Cel Shaded Jason Yadao

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‘Bleach’ and ‘Voltron’ find new homes

A few news tidbits to kick off a new month: » On the heels of Viz's recent announcement that it had licensed the "Bleach" anime (no surprise, really, considering the company already held the rights to the manga) comes word that Cartoon Network's Adult Swim has picked up the series for American broadcast. Expect the adventures of substitute soul reaper Ichigo and his friends this fall ...

» Fans of the giant robot series "Voltron" will be pleased to know that Media Blasters has licensed the series and plans to release the first of what will be eight boxed sets in September. Each set will feature 15 episodes, Dolby 5.1 surround-sound audio and remastered video ...

» Stone Bridge Press, publishers of several good resources on anime and manga culture, recently announced it would be releasing an updated, expanded version of "The Anime Encyclopedia," by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy. Scheduled release date for that is November ...

Meeting update

Oahu Anime Explorer's monthly meeting, originally scheduled for this Saturday, has been canceled due to a scheduling conflict at HMC Academy, the group's usual meeting venue.

"So instead of a meeting, we will be at Kawaii Kon enjoying three days of nonstop anime fun," the group said via e-mail.

For further updates, check out www.oahuanimeexplorer.com ...

In Sunday's 'D&Q'

Next week is Kawaii Kon, the anime convention that local fans have been looking forward to since, well, last year's convention ended. Which means that, just as last year, it's a perfect time again to ask the question, What is an "otaku," anyway? Kawaii Kon week kicks off in the Sunday Today section with my look at two otaku-centered series, "Genshiken" and "Comic Party" ...