MANGA MAD – Tokyo Otaku A documentary about Japan’s biggest pop culture and deepest underground, filmed in the comic capital of the world, Tokyo. More people read comics in Japan than any other country. Comics account for 40% of all total books and magazines published in Japan. Manga Mad gives insight into contemporary Japanese culture through the iconography of its biggest pop culture and explains why comics are not just for children, as depicted by the compulsive consumer obsessiveness of the otaku adult manga and anime scene. The tradition of graphic narrative is traced in Japanese art history through to the post WW2 boom of comics, illustrated by the prolific influence of the ‘god of manga’, Walt Disney of Japan, Osamu Tezuka. There is extensive coverage of electric town, Akihabara, the virtual reality, racy, manga-anime-mecca for otaku, as well as Comiket Market, the biggest comic and cosplay event in the world. Candid interviews with artists, animators, publishers, historians, retailers and otaku fans punctuate vivid fantasy graphics and cartoon-clad, bustling, metropolis vistas, segued with an exotic, electro sound track. Manga Mad opens the window behind the Japanese mask, to reveal what's really going on in the collective imagination, and explains why manga is so ubiquitous, mesmerising, virtually uncensored, and is now contagiously popular world wide. Running time 59 minutes. Producer/Director: Ray Castle For a more detailed synopsis and sales information contact www.raycastle.com/film.html