Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos Premiere – Photos from the Red Carpet by J!-ENT’s Nergene Arquelada (January 25, 2012) (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

“Fullmetal Alchemist” excitement took place on January 25th as FUNimation Entertainment in conjunction with Aniplex, Inc. and Eleven Arts Inc. held a red carpet premiere for “Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos”.

The film is produced by BONES and the premiere was held at the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles.

J!-ENT’s Nergene Arquelada attended the red carpet premiere which featured director Kazuya Murata, BONES Studio President Masahiko Minami, FUNimation Entertainment US director Mike McFarland, voice actor Vic Mignogna, singer Alana Lee, rapper Soulja Boy and more.

Here are a few photos from the event:

Pacific Media Expo 2011: Special Pictorial by Nergene Arquelada and Gilbert “Realm” Aquino (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

Every winter, Los Angeles is the host for the Asian pop culture event known as “Pacific Media Expo.   The 8th annual event took place back in November 11-13, 2011 at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport hotel and attracted many people from all over the globe for the live concerts, panels, cosplay and more.

And to cover the event, J!-ENT’s Nergene Arquelada and Gilbert “Realm” Aquino were on location to cover the event.

Click here to download the special pictorial

Pacific Media Expo 2011: Day 3 by Nergene Arquelada (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

Pacific Media Expo 2011 concluded on Sunday in Los Angeles.  The final day of the convention included a wide array of events.  For the third consecutive year, the convention hosted the Way of the Stick and Blade:   Tournament of Filipino Martial Arts.  The tournament featured the martial arts of  Eskrima, Kali, and Arnis and included forms, full contact stick fighting, and padded stick fighting.

The fashion show is one of the highlights of the convention.  This year’s show featured designs from ATELIER-PIERROT, which is known for their classic Gothic Lolita styles.

There was also a panel with some of the cast and crew from the upcoming indie thriller, Innocence Blood.  The panel included actors C.S. Lee and Alexandra Bokyun Chun.  Also on the panel were child actor Lance Lim, director, writer, and producer Sun W. Kim and director DJ Holloway.  The film is scheduled to be released next year.

Other events on Sunday included a full day of workshops and demonstrations devoted to Asian ball-jointed dolls.  It was an opportunity for those who wanted to learn about these dolls or share advice about their care and maintenance.  Another panel featured the American voice actresses from the classic anime series Tenchi Muyo.  Appearing at this panel were voice actresses Petrea Burchard, Rebecca Forstadt, Ellen Gerstell and Sherry Lynn.  This was a year for very diverse programming at Pacific Media Expo.  There were many new and unique events for this year.  Pacific Media Expo will return to the LAX Hilton next year and promises to be even bigger.

 

Pacific Media Expo 2011: Day 2 by Nergene Arquelada (J!-ENT Interviews & Articles)

Day 2 of the Pacific Media Expo Asian pop culture convention in Los Angeles included a full day of panels and event.  Gourmet food trucks are all the rage in Los Angeles and for the third year in a row, upscale food trucks have included Pacific Media Expo on their schedules.  The Kogi food truck made a short appearance on Day 0, a day before the convention officially got underway.  The Takoyaki Tanota mobile cart fed attendees on Friday night.  Truck Norris, a truck that specializes in Filipino fusion cuisine, arrived in time for lunch on Saturday afternoon.  These trucks are a welcome sight for con-goers looking for an alternative to the very few eateries within walking distance of the convention.

Cosfest, the convention’s cosplay contest took place Saturday afternoon.  Although this convention usually gets far less entries than other conventions, the competition is fierce due to the cash prizes that are awarded to the most deserving contestants.

Unlike other cosplay competitions, Cosfest allows costumes from all aspects of Asian entertainment including music, television, and film.  Cosfest is always one of the more popular events of the convention. This year’s contest was one of the largest ones in recent years.

During Cosfest’s intermission, the audience was treated to musical performances by various groups as well as a viewing of the best videos from this year’s anime video contest.

Saturday night’s concert was opened by local band, Lemon Drop Kick.  Lemon Drop Kick has made several appearances at Pacific Media Expo.  Their first appearance at this convention was in 2005.

Music guests of honor D headlined Saturday night’s concert.  It was their second concert during this year’s convention.  The set list for this Saturday night’s show was different from Friday night’s concert, and true fans made sure to attend both shows.  The crowd was very enthusiastic for both shows and this year’s concert series for the convention was very successful.

Pacific Media Expo concludes Sunday at the LAX Hilton in Los Angeles.  Sunday’s programming includes a fashion show featuring designs from ATELIER-PIERROT, a panel featuring C. S. Lee and Alexandra Bokyun Chun from the upcoming thriller, Innocence Blood, a Filipino marial arts tournament, and a full day of workshops for fans of ball jointed dolls.

 

Pacific Media Expo 2011: Day 1 by Nergene Arquelada (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

The eighth annual Pacific Media Expo Asian pop culture convention is currently underway at the LAX Hilton.  This convention is known for its wide range of guests and programming spanning many aspects of Asian pop culture.   Not only are there events related to Japanese anime and manga, there are also guests and events related to fashion, martial arts, music, Korean drama, and Asian-American entertainment.  The convention returned to its former venue after being at the Pasadena Hilton last year.  Fans were given the opportunity to vote for this year’s location and so it was decided that the convention return to the LAX Hilton.

 

The convention’s first big event was opening ceremonies.  Most of the guests of honor were present including anime director Yasuhiro Imagawa, who is known for directing Giant Robo and Tetsujin 28.   Suzumi Atsushi, is this year’s manga guest of honor.  Her works include Venus Versus Virus and Haridama Magic Cram School and Amefurashi: The Rain Goddess.  Also in attendance was mecha designer  Tsuyoshi Nonaka, who has worked on mecha designs for Mazinkaiser SKL, Shin Mazinger Shōgeki! Z-Hen and DICE.  Finally, this year’s fashion guest of honor is Yuko Ashizawa of ATELIER-PIERROT.  Opening ceremonies concluded with Ashizawa filling in the first eye of the ceremonial daruma.

Live programming continued into the afternoon and evening, including a panel featuring guests of honor Imagawa and Nonaka, who delighted mecha fans with a joint panel.  Another panel was devoted to Allegiance,  a musical production about the World War II Japanese internment.  Producers Lorenzo Thione and Jay Kuo were there to discuss this unique musical as well as cast members Paul Nakauchi and George Takei.  Later in the afternoon, guest of honor Ashizawa held her EGL fashion related panel.  This was the first appearance for ATELIER-PIERROT in Southern California.

Music and live concerts have always been a big component of Pacific Media Expo.  Friday night’s concert was opened by local band, Dig Jelly, who were making their fourth appearance at Pacigic Media Expo.

Headlining this year’s music program are music guests of honor, the visual kei band D.  Fans of D lined up hours early to get the best spots to view Friday night’s concert.  D will also headline Saturday night’s concert, featuring a different set of songs.  Pacific Media Expo continues at the LAX Hilton through Sunday.  Saturday’s events will include panels by guests of honor Suzumi Atsushi and D as well as the conventions CosFest cosplay contest, where cash awards will be given to the the show’s best performers and costumes.  D will perform is second concert, which will be opened by local band, Lemon Drop Kick.

J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith interviews pop star/actor Yuya Matsushita (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

Yuya Matsushita, some may consider him the Japanese equivalent to Justin Timberlake.  The guy can sing, dance and he’s also an actor starring in several films and dramas in Japan.

Recently, Yuya Matsushita performed in the United States in San Jose, California for FanimeCon 2011.

J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith recently interviewed Yuya about performing in the U.S., his music and acting career and more!  Concert photos are by J!-ENT’s Nergene Arquelada.

Click here to download the interview (PDF format)

Images from E3 2011: A J!-ENT Photo Feature by Nergene Arquelada (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

J!-ENT was at E3 2011 and while we did feature a good number of photos from E3 on our report.  We also had our photographer Nergene Arquelada cover the event for his E3 2011 photo feature showcasing the booths, booth girls and more!

Click here to download our E3 2011 Photo Feature

Exclusive Interview with the Japanese rock band, FLOW by Dennis A. Amith (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

In Japan, FLOW is a popular rock band known for many of their chart topping hits which have been featured on various TV shows, including Japanese animated series.

Recently, the band performed in San Jose, California for FanimeCon and J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith recently had the opportunity to interview the band and photographer Nergene Arquelada covered their concert performance.

You can download our interview with FLOW here.

Lunar New Year

During the last few weeks, there have been many events celebrating the Lunar New Year.  It is the year of the rabbit.  For the past few years, I’ve gone to Chinatown near downtown Los Angeles to attend the festival and parade.  Once again, I did that this year.  However, this year’s visit was mostly sightseeing with friends and taking more personal photos rather than attempting to do any coverage of the festivities.  Every year that I’ve gone, there was a festival that was put together by local television station KSCI-TV.  It was a fairly large festival with food, merchandise, and service booths.  There was also a rather large stage featuring entertainment from many Asian countries.  The station also puts on a Harvest Moon Festival later in the year and it’s almost the exact same festival.  That festival was not there this year.  Instead, there was a much smaller festival near the northern end of Chinatown.  It was decent, but rather cramped.

This year, KSCI-TV brought their festival to Charles Wilson Park in Torrance and it was held two weeks earlier than the event in Chinatown.  This turned out to be very convenient since this was much closer to where I live.  During the early part of the day, it wasn’t a very good day for a festival.  It was cold, windy, and raining fairly hard.  This turned areas of the park into a muddy mess.  Featured entertainers were seriously considering canceling their performances because it was too dangerous to perform.  Fortunately, the sun came out and the rain stopped in the early afternoon.  When the weather improved, the crowds came and it turned out to be a very well-attended event despite the conditions.  Fans were very eager to see the headlining acts–Joseph Vincent and Clara C.  Both acts seemed to have very loyal followers.  I don’t know if this festival has moved to Torrance permanently, but it was nice to have such and event so close to home.

Puffy AmiYumi – 15th Anniversary 50-Page Special by Dennis A. Amith, Garland Gee and Nergene Arquelada (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

For 15 years, J!-ENT has covered Puffy (known as Puffy AmiYumi in the U.S.).  From their music, TV appearances, album and single reviews, concert reports…you name, it we’ve covered them.  And since their U.S. debut in 2000, J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith has interviewed the duo.  Also, featured is a 2005 concert report by Garland Gee and a 2007 pictorial by Nergene Arquelada plus concert photos by Mayumi Nashida.

As the group celebrates their 15th anniversary, we present all interviews and articles of Puffy AmiYumi in this 50-page special feature plus a new 2010 interview with Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura of Puffy AmiYumi.

Download this special 15th Anniversary Special Feature here! (PDF)

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