Category Archives: Japan Envy

Japan Envy: Sailor Moon Tortilla Chips

I’ve said it time and time again, but I absolutely adore collaborative Japanese food campaigns! There’s nothing better than a good themed café, and I’ll happily admit that putting one of my favorite characters on any sort of food packaging will increase my willingness to buy said food a hundredfold. It’s no wonder, then, that I’m totally thrilled by this new Sailor Moon Crystal tortilla chip campaign… and its hilarious promotional artwork! 

I love that rather leaving the scouts in their every day attire for the above illustration, chip company Koikeya decided to amp up the camp by having the inner scouts getting ready to gorge on bowls full of tortilla chips while in their sailor uniforms. Makes total sense!

Unfortunately, there’s nothing Sailor Moon-y about these chips aside from their packaging, but that certainly won’t stop me from lamenting that Sailor Moon tortilla chips aren’t something I can buy at my local grocery store. The above avocado cream cheese flavor is one of three in the Sailor Moon Crystal collaboration, along with Bagnacauda anchovy and garlic and Balsamico grilled pork.

Each flavor will come in one of six package designs featuring the five inner scouts and Tuxedo Mask. In addition to the cute packaging, Koikeya is offering special wallpapers for mobile phones with each chip bag purchase:

Click the image for a close-up of these cute designs!

On one hand, I’m a little sad they aren’t offering these as stickers, but on the other, exclusive wallpapers are a great alternative to additional clutter around my house, so I’ll take it! I really like the checkered effect on their clothes!

Luckily for folks like me outside of Japan, Jlist is already taking preorders for all three flavors. While the package design they send out will be at random, they say they will try not to send duplicates if you want to order more than one. Of course, it’s only natural that I’ve already preordered one of each for myself! I can’t wait to see what designs I get…

Japan Envy: Animate Girls Festival 2014 and Real Otome Game

While the rest of the world struggles to grasp how to market niche media to woman (and whether it’s a viable market in the first place), Japan continues to be leagues ahead in catering towards fans who want something a little different than the usual mainstream anime/video game fare. New otome games are released nearly every week, and the success of anime like Free! shows that there is definitely a large market outside the straight male demographic that is more than willing to spend oodles of money on series that make the effort to appeal to them.

As such, it’s no surprise to see events like the Animate Girls Festival, a two day celebration of everything from otome games to BL manga. Taking place on November 8th and 9th in Ikebukuro Sunshine City, the festival is now five years old, and is even hosting a special “Real Otome Game” for attendees to celebrate the occasion!

While there are a variety of events held on the main stage, such as voice actor appearances from series such as Photograph Journey and World Trigger, a Sailor Moon Crystal special event, and even a fashion show from the anime/manga-inspired label Super Groupies, the main draw of AGF is undoubtedly the company booths and wide variety of exclusive merchandise they bring. There’s no way I could possibly cover everything in one post, but here are a few (personal) highlights:

Perhaps one of the biggest figure-related announcements will be the Makoto figma, which Hobbystock plans to unveil at AGF. Fans are hoping to see the preliminary sculpt for Rin’s Altair figure as well, but since there’s been no word on it so far, we’re unlikely to see it at this event. [UPDATE: Turns out Rin was unveiled after all!]

Mink may not be the most popular DRAMAtical Murder character, but his new drama CD will be debuting at the event. You’ve got to admit, the cover art is nice! Nitro+Chiral has a number of other merchandise from their BL games that they’ll be bringing to the event, as well:

I’m most intrigued by these gorgeous tights inspired by Aoba, the protagonist of DRAMAtical Murder! I love the blue to teal gradient. They totally look like something I would actually wear.

There are also these AGF-exclusive merchandise sets that feature the characters of DRAMAtical Murder dressed up as their AllMate familiars. Be sure to head over to Nitro+Chiral’s AGF 2014 site to see the full adorable series!

Broccoli will be touting a new line of themed Uta no Prince-sama merchandise called Shining Circus, which seems to be catering especially to fans who like vests. I’m certainly not complaining! They’ll be selling everything from clear file folders to phone straps and pouches that will likely go for insane prices on the aftermarket following the event. If UtaPri is your thing, you can drool over all the exclusive items on their website.

In addition to more merchandise than you can throw your wallet at, Animate Girls Festival will be holding a “Real Otome Game” in honor of their 5th anniversary! What is a Real Otome Game, exactly? According to their site, attendees can participate in the game, titled Koi suru AGF (Love AGF), by purchasing a game book for 550 yen at the event. By reading through the book and going to different locations depending on how you want the story to progress, you’ll be able to “fall in love” with one of the three characters pictured above, each with two different endings!

While I can’t imagine how busy it will be if there are actual actors playing the men in the game, this sounds like a really fun idea in the vein of the otome game scenario reenactments that were at Tokyo Game Show this year. Hopefully attendees will be able to take photos so us poor souls outside of Japan can see what it’s like! I know I’ll be scouring the AGF2014 hashtag on Twitter throughout the weekend so I can live vicariously through everyone there…

Japan Envy: Danganronpa in Namja Town 2014

Happy Zettai Zetsubou Shoujo: Danganronpa Another Episode Day! As always, Japan is one step ahead of the rest of the world – while Dananronpa 2: Goodbye Despair just debuted in English earlier this month, Japanese-speaking fans are likely already gobbling up the third entry in the series that goes on shelves today.

After just finishing Danganronpa 2 earlier this week (review coming soon!), I am on a total Danganronpa high at the moment. Though my copy of Another Episode likely won’t be in my hands until late next week, Namja Town has a new Danganronpa event with special themed food items that I can tantalize myself with in the meantime….

Note: If you’ve only just started playing the Danganronpa games, there may be some slight spoilers regarding the characters in this post, so read on at your own risk! 

Namja Town is a theme park located inside the Sunshine City shopping center in Ikebukuro. While it was definitely on my radar when I was in Tokyo, I ultimately wasn’t able to give it a visit. In addition to its usual attractions, it is constantly rotating different nerdy tie-in events such as this Danganronpa one that will be held from September to November. Special foods, merchandise, and even games are part of the festivities!

The food items pictured above are all to commemorate the launch of Danganronpa Another Episode, and thus feature the main characters of the game. It’s hard to make out, but the one in the bottom right is the protagonist Komaru’s megaphone hacking gun firing a couple different types of truth bullets – but they’re gyoza!

At the top right is everyone’s favorite psycho Genocide Jill in the form of a sandwich. I love how they depict her infamous scissors! And don’t miss that crazy long red tongue sticking out of the sandwich!

In addition to celebrating Another Story, there are plenty of food items made with other characters in the series in mind. Each order comes with a special collectable card of the character the food item is based on, for 19 in total… Good thing the campaign is on for two months for those who want to collect them all!

These Hajime and Nagito gyoza are simply amazing. I’m not exactly sure how these are gyoza (apparently Namja Town is big on gyoza) but the hair? The faces? Perfect. I think this one would be on the top of my list to try if I had the chance.

My second favorite, though, would have to be this Gundham cake. I love how the yam(?) looks like his scarf! And they even managed to feature the Four Devas of Destruction!

Even the Namja Town mascots are dressed up as Danganronpa characters! Can you tell who’s who?

Be sure to head over to the official Danganronpa in Namja Town 2014 site to check out all the different limited edition goods available at the event! Now I’m back to waiting for my copy of Another Episode to arrive…

Japan Envy: Baskin Robbins Halloween Ice Cream + Mister Donut Orange Chocolate Series

Is it too early to start talking about Halloween? Never, I say, and apparently Japanese Baskin Robbins feels the same! Though their limited-run Halloween ice cream specials won’t be going on sale until September 26th, they’ve already unveiled the upcoming festive line of treats:

The cat and ghost pictured above are my favorites, but you can see images of the whole lineup over at Zigg. I just love all of the care put into the details, from the purple witches’ hats and special Halloween cups that unify the designs. After some quick Googling, it’s become apparent that Baskin Robbins brings out similar Halloween designs every year in Japan, including some pretty amazing looking sundaes!

Over at Mister Donut, things are all about the classic orange and chocolate flavor combination. Who doesn’t love orange and chocolate? I’ve always found it somewhat exotic for whatever reason, and the words “orange” and “chocolate” immediately conjure up memories of the chocolate oranges I used to get for Christmas.

All of the donuts look so decadent! I think it’s the advertising… Still, I would definitely give that orange chocolate Pon de Ring a taste if I happened to be in Japan during this campaign. While it’s not explicitly Halloween-related, the orange does give it a sort of “mature” Halloween feel, don’t you think? I can’t wait to see what Mister Donut whips out for an actual Halloween-themed donut series!

Japan Envy: Card Captor Sakura Bags by Super Groupies

I’ve always said that the best kind of nerdy fashion is that which incorporates nerd/geek culture in an interesting yet trendy and not completely obvious way, and this new Card Captor Sakura bag line by the Japanese brand Super Groupies does exactly that. They manage to be adorable and functional without screaming “I’m from an anime/manga series!” but also have lots of details that will most certainly appreciate. Let’s take a look!

The largest bag, pictured at the top, is a “roll Boston bag” and priced at ¥7,800, while the smaller shoulder bag is ¥4,800. The small red Clow book pouch is for organizing your things within a larger bag, and is priced at ¥3,800. Both larger bags feature iconic bows similar to those found on Card Captor Sakura’s many outfits, but a closer look reveals a lot of cool details: 

The zippers are shaped like Sakura’s sealing wand when it’s in key form!

The inside of each bag is even patterned with a Card Captor Sakura-style print! 
Here’s closer look of the print, as seen in the Clow book pouch. The pattern of Sakura, Kero, Spinel, and various accoutrements is really special.  
Both bags also have a faint embossing that says Card Captor Sakura, along with a cute star pendant hanging from the bow. 

Finally, here’s a close up of the Clow book pouch. I really love the design on this one!

Card Captor Sakura-inspired bags aren’t the only CCS items Super Groupies is offering, though they’re definitely the most exciting.

It’s hard to make out the design by the ankle, but there are also these Kero “tattoo” stockings. I’m not actually all that fond of these… I think I’d much prefer a pair of stockings with a full pattern like the one featured inside the bags, even if it is a bit flashy (what can I say, I like flashy stockings).

Super Groupies also offers a number of other anime-inspired items, including some gorgeous Revolutionary Girl Utena shoes. I can’t say yet whether or not I’ll spring for one of the Card Captor Sakura bags, but I know at the very least that I’ll keep this brand on my radar from now on!

Catch-Up Corner: Schick x Attack on Titan, #PuzzleMonth Update

I don’t think I need to reiterate my love for weird Japanese collaboration campaigns, but in case you’re new around here: I love Japanese collaboration campaigns! Even if it’s a collaboration featuring two products/franchises I’m not really interested in, a limited-time promotional campaign always catches my interest. Luckily for me, however, this new crazy Japanese campaign features Attack on Titan, an anime that, while it had its issues, I quite enjoyed when it aired!

I can’t say I’m as big a fan of shaving hygiene, but this Schick x Attack on Titan campaign is amazing. They even have a series of three promotional videos on their website with dorky redubbed anime footage with tons of funny voiceovers! The real purpose of the campaign, of course, is to get people to buy Schick razors, so they’re offering six little Attack on Titan figures which will be packaged in different razor products:

I’ll admit, I wouldn’t be adverse to owning a little Levi holding shaving razors instead of his usual weaponry! Schick is even offering razor stands with more realistically-proportioned Mikasa and Levi figures. Poor protagonist Eren has been kicked out of the limelight, I guess!

I still have time to decide if I’m going to seek out one of the cute mini figures or not…. But even if you can’t get your hands on them, I highly recommend poking around the official website for this collaboration if you’re looking for a laugh!

Pretty pleased with that score. #PuzzleMonth pic.twitter.com/8m5G4UsXLv
— Adam Lee (@Shiroth) June 2, 2014

Since June’s Community Game-Along theme is everything puzzle-related, I’ve been trying to get in a few puzzle games whenever I have a few free minutes. As always, it’s great to see everyone joining in the fun! So far, I’ve played a little of Tetris with Card Captor Sakura: Eternal Heart (it’s just like the title says, Card Captor Sakura Tetris!) and some of the new PS Vita rhythm puzzle game developed by Arc System Works, Magical Beat. I also reviewed the iOS puzzle game rainblocks, which is free to play and both looks and sounds great. I highly suggest checking it out if you have an iOS device and would like to try something for #PuzzleMonth!

Finally, I still have one code left for subaku for iOS to give away! Head over the the June Game-Along information post to see how you can claim it!

Japan Envy: Ikemen Beauty Salon

Time and time again, Japan proves that they know how to market products to an extremely wide range of consumers. Call me gullible, but I am almost always on board with whatever weird collaborative campaign or new marketing tactic Japanese companies come up with (yes, even Mister Donut x MOS Burger). Today in “awesome things you’ll only find in Japan,” drug store chain Matsumoto Kiyoshi has teamed up with voice actor Tomokazu Sugita to offer… an otome drama web series?

In Ikemen Beauty Salon, every single guy (pictured above) is voiced by none other than Tomokazu Sugita, who you may know as “that guy in every anime and otome game ever.” But these aren’t just any guys – they’re “cleansing sommelier” specialists, and their number one job is to help you with your daily cleansing routine!* While at first glance, Ikemen Beauty Salon appears to be a otome drama CD series, it’s actually a web-based audio experience that can only be listened to if you buy the product that corresponds to your Sugita guy of choice. 

For example, Nao Yoshino here recommends this Mandom Bifesta cleansing lotion. In order to listen to Nao’s lotion-applying tips, you need to go to a Matsumoto Kiyoshi store and pick up the product. When you purchase one or more of the designated products, you’ll be granted with a QR code and special passcode to input on the site on your receipt. I can’t imagine any of the character scenarios are that long, but it certainly seems like a fun way to get otome fans to try out some of these beauty products! I know I’m definitely going to pick up at least one of them so I can see what kind of audio I’ll be treated to when I’m in Japan. 
What do you think? Have I completely lost it, or is this a neat idea? 
*”Cleansing sommelier” is the exact phrase used on the Ikemen Beauty Salon website, but a little research tells me “sommelier” generally refers to a waiter who is an expert on wine? Though apparently in Japan it’s common to use “sommelier” to refer to an expert of a variety of things. There are even vegetable sommeliers! The more you know.