For star-struck teenagers living in Okinawa, the first step to fame and fortune is an appearance on an American Idol-like TV show called Boom Boom. If they can wangle their way onto this weekly program, they have a shot to become Japan's next big thing. But first, these pop-star wannabes must first enroll in the big city's actor's school where competition between classmates is spirited and ruthless! With the help of her guardian angel, a gargoyle-like statue named Cesar, little Airi begins taking classes at the school. One way or another, she's going to make her dreams come true! Through hard work, perseverance and undeniable talent, Airi has finally become a big star in Tokyo. The public, it seems, can't get enough of the little schoolgirl with the big voice. But there's a whole big world out there beyond the shores of Japan. A trip to New York is next on the singer's agenda. Does she have the charisma and star power to attract the attention of the music industry in Gotham City? As she flies over the Manhattan skyline, Airi realizes that her new life is about to begin. She's ready to take her career to the next level. And she's ready for a little romance, too. Watch out America... here comes Airi Ishikawa! You're going to fall in love with her!

After defeating a Demonic Deity and leading Rohzenheim to victory, the No-life Gamers now set their sights on the Rank S dungeon. Before they head to Baukis, though, Allen uses his new elven connections to arrange for the Gamers to graduate from the Academy early. Allen then brings the gang to Krena Village to drop in on his family and introduce everyone. What’s supposed to be a simple trip, however, quickly escalates into something more. It turns out that when Keel’s family had their House restored, their lands were also returned to them—including the nest of the white dragon that has terrorized the area for centuries! The group eventually makes their way to Baukis and reunites with Meruru with much pomp and circumstance. There, they stand together before the Tower of Tribulations, the Rank S dungeon that no one—not even Hero Helmios nor the champions of ages past—has ever cleared. Challenges and encounters galore await the No-life Gamers where all the world’s greatest fighters gather!

“Japan's pop culture, once believed unexportable, is now hitting the shores of other nations like a tsunami. In North America, young fans consume vast amounts of manga and anime, while academics increasingly study the entire J-pop phenomenon to understand it. One community has passion while the other has discipline, and what has been lacking is a bridge between the two. Mechademia is the bridge, and with a name like that, how can one go wrong? So why wait? Hop in your giant mobile suit and stomp down to the local real or virtual bookstore to purchase a copy right now!” —Frederik L. Schodt, author of Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics Networks of Desire—the second volume in the Mechademia series, an annual forum devoted to critical and creative work on Japanese anime, manga, and the fan cultures that have coalesced around them—explores the varieties of desire that structure and influence much of contemporary anime and manga in manifestations that range from the explicitly sexual to more sublimated text and imagery. Collecting original essays by scholars, artists, and fans, Networks of Desire considers key issues at play in a Japanese society increasingly uncertain of its place in a globalized world: from idealized representations of same-sex desire in such shjo manga (girls’s comics) as The Rose of Versailles, to fan fiction inspired by the gender-switching manga Ranma ½, to desire in otaku communities. Deftly weaving together desire and discourse, Mechademia 2 illuminates the techno-carnal fantasies, animalistic consumption, political nostalgia, and existential hunger underlying the most popular and influential expressions of Japanese popular culture today. Contributors: Brent Allison, U of Georgia; Meredith Suzanne Hahn Aquila; Hiroki Azuma; William L. Benzon; Christopher Bolton, Williams College; Martha Cornog; Patrick Drazen; Marc Hairston, U of Texas, Dallas; Mari Kotani; Shu Kuge, Penn State U; Margherita Long, U of California, Riverside; Daisuke Miyao; Hiromi Mizuno, U of Minnesota; Mariana Ortega; Timothy Perper; Eron Rauch; Trina Robbins; Brian Ruh, Indiana U; Deborah Shamoon, U of Notre Dame; Masami Toku, California State U, Chico; Keith Vincent, NYU. Frenchy Lunning is professor of liberal arts at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and editor of Mechademia 1: Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga (Minnesota, 2006).

For star-struck teenagers living in Okinawa, the first step to fame and fortune is an appearance on an American Idol-like TV show called Boom Boom. If they can wangle their way onto this weekly program, they have a shot to become Japan's next big thing. But first, these pop-star wannabes must first enroll in the big city's actor's school where competition between classmates is spirited and ruthless! With the help of her guardian angel, a gargoyle-like statue named Cesar, little Airi begins taking classes at the school. One way or another, she's going to make her dreams come true! Since enrolling in the Okinawa Actors School, Airi has been working overtime trying to improve her singing and dancing skills. And now, finally, the world is starting to take notice. Having won a gig as a dancer in a hit music video, she has unknowingly become a celebrity in Tokyo. When she arrives in the big city, she is mobbed by fans who are desperate to catch a glimpse of her. All this attention is nice, but being a dancer in someone else's video isn't Airi's ultimate goal. She wants to be a star. And to that end, she's been booked into the studio to record her first song. The time is right. Airi is ready to rock the world!

Los Alamos National Laboratory is an incredible place. It was conceived and born amidst the most desperate of circumstances. It attracted some of the most brilliant minds, the most innovative entrepreneurs, and the most c- ative tinkerers of that generation. Out of that milieu emerged physics and engineering that beforehand was either unimagined, or thought to be f- tasy. One of the ?elds essentially invented during those years was the science of precision high explosives. Before 1942, explosives were used in munitions and commercial pursuits that demanded proper chemistry and con?nement for the necessary e?ect, but little else. The needs and requirements of the Manhattan project were of a much more precise and speci?c nature. Spatial and temporal speci?cations were reduced from centimeters and milliseconds to micrometers and nanoseconds. New theory and computational tools were required along with a raft of new experimental techniques and novel ways of interpreting the results. Over the next 40 years, the emphasis was on higher energy in smaller packages, more precise initiation schemes, better and safer formulations, and greater accuracy in forecasting performance. Researchers from many institutions began working in the emerging and expanding ?eld. In the midst of all of the work and progress in precision initiation and scienti?c study, in the early 1960s, papers began to appear detailing the ?rst quantitative studies of the transition from de?agration to detonation (DDT), ?rst in cast, then in pressed explosives, and ?nally in propellants.

For star-struck teenagers living in Okinawa, the first step to fame and fortune is an appearance on an American Idol-like TV show called Boom Boom. If they can wangle their way onto this weekly program, they have a shot to become Japan's next big thing. But first, these pop-star wannabes must first enroll in the big city's actor's school where competition between classmates is spirited and ruthless! With the help of her guardian angel, a gargoyle-like statue named Cesar, little Airi begins taking classes at the school. One way or another, she's going to make her dreams come true!

For star-struck teenagers living in Okinawa, the first step to fame and fortune is an appearance on an American Idol-like TV show called Boom Boom. If they can wangle their way onto this weekly program, they have a shot to become Japan's next big thing. But first, these pop-star wannabes must first enroll in the big city's actor's school where competition between classmates is spirited and ruthless! With the help of her guardian angel, a gargoyle-like statue named Cesar, little Airi begins taking classes at the school. One way or another, she's going to make her dreams come true! Everybody who enrolls at the Okinawa Actors School has big dreams: They're all hoping to sing and dance their way to the top of the Hit Parade. But show business is a fickle business as Airi Ishikawa is quickly finding out. Fresh off a big and successful Boom Boom concert, she discovers that her friends -- and not her -- will be given an opportunity to pursue solo careers. Frustrated and dejected, she considers dropping out of school. There's no doubt Airi's got all the talent in the world. The question remains, however: Does she have the inner strength needed to bounce back from the occasional, yet inevitable, setback?