I feel like this phase is the one that’s long overdue. The EXP system, sometimes also called our reputation or reward system, is basically just that, a means of keeping track of your reputation here on Ningin and also a means of rewarding you. We ended up calling it EXP because it’s very much akin to experience points in video games and because it’s just short to say and type. Plus, I think most people just know what EXP is when you say it unless you never once played video games in your life. More »

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This Sunday, Kinokuniya Bookstore in New York City will host Anime Day, an all day event for anime, manga and cosplayers. Our friends from the New York Anime Festival and Japan Society will be on hand to talk about NYAF and KRAZY! I’ll be there too with Ningin’s new anime authority Michael Latorre! Keep an eye out for us and say hello! More »

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It’s the end of the road for 2008. Goodbye Samurai Girl, Edison Chen and your photos, and of course goodbye to George W. Bush. Special thanks to Beijing Olympics, the cast of Hana Yori Dango, and Barrack Obama. You’ve been great!

If this year was good to you, then you’ll probably look back on it with fond memories. If this was a rough year for you, I’m talking to you American economy, then it’s a good thing 2008 is just about over. As a wise turtle once said, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” (5 points to the first person who correctly guess where that’s from.) More »

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Elves ate my Ramen~! Yes, that’s what I said… Elves ate my Ramen! Well not actually? See freelance mangaka and fantasy artist Lindsey Henninger is better known as Elves ate my Ramen. We got to meet Lindsey while she was an honored guest at this years New York Anime Festival at the Jacob Javits Center. She visited the Ningin Booth and showed us her wonderful cosplay as Kallen from CodeGeass: Lelouch the Rebellion. Interesting facts about Lindsey, her art was voted the most popular by fans on TheOtaku.com, her Non-Anime related work have been showcased in galleries Ythroughout upstate New york and she has been a honoree guest for NYAF several times now. The fans that love her work (like me) always comment about her coloring technique and the softness she brings to her creations.

Date of Birth: December 21st BirthSign: Sagittarius Blood Type: O Negative BirthPlace: Upstate NY Favorite Things: My laptop, my books, my drafting table, my colored pencils, my baby blankie, and my kitty, FuzzButt. Favorite Manga or Mangaka: Matsuri Hino (creator of Vampire Knight and MeruPuri) and Yun Kouga (creator of Loveless). Favorite Drawing Accessories: Prismacolor colored pencils, colorless blender, and my tablet. More »

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Pat Kelly is our 4th placing winner of our New York Anime Festival cosplay contest. What is so interesting about Pat is his costume production. The making of his mask was a real family affair. His daughter Susie, who is only 15 years old, concepted and created it from beginning to end. Susie also introduced the manga Death Note to her father when she thought he would be wonderful at cosplaying, the apple eating Shinigami of the series, Ryuk. When we interviewed Pat it was only common sense that Susie also be apart of it. Here is great proof that cosplay is not only for younglings, but can be enjoyed on a family level with parents and children for a awesome creative bonding experience.

Q: What are some of your favorite anime/manga characters? A: Ryuk and L from Death Note

Q: Do you consider yourself a hardcore cosplayer? A: No, but if I’m not careful, I will be More »

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A popular way to partake in cosplay has nothing to do with dressing up as a favorite fictional character. Those who are in the know have the knowledge that there are many sides to cosplaying and that all facets of this fun performance sport are filled with imagination, theater and creativity. These original concept outfits become characters of the avant garde and stem from original styles, designs and just homemade heart. Diverse expression is found within these fashioned charactetures and our winning finalist May Madarang represents the artful beauty that is in this costuming experience. She was voted out of hundreds of wonderful entries and we can see why May is number one. More »

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Although the 2008 New York Anime Festival has passed, we are very pleased to have shared such enjoyable memories with you all. With the help of our devoted readers, we were able to sort through hundreds of cosplay photos naming three as our winners one of which is David Santiago (third place). From our interview with him, we learned that David has an interesting sense of humor and great cosplaying style. His point of view is one of pure engagement that is a truly inspirational take on cosplaying and enjoying what you love most.

Q: Was this your first time cosplaying? A: No I’m not a cosplay virgin lol I believe once in 2002 i cosplayed once, but in 2006 i came back cosplaying, first con at baff in the marriot hotel in midtown then i came back and cosplayed in otakon 2006 from there on i’ve been on a role

Q: What first inspired you to cosplay? A: It’s fun to cosplay and join in with your fellow otaku in a experience that you share with a couple of thousand others like yourself. It’s the one time you can dress as some one you like in a anime or video game and then on the plus act like them unless your character is a perv then maybe not More »

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The world of Asian Media is small and you can find fans everywhere, even where you least expect it. 4 months ago I would have never thought that I would be dancing along side Ichigo Pantsu, a group of girls ready to boogy to just about anything. Lara and I had met this group at AnimeNext this year, competing against them in the masqurade. Both our routines involved dancing but, in the end IchiP! kinda kicked our butts with neater costumes and sharper moves. However this time around at NY Anime Festival, we met again as better friends with a common interest in dance. On the last day of the con, IchiP! had a dance workshop where they taught a very popular para para called “Night of Fire” by Hinoi Team. It was so much fun to learn from these energetic teachers. We later had an interview with the three girls Erica (IchiRi), Michele (IchiRu), and Venus (IchiRe). Unfortunately, the 4th member Laura (IchiRa) couldn’t attened because we all know she’s having the greatest time ever studying abroad in Japan. The girls were extremely nice and were willing to dance with us in the end!

Click here to see that dance!

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It may have been a convention dedicated to anime but for me, it was a Takanori Nishikawa filled weekend. If the amount of Takanori events weren’t enough, I come to the convention to find out that the Ningin booth is conveniently placed next to the T.M.Revolution booth! I think Takanori came to stalk me instead! He’s all the way in Japan and I’m still being followed! Ha ha! I’m joking, of course. But in any case, it was all enjoyable. Everyone at the T.M.Revolution booth was lovely. I also saw some old friends there from New York Comic Con 2008. The merchandise there was also very nostalgic and reminded Jessica and I of our adventures that fateful weekend when we met Takanori Nishikawa in the flesh. But before I start getting all teary eyed, here’s the coverage of everything Takanori Nishikawa related!

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For three days of the NYAF our Ningin crew met so many interesting people. It was great to meet you; the creative people that make a weekend like this a great experience. I wish all our Ningin members could have been there with us to see the these Animated characters come to life. It was truly unbelievable! Costume clad Anime fans came from all over the world to converge in New York. Anime has truly been a wonderful influence on us all. It is something that goes beyond languages and borders and brings us all together. Especially when you realize that you may have grown up with an Anime show that also played in Europe or Asia or Africa. More »

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Thank you to those that entered the Ningin-NY Anime Festival Cosplay Photo Contest. We were amazed by your costumes and enthusiasm. Galleries from all three days of New York Anime Festival are online now. We divided the galleries by Day 1 (Friday), Day 2, and Day 3 to make it a bit easier for you to find yourself. Don’t forget to check out other photos from the event.

We’ve gone through over 500 contest entries and chosen 50 finalists. It was quite a debate about who should make the top 50. We gave preference to those that made their own outfits and those that posed well. Well that’s done and now it’s time for you to vote for the winners! Voting will be open until 12pm (EST), Sunday, October 5, 2008 for all registered Ningin users. Each Ningin user can vote for one favorite costume so make sure you check them all out before voting! The winners will be announced 12pm (EST), Monday, October 6, 2008.

The top three cosplayers will be profiled and interviewed by our Ningin bloggers. The overall best cosplayer will also receive two super exclusive tickets to the private premiere of the Megaman Movie and two tickets to Comic Con next February.

Good luck and thank you for stopping by the Ningin.com booth at the New York Anime Festival! More »

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Wow. I can’t believe Lan and I took over 500 cosplayer portraits in three crazy days. This was our first anime convention and I don’t think any of us expected such an enthusiastic turnout. In case you didn’t meet our team, we had our bloggers Mia Lerda, Lara Visconti and Jessica Dawson meeting and greeting, Lan Nguyen and myself on photographer duty, and Hoc Poeng as master of ceremonies at the Ningin.com booth. Bloggers Andrew Lim and Stephen Chen were able to make brief appearances on Saturday (btw, that was a day of anime insanity!).

Special thank you’s to our NYAF booth neighbors T.M. Revolution (TMR and Abingdon Boys School management Koichi and Michiyo), Japan Society (who stopped by many times to check out our Cosplay Photo Shoot), Lady Heather’s Fashions (enjoyable harassment by gothic Sujia, and yes, we know it’s not cosplay), New York-Tokyo (film fest planners Taeko and Steve), Pierrot (Keiko from the Naturo producing team), MSS-New York (video producer Takuro), The NEO Show (hosted by Angie), the Yaoi boys (thanks for a paddling), Ichi-P (a special Wonder Girls dance off at the Ningin booth) and NYAF head honcho Peter Tatara who found a moment to stop by and meet us! More »

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At this point, I’ve all but given up on reasonable amounts of sleep. It is for the weak after all.

On to the important stuff. According to what I’ve been told, Day 2 of NYAF is the busiest of all the NYAF days. I’ve also been told that Day 1 is just industry/media day yet I found myself consistently occupied shooting cosplayers the entire time I was there. So if Day 1 is “slow” then we might be woefully understaffed with only 8 people from the Ningin crew. There’s so many stories, so many different things we can cover. The doors open to the public at 10am, but we’ll probably be there at 8:30am giving us a chance to talk to the other exhibitionist there and making new partners/friends.

Also, if anyone is interested in contributing a story, then come find us at booth 138. We’re very happily right next to the T.M. Revolution booth. Let us know that you’re a fan of Ningin and we just might give you free t-shirts or some other free stuff (while supplies last). Here are some noteworthy cosplayers from Day 1, taken from our NYAF Day 1 Gallery. More »

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Hey just wanted to provide a super quick update on NYAF. We’re so busy here, so many great cosplayers. It’s pretty crazy. So far, about 5% of the photos are live. If the connection here was faster, we would have more photos. Check the gallery page for updates!

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New York Anime Festival starts in less than 24 hours, hope you bought your tickets already!

As mentioned in several previous blog posts and emails, Ningin will have professional photographers come and take photos of as many cosplayers as we can with all photos being added live to our special NYAF gallery. First 500 cosplayers will get a one-of-a-kind Ningin/NYAF badge as a souvenir. What we didn’t mention was that we will also have a best photo/best cosplayer contest and Ningin users will have the power to decide the winner!

Sometime on Monday 9/29, the Ningin staff will narrow the choices a bit and select their top 20 cosplayers from the weekend for audience award voting. Audience voting will last until midnight Saturday 10/4 and announced on Sunday 10/5. The top three cosplayers will be profiled and interviewed by our Ningin bloggers. The overall best cosplayer will also receive two super exclusive tickets to the private premiere of the Megaman Movie and two tickets to Comic Con next February.

Special Thanks to, Shino, our award winning Japanese photographer friend; Eddie Lebron, Director & Producer of the Megaman Movie; and our friends at Reed Exhibitions. More »

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At first glance, Takanori Nishikawa looks like a short pretty boy. Don’t judge his talent by his looks! Takanori’s music career started in 1990 where he was the lead singer for the band, Luis-Mary. At the time, his stage name was Haine but little did he know, he would eventually be the famous Japanese music artist known as T.M.Revolution.

With New York Anime Festival coming up, why would someone introduce a singer? Isn’t this supposed to be about anime? Well, for the past twelve years, Takanori Nishikawa has brought more than just music. Whether it’s anime, music, or acting, Takanori has brought a revolution. More »

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What do the moon; a magical tambourine, havoc-reeking tarot cards, and an alien makeup compact have in common? Well they all belong to magical girls that are main characters in Anime. Not many people realize that Magical girls or Mahōe shōjoh, are an actual sub-genre of fantasy when it comes to Anime/Manga… but without them Anime would not be the same. Your basic magical girl is about 12-16 years old; she’s fun, optimistic, creative, and misunderstood. There is usually a supernatural object like a wand, ribbon or pendant that she finds or is fated to be gifted that puts her on some miraculous path. Along with an incantation the charm helps the young heroine transform and harness her power. Most of the time her lineage has something to do with her new found superhuman abilities. More »

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Media based on a shared world past are in their own category; historicals come in many forms like movies, novels, or mini-series. We notice when history inspires Anime and Manga, the most infamous series come about. At their height of popularity shows like Lady Oscar and Inuyasha inadvertently peaked peoples interest into their own planets past.

Inuyasha, written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi is also known as ”the Feudal Fairy Tale”. The Manga strip ran as a weekly series in a magazine called Shōnen Sunday. This adaptation lasted over 12 years from 1996 to 2008 and followed the adventures of a young girl as she was swept back to the Sengoku Era of Japan. The fantasy aspect of the Anime and Manga at times made reference to Japanese history and brought many things to light besides mythology. One episode in particular talks of Oda Nobunaga aka Demon King who was the first individual to attempt to unify Japan at the end of the Warring States period. The comedic part is the main male character of Inuyasha, is a mythological hanyu (half demon) himself. Although the Oda Nobunaga in the series was never relative to the real one, we do hear about the one that actually existed in several scenes. In fact it is the other female lead, Kagomewho is very impressed with the Nobunaga she meets and tells her friends all about the other legendary Nobunaga. More »

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Literary Vampires have evolved since Lord Ruthven’s account was dictated to us by the great John Polidori. Numerous mediums have been used to interpret these immortal creatures of the night. HBO’s TrueBlood, Lifetime’s Blood Ties, and CBS’s Moonlight are just some of the very recent TV adaptations. Who is to say what attracts us to the paranormal and the preternatural urges of the Vampires world. These newer Manga/Anime constructions give us more fantasy than fear as we would gladly give our necks over to the clear eyed, ruby lipped fangs.

In “Model” (모델), a Manhwa (Korean for Manga), by Lee So-young (이소영) we follow a young exchange student named Jae; a Korean girl currently studying art in the UK.  Over seven volumes Jae takes a thrilling and romantic journey when she meets a beautiful man name Michael and makes a pact with him in order to paint his portrait. In the chapters of these ethereal graphics, we are trapped inside Jae visions and witness her horrors; which at times coincide with her desires.  Is Jae swept away or is Jae on a downward path into hell? Can you really trust the word of a vampire or is she making a deal with the devil? More »

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It’s in the near future that technology has advanced to a point where human powered machines make people into, larger than life, super powered robots. Sound familiar? Well that’s the basic premise of Mecha stylized Anime. This science fiction backdrop varies, but the influence is the mainstay; without this genre, Anime would not be the same.

My first vivid memory with these massive exoskeleton suits was the American version of the Macross series. Known in the USA as Robotech; the storyline follows pilots of the UN spacey as they take flight to beat an over-sized race of humanoids, called the Zentradi. The type of Mech our brethren used made ordinary humans just as tall as their alien enemies. This also allowed them to transform into air fighting jet planes.  What was even more common is the Zentradi soldiers also wore protective mechanical suits making this technology universal. More »

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