Nihon News

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the 47th edition of Go West!, your [not-so-weekly] column about Japanese import games and Idea Factory. 

With the Golden Week rush having come and gone, Japan has once again settled into a more standard release schedule. Sort of.

The bad news? There are only two new games this week. The good news? One of them is a sequel to a fan favorite series that has been dormant for almost seven years. 

Huzzah!

Read more...

The first leaked glimpse of the movie adaptation of Tomodachi ga Sukunai – which even the author seems keen to disown – appears to have revealed its casting choices were even more misguided than had been feared.

Even a blurry long-distance shot of the production has set fans off, so it is anyone’s guess how they will react when full details of the cast emerge, already having made some abortive efforts to get it cancelled by way of a petition:

“Niku has black hair!?”

Long-time Macross Frontier favourite Sheryl Nome arrives in Nendoroid form, prepared for a performance this September, from none other than Good Smile Company.

Pinkie Pie cosplays Optimus Prime on Botcon edition of My Little Pony Micro Series comic

10 months for German whose laptop had 35,000 images of sexual content with children

Game designer Toshimichi Mori wanted animation adaptation in 2010

New Nendoroid versions of Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Ren, Kagamine Rin

2nd anime in independent animator's This Boy/Kono Danshi series

Eri Maruyama, International Business Development for Daisuki.net, stops by to tell us about the new streaming site. But first, Justin and Zac talk summer movies and take your twitter questions!

[Update: Live stream after the jump!]

Welcome back to Japanator LIVE! I know you have missed us and we have missed you too!

We are moving to a new location on Google Hangout located on our new Japanator G+ page. Join us for conversations on everything that is happening in the world of Japan. Chat us up on the latest episodes of the new season and tell us why you like/hate it or what your thoughts are on the latest news. We love hearing from our readers! 

Date: Friday, May 17th (Saturday, May 18th)
Time: 7pm Pacific/8pm Mountain/9pm Central/10pm Eastern/4am Paris/7am Moscow/11am Hong Kong/12pm Tokyo

Is This a Zombie's Takaomi Kanasaki directs at 8-Bit

Naruto, Dance in the Vampire Bund, Black Bird, Bakuman, Pokemon, Negima!, Black Butler, Dengeki Daisy, Is This a Zombie?, Fairy Tail

HD edition was previously released for PS3 in November

Those of the spring 2013 season which survived the ruthless culling of inferior shows and have been accorded the honour of being added to fan watch lists are hereby ranked – with the foremost title being a gigantic hit indeed.

The ranking:

1. Shingeki no Kyojin

2. Hataraku Maou-sama!

From the anime Ore no Imouto comes this figure of tsundere otaku queen Kirino Kousaka wearing a fashionable one-piece dress – in likely preparation for a date with her fans this December, thanks to the efforts of Alphamax.

*ding, ding, ding*

It's Over!

Shanoa was ready to use the Glypths that allowed her to defeat Dracula in Order of Ecclesia; however, Bayonetta has punched a being equivalent to God into the sun, so that makes her a stronger opponent than the Count. As the moon begins to shine, Bayonetta graces the night sky with her victory over Shanoa. Bayonetta wins! (4 > 3)

Fans pick dera_fury's 2014 Snow Miku design with nekosumi's snow bunny pet

Next Mario & Sonic has franchise's 1st support for Wii Remote Plus, GamePad

If this film causes more permanent damage than most Pokémon outings, that's wholly the fault of its main character, Keldeo.

This week on Hey, Answerman! Brian defends Attack on Titan from its Attack on Broadcast Deadlines! Then: a special guest talks about Digimon on DVD, and we discuss the existence of media criticism in Japan! Fun times abound!