Japan loves package tours. For many of them, you meet up with your tour guide and fellow travelers, hop on a bus for the countryside, then spend a few days relaxing in a hotel with some occasional shopping or sampling of local delicacies. It’s more or less the definition of safe and convenient, if not exactly exciting, travel.
If you’re looking for a trip with a little more adrenaline, though, there’s a tour next month that includes an activity set to get any anime fan’s pulse racing: helping to create the Attack on Titan live-action movie.
Sailor Moon Crystal, the remake of anime’s most successful magical girl series ever, is set to premiere on July 5. Most people would say this is pretty soon, but for truly dedicated fans of the franchise it’s not nearly soon enough.
If you fall into the second camp, you can now make the waiting a little easier by catching up on the original Sailor Moon series, which you can watch right now for free on video streaming site Hulu.
Having grown up in Los Angeles, where celebrity drunk driving arrests are only slightly less common than rainy days, I’m generally not shocked when I hear about an entertainer being in trouble with the law. Things are very different in Japan, though, and whether it’s because those in the public eye are better behaved, more skilful at covering their tracks, or have a cozier relationship with the mass media, stories about major transgressions by performing artists are few and far between.
So when pop musician Aska was recently arrested, it sent shock waves through the country. Of course, if you’re not a fan of Japanese pop music from two decades ago, you probably think the 56-year-old singers legal problems are none of your own.
That’s not the case, though, if you’re a fan of Studio Ghibli anime.
With Japanese animation’s pantheon of teen protagonists, in physiques rending from slender to buff, your cosplaying options drop off considerably once you pass a certain age/body fat percentage. Many fans are just too old or out of shape to pull off wearing a school uniform or form-fitting martial artist’s outfit.
It can be a sad day when you look in the mirror and realize it’s time to retire your Son Goku costume. But as you’re dumping out the two-gallon bucket of hair gel you bought for this summer’s anime convention season, take heart, because even if you can’t dress up as the hero of Dragon Ball, with this shirt you can cosplay as his master.
Recently, our Japanese-language reporter Hotaru has been a little down in the dumps. She’s not sure if she’s come down with a cold or is just feeling the doldrums of the dreaded Gogatsu-byou, but either way, she needed a boost.
Realizing that good health and a good mood starts with good food, she headed into the kitchen to whip up a batch of porridge. But not just any old porridge would do for helping Hotaru shake off her funk, she needed to recreate the porridge that picks up the heroine of classic anime Kiki’s Delivery Service.
This week, we brought word of a half meaningless, half vulgar message that sharp-eyed Attack on Titan fans found hidden in what looked to be a mass of scribbles. Owing to artist Hajime Isayama’s creation being the hottest serialized comic in the world, the news quickly spread around the globe. Confused and concerned parties looked to publisher Kodansha for an explanation, and now it seems they have one.
A while back, anime fans looking to combine their hobby with a penchant for fashionable footwear got the chance to do just that when a line of Evangelion loafers went on sale. But while Eva is one of the most popular animated series to ever come out of Japan, it’s not every anime fan’s cup of tea.
Some prefer their stories a little more red-blooded, or their character designs a little beefier. We also imagine a preference for shoes with laces was a sticking point for some shoppers.
Thankfully, you can check off all three of those boxes with these new Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure sneakers.
At the very first anime convention I ever went to, one of the guests was Go Nagai, creator of numerous manga, including Devilman, Mazinger, and Cutey Honey. During his autograph signing session, while most fans came up to Nagai’s table with comic books or posters for him to sign, one attendee rolled up his sleve and asked him to sign his Cutey Honeytattoo, which the artist good-naturedly did.
But while many dedicated overseas anime fans have offered their bodies as canvases for their favorite art form, the practice hasn’t completely caught on in Japan. Recently, though, there’s been an upswing in anime tattoos, which some have taken to calling ita-tattoos.
We can’t imagine a more dedicated way to show off your love of hit anime Attack on Titan than by strapping on a pair of replicas of the heroes’ giant-killing swords whenever you step out of the house. What we can imagine, though, is the blades clashing with the rest of many peoples’ wardrobes, not to mention earning them the unwanted attention of their local police department should they happen to live in a municipality where defending yourself from 60-meter tall monsters isn’t a daily concern.
Thankfully, if you’re looking for anime accessories that are less bulky/deadly, the makers of the Attack on Titan iPhone case have announced they’ve started taking orders.
Price, details, and lots of delicious photos after the jump!
Believe it or not, the anime with a character named Full Frontal isn’t an animated porno, as Mr. Frontal is actually the villain in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
As with most installments of the Gundam saga, Unicorn isn’t really a direct sequel to any of the more than two dozen pre-existing anime to bear the Gundam name. Still, there’re plenty of winks and nods to fans who’ve been around since the franchise’s start. Full Frontal’s blond hair, penchant for masks, and complex psychology closely mirror that of the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam’s antagonist, Char.
Although Warner Bros. acquired the rights for a live-action version of legendary anime and manga Akira more than a decade ago, the studio has yet to produce even a minute of its promised version of the psychic cyberpunk epic.
Recently, the project has been hit hard by a fan backlash to alleged deviations from the source material, such as moving the setting to New York. The reaction has also been less than positive to rumors of changing the ethnicities (but not the names, curiously) of Akira’s originally entirely Japanese cast. With Zac Efron, James Franco, Justin Timberlake, Joaquin Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, and Gary Oldman all at some point rumored to be attached to the film, I was starting to feel a little left out, as I suspected I might be the last non-Japanese guy not being offered a chance to portray motorcycle gang leader Kaneda or his mentally unstable pal Tetsuo.
But while Warner Bros.’ Akira looks to be stalled for the foreseeable future, a group of Canadian fans has out together a trailer showing what they’d like a live-action version of the anime to look like.
The 1993 action film Hard Target is notable for three reasons. First, it was Hong Kong action director John Woo’s American debut. Second, it starred Jean-Claude Van Damme as perhaps cinema’s most physically fit and combat-ready homeless man. And third, its story was one of the finest examples of the rich film genre known as “jaded and wealthy individuals hunting men for sport.”
One man from Saitama Prefecture apparently wasn’t quite up to the task of stalking the kickboxing Muscles from Brussels, though, and aimed his sights a little lower: hunting the otaku nerds of Akihabara.
Attack on Titan may be best known for its iconic giant monsters and cool weaponry, but among the many secrets to the hit anime and manga’s success is its extremely compelling setting. With its cast of human characters forced to live within the confines of their walled city, fans have only been provided with fleeting glimpses of the outside world. Does the story take place on Earth? Is it set in the distant past, or maybe the far-flung future?
As part of walking that fine line, when signs, books, and other writings pop up in Attack on Titan, they’re not rendered in anything that looks like a real-world language. Although actually, some eagle-eyed fans found a way to decipher a portion of the series’ text, and what they found was rather like the Titans themselves: one part shocking, one part baffling, and just a little bit comical.
Your Pokémon has taken you from the elusive Mewtew to the equally elusive and game-breaking Missing No. You think you know all there is to know about the Pokémon series, but unless you’re one of the elite few who have literally spent the last two decades learning all there is to know about the monster collecting series, we’re willing to bet there are at least a few facts about the beloved anime and video game behemoth you’re not familiar with.
Here, in no particular order, are the top 14 little-known facts about the Pokémon universe:
The Oricon Style website reported on changes that the Doraemon television anime is undergoing before its American television premiere this July. The Disney XD channel will run 26 episodes of the quintessential Japanese anime about a robot cat. The anime has been adapted for American culture and customs, as well its strict guidelines on violence, depictions of discrimination, and depictions of sexual content.
The financial news source Nikkei reported on Friday that the American media conglomerate Walt Disney will begin running the quintessential Japanese animeDoraemon on television throughout the United States this summer. 44 years after the original manga about a robotic cat from the future debuted, the anime has already aired in 35 countries and territories in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. However, this will be the first television showing of Doraemon in the United States.
This year is shaping up to be the year of live-action anime adaptations. First up is the second installment of samurai action series Rurouni Kenshin, which opens August 1 and is followed in rapid succession by the trilogy’s finale on September 13. August 30 sees the long-awaited return of the band of thieves from Lupin III, which hasn’t been attempted with live actors for three decades.
And now there’s one more group of manga-originating criminals coming to the big screen — the live-action version of ultra-violent gang story Tokyo Tribe.
Sometimes, you don’t realize how much you’ll miss something until it’s gone. A few months back, hungry Attack on Titan fans could get both hamburgers and bento boxed lunches inspired by the hit series. They were only available for a limited time though, and both are gone now, leaving us without a way to simultaneously satisfy our cravings for giant-fighting anime and a quick, hot meal.
That is, until the release of a new line of Attack on Titan instant curry. We got our hands on a pack, then created a batch of edible Titans to go with it.
The first firstAttack on Titan-inspired “Escape from a Certain Fortress Town” Real Escape Games took place this past weekend at Yokohama Stadium. Of the 1,600 participants who signed up for the event, only 120 “escaped” within the allotted one-hour time limit.