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All-new Dragon Ball Super isn’t just an anime – manga adaptation coming too!

Casey Baseel
May 19, 2015
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If you’re reading this and were born after 1995, we strongly encourage you to make sure your diaper is firmly in place. What’s that? You say you outgrew diapers long ago? You might want to double-check anyway, because right now we’re not so sure we didn’t somehow slip back in time two decades or so.

After all, these days anime fans are being blessed with about as much new Dragon Ball content as they were during the previous peak of the martial arts franchise’s popularity in the mid ‘90s. This year has already seen the release of a new Dragon Ball Z movie, Resurrection ‘F’, which was followed by the announcement of a brand-new TV series, Dragon Ball Super.

Now, the franchise is going back to its roots by returning to the format where it all started: manga, with a new Dragon Ball serial starting in just a month!

The Steeds of the Gods: The Shinto horses that no mortal may ride

Jessica
May 19, 2015

Somewhere around the 500th step on the long approach to Kompira-san shrine in Kagawa Prefecture, you’ll find a small stable housing two special horses. They are pretty as a picture, but don’t get any ideas about hopping on for a ride, feeding them a little carrot, or even giving them a friendly pat.

These thoroughbreds are shinme, the steeds of the gods, and they are not for mere mortals like us.

Starbucks comes to Tottori, local coffee chain’s poster compares it to Perry arriving in Japan

Casey Baseel
May 19, 2015

With Starbucks having won the loyalty of so many customers in so many countries, sometimes it seems like the Seattle-based coffee giant has a location in every corner of the world. There’s still at least one place that’s Starbucks-free, though, and that’s Tottori, the last prefecture in Japan without a branch of its own.

The situation is about to change, though, as Starbucks is set to open its first Tottori location this week. Local coffeehouse chain Sunaba Coffee, whose name is almost an exact copy of Starbucks’ Japanese nickname, is bracing for the impact of its new competitor by guaranteeing its product tastes just as good as Starbucks’, while making the humble request that customers get one out of every three coffee fixes at Sunaba.

These rad, super-rare cutting knives are (presumably) for cooking

Mike
May 19, 2015

If you’re gonna slay a dragon, you might as well do it in style. May we suggest these crazily cool-looking cutting knives that only need to be sharpened every 25 years?

You read that right: These knives will keep their edge for an astonishing 25 years – a quarter of your entire life, if you’re lucky, and five times as long as your passing interest in cooking that you took up to impress that one girl in college who was really into kale and organic, grass-fed wagyu beef.

Anime idols going abroad as Love Live! movie announced for release in U.S., 12 other territories

Casey Baseel
May 19, 2015

Not so long ago, being a Japanese idol singer was purely a domestic gig, with even the biggest stars of the genre remaining more or less unknown outside their home country. But thanks to the spread of Japanese pop culture around the world over the last decade and a half, that’s not really the case anymore. These days, it’s not uncommon for J-pop idols, especially those with an anime connection to boost their foreign exposure, to make appearances overseas.

Now, in a case of animated art imitating life, the high school idols of Love Love!, Japan’s biggest current idol anime hit, will be heading abroad as the upcoming Love Live! theatrical feature has been announced for international release.

Last Week Tonight tackles Japan’s mascot craze and the results are glorious【Video】

KK Miller
May 19, 2015

Emerging from the cocoon that was The Daily Show, John Oliver has carved out a brilliant spot for himself with his own talk show Last Week Tonight. He has produced some amazing pieces on net neutrality, Edward Snowden, the Miss America Pageant and the NCAA. Viewers tune in each week to find out what subject close to their hearts is being roasted or promoted on HBO. Japan has gotten a couple of mentions on the show before, but this past week brought the insanity that is Japanese mascots to the attention of his viewers. Surely Japan’s mastery of the subject can teach the rest of the world something.

Toyota Chocobos?! Iconic Final Fantasy music used in new car ad 【Videos】

Casey Baseel
May 19, 2015

Following several years of building dependable, affordable, yet almost utterly soulless automobiles, Toyota is trying to get back to creating and market cars with a sense of joy and playfulness. After all, it’s a waste to treat driving as just going from Point A to Point B in the dullest way possible instead of the fun journey it has the potential to be.

That’s why in its newest commercial, Toyota is invoking the spirit of adventure with a fleet of yellow hybrids running about the countryside with the musical accompaniment of one of the most instantly recognizable pieces of Final Fantasy music ever composed.

7-Eleven teams up with Attack on Titan to bring you new video short, prizes galore!

Krista Rogers
May 19, 2015

Beginning on Friday, May 22, 7-Eleven stores across Japan will finally team up with the wildly popular Attack on Titan franchise to bring you a special lottery with all sorts of winnable prizes! Be sure to check out the details as well as an amusing new promotional video after the jump.

Cardcaptor Sakura won’t be outdone by Sailor Moon as she gets her own cozy anime pajama line

Casey Baseel
May 19, 2015

You wouldn’t name your anime fashion company Super Groupies if it wasn’t staffed by some pretty big fans of Japanese animation, and the clothing retailer’s product catalogue speaks to its comprehensive love of the art form. Not only are recent hits and long-time favorites alike represented, Super Groupies is totally comfortable working both sides of the iconic magical girl street.

So while lovers of Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon recently got their fix with some sailor suit-style clothes to wear around the house, now the fans of manga creative team Clamp’s magical girl series are getting their turn with two sets of Cardcaptor Sakura pajamas.

Celebrate May with a visit to Mei and Satsuki’s house from Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro

Oona McGee
May 18, 2015

Our love of the Studio Ghibli film My Neighbor Totoro has truly blossomed during the month of May. Just when we thought things couldn’t get any better after we heard about Totoro’s Forest in Saitama Prefecture, complete with a house for black dust bunnies known as Kurosuke no Ie, it seems there’s even more reason to celebrate, with an exact replica of Mei and Satsuki’s house open to the public in Aichi Prefecture.

Lotteria continues to try making burgers out of noodles, this time they brought rice to the party

Master Blaster
May 18, 2015

Despite a rather weak track-record for its hamburgers with patties of noodles, fast-food chain Lotteria is back at it with the Moko Tanmen Burger. This time around they’ve also come up with the Moko Don Burger which uses a wad of rice as the patty. Good thing Dr. Atkins isn’t around to see this.

They say the definition of “insanity” is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. We’re not sure what to call RocketNews24 reporter Mr. Sato then, because he is returning to Lotteria for a fourth time to try these noodley sandwiches in hopes of some redemption.

28 realities of being a 30-year-old Japanese man who constantly pees himself

Scott Wilson
May 18, 2015

Oh the realities of getting older. One minute you’re feeling fine, the next you’re shopping for adult diapers. It’s a fact of life that transcends language, culture, and bladders all over the world.

Yoshio, one of our RocketNews24 Japanese-side writers, has recently joined the ranks of the incontinently impaired himself. To celebrate his newfound misery, he composed a 28-part list describing a typical day in his new, significantly wetter life.

Take a read and commiserate along with him, or see what you have to look forward to when parts of your own body start turning against you.

Lose five kilos in one month with a super easy convenience store diet!

KK Miller
May 18, 2015

Everyone is trying to get in great shape for the summer season and everywhere you look there is a new exercise or diet craze that guarantees quick and easy weight loss in only a month. Most of these are too good to be true, but some of them might just work for you! Introducing the “Chef Lawson Diet,” which involves eating only at the Lawson convenience store for an entire month. Actual user testimony guarantees* you will lose five kilograms (11 pounds) in just one month!

* On second thought, RocketNews24 doesn’t actually guarantee anything.

Sailor Moon totes, smartphone pouches, and T-shirts are here to help you stay Sailor all day long

Casey Baseel
May 18, 2015

Last week, we took a look at a set of fluffy Sailor Moon pajamas. But no matter how comfortable they may look, eventually you’re going to run out of food, manga, or some other class of household essentials and need to leave your home. But when you do, you can still keep the theme going with these Sailor Moon-themed tote bags to carry your supplies home in, plus sailor suit-style pouches and T-shirts.

Panasonic develops data communication using an ordinary light and smartphone

Master Blaster
May 18, 2015

There are many ways that data is transferred these days, be it fiber optic cables, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G-LTE, and a whole slew of other brand names and acronyms the meanings of which I don’t care to learn.

Now Panasonic has come up with a way to send and receive data that’s easy for everyone to understand: light. Actually it uses light emitting diodes (LED) to be exact, but that’s about as technical as this explanation needs to get, I promise.

Kanpai! Japanese sweet sake found to have beauty benefits

Meg Murphy
May 18, 2015

It seems like every time you look, there’s some sort of new fad diet or superfood, all purported to be the best thing you can do for your health or to improve your natural beauty. But the good news is, this one’s actually fun to partake in.

Researchers at a university in Japan have now put sweet Japanese sake to the test, and have found it to have a number of positive beauty benefits, including improvement to under-eye health!

Player uses 1 controller to run through Megaman X & Megaman X2 simultaneously

Anime News Network
May 18, 2015

YouTuber Aura Puffs assigned themselves a seemingly impossible task: using only one SNES controller simultaneously play through Megaman X and Megaman X2. The limitations also include no save states, pausing one game while playing another, or anything else that would take most of the challenge out of the process.

Japanese mom teaches nine-year-old son the horrors of the internet, posts the hilarious results

Scott Wilson
May 17, 2015

Parenting in the internet age is a whole lot more difficult than it was before our world was taken over by machines. Back then, the scariest conversation you had to have with your kids was about the birds and the bees, but now it’s the birds and the bees and the creepy old guy pretending to be a high school girl in an online chatroom.

One Japanese mom posted the conversations on Twitter that she’s recently had to have with her nine-year-old son, and they’ve been getting a lot of attention online. Read them for yourself and you’ll crack up over both how true and how hilarious they are.

Here are the 15 most amazing home made robots, tanks, and vehicles in China

BUSINESS INSIDER
May 17, 2015

China is known as an industrious nation and, after pictures surfaced of one Chinese teacher who built a phenomenal “Iron Man” Hulkbuster replica in his garage, it seemed like the right time to take a look at some of the country’s most impressive home made inventions.

From full size, working airplanes to wooden, yet electronic cars, the Chinese have spent anything from a couple of months to several years, knocking up some pretty impressive modes of transports and robots.

Spirited Away and Ghost in Shell’s sound director talks about the human side of working in anime

Casey Baseel
May 17, 2015

Many Japanese animation fans can rattle off a list of the animation directors or character designers they admire, but the visuals are only half of the way anime stimulates the senses. For everything that you’re hearing during your favorite show, you can thank the sound director.

It’s a role Kazuhiro Wakabayashi has been filling for decades, and we recently sat in on a talk the industry veteran gave about the unique challenges a sound director faces, what it’s like to work with some of the biggest names in Japanese animation, including Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki and Ghost in the Shell’s Mamoru Oshii, and the surprisingly deep human element of creating the audio environment for a fictional world.