The answer? They’re both cancelled for safety concerns. Ha!

…Okay, not really funny. But according to the Mainichi, a threatening letter has gotten a Pokemon event cancelled. And not just the one mentioned in the letter, which was to happen in Tokyo, but also the ones in Nagoya and Fukuoka.

I found it interesting, since Japan Probe reported that the Nagano Olympic torch event has been cancelled as well, due to safety concerns– this time because of demonstrators protesting against China’s treatment of Tibet, which have caused problems at torch events around the world.

Posted by gia in Games, JP News, Misc, News • Comments (1)

ICv2 has a report from Pokemon USA, the company that– you guessed it! –owns Pokemon, regarding the results of their recent anti-piracy tactics. And no, we’re not talking about fansubbed episodes of the anime, we’re talking counterfeited cards from the TCG.

The company has seized (and estroyed) over 47 million cards worldwide, namely in China, Thailand, Singapore, Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Australia. They’ve also raided stores in New York that were selling the fake cards. Who knew that the Pokemon TCG was such a cut-throat business?

Posted by gia in Anime, Games, Legal, News, Western News • Comments (5)

Those of you who came here to read about “pokemones,” a teen movement in Chile that Newsweek characterizes as particularly sexually driven, I STRONGLY recommend that you read the comments on that entry.

A couple of people from Chile have complaints about Newsweek’s portrayal. Both say that drugs don’t play as large a role as Newsweek says. One says that most teens hate pokemones (i.e. it’s not as mainstream a movement as Newsweek says), and the other notes that pokemones are not necessarily driven to orgiastic excesses when it comes to sex, either.

Once again, if you want more sides to the story, be sure to read those comments!

Sex, drugs, and Pokemon? It’s more likely than you think! Newsweek reports on a group of teens called “Pokemones,” who have drugs and orgies (called “ponceo”) and “[draw] inspiration from Japanese anime culture.”

The crews are bisexual and tricked out with the latest gadgets and goodies, courtesy of Chile’s free market economy. I find it kind of interesting that one person worries that the girls are being taken advantage of by the guys “in a situation where a premium is placed on looking cool.” But clearly no one worries about whether any of the girls are taking advantage of the guys, eh?

The actual relationship of this “movement” to anime is simply that the kids are into the stuff. Kind of an interesting read, though. In fact, I think I’d rather watch an anime about these “pokemon” than the originals.

Posted by gia in Anime, Gossip, Misc, News, Western News • Comments (10)

So I happen to be sitting here with CNN on in the background waiting for breaking news on the primaries, and an article popped up about kids in Iraq who enjoy a particular kids’ show, which acts as a particularly innocent and youthful refuge from the warzone that sits right outside their doors. Standard, slightly fluffy soft news, pretty well-done.

But then I noticed a familiar face among the characters and kids on the show…

Hey! It’s Pikachu! I wonder if they got permission to use him? (Though if Nintendo tries to shut them down I’m going to have to lay some smack down, as the kids say.) It was really cute, the reporter interviewed one of the little kids on the show, and she said she really loves Pokemon.

Pokemon comforts Iraqi children, Haruhi is the patron saint of children in Gaza…awww!

Posted by gia in Misc, On the Fridge • Comments (5)

Okay, ANN’s headline is “Tokyo Anime Center’s Kubo Offers Proposal on Fansubs,” but I don’t actually see a proposal in there anywhere. I see mention that fansubs have played a role in the decline of anime sales, and a single suggestion that someone deal with the “10 fans” (?!) who put subbed videos on YouTube, BitTorrent, etc (preferably by “officially making use of their abilities”), but uh…wait, did he count right? Ten fans?

I mean, first off, a lot of fansubs get put up on YouTube by people OTHER than the subbers, and probably by people whose “abilities” are…uh…to upload videos to YouTube. And the number of subbers– or even just the number of fansub translators –has got to be bigger than ten.

Not to mention, does that even count as a proposal? They DO say they want to find a way to make some content on NicoNico and YouTube and the like legal, but there’s no actual “how” in here. I even went and checked the original article…nothing.

I’m so confused.

Original source: MyCom
Secondary source: AnimeNewsNetwork

Posted by gia in Anime, Gossip, JP News, Legal, News, Western News • Comments (5)