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Posts Tagged TCAF

TCAF Adds Third and Fourth Manga Guests With Akira Himekawa

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, April 19, 2014

Toronto Comics Art Fest just keeps sweetening the pot for its attendees, and possibly proving itself to be the best venue for meeting manga artists in North America. TCAF organizers recently announced that manga-duo Akira Himekawa would be attending as one of their 2014 featured guests.

Akira Himekawa – who is actually two women who work together under the singular name – is best known to North American manga readers as the artist behind The Legend of Zelda manga series that are published by Viz Media. They’re currently working on the official My Little Pony manga in Japan.

Along with autograph sessions and interviews, the two manga artists will be participating in live art demonstrations and a panel about women working in the manga industry.

As someone who eagerly collected all of The Legend of Zelda manga – and was really impressed with the quality and artist’s ability to shift their style to suit each individual game – you can bet your manga-reading butts that I’ll be doing my best to attend each of those events.

We don’t hear of manga artists being brought to conventions here nearly enough, so I’m completely thrilled we’ve got four now coming to TCAF 2014. How amazing is that? And they’re no small names either. Akira Himekawa joins the already announced est em and Moyoco Anno, not to mention the large assortment of other artists from around the world.

TCAF 2014 takes place in Toronto, May 10th-11th, and is free to attend.

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Tags: Akira Himekawa, Conventions, TCAF, The Legend of Zelda

TCAF Welcomes Moyoco Anno to 2014 Event

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, March 10, 2014

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Exciting news from Toronto Comics Art Fest last week – the annual comics event announced manga artist Moyoco Anno as their newest special guest!

Moyoco Anno is a name familiar to many English manga fans; her works have been released by several manga publishers over the past decade. Plus, she’s pretty great! Her titles include Insufficient Direction, Sakuran, Flowers & Bees, Sugar Sugar Rune, Happy Mania and the upcoming In Clothes Called Fat.

Moyoco Anno previously attended New York Comic Con 2012.

Well-timed to this news from TCAF is Crunchyroll adding three new Moyoco Anno titles to their digital manga program. Buffalo 5 Girls is a completed one-shot, while Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen and The Diary of Ochibi-san will be on-going simultaneous publications once the schedules line-up.

I’ve gone to TCAF for the past three years and have always loved it. The atmosphere, the artist’s present and the city itself are always worth the trip. This year is looking no less enjoyable! Along with Moyoco Anno, TCAF also recently announced est em would be attending. Can you say excited?

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Tags: Canada, Conventions, Moyoco Anno, TCAF, Vertical Inc

TCAF 2014: Manga Artist est em Announced as Featured Guest

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, December 19, 2013

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One of my most anticipated yearly events – TCAF, the Toronto Comics Art Festival, has just announced their featured guests for 2014. Among them is manga artist, est em!

This is really exciting news for fans of est em. Thanks in part to several of her series being licensed in English, there are quite a few of us! Known predominantly for her boys’ love series, est em’s English-released titles include Age Called Blue, Kine In!, Red Blinds the Foolish, Seduce me After The Show, Tableau No. 20 and ULTRAS.

I love est em’s artwork which errs on the side of more realistic than the usual willowy boys’ love characters, and her strong characterization makes for great drama that plays out in unique scenarios. Not all of her books hit it off with me, but her work is always something I’ll pick up when it’s released. I’m currently awaiting the arrival of her most recent work, Tableau No. 20, from SuBLime.

You can read my review of Seduce Me After The Show, and Shannon Fay has reviewed Age Called Blue and ULTRAS.

est em isn’t the only talent on the list I’m excited to see there, so I encourage all comic lovers to check it out and plan their attendance! TCAF organizers will soon be announcing the 300+ other comic creators who will be exhibiting at the free event which takes place at the Toronto Reference Library in Toronto, Ontario on May 10th – 11th.

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Tags: Conventions, est em, TCAF

TCAF 2013 Report – Comics, Comics, Everywhere!

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, May 20, 2013

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Last weekend was the Toronto Comics Art Festival – a “celebration of comics and graphic novels and their creators, which culminates in a two-day exhibition and vendor fair featuring hundreds of comics creators from around the world.”. Summed up, TCAF is an event where comic creators and lovers from around the world come together to celebrate and adore all things comic-related. And it’s wonderful!

This was my third year attending and the show continues to impress, getting bigger and better every time. Thankfully it’s yet to ever waver in the consistency of it’s spirit – this is an event free from the Hollywood and mainstream influence that shadow over comic conventions such as NYCC. Thousands and thousands of people, all crowding (quite calmly and politely) into a library. It’s all about the comics and the creators, and there was no shortage of art to buy and people to talk to.

TCAF 2013 To Host Manga Creators Gengoroh Tagame and Taiyo Matsumoto

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, January 18, 2013

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One of my favourite events of the year is the Toronto Comics Art Festival, and much to my joy they’re back again this year with an already exciting assortment of guests. Plus they’re not on Free Comic Day this year which means I get to enjoy one of the coolest days of the year at my local Strange Adventures and still make it to Toronto for the amazingness that is TCAF. I’m already checking airline ticket prices as my eyes scan over this year’s Exhibitor List. You can bet I’ll be there!

Among their featured guests for the 2013 event – taking place the weekend of May 11-12 – are two manga artists: Gengoroh Tagame and Taiyo Matsumoto.

Gengoroh Tagame is a well-known artist in the bara community, which is a genre of stories about gay men that are targeted towards gay men (as opposed to boys’ love, which is predominantly created by women for women). This will be his first event in North America and it coincides with the release of his English translated book, The Passions of Gengoroh Tagame.

Taiyo Matsumoto is best known for his manga, Tekkon Kinkreet, which was published by Viz Media. His series Blue Spring and Go Go Monster have also been released in English. Taiyo Matsumoto’s newest series, Sunny, will debut at TCAF, also published by Viz Media.

Last year TCAF’s manga guest was Konami Kanata, creator of Chi’s Sweet Home. More guest and event news will be announced for TCAF in the next few months leading up to the festival. Currently there already announced plans for a display of Taiyo Matsumoto’s work including a special screening of the animated adaptation of Tekkon Kinkreet.

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Tags: Canada, Conventions, Manga, Picture Box Inc., TCAF, TCAF 2013

Chi’s Sweet Home’s Konami Kanata Announced As Guest at TCAF 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, March 17, 2012

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After a couple days of teasing, Toronto Comic Arts Fest has officially announced that the creator of Chi’s Sweet Home, Konami Kanata, will be a special guest at this year’s TCAF! Her visit to the Toronto-based event, marking her first trip to North America, is being arranged with the support of Vertical Inc who is publishing Chi’s Sweet Home in English.

“Konami Kanata will appear at TCAF on Saturday May 5^th and Sunday May 6^th 2012, at Toronto Reference Library. She will have a signing session each day at the Vertical Inc. booth, and will participate in programming each day. In addition, Ms. Kanata will be participating in a special event supporting the Tohoku Region, on the evening of Saturday May 5^th, with details to follow.” – TCAF Press Release

The Toronto Comics Art Festival is a free-to-attend event that brings in comic creators from around the world to display their works and interact with readers. Last year the event had two special manga guests – Usamaru Furuya and Natsume Ono. I’ll be attending the event again this year to stock up on amazing comics and prints, plus now hopefully be able to share a Konami Kanta spotlight as well. See you in Toronto this May, fellow TCAF-ers!

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Tags: Canada, Conventions, Manga, TCAF, Vertical Inc

PR: Announcing Konami Kanata at TCAF 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, March 16, 2012

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The Beguiling and Vertical Inc. present

Konami Kanata at TCAF 2012
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival welcomes the renowned creator of Chi’s Sweet Home manga!

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2012
At The Toronto Reference Library,789 Yonge Street
Saturday, May 5th, 9am-5pm
Sunday May 6th, 11am-5pm
Free Admission

WWW.TORONTOCOMICS.COM

TORONTO, Ontario– The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) is excited to announce that internationally renowned manga creator Konami Kanata, author of the New York Times Bestselling Manga Chi’s Sweet Home, will appear at TCAF 2012 on May 5th and 6th! Kanata will make her first-ever North American appearance at TCAF 2012 in support of Chi’s Sweet Home, and she will be on panels, signing books, and participating in a special benefit fundraiser for the Tokhoku Region of Japan, still hard-hit following the great earthquake and tidal wave in March of last year. Kanata appears with the support of her North American publisher Vertical Inc., and TCAF sponsor The Beguiling Books & Art.

“Kanata-sensei’s work is really wonderful,” says TCAF Director Christopher Butcher. “While Chi’s Sweet Home is, on the surface, a series about an adorable kitten, in Japan it runs in a somewhat-edgy magazine aimed at adult men and women. The stories have a surprising resonance. While kids have immediately taken to this cute little Japanese cat, Kanata-sensei’s skill really makes these stories unique, and even occasionally profound. It will be an honour to meet her.”

Konami Kanata is a 25+ year veteran of Japan’s manga industry, with dozens of volumes of work that have sold millions of copies, and the characters of Chi’s Sweet Home alone have been adapted into two daily animated TV series, a number of merchandise lines, and even video games! Chi’s Sweet Home was also nominated for the Best Youth Comic Award at the Angouleme Festival in 2011. 8 volumes of Chi’s Sweet Home have been published in English by Vertical Inc., 7 of which are New York Times Bestsellers.

“Ms. Kanata was interested in coming to TCAF to meet all of her many North American fans, and to speak in support of the devastated Tohoku region of Japan,” continued Butcher. “This is also a very important cause to me personally, and so we are planning a number of initiatives including a special evening event to help raise funds on the weekend of TCAF.”

Konami Kanata will appear at TCAF on Saturday May 5th and Sunday May 6th 2012, at Toronto Reference Library. She will have a signing session each day at the Vertical Inc. booth, and will participate in programming each day. In addition, Ms. Kanata will be participating in a special event supporting the Tohoku Region, on the evening of Saturday May 5th, with details to follow.