Low temperatures seem to have done nothing to cool off the hot cosplay on display at WonFes 2012 Winter, which rivals the event’s figures in quality (at times at least).

Some of the cosplayers and companions on display:

Budding fans of the Vita’s upcoming real-time fairy dating game Ciel nosurge have been aghast to learn that the game is episodic and will take over a year to finish and cost 2-3 times the price of a normal title.

According to calculations made by a concerned “game shop employee,” the game may be the most expensive yet for the Vita:

It’s actually quite a bit different to how most games are sold.

The game has 13 “episodes” and a further 3 extra episodes, only the first of which is included with the game itself.

Each episode is going to be released monthly, and they will cost ¥500 each.

So to finish it will cost ¥5040 + (15 x ¥500) = ¥13,040 [about $170]

I’m a bit concerned about how many people will be able to keep playing a game like this for over a year without losing interest along the way…

Never has so much enthusiasm evaporated so quickly:

“So this is the Vita’s killer app!”

“Who’ll be playing this in a year!”

“After a year they will just be releasing the complete edition, count on it.”

“So they are selling an incomplete game and charging as you go.”

“Won’t people finish each episode in a few days?”

“It’s a real time game so there’s only so much you can do over a given period.”

“The retailers will really suffer if they keep playing this stuff for a year.”

“This is like Bandai…”

“It would be better at 1,000 each episode and the main game free.”

“Nobody even knows what kind of game it is.”

“It’s just a normal galge ADV.”

“The Vita itself might not be around in a year!”

“I’ll still give it a try!”

“Expect there to be tons of DLC too.”

“This is shocking, if true. I’ll cancel my order unless it really has the volume going for it.”

“If the DLC is scenario rather than just costumes it could work out well.”

“I’d spend that much on an limited edition set, but I’m concerned about losing interest in the instalments.”

“Gust DLC is normally pretty nice, although this looks like it might be different. I hope they get the balance between moe and serious story right.”

“Half of the games on the Vita have DLC which costs more in total than the game.”

“It doesn’t sound like you’ll get the whole experience without playing in realtime either, so you end up having to follow it on the boards and play it like an MMO…”

“I’m just wondering if there is sufficient volume in the  initial package?”

“She dresses loose from the start, imagine what she’ll be wearing in 16 episodes guys!”

The game is available for pre-order now.

2ch has taken the unusual step of fighting back against the wicked Korean fifth column it believes is behind most of the ills of Japanese society by producing some English language propaganda of its own, targeted at American anime fans.

The document was mailed to at least one North American university anime club, and identifies itself as the handiwork of the Vippers – denizens of 2ch’s “VIP” board, which is known even on 2ch for its eccentric and activist character.

Aside from being a surprisingly thorough outline of some of the less crazed claims which 2ch endlessly fulminates over (and which were largely responsible for a series of large-scale anti-Fuji TV demonstrations in 2011), the document is presented in unusually good English (for 2ch at least) and appears to have been quite carefully prepared.

The veracity of the claims made is another matter – they range from the usual xenophobic delusions of foreign infiltration beloved of the Internet right, to some rather more well-founded concerns about the supposed efforts of Korean nationalists to stealthily advance their national interests in Japan and beyond, and the distressingly obvious lack of reliable politicians and media Japan is afflicted by.

Whatever the truth behind their claims, they do at least give English speakers a great deal of insight into the thinking current across much of the Japanese Internet.

The letter and accompanying materials:

Hatsune Miku fans are rejoicing at the sight of the world’s first ita-airport, in the form of Miku’s descent upon Hokkaido’s New Chitose Airport – including a full-size Miku statue which has otaku reaching for either their wallets or their cameras…

The life-sized model in particular has attracted more than a little attention from Miku fans:

“When you’ve put your arm around Miku’s waist, you can die with no regrets.”

“Don’t touch Miku so freely!”

“I’m a bit concerned 1:1 Miku will be kidnapped.”

“What about her pantsu!”

“She’s even cuter than I thought she would be.”

“If that statue ever gets auctioned off, expect it to reach 6 or even 7 figures…”

“So this is the rumoured 1:1 model! You just know someone is going to check what’s up her skirts!”

“I see MelonKuma… even for an animal suit, that thing is scary.”

“Come to my house, full-size Miku-san!”

“For Miku lovers this is a total Miku-Matsuri isn’t it?”

“I went there – even the staff at the arcade were dressed as Miku.”

“Last year it was an ita-station, so this year it’s an ita-airport? Hokkaido is trying too hard!”

TV soon picked up on the event:

“I want to be like Miku!”

Scandalous allegations about what goes on at idol handshaking events are once again being made, this time describing the extremes of perversion some ultra-creepy otaku engage in at the expense of their beloved idols.

Various industry journalists and other connected experts supposedly maintain the AKB handshaking events are the source of considerable ills, ranging from distorting sales to utter perversion:

“CDs come with one handshaking event coupon and you need several to get an actual ticket, so many fans will buy a great many CDs in order to get this. Once they have it they just throw the CD away or sell them off at dirt cheap prices. I doubt many of these fans buy them to actually listen to the music.”

“Rapidly increasing numbers of fans are actually resorting to shoplifting to get the CDs. One person even got arrested for going around at an event intimidating other fans into giving him their coupons.”

“Their discs get to number 1, they have repeated million-seller chat-topping hits. But that’s because their fans are incredibly desperate, sometimes buying 10 discs each.”

“Only the promoters get anything out of all this. Some of the latest handshaking events are being referred to as ‘touching events,’ and increasing numbers of their more reckless fans are busy groping their breasts and sticking their hands up their skirts. That’s why idols like Tomomi Itano have reputations for hating their fans and find any excuse not to attend the events.”

“Before the handshaking, they go to the toilets and onanise there, and attend the event with it on their hands. When one of the members goes to shake their hands, thinking them an ordinary fan, they get a sudden sticky sensation. Some members responded with a shocked ‘What the hell is this!?’”

Sadly many are by now unsurprised at the lengths some fans apparently go to:

“This is your doing guys! Give it a rest.”

“Of course creepy otaku are creepy. If you’re deliberately marketing to them what do you expect?”

“The stuff about the semen made me laugh. What kind of hero does that?”

“Give them a break, they deserve something for being forced to buy all those trashy CDs.”

“What is with that article…”

“They only buy those awful CDs to get the chance to do all that perverted stuff.”

“What do you expect if you employ sales tactics like that?”

“Make it into a fellatio event and you’ll get rid of all those guys with semen on their hands.”

“Can’t they just arrest the ones who do this stuff?”

“I bet there were always guys doing this stuff.”

“Being suddenly hugged and kissed by some maniac is what being an idol has always been about. They do get paid a lot for it.”

“Give it a rest, it’s basically a form of prostitution so what do you expect?”

“Having to buy 10 CDs to shake hands with them for a few seconds, you’d kind of expect this stuff really.”

Bleach-watchers have reacted with a mixture of surprise and incredulity to the news that Bleach is entering into its “final chapter” – although just how long this will last is the subject of much speculation.

The scan circulating simply reveals Bleach’s “final chapter” is starting, giving no hint as to how protracted a finale this might be – although given the author’s previous comments hopefully nobody is holding their breath.

Online, there is some disbelief and much checking of the skies:

“Thank goodness.”

“They say final chapter but this is probably the last part and due to last years.”

“Give it 10 years.”

“More.”

“Expect another 30 volumes.”

“I think they are just bluffing in an attempt to drum up more reader interest.”

“It’ll be sad to finally lose it.”

“They were saying it would actually end, I guess it was really true.”

“What’ll happen to the anime!?”

“If it gets popular again they will just restart it as Bleach 2 I bet…”

DC Comics and one of their more xenophobic comic shop minions have apparently been caught playing with fire – their latest flier supposedly urges true American patriots to dump their slant-eyed yellow “manga” in favour of the all-American option of muscle-bound superheroes, by trading in traitorous foreign comics for a flag-rubbing DC Comics title.

More classic DC Comics titles along the same lines:

Even the most magnanimous of Berserk fans are having trouble with the above official image of Guts and Griffiths tucking in to a Lotteria hamburger and milkshake, as part of what must be the most mismatched anime tie-up yet…

The offer itself is available from all Lotteria shops from the 19th, and consists of an otherwise unremarkable teriyaki burger set with fries and a drink, along with special Berserk stationary, all for the princely sum of ¥1,000.

The fan reaction is less than forgiving:

“This is too surreal…”

“Oh come on, they are eating a burger and shake…”

“Wasn’t Berserk set in a medieval European setting? Did they have hamburgers back then? I’m pretty sure they had no milkshakes…”

“Surreal, isn’t it? Particularly Griffiths…”

“Guts looks like an old man.”

“He looks Korean…”

“They could get away with Guts, but not Griffiths.”

The latest “Berserk: Golden Age – Egg of the Conqueror” trailer for those who missed it:

Marketing paradise anime Tiger & Bunny is granting fans another chance to get their hands on some of the most desirable non-bishoujo figures to come out of the series, complete with corporate livery, come April 2012.

Wild Tiger and Barnaby Brooks Jr. can be pre-ordered now.

Bucking the trend for even the most innocent of perverted oppai anime to be obscured by a succession of steamy light beams, High School DxD manages to keep its nipples intact – although its buttocks are not so lucky…

Bandai has announced its withdrawal from the US anime publishing business, a move greeted by the usual litany of piracy accusations from angry Japanese otaku with a less than favourable view of their overseas brethren.

The company’s US subsidiary was established in 1998 as Bandai Entertainment, distributing various anime and manga titles in North America. Another subsidiary, Bandai Visual USA, was established in 2005 but was folded into Bandai Entertainment in 2008.

Bandai Entertainment will cease all anime and manga releases by February, and will instead focus solely on licensing the rights to publishers rather than publishing and distributing titles itself. Its online store has already been shut down.

Since Bandai was formerly translating and distributing many titles it did not actually originally publish in Japan, this presumably means it will now only be licensing titles from its own stables (most notably Gundam, via Sunrise) to US publishers.

It has also been noted that some of the group’s Japanese anime releases, such as Gundam Unicorn, have been published as multilingual discs, obviating the need for an overseas distributor and potentially allowing them to be sold directly to an international audience.

Games and other properties are handled by a complex network of international subsidiaries, and are likely to be entirely unaffected by Bandai Entertainment’s withdrawal from the US anime business.

Despite publishing English versions of such hits as Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Haruhi, the company has somehow failed to make vast amounts of money. Predictably, the spread of the Internet has been implicated.

Online explanations for their abject failure seem to concentrate on the ever-popular “all foreigners are thieves” explanation, along with Bandai simply being incompetent – although many have been pondering the rather problematic quandary of how to sell anime at low prices overseas without letting sneaky English-reading Japanese get their hands on it as well:

“Cool Japan…”

“Cool, but not in that sense.”

“So the Yanks got tired of Japanime?”

“Just how much were they selling them for?”

“Weren’t they selling them at rip-off prices?”

“They were trying to sell them at prices similar to the Japanese ones. This is the result.”

“It’s obvious you’ll fail if you sell BDs at ¥7,000 overseas.”

“Who’d buy at that price? Not me.”

“I’ve bought a few of their US DVDs. They certainly weren’t as expensive as the Japanese releases. However, by American standards they were still expensive.”

“Bandai as a whole has not been producing many hits lately. They are too dependent on Gundam.”

“They are making some CG anime of Tekken… seems a total waste of money.”

“They say the tastes of US fans have changed, but really they are the same. The problem is all the anime made in Japan is now for the creepy otaku demographic and doesn’t interest them.”

“They just illegally upload as much as they want and have no intention of paying a dime for anime. It’s incredibly cheap compared to Japan, yet still they pirate. Rather than sell titles cheaply on Amazon.com and have Japanese buy them there, they might well make more by withdrawing.”

“With the BD releases of Akira and Freedom, they were simultaneous in the US and Japan, but the price in the US was far cheaper.

Obviously all the Japanese ordered from Amazon.com and sales were great, but it turned out most were just Japanese buying it overseas. So they revised the pricing on Gundam UC so it’s just as expensive everywhere.”

“With all the Japanese using those sites to order, they either have to sell at prices too high for foreigners or withdraw.”

“This is a conundrum. You can’t sell overseas at those prices, but at lower prices the Japanese start buying them instead. How will the Japanese contents business cope in the age of the Internet?”

“I felt no satisfaction buying those overseas editions. They are fine just to watch, but they have no specials or anything, you can’t collect them.

And how come the original was in stereo but the US versions end up in 5.1?”

“The biggest problem is illegal downloads. Self-proclaimed right-wing patriots are always whining about how horrible China is to Japan, but really Americans are just as horrible to us.”

“What they were actually selling:

5 Centimeters Per Second
Freedom
Ghost Slayers Ayashi
The Girl Who Leapt Through Space
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Gurren Lagann
Hayate the Combat Butler
K-ON!
Kurokami
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam 00
Mobile Suit Gundam UC
Tekken: Blood Vengeance

Was it really that hard to sell all these popular titles in the US?

If you look at Amazon.com’s anime best seller ranking, they are all anime which didn’t really take off in Japan. Interesting.”

“They won’t buy even at those low prices!”

“The market was small to begin with. You cannot just increase sales by reducing the price like that, there simply isn’t a large audience to begin with.”

“Isn’t it just because only a few ever got shown on TV? If the only way they see the first episodes is by having to go to the trouble of downloading it, your audience is not going to increase.”

“All this despite increasing numbers attending their events…”

“Yankee otaku don’t care about video or audio quality so they just watch on YouTube.”

“It’s just because overseas a culture of piracy has taken root.”

“There is no way this is solely the fault of illegal downloads.”

“Bandai has already failed to expand into Europe and America numerous times. I guess they’ll just have to keep trying.”

“What do you expect from a company which didn’t even bother including the Japanese language audio track on its Kurokami BD release? All the NA fans think they are total retards.”

“That is just moronic. Even the most basic market research will reveal that the majority of the fans there don’t care about dubs and listen in Japanese with subtitles. It’s obvious Bandai is not cut out for this kind of business.”

Even the Chinese have been complaining about the excessive levels of censorship Japanese anime and manga are now subject to, whether due to the attentions of Herr Ishihara or simply down to the prevalence of censorship marketing.

Some of the commentary from Chinese otaku:

“I’ve been checking out some old Japanese anime lately -  I found something a little surprising.  H scenes were all OK back then it seems. Honestly, it seems things were more liberal back then?”

“Right, they used to show boobs with no problem back then. Like in Lupin III and so on, despite it being the seventies they were shown. Now all you get is great beams of holy light flashing about…”

“They even had them in the first Gundam. But nothing in Seed? And always in OPs…”

“My first recollections are of scenes of Rei and Mamiya getting their tops ripped off in Fist of the North Star. They even showed that stuff on our TV without issue, despite cutting out loads of other stuff.”

“They were showing all that stuff fine in the nineties even here.”

“When did all the breasts start getting covered up by weird beams of light?”

“Japan’s TV anime censorship is getting worse and worse. I doubt they could even air Fist of the North Star now.”

Amongst Japanese otaku there is some debate as to whether increasing levels of anime censorship can be blamed on moral hysteria and persecution of otaku on the part of Japanese politicians and media, or simply on cynical efforts by studios to goad viewers into buying the disc release by cutting out all the juicy bits and merely pretending it has something to do with censorship.

Whatever the case, there does seem to be some awareness that when even Chinese feel compelled to complain about their censorship, there is something very wrong indeed:

“You can see it all on the disc release. This is all a sales tactic.”

“Japanese politicians are scum!”

“All those LDP politicians are trying to get anime and manga banned completely. The number of crazy politicians here is really increasing, they are totally nuts now.”

“Censorship these days is really bad though, you can’t even see normal panchira uncensored any longer.”

“Pay up and you can see it all, you filthy chinks!”

“Who cares what a bunch of dirty Chinese pirates have to say!”

“What right have they to an opinion when they just watch it all illegally!”

“How starved of ero are they?”

“This is all the fault of the LDP’s crazy Korean cultist supporters.”

“Late night anime is pretty amazing though… they may not show it directly like ero-anime, but the fetishistic way they present things is quite something.”

“You used to be able to see even Shizuka-chan’s breasts and pantsu without issue.”

“A few years ago, I remember being told by a neighbourhood mother of two who’d just seen a Yattaman remake that you don’t see that sort of thing at all anymore.”

“Kiss x Sis and Yosuga no Sora were the talk of our school, but our teacher just said that there was much more stuff like that before.”

“I don’t see a problem with boobs, but Yosuga takes things too far!”

“Japan is headed in a strange direction.”

“I really think the commercial reasons for censorship predominate now…”

“Qwaser and so on are packed with ero, but aren’t tlight beams just a ploy to increase DVD sales? They can’t just show anime for free.”

“TV used to be good, now it’s pure trash. No wonder viewerships are down.”

“Just look at late night Fuji TV – you can see all kinds of explicit [3D] bondage programming.”

“Terrestrial censorship isn’t just targeting anime though. If anything I think anime is getting off lightly.”

“After the LDP and Koumeito [minor Buddhist cultist party formerly in a governing coalition with the LDP] got into a coalition, the level of ‘voluntary restraint’ on TV got really severe, didn’t it?”

“Now they are in opposition they have become even more obsessed with censorship though… I’m really worried about what they’ll do when they get back in.”

“They are totally obsessed with child porn now, they’ll ban as much as they can.”

“I really do get the impression that their crazies have taken over since they got knocked into opposition.”

“Wasn’t the first piece of legislation they proposed after losing power a ban on ero?”

“Right. Although there isn’t much agreement in their party about anything.”

“Those net right wingers who support them are just as crazy as they are though.”

“Holy light is the right way of describing those beams…”

Top yuri oppai anime Queen’s Blade is to receive its new season in the spring of 2012, guaranteeing fans even more yuri bondage action – at least, such of it as will be visible over the glare and steam.

The announcement:

Needless to say, Queen’s Blade Rebellion brings with it the same basic combination of fetishistic lesbian sex which has made the series such a perversely enduring success.

Anime fans have been lamenting the wastefulness of anime which the mainstream might accept being broadcast at 3AM instead of at “golden time” in the early evening – and with their number one choice, they may have a point…

The ranking:

1. Tiger & Bunny

2. Chihayafuru

3. Working!!

4. Nichijou

5. K-ON!

6. Ika Musume

7. Natsume’s Book of Friends

8. Ano Hi

9. Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth

10. Puella Magi Madoka Magica

11. Tamayura -hitotose-

12. Clannad

13. Usagi Drop

14. Hanasaku Iroha

15. Hidamari Sketch

16. Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei

17. Spice & Wolf

18. Honey and Clover

19. Kaichou wa Maid-sama

20. A Certain Magical Index

21. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha

22. Toradora!

23. The IdolMaster

24. Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing

25. Aria The Animation

Although it seems Tiger & Bunny could plausibly have done better in an evening slot, whether even early airing could have saved Nichijou looks doubtful…

Final Fantasy XIII-2′s first week sales figures reveal it has been outsold by Tales of Xillia, a fact which is being greeted as a massive humiliation and confirmation that Final Fantasy brand now lies in ruins.

The sales figures (with weekly and total sales)

1. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3) 524,217/524,217

2. Monster Hunter 3 G (3DS) 208,427/730,386

3. Mario Kart 7 (3DS) 182,418/789,871

4. Inazuma 11 GO (3DS) 135,259/135,259

5. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)112,533/837,143

6. Kirby Wii (Wii) 71,028/398,516

7. Minna no GOLF 6 (PSV) 61,412/61,412

8. Uncharted (PSV) 48,224/48,224

9. JUST DANCE Wii (Wii) 44,021/323,293

10. PokePark 2 (Wii) 43,829/164,018

For those wondering, Vita sales stood at 324,859 – compared to 367,691 for the 3DS.

Meanwhile, Tales of Xillia sold 525,605 in its first week, a fact which has not gone uncommented upon:

“It’s dead, completely dead.”

“Bloody hell, FF can’t even outsell Tales now!”

“So the brand has finally collapsed. I suppose it was to be expected, they’ve just gotten too bad.”

“It sold even less than I thought it would… Maybe I’ll buy it cheaply second-hand.”

“Everyone will wait for the second-hand copies. They’ve learnt their lesson from the first one.”

“It can’t even win in the first week. There’s no chance for it now.”

“This is seriously dangerous:

FF13: 1,516,532
FF13-2: 524,217 (Xbox 360 too small to register in sales figures)

Refer back to this:

FF10: 1,749,737
FF10-2: 1,472,914″

“They were saying it would sell a million without difficulty…”

“And it was released in the holiday season.”

“The Vita is already finished… it can’t even beat the 3DS even now!?”

“Both FF and the Vita are dead.”

“The 3DS is at its peak. I think we can expect Vita sales to grow from here.”

“Considering how bad it is I think FF13-2 did well to sell what it did.”

“Final Fantasy can’t even manage a million now. It’s done for.”

“TOX: 525,605
vs
FF13-2: 524,217
This is a historic moment.”

“Maybe now that awful company will realise how bad a fix it is in.”

“Tales is now the leading JRPG!”

There may be something for otaku to look forward to about winter after all – the return of Snow Miku, looking cuter than ever and now with her very own tram.

The tram’s Snow Miku livery is set to grace the streets of Sapporo until the end of March, as part of the city’s 62nd snow festival.

As might be gathered from her prominent placement, Nendoroid Snow Miku is also due to freeze otaku hearts in her icy grip soon.

Google Chrome has drafted in none other than Hatsune Miku to tout its benefits to computer users in Japan and beyond, with the latest Chrome advertising campaign carrying a video featuring the world’s foremost virtual diva.

Her video:

The campaign features artists from various countries, putting Miku amidst such distinguished company as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.

Japan’s browser market is generally held to reflect the depressingly backwards nature of the Japanese Internet (as anyone exposed to the cutting edge 1980s design of such sites as 2ch, or the HTML disaster zones of huge blogging platforms like FC2, can readily attest) – Internet Explorer still maintains a stable 50% share, much higher than in other developed markets.

Whether Miku’s support is enough to bring Chrome up to the standard of such notoriously godly browsers as Internet Explorer remains to be seen…

The Japan Racing Association, Japan’s major horse racing and betting organisation, has surprised many by producing a highly moe and not entirely unsuggestive visual novel based around the theme of girls riding horses…

The game, an online visual novel entitled “My Sweet Umadonna -I Am Your Horse-” (“uma” is Japanese for “horse”) and written by none other than the autor of Ro-Kyu-Bu:

It even gets an OP from the same people responsible for Ika Musume’s:

Comiket 77 attendees have noted that the JRA was mysteriously in attendance, explaining that they wanted to see how a vibrant event operated as their own attendance numbers have been dropping off. The result was apparently this game.

Online the reaction has been quite positive – mainly on account of the carrot scene it would seem…

Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai has been quietly turning itself into an oppai mouse pad marketing anime (which is perhaps for the best), with those of heroines Hiyoko Tamaizumi, Naru Ohtori or Asuka Watarai now available to those looking for something soft to rest their wrists on.

Hiyoko Tamaizumi, Naru Ohtori and Asuka Watarai are available.

A mainstream Taiwanese political candidate who has cunningly chosen to drop the usual airbrushed portrait of herself beaming unconvincingly at the electorate in favour of a more up-to-date 2D moe image of herself has been attracting attention both within and without Taiwan.

44-year-old candidate Chien Yu-yan, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (one of the two main parties in Taiwan, noted for favouring formal independence from the PRC), is seeking re-election to her seat in the Taipei municipal assembly.

As part of her electoral propaganda campaign, she has taken the rather unusual step of using an anime-styled campaign portrait alongside her regular ones, in the hopes of grubbing more votes from Taiwan’s huge contingent of Japanese culture aficionados.

Japan has been watching all this with mixed feelings:

“This is packaging fraud!”

“Do it over.”

“This is more anthropomorphisation than an actual portrait…”

“You have to draw the line somewhere – some things should not be made moe!”

“What a swindle!”

“You lot owe Taiwan an apology!”

“I think it looks more Taiwanese than moe…”

“Well, it’s all Photoshop anyway, isn’t it?:”

“What she really looks like:”

“She’s really not that bad for her age.”

Broadcast busybodies have been at it again, with Japan’s toothlesss TV watchdog BPO receiving all manner of complaints about TV anime, ranging from “obscenity” to inappropriate behaviour at a fictional funeral.

Although the overall numbers of youth TV related complaints are down slightly (perhaps because everything raunchy has already been forced off the air), being reduced by 20 to 129,  the usual faintly ridiculous moralist complaints about the evils of anime are still well in evidence:

“There was a scene of a funderal in an anime, and my child found it so creepy that they are still shaking even now.

There were horribly indecent jokes, sexual depictions and insults toward the dead. I wouldn’t have thought this was a supper-time programme.

Even an adult like me was put out.”

“I’m surprised by the amount of murder you see on TV these days. It can’t be helped with news, but they are in almost every drama and may anime aimed at children. I feel a lack of creative effort and originality is responsible.

They are going to make children think murder is an every day occurrence.I think broadcasts in this timeslot should be trying to inspire their dreams.”

Sex gets a look in, as always:

“Recently many late night anime have become obscene. They say lascivious things, girls show off their pantsu, it’s all very disagreeable.

And the seiyuu in these series are often minors! However popular, it’s inappropriate for them to be voicing characters in these kinds of anime. Isn’t some kind of ban in order here?”

Gratuitous cruelty, in more ways than one:

“A recent late night anime had constant lurid scenes of bizarre murder and massacre. And at the end they reveiled everyone had tricked the protagonist and that you’d have to watch to movie to find out what happens. Such scenes of cruelty and farcical content are most disagreeable.

There were mosaics and so on, but no matter how late at night this programme is, I can’t accept it as being a normal programme for terrestrial TV.”

And of course, the evils of smoking;

“In a certain popular anime there are often scenes with the main character smoking. This series ispopular with both kids and adults, I think they should stop including content which could encourage middle and high schoolers to try smoking.”

Otaku waste no time in condemning all this:

“Could they just not watch the TV?”

“If you don’t lik it, don’t watch it! Especially late night anime.”

“What funeral? Negima’s?”

“Gintama?”

“What minor seiyuu? Who?”

“The smoking stuff is Working?”

“How many times do we have to tell them, those are trousers, not pantsu.”

“They are watching late night anime just to have something to complain about?”

“These people are warped, they want a world cleansed of every last speck off dirt.”

“Obviously it isn’t mainstream or else it would not be on late at night.”

Animal rights crazies PETA have been denouncing Mario for promoting animal cruelty, saying Mario’s use of a “Tanooki” suit legitimises skinning animals alive for their fur.

PETA’s claims:

When on a mission to rescue the princess, Mario has been known to use any means necessary to defeat his enemy—even wearing the skin of a raccoon dog to give him special powers.

Tanooki may be just a “suit” in Mario games, but in real life, tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur. By wearing Tanooki, Mario is sending the message that it’s OK to wear fur. Play Super Tanooki Skin 2D and help Tanooki reclaim his fur!

To make their point, they provide a Flash Mario parody mini-game on their site:

The group also recently condemned Battlefield 3 for including a scene of rat killing, prompting many to comment unfavourably on their decision to completely ignore the game’s major premise of humans slaughtering other humans.

What, if anything, they have to say about the rampant animal skinning action seen in Skyrim also remains to be seen.

The Japanese response is sceptical to say the least – although if PETA’s objective was simply to splash their name around the Internet, even if only as an example of their desperate need for publicity and at the cost of alienating all reasonable gamers, they may have succeeded:

“It’s an animal suit.”

“They are totally crazy.”

“These people just use yakuza methods.”

“I’d expect them to be more concerned with Mario jumping on turtles all the time…”

“So reindeer suits are out as well now?”

“What about frog suits?”

“Mickey Mouse suits are animal abuse.”

“Pity the furries!”

“Tanuki Mario is from 1988… why now all of a sudden?”

“They just ignored the FPS?”

“Do people call them tanuki overseas as well?”

“The actual game is quite good.”

“Isn’t this copyright infringement?”

“I’d think it is Nintendo who will be suing them…”

“Do they think all those neko and usamimi are made from real animal ears or something?”

“So basically they want to extort money from Nintendo in exchange for shutting up about it.”

“This stuff is why I hate animal rights people.”

“They apparently started an ero site to spread their animal rights message more widely.”

“I’d really like to eat that.”

“These people are just nuts. I guess they don’t lead very satisfying lives, so they have to do this stuff.”

“Why are animal rights groups nothing but crazies?”

Idol otaku are mourning the horrible fate which awaits them after Japanese TV’s latest expose of an elderly idol otaku.

As the report originates from Japanese TV there are the usual concerns about its veracity, but few are in much doubt about it being a realistic portrayal at the very least:

“A 50-year-old who likes idols!”

“This is your future guys! It’s here!”

“Here is your future path…”

“You guys!”

“Uwaaaah…”

“Harsh.”

“Don’t air this stuff on TV!”

“Gyaaaaa…”

“So this is how you’ll end up?”

“Horrible stuff.”

“This is our future?”

“You’ll end up like this!”

“15 years without a girlfriend…”

“He doesn’t need one any more.”

“He’s what’s known amongst idol otaku circles as a DD. Daredemo Daisuki ["Loves Anyone"].

The definition:

The present meaning:

He’s not a fan of any particular idol, but supports a number of different ones

He one of the ones you see at any and every idol event

The opposite type is the ‘only fan’ who only likes one idol”

“He was on TV in 2004 as well…”

“He looks pretty aged.”

“In 10 years I’ll end up like this?”

“Your future is bleak!”

K-ON! fans are rejoicing at finally getting an official opportunity to engage in some tongue action with the girls of the keionbu – albeit only by way of Japan Post’s official K-ON! stamp set.

The commemorative set, due November 15th, actually constitutes two sets – one for the anime and another for the manga. Each set includes 10 ¥80 stamps and a mount, postcard and envelope.

The price is a trifling ¥10,920, which may not present much obstacle to dedicated fans but probably does suggest not many will actually be used.