The holiday season is upon us, so in keeping with the spirit of this time of year, we want to give away some gifts to our wonderful readers. Thanks to the folks at Vertical, Inc., I've got two copies of Osamu Tezuka's manga Ayako (1972) sitting right next to me, and I need to select two lucky winners to receive this brand-new, hardcover English release from the "god of manga." (Note that one of these is the review copy that I read in order to write my upcoming review of the book. It is still in near-perfect condition.)

How can you win one of these fabulous prizes, you ask? Well, just leave us a comment below this post telling us about the best geek-related gift you've ever received (or given to someone else) for any occasion — not just the holidays. Extra points for anime, manga, or game-related ones, but you can stray outside of that if you want. Make sure to leave some form of contact information, because we'll be picking our two favorite entries from the comments section and sending those people copies of Ayako!

The deadline for this contest is 11:59 PM on December 30, 2010, so you've got time to report back about any gifts you might receive this year. Best of luck! Oh, and before I forget: all of us at Ani-Gamers would like to wish our readers a happy and healthy holiday season. We hope you'll keep reading for the next two weeks as we roll out our Anime Secret Santa reviews and 2010 Staff Picks.

I decided to expand the Ode to Kirihito contest a little bit by putting people into the running even if their comment was after midnight on March 31. (Double posts didn't give you an extra chance however.) So, with that in mind, the four randomly-selected winners of the Ode to Kirihito contest for Osamu Tezuka Month are F-Man, Ninjatron, Steve, and Yan.

Everybody on that list but F-Man has their e-mail address in their Blogger profile, so I can easily get in contact with all of you. If you're reading this, F-Man, send me an e-mail at evanm [at] anigamers [dot] com to claim your prize and tell me your address!

Also, I'd like to thank everyone who commented, and particularly commend you on contributing more significant content than "hey I want a prize too lol." You guys made writing the articles this month that much more worthwhile with the knowledge that somebody out there was reading them and appreciating them. Thanks!

Meanwhile, I've still got prizes to give away here. (Thanks for all of the great stuff, Vertical!) To find out how to enter the third Tezuka Month contest, which is totally running over into April, you'd best listen to Ani-Gamers Podcast #028a for the details. Good luck!

The prizes just keep rolling in this month, as we move on to our second contest of Osamu Tezuka month. This week we'll be giving away four copies of Vertical, Inc.'s new two-volume release of Ode to Kirihito. However, this week we're switching up the way to enter. Instead of just commenting on this post, you'll be entered into the contest simply by commenting on any Tezuka Month post during this week (including this one).

If possible, please include your e-mail address so we can get in contact with you to send you the prize. We'll randomly pick four winners next Sunday at 11:59pm. Watch the site next week on Monday for a post announcing the winners.

I'll start us off with a conversation topic in this post: Personally, I have found that Tezuka is particularly good at evoking strong emotions in simple yet memorable single panels. What are some of the most memorable "Tezuka moments" that you have seen in his anime and/or manga? One of my personal moments is in Ode to Kirihito, where Dr. Urabe gets a startling call about the fate of his former patient. Torn apart by this new information, he slowly turns from the phone, and on the next page, we see his face up close, a grotesque mask of anger and guilt. Though he is entirely human, Urabe looks far more beast than man in that single moment.

Check out more articles about Osamu Tezuka in our March 2010 Tezuka Theme Month!

To begin the first of three — yes, three — contests for Tezuka Month here at Ani-Gamers, we will be giving away two new paperback copies of one of the darkest manga series ever to come out of the mind of Osamu Tezuka: MW. The story follows the exploits of the bisexual criminal mastermind Michio Yuki and his lover, Catholic priest Father Gurai. Both men were survivors of a poisonous gas leak, and the effects of the poison have warped Yuki's mind, turning him into a twisted monster. The series, created in the late 1970s, represents the darkest time for Tezuka, both in his personal and professional life.

For more information on MW, read our very own Mitchell Dyer's review of the mind-blowing one-volume story. But how do you get your hands on a copy from us? Well, we're starting this first contest off with something pretty simple. In the comments below, let us know what your favorite Tezuka manga is, and WHY (that part is important). If you haven't read any Tezuka manga, let us know which one you're most looking forward to checking out and why.

At midnight EST next Sunday (March 14), we will randomly select two winners, and they will receive brand-new paperback copies of MW, courtesy of the fine folks at Vertical, Inc. Have fun, and don't hesitate to discuss your choices with each other in the comments!

Check out more articles about Osamu Tezuka in our March 2010 Tezuka Theme Month!

Hey, by any chance do you guys like free stuff? Oh, you do! Well, how would you like a free copy of Soul Eater, the new action anime from FUNimation Entertainment? Fortunately for you, Ani-Gamers reviewer Ink has just finished watching Soul Eater, Part 1 for review, and we will be sending his DVDs out to one lucky Ani-Gamers reader.

How do you enter? Just drop us a comment on this post letting us know your e-mail address and the name of your favorite character from a shōnen action series, and we'll pick a random winner from all of the commenters. It doesn't even have to be a character from Soul Eater — you could pick somebody from Dragonball, Naruto, Fist of the North Star, or any other show, as long as it is a shōnen action. Good luck!

EDIT: We will stop taking submissions on Wednesday, February 17 (that's next week) at 11:59 PM.

Well, we've certainly had a lot of fun judging the Schoolgirl Milky Crisis giveaway here at Ani-Gamers. (For those who are just cluing in now, the blog contest required readers to create a crazy, fictional anime title in the spirit of Jonathan Clements' new book, Schoolgirl Milky Crisis.) But, since we had no entries in our podcast contest, I've decided to give away a copy of Clements' book to the top three entries in the blog contest. Those three are:

1. Homicidal Group Therapist Kayla (Brian)
2. Vampire Moon Priestesses' Mecha Kombat: The Miniseries (Kevin)
3. Kinky Hamster Demon Fujala (Peter)

While a homicidal group therapist is pretty unheard-of, I'm gonna venture a guess that vampire moon priestesses have already participated in mecha combat in some anime or another, and a kinky hamster demon sounds like a Go Nagai anime just WAITING to happen. But damn, did those names make us laugh! Some of the runners-up evoked quite a chuckle as well, such as "The Tale of Confusion Over Navy Seal Special Operations Sniper Soldier" (arguably based on a true story) from Dorian and "Super Pretty Kitty Theif Club" from Matt, who needs to learn how to spell "thief" before he can start winning contests around here.

Thank you so much to everybody who entered the contest – I'll be contacting the winners and shipping out the prizes as soon as possible. Meanwhile, make sure to look out for my upcoming Ani-Gamers review of Schoolgirl Milky Crisis.

[Schoolgirl Milky Crisis is now available in stores from Titan Books. Visit the official blog, run by Clements himself.]

You thought that Science Ninja Team Gachaman was a crazy name for an anime? Jonathan Clements has been using a far crazier one for years in his writings about the anime industry for publications like Newtype USA. Now his various essays about anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture have been collected into a single book: Schoolgirl Milky Crisis (the name comes from a generic name for any given anime series – a name that Clements has often used to protect the identities of anonymous studios and staff members).

Clements is, of course, the co-author of the Anime Encyclopedia, one of the most comprehensive volumes of information about the medium ever published. Before he worked as a writer, however, he also wore pretty much every hat in the anime industry: translator, voice director, voice actor, etc. And even before that, he was the on-staff translator for one of the earliest and most prominent anime fanzines, Anime UK.

If you're interested in reading all about Clement's crazy adventures in the industry (the book's not lying, they're some pretty crazy adventures), then drop a comment here in this post (or email me at contest [at] anigamers [dot] com) with the following: Your name/email address and your own crazy name for an anime, in the vein of Schoolgirl Milky Crisis. Y'know, "Gogo Dragon Monkeyfist." Whatever the hell you want. We'll pick our two favorites from the entries, and send each winner a free copy of Schoolgirl Milky Crisis. It's really too good a deal for you to pass up.

And hey, if you want another chance to win a copy, enter the podcast contest – the rules are at the end of episode #013. You can enter both contests, but remember, you can only win one or the other. (So you can't win on both the blog and podcast)

[Schoolgirl Milky Crisis is now available in stores from Titan Books. Visit the official blog, run by Clements himself.]

Our affiliate, AnimeYume, is holding their second image contest, in which anyone can submit splash or banner images to be presented on the site. The images that can be sumbitted are a main splash image, a blog splash image, and a main site banner. The winners of each will receive 3 free full-size scans from gallery site Anime Paper, a pretty nice deal. Read the official rules here, and now go-go-go AGers! (I know I'm most likely going to submit)
[via Mainichi AnimeYume]

For those of you who don't know (aka those of you living in holes in the ground), BioShock, the highly-anticipated and fascinatingly-unique first-person shooter from Take-Two and 2K Games, releases this Tuesday the 21st in the US, and by September in all major territories. The game, which will be released on Xbox 360 and Games For Windows, has been sold early by Toys R Us's across the country, naturally sending fanboys into a convulsive furor.

In the spirit of the occasion, the good folks at Joystiq did as any self-respecting journalists would do: They went out to Toys R Us and picked up 4 copies of the 360 version to give away. (2 in Joystiq, 2 in their sister site Xbox360Fanboy) I've already signed up (though I don't have a 360, but plan to get one), so get on over there gamers. There are currenty 4 posts to sign up in: one and two at Joystiq, and one and two at X360FB.
And for those interested in what BioShock is all about, visit the Wikipedia article on it here.
[via Joystiq]

(For those wondering, the digg button is sort of broken in this post. The only way you can digg it is through the permalink.)

Pan-chan of LELOLA[dot]net has once again opened a splash image contest, in which fans of the site create new splash images to be displayed on the site's splash page. Go ahead, give it a try. In fact, I might officially join for the first time this year, so wish me luck!
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Anime News Network is holding a contest in which 10 lucky winners will receive a free copy of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Character Soundtrack 2: Yuki Nagato before it hits stores. All you will need to do is write an entry describing how big of a Haruhist (or fan of TMoHS) you are. The winners will be chosen at random, but ANN will weed out those who are not big enough Haruhists.
[via Anime News Network]

It seems that somebody is following Doug Lowenstein's advice, as Microsoft has recently announced a game development contest called the Games for Change Challenge for college students to make games with real-world significance. They have chosen the touchy subject of global warming for the topic. All games must be made in Microsoft's XNA Game Studio Express program, and the winners might even be used with Xbox Live Arcade or Games for Windows Live Arcade.

This is a great decision on the part of Microsoft, and I'm very interested in seeing some of these games. How do you think someone would incorporate global warming into an interesting game?
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