Papercraft anime dolls
Posted: January 8, 2011 Filed under: anime | Tags: papercraft 2 Comments »Chanced upon something called papercraft while searching in Google, which caught my attention. Papercraft are basically model created using paper and has exists since the early part of the 20th century. Previously I’ve only seen models such as architecture buildings and motorcycles. They are quite realistic, but what amazed me is that it has now “evolved” and anime characters can even be made into papercraft. And seriously, some of the really good ones look like those plastic figuring models.
I read that some of them even have movable parts! Imagine all the fun you can have setting up the different pose for photo shoot (^-^ )
Even Gundum models! AnimeVice has a gallery of more such robot papercraft.
How about Pikachu? You can go to PAPERPOKéS to download more of Pokemon papercraft templates
If you feel like designing your own papercraft, you can use software called Pepakura Designer. Or you can go to the below websites to download ready templates and start creating your models.
Princess Mononoke – Man vs Nature
Posted: January 3, 2011 Filed under: anime, photography | Tags: nature, Studio Ghibli Leave a comment »The Japaneses have always very conscious and shown their love for their environment, from separating of their trash for recycling to how they assimilate their buildings into their natural surroundings. Guess this came from their love of the environment they lived in. Often you will see anime or manga with nature themes. The very good classic would be Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫), written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli.
The movie is set in medieval Japan depicting a struggle between nature and man. The introduction of man’s new technology, guns and iron, threaten the balance of nature. Ashitaka, a young warrior is inflicted with a deadly curse when he kills a ravenous, boar-like monster, which he discovered is an infectious “demon god,” transformed by human anger. Seeking for the cure that will save his life, he got involved in the battle of humans against the forest’s animal gods, who are led by Princess Mononoke, a young woman raised by wolves.
The most common ways how nature theme are shown in manga or anime – the Earth has changed or almost destroy due to how humans have “abuse” the Mother Earth. The main character(s) in the character get involved in some incident and how they can salvage the current situation. But Princess Mononoke tells the story in more in an old fashion story-telling method. It might not be that straight forward that tells directly in your face, but that’s the beauty about it and what I like.
Guess it’s from the influence of all these nature theme anime and manga that I’ve also started to take note of the beauty of my surrounding greenery. So slow down your fast pace and take a look at your surroundings. It would be different from what you usually see. Even in concrete forest such as Singapore, a small country with limited green area, you can still enjoy the beauty that our Mother nature has provided us. Below are some pictures I took when I went to Hortpark on the 1st day of the new year. Hope it triggered your interest to go out and have a look outside.
Classical opera turned manga
Posted: December 29, 2010 Filed under: manga | Tags: opera Leave a comment »Eight manga adaptations of classic operas such as Carmen and Madama Butterfly will be released by YAMAHA Music Media with the aim of spreading the appreciation and enjoyment of opera. Each book even includes a guide on how to appreciate opera, definitely very useful for people like me who know nuts about opera.
Release info as published on Anime News Network:
- Carmen by Rumi Kizawa on December 2010
- La traviata by Motsuko on December 2010
- Madama Butterfly by Kaoru Kobayashi on January 2011
- Turandot by Aiko Sadakane on January 2011
- The Marriage of Figaro by Eijun Hinode on February 2011
- The Magic Flute by Broccoliko on February 2011
- The Flying Dutchman by Seiko Yamada on March 2011
- Aida by Kaoru Kobayashi on March 2011
I’ve seen quite a few content been turned into manga, including bible, school topic such as Physics and Calculus. But now it’s opera! Well, it should not be of much surprise since manga have been gaining popularity over the years, especially since the boom of Internet and sub groups which further help to increase the availability of translated manga.
This is not the first time opera have been turned in manga. A search on web leads me to Vancouver Opera, which have been commissioning a manga version of each of the operas being performed since quite a few years back. You can download them from their website. Guess it does increase the chance of newbies to watch an opera, at least I might give it a try. What about you?
Share with me if you’ve seen other interesting content that have been turned to manga.
By the way, if you’re interested in other manga that I mentioned earlier, you can buy them from Amazon
- Manga Messiah – a five volume manga series based on the Christian Bible
- The Manga Guide to Calculus – follow along with Noriko as she learns that calculus is more than just a class designed to weed out would-be science majors.
- The Manga Guide to Physics – Megumi befriends Ryota, a patient physics geek who uses real-world examples to help her understand classical mechanics-and improve her tennis game in the process
PONY BROWN – My Little Friend (Mylipu)
Posted: December 27, 2010 Filed under: misc | Tags: illustration Leave a comment »I always have a thing for illustrations, maybe due to the influence of all the manga I’m reading. Not just drawings from Japanese, but all type of illustrations including street graffiti. Lately, I’m into cute little girls (do not be mistaken, I’m not a lolicon or pedophiles), drawn by Korean artists from a company call Pony Brown.
Couldn’t find much English info online on the Korean company except from a blog, Scription. Patrick, the owner of the blog, even went to PONY BROWN’s house (which is not open to public btw) and taken nice photos of its. Extracted from the blog:
“PONY BROWN is a new Korean stationery brand only started since 2008. The key character which has no name, gained popularity in our Hong Kong market. According to the creative pair Mrs. Lee the owner and Mr. Oh the designer, the name PONY BROWN is not the name of the character at all, it came from Mr. Oh’s birth year zodiac as a horse thus PONY and his love of brown color.”
I even bought a set of coasters for my friend as Christmas gifts and my friend told me she loved it. What could be better than to be told they love the gifts you gave them. Though I do suspect it’s not an original product but an imitation from China due to the Chinese name of the company at the back of the packaging box…
A search on Google would show the lovable products you can find with the little girls. What I like best is it makes you happy just by looking at it, with the cute drawings and sweet messages beside it. As wrote on Scription, this goes in line with the creators’ s idea “to have people loving the character fuse their life and spirit with the character’s attitude, to be bright and positive with attitude“.
Although there’s no name for the main character, it’s usually called “Mylipu” (short for “My Little Pu”, “Pu” means friend in Korean) as the series is called “My Little Friend” in English.
Enjoy the cuteness of MyLipu.
It’s Danbo ~
Posted: July 19, 2010 Filed under: manga, photography | Tags: robot, toy, Yotsuba&! Leave a comment »The toy cardboard robot named Danbo.
Commissioned by Azuma Kiyohiko, the creator of the manga, Yotsuba&! to sell in Amazon Japan. It has been selling for quite some time. It may look simple, but personally I think it’s rather cute. Reminds me of the bear that Mr Bean always play with in the show. (^o ^)
There seem to be quite a huge number of fans loving this little cute robot as well, based on the number on photos created and uploaded onto Flickr. Below are some nice photos which I have picked out and you can find even more in Flickr
If you have some spare cash, you can buy it at Amazon JP. Though it’s not cheap; costing around $100 SGD
But if you feel like doing some art & craft, why not try making one yourself. There’s ready templates available on the web. Just print, cut & paste. As simple as that. (^ – ^ )
Just click here to view those templates and start creating your very own Danbo.
