Starting June 3, the UK will have a new 2-hour block of anime programming on Propeller TV (SKY digital satellite service - Channel 195). Content will be provided by A.D. Vision’s Anime Network and will include:
In related news, Sony Pictures’ Animax channel is showing interest in expanding their European brand to the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France following their Central Europe (Hungary, Romania,Czech Republic, and Slovakia) roll-out. According to Anime News Network, Animax will launch in Germany in early June on Unity Media’s digital subscription service (North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse).
Otaku USA will be a new English language magazine with articles about anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture. The first issue will be released June 5, 2007 and will be available at booksellers such as Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-A-Million, etc. The editor-in-chief is Patrick Macias, who also has authored the books Tokyoscope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion and Cruising the Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo.
From Rightstuf.com news…Macias was recently interviewed by Anime Today and gave some details about the content of Otaku USA as well as describing some differences between Japanese and American anime fans, his recent book (The Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook), and his outlook on the future of otaku in America.
This from ANN: Japan’s NTV television network has opened the “Ghibli Channel” which is a part of their online video distribution service (in this case offering the latest information about Studio Ghibli). There are a couple of caveats. First the site is in Japanese only. Second, according to ANN in an update, the site is officially available for use within Japan only. Apparently, IP addresses from outside Japan are blocked.
For those who want to have a sample of some of the material seen on Ghibli Channel, check out the link marked “download” in the “8th of May, Ghibli Channel” story. 
Another story from ANN…the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California will be holding an exhibition called Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga from June 2 to September 9. The exhibition showcases the work of Osamu Tezuka (known as “the father of manga” and “the god of manga”) including Tetsuwan Atom (AstroBoy), Jungle Taitei (Kimba the White Lion), and Ribon no Kishi (Princess Knight…an early, some would say the first, shojo manga). The Museum will also host the second anniversary party of Shojo Beat magazine on June 15 with Novala Takemoto (Kamikaze Girls) as the guest of honor.
*Note: You can win tickets to the Asian Art Museum. The tickets do not necessarily have to be used to see the Tezuka exhibit. A pair of tickets are given away each week.
Finally, you can see more traditional Japanese art (at least compared to manga and anime) at around the same time as the Tezuka exhibit. Yoshitoshi’s Strange Tales: Woodblock Prints from Edo to Meiji runs from May 26 to September 2. The prints of Taiso Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) are featured in two series. One series starts from the beginning of his career and the other from the end; both deal with the supernatural. Quoting from the museum’s blurb: “Through his work, a picture emerges of traditional Japanese society moving at a breakneck speed into the modern world.”
