London Anime & Gaming Con Recap

mayamada February 14, 2015 No Comments

Our year of conventions got off to a great start with mayamada attending London Anime & Gaming Con earlier this month. LAGC is one of the more community focused conventions on the calendar and we joined some cool anime fans, gamers and exhibitors at the London Metropolitan University’s Rocket Complex.

We’ve been exhibiting at LAGC for a few years now and always enjoy the chance to spend more time speaking with the anime and gaming community. This time around was even better as we were given the chance to talk on stage about how we put together our manga books.

Samurai Chef Comic

Of course we brought along our original anime inspired clothing, including a brand new kawaii t-shirt. The design features Hannah, one of the character from the 11th Hour story.

Kawaii T-Shirt

But the best treat was the thee flavours of Samurai Chef chocolate debuted at the convention! Green Tea, Cherry Blossom and Crunchy Noodles were a real hit at the convention with every bar gone by Sunday.

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Cosplayers is a big part of any convention and LAGC is no exception. Check out our cosplay photos from the two days of LAGC and we’ll see you at our next convention, MCM Comic Con Birmingham.

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Samurai Chef Creators: Writers

Nigel February 12, 2015 No Comments

Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking back at the making of the complete edition Samurai Chef manga, talking to the people who played a part is bringing it to life.

We’ve heard the thoughts of the book’s illustrator (both of them), editor and printer. Without every one of these people the book would not have been possible, let alone look as good as it does!

But we couldn’t let them have all the fun, so here are our thoughts on the Samurai Chef book too:

Which part of the book did you work on?

mayamada-founders-nigel-laoLao and I created the Samurai Chef character and story.

This involved developing the plot, creating the characters within the story and writing the script for Pinali to translate into the final comic pages.

We were also responsible for managing various elements of production from writing, to the Kickstarter, all the way up to the printing.

What was your highlight during the process?

Seeing the story slowly come together with each completed comic page.

Even though we already knew how the story would unfold, it was amazing to see the words of the script come to life visually page by page.

Pinali has a talent for bringing the characters to life and seeing the little touches she added along the way meant we could experience the story in a new light.

What was the biggest challenge for you?

The editing process. After we got through enjoying the comic, we had to get to the work of making sure it was printed without any mistakes.

We also wanted to get the book finished in time to send books to our Kickstarter backers before Christmas and for Hyper Japan in November. There was a lot of pressure on to put everything together in a short space of time.

Luckily we had a great editor, Lara-Lee, who caught all spelling a grammar mistakes…turns out there were a lot of them! But she stayed alert throughout the whole process and is the reason the book reads as well as it does.

What do you hope readers will take away from Samurai Chef?

Without giving too much away, there are some lessons in teamwork that hopefully come through over the course of the book.

Aside from that, we hope people will take away the belief that if you have a good idea you can bring it to life. The Samurai Chef is an original story idea that we created from scratch. If you’re working with your own idea, it can be done!

Who is your favourite character in the book and why?

We love all the Samurai Chef characters equally as if there were our own children…but we like Zane more equally.

He doesn’t have a huge part in the book but we liked the way he maintains a cool assuredness and balances out Kamu’s somewhat unstable energy.

Other notable mentions go to Ms Yasahsii, Jimi and of course the Samurai Chef himself.

What’s next for the Samurai Chef and mayamada?

The Samurai Chef story is complete for now, but it’s not the end of the character and another book is definitely a possibility in future.

For now we’ll be working on releasing comics for other mayamada stories. Serious is coming next, but expect to see something from 11th Hour and Hot Lunch stories too.

We’ve got a lot happening in 2015 including new clothing designs and event plans too. Stay tuned…

Introducing The New mayamada.com!

mayamada May 6, 2013 No Comments

Even though many of you have complemented the old mayamada website, we felt it was still time for a change to push things forward.

We’ve been hard at work on the new website so it’s now easier for you to get products, find out about every mayamada character and see events past and present.

Here are some of the changes…

Brand New Layout

We’ve brought together all the main mayamada highlights in one place so you can get a better picture of what’s new with mayamada at any time.

New Online Shop

Our shop has been given a major overhaul for 2013. More items are now available available to purchase. Not only t-shirts but caps, accessories and the new Samurai Chef manga book.

You can also create your own account to view order status and history. And as always, we accept all major credit cards or you can pay with your Paypal account.

Go shopping now >

Blog

The blog has been brought into the main site so you can always come back to mayamada.com to see what the latest news is.

You can also check out out our Facebook Page to get involved with the brand.

Read the latest blog post >

Characters

It has be a long time coming but character profiles are now up on the site as well as manga for each. This includes an online preview of the Samurai Chef manga.

Right now you can take a look at the 11th Hour, Hot lunch and Samurai Chef shows. Before the year is up, expect to see this section of the website grow with more shows and more characters.

Take a closer look at the mayamada cast of characters >

Events

You can also keep up to date with all mayamada event past and present in one place.

The events section is the place to find out the next event coming up, or to see a selection of videos and photos from events gone by so you never miss out.

And for the full photo galleries, you can always head to our Facebook page.

See what events are coming up >

But don’t just take our word for it. Have a look for yourself ^_^

mayamada.com – Original Anime Inspired Clothing

Mayamada Prime Time Volume 1: Our Kickstarter Campaign

Since we started making teaser pages of manga for each of our shows, people have continued to ask as when is the full book coming out.  We didn’t have an answer for them, until now that is.

Today we launched our long awaited Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds needed to create a full mayamada manga book. We wanted to do this in a big way and really showcase our world of fantasy television in manga form and we’re so excited to get the word out to you all.

To make this happen we’ve teamed up with four great artists to produce the artwork for four of the first four shows on the mayamada network: Samurai Chef, The 11th Hour, Hot Lunch, and Serious.  The last one is a brand new show.

But why am I doing so much talking?  You can find out all the details on our Kickstarter page where you can find out how to get involved: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/401125455/mayamada-prime-time-manga-vol-1

We’ll have many more details on the progress of the campaign over the next month, including all the rewards you can get for supporting the book.

Stay tuned!

The Mayamada Stall at MCM Expo

mayamada October 26, 2011 1 Comment


We’re now only two days away from the MCM Expo at London Excel and we’re running around to bring everything together just right.

If you making your way down on any of the days from the 28th-30th, be sure to stop by our stall and say hi.

Here’s a sneek peak at some of what you’ll find waiting for you…of course we have our t-shirts including the new 11th Hour design.

 

 

Every package will come with a manga page and a few other surprises…

We’ll also be giving away these very cool oystercard holders for all cosplayers that take part in our competition…or if you ask us nicely 🙂

 

 

Plus, there will be regular giveaways every 90 minutes throughout the three days of the event.  All you have to do is get a ticket from us and see if yours is the winning one….that’s it!  We won’t tell you what the prize is…We don’t want to spoil the surprise!

Be sure to come by our stall when you visit MCM this weekend and hang out with us – just look for the guys in mayamada t-shirts having a great time ^_^

Sliced and Diced

Nigel June 21, 2011 1 Comment

We’re hard at work on two new designs for shows for the summer: 11th Hour and Hot Lunch.  Before that, now seems a good time to get to know one of the first stars on the mayamada network: Samurai Chef.

Here’s what you need to know…
Show title: Samurai Chef.
Show idea: Cooking show were contestants prepare meals to be judged with the weapon of the week.
Host: The Samurai Chef.
Age: ?
Personality: Humorless.  Serious about food.
Favourite meal: Kebab skewers.
Quote: “Bring the next dish!”

I’m a big fan of the character and love the t-shirt design – I cut my cake the same way he does.  True story.

We’ll be spending a lot of time over the year bring out more of the characters and stories around the mayamada universe.  We’re working with an amazing artist known as Pinali who is helping to bring our world to life.

You can check out more on her Deviant Art page, and also take a look at her new webcomic Alter.

Head over to our Facebook page or leave us a comment below and tell us what you think of the new artwork.  More visuals are on the way so keep your eyes peeled.