Thursday, March 28, 2024
Stephen Bajza

Stephen Bajza

Friday, 08 March 2013 08:00

Vocaloid 3 Megpoid English Release Party

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The Vocaloid phenomenon has taken otaku worldwide by storm, and with the release of an English version of the voice synthesis program, the fanbase can only grow. The-O Network had a chance to catch the release party at the New People Building in San Francisco's Japantown, and we were not disappointed.

Wednesday, 16 January 2013 09:29

Mass Effect: Paragon Lost (Blu-ray/DVD) Review

Considering my lukewarm reception of Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker, I worked to keep an open mind for Mass Effect: Paragon Lost. When Jack Wall and Sam Hulick inspired music kicked in over images of nebulas during the intro, I felt a flutter of hope. However, as James Vega, voiced by Freddie Prince Jr., began rambling broadly about making tough decisions in words more suited for Blasto the Hanar Specter, the flutter was quashed, and I settled in for what was going to be a long ride. This movie contains spoilers for all three games, and it would be impossible to write a review without mentioning a few of them. Unlike most of T-Ono's reviews, if you don't want anything spoiled, I'd recommend leaving at this point. For everyone else, let's see what calibrations could have been made to Mass Effect: Paragon Lost.

Tuesday, 18 September 2012 15:22

J-Pop Summit Festival 2012 Convention Report

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Last year's Jpop Summit was a bittersweet experience for me. On the one hand, it was great to see Jpop enjoying a festival of its own, but on the other, I was disappointed to see such a heavy focus on Vocaloid and Hatsune Miku. Granted, the Vocaloid phenomenon is undeniably a part of Japanese pop music, but I was hoping for insight into the Jpop scene not viewed through the lens of anime and video games. As I walked down the street towards Japantown for this year's festival, I kept my expectations neutral but hoped for a greater focus on Japanese musicians. As I got closer, I heard a cover for "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae, and I cringed. Once I reached the plaza, I saw that there were three white girls playing covers of American pop music, and I struggled to understand the relation between this act and Jpop. As the day went on, I found a pleasantly surprising answer.

tono convention guide panels and autographs

If you’re not there for the dealer’s hall or cosplayers, you’re probably at a convention for the panels or autograph sessions. These events tend to be the pillars around which a convention day is planned since this is where you’ll meet cool guests, hear breaking news, watch experts discuss the goings on of the industry, or possibly even get a quick lesson in art, writing, or something else creative. As anyone who’s been to even a single convention can tell you, there are often more events than you can go to in a single day, and random little things tend to prevent you from keeping to a strict schedule. So, what’s the best way to create a decent schedule that lets you see everything you want to but includes a decent amount of breathing room? Find out below!

Friday, 23 September 2011 01:00

J-Pop Summit Festival 2011 Report

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Being an anime fan in the Bay Area of California is great for a lot of reasons, but one of the main pulls is the fact that we have so many outlets for Japanese pop culture. For example, this past August saw the latest iteration of the J-Pop Summit Festival, a fun street fair conglomeration of all things related to J-Pop. Since it was based in San Francisco's very own Japantown, traveling was easy and the setting was familiar to all attendees. Even if you're not big into J-Pop, the whole thing is like a miniature version of the Cherry Blossom Festival which means food stands and vendors in the street, plenty of cosplay, and an all around good time. If you weren't in Japantown in San Francisco on August 27th or 28th, sit tight and I'll fill you in on what you missed.

Thursday, 01 September 2011 13:29

Korean Vocaloid3's SeeU!

As part of the birthday celebration of the highly popular Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, the Vocaloid 3 Korean Mascot was revealed ealier this week. Banking on the ever popular moe style, SeeU is a cat girl illustrated by Kkuem that just oozes adorableness. I know a lot of people love Hatsune Miku, but the cat ears and flowing hair won me over at a glance. She's voiced by Kim Tahi (Dahee), a super cute singer part of the up and coming K-pop group GLAM which has yet to debut.

Tuesday, 13 September 2011 01:00

Shigeto Koyama Interview

We here at T-ONO pride ourselves on covering unique and rare news items, and during my trip to San Diego Comic-Con 2011, I got the chance to do just that. After a weekend-long team effort, we finally landed an interview with the very awesome Shigeto Koyama. Koyama-san has worked in the Japanese animation industry as a designer, illustrator, and script writer. His most recognizable works include the mechanical designs for Star Driver and character designs for the 2010 anime series, Heroman created by Marvel Comics very own Stan Lee. Over the years, he has also worked on various series produced by Gainax studio including, Diebuster (Gunbuster 2), Gurren Lagann, and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt.

Despite the communal sweat poured into making the interview happen, the entire process was a real treat. Koyama-san is a very easy-going guy and even with the impromptu circumstances our conversation was fun and informative. I hope you all enjoy the interview, and we definitely hope to catch him next time he's down in the U.S.A.!

Thursday, 04 August 2011 18:11

Digital Manga: Too Little Too Late?

Since fans have been pushing for digital manga distribution for so long, the last thing I want to do is complain now that it's finally here. On the one hand you've got Viz Manga which, in short, is poppin'. They've decked the whole thing out with community functionality, the all-powerful "Like" button, and they've even taken the very smart step of giving the first volume from select titles away for free. Get them hooked, right? You only have to purchase a title once and you can read it on any iOS or Android device as well as your own computer which means you have manga literally on the go. It might not be too convenient for people who use an e-reader for all things literary, but considering how slim an iPhone or any tablet device is, there's not much to scoff at.

Thursday, 04 August 2011 18:03

Jmanga.com: Manga's Brave New World

JManga LogoFans of anime and manga have been very aware of how powerful digital distribution can be, but that power traditionally stemmed from the hands of thieves. Some of them, like Crunchyroll, have become legitimate online distributors, but others like Onemanga.com fell by the wayside. Although many manga fans mourned the loss of that behemoth den of pirates, the industry has finally caught up; however, the original publishers are circumventing oversees licenses. Where oh where does this rabbit hole end.

Monday, 27 June 2011 18:13

The O-Cast: Fanime 2011

Another convention-themed podcast! Well, it is convention season after all, so dig in. Fanime is a San Jose based convention that does an excellent job of staying true to the "by fans, for fans" tagline. The whole thing is pretty much one giant anime and J-Pop themed party, and we've got plenty to discuss about Fanime 2011 antics. The second half of the podcast focuses on convention survival tips, so newbie and veteran con attendees alike should tune in and glean wisdom from the masters. We'll have a full article about this very topic posted soon, so check back in about a week for the update!

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