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Wait, pirates! That Cross Days download is a trap!
by Josh Tolentino, 03/20/2010
Wait, pirates! That Cross Days download is a trap! photo

Well, more of a trap than the actual game, really. That's saying a lot, since the protagonist of Cross Days (from 0verflow, developers of School Days and Summer Days) is a male cross-dresser who gets himself into situations on both sides of the swinging arc, if you know what I mean.

No, this trap is more meta, and potentially more dangerous. Apparently a trojan/virus has been released alongside copies of Cross Days flowing through the Japanese P2P networks, disguised as a fake installer. When activated, the program gathers data from the computer and pretends to take a survey of players, including asking for personal information. Once it's done, everything gets uploaded to a public website, alongside a screenshot of their desktop.

Once discovered, users can ask for their data to be deleted, but must first click a button acknowledging that they have illegally downloaded Cross Days. Better yet, the whole scheme is revealed in the fake installer's terms of service agreement, something no one reads.

It seems that public shaming is now a weapon being wielded in the war against warez, though obviously the implications for identity theft and blackmail mark this particular stunt as somewhat dangerous in its own right. You can visit this page for some detail on the virus, as well as collected screenshots of the offending players' desktops. View for yourself the daily activities of day traders, otaku, readers of ero fanfiction and normal people who tried to score themselves Cross Days for free.

Truly though, the real lesson of this escapade is to be very careful about what programs you try to open when picking up your software from shady places. 

[Thanks to Ko for the tip!]

 

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 Show us your rock'n'roll face, win Chatmonchy stuff
by Zac Bentz, 03/20/2010
Show us your rock'n'roll face, win Chatmonchy stuff photo

Chatmonchy, an all girl rock and roll trio from Japan, is currently making their way across America as part of the Japan Nite tour. They are also making some extra appearances on their own along the way. It's a show that's sure to rock the faces off of music fans everywhere.

As you should probably know by now, Japanator knows how to rock. But do you? Do you think you have what it takes to prove your ultimate rocking out skills? Well then, here's your chance!

Japanator has a pretty sweet pile of Chatmonchy goods here, including a guitar pick, drum sticks and a t-shirt. All you have to do to make them yours is post a comment below with a photo (or a link to your photo) of your best rock'n'roll face and/or pose. Throw up some devil horns, smash a guitar, pour a beer over your head, whatever you think says "rock!!!!!!!" the best. Everyone who comments with a totally rockin' pic will be entered into a random drawing to get all of that sweet Chatmonchy swag. There will be only one winner, so make it perfect. The winner will be chosen March 27th, the date of the band's final show on the tour.

While you're working on that, hit the jump for all the dates on the Chatmonchy tour, as well as some video. Then get out to a show and rock out!  


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  1 comments Latest by HuffRaid
"Not sure if embedding will work but here: And if not: http://tinypic.com/r/f386ys/5"...read more



 Mona Yamamoto has issues with protesting mangaka
by Josh Tolentino, 03/20/2010
Mona Yamamoto has issues with protesting mangaka photo

If you've been following development in the war against lolis, you'd know that the latest attempt by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly to censor the appearance of lolis in most forms of 2-D media has been delayed for further deliberation, after a veritable host of high-profile manga creators came out in protest.

Local presenter Mona Yamamoto has some issues with their flying the banner of Freedom of Expression, and voiced some of them over a talk radio podcast. Our own Raz Rauf translated some excerpts of the conversation, and you can check them below. But the gist of it mostly amounts to the commonly raised argument that "Freedom of Expression is nice and all, but why protect this nasty stuff?"

Her concerns are certainly valid, but the problem in this case isn't that obscene material exists, but that the laws being proposed read so vaguely that they could be applied to everything from hardcore Comiket doujinshi to Sazae-san. Laws that general would simply cause harm and be effectively unenforceable. 

She was also concerned about the open sale of porn in areas children and women are known to visit, such as most bookstores, convenience stores. If nothing else, that's a measure I can get behind. While porn is sold in stores in America, too, most mags are found on the top shelf, in those telltale black bags that obscure the covers. In Japan many are open for shelf browsing, which is creepy.

 "How is this news," you ask? Saturday, that's how.

[Thanks to Raz for the translation and tip!] 


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  12 comments Latest by Thrishmal
"Gonna agree with Tim here, she is pretty hot. As for her stance on things, I can only assume she was abused as a child or brought up in a super closed household. "...read more



 Calorie Breath? WTF?
by Dale North, 03/20/2010
Calorie Breath? WTF? photo

Have you ever decided a product was total bullsh*t solely from the advertisement? This is definitely the case for me with Japanese product Calorie Breath. If the above image doesn't blow your mind, wait into you see all the pseudo-scientific crap on this webpage.

You're supposed to cram this mouthpiece in your pie hole and inhale/exhale 30 times in a five-minute session each day. This is supposed to work your stomach and make you thinner. Right. I breathe all the time. 

If you thought this was funny, you should see the product packaging! At JapanTrends, you'll see that there's a blob of a woman in orange to show you what might happen if you don't start rocking the Calorie Breath. 


  4 comments Latest by SeventhEvening
"I support any product that involves a woman putting a pink cylinder in her mouth. "...read more



 Does New Anime Suck...? Maybe there's just more to hate?
by SourGr8pes, 03/20/2010
Does New Anime Suck...? Maybe there's just more to hate? photo

[Editors Note: This is a promoted Community Blog, written by one of our readers in response to March's Monthly Musing topic. If you would like to see your own Cblog on the front page, warm up your keyboard and write something awesome! ~Jon Snyder]

Does the new stuff REALLY suck? And is that picture really relevant?

That seems to be the hot potato as of lately, separating anime fandom into multiple factions, if you will. In one corner, we have the grizzled vets with their cries of "Starblazers or Death!", and others enjoy cute-girls-doing-cute-things (Or watching girls sleep, but that's another story), and then there's probably you, who is reading this blog thinking "Didn't every era of anime have shitty titles?"

And therein lies my point.


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  11 comments Latest by Treiz
"It's not just that we are more exposed, there's also the fact that Animation has become MUCH cheaper to produce. Back in the day there was a cost thresh-hold that prevented the REALLY bad shows ..."...read more

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Momohime's thigh perfectly realized in this Muramasa fig
by Josh Tolentino, 03/19/2010
Momohime's thigh perfectly realized in this Muramasa fig photo

Everyone knows that Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Wii isn't about a Demon Blade or sword-slicing action. It's about the achingly beautiful artwork of Vanillaware and George Kamitani, and seeing a kind of alternate gaming universe in which 3D graphics never took off.

That's what Muramasa is about. Oh, and about its female lead Momohime's delicious thighs. While they're easily enjoyable on a screen, those who'd like to have such goodness in a more tangible form are invited to preorder this wonderful Momohime figurine by Alter.

HHHNNNGGG DAT THIGH


  13 comments Latest by HoodedMiracle
"DO WANT"...read more

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Tokimeki Memorial game stuffed on biggest DS cart ever
by Josh Tolentino, 03/19/2010
Tokimeki Memorial game stuffed on biggest DS cart ever photo

It's not often when you hear about girls getting good service in the quest for virtual love, so it's really rather grand to hear good things about visual novels for the ladies getting some love and attention.

That's certainly the case with Tokimeki Memorial: Girls' Side: 3rd Story, the next girl-oriented spinoff of Konami's legendary dating sim franchise. It's so big, apparently, that the developers were forced to cram it into the near-mythical four-gigabit DS cartridge.

Only one other game so far has that level bigness, and it's Level-5's RPG Ni no Kuni. So now it's a race. Which game will lay claim to the title of "First Maximimum-Size DS Title?" A game that brings hot 2-D men to the ladies, or a game whose visuals were designed by Studio Ghibli? 

It's on.


  5 comments Latest by mana
"@mihochan9 never? Tokimeki will probably never get released here due to the market not demanding such an expensive game to get localized. Ni no Kuni will probably get a release if Nintendo pub..."...read more

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Japanator AM Episode 9: Special OPs
by Karen Gellender, 03/19/2010
Japanator AM Episode 9: Special OPs photo

This week, with Colette trapped in the Jdrama fanservice dimension (although perhaps 'trapped' is the wrong word...), I was the only woman on the podcast, however I was STILL the only one man enough to make a top ten list of my favorite anime openings. Go figure. In addition, with Jon Snyder also trapped in the fanservice dimension (presumably fighting Bizarro-Jon), Brad Rice came to the rescue with his knowledge of Japanese politics and sundry otaku things. You can listen to it here.

We also discuss our thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII, and whether or not Vanille is a special little snowflake; for better or for worse, you can expect more FFXIII discussion in future episodes. There's plenty more, because this is a really long episode that covered a lot of ground, so if you want to know more you'll just have to either:

a)Listen to the show

OR

b)Hit the jump for notes and things. In fact, why not do that right now?


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  22 comments Latest by Tim Sheehy
"I apologize about being distracted most of that show. Won't happen again!"...read more



 Peach Boy brings 'sweet and fresh' yaoi to Amazon
by Josh Tolentino, 03/19/2010
Peach Boy brings 'sweet and fresh' yaoi to Amazon photo

If there was ever a place I'd have expected to become a good resource for those with more...diverse tastes in their manga, Amazon.com wasn't it. Then again, I'm glad to have been proven wrong.

Alongside a new doujinshi by Yoshitoshi ABe, the site for buying things over a series of tubes is now hosting Peach Boy: Momo and Mikan version Volume 1, first in a lovely series of yaoi manga by Aya Fujii. And it's available in both English and Japanese! Text-to-speech conversion is enabled, and you'll get all of it for a Kindle-supporting platform (either via the program on PC or through the Kindle device), at a highly agreeable price of one dollar.

Now, if you're not hyped up yet, I'll let the story blurbs get you hot and bothered:

Momo’s story is sweet and fresh. It’s a romantic comedy.
Make “love” as enriching as possible? Must have elements of “Di*k, Play, Position!!” (di*k, foreplay, sexual position.)
Lovely Tsumori speaks a word, and it makes Momo think of an art of pleasure!
Yes, Momo! You can be a good shag!! Just go for it!

Momo’s father, Mikan, his story is a bit serious.
He is idiosyncratic, and his nature makes his match lose his sprit of rivalry.
Knowing that he’s been doing mean things, he has been doing Judo* (* Japanese art of self-defense) in his ardent desire to fulfill a promise with Kawashima.
But, unluckily, Kawashima becomes icy against him. Mikan can’t stand it…what he’s gonna do…?

The book is packed full of sweat and sour love story of each Takagi members―the son and father!!


  3 comments Latest by MutaKu
"Wait, is the book description reflect the quality of the english translation inside? If yes, DNW."...read more

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$19.99? Angelic Layer is too awesome to cost only $19.99!
by Dale North, 03/19/2010
$19.99? Angelic Layer is too awesome to cost only $19.99! photo

One anime that will always stand in my top ten will be Angelic Layer. I can't even really explain why, but I love this anime. Bones adapted it from the Clamp manga, but the details don't matter. Something about it is just magical to me.  I love the whole human and robot co-existence thing, and AL did it before Chobits did. Plus, who doesn't love tiny robots?

I don't need Angelic Layer on DVD, but you might. I was really surprised to run across the entire 26-episode boxset at Best Buy priced at only $19.99. This show is way better than the price they stuck on it. I don't even want to know why it is priced so low. 

I'm mostly here to tell you that you need to go to Best Buy today and get one hell of a bargain on a great anime. 


  9 comments Latest by thatguyukno
"I doubt it has a sub option and I'm sure they found some way to censor it."...read more






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