Voices of a Distant Star is a Japanese science fiction original video animation (OVA) short film created and animated by Makoto Shinkai. It follows the lives of two close childhood friends, a boy and a girl, who are separated when the girl is sent into space to fight in a war against aliens. As the 15-year-old girl goes deeper and deeper into space, the texts she sends take longer to reach the Earth; the film simultaneously follows her battles and the boy's life as he receives her texts over the years.
Ikue Ōtani is a Japanese actress who specializes in voice acting. She is best known for her anime roles in the Pokémon series, One Piece, Detective Conan, Corpse Party, Naruto, Cookie Run: Kingdom, Smile PreCure!, Uchi no Sanshimai, Konjiki no Gash Bell, and Persona 5. She is currently attached to Mausu Promotion. Her pet name is "Iku-chan". She is known for playing both male and female roles, and sometimes plays multiple roles in one production. She is a native of Tokyo, but grew up in Niigata Prefecture.
Candy Candy is a Japanese series created by Japanese writer Keiko Nagita under the pen name Kyoko Mizuki. The main character, Candice "Candy" White Ardley, is a blonde girl with freckles, large emerald green eyes and long hair, worn in pigtails with bows. Candy Candy first appeared as a manga in April 1975, written by Mizuki and illustrated by manga artist Yumiko Igarashi, a collaboration which was put together by the Japanese magazine Nakayoshi who were interested in recreating a "masterpiece" manga in the same vein as Heidi, Anne of Green Gables and other famous classic titles of literature read predominantly by young girls. The manga series ran for four years, and won the 1st Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo in 1977. The story was adapted into an anime series by Toei Animation. There are also three animated short films.
Willow Johnson is a Canadian voice actress who has worked in Vancouver, voicing characters in English language versions of anime and cartoons. She is best known for voicing Kasumi Tendo in the Ranma ½ series, Lalah Sune in the Mobile Suit Gundam series, Kikyo in the Inuyasha series, and Starlight in the My Little Pony Tales series. Her first role in animation was when she was 12 years old in a Canadian show called Camp Candy. She is married to musician Ken LaTour and has one child.
Haikara-San: Here Comes Miss Modern, also known as Smart-san or Mademoiselle Anne, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Waki Yamato. It was serialized by Kodansha in the magazine Shōjo Friend from 1975 to 1977. The title can be literally translated into English as Here Comes Miss Modern, Here Comes Miss High-Collar, or Fashionable Girl Passing By. In 1977, it was awarded the 1st Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga.
Mitsuko Horie is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer from Yamato, Kanagawa. She is known as the "Queen of the Anison World".
Sugar Sugar Rune or Sugar² Rune is a Japanese magical girl manga series written and illustrated by Moyoco Anno and serialized in the shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi from September 2003 to May 2007. The series was collected into eight volumes published by Kodansha from September 2003 to May 2007. Sugar Sugar Rune was adapted into an anime television series produced by Studio Pierrot, which aired on TV Tokyo from July 2, 2005 to June 24, 2006. Sugar Sugar Rune won the 29th Kodansha Manga Awards in the children's manga category.
Miracle Girls is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Nami Akimoto, with the first book being released on July 6th, 1991. It was Akimoto's third work, during her career as a manga creator. It was a commercial hit and would see the creation of 12 more manga books. Naoko Takeuchi of Sailor Moon fame worked on early publications of the Miracle Girls manga, before moving on to make Sailor Moon. The manga is about two twins with opposite interests and talents, but combined ESP abilities when they linked their pinkies together.
Yumiko Igarashi is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for illustrating the manga series Candy Candy.
Holly the Ghost, also known in Japan as The Ghost Holly, is a Japanese anime television series directed by Minoru Okazaki. The series first aired in Japan on the NHK network between January 28, 1991, and April 6, 1993, spanning 200 episodes.
Candy☆Boy is an eight-minute original net animation produced by Anime International Company, and directed by Takafumi Hoshikawa. Since November 22, 2007, the ONA is available through streaming on the Cho! animelo audiovisual website and the Nico Nico Douga online video service. This was followed by a seven-episode series, with episodes being streamed between May 2, 2008 and May 8, 2009. Additional episodes were released on DVD, one with the DVD version of the single, "Bring Up Love" by Nayuta, and another released with volume 2 of the series. A spin-off manga series by Hiro Tōge was serialized in Media Factory's Comic Flapper magazine between November 2009 and December 2010, with another series, also by Tōge, distributed on mobile phones.
Hetalia: Axis Powers is a Japanese webcomic written and illustrated by Hidekaz Himaruya. It was adapted as a manga series, which was serialized in Comic Birz from 2006 to 2013. An anime adaptation, produced by Studio Deen, premiered in 2009. The series' main presentation is as a comedic allegory of political and historic events as well as more general cultural comparisons. Characters are personifications of countries, regions, and micronations, with both positive and negative cultural stereotypes form part of each character's personality. Hetalia (ヘタリア) is a portmanteau combining hetare and "Italia".
Rosalinda or Roselinda is a female given name of Old German origin, and is also thought to be a name of Spanish origin. It is both a combination of the name Linda and Rosa, the Spanish form of Rose, and a name from which the diminutive Linda arose. In Old German, the name meant horse serpent. With Linda meaning beautiful in Spanish and Rosa meaning rose, the name could be taken to mean Beautiful Rose.
Smile PreCure! is a 2012 Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation and the ninth installment in Izumi Todo's Pretty Cure metaseries, featuring the seventh generation of Cures. The series is written by Shōji Yonemura, best known as the head writer of Glass Fleet and Kamen Rider Kabuto. The character designs were done by Toshie Kawamura, who previously worked on character designs for Yes! PreCure 5. Like Yes! Pretty Cure 5, the team has five members with a color scheme of pink, red, yellow, green, and blue, but unlike it the team's members are classmates in their second year of middle school. There are no additional team members. The series aired on All-Nippon News Network (ANN)'s TV Asahi network between February 5, 2012, and January 27, 2013, replacing Suite PreCure♪ in its timeslot, and was succeeded by DokiDoki! PreCure. A film was released in Japanese theaters on October 26, 2012, and a novel was released in 2016, serving as an epilogue that takes place 10 years after the anime's events. An illustration book of Toshie Kawamura's works was released on February 12, 2014. The series' main topics are fairy tales and happiness.
Pokémon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened is a 2013 Japanese animated film produced by OLM, Inc. and distributed by Toho. The film was directed by Kunihiko Yuyama and written by Hideki Sonoda. Its the 16th animated film in the Pokémon franchise created by Satoshi Tajiri, Junichi Masuda and Ken Sugimori and the third and final film in the Black & White series.
Dagashi Kashi (だがしかし) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kotoyama. It was serialized in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from June 2014 to April 2018 and has been collected in 11 tankōbon volumes. A light novel adaptation titled Dagashi Kashi: Mō Hitotsu no Natsu Yasumi, written and illustrated by Manta Aisora, was published in a single volume by Shogakukan in December 2015 under their Gagaga Bunko imprint.
To Your Eternity is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine since November 2016, with individual chapters collected by Kodansha into twenty-three tankōbon volumes as of November 2024. The story is about an immortal being, Fushi, who takes on multiple forms and freely utilizes their respective natural abilities at will, including that of an abandoned white-haired boy and his white wolf, in order to further evolve and stimulate as it learns what it means to be truly human over the decades and centuries.
Fushigi Dagashiya Zenitendō is a Japanese children's novel series written by Reiko Hiroshima, with illustrations by Jyajya. Kaiseisha has published the books since May 2013, with 21 volumes as of October 15, 2024. An anime television series adaptation by Toei Animation premiered on September 8, 2020. It was also adapted by Toei into a segment of the omnibus film Toei Manga Matsuri, titled Fushigi Dagashiya Zenitendō: Tsuritai Yaki, which was originally scheduled to premiere in Japanese theatres on April 24, 2020, but was postponed to August 14, 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elizabeth Maxwell is an American voice actress. She is best known for her roles as Ymir in Attack on Titan, Winter Schnee in RWBY, Nikki in Camp Camp, Urbosa & Riju in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, Rosaria in Genshin Impact, Caulifla in Dragon Ball Super, Hollyberry Cookie + more cookies in Cookie Run: Kingdom and Sae Nijima in Persona 5.
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale is a Japanese fantasy light novel series written by Miri Mikawa and illustrated by aki. Kadokawa Shoten have published twenty volumes from March 2010 to March 2024 under their Kadokawa Beans Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation with art by Alto Yukimura was serialized online via Hakusensha's Hana to Yume Online website from November 2012 to October 2014. It was collected in two tankōbon volumes. A second manga adaptation with art by Yozora no Udon was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's seinen manga magazine Young Ace from November 2021 to December 2023, and a third manga adaptation with art by Konosagi has been serialized online via Kadokawa Shoten's Flos Comic website since August 2023. Both the light novel and second manga are licensed in North America by Yen Press. An anime television series adaptation produced by J.C.Staff aired from January to September 2023.
