Run with the Wind is a novel by Shion Miura about a group of Kansei University students who train to run the Hakone Ekiden, a 200 km relay marathon held annually in January. It has been adapted into a live-action … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (March 13th, 2019)

Hi folks. Apologies for the delay in getting this thread up. The Price of Smiles is a currently airing anime series about the young princess of a kingdom known as Soleil. Orphaned at a young age, she’s thrust into a … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (March 6th, 2019)

The Promised Neverland is a manga series about a group of children who live a happy, comfortable existence in an orphanage, albeit cut off from the outside world. Everything seems fine until they discover that there’s more to their existence … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (February 27th, 2019)

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is exactly what its title says: it’s a light novel series about an office worker who is killed in a stabbing incident and gets reincarnated in a fantasy world as a slime, … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (February 20th, 2019)

The Quintessential Quintuplets is a shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Negi Haruba. It tells the story of an ordinary high school student who has to tutor five badly-behaved identical quintuplets from a rich, prestigious family. The manga has … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (February 13th, 2019)

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a 1980’s manga series written and illustrated by famed animation director Hayao Miyazaki. It is set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future where most of Earth’s formerly habitable land is corrupted, and warring … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (February 6th, 2019)

Hey folks! Welcome to the final Japanese pop culture thread for the month of January. I apologize for the delay in getting it up. Today, I’m spotlighting Kingdom Hearts III, the long-awaited conclusion (?) to the Kingdom Hearts trilogy (?), … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (January 30th, 2019)

Boogiepop and Others is a light novel in the Boogiepop series about a series of mysterious disappearances at a Japanese high school. The teachers say the missing kids are just runaways, but the students suspect something more sinister and supernatural. … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (January 23rd, 2019)

Welcome to this week’s Japanese pop culture thread! Today I’m spotlighting Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, a romantic comedy manga series about two high-performing high school student council members who are too proud to confess their love for one another. The … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (January 16th, 2019)

The new winter anime season has begun, and it’s time to take a look at what’s available to watch. From what I can tell, it’s a relatively sparse season, though it does feature two series about female air force pilots … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (January 9th, 2019)

Happy new year! Welcome to the first weekly Japanese pop culture thread of 2019! I’m going to do a full run-down of the winter anime I’m interested in next week, so for now, let me ask you: what were your … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (January 2nd, 2019)

Hi Score Girl is a romantic comedy manga series by Rensuke Oshikiri that ran for eight years and ended its run this September. It tells the story of Haruo Yamaguchi, a slacker and obsessed gamer who gets caught in a … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (December 26th, 2018)

Granblue Fantasy began life as a mobile game: a turn-based RPG for Android and iOS released in 2014. The game quickly ballooned in popularity and has since become a full-blown franchise. An anime series based on the property aired last … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (December 19th, 2018)

Hey folks! Welcome to this week’s Japanese pop culture thread, brought to you by Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, a comedy web-manga series about… well, the title tells you pretty much all you need to know. An anime series based on the … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (December 12th, 2018)

Sorry for the hasty thread. I was busy at work and forgot to put one up. You know the drill. Talk about what you’ve been watching/playing/eating/reading/listening to lately! Or not lately. I’m not your boss. (Header image from Noragami, just … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (December 5th, 2018)

Netflix just announced a ten-episode live-action adaptation of Shinichiro Watanabe’s beloved anime series, Cowboy Bebop. I’m sure you all have opinions on this. Discuss them in the comments below! And as always, use this space to chat about what you’ve … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (November 28th, 2018)

Greetings, friends! Welcome to today’s Japanese pop culture thread. This week, I’m spotlighting yuri romance manga Bloom Into You, about two high school girls who fall in love with each other. It’s notable among yuri works targeted at a shōnen … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (November 21st, 2018)

Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s Japanese pop culture thread! I apologize for the delay in getting it up this week. This week, I’m spotlighting Boarding School Juliet, a manga adaptation of the classic Romeo and Juliet tale. This … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (November 14th, 2018)

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)