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Bandai is getting cutesy with its new Sailor Moon gashapon toys, offering miniature Sailor Senshi that perch or lean happily on the rims of glasses, books, and other desktop items.
The toys are already stocked in capsule figure vending machines around Japan, and are selling for 300 yen (about US$2.96) each.
Bandai updated its line of Dragon Ball Z goods with motion-activated toys for every aspiring Z Fighter. The company is streaming a video demonstrating how to best use its new wrist toy to perform Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo’s iconic attacks. Just look how excited the kid in the video gets to mimic some of his favorite heros!
Fire dancer and apparent Sailor Moon enthusiast Thomas Vaccaro took his Sailor Mars crossplay in a unique direction—by harnessing her fire powers. While he can’t shoot fireballs just yet, we appreciate the effort.
While some people are arguably Frozen‘d out, the movie’s popularity doesn’t look like it will go anywhere anytime soon, what with limited edition PS4s and karaoke rankings.
Niconico user おかっち took it one step further by using the Miku Miku Dance animation program to recreate the “Let It Go” video with Hatsune Miku in place of Elsa. From start the finish, the process took 43 days.
Japan’s NTV television network aired a special 30-second preview of Studio Ghibli‘s When Marnie Was There (Omoide no Marnie) film on Friday. Sara Takatsuki (GTO, Daily Lives of High School Boys, Haganai) and Kasumi Arimura (Amachan, Hagane no Onna, Clover), actresses who star as Anna and Marnie, introduce the clip.
With more than 200,000 attendees visiting from all around the world, Japan Expo, the biggest anime convention in Europe, took place from July 2-6 at the Parc des Exposition in Paris. For its 15th Anniversary, Japan Expo invited numerous well-known and prestigious guests, including musicians Yoshiki and Kalafina, and character designer Daigo Ikeno. Other events included the European Cosplay Gathering finale, and the world premieres of Sword Art Online II and K: Missing Kings.
When the stress of work has gotten to be too much, we all like to take some time off and just enjoy ourselves for a while. But the question remains, what to do? The weather is great outside, but going out sounds so tiring right now. You could read a book, but right now that feels too close to studying. That’s when the idea hits you – the idea to watch anime. But what should you watch? Well never fear, because goo Ranking has taken a survey asking fans what they think is the best anime to watch on their day off.
After topping the Japanese box office for 16 weekends in a row, Disney’s Frozen can add one more feat — its very own PlayStation 4. The PlayStation 4 Frozen Limited Edition takes the standard jet black console with a 500GB hard drive and adds a Frozen laser-etched hard drive bay cover with the sisters Elsa and Anna.
Seoul, South Korea’s War Museum announced on Thursday that it has cancelled a planned exhibition centered around Eiichiro Oda‘s One Piece manga due to protests of the Japanese flag appearing in art being displayed, among other reasons.
Niconico‘s stream of the first episode of Sailor Moon Crystal has been viewed more than 1 million times in two days, and has approximately 250,000 comments. The Japanese simulcast stream on Niconico had approximately 140,000 viewers alone. Niconico is streaming the series in 12 countries.
As anime fans around the world watched the highly anticipated Sailor Moon Crystal, many fell in love with “Moon Pride,” the opening theme song performed by Momoiro Clover Z. Luckily, those eager to hear the song over and over again soon can, with the single hitting Japanese store shelves on July 30.
Good Smile Company, the figure powerhouse behind the popular figma and Nendoroid lines, decided to hold its third figure creation contest for its employees. The entries are impressive, but what do you expect from professional figure makers?
You can check out all the entries at the company’s blog, but here are some of our favorites.
Idol group AKB48 will resume hosting handshake events starting on July 5 with a large handshake event at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center. The official website for the group explained that because staff were addressing operational concerns and security issues, they decided to postpone all handshake events in June. The staff have been working with security firm JSS, and preparations are now complete on the new security measures for handshake and photographing events.
Jiro Kuwata‘s 1960s Batman manga series will get a complete English release for the first time in both digital and print formats this year. DC Comics will first release a new chapter online each week beginning on Saturday. DC will then publish the complete run by the 8 Man manga artist in three volumes later this year. The manga will appear in its original right-to-left format.
As the natural culmination to a brilliant social media move by Nature Valley to endear themselves to anime fans, attendees of Anime Expo will be able to sink their teeth into some granola bars come next weekend.
The convention recently tweeted a photo of several pallets piled high with boxes of granola bars.
Luffy’s Gomu-gomu powers have gotten him into quite a few awkwardly shaped situations. Being made of rubber means that you can become pretty malleable when you’re in tight space, but does that make it any more comfortable? Well, Bandai’s latest line of gashapon toys delve into that idea, not just for Luffy, but for several other members of the Straw Hat crew. Presenting, the One Piece Hasamare Straps!
Godzilla wants to pour you his own variety of shochu alcohol to celebrate his latest film’s worldwide success. To date, Godzilla has brought in US$477.6 million at the box office worldwide. Japan’s Konishi Brewing Company is marking the occasion by re-releasing its Choujugura shochu in a special collector’s edition Godzilla porcelain bottle.
While the soccer-watching world has been keeping an eye on Uruguay forward Luis Suárez, whose hunger for victory has earned him a nine match, four month suspension, teammate Walter Gargano has been dazzling the otakusphere in other ways. Namely, the proud display of his Dragon Ball Z shinguards.
Midfielder Gargano posted a photo to his Instagram account two days ago, prompting a flurry of excited reactions to his equipment choice.
One of the most legendary and enduring anime franchises of all time is the quintessential mechafranchise Mobile Suit Gundam. But which entry to the franchise is really the greatest of all? Fan informational site Akiba Souken recently ran a two week poll from June 6 to June 18, gathering votes from 3,025 participants to decide once and for all which series, OVA, or movie is really the fan-favorite Gundam work, the top of which are as follow:
The Attack on Titan real escape game series, “Escape from a Certain Fortress Town,” has proven very popular — no surprise given the popularity of both its tie-in manga and the real escape game series in general. The games scheduled for Tokyo in August have already sold out. To meet this demand, SCRAP (the games’ organizer) will hold two more Attack on Titan real escape games in Seibu Dome in the Tokyo suburb of Saitama on July 5 and 6.
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Seaside scenery, history, and so many desserts on Yokohama’s Akai Kutsu【Japan Loop Buses】
Mikado Coffee is a 76-year-old coffee chain with a major celebrity connection
Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy day
Should you add tartar sauce to Japanese curry rice? CoCo Ichi makes diners an unusual offer
Japan’s massive matcha parfait weighs 6 kilos, contains hidden surprises for anyone who eats it
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
Family Mart makes matcha dreams come true with new lineup of strong green tea sweets in Japan
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotesForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsJapanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
New private rooms on Tokaido Shinkansen change the way we travel from Tokyo to KyotoTokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping centerJapanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy day
Beautiful Ghibli sealing wax kits let you create accessories and elegant letter decorations【Pics】
Secret Kitchen bento serves Japanese flowers, birds, wind and moon in a box, but is it worth it?McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese thingsJapanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
Studio Ghibli releases Kiki’s Delivery Service chocolate cake pouches in Japan
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutions
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in TokyoMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappointForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Japan’s massive matcha parfait weighs 6 kilos, contains hidden surprises for anyone who eats it
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
Family Mart makes matcha dreams come true with new lineup of strong green tea sweets in Japan
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
Japan’s summertime towelket pillowcases are even better with the addition of Ghibli stars【Photos】
Super green, super matcha instant curry from Kyoto gets a new and improved recipe
Shinjuku izakaya’s all-you-can-eat-and-drink plan is one of Tokyo’s best secret cheap eats
There’s a new world’s largest anime robot statue, and it’s not in Japan【Photos】
Akashiyaki: A regional dumpling with a fascinating backstory
Fried sandwiches arrive in Tokyo, become hot topic on social media
American passenger on Tokyo flight arrested for biting flight attendant, says he doesn’t remember
The 5 best Japanese bento to buy at Kyoto Station