Japan Reacts

Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • 40-Year-Old VTuber Sees Under-24 Viewers Drop to a Tenth — 5ch: ‘Isn’t This Just Like Voice Actors?’

    VTuber “Nayo Nana” (5,500 subscribers) revealed on September 19 that her viewer demographics have shifted dramatically in the two months since she disclosed she’s 40 years old. The share of viewers aged 24 and under reportedly fell to less than a tenth of what it was, dropping from 14.4% to 1.3%. She debuted in 2023, moved her activities to Twitch in 2025, and had only just returned this past July after a long hiatus. Reaction on 5channel’s Entertainment/Sports News+ board was split: some said “caring about the performer’s real age is no different from voice actors,” while others questioned the disclosure itself, arguing “revealing what’s behind the character shatters the illusion.”

    September 20, 2026

    VTuber “Nayo Nana” (5,500 subscribers) revealed on September 19 that her viewer age demographics changed dramatically in the two months since she disclosed she was 40, drawing a wave of reactions. The share of viewers 24 and under reportedly fell from 14.4% to 1.3%.

    Nayo Nana is a VTuber who goes by “Daughter of Enma [King of Hell]” and debuted in 2023. In 2025 she moved her streaming activities to Twitch, then stepped away from streaming for roughly half a year before returning with a comeback stream on her birthday, July 7, 2026.

    Source: yutura.net / Original article here

    3AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:24
    Is this what Houshou Marine (a Hololive VTuber) will look like in 10 years?
    86AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:40
    Re: #3
    Different fans probably want different things from VTubers anyway, and the scale's different too, so who knows… She's got that comedian-type appeal too
    4AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:26
    People getting hung up on the performer's real age… that's so cringe lol
    6AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:26
    Keiko Kitagawa is 40.
    19AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:29
    Re: #6
    Even then, under-24s probably wouldn't bite that hard anyway
    7AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:27
    Guys obsessing over anime art are easy marks, huh
    9AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:27
    Isn't she embarrassed doing this kind of job at 40?
    25AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:30
    Re: #9
    Most VTubers are around 40 anyway
    30AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:32
    Re: #9
    If she's making money, who cares?
    Whether she can tell people about it or not is just up to how she personally feels.

    With VTubers you can't even tell if it's a guy or a girl,
    they can fake their age, might be seriously overweight,
    and they can probably change their voice too, so who really knows.
    10AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:27
    Why would you go and blow your own cover on age, in a world where "I'm eternally X years old, forever a cute girl character" is totally acceptable?
    11AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:27
    Basically everyone who's been doing VTubing since the early days — like the ones who "reincarnated" from old Niconico streamers — is around 40
    12AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:27
    If you care about the performer's real age, why not just watch face-reveal streamers instead?
    13AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:28
    This is a perfect example of why "just reveal everything" is the wrong attitude lol

    There are plenty of things in this world better left as illusions
    18AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:29
    No wonder young people have zero interest in 5ch, where old geezers pushing 50+ just camp out forever
    20AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:30
    Heard Masaharu Fukuyama's fanbase cratered when he announced his marriage too, so… guess that's just how it goes
    21AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:30
    40's still on the young side, honestly
    Aju-nee (a VTuber) is already elderly at this point
    59AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:36
    Re: #21
    Actually, 'elderly' (shoro) originally just meant 40 anyway…
    24AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:30
    To a teenager, she's basically mom's age lol
    26AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:31
    5,500 subscribers, lmao
    Guess it's easy to get an article written about you these days
    29AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:31
    Well, at least it's not some old geezer lol
    31AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:32
    Fair enough
    Nobody wants to chat with their mom
    33AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:32
    Like, imagine during a Chiikawa (the popular cute mascot character) stage show, some guy climbs out of the costume and goes, "Sorry, I'll be honest — I'm actually a weird little 40-something guy." The kids would cry, right?
    Same thing here.
    Dreams should stay dreams.
    34AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:32
    Hiding behind a cartoon avatar to fool kids while funneling them into a digital hostess club isn't a good look
    40AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:33
    I don't really get it, but don't VTubers have character lore/settings?
    Are fans actually interested in the person behind it?
    44AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:33
    Re: #40
    Even with anime, the voice actors themselves get popular. Same thing here.
    60AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:36
    Well yeah, if you go and break your own character setting yourself, of course fans will leave.
    It's like an anime voice actor announcing their real age in the middle of the show.
    65AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:37
    Re: #60
    If you've been an otaku through the 2020s,
    you'd know caring about a voice actor's age is just uncool.
    66AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:37
    Re: #60
    If anything, her subscriber count seems to have gone up.
    The fanbase just shifted, that's all.
    67AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:37
    Is age really what you're all judging her on?!
    Isn't it about who she is as a person?!
    70AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:38
    Re: #67
    Then just stream bare-faced as yourself.
    73AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:38
    Does she think she's still young?
    You're elderly starting at 40.
    74AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:38
    A lot of the viewers are guys aged 35-54 who don't even realize they're 'old guys' themselves
    83AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:40
    Re: #74
    And they're out there ragging on her as an 'old lady,' safe behind their screens

    Background and Points of Debate

    There’s no industry-wide rule on how closely a VTuber’s on-screen character must match the “person inside” — whether to disclose that information is left entirely up to individual streamers. Nayo Nana debuted in 2023, moved her activities to Twitch in 2025, and had been on a long hiatus before disclosing her age around the time of her comeback stream this past July. On the thread, opinions split between those who felt “caring about the performer’s age is no different from voice actors” and those who felt “there was no need for her to shatter the character’s illusion herself” — the divide essentially comes down to differing ideas about what viewers actually want from a VTuber. Note that the viewer age-demographic figures in this article were disclosed by the streamer herself, and details of the methodology or measurement period have not been made public.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “VTuber who revealed she’s 40 loses young viewers within two months — under-24s drop to a tenth.”

  • ‘Dream Club ZERO R+’ Confirmed for 2027 — 5ch Reacts: “The Last One Only Sold 5,000 Copies”

    D3 Publisher has announced that it will release “Dream Club ZERO R+,” a port of the 2012 Xbox 360 romance simulation “Dream Club ZERO,” in 2027. Along with newly drawn artwork for the host girls, new characters are also reportedly planned. The announcement doesn’t specify supported platforms, sparking debate on 5ch over the possibility of a PS5 exclusive. Given that the previous entry, “Dream Club Gogo,” sank to around 5,000 copies as a PS3 exclusive, skeptical comments citing content restrictions and past sales performance were common.

    D3 Publisher has announced “Dream Club ZERO R+” and revealed it will launch in 2027.

    The game is a port based on “Dream Club ZERO,” the romance simulation released for Xbox 360 in 2012. The host girls have been newly redrawn, and additional new host girls are also reportedly planned.

    Source: game.watch.impress.co.jp / Original article here

    3AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:33
    There's already 'Bunny Garden,' which does this better anyway.
    5AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:33
    Wow, they're digging up something wild again. Knowing D3 these days, it's probably just Switch and PS.
    7AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:34
    So there's a chance it'll be exclusive since it's D3?
    8AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:34
    By the way, the most recent entry before this, 'Dream Club Gogo,' was a PS3 exclusive —
    and it only sold 5,000 copies.

    Quite a contrast to the original, which sold 100,000 copies on Xbox 360.
    9AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:34
    Feels like it'll end up being Switch/Steam only.
    Though given what happened with LoveR, there's a chance Steam gets dropped too.
    27AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:48
    Re: #9
    They specifically called it out as a 'console game,' so it probably won't come to Steam — at least not at launch.
    https://www.famitsu.com/article/202609/88688
    10AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:36
    Not trying to start a console war here, genuine question — but isn't this the kind of game PlayStation's political-correctness policies won't let through?
    57AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:13
    Re: #10
    There's always the secret technique known as the 'family-home version' (a joking term for an unofficial, less-censored Japan-only release).
    11AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:36
    There's no way this beats 'Bunny Garden.'
    It'll be a censored version, (´・ω・｀) *sigh* (a sad-face emoticon).
    12AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:36
    Why do people always slap 'PS5' onto thread titles for this kind of game?
    20AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:41
    Re: #12
    That's because they've built a wall of bias.
    Those guys take (lol) 'pride' in PS5 exclusives.
    Meanwhile, sales figures…
    15AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:37
    Even if they do release it, it's way too late at this point.
    16AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:37
    PlayStation is the one who killed this series in the first place, though.
    17AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:37
    Given what happened with LoveR and 'Uniform Girlfriend,' can this even pass Sony's censorship review?
    Skirts blacked out underneath,
    no cleavage allowed — there was a whole list of restrictions.
    114AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:35
    Re: #17
    If they just make everyone non-human, like in Stellar Blade, a youthful-looking-by-Western-standards face paired with a sexy body probably clears review fine. Previous entries already had android characters in the cast, so 'they're all androids now' wouldn't even feel out of place.
    18AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:40
    Please add more dialogue variety.
    It's the same conversations over and over — it's boring.
    19AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:40
    Are they going to overhaul the cast again? If not, at least throw the Gogo characters in too…
    21AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:43
    Even 'The Idolmaster' dropped breast physics these days, so we'll probably get a version with no jiggle and a black hole where the underwear should be.
    22AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:44
    Wasn't it Gogo that shot itself in the foot by swapping out the entire cast?
    29AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:50
    It's an Xbox-born IP, so surely it'll come to Xbox too, right?
    31AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:50
    The PS-exclusive Gogo era had a wild trajectory. It really was the brand PlayStation killed.


    A former Sony exec joined D3P and pushed for porting the original and ZERO to drive momentum toward PlayStation
    ↓
    Instead of just announcing 'PS3 version coming!', they ran a promo mocking existing fans with lines like 'It's just a rehashed-edition cash grab! Demo-kau-shi!' (a mocking meme-ified phrase), which blew up into a huge controversy
    ↓
    The ports flopped too, selling only around 2,000 copies
    ↓
    They finally rolled out the new entry, Gogo, with great fanfare, but the earlier promo had already driven fans off, and swapping out the entire cast on top of that sank it to a disastrous 5,000 copies
    ↓
    The Dream Club brand has remained essentially dead to this day.
    36AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:54
    Re: #31
    Every PlayStation Dream Club release — the original, ZERO, the mahjong spinoff, Gogo — all sold around 5,000 copies.
    Why did they keep charging headfirst into PlayStation with numbers like that, hahaha
    No wonder the series died, hahaha
    120AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:43
    Re: #31
    Ah, so a former Sony employee got involved — that explains it.
    39AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:56
    Wish 'Amagami' and 'Love Plus' would get revived too.
    60AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:19
    Re: #39
    There's definitely demand for it.
    I want 'Amagami' ported to current-gen hardware with the 'Chou Amagami' expansion bundled in, but instead it's junk nobody cares about like 'Memories Off' that gets ported to every single platform.
    Wish they'd port it right after Vita's servers shut down instead of leaving it.
    41AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:59
    Since it's D3, they probably want it on PS, but censorship is likely to be a rough hurdle.
    47AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:01
    Re: #41
    Whether it lands on PS5 or Switch (2) will really show what D3P is made of.
    Though honestly, given how dumb they can be, I have a feeling it might end up on PS5 anyway.
    52AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:06
    Re: #41
    Lately, D3P has nothing planned except for Switch 1/2, aside from 'Earth Defense Force 6.2.'
    72AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:27
    It's a 15-year-old game — will the original voice actors return for the existing characters?
    I remember a lot of them were already veterans back then, so they'd be around 50 now?
    73AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:29
    Re: #72
    Since it's billed as a port, I'd guess new recordings will just be for the added characters.
    82AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:45
    Loyalty-bound D3, so PS5?
    Even if it comes out, it'll probably be the 'family-home' (uncensored, Japan-only) version.
    94AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:15
    Re: #82
    You can already play ZERO, the original, and Gogo via cloud gaming on PS5,
    so there's almost no point porting it.
    92AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:11
    Well, 'Bunny Garden' blew up on Switch,
    and both 'Uniform Girlfriend' and the complete edition of 'LoveR' dropped PS entirely to go Switch-only,
    so if Dream Club ended up PS-exclusive in this climate, I'd be shocked.
    My guess is they're still hiding the platforms because Switch and Steam are locked in for sure,
    and they're trying to figure out if they can somehow still get it onto PS too.
    108AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:31
    Re: #92
    I'm not so sure Steam is locked in.
    Though I'd love for it to happen.
    93AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:14
    The PS market is in such rough shape that it'd be hilarious if they suddenly loosened censorship now.
    99AnonymousSep 20, 2026 14:22
    Re: #93
    'Wolverine' didn't get censored, though.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    D3 Publisher’s lineup is currently centered on the Switch, and aside from “Earth Defense Force 6.2,” its recent titles have all been Switch 1/2 exclusives — the thread’s ‘exclusive’ debate is rooted in this trend. The previous entry, “Dream Club Gogo,” launched as a PS3 exclusive, but an overhauled cast combined with a poorly received promotional campaign sank it to around 5,000 copies sold, a steep drop from the original Xbox 360 release’s roughly 100,000. This track record is the backdrop for the strong skepticism toward the PlayStation camp seen throughout the thread. On top of that, romance and risqué titles like “Bunny Garden,” “Uniform Girlfriend,” and “LoveR” have repeatedly shifted to Switch/Steam-only releases after launch, fueling doubts about a PS5 release on content-restriction grounds. Worth noting: the ‘PS5 exclusive’ framing in the headline is purely the thread’s speculation — the original announcement itself never specifies supported platforms. It’s worth keeping in mind that we’re still waiting on an official platform announcement.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and summaries of the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, aka “Geha”) thread ‘[PS5 Exclusive?] “Dream Club ZERO R+” Releasing in 2027!‘.

  • Wolverine Rockets to #1 on North American PS Store Sales Charts — 5ch Reacts

    The action game Wolverine surged to #1 on the North American PS Store sales chart, sparking discussion on 5ch’s Hardware & Industry (Geha) board. Since official sales figures haven’t been released, posters used the so-called “Alinea method” — estimating units sold by working backward from the number of reviews — and assuming a 2% review rate, an estimated figure of 1.95 million units took on a life of its own, with some comparing it to Death Stranding 2 (2.5 million units including PC). Meanwhile, the game sits at only #6 in Japan’s domestic ranking, and opinions were split over why there’s such a gap between its worldwide success and its domestic sales.

    2AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:55
    Honestly, my only takeaway is that games just don't sell on the PS Store.
    49AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:35
    Re: #2
    Wouldn't be surprised if someone's cooking the numbers, honestly.
    80AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:20
    Re: #2
    You mean like how the Switch 2 can hit #1 while only selling 6,000 units?
    7AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:57
    Review rate is roughly 2%, so simple math puts it at 1.95 million units sold on the PS Store alone — a massive hit.
    9AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:59
    Re: #7
    What's that, the "Alinea method"?
    28AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:12
    Re: #7
    That's a big drop from Spider-Man.
    69AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:01
    Re: #7
    Ah, I see — that's why people are saying it beat Death Stranding 2 (2.5 million including PC).
    10AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:01
    There were already 4 used copies of Wolverine on the shelf at GEO (a used-game retailer chain)
    That's way too fast to be trading it in
    Nobody wants to keep it around?
    12AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:02
    Re: #10
    Because you can beat it in as little as 10 hours.
    13AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:02
    Classic frog-in-a-well thinking (a narrow, self-satisfied view)
    "Our own product sold well on our own store" — so what? That's my only reaction
    If you want to brag, bring me Amazon numbers or something
    16AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:03
    Re: #13
    Well, about 80% of PlayStation game sales go through the PS Store, so…
    14AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:02
    Sure, it'll sell fine in some unrelated country over there
    If it flopped there, that'd be the real problem
    The question is how it's doing in Japan
    18AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:05
    Re: #14
    Japan's a special market where young people are so broke they only play free-to-play games
    Japan's PS Store is the only one where multiple free-to-play titles crack the top 10
    17AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:05
    There's just nothing else to play
    This is the only demand out there
    19AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:06
    Re: #17
    If anything, PlayStation is the platform where you can play almost every big-name title
    21AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:07
    Re: #1
    LOL it's only Japan where it didn't even crack the top 5
    Japanese PS users are finished
    22AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:08
    Re: #21
    I recently realized Japan is just its own isolated Galápagos market
    26AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:11
    1.95 million in 3 days is actually well below both Spider-Man 1 and 2, isn't it?
    The reviews are too low too, who knows how far it'll actually sell
    I'd bet this is the kind of number that triggers a contract review, personally
    31AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:18
    Re: #26
    I'm playing it too, and it's honestly a pretty fun game
    27AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:12
    So how many copies has Wolverine actually sold?
    Not a peep from the official side
    29AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:14
    Re: #27
    It hasn't even been a week yet
    30AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:16
    How many copies do you think it'll sell in Japan?
    Can it beat FE (Fire Emblem)?
    34AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:19
    Re: #30
    Hard to say, Japan's too much of a Galápagos market
    American comics haven't caught on here, and people are too broke
    32AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:19
    "Nishi-kun" (a derisive nickname for Nintendo fanboys) only thinks about the hardcore gamer crowd
    Wolverine is selling like crazy in America because it's friendly and welcoming to Marvel fans and movie fans who normally only play football games
    There are people who find it exhausting when a game like FE brags about taking 100 hours to finish
    He doesn't consider at all the crowd that finds difficulty, side content, and open worlds a hassle
    37AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:20
    Re: #32
    Wait, huh? Weren't you the one mocking casual players and chanting "core gamers, core gamers" over and over? lol
    33AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:19
    Japan's at #6 right now, huh
    That's a clear step down from Onimusha, which held #1 for about a week
    Beast of Reincarnation, which opened at 41,000 units in its first week, still managed to hit #2 — Wolverine hasn't matched that yet
    36AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:20
    Re: #33
    Onimusha was a title that only sold well in Japan
    Wolverine is nearly #2 worldwide — you can't really compare the two
    39AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:26
    Probably — no, definitely — there'll be layoffs at Insomniac
    Even Spider-Man 2 missed its target, and this game's estimated sales are already below Spider-Man's, with worse reviews too — there's just no way this one hits its target…
    41AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:26
    Re: #39
    *correction: "minimum sales" should read "estimated sales"
    48AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:34
    Re: #39
    No, both Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine are successes
    They'll probably move on to the next one soon — actually, I bet they're already working on it
    40AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:26
    In the end, PlayStation's target audience includes the kind of players who get lost and don't know what to do in Spider-Man's open world
    That's probably also why Ghost of Yōtei's story became a simple, easy-to-follow revenge tale — Ghost of Tsushima's story was apparently too complicated for them
    43AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:27
    Re: #40
    Well, as a result Yōtei's sales ended up cut clean in half, so make of that what you will
    45AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:30
    Re: #40
    There might be users who feel that way
    Since it's a character-driven game, people who don't normally play games at all pick it up just because they like the characters
    That said, I doubt they'd go so far as to make the difficulty easy because of it
    53AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:36
    Re: #48
    Starting the next one is fine and all, but I bet a mountain of staff will have vanished by then
    57AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:43
    Re: #53
    Layoffs can be good or bad
    Like in Japanese manufacturing, the useless old-guard types who do nothing but harass everyone (rōgai, "harmful elders")
    those are the ones who should be laid off
    70AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:02
    What even is this "review rate" thing?
    Feels like everyone's just taking some random guy's copy-pasted fantasy at face value, as usual
    73AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:05
    Re: #70
    Normally the review rate for games aimed at casual players is about 1%, but it rises right after launch
    so 2% is the figure being used. It's just a rough estimate based on past track records, though
    93AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:33
    ■ Sony games
    ・Scores drop when the fake reviews get deleted

    ■ Nintendo games
    ・Scores go up when the fake reviews get deleted


    Why are these exact opposites, I wonder
    94AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:35
    Re: #93
    Funny how obvious it is who's astroturfing
    95AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:35
    Re: #93
    You say they got deleted, but the review count's actually going up lol lol

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    The “unit estimate from a 2% review rate” method used in the thread (nicknamed the “Alinea method”) is an unofficial estimation technique that’s been used on 5ch’s Geha board for a while now, since the PS Store doesn’t publish official sales figures — it’s not a guarantee of actual units sold. The comparison with Death Stranding 2 and the speculation about Insomniac layoffs are likewise just conjecture within the thread; no official announcement has been made on either front. The debate split between those treating this estimate as solid evidence and those questioning the assumptions behind it in the first place, as well as how to interpret the gap between the #1 result in North America and the #6 result in Japan. Regarding the Japanese market, some posts pointed to the tendency for free-to-play titles to dominate the top of the chart and to differing levels of American comic-book culture penetration, but these too are personal opinions, not analysis backed by hard numbers.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware & Industry / Geha) thread “Wolverine Surges to #1 on North American PS Store Sales Chart.”

  • Social media “buzz” was manufactured all along — 5ch: “Short-video and note-blog traffic schemes are 100% scams”

    The Tokyo Shimbun has reported — based on an interview with an agent involved in the scheme — on a business called “smartphone farms,” in which posts and videos that appear to be “going viral” on social media are actually being artificially manufactured using large numbers of smartphones and multiple accounts. The core of the article is that this technique of inflating view counts and likes could also be used to shape political public opinion. On 5ch, opinions split between skeptics who argued there’s no way subscriber counts could be padded that quickly, and posters who cited specific sightings of large numbers of identically worded posts on X — leaving the thread divided over how much of this is actually true.

    “Smartphone farms” manufacture viral buzz… An agent explains the mechanism: “It’s the viewers who are being deceived” — Tokyo Shimbun

    September 20, 2026, 5:00 AM — Paid subscribers only

    Posts and videos that “go viral,” capturing users’ attention on social networking sites. Amid warnings that these can spread misinformation and even influence politics, there exists a business known as “smartphone farms,” which artificially manufactures “viral” status by inflating view counts and “likes.” Our “Kochira Tokuhoubu” investigative team spoke with a “person involved” in one such farm to uncover the reality behind it. (By Kyota Matsushima)

    Source: tokyo-np.co.jp / Read the original article here

    2AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:47
    Short-video and note-blog traffic-bait schemes are 100% scams, and only idiots fall for them
    114AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:26
    Re: #2
    Even if you build it with a "smartphone farm," it just doesn't spread on its own.
    How are they supposed to fake subscriber counts anyway? Tens of thousands of phones is impossible.
    These idiot trolls probably think their own tricks are the whole world.
    25AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:56
    I bet Chinkawa's the same — all the praise comments are identical too.
    31AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:59
    Re: #25
    No matter how much you manipulate it, something that isn't going to catch on just won't.
    137AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:30
    Re: #25
    If that were true, "Bayside Shakedown" (a hit Japanese cop drama/film franchise) would've been an even bigger hit, dummy.
    42AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:03
    It's about time the internet got some kind of legal regulation — democracy is already being distorted and isn't functioning properly.
    44AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:05
    Re: #42
    The parties who'd be doing the regulating are the ones running the online manipulation, so that's never happening.
    Though honestly, the worst offenders are the idiot citizens who fall for online manipulation so easily.
    54AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:08
    Re: #1
    Hoshino Romi put out a video calling that fake news, go watch it.
    Even that TBS report was just made by taking the other side's word for it without actually verifying anything — they just assumed it was real.
    If you could really make that much money doing this, everyone would be doing it lol.
    You're all just a bunch of gullible idiots lol
    77AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:14
    Re: #54
    Then how do you explain the huge number of accounts posting the exact same wording, word for word, on X?
    63AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:11
    I bet the gaming-console war forums ("Geha") use this too.
    80AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:14
    Re: #63
    This is about tricking the media into thinking it's real so they can use the media's reach to run the scam lolw
    Which means the media ended up as an accomplice to the fraud lol
    Though I guess the people who fall for it are idiots too lol
    87AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:16
    Re: #80
    Sounds like the kind of guy who thinks the old F5-refresh attacks (a crude hit-count-boosting method) were staged too.
    73AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:13
    Re: #31
    Just look at the malatang or tapioca-drink booms, it's obvious.
    As long as the thing itself isn't terrible, you can pull this off.
    96AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:20
    Re: #73
    "100 Days Until He Dies" (the viral crocodile webcomic) had that whole controversy at the end, but up until then it was being run as a hype campaign.
    92AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:19
    Re: #87
    You're an idiot, lolw
    You actually believed some chuunibyo kid's delusions ("chuunibyo" = adolescent main-character fantasies)? If it were that easy to make money, everyone would be doing it lol
    117AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:26
    Re: #92
    They're actually doing it, the manipulation.

    171AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:42
    Re: #117
    Right, exactly.
    You can't tell unless someone compiles it like this, but once it's compiled it's obvious at a glance.
    173AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:43
    Re: #117
    There were some on 5ch too. There's a certain tell, but I won't write it here.
    100AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:21
    If we let this kind of thing run unchecked, there'll be nothing to stop it once other countries start running serious operations against us.
    103AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:22
    Re: #100
    Foreign operatives stoking division and conflict are already flooding in, in huge numbers.
    122AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:27
    Re: #100
    North Korea's "Spread Department" propaganda unit and China's "50-cent army" have been mobilized since 2020.
    119AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:26
    Some weird thing was trending first thing in the morning, and when I checked, tons of accounts were tweeting the exact same text.
    You'd think that kind of thing would be easy to detect — what is the platform even doing?
    Probably these guys testing it out.
    134AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:30
    Re: #119
    If this teenager actually exists, there's no way he's really making 4.5 billion yen a year.
    What's really happening is they're tricking the media so they can use "the media said it, so it must be true" to hook the idiots who fall for that logic.
    Wonder what the media will do once someone actually presses them on this lol
    146AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:31
    Re: #119
    "It was cold this morning" was trending, and when you looked inside, every single post had the exact same wording.
    That was probably a farm test run.
    127AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:28
    Funny that the source is the Tokyo Shimbun of all outlets.
    Pot calling the kettle black lolw
    138AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:30
    Re: #127
    Whoever would be hurt by continued reporting on smartphone farms is the one attacking the media that reported on it.

    That's the answer.
    158AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:36
    Re: #127
    Why would being reported on be a problem for anyone? This is exactly the kind of information that should be shared.
    For example, sharing info on what these garbage clickbait videos look like — phrases like "filming this urgently right now," "bring on the deletion," "just happened!" — or, for political ones, over-the-top titles like "XX left speechless by YY's remark" lolw
    Sharing the knowledge that most of these are garbage videos so people can avoid getting hooked would actually be useful.
    Nobody can check everything themselves, so it's a better use of time to just learn to dodge the clickbait videos.

    Background and key points of this discussion

    “Smartphone farms” refers to a technique that uses large numbers of smartphones and multiple accounts to artificially inflate view counts, likes, and subscriber numbers, manufacturing the appearance of something “trending” on social media. What sets the Tokyo Shimbun’s reporting apart is that it’s based on a direct interview with an “agent” involved in running this system — making it a piece that cuts into a field said to have applications ranging from political opinion manipulation to corporate promotion. The thread was sharply divided. One camp offered technical skepticism, arguing there’s no way subscriber counts could be faked that easily; the other pointed to concrete examples — such as multiple posts on X with identical, word-for-word wording — as evidence that this is already happening in practice. One point worth noting: finding several posts with identical wording isn’t, by itself, proof of organized manipulation, since it could also result from copy-pasted template text or simple coincidence. At the same time, the point that news outlets could end up inadvertently promoting the farms themselves if they report on this mechanism without verifying the facts highlights that readers, too, need to exercise their own judgment.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread ““Smartphone farms” manufacture viral buzz… An agent explains the mechanism: “It’s the viewers who are being deceived” — Tokyo Shimbun.”

  • Console Power Debate: 5ch Says “A PS4 Pro-Equivalent Switch 2 Is Enough”

    A thread on 5ch’s hardware/industry board asked, “Hasn’t graphics basically maxed out around the Switch 2?” The poster rates the Switch 2 as roughly equivalent to a PS4 Pro, and praises the fact that it delivers that performance in a handheld running on just 19W. Replies noted that visual expression plateaued with programmable shaders back in the PS4 era, and that the industry has since shifted toward broadening visuals through ray tracing and neural rendering techniques like DLSS — while others pushed back that current hardware still isn’t powerful enough to run GTA6- or Witcher 4-caliber titles without a struggle, turning the thread into a bit of a standoff between Nintendo-hardware loyalists and everyone else.

    1AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:21
    Technically it's more like PS4-level, but the Switch 2 is equivalent to a PS4 Pro, so it can run games with even more headroom.
    And that's on a handheld running on just 19W.
    At this point, isn't the Switch 2 really all you need in a game console?
    2AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:22
    Even PS5 is still doing magma effects that look like they're straight out of the PS2 (a dig at a running meme about supposedly next-gen games having crude-looking lava textures), so no way.
    38AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:14
    Re: #2
    Name one game that actually bothers to build out areas beyond the map boundary.
    39AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:18
    Re: #38
    Normally you don't build out the area beyond the boundary — instead, you "build it" so players can't easily get out there in the first place.
    Especially when you've sunk 40 billion yen into it (lol)
    44AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:29
    Re: #38
    If you can get there easily during normal play, that's not really "outside the area," is it.
    6AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:27
    Frame rate is still taking a hit, so I'd like a bit more power.
    11AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:30
    Re: #6
    Well, things will probably plateau once you hit 4K, so that's part of it.
    18AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:40
    Re: #6
    I get wanting a bit more power right now, since ports are tanking the frame rate.
    But if the power's there, developers will just make things needlessly heavy to use it up.
    That's exactly what happened with the PC version of Wilds.
    Realistically, a game like that would've been fine on the Switch 2.
    10AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:29
    If a Switch 3 ever comes out, I think that's where handhelds will basically reach their final form.
    26AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:58
    Re: #10
    This. Honestly, the Switch 2 still isn't enough.

    Until it can run PS5-exclusive titles without issue, third-party AAA ports and multiplatform releases are going to be a struggle.
    In fact, the Switch 2 version of Monster Hunter Wilds reportedly needed a lot of optimization work just to run.

    What we really need is enough power to release true endpoint-of-graphics titles like GTA6 or Witcher 4 without a fight.
    76AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:53
    Re: #10
    If the Switch 3 ends up pricier, I'd bet more people stick with the Switch 2 than the number who stuck with the original Switch this time around 🥺
    12AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:33
    That's probably true if we're just talking about Nintendo's own games. Nobody there — Monolith Soft included — really knows how to push the hardware anyway.
    13AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:33
    Re: #12
    Nintendo games use simplified, kid-friendly art styles, so they don't benefit much from better specs anyway.
    14AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:34
    Going forward, I bet they'll start pushing AI rendering hard.
    16AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:37
    Re: #14
    > Going forward, I bet they'll start pushing AI rendering hard.

    Enough with the made-up buzzwords.
    21AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:49
    Visual range of expression basically capped out around the PS4.
    34AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:08
    Re: #21
    That's because the PS4 generation was where programmable-shader-based visuals hit their ceiling.
    Since then, even as GPU power has increased, it's mostly gone toward resolution, frame rate, and pushing more objects and textures on screen — the actual look of games has been stuck in a plateau.

    The past few years have seen attempts to widen the range of visual expression through other approaches instead, like ray tracing and, more recently, neural rendering along the lines of DLSS5.
    28AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:59
    If you actually own a gaming PC, you wouldn't think that.
    33AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:03
    Re: #28
    Even so, it'd be rough if the baseline requirement became something like an RTX 4070.
    Not every PC user owns a high-end rig, you know.
    32AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:02
    Honestly, whatever comes next is going to have to be built around AI.
    DLSS5 seems to be trained on real-world footage, so going for pure realism was never going to beat reality itself.
    83AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:04
    Re: #32
    No, reality itself isn't actually that beautiful — that's exactly why people retouch photos in Photoshop.
    I'd guess DLSS5's training data is closer to films than to raw reality.
    37AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:12
    Re: #1
    I don't think so. Not until we're at DLSS4-equivalent levels.
    41AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:21
    Re: #37
    Why DLSS4? If we're talking DLSS, it should be 5.
    55AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:59
    Re: #41
    If it goes that far, it'll start eating into Nvidia's own market.
    63AnonymousSep 20, 2026 10:41
    Re: #41
    But DLSS5-level neural rendering is basically a lost cause for next-gen consoles like the PS6, since they're built on AMD hardware.
    At this rate, it's already looking like console gaming could be locked out of this tech for a full decade — a brutal outcome that already seems more or less decided.
    64AnonymousSep 20, 2026 10:45
    I don't think we've hit the ceiling, but honestly PS4-level graphics are good enough.
    90AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:59
    Re: #64
    No way, PS4 specs are way too low — PS4-level in this day and age is a non-starter.
    69AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:34
    Even so, a next-gen console will probably show up in a few years.
    Where does a game console even go from here?
    71AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:41
    Re: #69
    Smartphones and handhelds still have room to grow specs-wise, so a Switch 3 seems feasible.
    Home consoles, though, are pretty much done.
    73AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:50
    This is the opinion of someone who's only ever touched a Switch — someone who doesn't know anything outside the crowd people call "Switch pigs" (任豚/nita-buta, derogatory slang for diehard Nintendo fanboys).

    The Switch 2 is basically a PS4 arriving over a decade late — it still doesn't have enough power.
    We need something more like PS5-level.
    Though maybe not all the way up to PS6.
    75AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:53
    Re: #73
    The fact that graphics and load times are no longer noticeably worse is huge.
    There are titles I'd never have bought on the original Switch that are actually an option now.
    86AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:19
    It runs smooth. If anything, even the original Switch got lighter — apparently it's been switched over to a native app.
    87AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:41
    Re: #86
    Oh, is that right. I already thought it was a huge leap that Monster Hunter Wilds could be ported over without noticeable load-time lag — glad to hear it.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    It’s worth noting that discussion of the Switch 2’s performance is based largely on user speculation, since Nintendo has never officially published its specs. The “PS4 Pro-equivalent” comparison that comes up repeatedly in the thread is likewise an unofficial estimate inferred from how supported titles perform, not a confirmed figure. DLSS is an upscaling technology built into NVIDIA GPUs, and the Switch 2 is believed to include a compatible chip, though how far it will be developed in future hardware generations remains an open question. Several replies in the thread converged on the view that graphical expression reached a natural stopping point with PS4-era programmable shaders, and that the industry has since shifted toward differentiating visuals through ray tracing and AI-driven upscaling or generative rendering. On the question of how much power is actually needed, though, opinions ranged widely — from “PS4-level is plenty” to “it has to exceed the PS5” — and no consensus was reached.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Console Wars)) thread “Hasn’t graphics basically maxed out around the Switch 2?“

  • Love Live! Fans Split Over Live Show Equipment and Budget Across Units

    We’re covering a topic that had 5ch buzzing about stage production in the Love Live! franchise. One unit’s concert drew praise for having “the best camera work and stage direction in series history,” but fans disagreed over whether the effects gear used was an actual drone or a wire-rigged light-up unit. The thread then snowballed into comparisons of production scale and budget across units like Nijigasaki, Hasunosora, and Liella!, eventually turning into a debate over which unit puts the most effort into its live shows.

    1AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:36
    Best live show quality in the series
    Great camera work and stage set design
    3AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:38
    The Nijigasaki movie was a total waste of time
    If they'd just gotten the Ikizurai-Live anime (a fan nickname punning on 生きづらい, "hard to live/awkward") going sooner, it might not have flopped so hard
    35AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:45
    Re: #3
    What's "Nijigazaki"? (mocking the typo in the post above)
    6AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:42
    The only real downside is the overall look, more or less
    7AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:46
    Me walking into the venue: "There's nothing on this stage… this isn't just simple, it's *empty*. Did they have less budget than SupaSta (fan shorthand for the Love Live! Superstar!! tour) or something?"

    Me partway through: "Wait, it's a moving stage and set pieces keep popping up from below… and they've got ten different cart variations, one per member…"

    Me watching Silent Stella: "Is that… a drone? They're doing the effects with drones… so THAT'S why they couldn't put anything on the stage…"

    Me after the show: "Okay, that clearly cost a fortune…"
    85AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:10
    Re: #7
    Wait, seriously?
    They actually went for it
    Barely any recent Love Live show has gone this hard
    9AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:48
    That drone effect was insane…
    Though it looks like it majorly restricts where the performer can move, so it's probably solo-only
    13AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:54
    Re: #9
    They didn't use drones at all?
    If you mean the effect from Silent Stella, you could clearly see the cable hanging it from above on the screen
    17AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:58
    Re: #13
    That's a drone that moves up and down on a wire — each one's an independent light-up unit. It's the same tech Ultraman stage shows only recently started using.

    Also, there are drones with four legs or tank treads, so "propeller aircraft = drone" isn't even accurate
    19AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:02
    Re: #13
    Your knowledge is ancient, pikaere… ("pikaere" — a mocking put-down thrown at posters seen as clueless)
    12AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:53
    Thinking about it more, the show leaned heavily on staging and the crowd
    The performers themselves aren't that impressive on their own
    Crowd aside, can they really keep the staging at this quality every single time?
    15AnonymousSep 20, 2026 08:55
    Re: #12
    Honestly they're already above Liella! and close to Niji/Hasu level at making characters feel real, so it should be fine
    32AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:22
    Watching Ikizurai-Live makes me think they should just drop the tour format
    Putting everything into a 2-day show would probably make for better staging and performances
    33AnonymousSep 20, 2026 09:29
    Re: #32
    For Liella!, don't they kind of have to tour since that's how the cast stays employed? Unlike Ikizurai-Live, there's no voice-acting work tied to the characters
    49AnonymousSep 20, 2026 10:50
    Liella! is seriously doing her own thing way too hard, nobody can keep up
    51AnonymousSep 20, 2026 10:53
    Re: #49
    With the fan club, putting the cast in media, leaning on pilgrimage-site tie-ins — going by how they market it, they're basically supposed to be Aqours' successor…
    128AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:09
    Re: #49
    Well, it'd be nice to have at least one group that can keep pace with them
    There's no real rivalry within the franchise, and having no good rival is bad for Liella! too
    If they never have to compete outside, even Liella! risks getting complacent eventually
    52AnonymousSep 20, 2026 10:54
    I'm a Nijigasaki fan, but Ikizurai-Live doesn't even have flashy staging like Niji does, and I still got completely pulled into the song production — it was great
    57AnonymousSep 20, 2026 10:55
    Re: #52
    Can't hide that pikaere energy in this post lol
    58AnonymousSep 20, 2026 10:56
    Re: #52
    My read: Nijigasaki, the loaded rich-kid school, goes all out on the stage set, while L Academy, the digital school, goes all out on the effects instead
    63AnonymousSep 20, 2026 10:58
    Did you not know Nijigasaki and Ikizurai-Live share the same production staff?
    66AnonymousSep 20, 2026 10:59
    Re: #63
    Probably just doesn't know, pikaere
    69AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:01
    Also, I liked that Ikizurai-Live gives each member her own center song
    Honestly it kind of bugged me that Ayumu is always the fixed center for Niji's group songs
    70AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:02
    Re: #69
    That's just Niji being lazy — every other unit in the franchise actually rotates the center depending on the song
    71AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:02
    Nijigasaki's whole concept is that the protagonist is you (Yuu) and Ayumu is the main heroine, so isn't that just how it's designed? That's the concept
    73AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:04
    Re: #70
    Re: #71
    Why do pikaere always have such a shallow take compared to people who actually get it? That's exactly why nobody relates to them
    90AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:13
    Lately Love Live shows have barely had anything beyond the usual cart bit to cue the member-stage/center-stage moments
    The last time they really went big on staging was probably that lift-up circular center stage from the Yohane show
    93AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:14
    Re: #90
    Hasunosora uses a three-tier version of that lift-up stage
    96AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:16
    Here

    97AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:17
    Isn't Hasunosora's LTTF curtain-screen effect pretty flashy too?
    Also, Nijigasaki used that bizarre LED staircase stage that slides side to side for "Mamimume Motor Girl"
    134AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:18
    Re: #97
    There's no way just fitting panels into a staircase costs that much money…
    98AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:17
    My bad
    Drone rental isn't actually that expensive
    The laser lighting Niji uses so much of costs about double what the drones do
    101AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:19
    Re: #98
    Ikizurai-Live went hard on lasers too though

    I mean, at the end of the day, isn't the reality just that Niji, Hasu, and Ikizurai all built stages with a real budget, and Liella! is somehow the only one with no money?
    120AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:04
    Re: #98
    Guess Niji really is a money pit after all
    104AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:25
    Yesterday Oyuki's costume had those long frills and she was spinning around, but Liella!'s frills never open up that nicely even when they spin — the fabric's too thin to catch air…
    Same "Osare Company" (fan nickname, roughly "Fashion Inc.," for the production house) roots, but the budget gap between Liella! and everyone else has got to be more than double
    106AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:29
    Re: #104
    That's why Nagi-chan twists her hips backward once before the spin, using the momentum to make the skirt and frills flare out
    But that only works because of Nagi-chan's physical ability — the other ten can't do it, so theirs doesn't open, and on top of that it turns into an ugly-looking spin, which isn't pretty from a performance standpoint… it's honestly kind of a mess
    Still, an open skirt beats a flat one, so it's the right call even if it's messy

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    The Love Live! franchise runs live tours in parallel across multiple units, including Nijigasaki School Idol Club, Hasunosora Girls’ School Idol Club, and Liella! (Link! Like! Love Live!), and the scale of staging and budget reportedly varies a lot between them. The thread’s disagreement centered on two main points: first, a technical dispute over whether the stage equipment used was genuinely a “drone” or a wire-suspended light-up unit; second, a comparative debate over which unit spends the most on production. It’s worth noting that none of these production details have been officially confirmed — they’re based purely on what attendees saw or felt in the moment. It’s also worth explaining that nicknames like “Ikizurai-Live” and “Ikizurai-bu” are fan shorthand — wordplay on 生きづらい (“hard to live,” i.e. socially awkward) — used within the community and may not be familiar to readers unfamiliar with the franchise.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Love Live!) thread “Ikizurai-bu is becoming the dominant force in the Love Live! franchise.”

  • PS5 Emulator Now Runs on Xbox Series X Too — 5ch: ‘Turns Out the Small Game Library Was Sony’s Best Anti-Piracy Tool LOL’

    An emulator capable of running PS5 games has reportedly gotten working on an actual Xbox Series X console, sparking a stir on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board. On PC, reports say the frame rate for the Demon’s Souls Remake emulation jumped dramatically within just a week, drawing attention to how fast development is moving. Some in the thread argued that backlash over Sony’s reported plan last month to phase out the PS5’s disc drive helped fuel the emulator’s development, while others pushed back hard against posts that seemed to justify pirating games, leaving the thread divided.

    1AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:02
    Guess the performance is so low even a Series S can handle it, huh.
    3AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:03
    Uh oh, now people can play Wolverine on Xbox!
    9AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:04
    Re: #3
    Who on earth would even want to play that garbage!
    11AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:06
    Basically here's how it went down:

    ・PS5 has no must-play exclusives, so nobody bothers building an emulator

    ↓

    Sony pisses everyone off by killing the disc drive, so spite-driven devs start building one

    ↓

    Turns out it's easy to emulate, up and running within months

    ↓

    Now it's ported to Xbox too ← we are here
    13AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:07
    Re: #11
    LOL, turns out 'nothing worth playing' was the ultimate defense system.
    18AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:09
    Re: #11
    Might feel like ancient history, but the disc-drive announcement was literally just last month.
    98AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:42
    Re: #11
    LOL the tiny software library was basically the anti-piracy measure.
    12AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:07
    The real problem here is that PS5 ROMs are already floating around online.
    15AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:07
    Re: #12
    Pretty sure the master key leaked because of a screwup on Sony's own end in the first place… though I don't know the details.
    19AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:10
    Doesn't seem like it's playable properly yet though.
    23AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:11
    Re: #19
    No idea about the Xbox version, but on PC, Demon's Souls is apparently already running stably.
    22AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:11
    So both PlayStation and Xbox are hacked now, huh.
    100AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:43
    Re: #22
    It's less a 'hack' on Xbox and more that applying as an indie developer unlocks a dev/test mode.
    26AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:13
    There's a basic premise that if you've got a PC you don't even need a PS emulator, so nobody's seriously working on one.
    30AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:15
    Re: #26
    Re: #27
    Right, that's exactly why nobody ever bothered making one — but once the disc-drive backlash got people building it out of spite, it came together shockingly fast.
    34AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:16
    Re: #26
    Still, glad to see progress since GTA6 is coming late to PC.
    27AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:14
    Wait, how many PS5-exclusive games are there even?
    Building an emulator just for those sounds pointless.
    31AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:15
    Guess raw hardware power doesn't actually stop emulation.
    33AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:15
    Re: #31
    If anything the PS5's specs are on the weak side…
    134AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:59
    Re: #31
    Sony's brand imaging really is something else — PlayStation has never actually had top-tier specs, not even once.
    35AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:16
    Re: #23
    Last week people were saying Demon's Souls on PC ran at like 2-3fps — has it improved more since then?
    36AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:17
    Re: #35
    It hit 30fps within a week 😤
    39AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:18
    Re: #36
    30fps is basically the same as running on the actual console.
    42AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:19
    Re: #36
    That's a huge leap. Feels like 60fps is both close and still far off, though.
    37AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:17
    Come to think of it, Ryujinx runs on the Series X too, right? At this point it's basically the reigning console of the piracy scene.
    40AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:19
    Re: #37
    Cemu runs on it too. Xbox is the only place you can play literally every Nintendo game.
    57AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:29
    Apparently Astro Bot and the Demon's Souls Remake are already running (lol)
    There are so few exclusives that devs only need to optimize for a handful of titles — must be the easiest emulator ever to build (lol)
    59AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:30
    Re: #57
    That's the PC version you're talking about.
    60AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:31
    Re: #57
    LOL, now that you mention it, they only need to specialize for a handful of games lol
    72AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:36
    Re: #57
    Series X is wild.
    63AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:33
    PlayStation's getting less and less necessary lol
    68AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:35
    Re: #63
    If 'an emulator exists' were enough to hurt console sales, Nintendo would've quit the hardware business ages ago.
    74AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:37
    Re: #68
    What is this guy even saying? I'm just saying if you can emulate PS5 on Xbox, you don't need a PS5.
    77AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:38
    Re: #68
    It's actually the opposite — demand goes up in China and it ends up selling more because of it. The Switch is a perfect example. Though for some reason crappy Xbox can emulate almost every game out there and still doesn't sell lol
    66AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:34
    What's with all the ID-hopping in this thread (suspiciously many poster-ID changes, as if one person's arguing with themselves)?
    92AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:41
    Re: #66
    Re: #77
    I think it means the games stop selling. Save the self-own for somewhere else.
    96AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:41
    Re: #92
    What do you mean? Like, downloading games illegally?
    97AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:42
    Re: #92
    So basically you're saying Xbox users are criminals.
    140AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:01
    Crappy PlayStation is pulling out of the disc business anyway, so who cares if people pirate it — especially once they kill the disc drive and you can't even play the games legitimately anymore.
    142AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:02
    Re: #140
    So you're justifying a crime just because you hate Sony?
    146AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:03
    Re: #140
    LOL, spoken like a true criminal apologist — you really do think differently.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    Commenters in the thread point to backlash against Sony’s recently announced plan to discontinue the PS5’s disc drive as the trigger behind the emulator’s sudden progress. Console emulators typically take years to develop because of the work involved in cracking encryption keys and reverse-engineering internal architecture, but posters noted that the PS5’s thin exclusive lineup had inadvertently kept developer interest away, functioning as a kind of unintentional “countermeasure.” Toward the end of the thread, however, opinion split between posts defending illegal copying of games and others condemning that stance as “justifying a crime” — a reminder that praise for the emulator’s technical achievement can easily get tangled up with the separate issue of copyright infringement. The reports of it running are a technical story in their own right, but actually playing PS5 games this way still carries legal risk depending on how the files were obtained.

    ※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, “Geha”) thread “[Sad News] PS5 Emulator Ends Up Running on Xbox Series X 😄”.

  • Masaki Aiba: “I Can Only Read Novels and Manga on Paper” — Yumia Fujisaki Agrees at Koikeya’s New Commercial Reveal

    Masaki Aiba, appearing at Koikeya’s new product strategy and commercial reveal event, revealed his personal quirk that he can only read novels and manga in paper form — and co-star Yumia Fujisaki agreed, saying “I know exactly what you mean.” Sparked by this remark reported by Daily Sports on September 20, 2026, the 5ch “Geinou/Sports News+” board launched into its usual debate over whether paper or e-books are easier to read. Comments ranged from “manga’s fine digitally but novels are hard to get through without paper” to “digital zoom is a lifesaver now that my eyes are going,” showing this goes well beyond simple preference.

    Masaki Aiba: “I can’t read novels or manga unless they’re on paper” — Surprising quirk earns Yumia Fujisaki’s “I get it” / Daily Sports

    2026.09.20

    On the 20th, talent Masaki Aiba (43) appeared alongside actor Yumia Fujisaki (18) at a press event in Tokyo for Koikeya’s new product strategy and new commercial.

    Source: daily.co.jp / Original article here

    2AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:51
    (∪^ω^)woof woof!
    　 ∪　　|
    　 し ⌒Ｊ
    4AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:53
    I think paper books are better too, but then I think about where to store them all and… yeah, it gets complicated.
    36AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:25
    Re: #4
    If you just want to read, a net cafe or coffee shop works fine.
    5AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:54
    I've gotten fine with digital manga, but novels just don't progress for me that way.
    With e-books it takes way longer to actually get started reading.
    9AnonymousSep 20, 2026 11:58
    E-book files are low resolution, so even on a good device it's just stretched-out garbage quality that tires your eyes out.
    10AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:00
    The one upside I'll give digital is
    it doesn't take up space.
    That's about it, honestly…
    11AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:03
    Exactly this — maybe it's a generational thing?
    I used to read novels on my Kindle, but the feeling after finishing was completely different from reading a paperback, so I ended up going back to paper books entirely.
    Personally I wonder if it's the visual difference between reflected light and light shining straight through a screen…
    12AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:04
    There used to be tons of people insisting movies had to be seen in a theater, but
    you barely hear that anymore.
    16AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:09
    Re: #12
    But for something like Titanic, where the sense of presence really matters, I do think "yeah, it's gotta be the theater."
    That immersive feeling is just on a totally different level.
    13AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:05
    There are cases where e-books are actually better for manga —
    things like two-page spreads or just not needing storage space.
    But for plain text, paper wins.
    17AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:09
    I barely read paper books at all anymore… guess it's just what you get used to.
    18AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:10
    Two-page spreads look like garbage on a tablet.
    19AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:11
    My city's library
    started offering e-book loans online, but
    it's basically all just Aozora Bunko (a free public-domain text archive), and the selection
    is way too weak.
    20AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:12
    Re: #16
    Forget the big screen — there's nothing you can do about the sound at home.
    Once you factor in the physical vibration, even a dedicated home theater room hits its limits.
    A movie theater lets you actually feel the film.
    21AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:13
    Books leave a better feeling once you're done, but
    on the bus or train during my commute there's never enough light, so I ended up only reading on my phone.
    My bookshelf has been frozen in the same lineup for years now — like the owner died or something.
    24AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:16
    Forget paper versus digital, I just stopped reading manga and books altogether.
    26AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:17
    It's not some personal quirk — my eyes are just too old to see the print anymore.
    29AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:21
    Re: #26
    But digital lets you zoom in, right?
    27AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:17
    Paper's easier to read, but once you get into e-books you switch sides.
    Being able to carry your whole library anywhere with ease is a huge draw.
    28AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:21
    With manga, the artwork itself is the work, so there's real meaning in the physical page.
    Something like a CD, though, was always just data burned onto a disc, so I don't feel the same way about that.
    30AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:21
    It's not that you can't read it digitally — it's just that apparently using your sense of touch helps things stick in memory better.
    31AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:21
    I'm not from the generation that grew up studying with e-books, but it's true that manga I've read digitally sticks in my memory way less. There seem to be plenty of studies backing that up, so I don't think it's just a matter of personal preference.
    32AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:24
    I used to be paperback-only for novels too, but
    one day I forgot to bring my book and was dying to keep reading on the train, so I bought an e-book for the first time.
    I haven't bought a physical book since.
    Digital doesn't take up space, you can highlight passages,
    and being able to search a word to find the part you want to reread again is amazing.
    34AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:25
    I used to think paper was better, but
    once my eyesight started going I switched to team tablet, since you can zoom in and adjust the brightness.
    Beats struggling through hard-to-read text or just giving up on reading altogether.
    35AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:25
    Since you're constantly bathed in light from a smartphone screen,
    I figure it's probably setting me up for vision problems later in life.
    37AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:27
    Anything I absolutely want to keep close, I get in paper.
    38AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:30
    I read both paper and digital, novels and manga, but paper really does help me focus more, and it sticks in my head better afterward.
    The sense of satisfaction when I finish is bigger too.
    40AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:34
    Being able to read with dirty hands without a second thought is a real perk of digital.
    41AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:34
    The bookstore near me closed, so I lost the joy of browsing for books I wanted to read.
    I don't feel like buying paper books online,
    so now it's basically just manga in e-book form for me.
    42AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:36
    In Norway, schools moved to tablet-based lessons, but academic performance dropped, so now they're going back to an era of paper textbooks and notebooks.
    I guess actually moving your hands is what makes procedural knowledge really sink in.
    46AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:39
    Re: #42
    Writing characters by hand on paper itself uses a huge amount of brainpower.
    If everything gets turned digital, today's kids might end up developing dementia by the time they're in their 40s.
    49AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:41
    Re: #42
    I think what actually matters there is writing in a notebook, more than the paper book itself.
    64AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:19
    With manga, I feel like even the creators are designing with digital in mind now — compared to the old days, there's a lot more use of oversized panels, edge-to-edge bleed layouts, and bigger dialogue text.
    68AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:27
    Re: #64
    For people editing color versions or translated editions, digital must make the work way easier.

    Background and key points of this discussion

    The paper-versus-digital reading debate is a recurring topic on 5ch, not unique to this thread, and it reflects a real structural gap in Japan’s e-book market: digital comics have overtaken paper in sales, while e-book adoption for text-heavy works like novels has lagged. In the thread, this split showed up clearly — commenters were far more willing to accept digital for panel-by-panel manga than for text-driven novels. The other recurring theme wasn’t really generational but practical: comments about digital zoom being a lifesaver for aging eyes sat alongside comments that only paper leaves a lasting memory, suggesting the divide owes more to physical circumstances and reading context (commute lighting, available shelf space) than to simple old-versus-new taste. The claim that Norwegian schools rolled back tablet-based education also came up — this refers to an actual 2020s education policy shift that is worth noting, since Norway did partially reintroduce handwriting and paper materials, though that context isn’t fully captured within the thread itself.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Commercial] Masaki Aiba: “I can’t read novels or manga unless they’re on paper” — Surprising quirk earns Yumia Fujisaki’s “I get it” / Koikeya.”

  • Chunichi Dragons Miss Playoffs for 14th Straight Year — Worst Streak in NPB History

    The Chunichi Dragons have missed out on the Climax Series (CS) again this season, stretching their playoff drought to 14 consecutive years since 2013. It’s now the longest such streak among all 12 NPB teams, and this season the Dragons became the first Central League team eliminated from playoff contention. From 2007, when the CS took its current format, through 2012, Chunichi was a fixture in the postseason — but everything changed starting in 2013, and the slump has continued ever since. On 5ch, discussion ranged widely: doubts about manager Kazuki Inoue’s in-game decisions and the front office’s approach, attendance comparisons with J.League side Nagoya Grampus, debate over the team’s reliance on its mascot “Doala,” and even broader questions about a pro baseball system with no relegation.

    Chunichi suffered a lopsided loss to the Yomiuri Giants in their final game of the season, extinguishing any chance of reaching the Climax Series (CS). Manager Kazuki Inoue said, “We’re not in a position to talk big. We’ll just keep fighting hard in the games right in front of us.

    I want to put on games that feel fun to watch, so the fans don’t get too discouraged. We’ll keep working to show solid baseball through the rest of the season,” he said. Chunichi became the first team in this season’s Central League to be eliminated from CS contention.

    This marks the 14th consecutive year Chunichi has missed the CS, dating back to 2013. Since the CS adopted its current format in 2007, Chunichi reached it six years running through 2012 — during that stretch, they were, alongside the Giants, one of the Central League’s playoff regulars. But starting in 2013, they haven’t made it back once.

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

    8AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:30
    Can't even crack the top half of the league for 14 years running, lmao
    32AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:36
    Re: #8
    They actually did finish 3rd once, under manager Yoda
    Just unlucky that it happened to be a year the CS wasn't held
    10AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:31
    Were they in A Class in 2020, and the CS simply wasn't held because of COVID?
    73AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:52
    Re: #10
    If anything, it's precisely because there was no CS that year that other teams didn't fight as hard to lock down an A Class spot — that's how Chunichi snuck into 3rd
    11AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:31
    Baseball's such a cushy bubble with no relegation system
    36AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:37
    Re: #11
    More popular than soccer here — packed stadiums even on weekdays
    12AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:31
    So a middle-school Dragons fan has literally never seen their own team play in the CS
    44AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:40
    Re: #12
    Isn't Ochiai just some old guy doing baseball YouTube these days?
    14AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:32
    Former players said it's the negative legacy left over from Ochiai's time as manager/GM
    But will the "Tatsunami Kids" ever actually develop?
    18AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:33
    Re: #14
    Too much time has passed for that — can't really blame Ochiai anymore
    59AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:45
    Re: #14
    Muramatsu, Tanaka, Fukunaga
    87AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:54
    Re: #14
    Individual talent has actually improved a lot, but the manager's in-game calls and sloppy fundamentals just keep dragging the team down
    Tatsunami was a master of making the wrong call, but Inoue's calls aren't even that bad — they just always backfire anyway. A total reverse-Midas touch
    22AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:34
    They clearly have no intention of building a winning team — might as well just sell the club
    31AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:36
    This is a front-office problem at this point, isn't it
    Nothing good comes of having a media company as the owner
    35AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:37
    Re: #31
    Yomiuri's doing just fine though
    It's simply that Chunichi's management is bad
    41AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:39
    Doala's probably about at his limit by now
    Time for a new mascot to start fresh
    49AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:41
    Re: #41
    If anything, relying on that koala is the root cause
    The team won't admit it, but the koala's popularity subconsciously works as a brake — an excuse not to try as hard to actually win
    109AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:59
    Re: #41
    That's where Black Doala comes in
    42AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:40
    They got weak after Ochiai left
    48AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:41
    Re: #42
    Wasn't there talk that the higher-ups said something like, "if we win, payroll goes up, and that's bad for us"?
    50AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:42
    Last year's final game

    118AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:00
    Re: #50
    Made it a year I couldn't sleep from frustration
    53AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:43
    Chunichi Dragons annual attendance: 2 million, averaging 28,121 per game
    Nagoya Grampus annual attendance: 450,000, averaging in the low 20,000s per game
    62AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:46
    Re: #53
    Chunichi's average attendance is actually 35,658
    And it keeps growing every year
    61AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:45
    Nagoya's still a J.League town after all
    72AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:52
    Re: #61
    What was that about the empty-seat "subsidy league" that only plays once a week on weekends?
    92AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:55
    Re: #61
    It's got zero popularity
    When Chunichi wins the pennant, the whole region celebrates and they even throw a big parade
    When Grampus wins, nobody even notices
    64AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:46
    I live in Nagoya, but the only Dragons player I know is Neo — his name keeps coming up in online news
    67AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:50
    Re: #64
    Also I keep seeing news about the manager blowing up in anger
    65AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:48
    Proof that a relegation system isn't needed
    79AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:53
    Re: #65
    Pro baseball works fine without one, so that's totally fine
    Why are you sticking your nose into other sports' business anyway?
    66AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:48
    The Chunichi Shimbun/Tokyo Shimbun can't afford to shell out big money for players anymore
    They need someone like Toyota to become the parent company, or it's hopeless
    74AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:52
    Re: #66
    The parent company is technically listed as Chunichi Shimbun
    But in reality the Dragons ("ChuniDora") are jointly funded and owned by Nagoya-based companies led by QP Kowa
    78AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:52
    The Dragons seriously over-favor local-born players, it's bad
    Meanwhile the Hawks, despite Kyushu's strong local pride, still cut local guys if they're not good enough
    83AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:54
    Re: #78
    Aichi is completely baseball-dominant territory
    And the media backing is airtight too
    86AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:54
    Aren't a lot of Dragons fans just happy people?
    They cheer regardless of wins or losses and are satisfied either way… probably have other hobbies too
    96AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:56
    Re: #86
    It's basically like idol fan culture ("oshi-katsu")
    Plenty of young fans too, and families can casually go watch together
    102AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:57
    Chunichi and Hiroshima aren't really companies big enough to be carrying a pro baseball team, are they?
    114AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:59
    Re: #102
    Are you making fun of Mazda?

    Background and Key Points

    The Climax Series (CS) was first introduced by the Pacific League in 2004, and the current format — where the top three teams in each league, including the Central League, advance — began in 2007. Chunichi was a fixture on par with the Giants during that first six-year stretch, but hasn’t finished in the top three (A Class) even once since 2013. It’s worth noting that 2020 doesn’t count toward the “missed playoffs” streak: the CS wasn’t held at all that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Chunichi actually finished in A Class that season. Without knowing this, it’s easy to get confused and wonder, “If they were unusually strong in 2020, why didn’t that break the streak?” — hence the clarification here. In the thread, opinions were split over manager Inoue’s in-game decisions, with users also questioning the front office’s management approach and pointing to attendance figures as evidence of just how popular pro baseball is in the Nagoya region — all raised as possible angles on the team’s prolonged slump.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from a 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread titled “[Baseball] Chunichi Dragons’ 14 straight years without reaching the Climax Series sets the worst record among all 12 teams — next longest is DeNA’s 9 straight years, and in the Pacific League, Orix’s 6 straight years is the longest.”

  • Betts Rakes for 3rd Straight Multi-Hit Game, .396 Average — 5ch: ‘Ohtani Is Gone’

    Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts has racked up multiple hits in three straight games, pushing his batting average this month up to .396. Over on 5ch’s “Live Everything G” board, posters piled on with theories crediting the hot streak to Shohei Ohtani’s absence from the lineup, and the thread spiraled into debates over batting order, avoiding double plays, and Ohtani’s hitting tendencies with runners on base. Plenty of the “it’s all because of Ohtani” takes were light on statistical backing, but the thread still drew a lively mix of agreement and pushback.

    1AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:05
    3 straight multi-hit games
    7AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:07
    Did something happen recently?
    20AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:12
    Re: #7
    Ohtani left
    8AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:08
    Starting from when someone left?
    10AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:09
    Shohei, playing baseball with you is suffocating
    16AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:11
    Re: #10
    Guess it really was suffocating, huh
    11AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:09
    Why not just bat Betts leadoff?
    Put Ohtani second since his knee's banged up
    12AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:09
    He's hitting like a curse just lifted off him
    13AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:11
    [Sad News] Turns out the Dodgers were stronger without Ohtani 😭
    14AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:11
    He's a master at timing his peak right before the playoffs
    15AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:11
    Will Smith quietly went 3-for-something with a homer too
    Does this team even need Ohtani?
    19AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:12
    The King Bombii finally left and now everyone's playing to their full potential (King Bombii = the bad-luck spirit from the Momotaro Dentetsu video game who drains players' fortunes)
    Betts was basically an MVP-caliber player the season right before Ohtani arrived — hitting .300 with 40 homers
    Then the second Ohtani showed up, he dropped to like .200 with 20 homers
    And now that Ohtani's gone, he's right back to form

    We've figured out who the real problem is
    Same story with Tucker and Skubal
    23AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:13
    When Ohtani's around, only Ohtani produces while everyone else slumps
    Without him, the team pulls together and overall production goes up
    Oh, Ohtani… 😭😭
    24AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:13
    This is truly a fascinating phenomenon in sports psychology
    25AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:14
    No joke, they're genuinely playing better now that Ohtani's gone
    26AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:14
    Betts is hitting .396 this month lol
    33AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:17
    Hey Ohtani
    get down to the two-hole
    37AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:17
    Re: #33
    He's leadoff because he can't hit with runners on
    38AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:18
    Dodgers are on pace for their first 100-win season in two years lol
    Little too obvious, huh 🤣
    49AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:23
    Re: #38
    Now that you mention it, the Dodgers used to rack up 100 wins year after year
    Seems like they've fallen short of 100 the last few seasons though
    47AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:22
    Konami will never have the nerve to give him the 'Bad Mood' or 'Chokes in the Clutch' trait in their baseball game, out of deference to him
    56AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:25
    Re: #47
    Actually, recent entries in the series don't assign those traits to real players anymore anyway
    48AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:22
    The only real fix is to have Ohtani focus purely on pitching
    57AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:25
    Re: #48
    Nah, he can't even stay healthy enough to hold a rotation spot, so that's moot
    65AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:29
    Why not just go Betts leadoff, Ohtani second, Freeman third?
    69AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:30
    Re: #65
    Ohtani got moved from second to leadoff because he kept making outs with runners in scoring position…
    70AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:30
    Re: #65
    That'd make it righty-lefty-lefty — Roberts probably wouldn't like that (manager Dave Roberts)
    72AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:32
    Re: #57
    Just make him stop hitting altogether
    77AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:35
    Re: #72
    If he stops hitting, does that actually let him hold a rotation spot?
    92AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:44
    Re: #77
    At least he'd stop with the reckless baserunning too
    96AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:45
    Re: #77
    Guys who can't stay healthy enough for the rotation don't get to start anyway — they'd just make him a full-time hitter
    85AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:42
    Turns out Ohtani's own great numbers and the damage he does to everyone around him cancel out to a net zero
    95AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:45
    Re: #85
    I wonder if it's really breaking even…
    Saw data yesterday showing the team's winning percentage was only in the .400s in August with Ohtani around, but it's been in the .800s since he left
    86AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:42
    Dodgers with Ohtani benched
    15-4, on pace for a 120-win season
    87AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:43
    Re: #86
    They were winning 100 games a season before Ohtani even joined, so that tracks
    105AnonymousSep 20, 2026 12:57
    Betts (33)
    .261, 22 HR, 67 RBI, .785 OPS, 3.2 WAR
    Muncy (36)
    .253, 29 HR, 75 RBI, .846 OPS, 4.2 WAR
    Tucker (29)
    .235, 17 HR, 70 RBI, 11 SB, .728 OPS, 1.1 WAR
    118AnonymousSep 20, 2026 13:06
    Re: #105
    Betts: ¥4.8 billion
    Muncy: ¥1.5 billion
    Tucker: ¥9 billion

    The Dodgers really aren't great at spending money — feels like they're exploiting these guys' love of the game at this point

    Background and key points of this discussion

    This thread grew out of the sense that the team’s hitting picked up while Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup. That said, figures thrown around in the thread — like winning percentages supposedly being wildly different with and without Ohtani — are drawn from narrow, cherry-picked stretches, with no accounting for sample size or opponent strength. Treating them as proof of a season-long talent gap would be premature. The debate over batting Betts or Ohtani leadoff also involves several tangled factors, from Ohtani’s hitting tendencies with runners on base to Dave Roberts wanting to avoid stacking same-handed hitters — it’s not something a simple compatibility theory can fully explain. What is real, though, is Betts’s .396 average this month and his three straight multi-hit games, and that’s the core of what got people talking.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Live Everything G) thread “Mookie Betts goes 4-for-4 wwwwwwwwwww.”