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  • 2026 Favorite Radio Personality Ranking (Comedians Edition): Bananaman Takes 3rd, Sandwichman 2nd

    Oricon News released its “Favorite Radio Personality Ranking 2026 (Comedians Edition),” with Audrey taking 1st place for the second year running, Sandwichman coming in 2nd, and Bananaman placing 3rd. On 5ch, users questioned why duos like Ninety-Nine and Harai-chi didn’t make the cut, and opinions split over how funny individual personalities like Wakabayashi and Kawashima really are.

    Last year marked the 100th anniversary of NHK radio broadcasting, prompting Oricon News to launch its new “Favorite Radio Personality Ranking.” Now in its second year, the survey again split results into two categories: “Actors/Artists Edition” and “Comedians Edition.” In this week’s “Comedians Edition,” Audrey — whose show has run since October 2009, winning over its late-night Saturday listeners (nicknamed the “Little Tooth” fandom) and pulling off a hugely successful Tokyo Dome event in 2024 — took 1st place again, securing back-to-back titles.

    (details omitted)

    Taking 2nd place was Sandwichman, who host “Sandwichman The Radio Show Saturday” every Saturday at 1pm on Nippon Broadcasting. Beyond the duo’s much-loved opening banter, the show is popular for segments like “Miki Fest,” where Mikio Date handpicks songs based purely on his own biased taste. Buzz around the show has grown industry-wide too — this past July, Mariya Takeuchi, a fan of the program, made a guest appearance.

    Source: oricon.co.jp / Read the original article here

    5AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:57
    Tsuboi Norio isn't on there. Redo the list.
    143AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:24
    Re: #5
    You mean the musician, right?
    Dunno though
    145AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:24
    Re: #5
    It's Tsuboi Norio (spelled つボイノリオ, with a katakana "ボイ")
    You're the one who needs a redo
    13AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:02
    Not gonna lie, Sandwichman's radio show is boring
    113AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:03
    Re: #54Re: #13
    Even though it's a Kansai local radio show, it gets uploaded to YouTube every week —
    "Appare Yattemasu" with Kendo Kobayashi and Ungirls on Wednesdays is great
    15AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:04
    Nogizaka fans like Bananaman
    Hinatazaka fans like Audrey
    Do an idol group's show and your ranking goes up
    150AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:25
    Re: #15
    Harai-chi's turn… "Sunday's Navel" (Nichiyou no Heso)…
    16AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:04
    Guess Ninety-Nine doesn't make the cut anymore
    Though I haven't listened in like 20 years
    24AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:08
    Re: #16
    Ninety-Nine's show has zero substance, but their fans fill up domes, so they get favorable treatment
    18AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:04
    Knights (Naitsu) work so hard, but the people voting in this survey are probably all judging by All Night Nippon standards
    26AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:09
    Re: #18
    Sandwichman's on a different day in the same time slot
    25AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:08
    Did listeners actually vote for this?
    Bananaman and Kawashima aren't even funny on the radio
    53AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:30
    Re: #25
    Kawashima's Saturday 5pm FM radio show often gets fewer than 10 live-thread replies during the whole broadcast
    51AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:27
    Re: #37
    Back when I worked doing rounds outside, I used to listen to Golden Hour a lot
    57AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:33
    Re: #51
    I used to listen to Enokido Ichiro's "Ikiyoyo"
    That laid-back vibe was irresistible

    Wonder what Enokido's up to these days
    52AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:29
    Wait, Harai-chi's not on there?? They're my favorite by a mile
    70AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:42
    Re: #52
    Re: #56
    I gave it a listen, but Iwai's habit of going "shi shi" kept bugging me — couldn't get into it
    54AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:31
    Personally I like the Tuesday and Wednesday Appare episodes
    56AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:32
    If we're talking comedian personalities, it should be Harai-chi's turn — are they just not popular?
    SixTONES' All Night Nippon is pretty funny sometimes too
    60AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:36
    If we're talking pure funniness,
    Messenger Aihara is #1 by a landslide
    Runner-up would be Tsurukou
    69AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:42
    Re: #60
    No way some no-name guy like that makes the list
    68AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:42
    I was a devoted Ijuin fan up through the 2000s, but around the pandemic something went off and he stopped being funny at all
    The funniest guys right now are Kuuki Kaidan
    101AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:57
    Re: #68
    Today's a "Kuunou" episode, so if you were ever into Ijuin you'll enjoy it
    Though if you never followed the show, the segment will just leave you going "???"
    73AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:43
    I only catch Audrey's radio show occasionally but it just seems boring to me
    Way overrated
    82AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:47
    Re: #73
    Wakabayashi's the problem. He's forcing that contrarian act
    108AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:00
    Re: #73
    Right?
    Radio's basically only listened to by contrarian types to begin with, so they're just loud about it
    80AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:46
    Inoue Nagi, Shogenji, Matsuda Konoka, Yada Moka, Nagashima Rio
    111AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:01
    Re: #80
    What about Atago and Yumiki?
    90AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:49
    Is Sandwichman actually funny in freeform talk segments (hiraba — unscripted banter, as opposed to written sketches)?
    160AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:28
    Re: #90
    Every show airing opposite it is universally trash, so Sandwichman wins by process of elimination
    110AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:01
    Guess Ninety-Nine just doesn't rank in these kinds of polls anymore
    159AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:28
    Re: #110
    The recent "Kona Ningen" bit had me laughing so hard my stomach hurt — first time in ages a radio show did that to me
    118AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:11
    What makes Audrey funny is how Wakabayashi steers the conversation and coins his own made-up words.

    Every episode he skillfully jerks around the straight-laced Kasuga.
    128AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:19
    Re: #118
    I've never once found it funny
    Also, I get that it's on purpose and it's probably his only real bit, but he needs to stop suddenly shouting
    132AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:21
    Re: #128
    Simple, straightforward humor
    vs. twisted, clever humor

    Guess it just comes down to personal taste.
    135AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:21
    Re: #132
    It's just not funny to begin with
    137AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:22
    Comedians doing All Night Nippon…
    last one I really listened to was Cream Stew, about 20 years back
    like that gross-out "Kuso Bukkake" corner Arita used to do
    140AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:23
    Re: #137
    Those guys should just do radio again

    Background and Key Points

    Oricon’s “Favorite Radio Personality Ranking” is a young franchise, not a fixture: it launched in 2025 to mark the 100th anniversary of NHK radio broadcasting, which began in 1925, and this is only its second year. It splits results into “Actors/Artists” and “Comedians” editions, the latter being the one Bananaman, Sandwichman, and Audrey placed in here. All three acts are owarai duos, the two-person manzai/comedy format that dominates Japanese entertainment agencies like Yoshimoto Kogyo, and for decades radio — especially Nippon Broadcasting’s late-night All Night Nippon franchise, running since 1967 — has been a separate, lower-pressure stage from television where comedians build cult followings distinct from their TV image.

    The thread didn’t dispute the top three so much as the absence of others: posters kept asking why durable, dome-filling duos like Ninety-Nine and Harai-chi were missing, while conceding those acts’ shows have “zero substance” content-wise. That tension — dome-scale fame versus what’s actually said on air — is the real fault line, echoed in the argument over Audrey’s Wakabayashi, where fans defended his contrarian, word-inventing style against posters who just found him unfunny.

    What’s easy to miss is that this ranking almost certainly reflects an online vote among a self-selected, radio-listening fanbase rather than any ratings or listenership data — several posters note the correlation with fan bases (Nogizaka46/Hinatazaka46 crossover fandoms boosting certain acts) without ever stating outright that the poll measures fan mobilization, not audience share.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “2026 Favorite Radio Personality Ranking (Comedians Edition): Bananaman Takes 3rd, Sandwichman 2nd.”

  • Singer Ayaka Hirahara (42) Says She Tells People She’s ’28’ When Asked Her Age — Her Reasoning Wins Admiration

    Singer Ayaka Hirahara (42) revealed on her Instagram that whenever someone asks her age, she answers “28.” Her post explaining that she lost 7 kilograms by “convincing her brain” drew a mix of shock and cool skepticism on 5channel, while also sparking a wider debate: “Why does anyone ask your age in the first place?”

    Mon 8/24, 11:40 AM

    Singer Ayaka Hirahara updated her Instagram on the 24th, writing about why she answers “28” when asked her age. Fans responded with comments like “Amazing!” and “You look so beautiful!”

    Sharing a recent photo of herself, Hirahara wrote, “Since the start of this year, whenever someone asks my age, I’ve made a point of answering ’28.’” She continued, “Most people who hear that scoff at me at first — she literally wrote ‘laughed at with my nose,’ oddly using the English word ‘nose’ instead of the normal Japanese phrase. But that’s fine, that’s fine, because it’s helped me lose 7 kilograms. It’s all about convincing your brain — making yourself become who you want to be.” She went on: “I’m grateful every day to this heart and body that keep working to keep me alive. There are days I get hurt or feel pathetic and hate myself, but life is far too short to spend it grieving. That’s exactly why I want to say I like what I like, and why I want to take whatever hurts me, hold it close, and burn away its rotten roots with my own flame. I want to live with kindness and love toward others.”

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

    5AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:05
    She's actually 52.
    82AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:28
    Re: #5
    And Misia, who took over as the theme singer for 'Darwin' after Hirahara, is 48.
    7AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:05
    Come to think of it, Kaori Momoi once said, "Once you're past 40, everyone's the same age."
    107AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:47
    Re: #7
    Classic Kaori Momoi.
    140AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:26
    Re: #7
    I bet she'd say it in that drawn-out voice of hers — "onnnce you're pahhhst fooortyyy~" (mimicking Momoi's famously affected speaking style).
    11AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:06
    "Laughed at with a nozzle" — what a wild world we live in (riffing on her odd 'nose' wording, twisted even further).
    14AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:07
    Once you start saying stuff like this, you're basically "auntie" territory.
    17AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:08
    There's a "17-year-old" out there who's over 60, so this is nothing.
    19AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:08
    Isn't she the one who said she'd wear an old-school school swimsuit if the Japan men's soccer team became world champions?
    20AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:08
    Holst doesn't see a single penny from any of this (her hit "Jupiter" is built on Holst's classical piece).
    54AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:19
    Re: #20
    Yeah, they used the piece without any regard for the wishes of his surviving family.
    21AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:09
    >"People laugh at me with my nose"

    Didn't know there were still people out there speaking "Lou-go" (comedian Lou Oshiba's trademark habit of randomly sprinkling English words into Japanese sentences).
    26AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:10
    I did like the ending theme for Okami.
    29AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:11
    Setting aside how heavily the photo's been retouched —
    mindset really does matter, though.
    If you eat high-calorie food thinking "this'll make me fat," it will.
    But if you eat it thinking "this'll make me thin," you actually do lose weight.
    124AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:59
    Re: #29
    Apparently phrasing it in the negative, like "I won't get fat," doesn't work.
    You have to actually believe "I'll get thin," or it means nothing.
    Tricky, huh.
    31AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:13
    Looked up photos of Ayaka Hirahara from 2012 and it made me sad.
    32AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:13
    Got "nose-laughed" at — even the word for laughing gets the Konglish treatment now.
    34AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:13
    Nah, if you actually heard her reasoning, any normal person would laugh even harder "with their nose."
    38AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:14
    You're
    not~ 28~ (´・ω・`)
    40AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:15
    Not gonna hijack classical music again?
    46AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:16
    Big Sis Mimiko from "Fantane!" on Okaiitsu (NHK's long-running kids' show "Okaasan to Issho").
    47AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:17
    Wasn't she the music college student who didn't even know the song "Jupiter"? lol
    49AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:18
    "Laughed at with my nose"

    Guess she looks up to Lou Oshiba (the comedian famous for randomly mixing English into his Japanese).
    56AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:20
    Does anyone even ask her age? She's at that in-between stage where you can't tell if she looks old or young — surely people can just tell.
    58AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:21
    I thought she was going to say something about 28 being a "perfect number," but nope, totally unrelated.
    59AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:22
    You guys are mad she slapped lyrics onto "Jupiter," but
    personally, what I can't forgive is how the morning drama "Ohisama" suddenly had it sung with lyrics near the end.
    66AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:23
    What's the actual point of asking someone's age?
    Is there really anyone who enjoys talking about age?
    Must be an unimaginative idiot, or someone trying to flex on you.
    Either way, they're the enemy.
    71AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:25
    Re: #66
    That's because Japanese people judge others by age and title.
    72AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:26
    Re: #66
    It's either the "How many years have you lived? Amazing you can still do that at your age!" pattern,
    or the "How many years have you lived? Pathetic you still can't do that at your age" pattern.
    People who don't want to be asked feel that way because they're embarrassed they haven't accomplished anything.
    81AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:28
    Re: #66
    There are old men out there who are weirdly obsessed with other people's ages.
    100AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:41
    Re: #1
    If that's the reasoning, 18 would've worked just as well.
    Picking 28 — an age that could still plausibly pass — is kind of a cheap move.
    111AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:50
    Re: #100
    There's no way that would pass, period.
    A 42-year-old passing as 28 is absolutely impossible.
    Even the most youthful beauty can only shave off about 10 years, tops.

    Background and Key Points

    Ayaka Hirahara, now 42, debuted in the early 2000s and remains best known for “Jupiter,” a Japanese-lyric setting of the “Jupiter” movement from Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite “The Planets.” That association explains several of the tangential jabs in the thread — commenters riffing on NHK’s long-running children’s program “Okaasan to Issho” (where she once appeared as a segment host) and grumbling about royalties from the Holst adaptation. Also worth knowing: Holst died in 1934, so the piece has long been in the public domain in Japan (life plus 70 years); the “Holst’s family sees no money” complaint, while emotionally resonant, isn’t a legal grievance.

    The thread’s real split isn’t really about her age claim itself — almost nobody argued 42 could plausibly pass for 28 — but about whether the “convince your brain” mindset behind it is inspirational or delusional. One camp treated it as legitimate psychology (the idea that believing you’ll get thin changes eating behavior), while others dismissed the whole post as retouched-photo self-promotion. A second, more substantive thread of debate broke out over why Japanese social interaction fixates on age at all — posters tied it to a culture where age often determines speech register, hierarchy, and how achievement gets judged, rather than being idle curiosity.

    One likely point of confusion for non-Japanese readers: her odd-looking “laughed at with my nose” line isn’t invented Konglish — “hana de warau” (鼻で笑う) is a completely ordinary Japanese idiom for “to scoff” or “sneer at.” The English “nose” in the translation is a literalism, not a quirk of her own writing, though several posters played along and mocked it as if she’d coined broken English herself, comedian-style.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5channel (Entertainment/Sports News+ board) thread「Singer Ayaka Hirahara (42) Says She Tells People She’s ’28’ When Asked Her Age — Her Reasoning Wins Admiration」.

  • ANGERME’s Suzu Hashisako & Rin Kawana Go Live with ‘Mecha Chameleon’ — 5ch Thread Lights Up

    Starting at 9 PM on August 24, ANGERME members Suzu Hashisako and Rin Kawana took on the viewer-participation game “Mecha Chameleon” on YouTube and Niconico Live. The 5ch commentary thread buzzed with worries that their hiding spots would be given away to opponents watching the stream, plus on-air mishaps like flubbed passwords.

    1AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:01
    [Hello! Project] ANGERME's Suzu Hashisako & Rin Kawana in "Haro Tsuu GAMES" — Playing the Viewer-Participation Game "Mecha Chameleon"
    Broadcast Date/Time
    August 24, 2026, 21:00~ (Live)
    3AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:02
    This was probably originally supposed to be a three-person thing, huh
    4AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:02
    ANGERME
    @angerme_upfront

    ★WEB★
    Mon 8/24, 21:00~ *Live broadcast
    [Hello! Project] ANGERME's Suzu Hashisako & Rin Kawana in "Haro Tsuu GAMES" — Playing the viewer-participation game "Mecha Chameleon"
    YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/hjuVvlUkFoI
    Niconico Live: https://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv351210154
    *A bonus stream is planned on the Niconico "Famitsu Channel" after the main broadcast wraps.
    #ANGERME #アンジュルム #ハロプロ #Helloproject
    5AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:04
    [Hello! Project] ANGERME's Suzu Hashisako & Rin Kawana in "Haro Tsuu GAMES" — Playing the Viewer-Participation Game "Mecha Chameleon"
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjuVvlUkFoI
    6AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:04
    Starting at 9 PM with Hashisako and Kawana, concurrent viewers will probably clear 5,000
    8AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:05
    Why Hashisako? Bring out Mocchi instead! ("Mocchi" — a fellow member's nickname)
    9AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:06
    Re: #8
    Isn't she too young for that, age-wise?
    203AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:36
    Re: #8
    She's close with Kero (another member's nickname)
    10AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:09
    There's no way 16-year-old Mocchi could appear on a live broadcast
    You know that already and you're just saying it anyway
    14AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:14
    Lots of game streams lately
    Are they just bored?
    15AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:16
    Probably at sponsor Famitsu's request
    16AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:33
    There's a theory a super-flattering pic once went viral thanks to Haro Tsuu ("flattering," i.e. a photo that makes someone look extra good, +"mi" — a slangy way of turning an adjective into a noun)
    23AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:44
    tps://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQZCaQsaUAAPb2J.jpg:orig#.jpg
    28AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:12
    Re: #23
    There's something raw and real about it, I like it
    47AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:03
    Wasn't this a game made by Japanese developers that became a hit worldwide?
    48AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:04
    If the opponent is watching the stream, isn't it completely obvious where she's hiding?
    62AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:07
    Re: #48
    They already told everyone beforehand not to do that
    50AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:04
    Same thing happened with Among Us — watching the stream gave it away too
    89AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:12
    What's even fun about this?
    94AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:13
    Re: #89
    It's a hide-and-seek game
    147AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:25
    The girl on the right is cute
    153AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:27
    She got so excited saying "this is the best" that she flubbed the password as 3105 — it's actually 3150
    160AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:29
    Re: #153
    That'll make them absolutely furious ("max-pissed," internet slang)
    159AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:28
    ANGERME
    @angerme_upfront
    \\ Live right now📣 //

    On "Haro Tsuu GAMES,"
    #SuzuHashisako #RinKawana are playing
    "Mecha Chameleon" in real time🔔🐸

    Come enjoy it with us🎮
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQfJ1LVaEAAG9Q7.jpg:orig#.jpg
    162AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:29
    Re: #159
    Don't squeeze it that hard!
    163AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:29
    Re: #159
    She's ridiculously cute
    179AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:31
    So does that mean it's harder to play this game if you're left-handed?
    241AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:43
    Re: #179
    You use both hands on a game controller anyway — no problem
    292AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:55
    So is Kawana smarter than Hashisako?
    305AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:57
    Re: #292
    According to Kamikokuryo, the smartest member in ANGERME back then was Matsumoto, followed by Kero — Kamikokuryo herself has said that being in ANGERME actually made her dumber
    322AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:00
    These two are surprisingly close, huh
    327AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:01
    Re: #322
    You don't know about their two-person trip to Utsunomiya?

    Background and Key Points

    ANGERME is one of the flagship subgroups under Hello! Project (H!P), the idol umbrella that also houses Morning Musume, and Suzu Hashisako and Rin Kawana are two of its current members. “Haro Tsuu GAMES” is a livestream offshoot of Hello! Project Tsuushin (the group’s official news outlet, nicknamed “Haro Tsuu”) that has been leaning into gaming content lately, simulcast on YouTube and Niconico Live with a bonus segment afterward on Niconico’s Famitsu Channel — Famitsu being Japan’s dominant video-game media brand, which explains the thread’s speculation that this is sponsor-driven rather than the group’s own idea. “Mecha Chameleon” is a real viewer-participation hide-and-seek game, apparently Japanese-made, that posters note found an audience overseas too.

    The thread’s actual fault line was less about the idols and more about game integrity: several posters worried that because the hiding player is visible on a public livestream, any opponent who is also watching gets a built-in advantage — a concern immediately answered by others noting the hosts had pre-announced a rule against peeking at the broadcast, the way Among Us streamers also had to police stream-sniping.

    What outside readers will likely miss is the subtext behind “why not bring out Mocchi” — a fellow member floated as a better fit is reportedly 16, and Japanese broadcasting norms effectively bar minors from appearing on a 9 PM live show, which is almost certainly the real reason she wasn’t cast, not a snub. The “5,000 viewers” figure posters expect is also a modest, routine number for niche idol content, not a headline hit.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “■ Suzu Hashisako & Rin Kawana ■ YouTube ‘ANGERME’s “Haro Tsuu GAMES” — Playing the Viewer-Participation Game “Mecha Chameleon”‘ ■ 21:00~ ■”.

  • METI Sets ¥20 Trillion Overseas Content Sales Target — 5ch: ‘Haven’t They Learned From Cool Japan?’

    On August 20, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced the “Entertainment & Creative Industry Strategy 2026” — nicknamed the “Storytelling Powerhouse Five-Year Plan” — aiming to expand overseas sales of Japanese-origin content such as anime, games, and manga to ¥20 trillion by 2033.

    On 5ch, skeptical reactions poured in — commenters pointed to the past failures of the “Cool Japan” policy, called for METI to be abolished outright, and mocked the middleman-skimming structures that tend to plague these initiatives.

    On August 20, METI announced it had compiled the “Entertainment & Creative Industry Strategy 2026.”

    The strategy is meant to help achieve the government’s goal of expanding overseas sales of Japanese-origin content — games, anime, manga, and more — to ¥20 trillion by 2033, and has been dubbed the “Storytelling Powerhouse Five-Year Plan.” The idea is for the public and private sectors to share this target and accelerate efforts together.

    In fiscal 2025, the ministry held an “Entertainment & Creative Industry Policy Study Group,” holding repeated discussions with more than 90 top figures from various industries as well as over 100 startups and creators. The new strategy compiles the results of that work, and is positioned as fleshing out the content-industry portion of the “Public-Private Investment Roadmap” covering 17 strategic fields that Japan’s Growth Strategy Headquarters decided on in July.

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

    14AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:55
    They already flushed money down the drain on "manufacturing powerhouse" and Cool Japan campaigns, and they still haven't learned? Idiots.
    19AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:55
    Re: #14
    Manufacturing ("monozukuri") would be one thing.

    But this is "storytelling" ("monogatari") lol
    34AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:57
    Don't tell me they're taking advice from consultants? This thing is going to collapse.
    48AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:59
    Re: #34
    Double the payday — consulting fees AND investment funds.
    43AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:59
    Re: #40
    South Korea took the top market share in music though.

    Pushing entertainment as national policy isn't necessarily a bad thing.
    69AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:01
    Re: #43
    Just look at Cool Japan and you'll see — Japanese politicians have zero taste.
    53AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:00
    Doing nothing would be better.

    How long are they going to keep thinking like it's still the Showa era?

    There's no way narrow-minded bureaucrats can lead the private sector.

    Just dissolve METI already.
    67AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:01
    I doubt stuff like Yoshimoto (the comedy talent agency) or variety shows is going to sell overseas.
    123AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:06
    Hey Katayama, you trashed Cool Japan — don't go praising this now.
    They're trying to do basically the same thing.
    131AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:07
    Re: #123
    He knows that full well.
    Katayama's on "that side."
    148AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:08
    Looking back, that manga library project wasn't such a bad idea after all, was it?
    318AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:23
    Re: #148
    If it had just been "first episode free" or something, it might have been forgivable.
    153AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:09
    Haven't they learned their lesson from Cool Japan lol
    165AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:10
    Re: #153
    Gotta love the middleman skimming ("nakanuki").
    164AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:10
    Seriously, in Japan's case it always just ends with everyone sucking it dry ("chu-chu," i.e. skimming the funds).
    That's exactly why we can never be like our Korean big brothers.
    168AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:10
    Good content is born out of the underground scene.
    Has anything the government ever poured effort into actually turned out well?
    197AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:13
    Re: #168
    Exactly right.
    Something the good little students who only ever studied would never understand.
    189AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:12
    So once Cool Japan got branded a failed policy, they finally cleared out the out-of-touch people who ran it, huh.
    194AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:13
    Re: #189
    Same faces.
    Zero reflection.
    282AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:19
    Re: #189
    Isn't this just the bureaucrats who collected severance pay when the Cool Japan Fund shut down landing new jobs at a brand-new organization?
    232AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:15
    Must be nice being a bureaucrat — you can fail, run up losses, sacrifice ordinary people, and still never lose your job or your paycheck.
    250AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:16
    Stop spending tax money on trivial stuff like anime and games.
    A country where even the bureaucrats are idiots — hopeless.
    277AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:18
    Re: #250
    It'll be fine, it'll be fine —
    all those flopped live-action adaptations will suck up plenty of it again.
    278AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:18
    Re: #250
    If that's what the politicians want, the officials just go along with it.
    Since idiots are steering the ship, backing them up is the officials' job.

    Any official who says "let's stop" gets sidelined.
    285AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:19
    "They'll talk about 'training anime talent' and end up training Chinese and Korean workers instead."
    289AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:20
    Re: #285
    Nadia (sob).
    322AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:23
    Re: #285
    Pretty sure the money's just going to get sucked up by AI companies lol
    Most anime production work is probably going to be doable by AI from now on anyway lol
    327AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:23
    Please don't let this turn into another Cool Japan disaster.
    340AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:25
    Re: #327
    This is just an extension of Cool Japan, so give up on that hope.
    343AnonymousAug 24, 2026 22:25
    Re: #327
    It's not a repeat — it's just the same thing with a new sign out front.

    Background and Key Points

    Cool Japan poured public and quasi-public money into anime, manga, and other exports for over a decade, centered on the Cool Japan Fund (established 2013, funded through METI). By the mid-2020s the fund had booked cumulative losses in the tens of billions of yen, with flagship investments in projects abroad largely written down, and it drew repeated criticism from Japan’s own Board of Audit for weak returns. That history is the backdrop for METI’s new “Storytelling Powerhouse” plan: a ¥20 trillion overseas content-sales target by 2033, built on a year of closed-door consultation with industry figures and startups, folded into a broader 17-field national growth strategy decided in July. For readers outside Japan, the key point is that this is industrial policy, not a subsidy for individual creators — it’s METI setting a macro export target and coordinating “public-private” investment, similar in spirit to how South Korea’s government has backed music and drama exports, a comparison posters explicitly raised.

    The thread didn’t split over whether Japanese content can sell abroad — nobody disputed that anime, games, and manga already do. It split over whether a bureaucracy can be trusted to allocate the money without it being skimmed by consultants and intermediaries before reaching creators, and whether the same officials who ran Cool Japan are simply rebranding under a new name.

    What outsiders are likely to miss is the specific grievance behind “nakanuki” (middleman-skimming): it’s not generic government-spending complaint, but has legal accountability behind it, since Japan’s Board of Audit found Cool Japan Fund investments producing minimal returns years after launch, and that record — not the target figure — is why the thread reacts with such fatigue rather than genuine debate.

    *This article is composed of excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “METI Announces “Storytelling Powerhouse Five-Year Plan,” Aiming for ¥20 Trillion in Overseas Sales of Japanese Content.”

  • Hiroshi vs. Fire Pit Maker Feud: 5ch Split Over “What’s Wrong With Just Making It?”

    Comedy duo Ogiyahagi’s Kaneyari Yahagi brought up, on his radio show, the conflict between Hiroshi and a camping-gear manufacturer over an original fire pit. Hiroshi claims he’d secured a promise that the product wouldn’t be sold, while the manufacturer says it kept selling to recoup the costs of prototyping and production. On 5ch, opinions are split over whether a contract existed and how the design concept should be treated.

    Comedy duo Ogiyahagi (Kaneyari Yahagi and Hiroaki Ogi) appeared on TBS Radio’s “Thursday JUNK: Ogiyahagi’s Megane Biiki” (Thursdays at 1am), aired on the 20th. While discussing recent controversies involving fellow comedians, they touched on the dispute between Hiroshi and a manufacturer over an original camping fire pit.

    Yahagi opened with, “I’ve kind of lost interest in these lately — divorces and all that. There’s been a bit of an incident with a comedian recently too. But if you say anything about an incident, people accuse you of defending them, right?” His comment highlighted how tricky it is to weigh in on celebrity controversies without being misread.

    Hiroshi had revealed on his own X account the trouble that arose when he commissioned an original fire pit.

    Source: news.livedoor.com / Original article here

    6AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:21
    If they'd just make up already and sell this thing, wouldn't it rake in a ton of money?
    12AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:26
    Re: #6
    No idea if it'd actually sell, but leaving it to the manufacturer is probably for the best.
    14AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:27
    Re: #6
    The manufacturer's just selling it on their own. Apparently it sold out instantly.
    18AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:30
    Re: #6
    You really don't understand anything, do you.

    Fire pits aren't exactly the kind of thing that sells like crazy, and Hiroshi doesn't have that kind of draw or popularity anyway.

    This type made from a cut-open oil can is a matter of taste, and there's a huge variety of fire pits out there.

    It'll sell modestly at best.

    Besides, if open fires are allowed you don't even need a fire pit like this,
    and veteran campers just build their own anyway.
    27AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:39
    Personally, more than the rights issue, what bugs me is this: they were supposedly moving ahead on the understanding that they wouldn't make the same product, but then once it was finished they turned around and said they'd make it after all — isn't that a breach of contract? Isn't there any penalty for that?
    32AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:41
    Re: #27
    They're a manufacturer that specializes in fire pits — if they couldn't make anything similar ever again, they'd have nothing left to sell…
    33AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:41
    Re: #27
    Can't really say without seeing how the exchange actually went, including how it started out.
    45AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:46
    Re: #27
    What's being sold doesn't really look like the same thing though — they toned it down (made it "low-impact").
    42AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:44
    Re: #32
    That's not a reason to void the contract. If they didn't like it, they should've just stopped it right then and there.
    46AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:46
    Re: #42
    "Void the contract" — if there was no mutual agreement, there was no contract to begin with, was there?
    44AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:45
    Unless Hiroshi releases the original design, there's no way to judge how similar the manufacturer's finished product actually is.
    137AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:19
    Re: #44
    Hiroshi's original design was held together with wire and would break almost instantly.
    Waraz (the manufacturer, 笑's) came up with a never-before-seen mechanism using an 8mm metal rod instead.
    This blew up because Hiroshi tried to claim it all as his own — the blueprints, the IP, everything.
    145AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:21
    Re: #44
    Also, Hiroshi's original concept would have seriously damaged the ground underneath, so the manufacturer changed the position of the ash tray and the grate too. It's basically a different product at this point.
    60AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:52
    Sounds like amateur Hiroshi brought in a prototype — the shape he had in mind, roughly mocked up with sheet metal and wire — and asked, "Can you make something like this?" The engineer running the company apparently said "sure, I can" right on the spot and jumped straight into design work without ever signing a contract — which is how the mismatched expectations over who'd actually sell it ended up happening down the line.
    64AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:55
    Re: #60
    Makes you wonder whether sales were even discussed at the point the prototype was brought in.
    67AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:58
    Re: #64
    Hiroshi says he was told it would be sold, said he'd refuse in that case, got a promise it wouldn't be sold — and then it got sold anyway. Says he's frustrated, frustrated, so frustrated (lol). The manufacturer hasn't been able to counter this point at all.
    74AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:01
    Re: #67
    There's no real need for the manufacturer to defend itself over drawing up plans, producing, and selling a fire pit in the first place — I mean, a fire pit maker selling fire pits is just… normal, lol.
    84AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:05
    Re: #67
    But the manufacturer is countering that they did tell him it would be sold.
    94AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:09
    Re: #84
    Hiroshi surely never agreed to that.
    He wrote that he asked them to stop a total of four times,
    and that in the end he clearly got a promise it wouldn't be sold — Hiroshi states this outright.
    On that specific point — whether such a promise was made — the manufacturer hasn't offered any real rebuttal.
    The manufacturer's version of events isn't automatically all correct.
    100AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:11
    Re: #94
    Wasn't it three times?
    101AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:11
    Re: #94
    Then Hiroshi should've just drawn up the plans himself.
    106AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:13
    Honestly, a manufacturer that starts production before any contract is signed isn't too bright either —
    just a shoddy operation from a tiny, small-time company, in the end.
    110AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:14
    Re: #106
    Hiroshi's the one at fault here — going silent and cutting off contact without hashing out the details.
    116AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:15
    Re: #106
    This fire pit maker just made… a fire pit.
    A perfectly ordinary one.
    The fire pit maker drew up plans and produced it — that's all.

    What exactly is the problem here, lol?
    119AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:15
    Re: #106
    Hiroshi's the one who never brought up the contract.
    121AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:16
    Re: #116
    Hiroshi's concept is baked into it though.
    132AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:18
    Re: #121
    There's no such thing.

    Are you talking about some mold shaped like the name "Hiroshi" or something, lol?

    This manufacturer doesn't sell anything that embarrassing.
    230AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:39
    Re: #121
    Please spell out that "concept" specifically.
    161AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:26
    There's no great idea or design here to speak of.

    So why did the manufacturer insist on selling it anyway?
    172AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:28
    Re: #161
    The fact that they spent over three months developing the product together is probably exactly why they're insisting on selling it. If they didn't sell it, that three-plus months of effort would just go to waste.
    177AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:29
    Re: #161
    They drew up the plans, built the prototype, and after Hiroshi signed the order form, they ordered stock as a result — so now they've got inventory sitting there.
    184AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:30
    Re: #161
    No matter how lame the design might be, engineering it and turning it into an actual product costs money — so of course they'd sell it to recoup that.
    163AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:26
    Re: #121
    A "concept" carries no legal rights whatsoever, you know.
    165AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:27
    Re: #163
    Even calling it "legal," it's still a rip-off, and that alone tanks their image.
    173AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:28
    Re: #165
    There wasn't even enough substance there to "rip off" in the first place.
    If there were, he could just file a lawsuit.
    He'd still lose, but sure, if it makes him feel better.
    180AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:30
    Re: #165
    Speaking of image, honestly this whole thing seems to have won the manufacturer a lot of sympathy while Hiroshi's image has basically hit rock bottom…
    212AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:35
    Well, it's kind of six of one, half a dozen of the other, but —
    if what the manufacturer sold to recoup costs actually uses Hiroshi's idea,
    then even if it's legally fine, it's only fair that Hiroshi calls them out on it.
    If it doesn't use Hiroshi's idea at all, then Hiroshi's the one in the wrong.
    225AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:38
    Re: #212
    If it's legally fine, then it's fine.
    229AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:38
    Re: #212
    It's the concept. The manufacturer handled everything from the design onward — Hiroshi didn't put in a single word.
    They probably just saw the sample, took a liking to it, and wanted to sell it.

    Background and Key Points

    Hiroshi (real name Hiroshi Shinagawa) is not a niche figure here — he is one of Japan’s most recognizable comedians-turned-YouTubers, having rebuilt his career around solo bushcraft and camping videos that draw millions of views, which is why a beef with a small fire-pit manufacturer became national entertainment news rather than a private business dispute. The manufacturer, referred to in the thread as Waraz (笑’s), is a specialist outdoor-gear maker; Ogiyahagi’s Yahagi raised the story on TBS Radio’s “Thursday JUNK” program, a late-night slot where comedians riff on tabloid-style controversies, which is how it reached 5ch’s entertainment/sports board.

    The thread’s actual fault line is not “who is the better person” but whether any binding agreement existed at all. One camp treats Hiroshi’s account — that he asked four times to stop the sale and was explicitly promised it wouldn’t happen — as decisive, since the manufacturer hasn’t directly rebutted that specific claim. The other camp notes nothing was ever formalized in writing, so there’s no “contract” to breach, only a disputed verbal understanding, and points out the finished product’s mechanism, ash-tray position, and grate differ substantially from Hiroshi’s rough prototype.

    What the posters largely gloss over is a legal point some try to raise but never fully spell out: under Japanese law, an abstract “concept” or rough shape typically carries no enforceable design or copyright protection by itself — only a concrete, fixed design or registered element would. That gap is likely why the manufacturer feels safe selling despite the ill will, and why any lawsuit threat in the thread is treated as symbolic rather than realistic.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread 「Ogiyahagi’s Kaneyari Yahagi on the SNS firestorm over Hiroshi and the fire pit manufacturer’s dispute: “Who’s actually in the right here? I need at least one more back-and-forth to know.”」.

  • Juice=Juice’s New Song Recording Video Sits Unlisted for Days — 5ch: ‘It’s Great, Hurry Up and Make It Public’

    A behind-the-scenes recording video for Juice=Juice’s new song ‘Kurakura☆Climax’ became a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board after fans noticed it had been sitting as an ‘unlisted’ YouTube upload—rather than a properly scheduled public release—for nearly three days. The track was produced by Kōmi Hirose, and the video’s chorus-recording scenes were a particular highlight, but only fans who happened to have the direct link could watch it. Thread posters piled on with complaints about the apparent settings mistake and the group’s management in general.

    1AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:00
    【Juice=Juice Channel】
    Juice=Juice 'Kurakura☆Climax' Recording Behind
    youtu.be/qVGISS46WmY
    2AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:01
    Juice=Juice 'Kurakura☆Climax' Recording Behind
    tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVGISS46WmY

    The Kōmi Hirose-produced track 'Kurakura☆Climax'
    Recording footage of all the members is now up!

    🎬 Streaming as behind-the-scenes footage on Hello! Station #648!
    Don't miss Kōmi Hirose's stunning chorus recording scene, too!
    6AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:22
    Is this a mistake?
    Or is it some kind of experiment?
    7AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:22
    No idea why they went with 'unlisted' instead of scheduling it as a public premiere, but this kills the hype and hurts early view counts—something you should never, ever do with an MV lol
    8AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:22
    Wow, Juice really is getting special treatment huh
    9AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:23
    The 'Bitansan' (a Juice=Juice song) live band video got the same treatment, kept us waiting a while too
    You can watch it if you open the link from X—I'm up to Irie's part now and it's great, so hurry up and make it public already
    13AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:24
    Why does it say this was published 3 days ago?
    16AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:28
    They probably set it to unlisted 3 days ago, then DC FACTORY (the group's management) tweeted the link before ever switching it to public. What idiots.
    17AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:29
    Someone should start a thread about how it only got 300 views in 3 days
    19AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:31
    Re: #17
    The antis must be thrilled lol
    20AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:31
    Same screwup as last time
    Think they'll fix the unlisted setting by 9pm?
    60AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:38
    Re: #20
    My guess is the person in charge already went home for the day!
    28AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:33
    Made it to Hayashi's part—wait, does Kōmi Hirose not get a turn in this?
    32AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:34
    Honestly, if we're just talking vocals, you could get by with just Danbara, Inoue, Arisawa, Kawashima, and Hayashi
    40AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:35
    Finished watching the whole thing—still not public yet, huh
    45AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:36
    The staff in charge sure is slow to notice
    Are they off having lunch or something?
    56AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:37
    Juice=Juice 'Bitansan' BAND Live Ver.
    https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1773230422/23

    23 Name Wanted… (a default placeholder username on this board) 2026/03/11 (Wed) 21:20:24.04 0
    Notification just came in
    59AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:38
    The accounts quote-tweeting it on X haven't pointed out that it's set to unlisted
    so the staff in charge might not have noticed
    62AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:40
    Re: #59
    A few people have actually pointed it out
    65AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:41
    Since they quietly slipped it out, it's got basically no views
    68AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:43
    They're probably going to delete this
    69AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:44
    Re: #68
    They'd just need to change the visibility setting
    If they delete it, all the likes and watch-retention data disappear
    83AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:04
    Re: #69
    They probably don't even know how to do that
    73AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:52
    I want to watch it with everyone on the big TV screen but I can't even find the video
    75AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:53
    Re: #73
    Guess you'll just have to cast it from your phone
    76AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:57
    Re: #73
    Just share your account with a PC, that's all you need
    88AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:05
    It hasn't gained much traction yet, so it might be better to delete it and re-upload now while they still can
    102AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:31
    Re: #88
    No need to re-upload it
    All they have to do is change the visibility setting
    95AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:12
    The Juice channel really is getting the worst treatment of any of them right now…
    Behind-the-scenes footage from Music Station would definitely be a hit, but they never do it
    103AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:33
    Re: #95
    Yeah, stuff like that would definitely get people hyped
    104AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:35
    Re: #95
    Like the members making haniwa (clay figurines)
    105AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:35
    Re: #95
    The members probably have plenty of ideas, it's the staff who are slow
    Tour behind-the-scenes footage should be released on YouTube too, instead of being sold to hardcore fans through d-Magazine

    Background and Key Points

    Juice=Juice is one of the flagship groups under Hello! Project (H!P), the idol-group umbrella run by Up-Front/Hachama, with day-to-day management currently handled by the agency DC FACTORY. “Hello! Station” is H!P’s own long-running numbered web series of short YouTube videos — the video in question being episode #648 signals this is a weekly-ish institution stretching back roughly a decade, which is why fans expect a smooth, scheduled release rather than an ad hoc upload. On YouTube, “unlisted” is distinct from “private” or “deleted”: the video plays for anyone with the direct link, can be embedded or shared on X, but never appears on the channel page, in search, or in subscriber notifications — which explains why a video fans were actively watching and praising had only racked up around 300 views in three days.

    The thread wasn’t split on whether the footage was good — everyone who watched it liked it, especially the members’ vocal takes and Kōmi Hirose’s chorus recording. The disagreement was over intent and blame: some treated it as a harmless, possibly deliberate soft-launch, while most read it as a repeat of an identical unlisted-upload mistake with the “Bitansan” band video, pointing to DC FACTORY’s staff as chronically slow or careless rather than this being a one-off glitch.

    What outside readers may miss is that fixing this requires zero re-uploading — simply flipping the visibility toggle from unlisted to public preserves all accumulated views and likes, which is why posters worried aloud that deleting and reposting (as a couple suggested) would actually erase the engagement data the video had already earned.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Juice=Juice ‘Kurakura☆Climax’ Recording Behind.”

  • I sleep in my car, and I just realized manga cafes are a better deal than RV parks

    A traveler who sleeps in their car posted that using Kaikatsu Club — a manga café with free drinks — for 12 hours at just 1,650 yen (soft-serve ice cream and manga included) works out cheaper than an RV park, which runs around 2,500 yen, sparking discussion on 5channel’s Newssoku VIP board.

    The thread saw practical debate over things like whether showers are available, the pros and cons of the pay-later system, and worries about bed bugs — though partway through, it also devolved into arguments over accusations of “single-post sockpuppeting” (posting under multiple names to fake support).

    1AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:18
    Using an all-you-can-drink café and sleeping in the car
    Only 1,650 yen for a full 12 hours
    Comes with manga to read, drinks, and soft-serve ice cream
    2AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:19
    Btw even the cheapest RV parks run about 2,500 yen
    For a solo trip that's barely different from a hotel
    19AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:27
    How's that any different from a 24-hour family restaurant?
    22AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:27
    Re: #19
    Name me a family restaurant with a shower lol
    25AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:28
    Re: #19
    The point is you're paying for a 12-hour night rate, so it's fine to leave your car parked there
    43AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:41








    I go to Kaikatsu Club's karaoke booths a lot
    50AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:43
    Kaikatsu Club is pay-later to begin with, so you can't really come and go freely
    54AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:45
    Re: #50
    lol
    147AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:59
    Re: #54
    Are you living in 2020 or something?
    64AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:50
    Travel's really about what you choose to prioritize
    Experiences, lodging, food — there's a lot of angles
    66AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:51
    Re: #64
    Exactly this
    I've got plenty of time but don't want to spend money, so sleeping in the car is the optimal solution for me
    Cheaper is always better
    68AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:53
    Re: #64
    Sounds like OP (Re: #1) ditched all that and went all-in on cheapness
    Feels like the kind of thing you'll be reminiscing about from your student days, nice
    91AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:15
    A cheap public bathhouse (super sento) plus a roadside station or highway rest area is the cheapest option around
    92AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:15
    Re: #91
    I do that a lot
    Also, in this case the comparison is specifically against 'RV parks'
    93AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:16
    Re: #91
    Nice try, hater — Kaikatsu Club is the best 😆
    104AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:27
    lol
    Guess OP (Re: #1) was right after all
    105AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:27
    Lmaoo
    Tough break for OP too lol
    120AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:45
    If you cheap out on sleep you won't recover from fatigue, and that ends up affecting your driving
    Even a cheap hotel like APA, α-1, or AZ is fine — you're way better off planning ahead properly
    123AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:46
    Re: #120
    Weirdly enough, I sleep better in cramped spaces
    I actually sleep more soundly on trips than in my own room
    Might partly be because I'm worn out from driving though
    126AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:49
    Aren't you scared of bed bugs at Kaikatsu Club?
    129AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:50
    Re: #126
    It's cheap, so who cares
    148AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:00
    Re: #126
    Probably depends on the location
    Also, this thread isn't even about sleeping inside Kaikatsu Club, so honestly I can't say anything about the bed bug situation
    128AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:50
    Isn't the whole point of an RV park to charge your vehicle?
    132AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:52
    Re: #128
    In a lot of areas there's parking for gas-powered cars too
    139AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:56
    If you're not charging, you could just take a coin shower and sleep in the car at a Lawson (convenience store), right?
    141AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:57
    Re: #139
    That's the kind of thing that makes car sleepers unwelcome, so I wouldn't recommend it
    Let's keep some decency about it
    143AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:58
    Re: #138
    I'm not a hater
    I just don't use it to sleep overnight, otherwise I use it normally
    Apparently bed bugs don't come out if you leave the lights on

    Background and Key Points

    Sleeping in a car is legal and common enough in Japan to have a name — 車中泊 (shachū-haku) — practiced by everyone from budget tourists to full-time “van-life” travelers touring on a modest income. RV parks (RVパーク), a designation introduced by the Japan RV Association around 2018, are paid overnight lots for camper vans, typically offering a power hookup, sometimes water, and legal parking for roughly 2,000–3,000 yen a night. Manga cafés (manga kissa) like Kaikatsu Club are a separate industry entirely: pay-by-time internet/comic cafés with private booths, showers at larger locations, and all-you-can-drink soft drinks, historically used by “net café refugees” as informal long-term housing. The 12-hour night-pack rate the thread cites (around 1,650 yen) is a standard promotional price at many chains, not something unique to car sleepers.

    The actual disagreement in the thread wasn’t over the price comparison itself — nobody really contested that a manga café night pack undercuts an RV park — but over whether that comparison is even meaningful, since an RV park’s core purpose is charging an electric or equipped camper van, a service a manga café obviously can’t replace. Posters also split on manga café logistics: whether showers are reliably available, and unease over the pay-later (post-pay) system, which one commenter dismissed as outdated.

    What the thread never addresses is hygiene and legality nuance: manga cafés are not zoned or licensed as lodging, so using them as a sleep substitute exists in a gray area chains generally tolerate but don’t market, and bed-bug complaints tied to 24-hour seating are a recurring, documented issue in Japanese media coverage of net café stays — not just an idle worry.

    ※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (Newssoku VIP) thread “[Image] I sleep in my car, and I just realized manga cafes are a better deal than RV parks.”

  • “I Just Can’t Finish Cleaning!” — Man’s Live 5ch Play-by-Play of His Losing Battle With a Messy Room Goes Viral

    A thread went up on 5ch’s News VIP board where a poster live-blogged the sorry state of his messy room in real time. Replies poured in over exchanges like being asked “Did you finish cleaning?” only to get “Nope, still not done,” plus the thread’s mid-stream detour into making hamburger steak.

    1AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:39
    Me
    4AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:40
    Your hair's looking pretty messy too, you know
    7AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:40
    Re: #4
    I'm not bald, thanks
    6AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:40
    If you don't keep things tidy, a "typhoon" comes (i.e. Mom blows up)
    8AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:41
    Re: #6
    Seriously?! That's terrifying
    14AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:46
    Re: #10
    Yikes
    22AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:55
    I won't accept anything that isn't raw
    23AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:56
    Re: #22
    You're gonna crack a tooth doing that~
    25AnonymousAug 24, 2026 14:58
    Let's just give up on the room and live out of the Hustler (Suzuki's kei car)
    28AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:01
    Re: #25
    That might actually work
    33AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:19
    Did you finish cleaning?
    35AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:22
    Re: #33
    Nope, not done
    36AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:22
    Re: #35
    Ugh! How many days have you been "cleaning" now?! Mom told you—when you do it, just get it done already!
    39AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:26
    Re: #36
    Sorry, Mom
    I'm a turtle
    45AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:36
    Ado gets mixed reactions, but I love that powerful voice of hers
    46AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:37
    Re: #45
    I love "Usseewa" (her breakout hit song)
    50AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:46
    Re: #48
    What should I eat?
    51AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:47
    Re: #50
    Kinda want some chocolate
    Wanna hit a convenience store, drugstore, or supermarket, but it looks hot out
    52AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:53
    Re: #51
    Let's go somewhere up high
    53AnonymousAug 24, 2026 15:53



    Coffee jelly is so good!
    61AnonymousAug 24, 2026 16:26
    Re: #59
    It'll be fine — can't really put it into words, but I've got a feeling Bon (his nickname in the thread) will somehow pull it off
    64AnonymousAug 24, 2026 16:38
    Re: #61
    I'm starving (lit. "peko-peko")
    70AnonymousAug 24, 2026 16:48
    Wait, didn't you buy that car for work use?
    73AnonymousAug 24, 2026 16:55
    Re: #70
    Not just for commuting?
    71AnonymousAug 24, 2026 16:51
    Slap Kasa-bon and he'll hate you
    Just a little trivia for ya
    78AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:09
    Re: #71
    That's the "well, obviously" routine right there
    86AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:25
    So you're using your own car for work and covering insurance yourself too?
    No reimbursement from the company?
    90AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:32
    Re: #86
    Nah, I don't use my own car for it
    115AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:26
    Let's make a "bulked-up" donburi bowl!
    116AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:48
    Re: #115
    What should I put on top?
    119AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:12
    Re: #116
    Stack hamburger steaks — a hamburger-steak "bulk-up" bowl
    121AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:23
    Re: #119
    Bulk it up, bulk it uuup!
    127AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:56
    Hamburger steak's done
    131AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:14
    Re: #127
    Looks tasty but the shot's too close-up to really tell lol
    130AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:14
    Re: #128
    Don't people from Aichi Prefecture go there?
    133AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:15
    Re: #130
    I think they do
    135AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:16
    Re: #133
    Maybe people in Aichi prefer places like Asakuma or Bronco Billy? (regional hamburger-steak chains)
    137AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:28
    Re: #135
    Maybe so
    140AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:31
    Re: #138
    I always pictured Bon-chan making it all from scratch, but…
    143AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:44
    Re: #140
    Making hamburger steak is a lot of work
    145AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:45
    Contactless payment's old news by now, but some days the reader's snappy and some days it's sluggish
    148AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:50
    Re: #145
    Tapping it perks me up, so eh, it's fine
    146AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:45
    Went to watch some rubber-ball baseball today
    If I can get up, I'll go again tomorrow
    150AnonymousAug 24, 2026 21:08
    Re: #146
    Let's go again tomorrow~

    Background and Key Points

    For readers unfamiliar with the format: this is a “jikkyō” (live-report) thread on 5ch’s News VIP board, where a poster narrates an ordinary situation — here, failing to clean his room — in real time while other users reply line by line, often derailing into tangents. The recurring “typhoon” gag refers to his mother’s temper, not weather; it reflects how common it still is for young unmarried men in Japan to live with parents well into adulthood, making a messy room a household issue rather than a private one. The kei car mentioned (Suzuki Hustler) is the compact, low-tax vehicle class ubiquitous for short trips and light work use in Japan, which is why posters questioned whether it doubled as a company vehicle. Asakuma and Bronco Billy, brought up around the hamburger steak (hambāgu), are hamburger-steak restaurant chains concentrated in Aichi Prefecture (the Nagoya region), a regional food culture outsiders often don’t recognize as distinct from nationwide chains.

    The thread doesn’t really split into camps — it’s less a debate than a drift, moving from cleaning excuses to snack cravings to a home-cooked hamburger-steak “bulk-up” bowl to watching nankyū (rubber-ball, as opposed to hardball) amateur baseball, a widely played recreational sport in Japan.

    What’s easy to miss is that the actual cleaning is never resolved on-thread; the “story” readers are chasing — will the room get clean? — is abandoned in favor of food and baseball, which is itself typical of how these live threads actually play out.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News VIP) thread “The Boy Whose Room Is a Total Mess Lolololololol.”

  • Marriages Among Singles Over 50 Quadruple in 8 Years — 5ch: ‘Sounds Like a Help-Wanted Ad for Elder Care’

    A survey by IBJ, one of Japan’s largest matchmaking agencies, found that the number of marriages among people aged 50 and over hit an all-time high of 1,389 in 2025 — roughly four times the 2017 figure over the past eight years. Thread reactions ranged from cynical jabs like “sounds like a help-wanted ad for elder care” to pragmatic takes on combining pensions or securing a caregiver, plus raw firsthand accounts involving foreign brides — a candid look at the reality of senior matchmaking.

    Have you ever thought about finding a new partner in the second half of your life?

    According to a survey recently released by the IBJ Institute for the Future of Marriage, run by IBJ Inc. (Shinjuku, Tokyo), which operates a network of matchmaking agencies, the number of marriages among people aged 50 and over reached an all-time high of 1,389 in 2025 — roughly four times the figure from 2017, eight years earlier.

    The survey covered 1,389 men and women aged 50 and over (520 women, 869 men) who left IBJ’s affiliated matchmaking agency network in 2025 after successfully getting married.

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

    22AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:10
    Marriage hunting at 50+? That's so gross lol
    24AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:11
    When you get down to it, mid-to-late-life marriage hunting
    boils down to
    "recruiting a caretaker for old age"
    and "these days you can't get by unless you combine two pensions"
    and "you can't rent an apartment if you're single"

    That's basically the three reasons, right?
    (´・∀・`)
    28AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:12
    Re: #22

    Re: #24 ← this is basically what it comes down to
    157AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:44
    Re: #24
    One pension isn't enough to live on
    but two pensions together might work
    25AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:11
    At this rate it's a straight shot to dying alone — is that really okay?
    30AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:13
    Re: #25
    Even if "weak men" (low-status, low-income guys) try hard, women reject them anyway, so spending money on women is a waste
    You're better off just eating something tasty instead
    If a woman's going to nag you about splitting the bill, treat yourself to something a bit pricier solo

    Good women get snapped up by handsome or rich guys anyway, so there's no point in "weak men" even bothering to try with women in the first place
    27AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:12
    What's the point of getting married if you're not even going to have kids?

    Playing house?
    56AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:17
    Re: #27
    – To rent an apartment
    – To combine pensions
    – To have a caregiver
    197AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:03
    Re: #27
    Isn't this just people whose kids are already grown and are now single? That's senior matchmaking for you.
    216AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:13
    Re: #27
    There are people who get divorced once the kids are grown up, right? Especially cheating husbands — they never have trouble finding someone new.
    34AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:14
    Can you really spend the second half of life with someone you had no connection to in the first half?
    If nursing-care issues come up, they'd probably just bolt.
    168AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:48
    Re: #34
    I think you can
    Just try making a move first
    75AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:22
    Women looking to have kids
    should go for men in their 50s, you know

    When the kid born from that turns 40 or 50,
    for some reason they end up wildly successful lol

    Whereas kids born to parents in their teens or 20s
    turn out no good later in life lol
    139AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:38
    Re: #75
    No way, no way
    It's already well established that aged sperm is worse quality than aged eggs
    76AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:22
    Once same-sex marriage is established, there'll probably be more elderly same-sex couples marrying for practical convenience
    82AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:24
    Re: #76
    It's probably for the money or a residency visa
    144AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:38
    Re: #76
    I mean, what's wrong with that?
    If you can live supporting each other with someone of the same sex without a sexual relationship, that's a valid choice too
    96AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:27
    What's even the point of getting married?
    98AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:27
    Re: #96
    To have someone take care of you
    114AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:32
    Re: #96
    A tea-drinking buddy.
    Everyday conversation.
    Someone to bicker with occasionally.
    Folks like this can't use the internet at all — they only watch terrestrial TV.
    Old folks who can use the internet are out there binge-watching YouTube like everyone else.
    228AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:17
    Re: #96
    It's nice living as a man and woman together since you can split the roles
    118AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:33
    What's the point of getting married at that age?
    132AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:36
    Re: #118
    Ever heard of the "late-life bride business" (women who marry elderly men chiefly for the inheritance)?
    199AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:05
    Re: #132
    And what's the old guy supposed to do, then?
    245AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:21
    Re: #132
    A Don Juan? (a womanizer)
    133AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:36
    Lifelong bachelors tend to share a trait: they're stingy and only think of themselves, with zero consideration for others
    If they'd shown some consideration when young — like bringing back souvenirs from trips to hand out to neighbors — people would feel like helping them out when they're struggling in old age
    But guys who never show that kind of consideration, when they fall ill in old age and need help, there's no good soul around who's going to bother
    146AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:40
    Re: #133
    It's laughable that lifelong bachelors, with zero self-awareness, go around trying to marry women in their twenties
    151AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:41
    Re: #133
    That's exactly why divorced men are more popular and can pull off a kind of staggered polygamy
    Elderly single men are shockingly self-centered, seriously
    And if on top of that they're also chauvinistic, marriage is pretty much impossible
    218AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:14
    Age: 22
    Hometown: a rural village in Myanmar
    Education: dropped out of junior high
    Occupation: farming (helping out at home)
    Special skill: weaving baskets from bamboo
    Communication: doesn't speak Japanese, doesn't speak English
    Marriage terms: a 500,000 yen betrothal gift plus a 30,000 yen monthly allowance after marriage (average monthly income in a rural Myanmar village is only about 15,000 yen)

    What do you all think about marrying a girl like this?
    237AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:20
    Re: #218
    You'll get taken advantage of and squeezed dry
    People over there don't see it as marriage — they see it as a business transaction
    258AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:24
    Re: #218
    Probably
    it's just easier being with a woman your own age who'll laugh and say, "Come on, you're already an old man, lol"
    220AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:14
    51 years old, graduate of a MARCH university (a tier of mid-ranked Tokyo private universities), section chief at a major manufacturer, annual income of 14 million yen, financial assets of 130 million yen, never married, hobby is overseas travel.

    I want a wife around 37 and I want a kid
    Honestly, I don't even need a wife — I just want a kid who shares my blood

    Think I can pull off getting married?
    233AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:18
    Re: #220
    Depends on her face, hair, and figure

    Background and Key Points

    IBJ (Iwaki Bridal, ticker 6071) is one of Japan’s largest matchmaking-agency networks, and it publishes these figures itself, so the “1,389 marriages in 2025” figure describes only people who left IBJ-affiliated agencies engaged, not a national statistic — Japan’s actual marriage count nationwide has been falling for decades and hit a record low near 500,000 in recent years. The pension math referenced in the thread is real: the basic national pension (kokumin nenkin) alone pays only around 65,000 yen a month, well below what’s needed to live alone, which is why combining two pensions matters. The housing point is also grounded in fact — Japanese landlords routinely refuse to rent to single elderly tenants for fear of an unwitnessed death (kodokushi) and the lack of a guarantor, so marriage functions as a practical fix for a real gap in the rental market, not just a joke.

    The thread’s actual disagreement isn’t over whether these marriages are transactional — nearly everyone agrees they are — but over whether that’s shameful or sensible. Posters mocking it as “recruiting a caregiver” sit against others treating pension-splitting, rent access, and companionship as legitimate, unsentimental reasons to marry.

    One thing worth flagging for outside readers: post 76 talks about same-sex couples marrying “once it’s established” — same-sex marriage is not legally recognized nationwide in Japan; only a patchwork of municipal partnership certificates exists, which don’t carry inheritance or pension rights. That distinction is the kind of detail the thread glosses over but matters for understanding why elderly same-sex couples can’t yet use marriage the way the thread describes.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[Marriage] Marriages Among Singles Over 50 Quadruple in 8 Years — What’s Behind the Senior Matchmaking Boom?“.

  • This Year’s GOTY Race Still Wide Open on 5ch — Frontrunners Slammed for ‘Not Staying Relevant’

    A thread on 5ch’s hardware/industry (“Geha”) board lit up over the fact that this year’s Game of the Year (GOTY) contenders still haven’t taken shape. Titles like Pragmata, Mortal Shell 2, and Forza Horizon 6 came up, but were met with a wave of pushback — “it doesn’t stay in the conversation,” “it’s not broadly appealing enough.”

    Debate also broke out over how Nintendo’s new titles and GTA6 should factor in, and over the fairness of past award wins, including Breath of the Wild and Astro Bot.

    1AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:55
    Ah, Pokémon's a no — it's just Pokémon after all.
    Seriously, there's nothing else in the running either.
    5AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:01
    Pragmata, maybe?
    7AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:01
    Re: #5
    Oh yeah, that exists.

    But nobody's talking about it at all anymore.
    10AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:03
    Re: #5
    A game that only pops off at launch like that is too weak a pick.
    There's just no game this year that's still generating buzz on an ongoing basis.
    6AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:01
    The one getting talked about right now is Mortal Shell 2.
    8AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:02
    Re: #6
    Nah, not even close.
    And the first one was a crap game you could finish in a few hours anyway.
    24AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:11
    AI predictions… what the hell is 'Big Walk'?

    【2026 Predictions for the 4 Major GOTY Awards】
    Golden Joystick Awards
    Resident Evil Requiem

    The Game Awards
    Big Walk

    D.I.C.E. Awards
    Grand Theft Auto VI

    Game Developers Choice Awards
    Big Walk
    40AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:22
    Re: #24
    Throw in the BAFTA Games Awards too.
    26AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:12
    Resident Evil isn't even made with winning GOTY in mind to begin with, and it's hard to say the game is still generating buzz right now either.
    Nioh 3 is genuinely fun, but compared to From Software's games its systems are overcomplicated — it's far from broadly appealing.
    36AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:19
    Re: #26
    Back when Resident Evil Village came out, it actually beat titles like Forza Horizon 5 and Cyberpunk 2077 to win the 'Steam Awards 2021 – GOTY.' It's also picked up the top Golden Joystick Award multiple times.

    https://store.steampowered.com/steamawards/2021?l=japanese
    33AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:18
    Forza Horizon 6 is the only one that clears the GOTY bar on both reviews and sales, but there's no way Geoff Keighley is ever handing GOTY to a Microsoft title.
    35AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:19
    Re: #33
    Only Microsoft fanboys think that way — Forza's reviews on Steam are always mediocre anyway.
    44AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:28
    The conditions:
    ・It has to be out on PS5
    ・It can't be published by Microsoft
    53AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:31
    Re: #35
    You'd know in seconds if you actually looked it up — are you confusing it with Forza Motorsport?

    FH4: 90% Very Positive out of 303,185 reviews
    FH5: 89% Very Positive out of 258,123 reviews
    FH6: 83% Very Positive out of 83,760 reviews
    61AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:35
    Re: #53
    Sorry, but the top-tier game battle line starts above 90%, honestly more like 95%.
    Sure, there are genuinely divisive games that keep a devoted following even after shedding casual users.
    But that's the 80%-ish zone — and Forza's stuck there, working hard just to hold that spot.
    55AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:33
    Poko— ah, it's Pokémon, no other option, right? ("Poko" is a nickname for Pokémon used on this board)
    58AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:34
    Re: #55
    A rip-off game doesn't have that right.
    65AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:40
    Re: #55
    Nintendo games are made by studying existing games and polishing them to a high level of completion, rather than through strong authorial vision, artistic identity, or a message.
    That means even when they sell well, they rarely get picked for GOTY.
    Given the history of the awards, that's basically common knowledge at this point.
    66AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:43
    Seriously, there's nothing in the running.
    Does Nintendo even need to go all-out just for there to be candidates at all?
    Isn't there anything besides GTA?
    68AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:44
    Re: #66
    Palworld and The Duskbloods.
    Though Palworld's probably out of the running since Nintendo's been picking legal fights with it.
    70AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:45
    For the Japan Game Awards, I went ahead and voted for Ghost of Yōtei.
    82AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:53
    Re: #70
    I voted for Pragmata, a new release, aiming for the 'Annual Work Category – Excellence Award.'

    You might ask, 'Excellence Award? Not the Grand Award?' — but if you're aiming for the 'Annual Work Category – Grand Award,' the sensible call is to put your one vote toward either Mario Kart World, Poko-Poke (a nickname for Pokémon), or, as a long shot, Donkey Kong Bananza.
    71AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:46
    Re: #61
    I told you Forza's actually 'Very Positive' on Steam since you said it's always mediocre there, and your reply just floored me lol.
    So in your world, anything below 'Very Positive' is a mediocre game and only 'Overwhelmingly Positive' counts as a top-tier title?
    That's pretty extreme.
    75AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:50
    Re: #71
    Ah, so you've never actually played it on Steam.
    74AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:49
    Everyone likes different genres, so an awards race like this is meaningless.
    76AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:50
    If GTA's outside the eligibility window, wouldn't it end up being Wolverine? Sony will probably shell out the money for it.
    81AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:53
    Re: #75
    Oh, one of those 'Very Positive on Steam just means an average game' guys.
    Yeah, you see those around.
    92AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:57
    Re: #81
    95–100%: Overwhelmingly Positive
    80–94%: Very Positive
    70–79%: Mostly Positive
    40–69%: Mixed
    20–39%: Mostly Negative
    0–19%: Overwhelmingly Negative

    The 'Very Positive' band is set pretty wide, you know.
    It's a gentle label chosen so it doesn't tank sales.
    And people like you actually believe it lol
    101AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:01
    Re: #92
    Love the confidence to call 20% 'Mostly Negative' with a straight face.
    133AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:13
    Re: #92
    If 8 out of 10 buyers recommend it, that's plenty good, isn't it?
    Big-budget titles cost more and get way more reviews than indies, so they naturally get judged more harshly too.
    89AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:55
    Re: #78
    Nintendo's not putting up the money — if they've got cash to spare buying GOTY, running more Nintendo Directs would be way more effective.
    96AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:58
    Re: #89
    Then how did Breath of the Wild win? Tears of the Kingdom also picked up category awards.
    98AnonymousAug 24, 2026 19:59
    Re: #96
    Sony probably just couldn't afford to buy that award.
    115AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:06
    Re: #98
    Then why didn't the Chinese game Black Myth win it?
    123AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:08
    Re: #115
    Maybe there was a publisher working hard behind the scenes to get Astro Bot the top prize?
    129AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:10
    Re: #123
    Since you're clearly no expert — what do you think should've won instead of Astro Bot?
    Seems fair given its high Metacritic score.
    145AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:18
    Re: #129
    I've got no complaints about Astro Bot winning the top award.
    Paying to buy the top prize is just standard corporate behavior anyway — same as with Famitsu.
    I never assumed the top award was decided purely on the game's quality to begin with.
    149AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:20
    Re: #145
    If you're going to say that much, do you have a source that it was bought with money?
    Or is this just a conspiracy theory some amateur like you is bitterly fantasizing about?
    If you've got nothing, that's what it looks like.
    157AnonymousAug 24, 2026 20:24
    Re: #145
    Even if that kind of thing happens with the top award, I think getting nominated at all is still a fair, legitimate evaluation.
    A big-budget title that can't even manage that is straight-up trash.

    Background and Key Points

    The Game Awards, Golden Joystick, D.I.C.E., BAFTA, and GDC’s Game Developers Choice Awards are the major Western GOTY circuit, all clustered around November–March, with Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards the closest thing to industry consensus. Separately, Japan runs its own Japan Game Awards through CESA at Tokyo Game Show, which is partly public-vote based (hence a poster casually “voting” for Pragmata or Ghost of Yōtei) and has different categories, including an “Excellence Award” tier below the top “Grand Award” — a structure with no real Western equivalent. Nintendo’s track record is the recurring subtext: Breath of the Wild (2017) and Tears of the Kingdom both won prizes despite Nintendo rarely campaigning for GOTY the way Sony or Microsoft do, which posters use to argue sales and “authorial vision” aren’t what wins these awards.

    The thread’s real fault line wasn’t which game deserves GOTY, but what actually counts as a “contender” at all — several posters insisted a game has to stay in ongoing conversation, not just spike at launch, disqualifying Pragmata and Mortal Shell 2 on those grounds alone, while Forza Horizon 6 split people on whether an ~83% Steam approval rating is elite or merely decent.

    What’s likely to trip up outside readers is Steam’s review-percentage system itself: “Very Positive” covers a wide 80–94% band, not a middling score, which one poster misused to dismiss Forza as “average.” Also worth noting: the thread never mentions that GTA6’s late-2026 release timing could put it outside this cycle’s eligibility window entirely, which undercuts several posters’ assumption that it’s a default frontrunner.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, “Geha”) thread “This year’s GOTY contenders still haven’t settled on anything — seriously, what do you think will win? This year, Poko.”