Kotaku East

The Severing Crime Edge Is an Anime With Identity Issues

Back when it was halfway through its run, I listed The Severing Crime Edge as one of the anime you could skip last season. But that wasn’t because it was bad per se. Rather it was because while it was based on an interesting concept, the anime was doing little with it—a problem compounded by…

Internet Cafe Bombed in Inner Mongolia, 12 Suspects Detained

On Thursday last week, a bomb was detonated inside an internet cafe in Inner Mongolia’s Bayan Nur. Eight people were injured in the explosion. Chinese public security has ruled out terrorism or racial tensions and have detained twelve suspects. China News reports that the bombing may have been a result of a personal feud between…

Manga Initial D, which has been running for 18 years, is wrapping up with its final chapter later this month in Japan.

There’s A New Ace Combat, And It’s Coming to the PS3

The trailer up top was released by Namco Bandai to announce the newest title in the Ace Combat series of flight-action games, called Infinity It looks like the game will be centered around a global apocalypse of some sort, brought on by an asteroid. A chronometer also appears briefly, flashing from 1869 to 2019, perhaps…

Pikmin 3‘s Credits are the Cutest Thing You’ll Hear All Day

Sure, the ending themes of the last two Pikmin games are fun little orchestral themes that you can hum along to; but the credits for Pikmin 3 take it one step further… [Credit Spoilers Incoming!] …By having a full choir of Pikmin singing along. It’s probably the cutest thing you’ll see all day. Check out…

Japan’s Army of College Student Clones

Students! After years of being forced to wear a uniform, you’re finally free. Free to wear what you want. And free, apparently, to dress exactly like other students. Hooray! Earlier this spring, people online in Japan began commenting (complaining?) that it seemed like college students, especially male ones, dressed the same. Now, it’s the female…

Pokémon developer Game Freak is teasing something. On their official website, there’s a glowing silhouette surrounded by Japanese text: “That popular game that is played around the world, will be reborn in a surprising collaboration!” This collaboration is, apparently, coming “soon.” [via Siliconera]

Japanese Poll: Few People Want to Buy the Xbox One (or the PS4)

In Japan, Microsoft just can’t catch a break with its game consoles, can it? The original Xbox was a failure in Japan. The Xbox 360 is a failure in Japan. And according to a recent poll, things don’t look so bright for Xbox One. But not so fast! The poll says things are only slightly…

How Chinese Ingenuity Destroyed Salad Bars at Pizza Hut

You had one trip to the salad bar. So dammit, you had to make it count. In China, Pizza Huts are either take-out only or somewhat upscale sit-down restaurants that even serve steak. A while back, it became a fad of sorts to build enormous fruit and vegetable structures at Pizza Hut salad bars. The…

A Frightening Look Inside Japan’s Newest Resident Evil Attraction

Today in Osaka, Universal Studios Japan rolled out its latest attraction, Resident Evil The Real. Here’s an inside look at the attraction, which is open for a limited time only. As previouslymentioned, Resident Evil The Real (aka “Biohazard The Real”) is a live-action shooting attraction at USJ that uses the same practice shooting system used…

The Next Ace Attorney Lets You Enter Characters’ Brains

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies is a week away (in Japan). With the return of Phoenix Wright and the first officially numbered game* in six years, the game is looking to be a massive love-fest of everything Ace Attorney *Note: The official game title in Japan is Gyakuten Saiban 5 (逆転裁判５). “It’s the…

This Final Fantasy Abbreviation Might Surprise You

Everybody knows that the “proper” abbreviation for Final Fantasy is “FF”, right? Nope! Recently, a website managed by the Japan Game Users Association asked over 300 Japanese gamers from teenage to 40-something about how they abbreviate Final Fantasy. Over 70 percent (70.7 percent to be exact) shorten Final Fantasy to “FF”. However, 17 percent said…

Popular Online Game Features Battleships as Anime Girls

Honestly, it was the last game I thought I’d find myself hooked on, but Kantai Collection (艦隊これくしょん) or, as it’s better known online, Kan Colle (艦これ), has me seeing warships as cute anime girls… I think I need to explain myself. Released this past April by DMM.com and Kadokawa Games, Kan Colle is a free…

Via Twitter, a fan asked chronic Twitter user Hideki Kamiya if Bayonetta 2 were a hit, would he think about developing Bayonetta 3. Kamiya, who when not using Twitter makes Bayonetta, replied ambiguously, “I hope so.” On many Japanese and Western sites, that then turned into “Kamiya hopes for Bayonetta 3“. After seeing one such…

Porco Rosso on Blu-Ray Vs. DVD: Which is Better?

Recently, Studio Ghibli re-released its classic anime Porco Rosso on Blu-ray. Let’s see how it stacks up to the DVD release. Here’s a comparison between the DVD version (on the left) and the new Blu-ray version (on the right). Note the rosso bits. There were complaints about the My Neighbor Totoro Blu-ray being grainy, and…

Japanese Male Bras Are Back? Huh?

A few years ago, there was a story about male brassieres being popular in Japan. You know, male bras for man boobs. A manzier for moobs. Supposedly, the man bra improves posture—or makes some men feel more secure or something. And back between 2008 and 2009, there were a bunch of news stories about the…

This Drakengard 3 Character is a Virgin. Apparently That Matters

Drakengard 3 (Or as it’s known in Japan, Drag-On Dragoon 3), the 10th anniversary celebration of the original Drakengard is gearing up for its release this autumn. To get fans excited, Square Enix has been steadily releasing new information on the game to keep them interested. The latest character introduced in this week’s Weekly Famitsu…

Ferrari Lovers, This Anime Stunt Might Horrify You

Today, a Ferrari 458 Spider was cruising around Tokyo’s geek district, Akihabara. Things got freaky. This was a stunt for popular anime Attack on Titan, which features human-eating giants. The point was to draw a crowd and end up on the internet. Mission accomplished! The itasha (痛車) anime stickers, however, weren’t the horrifying part. Neither…

Buddhist Temple for Science Nerds

It’s not every day you see a Buddhist temple with a planetarium. Or with a giant space shuttle. Or a dinosaur. This isn’t your everyday Buddhist temple. In Japan, Buddhist temples typically perform, among other things, last rites and funerals. They are usually solemn places, but not always. Take Shouganji, a four hundred year-old temple…

Turning North Korea into the Mushroom Kingdom

Earlier this week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un visited an indoor mushroom farm and called for the country to become a world-class mushroom producer. A mushroom kingdom, if you will. “The mushroom cultivation grounds look very nice and I am pleased to see them,” said the Supreme Commander (via NKLW), who added that it was…