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We fall under the spell of life-sized Madoka statue at magical girl anime art exhibit

Casey Baseel
Oct 22, 2013
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For many years, fans of magical girl anime tended to be from the same demographic as its principal characters: little girls. The genre of young girls using mystical powers to fight monsters saw its potential broadened, though, in 2011 with the television premiere of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which cast an unflinching, unsentimental eye at the physical and psychological dangers of tasking middle school girls with battling extradimensional entities.

Madoka went on to become such a hit that its original 12 episodes were retouched and repackaged into a pair of theatrical releases. This month a third film, Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion opens in Japan, and a special exhibition of Madoka artwork and statues is being held in Tokyo.

NASA and JAXA team up to deliver amazing new satellite, promotional video

Preston Phro
Oct 21, 2013

Space is awesome. There’s no one who can disagree with that. It’s a simple fact of reality! Spaceflight, satellites, astronauts and all that jazz are just some of the coolest stuff on the planet…uhh…in the universe!

Helping to make all that coolness a reality are the amazing government agencies NASA (from United States) and JAXA (from Japan), who are devoted to the exploration of the great dark void that surrounds our planet. They’re also great partners, often working together to bring missions to fruition, like the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) mission, for which JAXA developed something called the DPR (Dual-frequency Percipitation Radar).

And while their program is awesome, there’s actually something even more sweet to come out of this partnership: A gorgeous anime promotional video!

Anime fan and pet owner recreates Attack on Titan’s epic opening shot by shot – with cats! 【Video】

Casey Baseel
Oct 21, 2013

This year’s breakout anime hit Attack on Titan snuck up on a lot of people. Sure, previews for the TV series made it look like a fun adventure, but is wasn’t until sometime after it premiered that the franchise became the international success it is today, despite the comic it’s based on having been around since 2009.

Why didn’t more people, from the very beginning, realize just how much entertainment Attack on Titan has to offer? Maybe the story’s antagonists, naked giants who look like anatomy textbook illustrations, were just too repugnantly grotesque. Maybe, being creator Hajime Isayama’s first serial, the artwork on its heroes was a little too rough around the edges. How much more immediately accessible would Attack on Titan have been if they had all been replaced with a more traditionally pleasing aesthetic, like a bunch of cute cats?

Thanks to this feline-infused recreation of the show’s opening animation, now we know.

New Crescent Moon Wand from Sailor Moon is as real as a toy gets

Rachel Tackett
Oct 19, 2013

It wasn’t too long ago that we posted an article here on RocketNews24 cataloging the entire collection of Sailor Moon toys. Well, it looks like the people over at Proplica wish to add another item to the list. Fans of the Sailor Moon franchise are frothing at the mouth, hoping to get their hands on a real-life Moon Stick, more commonly referred to at the Crescent Moon Wand, Sailor Moon’s first attack item. This playful prop is being marketed toward adult toy collectors and comes packed with some pretty neat features.

Wear your love of Madoka Magica to work with these discreetly nerdy neckties

Rachel Tackett
Oct 16, 2013

Being an anime fan in a Japanese business environment can be rough. Due to the terrible stigmas still surrounding otaku, being open about one’s two-dimensional interests can sometimes lead to discrimination in the workplace. Luckily, for those hard-working anime lovers who wish to wear a symbol of the series that they adore without attracting unwanted attention from their office peers, Cospa has a new line of anime-themed neckties, which capture one’s true otaku spirit while putting up a professional front.

Kid putting off college to play video games all day? Just give up on him, Gundam creator says

Mike
Oct 16, 2013

There’s never been an easier point in history to waste time than now. Especially with the advent of video games and their gradual evolution into slot machine-like addiction engines, more and more kids are electing to forgo homework, jobs and even college to sink more time into their favorite title.

And parents should let them go ahead and keep doing it, according to Yoshiyuki Tomino, creator of the epic space opera anime franchise Gundam.

Anpanman creator Takashi Yanase dies at age 94

Mike
Oct 15, 2013

Takashi Yanase, renowned manga artist and creator of one of Japan’s most widely beloved children’s characters, Anpanman, passed away in the early morning hours of October 13 at a Tokyo hospital. A spokesman named heart failure as the cause of death.

Puzzle & Dragons + Attack on Titan = ??? China’s creative copycats strike again【Photos】

Joan Coello
Oct 14, 2013

What’s better than a ripoff of a top-selling game? A ripoff of a top-selling game featuring characters ripped off a top-selling anime!

If you own a smartphone and occasionally (or heavily) dabble in mobile games, you should have come across Puzzle & Dragons, one of the top grossing puzzle games available on both iOS and Android platforms. The Japanese developed mobile game’s tremendous success worldwide has led to many envious game developers producing “inspired” games of a similar genre.

Now, it is almost common knowledge that the Chinese are geniuses at creating imitations of anything and everything, so everyone would have expected them to make a pirated version of the monster-battling puzzle game eventually, but they have yet again managed to exceed expectations, incorporating characters and themed events based on one of the year’s hottest anime, Shingeki no Kyojin: Attack on Titan.

Saiyans, pirates, and Jesus all come alive on Japanese blackboards

Master Blaster
Oct 11, 2013

As we saw from their hilarious textbook doodles not too long ago, Japanese school children seem to be bursting at the seams with creativity. Now, with the slightly more public and temporary space of a classroom blackboard, some students with encouraging teachers were able to create some very impressive murals.

How nerdy are you? Use this handy formula to calculate your “otaku coefficient”

Casey Baseel
Oct 9, 2013

Originally a particularly polite way of saying “you,” the Japanese word otaku evolved into a label for anyone with an obsessive, passionate devotion to their hobby. While most commonly associated with anime fans, the term is also applied to hardcore video gamers, technology buffs, and even auto enthusiasts.

Much like “geek,” otaku was initially a derogatory term, but has lost a lot of its sting and become largely co-opted in recent years. Still, it’s important to not let yourself get too wrapped up in your hobbies. Conveniently, there’s now a mathematical formula to determine if your otaku-ness has become too much for your own good.

Self-Defense Force hopes people will answer the call of duty (and cute anime girls)

Casey Baseel
Oct 9, 2013

Given the less assertive role of the Japanese Self-Defense Force compared to a conventional military, it’s natural that the organization’s recruiting tends to be on the low-key side. The JSDF does indeed do invaluable work in disaster-relief and humanitarian missions, but the pitch to recruits is less hunting down the world’s villains and more holding the fort and being ready to lend a hand when people are in need.

Accordingly, the JSDF Coordination Office for Kagawa Prefecture, located on Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four main islands, has decided to go with showcasing the soft power-look of cute anime girls in its recruitment efforts.

Manga and anime, my how you’ve changed!

Master Blaster
Oct 8, 2013

Anime and manga have been in the global mainstream for a few decades now and like anything else, they have a way of evolving over time. Sometimes, though, the changes are so gradual that we don’t notice it until someone throws it all up in a handy infographic such as this one that surfaced on the internet recently. In it, the creator points out some key differences between female characters in the 1990s and those of the current decade. Let’s see what’s going on in the translation below.

Meet the new model set to make manga artists’ lives a whole lot easier

Oona McGee
Oct 7, 2013

When it comes to replicating human poses and natural movement, artists often look to anatomical models. Traditional figures do have their limitations, though, with the lack of details making it difficult to recreate the lines of a raised shoulder or a clasped fist. But things are set to change, with a new figure on the market called the S.F.B.T-3, (Special Full-action Body Type v.3). Ten years in the making, this girl has 80 moveable parts in her body, allowing for an unprecedented number of poses and anatomical designs. We take a look at the doll’s amazing details and see how it performs in some popular anime poses for the illustrator’s eye.

This huge shank of anime meat is actually a sweet dessert

Mike
Oct 2, 2013

Anime meat looks delicious and grotesque at the same time. It almost always makes you hunger for a big turkey leg because of how perfectly it’s drawn – like how hamburgers look on the McDonald’s menu – but then it’s got the two bones sticking out of it, as though someone just savagely tore the leg off of some poor, frightened animal, bone and all.

Which seems entirely possible considering that everyone in an anime universe is as strong as an ox. Maybe they gain their power by killing and eating the hearts and leg bones of said oxen.

Anyway, a baumkuchen manufacturer in Japan realized that with the sweet, dense cake dessert popular throughout Europe and Japan, they could almost perfectly recreate a cartoony anime meat shank and the below “Manga Niku” baumkuchen was born.

Before Dragon Ball: See the 1984 advertisements announcing the creation of this now classic manga

Rachel Tackett
Oct 2, 2013

Anyone remotely familiar with Japan’s comic culture has likely seen or at least heard of the world-renowned adventure manga, Dragon Ball. Honestly, thanks to the anime, the TV specials, the films, and the Hollywood movie adaption, it’s hard to find anyone without at least some awareness of this awesome title. The impact that Dragon Ball has had on Japan’s comic industry is so great that a world without Super Saiyans is hard to even imagine. But, every series has to have begun somewhere, and before the 51st issue of Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine for the year 1984, there was no such thing as Dragon Ball!

…Actually, that’s a lie. Issue number 51 certainly contained the first chapter of the Dragon Ball manga, but the hype began a short time before that. After all, it’s hard to sell an all-new series without some form of advertising. We found this to be true when the Japanese side of our RocketNews24 staff managed to dig up a copy of 1984’s Weekly Shonen Jump volume 50, one issue prior to the release of Dragon Ball. Inside, we found some awesome illustrated spreads announcing the creation of this comic wonder. It’s fascinating to see just how highly the series was anticipated, though the comic’s branding might have been a little off the mark at first.

Become your favorite Sailor Scout with new Sailor Moon T-shirts!

Rachel Tackett
Sep 28, 2013

Many of us girls, who grew up with magical girl anime, held tight to the fantasy that we too could become a super-powered Sailor Scout and fight evil in the name of the moon. Well, dig those magic rods and transformation toys out of the closet, because it’s not too late to transform! In conjunction with the upcoming anime and the recent Sailor Moon Musical, Premium Bandai has begun accepting pre-orders for a new line of Sailor Scout T-shirts that promise to turn you into a Sailor Scout just by putting one on!

Anime and alcohol: The Moe Syu Summit & Sake Matsuri in Akihabara

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Sep 28, 2013

Like cute anime girls? Enjoy the occasional cup of sake? Then head on down to the Moe Syu Summit and Sake Matsuri. Held in Akihabara, the otaku capital of Japan, the festival combines moe (cute anime girls) and nihonshu (Japanese rice wine).

Akihabara-based magazine blasts past Kickstarter goal, aims to bring otaku culture to the world

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Sep 28, 2013

The word “otaku” in the Japanese language is a general term for anyone who is passionate about a hobby. But in English, “otaku” has become a term that refers to people who are obsessed with Japanese culture, particularly anime and manga. But the world of the otaku is sometimes misunderstood. That’s where JH Lab, a group of “otaku of the highest caliber” comes in, hoping to demystify the world of anime and manga fans and bring the culture of Akihabara to people everywhere.

To do this, JH Lab has created Akiba Anime Art (AAA), “a brand new pop-culture magazine from Akihabara, featuring cool OTAKUs, advanced technologies, kawaii-cosplays, Dojins and much more!” They’ve started a Kickstarter campaign to make their dream a reality and have quickly surpassed their initial goal, raising over US$42,000. Supporters of the project will receive special edition illustrations from featured Japanese artist, John Hathway, and have a chance to be drawn into his amazing Akihabara picture jockey cityscape. Let’s take a closer look at this rapidly growing magazine’s “ultra otaku power.”

Pins ‘n’ peel: This banana art will blow your mind

Philip Kendall
Sep 27, 2013

We don’t know about you guys, but when we were kids our parents always told us not to play with our food. Judging by the number of “banana tattoo” photos doing the rounds on Twitter today however, it looks like there are plenty of people here in Japan prepared to ignore that particular piece of parental advice in the name of art.

Achieve a super saiyan style with Dragon Ball Z hair wax

Rachel Tackett
Sep 26, 2013

Japanese beauty product manufacturer, Creer Beaute, has just come out with a new line of professional-grade hair wax with the strength to hold your hair nice and stiff, even in the midst of an hours-long death match. Their Dragon Ball Z Hair Wax promises to hold your spiky hair chunks in place throughout even the most rigorous battles and is a real must-have for any fist-fighting, world-saving hero.