Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
anime (Page 233)
We’ve recently seen a pair of Sailor Moon-themed dining options appear in Tokyo, allowing fans to wrap themselves in the hit franchise’s atmosphere as they enjoy a bite to eat. But if your anime and manga tastes run more towards beautiful boys than magical girls, now there’s a place for you too, at the new Hanai Yori Dango Cafe in Tokyo’s Shibuya.
Sipping a hot cup of tea can be an enjoyable way to relax and put your brain on auto-pilot for a few minutes. Waiting for your tea bag to steep, though, can be downright dull. Sitting there, staring at the bag’s string and tab, you might find yourself wishing for a view, and if your preferred view is a pair of large anime breasts, this Japanese company would be happy to oblige.
Never has there been a more enchanted tale than that of a school of young witches and the small, newly founded animation studio that created them. Their success story reads like a fairytale: two former Gainax employees create Studio Trigger in 2011, release the animated short Little Witch Academia two years later, and thousands of fans across the world immediately fall madly in love with their film, eagerly raising funds through Kickstarter for a follow-up movie, which surpassed its goal of US150,000 in five hours, and ultimately made $625,518 for their next film.
Now it’s time to see what this group of dedicated fans helped to create, as the new film, Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade has finally hit big screens for a limited two-week run in Japan. And to add to the excitement of the highly anticipated release, there’s a line of exclusive merchandise available for film-goers to purchase until the film finishes screening on 23 October.
Out of all the Studio Ghibli films, My Neighbor Totoro remains one of the most beloved, with the tale of two young girls and their magical forest friends capturing hearts and imaginations around the world.
While the story centres on Totoro, the furry, forest-dwelling giant, his unique mode of transport very nearly upstages him. What’s not to love about a multi-legged bus-shaped cat that bounds over hills beaming trails of light from its huge yellow eyes and carrying mice along as tail-lights?
Now it’s time to take the iconic catbus home and when we do, we’ll be making him entirely from scratch, with a specially designed kit made from lasercut paper materials.
Last summer, merchandiser Bandai released a line of Sailor Moon compacts modeled after the lunar heroine’s transformation items. Happy as fans were, there were two little drawbacks. First, the items were sold through randomly dispensing gachapon toy vending machines, meaning there was no way to be sure which one you’d get. Second, the compacts were literally compact, with tiny mirrors that weren’t the most practical.
The newest piece of Sailor Moon merchandise from the company’s upmarket Premium Bandai brand addresses both of those issues, though, in the form of this full-size replica of the Crisis Moon Compact, with a large mirror and compartment to hold your accessories in.
When most Americans hear the name Conan, they’re likely to think of either Conan the Barbarian or Conan the Late-Night TV Host/O’Brien. But when people in Japan hear “Conan,” they immediately think of the star long-running anime hit Great Detective Conan (which was released in the U.S. under the title Case Closed).
After being transformed into a child, brilliant detective Shinichi Kudo chooses the alias of Conan Edogawa, borrowing his new first name from Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle. But even trapped in the body of a young boy, Kudo continues solving crimes. Like Doyle’s famous consulting detective, no detail escapes the sharp eyes and clever eyes of Conan.
Well, except for this gigantic art mistake in a recent episode of the Great Detective Conan anime.
Fans of the internationally popular hit manga Naruto were dealt a huge blow when the series ended last November after 15 years of serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. Who would have thought that the story of a young ninja with high hopes and ideals (and named after a ramen ingredient, no less) would become such a success world-wide and go on to continue for 15 years?
Well, it did, and while Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto has been enjoying his well-earned rest since finishing the series, fans will be delighted to know that he apparently hasn’t been completely idle, as he publicly commented on plans for his next manga recently at an Apple Store event in New York!
When speaking English I generally try not to insist on using a Japanese word for something we’ve got a perfectly serviceable English term for. Onsen? Hot spring. Genkan? Entryway. Omotenashi? Hospitality.
Still, there are times when Japanese vocabulary can be really handy. Tenugui, for example, is a lot more succinct than its English equivalent: “cloths with decorative patterns, often traditional, that are longer than hand towels, yet narrower than bath towels, and can be used as handkerchiefs, tablecloths, gift wrapping, or interior decorations.” And as if linguistic convenience wasn’t reason enough, now there’s one more reason to embrace the Japanese word, or actually two, with these beautiful Sailor Moon tenugui.
San Diego Comic Con is famous for getting all the big announcements and sneak peaks about new projects, but New York Comic Con is getting large enough that major news stories are being broken at the East Coast convention. Some of the biggest news over the weekend for anime fans was the announcement of a live-action Hollywood film adaptation of Tiger & Bunny. With such a mammoth announcement, it didn’t take much time for someone to come along and fan-cast the entire series. Judging by looks alone, we are pretty impressed with their choices and while we probably won’t see so many amazing actors come together for one movie, it’s always nice to dream.
Level-5, the game developer behind hits such as Ni no Kuni, Professor Layton and the mega-popular Yo-Kai Watch, are no strangers to success. They’ve even turned their mega-hit Yo-Kai Watch into an ongoing 90-episode anime series. Since then, the popularity of the show, the game and the characters has really risen, especially Jibanyan, who has surpassed Pikachu in popularity. It was only a matter of time before this huge hit would dip a toe into international waters, and on Disney XD it finally happened.
A TV show about spirits based on Japanese folklore would probably have needed a few adjustments when screened for a Western audience, so we were wondering, what did they decide to name their main character in the English version?
As the more worldly wise of you will no doubt already know, New York City is not in Japan. Nor is it in any other part of Asia. But as you’re probably also aware, we at RocketNews24 just can’t pass up a bit of quality cosplay when we see it, especially when much of it is based on characters from the island many of our team now call home.
Sadly, our bosses refused to pony up the cash for a plane ticket to the Big Apple so we could check out New York Comic Con 2015 for ourselves, but our friends over at Pixable (you do know we’re on Pixable now, right?) were there with cameras in hand, and they were good enough to share their photos with us.
Check out 20 of our favourite cosplayers at New York Comic Con 2015, after the jump.
Fans of the Sailor Moon anime franchise have been enjoying some extra special items this year; we’ve seen tiny, miniature replicas of the girls’ everyday items, lip balm transformation rods and even Moon Stick pens, and now it’s time to add a life-sized addition to our collections.
The Rainbow Moon Chalice, the magical object that transforms the heroine of the popular anime franchise into Super Sailor Moon, is available now as a 1:1 scale replica from the Proplica series of life-sized props. Featuring lights and music from the series and also the voice of Kotono Mitsuishi, who voices Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon and Chibi Chibi/Sailor Chibi Chibi in the anime, this is one item that can let you play out your fantasies of transforming into a super you!
As one of the most enduringly popular anime franchises aimed at women, Sailor Moon has a huge variety of official jewelry and accessories that fans can adorn themselves with. The complete lineup is so large that some dedicated collectors might even need a way to keep it all organized, and what better way to do so than with a gorgeous accessory stand based on the series’ palatial Moon Castle?
While each new installment of the Pokémon franchise introduces a new batch of charismatic Pocket Monsters, the original adorable combatants have been faithfully serving their Pokémon Masters for close to 20 years now. We’re sure a couple of long-time fans have formed a special bond with their first Pokémon, and you can now proudly display a symbol of your devotion with these silver and gold necklaces featuring the old-school grass, fire, and water Pokémon (and of course Pikachu too).
Even 18 years after its initial publication, One Piece continues to enjoy unprecedented popularity around the world, no doubt thanks to the grueling efforts of series’ creator Eiichiro Oda. Since July, fans have been waiting with bated breath after new details emerged regarding a kabuki stage version of the beloved franchise, but that wait is now over–October 7 marked the opening performance of the play, and we’ve finally been treated to some pictures of the cast!
Since Toyota revealed details of its concept S-FR, set to make its first appearance at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month, people in Japan have been picking their jaws up off the floor—but it’s got nothing to do with the car’s impressive specs or surprisingly low price point.
You see, the compact sports car looks astonishingly like Pikachu, the bright yellow electric rodent from the popular anime franchise Pokémon. And what’s even more surprising is that few people in the mainstream media are daring to comment on the astounding likeness.
It’s no secret that in Japan selling the fantasy of an anime or video game sweetheart is big business. But is everyone with a 2-D crush simply a lonely soul using the fictional character as a substitute for a lack of real-world interaction with the opposite sex, or do some people just prefer having a virtual romantic prospect? One Japanese technology company is aiming to find out, using the power of science.
When you think Pokémon, you tend to think cutesy creatures fist-fighting and zapping each other with lightning until one of the creatures is “knocked out.” Also, you may think of widespread, real-world epileptic seizures and perhaps the moral complications of a world in which the local fauna are pitted against each other in fighting leagues, used as slave labor and also happily eaten, despite their astonishing intelligence, but maybe that’s a story for another day.
What you probably don’t associate with the series is a devastating intercultural war that has wiped out nearly the entire adult population, yet there appears to be some rather compelling evidence that that’s exactly what happened in the Pokémon world directly before the adventures of the first game…
The word otaku has a long and complicated history in Japan. Originally, it was strictly a pejorative, a label used to mark those with an unhealthily intense interest in anime and other bits of minutiae-heavy hobbies. But while there are many who still use the word in that scathing sense, “otaku” has slowly built up another image as a badge of pride worn by those with a strong and enduring passion for the specific niches of art or technology that appeal to them.
That means that Japanese society, for arguably the first time, is starting to accept that being an otaku can be either a positive or a negative force in a person’ life. But what’s the difference between a good otaku and a bad otaku? One Japanese educator has an answer.
Career arcs in Japan used to be simple. You finished school, got a job, and worked there until it was time to retire. Along the way, you were paid a salary calculated strictly on the basis of how long you’d been with the company.
That’s not necessarily the case anymore, and as more and more Japanese switch employers, and even industries, they need a baseline from which to evaluate the pay of potential posts, which is where Japanese website Kyuryo Bank comes in. Yes, Kyuryo Bank has all the salary-related numerical data and progression charts you’d expect, but it also has something truly unique: awesome anime-style illustrations of professions ranging from public accountant and lawyer to web designer, pro blogger, and yes, even “chicken sexer.”
New Shinkansen luggage drop-off system begins in Japan, making train travel even easier
Tokyo subway installing new ticket gates that don’t accept payment through Suica or other IC cards
99-year-old woman rescued while attempting to climb Mt. Fuji
Which country’s foreign tourists spend the most money per-person in Japan? Hint: Not the U..S. or China
Starbucks Japan adds a new summer Frappuccino to the menu, but is it as refreshing as it looks?
Brand new Shinkansen bullet train unveiled in Japan… but it won’t carry passengers
Foreign hiker on Mt. Fuji loses consciousness and dies, becoming climbing season’s second fatality
Cup Noodle releases cold-water instant ramen in Japan, but can it really be made with just cold water?
Studio Ghibli releases anime T-shirts that pay homage to one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most personal films
Cup Noodle and Columbia team up for a weird and wonderful T-shirt that’s very Japanese
Japan now has human refrigerators inspired by Japanese vending machines
Hatsune Miku collaborates with Hokusai’s art in new Vocaloid ukiyo-e illustration series [Pics]Studio Ghibli releases anime T-shirts that pay homage to one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most personal filmsNew Shinkansen luggage drop-off system begins in Japan, making train travel even easier
Japanese convenience store releases Japanese convenience store-flavor fried chicken
Family Mart’s new Tokyo flagship convenience store doesn’t feel convenient, but is that a problem?
Starbucks Japan releases new Discovery Series collection celebrating local regions and traditions
Teen girl in Japan refuses to be victim, personally escorts train pervert to police for arrest
Is Japan’s tourism boom slowing down? Foreign visitor numbers fall for first time in five years
Starbucks Japan releases exclusive new Bearista collection…with beary cute details
Studio Ghibli has a new anime out, and there’s only one place in the world where you can see it
Japan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Salomon releases Japan-exclusive Mt. Fuji hiking gear that doubles as an amazing souvenirJapan now has human refrigerators inspired by Japanese vending machinesHatsune Miku collaborates with Hokusai’s art in new Vocaloid ukiyo-e illustration series [Pics]
Japan triples departure tax, foreign tourists and locals now must pay more to leave country
Japan launches first overnight Shinkansen bullet train between Tokyo and Osaka this summerStudio Ghibli releases anime T-shirts that pay homage to one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most personal films
Family Mart opens new “Famima” flagship store in Tokyo that’s like a tourist attractionNew Shinkansen luggage drop-off system begins in Japan, making train travel even easierJapan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in TokyoStudio Ghibli has a new anime out, and there’s only one place in the world where you can see it
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Japanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroad
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】Salomon releases Japan-exclusive Mt. Fuji hiking gear that doubles as an amazing souvenir
Japan reportedly adding Japanese language skill requirement to most common foreigner work visa
Brand new Shinkansen bullet train unveiled in Japan… but it won’t carry passengers
Foreign hiker on Mt. Fuji loses consciousness and dies, becoming climbing season’s second fatality
Cup Noodle releases cold-water instant ramen in Japan, but can it really be made with just cold water?
Studio Ghibli releases anime T-shirts that pay homage to one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most personal films
Cup Noodle and Columbia team up for a weird and wonderful T-shirt that’s very Japanese
Yakuza members arrested for building a road on mountain they don’t own
Japan now has human refrigerators inspired by Japanese vending machines
Sanrio eco-friendly plushies are here for the earth-conscious lovers of all things kawaii
Japanese convenience store releases Japanese convenience store-flavor fried chicken
Starbucks Japan releases new fireworks collection that captures the beauty of a summer festival
Japanese government sets up new group to deal with trading card boom
Starbucks Japan releases new Discovery Series collection celebrating local regions and traditions
Uniqlo looks back to the very start of Pokémon with new black-and-white pixel art T-shirts[Pics]
Hatsune Miku collaborates with Hokusai’s art in new Vocaloid ukiyo-e illustration series [Pics]