Brian Ashcraft

Delicious Looking (And Totally Fake) Super Mario Sushi

This is like the fake food you see in front of Japanese restaurants, but with Nintendo characters. YouTuber Nendo Zaiker-Snail created this Mario sushi from polymer clay. You can see the process in the 12-minute Japanese language clip below. What really sticks out is how this seems somewhat possible with real sushi. Make the Mario…

Another arcade is closing in Tokyo. Taito Station Shinjuku West Exit, which opened in 2018, will shutter on March 21. With fewer customers, and tourists banned, arcades are hurting.

Taiwan Turns Horrible Diseases Into Manga-like Characters

Syphilis. Rabies. Ebola. While you’d probably not like to get any of these, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control has turned a host of sicknesses into manga-type characters to raise awareness. As Hachima reports, the Taiwan CDC has brought in talented artists to bring these horrible diseases to life as a way to inform the…

Track: Bring on the Lucie (FREDA PEEPLE) | Artist: Richard Ashcroft | Album: Bring on the Lucie (FREDA PEEPLE)

Rising Sun Removed From Street Fighter II In Capcom Arcade Stadium

E. Honda’s Street Fighter II bathhouse stage is iconic. On the back wall is a mural with Mount Fuji, a kabuki actor, and the Rising Sun design. The mountain and the thespian stay in Capcom Arcade Stadium’s re-release, but the ray design does not. Here is how the stage appeared in the original Street Fighter…

Track: Country Road (cover) | Artist: Goose House | Album: N/A 

Broken In An Earthquake? Company Offers To Repair Anime Figures For Free

Whenever there’s an earthquake in Japan, inevitably on Twitter come photos of people’s anime statues knocked off shelves. Now one company is saying they’ll fix their ones for free! Recently, north-eastern Japan was rocked by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake. No doubt anime figures were jostled about during the quake, which is why, as J-Cast News (via…

First Look At Mamoru Hosoda’s New Anime Film Belle

Announced last December, Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, Wolf Children, and The Boy and the Beast) has a new animated feature coming out this year. As previously reported, the movie is called Belle and tells the story of a young woman in modern-day Japan as she enters a massive virtual world. Below is the brand new…

Nintendo Announced A Lovely Looking Summer Game For Japan

During the Japanese version of this week’s Nintendo Direct, a pleasant surprise was announced: a summertime game with everyone’s favorite anime five-year-old from Crayon Shin-chan Called Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Hakase no Natsuyasumi (Crayon Shin-chan: My Summer Vacation With The Professor), the game lets players enjoy summertime in a small town in Kyushu, Japan. This…

Track: Milk Tea | Artist: Ua | Album: Ametora 

Incredible Wooden Statues Of Dragon Ball, Gundam, Attack On Titan, And More

Wood carvings are one of Vietnam’s traditional handicrafts, but instead of religious-themed works, DWoodart Studio specializes in stunning sculptures of popular anime, manga, and video game characters. The artists first place (or sometimes draw) an illustration on a block of wood and use a chainsaw to cut away large slices. Then the sculpture is painstakingly…

Let’s Compare The Nier Replicant Remaster To The Original

To mark the game’s tenth anniversary, a Nier Replicant remaster was announced for the PS4, Xbox One, and Steam. Let’s see how the game, so far, stacks up against the PlayStation 3 original. While there could be slight differences in the final retail version, the comparison shows that the remaster has undergone a good polish…

Here’s a two-minute animated short for Final Fantasy XIV in South Korea. The Korean language clip shows Miqo’te’s daily life in the city of Miqo’te as well as glimpses at some adventuring.

Track: No Longer | Artist: YeYe X Moto Kawabe | Album: No Longer (single) 

Japan Finally Gets Rules About Japanese Whisky

Japanese whisky isn’t yet one hundred years old. The country set up its first proper whisky distillery in 1923. And from then until this year, there were zero codified rules about what exactly Japanese whisky was. Compared to Scotch and bourbon, the regulations regarding Japanese whisky have been lax at best. There has long been…

After Japan’s Earthquake, Rainbow Six Players Trade Bullets For Concern

This weekend, north-eastern Japan was rocked by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake. Considering how devastating earthquakes can be, people were worried. Some called loved ones, others sent messages. And in Rainbow Six Siege, one player smashed a wall to check in on the rival team. As seen in the Twitter clips below, about an hour after…

Track: Taiyo Te ni Tsuki wa Kokoro no Ryoute ni | Artist: Ua | Album: Petit

Square Enix: Don’t Send Us Valentine’s Chocolate Because Covid-19

Each year, fans send Valentine chocolates to Square Enix. Some are addressed to characters while others are for the game creators. It’s a way to say thanks. But this year, Square Enix is asking for fans to refrain. As Jiji reports, Square Enix posted a notice on its official site, citing the state of emergency…

After 17 Years, Anime Character Gintama’s Age Is Finally Revealed

It’s rather common for anime fans to know character’s ages. But for years, Gintama’s age has not been revealed. That is, until now. During a recent YouTube special for the anime movie Gintama The Final, it was asked how old the character was. (Even the staff said didn’t know!) However, Kohei Onishi, the original editor…

Track: 1999 | Artist: Hitsujibungaku | Album: 1999