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anime (Page 233)

Freaky cube shows when anime pillows aren’t terrifyingly pervy, they’re just terrified

Sometimes, anime merchandise gets an unfairly bad rap. Anime figurines aren’t all busty or bikini-clad, for example. Some are actually quite tasteful, built more to show off the characters’ cool costumes or awesome poses than their knockout figures.

Heck, even anime-themed hug pillows, perhaps the skeeviest sector of anime paraphernalia, isn’t 100 percent submissive-looking girls with half their clothes peeled off. For example, this cube-shaped Love Live cushion isn’t even suggestive, it’s just plain weird.

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There are a lot of things people love about runaway anime and manga hit Attack on Titan. Aside from the iconic and unsettling Titans themselves, the series has a unique setting, unpredictable plot, and bouts of intensely visceral action.

Just about the only thing fans don’t gush over is, oddly enough, the main character. Sure, protagonist Eren may have the tragic back story, pure heart, and burning sense of justice that are required of male action anime leads, but in terms of popularity, he ranks far, far behind the coolly efficient Levi.

Whereas Attack on Titan’s narrative often slows down as Eren struggles under the weight of his role as protector of humanity, pretty much every second Levi appears on screen is dedicated to showing what a badass he is. Levi is so awesome, you wonder why he isn’t the star of his own anime. Well, soon enough, he will be.

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Learn English with Assassination Classroom

Kunugigaoka Junior High School, and particularly CLASS 3-E’s amazing artificial lifeform teacher Koro-sensei is known for his innovative and unique tactics of teaching his students. From making songs about math based off of anime opening themes, to moving at Mach 20 just to create “after image tutor copies,” Koro-sensei will stop at nothing to make sure that his students learn their lesson.

Now it seems that he’s turned his immense smile in another direction to bring the same one on one quality teaching to the hands of students everywhere, with the official Assassination Classroom English Textbook!

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Producer clarifies Studio Ghibli’s future, mentions that Miyazaki “would like to make an anime”

In a recent discussion about the future of the Studio Ghibli’s production division, veteran producer Toshio Suzuki recently shocked and confused anime fans worldwide. But hey, what do you expect when you’re talking about the most respected studio in the history of anime, and you bandy about talk of “dismantling,” “restructuring,” and “taking a temporary hiatus,” despite the very different implications each of those entails.

With so many people looking for clarification, Suzuki recently appeared on Japanese television to talk a little more about where Studio Ghibli is going from here, plus to tease and entice the audience with talk of legendary director Hayao Miyazaki’s potential next anime project.

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This is what happens when you give a Ghibli character a typical anime haircut

With all the recent rumors about Studio Ghibli possibly shutting down or being bought out by another media company – which, thankfully, turned out to be a hoax – we’ve  been taking a lot of time out to take stock of what it is that makes Studio Ghibli and studio founder Hayao Miyazaki so special.

Certainly, Miyazaki’s films are at least a cut or two above other critically acclaimed anime films and are far and away higher in both visual and narrative quality than most of the anime you’ll see on TV.

But one Japanese Twitter user with a copy of Photoshop thought most anime does at least one thing better than Ghibli: anime hair.

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Sleepy? PC program dispatches anime girl to wake you up with encouragement, angry outbursts

I don’t know if it was because of the layout of the surrounding skyscrapers, the beat-up old boom box we had in the lobby, or just a weak signal from the local broadcaster, but at one of my old jobs, we could never get a clear radio signal. This didn’t mean we had no musical accompaniment while we worked though, just that we had to use CDs. Unfortunately, on many days that meant a constant repeat of the Enya CD my boss would stick in the player.

She may be an award-winning artist, but a selection you could describe as “soothing and ethereal” wasn’t exactly the best choice to help power the staff through our shift. Sometimes I’d see one of my coworkers nodding off in front of his PC monitor, and I’d give him a quick, “Hey, wake up dude,” before our boss noticed.

I’m sure he appreciated the favor, but now technology can perform that same service for you, with a program that’ll send a cute anime girl onto your screen to wake you up if you doze off.

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The top 10 anime that people in Japan never tire of watching

Stuck inside due to the blistering Japanese summer heat? Why not kick back under your aircon and watch something on TV? If you’ve already seen all the hit shows and don’t want to take a chance on something new, how about watching some of Japan’s favorite anime of all time?

A new survey polled Japanese anime fans and asked them to name the anime they can watch over and over again and never get bored. Click on through to find out which one tops the list!

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Stand tall with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure hoodies

With JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders available streaming and in print, fans everywhere are undoubtedly excited to see all of the Stands, supernatural powers that can protect and fight for their users.

Thanks to Japanese clothing brand BEAMS, fans can now become their favorite Stands with special, full zip-up Stardust Crusader hoodies. Or, at least three of the Stands. For the time being, hoodies come as either Jotaro Kujo’s Star Platinum, Noriaki Kakyoin’s Hierophant Green, and Jean Pierre Polnareff’s Silver Chariot.

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Fans of anime house Studio Ghibli have been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster for the past few weeks. First came the dizzying high that always accompanies a new Ghibli release, in this case director Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s When Marnie Was There. Then came the vague yet nevertheless alarming comments from long-time producer Toshio Suzuki, who reflected on the merits of Ghibli “dismantling,” “restructuring,” or “reconstructing” its anime production department.

This was followed almost immediately by reports that Japanese online media company Dwango was set to purchase and absorb Studio Ghibli into its corporate body. Those rumors have now been quashed, though, and by what seems to be a fairly reliable source: Dwango’s chairman himself.

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7-Eleven escalates anime goody arms race with gigantic Evangelion statue that could be yours

It’s no secret that there’s a lot of overlap between hardcore anime fans and frequent convenience store customers. With so many animated series to collect and watch, how are you supposed to find the time to cook, let alone the cash for a meal out at a fancy restaurant?

So in order to draw in as many otaku with the munchies as possible, Japan’s competing convenience store chains have been partnering up with hit anime series. So while Lawson is giving away dozens of different Attack on Titan goodies, 7-Eleven is countering with just one type of prize: a gigantic Evangelion figure.

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Investors watching Yo-Kai Watch as hit game/anime series leads stock rally in Japan

As Japan continues its long in-vain search for a way to recapture the glory years of the Bubble Economy of the 1980s, politicians and pundits have proposed a plethora of projects. But amid all the talk of privatizing the postal system, making the expressways free, and devaluing the yen, there’s one outside the box solution no one happened on until now: unleash supernatural entities into the stock market.

Maybe it’s something they should have tried earlier, considering how the supernatural characters of hit multimedia franchise Yo-Kai Watch are leading a mini stock rally all by themselves.

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The science of Attack on Titan explained: Finally, a Titan tie-in that looks kinda cool

Who would win in a fight between a Titan and Ultraman? How were the Walls built? Seeing as Titans never eat or drink, are they surviving through photosynthesis? If these are the questions that keep you awake at night, then we’ve got some bedtime reading for you.

Kūsō Kagaku Dokuhon (空想科学読本, literally “fantasy science reader”) is a series that addresses, queries and explains the science behind popular Japanese anime and manga. This time around, writer Rikao Yanagita has turned his hand to the inescapable Attack on Titan series, in this 208-page illustrated work that promises to answer all your titanic scientific ponderings.

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New father dresses like iconic pop culture characters and takes baths with his kid

Normally I pride myself on being able to come up with at least somewhat clever headlines for my articles, but this story is so bizarrely specific, I ran out of space just trying to come up with a comprehensible title.

What you’re looking at is a new father who got the idea to pose with his daughter in the bathtub every couple of weeks to record her growth from gross poop machine into vaguely human infant. The man’s wife apparently proposed that they add a little makeup to dad’s face to make things interesting and then the situation, as you can see, kind of escalated from there.

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The awesome costumed fans of Nagoya’s World Cosplay Summit 【Photos】

With schools in both Japan and abroad on summer vacation, we’re right in the prime seasons for pop culture events like San Diego Comic-Con and Chiba Prefecture’s Wonder Festival. We recently attended both, snapping pictures of all the cool cosplay costumes, but the hobby’s most prestigious gathering was yet to come.

Last weekend the 2014 World Cosplay Summit was held in the city of Nagoya. Our own cosplay efforts aren’t quite competition-level, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy all the awesome costumes that were, so we grabbed our camera and hopped on the Shinkansen.

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One Piece takes over Yamanote train for 15th anniversary

The One Piece anime is turning 15 this year, and one of the birthday surprises includes a One Piece takeover of JR’s Yamanote Line.

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You can now get physical with your virtual girlfriend thanks to Oculus Rift and a dubious pillow

Are you starting to feel that your virtual girlfriend just isn’t real enough? Craving the feel of her soft skin against your own? With the technological leaps being made in the field of virtual reality gaming headsets, otaku are being offered the chance to get closer to their digital darlings than ever before. But can they handle it?!

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Just a few weeks ago, When Marnie Was There, the newest anime movie from Studio Ghibli, hit Japanese theatres. Marnie is actually the second Ghibli release since legendary director Hayao Miyazaki retired from the company, but the first with a general, mainstream target market, as 2013’s The Tale of Princess Kaguya was a much more experimental, avant-garde film in visual style and tone.

Just as Miyazaki has stepped away from feature films, Ghibli producer and co-founder Toshio Suzuki is easing into retirement, and so many anime fans have been watching Marnie while looking for clues as to where Ghibli’s films would be going from here. Judging from statements made by Suzuki, though, the better question isn’t what kind of movies Ghibli will be making in the future, but whether the studio will be making any at all, as he feels that maybe it’s time for the Ghibli production team to close up shop.

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Promotion offers perfect one-week living space for otaku: An apartment pre-stocked with manga

The first time I went apartment hunting in Japan, I was shocked by how bare-bones some of them are. The lack of centralized air conditioning means often you have to go to the appliance store and buy your own AC unit, and oftentimes lighting and even a cooking range aren’t included either.

As a result, it’s always a relief to find an apartment that has any sort of amenities already included. And while a mini fridge or ceiling lamp is a nice freebie, neither one is anywhere near as cool as an apartment that comes pre-stocked with a library of manga.

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Fending off unwanted Kabe-don: A guide

As we’ve talked about before, kabe-don is the trendy new way for Japanese bad boys to soft sexually assault their crush. It consists of a guy approaching a girl he (presumably) has a thing for, who is ideally leaning against a wall, then suddenly smacking the wall with their palm and getting in reaaaaalllly close so the girl can smell his garlic breath.

Oddly enough, a lot of Japanese girls go absolutely wild for the idea of the kabe-don, in the same way guys love the idea of owning a Weird Science-esque sexbot; It’s sexy and cool on paper, frightening and creepy in real life.

Luckily for any girls who find themselves the unwilling recipient of an ill-advised kabe-don, someone has created an illustrated self-defense guide:

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Already got your box set of Sailor Moon DVDs? Then how about a box set of anime accessories?

For anime fans, there’re aren’t many things more frustrating than single volume releases of a series they want to collect. Instead of a slow, expensive trickle of DVDs or Blu-rays with one or two episodes per disc, fans are always happier when they can get the whole series, or at least an entire season, in a nice box set.

Now, merchandiser Bandai is applying that same crowd-pleasing tactic to accessories, with a series of boxed collections of pins and charms inspired by the four seasons of the original Sailor Moon.

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