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MangaBento
back on track

Those of you who read last week's column may have noticed that I referred to Scott Yoshinaga as "formerly of MangaBento."

Indeed, things have changed since I profiled the group in late April, shortly before their three-day stint running the art gallery at Kawaii Kon. Since then, their Web site disappeared, they moved out of their home at Mid-Pacific Institute, and Yoshinaga -- identified in that article as a staff volunteer -- and a few other people left the group.

But after some changes, it's back to business as usual for the art group working with anime and manga styles in a variety of media. They have a new meeting place -- room 102 at the Academy Art Center at Linekona, 1111 Victoria St. -- and a new Web site, mangabento.doomdrgn.com.

Volunteer Jeff Gaskell said attendance has been running steady at about 20 to 30 people, with staffers expecting a bump in attendance now that school's out for the summer. A get-together at the First Friday art event downtown earlier this month drew 12 people.

Their next meeting is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. For more information, visit the Web site or e-mail Gaskell at jpg@lava.net. ...

DVD pick of the week

"R.O.D." Vol. 7, from Geneon Entertainment, highlighting the adventures of a group of women who can manipulate paper to create anything they want, concludes with the final three episodes of the series.

A collector's edition comes with an action figure of Anita and a box to house all seven DVDs. ...

In Drawn & Quartered

It's summer anime convention season, prime time for companies to unveil their latest licensing agreements. On Sunday, fellow SBer Wilma Jandoc and I look at several series we hope will be licensed. ...