has to get into all these scraps. Does getting a life really have to hurt?

Reviewed by Lawrence Sufrin, October 2006

Beck - Gamma Ray
Music video by Beck performing Gamma Ray with Autumn de Wilde [Video Director], Sarah Gersbach [Video Producer], Meghan Gallagher [Video Producer], Danger Mouse [Producer], Beck [Producer] (C) 2008 DG