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"Japanese Imports" features nearly 3 full pages in the Washington Post Weekend magazine. The gist of the article was about the convention itself, but the article also gives some mention to anime, manga, and a bit about Osamu Tezuka, and his two most well-known (in America) characters.

The third page (in the print medium) featured box titled J-Pop Is Slowly Crossing the Pacific, that pictured both the live and animated versions of Yumi and Ami of Hi-Hi Puffi Ami Yumi, accompanied by four paragraphs of text.

"The Kids' WB completely financed a revisioning of 'Astroboy,' which was a remake of the 1960s classic," Diederichs says. "That was broadcast here several months before it hit the air in Japan. The budget for that rivaled that of some theatrical productions, and it really showed."

This was wrong. The show broadcasted SEVERAL months after the japanese airing. And it was Sony of America that co-produced the anime, not KidsWB. It only aired on KidsWB because Sony felt this is where it would best fit. Obviously... They were wrong.

Originally posted by ChibiGoku@Feb 17 2006, 06:35 PM

[b]"The Kids' WB completely financed a revisioning of 'Astroboy,' which was a remake of the 1960s classic," Diederichs says. "That was broadcast here several months before it hit the air in Japan. The budget for that rivaled that of some theatrical productions, and it really showed."

This was wrong. The show broadcasted SEVERAL months after the japanese airing. And it was Sony of America that co-produced the anime, not KidsWB. It only aired on KidsWB because Sony felt this is where it would best fit. Obviously... They were wrong. [/b]

I think there was at least 1 other error in the article, but I do not recall what.

Without attracting much mainstream attention, such diverse Japanese 'toons as Astroboy, Puffy AmiYumi and Naruto have infiltrated American culture.

Hmmm....when TIME magazine put Pokemon on a front cover a few years back, that wasn't "mainstream"?

Traditionally, American fans and commentators have endorsed the serious side of Japanese 'toons, from "Barefoot Gen" (a semiautobiographical manga account of the Hiroshima bombing) to the pro-nature ("Princess Mononoke") and antiwar ("Howl's Moving Castle") anime of Hayao Miyazaki

If these lack-whits of the Washington Post ever took the time to actually watch what they perceive follows and endorses their political mantra, they might be stunned to know that Miyazaki and Tezuka are far more center-right leaning and level minded when it comes to issues of war and the environment. Barefoot Gen didn't leave out any blame or feelings of anger towards Emperor Hirohito or the Imperial government for the war they sucked the civilian population into.