Brian Ashcraft

Kit-Kat Sandwiches! Japan Has Kit-Kat Sandwiches.

From the country with the most interesting Kit-Kat flavors, comes this: a Kit-Kat sandwich you can order at a fast food chain. Sure, why not? Though, I bet somewhere someone in a moment of snacking depravity has put Kit-Kats between bread. However, no fastfood chain has ever sold such madness to the masses. Until now.…

First Look at the Naruto Stage Musical

Maybe it’s good! There’s a big difference between looking at stills and sitting in a theater and experiencing an actual Naruto musical. But for now, let’s look at photos. Actually, I’m not sure what to make of this. Some of the photos look kind of goofy. Then again, others look very cool. At least the…

Konami Pledges To Make More Metal Gear

The timing on this announcement is very, very interesting, don’t you think? I certainly do. Earlier this month, Hideo Kojima said Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain would be his final Metal Gear. Yesterday, it was discovered that Konami appeared to be erasing the Kojima brand from Metal Gear. There was concern that Kojima…

Hoax Alert: The Grandson of Sony’s President Didn’t Fry a Pistol

I’m not even sure that Sony President Kaz Hirai has a grandson or even a son for that matter. But I am certain that, despite Twitter claims, this is bullshit. In the photo, a young man is surrounded by girls who are pointed to the handgun he’s apparently fried in home economics class. It’s a…

The Greatest Video Game Hamburger I’ve Ever Seen

These days, video games look better than ever. And if you need further proof of that, look at this highly detailed digital hamburger. This burger was spotted in the PC version of Battlefield Hardline by Redditorzlitter (via NeoGAF), and it might be the best thing about Battlefield Hardline. A burger this realistic is the best…

Poll: Anime That Are Better Than the Original Manga

Often when you see an anime, you might think the original manga was better. But do you ever feel the reverse is true? That the anime is more interesting than the source material? A recent Japanese poll asked just that. According to website My Navi, five hundred adult men and women were asked which anime…

Incredible Japanese Cardboard Creations 

Meet Monami Ohno. The art school grad excels at making highly detailed models and sculptures out of cardboard, whether that’s 1/1 scale cardboard guns, anime robots or model tanks. Ohno’s work has not gone unnoticed in Japan. She’s appeared on the evening news, in magazines, and on websites. She also holds workshops to teach her…

Today, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XI service for the PS2 and Xbox 360 will end in March 2016. However, it will continue for the PC version.

Cooking Bacon with Machine Guns Is Delicious and Lethal

Let’s say you find yourself hungry with loads of uncooked bacon and an…assault rifle. Add lots and lots of bullets, and you have yourself a tasty bacon meal. A couple YouTubers have shown how to make machine gun bacon. It looks like wrapping the bacon in tinfoil is the most effective (wiring bacon to the…

Final Fantasy XI Gets Smartphone Version and New Spin-Off [Updated]

With the amount of money smartphone games make, this shouldn’t be that surprising. But Square Enix is bringing a version of Final Fantasy XI to smartphones. It’s called Final Fantasy XI Mobile. There’s also a new FFXI spin-off title called Final Fantasy Grandmasters. Update: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Final Fantasy…

Drew Barrymore Knows How To Eat in Tokyo

If you ever need advice on what to eat in Tokyo, you can always ask Drew Barrymore. She sure knows. Recently, the actor and movie producer was in Tokyo and uploaded a series of photos of her culinary adventures to Instagram with the hashtag #tokyofoodtour. So! One morning, Barrymore’s breakfast looked like this. She had…

Spider Infestation Reminds People of Totoro

In the Studio Ghibli anime My Neighbor Totoro*, there is a scene in which the family moves into their new house and finds the attic crawling with soot sprites. This is kind of like that, but WITH SPIDERS. On popular Japanese blogs like My Game News Flash, the below video is reminding people of that…

To Make Attack on Titan ‘Real’ You Need Drones and AR

And a dancing Titan. Don’t forget that. It’s very important. YouTuber Kamo C uploaded this video, showing how augmented reality was used to create a 50-meter (164-foot) Colossal Titan. The animation isn’t Hollywood quality, but that’s okay, because the result is rather impressive. And large. A 10-meter (32.8 foot) AR marker and a drone was…

Burger King Perfume Coming to Japan. Apparently. 

And it seems the fragrance, which is dubbed “Flame-Grilled,” will be released only in Japan. On April 1st. Hang on a second… But wait, this is supposedly an actual product. According to Burger King Japan, April 1st is now “Whopper Day” in Japan. It’s not a national holiday (dammit!), but website Fashion Snap reports that…

Pokémon Fusions Continue to Make Dreams Reality

When you take two Pokémon and mix them together for something entirely new, that’s called Pokémon splicing or Pokémon fusion. And it makes for some wonderfully cool creations that cannot be found in the games. A few years back, Kotaku covered the resurgence of Pokémon splicing through website Pokémon Fusion as well as in these…

Square Enix honcho Yosuke Matsuda told Nikkei Trendy that the company had “a little surprise” to announce this year. When asked for details, Matsuda replied, “It’s not possible to say now, but it’s a JRPG and for home consoles.”

New Layton and Yokai Watch 3 Will Be Announced Next Month [Update]

This April, Level-5 will holding its own expo in Japan and will announce a handful of new titles. [Update: Added more information about Layton 7.] The event’s official site lists the event outline, which includes Yokai Watch 3, Layton 7, and Fantasy Life 2. Level-5 will also detail future anime projects. This sounds like big…

The Face of Japan Is Changing, But Some Aren’t Ready 

Change happens slowly in Japan, but it does happen. You wake up one day, and things that weren’t possible years ago are happening today. Nowhere is that more evident than in the woman who will represent Japan in the Miss Universe pageant—but that’s to the chagrin of some who wanted a more “Japanese” winner. Ariana…

One Man’s Incredible Make-Up Transformations

That’s TV host, actor, and make-up artist Paolo Ballesteros showing off his Elsa from Frozen face. He doesn’t always look like this. Nobody does. Here’s what he usually looks like when he’s not covered in cosmetics and not wearing a shirt. Based in The Philippines, Ballesteros has recently been making a name for himself online…

Let the Final Fantasy XV Product Placement Begin!

Yes, that Coleman. The Outdoor Company™. Final Fantasy XV characters will sit in Coleman camping chairs, cook on Coleman stoves, and pitch Coleman tents. How’s that for a fantasy based on reality? As reported on Famitsu and 4Gamer, Coleman camping gear will appear as in-game items, complete with the Coleman logo. I added the red…