Featured Anime Voice Actor (Seiyu): Megumi Hayashibara

Welcome another weekly summery on famous anime voice actors, aka seiyus. This week I've finally posted a non-gaijin Seiyu and most probably the most famous of them all, Ms. Megumi Hayashibara.
Hayashibara was born on March 30th, 1967 in the Kita (northern) part of Tokyo, Japan. As you can see from the mini-picture collage I made of her, her most famous roles are that of Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop. Other roles she has done voices for include Musashi (Jessie) from Pokemon, Haruka Urashima from Love Hina, and female Ranma Saotome from Ranma 1/2.
Ms. Hayashibara is also a famous singer with many of her songs becoming major hits in Japan. Most recently she did the Slayers MEGUMIX CD, so she also does the music for some anime titles. She is also the host of Tokyo Boogie Night and Heartful Station, two very popular radio stations in Japan that also with feature works from other Seiyu.
On top of that she even has an autobiographical Manga called Ashita ga aru sa, aka Megumi-Toons. In short, she by far lives the dream of many otaku. if you can read Japanese, check out her website here.

More info on her and credits to this post go to:
Wikipedia
Anime News Network
imdb

Deadline Set for Fate/Stay Night Art Contest

For some of you who didn't know, as of a couple of months back I set up an art contest on my contest page. The winner gets a brand new Bome Rin Tosaka figure and their picture in the future Fate/Stay Night gallery!
The contest is simple, whoever creates the best Fate/Stay Night fan art wins. The image doesn't have to be that of Rin but of anyone from Fate/Stay Night anime. Email your image here. The contest now officially ends July 31st 2008 with voting of the top images shortly after. I know I've received a few emails of people stating that they are going to enter so once I get your pics, you are in ^_^. Good luck to all who enter.

"Re" Introducing Project Fumi

There are a few otaku who might have remembered my original plan to create my first video game and the official site mascot. Being that I've been a gamer since I was 1 year old (no kidding) it has been a dream of mine to make a videogame. Back in 04' I was on the verge of starting production of this project but was obviously side-tracked by my job and business choices that left me on that 2-3 year hiatus. I even had shirts and items made on the cafepress shop of the very first rough sketches since then.
Well, I'm glad to say that I'm back on track with the game which I'll call "Project Fumi."
To reintroduce or simply introduce you all to this, Fumi Kobayashi is the name of the main character and the main focus was that she had the ability to change into an angel or demon form. She also has with her a pink-haired fairly named Lily.
Originally I planned on making the story rather simple with her simply having these abilities and her goal was to save her loved one, Thomas from capture. Kind, of a reversed damsel in distress.
This will change now to something a bit more interesting. Not sure if Thomas will be in there but the story will revolve around an elemental crystal of power that both forms Fumi's powers along with the strengths of the main enemy's powers. The main antagonist will be a former friend of Fumi's by the name of Kyoshi. The story with the full names and official production pictures (not amateurish ones) will be in future posts...now on to the game.

Originally the game was to be a side-shooter similar to R-Type but instead of a ship, it will be Fumi you control. Oddly in the past years since I first proposed this a few anime games and sims have popped up with you controlling mech-girls in somewhat of the same fashion as I originally planned ^^; The main feature would be that you could change into Fumi's devil or angel form when a special meter fills. Her companion, Lily would act like a shield, healing agent or extra firepower. The game's engine will be actionScript via Adobe FLASH.

This holds true in the new plans, but here's what the game will also entail:
-Close range weapons (switchable on the fly and representing a different elemental in nature)
-Charged Long range attacks (Each form has one too, instead of just one normal firing attack, strength of blast increases based on time charged, ie: Megaman's X-Buster)
-Special attacks (Normal, Angel, and Devil Fumi each have their own super move)
-Throwing (elemental enemies that can be tossed into opposing elements for more damage)

I already have the control/button scheme and some of the basic syntax needed for the game so the engine for it could very well be 80% done before the summer ends. The main work will of course be the artwork, animation, sounds and level designing. I plan on kicking the 9-5 job for good in September so I'll have enough time to work on this since I'll only be doing anime product shipments for the store.

Featured Anime Voice Actor: Richard Ian Cox

Welcome to another weekly segment about famous anime voice actors both English and Japanese. This week's feature voice actor is non other than Richard Ian Cox. Richard is most famous for of course his role as the voice of the famous dog-demon, Inuyasha. With the Inuyasha manga finishing its final chapter in Shonen Jump yesterday and with a possible continuation of the anime, Richard is the perfect voice actor to feature. I also have a funny story to tell related to him, that I'll mention later.
Born on October 3rd 1973 in St. Asaph, Wales, Richard Ian Cox is actually a rather prominent TV actor even if you don't include his wide array of anime dubs. His first claim to fame as stated in his wikipedia page was when he co-stared with Mickey Rooney in the early 90's adaptation of Black Stallion. His other TV roles include Dr. Brendan Gaul on Stargate Atlantis, the helicopter pilot in the 2007 Ghost Rider movie and even The Outer Limits. Anime roles include Inuyasha (of course, Ranma Saotome: Male version from Ranma 1/2, Itta from .hack//ROOTS and even Zaacro + Spice from the original Ocean Group Dub of Dragon Ball Z...yes the same dub that includes the famous Vegeta dub with "Over 9000!" Zaacro and Spice being Garlic Jr.'s minions in Dead Zone I believe. Richard also did voices in non-anime like My Little Pony and recently Care Bears.
Currently he directs "South Delta Secondary School," a theater production. Chances are he'll do the voice of Inuyasha again as there might be more episodes now that the manga is complete.

I got a chance to meet Richard Cox back in 2002 at I-CON 22 at Stony Brook University in New York. He was very nice to the fans and his normal voice is exactly what you hear when you hear Inuyasha. He doesn't change it much for the role. Here's where the funny instance happened:
That year Danielle and I cosplayed as Tidus and Yuna from FFX and during the contest we played out the kissing scene in front of a whole crowd. More embarrassing yet was that the first row consisted of Richard Cox and the entire Viz crew! (Image of us just before the kiss below) Later in the day we attended Richard and Viz's dubbing workshop and Richard singled us out stating that there's no kissing in there.. in a nice and funny way. Danielle even got to dub Sango during it which was pretty cool. Chances are Richard would remember that if I meet him again and even though its been 6 years ago since then, only my hair got shorter, so he'll remember. He'll also probably question why he goes to those conventions. ^^;

FullMetal Alchemist: Ed & Al Elric Sculpture Arts Statue

Looks like Square-Enix keeps bringing out the best of both anime and video game statues. This masterpiece is a stunning figure that depicts Ed and Al Elric from of course Full Metal Alchemist. The statue stands about 10 inches tall and you can expect it to come in a big heavy box like the other Masterpiece figures. Won't make it to the states until the end of this year or in early 2009. Save up some money though; this one retails for $300. More pictures below.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold is Back

Ok, some of you might not be old enough to remember this but if you watched Nickelodeon back before the the Nicktoons first arrived, you might remember a little show called, "The Mysterious Cities of Gold." Last year, back in 2007, I went and searched on youtube for it to only find a very bad quality opening of the show. To my wonderful surprise, the series about a young boy trying to find his father and the legendary city of gold was actually an anime!! It aired in America early in the morning back in 1986 (I was 3 years old), therefore making it my very first anime and proving I was an otaku long before I knew what it meant.

I got even more good news for all who remember this series: 1) As of March of this year you can buy it on DVD! (Image of the DVD above) 2) A brand new full length anime feature is being created right now! (image of that found below).
I'm really going on memory lane with this one and hopefully this little bit of news will for you, too. Offical site here.

(PS: Notice how it says "From the Creator of Inspector Gadget?" Well, you heard that right...Inspector Gadget was an anime!...well, its animation was Japanese but produced in America and France. Think 1980's Boondocks...without the racial stuff. Maybe more on that in a future post.)

Featured Anime Voice Actor: Steven Blum

Welcome to my weekly segment about famous anime voice actors both Japanese and
English. Ever listened to an anime and said to yourself, "I've heard that
voice before." Chances are you are correct.

What better way to start off this weekly post by talking about a voice actor
that probably ranks among the most heard English anime voice actors of all
time.

Steven Blum, born April 28th, 1965 in Santa Monica, California has been in a slew of anime, video game, non-anime titles and a surprise one that is not mentioned in Wikipedia. (I'll mention later). Currently he does the voice of Kyoshiro Todo on Code Geass. He is probably most famous though for his voice as Spike Spiegel from the anime classic, Cowboy Bebop. Other notable roles include Orochimaru from Naruto, Tom from Cartoon Network'sToonami segment, Roger Smith from Big-O, Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy VII Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus, and even some voices in Halo 3.

Steven Blum also did a documentary about his voice acting called, "Adventures
in Voice Acting." I have not seen it but like other otaku, I would like
to be a voice actor too so that might be worth the watch.

The one mention that you don't see on his wikipedia page, in which you canget his very large list of works from, as of this post is that he also does the voice in the 7-11 commercials.

I have yet to meet him in person but he does go around to conventions and
the like even though he apparently isn't a big fan of anime. He does respect
it though (and hopefully the fat paycheck it should bring him).

-Info thanks to imdb and wikipedia

-Picture photoshopped by me.

(update: Looks as if the "Oh thank heaven" 7-11 note is now on wikipedia.)

Out Today: Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit Video Game

Out today is the new DBZ fighting game from Atari, Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit. As an avid DBZ fan, I'm excited about this one. It's for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and boasts very nice graphics. I like how fluid it all looks and seems very true to the series. From the looks of it, the stages are done very well and the formula seems much like Tenkaichi, which to me is a good thing. There is promise of some new fighting skills and other coll stuff.

I'm going to be doing a full review on it in collaboration between
rocketxl.com and Atari so we'll see if it makes itself stand out form the previous games. Check out below at some of the videos and bring back your DBZ spirit.^_^

Inuyasha Manga Comes To An End

On June 18th, 2008 the highly popular and beloved Inuyasha series comes to a close. The anime series was long running but never got close to the later progression of the story despite its 200+ episodes. (maybe new episodes on the way after this bit of news???...only we can hope ~_~) . The manga will conclude with 558 chapters!

Like DBZ long before it, I feel a bit saddened that an anime legend will come to an end but again, lets hope the anime gets back to where it left off.

You can view my Inuyasha section here to see pics and other stuff from the anime and a bit from the manga (yes more needs to be added to this dusty part of my site ^^)


-Thanks to Danny Choo User xorsyst for spilling the beans on this one.

3G IPhone Finally Unveiled, Has GPS and More

As I write this post, Steve Jobs is doing his keynote speech about the new iPhone 3G. He states its the only phone that beat the original iPhone. From the looks of it... he's right. I'm glad its on the 3G network now and from the picutre provided by Engadget's live coverage, it has the GPS we so wanted. I don't have an iPhone yet but now its up to par and better than features found in the Blackberry phones....at least in my opinion. Every phone company has been making iPhone copies as of late which shows that technology is really progressing in the right direction. The 3rd party apps on this thing will be something to behold I hope.

....oh and lets not forget.... the 8Gb model is only $199.99 and the 16GB model is $299.99! Very glad I played the waiting game.

2 New Blogs! Anime.fm and ChuckGaffney Blog

I've been coding all day in this heat we are having in New York but I'm feeling better now that I'm done with the completion of 2 Blogs. The first being the blog for Anime.fm. I wanted a way to update people on any additions to the playlists and maybe throw in some j-pop and anime music news as I get it. The blog is integrated right into the main page so you can keep your music running as you read the latest blog entry. Don't forget the FeedRoll I got under it that shows the latest posts from other anime blog sites, too.

I also added my own personal blog on my originally dormant charlesgaffney.com website. I'll rant about otaku stuff to but I also wanted to talk about other topics that would have messed up the content on this very blog if I was to talk about them here. For the most part now its just adding posts ^_^.

Death Note Movie Gets 65,000 Viewers In US Theaters

To not much of a surprise, it seems that the live action version of Death Note is gaining some ground here in the US. Recently 300 theaters throughout the country showed for a few days the first movie of the three already made to date. A total of 65,000+ viewers came to watch as per The Varity Japan and Anime News Network. This was so much great news for the series that as now the second movie will also get the same treatment in the coming months and be sent out to limited theaters again.

In a related note, the Bleach 1st Movie is currently being shown in the theaters and I won't put it past them that that one will also get record viewings for its limited showing.

Yet more proof that anime is strong and continuing to grow in America. Plus, I'm pretty certain that in the near future we will see more anime shown in ALL theaters; not just these limited showings. (Much like Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle was.)

Anime.fm Completed

In a previous post I mentioned that I got anime.fm up and running.
As of today I finished getting all the play-lists and other features on there.
Of course there is always more to add but I can finally say I have an operational website.
Hope you all enjoy ^_^