Makio Inoue is most famous for voicing Lupin III’s Goemon Ishikawa XIII. Today, it was announced that the long-time voice actor had passed away at the age of 81. Inoue got his start with minor characters in Astro Boy and other roles at Tezuka Productions in the early 1960s. In the 1970s, he had breakout…
Doraemon, a blue robotic cat from the future, now has his own store in Tokyo’s Odaiba—the first of its kind for the character, apparently. The shop, called Doraemon Future Department Store, features an array of Doraemon related goods. What makes Doraemon so cool is that he always pulls out an array of gizmos from his…
When the one-off performance of Star Wars kabuki was announced, it made sense. Star Wars is deeply influenced by Japan, so it seemed as though this would work. That it did, but better than I could’ve imagined. The kabuki version is a fascinating take on Star Wars. Even the program was excellent. The performance was…
Have you ever wondered why some people are better at first-person shooters than others? One important difference might be how people see while playing. Nikkei recently posted a clip tracking a professional FPS player’s vision while playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and compared the data to the vision of an amateur player. Both players…
This year’s Tokyo Comic-Con wrapped up over the weekend. There were big stars, merch, comics, and yes, cosplay. Let’s have a look at the best get-ups of the show. Since this is Tokyo Comic-Con, the cosplays are typically Western comic book, movie, or TV characters—though, this isn’t always the case.
Whoops! According to South China Morning Post, a man in China spent an eye-watering $1.4 million on his character in MMORPG Justice Online. His buddy accidentally sold said character for a mere $552. The man filed a lawsuit against game company NetEase and his friend. Well, former friend, I guess. The friend—er, defendant—had been loaned…
Nintendo Tokyo opened on Friday. Lots of people came to the first day, and you’d think that by today, the crowds would have subsided. Nope! Twenty minutes after opening today, the wait reached 4 hours. Within 45 minutes, it was over 6 hours. Even this afternoon, at 3:15 PM, the wait was around 2 hours.…
Have you played every big-time game franchise? Are there any well-known game series you haven’t checked out? In Japan, a recent poll asked people about which famous series they haven’t played. There were 2,362 votes in this Goo Ranking poll. Here are the top responses. 16. Persona series – 44 votes 15. Taiko no Tatsujin…
A few years ago, Kotaku introduced online nicknames for Japanese fans of the three gaming platforms. Now, let’s take a look at monikers given to Korean fans of Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Via tipster Sang, here are the internet nicknames for gaming’s three corporate platform holders. Keep in mind, these are online nicknames and are…
This week, a new Pokémon Center is opening in Tokyo. Yesterday, Kotaku showed a short preview of the shop. Today, let’s have a closer look. The Pokémon Center opens this week in Shibuya. With is dark, sleek interior and life-sized Mewtwo display, it does look different from other Pokémon Centers. So does the merch. Just…
You are looking at the cartridge art for Street Fighter II Turbo’s Japanese release. It’s not only different from the US version but more mysterious. Can you tell who is on the cover? Ryu? Chun-Li? Which character is it? Twitter user Tekitouaki wrote that for years, he thought that Ryu was on the cartridge art. …
This week, Nintendo Tokyo will open its doors to the general public. Today was a press preview, allowing for a peek inside for what to expect. Naturally, there is a ton of merch, including some excellent Japan-only items. The statues and the store layout look nice! There is also a Pokémon Center right next door!
For years, there has been speculation that Professor Oak and Ash’s mom Delia are totally together. As in like, doing it. If that wasn’t enough (and really, it’s not), there is even the notion that Professor Oak is Ash’s absent father. That, though, would mean that Ash is Gary’s uncle. Which is nuts. So, if…
In 2005’s Kingdom Hearts II, Ayumi Ito first voiced Tifa Lockhart and since then has continued to be the character’s Japanese voice. Naturally, she will be returning for next year’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, but sadly, she has recently received threats of violence. The Sankei News reports that earlier this summer, a woman in her…
Pearl Abyss is best known for Black Desert—and its eye-popping character creation tool. Today in South Korea, the studio just announced three games. They all look visually impressive. At the G-Star gaming expo (via tipster Sang), Pearl Abyss announced the following games: Plan 8 Pearl Abyss is aiming to release this open world “exosuit MMO…
To promote Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima has been going on a world tour. It was announced early last month with Kojima visiting cities across the globe. Below are the locations included in the original announcement. It was recently announced on the PlayStation Hong Kong Facebook account that Ludens Ducks signed by Kojima would be part…
Since Nintendo isn’t including King of Fighters character Mai Shiranui in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, fans have started adding Mai any way they can. As previously reported, director Masahiro Sakurai said Mai would not be added to the game because, as he explained, “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is for good boys and girls of many…
High school students in Japan decided to bring the RX-O Unicorn Gundam to life. The statue is for the school’s cultural arts festival. Twitter user Tosshii and some classmates worked together on the creation, which took about two years to finish. Here is the front: And the back: As Kotaku previously reported, Bandai Namco built…
Online in Japan, fans are wondering why the mascot character and the official representative for the country’s biggest game magazine Famitsu appear in Death Stranding Famitsu recently gave the game a perfect score—one of only 26 to get the coveted 40/40 in the publication’s history. A thread on 2ch, the country’s biggest bulletin board, pointed…
Anime eyes might look OK in, well, anime, but on real-life humans, they look freaky as hell. Previously, we saw giant anime eyes brought to life with Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel. This time around, big eyes are back, but as a pointed play on anime conventions like schoolyard renai (love)—and more importantly, a way…
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