(Page 233) Tag: anime | SoraNews24 -Japan News-

Featured

anime (Page 233)

Here’s why you shouldn’t leave your anime girl pillow alone with a frisky Winnie the Pooh

Casey Baseel
Aug 4, 2015
Tweet

For a country that’s ordinarily very concerned with not doing anything to shock or offend, Japan can be extremely open about its sexual tastes, in ways that manifest as both perfectly healthy and perfectly pervy. Japan is also pretty open and comfortable with its weakness for cute things, as you’ll often see adults of both genders sporting clothing or accessories bearing the image of popular children’s characters.

But what happens when you have both a sexy anime huggy pillow and a cute Disney stuffed animal in your bedroom, and you leave them alone for a while?

Japanese arcade has floor pads so fans can kneel before, leave offerings to their anime crushes

Casey Baseel
Aug 4, 2015

Even among otaku, those with a fondness for anime series Love Live! are known for being particularly obsessive. As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to say that the Love Livers, as the franchise’s fans are known, worship the show’s central characters.

And if that’s the case, one arcade figured, why not give fans a place where they can kneel down and make offerings to their anime idols?

Cardcaptor Sakura is ready to capture your phone with this elegant anime iPhone case

Casey Baseel
Aug 4, 2015

Cardcaptor Sakura’s titular heroine keeps her captured cards in a magic tome called the Clow Book, pulling them out as needed in the course of her adventures. In your daily life, though, you probably don’t run into that many occasions that call for instantly producing wooden cages, creating a labyrinth in an alternate dimension, commanding the sun to rise, or any of the other mystical functions of the Clow Cards.

On the other hand, you probably whip out your smartphone several times a day, and the next time you do, it could be inside this regal-looking Cardcaptor Sakura iPhone case.

How do they make those amazing life-size anime statues? We find out (and snap tons of pictures)

Casey Baseel
Aug 3, 2015

The twice-yearly Wonder Festival exhibition is all about models of anime, video game, and other 2-D characters. Just like with model airplanes or trains, you can often find multiple versions of the same character in different scales, usually several times smaller than the heroes and heroines they’re based on are actually supposed to be.

Walking around the convention, though, we came across two stunning life-sized figures. It wasn’t just their size that impressed us, though, but their amazing attention to detail. Not only did we stop to gawk and snap pictures, we also got an explanation of how they were made, and it involves a 3-D printer!

Keep your life in order with this Sailor Moon day planner and its flip-book art

Casey Baseel
Jul 31, 2015

Sailor Moon is a busy girl. Along with having to juggle her responsibilities as both a regular junior high school student and the guardian of humanity, she’s got a packed social calendar of hanging out with her friends and going on dates with her boyfriend/helping him recover his senses from one of his worryingly frequent brainwashings.

If you’ve got a similarly large number of appointments to keep track of, maybe you could use a little help from this Sailor Moon day planner featuring dozens of stylish touches and flip-book art inspired by the franchise.

Don’t like the new Digimon character designs? Look like one of the old ones with Taichi’s goggles

Casey Baseel
Jul 31, 2015

With Digimon returning to the world of anime after a 15-year break, you’d think fans of the original series, which aired in 1999 and 2000, would be uniformly ecstatic. Nostalgia is a funny thing, though, and while some are glad to have the cast of kids and digital monsters back in any form, others are unhappy that the human characters look different from how they did in the original TV show.

Unless you’re a producer for the upcoming Digimon Adventure tri. movie series, though, there’s not much you can do about the onscreen visuals, except maybe sign a petition denouncing the new artwork. On the other hand, you can choose to make yourself look more like the classic Digimon cast with a pair of these goggles, modeled after lead character Taichi’s.

New Attack on Titan collaboration takes the fight to unwanted body hair

Oona McGee
Jul 30, 2015

Fans of the hit anime Attack on Titan may also know it by its original Japanese title, Shingeki no Kyojin, which literally translates to “Advancing Giants.”

Giants aren’t the only thing advancing upon us, though, because now there’s an unusual advertising campaign announcing the arrival of Shingeki no Bijin, or Advancing Beauties, and the war we’re fighting is the war on body hair.

Here’s why you should never shine a black light on a used anime character figure

Casey Baseel
Jul 30, 2015

With the unrelenting flow of new animated series produced in Japan, the country’s hyper-otaku could always use some extra cash to pay for the latest and greatest anime goodies. To raise those funds, many superfans eventually cycle out the stuff they’re tired of by selling it online or to a retailer specializing in used items. On the other side of that equation, if you’re an anime fan, but not the hardest of the hardcore, you can pick up used Blu-rays and DVDs at attractive discounts from their original prices.

You can even find anime character figures for sale in the second-hand market, but there are a couple of things you’ll want to investigate before buying a used statuette. First, you’ll want to make sure it’s in good, scratch-free condition. Double-checking that it’s not a cheaply made knockoff is also a good idea.

But while doing your homework in important, there’s also one thing to remember after the deal is done and you’ve got your used figure sitting on your shelf: Whatever you do, don’t shine a black light on it.

If you’re reading this at work, be advised that things are going to get pretty gross from here on!

The female cosplayers (and their occasionally male characters) of Summer Wonder Festival

Casey Baseel
Jul 29, 2015

Last weekend, it was once again time for Japan’s model and garage kit enthusiasts to gather for the summer iteration of Wonder Festival, held at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba Prefecture. But while the event’s primary goal is to showcase the talents of those recreating anime and video game characters in plastic and resin, you’ll also find plenty of fans bringing their favorite heroes and heroines to life in flesh and cloth, as Wonder Festival has also become a major draw for cosplayers.

But would the soaring temperature during this year’s Summer Wonder Festival keep cosplayers in their air-conditioned homes? Not at all, and we figured if they were going to brave the heat, we would too, so we grabbed our camera and headed for the convention.

Sailor Moon and her pals are ready for tea time with these cool cup-hugging figures

Casey Baseel
Jul 29, 2015

While each member of the core cast of Sailor Moon has her own personality, the one descriptor that works across the board for the Sailor Senshi is “helpful.” Even protagonist Usagi, for all of her lack of willpower regarding the temptations of junk food and video games, is always ready to lend a hand to those in need when the chips are down.

Case in point: Not only will the hit anime’s magical girls protect your town from interdimensional monsters on a weekly basis, they’ll even keep you company during your coffee break, in the form of these cheerful Sailor Moon figures that’ll cling to the edge of your cup as you sip your beverage.

Paint your room in Ayanami Blue with official Evangelion paint

Casey Baseel
Jul 28, 2015

While there’s no way you could call the Evangelion franchise underappreciated as a whole, one part of the anime classic that often gets overlooked is its effective use of color. Add a couple of splashes of green and black to a field of purple, for example, and any fan will instantly think of the show’s central robot, Eva Unit-01.

Likewise, it’s impossible to imagine Rei Ayanami, Evangelion’s most famous female character, without the otherworldly fragile aura imparted by her distinctive blue hair. The color is so iconic that one Japanese paint company has even started selling a new shade, Ayanami Blue, that’s an exact match or Rei’s trademark tresses.

In the name of the monthly moon! New series of Sailor Moon sanitary pads hits shelves in Japan

Oona McGee
Jul 28, 2015

The earth has always enjoyed a special relationship with the moon. The month-long cycle of push-and-pull between the planet and its natural satellite means we calculate days in terms of lunar months and in Japan they even use the same kanji character (月) to mean both month and moon itself. Oh, and instead of seeing a man on the moon’s surface, they see a rabbit pounding rice.

So when it comes to ‘that time of the month’, the connection with lunar forces in Japan has given birth to an unusual collaboration between Sailor Moon warriors, with a girl called Usagi-chan, or rabbit, at the helm, and Elis sanitary pads. Fans are gushing over the adorable packaging and the chance to win free related merchandise!

Cute miniature collection reveals the everyday items used by Sailor Moon cast

Oona McGee
Jul 27, 2015

Would you like to know what Sailor Moon and her pals eat for lunch? Or perhaps you’re curious to find out how they study or what they’d take along to the local shrine. Well now you can find out all that and more, with this gorgeous miniature collection!

New anime Gate entertains, tries to recruit you to the Japan Self-Defense Forces at the same time

Scott Wilson
Jul 24, 2015

We’ve seen the Japanese Self-Defense Forces get quite creative with trying to entice new recruits, but never before have we seen them do an all-out official collaboration with an anime.

And Gate is the perfect anime for them to team up with. It’s about the JSDF traveling through a portal to another world, taking down monsters, teaming up with cute girls, and just generally making it look like joining them would be the most amazing thing ever.

You can bet the JSDF is milking it for every last drop they can, starting with posters that are giving us a strange urge to visit our local recruitment center.

The Evangelion Shinkansen will let you ride the rails like a cool angel this fall

Casey Baseel
Jul 24, 2015

Over the past few years, we’ve seen Japan Railways, Japan’s largest rail operator, embark on a spurt of posh train building, with coaches that feature gold leaf accents, split-level suites, and relaxing foot baths. This fall, though, JR West will be launching a train that dials back the luxury while pumping up the awesomeness in the eyes of anime fans with the Evangelion Shinkansen.

Is One Piece’s end in sight? Editor reveals final arc is mapped out, speculates on timetable

Casey Baseel
Jul 23, 2015

18 years after it first appeared in comic form, creator Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece is more popular than ever. But while fans might be happy to see the Straw Hat Pirates keep sailing forever, the manga’s current editor says that not only has Oda mapped out how the story will end, but also that he thinks he knows about how many more volumes the manga has to go before its finale.

Want to be a manga artist, but can’t draw backgrounds? Website has environments you can download

Casey Baseel
Jul 22, 2015

If you’re a budding manga creator, odds are you spend most of your time working on your character artwork. That’s probably a wise choice, too, as most famous comic artists focus on drawing their stories’ leads, and hand off work on other details, such as background art, to a team of assistants.

Of course, another reality of being a budding manga artist is that you probably don’t have a publisher bankrolling your comic and paying for the abovementioned team of assistants. But thankfully there’s now a way for you to pour your efforts into story and character art and still produce something that looks polished, thanks to a new Japanese website that sells ready-to-use manga backgrounds.

The clean otaku only needs one thing to remove grime from an anime keychain, and it’s not soap

Casey Baseel
Jul 17, 2015

If you’re an anime fan with a treasure trove of merchandise from your favorite shows, you probably take certain precautions to keep your collection looking nice. Putting DVDs or Blu-rays back in their cases when not in use is a no-brainer, as is storing manga and art books in a place where they’re not being bathed in color-fading direct sunlight. You may have even picked up a few advanced techniques, like turning anime T-shirts inside out before washing to extend the life of the print, or using thumb tacks with a large enough head to sandwich the edge of a poster against the wall so you don’t have to put a hole in the paper itself.

But what about the dirt and grime that anime character-shaped rubber keychains and straps accumulate though daily use? Actually, it turns out there’s a simple trick to get them looking like new, and it doesn’t involve any soap.

The Boy and the Beast is a hit, but is it any good? RN24’s review of Mamoru Hosoda’s new anime

Casey Baseel
Jul 14, 2015

Many would argue that Mamoru Hosoda is the most talented director of family anime in the industry today. That “family” classification is two-fold, by the way. Not only are Hosoda’s works appropriate for just about all ages, taking the high road by eschewing in-your-face sex appeal and gratuitous violence, the bond between family members is a recurring theme in his films. In 2009, Hosoda’s Summer Wars showed audiences an extended yet close-knit family headed by the female lead’s tough yet kind grandmother. Three years later, the focus was on a single mother raising two lycanthropes in rural Japan in Wolf Children Ame and Yuki.

Now, Hosoda is turning viewers’ gaze towards a relationship he hasn’t put the spotlight on before, with the just-released The Boy and the Beast, which asks what a boy needs to learn from his father, and also what that father can learn from his boy. So how does it answer those quesitons? Read on for the rest of our review of Hosoda’s latest hit to find out.

The Boy and the Beast film debuts at #1, earns 667 million yen in 1st weekend

Anime News Network
Jul 14, 2015

Mamoru Hosoda‘s The Boy and The Beast film debut at #1 during the July 11-12 weekend, topping the Japanese debut of Terminator Genisys. The Boy and The Beast opened on 457 screens, and earned 667,035,100 yen (about US$5.4 million) in its first two days. The film sold 494,170 tickets over the weekend.