Brave Frontier Collaboration with “My Hero Academia”

SAN FRANCISCO, ANZ, AND SOUTHEAST ASIA – July 24, 2018 –  gumi Inc has announced that fans of the award-winning anime My Hero Academia will be able to summon their favorite characters from July 26th to August 22nd! Summon these Pro Heroes-in-the-making into your Squad and help them achieve their true heroic potential!

The highlights of this collaboration are as follows:

Collaboration Units
Summon these Pro Heroes-in-the-making from the Number 1 Hero Academy in Japan, U.A. High School:

  1. Izuku Midoriya 
    A helpful yet somewhat timid young man, Izuku thought his dreams of becoming a hero were destined for failure after discovering that he was Quirkless. Despite this, he continued to be diligent in his studies in hopes of someday becoming worthy of being called a hero. Soon, he acquired the legendary Quirk One For All.
  2. Ochaco Uraraka 
    A bubbly, vivacious young lady with an unexpected fierceness when it comes to protecting her friends, Ochaco always tries to see the good in those around her. Her Quirk is Zero Gravity, which allows her to make any object she touches float in mid-air.
  3. Katsuki Bakugo 
    Arrogant and aggressive, Katsuki is supremely confident in both his martial abilities and his explosive Quirk. Although he is known for being reckless and brash, Katsuki can be surprisingly kind when he wants to be.
  4. Tsuyu Asui 
    Calm and levelheaded, Tsuyu can be counted on to be straightforward with her opinions no matter the situation. She is very kind and observant, regardless of how people may ostracize her for her odd appearance. With her Quirk Frog, she has shown herself to be a tremendous asset when fighting alongside other heroes.

[Read more…]

Gundam Thunderbolt Premiere & Concert at Anime NYC

ANIME NYC TO HOST PREMIERE & CONCERT FOR 2ND GUNDAM THUNDERBOLT MOVIE

Concert Will Feature Gundam Thunderbolt Composer Naruyoshi Kikuchi
NEW YORK, NY (July 18, 2017) – LeftField Media and SUNRISE Inc. today announced the inaugural Anime NYC festival will play host to the US premiere of Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower, the second film in the Gundam Thunderbolt series, and that this premiere will be accompanied by a live concert featuring the music of Gundam Thunderbolt led by composer Naruyoshi Kikuchi.

Anime NYC powered by Crunchyroll is a new Japanese pop culture convention launching November 17-19, 2017 in New York’s Javits Center, and it will bring fans together with creators and companies from across America and Japan. SUNRISE’s Gundam Thunderbolt premiere and concert will take place within Anime NYC on Sunday, November 19th.

Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower is a sci-fi story grounded in the warfare of today and uniquely brought to life by the music of Naruyoshi Kikuchi. One of Japan’s greatest jazz composers and musicians, Mr. Kikuchi is acclaimed at home in Japan and around the world, and no stranger to anime, he’s also the composer of the Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine soundtrack and his saxophone can be heard in the music of Cowboy Bebop.

Mr. Kikuchi will appear at Anime NYC as an Official Guest, leading and performing in the Gundam Thunderbolt series concert, as well as speaking on panels and signing autographs.

[Read more…]

Doraemon Sneakers

This bubbly blue robot cat Doraemon is very popular in Asia.  The character created by Fujiko F. Fujio gets a special sneaker treatment from Packer Shoes x atmos x Reebok, the Doraemon Instapump Fury OG Pad.

[Read more…]

Comic Book Preview: Sherlock – The Blind Banker #2

blindbanker0201Benedict Cumberbatch gets the manga treatment with the Blind Banker mini-series.

blindbanker0202 [Read more…]

Frankie’s Garage: A Chevy Corvette Turned into a Mach 5

sppedracermach5The 1960s anime Speed Racer left an impression with this car fanatic and customizer Jerry Patrick.  His dream was to build the Mach 5 car from the cartoon.  What was once a 1994 Chevy Corvette has been chopped, sliced and converted into Speed Racer’s Mach 5.  The car uses fiber class for the shape and look.  The process takes about 3-5 months to build one.

[Read more…]

Pop! Animation: Cowboy Bebop

cb1cb3Funko’s popular line of Pop! figures gets some Cowboy Bebop action.  One of my all-time favorite animes is Cowboy Bebop.  The Pop! Animation line will feature Spike, Jet, Faye and Ed.  These figures will drop this December 2016.

[Read more…]

Gundam Virtual Reality Battle

gundamvrjapantimes

What is it like to watch a battle between a giant Gundam Mobile Suit and Zaku?  Well, Bandai Namco in Japan will take you there VR-style with there experimental VR Zone Project iCan in Odaiba.  The Gundam VR attraction is located in the Divercity Tokyo Plaza shopping mall right next to the giant Gundam statue.

[Read more…]

Naruto Ramen Tees

naruto00Do you like watching the anime Naruto and eating ramen noodles?  This is a cool looking BAIT exclusive graphic tee picturing Naruto eating noodles.

naruto01 [Read more…]

Interview with Artists Scrotumnose & Onihat

scrotumnosecoveronihatcoverWe have double the fun in Artist Alley from FanimeCon 2015.  Ramen host Eddie Ballar interviews artists David Alegre aka Scrotumnose and Ashley Tahilan aka Onihat.  Davie talks about his food pun artwork and Ashley about her cool stickers.

[Read more…]

Interview with Artist Whitney Jiar

wjcoverartWe take fans into Artist Alley from FanimeCon 2015.  Ramen and a Half host Eddie Ballar interviews artist Whitney Jiar about her art work and FanimeCon.

[Read more…]

Interview with Jrock band Back-On!

back-oninterviewThis video was recorded at FanimeCon 2015, our Ramen and a Half host Eddie Ballar interviews the Jrock band Back-On!  The band talks about how they got together and their favorite anime to watch.

[Read more…]

Interview with Voice Actress Ai Nonaka

jonelleainonakainterviewWith the biggest NorCal anime convention happening this Memorial Day weekend, we had some unreleased FanimeCon 2015 footage that’s out now! From our Retrenders vault, our interview with voice actress/singer Ai Nonaka.  Recored at FainmeCon 2015.

[Read more…]

SixOn Clothing Fashion Showcase

sixonnewfashion2016SixOn Clothing recently held a fashion show for their new clothing line-up of hoodies at Desu Nation in Temple City, CA.  Inspiration for these new hoodie designs came from the anime Macross and video games like Zelda and Final Fantasy.  The hoodie line-up is available for pre-order right now @ SixOn Clothing.  Prices range from $70.00-$75.00USD.

[Read more…]

Yummy Food @ the Gundam Cafe

gundamcaferestaurantgundamsquareI’ve been to Tokyo several times, but have never traveled to Osaka.  Now I have a bucket list item to do, travel to Osaka for Gundam Square and eat some food at the Gundam Cafe.  I’m not the most hardcore Gundam fan in the world, but I do like many of the animations and bought lots of the snap-on model kits as a kid.  But what I really want to do is eat the “anime inspired” food!

[Read more…]

The Blu-ray/DVD Gift Guide 2015

hayaocollectionbluray2015We are in the “future” of streaming all of our video content, supposedly, but if you’re “old school” like me, that like to have a physical copy of that Blu-ray/DVD movie in your hands, then check out this 2015 Blu-ray/DVD Gift Guide for your nerdy friends or for your own video library.

Once you’ve tasted 1080 HD viewing experience, it’s really hard to go back to standard DVD viewing, so we’ll kick-off the 2015 Blu-ray/DVD Gift Guide with a Blu-ray list first!

++++++

hayaobluraycollectionFor the first time in North America, we get the “The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki,” which is a Blu-ray Amazon Exclusive.  The Blu-ray collection features 11 iconic Hayao Miyazaki films: Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, and The Wind Rises. There is also a bonus disc and an exclusive art book.

[Read more…]

Supreme x Toshio Maeda = Fall/Winter 2015

toshiomaeda“Hentai” apparel anyone?  Well know street brand Supreme is teaming up erotic manga artist Toshio Maeda for a mini-capsule collection.  The capsule collection features a jacket, sweatshirt, long sleeve tee, a pillow and 2 graphic tees.  Look for the collection to drop in NYC and LA Supreme “physical” locations and online on February 27, 2015.

toshiomaeda00 [Read more…]

Big Hero 6 Marvel Team Tin Lunch Box

bighero6lunchboxLunch box collectors will truly enjoy picking-up this collector’s tin lunch box from the Disney/Marvel Big Hero 6 flick.  This spiffy Big Hero 6 Tin Lunch Box comes with cool artwork on the box and measures 7″5/8 x 6″.

[Read more…]

Japan: Gundam Silverware

gundamsilverwarecoverIn Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture is famous for Kutani-ware, which is a traditional porcelain style of bowls, plates, cups and chopsticks.  To celebrate the 360th anniversary, the Kutani ceramic art style combines with futuristic Mobile Suit Gundam robots on sale for at Premium Bandai online and later at Gundam Cafes.

gundamsilverwarecover2 [Read more…]

The Creator of Attack on Titan: Hajime Isayama

attackontitanmangaThe Japanese manga series “Attack on Titan” has taken the world by storm and has made Japanese artist Hajime Isayama a star.  In this exclusive BBC interview, Hajime talks about the ups and downs of becoming a manga artist and his inspirations on creating Attack on Titan.

[Read more…]

Wizard World 2015 San Jose Coverage Playlist

wizardworldHey Retrenders fans!  If you missed Wizard World 2015 from San Jose a few weeks back and want to see all of our Ramen and a Half video coverage of the 3-day con, well, hit up our Wizard World SJ playlist on YouTube!

 

Kingdom Hearts 3 Announcements

kingdom hearts 3The Disney-only convention D23 made some big splashes and one of them was the video game Kingdom Hearts 3.  The Disney x Square Enix collaboration announced two new worlds for the game, the world of Tangled and the Big Hero 6 city San Fransokyo.

[Read more…]

What do you ask a Pikachu at Fanimecon?

Sayori Chu - Fanimecon Pikachus - RetrendersOkay, not a Pikachu, a Raichu. Anyway, lets find out what Sayori Chu has to ask this Raichu?

SF Anime Festival & Cosplay 2015

SFAnimeFestivalandCosplay2015

We’ve been a little behind editing many videos from various events we’ve attended this summer.  Here’s a quick recap of the SF Anime Festival & Cosplay in Japantown that took place on July 18, 2015.  The Ramen crew was there to see all the cosplay fun and meet-up with special cosplay guest Reika from Japan.

[Read more…]

A animated tribute to Hayao Miyazaki

tributehayaomizakipcitureOne of the legends of anime is Hayao Miyazaki and this fan-made anime-video tribute is pretty cool.  As you watch the video montage, many of Hayao Miyazaki’s characters appear in a roll call.  Sit back and enjoy.

FanimeCon 2015: Roaming the Vendor Floor

FanimeCon CoverRamen’s newest member Sayori Chu roams the vendor floor looking for cool stuff to buy.  We take a look at the Panda Hat and Tech Shop booths at Fanime.