Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, and a broader use of the term "cosplay" applies to any costumed role-playing in venues apart from the stage. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Favorite sources include anime, cartoons, comic books, manga, television series, rock music performances, video games and in some cases, original characters.
A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Greenfield and David Williams. The company specialized in home video production and distribution, theatrical film distribution, merchandising, original productions, magazine and comic book publishing. They also ran Anime Network, a television channel devoted to airing the company's titles. Some of their titles were Neon Genesis Evangelion, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, RahXephon, Full Metal Panic, Azumanga Daioh, Elfen Lied, Gantz, Red Garden, and Le Chevalier D'Eon.
Case Closed, also known as Detective Conan, is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday since January 1994, with its chapters collected in 106 tankōbon volumes as of October 2024. Due to legal problems with the name Detective Conan, the English language releases from Funimation and Viz Media were renamed to Case Closed. The story follows the high school detective Shinichi Kudo, whose body was transformed into that of an elementary school-age child while investigating a mysterious organization. Generally, he solves a multitude of cases by impersonating his childhood best friend's father and various other characters.
Nana is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa. First published as a two-part prologue in Shueisha's monthly shōjo manga magazine Cookie in 1999, Nana was later serialized in the same magazine from May 2000 to May 2009, before going on indefinite hiatus. Its chapters have been collected in 21 tankōbon volumes. The series centers on Nana Osaki and Nana Komatsu, two women who move to Tokyo at the age of 20, with the story focused on Nana O.'s pursuit for fame and Nana K.'s pursuit for romance, all while struggling to maintain their friendship.
Hunter × Hunter is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. It has been serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since March 1998, although the manga has frequently gone on extended hiatuses since 2006. Its chapters have been collected in 38 tankōbon volumes as of September 2024. The story focuses on a young boy named Gon Freecss who discovers that his father, who left him at a young age, is actually a world-renowned Hunter, a licensed professional who specializes in fantastical pursuits such as locating rare or unidentified animal species, treasure hunting, surveying unexplored enclaves, or hunting down lawless individuals. Gon departs on a journey to become a Hunter and eventually find his father. Along the way, Gon meets various other Hunters and encounters the paranormal.
Parasyte is a Japanese science fiction horror manga series written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki. It was published in Kodansha's Morning Open Zōkan (1989) and Monthly Afternoon. The manga was published in North America first by Tokyopop, then Del Rey, and finally Kodansha USA. The series follows Shinichi Izumi, a high school senior who is the victim of a failed attempt by a parasitic organism to take over his brain. The parasite, Migi, instead infects and takes over his arm, and both are forced in a peculiar partnership to fight other parasites.
Beet the Vandel Buster is a Japanese manga series written by Riku Sanjo and illustrated by Koji Inada. The manga ran in Shueisha's Monthly Shōnen Jump from 2002 to 2006. After a nearly ten-year hiatus, the series resumed in Jump SQ.Crown in 2016, before entering a short-term hiatus. It has been serialized in Jump SQ.Rise since 2018. 18 volumes tankōbon volumes have been released as of October 2024. In North America, Viz Media licensed the manga for English release and published its first twelve volumes between 2004 and 2007.
Shojo Beat is a shōjo manga magazine formerly published in North America by Viz Media. Launched in June 2005 as a sister magazine for Shonen Jump, it featured serialized chapters from six manga series, as well as articles on Japanese culture, manga, anime, fashion and beauty. After its initial launch, Shojo Beat underwent two redesigns, becoming the first English anthology to use the cyan and magenta ink tones common to Japanese manga anthologies. Viz launched a related imprint of the same name for female-oriented manga, light novels and anime.
Uzumaki is a Japanese horror manga series written and illustrated by Junji Ito. Appearing as a serial in Shogakukan's weekly seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1998 to 1999, the chapters were compiled into three bound volumes published from August 1998 to September 1999. In March 2000, Shogakukan released an omnibus edition, followed by a second omnibus version in August 2010. In North America, Viz Media serialized an English-language translation of the series in its monthly magazine Pulp from February 2001 to August 2002. Viz Media then published the volumes from October 2001 to October 2002, with a re-release from October 2007 to February 2008, and published a hardcover omnibus edition in October 2013.
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and other editorial content, forums where readers can discuss current issues and events, and an encyclopedia that contains many anime and manga with information on the staff, cast, theme music, plot summaries, and user ratings.
Highschool of the Dead, known in Japan as Apocalyptic Academy: Highschool of the Dead, is a Japanese manga series written by Daisuke Satō and illustrated by Shōji Satō. It was serialized in Fujimi Shobo's Monthly Dragon Age between the September 2006 and May 2013 issues, but was left unfinished following Daisuke Satō's death in March 2017. Fujimi Shobo and Kadokawa Shoten published seven tankōbon volumes from March 2007 and April 2011 in Japan. Yen Press published the series in North America. The story follows a group of high school students caught in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.
Tekkonkinkreet, also known as Black & White, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Taiyō Matsumoto, originally serialized from 1993 to 1994 in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits. The story takes place in the fictional city of Takaramachi and centers on a pair of orphaned street kids – the tough, canny Black and the childish, innocent White, together known as the Cats – as they deal with yakuza attempting to take over Treasure Town.
Helen McCarthy is the British author of such anime reference books as 500 Manga Heroes and Villains, Anime!, The Anime Movie Guide and Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. She is the co-author of The Erotic Anime Movie Guide and the exhaustive The Anime Encyclopedia with Jonathan Clements. She also designs needlework and textile art.
Otaku USA is a bimonthly magazine published by Sovereign Media, which covers various elements of the "otaku" lifestyle from an American perspective. The issues were accompanied by a DVD featuring three anime episodes but as of 2009 the DVD feature was dropped and the double sided poster feature of the Magazine was also dropped starting with the February 2010 issue.
Patrick Macias is an American author and co-author of several titles on pop culture fandom, specifically relating to Japanese culture and otaku culture in America. Macias is also a correspondent for NHK World Television show Tokyo Eye, and is the editor-in-chief of the otaku culture magazine Otaku USA, which debuted on June 5, 2007. In 2014, Macias became the Senior Manager of New Initiatives at Crunchyroll.
C3AFA, also known as Anime Festival Asia (AFA), is a series of anime conventions held in the Southeast Asian region, with a core annual convention held in Singapore. The main convention is traditionally held over a weekend in late November to early December. It was held at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre from 2008 to 2011, but was moved to the Singapore Expo MAX Pavilion in 2012 due to renovation works at Suntec Convention Centre that year. The convention returned to Suntec Convention Centre in 2013 and is being held there till now.
Anime Limited, also known as All the Anime is a British anime distribution company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It releases anime for British, Irish, French and other European audiences. The company was established in 2012 by Andrew Partridge, best known from his role in Scotland Loves Anime. The company releases both old and new anime titles both on home video and theatrically, aided by the Scotland Loves Anime film festival.
Pulp was an American manga magazine and literary imprint published by Viz Media from 1997 to 2002. The magazine, which primarily published English-language translations of seinen manga, was the first English-language magazine that published manga aimed at an adult readership.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a Japanese manga series written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday since April 2020, with its chapters collected in 13 tankōbon volumes as of April 2024. The series is licensed for English release in North America by Viz Media and in Southeast Asia by Shogakukan Asia. An anime television series adaptation produced by Madhouse aired its first 28-episode season from September 2023 to March 2024. A second season has been announced.
