Japan Reacts

Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • Jiro Sato Names Names, Gushes He Was ‘Jealous’ of Every Co-Star in the Movie ‘Rage’

    Actor Jiro Sato posted on X on the 25th, naming the 2016 film “Rage” (directed by Sang-il Lee) and gushing that he was “jealous” of every single co-star, including Ken Watanabe and Satoshi Tsumabuki. On 5ch forums, reactions focused not just on the film itself but on Sato’s recent habit of frequently posting on social media.

    August 25, 2026, 7:26 AM

    Actor Jiro Sato (57) updated his X account on the night of the 25th, mentioning a film so wonderful that he was fiercely “jealous” of the entire cast.

    Sato opened his post with “‘Rage’.” He appears to be referring to the 2016 film “Rage” (directed by Sang-il Lee), which starred an all-star lineup including Ken Watanabe, Mirai Moriyama, Kenichi Matsuyama, Go Ayano, Suzu Hirose, Aoi Miyazaki, and Satoshi Tsumabuki.

    Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here

    3AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:41
    Does he have some kind of disease where he physically can't stay quiet?
    5AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:43
    Re: #3
    Honestly, it really is a sickness — the kind where you have to put it out in public just to confirm it to yourself. For some reason, once "trauma" is invoked, everyone else's rights just get suspended — that's a standard Fuji TV made up on its own. It's just a sickness, plain and simple.
    34AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:54
    Re: #3
    I don't really get it — why exactly is it bad for him to speak up?
    61AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:13
    Re: #3
    Not that I'm defending this guy, but come on, let him have an ordinary tweet like this.
    6AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:43
    In this movie, Tsumabuki is seriously incredible.
    11AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:45
    I'M-LOOOOVE-HIROSUE-!! (^ω^) heh heh heh (^ω^) heh (^ω^) heh (^ω^) heh (^ω^) heh (^ω^) heh (^ω^) heh (^ω^) heh (mock-fawning 5ch copypasta meme)
    14AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:46
    What is with this guy — meanwhile Hashimoto is out there suffering…
    15AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:46
    Did he have some kind of awakening watching the scene where Suzu Hirose gets raped by a US soldier?
    16AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:46
    So basically, he's just decided it's fine to keep posting on X as usual, huh.
    18AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:48
    For now they should at least bind him to keep quiet whenever "Bayside Shakedown" (the "Odoru" franchise) is playing in theaters, right? They should lean on his agency if that's what it takes to shut him up…
    26AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:51
    Won't his agency just confiscate his phone?
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:52
    Didn't he say he quit social media?
    32AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:53
    Turning every little thing into an article like this is what makes it look weird. Just leave him alone if he's posting harmless stuff on X.
    37AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:56
    Doesn't he get how huge a nuisance it is to have this guy calling him out by name? "I praised you *glance glance* now notice me, defend me *glance glance*."
    38AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:58
    So what was that blood-red '怒' ("Rage") character about in the end? Classic attention-seeker "look how angry I am" theatrics?
    40AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:00
    I'm not saying he needs to fix his impulsiveness or need for validation or anything, but if you do something that upsets someone else, you should at least apologize.
    43AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:01
    "Look at me, I'm so wonderful for praising someone!!" — that's basically it. It's always the same with him, always about himself in the end.
    47AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:05
    So even a tweet at the level any random celebrity posts on social media all the time gets him dragged, lol
    50AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:06
    Re: #47
    Isn't he just getting dragged because he already did something regular celebrities wouldn't do?
    52AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:07
    Re: #47
    Honestly his agency should just make him lay off social media.
    48AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:06
    I don't know anything about this guy besides his face — what's he actually known for?
    49AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:06
    It's common sense that when you've caused a stir and drawn attention, you lie low and wait for it to blow over. If Sato and everyone else involved can't grasp that, they're either sick in the head or just lack common sense…
    And honestly, him continuing to tweet is only making things worse, right?
    51AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:07
    He wraps it up on a positive note with "Bravo!", but the word "jealous" is what really jumps out. Might have something to do with the string of posts he's made lately too.
    53AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:08
    shit! shit! shit!
    55AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:08
    The cast is stacked, but honestly this movie was boring.
    60AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:12
    The people dragging Sato over this whole thing keep chanting "shut up" and "say nothing" for some reason. That's such a weirdly specific reaction — what's that even about?
    65AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:14
    Re: #60
    No, it's that people are watching Sato self-destruct and are just exasperated, thinking "you'd really better stop now"… If you can't see that, something's off with you too…

    Background and Key Points

    5ch is Japan’s largest anonymous forum, and this thread comes from its “Geinou/Sports News+” board, which aggregates entertainment-press stories for real-time reaction. Jiro Sato, 57, is a mainstay of Japanese film and TV best known for the long-running “Bayside Shakedown” (Odoru Daisousasen) franchise, a Fuji TV property still rerun regularly — hence the joke that his agency should gag him whenever it airs. “Rage” (怒り, 2016), directed by Lee Sang-il and adapted from Shuichi Yoshida’s novel, is a prestige ensemble thriller that intercuts three parallel stories built around a fugitive murder suspect; its cast, all namechecked in Sato’s post, includes Ken Watanabe, Suzu Hirose, Aoi Miyazaki, and Satoshi Tsumabuki, and the commenter’s mention of Hirose’s character being assaulted by a US serviceman refers to an actual, much-discussed scene in the film.

    The debate isn’t really over the movie at all — nobody disputes that “Rage” is well cast (post 55’s “boring” complaint is a lone dissent). It’s over whether Sato had any business tweeting so enthusiastically right now. One camp treats the post as unremarkable and harmless, arguing it only looks bad because outlets keep turning his every tweet into a news article; the other reads it as Sato’s compulsive need for validation resurfacing at a moment when he’s expected to lie low and stay silent.

    What the thread never spells out — and what non-Japanese readers will miss entirely — is why “right now” matters. The recurring references to “trauma,” to Fuji TV’s handling of it, and to posters demanding he “apologize” and go quiet all point to some prior controversy involving Sato that the thread treats as common knowledge among Japanese readers. Not a single post actually names what that controversy was, so the outrage reads as disproportionate to anyone coming to the story cold, when in fact it’s riding on a backstory the article itself never supplies.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Jiro Sato Names, by Name, the “Movie He Was Jealous of Every Cast Member In,” Raving “Jealous! Jealous! Jealous!… Bravo to All of You!” [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★]“.

  • The ‘Porsche of Delivery’: Why Akabou Chose the Subaru Sambar as Its Courier Van

    An article introducing the unique engineering behind the Subaru Sambar — the kei truck that courier company Akabou has used since its founding — became a hot topic on 5ch’s Business News+ board. Commenters piled on to point out that “nobody actually calls it the ‘Porsche of delivery,’” and many also noted that the current model, now a Daihatsu OEM, no longer has the RR layout.

    These days, it’s an everyday sight to see kei trucks and kei vans handling delivery work, but the pioneer of this practice could be said to be Akabou, founded in 1975.

    Since its founding, Akabou has used kei trucks and kei vans for small-parcel delivery — but did you know that the vehicle Akabou uses has, without exception since its founding, always been the Subaru Sambar?

    Subaru no longer manufactures kei cars today, and the current Sambar is now a Daihatsu OEM model — but the Subaru-built Sambar had a distinctive RR (rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive) layout,

    Source: goodspress.jp / Original article here

    2AnonymousAug 24, 2026 05:31
    The 'Porsche of delivery'?
    Nobody's ever called it that
    Quit making up nicknames!
    3AnonymousAug 24, 2026 06:15
    I've heard 'Porsche of the farm roads' and 'Porsche of the peasants,' but this one's new…
    4AnonymousAug 24, 2026 06:26
    The current Sambar is a Daihatsu now, right? So obviously not RR anymore
    They're not even making it anymore — is this really worth a Business+ thread?
    It's barely related to business news anyway, there must be tons of actual news more worth posting on this board
    5AnonymousAug 24, 2026 06:33
    Farewell, Subaru.
    6AnonymousAug 24, 2026 06:54
    You don't see Subaru kei cars around anymore
    I remember the Vivio selling decently well
    7AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:22
    Subaru's kei cars were great — kei cars, but with 4-cylinder engines and even RR-based 4WD
    8AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:26
    Porsche kind of gives me an image of something zipping around all over the place.
    9AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:37
    Now that it's a Daihatsu OEM, are they even still doing the Akabou custom spec?
    10AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:42
    Re: #1
    The Sambar wasn't profitable so they stopped making it and are putting their effort into the Levorg instead, I guess
    11AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:37
    I used to drive a supercharged 1-box Sambar — weighed almost a ton but it was pretty quick.
    Put that engine in a kei truck and it really would be a Porsche lol
    12AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:29
    A friend of mine has a Subaru and says the fuel economy is awful.
    13AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:44
    Once it's got a 660cc flat-4 boxer engine under it, then it's a Porsche.
    40AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:47
    Re: #13
    They've decided to kill the boxer engine everywhere except the WRX
    14AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:50
    The 'barricade and explosion' one is the Subaru Sambar Incident.
    15AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:18
    I've heard 'Porsche of the farm roads' before, but 'Porsche of delivery' is a new one on me.
    16AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:32
    A car that guarantees your survival in the AI age, huh
    Don't hear much about its reputation overseas though
    17AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:43
    Horizontally-opposed 4-'glans' engine (crude pun: 気筒/kitō "cylinder" swapped for the homophone 亀頭/kitō "glans")
    18AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:35
    The Sambar on my farm is a convertible
    Not the truck bed — I modified the Dias van version instead
    Rare combo: supercharger + ECVT + 4WD
    22AnonymousAug 24, 2026 16:09
    Re: #18
    An apple farmer, huh.
    19AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:58
    Porsche of the farm road,
    Porsche of the peasant lol
    20AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:41
    The 'Porsche of the farm roads' is literally a Porsche-made tractor
    21AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:51
    Is the reason you almost never see Lamborghini tractors in Japan
    that they're just too huge?
    26AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:22
    Re: #21
    I'm not a farmer, but from visiting relatives in Tokachi to help out and stopping by tractor dealers
    and showrooms on my days off, my impression is it probably comes down to maintenance, price, and durability.
    If they broke down easily, they wouldn't have caught on.
    23AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:52
    Calling anything RR a 'Porsche' is lame — I wish they'd actually build one for real.
    27AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:58
    There's a legend about it — an old farmer drifting his Sambar down a farm road, leaving everyone in the dust.
    28AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:33
    Re: #27
    If you mean the anime where a guy who sounds like Takumi Fujiwara drifts an illegally modified kei truck down farm roads, yeah, I've seen that.
    29AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:52
    Who said that, and where?
    30AnonymousAug 25, 2026 02:36
    It's a copy of the air-cooled VW's RR layout
    which is to say, a copy of Dr. Porsche's own design
    So it's not totally unrelated to Porsche, but
    that makes it exactly the kind of 'Chinese knockoff' precedent you guys love to mock
    31AnonymousAug 25, 2026 02:41
    The third-generation VW — in Japan and the US it kept the same name through what became the Vanagon
    A favorite among surfers
    The right-hand-drive model was built in South Africa until 2002
    The VW Bus (Type 2) 'Kombi' was built in Brazil until 2013
    This is where the Subaru Sambar copied its design from
    32AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:05
    Subaru's lineup has a low center of gravity.

    I loaded it up heavy and took it down a rough road thinking it'd tip over sideways
    — but it didn't.
    33AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:05
    Low center of gravity, so it's basically a Porsche.
    34AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:08
    It's not a regular passenger car, so
    if it didn't have a low center of gravity
    it wouldn't be a Porsche.
    35AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:22
    Just look at how popular Subaru SUVs are in North America — it really shows how good Japanese auto technology is.
    36AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:29
    Wasn't it simply a spec difference?
    Seems like it was just engineered/warrantied for something like a million kilometers.
    37AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:05
    Don't make fun of me.
    38AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:31
    It's your fault.

    Background and Key Points

    Akabou, Japan’s pioneering courier company founded in 1975, built its business model around kei trucks and kei vans for door-to-door small-parcel delivery long before this became industry-standard practice. Every vehicle in its fleet has reportedly been a Subaru Sambar since day one. What made the Subaru-era Sambar mechanically distinctive was its RR (rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive) layout — unusual for a commercial kei vehicle, and something posters traced directly to the air-cooled Volkswagen Type 2 “Kombi” bus, itself a descendant of Ferdinand Porsche’s rear-engine VW Beetle architecture. That lineage is the real (if indirect) link to Porsche, not a marketing slogan.

    The thread’s disagreement centered less on the Sambar’s engineering and more on the article’s framing: commenters were adamant that “Porsche of delivery” is not an expression anyone in Japan actually uses. Several instead cited a genuine existing nickname, “Porsche of the farm road” (or “of the peasant”), which refers to actual Porsche-branded agricultural tractors sold in Japan — a completely different product line that has nothing to do with the Sambar. In effect, posters saw the headline as conflating a real Porsche joke about tractors with an invented one about vans.

    What the thread leaves unstated, and what readers might assume, is that this RR heritage is a thing of the past: Subaru stopped manufacturing kei cars altogether, and the Sambar sold today is a rebadged Daihatsu Hijet built on a conventional front-engine platform. So any Sambar-based “Porsche” comparison strictly describes discontinued, Subaru-built vans, not the vehicle Akabou or anyone else could buy new now.

    *This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Business News+) thread 「The car once called the ‘Porsche of Delivery’: A deep dive into why the Subaru Sambar was chosen as Akabou’s courier vehicle, and the details of its special spec」.

  • Terranigma Remaster Announced — 5ch: ‘Glad It’s Not Some Weird 3D Remake’

    A remaster of the action RPG *Terranigma* (Tenchi Souzou), originally released by Enix in 1995, has been announced, with a 2027 launch planned across platforms including the PS5 and Switch 2. Thread commenters largely welcomed a faithful port over a bold remake, with discussion ranging from pricing, to the game’s rough difficulty balance back in the day, to the soaring used-game prices at retailer Suruga-ya.

    Remaster of masterpiece action RPG *Terranigma* officially announced — Square Enix-sanctioned, with key Quintet staff involved, the game returns after 31 years

    At the showcase event “Pixel Arcadia,” versions of *Terranigma* for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam/GOG.com), Nintendo Switch 2, and Nintendo Switch were announced. Release is planned for 2027.

    *Terranigma* is an action RPG developed by Quintet and released by Enix in October 1995. It’s set on an Earth where all life and civilization on the surface has been wiped out. The protagonist, Ark, lives in the village of Crystal Holm, deep in the “Underworld” beneath the earth. One day, however, he opens a sealed Pandora’s Box in the village, causing the villagers to turn to stone. Ark sets out beyond the village to save them, and over the course of his journey ends up reawakening life on the surface world.

    Source: automaton-media.com / Original article here

    5AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:37
    Even when the official listing puts Switch 1/2 first,
    the gaming press and aggregator sites always lead with PS and shove Switch 1/2 to the back, don't they
    14AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:49
    Re: #5
    Gaming media is done for, man
    Can't even list platforms properly anymore
    13AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:49
    Nah, leaving it untouched is way more promising than a remake
    19AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:55
    Re: #13
    This, so much
    They can do a remake later
    Saw the graphics in the trailer and yeah, it's a product of a good era
    17AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:52
    Glad they didn't do some weird 3D remake
    Don't want them tacking on weird new content, or cutting stuff that shouldn't be cut
    Worst case is it turns into "Shinyaku Terranigma" (lit. "New Testament Terranigma" — Square Enix's label for divisive full remakes of classics)
    27AnonymousAug 25, 2026 04:20
    Re: #17
    Maybe after the port they could do something like the Trials of Mana remake

    Worst case would be something like the GBA's Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu (the divisive remake of Seiken Densetsu 3) — what people actually wanted was just a colorized version like the feature-phone port
    20AnonymousAug 25, 2026 04:02
    Only the Switch version's gonna sell, probably
    23AnonymousAug 25, 2026 04:09
    Re: #20
    Well, the original was on the SFC (Super Famicom), so…
    31AnonymousAug 25, 2026 04:33
    This is Letdown of the Year material
    If they'd at least bundled it as a trilogy with Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia…
    And how much are they even planning to charge for this? Digital only?
    Probably gonna charge like 2000 yen, knowing them
    Worst. This is exactly why everyone hates you, trash-Enix
    34AnonymousAug 25, 2026 04:36
    Re: #31
    Under license from Square Enix, Clear River Games is handling development and publishing, reportedly co-developing with key former Quintet staff.

    Just like Front Mission — they're only lending out the IP
    36AnonymousAug 25, 2026 04:41
    Re: #34
    Quintet's still around?
    I mean, the "key staff" from back then must all be old men by now lol
    79AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:17
    Re: #34
    Apparently former president and programmer Hashimoto is still active
    After leaving Quintet he worked at Ancient and INIS
    37AnonymousAug 25, 2026 04:48
    Watched the trailer — guess the light side/dark side thing goes all the way back to this one
    Why are Japanese games always fighting over light vs. darkness?
    83AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:24
    Re: #37
    Blame Star Wars for that
    39AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:00
    If Terranigma is fair game, does that mean Illusion of Gaia and Soul Blazer are on the table too?
    And how did ActRaiser manage to get a remake and everything else anyway?
    61AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:40
    Re: #39
    ActRaiser only worked out because the rights got sorted before the company went under
    No idea how they pulled it off, but if they could get Terranigma out this time, maybe the others can happen too
    48AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:35
    Terranigma's balance was kind of iffy, honestly
    Wish it'd had a bit more breathing room in the design
    49AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:39
    Re: #48
    It's not so much the overall balance — it's that Bloody Mary specifically is a way-too-strong boss, that one fight alone is broken
    The trap is that the strongest weapon you just got right before it happens to resist Bloody Mary's element
    The problem is there's no way to know that in advance, but that's just how games were back then
    50AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:42
    Quintet games have shot way up in price at places like Suruga-ya
    Even Illusion of Gaia with box and manual goes for 5000 yen, and Terranigma easily hits 10,000
    So a port at around 4000 yen would actually be cheap, but there sure are a lot of people who just complain anyway
    53AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:53
    Re: #50
    Collector demand and play demand are two different things
    60AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:34
    Huh? I figured Sony would definitely block an Xbox version for a title like this
    But they're not doing that this time
    65AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:55
    Re: #60
    Sony's not gonna pull the same crap as toxic Microsoft blocking the Persona Switch ports
    88AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:33
    Re: #60
    Sony doesn't have the budget anymore to go around harassing other platforms over small-fry titles
    Take Goemon, for instance — the porting studio is famously super anti-Xbox and always comes up with excuses not to release an Xbox version
    74AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:10
    Even back then it was more of a hidden-gem thing, it never actually sold that well
    76AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:12
    Re: #74
    Quintet's games were highly rated among core gamers and got featured heavily in gaming magazines, so name recognition was actually pretty high
    77AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:14
    Re: #1
    Since when did this become a "masterpiece"? It's a pretty ordinary ARPG
    Just like with ActRaiser, are they gonna pull the same false-advertising trick of hyping a mediocre game as great before release? Typical Square Enix
    80AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:17
    Re: #77
    This port isn't even being done by Square Enix — is this just reflexive Square Enix hate?
    78AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:15
    Probably 5,800 yen before tax
    File size around 4.3GB, and the Switch 2 version comes on a key card
    97AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:45
    Re: #78
    What's even in it [to make it that big]?
    90AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:34
    Couldn't they have done something about the main key art?
    It's way too bad
    91AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:36
    Re: #90
    Wasn't the original art by Kamui Fujiwara?
    If so, that'd mean extra licensing cost, so maybe that's why they went with something else
    92AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:38
    ActRaiser 2 next, please
    Can't find it anywhere
    109AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:02
    Re: #92
    I've got it at my place, come pick it up
    I'll give it to you for free
    94AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:44
    Wait, it's not even a remake?
    Just some quick pocket money for them then
    116AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:12
    Re: #94
    Under license from Square Enix, Clear River Games is handling development and publishing, reportedly co-developing with key former Quintet staff.


    Clear River Games is a publisher whose whole pitch is letting players worldwide enjoy classic retro games and revived legendary series

    They're basically a small-change publisher by nature, not the kind of company that's gonna make some passion project that fits your exact tastes
    99AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:49
    Is this a Pixel Remaster type deal?
    Can't get your hopes up with Square Enix involved
    102AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:57
    Re: #99
    It's not Square Enix
    108AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:01
    Re: #99
    Nope, it's a straight pass-through port
    SNES9x emulator would do just as well
    104AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:59
    Re: #102
    Ah, Quintet, right
    107AnonymousAug 25, 2026 08:00
    Re: #104
    No, that's wrong
    Come on, at least check the source

    Background and Key Points

    For readers unfamiliar with the series: Terranigma is the third entry in Quintet’s unofficial “Gaia trilogy,” following Soul Blazer (1992) and Illusion of Gaia (1993), all published by Enix on the Super Famicom. What makes it a cult object in the West specifically is that it never received an official North American release — it came out only in Japan (1995) and in PAL territories like the UK, Germany, and Australia (1996). That absence is exactly why English-speaking fans have petitioned for a re-release for decades, and why the game’s Japanese secondhand prices (cited in the thread as roughly 5,000 yen for Illusion of Gaia and 10,000 yen for Terranigma at Suruga-ya) have climbed so high — original carts are scarce collector items even domestically.

    The thread’s real disagreement isn’t over whether the remaster should exist, but over what kind of remaster it is. Most posters are relieved this is a straight, faithful port rather than a full remake, contrasting it with Square Enix’s divisive “Shinyaku” (lit. “New Testament”) remakes — the label fans use for overhauled reworkings like the GBA version of Seiken Densetsu 3, which changed content longtime players wanted preserved. A smaller minority pushes back on the “masterpiece” framing itself, arguing Terranigma is a merely solid ARPG being oversold.

    What outside readers may miss: Square Enix isn’t developing this — it only owns the IP (inherited from Enix) and licensed it to Clear River Games, a small publisher specializing in reviving legacy titles, working with former Quintet staff since Quintet itself no longer operates as a studio. The “Bloody Mary” boss complaint isn’t new controversy about this remaster — it’s a decades-old, well-documented balance criticism of the 1995 original.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Terranigma Remaster Announced, First-Ever Port.”

  • Mongol Invasion Arrows Found in Sunken Ship Off Nagasaki’s Takashima — Repurposed Southern Song Arrows?

    Parts of arrows have been discovered at the Takashima underwater site in Matsuura, Nagasaki Prefecture, from a ship that sank during the Mongol invasions of Japan. The arrows, coated in black lacquer with red lacquer decoration, appear to be of Southern Song origin — suggesting the Mongols repurposed arrows seized after conquering the Southern Song for their assault on Japan.

    The thread lit up with debate over how the find could even be confirmed as an arrow at all, alongside historical discussion of the power of Japanese longbows and Mongol military tactics — mixed in with some politically charged exchanges touching on China and Korea.

    8/21/2026, 10:15 AM

    It was revealed on the 20th that parts of arrows have been found at the Takashima underwater site in Matsuura, Nagasaki Prefecture, from a ship that sank during the Mongol invasions of Japan in the Kamakura period, launched by the Yuan dynasty, which then held Mongol territory.

    The arrows are believed to be from China’s Southern Song dynasty, seized by the Yuan after they conquered it and repurposed for the war against Japan.

    Source: sankei.com / Original article here

    2AnonymousAug 24, 2026 05:42
    I wonder if it's different from modern-day arrows?
    3AnonymousAug 24, 2026 05:43
    The Takashima underwater site is proof that the lost continent of Mu really existed!
    5AnonymousAug 24, 2026 06:23
    You're letting your imagination run way too wild.
    How can they even confirm this is an arrow?
    Are they stupid?
    25AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:19
    Re: #5
    They're calling it an arrow because it's an arrow — if you ask how they can be so sure, there's really no way to answer that.
    6AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:17
    A time when the Mongols were stronger than China, huh.
    15AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:58
    Re: #1

    "Seized from the Southern Song and repurposed for the war against Japan?"

    More like they worked the former Southern Song people to the bone and used them for the invasion of Japan.
    So it's actually pretty natural for Southern Song military gear to turn up among artifacts related to the Mongol invasions.
    18AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:14
    Re: #1
    "The Mongol invasions, launched by the Yuan dynasty, which then held Mongol territory" —
    That phrasing alone is already hinting "this has nothing to do with China."
    Do readers in Japan even need a footnote explaining what the Yuan dynasty and the Mongol invasions were in the first place?
    Who exactly is this article written for?
    26AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:22
    Re: #18
    They became the Mongols' underlings, sure, but then went on to revive a Chinese empire, didn't they.
    22AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:38
    Historical studies at least still have some grounding in scientific evidence, but with religious studies it's often less a matter of "letting the imagination run wild" and more just full-blown delusion.
    23AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:48
    Is the lacquer there to protect it from seawater?
    24AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:54
    Back then the Kamakura samurai were vicious enough that they'd shoot passersby with bows for target practice, so the Mongol invaders were too terrified to land — but they couldn't retreat either, so they just kept sheltering out at sea indefinitely, until the typhoon finished them off.
    27AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:27
    Back then, Japan had the wayumi — a longbow uniquely developed in Japan — that could shoot far farther than the Mongol army's bows and could even punch straight through steel-plate armor. Just look at the yabusame horseback-archery ritual and you can see how huge the wayumi really is. What's more, it was fired by warriors on horseback who'd trained and trained. Japan was already the strongest in the world at that point.
    28AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:36
    Just look at the English longbow and you'll understand exactly how powerful this type of longbow can be.

    Back then, Japan had the wayumi — a longbow uniquely developed in Japan — that could shoot far farther than the Mongol army's bows and could even punch straight through steel-plate armor. Just look at the yabusame horseback-archery ritual and you can see how huge the wayumi really is. What's more, it was fired by professional warriors on horseback who'd trained and trained. Japan was already the strongest in the world at that point.
    29AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:53
    Back then, Japanese warriors galloped at furious speed while accurately picking off enemy soldiers one after another. The wayumi's rate of fire was fast too.

    The Mongol troops would get wiped out almost the instant they landed.
    32AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:28
    Mongol arrows were weak — Japan didn't even need to bother copying that kind of armor-piercing design.
    33AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:29
    Such a waste that all they've recovered so far is arrows.
    35AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:56
    Re: #33
    Wooden anchors from Mongol invasion ships were recovered in 1994 and 2022.
    They're massive — search for images, it's pretty wild.
    34AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:51
    If this is from the Battle of Kōan, the core of the Jiangnan fleet was made up of former Southern Song troops, so it's not strange at all that they'd be carrying Southern Song arrows. What matters is that this is the first time one's ever been unearthed in Japan.
    38AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:58
    The Yuan army in the Mongol invasions didn't fight anything like the Mongols actually fought. It's nothing like the classic Mongol hit-and-run tactics of lightly-armed mounted archers. What you're looking at is the old Chinese-style Southern Song mass-formation warfare — infantry units advancing to the beat of gongs. In Japanese terms, it's more like the tactics used back when fighting Goguryeo.

    The horseback-archery of the Kamakura samurai was actually closer to genuine Mongol-style tactics.
    48AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:46
    Re: #38
    Well, that's because the defeated troops just fought however they were ordered to, right?
    Were there even any actual Mongols on the ground, or was it just a handful of them there as overseers reporting back like some ruling elite up top?

    Background and Key Points

    The Takashima underwater site off Matsuura has been excavated since the 1980s as the resting place of part of the 1281 Kōan invasion fleet, the second of two Mongol assaults on Japan during the Kamakura period (the first, in 1274, is known as the Bun’ei War). Kublai Khan’s Yuan dynasty finished conquering the Southern Song only in 1279 — just two years before the second invasion — so the 1281 armada was split between an Eastern Route Army of Mongols and Koreans and a much larger Jiangnan Army built around former Southern Song ships, sailors, and equipment. That composition is why Song-style black-and-red lacquered arrows turning up at Takashima fits known troop makeup rather than being a genuine surprise; past dives at the same site have already recovered ship timbers, ceramics, exploding tetsuhau bombs, and the large wooden anchors raised in 1994 and 2022 that a couple of posters bring up.

    Where the thread actually diverged was less about that historical picture than about epistemics and national pride: one strand doubted whether fragmentary lacquered wood could be confidently identified as an arrow at all, while a larger strand talked past each other over whether Kamakura-era Japanese archery (the wayumi, invoked via the yabusame ritual) was simply superior to Mongol and Song weaponry, alongside a side argument about how much credit belongs to conscripted former-Song troops versus “real” Mongols doing the fighting.

    What the thread never really lands on is that the invasions’ failure owed far more to two typhoons — the “kamikaze” of 1274 and 1281 — hastily built coastal stone walls along Hakata Bay, and the fleet’s own poor seaworthiness than to any bow being decisively superior on the battlefield. The yabusame comparisons posters lean on are ceremonial demonstrations of horseback archery, not evidence of what actually happened in the fighting itself.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Science News+) thread “Mongol Invasion Arrows Found in Sunken Ship — Seized from the Southern Song and Repurposed for the War Against Japan, at the Underwater Site in Matsuura, Nagasaki.”

  • 72-Year-Old Clocked at 190 km/h on Hokuriku Expressway Pleads Not Guilty, Vows to Fight All the Way to the Supreme Court

    A 72-year-old man from Kanazawa, charged with driving 190 km/h on the Hokuriku Expressway in Ishikawa Prefecture, stunned the courtroom at his first hearing on the 24th by reversing course and pleading not guilty, declaring he would “fight this all the way to the Supreme Court.” The thread lit up with reactions ranging from cost-benefit math on fines versus legal fees, to the difference between losing your license and a criminal conviction, to jabs at the lawyer cashing in.

    The first hearing was held on the 24th at Kanazawa District Court for a 72-year-old Kanazawa resident who was arrested and indicted in March for driving 190 km/h on the Hokuriku Expressway in Hakusan City, Ishikawa Prefecture, on suspicion of extreme speeding.

    [See photos] “I’m not guilty” — 72-year-old man who hit 190 km/h on the Hokuriku Expressway declares at first hearing, “I’m taking this to the Supreme Court”

    The man pleaded not guilty and told reporters, “I’ll fight this all the way to the Supreme Court.”

    Source: newsdig.tbs.co.jp / Read the original article here

    3AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:01
    At 72, he's got nothing left to lose, and more free time than anyone.
    191AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:05
    Re: #3 True, it'll keep his brain sharp. Even if he loses, it's not the kind of crime that gets you real prison time. Even as a convict he still gets his full pension. And at his age it's not like he's writing résumés anymore. Though there's a good chance the dementia's already kicked in.
    236AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:32
    Re: #3 They should just publish his real name. He might end up losing his relationship with his kids, wife, grandkids, and other relatives over this.
    8AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:08
    He's already had his license suspended — what's even the point of fighting it now?
    147AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:43
    Re: #8 As people get older, more of them lose the ability to control their anger and emotions. You know how you sometimes see old guys yelling in the middle of the street? You'd think 'act your age,' but it's actually the opposite going on.
    174AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:57
    Re: #8 There's a difference between an administrative penalty and a criminal penalty, you know. And besides, his license suspension is already over.
    11AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:09
    If it's just plain speeding with no accident, the fine should be under 100,000 yen. Is he fighting the accuracy of the old speed cameras or the enforcement method, like people used to? Or is he just killing time?
    55AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:46
    Re: #11 Going that fast, he's done for. If it were 10 or 20 km/h over, sure, fight it.
    14AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:12
    The real problem is that cars can even go faster than necessary in the first place.
    109AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:29
    Re: #14 Starting with mopeds, no less.
    17AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:18
    So how much is the fine anyway? Wouldn't the court costs end up higher than that?
    21AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:21
    Re: #17 Under 100,000 yen. From what I've heard, it's usually around 80,000.
    24AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:24
    Re: #17 It wouldn't be a fine, it'd be prison time — like 3 months with a 2-year suspended sentence.
    75AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:10
    Re: #17 The lawyer sure found himself a nice juicy case here lol
    30AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:31
    Guess as long as lawyers exist, crime's never going away.
    34AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:34
    Re: #30 Money talks, even in hell. It's a profession built on turning black into white — you pretty much have to be a con artist to do the job.
    40AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:36
    > At the first hearing on the 24th at Kanazawa District Court, when asked about the charges, the man replied "apparently I was speeding," then abruptly flipped to claiming "I'm not guilty." Huh? If you were speeding, you're guilty!
    42AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:37
    It's just a speeding ticket, quit making it such a big deal lol Just leave the guy alone.
    46AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:40
    Re: #40 I think his claim is more like "the prosecution says I was speeding, but I'm not guilty," not "I really was speeding, but I'm not guilty."
    54AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:46
    Re: #46 If it's not true, why can't he just say so? > Q: Why were you speeding at the time? Defendant: Please hold that question — I'll answer it gradually, on the way up to the Supreme Court.
    65AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:58
    District court: guilty. High court: guilty. Supreme Court: dismissed. Isn't that a possible outcome too?
    103AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:24
    Re: #65 Wouldn't a dismissed appeal just finalize the district court ruling as-is? Though I guess there's also the pattern where they push it all the way to the Supreme Court just to set an example precedent.
    108AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:29
    Re: #103 That wouldn't even work as an example — if anything it'd cheapen the Supreme Court. A dismissal at the high court is more than enough.
    135AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:40
    Re: #103 Appeal to the high court is called 'kōso.' Appeal to the Supreme Court is called 'jōkoku.' Together, kōso and jōkoku fall under the general term 'jōso' (appeal).
    77AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:12
    Stop calling a 20-year-old outdated model a 'luxury car'
    91AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:20
    Re: #77 Polish it up nice and shiny and it could still pass for a 5-million-yen car.
    82AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:16
    Everyone criticizing this guy probably speeds too in everyday life. It's not a matter of degree — the second you go over the legal limit, you're the same kind of person.
    88AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:19
    Re: #82 No, that's not right. Is slapping someone in a fight the same as beating them to death?
    89AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:20
    Re: #82 You seem like the type who'd be the one crawling at the front of a traffic jam on the bypass.
    124AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:36
    Re: #82 And when everyone else gets caught, they just accept it as bad luck. That's all there is to it.
    139AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:41
    Even going 100 km/h over, they'll normally knock it down to something like 39 km/h over and you just pay a 35,000 yen fine and it's done. This old man probably ended up in a real trial because he resisted the police from the start. Well, he'll probably get a suspended prison sentence out of it, so for a bored old man, dodging that 35,000 yen fine is basically a win. He'll pick up a criminal record, but since he's not exactly submitting résumés at his age anymore, it's no big deal.
    173AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:57
    Re: #139 If it were a fine, wouldn't it go to trial anyway? Also, does a 35,000 yen fine even exist? A fine that small, on par with a traffic penalty, is pretty rare.
    183AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:59
    Re: #173 I was just trying to show off that it's technically called a 'reikikin' (traffic penalty), not a 'bakkin' (criminal fine) — don't play dumb and make it needlessly roundabout.
    199AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:10
    Re: #183 It's like grabbing someone who just mentioned 'my wife' and smugly going, 'Oh wow, you're not even that old and you already have a son old enough to be married? Impressive — how old were you when you had him?' (deliberately misreading 'yome' as 'son's wife' instead of 'my wife'). That's exactly what Re: #173 is doing.
    247AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:37
    But honestly, isn't some idiot crawling along in the passing lane way more dangerous than a guy flooring it?
    251AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:39
    Re: #247 Please, never drive a car for the rest of your life, okay?
    252AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:39
    Re: #247 That's not really dangerous, though. Just annoying.

    Background and Key Points

    Japan treats extreme speeding as a criminal matter, not a mere traffic ticket. Under the Road Traffic Act, exceeding the limit by roughly 50 km/h or more on a highway typically bypasses the simplified “traffic ticket” (blue slip) system entirely and goes to formal prosecution, meaning a criminal trial rather than an administrative fine. At 190 km/h on the Hokuriku Expressway — where the limit is 100 km/h — this man was clocked at roughly double the limit, which is why he’s facing an actual indictment at Kanazawa District Court rather than a summary penalty. Japan’s appeal ladder runs from district court to high court (kōso) and finally to the Supreme Court (jōkoku), a process that can take years and cost far more in legal fees than any fine at stake.

    The thread’s real disagreement wasn’t about his guilt — almost no one doubted the speed reading — but about motive: is a 72-year-old with nothing to lose rationally gaming a system where, even if convicted, he keeps his pension and has no career left to protect, or is this a symptom of age-related loss of impulse control that posters compared to elderly people yelling in public?

    What outside readers likely miss is that Japan cleanly separates administrative penalties (license suspension, points) from criminal penalties (fines or prison with possible suspended sentence) — losing your license does not resolve a separate criminal case, which is why “his license is already suspended, why fight it” misunderstands the two-track system. The article and posters also never clarify what specific plea he’s contesting: the speed measurement itself, or the manner of his arrest.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “[Ishikawa] “I’m not guilty” — 72-year-old man who hit 190 km/h on the Hokuriku Expressway declares at first hearing, “I’m taking this to the Supreme Court”.”

  • Kawamoto Junichi (51) Admits Relationship with Isobe Kiho (34) — 5ch: “They Met Through an Introduction from Shigemori Satomi”

    Junichi Kawamoto (51) of the comedy duo Jicho Kacho admitted during a late-night TV show that he’s dating talent Kiho Isobe (34). Grilled with questions by Neptune’s Jun Nagura, he revealed the two met through an introduction from Satomi Shigemori — and the moment set 5ch abuzz, with talk ranging from Kawamoto’s age to his past welfare-fraud scandal to Isobe’s dating history.

    Junichi Kawamoto Admits Relationship with Kiho Isobe… Grilled by Jun Nagura: “We Met Through an Introduction from Satomi Shigemori”

    Junichi Kawamoto (51), of the comedy duo “Jicho Kacho,” appeared on TV Tokyo’s late-night show “Jikkuri Kiita Rou: Stars’ Secret Updates” on the 23rd. He confirmed that he is dating talent Kiho Isobe (34).

    On the show, MC Jun Nagura of “Neptune” pressed him, saying, “Kawamoto, I hear you’re dating a woman who appeared on ‘Jikkuri.’ I saw it online. Why haven’t you said anything?” Kawamoto laughed awkwardly, saying, “It’s fine, it’s fine! Not yet!” But when Yuko Ogura asked, “So that’s where you met her?” he stated plainly, “It’s true I’m dating someone who appeared on ‘Jikkuri Kiita Rou,’ but I actually didn’t know she’d been on the show.”

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

    2AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:06
    Why are comedians always dating someone way younger or older?
    4AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:09
    They say rich guys' divorces are basically time-delayed polygamy.
    Same story with Junichi Ishida.
    6AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:10
    This show's been running forever.
    Who's even watching it lol
    7AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:10
    Watanabe of Unjash, both members of Black Mayonnaise, both members of Ninety-Nine (Nainai), Otake of Samaazu, Iwai of Harai-chi, Inoue of Non Style, Arita of Cream Stew, Ariyoshi, Hamaguchi of Yoiko, Amano of Cai'n, Fujimon, Hitoshi Matsumoto, Endo of Cocorico, Jun of London Boots

    Anyone else fit the bill?
    8AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:13
    What illness was it anyway? Depression? Panic disorder?
    9AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:15
    Naomi Shigemoto, Satomi Shigemori… these names are way too easy to mix up.
    11AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:17
    Sounds like he got divorced last year.
    And now he's already showing off a much younger girlfriend.
    Must've been a real severe case of depression and panic disorder, huh (lol)
    12AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:18
    Why did Satomi Shigemori suddenly write a song about Maezawa?
    Isn't 'Nausicaa' the name of that huge private yacht of his?

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQA4JOMboAEwK-t.jpg
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQA4JONaoAAJvcu.jpg
    76AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:42
    Re: #12
    Not even for a pile of cash.
    Something like "we wanted to cherish our feelings, so that's why we picked this one" vibes.
    20AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:26
    Wait, so he actually got divorced?
    Back when Jicho Kacho first broke out, he used to talk on TV all the time about having a wife who was formerly in the idol group Osaka Performance Doll.
    22AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:28
    Oh, is she the one whose family home got caught up in that wild situation?
    23AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:30
    Take what you can get — nothing wrong with that.
    24AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:30
    Isn't Satomi Shigemori a regular co-star on the Akashiya TV show?

    Good for Kawamoto too, being on that show for so many years.
    28AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:37
    The girl who's always hanging around with Shigemori?
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:38
    So he'd divorced the woman who used to be in 'West End Plus' [group name unclear] and had that "soyanaa" catchphrase?
    30AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:38
    Tanmen Guy (Kawamoto's nickname, from his love of tanmen noodles) hasn't fallen off at all.
    Glad to see he's doing well.
    35AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:44
    Kawamoto's still just barely visible on TV, but
    his old partner Inoue has genuinely vanished without a trace.
    Makes me wonder every time — can comedians who disappear like that actually still make a living?
    87AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:00
    Re: #35
    It's pretty much common knowledge that even at this level of fame, they've already out-earned a salaryman's lifetime income.
    Enough to get by modestly without ever working again.
    Inoue especially would probably be happy just playing Monster Hunter all day.
    37AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:45
    I thought Kawamoto was married — did they split up because of the welfare-fraud scandal?
    41AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:51
    Thought he was giving off a pathetic divorced-guy vibe, and now he's already moved on to a younger woman.
    42AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:51
    Talk about the welfare benefits scandal too, come on.
    44AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:52
    Did he ever pay back the welfare benefits he fraudulently received?
    45AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:53
    Re: #5
    Thanks to that scandal, I finally learned how to read the kanji for "zegen" (a pimp/procurer).
    61AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:20
    Re: #45
    Kanechika did that first, though.
    46AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:53
    Shigemori and that girl are seriously out there — in a good way.
    50AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:59
    51AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:59
    This TV Tokyo show is basically the only place you can still catch Kawamoto on terrestrial TV, but where it used to do 'where are they now' style segments, lately it's turned into a plain home-shopping show.
    Kind of depressing to think that even names as big as Nagura and Kawamoto have to resort to shopping segments like this.
    For reference, this is the same show Hikaru once hyped up as his big comeback to terrestrial TV.
    53AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:06
    Re: #51
    If anything, the shopping segments pull in more viewers, so it doesn't even feel like a 'has-been' show anymore.
    58AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:17
    What's she even after, though?
    60AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:19
    Re: #58
    Real estate, maybe?

    Background and Key Points

    For readers outside Japan, a few pieces of context matter here. Jicho Kacho is a Kansai comedy duo, and Kawamoto is the half still visible on national TV; his comedy partner Inoue, by contrast, has all but disappeared from broadcast, which is why posters raise him as a comparison. The “welfare-fraud scandal” the article references is one of Japan’s most famous entertainment-linked news stories: in 2012 it emerged that Kawamoto’s mother’s household was receiving seikatsu hogo (livelihood protection benefits) even though Kawamoto himself was earning a comedian’s income and, under Japanese family-support norms, was expected to be supporting her. The story became national news and fed into a real Diet debate over tightening welfare eligibility rules — it was never simply “Kawamoto personally defrauded the government,” which is the shorthand many casual readers now use. “Jikkuri Kiita Rou” is a TV Tokyo late-night interview show; Jun Nagura, a member of the trio Neptune, is known for cornering guests into confirming tabloid rumors on air.

    The thread’s actual disagreement isn’t about the relationship itself but about what this show has become: some posters treat Nagura’s grilling as a real scoop moment, while others (posts 51, 53) argue the program has quietly turned into a home-shopping show that happens to still book名 names like Kawamoto and Nagura, making the “grilling” feel more like content than journalism.

    What the posts never spell out, and casual readers might miss, is that the welfare controversy was a household/family-obligation issue tied to his mother, not a case of Kawamoto pocketing benefits himself — an important distinction lost in the shorthand “welfare-fraud scandal.”

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread: [Entertainment] Jicho Kacho’s Junichi Kawamoto (51) Admits Relationship with Kiho Isobe (34)… Grilled by Jun Nagura: “We Met Through an Introduction from Satomi Shigemori”.

  • France, Saudi Leaders Agree to Build New ‘Dragon Ball’ Theme Park Near Paris — 5ch: ‘A Trillion Yen, That’s Nuts’

    On August 24, French President Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed to build a “Dragon Ball” theme park in the suburbs of Paris. The investment is expected to total around ¥1.113 trillion over several years, and on 5ch, skepticism about whether it could really work poured in: “The only era of Dragon Ball with a world rich enough for a theme park was back in the early Dragon Ball-hunting days,” and “Aren’t fight scenes all foreigners actually want to see?”

    The discussion spread to cover how the late Toriyama Akira reportedly used tax havens to manage his profit distribution while he was alive, and even to data showing Dragon Ball now outranks Gundam and One Piece in Bandai’s IP-by-IP sales rankings.

    French President Macron and Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, agreed on the 24th to build a theme park based on the globally popular Japanese anime “Dragon Ball” in the suburbs of Paris. Reuters reported the news, citing the French presidential office. Construction is expected to take several years, with total investment estimated at around 6 billion euros (roughly ¥1.113 trillion).

    [Photo] Who’s stronger? Striking the Kamehameha pose — PM Takaichi and French President Macron

    Mohammed bin Salman visited France on the 23rd and 24th. In talks with Macron, the two discussed the Middle East situation, destabilized by the US-Iran conflict, as well as economic cooperation between France and Saudi Arabia.

    Source: mainichi.jp / Read the original article here

    3AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:36
    Toriyama Akira sensei is watching over all of us from his tax haven

    [Tax Haven] Dragon Ball's Toriyama Akira invested in US real estate — 12 Japanese nationals total, revealed by Paradise Papers analysis – Sankei News
    https://www.sankei.com/article/20171106-MTY736I7HFJKLGVGNOBY3DSU3Y/
    27AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:00
    Re: #3
    He got doorstepped by the weekly tabloids around this time
    And then he passed away not long after that
    9AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:42
    Does Dragon Ball even have female fans?
    132AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:56
    Re: #9
    Seems like a lot of women are into Vegeta
    13AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:48
    I'd love a Manga☆Tarō theme park too (a manga artist famous for gross-out gag comics).
    Something like a hihōkan would do (those kitschy erotic-curiosity museums).
    72AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:25
    Re: #13
    The visuals are just too filthy for that
    116AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:47
    Re: #13
    Nobody draws a nasty old hag better than him
    25AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:59
    This is guaranteed to flop
    Even hardcore Dragon Ball fans have no idea what they'd actually go there for
    I can't picture attractions and Dragon Ball fitting together at all
    Even if they had a Nimbus Cloud ride, what would that even be…?
    37AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:09
    Re: #25
    You'll probably get to stay in a Capsule Corp cottage
    and get greeted by Toriyama-style Parisiennes
    Spend a whole day collecting Dragon Balls, that kind of thing

    I dropped off around volume 1 of the manga because it got boring for me,
    so I honestly don't care about Dragon Ball itself, but I do want to see Toriyama's world

    If there's ever a TV show where Nozawa Masako (Goku's voice actress) visits, I'd watch that
    47AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:12
    Re: #37
    All foreigners want out of Dragon Ball is the fighting
    They probably don't even know there was an adventure era
    148AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:01
    Re: #37
    I also stopped reading Dragon Ball once the Tenkaichi Budokai (World Martial Arts Tournament) arc ended
    Got sick of the whole friendship-hard work-victory formula
    51AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:13
    The kind of unique world that would actually work as a theme park only really existed back when they were hunting for the original Dragon Balls
    Once it turned into a straight-up battle manga around the Piccolo arc, building out the world in the background got pretty neglected
    61AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:16
    Re: #51
    I wish Toriyama had stuck to his guns
    like he did with Dr. Slump or Sand Land
    66AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:22
    If it's Kiyosu, that's right next to Nagoya, so how about a Dragon Ball Land in Nagoya.
    Though, going by Ghibli's example, Aichi/Nagoya has zero sense of taste for that kind of thing.
    74AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:26
    Re: #66
    Well Kiyosu means Kiyosu Castle, after all
    119AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:48
    Re: #66
    Bird Studio (Toriyama's studio) is right there though
    118AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:48
    Make a Dragon Radar smartphone app and have people actually go collect Dragon Balls
    123AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:52
    Re: #118
    It'd be interesting if some rich YouTuber (an Arab royal would work too) hid Dragon Balls all over the world and granted whatever wish they could to whoever collected all seven. Though I bet someone would end up dead.
    124AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:52
    Hey, Japan's losing here


    Hurry up and build a One Piece park lol
    129AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:55
    Re: #124
    Japan means samurai and ninja, so NARUTO works just fine
    155AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:03
    Re: #124
    That's just forced with nothing behind it
    People would think we're dumb
    173AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:07
    Why Japan's Dragon Ball for France and Saudi Arabia, of all things?
    If it's going in France, shouldn't it be The Rose of Versailles or A Little Princess Sara?
    179AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:09
    Re: #173
    Maybe Macron and Mohammed's tastes just happened to line up lol
    187AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:11
    Re: #173
    The Rose of Versailles already has the real Versailles as its "hometown,"
    and Marie Antoinette is remembered in France as the foolish queen who helped bring down the monarchy.
    The Rose of Versailles isn't held in that high regard over there.
    France appreciates it more for making Japanese people interested in France in the first place.
    176AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:08
    Unlike Gundam, which still gets new entries all the time, can Dragon Ball alone keep its popularity up?
    180AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:09
    Re: #176
    A new TV broadcast is starting up again
    209AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:19
    Re: #176
    Bandai sales, FY ending March 2025:
    DB: ¥190.6 billion
    Gundam: ¥153.5 billion
    One Piece: ¥139.5 billion
    Kamen Rider: ¥30.7 billion
    Naruto: ¥26.9 billion
    Ultraman: ¥14.0 billion
    Anpanman: ¥11.4 billion
    Precure: ¥7.9 billion
    Sentai: ¥6.4 billion

    Background and Key Points

    Dragon Ball is a nearly 40-year-old Toriyama Akira manga/anime that began in 1984 as an adventure story loosely built around collecting seven wish-granting orbs before evolving, from the Piccolo arc onward, into the fight-tournament format most non-Japanese fans actually know. Toriyama died in March 2024; the 2017 Paradise Papers leak had already shown he used offshore vehicles, including US real-estate holdings, to manage his royalties, which is why posters reflexively joke about him “watching from a tax haven.” The ¥1.113 trillion (~€6bn) Paris-suburb park was announced alongside a Macron–Mohammed bin Salman summit that was primarily about Saudi-French economic cooperation and the US-Iran-destabilized Middle East, meaning the park is one line item in a much larger bilateral investment package, not a stand-alone entertainment bet. It fits Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 pattern of PIF-linked money diversifying into global tourism and IP, similar to its other Western entertainment stakes, a point the thread never raises.

    The thread’s actual fault line is whether Dragon Ball’s world is even “theme-parkable”: one camp says only the original Dragon-Ball-hunting era had the whimsical geography (villages, deserts, Capsule Corp gadgets) that translates into rides, while the long tournament/battle era that made the franchise a global hit abroad left almost no explorable setting behind, just characters fighting in generic wastelands.

    What’s easy to misread is any claim about location: the “Kiyosu near Nagoya” and “Bird Studio” connections are posters’ own speculation, not confirmed park details, and Bandai’s ¥190.6bn FY2025 Dragon Ball sales figure reflects merchandise revenue, not evidence the IP alone can sustain a physical park’s attendance economics.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “[Topic] France and Saudi Leaders Agree to Build “Dragon Ball” Theme Park.”

  • Samsung Chip Division Hands Out ¥60 Million Bonuses While Phone Unit Gets Peanuts, Sparking Internal Revolt

    Samsung Electronics’ Semiconductor (DS) division is paying out bonuses of up to roughly 60 million yen, while the smartphone and home appliance division is stuck at far lower levels — prompting labor unions to protest and demand better treatment. On the thread, opinions split between those arguing “it’s only natural to weight payouts toward the division that’s actually earning the money” and those countering “it doesn’t matter which division grinds to a halt, that’s a problem either way.” OECD data showing South Korea’s average wage now exceeds Japan’s was also brought up, spreading shock at the wage gap between the two countries.

    Samsung Electronics is raking in massive profits from the AI boom, but cracks are starting to show within the organization. After handing out hefty bonuses to the semiconductor division, labor unions in other divisions are voicing objections. The huge profits are creating inequality that could undermine the “one big family” culture the company grew up on.

    Union membership surges in the smartphone/appliance division

    On the 21st, the labor union of Samsung’s DX division, which handles smartphones and home appliances, held a rally in front of Samsung’s Seoul headquarters demanding higher bonuses…

    Source: nikkei.com / Read the original article here

    2AnonymousAug 22, 2026 04:12
    Well, a 100x gap is a bit much lol
    3AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:29
    Samsung's chip division results aren't because the employees busted their asses — it's just that old-school commodity products suddenly started selling due to market timing. Doesn't seem like the kind of workforce you need to pay huge money to retain.
    24AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:43
    Re: #3 Exactly this. Sure, there are some talented people in there, but roughly the bottom 70% of that workforce can't possibly be better than the top 10% of the phone division.
    25AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:54
    Re: #3 What are you talking about? Don't you get the problem when operations grind to a halt?
    4AnonymousAug 22, 2026 13:36
    This thread's not gonna take off lol, since most Japanese people here have assets under 60 million yen (~$400k) anyway
    5AnonymousAug 22, 2026 13:50
    "60 million yen, whoa" — I figured that couldn't be the bonus for regular staff or section/department-chief level. But then again, if the union is complaining about it, that must mean even rank-and-file employees are pulling in bonuses around the 10-million-yen mark, which would be insane.
    6AnonymousAug 22, 2026 13:54
    Yeah, you can't blame them for being fed up. lololol
    7AnonymousAug 22, 2026 14:08
    This thread's not gonna take off lol, it's too painful for Japanese people. Breakdown of payouts within the DS division: Memory Business Unit (~28,000 people) — up to ~600 million won (~¥60-64 million) max. Shared/common organization (~30,000 people) — average ~430 million won (~¥45 million). Foundry / System LSI division (~20,000 people) — average ~210 million won (~¥22 million).
    8AnonymousAug 22, 2026 14:16
    Re: #7 That's unreal… imagine someone who switched jobs there a year ago, their whole world just changed.
    9AnonymousAug 22, 2026 14:20
    Re: #7 But don't they get fired before 40 anyway?
    10AnonymousAug 22, 2026 14:23
    No wonder Koreans want to work at Samsung. Meanwhile Japanese people were seriously running "Samsung's going bankrupt!" smear campaigns as recently as 10 years ago lol. This thread's not gonna take off.
    12AnonymousAug 22, 2026 14:32
    Re: #10 > "Japanese people were seriously running Samsung-is-bankrupt smear campaigns as recently as 10 years ago" That was you, wasn't it.
    13AnonymousAug 22, 2026 14:40
    Re: #10 "In 10 more years, Korea collapses! China collapses!" — that's the line, right?
    14AnonymousAug 22, 2026 14:56
    Re: #10 The AI bubble's about to pop anyway. And "Poor Village" (mocking nickname some posters use for South Korea) is finished too.
    11AnonymousAug 22, 2026 14:31
    Meanwhile, Kioxia — riding a profit boom of its own — handed every single employee a ¥100,000 bonus.
    23AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:04
    Re: #11 That's insane lol
    15AnonymousAug 22, 2026 14:57
    Unions are so strong there that no profit is left for the company — no future for "Poor Village" (mocking nickname for South Korea).
    17AnonymousAug 22, 2026 14:58
    Re: #12 The phone threads were brutal lol, Galaxy phones got trashed like garbage.
    18AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:02
    Even working in a cleanroom in a white coat at a chip fab doesn't mean you've got a PhD — plenty of them are just high school grads, so it's a tricky call.
    19AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:10
    Re: #14 Hyundai, Samsung, LG, Huawei, Xiaomi, BYD — in the end, neither Korea nor China collapsed, did they.
    27AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:05
    Re: #9 I guess it doesn't matter since they're earning that much anyway.
    29AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:11
    After pushing rivals out with pricing strategy, now it's basically a monopoly game. Going forward you can't source memory chips without Samsung and SK Hynix. Sure, it'd be great if Chinese makers stepped up, but their focus is the domestic Chinese market, not the global one. For this whole setup to collapse, regular people would need to be able to print their own memory chips.
    30AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:12
    If you hand out bonuses that large per person, you'd end up paying more than the profit each employee actually generates.
    31AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:13
    Re: #25 Most of them are high-school-grad line workers, or even less. In semiconductors the manufacturing equipment does the work automatically — there's no real craftsmanship involved, unlike the machinery industry.
    32AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:35
    If Japan dissolves NHK and wipes out those staffers earning 10 million yen a year, the Japan-Korea wage gap will widen even further. After all, it's those NHK "staff members" — earning over 10 million yen, the very people netizens love to bash — who are propping up Japan's average wage.
    33AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:37
    I wonder what happens if you get hit with a transfer order? Been curious about that since last year.
    34AnonymousAug 23, 2026 00:10
    Korean labor unions are seriously unusual — the company can't touch them.
    35AnonymousAug 23, 2026 08:49
    Operating profit: 10 trillion yen
    36AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:29
    Well, the gap was way too extreme, but I guess that's what happens when bonuses get paid out based on revenue share.
    37AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:02
    Revenue share? What are you even talking about?
    38AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:39
    Wow, insane lol
    39AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:00
    It's not just Samsung — the average figures are the bigger problem. According to the OECD, for fiscal year 2024, South Korea's average annual wage was $48,922, while Japan's was $41,509.

    Background and Key Points

    Samsung’s bonus system is built around what it calls the OPI (Overtime Performance Incentive), a semiannual payout that can run up to 800% of a division’s monthly base salary depending on how that division’s profit target was met — a structure unique to Korean chaebols and unlike Japan’s seniority-linked bonus norms. The company is split into DS (Device Solutions, semiconductors) and DX (Device eXperience, phones/TVs/appliances), and because DS has ridden the AI-driven memory and HBM boom to record profits, its OPI payouts vastly outstrip DX’s. The August 21 rally by the DX union outside Samsung’s Seoul headquarters is the latest flashpoint in a recurring, structural gap, not a one-off dispute.

    The thread’s actual disagreement wasn’t over whether the gap exists, but over whether it’s *deserved* — one camp argued bonuses should simply track which division is printing money, while others pointed out that DS’s windfall is more about favorable memory-chip pricing and timing than employee effort, and that a struggling DX could just as easily drag the whole company down.

    What outside readers likely miss is that a large share of DS’s roughly 78,000 workers are fab line staff running automated equipment, not the PhD engineers the “semiconductor genius” image implies — a point posters raised to question whether ¥60 million payouts are proportionate. Also worth noting: the OECD average-wage comparison cited (Korea $48,922 vs Japan $41,509 for FY2024) measures national averages, not Samsung salaries, so it’s a much blunter statistic than the bonus story it got attached to.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5channel (Business News+) thread “[Corporate] Samsung Chip Division’s ¥60 Million Bonus, Phones Get ¥600K, Sparking Internal Strife.”

  • Chinese Humanoid Robot Beats Bolt’s 100m Record with a 9.32 — Then Crashes and Catches Fire After the Finish Line

    At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, China, a humanoid robot ran the 100m dash in 9.32 seconds, beating Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58 seconds. However, after crossing the finish line it failed to decelerate in time, crashed into the safety mat, and caught fire — and on 5ch, the reactions focused less on the record itself and more on the “fiery finish” punchline, along with concerns about future military applications.

    Chinese humanoid robot beats Usain Bolt in the 100m with a time of 9.32 seconds… then slams into the mat and catches fire after the finish line

    [Beijing — Ryosuke Terunuma] The “World Humanoid Robot Games,” a sporting competition testing the performance of humanoid robots, opened in Beijing on the 22nd. In the men’s 100m preliminary heat, a humanoid robot clocked 9.32 seconds (provisional), surpassing Usain Bolt’s human world record of 9.58 seconds.

    (Omitted below — please check the source for the rest of the article)

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

    2AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:33
    Re: #1
    Crashes into the mat and catches fire after the finish line

    This robot really knows how to land a joke
    Funnier than Yoshimoto (Japan's biggest comedy talent agency)
    27AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:01
    Re: #2
    Apparently at a US 155mm artillery shell plant, a robot arm went haywire and sent a shell casing flying
    then smashed a self-driving cart and slammed into a wall — instead of catching fire, it just blew a huge hole in the wall
    3AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:40
    The fact that it's literally on fire is hilarious
    4AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:53
    🔥Chariots of Fire (the Japanese title of the film — and now literally true)
    19AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:38
    Re: #4
    Couldn't make the turn, crashed into the guardrail, and caught fire
    5AnonymousAug 24, 2026 01:08
    If it's gonna happen anyway, it would've been funnier if it caught fire mid-run
    6AnonymousAug 24, 2026 03:36
    Guess it can't slow down
    7AnonymousAug 24, 2026 03:45
    Do this somewhere with enough space to actually stop
    9AnonymousAug 24, 2026 06:05
    It could probably do the 400m in like 37 seconds too
    10AnonymousAug 24, 2026 06:11
    Hope the energy pack technology keeps improving
    13AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:30
    Let's make it race Karl-kun (likely a nod to sprint legend Carl Lewis)
    15AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:41
    Humanoid robots still don't have the durability for practical use… disposable applications only for now
    16AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:44
    It's a machine — it should be able to run 100m in 2 or even 3 seconds if they really pushed it.
    17AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:55
    What I'd really want to see is emergency braking beyond human capability — that's the kind of thing a robot should be doing
    20AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:05
    It's hilarious, but this is actually a big deal
    Still, China really is fixated on humanoid robots
    21AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:12
    Truly Chariots of Fire
    Vangelis's theme is playing in my head right now
    23AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:35
    Now I can picture it — our future in elder care
    24AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:43
    Probably not light, and looks pretty hard
    Getting hit by that would hurt — like a real "insurance-scam pedestrian" (someone who deliberately steps in front of vehicles for a payout)
    25AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:43
    Guess it'll end up used for trench warfare or amphibious landings?
    34AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:32
    Re: #25
    The one that charges at enemies of Her Majesty is the Panjandrum (a WWII British experimental rocket-propelled explosive wheel that famously went out of control)

    The one that charges at enemies of General Secretary Xi Jinping is the robot conscript from Re: #1 (i.e., a Chinese army private)
    37AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:03
    Re: #25
    Yeah. Though right now all it can manage is a suicidal "banzai charge."
    26AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:44
    The way it collapses and burns at the end is the best part
    28AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:16
    Re: #1
    If this had happened in Japan, people would probably criticize the safety issue from the fire more than praise the good time.

    Over there they seem willing to just laugh off both the failure and the safety concerns, which might actually make for a better environment for R&D.
    29AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:16
    It'd be terrifying if a hundred of these came charging at you in a line
    and then they explode at the end on top of that
    They'll probably learn to handle rough terrain too
    This is Terminator territory, no doubt
    And China would rush to put these to military use in no time
    30AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:34
    As long as the battery holds out, it could probably keep running for miles at this speed
    31AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:43
    Can't think of any use for this besides a military kamikaze attack
    32AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:24
    Re: #1
    Pretty dramatic ending, not bad at all
    36AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:46
    Wouldn't it be more productive to have them manufacture things instead of running track meets?

    …oh right, China's currently dealing with a serious demand shortage.
    38AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:06
    Burned out, pure white to the end (a callback to the famous line from the boxing manga Ashita no Joe)
    39AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:16
    Getting hit by a machine like that would be no joke.

    Background and Key Points

    The World Humanoid Robot Games is a real Chinese state-backed event, first staged in Beijing in 2025 as a showcase for China’s humanoid-robotics industry, which Beijing has designated a strategic “new productive forces” sector with heavy subsidy support. Usain Bolt’s actual 100m record is 9.58 seconds, set at the 2009 Berlin World Championships — still the benchmark every sprint story measures against, human or otherwise. Framing a robot’s 9.32s as “beating Bolt” makes for a great headline, but competitive humanoid-robot sprints are a young, loosely standardized category: designs, sizes, and assistance mechanisms vary widely between entrants, so it isn’t the apples-to-apples athletic comparison the number implies.

    The thread wasn’t really divided on whether the run was impressive — almost everyone treated the fiery crash as the real punchline, riffing on “Chariots of Fire” and Ashita no Joe. The actual split was between posters happy to just laugh off both the failure and the safety scare (with one noting that this permissiveness might be exactly why China’s robotics R&D moves faster than Japan’s more risk-averse culture would allow) versus posters who pivoted straight to unease about battle-ready applications — kamikaze charges, trench warfare, PLA use.

    What the thread never engages with is the mundane cause: humanoid robots at speed carry lithium battery packs, and a hard, uncontrolled impact into a fixed barrier is a textbook trigger for thermal runaway — the same failure mode behind e-bike and EV battery fires, not evidence of some exotic new danger unique to this machine.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Science News+) thread “Chinese Humanoid Robot Beats Usain Bolt in the 100m With 9.32 Seconds… Then Crashes Into the Mat and Catches Fire After the Finish Line.”

  • Morning Musume。’26 to Appear on 24-Hour TV, Playing ‘Morning Musume。’14’ from 12 Years Ago

    It has been announced that Morning Musume。’26 will appear in the 24-Hour TV 49 special drama “Shiawase wa Aru” (Happiness Exists), playing the members of Morning Musume。’14 from 12 years ago. Oda Sakura, the only member who has been with the group since that era, shared her thoughts on the appearance. On 5ch, discussion heated up over casting predictions—who would play whom—and comparisons with Juice=Juice, the group’s current flagship.

    Morning Musume。’26

    To Appear in “24-Hour TV” Special Drama

    Playing Morning Musume。’14 from 12 Years Ago

    Source: natalie.mu / Original article here

    2AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:10
    ／
    #MorningMusume26
    confirmed to appear as
    Morning Musume。'14 from 12 years ago!
    ＼

    The drama will recreate
    legendary Morning Musume。'14's
    first-ever New York performance 🪩✨

    Oda Sakura (Morning Musume。'26) 💬
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQfeEKXaUAAdipu.jpg
    https://x.com/24hourTV/status/2091978856609591607
    3AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:13
    "24-Hour TV 49" Special Drama 'Shiawase wa Aru' — Morning Musume。'26 Confirmed to Appear as Morning Musume。'14 from 12 Years Ago
    https://www.ntv.co.jp/24h-drama2026/articles/5646j2ew5u045nhosey6.html
    4AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:14
    Who's playing
    Sayu,
    Fuku-chan,
    Eripon,
    Riho-Riho,
    Zukki,
    Harunaso,
    Ayumi,
    Ma-chan,
    Doo-san,
    and Oda-chan (nicknames of the original Morning Musume。'14 members)—
    who's who?
    5AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:15
    https://x.com/nittele_ntv/status/2091981369387651247

    Nippon TV
    @nittele_ntv
    24-Hour TV Special Drama
    'Shiawase wa Aru'

    ⋰
    Morning Musume。'26 has been
    confirmed to appear as
    Morning Musume。'14 from 12 years ago
    ⋱

    Speaking on behalf of the members,
    Oda Sakura said
    💬"I'm so happy about this,"
    sharing her thoughts on the appearance

    🗓Airs Sat Aug 29, just after 9:30 PM
    '#24HourTV49'
    https://ntv.co.jp/24h-drama2026/articles/5646j2ew5u045nhosey6.html
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQeNnwcaUAA1WNA.jpg
    5:10 AM · Aug 25, 2026
    7AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:20
    https://new-img.barks.jp/image/review/1000108486/mony001_s.jpg
    69AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:08
    Re: #7
    Thought, 'wow, she looks just like her' —
    turned out it actually was her
    20AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:37
    They should've put Juice=Juice in the '14 roles —
    they're Hello! Project's flagship group now
    34AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:47
    Re: #20
    With any other group the songs just wouldn't have that Morning Musume。 feel
    52AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:57
    Re: #20
    Juice=Juice is crazy busy, they don't have time to be tied up filming some garbage drama like this
    21AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:39
    If Haru-san — who gets slammed as unpopular for having the same 'color' as someone else — got the part, Sato's fans would be furious
    23AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:40
    There were 10 members back then, but now there are 11?
    54AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:59
    Re: #23
    I wonder who's not going to be in it
    24AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:41
    There's no 'who plays who' about it
    59AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:02
    Re: #24
    Back then it was basically 'Michishige and her fun buddies,' so it'd be weird not to stage it that way
    They're making such a big deal announcing this, so the Michishige role must already be locked in
    25AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:41
    Honestly Haru-san or whoever is fine
    They're all Morning Musume anyway, aren't they
    30AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:45
    Re: #25
    Nobody wants their oshi cast as Mitsui or Haga
    26AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:42
    Morning Musume。'26 to Play Morning Musume。'14 from 12 Years Ago in 24-Hour TV Special Drama 'Shiawase wa Aru' (with comments) – Eiga Natalie
    https://natalie.mu/eiga/news/686455
    https://ogre.natalie.mu/media/news/eiga/2026/0824/24htv_20260824_01.jpg
    https://ogre.natalie.mu/media/news/eiga/2026/0817/24_202608_01.jpg

    [24-Hour TV] Morning Musume。'26 to Appear in Special Drama as Morning Musume。'14 from 12 Years Ago (Published Aug 25, 2026) | Nippon TV NEWS NNN
    https://news.ntv.co.jp/category/culture/6468f1c2223a47a0abcc009f00ca284e
    https://news.ntv.co.jp/gimage/n24/articles/72357cae8bd54bf3b13f9d1c5c4a47c1/12b88a40-2531-42ed-b9d7-6d8bcae2f628.jpg
    27AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:43
    Whoever's left over can play Tanaka Reina, Sayu's partner
    31AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:45
    They really do look alike
    https://ogre.natalie.mu/media/news/eiga/2026/0817/24_202608_02.jpg
    https://ogre.natalie.mu/media/news/eiga/2026/0820/24htv_202608_01.jpg
    https://ogre.natalie.mu/media/news/eiga/2026/0820/24htv_202608_03.jpg
    40AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:50
    What's really surprising is that two holdovers from '14, twelve years ago, are still in the group
    43AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:51
    Re: #40
    Oh right, the 12th gen was just tagging along at the time,
    so technically they're not really 'holdovers,' huh
    46AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:53
    Michishige → Nonaka
    Fukumura → Okamura
    Ikuta → Yasuda
    Sayashi → Suzuki
    Suzuki → Ishikawa
    Iikubo → Sakurai
    Ishida → Yamazaki
    Sato → Sugihara
    Kudo → Yumigeta
    Oda → Oda
    60AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:03
    Re: #46
    What about Haru-san?
    63AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:05
    Regular people don't even know the 'Numbers' members (a nickname for certain lower-profile members by generation),
    they're more likely to say 'wait, she was still in the group?'
    66AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:06
    Re: #63
    That's the 'wait, she's still in the group?' group's even-more-'wait, she's still in the group?' edition
    68AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:07
    But if you're going to call it '14, you'd think you'd at least match the headcount
    75AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:10
    Re: #68
    Nobody remembers the original 'One-Four' (fan nickname for the '14 lineup) lineup, and nobody knows Morning Musume。'26 either
    79AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:13
    https://gzo.ai/i/jyTtmAT.jpg

    Background and Key Points

    Morning Musume。has used an apostrophe-plus-year suffix since the mid-2000s (e.g. ’14, ’26) precisely because Hello! Project rotates members in and out through periodic auditions and graduations, so the “lineup” is treated as a distinct entity each year even though it’s the same group name. That naming convention is why a 2026 cast can be asked to “play” a 2014 cast at all — Oda Sakura is the only person who was literally present in both rosters, so every other 2026 member is stepping into a role built around a predecessor she never overlapped with as a labelmate for very long. 24-Hour TV is Nippon TV’s annual charity telethon, which each edition pairs with a scripted special drama; casting idol groups as themselves (or as past versions of themselves) is a recurring gimmick.

    The thread’s actual disagreement wasn’t over the drama’s premise but over who should have been cast for it at all — several posters argued Juice=Juice, now treated by fans as Hello! Project’s flagship unit, would have been a better fit than Momusu。’26, while others pushed back that Juice=Juice’s schedule and Morning Musume’s own sonic identity ruled that out. A smaller disagreement was over the headcount mismatch: the 2014 lineup had ten members, the 2026 lineup has eleven, so exact one-to-one casting is mathematically impossible and posters couldn’t agree on who gets left without a “role.”

    What outside readers will likely miss is that the “who’s still in the group?” jokes aren’t really about Morning Musume declining — they’re about how obscure certain lower-ranked members (dismissively nicknamed “Numbers” by fans) remain to the general public even while actively promoting, a distinctly idol-industry phenomenon rather than a sign the group itself is fading.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Morning Musume。’26 to Appear in ’24-Hour TV’ Special Drama as Morning Musume。’14 from 12 Years Ago.”