japanamerica

The latest Naruto feature film, "Road to Ninja," has reportedly tripled opening weekend attendance records set by the last release in Japan, according to studio sources.  [Opening tix above courtesy of Nunokawa-san  & Pierrot.] **Update: "Road to Ninja" grossed $3.8 million, more than twice the previous film's opening box office, and the highest ever for a Naruto film. It was # 3 overall in Japan, and # 10 worldwide. Look out, Ghibli.

...but don't fall off.

July 12, 2012 Punch Launches Third iPad Issue By   ERIK MAZA [*PUNCH is free and now available at iTunes here ] In June, Punch, an iPad magazine — appazine, if we must — uploaded a video to its app and YouTube simultaneously. Called “32 and Pregnant,” it was a parody of MTV’s “16 and Pregnant” and also Brooklynites’ parenting anxieties — the plight of too-small closets, insurance plans that won’t cover home births, the frightening prospect of not getting your kid into a solid pre-K program. “I give up,” says an exasperated mother, tears streaming down her face. “Look at me,” her husband screams at her. “It’s TV, then satellite, then you can change the channel.” The video got picked up by a couple of blogs, and it became, surprisingly, Punch’s most popular video since its launch in April, with nearly 120,000 page views. It was an unexpected hit because the video came during the iPad start-up’s mitochondrial stage. Jim Windolf, the Vanity Fair

Redux:  http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-07-06/sailor-moon-manga-gets-new-anime-in-summer-2013

The digital audio file is 18 minutes and 11 seconds long. My parents are talking to a surgeon in Boston about my father’s upcoming heart surgery. The surgeon is frank, his voice high-pitched but firm. He uses words like “death,” “failure,” and “serious stuff.” My parents splutter a bit at first, tentatively asking questions that amount to one unspoken plea: Is there any way out of this? Four percent chance of death with surgery, is the answer. Much higher without it. My father’s aortic aneurysm was discovered two years ago, when he passed out on a sofa after breakfast. He was rushed to the hospital, had an MRI and CAT scan, and was back home after a week. His aorta had swelled, but not yet to critical levels. The critical came this year, when his aneurysm grew from 5.3 inches to 5.6. “It’s the line in the sand,” said the surgeon through my laptop speakers. “We’ve just crossed it.” I liked how he said the word ‘we,’ though I didn’t yet trust him. I didn’t trust anyone w