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I don't think I'm going to be able to make it into Japantown tomorrow for True Sake's Sake Day event, unfortunately-- I'm heading up above there to sign an apartment lease and it's a bit of a drive right now, and gas prices what they are, not to mention the $85 cover charge...yeah, it probably won't happen.

But I might be able to celebrate Sake Day, which is NOT a San Francisco-specific event, at my local Japanese restaurant-- and so might you! October 1st is "Nihonshu no Hi," or Sake Day, and Japanese restaurants and sake-specialty places everywhere are celebrating! I know my now former hometown of Portland has Zilla Sake, a sake specialty bar, which will be hosting some events. For readers in New York, Sakaya on E. 9th is having a shindig. The San Francisco event held by True Sake may cost a lot, but you get to try out up to 100 different sake. Yipe!

So call up your local favorite Japanese shops-- preferably the ones that carry more than just "Hot Sake" and "Cold Sake" (*shudder*) --and see if any of them are doing something fun for Sake Day. If they're not, go out and drink sake anyway! (But safely. We at Anime Vice advocate SAFE drinking by participants of the legal age to do so. <3)
 
Okay, who's of age and considering celebrating Sake Day in some way?

So I spent a bit of time in the office yesterday and Sara ( Comic Vine's Babs) and I decided to catch up on our con coverage. I was just getting back from New York Anime Fest, of course, which takes place in Sara's home digs of New York City, and Sara's getting ready to head down to Long Beach Comic Con. We talked mostly about the future of NYAF as it combines with New York Comic Con for at least next year, and what that means for con-goers, as well as some talk about our experiences at San Diego and others.
  
 
I actually can't take credit for the idea that having too much cool stuff to do isn't such a bad thing-- I think it was Deb Aoki who brought it up when we were talking about it during the NYAF Bloggers' Roundtable --but I still hold with it on some level, though I can related to the difficulty of wanting to do everything. But isn't it kind of cool and exciting that everyone is so into so many different things, in a way?
 
P.S. If you look in the background you can spot Tony in his office, and maybe even reflections of our video masters, Drew and Vinny. Hi guys!

Welcome to this week’s WTF Wednesday, your weekly collection of everything weird in Japan. This time I don’t really have an overall theme that all these images follow, except that most of them are parodies of other anime shows. You know we all have a special spot for cosplaying Konata, or Lelouch dressed like Doraemon, it’s written into our genes.
 

Proving just how much they love filling my email, Crunchyroll has sent out multiple press releases for multiple series that have been added to their simulcasts. Today's victims include Natsu no Arashi and Asura Cryin'. Both are the season seasons of shows Crunchyroll already releases, so it shouldn't surprise anyone to see the dice fall as they may. Though, while neither of these shows rocked my world from what I saw, I still enjoy waving my hands in the air and clapping for more simulcasts.

Ever had to move a giant statue of yourself, but couldn’t do it by yourself? Or have you ever been attack by the Alien Queen, and didn’t have a weapon handy to deliver the final blow? Well, Activelink, a subsidiary of Panasonic have created a robotic exoskeleton suit that will give it’s user super strength to help you solve these everyday problems. The entire skeleton weighs about 500 lbs. and can lift 220 lbs. with little effort, using it’s 18 electromagnetic motors.

Not only is it powerful but easy to control, with an intuitive control system that uses direct force feedback. This will be an important tool used in disaster relief operations, and for jobs that require heavy lifting; especially for Japan’s aging population. This is in it’s development phase at the moment, but is planned to be released by 2015.

[Via Pink Tentacle]

  
  
Also known as  Yuusha 30, or Hero for 30 seconds excites me thoroughly. Built around the idea of complete RPG adventures told in 30 second segments. From your humble beginnings as a level 1 noob, to the saving of the entire world, in less than thirty seconds... well, sort of.
 
The idea is that piles of bad guys all learn this (apparently easy) spell that will destroy the entire world in 30 seconds, and its your job to stop them. Grind through levels, make money, take quests, find secrets... all within the confines of 30 seconds. Trick is, of course, that no matter how much they streamline the experience, we blink far too often to do such things in 30 seconds.... so in comes the Goddess of Time. Willing to send you 30 seconds back in time, she gives you the ability continue leveling, complete quests. Though, for purposes of comedy, difficulty, and just solid gameplay mechanics, she doesn't do this for free, so you need to have the money to pay her for... umm... helping you save the world? This really is where old school charm and off the wall me
 
Well, that's my tirade. The game has a couple (6) different gameplay modes, all of which entail different experiences. The guys walk through the initial 3 of them, but there are demos out on the PSN if you are really, really interested, and you totally should be.

In today's SaiMoe battle-- the first of I am heartbroken to announce the defeat of Minamike's Chiaki Minami, the once-proud queen of sarcasm and slash or precocious youth tormenter of older sisters. The demon who defiled our little beauty was none other than Yuuki Kataoka, of Saki fame. Chiaki fought valiantly, however: Yuuki took 735 votes to Chiaki's 545.

Tomorrow's battle will be another Saki showdown: the feline Kana Ikeda versus the easily-lost exorcist Isumi Saginomiya. Unfortunately, things don't look good for Isumi based on the number of votes acquired in the last round (Isumi got 475-- Kana got 713). Maybe there'll be some Saki backlash...?
 
Data and battle image via AnimeSaiMoe.org. Sniff, sniff.

Is Miku Hatsune Japan's newest Hello Kitty? It certainly seems like it, what with all the merch with her likeness slapped onto it. The latest are a second Project DIVA game (the original was a PSP game by Sega that came out in July), and...a blood donation center?!

Danny Choo talks about the new Akiba:F blood donation facility, and notes that it's going to be "themed with Hatsune Miku" until January 8th 2010. Absolutely wacky, but kind of a cool idea when you think about it: get the otaku to give blood by entertaining them.  According to Choo, the space will display figures and 3D movies and things to entice the locals. Hell, if they could get some kind of exclusive movie that wasn't out elsewhere yet, they could really get the otaku lined up! And as long as they're captive, it might not hurt to push the idea of being health-conscious...sure, plenty of otaku are healthy, but others live on little more than Cup Noodles (which I adore, but let's face it, nutrition they ain't).

I'm sure plenty of you guys give blood out of the goodness of your hearts (I have as well), but would you be inclined to give blood if you got to sit through an anime movie or a couple eps of a TV series?

Erica Friedman, of Yuricon & ALC Publishing (and who you may remember from the Central Park Media eulogy guest blog), is tapping away at the keys again, this time sending out a message to the New York Times to get someone working on their best-selling "graphic books" lists who actually LIKES manga, or maybe who at least actually READS the stuff.

She uses the example of a Yotsuba&! description: "In this chapter, she recycles, gets a bike and discovers sticky notes. Really."

The sarcasm does seem pretty sleazy, although as one commenter points out, the American comic description isn't much better-- it says that in the comic Walking Dead, a gripping story "continues," even though the issue being described is issue one.

I haven't done enough of a look to have an opinion on whether the writer is biased against manga or against graphic novels in general, and a glance at the current list sees no editorializing in the blurbs outside of the Yotsuba&!'s. Still, I agree 200% that the New York Times should consider putting someone who actually READS comics in charge of writing about 'em. And in charge of the list in general, as it had problems early on with seeming valid-- the very first iteration contained eight Naruto volumes (expected), plus two others: Dark Horse's MPD Psycho and Eden, to everyone's consternation. (They're great titles, but selling better than Bleach, Vampire Knight, etc? Seems unlikely.)

So I'm doing my part by spreading Erica's open letter on the subject and offering up my own letter: Dear New York Times, hire someone who reads comics and manga. Love, gia.

You know, I love the Muppets. And I love the story of Peter Pan, in many of its forms (original book, play, Disney movie, Hook, 2004 movie...). But Muppet Peter Pan? I confess my skepticism: not all flavors that are great separately are great together. But Tony seemed to really enjoy it, as a comic fan and as a dad, so maybe it's worth checking out...but it is decidedly for kids.
 
 
Still. Pretty!

Less pretty but surprisingly successful at what it set out to do, according to Jeff, is DJ Hero, which he confesses his own skepticism about but says that it "seemed like much more than a simple Guitar Hero clone" and that it's made well enough for DJ n00bs and scratching experts to enjoy.
 
 

A lot of you had opinions on such topics as tracing in manga and action sequences in sequential art, but nary a one commented on word that the Crayon Shin-chan anime may continue on in spite of its creator's passing. Where's the Shin-chan love, people?