News Of Northern California interest:

http://www.sacramentocomics.com - for more info on the Collectors Shows in Northern California, such as the Sac-Anime event held at Sunrise Mall on 31-July-1st August '04, the Sacramento Collectors Show at the Scottish Rite Temple on Sunday, 5 Sept '04, and San Jose Collectors Show at Crowne Plaza Hotel on Sunday, 12 Sept '04.

The Sacramento Anime-Manga Show at Sunrise Mall was a big hit. It looks like the dealers did very well. The cosplay contest had 34 entrants. The art show was too successful, with more entrants than room to display the art. The art contest was closed early, leaving a lot of unhappy parents and young manga artists. The anime screening's most popular title was Naruto. I had no problem getting rid of most of the stuff in my freebie pile. There were also some nice $1 cels on the table next to the fan club table. . Another such event (location ?) will occur in Feb 2005.

Kimi no Hanyo Anime Convention to be held at Sierra College Rocklin Campus on September 9 to 11, 2005. For more info, visit http://www.ryoplace.net/KimiHanyo/. It's in the early planning stage.

American Costumer/Cosplayer Magazine #2 is not putlished yet, but it will include pictures from BayCon and the '02 Cherry Blossom Festival cosplay. For more info, email editor Joe Eibe, efecss@inreach.com.

Bay Area Animation Society website: http://www.dotsumi.org, with lots of anime news.

http://www.anime-tourist.com News - The Art of Zines is the name of an exhibit running at the San Jose (Calif) Art Museum from July 26 to October 3. One of the exhibit highlights is eigoManga's Rumble Pak. Anime Tourist is another website with lots of anime news.

Cartoon Art Museum (http://www.cartoonart.org) was named the best museum in San Francisco in 2004. It's at 655 Mission Street, open Tuesday-Sunday, 11am to 5pm. General admission is $6. Current exhibits include Raggedy Anne and Friends (June 26 - Nov 7) and The Sting of the Wasp (a political cartoon weekly, 1876-1897; exhibit May 22-Oct 17).

Sacramento Taiko Dan News: The Sacramento Taiko Dan will have its 15th Anniversary Concert at 7pm on Saturday, August 21, at the Sacramento Community Center Theater. For more info, visit the www.sactaiko.org website. (http://www.sactaiko.org)

My stuff for sale: Japanese CDs: ULTRAMAN ACE double CD set ($7); SFX GRAFFITI-ULTRAMAN - 4 CDs for $12; SHADOW SKILL original music soundtrack double CD set, very nice music for $7. Also for sale are Roman Album-type publications, manga, laser disks. Please email ("Attn Laurine") me for titles, lvbwhite@concourse.net

News of General Interest:

Cosplay sites: http://cosplay.com http://cosplaylab.com and the website for the International Costumers' Guild, Inc. - http://www.costume.org. Any other suggestions?

http://www.anime-tourist.com News - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Fullmetal Alchemist start playing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on Saturday nights beginning November 6, Ghost in the Shell at 11pm, Alchemist at 11:30pm.

The New York Times had a favorable article (reprinted in the Sacramento Bee on July 6) on Giant Robot Magazine. The Giant Robot website is http://www.giantrobot.com, which has zines and other stuff for sale. Besides a store in L.A., Giant Robot now has a store at 622 Shrader Street in San Francisco, with plans for a third store in New York. Giant Robot is also opening a restaurant in West L.A. Giant Robot is celebrating its 10th year of magazine publication.

http://www.taiseng.com News - Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen, from Robin Shou (MORTAL KOMBAT 1 and 2) was shown at San Diego Comic-Con, and will be released on DVD by Taiseng in November. The DVD will have more than an hour of bonus material. // Taiseng has retitled the Southern Fist and Northern Kick movie to Iron Fist.// Taiseng will premiere its first anime series, Legend of Condor Hero, in October. The anime series, based on a Chinese sword novel by Louis Cha, aired in Japan several years ago.

http://www.aintitcool.com News - Alas, the DVD release of Totoro, Nausicaa, and Porco Rosso by Buena Vista has been postponed, maybe to early 2005. [Buena Vista is no better than sister company Miram-Axe when it comes to releasing the shows you want to see, instead of some lesser quality show it wants you to see, like Bionicle.] // Variety reports that the American movie versions of Dragon Ball Z and Speed Racer may be viable projects again. Bern Ramsey has been hired to write a script for DBZ, and Vince Vaughn will be playing Racer X.

http://www.monkeypeaches.com News - The Twins Effect 2 (aka The Huadu Chronicles: Blade of the Rose, directors Cory Yuen and Patrick Leung) stars Donnie Yen, Tony Leung (Ka Fai) and Jackie Chan. I don't know the release date.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com News - The live action (CG) Devilman Movie gets a Japanese theatrical release in October. // For info on a NetFlix-type service for anime DVD rentals only, check out http://www.rentanime.com/default.php (source: Animenation) // ComicsOne has the license for the Infinite Ryvius manga, with Vol.1 (of 2) being published in October, Vol.2 in Jan 05. They will sell for $9.95 each. // The next Miyazaki movie, Howl's Moving Castle, now has an official website, in Japanese, http://www.howl-movie.com (source: Animenation - http://www.animenation.com). Howl's Moving Castle will premiere in Japan on November 20.

http://www.henshinonline.com features an interview with Godzilla's overseas agent, Henry G. Saperstein. There's also info on the first new issue of Oriental Cinema (OC) to appear in quite awhile, #22, price $5.95. Future issues of OC will consist mostly of previously written material, as the editor has gone on to other interests. Oriental Cinema covers Godzilla and other kaiju movies, live action superheroes from Asia, occasional anime, and nubile Asian actresses. The new OC is available from the publisher, at http://www.draculina.com/draculinacontent.htm

http://animenewsnetwork News - Viz will release the Yami No Matsuei manga under the title Descendants of Darkness.

www.rightstuf.com News - Geneon Films plans to give the new Appleseed animated feature film an American theatrical release. Geneon has rights to Shin Getter Robo, Rumiko Takahashi Theater, Mermaid Forest TV. Geneon has set up websites for two of its new shows, Gungrave, http://www.gungravedvd.com, and Fighting Spirit (aka Hajime no Ippo), http://www.gungravedvd.com. // ADV has the rights to (among other titles) Marine Boy, Kidou Shinsengumi Moeyo Ken, Legend of Moby Dick, Saiyuki the Movie, Gilgamesh, Area 88 tv. ADV also has rights to the live action movies, 2009 Lost Memories (Korean film set in an alternate universe where Japan won WW II), Dark Water (a Japanese film), Yesterday (a Korean film). // Funimation plans to release a Full Metal Alchemist DVD in January. // RightStuf has the rights to the Boogiepop Live Action Movie. // Del Rey's new manga releases for October include the Othello Graphic Novel 1 and The Wallflower Graphic Novel 1. // 4Kids has the rights to One Piece, episodes of which will run on Fox Saturday mornings in the fall. Fan reactions of shock and outrage are not unusual. //

http://www.scifi.com News - Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack) will write and direct Sony Pictures' film version of Astroboy, which will combine live action, animation and animatronics.

San Diego Comic-Con 2005 (SDCC, http://www.comic-con.org) was even bigger this year, with over 90,000 attendees. Sarah Michelle Geller was there to promote her new movie, THE GRUDGE, remake of the Japanese horror film, JU-ON. Jude Law was there for his new movie, SKY CAPTAIN & THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. (Two giant inflatable robots from Sky Captain were on display across the street.) Ray Bradbury was promoting a movie based on his classic story, A Sound of Thunder. The only autographs I went after were Stan Sakai's (on his 2005 Usagi Yojimbo calendar) and Robin Shou's (on the Red Trousers movie poster).

The dealers room was even bigger; the art show was removed to another floor. I picked up two 6" samurai dolls (including stand) for $15 from Casa Manga (http://www.casamanga.com). Dusty Trail Toys booth had a 6" Arrow Cutter samurai figure for a very nice low price. You can check it out at http://dustytrailtoys.com/main/samurai.html. The Strangeco booth had a fabulous One-Armed Swordsman (Jimmy Wang Yu) limited edition 12" figure on display; view it at their website - http://www.strangeco.com/Features/onearmedswordsman.html. I hope to buy one at the Super7 Store in Japantown (http://www.super7store.com).

Super7 is also a magazine covering all aspects of Japanese toy culture. Issue 6 is a special Gatchaman issue with featured artist Alex Ross. The website is http://super7magazine.com

I got to meet Patrick Atangan at the NBM booth (http://www.nbmpub.com). He is the artist on the highly acclaimed book, THE YELLOW JAR. This was first in the Songs of Our Ancestors folktale series. Volume 2: THE SILK TAPESTRY (and Other Chinese Folktales) has more art by Patrick Atangan, this time in Chinese style. It will be published in September, in hardcover, 48 pages of full color art, $13. I also got to see the really nice art for Volume 3, Indian style art by Patrick Atangan. NBM is publishing the series.

Shoto Press (http://www.shotopress.com) wasn't there this year; Malay Mysteries Book 3: Island of Glass and Ashes, is not yet available. I'll plug it anyway, as it's written by Jai Sen, and beautifully illustrated by Rizky Wasisto Edi.

Beyond Time Comics (http://www.beyondtimecomics.com) has published 3 issues of its four-issue comics mini-series, Black Tiger: Legacy of Fury, about Jenn Fong's exploration of her family gift, which provides the user with incomparable martial arts abilities. The issues, written by John Hervey, are 24 pages each, full color, $2.99 each.

Valerian, agent spatio-temporel, by J.-C. Mezieres & P. Christin, was a great French space opera graphic novel series (in full color). A few issues were published in English years ago, but I could only get the rest of the series in French. Now ibooks and www.komikwerks.com are going to reprint VALERIAN Book 1 in November. Pre-order from http://budplant.com.

One booth had beautiful art from the upcoming FINAL FANTASY VII: ADVENT CHILDREN CGI movie. I was told the Square Enix movie would be out on DVD in 9 months.

Another booth had a beautiful art book, QUANTUM DREAMS: The Art of Stephan Martiniere, for sale. You can view some of the art at http://www.martiniere.com.

Del Rey Manga news (http://www.delreymanga.com) - upcoming quarterly manga titles include WALLFLOWER by Tomoko Hayakawa, a humorous manga, and OTHELLO by Satomi Ikezawa, a humorous high school manga, with the first volumes released in October, 2nd volumes in Jan '05. (See Diamond Previews for August, Del Rey titles, at the end of this issue.) While big chain bookstores carry graphic novels from other publishers, Del Rey is attracting attention from the small independent bookstores that have not carried manga titles before.

Bandai Entertainment news (http://www.bandai.com) - upcoming anime - DEAR BOYS (basketball; this title may change for American release); KING GAINER (mecha & boxing); DIGI CHARAT NYO (magical girl); PLEASE TWINS (Nov '04 DVD release); DAN DOH (golf anime); SCRAPPED PRINCESS. Bandai has a new tv series in production, D.I.C.E., for a 2005 release, with 40+ episodes. A Cowboy Bebop game is in the works for PlayStation 2. Bandai launches a new manga division for the end of '04 and 2005. No titles were announced at SDCC, but check the Bandai Entertainment website. Bandai also plans to publish manga titles by American artists. For the latest Gundam news, visit http://www.gundamofficial.com.

ADV news (http://www.advfilms.com) - Anime Network now has over 10 million subscribers and has gone 24-7. ADV has bought rights to the first two Gatchaman series. The first series will be re-dubbed and broadcast on Anime Network, along with the 2nd series (G Force). ADV doesn't have the rights to series 3 (Eagle Riders); Saban has those rights. ADV plans more theatrical releases, including Korean live action films. ADV is also investing in Japanese productions, like Kaleido Star and Kino's Journey. The American and European markets are now keeping the Japanese anime companies alive, since the anime market in Asia has been destroyed by piracy. ADV will be subtitling some series for future showing on Anime Network. ADV will slow down its manga publication temporarily. Go to http://www.theanimenetwork.com for Anime Network news.

Tokyo Pop panel with Santa Inoue, creator of Tokyo Tribe manga (Vol.1 published by Tokyo Pop in September '04). Tokyo Tribe is a hip-hop, gritty urban manga about rival Tokyo gangs. There is also a line of Tokyo Tribe action figures, clothing, jewelry. Urban Tribe was influenced by Osamu Tezuka and the Akira manga. The manga is published in a fashion zine, not a manga zine, because the Japanese manga industry hates Santa Inoue.

CPM news (http://www.centralparkmedia.com) - Shoujo in Korean is Sunjoong. Over the next 12 months, CPM will be releasing 20 new manhwa series. Manhwa releases in 2005 include Angel Shop, Masca (romance), and Princess (sunjoong - costume romance). CPM has a new manga line, Be Beautiful, with yaoi titles for women (http://bebeautifulmanga.com). You will not find these titles listed in the regular PREVIEWS! They are priced at $16 each and will be shrinkwrapped. August yaoi manga titles are Kizuna: Bonds of Love #1 by Kazuma Kodaka and Golden Cain (Kin no Cain) #1 by You Asagiri. September: Kizuna #2 and Selfish Love #1 by Naduki Koujima. October: Kizuna #3 and Selfish Love #2. The Be Beautiful line is more adult than Gravitation and Fake (from TokyoPop). CPM yaoi DVD titles include Angel Sanctuary and Descendant of Darkness, but there aren't very many yaoi anime titles out there.

If you think the CPM release of yaoi titles will have no consequences, think again. The forces for censorship do not sleep, especially now. Check out the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund bottom of the page http://www.cbldf.org/busted.shtml for recent cases of attempted censorship that the CBLDF is opposing in the courts. I continue to support the CBLDF and hope that you will too. CBLDF had a panel at SDCC.

Funimation news (http://www.funimation.com) - Funimation has two Cased Closed movies and the Blue Gender movie. November will see releases of the UltraMan Tiga boxset, the Fruits Basket boxset, and Full Metal Alchemist merchandise, with the DVD out in January. An upcoming DVD release is Burst Angel, a futuristic mecha series that looks interesting.

DC Manga news (http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/index.php) - Mighty DC Comics finally starts a manga line, CMX, with the Japanese right-to-left format, size 5"x~7.4", $9.95 each. The first 3 releases in October will be volumes 1 of: From Eroica With Love by Aoike Yasuko; Madara by Otsuka Eiji & art by Tajima Sho-u; Land of the Blindfolded by Tsukuba Sakura. These titles are quarterly; expect the 2nd volumes of these titles in January '05. Upcoming titles include Gals! By Fujii Miahona, Musashi #9 by Takahashi Miyuki, Phantom Thief Jeanne by Tanemura Arina, and Swan by Ariyoshi Kyoko. Most of the titles are from the 1990s, with Swan and From Eroica With Love from the 1970s.

The Korean manhwa booth in the dealers room was giving out large bags decorated with manhwa cover art, and MANHWA: The World of Korea Comics 2004 Sampler, with 240 pages. Manhwa reads from left to right, like American comics. During SDCC over $1 million worth of deals were signed for Korean animation and manhwa (source: Animenewsnetwork). American publishers of manhwa include Tokyo Pop, CPM, and Comicsone.

Antarctic Press booth - These guys are slick! They easily talked me into buying the Legends from Darkwood graphic novel #1 for $10, and got it autographed by writer Christopher Reid & artist John Kantz in no time at all. It's a fantasy (the ancient forest, with dragons and unicorns, is under attack by real-estate developers), reprinting issues #1-#4, manga size, b&w, with very nice manga-style art.

Comicsone and Miramax booths were handing out small posters for the Oscar-nominee movie HERO. Its latest announced release date is August 27. Comicsone publishes the HERO graphic novel one-shot, with beautiful art by Wing Shing Ma. At SDCC Comicsone was selling some of its titles at discount, including NOW #1, a manhwa sword title by Park Sung Woo that looks pretty good.

In November Nickelodeon starts running a new animation series (animated in Korea, I hear) called AVATAR: The Last Airbender. The Fire Nation threatens to engulf the entire world. Only the Avatar can restore balance. By the way - he's 12 years old."

Gerald Okamura's 9th annual Dragonfest (http://www.dragonfest.com) will happen on Sunday, November 21, in Glendale, California. Admission is $15, 10am to 5pm. It's the ultimate martial arts, sci-fi, and Hollywood celebrity convention, with over 100 guests, action figures, swords, cosplay, DVDs, movie posters and memorabilia.

Kotobukiya (http://www.artfx-kotobukiya.com) has some really nice cold-cast pre-painted resin statues, imported from Japan, from Final Fantasy and Star Ocean, not to mention Vampire hunter D. You can view them at the website, under Line Up. Not cheap, but nice to look at.

Cold Cuts Comics Distribution (http://www.coldcut.com) is a distributor of quality independent comics. It had an indy island at SDCC for small press publishers. At the Radio Comix table (http://www.radiocomix.com), I bought some lovely color furry prints by Baron Engel. His guys and gals have lovely fox tails and ears, and his gals aren't oversize on top. Some are great action heroines. You can find Baron Engel's art at http://www.backbreaker.com.

Konsequential Studios (http://www.konsequential.com) was at the indy island. They have published 4 issues of A MONK'S TALE. I got a good deal, buying the 4 issues along with a t-shirt for A Monk's Tale. The studio plans to re-print the 4 issues in slightly different format for Diamond Distribution.

Artist Scott H. Martinez has a website (http://legends_lostsouls.tripod.com) with too many popups and not-my-type art. But the artwork, bookmarks, notecards, and little The Sad Monk (issue #0?) at his table were different. There is something immensely tranquil and appealing in his Sad Monk art, with bamboo, praying monks, dragons, and Zen sayings. So buy some of his bookmarks and blank greeting cards with monks and bamboo on them. Email him at scottandrhonda2001@yahoo.com.

An artist whose anime prints I really like is Greg Espinoza. One of these days he's going to draw a furry D cover for this newsletter. Email him at Riotengine@aol.com for his art.

Penguino handed me her business card for the Flippersmack PopCulture Magazine, online at http://www.flippersmack.com. What I really liked was the little Handbook of Penguin Martial Arts, Vol.1: When Monsters Attack, one of the titles in Flippersmack's freebie comic book packet. The martial arts penguin and more info are at http://www.penguinpalace.com. (Does anyone else remember Samurai Penguin?)

One furry title I picked up was The Collected Tall Tails Thieves' Quest, volumes 1-3 with lovely wraparound color covers and b&w interiors, 170 pages and $15 each. Cool warriors - cats and equines and a panda (remember Panda Khan?). The story is written by JD Calderon, art by Daphne Lage, published by Dream Weaver Press (http://www.egoworks.com/dreamweaverpress)

A pretty bookmark found at SDCC had the words The Dreamland Chronicles and a website, http://www.theastonishfactory.com. So I checked it out. The Dreamland Chronicles is a comic with computer-generated art by Scott Christian Sava, 48 pages, color, $3.50, published by Astonish Factory. I haven't seen an issue, but the art online looks very pretty. Alex has fantasy adventures in dreamland with an elf, a rock boy, and a fairy. I don't know if more than the first issue has been published yet.

Dragonlines Studio (http://www.dragonlines.com) is under construction, but has a beautiful drawing by artist Ron Lim. Ron has a very nice sketchbook with 18 pages of art, one-armed swordsman, Monkey King, spaghetti western hero, for $10. You can email him about getting a copy, dragonlines@hotmail.com.

News from the Stan Sakai presentation: Usagi Yojimbo appears in 4 episodes of the current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tv series, and will be in 2 episodes next season. Those next season episodes will also include appearances by Gen, Tomoe and the Nekko Ninja.

History of U.S. Anime panel - Matt Greenfield (ADV) said that Japanese companies have started taking action against the anime download pirates, mostly in Asia, where piracy is much worse than here. John O'Donnell (CPM) says the way to combat piracy is to provide a good copy, a good translation, at a low price.

Fred Ladd spoke about Gigantor's 50th anniversary. Gigantor began in Japan as Tetsujin 28. The Japanese series had 193 episodes, 104 of which were dubbed in English for Gigantor. The series came to the US in 1964, a year after AstroBoy. There is so much similarity between Gigantor and Johnny Sokko because they had the same Japanese creator. Kimba was the first color anime series in Japan. http://www.gigantor.org is Fred Ladd's official Gigantor website.

Monkey Punch (sponsored by TokyoPop) gave a talk about Lupin III. His art style was influenced by MAD Magazines's Sergio Aragones and Mort Drucker in the mid-1960s; Lupin's character was heavily influenced by James Bond. Monkey Punch is in California to discuss the details of Hollywood's live action Lupin III movie.

Ric Meyers' 5th annual kung-fu extravaganza, with video clips provided by the Drunken Master booth. Taiseng has released a newly re-mastered DVD of BUTTERFLY starring Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh, Tony Leung Chiu Wai. Miram-Axe bought American rights to 20 of the classic Shaw Brothers movies, and may never release them. Other American companies are trying to get rights to other Shaw Brothers titles, with plans to release them here, not sit on them. Columbia Tri-Star has American rights to 8 DAGGERS and Stephen Chow's upcoming KUNG FU HUSTLE. Ric especially recommended the Korean sword film, MUSA THE WARRIOR. Drunken Master (http://www.drunkenmaster.tv) has finally updated its website, so check it out for those Asian martial arts DVD titles you've been meaning to buy.

Another book to recommend is Once Upon a Time in China: a Guide to Hong Kong, Taiwanese, and Mainland Chinese Cinema by Jeff Yang, author of Eastern Standard Time. It's published by Atria Books, $17, 290 pages plus index, and at least a few photos. The subject isn't especially action films, but the entire range of Chinese cinema from the beginning to 2001, with capsule reviews of films back to the 1920s. That includes the classic 1928 movie, Burning of Red lotus Temple, clips of which were included in RED TROUSERS.

What follows is just a small selection of the Diamond anime-related offerings. Diamond PREVIEWS (http://www.diamondcomics.com) July 2004 for September '04 delivery (except as noted). Comics - Dark Horse - THE ART OF USAGI YOJIMBO: 20th Anniversary Edition hardcover (Oct), $39.95, 200 pg, b&w, art by Stan Sakai and others; TRIGUN Anime Manga Vol.1 by Yasuhiro Nightow (Oct), 160 pg, color, $15; INTRON DEPOT 4: Bullets trade pb by Masamune Shirow (July), 128 pg, color, $50. Top Cow (the litigators, not mathematicians) - ALEX ROSS: Battle of the Planets Artbook one-shot, color, 32 pg, $4.99. ADV - GUNPARADE MARCH Vol.1 by Hiroyuki Sanadura, 218 pg, b&w, mature readers, $10; APOCALYPSE MEOW Vol.2 by Motofumi Kobayashi, 146 pg, b&w, $10; DEMON CITY SHINJUKU Vol.1 by Hideyuki Kikuchi, 200 pg, b&w, $10. Anime Works - KAMUNAGARA: Rebirth of the Demonslayer Vol.1 (of 6) by Hajime Yamamura, 200 pg, $10. Antarctic - HEAVEN SENT #5 by Ben Dunn, b&w, 32 pg, $2.99; YOU CAN DRAW MANGA #9, b&w, 32 pg, $4.95; NEOTOPIA Vol.4 #2 by Rod Espinosa, 32 pg, color, $2.99; YOU CAN VOTE: Decision Battle 2004 by Ben Dunn, b&w, 32 pg, $3.99. Broccoli - AQUARIAN AGE JUVENILE ORION Vol.3, 208 pg, b&w, $10; GALAXY ANGEL PARTY Vol.1, 192 pg, b&w, $10.

ComicsOne - HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS Vol.1 by Towa Oshima, 200 pg, b&w, $10; DARK EDGE Vol.1 by Yu Aikwawa (?), 200 pg, b&w, $10. CPM manhwa - ARMAGEDDON Vol.1 (of 11) by Hyun se Lee, 192 pg, b&w, $10; SLAYERS: Lina the Teenage Sorceress, 176 pg., b&w, $10. DH - HINO HORROR Vol.13: Zipangu Night and Vol.14: Skin and Bone by Hideshi Hino, mature readers, b&w, $10 each. Digital Manga - PASSION Vol.1, yaoi by Shinobu Gatoh & Shoku Takaku, $12.95. Ironcat - HOW TO BE AN ANGEL MANUAL Vol.1 by Kumiko Kikuchi, 212 pg, b&w, $12.95; MANTIS WOMAN Vol.1 by Senno Knife, 180 pg, b&w, $12.95. Moonstone - KOLCHAK: The Night Stalker Vol.1, 160 pg, color, $18; I LOVE A MYSTERY #1 by Carlton E. Morse & Don Sherwood, 88 pg, b&w, $10.95 (Moonstone titles are not anime, listed just because). Radio Comix - MANGAPHILE #25, b&w, 48 pg, $4.99. Shanda (furry titles) - CODENAME MOUSETRAP #1 (of 2), furry bountyhunters, cyborgs, shape-shifters, 40 pg, b&w, $4.99. TokyoPop - LEGAL DRUG Vol.1 by CLAMP, 192 pg, $10; RAVE MASTER Vol.1, 96 pg, $8; DIABOLO Vol.1 by Kaoru Ohashi & Kei Kusunoki, 192 pg, horror manga, $10; DRAGON VOICE Vol.1 by Yuriko Nishiyama, 192 pg, $10; LES BIJOUX Vol.5 by Jo Eun-Ha & Park Sang-Sun, 192 pg, $10; THE ONE I LOVE by CLAMP, 192 pg, $10.

Zines - GIANT ROBOT #34, Asian-American pop culture, 88 pg, $4.95. JADE SCREEN Vol.2#6, HK movie zine, $7.95. VENGEANCE Magazine #4, Kill Bill Special, $7.50. Books - YU YU HAKUSHO: The Complete Guide, 192 pg, b&w, $12. THE MIDNIGHT EYE GUIDE TO NEW JAPANESE FILM by Tom Mes & Jasper Sharp, 376 pg, $23. T-shirts - Anime Network logo navy t-shirt, L-XL, $20. Excel Saga t-shirt, L-XL, $20. Versus ($17) and Noir ($20) white t-shirts, L-XL. Trigun and Hellsing black long sleeve tees, M-XXL, $25 each. Action Figures - Inu-Yasha series 2, Sesshomaru & Kikyo, multiple articulation points, $12 each (December). Plush - Jaken 17" (Inu-Yasha) $29. Kirara 13" (Inu-Yasha) $23. Mao-Chan 8", $11. Trigun Kuroneko Black Cat 14" pillow, $15. Prints/Posters - Samurai Deeper Kyo wall scroll, $17. Sue the 4-leaf clover print, CLAMP, $25. Shrek 2 Puss in Boots (big eyes) poster, $5.49 (listed because it's cute). Games - Big Eyes Small Mouth RPG: Utena guidebook, $20. Misc. - SHI coaster set in printed box, $12.99.

DVDs - ADV - AQUARIAN AGE Vol.1: Awakening, mature audience, 125 min., $30; CHRONO CRUSADE Vol.1, mature audience, 100 min., $30; NEO-TOKYO, mature audiences, 50 min., $20. Playhut - DECHENG Vol.2, episodes 5-8, $25; LITTLE MONK Vol.1, 99 min, $15. AnimeWorks - EARLY REINS, 45 min., $15; KNIGHT HUNTERS Vol.2, 100 min, $30; SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY 2-DVD set, 300 min, $30. RightStuf - GRAVITATION Vol.2, 75 min., $30. ; Bandai - ZENTRIX Vol.1: Out of Time, 125 min, $30; GHOST IN THE SHELL TV Vol.2, 100 min., $30. Geneon - GUNGRAVE Vol.2: The Sweeper, mature audiences, 100 min. $30; READ OR DIE TV Vol.2, 100 min., $30. TokyoPop - RAVE MASTER Vol.1, $15; STELLVIA Vol.1: Foundation, 100 min, $25. Live Action - ADV - DARK WATER, 100 min., $20. AnimEigo - ZATOICHI CONSPIRACY and ZATOICHI IN DESPERATION movies starring Shintaro Katsu, $30 each. Miram-axe - KILL BILL Vol.2, $30 (wait for the 2-DVD set). CDs - Geneon - ABENOBASHI OST; MACROSS PLUS OST; FLCL OST 2; LOVE HINA Hinata Girls Song Collection; READ OR DIE TV OST Vol.1; TEXHNOLYZE OST Vol.1, $15 each.

Diamond PREVIEWS August 2004 for October (except as noted). Comics - Dark Horse - (for November) HELLSING Vol.5 by Kohta Hirano, 208 pg, b&w, $14; BIRTHDAY (The Ring #4) by Meimu, 160 pg, b&w, $12.95; TRIGUN MAXIMUM Vol.3 by Yasuhiro Nightow, 192 pg, b&w, $9.95; GHOST IN THE SHELL Vol.1 2nd Ed. with additional stuff, by Shirow Masamune, 368 pg, b&w, $25. DC's new CMX Manga Line - FROM EROICA WITH LOVE Vol.1 by Aoike Yasuko, 232 pg, b&w, 5"x7.4", $9.95; LAND OF THE BLINDFOLDED by Tsukuba Sakura, 208 pg, b&w, $9.95; MADARA Vol.1, 200 pg, b&w, $9.95. ADV - DARK WATER Vol.1 by Koji Suzuki & Kadokawa Shoten, 144 pg, b&w, $10; MYTHICAL DETECTIVE LOKI Vol.1 by Sakura Kinoshita, 186 pg, b&w, $10; TACTICS Vol.1 by Sakura Kinoshita & Kazuko Higashiyama, 194 pg, b&w, $10; PEACEMAKER KUROGANE Vol.1 by Nanae Chrono, 194 pg, b&w, $10. Antarctic - I HUNT MONSTERS Pocket Manga by Rod Espinosa & Craig Babiar, 144 pg, b&w, $10; YOU CAN DRAW MANGA #10 by Ben Dunn, 32 pg, b&w, $4.95; HOW TO DRAW MANGA Vol.1 Supersized, 192 pg, b&w, $19. Comicsone - INFINITE RYVIUS Vol.1, from the Bandai anime, 200 pg, b&w, $9.95; PEIGENZ Vol.3 by Suh Gwong Hyun & Park Sung Woo, 200 pg, b&w, $9.95; MY SASSY GIRL Vol.5 by Ho Sik Kim & Dae Hong Min, 128 pg, color, $14.

CPM - FULL HOUSE Vol.2 by Soo-yeon Won, 192 pg, b&w, $10; NAMBUL: WAR STORIES Vol.2 by Hyun Se Lee, 280 pg, b&w, $10; YONGBI THE INVINCIBLE Vol.2 by Jeawoon Yu & Jungwho Moon, 200 pg, b&w, $10. Del Rey - OTHELLO Vol.1 by Satomi Ikezawa, b&w, $10.95; WALLFLOWER Vol.1 by Tomoko Hayakawa, b&w, $10.95; XXXHOLIC Vol.3 by CLAMP, b&w, $10.95. DH - HINO HORROR Vol.15: The Experiment by Hideshi Hino, 168 pg, b&w, mature readers, $9.95. Eigomanga - SAKURA PAK #1, with original stories about young women, 160 pg, b&w, $10. NDP - BLUE BUSTER #2 by Pennueng Chemsripong, b&w, 30 pg, $2.95; GHOST HUNTERS #2 by Eunice P. (manga style art), b&w, 22 pg, $2.95. Radio - FURRLOUGH #142, furry tales by various, 32 pg, b&w, $3.50. Shanda - another line of furry titles, EXTINCTIONERS: Tales of the Endangered by Shawntae Howard & Various, 40 pg, b&w, $5; SHANDA THE PANDA #42 by Various, 40 pg, b&w, mature themes, $5. TokyoPop - BOYS BE? Vol.1, 192 pg, $10; CROSS Vol.1 by Sumiko Amakawa, 192 pg, $10; HYPER RUNE by Tamayo Akiyama, 192 pg, $10; THE QUEEN'S KNIGHT Vol.1 by Kim Kang Won, 192 pg, $10; TOKYO TRIBES Vol.2 by Santa Inoue, 192 pg, $10, plus lots more titles.

Books - THE ILLUSTRATED ART OF WAR by Sun Tzu, with classic art from China, Japan, Korea, 224 pg, color, $20. (I shouldn't need to explain the importance of this Asian classic.) How-To Books (yawn): HOW TO DRAW MORE MANGA by Katy Cooper, 64 pg, $7; LET'S DRAW MANGA: Monsters, Digital Manga Publishing, 128 pg, $20; LET'S DRAW MANGA: Tokyo Urban-Hip Hop Culture, Digital Manga Publishing, 138 pg, $20; MANGA ART: Easel-Does-It by Ashe Raven & May Li, 96 pg, $17; MANGA MANIA: Video Games by Christopher Hart, 144 pg, 420; XTREME ART: Draw Manha Chibi! By Chris Hart, 64 pg, $9. [Enough Already!] Zines - Wizard Anime Insider #17, $5, previews of FullMetal Alchemist & Tenjo Tenge manga. T-shirts - InuYasha Kagome, white with blue sleeves, M-LG, $22; InuYasha parchment background on white, LG-XL $19, XXL $20. Jim Mahfood Fight Censorship, Daphne of the Grrl Scouts with 2 katanas, on blue, L-XL $20, XXL $25, for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Cute Plush Imports - Chobits Sumomo, 7", $12. Dot Hack Tsukasa, 11", $13. Lain in Bear Pajamas, 10", $13. X CLAMP Kamui Shirou, 9", $13. YuYu Hakusho Hiei, 8", $12. YuYu Hakusho Yusuke, 8", $12. Trigun Kuroneko Black Cat, 6", $10.

End of August - September 2004 Anime Sacramento Newsletter