Square Enix’s latest pearls of gaming wisdom to be cast before gaming swine are the pronouncements that there is “no business merit in developing HD games for Japan” and that it will in any case take a long time for an unenticing console like the PS4 to become “widely accepted.”

In comments which of course have nothing to do with Square Enix having staked its future on social games, FF14 producer and director Naoki Yoshida praised the PS4′s hardware but was sceptical of the need to actually develop any games for it – or for that matter the PS3:

Sales on the current HD game consoles aren’t even that good. Especially looking at the Japanese market, honestly there is no business merit to making HD games now.

Even considering E3, with current games looking as good as they do now to the average person, I think it will take some time for the change to the new hardware and for it to be widely accepted.

Square Enix’s legion of detractors were quick to leap on these comments:

“Because HD is now the baseline.”

“They do know this… don’t they?”

“In all the time they’ve not been making any proper new games they’ve been completely left behind, so no wonder.”

“They can’t even make social games properly now…”

“Square Enix throws money into empty games with beautiful graphics, they don’t sell, so it invests even more into better graphics, they still don’t sell: ‘there’s no point in making HD games!’”

“The west has been earnestly pursuing ever more realistic graphics for the past 30 years, but Japan never bothered with this so the graphics and business never really tie together.”

“They might just try getting rid of the Nomura stuff for once, nobody is that keen on him.”

“He’s not far wrong, there has not been any dramatic technological change in the last decade. If the PS4 has seriously realistic graphics I’ll buy it though.”

“There is no way they can match big overseas games with only a few hundred thousand copies sold in Japan.”

“Kojima is not having trouble making amazing games with great graphics. I think Square Enix just wants to make profitable social games though.”

“You can make money ripping off idiots with social games but it leads nowhere.”

“It’s not like Square Enix’s games are selling like hotcakes overseas either though.”

“The difference in development scale between Japanese and overseas games is sort of like the difference between the Manhattan Project and those weather balloon bombs we sent over…”

“What Square Enix really means is that they no longer have the technical ability to make HD games…”

The ita-bike from the 10th episode of Ore no Imouto 2 has aired fully uncensored, courtesy of premium channel ATX, which features anime-within-an-anime heroine Stardust Witch Meruru fully exposed without the blinding sales glare – and in yet another sign of things to come the first BD’s release has featured more of the same, with Ayase oral “onanism” no longer censored.

Some official and fan art of the heroine:

This latest figure of Sonico has the busty Nitroplus mascot demonstrating the value of oral hygiene, dressed only in some truly tasteless pink bunny underwear whilst busily brushing her teeth, and is set for release this November, from Kotobukiya.

Oral Insertion Sonico is available for pre-order now.

After its catastrophic showing at E3 and humiliating drubbing at the hands of Sony, Microsoft has finally caved in and conceded gamers the right to share games and buy them second-hand on the Xbox One, freed them of the need to be continuously online to use the console, and allow removed all regional restrictions on where the console can be played.

A complicated activation system for sharing games and the requirement to be continuously connected to the Internet even when playing single player titles combined with inferior hardware and a higher price practically delivered leadership in the next generation to Sony, though it is hard to see such a belated about-face doing much to change this.

Less conspicuous, though perhaps even more important, than the DRM fiasco is a climbdown on regional restrictions – some had noted that the combination of online activation and limited regional service may have meant the console would have been unable to play any games at all outside of launch territories:

However, Microsoft now claim there “will be no regional restrictions” – not that this will be much consolation to those stuck in the majority of the planet without warranties on their hardware or any prospect of localised releases of their favourite EA Sports titles.

Microsoft’s sweetly scented PR patter on the subject – “Your Feedback Matters” (just not at any point prior to Sony appearing to be winning it would seem):

You told us how much you loved the flexibility you have today with games delivered on disc. The ability to lend, share, and resell these games at your discretion is of incredible importance to you. Also important to you is the freedom to play offline, for any length of time, anywhere in the world.

So, today I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360. Here is what that means:

•An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

•Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

In addition to buying a disc from a retailer, you can also download games from Xbox Live on day of release. If you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console — there will be no regional restrictions.

The latest extra chapter of To Love-Ru Darkness gives Mikan’s classmates a chance to meet her much-talked-about older brother for another overly erotic encounter sure to excite the envy of readers, and quite possibly their exasperation at his improbable insistence on chastity…

The new “non-3D” 3D mouse pad has also been attracting attention:

Omake:

Japan’s population of NEETs continues to burgeon despite the supposed success of Abenomics, with the proportion of young people now engaged in providing “home security” now at record levels.

Accord to 2013 cabinet statistics published in their “Children & Young People Whitepaper,” government surveys of those aged 15-34 found that the proportion of those “not in education or employment” has actually increased another 0.1% from the last survey in 2011, making them more numerous than ever at 2.3%.

Although overall rates of youth unemployment have lowered slightly, it appears in no small part to have been at the expense of job security – amongst those aged 25-34, the proportion in “irregular” employment also continues to increase at record levels, now being 26.5% of the total, with those 15-24 enjoying a tiny 1.2% decrease to 31.2%.

Just what, if any, implications these statistics have for the rapidly deflating success of Abenomics is not clear, but the Cabinet Office has generously conceded that “policies to support their talents in society are required.”

The online lair of all Nipponese NEETs provides some insight:

“You can only despair…”

“I’m 25 and of my old class 10 are NEETs.”

“5 of my 10 friends are NEETs.”

“Honestly, their figures seem on the low side.”

“When did they even conduct this survey? Nobody ever asked me whether I’m a NEET.”

“Their figures will not catch hikikomori and the like so there are bound to be more.”

“They need to do a proper survey.”

“It’s obvious if companies are shedding employees you are going to see a big group of unemployables form.”

“At this rate they are going to form their own minority group.”

“Even university graduates aren’t confident they can get hired.”

“I’m 30 and last night I realised I haven’t earned a single yen this year.”

“There are loads of NEETs in my town, it’s good as I can go out during the day free of shame!”

“NEETs with skills who choose not to work are OK but most of them are just socially inept scum.”

“You have to wonder how some of these parents raised their families when there are multiple NEETs…”

“I just hope these poor souls blame it on society and not themselves and can move on with their lives.”

“I do think the trend of considering anyone not working full-time in a company as unemployed riffraff is unfair.”

“You see this NEET filth at the pachinko parlours all the time in the middle of the day.”

“Those aren’t NEETs, more like students and freeters. NEETs have no money so pachinko is impossible for them.”

“NEETs are a blessing to their families. Who else will be able to take care of your pets when you go on vacation?”

“Right, they are like jokers. They can take on any role. It should be reassuring to have a NEET available in your household 24/7 to help out.”

“I do suspect that a private security company and a pet hotel would still work out cheaper than the cost of keeping a NEET.”

“Please NEETs, at least make some kids. At this rate the country will collapse, blaming the baby boomers for dumping this on us is all very well, but at this rate we will bestow an even worse situation on the next generation.”

“I would think you should direct those kind of demands at people who can actually earn a living and support some kids.”

“I had 3! We could afford more but my wife couldn’t manage it.”
“It’s obvious NEETs will increase. Even part-time and contract positions are oversubscribed with applicants now. There were 8 applicants for 900 yen an hour work I applied for, and it didn’t even include transportation costs. A lot of people can’t find work and are forced to live as NEETs. Abenomics has failed.”

“I’m not even considered a NEET any more because I’m too old…”

“Right. They’ll start to classify older NEETs as domestic helpers and the like to push the figures down I expect.”

“There are no decent jobs… the ads out there are all for hellish black companies who’ll exploit you completely.”

“The only vacancies I see all require qualifications.”

“Or else they reject you because you have qualifications but no experience…”

“I can’t really blame these people for having realised if you work in a country like this you’ve already lost.”

“You are the elite 2%.”

The finale of this season’s top harem anime Date A Live begins with imouto dating, continues into a harem battle, and ends with the possibility of a second season – much to the delight of fans, the series having been praised for the designs of Tsunako and a unique deadly twist on the normally absurdly staid harem genre.

Omake:

Orchid Seed’s newest Soniko figure provides an alternative version of her last nurse figure – this one swapping black for white, whilst still carrying the same intimidating syringes, and will be obtainable by fans come November

Nurse Sonico is available for pre-order now.

Adorable .moe domains look well on the way to becoming a reality, as ICANN has just approved their creation.

ICANN, the body responsible for administering and approving new top level domains, has just issued a preliminary approval of Japanese company Interlink’s application for the creation of the “.moe” and their CEO is hopeful that the new domain will be available soon.

With little meaningful left to register under the traditional TLDs, ICANN has been busily adding increasingly liberal new domains, ranging from the controversial “.xxx” to the likes of “.google,” “.map” and so on, to the general relief of those stuck finding all the good names under traditional TLDs have been taken and the general annoyance of those who now have to pre-emptively buy up vast numbers of new domains in order to head off malicious squatters.

Other Japanese TLDs applied for include .playstation, .nhk, .docomo, .canon, .gree, .goo, .nico, and localities such as .tokyo, .osaka, .ryukyu, .yokohama, etc. An American company has apparently requested the creation of “.ninja.”

Interlink say that if the contract goes through in October they are planning to begin sales of the .moe domain to anyone who wants one.

Yandere may be potentially murderous, but that has not stopped fans from voting for their favourite psychopaths in this new disturbing ranking of killer girlfriends…

The ranking:

1. Yuno Gasai (Mirai Nikki)

2. Ayase Aragaki (Ore no Imouto)

3. Kurumi Tokisaki (Date A Live)

4. Kotonoha Katsura (School Days)

5. Rena Ryuuguu (Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni)

6. Shion Sonozaki (Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni)

7. Shouko Kirishima (Baka To Test)

8. Sayaka Miki (Magical Girl Madoka ☆ Magica)

9. Rika Furude (Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni)

10. Suigintou (Rozen Maiden)

11. Mana Ouma (Guilty Crown)

12. Ryoko Asakura (Haruhi Suzumiya)

13. Maria Ushiromiya (Umineko no Naku Koro ni)

14. Anri Sonohara (Durarara!!)

15. Takano Miyo (Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni)

16. Black Rabbit (Pandora Hearts)

17. Kukuru Anrakutei (Joshiraku)

18. Hotogi Shirayuki (Hidan no Aria)

19. Chaos (Sora no Otoshimono Forte)

20. Chiri Kitsu (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)

21. Haruna Niekawa (Durarara!!)

22. Kaede Fuyou (SHUFFLE!)

23 Sakura Kaede (Kampfer)

24. Saitohimea (Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi)

25. Shizuru Fujino (Mai-HiME)

Crawling chaos anime Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W manages bedroom service of another kind, for once managing an episode which is largely free of both romance and trips to the beach…

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Omake:

The latest suspicious male to menace Japan’s womenfolk was found to have determinedly shadowed an innocent schoolgirl on her way home for no less than 10 metres.

According to the suspicious persons advisory, a middle school girl walking home through Kobe at 11PM was “followed” by an unidentified man for some 10-15m, but despite her watchfulness he “fled” at some point and got away.

The individual was identified as a male aged 18-25, approximately 170cm in height, of slender build with ruffled hair and wearing blackish T-shirt and shorts.

Coming as it does amidst a seemingly endless succession of increasingly sensitive reports of vicious male malingering, there is some understandable worry amongst those Japanese males who still dare to brave public spaces:

“What…”

“What a serious incident!”

“Now just walking behind a girl is NG?”

“Expect walking in front of one to be next.”

“Come on, this girl was just walking along the same route as the guy for 10m.”

“How can you even accuse someone of tailing you when they are 10m behind?”

“Stupid girl is hyper-paranoid.”

“I like how the report insists he fled.”

“You can really tell there is an entire infrastructure in place for brainwashing people into this kind of paranoia now.”

“Easy to see where all those false chikan accusations are coming from.”

“There must be the odd weirdo out there who deserves caution, but this sort of paranoia is inventing 90% of them.”

“Obviously just chance that they walked the same route for a little while. If she was that worried she could just turn off somewhere and see if he followed.”

“I try and avoid walking directly behind women, but you can’t really avoid doing it for some distance if you are all getting out of a station or something.”

“She shouldn’t have been out at 11 if she felt this jittery. Go home.”

“Just don’t leave the house and you will be safe from being reported.”

“Expect women-only sidewalks soon enough.”

The latest salaryman to trade one form of oblivion for another on the nation’s rails has horrified many with his spectacular plunge through the train’s window and straight into the arms of its doubtless even more horrified driver.

The incident occurred when an unidentified man leapt into the path of a oncoming limited express service at Oishi station on the Hanshin Electric Railway in Hyogo prefecture.

Unusually, rather than being dashed to pieces on impact or mangled underneath the train, he smashed straight through the driver’s side window with most of his body ending up inside the train.

The man was extricated from the train by a fire crew at the next station on and taken to hospital, but unsurprisingly his injuries proved fatal.

The unfortunate driver of the train sustained minor injuries from glass and the impact, although nothing is said about the psychological impact.

Passengers all escaped injury, saving the hour long delay inflicted on users of the express service and the obvious ghastliness of the spectacle – although judging by the photos of the scene at least one bystander (or “the sick pink fatty” as his online detractors have labelled him) found the scene highly edifying.

Suicide by train, a method very Japanese in both its fixation with the train and its passive-aggressiveness (although not very common, accounting for only 2.1% of suicides with straightforward hanging being by far the preferred method with 66.4%, unsurprisingly it is preferred by salarymen), continues to be a major problem for Japanese railways.

Euphemistically referred to as “traffic accidents resulting in injury” in station announcements, each year such attempts delay hundreds of thousands of commuters and subject train drivers to horrific trauma (to say nothing of anyone witnessing or forced to clean up “organs and chunks of flesh from an unrecognisably pulverised body spread 2-5km from the impact site in the case of high speed trains”), although fortunately none have yet turned into accidental murder-suicides taking out staff and passengers.

Measures to discourage such attempts include the famous example of the rail operators billing bereaved families for the disruption to services (in one case a family was even unsuccessfully sued by a woman who suffered PTSD after witnessing the incident).

Less controversially, suicide prevention gates on platforms are proving popular, as well as a variety of more subtle measures such as removing blind spots for jumpers to hide behind, installing mirrors facing the platform to force them to fully reflect on their course of action, adding train departure melodies and even “anti-suicide” blue lights.

Despite all this it would be hard to imagine Japanese train drivers envying their Chinese counterparts…

Lobbyist and mangaka extraordinaire Ken Akamatsu reports that Japan’s proposed ban on 2D material deemed to feature minors in compromising or explicit situations (i.e. quite possibly most of it) is facing difficulties and may well fail to pass.

Love Hina mangaka Ken Akamatsu has been keeping abreast of developments and addressing politicians, and provides some relatively informative twits on the subject:

It’s thought that the ban won’t pass “this time.” There is a good chance it won’t be deliberated on by the lower house’s Committee on Judicial Affairs, and even if it does there is still the upper house which can reject it. There is also an election soon so the chances are it will become an abandoned bill.

[...]

A few days ago the Democratic Party of Japan troubled the LDP with the point that “Why are we just banning manga and anime? Why not novels as well?”

To this deputy PM Taro Aso responded that “it’s because manga stands out more” – come on now…

[...]

The Diet members accused those appealing against the ban being nothing but men, so this time I had “a female mangaka with children” join me in the form of Kyo Hatsuki.

[...]

The DPJ has also formally announced it is in favour of explicitly excluding art and other creative works from the ban, which really helps a lot.

The DPJ has now formally opposed the new law on a number of grounds, with Diet member Yoshikazu Tarui (pictured cosying up to Akamatsu) also blogging extensively about the dangers of a ban:

[At today's hearing with Akamatsu and various publisher associations] we saw some very intense debate as to whether manga and anime should be subject to the ban, and I’m satisfied we made some acceptable counter-proposals. Even the DPJ sometimes does useful stuff!

[...] As its original objective is to protect real children, the text of the law should exclude fictional depictions in manga, anime and games so as not to exert an oppressive influence on freedom of speech.

[...] The ban on simple possession applies to possessing material for ‘satisfying sexual curiosity.’ How any objective judgement is possible as to why someone possessed such material is not clear, and relying solely on confessions to make a case is problematic.

It is easily possible to engineer someone’s possession of this material, so this is especially dangerous.

Banning possession also entails forcing people to dispose of all previously legal material, and it is not possible to forcibly check everyone’s magazines, books and computers.

Just as the DPJ wishes to stop the spread of child pornography, as we also want to prevent false charges brought about by forced confessions we wish to establish a proper system for prosecuting such offences.

A rejected or abandoned bill would of course mean no ban, but with the ban’s proponents having schemed for years as to how they can finally destroy the evils of anime and manga it would likely just be resubmitted in a subsequent parliamentary session.

However, with Abenomics already collapsing around it the LDP may yet have far more pressing concerns than merely appeasing its substantial contingent of cultists and unreconstituted fascists in subsequent sessions.

Between the enduring willingness of Japanese players to queue for hours in a virtual world, the ineptitude of Square Enix for still not having fixed the game to stop them having to, or the howls of rage echoing through Eorzea as the zone they were all queuing up to get into bugged and had to be taken down, Final Fantasy XIV’s rebirth is shaping up to be as controversial as ever.

Scenes of gloriously entertaining queuing action have been proving particularly provocative:

These of course are nothing new:

There has been the usual puzzled reflection amongst Japanese as to what it is about their race which compels them to form orderly queues even in online games (although in fairness were it possible to freely PK the scene would likely be one of as much carnage as any US server):

“Even in 14 people are still doing this!”

“Look at the length of those queues…”

“What kind of hell is this, we have to queue for hours even in our games now?”

“What a gloriously well behaved people we are to do this.”

“Why, it’s a damn beta!?”

“It’s FF11 all over again.”

“It’s like this stupid game hasn’t progressed at all in all these years.”

“These players are complete tools.”

“What’s amazing is that they haven’t all decided to quit.”

“This is too surreal.”

“The queues are even longer than they were in FF11…”

“This is awful. Not again.”

“The foreigners are going to be scratching their heads about us again.”

“The great mystery of FF11 continues.”

“Not much of a test if everyone queues up like this, shouldn’t they all pile in and make sure it can take it?”

“Forget players who are willing to queue – the problem here is a game which is still badly designed enough to require this sort of behaviour.”

“It’s the users who choose to queue, not the game which makes them!”

“It’s server zones they are queuing up to get into. If you don’t queue, when 30 people try to get into a zone continuously you just have 1 in 30 chances of getting through. It’s messed up.”

“I guess at least there is something fun about the beta.”

“Square Enix are just going to ignore this as they did in all the other games.”

“Come on guys, let’s cut in.”

“God I wish they would enable PvP.”

“And at the end the zone everyone was trying to get into bugged and they scheduled a restart of it, and ordered everyone out of the zone. Those poor queuers…”

Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, the latest and presumably last edition of Dead or Alive on the current crop of consoles, is shaping up to be more shapely than ever, with plenty more of the revealing outfits, sexy girls and even some fighting on display.

The latest trailers:

A DOA “general election” is also planned as part of the specials accompanying the game, allowing players to vote on which group of girls they would like free idol costume DLC distributed for – similarities to a certain other election being purely coincidental of course:

Tecmo has also announced it will be experimenting with a “f2p” (“free to pay” might be more accurate) distribution of the game in which the game is freely downloadable but all but a small fraction of the game (essentially 4 characters) will be DLC-ised.

With an array of new stages, characters, and – of course – costumes, the rest of the game is looking more desirable than ever:

The game is due in September.

A brothel manager has been arrested for incorporating “job training” of a sexual nature into an interview he conducted on a schoolgirl looking for a position at his establishment.

The 47-year-old Hyogo prefecture brothel manager stands accused of violating child welfare laws.

According to the charges, as part of the interview process for new applicants he “knowingly” had a 16-year-old high school girl commit indecent acts with him, in what he termed “job training.”

The incident came to light not because of any complaint from the “trainee,” but as a result of police investigating separate child prostitution charges and hearing about his unconventional interview process from others involved with the business.

Sacked Square Enix CEO Youichi Wada’s decision to relocate the company based on the advice of a feng shui (or “fuusui” as it is known in Japan) master is being blamed for the company’s precipitous declined.

One Square Enix employee has this to say about the matter:

Our company moved from Shinjuku to east Shinjuku. No clear reason was given for the transfer, and people were joking that Wada made the choice for reasons of feng shui. But the truth is it may have had the opposite effect, and the rumour is that the new location has very bad feng shui.

It’s not just our corporate performance which suffered – young creative staff have died suddenly and others have been afflicted with cancer. Some have been saying we would have been better off giving them a Shinto exorcism. And perhaps it would have been better had Wada decided our new location according to feng shui alone.

Whilst directly attributing the company’s failure to poor geomancy would likely be an absurd conclusion, attributing it to a CEO so utterly inept as to base business decisions on what a fortune teller told him might well be a plausible explanation.

In fact, no less than top Square Enix composer Nobuo Uematsu has said in a 2008 interview that Wada himself told him a “Taiwanese fortune teller called Pao” advised him where to move the company HQ, and that as he could not abide their new location he left the company.

The widely derided general election victory of AKB48 “super carnivore” Rino Sashihara looks to have enraged even other members of the group, as comments from a number of them savaging Sashihara and her unclean victory as an affront to the very serious business of feigning virginity in order to extract creepy otaku cash have been made public.

Yuuko Oshima, who placed second after her former number one placement was brutally seized by Sashihara, is said to be particularly infuriated:

“What the hell is with this election? It’s laughable. If someone like Sashihara is number 1, we’re just going to become some sort of comedy group. I can’t even cry… it’s ridiculous for those of us who are doing it seriously.”

5th place “graduate” Mariko Shinoda also had plenty of vitriol to spit on Sashihara – and apparently her decision to retire was sealed by the sight of Sashihara sweeping into first place – saying that “if this is something where the likes of Sashihara can get into first place, there’s no point in me treating it seriously.”

The backbiting was rounded off my general manager Minami Takahashi saying “if I lose to Sashihara, I’ll kowtow!” – though she later revised her intentions to “if it’s something to kowtow over I may as well just quit being general manager.”

Japanese police have come under fire for managing to combine the legendarily creepy kigurumi cosplay with the ever unpopular furry fandom in an effort to fight crime.

Lacking the endless succession of sensational rapes and murders seen in barbarian lands and having most criminal activity firmly under the control of either the yakuza or police, one of Japan’s main law enforcement priorities has long been a plague of scams involving criminals attempting to persuade gullible old people they are relatives in need of funds.

Against these perfidious schemes now stands the might of Tewatasanaiinu-chan, half doller, half kemomo, and all cop.

Tewatasanaiinu-chan, whose very name means “don’t hand it over!”, is assisting Tokyo’s metropolitan police in raising public awareness of the problem even after years of TV broadcasts have failed – a “cute” mascot with a Twitter account surely being the perfect means of spreading the word amongst Japan’s old people.

Combining as it does the worst aspects of three of the least popular groups in Japan, Tewatasanaiinu-chan’s online reception was another matter however:

“Those hands, that’s got to be some old guy.”

“Scary wrists!”

“Come on, those are man hands!”

“Your taxes at work!”

“Kemonoers will love this, right?”

“Why does it have a partially human face.”

“Do they really think this will help prevent any crimes…”

“This vile chimera was probably the result of a bunch of these cops mixing up their best crime prevention ideas in the one effort.”

“There’s a hot policewoman under there, no doubt.”

“Don’t our cops have anything better to do?”

A Japanese newspaper’s ranking of the top karaoke tunes most loved by Japanese under-20s has proven so dominated by Vocaloid and anison classics and so bereft of mass-manufactured idol groups that some have begun to wonder whether there is hope for Japanese music yet – or indeed if Japanese music and its music industry are now two entirely different entities…

The ranking:

1. Senbonzakura (WhiteFlame feat. Hatsune Miku)

2. Memeshikute (Golden Bomber)

3. Brain Fluid Explosion girl (Rerulili feat. Hatsune Miku & Gumi)

4. Rokuchounen to Ichiya Monogatari (Kemu)

5. Zankoku Na Tenshi No These (Yoko Takahashi)

6. Amanojaku （164 feat.GUMI）

7. Kagerou Days (Jin feat. Hatsune Miku)

8. ii aru Fan Club (MikitoP Feat. Gumi & Rin)

9. only my railgun （fripSide）

10. Matryoshka (Hachi feat. Hatsune Miku & Miku)

To Heart 2 fans must truly love bunny girl figures, because Orca Toys is releasing yet another one, this time a large floppy-eared figure edition of the well-endowed Manaka Komaki which is dated for arrival this November.

Bunny girl Manaka is available for pre-order now.

A Japanese man has finally been arrested after impersonating a mysterious foreigner in order to rape his girlfriend’s two daughters.

The 52-year-old unemployed Okayama prefecture man was dating a local woman, but apparently started to take an interest in her daughters as well.

He broke into her home whilst only her eldest daughter, in her thirties, was home, and raped her whilst she was taking a bath.

He was subsequently also charged with raping and assaulting her other daughter, then in her twenties, in 2005.

In both cases he used a duplicate key to gain entry to his partner’s home when nobody but the daughter in question was present, donning a balaclava and covering his face whilst screaming at them “don’t move!” in English, pretending to be a foreigner of unspecified nationality (all foreigners in Japan are automatically assumed to speak English).

The man is facing multiple charges of rape and assault, though it is not clear if he maintains his innocence – or if the first incident was reported and police spent the intervening 8 years looking for a masked “foreign” rapist.

Square Enix’s decision to completely transform Final Fantasy XV into an “action RPG” by the simple expedient of renaming Versus XIII looks to have been the final straw for many fans of the series – as have the intensity of its Nomura designed characters.

The gameplay trailer seems to confirm most of the traditional RPG elements the series was known for have been shed in favour of something looking more like God of War than anything seen in the main games so far:

The obligatory extravagant pre-rendered Square Enix trailer montage:

Most of the problem seems to stem from the fact that Square Enix – quite possibly now in no condition to even attempt a full-blown Final Fantasy title – appears to have simply chosen to rename Final Fantasy Versus XIII to Final Fantasy XV and so save itself the trouble of having to develop any more pesky towns or non-linear levels.

Its relatively nice graphics and Nomura-designed characters have won it some admiration, although the usual complaint that “they all look like hosts” quickly surfaced as well:

“Come on, just make an orthodox RPG again!”

“Ah, they made another one of the creepy ones.”

“So encounters are pure action now, but the rest is open world?”

“Looks like someone has been watching a lot of Berserk lately.”

“Not more of these hosts. Quit it with the sex trade hairstyles, I can’t empathise with them at all.”

“Huge unwieldable swords, weird hairstyles, bad music, strange dialogue, this is just going to far for me.”

“Final Fantasy Warriors.”

“Host Fantasy.”

“An action game in which narcissistic hosts do battle with gigantic monsters, great.”

“It looks like the health potions have been replaced by hairspray and perfume in this one.”

“Right, their hair gets messed up as they take damage.”

“The people moaning about hosts are just creepy otaku, ignore them!”

“Can you honestly look at this and tell me those characters do not resemble hosts?”

“Did Final Fantasy copy the hosts or did the hosts copy Final Fantasy?”