Japan Reacts

Category: News

  • AI Images Slammed as ‘Just Swapped Characters’ Draw Pushback — 5ch: ‘Humans Are the Same, Just Swapped Genes’

    A casual chat thread on 5ch’s “Anything Goes Live” board turned into a lively debate over how to judge AI-generated images. One poster claimed “AI images are all the same, they just swap out the character,” prompting pushback like “Humans are the same too, just with different genes” and “Even with the same look, motivation changes completely depending on the character.” The thread eventually settled on the take that “that criticism might’ve held up three years ago, but the technology has moved on since then.” The conversation also drifted through plenty of other trivial banter — a poster bragging about his girlfriend’s looks, jokes about a caution label written in Kansai dialect, and confusion over why the thread doesn’t display poster IDs — building into the kind of scattershot buzz typical of the board.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:15
    Double Punch 👊😅👊 vs 🙅 Cross Chop's 🏡
    https://nova.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/livegalileo/1790282380/ VIPQ2_EXTDAT: none:none:1000:512:: EXT was configured
    10AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:18
    1000 Anonymous (Still Kicking) 2026/09/25(Fri) 12:17:20.55
    👊😅👊
    12AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:18
    Re: #10
    Koru koru koru lol (a jokey laugh sound, like saying "lol" over and over)
    13AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:18
    Re: #10
    This is amazing‼
    11AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:18
    A field?
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HJxzA6_boAA8JOR.jpg
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HJyV1L1bcAAmW50.jpg
    16AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:19
    Her looks are just too good
    19AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:19
    Re: #16
    That's my girlfriend, y'know?
    Cut it out.
    18AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:19
    AI porn images are all the same, they just swap out the character
    22AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:20
    Re: #18
    Humans are the same too, just with different genes though
    27AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:21
    Re: #18
    And yet how motivated you get totally depends on the character
    48AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:25
    Well, if we're talking about AI art from like three years ago, Re: #18's take is fair enough, but the times have moved on already
    21AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:20
    24AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:20
    Re: #21
    What is this, lmao
    28AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:21
    "Caution: risk of low-temperature burns" — wait, why's that written in Kansai dialect? (pun: "yakedo" means both "burn" and, in Kansai dialect, "but")
    32AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:22
    Re: #28
    '"Caution: risk of low-temperature burns — why's that in Kansai dialect?" — why's THAT in Kansai dialect too?'
    35AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:23
    36AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:24
    Re: #35
    What's even funny about this?
    52AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:25
    Why doesn't this board show IDs?
    56AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:26
    Re: #52
    Because everyone's been on their best behavior
    57AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:26
    Re: #52
    There is one though?
    Wait, you can't see it?
    59AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:26
    Re: #52
    Because some coward started the thread
    64AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:28
    Ta-daaa~
    90AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:34
    Guess I'll run it again then

    128AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:40
    Lunch

    Background and Talking Points

    Boards like “Anything Goes Live” (nandemo jikkyo) aren’t built around a single topic — they’re defined by a chain of off-the-cuff posts, and this thread is a textbook example. The exchange about AI-generated images is easier to follow once you consider how rapidly image-generation quality and expressiveness have improved over the past few years. AI art used to be criticized as “mass-produced,” with similar compositions and faces even when the prompt changed, but as models have improved, they now reflect prompt differences much more faithfully — which is likely what’s behind the comment referencing “how it looked three years ago.” On the other hand, these live-discussion threads tend to drop the context between posts, making it hard for readers to follow why an image was suddenly posted or how a spat got started. Since this thread also included some personal insults and baseless assumptions, those exchanges have been left out of this article.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “You Guys Look Like You’d Eat 🍜😅🍚.”

  • Rice with Okonomiyaki? “No Way,” Say 5ch Users — “Kansai People Just Eat It With Sauce”

    On a 5ch livestream discussion board, a post claiming “Rice with ramen, sure — but rice with okonomiyaki? No way” sparked a wider debate about pairing rice with flour-based dishes. Commenters pointed out regional differences: Kansai-style okonomiyaki uses more cabbage and comes out fluffy, while Kanto-style has a higher flour ratio and tends to be denser. Even some Osaka natives admitted that pairing takoyaki with rice feels off to them. The discussion expanded to other regional food customs — sweet red bean paste over rice, deep-fried potato skewers, and rice with yudofu (boiled tofu) — with opinions on what “goes together” splitting sharply depending on where people grew up.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:55
    Why though?
    9AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:58
    Kansai people run for the hills the second anko-on-rice comes up.
    It's Northern Kanto that has the weird food habits.
    21AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:03
    Re: #9
    Anko on rice… you mean ohagi (rice cakes covered in sweet bean paste)?
    Don't they eat that in Kanto?
    13AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:01
    Takoyaki with rice — even Osaka natives don't really do that, but tourists do it for some reason.
    22AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:04
    Re: #13
    Right?
    When did that even start spreading?
    18AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:02
    Kanto-style okonomiyaki uses a lot more flour,
    so it usually comes out flat and dense —
    more like eating solidified batter.

    Kansai-style, on the other hand, is mostly cabbage with flour just acting as a binder, so it's thick and fluffy.

    Whether it goes with rice or not probably has something to do with that difference.
    29AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:08
    Re: #18
    So basically Kansai people are eating rice with sauce poured over grilled salad? lol
    31AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:09
    Re: #29
    Sounds like someone's never heard of stir-fried vegetables…
    89AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:32
    Re: #29
    If you're from Osaka, you're eating it with sauce, lol
    25AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:05
    My mom just thought okonomiyaki or takoyaki alone wasn't a proper meal, so she'd serve rice with it.
    There's no way I'd order okonomiyaki or takoyaki with rice when eating out, lol
    28AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:07
    Re: #25
    Okonomiyaki restaurants actually have set meals with rice, you know.
    Even yakisoba specialty shops in Tokyo have set meals, so don't overthink it.
    30AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:08
    Re: #21
    Eating a plate of sweet red bean paste as a side dish with rice
    Boiling azuki beans and pouring them over rice
    For some reason it's a Northern Kanto-only thing
    Even people in urban Saitama are creeped out by it
    75AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:27
    Re: #30
    I'm from Northern Kanto and I've never even heard of that
    You can't lump "okonomiyaki with rice," which is fairly common out west, together with some obscure local-trivia-TV-show thing from one tiny area
    35AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:10
    Re: #31
    That's just stir-fried salad (vegetables), isn't it
    37AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:11
    Re: #35
    If that's the case, people in Kanto eat that too.
    What are you even talking about?
    39AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:11
    Croquettes are the worst match for rice.
    You're relying way too much on the sauce.
    41AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:12
    Re: #39
    In Tokyo they dissolve croquettes in soba broth and drink it.
    40AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:11
    People in Tokyo eat rice with yudofu (boiled tofu), right?
    That's seriously so poor it's off-putting.
    49AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:14
    Re: #40
    Kyoto-style yudofu costs several thousand yen even for lunch, so they probably just copied the presentation without the price tag.
    52AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:16
    Re: #40
    Wait, are you serious that people out west don't eat rice with yudofu?
    56AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:19
    Re: #40
    Yudofu in Kanto often has meat added to it, so a lot of the time it's basically just a hot pot.
    43AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:13
    I can eat rice with potato salad just fine.
    48AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:14
    Re: #43
    That's also thanks to the power of mayo though…
    45AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:13
    Kansai people can't eat rice with imo-furai (fried potato skewers), right?
    I'm not a fan of it either
    it's better eaten on its own.
    54AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:17
    Re: #45
    Mixed fry platters are totally a normal thing.
    Have you never been to a Western-style diner?
    60AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:20
    Re: #54
    Isn't a mixed fry platter usually like three kinds of seafood and meat? Potato's sometimes thrown in as a side at best.
    Don't tell me there's a region where potato actually counts as part of the mixed fry?
    61AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:20
    Re: #54
    I don't know anything that fancy.
    It's just three boiled potatoes on a skewer
    the kind of thing you buy at a butcher shop and eat.
    62AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:21
    Re: #57
    So that means Kanto-style salad has flour in it, right?
    70AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:26
    Re: #62
    You're missing the point
    The issue being raised is whether or not you're eating flour-based food as a side dish with plain (white) rice — not whether or not the dish itself contains flour
    74AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:27
    Re: #70
    The point is that you're treating okonomiyaki as a salad, so
    does the salad you know normally have flour in it? That's what's being asked.
    65AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:23
    Do whatever you want.

    79AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:28
    Just own it already, like Katsuya does (the tonkatsu chain).
    82AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:29
    Re: #79
    Pour curry over that and it's perfect.
    90AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:33
    Re: #75
    Your parents are probably from different regions.
    Food differs between rural areas and cities too.
    105AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:36
    Re: #90
    True, my parents are from Osaka, but I asked an AI and it said there's no such custom, so it's probably not really common.

    111AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:41
    Re: #105
    Sweet red bean paste, manju (sweet buns), mitarashi dango (skewered rice dumplings in sweet glaze) — those all count as side dishes too
    It's a holdover from a poorer era when people ate whatever they could get
    I genuinely thought that was normal
    Then I went to college in Tokyo and everyone was creeped out

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    Pairing flour-based dishes like okonomiyaki and takoyaki with rice is a perennial topic that highlights food culture differences between Kansai and the rest of Japan, and this thread is very much part of that tradition. In Kansai, households often served rice alongside okonomiyaki out of a practical concern that the dish alone wouldn’t be nutritionally balanced, whereas in other regions there’s a stronger sense that it should be eaten on its own — with even Osaka natives saying that pairing takoyaki with rice is “something tourists tend to do,” revealing a gap between how locals see the custom and how outsiders perceive it. The thread also saw pushback when one poster described eating sweet red bean paste as a side dish with rice as a “Northern Kanto-only” custom, only for another poster who was also from Northern Kanto to say they’d never heard of it — a reminder that so-called “regional trivia” often reflects differences between individual households or generations rather than a truly universal local habit.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Live News Flash board) thread “Rice with ramen — sure. Rice with okonomiyaki — no way.”

  • One Year Since Frieren’s Manga Went on Hiatus: Thread-Watchers Wonder “Did He Run Out of Story?”

    It’s been almost a year since the original manga of ‘Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End’ went on hiatus. The anime has earned rave reviews, but the source manga remains on extended pause. The thread’s title teased a “return from hiatus,” but based on the actual comments from thread-watchers, nothing confirms that. In the thread, theories flew about the reason for the pause: some argued the story, originally conceived as short, got stretched out by the anime’s massive success until the author could no longer keep writing it, while others suggested the plot hit a wall early, right around the time the group reached the Demon King’s castle.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:47
    Almost a year now with nothing happening.
    2AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:48
    Doesn't make any sense to stop a series that's basically a money tree.
    62AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:28
    Re: #2
    Probably got dragged so far off the original plan that he doesn't even know how to write it anymore.
    79AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:40
    Re: #2
    The story basically starts from a point where the tale is already "over," so
    it probably hit a wall pretty early on.
    It was supposed to be about heading to where the Demon King's castle stood and meeting Himmel there,
    but partway through it jumped to the past and she met Himmel that way instead.
    3AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:49
    He still doodles the occasional illustration, but the manga itself has run out of gas.
    4AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:50
    Can't help it if you just can't think of a story anymore — same as that guy over at Weekly Shonen Jump.
    5AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:50
    Maybe he hit some unavoidable, fatal plot hole in the source material?
    6AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:51
    If it doesn't come back before the "Golden Land" anime arc wraps up, it's pretty much done for.
    8AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:52
    Story-wise, it probably was never meant to run this long — but once it got popular, the editors probably forced him to stretch it out.
    13AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:54
    Re: #8
    Sounds like it'd have worked better as done-in-one chapters that jump ahead by decades each time.
    87AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:46
    Re: #8
    Yeah, it was a "one-and-done" premise from the start — the kind of gag that only really lands once.
    9AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:53
    Wasn't the author kind of buckling under how popular it got?
    If you plan for something to sell around 700K copies and it hits 10 million instead, yeah, you'd buckle too.
    11AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:53
    Pretty sure there was some fight going on where nobody could even tell who was supposed to benefit.
    12AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:54
    It was probably just a one-shot gimmick to begin with.
    14AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:55
    They've got no choice but to put a staff writer under the original author at this point.
    Bringing Aura back to life is bound to cause friction.
    15AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:56
    When do we get to see the Holy Maiden's story? 🥺
    20AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:58
    The anime's just really well made — the manga itself was never that impressive to begin with.
    23AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:00
    Re: #20
    Same pattern as Demon Slayer, but credit where it's due — Demon Slayer's author actually stepped up in response to the anime.
    27AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:04
    Sunday's editorial desk: "Bring Aura back to life! Stretch the story out!!!"

    That's probably what sent him into a depression.
    41AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:14
    Re: #27
    If it's Weekly Shonen Sunday, that's entirely believable.
    56AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:25
    Wonder what the anime's gonna do once it burns through all the manga material — though there's probably still a fair bit left to adapt.
    75AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:35
    Re: #56
    Just throw in some anime-original filler, like Frieren going out to get her driver's license.
    64AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:28
    Honestly, the anime's just polished — there's nothing especially notable about the source manga itself.
    69AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:32
    Re: #64
    The early part was good, though —
    it's about one of the now-retired heroes, an elf, retracing that old journey while reflecting on those days and coming to understand how humans think.
    68AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:31
    If they were gonna do the whole "lifespan" angle, I figured the apprentices would end up dying off pretty quickly.
    70AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:33
    Re: #68
    Yeah, the whole point is that elves and humans experience time differently.
    Even Fern said she'd need to set a time limit if she were going to stay somewhere to study.
    83AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:43
    Re: #68
    I bet he originally meant to go all the way with that — maybe he even had a vague plan for Fern to get married, have kids, and eventually meet her grandchildren.
    But as the series grew popular enough to become a flagship title, the characters got too well-known and beloved for him to actually pull that off.
    90AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:49
    The power balance between warriors and mages is way off.
    However you look at it, you don't even need a tank.
    95AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:50
    Re: #90
    Yeah, since you don't even need incantations to cast spells.
    93AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:50
    Same as One Piece — this is a manga that would've been better off ending as a one-shot.
    99AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:54
    Re: #93
    Was the One Piece one-shot even that good?
    110AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:59
    Re: #99
    Nah, not really, that's just being a contrarian.
    114AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:05
    Re: #99
    The One Piece one-shot is Romance Dawn, right?
    Seeing terms like "Morgania" and "Piece Main" in there (leftover names/concepts from the original prototype) made me think "oh, this isn't gonna work."
    100AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:54
    Don't you dare kill my girl Serie 😡

    111AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:02
    Season 1 was such a chart-topping smash, and then Season 2 just kind of ended before anyone noticed, lol.
    113AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:04
    Re: #111
    There just wasn't enough manga material banked up, so Season 2 couldn't get anywhere near the good part.
    112AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:02
    I bet he started the story without ever really working out what the Demon King is actually like, what kind of group the Demon King's army even is, or where that army stands among demonkind as a whole.
    Then partway through he tacked on the idea that the Demon King was trying to understand humans, which broke the consistency and made it impossible to keep writing.
    122AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:11
    Re: #112
    Weekly serialization is the kind of thing you're supposed to push through on momentum without worrying too much about consistency — but Frieren's author is probably too much of a perfectionist to just wing it like that.
    124AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:12
    A year is a long time. Maternity/paternity leave?
    125AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:13
    Re: #124
    Probably just some vague, unspecified break.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    ‘Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End’ became a massive topic thanks to its anime adaptation, but the source manga (serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday) ended up far more popular than originally expected — one thread comment claimed print runs went from an anticipated 700,000 copies to something on the scale of 10 million. Opinions on the reason for the hiatus split mainly into two camps: (1) that after the series became a hit, the editorial side pushed the author to stretch the story out, leaving him stuck on how to proceed, and (2) that the very structure of the story — a “fallen hero retracing her old journey” — was always suited to a short run, and the plot simply ran out of road around the time the group reached the Demon King’s castle and reunited with Himmel. One point readers can easily misread is that the anime’s polish doesn’t necessarily track with the pace of the source material — in fact, some noted that Season 2 of the anime couldn’t reach its climax because there wasn’t enough manga material to draw from. Note that although the original thread’s title teased a “return from hiatus,” nothing in the actual replies backs that up — the discussion was built entirely on the assumption that the hiatus is still ongoing.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5channel (Nanidemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Breaking] Frieren Finally Returns to Serialization wwwwwwwww wwwwwwwww wwwwwwwww wwwwwwwww” (the string of “w”s is Japanese internet shorthand for laughter, like “lol”).

  • Okinawa Development Finance Corp throws ¥3 billion bridge loan at JUNGLIA Okinawa — 5ch: ‘So it really was just a fluke’

    It has been reported that the Okinawa Development Finance Corporation is in final coordination to provide an additional ¥3 billion in bridge financing to keep cash flow afloat at the “JUNGLIA Okinawa” theme park in Nakijin Village, Okinawa Prefecture. The public corporation also took part in a ¥36.6 billion syndicated loan at the park’s opening, and just this past April added another ¥2 billion in financing alongside Shoko Chukin Bank and Bank of the Ryukyus, among others. With renewed financial support arriving in under six months, 5ch’s reaction split between the cynical view that “the opening-day boost was nothing but pent-up post-COVID travel demand” and voices pointing the finger at the park’s location and facility lineup itself.

    The government-affiliated Okinawa Development Finance Corporation has entered final coordination to extend a fresh ¥3 billion loan to the “JUNGLIA Okinawa” theme park in Nakijin Village, Okinawa Prefecture. With the park continuing to run in the red, the funds will be provided as a bridge loan to keep cash flow going. The park’s operator plans to hold a shareholders’ meeting on the 25th to explain its financial situation.

    The Okinawa public corporation took part in a ¥36.6 billion syndicated loan at the time of opening, and in April added a further ¥2 billion in financing together with Shoko Chukin Bank (the Central Bank for Commercial and Industrial Cooperatives) and Bank of the Ryukyus, among others.

    Source: nikkei.com / Original article here

    3AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:40
    Isn't this supposed to be the genius producer who turned USJ into a massive success?
    70AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:25
    Re: #3
    Looks like a V-shaped recovery, but that 'dip' was just the COVID slump — the 'recovery' after it is just the natural rebound that would've happened anyway.
    71AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:25
    Re: #3
    So it really was just a fluke.
    5AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:41
    I hear customer numbers have been increasing like crazy lately.
    12AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:45
    Re: #5
    Can we really believe that, Mr. Vegetable Gyoza?! (nickname for a poster known for over-hyped takes)
    11AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:44
    They should've just made it Chiikawa Land instead. (Chiikawa: a hugely popular cute-character franchise in Japan)
    23AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:52
    Re: #11
    That's a dull blade [pun: "Katana" is the name of Morioka's production company]. They'll probably just dot little character statues along the paths between attractions, like the Pokémon stuff at Yomiuri Land.
    Having zero indoor, high-throughput attractions like Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, or the Haunted Mansion is the worst move you could possibly make.
    16AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:47
    It's basically empty and attractions are still selling out from the morning?? On top of that it's 2:40 from Haneda to Naha, then a 2:20 bus ride to get there — over 10 hours round trip. New Chitose Airport gets you 100 times more fun for the trouble.
    79AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:27
    Re: #16
    What's with this 'look how bad I am at my job' flex?
    25AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:52
    Still, Legoland is doing great business too, so who knows how this'll play out.
    58AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:13
    Re: #25
    Legoland managed to pull in the whole Tokai region's population by making annual passes cheap, but Okinawa just doesn't have the population base for an annual pass to work the same way.
    An annual pass there would have to be limited to just the main island of Okinawa — not even all of Kyushu, not even the whole prefecture.
    33AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:56
    Does Okinawa really not get that many tourists? These days everywhere else in Japan is swarming with foreign tourists getting in the way — they should all just go to Okinawa instead.
    42AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:06
    Re: #33
    There's plenty of them, it's more that they'd rather just go to Churaumi. (Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium)
    46AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:08
    Re: #42
    The bet was that since it's near Churaumi Aquarium, people would stay a night in that area and swing by JUNGLIA too — and that gamble totally backfired.
    53AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:12
    Re: #42
    If there's already plenty of tourists around, there was no need to go build a whole theme park…
    49AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:09
    Re: #46
    Was there really anything around Churaumi worth staying overnight for in the first place?
    59AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:13
    Re: #49
    There's Nago and Nakijin right there.
    76AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:26
    The megabanks that didn't invest sure have sharp crisis-avoidance instincts. Guess that's what you get from scooping up the cream of the elite.
    Makes it pretty clear by comparison that the regional banks are just a bunch of leftover underachievers.
    85AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:30
    Sooner or later they'll probably build some theater where Demon Slayer characters hunt dinosaurs, or Spider-Man takes down dinosaurs, or Harry Potter beats up dinosaurs.
    That's their whole playbook here — bring in collabs for indoor-type attractions that don't need outdoor space.
    99AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:39
    Re: #85
    The licensing rights all belong to different companies, that'll never happen.
    Even USJ let go of its popular Spider-Man stuff once it went the Disney route.
    87AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:31
    Amusement parks only really work in the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka corridor. Even Space World went under.
    90AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:31
    Re: #87
    Koyama Yuenchi: 'Yeah, tell me about it.'
    Mukogaoka Yuen: 'Ugh, you're not wrong…' (both are real defunct Japanese amusement parks)
    113AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:48
    Re: #87
    Space World was profitable every single year right up until it closed.
    It only shut down because it couldn't renew its land lease.
    89AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:31
    You guys really think Shoko Chukin and Bank of the Ryukyus are lending because they actually believe this thing will turn a profit? Are you living in some fantasy land?
    95AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:37
    Re: #89
    The government's going to clean up the mess anyway, so of course it'll pencil out for them.
    110AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:45
    Places like USJ pour in massive advertising and bring in even stronger IP to somehow draw the crowds in, right? That approach isn't wrong for this era, but if the underlying potential is too weak to begin with, it backfires.
    111AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:46
    Re: #110
    Even with IP, the northern part of the island is just a tough sell.
    Even locals only go once a year if that — that's the kind of location it is.
    115AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:49
    Honestly, at this point they should just force it and bring in Chiikawa.
    The thing that turned USJ around was Harry Potter, after all.
    121AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:53
    Re: #115
    Better to swallow your pride and use whatever works instead of clinging to some weird sense of dignity — if you actually want to draw crowds, ditch the ego.
    118AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:50
    They should've just built an entertainment facility around a quintessentially Japanese anime/game world and drawn in foreign tourists that way. This place has zero elements that would actually sell.
    120AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:52
    Re: #118
    I don't think any IP would save this — it's over two hours from the airport.
    Unless it's built around a casino as a full integrated resort people can actually stay at, it's just not going to work.
    125AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:54
    Re: #120
    A Dragon Ball & Naruto & One Piece Super Land might've actually had a shot.
    127AnonymousSep 25, 2026 10:55
    Re: #125
    Even then, I think it'd still be tough unless it's near Naha.

    Background and points of debate

    JUNGLIA Okinawa is a dinosaur- and nature-experience theme park built by Katana, the company led by Tsuyoshi Morioka, known for turning around Universal Studios Japan. It opened in 2025 in Nakijin Village, Okinawa Prefecture. Multiple financial institutions, including the Okinawa Development Finance Corporation, had already arranged a roughly ¥36.6 billion syndicated loan before the park even opened; this latest ¥3 billion bridge loan follows an additional ¥2 billion loan in April, making it yet another round of support on top of that. Opinions on the thread were split over where to place the blame for the park’s struggles. Some pointed to the facility lineup itself — few large indoor attractions and low visitor throughput — while others noted that the recovery in visitor numbers has coincided with the broader post-COVID rebound in tourism demand, making it hard to credit the park’s opening itself. The tendency of regional financial institutions to keep lending out of consideration for the local economy was also raised alongside concerns about the park’s actual profitability.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nanademo Jikkyo G) thread “[Good News] Okinawa Development Finance Corp provides ¥3 billion ‘bridge loan’ to keep JUNGLIA Okinawa’s cash flow afloat.”

  • STU48’s Financial Struggles Spark Talk — 5ch: “Rumor Has It There’s Debt on the Ship”

    Speculation spread on 5ch’s Hello! Project board about the financial state of STU48, the idol group based on a floating theater in the Seto Inland Sea. Unlike other 48 Group sister branches, its management company, STU Co., Ltd., is backed by Hakuhodo-affiliated Setouchi DMO, and operates on an independent-accounting basis with no subsidies from the main AKB48 office. The thread noted that the group’s formation coincided with a broader decline in the 48 Group’s momentum, compounded by repeated misfortunes — the 2018 Western Japan floods and the COVID-era suspension of the floating theater among them — that have squeezed its finances. Posters speculated whether the ¥890 million net profit booked in 2022 came from selling the theater ship, and rumors about debt tied to the vessel were also raised and debated.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:37
    Yikes. (Kansai slang for "no good")
    4AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:48
    Even if they're in the red, doesn't the main office cover the losses?
    17AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:04
    Re: #4
    STU was originally run by a different company than the main office.
    Hakuhodo's the one backing them.
    5AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:50
    Even at ¥150,000 a month per member, that's ¥4.5 million for 30 people.
    Factor in expenses running double that, and you're looking at close to ¥10 million a month.
    6AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:50
    Must be rough for groups not based in Tokyo… guess that's why branch-group members end up auditioning for ≠ME (nicknamed "Noimi")?
    8AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:53
    A zombie kept shuffling along just so people don't get to say the 48 Group is on the decline.
    9AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:56
    No way they turn a profit with a tenth of Kanto's population to draw from.
    10AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:00
    No member's really generating buzz and nobody's interested.
    Might be better to just cut their losses and write STU off as a failure.
    13AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:00
    Aren't they getting work from local government contracts or something?
    14AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:02
    Wait, you think it's just STU?
    The whole 48 franchise is already in the red and past saving…
    15AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:03
    Just a matter of time — depends how long the lenders keep extending credit.
    16AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:04
    Even factoring in COVID, it's not like things got much worse.
    This is probably just normal operations for them.
    Let's make the next one, the Neo STU48, a submarine.
    18AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:05
    Why keep running it if it's not turning a profit?
    22AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:08
    Re: #18
    Rumor has it there's debt on the ship.
    19AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:07
    STU's timing has just been bad all around.
    Formed right as the 48 Group was declining and the Sakamichi groups were on the rise.
    1st single release delayed.
    The floating theater's opening delayed too.
    2nd single delayed because of the Western Japan floods.
    When the floating theater finally opened, all anyone talked about was the striptease-like staging and the rip-off bottled water.
    Promising members like Ichioka Ayumi (now in ≒JOY) kept leaving one after another.
    Then, about a year after the floating theater opened, COVID hit.
    The floating theater shut down because of COVID.
    Since then it's just a handful of shows a month at a Hiroshima livehouse.
    Most of the work is SHOWROOM livestreaming.
    23AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:09
    Re: #19
    Okay, that's genuinely pitiable. Brutal.
    57AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:34
    Re: #19
    That's hell. Members stuck with nothing but SHOWROOM streams can't keep their motivation up.
    26AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:13
    10th anniversary next year







    30AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:16
    Re: #26
    So many cute members and they're not putting them to use. Such a waste.
    29AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:15
    Just get AKB's management to buy out the business.
    37AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:21
    Re: #29
    A few years back all the 48 Group branches switched to independent accounting, so the main office no longer has to support them.
    Because of that, branch members stopped joining AKB's singles, and joint events dropped off too.
    44AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:23
    Re: #37
    SKE sold over 500,000 copies of a single and still didn't get to perform it on a nationally broadcast show.
    47AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:25
    Re: #37
    Isn't STU outside AKB's consolidated accounts?
    If so, with liabilities exceeding assets, bankruptcy might just be a matter of time.
    31AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:17
    STU has quite a few members who came up through ASH, but I don't get the sense they're putting that background to use in their performances.
    36AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:21
    Re: #31
    They were losing the battle to hype up a crowd live to begin with.
    Akimoto-penned songs aren't really built for live performance in the first place.
    Not great for just listening to either, honestly.
    41AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:22
    Re: #36
    The song choices were clearly not suited for live vocals.
    43AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:22
    Re: #36
    This exactly.
    STU's songs just have this gloomy vibe to them.
    A different kind of dark from Keyakizaka or Sakurazaka — more like old Showa-era enka-pop.
    34AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:19
    What's with the ¥890 million net profit in 2022, in the middle of COVID?
    Did they sell off some assets or something?
    Well, if they're still not in the black by 2026, might as well pull out now while the wound's still shallow.
    AKB as a whole is turning a profit, right?
    39AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:21
    Re: #34
    Supposedly they sold the ship.
    45AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:25
    Ike-chan, who landed a Tokyo agency, is the only one who really came out ahead.
    53AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:27
    Re: #45
    A member named Kudo Riko also joined an agency in the same bar-affiliated group as Miyane, but she hasn't been seen since.
    51AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:26
    AKB: DH
    SKE: Zest (Keyholder)
    NMB: Yoshimoto
    HKT: Mercury (Sprout)
    NGT: Flora (Sprout)
    STU: STU Co., Ltd. (shareholder is Setouchi DMO, backed by Hakuhodo)
    72AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:44
    Re: #51
    Oh, NGT's still around?
    52AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:27
    Re: #17
    Huh, so it's not all run by Dentsu after all?
    54AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:29
    Re: #52
    In its early days SKE was partly funded by the pachinko company Kyoraku (run by Ito Misaki's husband).
    60AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:37
    They were actually within reach of Kohaku with "Moshi Kokkyou ga Kietara" ("If the Borders Disappeared")!
    70AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:43
    Re: #60
    Back then they were getting about as much music-show airtime as Juice=Juice at their peak.

    Background and Key Points of the Discussion

    STU48 is a 48 Group idol unit formed in 2015, based around a floating theater on the Seto Inland Sea. Unlike its sister branches, its management company is STU Co., Ltd., part of the Setouchi DMO group backed by Hakuhodo. Its formation coincided with a broader decline in momentum across the 48 Group and Sakamichi Series, and the group faced a string of setbacks from external factors — delayed single releases, the Western Japan floods, and the suspension of the floating theater due to COVID roughly a year after it opened. Several years ago, all 48 Group branches moved to independent accounting, so there is generally no subsidy from the main AKB48 office. Thread posters cited a net profit of ¥890 million in 2022, but speculated it came from the sale of the theater ship rather than core business earnings, meaning it likely doesn’t reflect the group’s actual operating performance. Some posts floated the idea of “bankruptcy from insolvency,” but none of this is confirmed by public disclosures — it remains user speculation and should be read with that caveat.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “STU48’s debt trouble is causing a stir.”

  • This Year’s ‘Gala of the Year’ Boils Down to a Superstar vs. Hasunosora Showdown

    On the 5ch “Love Live!” board, fans have narrowed the candidates for the so-called “Gala of the Year” — an unofficial yearly tradition looking back at on-stage mishaps and oddities from live concerts — down to two contenders: Superstar and Hasunosora. Opinions split between those backing Superstar for sheer frequency of incidents and those backing Hasunosora for the sheer size of a single blunder, with posters citing the Osaka and Sendai shows and even a sports-festival-themed event as points of comparison. No consensus was reached on which side deserves the crown, and some predicted the pool of “candidates” will only keep growing next year.

    1AnonymousSep 24, 2026 18:26
    By gala count: Superstar
    By sheer impact: Hasunosora
    2AnonymousSep 24, 2026 18:26
    This one's a tough call
    3AnonymousSep 24, 2026 18:26
    Which one actually deserves this year's Gala of the Year?
    4AnonymousSep 24, 2026 18:27
    We need to settle this properly
    5AnonymousSep 24, 2026 18:27
    Fierce competition this year
    7AnonymousSep 24, 2026 18:27
    Votes are gonna be split
    8AnonymousSep 24, 2026 18:34
    Superstar's already a hall-of-famer
    9AnonymousSep 24, 2026 18:43
    Let's just crown a top gala for every single year going forward
    10AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:01
    Gotta be Hasunosora, honestly, after that half-playback slip-up (leaning on the backing track mid-song)
    The Liella sports festival was pretty rough too, but you can still argue that one wasn't technically a real live show
    11AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:07
    The sports festival doesn't even count as a real gala though
    12AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:12
    What stood out at the sports day was just how visibly aged the crowd looked
    No wonder attendance keeps shrinking
    14AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:31
    [Starting soon!]
    Thursday, September 24, 8:00 PM –
    #大西亜玖璃 (Onishi Aguri)'s PONPONPONLIVE!! #11

    https://x.com/aguponponpon/status/2103061895112688055
    15AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:08
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HS-B3sTaMAAZbWd.jpg
    17AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:15
    Wasn't the Liella! Sendai show worse than Hasunosora's Osaka one?
    18AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:44
    Hasunosora's kind of dumb for not learning from Superstar's gala
    There was already a hilarious precedent to learn from
    25AnonymousSep 24, 2026 22:10
    What about the movie theater gala?
    26AnonymousSep 24, 2026 22:14
    Superstar doesn't have a movie, so that'd be a default loss for them…
    28AnonymousSep 24, 2026 23:29
    Hasunosora's honestly only going downhill from here, so I bet we'll see even bigger galas
    29AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:07
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HS-7adLaUAAHNnM.jpg
    https://x.com/aguponponpon/status/2103105618781630603
    30AnonymousSep 25, 2026 02:44
    Re: #29
    Thought the one on the left was Nagi, but she's taller than Aguri, which seemed off — turns out it wasn't her

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    “Gala of the Year” isn’t an official award — it’s an unofficial nickname fans use among themselves. Here, “gala” is community slang for audio glitches or on-stage mishaps during a live concert; it usually points less to a serious accident and more to a “mishap that lives on as a running joke.” The thread’s disagreement comes down to differing criteria — judging by sheer frequency of mishaps versus judging by the impact of a single incident — and since those two yardsticks aren’t really comparable to begin with, the debate was never going to reach a tidy conclusion. It’s also worth noting that terms like “half-playback” (leaning on the backing track for part of a song) may not land with anyone outside the fandom, and first-time readers will need extra context just to follow who “Superstar” and “Hasunosora” refer to.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Love Live!) thread “Why This Year’s Gala of the Year Has Come Down to Superstar or Hasunosora.”

  • “Fake Your Own Replies and It’s Game Over”: Late-Night 5ch Live-Chat Thread Has Everyone Cracking Up

    In a thread on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyō G” (Anything-Goes Live) board, chatter rolled on from the middle of the night into early morning. Early on, a job-listing site for people with disabilities got posted out of nowhere, leaving users baffled (“What is this?”), and moments later the line “It’s game over if you fake it” drew a wave of replies like “LMAOOO” and “what even is this, lol.” From there the thread drifted into people marveling at how early everyone was up and a steady swap of images, never settling on one topic as the night wore into dawn.

    11AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:42
    Job and career-change support for people with disabilities: "Clover Navi"
    https://www.clover-navi.com/

    Job listings for people with disabilities: "Web Sana"
    https://www.web-sana.com/

    #1 track record in career-change support for people with disabilities: "doda Challenge"
    https://doda.jp/challenge/

    Job site for people job-hunting or changing careers while disclosing a disability certificate: "Bab Navi"
    https://bab-navi.com/

    Job site for major companies actively hiring people with disabilities: "Recommos"
    https://www.recommos.jp/
    22AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:43
    Re: #11
    What
    is this
    15AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:42
    It's game over if you fake it (jien — posting under a fake name to hype your own comment)
    16AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:43
    Re: #15
    LMAOOO
    21AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:43
    Re: #15
    Looking again, this is seriously hilarious lol
    38AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:47
    Re: #15
    What even is this lol
    25AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:44
    Re: #22
    What do you think it is? *smirk*
    28AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:44
    Re: #25
    Nya? Are you doing a cat impression?
    29AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:44
    Glad I was born in Inzai City
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E5EU1EWVkAEtAof.jpg
    47AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:50
    My mobile-game screenshots kept piling up so I made an app that sorts them automatically with AI 🤗
    You can upload straight from mate too 🤗


    48AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:51
    🙅 Nope, it's "Musho Cross"

    53AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:52
    59AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:54
    Why is everyone up so early?
    61AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:55
    Re: #59
    That day, it was still "night" for me even though it was morning (never went to bed)
    64AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:55
    65AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:56
    【Nazukari Mirai】
    69AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:58
    70AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:58
    【Team Miroku】
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Exs0ahdUUAMSgJc.jpg
    71AnonymousSep 25, 2026 05:59
    Double Punch 👊😅👊


    Cross Chop 🙅
    80AnonymousSep 25, 2026 06:04
    Put 'em all on the ignore list — so comfy
    86AnonymousSep 25, 2026 06:13
    Re: #80
    Is it okay to do that?
    85AnonymousSep 25, 2026 06:13
    112AnonymousSep 25, 2026 06:44
    Re: #85
    What's with these fangs
    Are they pointed so it can bite and infect you?
    111AnonymousSep 25, 2026 06:44
    117AnonymousSep 25, 2026 06:47

    Background and Talking Points

    The line “it’s game over if you fake it” plays on a long-standing, strictly enforced 5ch rule against jien — posting under a different handle to agree with or hype up your own comment. It’s less a random joke than a wink at the board’s unwritten law. The thread appeared on “Nandemo Jikkyō G” (Anything-Goes Live), one of 5ch’s commentary boards with no fixed theme, where disconnected topics get dropped one after another even in the dead of night. It’s not unusual, as happened here, for what looks like an ad for a job-listing site to suddenly turn up out of nowhere and leave users baffled. Because most posts are tossed off in the moment with little context tying them together, the thread never lands on a single topic — which is exactly the loose, drifting atmosphere this board is known for.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (“Nandemo Jikkyō G”) thread “Double Punch 👊😅👊 vs 🙅 Cross Chop’s 🏡.”

  • YouTube Ads Are Too Long and Too Frequent, Users Complain — 5ch Thread: ‘Even 5 Seconds Is Too Much, I’d Rather Pay ¥1,000’

    A thread titled “On the Problem of YouTube Ads Getting Too Frequent and Too Long,” posted on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo (Live) board, drew a wave of complaints about back-to-back unskippable ads. Commenters split into three camps — those sticking with free, ad-supported viewing, those who switched to a paid Premium subscription, and those relying on ad blockers — and the debate escalated into mockery over each other’s financial situations. The discussion spread to cover ads on newspaper sites, TVer, Abema, and radio commercials, exposing widespread fatigue with online advertising in general.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 00:59
    Way too many cases now where three ads play back to back in a row. And you can't even skip them.
    3AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:00
    They're way too desperate to push everyone into Premium.
    47AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:19
    Re: #3
    People actually memorizing the ads just to avoid paying — that's desperate on a whole other level.
    5AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:00
    Just pay the ¥1,000. No more stress, and you stop wasting several minutes of your life every single video.
    7AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:01
    Re: #5
    No way I'm paying. The whole point is that it's free.
    11AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:03
    The entire internet is ads, as always.
    13AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:04
    Re: #11
    What really pisses me off is newspaper sites. Close the ad and another one pops right back up — you can't read the article at all.
    17AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:06
    Re: #13
    Nobody's reading it anyway, so no problem.
    12AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:04
    Didn't ad-block sites get cracked down on or something?
    14AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:05
    Re: #12
    The old ones got shut down, but it's just a cat-and-mouse game.
    18AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:07
    Is there even a point to running that many ads, though? If an ad's long or plays over and over, I make a point of never using that product.
    21AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:08
    Re: #18
    Exactly. Pushy, repetitive ads feel like they'd backfire on the advertiser.
    23AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:09
    Re: #18
    You weren't gonna use it anyway. And look — you remembered to say "I won't use it!" The ad's clearly working on you.
    19AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:07
    Still, YouTube through those block-sites is a pain to watch. Picture quality's bad too.
    20AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:08
    Re: #19
    What's this "block-site" you keep going on about? You don't know about browser extensions?
    24AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:09
    Re: #20
    I've used both Brave and AdGuard.
    25AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:10
    I'd let it slide if every single ad could be skipped after 5 seconds.
    27AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:11
    Re: #25
    Even 5 seconds is too much. I'd rather just pay the ¥1,000.
    29AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:12
    Guess YouTube isn't making much money either — Premium subscribers just aren't growing.
    32AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:15
    Re: #29
    With semiconductor and memory prices skyrocketing lately, server costs must be brutal for them. I mean, it's still free to watch even with the ads.
    35AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:16
    If they're gonna do that, they should demonetize the scammy channels instead.
    54AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:20
    Re: #35
    Someone's jealous of people actually making money, lol.
    46AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:19
    Do online ads even work? I've never once thought about buying something because of an ad. If anything they just breed resentment.
    67AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:27
    Re: #46
    That's the sleeper effect (a psychology term for when you forget the shady source but the message still sticks).
    56AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:21
    Re: #54
    Why are you replying to me so desperately?
    58AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:22
    Re: #56
    It's an ad — feel free to skip it, you know?
    60AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:23
    Nah, it wasn't like this before. It's suddenly ramped up recently.
    64AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:25
    Brave is so smooth it's hilarious. Turns out I never needed to pay for Premium at all.
    79AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:35
    Abema's the worst — sometimes you wake your device up and get hit with 5 commercials in a row right off the bat.
    81AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:38
    Re: #79
    If you watch Abema in picture-in-picture mode, the ads don't show up.
    82AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:39
    TVer is basically "content you cannot escape ads on." Honestly impressive they've locked it down that tight.
    88AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:45
    Re: #82
    Use AdGuard or uBlock and they don't show up.
    90AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:48
    Way too long. I was listening to a radio show and before I knew it some insanely long commercial had started without me noticing — I was thinking "man, this is a boringly dull topic" and it turned out to be an ad.
    92AnonymousSep 25, 2026 01:51
    Re: #90
    Was that the "Corporate Nippon" segment on ANN? That's technically treated as a regular segment within the show, not a commercial.

    Background and Key Points

    In recent years, YouTube has been inserting unskippable ads back-to-back with increasing frequency, a trend widely attributed to diversifying revenue streams and rising infrastructure costs. The thread split into three camps — those sticking with free viewing, those who switched to a paid Premium subscription, and those using ad blockers — and the disagreement notably escalated into jabs about each other’s financial situations. The “sleeper effect” mentioned in post 67 is a psychological concept describing how information from a low-credibility source can grow more persuasive over time; it was invoked here to suggest that even resentment toward an ad can stick in memory and still function as advertising. The thread also touched on how avoiding ads has become increasingly difficult across streaming services in general, including TVer and Abema.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo board) thread “On the Problem of YouTube Ads Getting Too Frequent and Too Long.”

  • Two Rookie VTubers Hit 140,000 Concurrent Viewers on Debut Stream

    A thread went up on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board reporting that a rookie VTuber’s debut stream drew 140,000 concurrent viewers. According to the thread starter, a second debutant, “Sopia-chan,” also pulled in 140,000 viewers. While congratulations poured in, several posters also dismissed VTubers as a whole as “con artists hiding behind illustrations,” sparking a clash of opinions. The thread’s main topics ended up being speculation about the newcomers’ true identities and talent — including theories that one might be the “reincarnation” of a previously active VTuber character, and claims that she’s an even bigger talent than popular streamer Usada Pekora.

    1AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:09
    Amazing, indeed~ (mimicking her old-timey 'nojya' speech quirk)
    2AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:09
    The second one, Sopia-chan, hit 140k too
    16AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:11
    Sopia-chan's got that calculated-cute girly voice🥰
    17AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:13
    Sopia-chan's the calculated-cute type, yeah
    18AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:15
    Cute, indeed~
    26AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:16
    A tardigrade, you say?
    35AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:19
    Wait, for real? Sopia-chan is the reincarnation of Kakapo, Raden's old ally?😲
    36AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:20
    This one's got what it takes to surpass Pekora
    37AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:22
    Most agency VTubers peak on their debut stream, huh
    38AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:22
    Guess speaking English is basically mandatory now, Hololive's wild
    39AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:24
    Even the people co-watching are pulling 20-30k viewers each, this agency's insane
    41AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:28
    It's not right to swap between 'fictional character' and 'real person' whenever it's convenient
    42AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:29
    Re: #41
    Oh, that's because it's [designed by] an individual illustrator
    43AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:30
    She's putting on a raised voice, but comparing them, it's still Kakapo, no doubt😃
    Her profile's science background, PhD, and teaching license are all identical too😃
    I'm looking forward to interactions with Raden, but I wonder if they'll play it off like they're meeting for the first time?😲
    44AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:31
    This batch's rookie avatar designs are pretty solid
    I wasn't a fan of Furoguro's design
    45AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:32
    Is she seriously into chemistry or is that just a character bit?
    49AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:35
    Re: #45
    If she really is Kakapo reincarnated, she's a genius who's already collabed with Kyoto University😲
    46AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:33
    The antis keep spamming threads, but it's pretty clear who's actually unhinged here
    47AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:34
    Nanojya-chan and Sopia-chan have great avatar designs😘
    Shigure Ui and Mervika are… eh, so-so🤔
    48AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:35
    We're both '-den' kin — genuinely happy about this (likely a nod to shared naming with Raden)
    53AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:37
    Re: #49
    Oh, that's promising
    78AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:39
    Glad they get to be labelmates at Hololive together🥹💖

    Background and Key Points of Discussion

    In the VTuber industry, it’s not unusual for a newly debuted talent to pull six-figure concurrent viewer counts on the very first stream alone. That’s largely down to agency brand recognition and pre-debut promotion, which draw existing fans in en masse from day one — so the “140,000” figure here is best read as a snapshot of launch-day hype rather than a measure of lasting popularity. The term “reincarnation” (tensei-tai), which came up repeatedly in the thread, is VTuber-culture shorthand for a previously active VTuber returning to streaming under a new design and name; without an official announcement from the talent or agency, claims about a newcomer’s “true identity” remain speculation. Posts calling VTubers “con artists hiding behind illustrations” are also worth flagging as a recurring, generic criticism of the VTuber format itself, unrelated to the specifics of this debut. Some commenters also noted the growing expectation that talents speak English, suggesting the push to court overseas fans is starting to shape agency hiring as well.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Rookie VTuber Hits 140K Concurrent Viewers, Indeed.”

  • Ado Sparks Controversy by Belting Out ‘Odoru Pompokorin’ as Headliner at K-POP Festival

    Popular singer Ado headlined a joint festival featuring a lineup of K-POP artists and performed ‘Odoru Pompokorin,’ sparking discussion on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board. Thread posts explained that the post-headliner “finale” segment — a photo-and-greeting session that’s usually a fixture of these festivals — was reportedly scrapped at Ado’s request, leaving the K-POP fans who’d stuck around specifically for that finale frustrated. Commenters were split on whether the blame for the song choice and set structure fell on Ado herself or on the event organizers, and many also brought up the fact that tickets cost 60,000 yen.

    They packed this whole lineup into Belluna Dome, and the headliner Ado just sang ‘Odoru Pompokorin’ and walked off… hilarious (not funny at all)

    Source: x.com / original post here

    3AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:49
    Got booed out of the building by a crowd that looked like Wolverine


    76AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:20
    Re: #3
    Wolverine lmao
    6AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:50
    Is mixing stuff that shouldn't be mixed becoming a trend now, like that Shigure Ui thing? (Shigure Ui — a VTuber caught up in a similarly mismatched collab controversy)
    7AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:51
    Our girl Ado is getting absolutely destroyed
    16AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:55
    Ado's core fanbase is basically guys in their 40s, right?
    Same demographic as VTuber fans
    Oil and water with the K-POP crowd
    19AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:56
    Re: #16
    Is that true?
    Is there actual data on that somewhere?
    17AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:56
    Wouldn't the timetable be published for something like this, so people already knew who the headliner was?
    20AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:57
    Re: #17
    Don't know much about K-POP culture, but apparently there isn't one.
    Also, the photo time with the performers got suddenly cancelled for every group, supposedly because of Ado's efforts to keep her face from being photographed.
    23AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:58
    Re: #17
    K-POP just doesn't have that kind of thing
    18AnonymousSep 24, 2026 19:56
    Wasn't it the K-POP side that asked her to headline in the first place, banking on Ado's drawing power?
    Would it have been fine if she'd sung 'Usseewa' instead of 'Odoru Pompokorin'?
    39AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:06
    Re: #18
    If she was a secret guest, drawing power doesn't even factor in, does it?
    27AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:00
    Joint K-POP concerts
    have had weak ticket sales lately, so they've been experimenting, bringing in Japanese idols and the like
    Ado was probably just there as a drawing card too
    32AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:04
    Re: #27
    I mean, nobody's realistically showing up just to hear 'Odoru Pompokorin'
    29AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:03
    Apparently here's the actual timeline:

    Ado shows up at a K-POP festival for some reason ← guest spots happen occasionally, so fine
    Ado is the headliner
    Ado gets the longest stage time of anyone
    The already-shabby "cage" stage setup (Ado famously performs hidden inside a box/cage to conceal her identity) ends up even smaller and shabbier than usual
    For the headline slot, she picks 'Odoru Pompokorin'
    The photo session ("finale") that normally follows the headliner every year gets cut at Ado's request. (Apparently about half the K-POP crowd comes just for that)
    The K-POP fans who gritted their teeth and stayed to the end for that finale are furious
    30AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:04
    Re: #29
    Ah, so that's what happened
    Yeah, that's just straight-up bad
    42AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:06
    Re: #29
    Thank god for people who spell it out like this
    41AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:06
    This one's on the organizers, isn't it
    She just took the gig when it came her way
    47AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:07
    Re: #41
    By that logic Nene-chan and Ui-chan wouldn't be getting flamed either
    43AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:07
    It basically comes down to the planners being incompetent,
    but still, the artist choosing 'Odoru Pompokorin' herself is just not it
    53AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:10
    This is insane
    Put in terms you'd understand, it's like the headliner of an anime-song festival being LDH doing a dance routine instead (LDH — a Japanese talent agency known for dance/performance groups like EXILE)
    60AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:12
    Re: #53
    LDH actually does sing anime songs though
    66AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:13
    This is too funny
    Whoever booked this has some nerve — though if it happened at one of my own shows I'd become a lifelong hater
    68AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:14
    Apparently people are extra mad because tickets were 60,000 yen
    Paying 60k for a festival with acts you don't even care about, lol, that's nuts
    70AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:14
    Re: #68
    60,000 YEN?!?!?!?!
    72AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:15
    Re: #68
    All the more reason to be mad at the organizers instead of Ado
    77AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:21
    'Odoru Pompokorin' was picked on purpose, no question
    80AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:22
    Re: #77
    It's a song that represents Japan, one Reiwa-generation kids even list among their favorite Showa-era tunes — what's wrong with it?
    79AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:21
    YOASOBI is out there doing overseas tours — quite the gap has opened up between them
    81AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:23
    Re: #79
    Ado's done overseas tours too though
    84AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:25
    Who actually decides the setlist for joint shows like this anyway?
    If it was her own call, that's rough, but if the organizers decided it, that's kind of sad for her
    85AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:26
    Re: #84
    Normally it'd be the booker, but the K-POP industry structure is so different I honestly have no idea
    91AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:30
    Ado picked the song herself, right?
    93AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:32
    Re: #91
    Doesn't she have any K-POP-style songs of her own to use instead?
    97AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:34
    The 'why is she even there' part I get, but the 'why Pompokorin' part is the real mystery
    101AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:36
    Re: #97
    Apparently 'Odoru Pompokorin' was originally a cover of a Korean pop song
    102AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:36
    Re: #97
    Because it's a song literally every Japanese person has heard, Ado fan or not
    107AnonymousSep 24, 2026 20:47
    Why bring the introverts' princess to an extroverts' event, only to have her sing an anime song for the grandpa-and-grandma generation on top of it…

    Background and Key Points of This Story

    ‘Odoru Pompokorin’ is a beloved staple song spanning generations, best known as performed by B.B. Queens for the opening of the anime ‘Chibi Maruko-chan,’ which began airing in 1990. In this case, the discussion centered less on the song choice itself and more on the fact that the “finale” segment — the photo-and-greeting session customarily held after the headliner at joint K-POP shows — was reportedly cancelled at Ado’s request, which posters cited as the main source of frustration for fans who stayed until the end. One post in the thread claimed ‘Odoru Pompokorin’ was originally a cover of a Korean pop song, but no source was given, so this should not be taken as confirmed fact. The thread also never settled whether the decision over the performance and set structure lay with Ado herself or with the festival’s organizers, ending with opinions still divided over where the responsibility lies.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Ado joins a K-POP festival for some reason → sings Odoru Pompokorin as headliner, chaos ensues.”