The Magnificent Kotobuki is an anime series produced by GEMBA about a group of fighter pilots who escort large commercial zeppelins. It is not to be confused with Dragon Pilot or Girly Air Force. What have you been watching/reading/playing/listening to/eating … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (August 21st, 2019)

My apologies for not getting this up sooner. Dr. Stone is a Japanese manga series about two boys who attempt to reconstruct society after an apocalyptic in which most of humanity is petrified. An anime adaptation of the series is … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (August 14th, 2019)

Cop Craft: Dragnet Mirage Reloaded is a light novel series by Shoji Gatoh. This fish-out-of-water story takes place in the fictional city of San-Teresa, which serves as a gateway to a fantasy dimension. When a woman from the other side, … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (August 7th, 2019)

Hello folks, and welcome to the final weekly Japanese pop culture thread of July. That means we’re 7/12 of the way through the year. Time flies when you’re weebing out! The Ones Within is a Japanese shōjo web manga series … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (July 31st, 2019)

Kyoto Animation (KyoAni for short) is an animation studio founded in 1981 by husband-and-wife team Hideaki and Yoko Hatta. For their first two decades as a company, they mostly did contract work on shows like Inuyasha and Tenchi Universe. In … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (July 24th, 2019)

O Maidens in Your Savage Season is a manga series by veteran screenwriter Mari Okada. The romantic dramedy tells the story of five teenage girls in a high school literature club who navigate romantic entanglements and come to terms with … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (July 17th, 2019)

Astra Lost in Space is a manga series by Kenta Shinohara about a group of high school students in the future who become stranded in space, discover an abandoned spaceship, and have to find their way home. An anime series … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (July 10th, 2019)

The new summer anime season is almost upon us, and it’s time to do a short preview! For a full list of what’s premiering, please consult AniChart. Here are my highlights: 7 Seeds. After a delay, this post-apocalyptic show finally … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (July 3rd, 2019)

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a mecha anime series written and directed by Hideaki Anno. It is widely considered to be a classic of the genre and is credited with fuelling the worldwide anime boom. Its influence is still felt on … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (June 26th, 2019)

Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan is an anime series written by Mari Okada and directed by Shinji Higuchi and Hiroshi Kobayashi for Studio Bones. It tells the story of the titular Hisone, a pilot for the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (June 19th, 2019)

Masaaki Yuasa is an animator and director who is known for directing the films Mind Game, The Night Is Short Walk on Girl, Lu Over the Wall, and the upcoming Ride Your Wave. His newest film, Inu-oh, about the legendary … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (June 12th, 2019)

We Never Learn, also known as Bokuben, is a shōnen manga series about a boy who tutors three high school girls who all have proficiencies in different subjects in an attempt to get a college scholarship. An anime series based … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (June 5th, 2019)

Ao-chan Can’t Study is an ecchi comedy manga series about a studious tsundere high school girl who has a crush on her handsome classmate but also has doubts about the purity of his intentions. Moreover, her father is a famous … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (May 22nd, 2019)

Hey folks! Welcome to your weekly Japanese pop culture thread! Ramen. Savoury broth. Fresh veggies. Juicy meat. Flavourful seasonings. And perhaps most importantly, bouncy, chewy noodles. Over at Mothership sister site The Takeout, Mike Satinover has an article about what … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (May 15th, 2019)

Hey folks! Welcome to this week’s Japanese pop culture thread. Rilakkuma and Kaoru is a stop-motion animation series that debuted on Netflix last month. It follows the daily life of Kaoru, an office worker living in Japan, and Rilakkuma, a … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (May 8th, 2019)

It’s the first day of May, and it’s beautiful and sunny outside, so what better time is there to talk about the night-time urban fantasy manga series Midnight Occult Civil Servants? Everyone knows that government jobs are super-exciting, but they … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (May 1st, 2019)

Sarazanmai is the latest work from the twisted mind of Penguindrum creator Kunihiko Ikuhara. This anime series is a magical boy story that tells the tale of three delinquent middle-schoolers who get transformed into kappas. The series is currently available … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (April 24th, 2019)

Fruits Basket is a shōjo manga series about an orphan girl who goes to live with some of her male classmates, only to discover that they’re possessed by animals of the Chinese zodiac. It is one of the best-selling manga … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (April 17th, 2019)

Carole & Tuesday is the new anime series from Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo mastermind Shinichirō Watanabe. Set in a future where humans have colonized Mars, it tells the story of two girls from very different backgrounds who meet and … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (April 10th, 2019)

The spring anime season is now upon us, and more so than past seasons, it looks to be chock-full of sequels and remakes, like Bungo Stray Dogs 3.a(featured in the header image), Attack on Titan 3 Part 2, and a … Continue reading Weekly Japanese Pop Culture Thread (April 3rd, 2019)