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AnimeThanks To Demon Slayer, Fans In Japan Rush To Donate Blood
In Tokushima, the Red Cross featured Demon Slayer characters on blood drive posters. Sign up and give, and the prefecture would give out one of those posters as a present. Fans were more than happy to oblige. According to Livedoor News, in April, 464 people donated, reaching 77 percent of the prefecture’s target. In the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 31, 2021 -
AnimeWoman Arrested For Alleged Arson Threat To Attack On Titan Anime Studio
A 25-year-old woman from Miyagi prefecture has been arrested for allegedly emailing an arson threat to Wit Studio, which is best known for animating the first three seasons of the Attack on Titan anime. According to Yomiuri News, the suspect was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of forcibly obstructing a business. Kyodo News reports…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 28, 2021 -
AnimeAnime Super Cub Breaks The Law, Yes, But Is Fiction
In a recent episode of Super Cub, the anime about schoolgirls and the Honda motorcycle, two characters are shown riding on the same motorcycle. That is illegal in Japan. In Japanese, two people riding on the same motorcycle or bicycle is called futari-nori (“two riders”). Those who violate this traffic law can be fined up…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 26, 2021 -
AnimeHow Demon Slayer Energized A Japanese Canned Coffee Brand
Japan is famous for its canned coffee. But with consumption on the slide, canned coffee makers needed to wake up sales. They found it: Anime. As Mainichi News reports, Osaka’s DyDo Drinco launched its Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba line of “collab-cans” in October 2020. Featuring 28 different designs, some “Kimetsu-can” as they’re called were…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 26, 2021 -
AnimePikachu Just Got Arrested On The Pokémon TV Anime
Things sure got real on this week’s episode of Pocket Monster, the latest Pokémon TV anime series. As teased last week, Pikachu got arrested—cuffed and everything. Fittingly, the episode is titled “Yougisha Pikachu?!” or “Pikachu the Suspect?!” In it, large amounts of electricity are being stolen from houses in Vermilion City, and a Pokémon that…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 21, 2021 -
AnimeHideaki Anno Is Not Remaking A Famous Anime, Says Studio
Recently, an article on a Japanese news site claimed that Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno was doing “a new version” of an anime that “everyone knows” in Japan. The article added that the original iconic anime was directed by someone else, and the information claimed to be from a studio staffer. Speculation ran wild. Online, people…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 17, 2021 -
AnimeFans Polled Over Which Anime Or Manga Should Be Live-Action And Most Replied “None”
Yikes! A Japanese poll asked one thousand men and women, ranging in ages from teens to 60s, to name which anime or manga they’d like made live-action, courtesy of Hollywood. The reply that took the number one slot should surprise no one, really. It was, well, “nothing” or “none.” Here, via Yahoo News! Japan, is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 14, 2021 -
AnimeHow Studio Ghibli Helped With The Latest Evangelion Film
Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno has a history that goes way back with Studio Ghibli—before it was even founded. One of the first big jobs he got in the industry was working on Hayao Miyazaki’s 1984 classic Nausicaä. Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time was made on computers, but when Anno needed to do some analog…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 13, 2021 -
AnimeDragon Ball Super Getting Another Movie Next Year
After the Dragon Ball Super TV anime ended in spring 2018, it returned to Japanese movie theaters later that year in a feature film continuation called Dragon Ball Super: Broly (pictured, above). Now, DBS is coming back once again in 2022. The official site has an English language announcement from creator Akira Toriyama, which reads:…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 10, 2021 -
AnimeYasuke Is A Full-Circle Moment For Black Anime Fans
Watching the first episode of Yasuke, Netflix’s new fantastical animated show about the life of a Black samurai, I started to cry. I remembered how it felt to be a 16-year-old girl watching anime in the nighttime darkness of my living room. Watching Yasuke, with its titular Black character kicking ass to a soundtrack by…
By Ash Parrish Published May 6, 2021 -
AnimeDemon Slayer Is First Japanese Movie To Top The US Box Office Since Original Pokémon Movie
The Demon Slayer feature film was a box office juggernaut in Japan, surpassing Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away as the biggest earning feature film in Japan. It’s also doing very, very well in the US. Originally, there was concern about how the movie would do considering its R rating. The movie, however, set a box office…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 4, 2021 -
AnimeGold Gundam Statues Go On Sale In Japan For Only $240,000
Like Gundam? Have lots of money? Well, does a Japanese jewelry company have a product for you. Several, actually. Here’s a trio of pure golden Gundam statues, with the larger ones costing a whole lot of money—and the smaller one still costing a lot of money, too. The RX-78-2 Gundam Beam Rifle version measures 180mm…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2021 -
AnimeDragon Ball Composer Shunsuke Kikuchi Dies At 89
Famed composer Shunsuke Kikuchi has died from pneumonia, Oricon reports. He was 89. Kikuchi was born in Aomori Prefecture in 1931. He made his music debut in 1961 and went on to compose for an array of iconic shows, including the themes for Kamen Rider and Doraemon. His “Doraemon no Uta” (Doraemon’s Song) with lyrics…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 28, 2021 -
AnimeWatch Anime Style Paint Jobs Bring Figures To Life
Over the years, Kotaku has featured the work of artists specializing in anime-style paint jobs (here, here, and here, for example). Now let’s watch as YouTuber MA-Man shows how it’s done. While the clips are in Japanese, even if you don’t speak the language, you can follow along as MA-Man does an anime paint job…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 28, 2021 -
AnimeDespite R-Rating And Pandemic, Demon Slayer Sets Box Office Record In North America
Earlier this spring, when it was announced that Demon Slayer was getting a dreaded R-rating in the US, there was concern that this could impact the movie’s performance. Those concerns, it seems, were wrong. According to AFP, Demon Slayer earned $19.5 million in the United States and Canada during its opening weekend, which is the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 26, 2021 -
AnimeDude Trains Like One-Punch Man During The Pandemic, Gets Buff
Back in 2019, in the before times, Kotaku reported that an investor named Sean trained like One-Punch Man for thirty days and got in terrific shape. Now, in 2021, another dude has trained like the character for a whole year. As Yutara reports, YouTuber Jigoku Dera Guren Maru started at 82.7 kilograms (182 pounds). But…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 23, 2021 -
AnimeThe Mysterious Girl On The My Neighbor Totoro Poster
On the original poster for Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro, as well as on the DVD and Blu-ray cover, there is a mysterious girl standing next to Totoro. She isn’t Satsuki or Mei, and this girl does not appear in the movie. Yet, there she is. Below is the scene that appears in My Neighbor…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 19, 2021 -
AnimeDrink Up This Ghost In The Shell Japanese Booze
Joining the likes of other geeky sake comes a line of Ghost in the Shell-themed stuff. Kanpai! Previously, there has been Pac-Man, Yakzua, and Final Fantasy branded sake. Now, three bottles, each with characters from Ghost in the Shell, will be released in Japan. According to Kurand (via Grape and PR Times), there is a…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 16, 2021 -
AnimeAt 79 Years Old, Gundam Creator Yoshiyuki Tomino Is Still Competitive
Yoshiyuki Tomino is an anime legend. At the age of 79, you might think he’s checked out, retired, and is taking it easy. You’d be wrong. As reported on 2ch, in a recent interview on Japanese TV, Tomino talked about what keeps him going. He mentioned how giant robot shows are aimed at kids, but…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 15, 2021
