Interested in seeing characters of the popular manga and anime Kuroko’s Basketball as pieces of traditional Japanese crafts? Well, here’s your chance!
merchandise (Page 10)
Sailor Moon fans, are you looking for the perfect item to commemorate the series’ 20th anniversary? This beautiful watch might be just that—but you’d better hurry because stocks are limited!
From food to chopsticks and even marriage registration certificates, we’ve been absolutely spoilt for choice when it comes to all the limited-edition Sailor Moon items that have been released this year.
One thing that’s been missing from all the new releases though, is the Eternal Moon Article from Sailor Stars, the fifth season of the hit anime series. Now the rare and powerful item is finally making an appearance, as it comes to us in the form of an adorable miniature locket filled with tiny peach mints to keep us fighting fresh throughout the day!
If you’ve ever wanted to fill your house with Star Wars furnishings, now you can, thanks to the Star Wars/Premium Home Collection from Japanese furniture manufacturer IDC Otsuka.
The 150-piece plus collection includes cushions, rugs, tableware, ukiyo-e woodblock prints, coat hangers, and even a variety of bobbly-headed Japanese kokeshi dolls.
Sailor Moon and fashion shop Honey Salon are collaborating to release a string of new products in time for the holidays to be sold at Honey Salon locations in Japan.
Earlier this week, we took a look at Out Division, a boys love online game produced by BLobby, and its unique nipple matching memory game. Even among fans of the genre, people who generally enjoy the visual delight that is dishevelled men, some found the nipple-centric features of Out Division to be slightly disturbing and borderline ridiculous.
But it seems the game maker’s fixation with man nips doesn’t end there: BLobby has announced its participation in this year’s Animate Girl’s Festival, and it has prepared some rather eye-catching merch for the event…
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.
Hello Kitty was a hot topic for a while last year when news suddenly broke that Kitty-chan wasn’t a cat! Of course that subject was cleared up by Sanrio representatives, but it got us wondering, what other sordid secrets does Hello Kitty hide behind that cute veneer? One of the writers for our Japanese-language sister site Pouch is a huge Hello Kitty fan and she’s compiled a list of factoids about the lovable Kitty-chan. You will definitely learn something new after reading this 33-item list!
If you’re into fashion, coffee, or both, you may remember the collaborative items that Starbucks and New York-based fashion brand Alice + Olivia came up with, the first of which were released in North America about a year and a half ago. Not surprisingly, the items apparently caused a bit of a craze among fashionistas at the time (seriously, who thinks of something like a tumbler dressed up with a tutu?), with everyone clamoring to get their hands on the limited edition goods.
Well, it turns out the collaboration recently made its way to Japan, but one of the reporters from our Japanese sister site Pouch ended up finding out the hard way that the goods were in just as much demand here in Japan as they were in the U.S.!
For hardcore fans of a certain band or TV show, part of the fun is amassing a collection of tie-in products designed to meet your exact needs and interests. Nowhere does this ring true more than in Japan, where geeking out over a variety of goods relating to your most beloved anime or music group is basically all part and parcel of fandom.
But sometimes the companies who produce these products tends to go a little too far, attempting to dupe devoted fans out of their hard-earned cash in exchange for, well, a heap of junk. Read on to view seven of the worst offenders!
In honor of the return of historical-sci-fi-comedy anime Gintama to television screens across Japan, Namco announced the opening of three shops in Tokyo and Osaka starting on April 18.
The limited-time shops will be selling both limited Gintama merchandise as well as some super-limited items. Yes, it’s a collector’s dream and a civil-rights enthusiast’s nightmare as there are so many limitations to these stores you’d think you’d lost a few of your inalienable rights in the process!
The release of the reanimated Sailor Moon series has brought with it an influx of new and exciting merchandise, much to the joy of fans old and new alike. Jewelry, apparel, accessories… even pens that look like our beloved Scouts’ transformation wands.
But for those of you who were wishing to fight some evil by moonlight, you may be in for a bit of disappointment.
Okay, so Youkai Watch is a cultural juggernaut in Japan these days, capturing kids’ hearts and enslaving them like so many collectible youkai monsters. But despite the brilliant marketing behind the franchise (how about something exactly like Pokémon… but with… traditional Japanese Youkai?! Genius!) we’ve often thought that the concept of using a common watch as a crux to base the whole thing on seems a bit, hmm, old-fashioned. Who even wears a wristwatch anymore, when we all have the time displayed on our various smartphones and other electronic devices? Well, it seems that the people pulling the strings have now decided to switch their merchandising focus from watches to tablets, taking inspiration from the “Youkai Pad” used by supporting character Whisper to call up information on various Youkai. (No, no, it’s nothing like a Pokédex. Honest.) The brand-new “Youkai Pad” is set for release early next year, and already fans have begun to slaver over it like hungry dogs at a barbecue.
Anime series Yowamushi Pedal has set off on its second season, titled Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road, and its creators have shifted gears with new goods and collaborations to up the game.
Starting with a collaboration with karaoke chain Karaoke no Tetsujin (AKA Kara-Tetsu), the series’ makers also have plans to release men’s boxer shorts, however ironically, at an event targeted for girls. Whether they expect their fangirls to wear men’s undies themselves or are hoping the girls will buy them for their boyfriends, we haven’t got a clue, but we have all the details about this peculiar collaboration after break!
We’re here at E3, and we realize the focus should be on the games, but we did take a small detour and poked around the merchandise store for some sort of souvenir (somehow, I wasn’t satisfied with the mutant rabbit balloon swag from Sunset Overdrive). Overall I wasn’t impressed with the T-shirt designs or commemorative mugs inscribed with “E3,” but there was one exception.
Hello Kitty is turning 40, but her birthday is definitely not going by unnoticed. Fans in the Tokyo area are in for a treat with the Shibuya de Hello Kitty (“Hello Kitty in Shibuya”) event. In a collaboration with Shibuya department stores such as 109, Tokyu Hands and Hikarie, Hello Kitty fans will have a multitude of ways to help Hello Kitty ring in her 40th year. It’s enough to make Avril Lavigne explode.
From whoopie pies to champagne to photo events to wrestling gear, everyone’s favorite mouthless cat is making her presence known in one of Tokyo’s most popular neighborhoods. The event runs from April 24 to May 6 (depending on participant), so many people will be able to use the Golden Week holidays to check it out.
Green tea simply not manly enough for you? Worried that everyone in the office will think you’ve gone soft if you break out a pack of barley tea instead of filling your cup with the communal coffee? Then add a touch of terror to tea-time with this awesome, limited edition Attack on Titan mug and chakoshi tea strainer set.
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