Write just one academic paper on centaurs in BL manga and suddenly everyone is sending you things featuring centaurs! That’s why when my pal @VanishingAge saw Uma no Prince-sama, she immediately thought of me… But wait, this isn’t a centaur at all! It’s a horse with a hot anime guy’s face?! Yes, that’s the premise of Uma no Prince-sama, the latest in whacky romance simulation apps for women.
Now this is exciting news! For a limited time, Tokyo Otaku Mode is offering the chance to become a member of the previously Japan-exclusive official Sailor Moon club, Pretty Guardians! But you’ll need to act fast, as the opportunity to register will only be available for a limited time starting on September 23rd. Head on over to the official Tokyo Otaku Mode Sailor Moon Fan Club site to register your email address to be updated when international signups are live.
Level-5 announced that it is venturing into the realm of otome games with Otome Yūsha, or Otome Hero, slated to release on iOS and Android this winter! The game is being builded as an otome RPG, with players will take on the role of a female hero accompanied by 24 male warriors of various fantasy races known as “slayers.” It is planned to be the beginning of a cross-media franchise, which will include books and an anime! 
According to the official website, players can choose three slayers to go into battle, and while battles will be automated, you will be able to support the slayers with items and skills. By choosing a favorite character, you will also be able to read through their story, which of course involves some romance!
Perhaps the biggest draw of Otome Hero for otome game fans is that the character designs are all done by Kurahana Chinatsu, who is most famous for her work Uta no Prince-sama. You can see her designs in action in the official trailer, featuring animation by A-1 Pictures (which also worked on the Uta no Prince-sama anime):
While the game has only been announced for Japan so far, Level-5 has submitted trademarks for both Otomé HERO and Otmé HERO in Europe, suggesting an English release may be in the future. Here’s hoping!
I don’t normally advocate for people to sign video game-related petitions, because frankly they’re often rather silly requests, but Tei Kamiya’s Change.org petition to have Kenka Bancho Otome localized is not only a worthy cause, it’s also not entirely impossible. Developer Spike Chunsoft has mentioned on multiple occasions that they will consider localizing the game if there’s enough interest, so it’s time to make our voices heard!
Calling all Kirby fans! Starting this August, you’ll be able to eat all manner of food shaped like the adorable pink puffball at the brand new Kirby Café… if you live in Japan, of course.
Unveiled by the official HAL Labratory Twitter account, the cafe will be a limited-time affair, so if you don’t live in Japan, it’s time to start planning those trips! Unfortunately, the official website has no word on where the café will be located, but I think there’s a pretty good chance it’ll be somewhere in Tokyo.
There will also be limited edition merchandise that can only be purchased at the Kirby Café, but nothing aside from the August launch date has been revealed so far. The official Kirby Café Twitter account did, however, share this adorable stop motion animation to commemorate the announcement:
はじめまして！『カービィカフェ』です。この夏、「星のカービィ」の世界観をテーマにしたカフェをオープンします。https://t.co/dGo0tFNSkl pic.twitter.com/cV4cLaCtTJ
— KIRBY CAFÉ / カービィカフェ (@KirbyCafeJP) July 7, 2016
My heart be still! If, like me, this video has you somewhat inspired to make your own adorable Kirby vignettes, you can get your very own Kirby Nendoroid at CDJapan. It’s not the same thing as visiting the cafe, but it’ll have to do…
[Update 8/12/16] – I have gotten a number of messages regarding the Fujobox campaign, and I would like to clarify that I am in no way affiliated with the creators, nor did I personally back this campaign. It seems they relaunched the a “part 2” after the first fundraiser was unsuccessful, and were due to send out the first Fujobox in November 2016. However, backers have heard nothing from the creators since the campaign was funded on September 6th, 2016. I would exercise extreme caution before donating money to anything related to Fujobox. This post will be updated in the future if any developments occur.
I’ve sampled many a Japanese subscription service over the years, with themes ranging from candy to cute and nerdy merchandise. One demographic distinctly lacking in a subscription box that caters to them, however, is fujoshi, or boys love/yaoi fans. Until now! The FUJOBOX (short for “fujoshi box”) recently launched an Indiegogo campaign to set up a subscription service for fujoshi and fudanshi (male BL/yaoi fans), and are looking to bring all kinds of awesome merchandise from series ranging from Free! to Super Lovers to fans worldwide.
I had no idea going into this year’s Anime Expo that Aksys Games would announce not one, but four otome games localizations, but here we are! With Idea Factory International’s silence after releasing Amnesia: Memories, it wasn’t clear if and when we would see more Otomate games in English, but luckily Aksys Games has shown they value this market by showering fans with game announcements. And I couldn’t be happier!
[Update] Period Cube and Collar x Malice are available on Amazon!
Scheduled to release in 2017 for PS Vita in North America are Period Cube, Bad Apple Wars, Collar x Malice. In addition, the Code: Realize fan disc will also be getting an English release. Since Aksys Games already brought over Code: Realize last year, it makes sense that they would release the fan disc (not quite a sequel, but rather extra content for fans of the original game), but all of these other titles came as a complete surprise!
[Update] Apparently Aksys Games also stated during their Anime Expo 2016 panel that they are trying to release Hakuouki: Sweet School Life, the Hakuoki AU spinoff game set in a Japanese high school, as well.