With 2020 half over, a first look at the big Japanese trends among schoolkids is now available. Middle school and high school girls have reported on their favorite shows, games, Internet trends, and slang of the year so far. Maybe it’s because we’re all in …Read more »
If you’ve met voice actors at an event, you may have asked them to say some lines in character for yourself or a friend — and more often than not, they’ll do so without hesitation. (Especially if you’re talking to Solid Snake voice actor David …Read more »
Fantastic news for collectors of ecchi tapestries: they now serve a legitimate purpose. Well, another legitimate purpose. Twitter user and visual novel fan @idzuna_tan (whose timeline is about as NSFW as you’d expect given their collection) offered proof in a recent tweet. They ran a series …Read more »
The world of Fate and the AXE brand are no strangers to each other. In the past, both Fate/stay night and Fate/Grand Order have crossed over with the company. While we can’t really imagine Altria Pendragon (in any of her forms) or Mash Kyrielight being on board with …Read more »
Internet etiquette is kind of weird, even at the best of times. What flies on Tumblr is a major faux pas on Twitter; what’s a compliment in English is a baffling insult in Japanese. So it’s no surprise that, once in a while, we’ll see someone …Read more »
It’s a project years in the making: a life-size Mobile Suit Gundam statue that actually moves. Announced way back in 2014, the project is finally nearing completion and was all set to debut this October. But then a pandemic got in the way. Due to …Read more »
What do you do when you’re stuck at home and there’s no new anime? Rank stuff, natch. The latest poll is courtesy Anime Anime, who asked readers to rank the films of Mamoru Hosoda, the director of films like Summer Wars and Wolf Children. Hosoda, …Read more »
Last week Comiket, the world’s biggest gathering of otakudom, was canceled to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus. But while Comic Market 98 won’t officially take place, thousands of fans will be getting their hands on its catalog. The catalog was already scheduled for printing …Read more »
In 2008, American businessman and journalist Michael Howard moved to Japan to become a salaryman. Here he experienced culture shock, made more than a few faux pas, and kept a journal of everything so he could turn it into a “painfully funny” book. A decade …Read more »
Ever heard of natto? Those who have visited Japan may have sampled the fermented soybeans, which are (in)famous for their slimy texture and their smell, most charitably described as, uh, distinctive. As off-putting as natto may be to some (I’m a huge fan, for the …Read more »
Nendoroid figures, produced by Good Smile Company, have been one of the world’s most popular figures since their debut in 2006. There are now over 1,000 in the collection, including characters from anime and manga, video games, superhero films and more. But how are Nendoroids …Read more »
Most of the Gundam designs out there are pretty complex, which is something you only start to appreciate when you attempt to draw them or put together a Gunpla kit. A group of high school students took this type of crafting to the next level …Read more »
A few days ago we posted about a billboard that went up in Akihabara and caught everyone’s attention for being particularly… busty. Some folks weren’t too happy about having a building-size monument to massive mammaries, and it looks like the local officials took their complaints to heart. …Read more »
As if there weren’t enough reasons to visit otaku mecca Nakano Broadway. From November 21 to December 22, the mysterious and wonderful mall in Tokyo will become home to a pop-up store devoted to Serial Experiments Lain, the cyberpunk series from 1998 that we like very much. The …Read more »
You know those commercials for Snickers where when someone gets hungry, they transform into a famously grumpy celebrity? Well, there’s a new one out, and it pits the heroes of Attack on Titan against one of Japan’s most larger-than-life TV personalities. That personality is Dewi Sukarno, commonly …Read more »
Kara Dennison
Matt Schley
Danica Davidson
Joseph Luster