May is the start of a mayamada comic convention tour where we’ll be travelling across the UK and in the US too!
Check out our tour dates below and book your tickets to see us at a convention near you.
Top 5 Cosplay From London Super Comic Con
After a break from comic conventions over December and January, we had two in February. Just like buses, wait for ages and two come along almost at once!
It’s great for us though. We got to showcase our latest manga Hot Lunch at the London Anime & Gaming Con as well as hold two talks on stage on each day of the event. Public speaking can be nerve-wracking, but when we get to talk about the mayamada universe, creating stories and comics we jump at the chance.
After LAGC, we exhibited at the London Super Comic Con for the first time and meet a whole host of great artists, old friends, and fantastic cosplayers…
GamePad: Gaming + Froyo Event
We’re back!
On Saturday 20th June, we’re hosting the second GamePad! event at West 12 Shopping Centre in Sheperd’s Bush. This will also be the official pre-party of the London Anime & Gaming Convention in July so grab your free tickets now!
You can look forward to another great day calling gamers, sweet tooths and everyone in between to join us for some fun with gaming and froyo.
Missed the first GamePad! event? DOn’t worry because captured the best moment on film so you know what to expect this time around.
Frozen yogurt at GamePad
Just in time for the summer, frozen yogurt will be available and we also have a tasty surprise for you. Find one of the three frozen yogurt cups with the mayamada logo inside and you’ll win a prize from us.
Cosplayers and competitions
The cosplay competiton will be back on June 20th. Come well dressed because the best cosplayer will get tickets to the London Anime & Gaming Convention, July 4th and 5th.
We will also be running a gaming competition for a chance to become a character in a future mayamada comic! Get your game on and get yourself (or a pet) featured in one our comics in 2015.
On top of all that you will also be able to get your hands on our range of anime inspired clothings and comics. Stay tuned for more details on that and everything else going down on Saturday June 20th!
StreetFest 2015
We had such a great time at StreetFest last year we’re coming back in 2015! This bank holiday Sunday we’ll be collaborating with the StreetFest team at their new home at Tobacco Dock.
Our stall will be packed full of our original anime inspired clothing, comics and hats. That includes our Samurai Beanies and Snapbacks too.
We’re also bringing something new to StreetFest this year, Samurai Chef chocolate bars available in three flavours: Crunchy Noodle, Cherry Blossom and Green Tea. These bars were a sell out at London Anime & Gaming Con and they will be restocked for Sunday May 3rd.
As well as the StreetFest market, we’ll also be running two competitions for prizes throughout the day. You can win your choice of t-shirt, snapback or beanie hat by taking selfies with our cast of characters.
The first person to tag @mayamadatees and @streetfest on selfies with all six of our characters by 7pm will get the prize and a comic too! Don’t forget to use the hashtag #sfselfie so we can keep track of all your entries.
We’re also bringing some artist fun to StreetFest with our colouring wall. You can get creative and colour in our characters for a chance to win one of our new notebooks when they’re released in the summer.
It’s all happening on Bank Holiday, Sunday May 3rd so make sure you’ve got your tickets. We can’t wait, see you there!
MCM Expo Birmingham
Last month we took a trip up north (well, north-ish) for our first visit to the MCM Expo at the NEC Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. After a great time at London Anime & Gaming Con, we were excited to get our second convention of the year off and running.
We set up in the Comic Village and manage to cover our table with regular and limited edition of the Samurai Chef manga as well as our new Samurai Chef chocolate bars.
It’s been a while since we’ve been to an MCM event, but we were quickly up to speed once we got our bearings.
There is so much to see at MCM. We only got to see a fraction of it from our stall, but we were treated to Robot Wars matches going on just behind the Comic Village – we loved watching that show!
We also got to meet up with some great exhibitors including Canime, Helenasia and Choizilla, who had one of the best presented tables in the Comic Village and a cool outfit too.
As always it’s about the cosplay and we saw a tons of great outfits over the two days of MCM Expo.
Even the security guards were getting into it…
So that’s two events down and many more to go in 2015. Not only conventions like Hyper Japan and London Comic Con, but we’ll also have our very own mayamada events starting with GamePad! in April.
Stay tuned to find out where to catch us after that one…
London Anime & Gaming Con Recap
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.
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.
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.
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.
Samurai Chef Creators: Editor
In the lead up to London Anime & Gaming Con we’re giving you an insight into the making of our new manga title, the complete edition of Samurai Chef.
So far we’ve looked at the illustrators who brought the story and characters to life. But images are only half of any good comic, what about the words?
This week we’re talking to Lara-Lee, the editor of the book and the person who made sure the dialogue was accurate and made sense…well, as much sense as a monkey samurai chef on a fantasy television network can make anyway:
Which part of the book did you work on?
I edited the book – so if you spot any mistakes (not that you will…) Don’t. Tell. Anyone!
What was your highlight during the process?
Holding the finished product. Working with Nigel and seeing the story and characters come to life was a pleasure – my job would have been a whole lot harder if he wasn’t as receptive to the changes that needed to be made.
What was the biggest challenge for you?
The time constraints. We had a strict deadline to work to so the pressure was intense towards the end, but I’m a lawyer by day so I’m used to it!
What do you hope readers will take away from Samurai Chef?
Hunger – not just because some of the dishes could be quite yummy (before they come to life), but also a hunger for reading, anime and finding out more about mayamada!
Who is your favourite character in the book and why?
It has to be the Samurai Chef himself, specifically when he’s battling the Cherry Kitchen’s taffy cake. I couldn’t stop laughing at his face throughout this part!
What book are you enjoying now?
Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer – I don’t read many books more than once but this is my third time round. I love the contrasting circumstances of the main characters and seeing them evolve throughout the book. I love any book that has ability to make my jaw drop!
London Anime & Gaming Con
We will be attending London Anime & Gaming Con this February Saturday 7th to Sunday 8th and have loads in store for you.
Collector’s Edition Manga
Not only will the new and complete edition of Samurai Chef be available at our stall, so will the limited Collector’s Edition! This sealed manga book comes with a new cover, four extra pages of story, a pin badge set, and a download link to the colour edition of our digital comic Samurai Chef Origins.
Plus, 5 copies will be stamped with the mayamada logo on the inside cover. Whoever gets a stamped book will be made into a mayamada character in a future book. There will only be 20 copies available exclusively at the event, so be quick!
How To Create Manga Panel
Interested in making your own manga? Or just curious as to how we put ours together? See us on the downstairs stage on Saturday 7th Feb for a panel on create manga. We’ll go through the process of outlining a story, creating characters, working with artists and finally pulling everything together into you very own comic.
We’ve released two books and we’re working on more for 2015 so come and ask us about the process from 1:30pm.
Anime Inspired Clothing
Along with the new comic we will also have our range of t-shirts, hats and sweatshirts on offer at our stall, including a brand new design.
And that’s not all, join us at the event next month to find out what other surprises we have planned. London Anime & Gaming Con is looking bigger than ever and we can’t wait for our first convention of the year. See you there.
You can buy your tickets at www.londonanimecon.com
London Anime & Gaming Con
We spent this past weekend at the London Anime & Gaming Con.  As usual it was  a good mix of the wacky and wonderful in a relaxed community environment.
The event also saw us give our first Q&A panel at any convention. We were given the opportunity to talk on stage about the brand and characters, Samurai Chef included, as well as the manga we create.
It was a great two days seeing some cool cosplayers, meeting new fans and we even saw a marriage proposal!
Take a look at some of our photos, and head over to our Facebook page to say hi if we met you at LAGC.
