YAY more people sent news (does happy dance) keep it up people!!!!!! This is a great start I would like to thank everyone who sent news. This week 2 cents is something I like to call Stupid Otakus in Action.
This first piece of news is from The Mask
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Could Manga Inspire A Murder?
An Italian prosecutor's argument that the brutal slaying of Meredith Kercher was inspired by a violent manga comic has thrown a spotlight on the Japanese animation genre.
Miss Kercher was found in her bed with her throat slit open - a day after she wore a bloody vampire costume to a Halloween party in Perugia.
Giuliano Mignini claimed the gruesome murder was carried out after student Raffaele Sollecito, one of the suspects in the case, acted out a dark fantasy stemming from his manga collection.
The prosecutor made specific reference to a comic found in Sollecito's possession called The Last Vampire, that featured scenes of a naked female body slashed with a sword.
Mr Mignini's theory was ridiculed by the defendents' legal team - but it is not first time manga has been associated with vicious crimes.
Manga has been directly linked to a death in Belgium, in which a note found next to the victim's mutilated body referred to a Japanese comic called Death Note.
The animation genre was also connected with the murder of Tokyo-based British teacher Lindsay Hawker, after piles of pornographic comics were found at the suspect's flat.
With graphic violence and explicit sexual content depicted in many of the Japanese comics, manga is perhaps a sitting target when an explanation is sought for a violent crime.
However, the cause and effect link between violence and manga made by some commentators frustrates and angers fans of the comics.
They point out that within manga there are numerous subtypes and that many are highly respected forms of art.
And while being a something of a cult interest in Europe, manga reading in Japan is a mainstream hobby - the Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is said to find time to read 10 manga comics a week in between carrying out official duties.
Manga expert Helen McCarthy, who has written reference books on the subject, argues that manga "carries a mythology that is more to do with us than with Japan".
She told Sky News Online: "The argument always hinges on the same issue: finding excuses for our own innate violence and lack of self-control so we don't have to face up to the fact that all human beings, ourselves and our children included, are capable of terrible things.
"Do computer games incite violence? Does rap music, or James Bond? They're more prevalent in Western culture than manga.
"I expect that the suspects also had in their possession other books, possibly some computer games, certainly different kinds of music.
"Most of the European and American stuff would be things the prosecutor's - and jury's - own children might have in their possession, so it's important to find something that marks out this person as different."
She added that the fact that Japan is "still widely perceived as an alien culture" could have made it more likely for manga to be singled out as a menacing influence.
On the many web forums that exist to discuss manga, the suggestion that manga could inspire an act of violence was greeted mixed responses from fans.
"That is one of the worst stereotypes out there!" wrote one user.
Another said: "Every reporter and every politican knows the answer to this garbage. Killer games/action movies and manga are just excuses used by politicans since working on the real problems is to much effort for them/costs to much/would imply that the system is not working."
"Manga or cinema or any books CAN'T CREATE MURDERERS. They may influence mentally ill persons but not create murderers," echoed another user on a popular forum.
However, one fan suggested that a distinction could be drawn between comics and violent films.
"Collections of static graphic images like manga are more visceral than words on a novel, quicker at gratification than video games where you have to slog through to get to the "good stuff", and are more portable / easier to download than movies and TV series," the user wrote.
"But then again, that speaks about the accessibility of manga as a medium of communication, not about the message/values that the manga conveys."
Elsewhere, one manga reader pointed out that the comics could have a positive effect.
"I have been reading mangas for more than 6 years now and you may be surprised if I say it helped me.
"Reading such mangas like Fruits Basket (major theme: the loss, the loneliness, the difference) helped me to go on," he said.
Ms McCarthy said that while many fans will not see how an unproven link between the comics and a death affects them, others could become distressed by the news.
"...some will come under social and parental pressure to reconsider their choice of reading so as to conform with the group idea of what 'normal people' do and don't do," she said.
"Most, I imagine, will feel very sorry for the victim, because most people - regardless of how they dress or what they read - are basically sympathetic human beings."
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This next article is from shiroDragon in what I like to call WTF?
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Japanese Man Petitions To Marry Comic Book Wife
A JAPANESE man has enlisted hundreds of people in a campaign to allow marriages between humans and cartoon characters, saying he feels more at ease in the "two-dimensional world".
Comic books are immensely popular in Japan, with some fictional characters becoming celebrities or even sex symbols.
Marriage is meanwhile on the decline as many young Japanese find it difficult to find life partners.
Taichi Takashita launched an online petition aiming for one million signatures to present to the government to establish a law on marriages with cartoon characters.
Within a week he has gathered more than 1000 signatures through.
"I am no longer interested in three dimensions. I would even like to become a resident of the two-dimensional world," he wrote.
"However, that seems impossible with present-day technology. Therefore, at the very least, would it be possible to legally authorise marriage with a two-dimensional character?"
Befitting his desire to be two-dimensional, he listed no contact details, making it impossible to reach him for comment to explain if his campaign is serious or tongue-in-cheek.
But some people signing the petition are true believers.
"For a long time I have only been able to fall in love with two-dimensional people and currently I have someone I really love," one person wrote.
"Even if she is fictional, it is still loving someone. I would like to have legal approval for this system at any cost," the person wrote.
Japan only permits marriage between human men and women and gives no legal recognition to same-sex relationships.
Japan's fans of comic books, or "manga," sometimes go to extremes.
Earlier this month, a woman addicted to manga put out an online message seeking to kill her parents for asking her to throw away comic books that filled up three rooms.
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thanks guys for you 2 cents if you like your 2 cents in pm me fallenangel8 with a write up of your article and or a source link of the article or if you wrote a review or anything I'll post it with a link to your theotaku.com page. Keeping theO full of fan made material his is fallenangel say bye and telling you to vote tomorrow. 
