Japan Reacts

Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • Giants Battle Back to Tie Hiroshima in the 7th — Bullpen Moves Spark Debate

    On September 22, 2026, the Giants-Hiroshima game at Mazda Stadium got off to a rough start for the Giants. In the 5ch live-thread, when reliever Funasako — who took over from starter Togo — struggled with his control and kept giving up runs, fans piled on with calls for a pitching change, like “just walk him” and “change the pitcher already, lol.” When the Giants finally tied it up in the 7th, comments of “tied it up!” brought a brief moment of calm, but debate over managerial decisions — including whether Sakamoto should have been asked to bunt — continued on.

    1AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:27
    Previous thread
    Giants Acting Manager Thread 146
    3AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:28
    Mazda Stadium
    Starting Lineups
    【Giants】　　【Hiroshima】
    8 Matsumoto 　　　 7 Sato K.
    4 Yoshikawa 　 4 Kikuchi
    6 Izumiguchi　　　 8 Nakamura S.
    3 Darbeck 3 Sakakura
    2 Ohshiro 　　　 5 Sasaki
    5 Sakamoto　　　 9 Suekasa
    7 Suzuki D.　　　 2 Ishihara
    9 Sasahara 　　　 6 Katsuta
    1 Togo　　 　 1 Tamamura
    4AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:36
    If our boys don't tie it up in the 7th, we lose 98% of the time lol
    143AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:07
    Re: #4
    Tied it up!
    19AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:46
    Suekasa's been benched forever — if he gets a hit here I'll be shook lol
    20AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:47
    Just walk this guy too, change the pitcher already lol
    21AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:47
    22AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:48
    He can't throw a strike anymore, he's gonna groove one right down the middle lol
    31AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:50
    Maybe they should've just left Togo in after all…
    35AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:50
    All he did was set up a save chance for the fireman (reliever who comes in to put out the fire) lol
    38AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:52
    The 'Fireman King' race between Horita and Funasako is fierce too (a joking title for the reliever who bails out the most messes)
    41AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:52
    Once Funasako falls behind in the count he just grooves it right down the middle lol
    42AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:52
    Trying to win with starter Togo and reliever Norimoto is a stretch
    That's not what a team in a pennant race should be doing
    46AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:53
    At this rate they might as well have started with Funasako from the beginning
    60AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:55
    Their season's hanging by a thread this year
    61AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:55
    Giants fans are losing it because they won't send in a pinch hitter lol
    63AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:55
    No point holding them scoreless if we don't score either
    64AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:55
    This is the Fireman King right here lol
    65AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:56
    So, did you know that if they don't tie it up this inning, it's over? lolol
    66AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:56
    Guess they didn't want to break up the battery with Tamamura?
    67AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:57
    If we're gonna lose this embarrassingly to a zombie team, might as well let Hanshin take the pennant
    68AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:57
    He's literally only throwing low-and-away the whole time lol
    74AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:58
    Just got here, but seeing it's the 7th and already the 3rd time through the order starting from the 3-hole, I get the picture
    75AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:58
    Funasako's drinking Rihga Royal Hotel water — I can tell because I drink it on business trips too
    77AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:58
    Rare for them to carry momentum from defense into offense
    78AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:58
    A Darbeck homer
    leading to a comeback win

    — baseball's not gonna be that easy
    82AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:59
    Tamamura's a pitcher who gets shaky the third time through the order
    83AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:59
    If his stuff's too slow to time, or if you just sit fastball, you can go deep
    90AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:00
    Honestly, a bunt would be reasonable here
    91AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:00
    That last swing looked like he was just trying to make contact, not go for a homer
    93AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:00
    This is what happens when you don't pinch hit for Ishihara lol
    95AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:01
    He's the strikeout king, but keep hitting like this and he'll get a contract next season too lol
    97AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:02
    No way you bunt with the traditional cleanup hitter, come on lol
    134AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:06
    They clearly think bunting is the smart play since they keep calling for it, so I don't get why they won't make Sakamoto do it
    142AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:07
    Re: #134
    Under Hara, there were times he had Sakamoto bunt even during his 40-homer season

    Context and Talking Points

    At the time this thread was posted on September 22, the Central League pennant race was in its final stretch, with Hanshin running away with the title and the Giants fighting Hiroshima, DeNA, and others for second place and below. As the material linked in post 6 shows, with Hanshin’s magic number closing in, a win over Hiroshima was directly tied to the Giants’ standing in the race. The thread split over two points of debate: whether it was right to pull starter Togo early and hand the game to the bullpen, and whether Sakamoto should have been made to bunt in the traditionally sacrosanct cleanup spot. Note that the live-thread excerpts quoted here only run through the Giants tying the game in the 7th — the final result of the game is not included in this excerpt.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Giants Acting Manager Thread 147.”

  • Forza Horizon 6’s Japanese Steam Reviews Turn ‘Mixed’ Amid Backlash Over Itasha Bans

    The popular Xbox racing game ‘Forza Horizon 6’ has become a hot topic on 5ch’s hardware/industry (“geha”) board after its Japanese-language Steam reviews dropped to a ‘Mixed’ rating. While the overall review score across all languages remains ‘Very Positive’ out of 87,230 reviews, the 3,802 most recent Japanese-language reviews have fallen to ‘Mixed.’ Players pointed to the developer’s habit of banning “itasha” (custom cars covered in anime/game character graphics) paint jobs one after another — even ones that were never shared publicly or still works in progress — as well as complaints about the matchmaking playlists. Meanwhile, the thread was also awash with thin, unsubstantiated speculation about harassment targeting a specific country or sabotage by Sony.

    1AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:44
    What are we gonna do about this…
    3AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:45
    Looks like Japan ended up with the lowest reviews after all 😭
    4AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:46
    Good thing they didn't release it on PS5 (´・ω・｀)
    5AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:46
    Why is it only Japan that's 'Mixed' while everywhere else is 'Very Positive'?
    I haven't even played it so I don't get it, someone explain.
    7AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:47
    Re: #5
    Complaints about the playlists
    And the itasha ban frenzy
    6AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:47
    Total reviews across all languages:
    87,230
    (Very Positive)

    Recent reviews in Japanese:
    3,802
    (Mixed)


    Guess the weirdos are kicking up a fuss again lol
    9AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:48
    Re: #7
    Itasha, huh… guess getting banned for that is kind of understandable.
    36AnonymousSep 22, 2026 13:53
    Re: #9
    No, they're banning stuff that isn't even shared — unfinished, half-made designs too.
    The devs are absolute garbage.
    19AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:54
    This is a series that got attention BECAUSE of itasha, come on!!
    20AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:55
    When it comes to itasha in games, it just comes down to the manufacturer saying 'no doodling on our cars,' end of story.
    In real life the car belongs to the owner, but in-game it's Microsoft's data under license from the manufacturer.
    If the license doesn't get approved, that's a problem for them.
    22AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:58
    Re: #20
    But they used to say it was fine because it's just a bunch of symbols?

    The devs are just mechanically banning stuff without actually doing their jobs.
    21AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:57
    There's a crowd that cares more about itasha than racing, and another crowd that shoves teammates off the track in co-op.
    The playerbase's manners are pretty bad.
    And on top of that the devs are a mess too — I think anyone giving this game a thumbs up is at least partly just being nice.
    25AnonymousSep 22, 2026 13:10
    It was fun, but
    isn't there any more map or DLC content coming?
    26AnonymousSep 22, 2026 13:15
    Re: #25
    Apparently the first one's coming before year's end — usually they drop two, that's the pattern.
    62AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:39
    I saw someone say they got banned just for having another player's itasha show up in a photo — is that actually true?
    71AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:46
    Re: #62
    Just taking the photo seems to be fine.
    Saving or sharing it is apparently what gets you banned.
    64AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:40
    I've been playing this pretty much every day and honestly I don't really get why it's 'Mixed.'
    Reading the replies, is this about some country griping over custom itasha designs and the Rising Sun flag or whatever? It's a genuinely good game.
    67AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:42
    Re: #64
    FE and FH6 are genuinely fun games,
    but negative news keeps spreading about them like crazy.
    It's really strange.

    That's assuming Sony isn't behind some kind of interference, though.
    69AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:44
    Re: #64
    Aside from that, the score was already dropping from complaints about the playlists too.
    70AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:45
    FH6 originally had a PS5 release planned too,
    so after launch it didn't get smeared with negative campaigns at all.

    But then the whole Kojima Productions departure incident broke out,
    and suddenly negative news about it started spreading all at once.
    72AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:48
    Re: #70
    Seriously? lol, Kojima's the worst.
    83AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:03
    My guess for why the Xbox version isn't getting hit as hard
    is that your Xbox account gives you away, and people can't just prepare thousands of Xbox accounts and consoles.

    With the Steam version, one single PC can be used to file thousands of reports.

    You'd think the reports should really be piling up
    on the Xbox version instead, since it has way more players.
    85AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:05
    Re: #83
    Hey buddy who hasn't even played it, this game has cross-play.
    93AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:39
    Well, it's simple.

    Anything that exists on Xbox
    but not on PlayStation
    is absolutely going to become a target for smear campaigns.

    That's all there is to it.
    94AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:42
    Re: #93
    Quit flip-flopping.

    Background and Key Points

    Steam’s review ratings are tallied separately for “all-time, all languages” and “recent reviews by language,” and it’s this distinction that sparked the discussion this time. Overall, the game maintains a “Very Positive” rating across 87,230 reviews, but the 3,802 most recent reviews from Japanese-language users alone have sunk to “Mixed.” The itasha bans raised in the thread are widely believed to stem from the developer mechanically removing paint jobs modeled on real cars because they exceed the scope of the automakers’ licensing agreements, though no official explanation has been given. Posts alleging sabotage by Sony or harassment targeting a specific nationality also appeared, but these remain unconfirmed speculation with no evidence behind them.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (“Geha”)) thread “[Sad News] Forza Horizon 6’s Devs Are So Terrible Its Steam Reviews Have Finally Turned ‘Mixed’ 😇“.

  • Kamikoryo, Asakura, Inaba… Hello! Project’s Golden Generation — 5ch Debates: ‘A Solo Hit Doesn’t Always Lift the Group’

    On 5ch’s Hello! Project board, a thread sprang up reminiscing about an audition generation that produced popular members like Kamikoryo Moe, Asakura Kiki, and Inaba Manaka. As posters traded memories of the era’s contestants and their later careers, one comment about Kamikoryo Moe — “even though she made it big solo, it never translated into anything for the group” — sparked debate over whether an ace’s individual popularity actually lifts the group as a whole. Other candidates like Nonaka Miki and Shimamura Kiuta also came up for discussion, in an exchange only longtime fans who remember the era could have.

    1AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:29
    That was the strongest generation, right?
    2AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:30
    Re: #1
    Nah, the only one who's the strongest is Kamikoryo lolololol
    3AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:30
    The Hello! Project "Kamiko" era (fan nickname for Kamikoryo Moe's generation) is the best thing since the early breakout years.
    6AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:31
    Re: #3
    Kamikoryo really blew up, huh.
    7AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:32
    Who else was in the Kamiko audition batch?
    I remember Asakura and Nonaka being in it.
    24AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:42
    Re: #7
    Makino, Niinuma, Tanimoto, Onoda, Danbara, Yamaki, Funaki, Hamaura, Shimamura
    8AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:32
    Here comes the creepy 'original members' otaku argument ↓
    10AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:34
    That's not the Kamiko audition — that's the Ogata-Nonaka audition.
    12AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:35
    Re: #10
    Ah, the first one — the one she didn't make it through?
    11AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:35
    Kamiko isn't someone you can put on the same level as Inaba or Asakura.
    Those two are in a different league.
    If you want names on par with Kamiko, it's Michishige, Tsugunaga, Makino.
    13AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:36
    Re: #11
    M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-Makino?????????
    17AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:37
    Re: #11
    Confirmed Makino fan lolololol
    Makino fans show up everywhere lolololololol
    14AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:36
    The Kamiko audition also had Kiyono Momohime and Yonemura Kirara among its entrants.
    16AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:37
    Kamiko was the stronger name for TV work, but when I actually went to a live show, Rikako was the one carrying it with her dancing — Angerme were strong.
    18AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:38
    The one who actually passed should've been batchmates with Yonemura and Kiyono around then, but there's no real story about it, is there?
    Only one made it to the final round too, so it felt like the outcome was decided in advance.
    19AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:39
    Re: #18
    Those kids were still little, though.
    The age gap's way too big — they were probably just trainee filler anyway.
    Kamiko's spot must have been locked in for certain.
    20AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:40
    Re: #18
    Kamiko was already a high school freshman by then, so those kids were just kids.
    21AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:40
    This really proves that a group riding on one absolute ace has nowhere left to go afterward.
    28AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:45
    No matter how much I watched Kamikoryo, I always had this nagging doubt — she was strong as an individual, but her solo success never really brought anything to the group.
    Then right after she graduated, I watched Juice=Juice blow up as a whole unit, and I thought, this is what I wanted to see all along.
    29AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:45
    Re: #28
    Kamikoryo kept Angerme selling for 5 years.
    You guys were done in 8 months.
    34AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:50
    38AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:51
    Re: #34
    So basically all of Hello! Project's main members from a while back came out of this audition.
    81AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:09
    Re: #34
    Onoda was such a serious kid back then 😂
    42AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:52
    Being able to keep things moving while playing dumb is a real skill. People probably genuinely think MCs on TV don't actually know the answers when they ask 'dumb' questions on air.
    There are a lot of old-timers like that on Ōkami (a veteran-heavy old-school Hello!Project forum), aren't there.
    43AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:53
    Re: #42
    On Ōkami they get genuinely mad at the MC — like 'why didn't you study that much before coming?!' lol
    It's a script, lol
    51AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:55
    Re: #42
    I've seen it happen over and over.
    Why are the old-timers on Ōkami so out of touch?
    48AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:55
    They should've put Danbara and Funaki in Mirai Shoujo.
    53AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:56
    Re: #48
    D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-Danbara??????
    52AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:56
    I mean, even Nonaka reportedly thought Asakura was the one who'd pass.
    54AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:56
    Re: #52
    Looking at this, Kamikoryo, Nonaka, Asakura, and Shimamura were obviously going to pass, right?
    62AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:01
    Nonaka was absolutely, without question, going to pass.

    Nonaka's face is smaller and her legs are longer than you guys realize.

    Just remember that and go home.
    63AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:01
    Re: #62
    I don't usually pay attention to it, but Cheru's small face really is something else.
    84AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:10
    Shimamura was also called a prodigy talent over in Country Girls.
    85AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:12
    Re: #84
    She was an absolute next-level talent.
    She started out basically winning by herself.

    Background and Points of Debate

    The “Kamiko audition” discussed in this thread is, as post 10 notes, also referred to by some posters as the “Ogata-Nonaka audition,” showing that even participants in the discussion don’t fully agree on the name or the details. Opinions comparing Kamikoryo Moe’s individual popularity to the group’s overall sales performance came up, but Hello! Project has seen both patterns before — cases where one ace pulls the group along and other members grow afterward, and cases where popularity is spread across multiple members from the start — and fans remain divided on which is more desirable. It’s worth noting that the comments about ages and career histories rely solely on the memories of fans who followed the era at the time, and haven’t been cross-checked against official records.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Back when Kamikoryo, Asakura, Inaba, and that crowd were around.”

  • Secondhand Bookstores Hit With Wave of Bulk Orders — “50 Tons of Japanese Books” Reportedly Exported to US for AI Training

    Nippon TV News reporting has revealed that online secondhand bookstores across Japan have seen a wave of bulk orders since around August this year. Booksellers report selling “100 books a day” and, on some days, sales “five times the usual,” fueling speculation in the industry that buyers are collecting training data for generative AI. Follow-up reporting confirmed export records showing more than 50 tons of books shipped from Japan to the United States. On 5ch, users debated whether even handwritten cursive (kuzushiji) Japanese-bound books and rare volumes are being fed into AI training and then discarded, and puzzled over why physical secondhand books — rather than e-books — are being targeted.

    Tue, 9/22, 10:30 AM

    Nippon TV News NNN

    Online secondhand bookstores across Japan have seen a wave of bulk orders since around August this year. Booksellers interviewed say they’re “selling 100 books a day” and that “sales were five times normal on some days,” fueling industry speculation that the goal is to gather training data for generative AI (artificial intelligence). Further investigation turned up export records showing more than 50 tons shipped from Japan to the United States. Is it acceptable for books to be consumed and discarded for AI training?

    Source: topics.smt.docomo.ne.jp / Original article here

    22AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:47
    And since they'll just get thrown away afterward, all these valuable old books keep disappearing one after another.
    38AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:51
    Re: #22
    That's probably true for printed type, but there's no way AI can handle Japanese-bound books written in flowing cursive script, right?
    45AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:53
    Re: #38
    I don't think it's impossible — you just need to train it on the patterns.
    48AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:54
    Re: #38
    Just give it a character-recognition app as a subroutine.
    25AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:49
    Once this is all wrapped up, next they'll start harvesting data from humans. And once that happens, humans won't be needed anymore.
    91AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:06
    Re: #25
    Because they'll do everything — swap out screws, oil the parts, whatever it takes!
    106AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:09
    Re: #25
    This is already happening in China — it's called 'human distillation.' Feed an employee's entire email history into the AI, and it learns exactly what work they do and what instructions they give — then that person becomes unnecessary.
    218AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:28
    Re: #25
    I hope that world gets here soon. Humans aren't needed.
    63AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:59
    Is this the Shiba Ryotaro legend? They say whenever he started a new book, every related title would vanish from the secondhand shops.
    126AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:14
    Re: #63
    Judging by the Shiba Ryotaro Memorial Museum, he did have a large personal library, but not quite to that extent — sounds like the story just kept getting exaggerated.
    143AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:16
    Re: #63
    Tengyu Shoten, maybe. That could be the same shop behind the '10,000-book inquiry' in western Japan too.
    73AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:01
    Are there even any foreigners who can read classical Japanese, Chinese classics, and old historical documents?
    75AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:02
    Re: #73
    It's not a person doing the reading, remember.
    109AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:10
    Re: #73
    AI has already gotten pretty good at Japanese cursive script (kuzushiji). It'll probably end up surpassing human experts eventually.
    80AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:04
    Why isn't Japan doing this itself? If we end up depending on America for everything — AI, potatoes, you name it — they'll literally hold our life and death in their hands.
    89AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:05
    Re: #80
    China's got its own AI too, so… need I say more.
    101AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:08
    Re: #80
    Honestly, this is exactly the kind of thing Japan should be doing — building its own AI and cataloguing and preserving this information itself. If they're going to waste 7.2 billion yen on PR campaigns, they should spend it on this instead.
    93AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:06
    Can't they just train it on the complete historical stock price data?
    104AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:08
    Re: #93
    With stocks, past price movements aren't that useful as a reference anymore — AI itself has become one of the players moving the prices now, not just an observer of them.
    110AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:10
    Re: #93
    You mean quants. Financial engineering has a long history — Black Monday in 1987 and the repeated crashes since then are often blamed on quants. Forty years on and it's still like this — useless.
    107AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:10
    AI can read books too? Do they attach some kind of page-turning machine to it?
    113AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:11
    Re: #107
    They cut the spine off and scan it. The disassembled book gets thrown away. There's suspicion that a lot of books — including rare ones — are being discarded this way, and it's becoming a real problem.
    141AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:16
    Re: #107
    These days there are scanners that turn pages without cutting the book apart. There are videos of them on YouTube.
    150AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:18
    There's no need to buy the physical version in the first place — just buy the Kindle e-book. Are they dumb or something?
    162AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:20
    Re: #150
    Because some information gets stripped out when books are digitized.
    198AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:25
    Re: #150
    Apparently e-book terms of service prohibit using them for AI training… plus they're scooping up old books that were never digitized in the first place.
    169AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:21
    Recent books are one thing, but surely they're not scanning and tossing out Edo-period or Meiji-era books too, are they?
    175AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:22
    Re: #169
    I think that's exactly the problem.
    172AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:21
    If it means the world becomes more like Japan, I'm not against it.
    206AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:27
    Re: #172
    Start with abolishing the tipping system — that's where this conversation needs to begin.
    216AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:28
    Re: #172
    This isn't just Japan — it's happening worldwide.
    199AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:26
    It's kind of shocking how Japanese-written finance and investment books are often nothing but summaries and quotes lifted from foreign books.
    215AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:28
    Re: #199
    Same with sociology books, isn't it? They take what's trendy overseas and use the language barrier to mark it up and sell it here.

    Background and Key Points

    The unauthorized scraping of online text and images to build generative AI training datasets has repeatedly sparked controversy across various countries. Physical secondhand books often have murky copyright status, whereas e-books are typically restricted from AI-training use under their terms of service — a distinction some thread posters pointed to when noting that buyers seem to be “scooping up secondhand books rather than digitized ones.” That said, this report rests only on booksellers’ testimony and export statistics; it has not been confirmed that the buyers are actually using the books for generative AI training. While the thread raised concern that even cursive-script (kuzushiji) materials and rare books might be cut apart and discarded, the article itself does not confirm the actual scale of disposal or exactly which books are involved — worth keeping in mind.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “Mysterious Bulk Orders Hit Secondhand Bookstores… AI Training? Export Records Show ’50 Tons of Japanese Books’ Bound for the US.”

  • “Silent Hill: Townfall” Lands Metascore of 81, Fans Immediately Start Comparing It to Wolverine

    The Metascore for Konami’s upcoming horror title Silent Hill: Townfall has landed at 81. On 5ch’s “Hardware/Industry” board (nicknamed “Geha,” short for ゲームハード, “game hardware”), posters immediately started comparing the score to Sony’s Marvel’s Wolverine, which launched around the same time, with reactions split between “higher than Wolverine” and “guess that’s about average.” The thread also noted that IGN and Eurogamer each scored the game 80, with some posters zeroing in on how individual outlets scored it. Meanwhile, with the September 24 release approaching, reports of weak first-week sales forecasts surfaced too, and plenty of posts voiced worry about how well the game will actually sell.

    1AnonymousSep 22, 2026 14:57
    Guess that's about average?
    4AnonymousSep 22, 2026 14:58
    Wolverine caused such a frenzy that nobody on Geha even remembered this series was launching.
    5AnonymousSep 22, 2026 14:58
    After a 77, this feels high somehow (´・ω・｀)
    6AnonymousSep 22, 2026 14:59
    Guess they'll get a black guy to stream this one too, huh? (jab at viral streamer clips that drove Wolverine hype)
    7AnonymousSep 22, 2026 14:59
    It's on the lower side, but yeah, about what you'd expect.
    8AnonymousSep 22, 2026 14:59
    10AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:00
    Re: #8
    This game's already become a toy for the 'gaijin bros' (外人ニキ, slang for enthusiastic overseas fans) huh.
    63AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:51
    Re: #8
    lol (草, literally "grass" — net slang for LOL) same deal here, holding up a Wolverine disc
    pretty sure there was even one of a guy being led to a toilet with it
    9AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:00
    Maybe Marvel should've just had Konami make the Wolverine game — might've sold better.
    11AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:00
    Total shovelware, worse than Wilds (Monster Hunter Wilds).
    15AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:01
    Re: #11
    But it scored higher than Sony's 'masterpiece' Wolverine though? 😤
    13AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:01
    Any game launching right now is lucky honestly — the 'at least it's better than Wolverine' effect makes it look more competent than it really is.
    16AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:02
    If 81 is without any 'Sony bonus points,' it's probably decently fun for real.
    Wolverine's 77 already includes the Sony bonus, so its real score is more like 60. (recurring forum theory that first-party Sony titles get score inflation)
    17AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:03
    Konami's low-budget game beats Wolverine.
    18AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:04
    Too plain to care about compared to 'Silent Hinamizawa' (a joke mashup nickname combining Silent Hill with Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, set in the village of Hinamizawa).
    19AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:04
    At this score range, which outlets gave what actually matters, no?
    22AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:08
    Guess nobody cares — there weren't even many threads about it on Geha.
    23AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:08
    Cranking these out cheap via outsourcing is a solid strategy.
    26AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:10
    Re: #23
    Except the IP's credibility is tanking though.
    25AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:09
    Took a quick look —

    IGN 80
    Eurogamer 80

    Feels like a pretty average game.
    28AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:10
    Re: #25
    Still better than a 60-rated game…
    36AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:14
    Re: #25
    That's rated better than 'Sell-verine' (売るヴァリン, a mocking pun on 売る "to sell" + Wolverine) though
    Guess the gameplay system just hasn't changed much.
    30AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:10
    PS5 version — SILENT HILL: Townfall (サイレントヒル タウンフォール)
    Release date: Sept 24
    Sales ranking: #35

    Smells like a 4-digit opening week for this one (i.e. under 10,000 units, considered weak for a AAA title) (´・ω・`)
    33AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:12
    So it's more fun than that $300 million blockbuster!
    34AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:12
    Lol, there's officially a 'Wolverine line' now (using it as the benchmark for every other game's score).
    35AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:13
    A game that's merely 'better than Wolverine' lmaooo.
    38AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:15
    Black protagonist, photorealistic, single-player adventure, well-known franchise — exactly the type of game Metacritic tends to favor, so you'd hope for something more like 85.
    39AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:16
    Preorders are pretty dire — looks like it'll open around 10-15k units, roughly 20% of [Silent Hill] f's numbers (referring to the prior series entry, Silent Hill f).
    40AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:17
    Another legend added to the pile of 'Bomb-station 5' flops? (爆死ステーション5, a mocking nickname for the PS5 over its string of commercial flops)
    84AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:10
    The big outlets that all gave Wolverine around 60 are giving this one 80, so it's probably not as bad as Wolverine was, right?

    Might as well just wait and buy the Xbox version — this seems like the type that ends up half price eventually.
    85AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:12
    Re: #84
    Just buy it on Steam — domestically in Japan it was showing up pretty high on the 'coming soon' popularity list.
    Globally though it was losing badly to Control: Resonant, which is competing with Onimusha (鬼武者, Capcom's samurai action franchise) around the same time.
    90AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:14
    Re: #84
    That 60 for Wolverine was basically the big outlets warning, 'pay up for ad spend or we'll dock your score' 😂 (a recurring conspiracy theory about pay-for-review-score deals)
    97AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:17
    The nerve to sell a costume as a preorder bonus… in a first-person game where you'd never even see it.
    100AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:19
    Re: #97
    Seriously? lol
    That's kind of hilarious.

    Background and Discussion Points

    Metascore is a weighted average, compiled by Metacritic, of scores from major review outlets. There are long-running claims that some overseas publisher deals tie bonuses or clauses to hitting certain score thresholds, and suspicion that review outlets skew scores to reach those targets is a recurring topic of discussion in the games industry. The main axis of debate in this thread was a comparison with Marvel’s Wolverine, which launched around the same time — opinions split over whether 81 looked high or low next to that game’s score. The thread also flagged that IGN and Eurogamer each gave the game 80, drawing attention to how the major outlets tend to score things. There was also discussion of weak first-week sales forecasts and how the game is being marketed, but since that’s a separate topic from how the game itself was received critically, this article focuses mainly on reactions to the review scores.

    ※This article is an excerpt and summary based on the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, aka “Geha”) board thread ““Silent Hill: Townfall” Metascore 81.”

  • Average Savings for Singles Hits ¥16.3 Million — But 5ch Says ‘The Median Is More Like ¥1 Million’: ‘This Is Seriously Brutal’

    Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has released its “National Survey of Single-Person Household Income and Expenditure” (Reiwa 6 / 2024), revealing the average net financial assets held by single-person households. Men held an average of ¥16,303,000, women ¥13,341,000, and the overall average net financial assets across all single households came to ¥12,733,000. When the figures made the rounds, 5ch users quickly pointed out that “averages alone don’t show the real picture,” with several posting median figures broken down by age group. The huge gap between the average and the median became the focus of the discussion.

    How much are people living alone actually saving?

    The results table for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ National Survey of Single-Person Household Income and Expenditure (Reiwa 6) was updated on August 28, 2026.

    Net financial assets — savings minus debt — averaged ¥12,733,000 per household.

    The author has spent years consulting individual customers at a bank. This article takes a closer look at what makes up single-person households’ savings and debt.

    Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

    7AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:49
    The median's more like ¥1 million though lol
    43AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:00
    Re: #7
    This is seriously brutal
    125AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:20
    Re: #7
    Sorry, that's because I've got ¥110 million
    194AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:35
    Can't trust the median either, honestly

    Re: #7
    Re: #12
    2025, single-person households (never-married/widowed/divorced)
    (Other/both sexes/including unemployed/pension-only/students)

    Average financial assets / Median
    20s: ¥2.55M / ¥370K
    30s: ¥5.01M / ¥1.1M
    40s: ¥8.59M / ¥1.24M
    50s: ¥9.99M / ¥1.43M
    60s: ¥13.64M / ¥3.11M
    70s: ¥14.89M / ¥5.02M
    11AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:51
    No distribution graph, not even a median — do it over
    12AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:51
    Median.
    Case closed.
    20AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:54
    Re: #12
    Re: #11
    The broke crowd always brings up the "median," but that just proves there are a ton of poor people — it doesn't actually tell you anything.
    27AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:56
    Re: #20
    That IS data showing there are a ton of poor people though…
    34AnonymousSep 22, 2026 15:59
    Re: #20
    It's great data — it shows most people are poor with a small number of rich outliers.
    44AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:01
    62, single, unemployed, zero debt.
    Savings, stocks, and bonds combined: ¥45 million.
    Also own a mortgage-free condo I live in, plus a rental property.
    Never married, don't drink, smoke, gamble, or visit the sex industry.
    No hobbies, no friends — just worked steadily.
    Even at a small or mid-size company out in the regions, if you work until retirement you can end up with about this much.
    46AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:01
    Re: #44
    Why not get married?
    62AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:05
    Re: #44
    Plenty of guys get divorced, their kids go off the rails, and they end up a lonely old man anyway. Well, money can probably fix the rest.
    48AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:02
    Single household. Gonna earn a bit more.
    49AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:02
    Right now I've got about ¥40 million all-in on the S&P 500 and eMAXIS Slim All Country ("Orikan"). If I can add another ¥10 million, that'll bring me to ¥60 million including my retirement payout, so I'm planning to side-FIRE and move to Kobe or Fukuoka.
    54AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:04
    Re: #49
    Why Kobe or Fukuoka?
    57AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:04
    Re: #49
    Oh nice. Yeah, I get wanting to take it easy.
    51AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:03
    This is exactly what's behind the current declining birthrate.
    People keep mixing up two different things: households having fewer kids, and the rise in people staying unmarried and having zero kids at all.
    52AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:03
    Anyone worse off than me?
    Early 50s, 40 years as a hikikomori (shut-in), zero savings.
    70AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:07
    Re: #52
    A nightmare wife, terrible kids — a huge burden waiting for you later in life.
    74AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:08
    Re: #52
    You've managed to eat for 40 years without doing anything — doesn't that mean you must have some assets somewhere?
    75AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:09
    I'm in my 40s, single, and sitting on over ¥100 million (an "okurihito") — just watching the show from up here.
    88AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:11
    Re: #75
    What do you spend your money on?
    93AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:13
    Re: #88
    Investing and books.
    I don't have hobbies, so I don't spend on food, travel, drinking, gambling, women, fashion, fan activities ("oshi-katsu"), games, or movies.
    I genuinely don't know what I'm living for, every single day.
    111AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:18
    Re: #93
    Once a person stops creating things, they might as well be dead.
    Apparently things like the makeup and nail art women do are actually good for the brain.
    Doing stuff that looks pointless at first glance matters.
    114AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:18
    Re: #93
    If it keeps you at peace, that's good.
    I'm honestly envious.
    81AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:10
    The S&P 500 has been recovering.
    82AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:10
    Re: #27
    Re: #34
    So looking at that data and thinking "there are tons of poor people, so it's normal for me to be poor too!" — that doesn't actually mean anything.
    97AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:14
    Re: #82
    Nobody actually said "it's normal for me to be poor too!" did they?
    You're really letting your imagination run wild.
    153AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:27
    Average? Median?
    The average means nothing.
    160AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:28
    Re: #153
    Are you upset?
    163AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:28
    I'm 65 and just started living on my pension this year.
    Savings: ¥500,000. Securities: ¥20 million. No debt, though I've got property damage to deal with.
    My water heater broke this year, one of my two IH cooktop burners died, and just the other day my Ivy Bridge motherboard fried too.
    I want to replace it all, but everything's so expensive.
    174AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:30
    Re: #163
    Sounds like me — my AC and washing machine both died within a year.
    175AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:31
    Re: #163
    If you're a man, you've probably only got about 15 years left anyway, so might as well take it easy.
    165AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:29
    My parents got cancer one after another and it wiped out all my savings.
    They died anyway in the end — what was even the point?
    170AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:30
    Re: #165
    That's just how life is.
    177AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:31
    Re: #165
    At least you got to be a good, dutiful son. My parents don't have savings or a pension either, so I've got no choice but to abandon them. I can't even afford to go to the dentist myself.
    192AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:34
    Re: #165
    Couldn't you use the High-Cost Medical Care Benefit system (Japan's cap on out-of-pocket medical expenses)?

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    The figures come from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ “National Survey of Single-Person Household Income and Expenditure” (Reiwa 6 / 2024), whose results table was updated just recently, on August 28, 2026. What drew the most attention on the thread was the gap between the published average (¥12,733,000 in net financial assets) and the age-by-age medians users posted in the replies (¥370,000 for people in their 20s, ¥1.1 million for their 30s, and still only ¥3.11 million even in their 60s). Because averages get pulled sharply upward by a small number of wealthy people, the median is generally seen as closer to what most people actually experience. News coverage tends to lead with the average figure alone, which can obscure how skewed the underlying distribution really is. What stands out about this thread is that it turned less into a debate about wealth disparity among single households itself, and more into a broader discussion of statistical literacy — namely, which number you should actually be looking at.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[Average Savings of Solo Singles] Men: ¥16,303,000, Women: ¥13,341,000 — How Much If Just Counting Deposits?“.

  • 43-Year-Old NEET Seeks to Turn His Life Around — 5ch: “This Kind of Thread Has Been Around for 30 Years”

    “I’m a 43-year-old NEET who wants to turn his life around” — this advice thread, posted on 5ch’s freewheeling “Anything Goes” live-discussion board, drew a mix of responses: some pushed for concrete action, others were flatly dismissive. While posters living with chronic conditions like back pain and acid reflux pointed out that they still manage to hold down jobs despite the same ailments, others kept firing back with “what exactly counts as a ‘turnaround’ anyway?” — and the conversation never quite found common ground. Mixed in was one resident’s report of going from ten years as a NEET to landing a full-time job at 38, making for a thread with surprisingly uneven temperature for its subject.

    1AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:36
    What should I even do?
    5AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:37
    If you've got wants like "I want to do this, I want to do that" that need money, then just go get a job — but if you don't have anything in particular and you're not struggling to get by, there's no need to force it.
    7AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:37
    If OP wants to actually turn his life around, he'd have to reach Elon Musk levels — what do you think about that?
    8AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:37
    Apply to a light-assembly factory job and just work.
    9AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:38
    Re: #8
    Can't — I've got chronic back pain.
    25AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:40
    Re: #9
    Ever think about actually trying to fix it?
    "Can't because of this, can't because of that" — at that rate, a turnaround was never in the cards to begin with.
    30AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:40
    Re: #25
    I'm in the middle of treating it.
    I'll think about it once it's healed.
    11AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:38
    Whatever you do, you'll end up regretting the things you couldn't do when you were young anyway, so I gave up on it.
    20AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:39
    What even counts as a "turnaround"?
    If you want an ordinary life, go work.
    31AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:41
    We can't give you any real advice unless you tell us what you've actually been doing up until now 🤔
    33AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:41
    Re: #31
    I've just been lost in thought this whole time.
    36AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:42
    If you go all in on chasing women, marriage is really the only way to make it stick.
    Even just landing a cute, charming girl around 20 would be enough for everyone around you to think you'd turned your life around.
    42AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:43
    Without runners on base, best you can hope for is a tie.
    43AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:43
    Re: #33
    Like what, specifically?
    45AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:44
    Re: #43
    Stuff about the future, mostly.
    46AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:44
    Alright, so for now the plan is: fix your back.
    Come back once it's healed.
    47AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:44
    This kind of thread has been around for 30 years.
    48AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:45
    Re: #45
    What kind of thoughts about the future, exactly?
    The positive kind, or the negative kind?
    50AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:45
    Re: #30
    So you can't even do something like stocking shelves at a supermarket?
    I'd bet not moving around just makes it worse.
    I've got chronic back pain too, and I work just fine.
    58AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:46
    Classic bait for an affiliate-blog scraper — another "afi-kasu" reply-beggar farming a fake life-turnaround story for ad clicks.
    68AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:48
    You need to say what you actually consider a "turnaround" first — otherwise there's no advice to give.
    69AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:49
    How long have you been a NEET?
    74AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:50
    Re: #69
    Why would I need to say that?
    77AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:51
    Why are you being so combative about it?
    82AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:52
    Re: #77
    Because you guys are acting all high and mighty.
    78AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:51
    I did the NEET thing for 10 years, then turned it around by landing a full-time job at 38.
    87AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:54
    Re: #78
    Nice, you actually did it.
    Did you hear a message from god or something?
    93AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:56
    Re: #78
    That's genuinely impressive.
    You did well.
    80AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:52
    Re: #59
    I've got constant nausea from acid reflux,
    a weak stomach from IBS, and chronic back pain on top of it —
    and I still manage to work.
    If you don't want to be called a loser, you can work.
    If you're aiming for a turnaround, you need to actually earn money.
    85AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:53
    Is there even any point in padding out a thread like this?
    Can you guys not hold an actual conversation?
    96AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:57
    Can you become a pharmacist by just cramming overnight? Maybe I'll go for it.
    97AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:58
    Re: #96
    You can get it after about 5,000 hours of studying — assuming you're even eligible to sit the exam.
    101AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:06
    What even counts as a "turnaround"?
    103AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:07
    Re: #101
    What do you think it is?

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    This kind of “NEET life-advice thread” is a long-running staple on 5ch, and as one poster (reply #47) put it, the format has “been around for 30 years.” What split opinion in this thread was the very definition of a “turnaround.” Some argued that simply working and living an ordinary life counts as a turnaround, while others set an extreme bar, insisting nothing short of reaching “Elon Musk levels” would qualify — and with no shared premise, the discussion never really converged. There was also a gap in tone over how far health issues should be accepted as a valid reason not to work: when the OP cited chronic back pain as an obstacle to employment, other posters living with the same condition pushed back, noting that they manage to work despite it. This piece leaves out posts that were purely personal insults or bait aimed at the OP, but it’s worth noting that encouragement and mockery were running side by side throughout the thread.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (“Anything Goes” live board) thread “43-Year-Old NEET Here, I Want to Turn My Life Around.”

  • Splatoon Raiders Bundle Hits New Record Low — 5ch Dubs It the ‘One-Coin Raiders’

    The bundle version of Splatoon Raiders for Nintendo Switch 2 has dropped to ¥61,199 (tax included, 6% off) on Amazon, setting a new all-time low. Reports of falling resale prices at flea markets and secondhand shops have been piling up too, and on 5ch the talk centered on the spin-off’s weak sales — likely due to its lack of DLC and online multiplayer — set against the limited-edition Zelda bundle released around the same time, which remains hard to find in stock.

    1AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:25
    What are they gonna do with all this dead stock?
    7AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:26
    Switch 2 flop list:
    ・Mario Kart World
    ・Himitsu-ten (Secret Exhibition)
    ・Wheelchair Basketball
    ・Raiders
    ・Air Rider
    ・Star Fox
    ・Mario Tennis Fever
    ・Yoshi
    79AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:33
    Re: #7
    What about Bananza?
    86AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:43
    Re: #7
    Don't forget Metroid Prime 4 (MetPra4)
    10AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:26
    Look at the second pic — the price snapped right back up.
    13AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:27
    Re: #10
    It hasn't gone back up
    https://amzn.asia/d/00bSsHzw
    12AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:27
    That's not even cheap…
    Don't need this junk anyway.
    16AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:28
    Switch 2 flop list:
    ・Mario Kart World
    ・Himitsu-ten (Secret Exhibition)
    ・Bananza
    ・Wheelchair Basketball
    ・Raiders
    ・Air Rider
    ・Star Fox
    ・Mario Tennis Fever
    ・Yoshi
    17AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:29
    What are they gonna do about this
    18AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:29
    Re: #17
    Just keeps dropping, dropping, dropping (a play on words riffing on the price crash)
    19AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:29
    I was gonna list them all out… turns out it's literally everything.
    21AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:30
    Splatoon Raiders
    500 yen lol
    One-Coin Raiders
    22AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:31
    Is there even a point to the same guy spamming replies over and over?
    23AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:31
    Even with the sale on, the standard edition is outselling it — does that mean users just see Raiders as garbage they don't need?
    24AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:31
    People say it's not selling, but it's already passed FF16, the #2 best-selling PS5 title of all time?
    26AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:34
    Every single Switch 2 game is flopping.
    31AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:36
    Re: #1
    Currently
    ¥61,199 -6% ¥61,199 (tax included)

    On PS they'd dump it for cheaper than the console alone, but here they're being stingy.
    34AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:39
    Re: #31
    The Marketplace is still selling it for ¥60,500
    Though the Amazon-sold-and-shipped listing is ¥63,549
    36AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:41
    It's from a scalper, so it's basically "used" even though it's unopened new.
    37AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:43
    Re: #36
    The buyback price is way below retail, yet people keep selling it anyway — kind of strange.
    39AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:46
    That ¥60,500 "Live Shop" listing —
    Google it and it turns out they don't buy from individuals, only bulk new-stock buybacks for businesses.

    Maybe it's a retailer trying to clear out inventory? 🤣
    45AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:55
    Re: #39
    So that's why 30 units suddenly vanished from Edion (electronics retail chain)
    41AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:51
    If it were just ¥500 for the game alone, I'd buy it instantly.
    52AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:04
    Re: #41
    Wish they'd sell download codes like Sony does.
    44AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:54
    Feels like ¥60,000 is seen as too pricey, so even scalpers are steering clear.
    Guess cracking down hard on scalping cuts both ways.
    48AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:57
    Re: #44
    The buyback price is just low, that's all


    49AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:58
    I've got two sitting around that I bought before the price went up, and I want to sell now, but it's this cheap huh… guess the standard version goes for even less.
    55AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:05
    Re: #49
    Until Pokémon, Animal Crossing, or mainline Splatoon actually drops, it's not going to sell out.
    54AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:04
    No DLC, total garbage — who's buying this
    56AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:06
    Re: #54
    There's linked gear coming for Splatoon 4, so you'd better buy it now lol
    57AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:07
    Guess spin-offs that aren't mainline entries just don't sell after all.
    67AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:17
    The Switch 2 console's retail price is so high that people don't want to gamble on their first game.
    The pattern ends up being: buy the console alone first, then buy a game only once something you really want comes out.

    Raiders is the kind of title people pick up as their second (or later) purchase, so a bundle version was always going to be a tough sell.
    97AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:54
    Re: #67
    The Zelda limited edition was so appealing that, by contrast, it just highlights how plain and generic Raiders looks.
    If they'd at least changed the color…
    90AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:45
    Metroid Prime 4 scores higher than Wolverine on both Metacritic and user scores.

    That's exactly why nobody wants that brought back up — read the room.
    92AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:49
    Re: #90
    Metroid Prime 4
    That one flopped hard too lol
    99AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:00
    The Zelda limited edition still has stock left too.

    Makes sense, it's priced close to the OLED model.
    102AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:04
    Re: #99
    Wherever still has Zelda in stock, isn't that at a jacked-up scalper price?
    Let me know if you find any at or under retail.
    103AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:04
    Re: #102
    Leave it alone

    That's a topic you don't touch.
    107AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:16
    Re: #102
    It's sold out everywhere online, but in physical stores Joshin was still taking preorders as of a few days ago.
    There was technically a members-only restriction, but I think non-members could just sign up for membership on the spot.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Because the Switch 2 console carries a hefty retail price, users tend to play it safe and pick a mainline title for their first purchase — leaving Raiders, a spin-off that skips online multiplayer and DLC, positioned as a “second purchase” title whose bundle version naturally has weaker appeal. On the thread, a “Switch 2 flop list” names several titles alongside Raiders, including Mario Kart World and Wheelchair Basketball — an easy point to miss is that this isn’t really about Raiders underperforming on its own, but rather one example of weak launch momentum across Switch 2 software as a whole. At the same time, some pointed out that it has “already passed FF16, the #2 best-selling PS5 title of all time,” so it’s not an entirely bleak picture. The price drop may also reflect scalpers and retailers clearing out inventory, so it’s worth being careful not to conflate weak retail sales with falling resale-market prices.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “[Sad News] Splatoon Raiders Bundle Hits New Record Low lol.”

  • Chunichi Headed for 6th Straight Losing Season, Yet Drawing Record Crowds — Manager Inoue’s Future: ‘Nothing Particular to Say’

    The Chunichi Dragons cruised to a 10-0 win over the Hiroshima Carp at Vantelin Dome on the 21st, but the team under manager Kazuki Inoue (55), now in his second year at the helm, is all but certain to finish in the bottom half of the standings (B Class) for a sixth straight season. Asked after the game about the manager’s future, team president Kato offered only: “I don’t have anything particular to say.” Meanwhile, home attendance has hit an all-time record, and on 5channel users debated the reasons behind the “packed stands despite a weak team” phenomenon and the club’s management philosophy.

    [Chunichi] Asked About Manager Inoue’s Future, Team President Kato Answers “Nothing Particular to Say” — Home Attendance Hits All-Time High

    <Chunichi 10-0 Hiroshima> ◇21st◇ Vantelin Dome

    Chunichi manager Kazuki Inoue (55) apologized to the sold-out crowd of Dragons faithful. Now in his second straight year in charge, the team has landed in B Class for six consecutive seasons.

    Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

    3AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:29
    Wild to realize they were actually in A Class just 7 years ago
    10AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:40
    Re: #3
    Actually that was 2020, but the season got shortened because of COVID.
    If you mean a proper full-length season, 2012 was the last time…
    67AnonymousSep 22, 2026 03:04
    Re: #3
    If they'd been in B Class that year too, the Dragons would be sitting on 14 straight B Class seasons (2013-2026) — enough to eventually pass the Hawks' 20-year B Class streak (1978-1997)?

    Dragons
    https://npb.jp/bis/teams/yearly_d.html
    Hawks
    https://npb.jp/bis/teams/yearly_h.html
    4AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:30
    Honestly, as long as they play baseball that draws a crowd, the standings don't matter
    174AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:28
    Re: #4
    More precisely, they're better off not winning it all, not spending any money, just pulling in crowds to plug the losses from the parent company's garbage core newspaper business ("masu-gomi," slang blending "mass media" and "garbage")
    223AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:46
    Re: #4
    It's been half a century since a Hanshin executive told pitcher Yutaka Enatsu "you don't need to win," and yet that same mentality still hasn't gone away.
    Like Re: #174 says, the team is just a nice little property for absorbing the parent company's losses — management would probably love to drive fans away and push the club into the red, but the diehards won't allow that.
    I root for a team with a similarly run business model, so I know this dilemma well.
    7AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:35
    A weak team that still draws a crowd is the best possible outcome for management!
    They don't have to raise player salaries.
    From the owner's point of view, Inoue's staying on as manager.
    14AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:45
    Re: #7
    Chunichi Dragons
    Financial results: undisclosed lololol

    Wonder why lol
    17AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:47
    Re: #7
    So the manager's job is basically to be a clown, huh?
    In that case, aren't there plenty of guys better suited to it than Inoue?
    8AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:35
    Ironic that they're drawing bigger crowds now than during the Ochiai era, when Chunichi kept winning
    12AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:44
    Re: #8
    That's just about how many free tickets they hand out, so it doesn't really mean anything
    187AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:11
    Re: #8
    Actually, right up until Inoue took over — and this includes the Tatsunami era too, of course — attendance stayed well below even Ochiai's final year, which was supposedly a bad year for crowds (the stretch from the Lehman Shock into the earthquake). It's only under Inoue that they finally topped that number.
    24AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:53
    How does a weak team still pull in crowds like this?
    Maybe the stadium food is just really good?
    25AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:53
    Re: #24
    Is there any answer besides free tickets?
    27AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:56
    Losing's fine as long as it's fun.
    Even when they're mad, deep down they're enjoying themselves.
    There's a long bank of memories from the old strong days to draw on, so they're still okay.
    Aichi's economy is doing well enough to afford that kind of indulgence too.
    Even the front office is probably thinking "guess we're fine like this, weak is okay too" (using the local Nagoya dialect endings "-dara" and "-zura") — a happy sort of shriek.
    38AnonymousSep 22, 2026 01:10
    Re: #27
    During the Ochiai era, when the team was strong but attendance was supposedly poor, how was he viewed among Nagoya locals? Negatively? Positively?
    56AnonymousSep 22, 2026 01:43
    I'm from Kansai, but Chunichi's got great fans — they're my second team after Hanshin.
    Hoping they can at least climb up to 4th place.
    64AnonymousSep 22, 2026 02:58
    Re: #56
    Do you like the Kansai-based branch of Dragons fans too?
    59AnonymousSep 22, 2026 02:12
    Is the reason people keep coming the hospitality at the ballpark?
    62AnonymousSep 22, 2026 02:25
    Re: #59
    Saw this in a news report — apparently you can't even get idol concert tickets these days.
    Going to the ballpark and cheering for your favorite player like they're an idol seems to be the appeal.

    Other stadiums also do things like player-themed bento boxes, drinks, and merch, so I'd guess they're doing a solid job of hooking that kind of fandom.
    237AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:17
    Re: #59
    No it's not. It's actually a stadium where the baseball is hard to see.
    66AnonymousSep 22, 2026 03:03
    Well, if it's just because they're a meme this year, attendance is up now, but I think by next year it'll turn into pure mockery.

    No matter how you slice it, getting overtaken late in games over and over just means the manager's in-game decisions are failing.
    80AnonymousSep 22, 2026 04:49
    Re: #66
    Finally, someone with a sensible take.
    74AnonymousSep 22, 2026 03:43
    Now that the Climax Series exists, what do you even call 4th/5th/6th place?

    Am I right that "B Class" just means "didn't finish in the top 3," not "finished last"?
    75AnonymousSep 22, 2026 03:46
    Re: #74
    A Class is 1st through 3rd place.
    B Class is any team that didn't make the top 3.
    77AnonymousSep 22, 2026 03:51
    Since the team's weak, it's easy to grab a starting spot — sounds like it'd be popular with rookies
    100AnonymousSep 22, 2026 06:39
    Re: #77
    Actually, they've got a pretty solid roster. The pitching staff especially is really good.
    92AnonymousSep 22, 2026 06:09
    The Hawks disclose their finances properly.
    Chunichi hides theirs.
    171AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:22
    Re: #92
    If that's the case, they couldn't even pull off a salary cap.
    107AnonymousSep 22, 2026 06:53
    Watching how they've played this year, they'll be B Class again next year too.
    Short of something drastic like the club getting sold off if they don't win the pennant next year, nothing's going to wake this organization up.
    The whole thing just reeks of a complacent, lukewarm culture.
    114AnonymousSep 22, 2026 07:00
    Re: #107
    Might as well go full Colorado Rockies — America's version of a joke franchise.
    123AnonymousSep 22, 2026 07:14
    Re: #107
    Can't picture them finishing above Hanshin, Yomiuri, or Yokohama.
    199AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:30
    Re: #1
    The first name that comes to mind is Hosokawa, a guy who came over from another team — there's no real star player, yet the place still sells out. Pretty impressive.
    201AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:33
    Re: #199
    Even low-key Chunichi players are hugely popular locally.
    Sobae gets treated like a big-name alum and is constantly in demand by the media.
    204AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:35
    Re: #201
    Sobae's fairly good-looking and a smooth talker, so he's probably easy for the media to use.
    206AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:36
    Re: #201
    Then I guess a low-key Meikyukai (elite career-record club) member like Yohei Oshima must get treated like an absolute superstar, lol
    217AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:34
    Honestly, with Manager Yano they'd be A Class — he even develops new talent.
    Then bring in Ochiai after that and you'd have a golden era for a while.
    But the owner isn't looking for any of that, lol
    222AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:43
    Re: #217
    Ochiai's up there in age now and his body's worn down, so that's not happening.
    228AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:54
    Re: #222
    Well, judging by what Ochiai's son Fukushi has said, even if he's in good health he probably just isn't motivated.
    230AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:58
    Re: #222
    He was too busy squealing with excitement over Gundam GQuuuuuuX to make a comeback now.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    Chunichi last finished in true A Class (top 3) in 2012, and this season is on track to be their sixth consecutive year in B Class. At the same time, home attendance has surpassed even the level seen during the strong Hiromitsu Ochiai managerial era, setting a new all-time record. Around this unusual situation — a weak team that still draws crowds — the thread split between those who see it as simply convenient for management and those who credit individual players’ popularity and strong fan-service efforts. The fact that Chunichi doesn’t disclose its financial results, making the club’s actual management situation hard to see from outside, also fed into the discussion. Team president Kato’s answer of “nothing particular to say” could be read as hinting Inoue will stay on, but it wasn’t a clear statement either way, and the manager’s future remains undecided for now.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary from the 5channel (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Baseball] Chunichi: Asked About Manager Inoue’s Future, Team President Kato Answers “Nothing Particular to Say” — Sixth Straight B Class, Home Attendance at All-Time High.”

  • Sony Cancels Development of an Already-Announced Title — 5ch: “Same Old ¥10 Billion Money-Grab Pattern”

    A title that had been unveiled with great fanfare during a PlayStation showcase has reportedly had its development support cut by Sony. In the IGN US interview quoted above, the person in charge explains that Sony reached out in June this year asking for an online meeting, but they couldn’t respond at the time because they were in New York for a Prada event and then stayed on in Los Angeles afterward. On 5ch, this timeline has drawn a lot of comments arguing that “the lack of communication is the developer’s fault, not Sony’s” — and, pointing back to the earlier case where Konami similarly cut off support, commenters noted that this time criticism is flowing toward the developer instead, the opposite of what happened back then.

    ↓

    “In June, we got word from SIE that they wanted to set up a Zoom meeting to talk.”

    “I was incredibly busy at the time — I’d just gone to New York for a Prada event, and right after that I was in Los Angeles too.”

    Source: jp.ign.com / Original article here

    9AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:07
    Same as Nagoshi's new Like a Dragon spin-off, right?
    Still years away from finishing, and now it's back to begging for another ¥10 billion from here.
    11AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:08
    This is just Sony losing patience with a game that keeps dragging on like garbage forever.
    It's not that Sony failed to communicate — it's on the developer for not staying in close contact with Sony and failing to lay out a solid release roadmap or sell them on the game's appeal.
    17AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:11
    Re: #9
    Re: #11

    This is correct.
    35AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:29
    Re: #11
    People keep saying this, but is Sony — the company that made and shipped Concord — really in a position to talk? (Concord: Sony's own big-budget game that flopped and was pulled)
    25AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:21
    55AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:44
    Re: #25
    In the end, it comes down to this.
    26AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:21
    They've already been developing this for two years, and release isn't even until 2030 at the earliest? Guess Sony decided they just couldn't wait any longer.
    31AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:27
    Re: #26
    Right now they're still casting actors (foreign talent) and hammering out the concept — nothing's actually been built yet.
    Fans: "What happens to the parts already made with the Decima Engine? What are you going to do once you can't use Decima anymore?"
    Director: "Still mulling over which engine to use. First, OD."
    That's the state of things.
    32AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:28
    Apparently this goes back to before the previous person in charge stepped down.
    Signed with Sony around 2022.
    Now, in the second half of 2026, they're still deciding on the engine and the main character.
    If all goes well, release is planned for 2030.

    This is basically the same thing that got them cut by Konami — if it had sold like crazy there might've been hope, but they didn't hit their target sales numbers either.
    40AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:34
    Re: #32
    Even when Sony asked them to show results, all they could show was "we've signed a bunch of Hollywood stars."
    They've been recklessly burning through someone else's money while actual game development goes nowhere.
    Of course they got cut.
    33AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:28
    That game they made independently, about the guy who delivers stuff —
    Is that one actually turning a profit?
    That's probably what it comes down to.
    37AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:31
    Re: #33
    Honestly, that second one was the real litmus test for Sony.
    43AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:38
    Back when it was Konami, everyone was defending Kojima Productions across the board.
    This time there are a lot more people defending Sony instead, which makes sense.
    Getting dropped twice in a row — at that point the problem is clearly on Kojima Productions' end.
    50AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:41
    Re: #43
    I want Metal Gear Solid to keep going, so I didn't want them to break with Konami.
    Death Stranding, though, I'm fine without more of, so splitting from Sony isn't a big deal.
    That's really all there is to it.
    53AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:43
    Re: #43
    Since this didn't turn into Sony-bashing the way they expected, and people started saying "isn't Kojima the weird one here?" instead — that's probably why Kojima Productions put out that statement.
    Meanwhile the Kojima fan accounts are still retweeting Sony-bashing posts like crazy.
    46AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:40
    These days it feels like every game needs to sell 5 million copies worldwide just to break even.
    At this rate the industry's going to collapse eventually.
    52AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:42
    Re: #46
    Depends on the development and marketing budget.

    And honestly, GTA is just an outlier.
    62AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:50
    Re: #53
    There's zero gratitude for all the support they've gotten so far.
    Even with a new partner, it probably won't last long either.
    66AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:52
    I was way too hard on Sony.

    68AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:53
    Wolverine had the misfortune of coming out right after Onimusha, which was basically action gameplay perfected.
    Even fans overseas started saying they should've just paid Capcom a fortune to make it instead.
    74AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:58
    Re: #68
    Onimusha isn't generating much buzz, but it still hit a million units on day one.
    78AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:06
    Wolverine's a mess in parts, and its development budget was insane on top of that.
    There are several games from around the same time with way smaller budgets that turned out better.

    Onimusha
    DawnWalker

    Even if you gave those two combined budgets times two, Wolverine probably still wouldn't have gotten finished.
    80AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:08
    Re: #78
    "It's a mess" — that's probably just the opinion of someone who hasn't even played it, right?
    88AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:13
    They never tell the publisher even a rough release timeframe, never communicate at all —
    but the moment they get cut, suddenly it's "the other side barely communicated and unilaterally pulled the plug on us."
    Whether it's Konami or Sony, it's the same move every time.
    90AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:15
    Re: #88
    At its core, this is basically the same kind of situation as that Like a Dragon project.
    93AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:18
    They're this close to each other, and yet—
    99AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:22
    Re: #93
    They'd probably run into each other just going out for lunch.
    110AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:33
    Re: #93
    Oh, it's here?! I used to go there for health checkups back in the day.
    102AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:25
    Wait, does this mean Sony isn't just writing off everything they've invested so far — does Kojima Productions still owe Sony something back, even with funding cut off?
    106AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:26
    Re: #102
    Well, that probably depends on the contract.
    116AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:43
    Isn't this the Smash Bros. guy? Hadn't heard his name in a while, and turns out he'd gone to Sony?
    117AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:44
    Re: #116
    He's the Metal Gear guy.
    The Smash Bros. guy is Sakurai, and he's still working with Nintendo — he just put out Kirby Air Riders recently.
    119AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:47
    They really need people to just come out and say it straight — "this looks boring," "their development skills are too weak," "they're too slow."
    128AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:55
    He's doing a talk session with the director of the latest movie.
    Can they even use Guerrilla Games' Decima Engine?
    If they're switching engines, this doesn't look like it'll even be done by 2030 for PHYSINT.

    Background and Key Points

    By way of background, this project appears to be a title co-developed by a major studio and Sony, unveiled several years ago during a PlayStation showcase. In recent years, AAA titles have seen ballooning development and marketing budgets to the point where a game must sell in the millions of units just to break even, and funders have grown increasingly cautious about pouring more money into projects showing little progress. The studio in question previously had a contract cut by a different funder as well; back then, criticism was aimed mainly at the funder, but this time, following the split with Sony, the prevailing sentiment instead holds the developer accountable — a notable contrast. That said, there has been no official word on the specific contract terms or whether either side bears additional costs, so it’s worth noting that the thread’s comments remain speculation.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Live News G) thread “[Sad News] Sony Unilaterally Cancels and Ignores a Title It Once Proudly Unveiled on PlayStation Direct.”