Japan Reacts

Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • Morning Musume。’26 Drops New MV — Spotlight on Oda Sakura’s Graduation and the 18th Gen’s Role

    Morning Musume。’26 has released the Promotion Edit for “Yes ka No ka Watashi ka” (Yes or No or Me), the title track from their new single “Lonely…But not Alone/Yes ka No ka Watashi ka,” out September 30, 2026. Lyrics and composition are by Tsunku♂, arrangement by Kaoru Okubo, MV direction by Yu Matsunaga, and choreography by YOSHIKO. On 5ch’s Hello! Project board, discussion ranged widely — from questions about why three of the four 18th-generation members (everyone except Sugihara) are missing from the dance scenes, to whether the coupling track “Hikari no Kanata ni” (Beyond the Light) is actually Oda Sakura’s graduation song, to opinions on the thumbnail’s vibe and the song itself.

    Morning Musume。’26 “Yes ka No ka Watashi ka” Promotion Edit

    Source: youtu.be / Original article here

    3AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:04
    This is the Promotion Edit for "Yes ka No ka Watashi ka," from Morning Musume。'26's new single "Lonely…But not Alone/Yes ka No ka Watashi ka," out September 30, 2026.

    "Tsunku♂ Liner Notes"
    https://note.tsunku.net/n/nb472beaa2e4b

    Lyrics/Composition: Tsunku　Arrangement: Kaoru Okubo
    MV Director: Yu Matsunaga
    Choreographer: YOSHIKO
    7AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:05
    Cheaper-looking than an underground idol's MV.
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:06
    Her last one and the thumbnail's got her looking like early-era Oda.
    17AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:07
    Apparently close-up thumbnails do better numbers.
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:07
    Fitting song for autumn, when you start craving human warmth.
    19AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:07
    There's that mystery CG effect again.
    20AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:08
    View counts have been climbing faster since late last month, so this should be their biggest hit in years.
    23AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:09
    So this is it for Oda, huh.
    33AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:11
    Re: #23
    There's a coupling track made for Oda,
    so they'll probably drop an MV for that one too.
    24AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:09
    Liked it since all of Gen 18 is in it, but the song itself is weak.
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:09
    Such a cute vibe, makes you want to rewatch it over and over.
    27AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:10





    32AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:10
    It's a good MV, but having 3 members missing from the dance scenes makes it feel half-baked.
    34AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:11
    This is Gen 18's debut single and they get treated like this? That's rough.
    35AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:11
    "Hikari no Kanata e" doesn't seem to actually be Oda's graduation song.
    42AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:13
    Re: #35
    Really? Would they really delay the release just to add it in if that weren't the case?
    72AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:20
    Re: #35
    Because the title has "Mitsuo" and "Kanako" worked into it.
    37AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:12
    You guys should actually read the liner notes.
    41AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:13
    Just let them sing it properly in Japanese.
    It's so choppy I can't tell what she's saying.
    Whoever sang this, it'd be a garbage song either way.
    44AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:14
    Oda with pigtails brings back memories of her early Hello! Project Egg days (the group's trainee program).
    46AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:14
    Re: #42
    Morning Musume。'26, out September 30, 2026 — self-written liner notes for c/w track "Hikari no Kanata ni"
    https://note.tsunku.net/n/n30ab55f7833b
    62AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:18
    Re: #46
    Even if it wasn't written specifically for Oda, it's still being treated as her main graduation song.
    47AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:14
    The reason 3 members are missing might be that they didn't finish the dance lessons in time.
    That's probably why the release got delayed too.
    75AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:20
    Re: #47
    Not finishing the lessons in time explaining why they're not dancing in the MV makes sense, but that doesn't explain why the release got delayed.
    52AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:16




    61AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:18
    Too cute…
    https://img.youtube.com/vi/FT9rcjVHHtI/maxresdefault.jpg
    68AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:19
    Re: #61
    Switch her to "Mipuru" on "No."
    69AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:19
    Re: #61
    Makes you want to buy her anything.
    70AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:19
    Re: #61
    Amazing that she's thrived as the group's diva for so many years while carrying a handicap like that.
    67AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:19
    73AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:20
    Re: #67
    Haru's showing way too much stomach lol
    74AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:20
    Why aren't the other three 18th-gen members besides Sugihara in the dance scenes?
    97AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:28
    Re: #74
    Probably couldn't pull it off in time.
    84AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:23
    @UpFrontLink
    🎬 Morning Musume。'26 New MV out now! ✨

    Following "Lonely…But not Alone," check out "Yes, No, or Me (Yes ka No ka Watashi ka)," the 2nd MV from their upcoming 77th single!

    ☞ Watch it here:
    tp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT9rcjVHHtI

    @MorningMusumeMg
    #MorningMusume26 #モーニング娘26 #JPOP

    http://pbs.twimg.com/media/HRWbYaDbEAAWsQx.jpg:orig#.jpg
    8:00 PM · Sep 4, 2026
    93AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:26
    The thumbnail's rough, but Oda-chan looks properly cute once she's actually moving, right?

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    “Yes ka No ka Watashi ka” is the title track of the 77th single, out September 30, 2026, with the coupling track “Hikari no Kanata ni” (Beyond the Light) — a song that’s drawn attention for its ties to Oda Sakura — also included. What split the thread was whether “Hikari no Kanata ni” actually counts as Oda’s graduation song: some pointed out that elements of her stage name appear in the title, while Tsunku♂’s own liner notes contain passages that could be read as saying the song wasn’t written specifically for Oda, leaving the question unresolved. There was also speculation that three of the 18th-generation members are missing from the MV’s dance scenes because they hadn’t finished learning the choreography in time, though some pushed back on the idea that this also explains the release delay — worth noting this remains pure speculation.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Morning Musume。’26 “Yes ka No ka Watashi ka” Promotion Edit.”

  • TBS Teases ‘VIVANT’ Movie Adaptation, Show Going on Break Sept 20 & 27 — 5ch Reacts: ‘Don’t You Dare Lie to Me…’

    On September 4, at a program lineup briefing, TBS was asked about reports of a film adaptation of the Sunday Drama series “VIVANT,” starring Masato Sakai, and commented, “We can’t go into detail about the production process of individual programs.” At the same time, the network revealed that broadcasts on September 20 and 27 will be suspended due to coverage of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, with the show resuming as normal from October 4. Reactions on 5ch were divided — some posts jokingly riffed on the show’s famous line, others sorted out the Season 2 plot summary or shared where to catch up via streaming, while still others questioned the realism of the staging and how the production budget was being spent.

    Fri, Sep 4, 4:58 PM

    On September 4, TBS held a briefing on its October 2026 program lineup changes. During the event, there was a moment touching on a possible film adaptation of the TBS Sunday Drama series “VIVANT” (airing Sundays at 9:00 PM), starring actor Masato Sakai.

    When a reporter asked about reports of a “VIVANT” film adaptation during the Q&A, Daisuke Kishida said, “We can’t go into detail about the production process of individual programs, so we hope you’ll keep enjoying the drama.” It was also revealed that, due to broadcast coverage of the “Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya,” the show will be off the air for two installments on September 20 and 27, with normal broadcasts resuming from October 4.

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

    3AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:34
    DON'T YOU DARE LIE TO MEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
    4AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:34
    That scene where the Thai police open fire on him — bullet holes evenly spread all over his body, cracked me up. Normally you'd aim for a vital spot, right? The viewers are dumb too, so the quality's low.
    13AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:39
    Re: #4 Yeah, it is kind of contrived, but then again Shinjo isn't even dead to begin with.
    61AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:32
    Re: #4 Not a single headshot in the whole scene, huh.
    5AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:34
    So basically… they're saving the ending for the movie?
    6AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:35
    I want to check out VIVANT but where's it streaming? Is it on Amazon Prime?
    12AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:38
    Re: #6 Season 1 is on Amazon Prime.
    33AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:47
    Re: #6 U-NEXT.
    7AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:35
    So the Asian Games is apparently a bigger ratings draw than VIVANT, worth pausing the show two weeks in a row for?
    8AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:35
    Honestly I can't really follow the story.
    15AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:40
    Re: #8 It's actually super easy to follow — Season 2 is just about rescuing the captured Bekuhan (special-ops) agents who got caught. It's stupidly simple.
    26AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:45
    Re: #15 I mean, middle-aged One Piece otaku are raving about it, so…
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:39
    The reason the drama feels cheap from relying so much on AI (a CG-recreated character) is probably because the budget got spent on the movie instead.
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:41
    Re: #14 Apparently the drama itself isn't short on budget either.
    22AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:43
    Re: #14 Not sure exactly why, but they've been doing tons of overseas location shoots, so the budget's probably reasonably high. The problem is none of that spending translates into it actually being interesting.
    24AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:44
    Fine, make the movie if you want, but wrap up the TV story properly first. If they build to a big climax and then go 'the rest is in theaters,' I'm gonna be pissed.
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:44
    I thought it was mod(126,000,000 yen, π), but it turned out to just be a plain multiplication.
    27AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:45
    I don't really get the story anymore, but I'm only watching to see how exhausted Masato Sakai looks lol
    28AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:45
    Well, they've gotta claw back the losses from that bloated production budget somehow.
    29AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:45
    It's nothing but betrayals and deception so I never really got attached to any of the characters, and with the AI character and Sakai machine-gunning out dialogue so fast, a two-week break and I'll forget everything. Even when Season 2 started I was like 'wait, huh? what was going on again?' totally lost, and I'm only just now starting to piece it back together.
    35AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:49
    Re: #29 No… there's no betrayal or deception in Season 2? They just went to Thailand and back to rescue the Bekuhan agents. Even Nozaki blew his own cover as an undercover agent almost instantly.
    31AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:46
    They should just rerun it from episode 1 late at night ☺
    32AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:47
    Re: #18 Such a waste of money. They didn't need that whole 'AI Hayato' set.
    37AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:53
    So, are the four abducted Bekuhan agents still alive?
    42AnonymousSep 4, 2026 17:57
    Re: #37 Everybody's alive in this show. The only confirmed death is Sakota.
    50AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:12
    Someone on the live-thread board was saying 'there's absolutely no way there's a movie, director Fukuzawa is committed to TV,' and yet…
    54AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:17
    Re: #50 He's already left the production.
    55AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:17
    They're padding things out because there are so few episodes — they call it two cours, but it's really only a cour and a half.
    59AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:24
    Re: #55 Old dramas used to run about 10-13 episodes per cour, but these days it's more like 7-9 per cour.
    63AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:45
    Re: #61 In that scene, they were ordered to aim only for the arms and legs so as not to kill him and avoid an international incident. But one guy hit him near the heart, and that ends up being the fatal wound in the story. They even threw in a clunky line from the Thai police like 'Who was it?! Who's the one who actually hit him!' It was probably Nogi who did it — to fake the death, of course.
    67AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:59
    Re: #63 'Arms and legs,' sure, but get shot in the thigh and you can die.
    74AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:06
    > The first question is whether the Bekuhan agents get safely rescued. Sorry, but I don't care about any of the background Bekuhan extras besides Tori Matsuzaka — they can just wrap that up quickly, I don't mind.
    81AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:20
    Re: #74 Yeah, viewers have zero attachment to those four.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    “VIVANT” is the TBS Sunday Drama that became a hit with its Season 1 in 2023, known for its large budget tied to overseas location shoots. What TBS actually addressed this time wasn’t whether a movie adaptation would happen, but stuck to the boilerplate line that “we can’t discuss production details” — it did not officially confirm a film, something easy to misread from the headline alone. The September 20 and 27 breaks are also unrelated to the quality of the new season, simply a scheduling matter tied to broadcast coverage of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. On the thread, opinions split between those who found Season 2’s plot “easy to follow” and those who found it “hard to keep up with,” alongside debate over how realistic the gunfight scene was and how the production budget — including the overseas shoots — was being spent. The movie speculation itself has so far been driven by media reports, with no official announcement yet from TBS.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[TBS] Masato Sakai-starring “VIVANT” — comments on film adaptation, broadcasts paused Sept 20 & 27, resuming normally from Oct 4.”

  • Cabaret Clubs Losing Customers, Facing a ‘Bankruptcy Rush’ — 5ch Split on Why

    A thread claiming that cabaret clubs (hostess bars) are seeing fewer customers and going bankrupt one after another popped up on 5ch’s “Live News G” board, drawing 41 replies. Posters pointed to the bankruptcy of a card-payment company, the high cost of a night out, and customers drifting to alternatives like concept cafés, fan-support (‘oshi-katsu’) spending, and VTubers. Others questioned the business practice of writing off cabaret club bills as client-entertainment expenses, while some framed it as simply “young people drinking less.” Opinions were split on what’s really behind the industry’s slump.

    1AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:51
    Why don't you guys go to cabaret clubs?
    2AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:57
    They sell 300-yen drinks for 5,000 yen, 50,000-yen bottles for 1,000,000 yen, and 100,000-yen bottles for 2,500,000 yen — and somehow this industry is still going bankrupt. What a mystery.
    4AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:58
    Whatever happened with that credit card thing?
    5AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:59
    Wasn't it that the card company went under?
    6AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:00
    Re: #5
    Ah, so that's the reason.
    7AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:01
    I've been maybe twice, and having to be the one making an effort for a woman who wasn't even cute felt like some kind of punishment game.
    What's supposed to be fun about that?
    8AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:02
    Not going.
    Those hostesses were pulling in a high hourly wage, you know.
    9AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:03
    There's a mood now where drinking makes you look uncool.
    Drunk people committing crimes get a lot of attention too.
    10AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:03
    No money, so a lower-barrier concept café (cosplay-themed maid café) works fine for me.
    19AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:07
    Re: #10
    At concept cafés you also have to buy the girl a 2,000-yen drink — made me swear I'd never go back.
    Way too ridiculous.
    11AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:03
    They'll just keep going under one after another.
    Young people don't even drink these days.
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:04
    A friend of mine used dating apps as a substitute for cabaret clubs.
    Even treating someone to dinner works out cheaper than a hostess club, so it's easier on the wallet apparently.
    15AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:06
    There was a stretch when I went to cabaret clubs on the company's expense account, but one night easily topped 100,000 yen.
    Insane pricing.
    At that rate, a sex club would be the better deal.
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:08
    Re: #15
    Why can cabaret clubs even be expensed in the first place?
    If that's allowed, let us expense sex clubs too.
    17AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:06
    The one upside is they light your cigarette for you instantly.
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:07
    Given the labor shortage, it's actually a net plus for society if they go under.
    If young people flow into fields like elder care instead, us old guys would be happy too.
    22AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:07
    For ugly guys, it's a place to go pay for the same kind of contempt you'd get at a sex club.
    Of course nobody wants to go.
    33AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:11
    Re: #25
    Cabaret clubs can be expensed under the pretext of entertaining clients.
    Sex clubs, no way.
    44AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:15
    Re: #33
    I get that, I'm saying it's weird that it's legally allowed to be expensed at all.
    36AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:13
    Apparently even in "extrovert culture" countries like Brazil, young people are starting to reject this kind of nightlife/party culture too, so I think it's just a global trend at this point.
    40AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:14
    Re: #36
    Guess everyone was just gritting their teeth and going along with the extroverts.
    41AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:15
    Cabaret clubs are just paying big money to have a sales-pitch chat with a woman.
    'Papa katsu' (paid dating with older men) is cheaper and gets you better service.
    49AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:17
    Re: #41
    Re: #42
    Young guys in their 20s and 30s might not get the point of it, but once you're an old man that young women won't give the time of day, you'll pay big money just for a boring conversation.
    42AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:15
    I get sex clubs, but paying tens of thousands of yen just to talk to a woman you can't even touch at a cabaret club is way too much.
    60AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:23
    Forget cabaret clubs and sex clubs, it's all about 'oshi-katsu' (supporting your favorite idol/streamer) these days.
    I love throwing huge Super Chat donations at my favorite streamer three times a month lol, and getting noticed by them is the best.
    61AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:24
    Re: #60
    That's even more baffling than cabaret clubs.
    You're paying huge amounts to someone you haven't even met in person?
    63AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:25
    Re: #60
    Bottom of the barrel even among cash-cow fans.
    70AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:35
    Could someone with actual social anxiety like me even hold a conversation there?
    72AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:39
    Re: #70
    Not sure what you're misunderstanding, but it's the customer's job to keep the hostess happy, not the other way around.
    86AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:49
    Personally, I'd rather spend money on a cabaret club than on a VTuber.
    But I guess VTubers have the huge advantage of not requiring you to actually go outside.
    89AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:50
    Re: #86
    Either way, the only conclusion is that both are garbage.
    99AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:56
    Re: #86
    With a cabaret club you have to drink face-to-face with pretty women and worry about who's watching.
    In the online world you don't even have to show your face, you can still talk to the person, and you don't have to care what anyone thinks.
    Plus, it's full of your own kind, so it's comfortable.
    88AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:50
    What's the actual difference between a girls' bar and a cabaret club?
    90AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:51
    Re: #88
    Whether the woman sits right next to you or across the counter.
    108AnonymousSep 4, 2026 20:04
    Re: #88
    Re: #90 — also, a girls' bar is still just a bar at the end of the day, so sometimes people go there just for a normal drink.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    Behind this lies the growing trend of people in their 20s and 30s drinking less, plus a tax practice that lets cabaret club spending be written off as ‘entertainment expenses’ under the guise of client hospitality. In the thread, many voices called this expense treatment ‘unfair’ compared to sex clubs, while others praised the cabaret club’s distinctive experience of ‘having a lively time as a group,’ surfacing points that go beyond simple pricing complaints. The spread of cheaper alternatives to in-person hospitality — concept cafés, ‘oshi-katsu’ fandom spending, and VTuber donations — was also cited as a contributing factor. Note that the posts never identified which specific company’s ‘card company bankruptcy’ was being referred to, so that claim remains unverified even as the discussion moved forward.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Live News G) thread “[Sad News] Cabaret Club Industry: “Help! No customers are coming and we’re in a bankruptcy rush!”“.

  • Switch 2’s Performance Officially Confirmed Lower Than Xbox Series S, Says Capcom

    The thread kicked off after specific numbers surfaced for a certain ported title: 1080p/60fps on Xbox Series S versus 1080p/30fps on Switch 2, effectively making it Capcom’s own official acknowledgment that the Switch 2 comes out behind in performance. Pushback against those citing handheld constraints came quickly, with people pointing out that even TV mode (docked use) tops out at 30fps. From there, the discussion moved past a simple better-or-worse argument and escalated into a numbers-heavy showdown covering CPU and GPU generational gaps, how to weigh DLSS’s low-resolution upscaling, and estimates of real-world performance relative to the PS4. Whether it comes down to insufficient optimization or the hardware’s own limits was never settled.

    1AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:38
    XSS 1080p 60fps
    Switch 2 1080p 30fps
    4AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:39
    Turns out that if you actually optimize seriously for Switch 2, its performance is lower than the XSS lol
    7AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:40
    Well yeah, it has a handheld mode, so that's to be expected
    9AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:40
    Re: #7
    Sorry to say, but it loses even in TV mode…
    10AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:41
    Re: #7
    Come on, at least in TV mode you'd want it upscaling from 720p to a solid 60fps
    11AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:42
    Re: #7
    Sorry man, it's 30fps even on TV…
    15AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:44
    Funny how people kept saying "it's a handheld" but clearly wanted to play console-style games on it anyway.
    Just go play some Arcade Archives instead.
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:45
    Re: #15
    Given how hyped everyone got over that choppy Elden Ring footage recently, guess they really wanted to play it that bad
    21AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:46
    Re: #9
    Re: #11
    Come on, actually read the footnote
    29AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:49
    Re: #21
    You mean the part where it can also do variable 30-40fps?
    Yeah, even counting that, it still loses to the XSS
    28AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:49
    Is there even a point comparing a 100W-TDP home console to a handheld?
    31AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:51
    Re: #28
    Wasn't the Switch marketed as a home console too?
    34AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:55
    FPS comes down to CPU power, you know.
    So all that trash-talk about GTA6 being 30FPS actually means it's a game Switch 2 flat-out can't run.

    Both Dragon's Dogma 2 and Wilds are CPU-crushing games, so they'd need a full rebuild.

    My guess is they'll rework things so even the XSS version comfortably hits 60fps, and then plan a Switch 2 version from there.
    35AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:59
    Re: #34
    For CPU-bound games, frame rate doesn't change between XSS and PS5 Pro. GTA6 is exactly that kind of title.
    That just shows how strong the XSS's CPU is on its own.
    Its GPU can actually be worse than the Switch 2's depending on conditions — that's where DLSS-style correction saves it.
    39AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:11
    PS4 + DLSS = Switch 2

    Just a little trivia for ya
    43AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:13
    Re: #39
    Its CPU is about 3x faster than the PS4's, and its storage is more than 10x faster than an HDD
    46AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:15
    If the weakest Xbox GPU is roughly a GTX 1060, the Switch 2 in TV mode is more like a GTX 1050 to 1050 Ti — only 50-60% the power.
    It's just good at dressing itself up with DLSS, so it struggles in games that need real raw performance.
    49AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:18
    Re: #46
    Conversely, the PS5 Pro has a GPU on the level of an RTX 4070, but its CPU is on par with the XSS's, so it can't pull ahead on frame rate
    51AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:19
    Re: #49
    The CPU is only about 1.5x the performance
    54AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:21
    Re: #49
    Not sure what's "conversely" about it — console hardware is always built on the cheap, so of course something's underwhelming.
    Splurge on one part, cut corners everywhere else — that's the default.
    If everything were uniformly good it'd just be a PC, so it can't be helped 🤔
    47AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:17
    Re: #45
    In handheld mode there's not much difference. In docked mode it's about 2x.
    But factor in DLSS here too — the PS4 can't upscale so it needs around 900p, while the Switch 2 can get away with 540p, or even 360p in handheld mode.
    48AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:18
    Re: #47
    That's exactly why I wrote "+ DLSS"
    58AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:24
    Re: #43
    CPU performance is only slightly higher than the PS4's
    62AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:26
    Re: #58
    The IPC gap between the A78 and the Jaguar is more than 3x.
    And the PS4's CPU clock is oddly low even with no power constraints.
    So yeah, 3x checks out.
    Honestly it needs to be at least that much, otherwise porting down from the PS5 — whose CPU is 10x the PS4's — would be flat-out impossible.
    59AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:24
    Re: #51
    It can't even be 1.5x, they're both Zen2.
    Staying Zen2 and hitting that gap would need a clock speed over 5GHz.
    67AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:30
    Re: #59
    "3x the PS4" is just wishful Nintendo-fan math lol
    63AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:27
    What a pain this guy is.
    Switch 2 is roughly on par with the PS4, performance-wise.
    Can we just leave it at that?
    65AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:30
    Re: #63
    But in reality, more and more titles are dropping PS4 multiplatform support in favor of Switch 2
    69AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:32
    The real-world performance of the ARM Cortex-A78C is a bit over 2x the PS4's Jaguar.

    It's roughly 1/3 the performance of the PS5.
    72AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:33
    Nah, this is a Capcom skill-issue.
    RaiP, which has better graphics than Onimusha, runs at a solid 60.
    79AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:38
    Re: #72
    My impression is that outside of Resident Evil, a lot of their games feel under-optimized or inexplicably heavy for no reason.

    Pragmata seemed to be in good shape, but Onimusha was a bust 🤮
    74AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:36
    Re: #69
    Not the A78C, the plain A78 — that one's a 3x gap.
    It's a bit better than Zen2.
    Once you get to the X1, the IPC is on par with Zen3.
    78AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:38
    Re: #74
    Thinking games run fast just because ARM has high IPC… that's such an amateur take
    82AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:40
    Re: #78
    That's because the instruction set is weak
    84AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:41
    Re: #78
    Go ahead, be specific.
    Steam's ARM support is starting up too, so things will gradually converge to the same environment.
    75AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:36
    60fps eats up CPU resources, so if it only has about 1/3 the CPU power of the Xbox, 30fps makes sense
    80AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:39
    Re: #75
    Nobody's denying that.
    If anything, the reason PS4 is getting dropped from multiplatform releases is that it's only about 1/3 the power of the Switch 2.
    People say "don't drop PS4 for Switch 2, they're the same performance!" but outside of the GPU there's a pretty big gap.
    91AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:44
    Re: #82
    That's ancient history at this point — we're talking Vita-era stuff.
    Once ARM went 64-bit, its "quirky" advantages went into hiding.
    95AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:50
    Re: #91
    At the end of the day, AVX2 throughput is just in a different league.
    The A78C doesn't even have SVE2 extensions, does it?

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    The Switch 2 runs an NVIDIA custom chip with an Arm Cortex-A78C-series CPU core and a DLSS-capable Ampere-generation GPU. There are cases where its raw computing power falls short of the Xbox Series S, and the thread saw an ongoing back-and-forth citing figures like CPU comparisons against the PS4 (roughly 3x) and differences in IPC. The debate largely splits into two points of contention. The first is whether DLSS upscaling from a lower resolution should count as “real” performance — some argued that counting it puts the Switch 2 ahead of the PS4, while others countered that even with DLSS factored in, its raw processing power still falls behind. The second is whether the issue lies in insufficient optimization on Capcom’s part or in the hardware’s inherent limits; commenters pointed to Onimusha running heavy while Pragmata ran well as a real-world example, suggesting the amount of work put into each title may also play a role. Some also pointed out that differences in TDP and design philosophy between handheld and home consoles make simple comparisons unreasonable to begin with — so before even getting to how big the performance gap is, the discussion often proceeded without agreement on what exactly was being compared.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hardware/Industry [Geha]) thread “[Sad News] Switch 2 Officially Told by Capcom That Its Performance Is Lower Than the XSS.”

  • State of Play viewership: US and Europe plummet, but Japan is the only region that grew — 5ch: “Why was Japan totally fine with this?”

    Sony’s gaming news program “State of Play,” streamed in September, became a hot topic on 5ch after data showed peak concurrent viewers fell sharply in the US (from 850,000 down to 230,000) and in Europe (from 210,000 down to 34,000) compared to the previous broadcast in June — while Japan actually grew, from 67,000 to 107,000. All sorts of theories flew around about what caused the huge drop in the US and Europe, but plenty of replies also questioned why Japan alone didn’t lose viewers, and the thread was split over whether the broadcast time slot and the lineup of featured titles were really aimed at a Japanese audience.

    1AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:50
    State of Play June
    State of Play September
    12AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:51
    lol Japan's numbers didn't even go up all that much either
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:52
    Whoaaaaaaaaaa lmaooooo
    35AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:54
    Guess the "20-minute hag" segment from last time really did some damage outside Japan (a jab referencing a long, poorly received segment from the previous broadcast)
    41AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:55
    Re: #35
    Why was Japan totally fine with it…?
    39AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:55
    44AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:55
    Might've actually been more effective if they'd skipped this State of Play altogether…
    103AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:09
    Re: #44
    People say that every single time
    47AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:56
    Idiot:
    "Massive drop in viewers!!!!!!"


    Normal person:
    "Japan's 10pm is 2pm elsewhere — a weekday afternoon, so of course viewership would be low"
    57AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:57
    Re: #47
    Idiot: "Of course viewership would be low"
    Normal person: "Sure, it makes sense overseas numbers dropped, but isn't Japan's number way too low given the time slot?"
    72AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:00
    Re: #47
    Then why did Sony pick that time slot in the first place?
    Are they stupid?
    77AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:01
    Re: #47
    They went out of their way to change the time slot and Japan's numbers still didn't grow…
    49AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:56
    Why schedule it around the time zone you'd abandoned us on before?
    Now you've hurt other countries' sense of superiority
    64AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:58
    Re: #49
    Overseas has been in an uproar over the pullback from physical media, so they ran away from that time slot
    73AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:00
    Re: #64
    Ah, so they wanted another excuse for the decline
    But if it dropped that much anyway, doesn't that make the excuse pointless?
    115AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:14
    Re: #64
    I think that too
    Feels like this played out exactly how Shitony wanted it lol ("Shitony" — a common derisive nickname for Sony)
    60AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:57
    Wait, is Nintendo Direct actually that amazing?
    108AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:11
    Re: #60
    It's not "maybe" — it's definitely amazing
    61AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:57
    Ugh, Japanese fans won't shut up about Nintendo Direct, so let's show them Sony's power by running State of Play in that same time slot
    62AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:58
    Re: #61
    So, how'd that turn out?
    68AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:59
    Honestly might've been better to just give up on Japan entirely
    85AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:02
    By the way, isn't the console-wars board weirdly quiet for the day after a State of Play broadcast?
    107AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:11
    Re: #85
    Given how garbage the content was, there's a small chance the "perception management" shill squad is in an emergency meeting right now, figuring out how to spin it and quietly bury the "both console camps suck equally" narrative (a jab implying paid PR operatives steer console-war discourse)
    87AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:04
    Hey Nintendo Direct! If you've got the guts, try broadcasting on US time for once!
    93AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:05
    Re: #87
    Even so, you'd still lose
    88AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:04
    This time the broadcast slot itself was clearly aimed at Japan
    92AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:05
    Re: #88
    Only the time slot was aimed at Japan —
    the content wasn't aimed at anyone
    99AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:07
    "We'll be bringing you 'State of Play Japan.' We'll take a deep dive into
    upcoming titles from Japanese and Asian game studios, with the latest
    gameplay footage and new information."

    That's how it was hyped, promising fresh info on Chinese/Korean games too — and even the gacha-game fans aren't watching?
    101AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:09
    Re: #99
    And on top of that, the closing slot went to Ghost of Yōtei — a game made by an American studio, lol
    102AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:09
    Honestly felt like they only matched Japan's time slot because they had no games worth showing off
    Aren't we just being used as a dumping ground?
    111AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:12
    Re: #102
    Same here
    They narrowly avoided having 800,000 people chanting "No Disc, No Buy" at them (backlash over discless console editions)
    123AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:21
    Sure, the time slot matched Nintendo Direct, but it didn't really feel all that aimed at Japanese viewers 🥺
    127AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:23
    Re: #123
    Don't be unreasonable
    90% of million-selling titles in Japan are Nintendo, and the rest is basically just Dragon Quest and Momotaro Dentetsu lol

    There's no way something like that gets unveiled at a State of Play lol
    130AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:25
    Re: #123
    So who was it even for?
    137AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:31
    Supposedly over 7 million units sold, yet only 100,000 viewers
    Even if just 10% tuned in that'd be 700,000 — so less than 2% watched?
    Where did everyone else go? Is it actually selling that well?

    Background and key points of this discussion

    State of Play is a gaming news program Sony streams on an irregular schedule, and its concurrent-viewer counts are frequently compared with Nintendo’s “Nintendo Direct.” This time the broadcast was set for a Japanese weekday evening (10pm), a shift from the past pattern of prioritizing overseas time zones — but many of the featured titles still felt geared toward overseas audiences, so it’s hard to say the time change alone explains the jump in Japanese viewers. Some in the thread compared the concurrent-viewer count to console sales figures (over 7 million units) and argued that “way too few people are watching,” but it’s worth noting that live-stream viewers make up only a small slice of the overall user base, so comparing those two numbers directly can be misleading.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Console Wars)) thread “[SOP] State of Play concurrent viewers (June→September): US 850k→230k, EU 210k→34k, Japan 67k→107k.”

  • Switch 2 Price Cuts Spread as Electronics Retailers Struggle to Clear Stock

    On 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board, discussion has heated up over price cuts on the Nintendo Switch 2 console. One post cited Edion’s inventory list showing “only 2 units sold in a week, 615 left,” while another reported that Yodobashi Camera’s third round of price cuts had brought the Splatoon bundle down to an effective price of around 1,600 yen. Commenters pointed out that electronics retailers are even absorbing credit card fees and shipping costs on top of the discounts, and some claimed the Switch 2 version of Elden Ring sold only 20,000 copies in its first week, fueling a heated debate over sales trends.

    17AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:36


    Apparently even Edion's stock isn't moving much
    20AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:36
    Switch 2 console Splatoon bundle selling so badly it's being dumped at discount prices everywhere
    https://imgur.com/P9Swbsu.jpeg
    https://imgur.com/gacpOB7.jpeg

    Even at Edion the stock's just piled up and not moving at all
    https://imgur.com/nGyPXYv.jpeg
    23AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:37
    1 Anonymous ("working hard, huh" – default board username)[] 2026/09/04 (Fri) 18:29:03.05 ID:Agrp5+zp0

    https://www.edion.com/item_list.html?c_cd=001010019001

    Sold 2 units in about the last week
    615 left
    24AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:38
    Re: #23
    At this rate it'll take like 10 years to sell out
    133AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:28
    Re: #23
    Guess it won't move at all unless they fire-sale it lol
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:38
    The scarier part is that fans who got hands-on with the Ocarina of Time remake are flooding in with disappointment (´・ω・｀)


    Previews of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake were held behind closed doors at Gamescom, on Monday and yesterday, for Nintendo Europe, Nintendo of America, and others.
    The NDA lifts within 10 days.

    But offline impressions have already leaked out ahead of time, and they're full of disappointment.
    Apparently it's just a simple 1.1-style remake, Star Fox-style.
    64AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:55
    Re: #25
    Sounds like Zelda's gonna flop too, huh lol
    67AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:57
    Re: #64
    Let's get our lines ready now:
    "Sold better than expected"
    "Well, it's just a remake, so that's about right"
    76AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:00
    Re: #67
    Add "it's a slow-burn seller" to the excuse list too (jiwa-ure = "gradually selling" cope term)
    110AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:20
    Re: #67
    With Switch 2 it's always some excuse — "it's just a remake so it won't sell," "it's just a spin-off so it won't sell"…
    27AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:39
    Yodobashi.com really slashed it hard on this third markdown
    Splatoon Raiders bundle at an effective 1,600 yen is honestly a pretty great deal
    29AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:41
    Re: #27
    Probably better value buying it during a Rakuten Super Sale (Rakuten's periodic point-back shopping event)
    43AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:45
    Isn't this a loss for them?
    Guess it can't be helped since it's just taking up shelf space
    45AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:46
    Re: #43
    Game console hardware is so low-margin that retailers can barely offer 1% in reward points on it
    Even so, cutting the price this much AND eating the credit card fees and shipping means there's basically no profit left
    56AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:51
    Now that the globally-anticipated Elden Ring has finally landed on Switch 2, could sales explode even more from here? (ΦωΦ)
    58AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:52
    Re: #56
    Third-party games' appeal will never reach users who've been brainwashed by Nintendo
    62AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:53
    Re: #56
    The Switch 2 version of Elden Ring only sold 20,000 copies in its first week, you know?
    What are you even talking about
    75AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:59
    According to leaks from people who attended the NDA-off Zelda session, there's apparently the same kind of disappointment as with the Star Fox remake
    81AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:02
    Re: #75
    I'll post this on Edge (a gaming news aggregator site), so send me the tweet or thread link
    117AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:24
    Re: #81
    https://x.com/legacyreboot/status/2095766302199607528
    Previews of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake were held: behind closed doors at Gamescom, on Monday and yesterday, for Nintendo Europe, Nintendo of America, and others.
    The NDA lifts within 10 days.
    But offline impressions have leaked, and there seems to be a sense of disappointment.
    A simple 1.1-style remake, Star Fox-style.
    120AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:24
    Re: #117
    Re: #115
    Guess that was all just wishful thinking
    125AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:25
    Re: #117
    Nooooooooooooo
    91AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:08
    Sounds like weekly sales might drop below 20,000 as soon as next week
    127AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:26
    Re: #91
    You say the same thing every week lol
    131AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:27
    Re: #91
    You said the exact same thing last week too, Sokumin (poster nickname, from a habit of posting early sales guesses)
    92AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:08
    Is this for real, Nintendo fanboys (´・ω・｀)? ("Nishi-kun" = mocking nickname for Nintendo fans on gaming boards)
    115AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:23
    Re: #92
    Turned out to be just wishful thinking
    97AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:11
    Nothing but bad news here 😩
    tps://i.imgur.com/NN3Z8HM.jpeg
    99AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:12
    Re: #97
    Died laughing lmaooo
    106AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:18
    Re: #97
    The 256GB one is only about 8,000 yen, so doubling the capacity making the price jump this much is brutal
    126AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:25
    Well, Raiders is a solo-focused spin-off after all
    If it had been in the same format as the main Elden Ring, the hype might've turned out differently
    128AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:26
    Re: #126
    Like Nightreign (Elden Ring Nightreign, the co-op spin-off)

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Game console hardware is a low-margin product for electronics retailers, and posters in the thread noted that margins are so thin stores can barely offer 1% in reward points — meaning that once you factor in these discounts plus absorbed credit card fees and shipping costs, there’s almost no profit left. That said, figures like inventory counts and weekly sales numbers come from screenshots of specific stores and secondhand information shared by thread participants, not official statistics released by Nintendo or software publishers, so some caution is warranted. Likewise, the hands-on impressions of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake are based on unconfirmed rumors said to have leaked before the NDA lifted, and their accuracy has not been established.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, “Geha”) thread “[Bad News for Nintendo Fanboys] Switch 2 Fire Sales Begin in Japan Too lol.”

  • Angerme’s Tamenaga Yukine to Step Down From Radio Fill-In Role This September

    It appears that Angerme’s Tamenaga Yukine will step down this September from the radio show she had been hosting as a fill-in for Juice=Juice’s Miyazaki Yuka during her maternity leave. In the thread, speculation spread that Kawana Rin, who filled in on TV, might be replaced in the same way, with posters raising questions like “this really feels like they’re just using her and tossing her aside” and “why was it Tamenaga instead of another Juice=Juice member?” Some pointed out this may simply be the nature of so-called “village work” (mura shigoto)—duties reverting to the original person once maternity leave ends—but plenty of speculation was exchanged over the reasoning behind the choice of substitute.

    3AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:12
    So Shionnu's getting canned…
    Guess that means Kero's out too then
    6AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:14
    Re: #3
    Kawana's getting canned too then
    55AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:35
    Re: #3
    Karin-chan too…
    5AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:13
    Was listening to today's broadcast and there wasn't a single word about it
    9AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:15
    Angerme's barely-there regular work, gone just like that
    10AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:15
    It's a time when they want to use anyone connected to Juice=Juice as much as possible right now…
    11AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:15
    So it's a "graduation" huh
    It finally happened
    Wait, "graduating from Tamenaga"?
    Hirayama and Gotou should be graduating first, honestly
    12AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:16
    She was just filling in during the maternity leave, so it can't be helped
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:16
    Really feels like she was used and tossed aside
    Couldn't they have just had all three do it together?
    20AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:17
    Re: #14
    If it were TV, she'd normally just end up sticking on the show permanently, and it'd feel like the lineup just gained a new member
    16AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:16
    About the decision to hand Miyazaki's spot to an unpopular member from another group instead of a Juice=Juice member
    whoever made that call is probably realizing now it was a mistake
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:16
    She was just a substitute, so of course it goes back to normal once the maternity leave ends
    22AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:17
    Re: #20
    That's just how it goes on terrestrial TV
    23AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:19
    Re: #22
    But this is "village work"
    Just mechanical shuffling within the agency
    24AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:19
    Tamenaga has no connection to Ishikawa Prefecture, so once the original host comes back there's no reason to force her to stay on
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:20
    Still don't get why it was Shionnu for this radio show in the first place
    33AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:24
    Re: #25
    Best I can think of is her hometown being close to Ishikawa, or maybe it just worked with her schedule
    26AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:20
    Wait, they'd just suddenly swap in an OG member like that? lol
    28AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:22
    Re: #26
    It was originally Yukanya's solo show to begin with
    35AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:25
    Re: #29
    It's a local FM Ishikawa show, so it probably kept going because of the local hometown connection
    36AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:25
    Since it's a neighboring prefecture, there was also talk about her and Natsume taking the same bullet train
    37AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:25
    By that logic they should just get Ishikawa Karin to do it, since her name matches
    41AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:29
    Re: #37
    Suddenly throwing outside work at a 12-year-old is way too much
    38AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:26
    That's just how the Hokuriku region is
    Echizenya Hyouta was on Hokuriku local shows for years too
    and the moment he said he wanted to start voicing his own opinions, he got frozen out
    Basically outsiders just get used while convenient and then discarded
    39AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:27
    Kero was actually pretty good at it
    now she's got a connection at TBS, hope they use her again
    45AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:30
    Tame's a good kid but kind of boring
    feels like the type of girl who doesn't get how guys work
    46AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:31
    Nothing good ever happens for Angerme lately
    47AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:31
    It's not really that pitiful though
    she was only ever filling in for the maternity leave period to begin with
    48AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:31
    Kero's fine since she can throw a curveball or two
    Momoha, go get 'em
    49AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:32
    Someone like Kaga, who the wota push for all-out, is a special case
    when it comes to agency connections, unless you're grinding it out steadily like Matsubara
    just being put in on name value alone won't get you accepted
    50AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:33
    Miyazaki's on maternity leave
    TV → Kawana filling in
    Radio → Tamenaga filling in
    61AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:37
    Seriously though, why was it Tamenaga in the first place?
    62AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:37
    Re: #61
    Because she doesn't seem like she'd flake
    she's serious
    63AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:38
    Re: #61
    What else could it be besides a push from the agency?

    Background and Key Points

    This all started with Juice=Juice’s Miyazaki Yuka (Yukanya) going on maternity leave, during which Angerme’s Tamenaga Yukine filled in on radio and Kawana Rin filled in on TV. As pointed out in the thread, having duties revert to the original person once maternity leave ends is standard personnel practice, not just within Hello! Project—this falls under what’s called “village work” (mura shigoto), the cross-group internal allocation of duties within the agency. One point readers may easily misread is that this “graduation” likely doesn’t refer to Tamenaga graduating from Angerme itself, but rather to the end of the radio slot she had been filling in for—something reflected in the differing tones across the thread, from “she got canned” to “she was just filling in, so it can’t be helped.” As for why Tamenaga and Kawana, both from a different group than Juice=Juice, were chosen instead of another Juice=Juice member, posters raised several theories—proximity of hometown, scheduling convenience—but the agency has offered no official explanation, so it all remains speculation.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Angerme’s Tamenaga Yukine Will Be Graduating This September.”

  • 15-Year-Old Shinmichi Teiken Takes Sumo Recruit Exam at Just 50-Something Kilos — His Idol Is Enho

    Ahead of the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament (opening day the 13th, at Ryogoku Kokugikan), the new-recruit physical exam was held on September 4, with four candidates taking part, including 15-year-old Shinmichi Teiken of Takadagawa stable. His slight build — 165cm tall and reportedly in the 50kg range — drew surprised reactions from the stablemasters, and he says his idol is Enho. On 5ch, the thread mixed comments pointing to the ongoing shortage of new recruits and the “shrinking height” trend caused by relaxed physical standards, opinions that his weight will increase with training, safety concerns, and calls to introduce weight classes.

    Nikkan Sports

    [September 4, 2026, 15:10]

    The new-recruit physical exam for the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament (opening day the 13th, at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo) was held on the 4th at Ryogoku Kokugikan, with four candidates taking part, including 15-year-old Shinmichi Teiken (Shinmichi Teiken; Takadagawa stable).

    Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here

    5AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:25
    That's a great name, like the hero of a shonen manga
    6AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:25
    Staff shortage? Kids losing interest in sumo?
    Or is this just clickbait?
    7AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:25
    Feels like he's gonna force-feed himself to bulk up and end up with wrecked internal organs after he retires
    29AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:35
    Re: #7
    You can only bulk up because your organs are tough to begin with —
    if your guts were already wrecked, overeating would just give you a stomachache instead of muscle lol

    What they actually get after retirement is diabetes
    Some sumo wrestlers even get it while still active
    8AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:26
    165cm, 57kg? Sounds like a middle schooler lmao
    9AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:27
    Guess high school wasn't in the cards for him
    52AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:47
    Re: #9
    He could've finished high school and bulked up to at least 80kg before joining
    Not even sure he could beat Mori Rei
    He's been treated like a guest so far, but once he passes the recruit exam the "tender loving care" (i.e. senior wrestlers' rough hazing) starts for real — wonder if he can take it?
    10AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:27
    Only 4 new recruits this time…
    Guess they'll have to keep relying on foreign wrestlers
    43AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:43
    Re: #10
    There was even a British guy among this year's new recruits
    12AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:28
    Sumo wrestlers tend to die young. If I were his parent, I'd be against this
    13AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:29
    If you don't insist on crashing head-on, I don't think sumo actually requires forcing yourself to bulk up
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:32
    Re: #13
    Sure, if the ring were as big as a baseball field
    88AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:03
    Re: #13
    Just thinking about it mechanically —
    even in a pushing match, the heavier guy has the advantage
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:29
    Hardly any kids actually want to become sumo wrestlers these days
    15AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:30
    Maybe he's more of a speed type?
    16AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:30
    I'm sure he's the best at sumo in his whole school, right?
    17AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:31
    Mainoumi

    After failing the exam once, he had silicone implanted in his scalp via surgery to temporarily boost his height and pass[3][14].

    Mainoumi:
    "Back in my day there were still a decent number of recruits coming in, so I think around 171cm would've passed — anyone in the 160s would normally have been rejected."

    "These days sumo is so short on people… I bet they're letting guys in even without the 167cm minimum. I think the rule's basically just there for show at this point."
    19AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:32
    This could genuinely get someone killed if it goes wrong — maybe sumo really should adopt weight classes
    20AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:32
    In fact, as a result of the relaxed physical standards, wrestlers have been getting noticeably shorter in recent years. Of the 59 people who took the new-recruit exam in 2021, roughly a third (21) were 172cm or under — the height that used to require the old "second exam" — and at the March tournament, where standards are relaxed for junior-high graduates, 14 of the 33 examinees (nearly half) fell into that category.
    22AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:33
    Getting sent flying for real on impact,
    or crushed under someone's full body weight on a throw…

    I don't wanna watch that (´･ω･`) especially not live
    67AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:54
    Re: #22
    We might actually get to see a scene in pro sumo like those "wrestler vs. a crowd of little kids" gimmick matches, where he just gets scooped up and hoisted into the air
    23AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:33
    The average top-division wrestler is 185cm and over 160kg — in that world, something like 100kg is way too light
    24AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:34
    If sumo scrapped its limit on foreign-born wrestlers, the average might end up topping 200cm and 200kg
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:34
    Foreign names
    should be written
    in katakana (the script Japanese uses for foreign words)
    40AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:42
    Re: #25
    Japanese people
    don't
    break their lines like that
    26AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:35
    He's only 15 — if the stable puts him through training, feeds him chanko, and lets him nap,
    he might still grow a lot more, but there's a limit to that
    since genetics play a big role
    28AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:35
    Sounds like a boxer's build —
    that's basically featherweight
    30AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:36
    Enho was small too, but he made it not just to Juryo, he even climbed all the way to the top Makuuchi division back in the day
    Must be a Gen Z thing
    31AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:36
    Time to bring in weight classes already
    No need to overcomplicate it, just:
    Under 100kg
    100–130kg
    Open weight
    34AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:37
    With the recruit shortage, basically anyone can get in these days
    He's probably not expected to become a real wrestler — more likely brought in as an attendant, for chores, on chanko-cooking duty
    35AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:39
    Even though the height gap is only 2cm, Enho actually had sumo experience before turning pro
    I think this kid would've been better off just going to a normal high school…
    36AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:40
    That's a kid's build. There's no way he can fight in the same ring as a 190cm, 150kg monster…
    37AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:40
    He'll probably reach for the mawashi and grab nothing but an afterimage
    Outmaneuvering everyone with pure speed
    38AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:40
    Sounds like one of the S-Class heroes from One-Punch Man
    39AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:41
    The current sekiwake Fujinokawa is small too, so it's not really an issue
    53AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:47
    It's not the weight, it's the 165cm height that's the real problem
    You can always pack on muscle weight, but you can't do much about height
    57AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:49
    Re: #53
    Even Mainoumi was around 170cm

    Background and Key Points of the Discussion

    The physical standards for the new-recruit exam were relaxed in 2012, partly in response to a decline in the number of stables, establishing a system where wrestlers under 167cm and 67kg can still join via a “secondary exam.” As shown by Mainoumi’s remarks quoted in the thread and 2021 statistics (over a third of examinees were 172cm or under), small-statured recruits have become fairly common in recent years. Because Enho (around 169cm, 99kg) made it all the way to the top Makuuchi division, there’s precedent for undersized wrestlers being talked up as “technical” specialists despite their physical disadvantage. The thread split between commenters worried about safety (internal-organ strain, collision risk against much larger wrestlers) and those pointing out that weight typically increases significantly through training and the traditional chanko-nabe diet. A common misconception is that a recruit’s weight at exam time reflects his future build — bulking up after joining is a normal part of a wrestler’s development, so judging his prospects from today’s numbers alone would be premature.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[Sumo] “Whoa!” A wrestler in the 50kg range is born… Stablemasters stunned by 15-year-old Shinmichi Teiken, whose idol is Enho.”

  • J2 Niigata’s Yoshiro Takagi Retires: ‘I Was Happy I Got to Play Soccer’ — Second Son of Ex-Pro Baseball Star Yutaka Takagi

    Forward Yoshiro Takagi (33), who spent eight seasons with J2 club Albirex Niigata, announced his retirement from professional football through the club on September 4. Looking back on his career, he said in the club’s statement, “I love soccer” and “As a player, I feel a refreshing sense that I gave it everything I had, emotionally.” His father is former professional baseball player Yutaka Takagi, and all three of his sons — including Yoshiro — chose soccer over baseball and went on to become professional players. On 5channel’s Geinou/Sports Breaking News+ (Geisoku) thread, discussion centered on why all three brothers chose a sport different from their father’s, along with an anecdote reportedly involving Takatsu telling Yutaka Takagi something about his son and soccer.

    J2 side Albirex Niigata announced through the club on the 4th that Yoshiro Takagi (33), who spent eight years with the team through the 2025 season, will retire from professional play.

    The club stated: “We would like to announce that Yoshiro Takagi, who was with our club through the 2025 season, has decided to retire from professional football.”

    Takagi offered his own comment through the club, reflecting on his career: “I have decided to retire from professional football. I love soccer. But as a player, I feel a refreshing sense that I have truly given it everything, emotionally.”

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

    2AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:04
    Way more fun watching Showa-retro exploration videos on YouTube than that Peace-kun mascot from Omiya Park.
    4AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:04
    The 'Wheels' sports-car trio (likely a joking nod to Hot Wheels toy cars)
    8AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:07
    This guy's older brother played for Shimizu or Urawa, I think.
    12AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:08
    Ohtani's retiring next year too, just you wait.
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:09
    Announced by the club he was with through '25…
    so is he a free agent right now?
    28AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:19
    Re: #14
    He's been job-hunting since last season ended, but apparently gave up since he wasn't getting any offers he was happy with.
    15AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:12
    Feels like I haven't heard his name in about 15 years.
    16AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:13
    The eldest brother was the better player as a footballer, wasn't he?
    17AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:13
    He was the most talented of the three brothers.
    19AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:14
    Wasn't he part of that so-called 'Platinum Generation'?
    I remember him being hyped as amazing back in junior high.
    21AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:15
    Guess he'll retire and become a youth coach or something.
    Probably pays around 150,000 yen a month.
    22AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:16
    The old Pro Baseball News segment from back during the Usami urban-legend days (a viral story once tied to soccer player Takashi Usami).
    23AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:16
    The Takagi family — three sons, and not one of them chose baseball.
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:18
    Re: #23
    They all made it pro precisely because they didn't choose baseball.
    26AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:19
    It's amazing all three kids became pros,
    but why'd they end up in a different sport from their dad?
    33AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:22
    Re: #26
    All three of them are shorties, barely 170cm.

    That height makes baseball tough, so soccer was the right call.
    34AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:23
    Re: #26
    Baseball rules ban pros from coaching amateurs,
    and that applies even within families.

    So apparently they just didn't get much exposure to baseball.
    39AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:26
    Re: #26
    It's a well-known story — the eldest started out playing baseball but got bored and asked to switch to soccer, and his dad allowed it. Then the second son started soccer too, and the third son played soccer from the start.
    Watching his sons, Yutaka Takagi himself got hooked on soccer and started studying it on his own.
    27AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:19
    The second and third sons are the spitting image of Yutaka, but the eldest is the only good-looking one here.
    46AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:32
    Re: #27
    He's got a bit of an underbite, but he's clearly more handsome than his younger brothers — though within 10 years all three brothers will end up looking like tired old uncles ('2323' = 'nii-san nii-san', slang for looking middle-aged).
    29AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:20
    Handsome guy.
    Could've been an actor.
    Though the hair's a gamble.
    30AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:20
    If he played pro ball in J2 into his 30s, isn't that plenty good?
    In baseball terms, that's like being a starter for 2-3 years, then finishing out his career as a pinch hitter or defensive sub before retiring at 33, right?
    32AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:21
    Not sure he'd have been a star, but he probably would've earned more over his career if he'd played baseball.
    36AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:24
    Re: #33
    Pointless trolling isn't cool.

    These days the national soccer team is actually taller on average than the national baseball team, you know.
    41AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:26
    Re: #36
    That can't be right.
    My image of soccer is mostly guys just over 170cm, with the occasional 180+ popping up, and maybe one guy at 190.
    42AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:28
    Re: #41
    In soccer, the defenders tend to be unusually tall, and that's what drags the average height up.
    66AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:54
    Re: #41
    Soccer average: 181cm
    Tallest: Goto, 191cm
    Shortest: Nagatomo, 170cm

    Baseball average: 179cm
    Tallest: Ohtani, 193cm
    Shortest: Genda, 170cm

    Or so they say.
    37AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:25
    He'll probably become a YouTuber (´・ω・`)
    47AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:32
    Ended his career without ever really making it big.
    Guess the result would've been the same if he'd played 'yakyu' too (a mocking, exaggerated pronunciation of 'baseball').
    51AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:34
    Honestly there's not much difference between the guys who make it pro and the ones who don't — it's razor-thin margins, and luck plays a huge part.
    No doubt he got looked at through biased eyes because his dad is Yutaka Takagi.
    61AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:47
    Re: #51
    He's got 70 J1 appearances and nearly 300 in J2 —
    he's not some borderline player, so that's completely irrelevant.
    54AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:36
    Pretty impressive that all three of them did decently well in pro soccer.
    They all got J1 appearances too.
    Makes you wonder how they'd have done in baseball.
    69AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:55
    Re: #54
    They probably couldn't have even gone pro.
    Even Kiyohara's sons couldn't manage that.
    74AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:58
    Re: #66
    Players of African descent or mixed heritage are what's pulling the average height up, right?
    76AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:01
    Re: #74
    Why don't mixed-heritage kids play baseball??
    Seems like the competition's thinner, so it'd be easier to go pro.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Yoshiro Takagi made 70 career appearances in J1 and nearly 300 in J2 — by no means a short career. Opinion in the thread split over whether his father’s fame as a well-known former pro baseball player affected how he was evaluated, with some citing his playing record as proof it was irrelevant, and others arguing his name recognition inevitably introduced bias. As for how all three brothers ended up choosing a different sport from their father, one reply explained it started when the eldest brother switched from baseball to soccer, and another pointed to a rule barring professional baseball players from directly coaching non-professionals — even family members — as a possible factor; however, this is secondhand information circulating within the thread and hasn’t been confirmed against primary sources. The same caution applies to the anecdote in which Takatsu reportedly told Yutaka Takagi “don’t let him play soccer” — the exact wording varies between replies, so the precise content of that remark can’t be pinned down from the material available here.

    *This article was compiled and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “[Soccer] J2 Niigata’s Yoshiro Takagi (33) Retires — Announcement: “I’m truly happy to have gotten to play soccer this long” — Second Son of Former Pro Baseball Player Yutaka Takagi.”

  • Fee-free, delivery-free ‘Rocket Now’ takes aim at Uber Eats — 5ch: ‘They’ll jack up prices once they’ve crushed the competition’

    Food delivery app Rocket Now has been ramping up its challenge to Uber Eats by scrapping both delivery fees and service charges while matching in-store prices — and it’s become a hot topic on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo G board. The operator is reportedly affiliated with South Korea’s Coupang, and thread posters repeatedly speculated that ‘they’re covering the losses with profits from the Korean parent company, and plan to raise prices once they’ve driven Uber Eats out of the market.’ Some pointed out that Wolt and menu have already pulled out of Japan, while others questioned how sustainable this is given the strain on driver recruitment and the risk of dumping.

    1AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:10
    Source
    Beauty account Aoi 💎
    @aoisan_beauty
    3AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:10
    So how are they actually turning a profit, then?
    7AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:11
    Re: #3
    They're funding it from their core business in Korea. There's no profit in it — the whole point is to kill Uber. Once they've done that, they'll raise prices.
    48AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:22
    Re: #3
    Once they've finished crushing the competition, they'll hike the prices.
    60AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:33
    Re: #3
    Crush the rivals, shrink the market down to just them, corner it, and then start running the show like feudal lords.
    10AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:12
    Do they even have drivers?
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:13
    Re: #10
    It'd be scary if they didn't, right?
    19AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:14
    Re: #10
    What happens is you get someone moonlighting for both Demae-can and Uber
    You ordered from Rocket Now and the guy shows up going 'I'm with Uber!'
    12AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:13
    It'd be nice if Uber stopped being the only big player in town.
    15AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:13
    No way — maybe it works in the city center, but go even a little further out and there just aren't enough orders to keep delivery drivers around.
    16AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:14
    Re: #14
    They can't line up a driver in time, so the food shows up cold.
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:14
    I don't want them forming a cartel like the phone carriers, but this kind of mutual destruction doesn't exactly feel healthy either
    Users get a short-term perk, but long-term it's nothing but a loss for them.
    34AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:18
    Re: #18
    It's not like this is public infrastructure, it's just a service business
    There's nothing for users to lose if they wipe each other out
    Even if this one wins, another competitor will just show up next.
    49AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:23
    Re: #18
    If they raise prices, you just stop ordering. Simple as that.
    70AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:43
    Re: #18
    That's just healthy competition, isn't it?
    27AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:17
    Their core business Coupang already dominates Korea, so running huge losses in Japan is no problem at all for them
    They're planning to raise prices later — for now the goal is just to kill off Uber.
    28AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:17
    Both Uber and Demae-can claim 'same price as in-store,' but once you factor in the delivery fee it's never actually the in-store price.
    30AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:17
    Guess that's why menu lost out to this free-delivery push and pulled out too
    So now it's a three-way fight between Rocket, Uber, and Demae-can.
    32AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:18
    Isn't this the kind of thing that's called dumping and is supposed to be illegal?
    33AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:18
    They're going even harder after Uber on driver pay than on customer pricing — trying to poach them all and crush Uber that way.
    36AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:19
    Maybe they should just charge rich people more to balance the books
    Stuff like luxury high-rise towers probably takes longer to deliver to anyway, what with all the building procedures.
    53AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:28
    So it really is dumping, huh
    Everybody except Uber basically got wiped out just like that.
    56AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:29
    Re: #53
    New ones keep entering, and the weaker players keep getting pushed out.
    65AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:38
    This is basically charity at this point

    Chirashi sushi — ¥16


    Mala soup — ¥320


    Karaage bento — ¥0


    Yóulínjī, crispy fried chicken — ¥0
    67AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:38
    Re: #65
    Is this a soup kitchen or something?
    78AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:51
    Re: #65
    Yeah, this is them coming in to crush the competition alright.
    79AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:55
    The day drones really take off is the day delivery actually becomes truly free.
    83AnonymousSep 4, 2026 18:58
    Re: #79
    There are way too many unresolved issues — accidents, noise, airspace rights — feels like this could only fly in some special deregulated zone.
    90AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:05
    It's funny how people who can use Uber in the city center have tons of restaurants within walking distance anyway, yet everyone still uses these apps
    Where I live, we're lucky if even Tenfor (a local restaurant chain) will deliver.
    92AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:07
    Re: #90
    Honestly, everywhere in central Tokyo is so crowded it's unpleasant
    Standing around waiting outside for food must get old fast.
    95AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:09
    Uber's probably racked up a ton of ill will with that obnoxious commercial where Tsunoda's yelling.
    99AnonymousSep 4, 2026 19:18
    Re: #95
    That ad is way too annoying 😯

    Background and key points of the debate

    Rocket Now’s operator is reportedly South Korea’s Coupang, the e-commerce giant known for rapid growth built on same-day delivery, which has a track record of running deliberately loss-making, low-price strategies in its delivery operations across multiple countries. Japan’s food delivery market already had Uber Eats and Demae-can, and Wolt and menu also entered — but those two later entrants have since withdrawn, underscoring just how much this is a battle of financial staying power. The thread was split on whether to view this price war as ‘healthy competition’ or as ‘dumping in anticipation of price hikes once the market is cornered,’ with some questioning whether it amounts to unfair below-cost pricing under antitrust law. Practical worries also came up repeatedly — that driver recruitment can’t keep pace and that rural areas simply don’t generate enough orders to retain delivery workers — pointing to service-quality issues that price alone doesn’t capture. Note: a few posts tied this price war to a specific nationality or origin, but since those claims were unsubstantiated generalizations, they have been left out of this article.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread ‘[Bad News] Rocket Now comes to completely crush UberEATS — no fees, no delivery charge, same price as in-store.’