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【海外の反応】独自ドメインのメールがスパムに判定される問題【海外の反応】シャワーヘッド選びの投稿が「shower thoughts」板で物議に
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  • Harai-chi’s Iwai Asks Smokers: “Does a Cigarette Taste Better Inhaled or Exhaled?”

    Iwai Yuki (40), one half of the comedy duo Harai-chi, posed a question to smokers on X (formerly Twitter) on the night of September 3: “For people who smoke, does it taste better when you inhale, or when you exhale?” The simple question sparked a lively split on 5ch’s Geinou/Sports Breaking News+ board between an “inhaling” camp and an “exhaling” camp, while many other posters pointed out that the sense of cigarettes “tasting good” is really just an illusion created by the relief of nicotine withdrawal — turning the thread into a debate ranging from taste theory to the mechanics of addiction.

    Harai-chi’s Iwai asks smokers: “Does it taste better when you inhale, or when you exhale?”

    Iwai Yuki (40), of the comedy duo Harai-chi, posted an update to his X account on the night of the 3rd, putting a question to smokers.

    Iwai asked: “For people who smoke, does it taste better when you inhale, or when you exhale?”

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

    3AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:49
    Never smoked a day in my life, but I get the impression inhaling tastes better
    5AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:50
    Inhaling tastes better, exhaling is when you relax. Haven't smoked in decades, but I've stopped consciously taking deep exhales, and that alone makes me want a cigarette
    6AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:51
    Isn't it like that feeling when you take a big breath of air at a mountain summit and it tastes amazing? I don't smoke so I wouldn't know
    9AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:51
    It's exhaling. When you blow smoke toward someone and they make that disgusted face — that's what does it for me
    13AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:52
    It used to be great how smokers got side-eyed at pachinko parlors, but now there are way too many non-smoking halls. Whenever I landed a good machine I'd deliberately blow smoke at anyone who sat down next to me
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:53
    Inhaling tastes better — the flavor's better too. I already quit, but smoking in the break room after wrapping up a chunk of work was the best part of the day
    78AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:06
    Re: #14 When smokers get together, pretty much all of them light up
    21AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:55
    What I really want to know is how they feel about making everyone around them breathe their secondhand smoke. Though I bet they're all scumbags who don't care at all
    49AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:00
    Re: #21 If they actually cared, they wouldn't be smoking in the first place
    23AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:55
    Smokers' mouths reek 🤥
    141AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:18
    Re: #23 There are people who smoke while sipping sickly-sweet canned coffee and they smell absolutely rank
    29AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:57
    The whole idea that cigarettes "taste good" is just an addict's illusion to begin with… The brain simply mistakes the moment nicotine levels climb back from a withdrawal deficit to zero for "deliciousness"
    40AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:58
    Re: #29 By that logic, eating food would be the same thing
    45AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:00
    Re: #40 There's a difference between poison and nutrients
    76AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:06
    Re: #40 That's sad… your brain's been fried from too much nicotine exposure…
    36AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:58
    Smoke doesn't actually have a taste. You're just mistaking the relief of nicotine withdrawal for deliciousness
    47AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:00
    Re: #36 Hi-Lite (a harsh, cheap Japanese cigarette brand) is rough, and there are cigarettes with a genuinely sweet flavor too
    55AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:01
    Re: #36 No, there really is a taste — it varies by brand. Guess you wouldn't know if you've never smoked
    37AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:58
    There's no way it's exhaling, idiot
    42AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:59
    Re: #37 Yeah, nobody says food tastes better coming back up either lol
    79AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:06
    20 years of smoking, a pack a day on average — let me set you straight: there's not much of a "tastes good" feeling to it. It's more like struggling to breathe and finally sucking in oxygen. That's the answer, got it, baldy?
    95AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:09
    Re: #79 Damn, spot on — you're not really thinking "this tastes good," you smoke to smother the brain's craving
    151AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:20
    Re: #79 That just means you've smoked so much your brain's gone dumb from it. It's become pure habit — at that point it's less about taste and more like "guess I'll light one up"
    80AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:06
    Do smokers seriously not realize how bad they smell?
    89AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:08
    Re: #80 I'm aware I smell, but plenty of non-smokers stink too, so it's beside the point
    82AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:07
    It's best when you're drinking alcohol alongside it
    91AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:09
    Re: #82 Even though it ruins the taste of the alcohol
    100AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:11
    Cigarettes are supposedly for relaxation or blowing off steam, but once you start and get hooked, not being able to smoke ends up making you even more irritated — completely defeating the purpose
    153AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:21
    Re: #100 Apparently this isn't unique to nicotine — it's called the opponent-process theory of drug dependence. The brain learns that smoking brings calm, which flips into a state where you can't feel calm without it
    138AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:18
    Obviously it's when you inhale. Think about it for two seconds
    155AnonymousSep 4, 2026 10:21
    Re: #138 Plenty of people are exhale people though, right? Think about it for two seconds

    Background and Key Points of the Discussion

    Iwai’s simple question struck a nerve as it touches on a basic sensation that splits opinion even among smokers themselves. The thread divided between those who feel the “deliciousness” on the inhale and those who feel relief on the exhale, while several posts argued that the “deliciousness” of smoking is, to begin with, just the brain mistaking the satisfaction of resolved nicotine withdrawal for pleasure. That explanation echoes what addiction research calls the opponent-process theory — suggesting the sensation may be less about pleasure itself and more about withdrawal relief being reinterpreted as pleasure. On the other hand, some pushed back that “the taste differs by brand,” keeping alive the view that a genuine flavor element can’t be entirely ruled out. The fact that people’s explanations of the sensation diverge depending on whether they’ve actually smoked is a classic example of why this kind of topic tends to spark debate.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisupo Sokuho+) thread “[Entertainment] Harai-chi’s Iwai asks smokers: “For people who smoke, does it taste better when you inhale, or when you exhale?”“.

  • Backstage at LuckyFes, an NHK Camera Crew Shows Up — 5ch: Yokaze Asks, ‘What’s With That Camera?’

    A casual exchange backstage at the summer festival LuckyFes between Ebata and Tsubaki Factory’s Yokaze became a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. When Yokaze noticed a camera nearby and asked, ‘What’s that camera for?’, Ebata explained, ‘Apparently it’s an NHK crew doing a close-up feature.’ Yokaze just replied, ‘Huh…’ While many in the thread expressed surprise that an NHK camera crew had made it onto such a packed main stage, the conversation gradually shifted into a debate about the perceived gap in treatment between Juice=Juice and Tsubaki Factory, and the history behind it.

    1AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:21
    Just imagining it makes my stomach hurt (T_T)
    2AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:21
    Venue101's cameras sneak into the summer festival! Juice=Juice, who performed at LuckyFes, turn their secret for keeping their visuals on point even after a full stage set into a quiz.
    https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1788430848/
    3AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:23
    (chatting and giggling)
    Ebata: 'Oh, our stage is over that way, so we'd better get going.'
    Yokaze: 'Yeah…'
    4AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:24
    This is showbiz for you.
    It's honestly a miracle everyone was treated equally until now.
    5AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:24
    Little Camellia fans, blame Kohira for running a secret account and Nishiguchi for staking everything on keeping Tsubaki Factory alive — this comes up every time.
    7AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:25
    Re: #5
    Exactly this.
    Blaming Sanfura (a Hello! Project group) or Juice=Juice is completely misdirected — after Takagi left, Juice=Juice was clearly getting the cold shoulder from Nishiguchi too.
    15AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:28
    Re: #5
    They already killed off Kobushi Factory in that ugly way — if they let another 'Factory' group go under too, they'd have no face left.
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:30
    Re: #5
    Seriously, this.
    They've been getting the full push ever since the Enoshima thing, ever since Kohira, ever since the gay bar incident — if they still can't break through, that's on them.
    9AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:26
    This agency seriously hates it when a group blows up on its own without permission, huh.
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:38
    Re: #9
    Because if a group gets popular without the chairman's say-so, he throws a tantrum.
    So it's a headache for the execs and higher-ups too when a group blows up on its own.
    They're basically praying, 'Please, for the love of god, don't get popular without permission.'
    30AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:50
    Re: #25
    Got a source for that?
    10AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:27
    Yokaze's getting center treatment, so she's fine.
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:28
    Forget NHK, the sheer size difference between the LuckyFes stages is night and day.
    17AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:29
    Just because she had actual skill, she got shuffled off to Tsubaki.
    Just a
    19AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:32
    The luckiest people in all of Hello! Project are Tsubaki's original members and Saniko.
    Normally, the group would've been finished the moment the Kohira thing happened.
    Little Camellia is single-handedly keeping an entire group alive, so they're pulling as much weight as Danbara or Inaba.
    20AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:33
    I just hope Yokaze doesn't end up breaking down like Goto did.
    21AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:34
    Re: #20
    Unlike Goto, Yokaze's got the resolve to carry Tsubaki Factory on her back — she's already settled into that role.
    That's exactly why seeing Eba right now feels kind of bittersweet.
    22AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:36
    Did Eba have a group she originally wanted to join?
    Runo wanted anything other than Juice=Juice — that's kind of rough for her.
    26AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:39
    Re: #22
    Eba wanted Juice=Juice.
    23AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:37
    Turns out Tsubaki Factory's members have more group pride than you'd expect.
    27AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:41
    Let's hope they don't end up like Airi and Risako.
    31AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:51
    I'm a newer fan going by Teritama, but wouldn't Akiyama leaving Tsubaki Factory hit their performance about as hard as Danbara leaving Juice=Juice would?
    https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1788475744/
    32AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:57
    At an individual talk session, I once asked Runo-chan if she ever feels envious watching shows that Juice=Juice gets to appear on.
    35AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:06
    NHK doing a close-up feature on the biggest, most packed stage there —
    that's honestly impressive.
    52AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:13
    If you lied and told her that was just a Hello! Station camera, Runo-chan — who's never seen a real TV network camera — would totally believe you.
    54AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:26
    Yokaze was a puzzle piece Juice=Juice never needed. 🧩
    57AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:29
    If Yokaze had ended up in Juice=Juice, she'd have filled the 'diva' slot the group is missing.
    That's literally the role Takagi used to fill.
    Such a shame.
    60AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:35
    Why does it turn into a thread like this every time Yokaze interacts with Ebata?
    Do they not get along or something?
    63AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:39
    Re: #60
    Tsubaki fans have a history of using 'Little Camellia' as a club to beat up Sanfura fans with — this is just payback now.
    61AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:36
    It's kind of a mark against Yokaze that she looked up to Takagi so much.

    Background and Points of Debate

    The ‘NHK close-up feature’ Ebata mentioned appears, based on the link at the top of the thread, to refer to filming for the music program Venue101 — more likely a segment shot for the show than a standalone documentary. What divided opinion in the thread was the broader topic of a ‘gap in treatment between members’ that this one moment sparked, with fans of Juice=Juice and Tsubaki Factory clashing over how past group reshuffles and departures have shaped each group’s current level of media exposure. That said, most of the posts speculating about the agency’s intentions or executives’ decisions are unsubstantiated guesswork, not confirmed fact, and should be read with that caveat in mind.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread ‘A moment at LuckyFes → Yokaze: ‘What’s that camera?’ Ebata: ‘Apparently it’s an NHK crew.’ Yokaze: ‘Huh…’‘.

  • July Real Consumer Spending Falls 3.6% — 8th Straight Month of Decline

    According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ July household survey released on September 4, average consumer spending by households of two or more people came to ¥301,245 — down 3.6% year-on-year in real terms, after adjusting for price changes. In nominal terms spending rose 1.5%, and the gap between the nominal and real figures reflects the weight of inflation. This marks the eighth straight month of real-term decline, showing continued weakness. On 5ch, comments linked the figure to stagnant real wages and the heavy burden of taxes and social insurance premiums, while others noted that big-ticket spending — luxury hotels, travel — remains solid. The policy debate split over whether to raise interest rates and whether to hike the minimum wage.

    July Real Consumer Spending Falls 3.6% — 8th Straight Month of Decline – Nikkei

    September 4, 2026, 8:33 AM

    According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ July household survey released on the 4th, average spending by households of two or more people was ¥301,245. In real terms, adjusted for price changes, this was down 3.6% from the same month a year earlier — the eighth consecutive month of decline. In nominal terms, spending rose 1.5%.

    Source: nikkei.com / Original article here

    7AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:40
    Sad to say, but this country's collapse is a done deal.
    This country did the one thing it should never have done —
    and without exception, every country that's done that has fallen.
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:46
    If they raise rates,
    mortgage bankruptcies will pile up,
    and the economy gets even worse.
    197AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:45
    Re: #18
    If there are sellers, there are buyers too.
    Not a big deal.
    28AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:52
    Nothing's selling —
    not the expensive stuff, not the cheap stuff.
    39AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:56
    Re: #28
    Domestic travel and leisure,
    luxury hotels, and high-end consumer goods are all selling just fine.
    32AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:54
    They're lowballing the CPI to pad the numbers —
    the 'real wages are up' claim is a lie too,
    real GDP growth is actually low too.
    Japan's in stagflation, plain and simple.
    48AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:58
    Re: #32
    Fudging the statistics — just like the CCP does.
    38AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:55
    I have a feeling this is the NISA (Japan's tax-free investment account) effect.
    106AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:23
    Re: #38
    Eight months running (lol).
    41AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:56
    Re: #1
    Of course real wages are below where they were 30 years ago — it's basically 'roku-ko-shi-min' (a feudal-era term for a 60%-tax/40%-keep burden, now used to describe today's tax load).
    45AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:57
    Re: #41
    It's a year-on-year comparison.
    46AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:58
    Re: #41
    Think about what it would actually take to raise real wages.
    54AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:03
    Why do people think wages go up without businesses actually winning in the marketplace?
    What do they think money even is?
    158AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:38
    Re: #54
    Like you can see in this thread and on X,
    today's workers treat the company as basically an extension of school —
    work just gets handed to them, they do the bare minimum, and they demand their rights.

    Japan's only going to get poorer from here.
    It probably needs to hit rock bottom once to instill that postwar-reconstruction mindset again.
    Well, whether we like it or not, that's where it's headed.
    62AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:06
    For a country where most of GDP is domestic consumption, this is basically a recession.
    74AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:09
    Re: #62
    Japan isn't even a domestic-demand economy anymore.
    Look around you —
    it's all foreign goods, services, and resources, right?
    Japan hasn't just lost its ability to earn from exports, it's losing the domestic market to foreign competitors too.
    That's why it keeps getting poorer.
    80AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:12
    Re: #79
    It's not just 'we have no choice but to win.'
    It's about time we had more options.
    85AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:16
    Re: #80
    If you're fine with accepting poverty, sure, we don't need to win.
    Is that really okay?
    Taxes and social insurance premiums will keep rising. Defense, public safety, infrastructure — none of it will be sustainable.
    Are you really okay with that?
    82AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:15
    It's because they won't raise the minimum wage.
    There's no choice but to push it to ¥2,000/hour.
    101AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:22
    Re: #82
    Make it ¥3,000 and the labor shortage disappears instantly.
    Scrap the income caps (the 'wall' thresholds that trigger tax/benefit cutoffs) entirely while you're at it.
    Let anyone who wants to work, work as much as they want.
    108AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:24
    Re: #101
    Hypothetically: raise pay at the bottom, and they'll just cut pay at the top to match.
    164AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:40
    Re: #101
    Man, that's a dumb take…
    Unless companies actually figure out how to win in competition, any wage hike just gets passed straight through to prices.
    126AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:28
    With the change of government scrapping the provisional tax rate, and subsidies still propping things up, maybe the number comes in a point or so lower than it otherwise would.
    129AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:29
    Re: #126
    You'd think so, right?
    But nominal spending is actually up 1.5%.
    Midsummer horror story lol.
    152AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:36
    Re: #129
    I checked the source data — Nikkei got it wrong, nominal is negative too.
    Inflation's running about 1.9%, so there's no way nominal is +1.5% while real is -3.6% lol
    155AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:37
    Rate hikes do risk cooling the economy,
    but right now the cost-push inflation from a weak yen is a serious problem.
    If a hike corrects the weak yen and that feeds through to prices, it's a net positive for consumers,
    and a stronger yen would lower production costs too.
    159AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:38
    Re: #155
    Raising rates a little isn't going to fix the weak yen.
    175AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:42
    Re: #155
    If they carelessly raise rates now, small and midsize businesses will start collapsing one after another, and the regional banks and credit unions that lent to them will go under in order of how weak their capital base is.
    That's exactly why the BOJ and government haven't been able to raise the policy rate even as it keeps drifting further from market rates — but that can't last much longer either.
    173AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:41
    With consumption falling this much, there's no way this counts as a boom.
    182AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:43
    Re: #173
    Just abolish the consumption tax, waive social insurance premiums, and give everyone a flat ¥200,000 a month.
    194AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:45
    Re: #173
    Companies are doing fine though, aren't they?
    205AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:47
    Re: #173
    According to the official line, we've been in 'gradual recovery' for 20 straight years now.
    Meanwhile China overtook us in GDP and South Korea overtook us in per-capita income.
    Shows you just how much nonsense the Japanese government keeps feeding us.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    The household survey is a monthly statistic released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. ‘Real’ figures are values adjusted using the consumer price index to correct for price changes. The ongoing gap between real and nominal figures exists because price increases are outpacing growth in wages and spending. Some thread comments claimed that ‘1.5% nominal growth alongside a 3.6% real decline doesn’t add up — the nominal figure should actually be negative too, going by the source data,’ but this was one poster’s own calculation, and no evidence was presented showing it actually contradicts the official figures, so it should be treated with caution. The claim that ‘the CPI understates real inflation’ also persists among some commenters, but the consumer price index is calculated using internationally standardized methods, and much of the gap with perceived prices comes down to differences in the basket of goods and purchase frequency. Likewise, expressions like ‘roku-ko-shi-min’ (a phrase evoking the feudal-era 60%-tax/40%-keep burden ratio, used here to describe today’s tax and social-insurance load) capture a subjective sense of hardship rather than an official statistic.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “July Real Consumer Spending Falls 3.6% — 8th Straight Month of Decline.”

  • ‘WakatteTV’ Firestorm: Backlash Ignites, But Defenders Rally Too

    The YouTube channel “WakatteTV,” known for provocative content built around academic pedigree, came under fire after a recent remark blew up for the wrong reasons. On 5channel threads, criticism spread fast — but so did defenses, with many arguing it’s “just their usual shtick” or that “it works as entertainment,” splitting opinion right down the middle. The discussion soon expanded to cover the fact that the channel’s central figure doesn’t actually have an elite academic background himself, the murky details of the cram school he runs, and even the broader debate over companies using university names as hiring filters.

    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:14
    Corporate "academic pedigree filtering" in hiring is way worse than this, honestly.
    114AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:48
    Re: #18
    Yeah, that's really the root of the problem.
    If companies filter candidates by university name alone, without even looking at what they actually accomplished there, this is what you get.
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:14
    Fukushima University's mostly an education-degree school with low entrance scores and hardly any researchers, but that doesn't mean it's okay to insult it.
    And honestly, these guys graduated from Kyoto University and are running a cram school — that's kind of an insult in itself.
    104AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:43
    Re: #25
    Lmao, brutal.
    26AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:15
    I really wish these guys would stop pretending to be against discrimination and bullying after this.
    83AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:34
    Re: #26
    These are the same people who still won't condemn "women-only admission quotas" as discrimination in university entrance exams.
    32AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:16
    You guys keep losing again huh.
    Lost to Mii-yama too — who could actually beat these guys at this point?
    48AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:21
    Re: #32
    Environment and genetics.
    Being loud about that stuff is probably their contribution to lowering the birth rate — so I guess they're "winning" at that.
    37AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:18
    Their haters are just the type who get furious over plot holes in a gag manga.
    38AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:18
    The guy's whole shtick is "got into Kyoto University but dropped out, so technically just a high school graduate" making fun of people with less education — that's literally the joke.
    44AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:20
    Re: #38
    It works as entertainment precisely because there's an obvious comeback — "you clown on low academic achievers, but you're just a high school grad yourself."
    People who keep screaming "high school grad, high school grad" are missing the point.
    51AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:23
    I thought this was a former cram school teacher turned YouTuber, but he's actually still active in the business, huh?
    Not just active — he's an executive at the cram school.
    Maybe the whole "mocking low academic achievement" angle is just a way to drum up new students.
    60AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:25
    Re: #51
    They call it a "cram school," but what this guy actually does is just point students to reference books and tell them to study on their own.
    It's the kind of style that either really clicks with you or really doesn't — no in-between.
    53AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:23
    Over on Girls Channel (a forum popular with women) there are a ton of comments saying they've reported the video and the channel — guess it might get banned eventually?
    58AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:25
    Re: #53
    They already deleted the video in question, so no, it won't be.
    59AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:25
    Would people defend this the same way if it were fat-shaming, bald-shaming, or body-odor-shaming instead?
    61AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:26
    Re: #59
    I mean, if you had as many subscribers as these guys, probably yeah?
    That genre seems to have a lot of female fans, too.
    63AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:27
    Re: #59
    Nobody cares about insults that don't target their own personal insecurities.
    64AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:27
    Re: #60
    Huh.
    So it's basically just renting out space, no actual tutors needed?
    74AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:30
    Re: #64
    They do technically have instructors.
    Reviews on job-hunting sites aren't great though.
    They've got a fair number of locations nationwide, but the head office is just a room in some multi-tenant building in Tokyo.
    Honestly, if you dug into that side of things, you'd probably find something interesting.
    65AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:27
    Re: #58
    Looks like people are reporting the channel itself too, not just the video.
    67AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:28
    Re: #65
    On YouTube, deleting just the offending video is usually enough to avoid consequences.
    Reporting the whole channel is pointless.
    72AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:30
    I'm a Sophia University grad, but why does this high school dropout get to talk down to college students?
    76AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:31
    Re: #72
    That's just the bit, that's the entertainment.
    101AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:41
    Funny how none of the pro-WakatteTV tweets are going viral (10k+ likes) at all —
    meanwhile the critical tweets are hitting viral numbers left and right.
    105AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:43
    Re: #101
    Well, academic prestige is a limited-slot thing — there will always be way more people who qualify as targets for mockery than people who don't.
    106AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:44
    Re: #101
    What's their cutoff for "high academic achievement" anyway, hensachi (deviation score) 60-plus?
    If they're just labeling everyone below that as "low academic achievers," then low achievers massively outnumber the rest — there's no way to win by sheer numbers.
    115AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:48
    Well, if it's this, I guess it's understandable.
    117AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:49
    Re: #115
    Lol.
    Yeah, that'd piss anyone off.
    118AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:50
    Apparently the only person who's ever managed to shut this guy up is Hiroyuki.
    120AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:51
    Re: #118
    Even Hiroyuki only graduated from Chuo University's Faculty of Letters, so by their own logic, he'd be a target for Takada to mock too.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    “WakatteTV” is a channel known for ranking people by university entrance-exam difficulty and provoking those it deems to have a “low academic pedigree” — this isn’t the first time it’s sparked controversy. What threads are pointing out this time is that the channel’s frontman himself dropped out of university and, on paper, only holds a high school diploma — meaning the whole “a high school grad mocking low academic achievers” setup has long been part of the act itself. Opinion split between those who see this as the usual bit, in on the joke, and those who felt it went too far this time by naming real universities and real individuals — with the latter camp raising questions about the reputation and actual business practices of the cram school the channel’s figure runs. The discussion also drew comparisons to corporate hiring practices like academic filtering, making this more than a simple “backlash vs. defenders” story — a nuance that’s easy to miss without the full thread context.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Image] Controversial WakatteTV Gets Flooded With Defenders wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.”

  • Hideaki Sorachi’s New Series Faces Cancellation, Gets Promoted Using Gintama Characters — 5ch: ‘Enough Already’

    News that Hideaki Sorachi, famous for ‘Gintama,’ has started promoting his new series using Gintama characters — reportedly because the new work is at risk of cancellation — became a hot topic on 5ch. Alongside comments like “He’s already made a fortune, isn’t that enough?”, the thread pointed out that new works from proven hit-makers like Masashi Kishimoto and Masami Kurumada have also been struggling across the board, sparking a debate over why even the most accomplished authors tend to have such a hard time with their follow-up series. The discussion also got lively over the sheer scale of Saint Seiya merchandising and the way character popularity spreads for Weekly Shonen Jump titles.

    1AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:49
    Looks like they're having the Gintama characters handle the promotion
    4AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:51
    He's earned more money than he knows what to do with — isn't that enough already?
    If Kurumada could earn 4 billion yen, this guy's probably raked in 10 billion.
    6AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:53
    Re: #4
    However you look at it, Masami Kurumada's made way more money than that.
    9AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:54
    Re: #6
    Gintama's merchandising potential is way too limited, though.
    16AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:59
    Re: #6
    The toy royalties must be insane though.
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:57
    Manga artists are strange, you know.
    You'd think the creators behind Naruto, Rurouni Kenshin, and Gintama could put out something decent for their next series,
    but they all end up putting out manga that's genuinely not fun to read.
    17AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:59
    Re: #14
    Honestly, Busou Renkin got a lot of hype but it was pretty mediocre.
    20AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:01
    Re: #14
    And then they end up clinging to sequels of their hit series, which mostly turn out to be pointless tack-ons.

    Prince of Tennis is about the only one that actually stayed popular the whole way through.
    41AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:14
    Re: #14
    Gun Blaze West was actually good, though.
    23AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:03
    He's throwing everything he learned from 'Gintama' into it, so logically it should end up surpassing 'NARUTO'! …Right?
    34AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:10
    Re: #23
    Feels like I've heard that line somewhere before.
    73AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:31
    Re: #23
    You could say that, or you could say the opposite.
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:03
    People who go "it's because of fujoshi (female fans of male-male pairings)" are something else.
    First time I've ever heard NARUTO's fanbase blamed on fujoshi.
    29AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:05
    Re: #25
    Sounds like someone who's never seen the NARUTO or Gintama movies.
    40AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:13
    Tite Kubo (nicknamed 'KBTIT' by fans) is smart, honestly.
    Instead of starting a whole new series, he made 'Burn the Witch,' set in the same universe as the BLEACH sequel, and just brought all the Bleach fans along with him.
    He went for the money in front of him instead of a graceful finish.
    42AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:14
    Re: #40
    Or rather, I think he knows that's the only thing he's capable of drawing.
    43AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:15
    Re: #40
    ZombiePowder had a good story though, I'd love to see that get a remake.
    47AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:16
    Re: #39
    To be fair, Osamu Akimoto also kept drawing other manga for a while after ending Kochikame.
    50AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:18
    Re: #47
    He did one with high school girls in it, I think.
    56AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:21
    Re: #47
    He's been drawing Mr. Chris for ages.
    55AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:20
    Re: #20
    Old and new anime, OVAs, over 10 movies, close to 1,000 character songs, tons of game adaptations (mostly otome games), musicals and stage plays, even a concert by the author himself.

    It's quietly legend-tier.
    61AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:23
    Re: #55
    Almost 1,000 character songs, lol.
    Get that in the Guinness Book already.
    72AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:30
    Re: #55
    A manga artist who holds concerts — that's got to be Kurumada (aka 'Tashike') and only him, in all of history.
    62AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:23
    Wouldn't it be better if he brought on a separate story writer?
    65AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:28
    Re: #62
    Only handling the art while someone else writes the script is definitely not something Sorachi would want to do.
    86AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:45
    Re: #62
    If anything, it'd be better for Sorachi to do the storyboarding (name) and bring in a separate artist for the actual drawing.
    93AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:51
    Re: #62
    Story by Gotouge.
    Art by Sorachi.

    Let's go with that.
    69AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:29
    Re: #16
    Figures keep coming out steadily even now — I wonder who's actually buying them.
    78AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:32
    Re: #69
    Saint Seiya has basically become like Chiikawa, Gundam, or Peanuts (Snoopy) — a brand people buy into regardless of the story.
    A pretty large chunk of buyers have never even read the original manga.
    100AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:00
    Kishimoto, Shimabukuro, Sorachi: "We drew new series, and they flopped!"

    Who's even left at this point…
    101AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:04
    Re: #100
    Shimabukuro's actually hit it big twice, with 'Seikimatsu Leader-den Takeshi!' and 'Toriko.'
    102AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:05
    Re: #100
    Shimabukuro landing two hits is genuinely impressive.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Hideaki Sorachi is the creator behind ‘Gintama,’ a series that spawned an anime adaptation, a live-action film, and an enormous amount of merchandise, and the sheer scale of that character-driven expansion came up repeatedly in the thread. The central topic of debate was a tendency often pointed out in the industry: that the more successful an author’s completed long-running series was, the harder their follow-up work tends to struggle. Commenters brought up Osamu Akimoto, who kept drawing other manga for a while after ending ‘Kochikame,’ as well as the rare case of Saint Seiya, whose merchandise has continued to draw in buyers who have never even read the original manga. It’s not unusual for a new series to struggle after a hit series ends, but the reasons often have less to do with the author’s talent and more to do with the publisher’s rollout strategy and how easily existing fans transfer over — and the thread was split between attributing the cause to “the author’s own ability” versus “how the work itself was constructed.”

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nanademo Jikkyo G) thread “Hideaki Sorachi begins a desperate struggle as his new series faces the threat of cancellation!!“

  • Tokyo MK President Apologizes for Power Harassment; 5ch: “Just Say ‘Pardon?’ and You’re Fine”

    Weekly Shincho reported on footage from a morning meeting at taxi company Tokyo MK in which the owner’s 62-year-old younger brother was seen screaming at drivers, prompting the company to hold a press conference and apologize on September 3. In the footage, an unintelligible shout that sounded like “Gettafakkau!” rang out repeatedly, and 5ch users flooded the thread trying to “translate” what it actually meant. Reports also say the tirade was triggered when a driver — who had been told to improve his English for foreign customers — couldn’t come up with the English word for “intersection,” sparking a wider debate about the taxi industry’s aging workforce and whether demanding English proficiency from drivers even makes sense.

    Published 9/4 (Fri) 5:59 AM

    Daily Shincho

    Following the September 3 issue of Weekly Shincho’s report on power harassment by the owner, taxi company Tokyo MK held a press conference and apologized. Below are the details of that harassment, based on footage obtained by Weekly Shincho. The footage is also posted on the Daily Shincho YouTube channel.

    Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here

    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:16
    gettafakkau


    Translate this into Japanese. (3 points)
    24AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:17
    Re: #18
    Deals massive damage to all enemies
    122AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:41
    Re: #18
    Swaying, turning, trembling — this aching feeling
    26AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:17
    Re: #1
    Most taxi drivers are geezers over 60 — English? Don't make me laugh lol
    39AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:20
    Re: #26
    Exactly
    And him losing it and blowing his top over it isn't going to fix anything
    36AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:19
    "Waiya tegetege shissee! Genne doga! Shigo mo sendo! Uttakuddo!"

    That's basically what my mom says too — incomprehensible stuff in her own "foreign language" (i.e., thick regional dialect)
    76AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:30
    Re: #36

    Waigah! Kurasuddosa!!
    81AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:32
    Re: #36
    Can't translate "genne doga"
    but I think I could more or less make out the rest
    47AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:23
    Watching this was such shameless power harassment it almost made me laugh
    What did the kid getting yelled at even do?
    91AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:34
    Re: #47
    He was asked for the English word for "intersection"
    and couldn't say "intersection"
    51AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:25
    Still no bankruptcy?
    56AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:26
    Man, MK Bowl in Kyoto brings back memories. Is it still around?
    87AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:33
    Re: #56
    Yeah, it's still there
    but they dropped the buffet ("viking," the Japanese term for buffet dining) on weekdays
    100AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:36
    "We've instructed drivers to work on improving their English,
    but it hasn't improved as much as we'd hoped."
    Of course a bunch of poorly-educated drivers can't speak English
    This is seriously hilarious
    107AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:38
    Re: #100
    Forget that, just put translation devices in the cabs
    That's what they should be putting effort into
    Plenty of foreign tourists can't speak English either
    109AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:38
    Telling them to "learn English" just means studying on their own time after work
    And anyone motivated enough to teach themselves English to use on the job wouldn't become a taxi driver in the first place
    155AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:50
    Re: #109
    If you can speak English, pulling a rickshaw pays better anyway
    Only lazy people become taxi drivers
    162AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:53
    If English is that important, they should just hire grads from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies lol
    Though even most grads from there can't actually speak English, at least they'll go through the motions if forced into English lessons
    No idea if they'd have any talent for driving though
    172AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:56
    Re: #162
    A starting salary of 350,000 yen a month with an average around 9 million yen a year might actually attract people
    Otherwise you're just asking for the impossible
    He really should just resign already
    202AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:07
    Honestly, if foreigners are coming to Japan, they should learn Japanese
    Americans don't learn Japanese for the sake of their Japanese customers
    203AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:08
    Re: #202
    Koreans pick up English in no time
    At my company too, the foreign employees are more capable
    Japanese people can only speak Japanese anyway, right?
    211AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:11
    Re: #202
    No point comparing an international language to a local one

    Background and Key Points

    The story broke in the September 3 issue of Weekly Shincho, and once footage of the actual morning meeting was also posted to the Daily Shincho YouTube channel, reactions on 5ch focused heavily on the content of the shouting itself. Around unintelligible phrases like “Gettafakkau,” many posts joked about mishearing it or riffed on the nonsensical sound of it, so the words’ shock value ended up dominating the conversation more than the seriousness of the harassment. At the same time, users exchanged more practical opinions on whether demanding English proficiency from drivers even makes sense, given the realities of an aging taxi industry. Full details of the press conference and any disciplinary action against the owner himself have not been reported yet, so further updates are needed. Note that numerous posts also baselessly speculated about or disparaged the management’s background, and those have been excluded from this article.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[Full Extent of the Power Harassment] Tokyo MK President Apologizes… “Gettafakkau!” The Full Story of the 62-Year-Old Younger Brother Owner’s “Chair-Throwing Morning Meeting”.”

  • Yen Spikes to ¥155.30 as BOJ September Rate Hike Bets Fuel Buying

    In New York foreign exchange trading on the 3rd, the yen surged more than 3 yen against the dollar at one point, hitting ¥155.30. The move is attributed to growing expectations that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates in September, prompting dollar-selling and yen-buying on bets that the Japan-U.S. interest rate gap will narrow. There has been no indication of currency intervention by the government or the BOJ. On 5ch, opinions were split over whether the move was driven by intervention or by the rate differential, with some users voicing concern about rising mortgage rates and others debating whether around ¥130 would be the level that truly matches Japan’s “real economic strength.”

    [NEW YORK, Kyodo] The yen surged more than 3 yen against the dollar from the previous day at one point in New York foreign exchange trading on the 3rd, hitting ¥155.30. Dollar-selling and yen-buying prevailed on the view that a September BOJ rate hike is now all but certain, with markets focused on a narrowing Japan-U.S. interest rate gap.

    There is no indication in the market that the Japanese government or the BOJ intervened to buy yen. As of 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥155.75-85, up 2.89 yen from the previous day. The euro traded at $1.1621-31, or ¥181.06-16.

    September 4, 2026, 7:42 a.m., Kyodo News

    Source: 47news.jp / Original article here

    10AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:05
    I've got a variable-rate mortgage with 28 years left… what's gonna happen to me? (´･ω･`)
    54AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:18
    Re: #10
    +5-10 million yen more in interest
    77AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:24
    Re: #10
    Borrow it from your parents and pay it off immediately
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:06
    Is this intervention?
    The move is clearly different from usual, so it's hard to say for sure
    64AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:22
    Re: #14
    No way it's intervention
    If you actually watch the market regularly, you'd know that
    21AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:08
    Watch the news suddenly start hyping up all the downsides of a strong yen now lol
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:09
    Re: #21
    The media ("masugomi"/trash media): "Raise rates already!"
    ↓
    The media: "Rate hikes are hitting household budgets hard (dramatic pause)"
    22AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:08
    I want to buy a Mac, so please go back to the ¥120 era!
    71AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:23
    So we're finally heading back to ¥100 to the dollar, a level that actually matches Japan's real strength?
    If the government changes now, will prices come back down too?
    Just let me buy a high-end graphics card for ¥100,000 again
    108AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:34
    Re: #71
    Given the current Japan-U.S. rate gap, the "fair value" for USD/JPY is supposedly around ¥130.
    The moment yen carry-trade players sense they're about to take losses and start panicking, isn't that when it swings toward a stronger yen?
    124AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:40
    The U.S. hikes rates more than Japan does, and we end up back at a weak yen anyway
    158AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:50
    Re: #124
    The U.S. wouldn't be able to keep up interest payments on its $40 trillion in debt
    Even just 0.25% more works out to an extra ¥10 trillion in yen terms
    That's exactly why they can't easily hike rates
    162AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:51
    Re: #124
    The jobs report came in weak, and Trump's been against rate hikes too, so the market figures a U.S. hike just got pushed further out — hence the stronger yen
    151AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:48
    The start of a global depression
    164AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:52
    Re: #151
    We're still fine for now
    As long as the BOJ doesn't suddenly hike the policy rate by 0.5 points instead of the expected 0.25, it should be okay
    Though Japan's higher-ups are slow to react and then overcorrect, so they might actually pull off something crazy like a 0.5-point hike…
    169AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:53
    Re: #151
    If little old Japan could trigger a global depression, it would've already happened when the bubble burst
    176AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:58
    Re: #169
    Foreign investors are using the low-interest yen to fund their investments now, so the situation is totally different from when the bubble burst
    195AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:05
    Re: #176
    Foreign investors are borrowing huge sums from Japanese financial institutions — so why hasn't that pushed Japanese interest rates up?
    205AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:10
    Re: #176
    The hedge funds have probably already shifted their money to Switzerland
    They're not that careless
    203AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:09
    I doubt Takaichi is going to drop her big-spending fiscal policy just because someone scolded her
    She's already locked in the ¥370 trillion package and the consumption tax cut lol
    Any PM sensible enough to actually back off wouldn't have pushed reflationary policy during inflation in the first place
    206AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:10
    Re: #203
    There isn't even that much inflation to begin with
    217AnonymousSep 4, 2026 09:14
    Re: #203
    Seems like you're misunderstanding
    Nobody's saying to abandon big-spending fiscal policy
    They're just saying to drop the deflation-era reflationary policy — and Japan's already doing that, lol
    The monetary base is shrinking, the primary balance has improved massively into surplus, and the government debt-to-GDP ratio is falling too

    Bessent probably doesn't understand any of that
    It's just Japan, after all — he's probably never bothered looking into it properly

    Background and Key Points

    The yen is heavily influenced by the Japan-U.S. interest rate gap, so the yen tends to get bought up simply on growing expectations that the BOJ will raise rates, even before any hike actually happens. The thread quickly turned to debating whether the sudden jump to the ¥155 range was due to currency intervention, though no reports have indicated that the Finance Ministry or BOJ actually intervened. Some users also pointed to the risk that unwinding the “yen carry trade” — borrowing low-interest yen to invest in other countries’ assets — could trigger a sharp yen rally, and it’s worth keeping in mind that exchange rates tend to swing wildly once the rate gap starts narrowing. Opinions were also divided over how to judge the current administration’s economic policy; posts that devolved into purely political sniping were left out of this article.

    *This article was compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “[Forex] Yen Surges, Briefly Hits ¥155.30 as BOJ Rate Hike Seen as All But Certain.”

  • PlayStation’s New Game Showcase Panned as ‘No Highlights’ — 5ch Calls It ‘Worst Broadcast Ever’

    Sony’s latest “State of Play” broadcast, streamed in the early hours of September 4, 2026, is getting torn apart on 5ch’s gaming boards. The roughly one-hour-45-minute show — split between Western and Japanese game segments — was light on genuinely new announcements and wrapped up with an interview with voice actress Ai Fairouz. About the only things resembling highlights were DLC for “Ghost of Yotei” and news that “Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3” will also come to Switch 2. Some in the thread are calling it “the worst broadcast ever.”

    1AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:23
    Just got here, TL;DR?
    3AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:24
    Even the live-reaction thread ended up getting filled with bots.
    5AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:25
    That broadcast was worthy of "Trash Station" (a mocking pun on "PlayStation").
    6AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:25
    Still coasting on Gran Turismo 7
    Made some DLC for Ghost of Yotei

    Done in two lines flat…
    9AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:27
    Re: #6
    I guess the "highlight," if you can even call it that, was probably the FF news
    7AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:26
    You'd get better info checking Game*Spark or other game media than asking on this hardware-wars board
    It's brutal out there too
    8AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:27
    State of Play (Japanese subtitles, Western game lineup) — one hour
    State of Play Japan (hosted by Attack on Titan's Eren voice actor, Japanese game lineup) — one hour
    Two hours total

    And the finale of the State of Play Japan livestream was Eren's voice actor interviewing Ai Fairouz
    That's right — the closer wasn't an unannounced new game reveal. It ended with a voice actor interview.
    11AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:28
    Voice actors > games
    This is what 33 years of PlayStation has come to
    15AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:32
    It's now crystal clear the first-party studios have completely lost interest in making games
    19AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:34
    Re: #15
    Well, they shut down the studios that actually made games and went on a layoff spree
    People keep hyping up "PS6" leaks (lol), but are they even prepping any titles for the next-gen console?
    17AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:33
    The fact that even the guy who always cranks out "superiority lists" (fan comparisons of exclusives) didn't show up this time says it all — there was really nothing here
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:34
    The biggest bullet in the chamber was FF7 Remake Part 3 — which is coming to Switch 2 anyway
    20AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:34
    Calling FF the "highlight" is basically admitting there was zero new info
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:37
    Re: #20
    There was also the Wilds DLC, also going multiplatform on Switch 2
    22AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:36
    It's even worse that the Ghost of Yotei DLC was already announced before this
    They should've just saved it as a surprise
    24AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:36
    Re: #19
    I guess PlayStation's third-party buddies will just handle it for them? Not that I'd know lol
    30AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:40
    Re: #24
    Though the ranks of those "buddies" have thinned out quite a bit too lol
    26AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:38
    Re: #1
    There's plenty of software out there, they just didn't feature any of it
    27AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:38
    SIE probably isn't even making new games anymore lol
    28AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:38
    As a Switch 2 owner, this gave me such a superiority high
    Thanks, State of Play
    29AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:39
    Was kind of hoping for at least a Veronica update
    31AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:40
    Wasn't this one actually better than usual, though?
    32AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:41
    Re: #31
    Pretty sure this was the worst one ever?
    38AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:43
    Re: #31
    Better than the infamous 20-minute "BBA" broadcast, sure, but this might set the record for total wasted time
    33AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:42
    The part that should've been the most memorable closer was a DLC feature
    and even that was mostly not gameplay — like 10 minutes of it was just a voice actor interview

    I've thought this before, but SIE staff really don't seem to love games at all
    34AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:42
    FF is basically the only update on any of next year's upcoming titles
    35AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:42
    I don't think anyone could've predicted they'd close the show with a voice actor interview
    36AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:42
    Almost two hours combined across both shows, and that's the content we got
    Without a doubt the worst State of Play broadcast ever
    37AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:43
    It's all about the hype before launch

    Classic Sony, as always
    40AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:45
    It's hilarious how the aggregator blogs are pretending nothing happened and didn't even bother writing a State of Play recap — just sulking in bed lol
    42AnonymousSep 4, 2026 01:53
    The "highlight" was a chat between the usual go-to lineup of mid-tier "popular" voice actors (lol)
    49AnonymousSep 4, 2026 02:29
    A surprise new Konami game. And Switch got snubbed.
    50AnonymousSep 4, 2026 02:29
    Re: #49
    Is this seriously supposed to be the highlight of State of Play?
    51AnonymousSep 4, 2026 02:32
    Re: #49
    Seriously, can we PLEASE stop with the mannequin faces already
    For real
    82AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:02
    The thread list is seriously empty lol
    They did actually air State of Play… right?
    91AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:51
    Re: #82
    I could've sworn there were tons of ★ (reply-count stars) when I checked before bed — where'd they all go?
    99AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:34
    Nintendo Direct didn't even do anything though
    101AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:36
    Re: #99
    If Nintendo set a low bar, Sony just dug underground and crawled beneath it

    Background and Points of Debate

    State of Play is a broadcast Sony holds regularly, and this installment was split into two parts — Western games and Japanese games — running roughly one hour and forty-five minutes combined. Opinions in the thread were divided: some felt the amount of information was on par with a typical episode, while others felt the only genuinely new announcement was the FF update, and the latter view appears to have been the more dominant take. Various reports have noted layoffs and canceled projects at Sony’s first-party studios in recent years, but whether that’s directly connected to this broadcast’s thin lineup remains speculation within the thread and shouldn’t be treated as established fact.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Console Wars)) thread “Seriously, did State of Play really have zero highlights? Someone explain wwwwwwwwww.”

  • Hello! Project’s “Number Two” Debate: 5ch Says “If TV’s Picking, It’s OCHA NORMA, Hands Down”

    With Juice=Juice widely seen as the group with the most momentum in Hello! Project right now, a debate broke out on 5ch’s “Morning Musume.” board over who deserves the “number two” spot. Contenders included OCHA NORMA (“Ocha”), BEYOOOOONDS (“Byo”), Morning Musume., and ANGERME. With criteria ranging from whether a group’s tour includes regional dates, to TV exposure, to fan enthusiasm, everyone was working from a different yardstick, and opinions never converged.

    1AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:40
    Someone fill me in
    8AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:46
    Byo always gives off that "about to break out" vibe but never actually breaks through, you know?
    11AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:48
    Re: #8
    That's because there's a weird one mixed in there.
    It's a debuff.
    12AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:49
    ANGERME and Byo are fighting over third place.
    Tsubaki and Ocha are fighting over fifth.
    Second place is Musume.
    13AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:50
    Re: #12
    The pecking order's probably like that, but Musume. and ANGERME don't exactly have momentum either.
    14AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:52
    Ocha or Byo.
    ANGERME's the one in real trouble.
    15AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:53
    Ocha's fine by me.
    The next festival lineup is Musume, Juice, and Ocha anyway.
    16AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:53
    Morning Musume is in a lull between eras.
    Tsubaki needs to start figuring out where it's landing.
    ANGERME's in bad shape.
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:54
    Ocha, obviously.

    Reason: their fall tour never needed a second round of regional ticket sales (a sign they sold out fast).
    Tsubaki and Byo have never pulled that off.
    Though Byo hasn't run a proper tour in years, so there's no comparing them anyway.
    20AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:55
    Musume feels like it's holding on purely on flagship-member power.
    22AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:55
    Byo is propped up by its female fanbase, so it wouldn't be shocking if it became the next ANGERME any day now.
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:55
    If Ocha can fake momentum with no real selling point, ANGERME will be fine too.
    27AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:58
    How's Rosy doing?
    31AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:00
    Re: #27
    Both the members and the old-timer fans in the crowd look like they're having a blast.
    The old guys especially probably love getting to watch from that close a distance.
    28AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:58
    Byo just doesn't have reach.
    They tour way too little.
    So there's a hard ceiling on them.
    29AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:58
    But ANGERME's "losing steam" has become impossible to unsee.
    That image doesn't wash off easily.
    30AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:59
    The question with Rosy is whether their fall tour will have more dates than last time, about the same, or fewer.

    Though it probably won't shrink.
    32AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:00
    Even living in Aichi, if you don't travel for it, catching a Byo solo show is maybe a once-a-year thing.
    34AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:02
    Who knew Ataka Miharu would be the reason Ocha got this popular.
    37AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:21
    Probably Byo — the rookies especially are looking sharp.
    Though honestly, Kojima Hana might have done just as well joining Musume.
    She'd have made headlines there too.
    40AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:24
    Musume., though…
    Even when they bring in new members, there's no real sense they're trying to push them.
    43AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:28
    Ocha's dance-cover videos have been popping up everywhere lately, way ahead of anyone else.
    44AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:28
    If TV goes looking for Hello Project's "next Juice," Ocha is the only real pick.
    47AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:31
    Re: #44
    From a general audience's perspective, yeah, it's Ocha.
    Byo's got a shot too since they're drifting back toward their old style.
    45AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:29
    Ever since the joint concerts, I've felt like Juice and Byo actually click the best — like fans on each side recognize the other.
    New Juice fans get curious about Byo,
    and Byo's been quietly reaping the benefits.
    The telltale sign: those fans never cross over to Morning Musume.
    46AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:31
    Ocha's basically shifted into a "strong girl" sound — they've had a lot of songs like that lately — so it's easy for them to inherit Juice=Juice's fanbase.
    They've always had strong visuals to boot.
    49AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:32
    Wait, do Juice and Ocha share staff?
    I saw someone practically begging people at a Juice event to go to an Ocha live or event.
    50AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:33
    Byo's biggest weakness is not touring.
    If you don't tour, the fanbase never grows and it just fizzles out.
    51AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:34
    If you're ranking by "momentum" instead of raw fan count, Ocha's the only real answer.
    52AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:35
    Byo's got a lot of members who look like they're nearing the end of their run, though.
    61AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:40
    If you're picking the Hello Project group closest to mainstream appeal, it's Ocha.
    But Hello Project as a whole just isn't built to specialize in mainstream appeal,
    so odds are there won't be a "second Juice" at all.
    63AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:43
    Re: #61
    That's because so-called Hello Pro "fans" keep holding it back, lol

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    Hello! Project runs several groups side by side, with no official “ranking” between them. That’s why the thread saw posters reaching for all kinds of different yardsticks to argue over the number-two spot — whether a group’s fall tour includes a second round of regional shows, which group TV would feature, fan enthusiasm, and more — and the fact that nobody was measuring by the same standard is largely why opinions never lined up. OCHA NORMA drew praise mainly for its shift in musical direction and its visuals, while BEYOOOOONDS kept getting flagged for the same weak point: too few tour dates. For Morning Musume. and ANGERME, commenters mostly pointed to over-reliance on flagship members and fading momentum — making the thread read less like a popularity poll and more like a status check on where each group actually stands.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello Pro board) thread “If Juice has the most momentum in Hello Pro right now, who’s number two?“

  • Juice=Juice’s Perfect Track Record of Raising All 5 Trainee-Slot Additions Has 5ch Buzzing

    On the Hello! Project board, a thread looking back at Juice=Juice’s lineup changes over the years drew a lot of attention. Veteran fans laid out a timeline of how, every time an original member — Kanazawa, Takagi, Miyamoto, Uemura, Inaba, and others — left the group, a member drawn from the trainee ranks — Arisawa, Irie, Ebata, Ishiyama, Endo, and others — stepped in to replace them.

    One point of debate was whether Kawashima was really an “instant asset” from the moment she joined. Some argued she was, pointing to her landing variety-show (BP) bookings as proof, while others countered that her popularity was underwhelming at first. Fans also traded the term “canon” (正史) — fandom slang for the accepted timeline — to describe how the group pulled through a slump of cover-song releases and scandal-driven departures before bouncing back thanks to a hit signature song.

    1AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:33
    It's not like they've always been blessed with great new members, you know.
    5AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:36
    You wouldn't really call [former] trainees a "trainee slot" pickup though
    at most that's Irie and Endo.
    6AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:36
    Re: #1
    Kanazawa, Takagi, Miyamoto, Uemura, Inaba, Danbara, Inoue, Matsunaga, Kudo
    that's the lineup era they called the "Avengers"

    From there

    Kanazawa, Takagi, Miyamoto, Uemura, and Inaba got replaced
    by Arisawa, Irie, Ebata, Ishiyama, and Endo, and that was that

    and then the songs brought them back to life

    that's the canon, no doubt about it
    way too many newbie fans don't get this part
    9AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:38
    Re: #6
    How come Kawashima and Hayashi aren't in there?
    7AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:37
    Seriously, this.
    Cover-song hell, a scandal, popular members leaving one after another, a flood of new trainee-slot members coming in —
    they overcame all of that to become today's Juice=Juice.
    They're not just a one-hit wonder off "Moreme" (fan nickname for their signature song).
    8AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:37
    What's wrong with that? Even the newbie fans are contributing to a Juice=Juice that's finally selling.
    18AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:44
    If nothing had happened to Takagi, she'd probably still be the last leader standing.
    Takagi's kind too, but she doesn't have that same big-hearted generosity Uemura has.
    19AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:45
    So Juice=Juice has both a "canon" and a "legend" version, huh? (a nod to 正史 vs. 演義, the official history vs. the dramatized epic)
    20AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:45
    What's with people blaming the new members when it was the ones who quit who were flaky?
    23AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:50
    Uemura just went along with it because she'd become such an overwhelming minority that she couldn't keep pushing an original-members-only mindset anymore.
    24AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:50
    Kawashima wasn't an instant asset at all.
    This thread was pushing misinformation from the start.
    25AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:51
    Re: #21
    Wasn't the drama theme song that Yuuri track?
    30AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:53
    Re: #25
    Not the drama theme song.
    Isn't it the song "Diamond"?
    26AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:52
    Calling it the "Avengers"
    feels like some "here's the ultimate Juice lineup I dreamed up" fan-fiction thing.
    Kinda lame.
    27AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:52
    She landed BP bookings — saying she wasn't an instant asset is a stretch.
    35AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:55
    Re: #27
    She neatly dodged landmine BP gigs like "Danson" and the like.
    29AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:53
    Juice=Juice, the Hello! Project gang that hijacks all the BP bookings.
    31AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:54
    There's no way that'd fly with "Mob-ning" (a dig at Morning Musume's mob-sized roster) or "Zurumu" (a dig at Angerme) — not a chance, not ever.
    32AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:55
    Kawashima was a top-tier trainee, draft-pick caliber.
    Expectations for her were even higher than for Ebata back when Ebata was still a trainee.
    Meanwhile the older Arisawa and Ishiyama were the type who could've just faded out of the trainee program and everyone would've gone "oh… okay" if their training had simply ended.
    33AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:55
    A moment from LuckyFes → Yokaze (fan account): "What's with that camera?" Ebata: "Apparently it's an NHK documentary crew." Yokaze: "Huh…"
    https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1788474069/
    34AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:55
    Kawashima was plenty of an instant asset.
    Even Sayashi, who people say was heavily pushed, wasn't the center on every song either.
    37AnonymousSep 4, 2026 07:57
    Kawashima's impressive, sure, but isn't Ebata — the current most popular member — pretty impressive too?
    43AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:01
    Re: #37
    Ebata was already the most popular in her 30th-gen trainee class, beating out Hirayama, Kitahara, and everyone else.
    46AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:04
    Re: #37
    Wait, is Ebata really the most popular member right now?
    44AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:02
    They drew Arisawa and Irie and got crushed in "Ritokyame" (reference unclear — possibly a rival group's fan event or ranking)
    Then they drew Ishiyama and Endo and it was like "what do we even do with this"
    Just when they thought they'd landed Kawashima, she came down with a bad case of "I wish I'd joined Morning Musume instead," and the whole group's mood tanked

    2021 to 2023 was the dark ages.
    47AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:04
    Re: #44
    So you're saying they weathered a stormy era?
    That's pretty cool.
    54AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:09
    I was originally in the camp that wanted Kawashima to join Morning Musume, and yeah, I remember Juice=Juice being pretty unremarkable back then.
    Now I've completely flipped to the "glad she ended up in Juice=Juice" camp.
    58AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:18
    Re: #54
    Kawashima be like, "Whew, that was close!"
    60AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:25
    Re: #54
    The "Nouvelle Vague" tour was amazing.
    That's when I became convinced this lineup of Juice could really make it.
    55AnonymousSep 4, 2026 08:10
    Arisawa Ichika on the day her debut was announced




    Sunflower

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Since debuting in 2015, Juice=Juice has seen a string of original members leave, with new members from the Hello Pro Kenshuusei (trainee) program stepping in each time. The terms “canon” and “Avengers” used in the thread are fan slang referring to the generational shift from the original lineup — Kanazawa, Takagi, Miyamoto, and others — to Arisawa, Irie, Ebata, Ishiyama, and Endo. Opinions were split on whether Kawashima was truly an “instant asset,” and posts touching on details beyond official announcements — like the circumstances behind Takagi’s departure or the internal situation when Yanagawa joined — often contained unverifiable speculation, so those comments were left out of this article. “Moreme,” cited as the trigger for the group’s comeback in popularity, is fan shorthand for one of the group’s signature songs — and this kind of insider abbreviation flying around is typical of veteran Hello! Project threads.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Kawashima and Hayashi were instant assets, and then they brought in five trainee-slot members in a row — “Arisawa, Irie, Ebata” and “Ishiyama, Endo” — yet Juice=Juice raised every single one of them.”