The first ever big screen collaboration between Jackie Chan and Jet Li, the Martial Arts fantasy The Forbidden Kingdom, is the Number 1 movie in the USA in its first  week of release, taking $20 million in its opening weekend. I'm still waiting for news on the UK release date. Check my Gallery section for pics and posters from the forthcoming blockbuster.

More on The Forbidden Kingdom

It's hard for me to get excited about anything associated with Ghost in the Shell theses days. I didn't like Ghost in the Shell 2 and the TV series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was just plain irritating.

It would be hard to match the sheer visual brilliance or thought provoking storyline of the original movie - especially under the high-turnover production pressure of a TV series - but the addition of Tachimokas or 'think tanks' for comedic value was surely somthing few people could have appreciated.

So the April 28th release of Ghost in the Shell: Individual Eleven (or to give it its full title Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd Gig - Inividual Eleven) was about as welcome as another potential Man Utd Premier League title win. But spank me for making rash assumptions because how wrong was I!

Like drum and bass, it seems that in SAC 2nd Gig (the Stand Alone Complex second series) GitS has returned to its roots and is all the better for that.

Individual Eleven is not only part of that series edited into a two and a half hour movie, but we have also been treated to additional scenes that re-focus the storyline, and the soundtrack has been re-mixed.

We are back in that green tinted cityscape and plug-in virtual world so lovingly 'borrowed' by The Matrix, as Major Motoko leads a reformed Section 9 in pursuit of a revolutionary terrorist cell called the Individual Eleven. And where would GitS be without poltical conspiracies and back-stabbing officials?

And as much as I hate giving away the plot (here comes a spoiler alert folks!) I personally was incredibly satified to see the demise of those helium-voiced jumping spiders that wind me up so much - well sort of.

Perhaps it is time for me to rehabilitate Ghost in the Shell, instead of simply re-watching the original for the eleventh time?

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig - Individual Eleven is out on DVD on April 28th 2008.

Horror buffs might remember Jacques Tourner's 1957 B&W classic Night of the Demon in which a skeptic of the supernatural finds himself pursued by a winged demon after being slipped a note containing a curse. Almost 50 years later, the Manga Death Note adapts the theme and turns it on its head.

Immediately after the UK cinema release of the Japanese live action movie on April 25th, the 28th sees the arrival on DVD of this beautifully drawn Anime series.

In Death Note a bored college student Light Yagami finds a note pad which has the power to kill anyone whose name is written inside it.

Light decides to use the book to cleanse the world of evil by systematically listing the names of criminals and evil doers. His actions do not go unnoticed and soon Light finds himself pursued in turn by L, Japan's answer to Columbo.

The note book belongs to Ryuk, a winged Shinigami or Death God, who accidentally drops it into the human realm. Ryuk appears to inform Light of the ever growing rules that accompany the book and that he will one day write Light's name in his own Death Note.

Unlike most Anime/Manga series, Death Note is unusual for its preoccupation with suspense over action but it is brilliant and shouldn't be missed. As for what I've seen of the live action movies (there are two), I'm still to be convinced.

Death Note is out on Manga, the dvd label that began most UK fans' obession with Anime as far back as the 80s. Hence the confusion - strictly speaking, Manga are the comic books and Anime are the animated onscreen adaptations.

Death Note was first serialised in top Japanese Manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump who reprint some of their best output in book form in the West under the name Shonen Jump Advanced. Which brings me to their new Manga Claymore.

Written and drawn by award winning artist Norihiro Yagi, Claymore takes us into more traditional Manga territory as it follows the adventures of Clare, a sword-wielding monster slayer in a medieval fantasy world.

Clare is a member of a sect of young silver-eyed warrior women, nicknamed Claymores after their huge weapon of choice, who rid villages of Yumas, flesh eating monsters who hide in human form.

Its clean artwork and rounded mythology makes Claymore enjoyable and instantly addictive. At under six quid a pop, you'll soon be whizzing through all 11 volumes.

If you're new to collecting Manga, series are available in small paperback volumes from both comic book specialists and general bookstores. Reprinted from the Japanese, the authentic ones read from back page to front and top right corner to bottom left.

You won't be surprised to hear that late last year Claymore was also aired as an Anime series in Japan.

Shonen Jump official site

Since I'm on an Anime tip this week, I wanted to recommend a Japanese TV series from 2004 called Samurai Champloo. I only discovered it recently thanks to one of the big online stores who are currently offering a wide selecton of Manga dvds on BOGOF.

'Champloo', a loose translation of the Okinawan word 'chanpurū', is effectively a pun meaning 'remix'. So Samurai 'Remix' makes no apology for its cheeky mash-up of Edo period Japanese swordsmen and modern day hip hop culture.

The editing is straight out of the DJ Yoda school of video scratching, the anti-hero Mugen fights with a style that includes breakdance moves and the title sequence even throws in a turntable. The soundtrack is hip hop and the graphics are at times both simple and stunning.

It's a work of genius! No surprise then that its creators have some pedigree. Champloo was  directed by Shinichirō Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Animatrix), and designed by Kazuto Nakazawa (Kill Bill Vol. 1) and Mahiro Maeda (Last Exile).

All 28 episodes seem to be available on UK DVD as both box set or single volumes. I'm only 8 episodes in but I'm hooked already and plan to work my way through the entire series.

If you want to try before you buy, there are stacks of clips on YouTube.

The year is 2077 and Japan has become a rogue state isolated from the rest of the world. For a decade it has shielded itself from outside communication and satellite surveillance, and no one has been in or out of the country - until now.

Fearing that the Daiwa Corporation has defied a UN ban to develop android weaponary, the US sends in a crack Special Forces unit led by female commander Vexille to investigate.

This is the setting for the new CG Anime from the creators of Appleseed due out in selected UK cinemas on May 9th.

Like Appleseed, the movie is scored by Paul Oakenfold, and features tracks by Basement Jaxx, DJ Shadow, Underworld, Asian Dub Foundation and the Prodigy.

Enjoy the UK trailer from Momentum Pictures.

 Watch the trailer on YouTube

London promises to host the largest gathering of Anime and Manga in the UK as it plays home to the Movie Comic Media Expo next month.

Over the weekend of the 24th and 25th of May cosplay characters will mingle with sci-fi geeks, gamers and comic fans at the Excel Convention Centre, Royal Victoria Dock.

So if your guilty pleasure is to dress up as your favourite Manga hero or heroine, stock up on purple hair dye because there will be prizes on offer in daily competitions.

If instead you fancy yourself a real-life Bradley Branning, you can queue up to have your photo taken with stars of sci-fi or just fill your autograph book.

For those of us who are more Earthbound, it's our chance to trawl through trader stalls for collectibles and join in the numerous Q&A sessions.

Tickets range from £9 - £14 for adults and £4 for kids.

For booking info and full details visit the Official Site

Send me you Cosplay photos Asianprovocateur@live.co.uk