Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
anime (Page 214)
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s finally time to announce the winners of our Anime Encyclopedia 3rd Revised Edition giveaway!
Click the link below to find out if you’re one of the four lucky people who won a copy of this gargantuan guide to all things anime!
Anti-drug posters and commercials usually have a way of getting us down. Dark images of despair, death and homelessness rely on realism to get the message across, leaving us with tiny mental scars as a warning to stay away from the dark side and walk on the right side of life.
Here in Japan, though, anti-drug tactics are very different. Instead of scaring citizens, animated images are used to inform and empower people. And when the Tokyo Metropolitan Government enlists the help of the Survey Corps and Colossal Titan to fight the war on drugs, you’ve got a campaign that catches everyone’s interest.
June 21 was Father’s Day, so hopefully everyone took a moment to appreciate all the things your dad has done for you. But while a father’s job includes providing loving support and teaching some of life’s most important lessons (such as how to believe in yourself, have empathy for others, and drive a manual transmission), it takes more than just kindness to be a good parent.
Sometimes, a dad has to give his child a push in the right direction, which is why it’s appropriate that one day after Father’s Day, June 22, 2015, is the in-anime date of the first time Neon Genesis Evangelion’s mad and sad scientist Gendo Ikari looked at his son Shinji and told him to get in the damn robot.
You know something is popular when it starts getting adapted into anime, drama CDs, movies and games. But maybe one of the biggest and strangest adaptations is the musical. Oddly enough, staged musicals are popular enough in Japan that plenty of series get live-action singing and dancing versions performed for ecstatic fans in packed theaters. If you’re not convinced that a musical means a popular title has hit the big time, how about a third musical?
That’s right, Black Butler is set for its third musical and the final cast photos have been released!
A while back, we took a look at a replica of Sailor Moon’s Transformation Brooch which held cosmetic powder formulated to give you the look of anime-like perfectly unblemished skin. Die-hard fans, however, know that the brooch breaks shortly after the end of the anime’s first major story arc.
Early in Sailor Moon R the brooch is upgraded to the Crystal Star Compact, and if you’re looking to keep pace with Sailor Moon herself, now you can order a faithful recreation of her second transformation item that’s also filled with facial powder.
The second Attack on Titan theatrical feature has been a long time coming, but the film, subtitled The Wings of Freedom, is finally opening in Japan this month. Since the movie is a condensed version of the second half of the anime TV series, there probably won’t be too much in the way of new plot developments. What audiences can look forward to, though, is a movie experience augmented by moving seats, gusts of wind, and other awesome effects.
The Sailor Moon manga began serialization in 1991, and the anime debuted soon after in 1992, so it’s safe to say many people have grown up following the adventures of the Sailor Senshi. If you’re getting ready to celebrate having completed another year of your life as a fan of the perennially popular magical girl franchise, why not do it with these soon-to-be-released Sailor Moon birthday cakes, topped with chocolate versions of the series’ characters?
To many, comic books are strictly for far-fetched make-believe. Quite often, that holds true for Japanese comics, too, since at any given time many of the top-selling manga feature transforming robots and magical powers, not to mention women with larger breasts and men with more finely delicate faces than any you’ll find in the real world.
Not every popular manga is a flight of fancy, though, as there’s also an audience that likes reading about such down-to-earth topics as starting and running a successful business. Oftentimes the companies and executives portrayed are fictional, but not always. That’s why a thorough list of today’s popular manga protagonists doesn’t just include One Piece’s Luffy and The Seven Deadly Sins’ Meliodas, but also Apple founder Steve Jobs.
The Pokémon series spends a lot of time focusing on how its adorable fighting monsters become stronger as they gain experience, but what about their human trainers? Sure, they may not be throwing any punches, but the core characters of the anime and video game franchise leave home at an early age to wander the world on foot and subdue wild beasts that, cute as they may be, can breathe fire, produce high-voltage electricity blasts, and squirt poison.
You have to figure the child mortality rate for would-be Pokémon Masters is astronomical, and those kids that do survive would become incredibly fit by nature of all death-defying physical activity their lifestyle demands. So maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised that retailer Bandai has just announced a shirtless figure of one of the most well-known human beings in the Pokémon universe, and it turns out he’s pretty ripped.
Roughly half an hour south of Tokyo by train, the city of Yokohama is a great place to hang out in the summer. The city boasts great dining and beautiful parks, plus most of its attractions are located near the harbor, which is regularly caressed by cooling breezes.
Of course, it’s not just people who enjoy heading down to the bayside capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, but Pokémon as well. Just like they did last year, packs of Pikachus will be spending their summer vacation in Yokohama, and the first ad for their upcoming visit gives us a taste of what’s in store.
Unless you’ve got a bitter aversion to the cold, odds are you’ll find early summer to be the least pleasant time of year in Japan, weather-wise. Not only is it hot and muggy, it’s also the country’s rainiest period, and just about any time you’re stepping outside you’ll want to carry an umbrella with you.
Thankfully, there’s a way to make the rainy season a little more enjoyable, as a new line of Studio Ghibli-themed umbrellas means a summer squall is just the beginning of a Totoro hunt as the beloved forest spirit magically appears on the umbrella’s fabric when it gets wet.
One of the biggest manga hits of the past 15 years is most certainly One Piece. You can talk about ninjas or titans, but the perennial favorite for top manga has been about those pirates of the Grand Line. Of the many treasures they have encountered during their journey, they have now uncovered something that is truly one of a kind, a Guinness World Record. The official One Piece website was happy to announce that author Eiichiro Oda and the manga One Piece are going in the record books as the comic book with the most issues published by a single author.
Summer is here, and with its warmer temperatures it’s the perfect time of year for stepping out in a lightweight dress. Of course, summer also means it’s time for summer vacation, thus removing the school uniform from the clothing options of fashionistas, anime fans, and monster-fighting magical girls alike.
There is an elegant way to combine the two looks, though, with these new Sailor Moon sundresses, which are part of a new line inspired by the anime hit that also contains blouses, cardigans, and skirts.
There’s no denying that Pokémon and the series’ adorable Pikachu are loved around the world. The international franchise has been around long enough that there are now several generations of former kids who grew up infatuated with the fantastic monsters but who may feel they can no longer openly show their affection for Pokémon, on account of supposedly being all “grown up”.
Well, you may be a grown-up in age, but if you still have a tiny bit of that Pokémon Master left in you, you might be delighted by the newest collaborative item being offered by fashion and culture brand BEAMS and the Pokémon Company. Check out these Pokémon×BEAMS watches that combine fashionable design and accurate time-keeping with your love of the Pokémon world!
Being in elementary school, Sakura Kinomoto, heroine of magical girl anime and manga franchise Cardcaptor Sakura, can cram everything she needs for the day into her randoseru, the boxy backpack kids across Japan start wearing when they enter first grade. But assuming you’re not a primary school student (or Hollywood actress Zooey Deschanel), odds are you want something a bit more mature to hold your belongings.
That doesn’t mean you have to give up on sporting some Sakura style, though, as two new Cardcaptor Sakura handbags are being offered from anime fashion company Super Groupies.
If you’re into anime and you haven’t been living under a rock for the past two years, you should have at least heard of the unstoppable, indomitable multimedia force known as Love Live! School Idol Project, which first aired in early 2013. The show took off and captured the hearts of Japanese and foreign viewers alike seemingly in the blink of an eye.
In fact, fans of the series are known for being so incredibly dedicated to the teenage troupe that we wanted to find out firsthand what attracted them to the series. Consequently, we had our Japanese reporter ask one enthusiastic fan, whom we’ll call Mr. K, for his personal opinion. What do you think he had to say about the draw of the series?
The Japanese are rather enthusiastic when it comes to recycling. In most Japanese cities, domestic waste has to be separated into a minimum of three categories: combustable “raw” garbage, recyclable plastic and recyclable paper. Some areas have their residents splitting their trash into as many as 10 categories.
Even with that said, there’s probably no place in Japan more outreach than Kyoto when it comes to recycling plastic, as they’ve had a little magical help from a handsome new mascot: Gomi no Yousei (Fairy of the Garbage). Check out the bizarre recycling enthusiast after the break!
While being an anime or manga artist takes a huge amount of artistic talent, they do at least have the advantage of complete control over the mediums in which they work. Making one person taller than another is just a matter of drawing longer lines. Want more people in a crowd scene? Just pencil them in. In a 2-D world, everything, even laws of physics like gravity, exists at, and can be bent to the whims of, the creator.
Cosplayers don’t have it so easy, though, and trying to recreate their favorite characters and scenes under real-world constraints can be a tricky task. These clever costumers have figured out some simple yet ingenious techniques for getting around those obstacles, though, and another behind-the-scenes peek at how they put their shots together reveals that sometimes an awesome final product only comes after some pretty silly-looking cosplay setup.
The first editor of the Dragon Ball manga has revealed that he thinks the franchise should have ended with the Frieza Arc. Kazuhiko Torishima, who worked closely with Akira Toriyama on the first half of the Dragon Ball manga, made the surprisingly frank comments in an interview that was recently broadcast on Japanese TV.
A pretty major difference between anime and western animation is the amount of detail Japanese productions put into character profiles and backstories. For just about any significant anime character, you can be sure the creators have decided on things such as a family name, exact height in centimeters, favorite food, and, in the case of sex-appeal female characters, bust, waist, and hip measurements.
If nothing else, characters almost always have an official birthday, even if there’s never an episode highlighting it or any other part of the story affected by, for instance, Attack on Titan’s Levi being born on December 25. Now, a fan-produced website has compiled a database of anime birthdays, allowing you to plug in your own to see which characters you could conceivably share a cake with.
Japan’s deadliest food claims more victims, but why do people keep eating it for New Year’s?
Anime Industry Report shows overseas anime market is bigger than Japanese one, but is this a cultural tipping point?
Starbucks Japan saves the best for last in our fukubukuro lucky bag haul
The etiquette rules for visiting Shinto shrines in Japan
The top 10 annoying foreign tourist behaviors on trains, as chosen by Japanese people【Survey】
Nintendo and Godiva team up for fancy fun chocolate line【Photos】
There’s an official PlayStation lucky bag, but what’s inside?【Photos】
Harry Potter and Detective Conan announce “collaboration of glasses-wearing boys”
Kiki’s Deliver Service heroine gets new design from Spy x Family artist for 40th anniversary
How to get a free Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut with your coffee in JapanJapan’s deadliest food claims more victims, but why do people keep eating it for New Year’s?The top 10 annoying foreign tourist behaviors on trains, as chosen by Japanese people【Survey】
Let’s go open a Lego Japan lucky bag…oAnime Industry Report shows overseas anime market is bigger than Japanese one, but is this a cultural tipping point?
McDonald’s Japan has a fukubukuro lucky bag that everyone wants to get their hands onThere’s an official PlayStation lucky bag, but what’s inside?【Photos】
Hayao Miyazaki says Happy New Year to Studio Ghibli fans with new art for Year of the Snake
What’s in Starbucks Japan’s fukubukuro lucky bag for 2025?
Starbucks Japan’s Lucky Bag #3: A fukubukuro surprise we weren’t expecting
Square Enix releases a Final Fantasy fukubukuro lucky bag for New Year’s in JapanJapan’s deadliest food claims more victims, but why do people keep eating it for New Year’s?The top 10 annoying foreign tourist behaviors on trains, as chosen by Japanese people【Survey】
Bear breaks into house in Japan, quickly begins spending winter exactly like Japanese people doHayao Miyazaki says Happy New Year to Studio Ghibli fans with new art for Year of the Snake
Japanese company develops classy heavy metal band frames for glasses
This downtown Tokyo cafe is like a time machine that takes you back 50 years into the pastMcDonald’s Japan has a fukubukuro lucky bag that everyone wants to get their hands onWhat’s in Starbucks Japan’s fukubukuro lucky bag for 2025?
Station of despair: What to do if you get stuck at the end of Tokyo’s Chuo Rapid Line
Starbucks Japan reveals new winter holiday goods to wrap up 2024
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Foreign tourists on Shinkansen bullet train break suitcase etiquette, angering local passengers
Possessing Harry Potter’s Sword of Godric Gryffindor is now illegal in Japan
[Deleted] Article written for April Fool’s Day 2018
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of societyJapan’s deadliest food claims more victims, but why do people keep eating it for New Year’s?
Japanese convenience store Family Mart announces abolishment of eat-in spaces
Life-size vibrating Legend of Zelda Master Sword for sale from Nintendo【Photos】
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
Nintendo and Godiva team up for fancy fun chocolate line【Photos】
There’s an official PlayStation lucky bag, but what’s inside?【Photos】
Harry Potter and Detective Conan announce “collaboration of glasses-wearing boys”
Kiki’s Deliver Service heroine gets new design from Spy x Family artist for 40th anniversary
How to get a free Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut with your coffee in Japan
Starbucks Japan’s Lucky Bag #3: A fukubukuro surprise we weren’t expecting
Village Vanguard possibly tops its own record for most useless junk in a lucky bag this year
The dark kawaii fashions of the Ank Rouge lucky bag are here!【Photos】
The mystery destination of the SoraNews24 end-of-year party left us speechless
We take a cat yoga class at a Japanese rescue cat cafe
The beautiful models and awesome booths of Tokyo Game Show 2018【Photos】
Terrace House star Hana Kimura’s suicide proceeding as a criminal case
We predict 7-Eleven’s new Zero Cider Triple drink is gonna be the hit drink of 2022【Taste Test】