Does Guile’s Street Fighter video game crouching block work in real life?【Experiment】

https://ift.tt/nauHdV5 Casey Baseel

Who’s man enough to fight with Seiji?

Like all highly educated individuals who are well-versed in the classics, our Japanese-language reporter Seiji Nakazawa spends a lot of time thinking about Street Fighter. Capcom’s genre-defining fighting game offers a wealth of aspects worthy of scholarly attention, and recently Seiji found himself musing over the character Guile’s crouching block.

It’s such a unique and cool pose! Even as he’s defending himself, Guile’s taught muscles are coiled and ready to spring into offensive action as soon as his opponent’s punch or kick bounces off.

But as iconic as Guile’s crouching block is, Seiji couldn’t help but wonder if it would actually work here in the real world. Clearly this is the sort of knowledge we, as a society, need to look into, so that’s what Seiji decided to do, and the first step of his investigation was obvious.

With his cosplay sorted in about as much time as it takes to charge up a flash kick, Seiji was ready to be on the receiving end of some striking attacks to see how effective Guile’s crouching guard really is.

Now all he needed was someone to punch him, so he enlisted the help of fellow SoraNews24 reporter Ahiruneko.

Ahiruneko had spent the morning working on his own non-crazy assignments, so Seiji figured he should start by briefing him on just what they’d be doing in this experiment. “Hey, Ahiruneko, sorry to pull you away from whatever you’re working on, but I need a hand,” Seiji began. “See, I’m thinking of testing whether Guile’s crouching block is effective, so I was wondering if maybe I could have you hit m-“

▼ “Sure, Seiji, no problem.”

Seiji appreciated his coworker’s enthusiasm, but was less appreciative of being interrupted, especially by a fist to the face. “No, no, I need you to hit me while I’m doing Guile’s crouching block,” he explained, speaking as quickly as he could so he wouldn’t get sucker-punched again.

“OK, now I’m ready. Come on, attack me!”

▼ “Sure, no problem.”

Ugh, this wasn’t what Seiji wanted either. Ahiruneko had swung his foot in a sweeping motion, completely bypassing Seiji’s raised arm and hitting him in the stomach. “No, no, you’re supposed to attack me straight on, like they do in Street Fighter. Attacks that come in from the sides like that are more of a Fatal Fury thing,” Seiji explained.

“Now come on, get serious. Come at me from the front this time.”

▼ “Sure, no problem.”

Seiji felt like this, too, was a little different from what he’d requested. Sure, the attack didn’t come from the side, but it came up from below, so you could still argue that it’s a sweeping motion, in a way. He wasn’t 100-percent sure, maybe because the repeated blows to the head were affecting his ability to think straight, but he figured he should give Guile’s guard one last try, giving Ahiruneko even more information about what sort of strikes were permissible.

“Look, just a straight attack this time. No sweeping in from the side, coming up from below, or down from above. Just a straight-on, straight angle attack, OK?”

▼ “Sure, no problem.”

So remember kids, Guile’s crouching block may look cool within the Street Fighter games, but here in our world, it’s probably not the best idea, just like his hairstyle.

Hopefully Seiji still remembers this hard-earned wisdom when he regains consciousness, because you never know when hand-to-hand combat is going to suddenly erupt within the SoraNews24 office.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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Cowboy Bebop fragrance line created to celebrate anime’s 25th anniversary

https://ift.tt/cSznK54 Casey Baseel

Smell like Spike, Faye, or Julia thanks to Tokyo’s anime perfume specialists.

There’s a lot to love about Cowboy Bebop, and anyone who’s seen the 1998 anime classic will tell you that its visual and musical style is in the top tier. Now, as part of its 25th anniversary celebration, Cowboy Bebop is set to stimulate another of your senses, with a new line of eau de parfum and aroma diffusers.

As you may have guessed, these fragrances come from Fairy Tail, the Tokyo-based anime-inspired fragrance company (which, incidentally, is a sperate entity from the identically unorthodoxically spelled Fairy Tail anime/manga franchise). This isn’t Fairy Tail’s first time creating a cologne for Bebop’s moody main character Spike Spiegel, but he gets a new eau de parfum for the series’ 25th birthday, with elements chosen to reflect his personality and history.

The designers wanted to emphasize Spike’s individualistic instincts and physical strength, expressed as top notes of orange and bergamot citrus that gives way to vanilla accord, lemon, and spicy, woody tonka beans. And just like Spike has some heavy things lurking in his past, his fragrance’s base notes consist of cedar, sandalwood, and amber.

Also getting her own fragrance is Faye Valentine. Faye’s scent is crafted to leave a fresh and spicy sensation, with the designers wanting her “hedonistic” personality alluded to by raspberry, blackcurrant, bergamot, and cedar top notes. For most of the series, it’s hard to say whether Faye’s brash attitude shows she feels no commitment to her bounty hunting shipmates or whether she’s come to see them as a surrogate family, the middle notes switch things up with a fruity floral mix of rose, pear, iris, freesia, and cyclamen, and in a final acknowledgement of the bond she forms with Spike and the others while trying to unravel the secrets of her forgotten past, the base notes here are sandalwood, dry amber, and white musk.

And rounding out the trio of character fragrances is one for Julia, Spike’s old flame who’s so mysterious we never learn her last name. Famously described by Faye as being the sort of person where you can’t quite tell if she’s a devilish angel or an angelic devil, Julia’s perfume is complex and brimming with classical feminine elegance, with top notes of peony, lychee, and freesia, then middle notes of rose and rosewood before a base of magnolia, lily of the valley, dry amber, and sandalwood.

Cowboy Bebop’s recurring theme of one’s past versus one’s future also shows up in a pair of aroma diffusers. The “Past” version, with its artwork taken from the anime’s ending credits, is a throwback to the days when Spike and Julia’s romance was in full bloom, represented by a sweet rose scent to evoke memories of Spike waiting for Julia at their meeting spot so they could run away together, when he was still blissfully unaware that things weren’t going to be that simple.

The ”Future” diffuser instead focuses on Spike’s days of adventure after starting his new life and chasing down bounties with the help of partners Jet, Faye, and Ed, with an invigorating mix of pepper, oakmoss, coffee, and musk.

The character fragrances are priced at 4,400 yen (US$29) each, and the diffusers 3,850. They’re being offered for advance sale at the Cowboy Bebop 25th anniversary exhibition currently being held at the Seibu Shibuya Movida Building in Tokyo, and will be available through Fairy Tail’s online store Dreaming Princess, plus online retailers such as Amazon and Rakuten, starting November 20, as well as at Fairy Tail’s physical store inside the Nakano Broadway shopping center.

Related: Dreaming Princess
Source, images: PR Times
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The newest must-eat Japanese KitKats: Deep-fried KitKat katsu on sticks

https://ift.tt/4vOIJ2L Casey Baseel

Sweet, savory, and doubly lucky.

There’s no country on earth that loves KitKats quite like Japan. All of those amazing seasonal and regional-exclusive KitKat flavors, though, didn’t come about until after the standard KitKat’s big break in Japan, which it owes to a pun.

In Japanese, KitKat gets pronounced “Kitto Katto,” which sounds very close to the Japanese words kitto (“I think” or “I believe”) and katsu (“win” or “succeed”). When people noticed the similarity, they started gifting or carrying a pack of KitKats in their bag on important days, like entrance exams or job interviews, as a “I believe you/I will succeed” good-luck charm, making the chocolate wafers a symbol of hope, friendship, and emotional support.

But if you spend a lot of time thinking about Japanese food and Japanese linguistics, you might be ready to point out that katsu is also the Japanese word for deep-fried cutlets, which is why Japan is now getting deep-fried KitKats.

In hindsight, it seems like KitKat katsu are something that should have happened years ago. Better late than never, though, especially when fried foods and sweets are involved, and we can thank restaurant chain Kushi Katsu Tanaka for finally realizing the need to make this dessert a reality.

Kushi katsu, Tanaka’s marque menu item, are deep-fried morsels served on a skewer. It’s a broad culinary style adaptable to all sorts of meats, seafood, and vegetables. Dessert kushi katsu are much rarer, though not completely unheard of, but deep-fried KitKats are a bold new step for the kushi katsu culinary sphere.

Tanaka isn’t going into this timidly, either, as they’re offering three different kushi katsu KitKats. There’s the basic Kitto Kushi Katsu, pictured above, with two of the chocolate wafer sticks fried up for 150 yen (US$1). If you’re feeling fancy, there’s also the 170-yen Kitto Kushi Katsu Banana, which adds slices of banana as a pre-frying topping to the KitKat.

And for do-it-yourself-types, there’s the Make Your Own Kitto Kushi Katsu, a 290-yen set of two KitKat skewers and a cup of yogurt sauce to dip them in so you can then coat them in corn flakes, which are a popular ingredient in Japanese parfaits.

▼ With yogurt and cereal, you might even be able to convince yourself that this is a pretty sensible breakfast.

By the way, if you’re wondering if the good-luck properties associated with KitKat because it sounds like katsu are applied to the food that’s actually called katsu too, they are, and cutlets are also a popular meal choice for Japanese people on important days. So by that logic, eating these KitKat katsu should be doubly auspicious, and we should all probably try to consume as many as we can while they’re on the Kushi Katsu Tanaka menu from November 1 to 30.

Source: PR Times via IT Media
Images: PR Times
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Grand Sumo Tournament pop-up cafe pushes its way into Fukuoka

https://ift.tt/5rXLl3x Master Blaster

I hope they throw salt over everything.

With a well preserved sense of decorum and pageantry, the traditional sport of sumo remains an essential symbol of Japanese culture. Now, it has combined with another staple of Japanese culture, the pop-up cafe.

From now until 26 November, the Sumo Collaboration Cafe will be up and running at Kawara Cafe & Dining Kitte in the Hakata Ward of Fukuoka. The main dish served at this cafe is fittingly chanko nabe, a hearty hotpot often eaten by the wrestlers at sumo training stables. The Chanko Set here is a mixture of chicken, vegetables, and wheat miso butter. It costs 1,680 yen (US$11) and comes with rice, miso soup, and salad. This recipe is recognized by the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament, so you know it’ll deliver on taste and quality.

For desert, the Tiramisu Sweets Set costs 1,580 yen ($10.50) and comes with a variety of fruits, ice cream and more. The highlight is the tiramisu which is served in a square masu cup and decorated to look like a sumo ring. Even better, it comes with a dish of salt that you can toss onto the ring to purify it, while enhancing the flavor and authentic sumo feel of it all.

There’s also a Pudding Parfait for 1,280 yen ($8.50), which is a parfait topped with a generous portion of purin-style pudding which is then topped with a scoop of ice cream to resemble a sumo wrestler right down to its little chonmage.

Drinks include four types of Sumo “Kawaii” Floats for 980 yen ($6.50). Each of the matcha milk, strawberry milk, blueberry milk, and mango milk drinks is topped with ice cream and a wafer with one of six sumo prints on it.

Customers will also receive a commemorative placemat and coaster to take home and there’s even a cardboard cut out of an ukiyo-e sumo wrestler for photo-ops.

The cafe is set up to coincide with the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament being held in Fukuoka from 12 to 26 November so it’d make for a great pre-match meal to get into the fighting spirit.

Cafe information
Sumo Collaboration Cafe
Venue: Kawara Cafe & Dining Kitte Hakata
Address: Fukuoka-ken, Fukuoka-shi, Hakata-ku, Hakataeki Chuomachi 9-1, Kitte Hakata 9F
福岡県福岡市博多区博多駅中央街9−1 KITTE博多9Ｆ
Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

Source, images: PR Times
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Drinkable Choco Flakes in a can contains…pieces of actual corn?!

https://ift.tt/T7frdkE Oona McGee

When you want to remind people what cornflakes are made of, in an unforgettable way. 

Nissin Cisco’s Chocolate Flakes will celebrate its 55th anniversary in 2023, and to commemorate the occasion, they’ve developed a special product called “Drinkable Chocolate Flakes”.

The new product is only being made available to 1,000 lucky winners of a lottery giveaway, so our reporter K. Masami figured her chances of trying it would be slim, but in a stroke of good luck, an acquaintance of hers turned out to be one of the winners. They received 30 cans and couldn’t finish them all, so Masami became the lucky recipient of not one but three cans.

Having grown up eating Choco Flakes as both a snack on its own and as a topping for yoghurt and ice cream, Masami was curious to try the drinkable version. While some people in Japan like to add milk and enjoy Choco Flakes as a chocolate cornflake cereal, this was something Masami had never tried, so the beverage would be even more of a unique experience for her.

▼ She shook one of the cans as instructed, and poured the contents into a glass.

As she poured the liquid into the glass, it looked like chocolate milk. However, as she got to the bottom of the can, there was a surprise awaiting her…

▼ …actual pieces of corn!

While Choco Flakes contain corn — they are chocolate-covered cornflakes, after all — it’s usually baked into the flakes, helping to give them a crunchy texture. Having the corn appear as pieces made this a totally deconstructed mix, stripping the product back to its to main components  — chocolate and corn.

Masami figured there must’ve been no other feasible way to add corn to a canned drink like this, as the flakes would totally disintegrate after a while, and though she was initially repulsed by the idea of corn in her chocolate milk, she was now keen to find out what it would taste like.

Taking a sip, she found the drink to be quite good — it smelt like Choco Flakes, and the taste was a smooth and gentle cocoa. She later tried a non-chilled version, and definitely recommends having this chilled as it tasted much better cold.

Satisfied with the chocolatey milky drink, she didn’t even think about the corn until she got to the bottom of the glass. The corn pieces were so plump she couldn’t even mash them up and blend them into the drink, giving her no other choice but to chew them.

As she chewed the corn with the chocolate milk, she mused over the taste, which didn’t combine on the palate whatsoever. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t terribly delicious, either. In the end, it was just like eating corn with cocoa.

Nothing about this combination tasted like Choco Flakes, as it was missing the signature crunch that makes them so good. Still, they did a good job of showing what they were made of, because after tasting the drink, she’ll never forget they’re made with corn.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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Smiling Totoro, Catbus eco bags and plushie clips reward you with smiles for being kind to nature

https://ift.tt/pz0gK32 Casey Baseel

Soot Sprites and Jiji also join the adorable lineup.

Reverence for nature and the importance of protecting the environment are recurring themes in the anime of Studio Ghibli, and you have to imagine that Totoro in particular wants you to be kind to the planet than Totoro, seeing as how he’s a forest spirit and all. Not that the big cuddly guy would ever get angry or browbeat you into it, but if, for example, he saw you carrying a reusable shopping bag when running errands, he’d probably have a smile on his face.

Actually, there’s no “probably” about it in the case of this new line of eco bags, since one of them comes with a plush smiling Totoro included.

Aside from looking adorable, the carabiner clip Totoro doubles as a holder for the polyester eco bag. It’s a handy feature if you get around by foot or public transportation and already have daily necessities in your regular bag and need a second for shopping, or perhaps if you want to keep takeout or other food items separate from whatever else you’re carrying around (as many Japanese people do), since it lets you keep the eco bag clipped to your main bag and easy to pull out when you need it.

It’s officially called the Big Smiley Totoro Eco Bag, and sure enough, there’s another smiling Totoro printed on the bag itself. When you stop and think about it, even though Totoro generally looks friendly and good-natured, it’s not all that often that we see him with an explicit grin, which makes the design especially heartwarming.

There’s even more My Neighbor Totoro smiles with Smiley Catbus eco bag. Like with the Totoro version, you get a zippered plushie carabiner to stow the bag in, or, if you prefer, to use as a holder for whatever other small or foldable items you want to keep inside.

▼ The Catbus also shows up in silhouette on the bag, which has a forest pattern.

The smiles don’t extend to the Soot Sprite bag, seeing as how their design doesn’t have any facial features other than eyes in the first place. Still cute, though, especially with the playful polka dots.

And last, also expressionless but charming all the same, is black cat Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service, whose eco bag is covered in flowers, pictures of Kiki’s strap-attached radio, and the sign of her fledgling flying courier venture.

Each is priced at 2,750 yen (US$18), which isn’t that bad a deal considering you’re getting a bag and a plushie, and they’re all available through the online shop of Ghibli specialty store Donguri Kyowakoku (Totoro here, Catbus here, Soot Sprite here, and Jiji here).

Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Top image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3, 4)
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The best cosplayers from Day One of the Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival 2023

https://ift.tt/c7koDar Oona McGee

Tokyo’s famous otaku neighbourhood was the place to be for some of the hottest characters this Halloween.

With Shibuya City cracking down on its unofficial Halloween street party this year, those looking for a safer alternative have been checking out some of Tokyo’s organised events, and one of the best every year is the Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival, or “Ike Halo” as it’s known locally.

This year, the event took place from 28-29 October, with a festival-eve night cosplay event held on the night of 27 October, at Sunshine Square, where the reception was located, and Ike SunPark, which was home to the main stage. When our reporter Egawa Tasuku visited on 28 October, the skies were clear and there were crowds of cosplayers around Sunshine Square, while families and children were enjoying the sunshine over at SunPark.

▼ Although it was crowded, the event area was spacious, creating a calm and laid-back vibe.

This year’s ambassador for the event was Japanese singer Sachiko Kobayashi, who appeared as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba character Muzan Kibutsuji, dressed in the kimono he wears when he appears in the series in female form. It was one of many fantastic cosplays at the event, which showed trends for VTubers and Genshin Impact, popular for the past few years, are still strong amongst female cosplayers, with South Korean RPGs Blue Archive and Goddess of Victory: Nikke, rapidly gaining strength as well.

Amongst male cosplayers, aside from the Kamen Rider series — such an everlasting mainstay it could be considered a Hall of Famer — and male versions of Sailor Moon, Jujutsu Kaisen characters stood out as popular choices. The character of Satoru Gojo seemed to be particularly popular, with four present on the day, and there were also a few cosplayers waving the flag for series such as Chainsaw Man, Gundam, and Evangelion.

So, let’s get straight to it and introduce the best cosplayers from the first day of the event!

▼ Hatsune Miku (Cosplayer: @SayaScarlet01)

▼ Saber from key visuals for the Chinese version of Fate/Grand Order 4th Anniversary FES (Cosplayer: @moka_4416)

▼ Nekota Tsuna (Cosplayer: @rinyanpassan)

▼ Guillotine from Goddess of Victory: Nikke (Cosplayer: @suya0113)

▼ Homura Akemi from Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Cosplayer: @haru_no_inu)

▼ Umise Yotsuha from Nijisanji (Cosplayer: @kc_2_cos)

▼ Elaina from Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina (Cosplayer: @Hak_cacao)

▼ Ryuuge Kisaki from Blue Archive (Cosplayer: @XaiabP)

▼ Wakaba Hinata from Blue Archive (Cosplayer: @Yuyuxcos)

So there you have it — some of the best cosplayers from Day One of the Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival. Just like last year, this year’s festival didn’t disappoint, and we’d like to thank all the cosplayers who posed for us on Day One of the festival. Which one was your favourite? Let us know in the comments section below!

Related: Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival 2023
Photos ©SoraNews24
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