Conan O’Brien, newly-anointed host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and both figurative and literal behemoth, has always been pretty damn funny for mostly all the right reasons - lately he’s been getting a bit more buzz in online circles after his new set was recognized to look like a level in Super Mario Brothers - and now, he’s made his foray into the anime industry - More »

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WARNING: may cause irrational development of head-tilting fascination and an inexplicable obsession towards anime body parts. Perhaps the most staggering sequence ever conceived, the NEEDLESS ending sequence encompasses almost all the major body part fetishes identifiable in modern-day anime, and does it with such rapid-fire succession and accuracy that it doubtless raises issues More »

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A recent survey by Yahoo! that polled 1000 people in Japan between the ages of 15 and 59 on varying forms of media and their credibility revealed what we’ve known all along: Wikipedia came in third behind newspaper and radio, and unmistakably ahead of television. More »

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The irony here is, of course, you’re likely to die while doing it. And that’s no exaggeration. Located in the 陕西 province (Shaanxi) in the northwest of the People’s Republic of China, 华山 (Mount Hua) is one of the five sacred famous mountains of China, and one of the scariest freakin’ hikes in the world. Imagine Yosemite’s Half Dome, ten times scarier, with wooden planks precariously nailed into the sheer rock face as your only path, some rusty chains your only lifeline. More »

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(That’s to-RABU-ru, for those unfamiliar with Japanese pronunciation) There’s nothing all that special or groundbreakingly original about to-LOVE-ru’s genre (harem romantic comedy) or its relationship dynamics, or even its content - heck, it’s probably one of the most generic manga in publication - but what does make it special is the entire package. More »

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Put on a rubber, nee? ♥

Zange-chan of dancing singing godly cosplayingly awesome anime Kannagi has her likeness adorn a clever product, recently introduced at Kannagisai, an exclusively-Kannagi doujin event. More »

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Deep from the recesses of our most perverse imaginations comes the beverage we’ve all been waiting for - Tentacle Grape! In a brilliant marketing move that bottles seemingly pedestrian grape soda into an irresistibly appealing package, Mnemosyne has this to say about their new product: More »

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You’ve heard of Walt Disney, the visionary animator whose tales of princes and princesses (and bestiality) adorned our childhood with fond memories. You’ve heard of Miyazaki Hayao, whose limitless imagination gave us the catbus, makkuro kurosuke plushies, and a proper non-Spanish usage of the word “Laputa”. You’ve heard of them, but have you heard of Makoto Shinkai, whose film Beyond the Clouds is featured at this year’s event? More »

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If the greatest pleasure in life is to receive a love-love bento from a cute anime girl, then the second greatest pleasure must be to receive an anime bento from a real life girl. They’re not all anime-based, but New York resident and online gamer “annathered” has a unique talent - food art. Or maybe it’s “bento sculpture“. Well, whatever it is, it’s amazing, and what’s even cooler is her source material - anime such as Totoro and Moyashimon, games like Bioshock, Half Life 2, Zelda, Katamari, Shadow of the Colossus, and other things like Wall-E and Calvin and Hobbes are among her collection. More »

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Hot on the heels of their previous Haruhi season 2 troll, famed publisher Kadokawa has, once again, decisively trolled the entire anime world. In addition to their “work” on Haruhi season 2, Kadokawa had announced the release of 涼宮ハルヒちゃんの憂鬱 (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan), a parody of the original Haruhi anime, based on a wildly popular series of 4-koma (4 panel) manga drawn by Puyo. Sadly, it was only slated for YouTube distribution (Kadokawa is one of the first Japanese media companies with its own official YouTube channel), but at least we had a release date - Friday, February 13! More »

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Many of the new 2009 anime have started airing already, and while there are a few standouts, like the two mentioned in the previous post and the two in this post, the selection has been rather docile. Most notably is that the highlight series of this winter season seem to be carryovers from the previous season, with shows like CLANNAD After Story (no shortage of OMG! moments), Toradora!, Gundam 00 S2, and sequel seasons like Minami-ke Okaeri, Druaga The Sword of URUK, Hajime no Ippo (superb) and Maria-sama ga Miteru (<3). More »

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I’ve always had fun drawing my own anime characters - problem is, I suck at drawing and as I’ve mentioned in previous Anime Moe Modes posts, there’s so much detail that goes into these characters that one misplaced line can throw off the whole image. Looks like the otaku gods have heard my plea - the “Anime Girls Generator” program isn’t the first of its kind, but it’s definitely the easiest to use and has a wide enough variety of eyes, faces, hair, clothes, and accessories to really make some unique characters. Hey, little boys are told not to play with Barbie dolls, so I’ll play dress-up my own special way. More »

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Another Haruhi second season announcement? After the original series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya finished airing in July 2006, an announcement for the second season was made in Newtype Magazine’s August 2007 edition, and another set of images came from Newtype’s July 2008 edition. Will someone release the actual anime already?? More »

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Oh Meizu, how long you have made me wait, For your so-called iPhone killer, the highly anticipated M8.

Your Miniplayer, the first mp3 player I bought with my cash wad, Long I researched for a player not cursed with the name iPod.

Anythingbutipod.com showed me the way, Spoke of excellent build quality and audio quality as bright as the sun’s ray. More »

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Ever wish you had a younger sister? Oh yea, me too. Now, imagine what her voice would sound like. Then, take that voice, and make it 100 times cuter, and you’re in the ballpark of the devastating instrument that Tamura Yukari posesses. Just like Kugimiya Rie is typically associated with the tsundere character, Yukarin is typically typecast as the imouto (younger sister) character. More »

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The 2008-2009 NBA season is just about halfway through – teams and players alike have seen their share of ups and downs; some players have stepped up to the challenge and others have disappeared into the bench. Still, others have been ravaged by injuries, and others have benefited from the extra available playing time. Joe Alexander, who I covered in the previous edition of NBAsian, is in the running for the dunk contest, but since he’s not actually Asian, that’s all I’m gonna say about him. At any rate, we continue our coverage of the three Chinese players in the National Basketball Association – Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, and Sun Yue: More »

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Do you get hot when you think of Asian dramas? Or maybe you’re bored at home with a fever and have already watched all of Magibon’s videos? Whatever your major malfunction, new site DramaFever has your back with their legal lineup of English-subtitled dramas from Asia. More »

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The first two anime series of 2009 have pre-aired online, and if their premises are any indication of the season to come, we’re in for a wild, wild ride. Both Akikan and Maria+Holic can be classified under “romantic comedy” in the anime sense of the term, but they are… quite unique. After all, the classic harem situation has been done to death, and the ravenous anime otakus are always craving something new and exciting to latch onto. So how does Akikan and Maria+Holic distance themselves from the monotony? More »

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First Dissidia, now this? I haven’t even finished Star Ocean… my PSP has been working overtime lately, no thanks to the newest installment of DJ Max Portable, titled “Black Square”. And let me tell ya… it’s incredible.

Clazziquai Edition just came out a month ago, so the timing of this release may seem a bit early - but remember that CE was a sort of beginners-only release to introduce new players into the frenzy that is DJ Max, and BS is the “official” next game in the series. More »

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Did you hear yet? Square Enix has just released the latest Final Fantasy game for PSP, titled Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Now, I don’t want to sound too excited here, but considering that I played through FFVII Crisis Core no less than three times, I was pretty FREAKIN STOKED when I heard Dissidia was coming out. However, as I’ve always been a fan of the traditional Final Fantasy RPG, I wasn’t without a little doubt as to whether Dissidia would work out - after all, previews and trailers of the game show that it is - get this - a fighting game. That said, it still looked freakin cool, and Square Enix’s previous offerings on the PSP haven’t really been turn based either (Crisis Core, Star Ocean), opting for a shorter, faster paced battle system most likely to remain consistent with the portable on-the-go nature of the console. I’m no stickler for any particular genre - if it’s a good game, I’ll play it! More »

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