Rizwan Merchant

Black Rock Shooter (OVA)

At one of my most recently attended anime convention, I noticed quite a few cosplayers armed with some of the most amazing weapon props I had seen in a while. After careful investigation, I learned these cosplayers’ characters were from an anime called Black Rock Shooter. Entirely too enthralled by the cosplays, I decided to check it out, and I jumped in headfirst. I didn’t know anything about the plot or characters; all I knew was that there was an OVA released in 2010 and an anime released in 2012, and that there are varying opinions on both.

By Bernard Gagnon (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

An Insider’s Look at Japan: Ueno Koen

While there’s plenty of modern hustle and bustle in Tokyo, one of my favorite places I visited was the Ueno district, which is home to the famous Ueno Koen. This park is one of the largest and most popular in Japan, with thousands of visitors showing up every year for the springtime tradition of hanami, or cherry blossom viewing.

An Insider’s Look at Japan: Onsen

If there’s one thing that I knew I had to do while in Japan, it was visit a real onsen, or hot spring. Luckily for me, there were actually quite a few in the region of Akita where I was staying, and the particular one that I visited was apparently one of the best. For a first impression, I’ll definitely say that it’ll be very hard to beat, and it was one of the most relaxing and revitalizing experiences I had in Japan.

Cosplayer Spotlight #18 Cupcake Cosplay

Cupcake Cosplay is composed of cosplayers Breathlessaire and Starlighthoney. These two ladies won the USA Finals of the World Cosplay Summit in 2013 and represented our country in the International Finals at Japan last summer, and came back with the Brother Industries LTD sponsored award, along with Second Place overall!

PRINNY: Can I Really Be The Hero?

Nippon Ichi has made a real name for itself with a library of highly entertaining games, and this one is no exception. Coming off the popularity of the tactical RPG Disgaea series, this spinoff focuses primarily on the lowliest of lowly minions: the prinny.

Cosplayer Spotlight #17: Nandolópez Cosplay

My name is Luis Fernando López Álvarez; I am from Costa Rica. I am 29 years old, my zodiac sign is Gemini. I really love and enjoy making cosplay, especially together my nephew. I love anime since my first years like a child. My favorite anime have always been Dragon Ball and my favorite character is Goku and always is gonna be Goku.

Aniplex Releasing Persona 3 THE MOVIE #1 Spring of Birth in May

Aniplex of America announced at their industry panel at Kawaii-Kon their plans to release Shin Megami Tensei: Persona3 THE MOVIE #1 Spring of Birth for sale in over 50 countries starting May 20th of this year. Spring of Birth premiered in Japanese theaters last November and is the first film in the Persona3 trilogy based on the highly popular RPG game series by ATLUS. Aniplex of America plans to release both the Collector’s and Standard Editions of the Import Blu-ray.

Aniplex Announces Simulcast Spring 2014 Details

Aniplex of America Inc. has announced today the details of the simulcast schedules for two of their highly-anticipated titles scheduled to begin streaming this month. These titles are The irregular at magic high school and MEKAKUCITY ACTORS.

Ressha Sentai ToQger: Episode 01 Review

This year marked the start of the 38th Super Sentai Season in Japan, called Ressha Sentai ToQger. The story starts off with Bag Shadow, a minion of the Shadow Line, abducting children with imagination and taking them aboard one of the evil Kuliner trains.

Ressha Sentai ToQger

There exists a mystical railway known as the Rainbow Line, which can only be seen by those with great levels of imagination and creativity. The Rainbow Line is home to great trains known as the Ressha, which are controlled by five warriors, known as ToQgers. The ToQgers are Earth’s form of defense from the evil forces of the Shadow Line, who uses fear and negativity of those abducted to support their own railway and engulf the world in darkness.