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Warning: The above video might be slightly NSFW (well depending on where you work). As soon as I watched the clip I was struck by just how surreal it was — Miki Komori (who's an adult video star from Japan) seems to be wearing underwear on her head and her hair style looks very "avant-garde" to say the least. The video looks like a Saturday Night Live parody of something, but rest assured this is an actual series of films:

"Kekkō Kamen (けっこう仮面 Kekkō Kamen) is an adult rated manga and anime series from Japanese creator Go Nagai. The series is about the misadventures of a student named Takahashi Mayumi who attends a boarding school called "Toenail of Satan's Spartan Institute of Higher Education". Takahashi's only protection is from a mysterious figure known as Kekkō Kamen.

Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally "raito noberu" or "ranobe" for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here's one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:

Zero no Tsukaima (Zero's Familiar)

Everyone loves a good fantasy story, especially when it adds in a lot of comedy and romance. Such is Zero no Tsukaima, which takes place in an alternate universe at the Tristain Academy of Magic.

Don't write the series off as a Harry Potter rip-off just yet! Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière is a second-year student with the nickname "Zero"— because that's her approximate success rate in casting spells. Second-year students are made to cast a spell that summons their familiars, but while everyone else summons cats, dragons, and other creatures, she somehow summons a boy from our very own Japan— Saito Hiraga.

I'm not 100% sure where this video clip is from, but it seems to be a parody of the long running Kamen Rider TV series (some of which came to the United States as the Power Rangers). I just can't get enough of the Muppetesque characters in the skit...

Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally "raito noberu" or "ranobe" for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here's one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:

Shakugan no Shana (Shana of the Burning Eyes)

Imagine that one day, you're walking home from school, when suddenly the world around you stops. As you watch in horror, the people around you don't move while they are burned with a strange blue flame. Then a strange monster comes and starts to eat the flames, only to be slaughtered mercilessly by a young girl with flaming red hair and a sword.

As a fanboy I count myself as a huge supporter of NASA, however I think it's important to remind the more mundane minded among us that space program spin-off technology can be found in our everyday world. And to that end NASA has just launched a website called "Trace Space Back to You" which shows how you can find NASA R&D in every thing from toothpaste to tennis rackets.

Shown above is a detail from the new poster for Wall*E from Pixar/Disney which will hit theaters on June 27th, below is the whole thing:

There's an interesting interview with the former head of Studio Ghibli who has some interesting insights into the upcoming Hayao Miyazaki film Ponyo on a Cliff:

Executive Producer & Former President of Studio Ghibli Suzuki Toshio Reveals the Story Behind Ponyo

Found via FilmTwitch.net.

Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally "raito noberu" or "ranobe" for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here's one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:

Ookami to Koushinryou (Spice and Wolf)

Craft Lawrence is a traveling merchant in a world that vaguely resembles a pre-Renaissance-era Europe. He hopes one day to earn enough money to create his own shop and settle down somewhere, but hits a snag in a town called Pasroe. On his way out of the town he finds a young girl sleeping in his cart— odd enough in and of itself, but then he notices that she has wolf-like ears and a tail.

She introduces herself as a wolf god, Horo the Wise. She has been acting as a local deity for the town, blessing it with good harvests as often as the land will allow. Unfortunately the townspeople have ceased to show much respect to her, and are increasingly under pressure to join the church (an unspecified but overpowering organization).

Shown above is a simulation that shows the amount of sunlight falling on the Moon's south polar region over the course of one (solar) day:

Moon's south pole revealed in 'dramatic' new 3D map

"Earth-based radar observations have produced a detailed 3D map of the Moon's south polar region, revealing a dramatic and rugged landscape. The map will help NASA assess the site's potential for setting up a base. NASA plans to return humans to the Moon by 2020 and wants to eventually set up a permanent base there. The Moon's poles are considered particularly good locations for a base.

That's because frozen water may be present in frigid, permanently shadowed craters at the poles, providing a crucial resource for astronauts. At the same time, some terrain at the poles may be permanently illuminated, providing prime spots to set up solar power stations."

A choice between good and evil! Shown above is the latest trailer for the Lego Batman game which will be out in September — it looks like fun...

Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally "raito noberu" or "ranobe" for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here's one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:

Ghost Hunt/Akuryou Series

Mai Taniyama is a normal high school student who likes telling ghost stories with her friends. One day she stays late with friends at school to do just that, only to have a stranger appear: he introduces himself as Kazuya Shibuya, and claims to be an upperclassman transfer to their school.

He is, in fact, no such thing. It turns out that in spite of being so young, he is actually the president of the Shibuya Psychic Research company— a paranormal investigator. Mai finds this out the hard way, though. Apparently he and his assistant Lin have been hired to investigate some odd occurrences at an old school building on her campus, and she manages to stumble upon them...and stumble onto (and break) their camera.

Sadly Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax passed away today. In a world of slick video games it's easy to forget a time when every fanboy didn't have a computer, back in those days Gygax created a revolution in games by bringing in the genre of fantasy. Reading his bio on Wikipedia you can tell that he was a real fanboy at heart:

"In 1967, a 20-person gaming meet was organized by Gary Gygax. It was held in the basement of his home and later became known as "Gen Con 0" as this meet birthed the annual Gen Con gaming convention in 1968. Gen Con is now the world's largest annual hobby-game gathering. Gen Con is also where Gary Gygax would meet Brian Blume and Dave Arneson. Brian Blume would later enter into TSR as partner with Don Kaye and Gary."

Anime fanboys (and fangurls) should take note that National Console Support is now shipping the Haruhi Suzumiya Bunny Figure v1.5 which is shown above. Here's the description:

The above footage is from the 2006 Keio University Mita festival in Tokyo, the cosplay team are performing the Hare Hare Yukai (the Haruhi Dance) of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally "raito noberu" or "ranobe" for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here's one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:

Kyou Kara Maou! (Demon King From Now On!)

Many light novels are geared towards guys, featuring an average guy surrounded by cute, fun girls. But Kyou Kara Maou! is a title for the ladies, with a host of attractive men in a fantasy setting. On top of that, the series is largely a comedy and pokes fun at any number of boys love clichés, leading the series to widespread popularity.

Yuuri Shibuya is an average high school guy who, when trying to help an old friend deal with some bullies, gets flushed down a toilet. The weird thing here, though, is that he actually DOES get flushed down the toilet— and into another world. In this new world he is declared king, to his surprise, and is immediately taken to a castle.

It turns out that the world he's appeared in is called Shin Makoku, and its residents are beings called Mazoku— demons, but humanoid ones, and they have some PR problems with the humans that reside outside of the kingdom. Yuuri himself is half-human, half-mazoku, so as king he has to figure out how to get everyone to get along.

Hasbro has just launched a mass market series of urban designer flavored 6" tall toys based on characters from Star Wars and Marvel — the product line is called Mighty Muggs and you can find them here.

Fund via GeekAlerts.

Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally "raito noberu" or "ranobe" for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here's one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:

Slayers

If there's any series that can hold a candle to Haruhi in popularity, the lengthy popularity of the Slayers franchise might be it. The series is a parody of Dungeons and Dragons-style fantasy, featuring a diminutive and incredibly powerful sorceress named Lina Inverse.

Lina is an adventurer and treasure hunter who travels with the very strong but rather stupid swordsman Gourry. Other occasional partners-in-crime are the quixotic Amelia, a Princess of Seyruun who will do anything in the name of justice, even if it isn't very just, and Zelgadis, a chimera— part rock golem, drow demon, and human —who is traveling to find a way to restore his normal human self. He also likes to think of himself as a mysterious stoic, but his flairs for drama are usually destroyed by his companions' wry observations. Finally, a trickster demon-priest named Xellos occasionally helps or hinders Lina and her team.

It isn't easy be trendy! Supreme is releasing it’s Spring/Summer collection headlined by the Supreme x Terry Richardson x Kermit pieces including two t-shirts and three skate decks (shown above). In addition they also have t-shirts that feature the work of famed animator Ralph Bakshi:

Found via freshnessmag.com.

Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally "raito noberu" or "ranobe" for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here's one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:

R.O.D. Read Or Die

Forget the FBI, CIA, Interpol, or any other organization you can think of: the real power in R.O.D. is the British Library. Set in an alternate world where England is still the world's primary superpower and its external intelligence agency works out of its library, and each agent is a superhuman with a unique ability.

I was blown away when I saw the above paper model kit for Penelope Pitstop's car from the vintage Wacky Races series from Hanna-Barbera. You can download the acrobat file here, but be warned it looks like quite a bit of work!

Found via toysblog.it.

I love the look of this animated music video which features Kap10kurt, it sort of reminds me of a cross between a video game and the look of a Jamie Hewlett comic book. The video was animated by mathematic, who are based in Paris, France.

Found via Nerdcore.de.

This is right out of the plot to Lost in Space (the "Jupiter 2" to Alpha Centauri to search for a habitable planet for mankind to colonize):

Nearest Star System Might Harbor Earth Twin

"Earth may have a twin orbiting one of our nearest stellar neighbors, a new study suggests. University of California, Santa Cruz graduate student Javiera Guedes used computer simulations of planet formation to show that terrestrial planets are likely to have formed around one of the stars in the Alpha Centauri star system, our closest stellar neighbors.

Guedes' model showed planets forming around the star Alpha Centauri B (its sister star, Proxima Centauri, is actually our nearest neighbor) in what is called the "habitable zone," or the region around a star where liquid water can exist on a planet's surface.

The model also showed that if such planets do in fact exist, we should be able to see them with a dedicated telescope. "If they exist, we can observe them," Guedes said."

Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally "raito noberu" or "ranobe" for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here's one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:

Kino no Tabi (Kino's Journey)

Kino is a young, ambiguously female traveler accompanied by a talking motorcycle named Hermes. They travel to different countries and learn about the cultures, never staying in any location for more than 2 nights and 3 days before moving on somewhere else.

This is a tradition that the protagonist has stolen from another person named Kino: a man who sacrificed his life to save her. Kino continues the man's tradition, then, and wanders. The series is a slice-of-life, lacking an overarching plot in favor of vignettes that express the commonly repeated phrase that "the world is not beautiful, therefore it is."

Shown above is a fan music video based on the 1978 Toei Spiderman TV series from Japan — unlike the dull American Spiderman the Japanese web slinging hero got to tangle with nasty space aliens. And you can also tell that he was a better dancer too...

Most people know about anime and manga, but a new wave of Japanese popular culture is just starting to hit the United States: the light novel. The light novel (literally "raito noberu" or "ranobe" for short) is similar to a young adult novel in the United States, but it also has a little twist: manga-style illustrations are littered throughout the books. So now that you know what light novels are, here's one of our Ten Light Novels That You Need To Know:

Shinigami no Ballad (Ballad of a Death God)

Japan has a long tradition of beings known as Shinigami, literally Death Gods, whose job is to lead the deceased to the world of the dead. In Shinigami no Ballad, one such death god is a young girl with white hair named Momo, who performs her task with her companion, a cat named Daniel.

Momo is a rather unusual Shinigami: unlike her compatriots, she feels sorrow for humans and will actively intervene when possible to ease the suffering she sees around her. Each chapter of Shinigami no Ballad is a self-contained story in which Momo and Daniel attempt to help a human with a problem.

Shown above is a video that shows the construction of a Blythe Doll — the amount of craftsmanship is pretty amazing. I was blown away by all of the work that went into creating the hair, in fact I've had haircuts which were much less complex.

Shown above is the new design for the vinyl figure Miao the Lucky Cat by Zakka. Only 500 limited edition cats will be produced Zakkamono and will be released in April.

Found via toysrevil.blogspot.com and toysblog.it.

Seen below is the latest theatrical movie poster for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by famed film illustrator Drew Struzan:

Above and below are the latest international trailers for the upcoming Speed Racer film. I have no idea if the movie will be any good, but the art direction sure looks great! The film feels like a live action video game.

What I'd love to see would be for Disney to allow the Japanese studios to reinterpret all of the traditional Disney characters:

Disney to team with Japanese companies to produce animation in Japan

"Entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. will team up with several Japanese companies to produce animation for television in Japan, a leading market, a Disney official said Thursday. Disney will work with Toei Animation Co., Madhouse Co. and Jinni's Animation Studios, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to comply with company rules.

The move was aimed at localizing contents of Disney products for a wider audience, she said. "We need to make contents which fit the Japanese market to further boost the popularity of Disney in Japan," she said.

With Madhouse, Disney will produce a 30-minute TV program "Stitch!," an offspring of the Lilo & Stitch series, to be aired in Japan, the official said, adding that the company has not decided when the show will go on air."

Rod Serling taught at the Ithaca College from 1967 to 1975, and the school is honoring the Twilight Zone creator with a conference from March 28th through the 29th. The college also hosts the Rod Serling Archives which are worth checking out.

It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here's one glimpse of the future from the past:

Asteroids

Asteroids, released in 1979, plays upon our fears of doom raining down from the skies. Death from outer space is one of the cornerstones of sci-fi, as is the daring solo hero/star-fighter. Asteroids distills these themes down to the quantum level. It's simply you versus the rocks. Like the ur sci-fi game Spacewar! (later Computer Space) you have to use your thrust to avoid a deadly collision, but that will also send you careening around the board, possibly making things worse. If all else fails you can jump into hyperspace for a moment, blinking out of existence for a moment, but possibly reappearing back into hostile territory. Even blasting the asteroids into dust can get you into trouble, as they break up into smaller and faster balls of evil.

Added into the mix is the occasional flying saucer, which must have had some sort of special interest in mining the asteroid field. It wants nothing more than to blow you to smithereens.

I love this little animated film which was written and read by Rik Mayall, the comic genius behind the Young Ones. How often do you see bathroom humor mixed with a Shakespeare reference? By the way this film was done for Mastercard, there are several other animated films in the series here.

Amateur Surgeon is a cute Flash game which is some where between a horror movie and a comedy. You'll think twice before ordering in Pizza again...

Found via Nerdcore.de.

Oh sure anyone can date an actress who plays an astronaut or space alien on a TV! But how about dating a real life astronaut? Only a small lucky handful of folks from each generation get to travel into the great unknown — and then those few are almost always boring married jocks or semi-retired software geeks.

Well fanboys your dream has come true: It seems that South Korea has picked Yi So-yeon (이소연), 29 to fly to the International Space Station in April! Not only is Ms. Yi single, but she's also a Ph. D student as well (girls with glasses always get passes in our book!). And as if that weren't cool enough she's a martial arts expert too (am I dreaming this?) — in fact she's an advanced practitioner of taekwondo. And so far this all that we know about her — so one can't rule out Ms. Yi playing video games in her spare time, being an avid manga reader, going on James Bond type vacations to battle evil secret organizations or having secret powers.

It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here's one glimpse of the future from the past:

Robotron: 2084

If there is one iron-clad sci-fi rule, it's that robots will always turn on their makers. It's "the fall" reduced to more mortal confines. If you build something in your image, it will eventually pitch a fit, take its ball and try and kill you with it.

In Robotron: 2084 (released in 1982), you are the last hope for human civilization. The title explains all you need to know about the setting; it's the year 2084 and robots with some twisted AI have overrun the word and are now killing and mutating the few remaining humans. For rather vague reasons (something about being a mutant yourself) you are the only person with any sort of retaliatory firepower. As usual, the human "family" is totally useless in trying to save itself and walks around aimlessly while hordes of boxy 'bots, flashing violent shades of oh-so-futuristic neon, seek them out. With the only motivation to save them being a few extra points, it may be tempting to just sit back and watch these idiots stagger to their doom, but then we wouldn't have a game then would we?

How can we get the kids to eat more pasta? A single serving of Macaroni Twiki only contained 12 grams of protein, but if you're a Buck Rogers fanboy (or fangurl) in 1979 this was the pasta you'd prefer. The late 70s series always reminded me of Battlestar Galactica with just that extra touch of disco. I'm surprised the producers of the show never used the character "the Hawk" (who had the worst costume in the world) to sell eggs. But getting back to the robot character Twiki who inspired this carb creation, it's interesting to note that the voice acting was supplied by uber talented Mel Blanc.

And now if you're still left wondering just what that pasta looked like, here it is:

It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here's one glimpse of the future from the past:

Star Wars (Arcade)

No list of great sci-fi anything could possibly be complete without the inclusion of something Star Wars related. Video games are no exception. While there have been loads of games bearing the distinctive logo, perhaps the best is also the first.

1983 saw an explosion of Star Wars video games across the board, but few would argue against the original arcade "cockpit" style cabinet being the best. First of all, the second you crawled in and sat down, you became Luke Skywalker. Visually cut off from the outside world, it was suddenly long ago and far away and you are flying around in space. Shot from a first person perspective, you could just see your X-Wing’s blasters pointing in from the edges of the screen. TIE fighters screamed toward you from all angles. The yoke controller was a dream to use and soon disappeared in your hands. And that wasn't even the best part.

Pink, pink, pink, pink, and oh yes more pink! 156 photographs of Japanese Sanrio collectibles arranged according to character and pattern!