Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
figures (Page 10)
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…
We recently made the trip out to Chiba Prefecture for the winter 2015 iteration of Wonder Festival, where we could have spent all day admiring the awesome anime, video game, and movie cosplay going on. But as eye-catching as the outfits were, Wonder Festival is actually an event for showcasing new figures and models, and taking a look around the booths taught us something about the anime industry.
Trends may come and go, but Sailor Moon is here to stay. More than two decades after the phenomenally successful magical girl series made its anime debut, modelers are still making new figures based on its characters, and they’ve only gotten better in the twenty-plus years they’ve had to practice.
Japan has an interesting relationship with moss. From the “Moss Covered Forest” that inspired Princess Mononoke, to the marimo “moss balls” found in Hokkaido, to MOS Burger that has tragically deterred foreigners for decades by its name alone.
But it’s one man’s quest to use moss in a new way that has recently piqued the interest of the internet. In the hopes of creating realistic figurines that look like they’ve been abandoned for centuries, he wants to get them covered in moss the old fashioned way: by waiting for years.
Whether you love ‘em or hate ’em, false eyelashes have become a mainstay of the Japanese makeup arsenal and are readily available in a fluttery profusion of designs at every drugstore and hundred-yen shop. One survey from 2012 revealed that 58 percent of teenage girls and 74 percent of women in their twenties have used them, some relying on their magic daily rather than reserving them for special occasions.
They became the sole subject of a chart-topping single by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, have been turned into alluring decorations that anthropomorphize your car, and even became a way to have harmless fun with your pet! But what do you do when you have so many falsies that you run out of storage space or are just too darn lazy to put them away properly? Attach them to cute plushies and manly figurines, of course! So even if your Sasuke isn’t asking to channel Elvis and his fringes, this chuckle-inducing photo collection may give you some ideas for the next time you party too hard and can’t be bothered with those pesky plastic cases.
Back in the 1980s and ‘90s, it wasn’t unusual for Japanese video games to be released internationally with box art different from that which was used at home. Many overseas publishers worried that the original versions were too cutesy, concluding that the covers needed an extra dose of testosterone in order to appeal to machismo-seeking non-Japanese gamers.
The logic itself is sort of shaky, but what made things worse was how most of the new box art bore little resemblance to the in-game designs, plus rarely looked appealing even when judged solely on its own non-existent merits. While much of this lazily produced art has been fittingly forgotten, there are some things you just can’t unsee. Like discovering a dead pigeon inside your bag of fast food takeout, the North American cover of the very first Mega Man has been burned into the memories of older gamers, and the pudgy sci-fi hero has now made the jump into three-dimensional space with his own figure.
It’s been said that the costume design for Darth Vader, one of the most recognizable outfits in the history of film, was heavily inspired by samurai armor. The similarities are pretty easy to spot, what with the face plate and helmet backing that continues lower down the back of the neck than what’s normal for western helms.
But what if you kept going until you came full-circle, and designed a set of samurai armor based off of Vader’s? You’d get something like this awesome figure that just went on sale in Japan.
Have you ever ordered a product online that turned out to be nothing like how it looked in the photo? You feel disappointed, annoyed, and slightly betrayed. It’s probably the same kind of feeling an artist gets when a product based on their designs doesn’t turn out quite like they expected.
Those hoping to give their Sailor Moon Pullip doll some friends will only have to wait a few more months. Premium Bandai is now accepting pre-orders for a Sailor Mercury Pullip doll.
Japan’s desire to look at attractive women is more or less insatiable. Despite having sizable swimsuit modeling, adult video, and animated pornography industries, the country still finds itself with not enough eye candy.
So now, model maker Kotobukiya has gone looking for female beauty in the most unlikely of places, by turning the iconic villains of slasher movies franchises Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street into sexy girls.
Bandai is giving otaku (especially of the fourth category) all over Japan yet another reason to be grateful. The mother of all toy, video game and anime distributors is introducing their new figure storage service. That’s right, if your living space looks like an anime convention storage locker, Bandai’s got your back.
For a small monthly fee, you can now store your goodies by the box, which means you no longer have to sleep with your beloved figures in your bed—that is, unless, you choose to.
Japan was hit by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in the early hours of Friday morning which injured 14 people and caused a brief power outage in some areas. The quake, which struck off the coast of the southern island of Kyushu at 2:07am local time, caused only minor damage, but the third anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake this week served as an important reminder of the devastation that can be caused by major earthquakes and tsunami.
Japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, and as such its people tend to be extremely well-versed in what to do in the event of a natural disaster. Take cover, turn off the gas, open the door to secure an escape route. These collectors of anime figures, however, had a different idea about what to do in the moments after this morning’s quake – check up on their action figures, and immediately catalogue the damage on Twitter.
It may be hard to believe, but it has been almost 17 years since Final Fantasy VII, arguably the most revered entry in Square Enix’s iconic RPG series, was first unleashed on the world. And in honour of the game’s impeding birthday, its creators have commissioned a series of ridiculously cute “chibi” figures for hardcore gamers and fans of all things cute alike to enjoy, with pre-orders already being taken months ahead of their release.
When it comes to language learning, one of the biggest problems is staying motivated. Memorizing 100 kanji for a test next Friday might get you through the work, but memorizing 100 kanji so you can read your favorite comics or talk online with fellow comic-fans will really light a fire under your keister. And we all tend to learn better when we’re having fun! We think someone proved that with science and stuff. It might have been Mr. Sato…he’s been playing with the chemistry set again.
Anyway, we know a lot of our readers are both Japanese-language learners and manga/anime fans. If you fit that description and you’re always looking for something to help keep you motivated to study, why not add these sites to your daily reading list? It might be difficult to get through everything at first, but if you keep with it, you’ll be reading like a champ in no time! Just don’t ignore your real homework! We don’t want any angry Japanese teachers knocking on our doors…
It’s fairly common knowledge that Japan is overrun with vending machines. If they ever gained sentience and decided to go on the offensive, the country would be pretty much screwed as far as we can tell. Fortunately, maniacal wizards don’t seem to be real, so we can keep them around to serve us drinks and snacks without having to worry about being attacked by vicious Coke machines.
Of course, there are tons of different vending machines in Japan, but the most popular must be the gachapon ones. The toy dispensing machines are fun for everyone with an addiction to collecting, from children to adults. The recent trend for gachapon machines seems to be dogs, but today we found an utterly bizarre–and adorable–take on the theme: “Inupan” or “Doggy Bread!”
As we’ve previously mentioned, it’s Obon this week in Japan, and that means festivals, dancing, and ancestral spirits galore! Far from being the terrifying ghosts that you might find lurking in your closest in a horror film like Juon, however, these are spirits that Japanese people are happy to welcome into their houses. In addition to ohakamairi, or visiting graves, Japanese people also offer symbolic sacrifices at their home alters.
Some of the more interesting traditional sacrificial items are the cucumber horses (kyuri uma) and eggplant cows (nasu ushi) meant to carry the ancestors’ spirits to and from our earthly realm, but here’s one designer’s awesome, modern take on this ancient custom!
Kaiyodo is one of Japan’s largest figure makers. Aside from being the manufacturer behind the Revoltech line that’s a hit with hardcore anime fans, over 130,000,000 of Kaiyodo’s Choco Eggs, toy animals, bugs, and tanks hidden inside an edible chocolate shell, have been sold, cementing the company’s spot in mainstream popular culture.
To celebrate its 30 years in the business, the Kaiyodo Figure World exhibition is being held in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district. Roughly 2,000 figures are on display, admission is free, and as if that wasn’t enough, photography is completely unrestricted. Visitors are free to snap as many pictures of any figures they like.
In what has to be one of the most random, yet awesome, releases we’ve seen so far this month, Japanese toy and figure fanciers Kitan Club has recently launched a range of six key-chain figures based on… Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo. No, we’re not quite sure why either.
This might be what Toy Story would look like if it were made by Japanese nerds: amazing, fluid animation, incomprehensible story line. There’s even an appearance by Hentai Woody
Check the video, called “The Worst Thing”, below:
A life-sized figure of manga and anime character Fujiko
Mine has been drawing criticism from fans on the Web. Comments have ranged from “Why did they make her like that?” to the more succinct, “Who the hell is that?” Apparently, she’s looking a bit off-color. Read More
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy day
Historical figures get manga makeovers from artists of Spy x Family, My Hero Academia and more
Harajuku Station’s beautiful old wooden building is set to return, with a new complex around it
Ghibli Park now selling “Grilled Frogs” from food cart in Valley of Witches
Sandwiches fit for a sumo served up in Osaka【Taste Test】
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
Suntory x Super Mario collaboration creates a clever way to transform into Mario【Videos】
Akihabara pop-up shop sells goods made by Japanese prison inmates
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotesFrench Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Studio Ghibli releases new action figures featuring Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind characters
New private rooms on Tokaido Shinkansen change the way we travel from Tokyo to Kyoto
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about itTokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
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 goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
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 TotoroJapanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotesAll-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
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutionsMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
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
Sandwiches fit for a sumo served up in Osaka【Taste Test】
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
Suntory x Super Mario collaboration creates a clever way to transform into Mario【Videos】
Akihabara pop-up shop sells goods made by Japanese prison inmates
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
Osaka governor suggests lowering voting age to 0 to curb population decline
The 2023 Sanrio character popularity ranking results revealed
Should you add tartar sauce to Japanese curry rice? CoCo Ichi makes diners an unusual offer
Japanese office worker gets fired, retaliates by making sushi out of business suit and iPhone
My Neighbour Totoro kimono coat sells out as soon as it’s released by Studio Ghibli in Japan
Studio Ghibli unveils Mother’s Day gift set that captures the love in My Neighbour Totoro
