The company Mantaro Ningyo has been making kimekomi ningyo (a type of fancy Japanese doll made from wood and fabric) for more than a century. As Japanese site grape noted, these dolls can be used to portray important figures from Japan’s history, or the dolls …Read more »
Blockbuster may have bitten the dust, but one rental store called Tsutaya in Shibuya is still going strong . . . and they have a huge collections of anime VHS tapes. According to SoraNews24, while the store also has DVDs and Blu-ray, they still maintain …Read more »
Matt Owens, head writer for the Netflix live action adaptation of One Piece, recently talked about how much it meant to him. “When I was in my early 20s, I went through a really, really bad depression,” Owens remarked on YouTube, as reported by LRM …Read more »
People are trying different ways to get through the COVID pandemic. In Japan, robots are increasingly being used. The Japan Times explained different ways robots are being utilized. There are now robot waiters: “Multi-sensor fusion technology, based on infrared, 3D mapping and machine vision, also …Read more »
Is it ever possible to have too much Totoro? Character goods shop Perfect World Tokyo doesn’t think so, and the Japanese site grape covered their adorable new releases. First up is a Totoro sleeping bag, great for sleep-overs or just for fun. Totoro himself makes …Read more »
After Robert’s Anime Corner Store noted that the Azur Lane Blu-ray will be rated TV-14 and not TV-MA, there were concerns among some fans that Funimation was censoring Azur Lane to get the lower rating. An article at Anime News Network says that ANN investigated the validity …Read more »
Many fans have been paying close attention to the news of the new Shaman King anime, and that includes original Shaman King director Seiji Mizushima, who helmed the 2001 anime version of the same series. According to Anime News Network, he tweeted, “With the series …Read more »
How can you make learning a second language fun? Japanese public broadcaster NHK has an idea. They’ve published a 178-page isekai light novel called The Legendary Girl Who Was Reborn in an Alternate World that’s written in junior high level English. The thought is that …Read more »
Gundam Factory Yokohama was supposed to open next month and show off his giant, moveable RX-78 Gundam anime mecha. While the opening has been postponed (yet again because of COVID-19), we are able to catch some sneak peeks of the nearly 60-foot mecha during a …Read more »
Konami Kanata showed her skill at making cat stories with her very adorable and very successful Chi’s Sweet Home. Now she’s back with Sue & Tai-chan, another feline franchise. Sue is a 17-year-old cat used to living with her master and no one else. She …Read more »
Anime News Network wrote up a summary of the Dr. STONE panel at Crunchyroll Expo 2020, which involved animation producer Shūsuke Katagiri, chief animation director Mari Tominaga, and director Shinya Ino. Katagiri said his favorite character from the series is Chrome and complimented the Crunchyroll …Read more »
South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival is a major event for cinephiles, and this year it will boast an impressive 192 films from 68 countries. The anime movie Josee to Tora to Sakana-tachi (translated to English as Josee, The Tiger and the Fish) will have …Read more »
Video game company Capcom, creator of the Street Fighter franchise, has an agreement with Tezuka Productions for Capcom vs. Osamu Tezuka Characters. But instead of fighting it out digitally, as the name implies, they’re working with each other for a special event at the Osamu …Read more »
Japan’s national pastime with karaoke has been suffering as a result of COVID-19, and that extends to the karoke joints themselves. Even though new, specially made karaoke masks have been created, they still only protect so much, and many people would rather just avoid big …Read more »
The Super Mario Bros. franchise has just turned 35, and Nintendo shows no signs of slowing down their work with Mario and Luigi. After a few years of teasing about a Mario Bros. animated film, it just announced that the movie is scheduled to …Read more »
Danica Davidson
