Anime

This week on DVD and Blu-ray: A Tarantino cocktease, unbelievably bored aliens, and senile old men with guns

Welcome to the first installment of our weekly guide to DVD releases. This week: Tarantino! The Expendables 2! Cinderella! Power Rangers! Anime! And some total crap! • Tarantino XX 8-Film Collection I don’t know how involved Tarantino was with this set – which includes Death Proof and True Romance, if you’re wondering – but if…

io9 Rob Bricken Nov 20

Slick futuristic anime about the hunt for a legendary food truck is the greatest car commercial ever

How do you get folks to watch a six-minute commercial for Mercedes-Benz? You hire the animators at Production I.G. to produce Next A-Class, a short movie featuring a futuristic city, movable streets, and a food truck whose noodles are legendarily delicious. Oh, and you feature your Mercedes tearing through those streets on a hunt for…

io9 Lauren Davis Nov 18

Adorable Totoro bed fulfills all our extreme cuddle needs

This insanely awesome Totoro bed is all over Tumblr for good reason. Who wouldn’t want to be like the little girls in Hayao Miyazaki’s iconic movie, who meet a giant-mouthed, friendly monster, and bounce on his big fuzzy belly for hours? If you want one of these for your own, you can find them on…

io9 Annalee Newitz Oct 19

This trippy music video is the coolest thing you’ll see all day, will melt your face

This here’s the music video for “Transfer” by Livetune, a Japanese pop group that makes use of the chirpy vocal stylings of virtual pop star Hatsune Miku (but relies on singer Megumi Nakajima for this particular song). https://gizmodo.com/j-pop-embraces-the-posthuman-and-has-been-doing-so-for-5697619 In this six-minute animation tornado by Fantasista Utamaro and Kubotabee, a pink-haired girl runs the same exact…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Oct 17

Sailor Moon grows up, ditches the schoolgirl skirts for body armor

We previously dug Kevin Wada’s high-fashion interpretations of the X-Men. Now check out his adult take on the Sailor Scouts, who are now sporting armor and whatnot. It’s far and away more dignified than the scuttled American adaptation of the show, that’s for certain. [Via Kevin Wada] https://gizmodo.com/watch-the-cheesetastic-intro-for-the-quasi-live-action-5917177

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Oct 17

10 Visual Motifs that American Science Fiction Borrowed from Anime

We owe so much to Japanese animation and comics. Anime and manga have given us some of the most unforgettable characters and stories in the universe — but also, the visual style of anime has had a huge impact on Western science fiction and fantasy. American movies and television have gotten a much-needed injection of…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders and Amanda Yesilbas Sep 26

The Pokémon Plot: How One Cartoon Inspired the Army to Dream Up a Seizure Gun

In 1998, a secret Army intelligence analysis suggested a new way to take out enemies: blast them with electromagnetic energy until their brains overload and they start to convulse. Amazingly, it was an idea inspired by a Pokemon episode. Application of “electromagnetic pulses” could force neurons to all fire at once, causing a “disruption of…

io9 Spencer Ackerman - Danger Room Sep 26

Holy heck, this fan-made anime Star Wars film is absolutely amazing

This concept animation has no sound yet, but that in no way detracts from the fact that this Star Wars short by YouTuber Otaking77077 is empirically huge. Watch as the Imperials and Rebels engage in some furious and frenetic dogfighting. Seriously, someone at Lucasfilm needs to sign off on this pronto. It will give you…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar Sep 15

10 Most Epic Love Stories in All of Science Fiction

Science fiction gives us space wars and robot uprisings, but there’s nothing as huge and awesome as a love story that spans star systems or timelines. Here’s our list of the top 10 greatest romances in science fiction. Note: This list is just our personal preferences, plus those of our friends whom we polled online.…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders Sep 4

These Legend of Korra tees are so beautiful you’ll start air bending with delight

We Love Fine has a terrific collection of Legend of Korra shirts to keep you sated until Book 2: Spirits starts. Choose between a tourist ad for Republic City, an anti-bender propaganda poster, and much more! Pick up these shirts for $25 each at We Love Fine (spotted on the unerringly awesome Fashionably Geek) Related:…

Television Annalee Newitz Aug 16

This 30-second anime teaser has more concentrated awesome than a lot of live-action movie trailers

Check out this amazing action-packed teaser for 009 Re: Cyborg, the new anime movie from Kenji Kamiyama, the director best known for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. In just half a minute, there are some great glimpses of urban destruction, our hero flying and outrunning missiles, and running inside an explosion. We’re officially…

Trailers Charlie Jane Anders Aug 6

Artwork from scrapped Nightwing cartoon shows off DC heroes, Legend of Korra style

Several years back, Legend of Korra director and artist Ki Hyun Ryu created character designs for an animated series starring Batman’s sidekick Dick Grayson, who usually goes by the crime-fighting moniker Nightwing. Even though this series never went anywhere — and Cartoon Network went with Young Justice instead — Ryu recently posted his concept art…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar Aug 6

What if Adventure Time and Futurama were retro comic books?

Chilean illustrator Adolfo Torino Nuñez takes science fiction characters modern audiences are familiar with and chucks them several decades into the past. The resulting artwork resembles a cross between superhero periodicals you’d find at your neighborhood malt shoppe and weirdo bootleg comics collecting gravel grit at the county swap meet. His Futurama is definitely giving…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jul 30

Watch a scene from the live-action Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind short film

For an exhibit on cinematic practical effects at Tokyo’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Neon Genesis Evangelion director Hideaki Anno and Studio Ghibli have teamed up for a live-action featurette based on Hayao Miyazaki’s post-apocalyptic cartoon classic Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. This short — Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo — stars the…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jul 30

Now you can buy a $1.3 million Japanese mech over the internet

Remember Vaudeville, that imposing 12-foot-tall, Microsoft-Kinect-controlled mech that was supposed to bear nothing scarier than a mop? Well, Suidobashi Heavy Industry — the Japanese hobbyist collective behind the project — has redubbed their creation “Kuratas,” and added such bells and whistles as a H₂O rocket launcher and a hyper-creepy BB gatling gun that’s activated by…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jul 30

Master Japanese craftsmen make real-life versions of Evangelion weapons

People love samurai swords, and people love Evangelion. Combining the two makes a perfect storm of coolness. A current museum exhibition hopes to capitalize on the anime’s fandom by presenting weapons from the Evangelion series crafted by master Japanese sword smiths. The Bizen Japanese Sword Museum has opened the long-anticipated show “Evangelion & Japanese Sword…

io9 Amanda Yesilbas Jul 21

Batgirl Sailor Moon is so absurd it works

Presumably from the reality that spawned Cliff Chiang’s nixed Justice League of Japan comes Corey Lewis’ Sailor Bat, who is so gleefully ridiculous she dispels any and all mash-up-induced malaise. For further characters that will never officially grace the comic page, see the Sailor Avengers. [Corey Lewis via Project Rooftop]

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar Jul 9

Sailor Moon returns next summer with a new anime series

Yesterday, the popular manga series Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon turned 20 years old, and for her 20th birthday, it looks like Usagi/Serena/Sailor Moon is getting a brand new anime series. Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi and manga publisher Kodansha announced a new anime for the Sailor Scouts, this time as a worldwide release. There aren’t…

Television Lauren Davis Jul 7

The Most Adorable “Monster Martial Arts Training Montage” You’ll Watch This Week

Check out an exclusive clip from Saturday’s brand new episode of Kaijudo, the show about kids who fight using monsters. (Kaiju + Judo = Kaijudo. Geddit?) It’s surprisingly cute, especially when they all try to command the lethal firebird creature, using their energy gauntlets and soul power and stuff. I’m pretty much a sucker for…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jun 7

The 10 Most Epic Last Stands in Science Fiction and Fantasy

If you’re a fictional character, death can arrive rather swiftly and creatively. It’s your job to go out like an absolute champ so that non-fictional readers and audiences remember your passing and holler your praises on the internet. Here are ten times science fiction and fantasy heroes lost their lives with panache. Some spoilers ahead.…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar Jun 6

This week on DVD and Blu-ray: A Tarantino cocktease, unbelievably bored aliens, and senile old men with guns

Slick futuristic anime about the hunt for a legendary food truck is the greatest car commercial ever

Adorable Totoro bed fulfills all our extreme cuddle needs

This trippy music video is the coolest thing you’ll see all day, will melt your face

Sailor Moon grows up, ditches the schoolgirl skirts for body armor

10 Visual Motifs that American Science Fiction Borrowed from Anime

The Pokémon Plot: How One Cartoon Inspired the Army to Dream Up a Seizure Gun

Holy heck, this fan-made anime Star Wars film is absolutely amazing

10 Most Epic Love Stories in All of Science Fiction

These Legend of Korra tees are so beautiful you’ll start air bending with delight

This 30-second anime teaser has more concentrated awesome than a lot of live-action movie trailers

Artwork from scrapped Nightwing cartoon shows off DC heroes, Legend of Korra style

What if Adventure Time and Futurama were retro comic books?

Watch a scene from the live-action Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind short film

Now you can buy a $1.3 million Japanese mech over the internet

Master Japanese craftsmen make real-life versions of Evangelion weapons

Batgirl Sailor Moon is so absurd it works

Sailor Moon returns next summer with a new anime series

The Most Adorable “Monster Martial Arts Training Montage” You’ll Watch This Week

The 10 Most Epic Last Stands in Science Fiction and Fantasy

‘Marvel Rivals’ Wants to Start Being More Than Just a Hero Shooter

‘How Do We Make Sure That Claude Behaves Itself?’: Anthropic Invited 15 Christians for a Summit

See the Next ‘Hunger Games’ in This Trip Down Memory Lane

Indie Animation Is Having a Moment on YouTube

Trump’s World Liberty Financial Makes FTX-esque Move, Borrows Against Its Own Crypto Token

Steven Soderbergh Wanted to Take ‘Bond’ Back to the ’60s

If You Make Fart Music, ChatGPT Will Be the Most Supportive Girlfriend You Could Ask For

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

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