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Snowboarding Doraemon and Hello Hotel Room Kitty

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It’s no surprise that Japan have some pretty cool cats in their popular culture, the two most recognizable ones being Hello Kitty and Doraemon. Now both kids and adults can enjoy these two felines even more with Doraemon snowboards and a Hello Kitty themed hotel room.

Snowboarding equipment company Burton will be releasing Doraemon snowboards for kids this September to commemorate the 80th birthday of Fujiko F. Fujio; one of the co-creators behind the cyborg futuristic cat. The “Doraemon After School Special” boards will have colourful designs on the front and back and will be available in three sizes; 80cm, 90cm and 100cm. Each board will cost 29,600 Yen ($296 USD).

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While the kids are learning how to snowboard you can relax in a Prince Hotel room that is covered completely with Hello Kitty. A sofa, table, plushies, framed pictures and even pillows and bed sheets are contained within the 59 square meter suite located in the Minato Ward in Tokyo. If you want to check in for a night the Prince Hotel is discounting the room to those who book after the 18th of August, the room will cost 15,000 Yen ($150 USD) for one person per night.

Let us know what you think about the Doraemon snowboards and the Hello Kitty Hotel room by leaving a comment in the section down below.

Vertical To Release Cooking Shonen-Ai Manga Next Year

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Cooking, Lawyers and Shonen-Ai manga… Now that I have your attention, let me tell you about this Shonen-Ai manga on a cooking lawyer that will be released next year by Vertical Publishers.

The manga titled Kino Nani Tabeta (or What Did You Eat Yesterday) is a Seinen manga created by Fumi Yoshinaga; the manga centres around the life of Shiro Kakei as he attempts to cook gourmet style food every day with his free spirited hair stylist boyfriend Kenji Yabuki. Kino Nani is an ongoing series currently published by Kodansha in Weekly Morning Magazine; there are currently 4 volumes in publication.

Vertical announced that they obtained the license for the manga during their panel at the anime convention Otakon, which ran last weekend. They plan on releasing the first volume of the manga in March 2014 however you can get the Japanese versions by checking out the Kino Nani section of the Weekly Morning website. Vertical also publish the Aku no Hana manga as well as works by Osamu Tezuka.

Loverin Tamburin Live Concert at SMASH! 2013

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Loverin Tamburin on stage at SMASH! 2013

At SMASH! 2013 this past weekend, Japanese Pop-Rock band Loverin Tamburin took the main stage, not once but twice for a rip-roaring live concert performance for attendees of the convention.

Aya of Loverin Tamburin, ©Goma Studio
Aya of Loverin Tamburin, ©Goma Studio

The six-piece group figuratively smashed the house down with renditions of anime music classic from series such as Magi and Dragon Ball Z. The group even performed several of their own original tunes which received an excellent reaction from those in attendance.

During the final two songs of their concert, fans pooled right up to the stage and began rocking out along with the band. Loverin Tamburin’s lead singer Aya had the audience in the palm of her hand and played them like a fiddle, with the incredible emotion and energy behind her singing stirring the crowd into a frenzy of dancing and jumping.

The highlight of the performance was undoubtedly the performance of the Magi opening theme which struck a chord with the audience, many of whom where clearly fans of the Magi anime (some even cosplaying).

It was very clear that Loverin Tamburin is a band that loves anime just as much as everyone at SMASH! especially when considering that some of the band members themselves turned up in cosplay.

If you were unfortunate enough to miss this incredible live performance, you can check our performance highlights video below, showcasing some clips of the performance. Loverin Tamburin have stamped their name in the hearts of Australian anime and music fans alike with what was undoubtedly a revelation of a performance.

Multiple Shonen Jump manga released for United Kingdom’s Nook store

naruto-manga-NOOKToday Viz Media has announced that they have launched eight of their most popular Shonen Jump manga series onto the Barnes & Noble U.K. NOOK Store. It is worth noting that this is the first time that any of these series have been released digitally outside of North America and they are are all available for purchase right now on the NOOK and even available through free NOOK reading apps on iOS and Android devices.

Each of the manga volumes will cost £4.99 each and the current titles available for purchase are as follows:

Little Witch Academia Collector’s Edition now available for pre-order

little-witch-academia-box-artLast week it was revealed that the pre-orders for Little Witch Academia‘s Collector’s Edition will be made available for pre-order on August 13th. Well that day is here and thanks to the time difference, this special edition of a very special anime OVA can now be pre-ordered on TRIGGER’s online store.

Despite being a Japanese release, and selling for ¥6,000 which is roughly $61 US, the release is region free and will work in any region around the world. For those who don’t know, this Collector’s Edition includes the a Blu-ray of the 26 minute anime OVA, a 66 minute ‘Making of” video, the soundtrack for the anime and a 112 page art book. Currently the actual release/shipment date for the release is still slated for sometime in September.

Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster audio drama previewed in English

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As some of you might be aware, Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster will include a 30 minute audio episode that is going to be released in English in the West. Meant to take place sometime after the events of Final Fantasy X-2, the audio drama has only been mentioned in passing.

Well today Square Enix released a short two minute piece of the audio drama which can be found below, though depending on how you like to pronounce Tidus’ name, the video may have you on edge thanks to the way his name is officially pronounced. Anyways, keep an eye out for Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster when it hits stores this fall.

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds announced for PS Vita

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Despite being a long time supporter of the Xbox 360 in Japan, often releasing their titles exclusively for the console in the region, 5pb. has announced that they will be bringing Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds to the PlayStation Vita this Winter in Japan.

The side-scrolling chibi brawler was released worldwide back in March, my review of the game can be found here, but it appears that this Vita version of the game also feature a new gameplay mode and a guest character, likely making it at least partially superior to the original. As for the original Phantom Breaker game… at this rate the enhanced version of the fighting game will likely be released overseas before that one.

Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition shown running on PS Vita

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While far from an announcement, it looks like the Vita may be getting a dose of Duke sometime in the future. Over on Twitter Devolver Digital teased fans with an image showing Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition running on the PlayStation Vita. They followed up by simply saying “That is all.” so it remains to be seen whether or not this current PC exclusive is going to be making its way to the Vita in the future.

For those who don’t know, Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition contains an enhanced version of Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition and three unique expansion packs as well as the original version of the game.

Feast your eyes on these Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster screens

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It has been a bit since we’ve seen some screenshots for Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster but today Square Enix has released a large batch of new screenshots, for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions of the game which are set to be released sometime this fall.

The images can be found below and include numerous areas from the game, though it is worth noting that almost all of these screens focus on Final Fantasy X, the revamped looking character models and the better looking overdrive attacks and Yuna’s aeon summoning of Ifrit and Shiva.

First Stills from Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

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#SAYWHAAAT?! Today, Paramount have shared its first look stills from the highly anticipated comedy sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, which will be broadcasting (yeah, that’s not how it works…indulge me for the pun) in Australian cinemas from December 19th.

The stills can be seen embedded in this article. Mr. Burgundy sure is rockin’ that coat! For those who are unaware of what the old Channel 4 News team will be getting up to in this film, here’s the official synopsis:

With the 70’s behind him, San Diego’s top rated newsman, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), returns to the news desk in Anchorman 2: The Legend ContinuesAlso back for more are Ron’s co-anchor and wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), weather man Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), man on the street Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) and sports guy Champ Kind (David Koechner) – All of whom won’t make it easy to stay classy… while taking New York’s first 24-hour news channel by storm.

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You can stay classy by also checking out the Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues trailer and visiting – and following – the film’s official Tumblr page.