Kotaku East

A new Dead or Alive 5 project is “coming soon” to the PS3 and the Xbox 360. Yosuke Hayashi, Team Ninja’s leader, recently announced that the “newest work” (最新作) for Dead or Alive 5 was “currently in development” and showed a very brief trailer. It sounds like a stand-alone title, so it might be a…

How to Make Piccolo from Dragon Ball Look “Ordinary”

Piccolo is a character in Dragon Ball. He’s green! But what if he wasn’t green? And didn’t look like a bad guy, but a bald guy? On 2ch, Japan’s largest online forum, drawings of Piccolo with light-colored skin were posted, with the uploader apologizing in jest. (You can use these Piccolo images as masks, if…

Japan’s Leader Appeals to Geeks with a Military Tank

Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ticked off people in South Korea and China. This weekend, he hung out with nerds and got in a tank. NicoNico Douga, Japan’s popular video channel, hosted a big meet up this past Saturday and Sunday, celebrating the country’s internet and geek culture. It seemed like an unlikely…

Final Fantasy VII has never actually been released for the PC in Japan. Square Enix will be fixing that mistake “soon” by making the Japanese version available on their online shop.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 Takes a Step Forward and Another One Back

When One Piece: Pirate Warriors was released on the PS3, I found myself playing it and enjoying it—despite having next to no knowledge about the source material. In other words, going in, I had never seen so much as an episode of One Piece—though I seem to remember having seen one of the movies on…

Konami has announced that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will be getting its third piece of DLC in Japan on May 9. The DLC will feature a new campaign where you control LQ-84i, AKA the Bladewolf

Pirate Warriors 2 Actually Made Me Interested in One Piece

Nearly a year ago, I talked about what it was like to play One Piece: Pirate Warriors without any foreknowledge of the massive One Piece franchise. In summary:everything seemed like pure, unmitigated insanity And thanks to the way it jumped through the series’ story at a breakneck speed, it wasn’t easy to follow either. Overall,…

Even Snape from Harry Potter Can Be “Cute”

Alan Rickman, the actor who plays Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies, is one handsome man. He isn’t, however, what I would call “cute”. But what if he wants to be cute? Well, there’s an app for that. In Japan (and other places, too, I imagine), there are smartphone apps that make your eyes…

China’s Microfilms Are Worth Checking Out

“Microfilms” are all the rage in China’s film-scape right now. These short films are called “Wei Dian Ying” (微电影), which mostly refers to low budget amateur digital videos hosted on streaming websites such as Youtube and Youku. Regardless of the term “micro”, these films are anything but small. Short maybe, but not small! “Microfilms” didn’t…

South Korea Got an Official Iron Man 3 Cake

Iron Man 3 is out in South Korea. And the country has an official Iron Man 3 cake to prove it. The official cake is from chain Paris Baguette, and the box also doubles as an Iron Man face mask. How marvellous! This once again proves that everything should get its own cake. Eat [wingspig…

Final Fantasy Tactics S, a new Final Fantasy Tactics social game, was just announced for Japan. “S”? Social? Geddit?

Why Dynasty Warriors Games Are Perfect for Non-Gamers

The first time I saw a Dynasty Warriors game, it was when I walked into the TV room of my high school dorm. I had left my PS2 out for the others in the dorm to play (loaded with Final Fantasy X) and was surprised to see a friend playing Dynasty Warriors 2 instead. It…

That New “Niche” JRPG Brand Doesn’t Have Niche Talent

Galapagos RPG, a new “niche” Japanese game brand, teased its first project. Yoshitaka Amano of Final Fantasy fame, Nobuo Uematsu (and his band the Earthbound Papas) of Final Fantasy music fame, and the Hyperdimension Neptunia team are all listed as participating. More details, including the game’s name, will be revealed in a future issue of…

Attack On Titan‘s Amazing Opening Gets Hilarious Edits

The anime adaptation of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin in Japanese) debuted early this April, and it has a powerful opening. Users of the Japanese website Nico Nico Douga jumped on it immediately and made crazy awesome remixes. Some of these mix the opening song (on top) with other anime intros or with other…

The Evil Within Will Be More About Using Your Brain Than Your Gun

Shinji Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil series is making a new survival horror game, The Evil Within. You’ve seen thetrailer, now let’s see what the man behind the madness has to say about it. The Evil Within – titled Psycho Break in Japan – will supposedly be a return to the more “horror” side…

See What a Difference 0.33 Makes With the New Evangelion Movie

The third Evangelion movie, Evangelion: 3.33 YOU CAN (NOT) REDO, was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan yesterday (along with promotional cheeseburgers). It’s been 5 months since the movie hit theaters, so what’s been changed between the original 3.0 and the current 3.33? According toJapanese websites comparing the Blu-ray version to the original theatrical…

Another Japanese Schoolgirl Photo Meme to Sweep the Internet

It all started with Japanese schoolgirls doing Dragon Ball attacks. That spread to people doing Street Fighter and Star Wars moves. And Japanese schoolboys playing fake Quidditch. Where to go from here? A little after the schoolgirl Dragon Ball meme first blew up this spring, the below photo popped up online in Japan. It shows…

Famitsu reports that Etrian Odyssey: Millenium Maiden, the new, story-focused dungeon crawler coming out in Japan on June 27, will have cutscenes and an animated opening. Cutscenes and an animated opening done by Madhouse, of Trigun, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Paprika fame, no less.

Parents Ask Vladmir Putin To Ban Death Note in Russia

This past February, a fifteen year-old girl jumped to her death in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In her room, four copies of the wildly popular Japanese manga Death Note were discovered along with a suicide note that read, “I don’t want to live anymore”. Some blamed the comic for the girl’s death, and now a group of…

Japan Has a Giant Godzilla You Can Play With

Kurihama Flower Park is not safe! Actually, it is. The giant Godzilla that towers above the play area doesn’t breathe fire. Heck, it doesn’t even move. But, the kaiju does have an unusual secret. This nine meter tall, five ton Godzilla is actually playground equipment. The monster’s tail doubles as a slide for children. However,…