Capcom has just announced its latest line of collab merchandise, and it’s with the adorable shiba line Shibaban by illustrator Yasuteru Ogoshi! There are five main designs from four of Capcom’s iconic game series, Okami (Amaterasu and Oki), Monster Hunter (Palamute), Mega Man (Rush), and Resident Evil (Cerberus). The Shibanban shiba looks absolutely adorable in all of the different themed costumes!
The merchandise lineup includes everything from acrylic standees to washi tape and sticky notes. The products will be released both online on the Parco Capcom store and in official Capcom stores in Tokyo, Osaka, and Umeda on March 25th. Check out all of the super cute items below!
I find it really interesting that they chose to include Oki, as I feel like he’s not featured in a lot of merchandise. Plus, there are two dogs from Okami, and only one from each of the other games. Did they run out of Capcom dog characters? Can you think of any others that could’ve been good candidates?
Though, I’m certainly not complaining, as I love every one of the designs!
In addition to the items you can buy outright, Capcom is also releasing UFO catcher exclusive items that must be won through Capcom’s UFO catcher app, Capcom Net Catcher, or an arcade in Japan offering one of the machines.
There are two cooler bag designs at the top right! How cool is that?
All of the UFO catcher items will also release on the 25th. Guess I’ll scouring the Japanese second hand market…
Finally, there are two special tote bag designs! The Amaterasu design will be offered as a free gift at Capcom stores with any purchase of the Shibanban x Capcom line products totaling over 4,000 yen. The Palamute bag will be offered at Capcom arcades to people who spend 1500 yen on the Shibanban x Capcom UFO catcher machines; you will collect one ticket for every 500 yen deposited, and can exchange three tickets for the tote bag.
The Amaterasu and Palamute designs are definitely my favorites, so I love that they chose to put them on the promo tote bags! You bet I’d get desperate to get my hands on at least one of them if I was in Japan. Neither promotion will be available for online orders, so unfortunately they will be harder to get than the other products.
For those unfamiliar with Yasuteru Ogoshi’s Shibanban illustrations, I highly recommend checking out their Instagram account! They release lots of super cute shiba merch through Mindwave such as stickers and other stationery, as well as products with other companies. They even have a wide range of stickers for LINE!
If you are interested in trying to snag some of these items from the Parco Capcom online store when they go up for purchase on March 25th, you can do so using a forwarding service such as Tenso. For more information on my experience with Tenso, check out this post!
One of the great benefits of moving to Orange County is that I get to finally experience all the cool local events I kept seeing online when I lived in Australia! One such event is Takumi Alley, a makers mart celebrating Asian creatives and Asian culture that was held on March 12, 2023.
Takumi means “artisan” in Japanese, emphasizing the intent of the market to celebrate Asian creatives and craftsmanship. I heard about the event through Bananabelle Brown, a cookie crafter who organized the market with Okayama Kobo Bakery & Cafe and curated the vendor lineup. Even though the market was outdoors and had to be postponed a day due to weather, it appears to have been a great success, and there are plans for more in the future!
After two years of cancellations due to COVID-19, SMASH! Sydney Manga and Anime Show was finally held once again this past July – just in time for its 15th anniversary!
SMASH! is a non-profit, volunteer-run endeavor, and after my first time attending in 2019 after moving to Sydney, I am continually impressed by the quality of the con.
This year, despite not having government-mandated capacity restrictions, the SMASH! team opted to cap attendee numbers in order to avoid overcrowding, which resulted in the whole weekend being sold out. While unfortunate for those who wanted to attend but weren’t able, Saturday at the con was crowded enough to make me feel that they made the right call to reduce attendee numbers.
Having reverted to nearly full hermit over the past two years, I figured I would only have enough energy to attend one day of the con, so I opted to go on Saturday. SMASH! 2022 took place at ICC Sydney, a convention center located in Darling Harbour, a vibrant, albeit slightly touristy area of Sydney.
To pick up my media badge, I arrived well before the convention opened at 10am, though my media pass allowed me to enter the convention early. After grabbing a coffee at a nearby Japanese-style coffee shop, I made my way in about 15 minutes before opening to join the other members of the media and staff to see the first fans entering the con at 10am. You could feel the energy and excitement in the air, and it was really lovely to have the opportunity to view the start of the con from the other side of the doors!
For me, a big highlight of any convention is seeing all of the fans in cosplay and getting inspired in the artist alley. Of course, a major draw for many are the guests, and I would’ve loved to see some Japanese talent at SMASH! 2022, particularly voice actors. Unfortunately, there weren’t any this year (I imagine likely due to COVID-19), and the guest list skewed heavily to VTubers and YouTube personalities. The most exciting guest on the lineup for me was Kevin Penkin, a Melbourne-based composer who has contributed to anime and games such as Made in Abyss and Florence!
Aside from guests, there were plenty of events to keep fans busy throughout the weekend, including the World Cosplay Summit Preliminaries and an exclusive screening of Fruits Basket -Prelude-.
Honestly, I kept myself plenty busy without attending any of the special events! I made my way through the main convention hall from the start of the con at 10am until about 4pm when I finally had to call it a day (with a break for lunch, of course). Aside from stores selling everything from imported merchandise to cosplay accessories, there was also a large Bandai booth where attendees could go to gunpla workshops, and even a gaming area with a wide array of games – including my personal favorite, Pop’n Music! I was also pleasantly surprised to stumble into a humble Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers 2 booth where they were giving out free pins to promote the upcoming game.
SPY X FAMILY was all the rage at the con, and Crunchyroll came prepared with a booth modeled after the Forger’s home for attendees to take photos in (see my silly attempt to join the family above).
Speaking of cosplay, the amazing duo pictured above were the Best in Show winners at the Cosplay Masquerade on Saturday! Cinohrui (left) is dressed in a fan witch Sailor Mercury design, and Cryptidcorvo (right) is a fan witch Sailor Neptune design, both by Kutty Sark. I’ve been watching Cinohrui’s cosplay come to life over the past few weeks on Instagram, and it was even more amazing to see in person!
As a huge Monster Hunter fan, I was very excited to see these two cosplayers! The cosplayer on the left sported a hilarious costume from Monster Hunter Rise, but unfortunately I didn’t get their name. On the right is Chris Tucker, aka roxas_wind_cosplay, dressed in a handmade (and glowing!) Zinogre armor set. Only after asking for a photo did I realize that I interrupted him on his way to the Cosplay Masquerade… Sorry, Chris!
I also wanted to highlight the cosplayer artvinsky (left), who not only sported an awesome punk Zagreus (Hades) cosplay they designed, but when I asked if I could take a photo, they offered me a free woodblock print inspired by the game! It was such a sweet gesture and one of my best memories of the day…
…Followed closely by the Nagito (Danganronpa2) cosplayer on the right, aka cactuskhee, an artist who was doing a Nagito keychain gacha that had you pulling a keychain out of Nagito’s noggin. It was hilarious and extra-exciting for me as a huge Nagito fan!
Of course, it wouldn’t be a con recap without a haul! As expected, I did most of my shopping in the artist alley, and I picked up a whole pile of business cards for artists I want to purchase from in the future. From top left to right going clockwise, the item details are as follows:
After not having been to such a large public event in so long, I was apprehensive of how SMASH! 2022 would go. Not only that, but COVID-19 is still very much a presence in our lives. While I was hopeful that the convention would be run in a safe manner, I was still concerned about COVID precautions and how courteous attendees would be of others.
Though there was not a mask requirement for attendees (which is currently standard procedure in Australia), I would say at least half of the people I saw were wearing masks, and those that weren’t were still respectful of social distancing and others’ choice to wear a mask.
Aside from not having any guests I was particularly excited to see, I was very happy with the SMASH! 2022 experience overall. It’s hard to come back after COVID-19 setbacks, and I’m sure even more so for a non-profit fan-run event, but the team should be proud of what they accomplished for this year’s convention. I will definitely be looking forward to SMASH! 2023!
Aksys Games hosted a panel today at Anime Expo, and while unfortunately it wasn’t live streamed, a ton of game localization announcements were made! Of course, there were a few otome titles that I’m especially excited for, but there are a number of other awesome titles too. Read on for the full list!
The magic academy-themed yuri visual novel Perfect Gold: The Alchemy of Happiness is the third game by the Philippines-based indie studio YangYang Mobile, and the Nintendo Switch and iOS/Android ports have just been released just in time for Pride Month. As a short and sweet romance with gorgeous visuals, I couldn’t resist checking it out!
I’ve been following YangYang Mobile’s titles since their first release, The Letter, a horror visual novel. Their second title, Love Esquire, is a romantic comedy dating sim with RPG elements with a clear bishojo influence. It’s really fascinating to see their trajectory (they currently have a new horror title, Saint Maker, coming out later this year), but I was admittedly a little apprehensive about how a company without any yuri titles in their lineup might handle the subject matter.
A lot of properties have gotten the Warriors treatment, from The Legend of Zelda to One Piece, but Touken Ranbu might be one of the best-suited series for the Warriors format from the premise alone. Originally a free-to-play browser game released in 2015, Touken Ranbu features a huge cast of anthropomorphic historical swords in the form of handsome men designed by various artists. Since then, it’s become immensely popular, particularly in Japan, and has multiple adaptations in the form of anime, manga, stage plays, and even a live-action film. There is now also a mobile version, as well as an English localization of the game that was released in 2021.
The premise of Touken Ranbu is that the Touken Danshi (“swordsmen”) are elite fighters sworn to protect history from the History Retrograde Army, who are threatening to change the course of history by going back and time and interfering with significant battles and historical events to further their own goals. Players of the browser/mobile game take on the role of the Saniwa (“master”) to manage and deploy the various Touken Danshi on missions to protect the timeline – and, of course, create new Touken Danshi as they’re added to the game through the gacha mechanic.
Just going to put it up front – Tomoegata is my fav in Touken Ranbu Warriors!
While the source material has limited gameplay that is mostly automated, it’s easy to see how a bunch of sword boys fighting forces that are trying to change history makes for a natural fit for the “1-on-1000” action format of Koei Tecmo’s Warriors games. Of course, Warriors developers Omega Force are behind Touken Ranbu Warriors, but Ruby Party, Koei Tecmo’s team best known for their otome game titles, also assisted with this release. That effectively makes it the first Ruby Party game to come out in English for PC and Nintendo Switch!
The Princess Tutu anime recently celebrated its 20th anniversary and held a fan event called the spring festival, aka Frühlingsfest! I believe this was the first Princess Tutu event available to be streamed overseas, so I excitedly jumped on the opportunity to watch the recording via Mahocast. Though the landing page had the event description in multiple languages, since the actual stream didn’t have English subtitles, I thought someone might be interested in hearing about what happened in the event. If that’s you, read on for a full recap of all the proceedings!
