Hello, everyone! Welcome to the first Japanese pop culture thread of November, 2018. I apologize for putting it up late. This week, I’m spotlighting Double Decker! Doug & Kirill, the new action-comedy anime series from Sunrise. Like B: The Beginning … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (November 7th, 2018)

Happy Halloween from the weekly Japanese pop culture thread! Since it’s Halloween, I ask you: what are your favourite scary anime, manga, etc.? Also, as usual, please feel free to discuss what you’ve been watching/reading/playing/eating/listening to lately. And go check … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (October 31st, 2018)

The anime industry has a nasty habit of releasing news on Thursday or Friday, a day or two after this thread goes up. Last week was no exception, and the news that dropped was a doozy: the Crunchyroll/Funimation partnership is … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (October 24th, 2018)

Looking back through the various thread headers I’ve written over the past few months, I was shocked to discover that I’d never featured Golden Kamuy, a historical-fiction manga series about a former soldier and an Ainu girl who go on … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (October 10th, 2018)

Whaddup, my friends? The new fall anime season is almost upon us, and you know what that means: everyone’s favourite franchise Sword Art Online is back! This time, they’re doing a four-cour adaptation of the beloved Alicization arc. That’s right: … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (October 3rd, 2018)

Watching anime can be an expensive hobby. Between subscriptions to Crunchyroll, Funimation, HIDIVE, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix, you could shell out dozens of dollars per month keeping up with your favourite husbandos and waifus. But what if I told … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (September 26th, 2018)

Dropkick on my Devil! is a comedy manga series about a witch, Yurine, who summons a serpent woman, Jashin, from Hell but can’t send her back. In revenge, Jashin plots to kill Yurine, but fails miserably and repeatedly. It’s a … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (September 19th, 2018)

Hanebado! is a seinen sports manga series about the daughter of a former badminton champion who returns to the sport after a humiliating loss that caused a rift between her and her mother. An anime series based on the manga … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (September 12th, 2018)

Hello folks! Welcome to September’s first entry in our weekly Japanese pop culture series. Today I’m spotlighting post-hardcore band Ling Tosite Sigure (which means “cold seasonal rain” in English). You probably know them as the band that performed theme songs … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (September 5th, 2018)

Flavors of Youth is an anthology anime film that was a co-production between the Japanese studio CoMix Wave Films (the studio of director Makoto Shinkai) and the Chinese studio Haoliners Animation League. It consists of three segments, each directed by … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (August 29th, 2018)

The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl is an anime film directed by Masaaki Yuasa, based on a novel of the same name written by Tomihiko Morimi. It tells the bizarre, surreal story of a night when a young male … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (August 22nd, 2018)

Boruto is a manga series written by Ukyō Kodachi about a group of ninjas doing ninja things. Apparently the titular character has a dad named Naruto? Or something like that. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. An anime series based on the … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (August 15th, 2018)

Normally I use this space to spotlight a band, video game, film, or anime series. This week, I’m going to do something a little different. Yesterday, news broke that AT&T had bought out the Chernin Group-owned portion of Otter Media, … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (August 8th, 2018)

Hello folks! Welcome to this week’s Japanese pop culture thread. This week, we’re spotlighting Asobi Asobase, a slice-of-life comedy manga series about three very stupid high school girls who get into ridiculous shenanigans. An anime series by Studio Lerche based … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (August 1st, 2018)

Hey folks! Welcome to this week’s JPopCult thread. I watched the debut film from director/screenwriter Mari Okada, Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms, earlier this week. It chronicles the life of a girl from a race of immortal beings as … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (July 25th, 2018)

Sorry for getting this up late, folks. Planet With is a new anime series that premiered a couple of weeks ago about an amnesiac boy getting involved in a bizarre conflict that he doesn’t understand. Saying anything more would spoil … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (July 18th, 2018)

Cells at Work! (Japanese: Hataraku Saibō) is a manga series whose characters are anthropomorphized cells of the human body. They face down threats from bacteria and other pathogens, represented as monsters. An anime series based on the manga started airing … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (July 11th, 2018)

What’s up, my fellow nerds? Since Canada Day just passed, and today is July 4th, I thought we’d pause to consider fireworks in anime. What are your favourite fireworks displays in anime series or movies? The header image is from … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (July 4th, 2018)

Sorry for putting this up late. The summer 2018 anime season starts next week, and it’s time to take a gander a what looks interesting: Aguu: Genius Dolls. (Aguu: Tensai Ningyou) I’m always down for fiction about how messed-up high … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (June 27th, 2018)

Video game industry exposition E3 took place last week, and though it’s mostly a showcase for the Western segment of the industry – Japan has Tokyo Game Show, after all – several Japanese developers had a presence there. Most notable … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (June 20th, 2018)