Tag Archives: Anime

Blend-S: A New STARBUCKS-like Anime?!

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Not quite, BETTER.

From the mind behind “Spirits & Cat Ears”, Miyuki Nakayama, comes:

BLEND-S

Blend-S is combination of Starbucks & a Japanese Maid Cafe. It tells the story of high school student, Maika Sakuranomiya who is having trouble finding a part time job due to her scary and creepy smile, which often leads people to believe she’s a sadist.

 

 

 

Maika later finds herself hired as waitress by a scout/manager of an Italian owned coffee shop, Cafe Stile. However,  Cafe Stile isn’t your average coffee shop. Each waitress (or barista) is given a different ‘fetish’ to serve their costumers with, such as: Tsundere, Imouto, Oneesan & Idol. Since Maika has a unquie ‘sadist‘ smile she was assigned as a sadist barista.

Although she develops an aggressive and dominate persona, she actually pretty clumsy and shy at times. The series debuted as a manga in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Carat magazine in 2013, and Nakayama launched it as a regular series in 2014. The anime is just premiered this October and you stream it on CrunchyRoll.

Maika Sakuranomiya

 

 

Maika is a 16-year-old girl who, because of how scary she looks when smiling, often causes misunderstandings, leading other people to think that she is a sadist, even though she is actually just clumsy. Her looks catch the attention of Dino who scouts her to be the ‘sadistic girl’ waitress at cafe Stile. She comes from a very traditional family and works part time so she could study abroad using her own money.

 

 

 

Kaho Hinata

 

 

Kaho is a 17-year-old waitress who fulfills the tsundere trait. She loves playing video games and often goes to an arcade, but often runs out of money because of it. Although she plays a tsunderegirl, Kaho’s real personality is not tsundere and like Maika, has to learn to becomes one. She is currently the most popular waitress at Stile.

 

 

 

Mafuyu Hoshikawa

 

 

Mafuyu is one of the waitresses that, despite of her petite figure, is actually a 20-year-old college student and fulfills the younger sister trait because of that. Her real personality is mature and she rarely shows emotion. She has a younger brother who is taller than her and has always wanted a younger sister, although she will not include Kaho because of Kaho’s body figure.*

 

 

 

 

To honor the series, Aniplex USA & Los Angeles cafe shop, Cafe Dulce collaborated on a two day event.

This collaboration took place in the Little Tokyo district in Los Angeles.

 

 

 

 

Cafe Dulce celebrated the series by giving out FREE Maika decorated donuts with every purchase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along side this cute donuts, they also gave out Blend-S Coasters and mini poster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check these photos from the event

Thanks for checking out our Blend-S post, if want to find out Which BLEND-S Character Will Be Your Waitress, take this awesome test, and in the words of Maika:

 

Aggretsuko’s 1st U.S. Appearance !

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On January 2017 SANRIO announced their newest character, Aggretsuko (アグレッシブ烈子)!

Although the character debuted in 2015, Aggretsuko began appearing on social media in early 2017 & it seems she quickly found fame among Hello kitty fans.

Aggretsuko, according SANRIO’s official site, is a 25 year old, red panda who works as a office worker with anger issues. Her YouTube shorts tell her daily life, working in an office dealing with the daily annoyances that happen. When her patience is up, she goes on full blown HEAVY METAL RAGE! Check her out here:

More episodes can be viewed here

In the recent months since her appeared on social media, she has gotten a huge following, much like GUDETAMA back in 2013.

She recently made her first U.S. Appearance at the newly re-opened Sanrio store in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles!

Along with new Aggretsuko merchandise. Aggretsuko merchandise can also be bought on the official site.

Judging by her popularity, there might more Aggretsuko themed events coming soon!

Who YOUR favorite SANRIO character? Comment below!

SWORD ART ONLINE: Ordinal Scale – Hollywood Red Carpet Premiere

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Sword Art Online final had its first ever, feature film!

Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale.  

Aniplex & Eleven Arts held a red carpet premiere in Hollywood, California at the famous Egyptian Theater!

Fans waiting outside theater. Some are holding freshly bought SAO merch

The exclusive event SOLD OUT within 48 hours after tickets were on sell. With anime’s popularity, its no wonder it sold out quickly! Hundreds of fans gathered for this exclusive one-day event, some came in cosplay.

Fans were also able to buy new SAO merch at the ‘SAO store’ Aniplex staff set up

The event was filled with special guests, such as:

Other surprise guests included:

After the screening, special guests had a Q&A session set up by Aniplex. You can read some of the questions that were asked here, Anime News Network.

Yui’s special appearance at the event

Me (Krystal Kitsune) at Red carpet premiere with Kirito & Asuna

For those who missed this fantastic event, you can still catch the movie in theaters THIS Thursday; March 9th 2017. Tickets on sale here. Catch some of the highlights of this event down below.

We’ll be posting an event video soon, so stay tuned!

Interview with: Obie Scott Wade

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Back when the The Hub Network launched, it had great shows such as, My littlest pet shop, My Little Pony and…SHEZOW!

Meet SheZow creator, Obie Scott Wade, in this informative interview; This was our first interview filmed in the wonderful, Gregorio Escalate Gallery in ChinaTown, Los Angeles!


Watch our interview here:


GIVEAWAY!

Share our video and enter for your chance to win one of these items, autographed by OBIE SCOTT WADE!

3 lucky winners will be able to win ONE of these items:

-SheZOW Autographed print ft. mostly all the characters.

-SheZOW Autographed Comic

-Oddry Book Autographed by Obie Scott Wade

 


We’ve changed our way of submitting giveaway entries!

Share this interview on any social media site AND comment the link to where you shared the video on the comment section below the video! Basically, just paste the link on the comment section! Good Luck!

 

Marinette Cheng Figure – Overview

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Check our amazing Overview video on the Marinette Cheng Figure, narrated by anime voice actress, KIRA VINCENT-DAVIS!

Kira has voiced numerous anime characters:

We are happy to announce, Kira will now be narrating some of our YouTube videos! Find out more on our FACEBOOK page!

Miraculous Ladybug Merchandise is here!

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The LONG wait is finally over…

Miraculous Ladybug merchandise is finally here!

Sometime in July 2015, Jeremy Zag announced a Miraculous Ladybug prototype figure, along side some other merchandise.

With the U.S. release of the show, earlier that year, the excitement grew among the fandom as new merchandise was announced and previews were shown in photos taken during the a Licencing show in Las Vegas 2015. It was later reveled the U.S. Miraculous Ladybug merchandise would be released in the summer of 2016, more specifically, in August 2016.

On July 28th, various select ToysRUs already had Miraculous Ladybug merchandise on their sales floor, not counting the Miraculous Ladybug DVD which was release sometime in May 2016.

Earlier this week, Jeremy Zag officially stated that the long awaited Miraculous Ladybug merchandise is now on sale in Target and ToyRUs. These are a few items that are now on sale, grab yours while they last, but hurry they’re selling out quick!


Here’s some close up shots of the newly released Miraculous Ladybug figures (Marinette Cheng & Ladybug):

The PompompurinXChococat Menu

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Check out  PLANCHECK’S newest collaboration with SANRIO!

(Unfortunately, this promotional menu was only available from June 10th – July 10th and is no longer being served.)

This wasn’t the first collaborate between the two parties, last year, PlanCheck collaborated with SANRIO collaboration make the GUDETAMA Menu. We covered that here!

According to SANRIO’s official website, their first collaboration happened in 2014. it was part of Hello Kitty’s Hungry Hunt – a promotion in celebration of the pop icon’s 40th Anniversary.

check out our  PompompurinXChococat Menu Photoset:

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Its safe to say, there’ll be another collaboration soon, When that happens we are prepared to cover it yet again!

I was personally inspired by this awesome, Kawaii menu that I made a small photo shoot in its honour (Click an image to enlarge).


NOTICE:

We suffered a massive data loss recently and had to delay content for while. We are currently back on track. We do apologize for the delay of this post.

Miku Expo North America Timeline*

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*does not include ‘in-con’ concerts

From enjoying awesome, futuristic technology to making new friends, its needless to say that Miku Expo concerts bring people together in every way possible, Let’s sit back and go through the beautiful and fun memories MIKU EXPO has brought us since its debut in the states.


MIKUNOPOLIS in LOS ANGELES (2011)

  • This was Hatsune Miku’s debut in the states. Held during Anime Expo 2011, The concert was a huge hit among Miku fans and possibly the cheapest of them all, with only $15 per ticket! Featured singers were as follows: Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len & Megurine Luka. This was the first MikuExpo in the states to also be available on DVD, BluRay DVD & CD. At the time of this concert, Miku was partnered with Toyota and Anime Expo.

  Miku Expo 2014 – Los Angeles & New York

Miku’s second concert in the states! The official expo theme was, “Sharing The World” a song by producer, BIGHEAD. Featured singers were as follows: Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, KAITO & MEIKO. This MikuExpo also had 4 shows in New York with an exhibition showcased in both locations; Los Angeles and New York. The  exhibition consisted of a Halloween Party, a night theater screening, showcased various Miku figures including the Nendoroid Hatsune Miku: Halloween Ver. and Artwork from different vocaliod artist. A Blu-ray disc of NY’s performance was released.


  Miku Expo 2016

In her most recent concert Miku comes back with brand new songs! To promote the concert, a song contest was made in which “Ten Thousand Stars” produced by CircusP, was the winner. Featured singers were as follows: Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, KAITO & MEIKO. This Miku Expo was much like Miku Expo 2014, which an exhibition was showcased. During Miku Expo 2016, multiple Miku themed events were held in different locations around the U.S. prior to the concert date; MIKU EXPO Digital Stars, a club event; MIKU short film festival; MIKU EXPO Tour Stickers (collected throughout the tour dates) & MIKU EXPO Let’s Draw, an art event.

Enjoy our Miku Expo 2016 Video:

FLCL gets 2 more seasons!

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Most famous anime FLCL – Otherwise known as Fooly Cooly – will be getting 2 more seasons according to Cartoon Network’s parent company, Turner. They announced it on their official website on March 25, 2016. Both seasons will consist of 6 episodes each and will be produced by Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim alongside, Japanese animation Production, I.G Studio. FLCL creator, Tsurumaki Kazuya, is said to return to the series as well. The seasons are set to air on Cartoon Network’s block, Toonami.

Back in the early 2000s FLCL was considered a minor success. With its surreal “coming of age” story which follows the life of a young school-boy, Nandaba Naota, for the first six episodes. One day as he’s walking and gets hit with a bass guitar from a girl (Haruhara Haruko) and ends up with a very noticeable bump on his head from the incident.  This event triggers multiple battles between entities known as Medical Mechanica and Fraternity in the city of Mabase, Japan.

The new seasons will take place years after the adventures of Naota and Haruko. According to Turner the new seasons will now follow a teenage girl by the name of “Hidomi” . She believes there is nothing special to expect from her ordinary life. Until, she gets a new teacher by the name of Haruko. Soon after this event, Medichal Mechanica attacks the town. Only Haruko can truly help save everyone from the attacking entity but not without the secret within Hidomi that only Haruko can unlock.

Ever since the announcement everybody has been questioning who will do the music for the new series? Band, The Pillows, were responsible for the soundtrack for FLCL. Fans of the series felt the music it gave the anime its own unique atmosphere. Their two songs, “Ride on SHOOTING STAR” and “Little BUSTERS” impacted the anime on a whole new level bringing life into the anime which we all love. The mystery remains, Who will compose the music for the new seasons…


The new season will drop in late 2017 or early 2018 according to the Official Turner website.

Kingdom Hearts: Unchained X Android/iOS US release

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In 2002 the wonderful minds at renowned video game development studio, Square Enix and the most famous cartoon movie creators of all time, Disney, teamed up to create a game, that has both inspired and shape the gaming industry as well as fans. That game was Kingdom Hearts.

With multiple games under the series’ belt, the gaming giants at SQUARE ENIX announced, in 2013, the making of Kingdom Hearts: X , but has since kept quite. That is until 2015 when they officially announced the western release date for the game. The game itself is the first game in the series exclusively for iOS and Android!

SQUARE ENIX made the announcement on April 4th, 2016 on their official US website.

The game follow the same genre and a turn-based battle system (much like SQUARE ENIX’s Final Fantasy series). According to SQUARE ENIX, Unchained X is designed for fans and for those who are not familiar with the series.

The game takes place hundreds of thousands of years before the time we know, Users can play as customized avatar keyblade wielder which user customized a name . There are five keyblade UnionUnicornis, Anguis, Leopardos, Ursus, and Vulpeus all led by a Foreteller. At the beginning of the game you’ll pick a keyblade master to train you and follow throughout the game. As a keyblade wielder, You have a job to master and unlock the full power of the keyblade while at the same time driving the darkness away from the world. You can use cards to attack much like the battle system in Kingdom Hearts: RE Chain of Memories.You’ll be able to use the medals’ power “warriors beyond your time” to call upon them from the future to aid you in your endeavors.

 

The game is considered to be CANNON or part of the original stoyline.

For newcomers this game represents “the beginning of the beginning”. The game explains everything from the “Tome of Prophecy” all the way to “The Ancient Keyblade War” that is continuously referred to in the series. This game also answers all questions left throughout the series up until the the title Dream Drop Distance.

 

Image by: Tetsuya Nomura

 

Along with the release of the game, Creative Director & Head Artist, Tetsuya Nomura had something to say to the fans:

I hope fans and newcomers alike will find
themselves absorbed in the brand new
adventure that reveals the origins of the
Kingdom Hearts Series.

 

SQUARE ENIX released the game on April 7, 2016 and is available on Android/iOS!

Head over to the PLAY STORE or APP STORE now!

Here’s a sneak peek of the game’s prologue: