How to Identify Anime and Manga Genres

We’ve looked at the basic types of anime out there but now it’s time to look at the specific genres. Of course, I assume everyone knows what “fantasy” and “romance” are, but what about those genres that don’t really exist in the West outside of anime and manga—or those that don’t even use English words?…

Chinese Students Delight the Internet with Graduation Photos

New grads at Shandong University in China decided they wanted to do something fun and memorable. They most certainly did. The students shared their graduation Photoshops on Weibo, China’s microblogging service. The images have recently spread to sites like NetEase—and now, all throughout Chinese cyberspace. Popular Chinese and foreign movies, video games, and television shows…

Real-Life Sword Art Online Blade Cuts Watermelons, Not Bosses

Sword Art Online is a smart anime about people trapped in an MMORPG. Now, MMORPGs have swords. Elaborate, pretty, deadly swords. Like the Elucidator, which blacksmith Tony Swatton was kind enough to bring into our world. Kirito’s unique obsidian blade was then, as it is customary, used to slash apart all kinds of items from…

​Amazon Japan Has Doubled Its Goats

Last summer, Amazon Japan hired a stable of goats to manicure its lawn. This year, it is hiring even more. According to Hatena News, Amazon has hired double its goat capacity—now, there are between thirty and forty of them. The goats wear employee i.d. cards while working, which consists of grazing all day. The goats…

Destiny Is a PlayStation Exclusive in Japan

In the West, upcoming shooter Destiny is a multiplatform game. In Japan, it’s not. It’s a PlayStation exclusive, Sony announced today. Instead of getting an Xbox 360 and Xbox One release like it will abroad, the game is exclusive to the PlayStation 3 and the PS4 when it’s released in Japan on September 11. It’s…

The Sex Lube Olympics Sure Looks Slippery

This weekend, the Sex Lube Grand Atheletic Meet was held in Tokyo. Covered in lotion, folks competed in a handful of events. The competition looked rather stiff! According to blogger Dutch, who participated in this year’s meet, over a hundred people participated in this subculture event. In Japanese, sex lube is called “lotion” (ローション or…

Some Frozen genderbending means Queen Elsa becomes King Elisar. Cosplay by keruuu, photo by Boon

Laura Sánchez as Morrigan from Dragon Age. Photo by Jesús Clares

Blizzard & Final Fantasy’s Awesome Cutscenes Have One Thing In Common

Takuya Suzuki, formerly of Square Enix, has worked at Blizzard since 2009 on the company’s famous cinematics team. Currently Cinematic Senior Modeling Artist, he’s done a lot of the background work on the trailers for games like StarCraft II, Diablo III, World of Warcraft and the upcoming Heroes of the Storm. While at Square, he…

Improving Half-Life 2 Through Animation (And Slapstick)

Half-Life 2 is starting to show its age, which is fine, because it is ten years old. Not that this will stop us looking at this animation video and wondering what it would look like with some more modern touches. This animation reel is the work of James Benson, someone who we actually featured a…

Xenonauts is out! It’s a love letter to the original XCOM (not the recent remake), meaning those who felt the 2012 version was a little light will want to check it out.