Akemi's What's Happenin' In Japan

Sony's Dancing Music Player "Rolly"

09/10/2007

Sony has just started a buzz-generating campaign for a product that appears to be the mutant spawn of a Walkman and an Aibo (Sony's now-discontinued robot dog). The palm-sized, pill-shaped Rolly is a portable music device that will "dance" to the tunes it's playing by flapping little round "arms" on its ends, rolling to and fro, and flashing various colored lights. The device measures 6.5cm ( ...
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Sony's Sweet New Battery

08/25/2007

Sony just announced an interesting development: An advanced form of the classic potato-powered battery. These "bio-battery" cells can essentially convert sugars into useable electricity. It's still a long way from recharging your iPod by adding some soda, but Sony did demonstrate running a fan from a splash of sports drink, and one of their portable music players from cells filled with grape ...
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What's New At The Site

Also available as an RSS Feed.

Aug 16, 2008

New reviews! First another unexpectedly good Geneon comedy, Dokkoida?!. Second the obscure action-western Early Reins.

And third, our first two reviews to include Blu-ray info: Yukikaze and SOS Tokyo Metro Explorers: The Next. We figured that, since the silly next-gen format wars finally ended it was time to get on the boat, in particular reviews of the ridiculously expensive not-quite-imports from Bandai's Honneamise label, like these two, to help you decide if it's really worth quadruple the price of the DVD for a high def version.

More stuff and reader reviews to follow in the near future.

June 5, 2008

New review today of one of the funniest things the editorial "we" have seen recently, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue. The review actually isn't quite done, but it turns out RightStuf is running a clearance sale on a bunch of Geneon DVDs, among which is Daphne for a paltry $5 a disc, so we wanted to spread the word while the gettin's cheap.

Also at work on plenty of other stuff, but we'll wait until it's more finished to talk it up.

Jan. 1, 2008

Happy new year! Still alive and kicking. Akemi is currently in Japan and not blogging from there.

Mar. 19, 2007

We actually aren't exactly ready to go live with a couple of new features, but on the theory that the best sort of debugging is the sort that happens in the real world, we're firing it up anyway for testing purposes--please drop us a note if you notice problems!

Aside from the (hopefully obvious) total re-design of the front door (plus the addition of an RSS feed for those who like that sort of thing), we're officially adding (although it's actually been there for a while) a news feed (with up-to-the-hour anime news from ANN) for those who follow that sort of thing, as well as the re-launch of our deal tips feature, also here on the front page.

Further, we're going to give the blog thing a shot with Akemi's sort-of-blog What's Happenin' in Japan, some random news and pop culture commentary from the woman herself. Also, just in case that wasn't enough, the first couple of Japanese lessons now have audio samples to help with your pronunciation, with more to come.

Mar. 10, 2007

Bit of a gap in there because of copius medical tests, but we've been up to several things:

First, congratulations to our February 1st FSWAJC winner, Li-Mei, and our February 15th winner, Alice. Bit of a delay in selecting the winner for the first of March, but we'll catch up momentarily. Remember, you can't win if you don't enter.

Second, as is rather obvious (I hope), we've been adjusting and improving the site's layout. On the positive side, we've made the look more consistent from section to section by getting rid of those funky righthand index boxes and combining them with the lefthand menu. On the potentially negative side, there's a stripe over to the right reserved for in-site plugs, shopping, and ads. The US medical system is extraordinarily expensive, so I'm hoping this'll help my own bottom line a bit, but fear not--I hate annoying, useless ads as much as anybody, so I'm going to be doing my darndest to put direct-to-product shopping links that are relevant to the reviews over there so it might actually help you out. This'll take a while since I'm handpicking them, but you can get an idea of how it'll work if you pop your head into the more reviews section.

Third, due to popular request (and despite the "anime" in the site's title), we're going to try adding some manga reviews--most anime is based on manga, after all. Being that I'm only an occasional manga reader, however, it remains to be seen if some of the folks who expressed interest in writing manga reviews will follow through. If you have any suggestions on format or information the reviews should include, by all means let us know.

That's all for right now, but since these major format changes often cause some funkyness, if anything looks funny, try hitting reload. If that doesn't do it, let us know so we can fix it. And stay tuned for a few more new things still in the works.

Jan. 18, 2007

Congratulations to Brian, the very first FSWAJC winner--your Castle of Cagliostro DVD is on the way. The next question is up and there's still a whole bucket o' prizes to win, so go for it if you're inclined.

Jan. 15, 2007

A wee bit of a delay in actually getting any new material up in the new year, but the first winner in the trivia contest will soon be selected, and the question for the rest of the month is up and ready for you to try your hand at.

Jan. 2, 2007

Welcome to 2007. Health is still keeping us behind in the proper updates, but how about a random little treat: We're trying our hand at a cheesy little contest. We'll see how it goes.

Archive of old "what's new" things.

Industry News

News Provided by Anime News Network

Ao Mimori's B.O.D.Y. Shōjo Manga to End in Japan

2008-10-13 at 04:29:03
High school romance manga has lasted four and a half years Full Article at ANN

UNICEF Japan Continues Push against Virtual Child Porn

2008-10-12 at 23:57:00
Prep for world congress on child exploitation lists "anime depicting sexual abuse" Full Article at ANN

Japanese Anime TV Ranking, September 29-October 5

2008-10-12 at 23:40:46
Howl's Moving Castle, Rookies, Ping Pong aired; Gundam 00's 2nd season ranks Full Article at ANN

1st Strike Witches DVD Reportedly Sells 10,961 Copies (Update 2)

2008-10-12 at 17:38:42
Said to be 1st TV series DVD from Gonzo to sell 10,000+ copies since 2001 Full Article at ANN

Oshii's Sky Crawlers Picks Up 3 Awards at Sitges Fest

2008-10-12 at 08:56:42
Critics' choice, best original soundtrack, jury award for best youth film Full Article at ANN

Amazon Listings Reveal New Tokyopop Licenses

2008-10-11 at 23:58:00
Gorgeous Carat, KimiKiss, Future Diary, Game X Rush from Mugen Spiral author Full Article at ANN

Waterloo Fest to Screen Eva:1.0, Genius Party Films

2008-10-11 at 23:57:00
Animation event to also screen The Piano Forest, early animation Full Article at ANN

Japanese Animation DVD Ranking, October 1-7

2008-10-11 at 05:52:13
Ghibli, Bleach, Slam Dunk, Golden Eggs, Geass, DBZ return to chart Full Article at ANN

Daily Briefs

2008-10-10 at 23:59:00
• Mazinger, Cutey Honey, Devilman's Go Nagai Interviewed

Honey and Clover's Umino to Draw Cover for Berserk

2008-10-10 at 23:58:28
Alternate cover for Berserk #33 marks return of Miura's manga to magazine Full Article at ANN