Kotaku East

Anime Trope: People Getting Carried Like Rice Bags

Forget getting carried like a bride or a princess, the new thing, it seems, is getting hauled about like a bag of rice. This is called “okome-sama dakko” (お米様抱っこ), and it’s become a topic online after Mikazuki Augus from Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans busted it out: Hardly a first, but there you go. “Okome-sama…

Watch Out, Minecraft

For years now, people have been building amazing creations in Minecraft. But in Japan, people don’t need Minecraft to make cool constructions. Thank Minecraft clone, Dragon Quest Builders for that. Via 2ch and Hachima, people have been sharing impressive creations they’ve made in Builders. “I’ve seen better in Minecraft,” you might say, and I have,…

Monkey Bus Stop. Awajishima Monkey Center, Awaji Island, Japan. By Aaron Cuellar. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

Robot Is So Good at Puzzle & Dragons, It’s Frightening

Nowhere is safe from the unflinching skill and processing power of robots. Not even Puzzle & Dragons. Oh shit. In Japan, YouTube user Junya Sakamoto created a robot that can unleash combo after combo after combo. The robot, of course, is hooked up to a laptop, which analyzes the best moves to score the most…

They’re making new Lumines! Remember Lumines? One of the best PSP titles is coming to iOS and Android this summer under the current title of Lumines 2016. This winter will also see the release of a free-to-play version called Lumines VS.

Japan Is Getting Cherry Blossom Flavored Pepsi

Of course it is. According to NicoNico News, Pepsi Sakura is launching in Japan on March 8. “Sakura” means “cherry blossoms,” and this is the latest in a long line of unusual Pepsi flavors to hit the country. NicoNico News adds that the drink is a light pink hue and smells of sweet sakura. To…

The Latest One Piece Collectible: Luffy as a Woman

I’m fairly certain nobody asked for this, but here we are: Luffy from One Piece gets turned into a lady for upcoming merch. As pointed out on 2ch, MegaHouse, which is part of Bandai Namco, recently showed an unpainted prototype of a female Luffy D. Monkey: [Image via 2ch] The enormous curves shouldn’t be a…

Damn, This Anime Gun Model Is Amazing 

In sci-fi anime Psycho Pass, authorities wield a precrime suppressor called the “Dominator.” We’ve seen a model version for sale before, but we haven’t seen one like this. This real-life version of the portable brain scanner gun can even transform like it does in the anime. According to ASCII, this one-to-one scale recreation is even…

Sticking Around Club Sega. Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. By John Puma. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

Can You Spot the Difference in These Japanese Prints?

You are looking at two versions of a Hiroshige woodblock print. There are three differences. Try to find them. These images come via Curazy. If you get stuck, visit the site and click on the red box with 答えを見る (Look at the Answer). To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find…

Tekken Developer: The South Korean Ratings Board Is Awful

Today, leaked photos of Tekken 7: Fated Retribution, the upcoming arcade update, circulated online in South Korea as well as online in the West. As tipster Sang points out, one of the photos was tweeted to Katsuhiro Harada, with the Twitter user writing that the image was circulating in South Korea. Harada, who oversees Tekken,…

Fried Pikachu Sounds Delicious

In South Korea, you can eat lots of delicious food. Bulgogi, bibimbap, fried Pikachu. Wait, what? Actually, it’s fried pork shaped like Pikachu. People aren’t actually killing real Pikachus for you to eat! Afternoon News reports that online you can order cutlets that are shaped like the iconic Pocket Monster. [Photo: G-Market] In Korean, “Pikachu”…

Pikachu Tries Picking Up a Lady, Fails

In Great Detective Pikachu: The Bird of a New Duo, our titular sleuth is able to talk. But not everyone can understand him, including the women he tries to pick up on the street. The game’s intro starts with a dream sequence and then cuts to Pikachu in Rhyme City. When he talks to people,…

Platinum Games: ‘Making Only Original Titles Is Very Difficult’

If anyone would know that, it’s Platinum Games. Whether it’s Bayonetta or even Anarchy Reigns, the studio has churned out a string of original titles over the past decade. That isn’t easy. In the most recent Weekly Famitsu, the magazine celebrates the studio’s tenth year anniversary. Platinum Games talks about how things have changed over…

Ash from Pokémon Is Superhuman 

As far as Pokémon trainers go, Ash isn’t that potent. As far as little kids go, he is superhuman. The ten-year-old isn’t only strong for a little boy, he’d be strong for a grown man. As Kotaku previously pointed out, this is because Ash is insanely strong. To recap: Ash picks up Pignite, who weighs…

How To Become a Manga Editor

Do you dream of making manga? Make those dreams reality. Because there’s more to making manga than drawing and writing. Here’s how people in Japan help shape the characters and stories you know and love by getting jobs as manga editors. Recently, Mami at website Tofugu visited Shueisha, the publisher of Weekly Shonen Jump and…

Dragon Ball, The Super Huge Snow Sculpture

Tomorrow in Sapporo, Japan, the annual snow festival gets underway. One of the main centerpieces is an enormous Dragon Ball Super snow sculpture. Tons, literally tons, of snow were used to create this frosty relief. Below, via the event’s official site, you can see how heavy equipment moved the snow around. [Image: SnowFes] [Image: SnowFes]…

Caught in the Rain. Tokyo, Japan. By Hayden Zahn. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

The Future of Nintendo’s New Healthcare Platform Isn’t Certain

Back in 2014, Nintendo announced it would be releasing a new health-based platform sometime between 2015 and 2016. Well, it’s 2016, so where is it? Not ready, says Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima. It might never be. According to Asahi, it’s possible that the platform could be abandoned. The newspaper reports that Kimishima told investors, “It’s…

The Up-All-Night Stream Plays Detective Pikachu [Stream Finished]

There are crimes afoot in the world of Pokémon, and only Detective Pikachu and his plucky human sidekick have any chance to solve the case! Update: The stream is over but you can watch all four hours of it at the links below! Part 1 Part 2 Detective Pikachu was released on the Nintendo 3DS…