Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Attack on Titan (Page 7)
The second Attack on Titan theatrical feature has been a long time coming, but the film, subtitled The Wings of Freedom, is finally opening in Japan this month. Since the movie is a condensed version of the second half of the anime TV series, there probably won’t be too much in the way of new plot developments. What audiences can look forward to, though, is a movie experience augmented by moving seats, gusts of wind, and other awesome effects.
Sekai no Owari is one of the most popular groups in Japan right now. The clown-faced, top hat-wearing rock band is managing to thrive in a Japanese music industry saturated with seemingly endless three-letter-48-style girl groups.
So what better to combine with one of the most popular music groups than one of the most popular manga/anime, Attack on Titan? It was just recently announced that the upcoming live-action Attack on Titan movies will feature two original Sekai no Owari songs produced specially as theme songs for the films.
Some hardcore anime fans try to spend as much of their lives as possible watching Japanese animation. But what if it’s not enough to eat, sleep, and breathe anime? What if you were going to die anime, too?
That’s the question Japanese website Charapedia posed when it asked “What anime do you want to be watching during the final moment of the last day of your life?” The results are in, and here are the 20 shows respondents consider the truly ultimate anime.
It looks like car manufacturer Subaru has their hands on some neat swag that was used on set for the upcoming Attack on Titan live-action film and, for some reason, they’re willing to just hand it off to one lucky Subaru test-driver.
You don’t need to own a Subaru or even like Subaru to be eligible to win an authentic Survey Corps uniform actually worn by a character in the film, plus an actual, “working” 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear set – the piston-operated grappling hook setup that Survey Corps heroes sport in their fight against the series’ titular titans.
Beginning on Friday, May 22, 7-Eleven stores across Japan will finally team up with the wildly popular Attack on Titan franchise to bring you a special lottery with all sorts of winnable prizes! Be sure to check out the details as well as an amusing new promotional video after the jump.
If you thought you’d seen all the weird and wonderful Attack on Titan collaborations on the market, you may want to think again because now Takara Tomy have jumped on the wagon with two special versions of their very popular and highly collectible Choro-Q toy cars.
These pullback-spring racer cars are known for their manga-inspired designs and cutely inaccurate proportions. However, this is the first time they’ve featured the likes of Levi and Eren. And just to add to the weird cuteness, they’re seated in the driver’s seat of an angry, disembodied Colossal Titan.
“On that day, the writers of RocketNews24 received a grim reminder. We lived in the shadows of the Titans and had to become the Titans themselves to live in these cages we called the Internet.”
Free Attack on Titan face packs?! Of course we had to try it! We even made some customizations in an attempt to give Satosshi a run for his money, but alas, it seems that none of us have attained his level of Rocket-ness as of yet. Check out our titanic beauty experience after the break!
Despite the Attack on Titan franchise being massively popular on an international scale, why is it that the toy companies just can’t seem to get the darn character figurines right?
We’ve already seen the shoddy Levi figure that surfaced last year, and now there appears to be another disappointing officially licensed Eren model on the market, too. And we have to say, we really can’t blame one fan for lamenting the poor quality of her new toy at all…
It’s well known that many anime fans, in the midst of watching a show, start to develop a crush on their favorite character (and sometimes that crush becomes a full–on obsession). But the admiration fans feel towards a 2-D character isn’t always tied to romantic rumblings. Sometimes, they see an anime icon and instead of “I wish that was my girlfriend/boyfriend,” they find themselves thinking “I wish that was my boss!”
There will be a special collaboration insert included in the June edition of the Kodansha-produced beauty magazine, VOCE (pronounced Vo-che), on sale April 23rd. Each magazine will come with one Attack on Titan face pack by the makers of the kabuki face pack, Isshindo Hompo, and feature Attack on Beauty!!
The official website for the two Attack on Titan live-action films unveiled a new poster for the movies on Friday. Theaters in Japan will begin displaying the poster on April 25.
The first movie will open on August 8, and the second movie will open on September 19.
American film studio The Asylum is the “creative” team behind some of the movies with the closest names ever to blockbuster hits. The company’s catalogue features standouts such as Snakes on a Train, The Da Vinci Treasure, Transmorphers, The Day the Earth Stopped, and, in perhaps its greatest feat of coming as close as possible to just outright copying another movie’s title, The Terminators.
There’s a point at which imitation gets to be so blatant it stops being flattering, and ordinarily we’d be appalled at The Asylum’s lack of artistic integrity. We’ll give the studio a pass this time, though, since it’s about to give us an unofficial crossover as compelling as Mega Shark fighting an obvious copy of an Attack on Titan giant.
Translation isn’t always an exact science, but there are certain conventions that translators seem to implicitly agree on. For example, look up gakuen in a Japanese dictionary, and it’ll tell you it’s another name for gakkou, or “school.” However, the more sophisticated, traditional ring that gakuen has to it means that it’s almost always rendered in English as “academy.”
Likewise, dictionaries define kyojin as “a person with an extraordinarily large body.” Nine times out of ten, kyojin gets translated as “giant,” which is also the term one of Tokyo’s two professional baseball teams, the Yomiuri Kyojin/Giants, goes with.
But if you spend more time watching anime than sports, you might favor “titan” as a translation, seeing as how the monsters from Attack on Titan are also called kyojin in Japanese. Since they’ve already got a linguistic link, the baseball team and manga/anime franchise are joining forces for four games this summer as part of a special campaign with its own exclusive merchandise.
As immensely popular as Attack on Titan is, it’s easy to forget that the last new episodes in the series aired on Japanese TV over 18 months ago. Sure, creator Hajime Isayama keeps plugging away at the manga that started the franchise, and there’re also those two movies to look forward to. But for more than a year and a half now, fans have been unable to plop down on the couch and watch a brand-new installment of everyone’s favorite fully-clothed humans vs. naked giants saga.
In August, though, the draught will finally be over, as Attack on Titan is getting a three-part live-action miniseries, with a shift in protagonist and one completely new character.
Do you like Evangelion? Do you like Attack on Titan?
Well then good news! It’s just been announced that the directors of both those movies, Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, are working on the upcoming 2016 Japanese Godzilla reboot film. With both of them having plenty of experience creating huge mechs and huge Titans, we can only expect that this Godzilla movie is going to be… well, huge!
With the ever-growing presence of Japanese media abroad, fans of various mediums might sometimes find themselves at a loss as to which series to begin next. Fortunately, a massive poll has now made the process much easier by picking out the cream of the crop as chosen by the Japanese public.
Sponsored by Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shinbun, Sugoi Japan recently held its first Grand Prix to determine which works in four categories–manga, anime, light novel, and entertaining novel–people deemed most worthy of being introduced abroad. Though the choice of Attack on Titan as the top manga will surprise few, given its explosive popularity, the winner of the anime category might catch some by surprise.
CAPCOM announced at Japan Amusement Expo 2015 on Friday that it has an Attack on Titan arcade game project.
Drinking more water is one of those New Year’s resolutions that everyone seems to have, but always falls by the wayside. With a cool enough water cooler, though, that might just change things. After all, who wouldn’t want to visit sexy armchair Levi every hour for some more water?
Hot off the heels of our previous announcement surrounding the upcoming release of Attack on Titan-themed plum wine (umeshu), we’ve got another lead on two limited edition sets of the hit manga/anime-inspired beverages. This time around, the sets will each contain three bottles of either plum wine or plum juice, all decorated with beautiful illustrations of the anime’s character designs.
But that’s not even the coolest part–the drinks were crafted using plums grown by the Attack on Titan author’s very own family!
Along with its naked giants and high-flying fight scenes, anime and manga mega hit Attack on Titan is defined by its oppressively bleak atmosphere. Its world is one in which not only do rampaging monsters want to eat you, the ruling aristocracy is ready to kick you out of the walled city if you’re too big a drain on its resources.
Compelling as its story may be, after spending enough time in that setting, even fans of the series could find themselves needing a stiff drink. If so, they might want to reach for a glass of the soon-to-be-released Attack on Titan plum wine.
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
New private rooms on Tokaido Shinkansen change the way we travel from Tokyo to Kyoto
Secret Kitchen bento serves Japanese flowers, birds, wind and moon in a box, but is it worth it?
A trip to hell on Japan’s ‘vomit ship’: Is it as bad as everyone says it is?
We tried Korea’s way-too-big King Tonkatsu Burger at Lotteria 【Taste Test】
Fried sandwiches arrive in Tokyo, become hot topic on social media
Fire away your frustration at ‘404 Not Found’ — Site turns error message into classic arcade game
Studio Ghibli releases new action figures featuring Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind charactersMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
Starbucks reopens at Shibuya Scramble Crossing with new look and design conceptStudio Ghibli releases new action figures featuring Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind charactersFrench Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Studio Ghibli glasses cases let anime characters keep an eye on your spectacles
Is the new Shinkansen Train Desk ticket worth it?New private rooms on Tokaido Shinkansen change the way we travel from Tokyo to Kyoto
Beautiful Ghibli sealing wax kits let you create accessories and elegant letter decorations【Pics】McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Studio Ghibli releases Kiki’s Delivery Service chocolate cake pouches in Japan
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese things
Studio Ghibli unveils Mother’s Day gift set that captures the love in My Neighbour Totoro
Domino’s Japan now sells…pizza ears?
New Japanese KitKat flavour stars Sanrio characters, including Hello KittyAll-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky loungeMore foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutions
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitelyMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappoint
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
A trip to hell on Japan’s ‘vomit ship’: Is it as bad as everyone says it is?
We tried Korea’s way-too-big King Tonkatsu Burger at Lotteria 【Taste Test】
Fried sandwiches arrive in Tokyo, become hot topic on social media
Fire away your frustration at ‘404 Not Found’ — Site turns error message into classic arcade game
Studio Ghibli releases new action figures featuring Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind characters
Sakura tree falls on man at Sannenzaka near Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto 【Breaking News】
Family Mart makes matcha dreams come true with new lineup of strong green tea sweets in Japan
Japanese company starts project to restore Nakagin Capsules to capsule hotel
Better than Apple EarPods? Our 100 yen shop earphone showdown finds a true champion
We try five menu recommendations from a clerk at CoCo Ichibanya and almost fall in love
No talking allowed, at all, at new Tokyo cafe, even when you’re ordering【Videos】
Japanese fashion brand Heather releases line for people 5 feet and under
New Mochi Cream Doughnuts from Mister Donut pay homage to Japanese confectionery
Starbucks releases final sakura Frappuccino in Japan for 2024 hanami season