Tag: anime & manga | RocketNews24

anime & manga

There’s a Sailor Moon in my Coffee! Photos and Tips From a Japanese Manga Latte Artist

3 days ago by Oona McGee
0
Tweet

Latte art, created with a skilled pour of steamed milk and some clever manoeuvres, has been mesmerising coffee lovers for well over a decade. While the most common creations are heart and leaf designs in different shades of mocha, here in Japan we’ve spotted 10 hot, candy-coloured manga characters, of the Sailor Moon variety! We fell in love with these designs and needed to know how the pretty guardians and their pals came to life in coffee form. And, more importantly, whether it’s something we can do at home. Mouths watering and hearts fluttering, we asked the artist directly to find out.

Dec 14, 2012 by Karen Bremer Masuda
0

Since the late 1970s, the Japanese word otaku has gradually spread to become known the world over. The term generally refers to a person so obsessed with their hobby—usually anime, manga, or video games—that it adversely affects their health and/or social skills, though it carries different connotations in different parts of the world.

Among those outside of Japan who are well-versed in otaku culture, there are many who proudly admit to being otaku themselves; like a cooler spin on the Japanese otaku, shipped abroad.

On the other hand, the word caries a more sad, perverse tone here in Japan, something that lends itself to the image of a “creepy geeky guy”, with “guy” being the key word. While there are no comparative figures on gender ratios, you could probably say overseas otaku women are much more forthcoming about their self-imposed label than their Japanese counterparts.

But the female Japanese otaku does exist. There are Japanese women who forsake sleep and, with bloodshot eyes, play erotic PC games deep into the night, oblivious to their own deteriorating health. In fact, there might even be more women otaku than men—maybe they’re just better at hiding it.

Numbers aside, what are some of the behavioral differences between Japanese otaku of different sexes? Is there any discrepancy between how deeply a male and female can obsess over anime, manga, or video games?

Wakako Takou over at Excite! Japan spoke with an otaku merchandise industry representative to tackle these questions.

Nov 24, 2012 by Steven
0

Minimalist Pixel Art is the term given to a series of simplified, multi-colored block representations of iconic characters. They quickly achieved meme status after appearing on the web in 2010, and were even given physical shape with a German ad campaign for LEGO earlier this year.

The original images have also made the rounds in Japan, where they are known as “pictures that people well get if they know them”, and have recently inspired some Japanese netizens on internet message board 2channel to start a minimalist pixel party of their own.

Take a look at the images in the gallery below, and don’t feel bad if a few fly over your head: you’ll need a pretty firm grounding in Japanese culture to recognize a few of them.

Nov 23, 2012 by Steven
0

As the popularity of Japanese anime has spread around the world, many foreign artists have paid tribute to the genre by drawing characters from popular anime series in the style of their own country’s animation.

Sometime this turns out really cool, like the cast of One Piece reimagined Disney-style. But for art styles that aren’t as easily adaptable as Disney, such cultural crossovers can get a little bizarre.

Oct 17, 2012 by Steven
0

It’s really difficult to hate on Japan’s toddler-level comprehension of English. A lot of the time it really is like watching a small child, perhaps one babbling incomprehensibly into a small plastic Playskool cellphone, doing their best to mimic the sounds the grown-ups make when they do the same. They look silly doing it, but by god are they trying.

Of course, even the endearing charm of Japanese Engrish can quickly turn into the worst kind of awkward when it’s used in over-the-top, inappropriate settings. The video below is the perfect example of this.

Oct 16, 2012 by Steven
0

The aesthetic quality of a character cake can be judged by the degree of reluctance felt before cutting into it. Some cakes are so well-crafted that taking a knife to them would be nothing other than desecration of art. Conversely, some cakes are so insultingly terrible that basiac survival instincts would compel most people to take knife in hand and stab them out of their misery.

A series of images recently shared on Chinese Facebook ripoffsocial networking site Renren suggests character cakes in China fall into the latter camp.

Sep 18, 2012 by Steven
0

Right up there with the NERV Android Phone, Team Evangelion Racing has to be one of the more badass Evangelion crossovers we’ve seen. It’s got sleek cars decked out in Eva colors, a team of race queens cosplaying in sexy plugsuit-inspired outfits, and an exclusive lineup of Eva racing apparel for you to throw your money at—what more could a fan ask for!

Sep 12, 2012 by Steven
0

One fun way to see what anime or game series are currently popular with kids and otaku in Japan is to visit an arcade and take a look at the prizes up for grabs in the crane machines, or UFO catchers, as they’re often called in Japanese.

Unlike North America, arcade culture is still going strong in Japan and UFO catchers are one of the main attractions. Always found on the first floor of arcades, these machines are stocked with the latest limited-edition figurines and plushies of popular characters, many of which can only be acquired as UFO catcher prizes (or on Amazon at obscene prices).

Japanese toy company Banpresto has announced their newest lineup of CRANEKING arcade-exclusive prizes, available this October. Check what toys are hot on the Japanese arcade scene below!

Sep 5, 2012 by Steven
0

An image of a Colonel Sanders statue dressed up as Evangelion Unit-01 has been making the rounds on the Japanese internet…again.

Though the image above first popped up on the net over a year ago, its recent resurface makes a good opportunity to examine Japan’s fascination with dressing up the KFC mascot in further detail.

Check below for more pictures!

Sep 4, 2012 by Steven
0

Japanese “light novels” are a type of short and often serialized young adult novel that are usually heavy on dialogue and light on narrative depth. The growing popularity of light novels has made them common choices for manga and anime adaptations, such as the Haruhi Suzumiya series.

One of the more popular light novel series in recent years is My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute, which tells the story of a normal high school student who finds out his prodigious younger sister is actually a closet otaku, obsessed with anime and incest-themed adult computer games…

It’s probably less unwholesome than it sounds (at least by Japanese standards), and the point is that the series has become so popular that it has spawned an anime and manga series as well as several video games.

It has also seemed to usher in a new craze of light novels about the relationship between normal older brothers and their not-so-normal little sisters.

That’s totally wholesome…right…?

Aug 31, 2012 by Karen Bremer Masuda
0

In the midst of present day globalization, and with international marriages on the rise, how do Japanese people fare on the ‘international stage’ of dating?

We decided to find out by sending our reporter to Comiket 82 earlier this month and asking REAL LIVE foreign visitors if they would like to date a Japanese person.

Aug 30, 2012 by Steven
0

There are quite a few things that only Japan could pull off and half-human half-anime idol Anna Amemiya is one of them.

Aug 27, 2012 by Master Blaster
0

I could never really get into those CGI animated movies like the ones Pixar makes. For some reason the 3D animation always appeared stilted no matter how well it’s done. Traditional 2D animation always had a much smoother and strangely more lifelike quality to it but it’s not without its limitations either especially in the realm of video games.

Live2D, developed by Cybernoids seems to have successfully taken the superior aesthetics of 2D art and rendered it into the superior flexibility and efficiency of 3D more smoothly than ever seen before.

Aug 25, 2012 by Steven
0

While manga is ubiquitous in Japan — just ride the subway in any major city and you’ll see people from all walks of life flipping through a comic book — many Japanese people are surprised to hear how popular manga has become overseas. After all, aren’t Westerners only interested in macho superheroes or short comic strips?

Perhaps that was the case in America before, but in recent years many major bookstores have begun to reserve more space near the front of the store for Japanese comics and in some European countries like France and Germany manga occupies a large portion of overall comic sales.

But why?

Earlier this month, we sent one of our Japanese reporters to Comic Market (or “Comiket“), the world’s largest self-published comic book fair and otaku mecca, to interview real live foreigners and ask them why they like Japanese manga so much.

Aug 22, 2012 by Steven
0

Everyone’s favorite 3D ninja breast physics simulator Senran Kagura is scheduled to make its debut as a TV anime in Japan sometime in 2013.

Judging from the first official trailer, which we’ve posted below, it looks like the anime series will also follow the story of a young group of female ninja breasts as they try and save the world from…how does Japan even get away with this kind of stuff?

Aug 17, 2012 by Steven
0

Many foreigners view Japan as some marvelous dreamland of technology and culture; a place where crazy is the norm and embracing fantasy in everyday life is acceptable.

But to Japanese people, Japan is just that place you were born. Everyone and everything is routine, and it’s often difficult to see why the rest of the world get’s so worked up about “Japanese culture.”

Earlier this month, we sent one of our Japanese reporters to Comic Market (or “Comiket“), the world’s largest self-published comic book fair and otaku mecca, to interview real live foreigners and ask them what it is they really think about this country.

Aug 11, 2012 by Steven
0

Yesterday we shared the story of a Japanese mother who begged Comic Market (“Comiket”) attendees through Twitter to exercise a little more responsibility when hauling erotically-designed bags through the crowded Tokyo stations on the way home.

Word of the troubled mother’s plea quickly spread across the net and many people responded by saying they will make sure to transfer their goods into less conspicuous bags before leaving to convention.

On the other hand, one Comiket vendor seems to have found a workaround to the problem by making a bag that looks normal on the outside, but graphically sexual on the inside.

Photos of the bag can be found below, but they are NSFW and may be disturbing to those who are uncomfortable with (spoiler alert!) enlarged images of female genitalia.

Aug 10, 2012 by Steven
0

Comic Market, often abbreviated “Comiket“, is often described as “the world’s largest self-published comic book fair.”

However, anyone familiar with Japanese self-published comics, or doujinshi, knows much of the material these indie groups put out are usually not very wholesome in nature. In fact, a good number of the books sold at Comiket are hardcore pornographic comics featuring popular video game and anime characters. What’s more, many of the groups selling pornographic material hand customers their merchandise in custom-designed bags that usually feature pornographic imagery as well.

So imagine you’re a mother waiting at the train station with your 5-year-old child on evening in early August. The train pulls into the platform and you line up to board, but when the doors open you can only stand there in shock as a crowd of people leisurely walk out holding giant bags covered in pictures of naked anime girls in lewd positions.

Because this is, apparently, what actually has been happening at Comiket, according to a series of tweets by a Japanese mother begging participants to exercise a little more discretion.

Aug 7, 2012 by Steven
0

Senran Kagura is a series of ninja breast physics simulators for the 3DS that also include elements of side scrolling action. The first game was released in Japan in September 2011 to generally positive reviews, receiving praise for its exhilarating action-based gameplay and unabashed use of giant, 3D bouncing breasts in a variety of novel situations.

The game actually did so well that both an anime series and a sequel are set for release later this year. The latter, Senran Kagura Burst (which is ironically only a letter away from ‘bust’), will be hitting stores on August 30 and, to build anticipation for the launch, developers MarvelousAQL have teamed up with Akihabara cafe CAFE EURO to create two overtly erotic Senran Kagura-inspired desserts.

Aug 2, 2012 by Yoshio
0

Wonder Festival is a bi-annual event in Tokyo to showcase amateur figures, toys and garage kits.

It is also, not surprisingly, full of wonderful things. At the most recent Wonder Festival, held on July 28 at Makuhari Messe convention center, there was one particular item that caught our eye even among all of the figures of Rei Ayanami bending over suggestively: McDonald’s nyotaimori figures.