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Anime club hosts contest for cosplayers


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POSTED: Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The Hawaii All-Collectors Show is coming to the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall in a few days, and Oahu Anime Explorer wants cosplayers to turn out in their finest costumes for the chance to win some nice prizes.

Here's how it'll work: Come in your costume to the show on Friday or Saturday — anime-related or not, it doesn't matter this time around — and bring some reference material of the character you're portraying. A panel with members of Oahu Anime Explorer and the Pacific Outpost 501st Legion — you might know them as the “;Star Wars”; Stormtrooper cosplayers — will be judging, and results will be announced in the last hour on Saturday. (You need not be present to win.)

What's at stake, you ask? Kotobukiya is contributing one of its Yelena Belova Black Widow Bishoujo statues, limited to 500 pieces and otherwise available for sale only at Comic-Con International in San Diego next week. (You can see what it looks like at hsblinks.com/gv.) And Manga University, the company behind the “;Kanji de Manga”; series of kanji tutorials, “;The Manga Cookbook”; and manga-drawing tutorials online at www.howtodrawmanga.com, is contributing a set of its new Manga Tarot cards. CosplayTV.com will also be there to film cosplayers.

The show is open from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $4 general and $2 for children ages 7 to 11 ... or for those of you eager to get in, an “;early entry”; $15 admission is available from 2 to 3 p.m. Friday.

 

Pups on the Road

Audra Furuichi and Scott Yoshinaga, co-creators of the online comic “;nemu*nemu,”; will be signing copies of their latest print compilation, volume 3, from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Borders Ward Centre.

Normally that would be the end of this item and we'd move on. But I also wanted to call special attention to the strip that ran Friday, which, in addition to showcasing the wit and whimsy that's become a trademark of the series, contains the most groan-inducing punchline this side of Stephan Pastis' “;Pearls Before Swine.”;

Check out the strip at www.hsblinks.com/gu; for more information, visit www.nemu-nemu.com.

 

'Sunday' on schedule

Viz announced last week its print plans for Rumiko Takahashi's latest manga, “;Rin-ne”; ... and it involves giving Takahashi her own special imprint.

Well, sort of. The imprint's name, “;Shonen Sunday,”; was chosen as a way of showcasing series that run in the Japanese anthology of the same name. In addition to “;Rin-ne,”; which will be released in October, current series “;Case Closed,”; “;Hayate the Combat Butler,”; “;Inu-Yasha,”; “;Kekkaishi”; and “;Yakitate!! Japan”; will move under the new banner.

The Web site www.shonensunday.com launches July 22; expect news about new licenses around then as well.

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For more anime and manga news and commentary, check out “;Otaku Ohana”; at blogs.starbulletin.com/otakuohana. Follow Jason S. Yadao on Twitter at twitter.com/jsyadao or e-mail him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).