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#satoshi kon: Satoshi Kon has been working on a new film for a while, however it was kept under surprisingly tight wraps. But thanks to a heads up from our pals at twitchfilm.net, we've seen that the official ...

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#weird news: I don't know exactly why some kind of Sengoku-era craze is sweeping Glorious Nippon, or for that matter if it's particularly new, but I'm more than happy to blame Sengoku Basara for these awesome...

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#weird news: Oh, NTT Docomo, you and your strange-yet-desirable cellphone models. First a wooden phone, and now this?!The latest fashionable gadget from the Japanese telecom giant is a flip-phone by Sharp, cu...

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#Tsundere: To an extent, I've grown out of wearing shirts with Japanese sprawled across my chest. I still find myself dressing up in Japanese shirts for your sake, but I tend to hold myself back from buying...

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#weird news: UFO catchers sell a lot of things. Plush dolls, capsule toys, candy, cigarettes and even game consoles have all, at one time or another, been sold in crane games. It was only a matter of time unt...

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#Video games: The paperwork finally went through, and the patriotic soldiers starring in the Sgt. Frog manga and anime getting the RPG-adaptation supplies that they've desperately clamored for. Entitled Keroro...

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#music: I'll be up front in saying this: Boom Boom Satellites is one of my favorite bands. With that out of the way, let me just say that they have really covered alot of ground in their musical career. ...

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#Tomopop: Um....um...um....um....I know she's only 680 yen, but that's a pretty damn cute figure for that price. Do want.Now, if you'll excuse me, I need some alone time.

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#weird news: Have you ever looked at a cellphone strap or lanyard and wished "boy, I wish I could tie a woman up  in a sexy manner with this?" No? That just means you are not in the target mark...

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#trailers: There's few things in this world more awesome than Gintama. Alot of us like the anime and manga, but a full blown movie? It sounded like the BEST THING EVER when it was announced. And now we have...

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#Otaku Goods: If you're an Otaku, and you don't already know about Cospa, then you're missing out on life. They're the largest manufacturer of cosplay apparel in Japan, and the parent company of Broc...

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#Video games: In case you can't tell from the header image, that's my blonde android lover, Aegis from Persona 3.  She's going to appear in From Software's new PS3 title, 3D Dot Game Heroes. Well, not off...

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#Japanator Original: Arizona's Saboten-Con took place last weekend, and I was lucky enough to attend. Although Saboten isn't as big as some of the more famous conventions (such as NYAF or Onicon), it nevertheless fea...

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#weird news: In case your drunken costumed revelry (or physical location) prevented you from visiting the special Yokai-themed lecture at San Francisco's "New People" center, do not worry, for we ma...

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#weird news: Really! Domo (aka Domo-kun) creator Tsuneo Goda is appearing on the Tokyopop Insider webcast today, October 29th, at 4:30PM PDT (7PM EST). By the time this goes up, that's in ONE HOUR. If you liv...

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#DO WANT: This is relatively old news by now, but it'll quite relevant come next week. On October 28th, anyone who's been wondering where their pen/stapler/cutter/protractor/ruler/scissors went can find ou...

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#event: If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, at least. That big ol' New People mall-thing that opened this year in San Francisco's Japantown district is holding a special event to celebrate all Hal...

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#DO WANT: No? Too bad, because manga artist Shigeru Mizuki went and did it for you, taking pictures and writing a book about it, entitled Youkai Daizukai. This pretty awesome book shows off excellent (and ...

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#politics: Koizumi really can do just about anything. Reform the post office, save the world through games of mahjongg, and now he's taken on the mantle of seiyuu! That's right, the former Prime Minister of...

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#technology: If you didn't know yet, Amazon's going to release an international version of its Kindle pickpocket-bai--I mean reader device, the Kindle, going out to tempt petty thieves in over 100 countries, ...

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#weird news: I have to thank NTT Docomo for giving me the first-ever opportunity to use a "wood" joke on the internet, with their new line of "Touch Wood" cellphone models.The new phones u...

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#toys: Anthropomorphizing mecha is a long-known concept, from the venerable OS-tans down to the Busou Shinki figure line, but as far as I know this is a relatively new twist on the trope, one that bears...

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#toys: It's quite the shame that relatively few of the Macross properties have made it over to this side. I still twitch a little in otaku rage when people go "Oh, don't you mean Robotech?" af...

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#vocaloid: Rejoice, Japanatorians and lovers of synthesized voice everywhere! A new game starring everyone's favorite Vocaloid, Hatsune Miku, is on its way!Our intrepid pals over at Destructoid have brought...

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#weird news: I've always felt a little guilty about not being able to donate blood. Due to the wealth of prescription medication constantly flowing through my veins, I'm banned from doing so. But now, I feel ...

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#Video games: Why must you torture me so, Tomopop? Constantly bombarding me with cool figures, and now you've gone ahead and thrown Dizzy in my face. One that's a Hobby Japan Mail Order exclusive, meaning I ha...

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#weird news: You heard it, folks. The people of Kobe are now safe, for the life-size statue of Tetsujin-28-go (aka Gigantor) is complete and in position outside Shin-Nagata train station. The citizens wil...

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#Otaku Goods: Way to combine current events with one of your upcoming titles. Here we've got a nice little surgical mask, as you'd see many people who are sick walk around with in Japan. Plastered on the front...

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#weird news: If it wasn't badass enough that Kobe was building its own giant robot statue, this time replicating the awe-inspiring visage of Tetsujin-28 (aka Gigantor), the city has seen fit to strike home th...

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#Video games: Remember Tokimeki Memorial? No? Don't be surprised. It was one of the first dating sims around, first released for the PC Engine in 1994. It's one of the few series to ever get versions featuring...

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#Video games: As the 2009 Tokyo Game Show gets under way, it looks like Sony is preparing to really beef up its Playstation Network offerings, especially for its Japanese fans. New details have come out regard...

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#Video games: And just when I was starting to get good at the original! As to be expected, the sequel/update to BlazBlue has just been announced in the October issue of Famitsu, where we'll be getting a lot of...

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#YA HA!!!!: And it's so cute it could cut a gopher from its hole!But if yer gonna be one of them durn sticks-in-the-mud who's a-lovin' them crazy moon languages, NIS America has ya covered, seein' as it's...

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#Video games: And it's wearable in public, unlike those horrid Marc Ecko Halo t-shirts. The only hint as to its Persona 3 heritage is the distinctive pattern on the front and back, matching that on the dress o...

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#Video games: This is Halo? I don't remember ever being able to do anything as sweet as this in the games. Well, I'm not going to complain. Last night, this clip aired on Spike TV as a preview for the upcoming...

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#weird news: That just happened. Now it's on like Donkey Kong. I am so getting this game and playing the hell out of it. [Via Kurogane]

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#TV and Film: Mmm...Kurosawa. As much as I love his works, most of what I've seen of his stuff has been through rentals and screenings. In fact, I think the only Kurosawa film I own is Stray Dog, and I only bo...

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#weird news: Surveys like this one are part of the reason I love posting on this site. Goo, a research monitor group (and now my personal heroes) posted the results of a private online survey asking people ab...

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#TV and Film: There's something special about Space Battleship Yamato. While I have yet to see it, just watching this fills me with a sort of tingling excitement, like when I watch shows like Gundam or Gurren ...

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#wii: Potentially Work UnsafeTwo things sell: sex and violence. As such, folks who wish to sell more are often wont to work a little of one or the other (or both) into their product promotions. In viol...

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#weird news: That's the gist of it, at least.Earlier this month Konami announced that they would be undertaking a "mysterious project envisioned by our boss," aimed at "saving" men around ...

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#weird news: I've often joked that the rapid advance of robot technology in Japan would doom us all.And yet, I am filled with hope, love, and horniness as I see the video after the jump. It should rightly cau...

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#toys: Like the header image above, something feels a little wrong about what this story is all about. An act in defiance of the natural order. Something...unholy.Bandai have gone and upset the balance,...

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#weird news: Monster Hunter is a phenomenon. In fact, just one iteration of the series, Portable 2nd G, has sold more copies in Japan alone than there are people in the country of Kuwait. In case you were won...

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#ZOMGWTFBBQ: The day that Glorious Nippon will once again rise to dominance over the world is coming much sooner than anticipate, because new intelligence has revealed that Japan's arms buildup has begun. A...

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#Video games: You might think that the video you see above is a clip from episode 15 of Lucky Star. You'd be right. What it also is, however, is an almost frame-by-frame recreation of the opening movie from...

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#Video games: Wear your allegiance to oppression and tyranny on your sleeve...literally. To celebrate three decades of Earth-noid domination, Sony is giving away free Earth Federation Space Force uniforms to s...

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#videos: Oftentimes I find it difficult to justify the purchase of action figures. In my old age, I know that once I buy an action figure, I'll spend a few days delightfully posing and re-posing the thi...

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#Video games: The English-language eroge scene seems to be picking up, as more and more high-profile eroge releases make their way across the ocean to deliver otaku joy to willing customers.With the recent ann...

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#YA HA!!!!: The 76th installment of Comiket, the biannual otaku event, has begun! News, doujinshi, goods and everything otaku is up for glorious consumption. It is the place where artists are found and ...

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#KyoAni: Novelty neckties are one of those things that are great in concept but terrible in reality. No self-respecting person could bring himself to wear a piano keyboard tie or something along those l...

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#TV and Film: How bad do we want Robogeisha here at Japanator? I can sum it up for you in one word: desperately. I was browsing through the news over at Twitch when I stumbled across the second trailer, which ...

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#robots: This is terrible news. Engineers in Japan have built a real-life version of that most-famous icon of Ghost in the Shell's cyber-futuristic style, the Tachikoma robo-tank. Like their inspirat...

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#Video games: Japan is obsessed with cats, which I have no problem with considering I am pretty obsessed with them too. However, a recent cat-centric game called Sukeban Shacho Rena may be the end all in weird...

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#Otaku Goods: Ever wished that you could be like the Gamilon leader Lord Desler? Well, now you can! This wine goblet, made by the people at Skynet, should make for a great conversation piece. Set to be release...

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#weird news: It's almost a given that anything that's worth stealing will have someone around looking to steal it, but I still find it somewhat odd that people would go off to nab mere posters. Four peop...

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#Otaku Goods: There is nothing sweeter than letting the purge begin. Whether it be in the office, on the freeway, or in the bedroom, everywhere could do with a little bit more Char Aznable. And now you can do ...

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#technology: If you're looking for a bowl of ramen and need to have it in exactly one minute and forty seconds, two chefs in Nagoya are ready to take your order.FuA-Men (short for Fully Automated raMen) is ru...

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#technology: The ultimate otaku dream of being able to interact effectively with 2-D characters is slowly coming to realization, as researchers at Tokyo University's Shinoda Lab have managed to combine hologr...

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#Whats Manga up to: Master Asia called it. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is coming back to lead the Japanese people, this time in the form of a mahjong anime. Adapted from a totally kickass manga, no story...

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#WanFesu: Yeah, that's right. A hug pillow (or dakimakura) featuring Abe Takakazu of the legendary comic Kuso Miso Technique was on sale at Wonder Festival this year for the butt-hurting price of 12,000 ye...

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#technology: The work on Kobe's planned life-sized Tetsujin 28-go statue is proceeding nicely, as you can see in the news update above, which is cued to some badass old-timey robot show music. The officia...

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#San Diego Comic Con: Yesterday, I sat in on the Marvel Animation panel at Comic Con, where they showed off both their American animation projects as well a few of their new anime projects with Mad...

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#mecha: This book is amazing. Released on the 13th and picked up by some at Otakon, it's a technical manual for one of the most iconic mecha models of all time, Macross' Variable Fighter VF-1 "Valkyrie."...

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#technology: Japan hosts nearly half the working robot population, and as such it is incredibly important that humans need to maintain control over them. Secret laboratories everywhere are working on new wa...

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#videos: And it turns out Casshern was formerly a 1970s Tatsunoko series, Neo-Human Casshern, that version of which will be appearing as a character in the upcoming Wii fighter Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. The...

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#Otakon: I was hoping for the Odaiba Gundam to make a surprise visit to New York City for New York Anime Fest, as part of the 30th Anniversary of Gundam. So, I made sure to stop by the NYAF booth, where I...

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#Otaku Goods: We here at Japanator love High School of the Dead. I put it on my wishlist for 2009, and I'm still waiting for Vertical to license it. It's a manga series about what happens after a zombie outbre...

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#technology: I've been using an HP Mini as my only computer for the past four months or so. Colette is lamenting my situation as we talk now, but I've gotten used to it. As great as this HP netbook is, there ...

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#technology: Most of the robots we rightfully fear and envy are shaped like huge lumps of inhuman scrap metal. The Terminators, the Liberty Primes, the Transformers, all of them look properly alien and hatefu...

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#Video games: Over at Kotaku, Luke Plunkett caught word via Inside Games that the Japanese version of PlayStation Home will have the giant Odaiba Gundam towering over the town square from July 11th until July ...

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#weird news: Japan has produced some of the best and the worst cinema in the world. It's up to you to decide which category 1977's Hausu falls into. My wager is for the former. Colette passed along this clip ...

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#DO WANT: 07th Expansion's Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is an incredibly violent murder mystery involving moe girls in the 1980s. Despite the bizarre conceit, it was very good and managed to get a huge fan fo...

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#technology: As we all know, The Machines will eventually take over. I for one welcome our future robot overlords, but not everyone is as receptive to mankind's inevitable, glorious destiny. It seems the peop...

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#vocaloid: The fact that I have not already ordered my copy of the Hatsune Miku rhythm game Project Diva speaks volumes about my determination to save money for my trip to Japan later this year, because see...