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SHOW NOTES

Zenbu Catalog for Mandarake’s Godzilla Auction

Remote Controlled Mechagodzilla by Bandai

Robert Scott Field as Android M11 in Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (1991)

1980 re-release movie poster for Mothra vs Godzilla, illustration by Leiji Matsumoto

Mechabuton (Time Bokan) illustration by Hideaki Anno

Lensman Worsel sticker by superdeformer (thanks for the gift!)

superdeformer on Instagram

Go!! Go!! Raideen book (1976)

Go!! Go!! Denjin Zaboga Book

Terebi Magazine, June, 1978 (Thanks, Chris!)

Space Traveler Timanic toys by Takara

Japan beer majors raided over cartel allegations

Gundam Blowback Beam Rifle Kit

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SHOW NOTES

Making of featurette for 'Dracula AD 1972' (UK 1972)

Gorgo in Picadilly Circus (1961)

Toys “R” Us eyes exiting Japan, selling business to Don Quijote operator

Toys “R” Us Japan Exclusive Microman Figures

The Secret History of the 1980s Taiwanese Toy Cartel

Shibuya Takes Halloween Crackdown to a New Level in 2026

Goodbye Bad Halloween Official Video by Shibuya

The Tokyo Yamanote Halloween Train 2006 Montage Video

Tokyo-wan Enjo, aka Conflagration (1975)

Conflagration English Export Dub

Gino Plays the Blues by Greg Starr

Suckerman costume by Collegeville

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SHOW NOTES

Godzilla’s Next Challenger Will Be Chosen in the New Monster Election

Godzilla: Final Wars - Godzilla vs. Monster X

ranKing and ranQueen store

Roy Rogers Monster Meatball Sub Commercial, 1995

Dom Dom Burger, Kichijoji, Tokyo

All You Can Eat - The Fat Boys

Star Trek: The Motion Picture McDonald’s Happy Meal (1979)

Two American women attempt to smuggle US$1 million worth of cannabis into Tokyo for a free trip to Japan

New Chogokin Secret Squadron Gorenger Set

McGruff The Crime Dog - Marijuana

Snakeman Show 2 - Yellow Magic Orchestra

Worker Uniforms at the Gunpla Factory in Shizuoka

JR East unveils new character options to succeed the Suica penguin

New Show Sponsor: Sizzlean!

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SHOW NOTES

Shrinky Dinks Commercial, 1986

Mandarake Website Hacked!

Patrick’s New Queen Millennia BGM Record Store Promo Poster

Censored Spicy Model Shoots at Mandarake

Julien’s Auctions - The Man Who Claimed He Invented Ultraman: Inside the Strange, Storied World of Sompote Sands

The 6 Ultra Brothers vs The Monster Army (1974)

Hanuman and the Five Riders (1974)

Crocodile (1980) directed by Sompote Sands

Original artwork for Magic Lizard (1985) directed by Sompote Sands

Screen-used suit from Jumborg Ace & Giant (1974)

Japan’s Toei refutes reports of Dragon Ball license for French theme park

World Children Land Godzilla Tower from Godzilla vs Gigan (1972)

Final ceremony announced for Tokyo’s life-size Gundam statue

Tequila Gundam from G Gundam

Show Sponsor: Shakey’s Pizza

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SHOW NOTES

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SHOW NOTES

Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island Trailer

Ulysses 31 Intro (1981)

Party scene from Go Nagai’s Devilman manga (1972)

Flyer advertising Dolly Parton concerts at Nakano Sun Plaza Hall (1979)

Dolly Parton backstage in Japan (also 1979)

Tim Curry in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

Yayoi Kusama. The Dutch Years 1965-1970

Peter Cullen, Voice of Optimus Prime in ‘Transformers,’ Dies at 85

Voltron: Defender of the Universe intro (Peter Cullen narration)

Saturday Supercade Promo (1983)

Froggy’s Lament - Buckner & Garcia (1982)

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs Intro (1987)

Peter Cullen Toonami Promos

2 Chilean men arrested over luxury watch theft in Nakano

Freejack - Trailer, 1992

TOONAMI: Is Lupin Still Burning? OVA Promo

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SHOW NOTES

Foe-Bots!

Mandarake Yokai Auction Catalog

Patrick’s Star Trek Micro Machine Box Set

Galoob Micro Machines Commercial 1986

Space 1999 Eagle by Popy

Star Trek Doujinshi at Mandarake

The House Where Jet Jaguar Was Born

AI Art in Mandarake Catalog (History of Kamishibai)

Haunted House Tin Toy by Marx

Pee-Wee Herman with Haunted House Tin Toy by Marx on David Letterman (1983)

Mandarake “Yokai” Auction Gallery

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Japan’s department stores spent much of the Heisei era courting overseas luxury brands and moving toward a more upscale business model. Now, anime, manga, and games are becoming increasingly visible inside those same stores. According to an August 17 report by Daily Shincho, the trend may reflect not only the challenges facing the department store business, but also the growing economic and cultural strength of otaku-related entertainment.

Fukuoka Mitsukoshi, currently undergoing renovations, has announced that an Animate anime merchandise store will open October 24 in its LACHIC specialty shopping area. The location is expected to be one of Animate’s largest in Kyushu.

Meanwhile, the Tokiwa department store in Oita will host a limited-time Jump Shop from August 21 through September 6. The officially licensed Shueisha store carries merchandise based on works published in Weekly Shonen Jump. In central Tokyo, Matsuya Ginza has also been holding a steady series of manga and anime exhibitions featuring titles including Oshi no Ko, The Apothecary Diaries, and Urusei Yatsura, gradually establishing itself as a destination for anime exhibitions.

How Department Stores Moved Toward Luxury

Department stores in Japan were once special destinations for the entire family. Rooftop amusement parks, children’s meals at restaurants, and a day spent shopping together were all part of the experience. After Japan’s economic bubble collapsed, however, shopping malls such as AEON increasingly took over that role.

The report argues that the change was not simply the result of Japan’s shrinking middle class. Department stores themselves pursued an increasingly aggressive luxury strategy that helped drive away some of their traditional customers.

Many stores reduced the practice of purchasing and selling merchandise themselves and moved toward a business model closer to commercial real estate, leasing valuable floor space to outside tenants. Overseas luxury brands became especially attractive because they brought high average spending per customer, dedicated followings, and recognizable names capable of drawing shoppers. As a result, department stores that had once depended heavily on families increasingly came to rely on wealthy customers and personal shopping services.

That strategy also made department stores increasingly similar to one another, with the same luxury names occupying prime first-floor spaces in cities across Japan. Some luxury companies could also be demanding tenants, with requirements concerning which brands they would or would not agree to have located nearby.When overseas brands eventually withdrew fromWhen some of those brands eventually withdrew, stores were left with fewer distinctive features capable of keeping customers coming back, contributing to the difficulties faced by regional department stores.

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Mitsukoshi Meets The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Against this background of international brands and luxury goods, the sight of major department stores now prominently featuring otaku-oriented material represents a dramatic reversal.

In May 2026, the historic Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Store, whose building is designated an Important Cultural Property, hosted an event space for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya alongside its luxury retail environment. Merchandise was sold at the event, while related books and other materials were also displayed.

For Yamanouchi, scenes like this suggest that anime and manga are no longer merely being accepted as supplementary attractions. Their presence in spaces long associated with high-end retail may indicate that otaku content has reached a position comparable to overseas luxury brands and, in some cases, could be becoming even more important to department stores as a way to attract customers.

Department store galleries are increasingly part of the trend as well. Locations including Nihombashi Mitsukoshi and Isetan Shinjuku have hosted exhibitions of original work by illustrators and manga artists closely connected with otaku culture. Regional stores have also held sales exhibitions featuring items such as vintage anime production cels and autographed artwork from manga creators.

Anime Shops Offer More Flexibility

For department stores, one advantage of anime and manga retail is flexibility. Opening an anime specialty shop generally does not require the extensive remodeling and specialized fixtures associated with bringing in a major overseas luxury brand. There are also fewer of the complicated tenant-placement considerations that can accompany luxury labels, including demands over which competing or neighboring brands can occupy nearby spaces.

Temporary and satellite stores can make use of otherwise vacant floor space as well, allowing department stores to experiment with events and merchandise without committing to major renovations.

More Animate Stores Could Be Coming

The trend may continue to accelerate, with the Animate chain particularly well positioned for additional department store locations.

Animate sells not only anime merchandise but also manga volumes, meaning its locations can serve some of the functions traditionally provided by bookstores. That could be particularly valuable in regional communities where bookstores have disappeared and residents have fewer places to purchase physical books.

Anime specialty stores also have the advantage of appealing to two major groups of consumers at the same time: international visitors drawn to Japanese pop culture and domestic shoppers. Anime fandom has also become an activity shared by more families, potentially allowing department stores to reclaim some of their older role as destinations where households spend time together.

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Can Otaku Culture Help Revive Japan’s Downtowns?

The effects could extend beyond department stores themselves. During the Showa era, shopping streets often developed around major department stores that served as anchors for regional downtown areas. When those stores closed, nearby independent businesses frequently disappeared as well, leaving once-busy commercial districts filled with vacant storefronts.

Bringing anime and manga shops into surviving department stores could provide a new reason for younger shoppers and families to visit city centers. Combined with demand from overseas tourists and dedicated domestic fans, otaku culture may offer department stores something that luxury retail alone increasingly cannot: a distinctive attraction capable of drawing a broad range of customers.

The same entertainment culture that department stores once considered incompatible with their image may now stand alongside, or even ahead of, the luxury brands that once defined their retail strategy.

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SHOW NOTES

Toei Animation on Film at the National Film Archive

Flying Phantom Ship (1969) Trailer

30,000 Miles Under the Sea (1970) Complete Film

Corgi Action Toys Commercial (featuring Batman and Buck Rogers)

Toy Story - A farewell to Katsushi Murakami, an architect of Japan’s giant robots -- and soft power (by Matt Alt)

The Chogokin Book featuring toy designs and concept art by Katsushi Murakami

Style Goals: Katsushi Murakami

The Space Mammy from Ultraman 80 (designed by Katsushi Murakami)

Brave Raydeen “God Bird Mode” Transformation

Kamen Rider Black designs by Katsushi Murakami

Lady Battlecop (1990)

Godaikin Promotional Video by Bandai USA (1980s)

Kimono My House Commercial

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Harajuku’s Storefront Crunch

Harajuku has long drawn young shoppers, trend hunters, and overseas visitors looking for new brands and popular fashion items. It is also one of Tokyo’s most symbolic fashion districts, where a physical storefront can act as both a shop and a public statement of brand identity.

Now, the area is seeing heated competition among tenants trying to secure storefronts. Commercial space is extremely tight. According to CBRE, the vacancy rate for commercial real estate in the Omotesando-Harajuku area stayed at just 0.1% in April–June 2026. In the prime area centered around Meiji-dori, only about one available space remained.

Even this year, domestic and overseas brands have continued opening new stores, keeping the competition intense.

Harajuku’s Price Point

Harajuku was already an expensive area because so many fashion brands are concentrated there. Along the main streets, large commercial facilities such as Tokyu Plaza Harakado, which opened in 2024, stand alongside street-level flagship stores from many famous brands.

Average rents in the Omotesando-Harajuku area reached ¥256,000 (about $1,607) per tsubo as of the end of June 2026, based on expected contract rents. A tsubo is a Japanese real estate unit equal to about 3.3 square meters, or 35.6 square feet. That puts Omotesando-Harajuku behind only Ginza, where average rents were ¥298,000 (about $1,871) per tsubo, among Japan’s major commercial districts.

The Rent Spiral

With so few spaces available, multiple brands may compete for the same property. For owners, the situation is close to having their pick of tenants. When a storefront becomes contested, the brand offering the higher rent generally wins. That means the final contract rent can rise above the initial asking price, pushing the area’s average higher.

Real estate industry sources say Harajuku rents have risen about 20% from contracts made around the pandemic period after tenant turnover. In some cases, rents have doubled.

Ura-Harajuku and Cat Street in the Crosshairs

The changes are not limited to Harajuku’s main streets. Signs of change are also appearing in Ura-Harajuku and Cat Street, areas just a step away from the busiest shopping zones.

Ura-Harajuku, literally “back Harajuku,” refers to the quieter backstreet side of the district, long associated with independent labels, Japanese streetwear, and smaller fashion brands. Cat Street, running between Harajuku and Shibuya, is another key fashion corridor tied to youth culture and select shops.

Part of what made these areas different was their urban structure. Harajuku’s surrounding area is designated as an educational district, restricting the construction of hotels and movie theaters. Quiet residential streets spread through the back roads, where many buildings rent out their first and second floors to tenants.

This was the environment that helped produce Ura-Harajuku-style brands and street brands. Many properties were owned by individual landlords, and rent levels were relatively stable.

A Changing Backstreet Market

That stability may now be weakening. In recent years, more brands have tried to enter the broader Harajuku area. At the same time, rising land prices have led some companies to acquire real estate for investment purposes.

If those higher purchase prices are reflected in future leasing, average rents in Ura-Harajuku may also rise. That would mark a deeper shift for Harajuku, because the rent surge would no longer be only a main-street issue. It could also reach the backstreet ecosystem that helped build the district’s reputation in the first place.

The New Harajuku Equation

For domestic apparel brands, Harajuku is becoming harder to access at a time when competition for prime retail space is intensifying. Chinese and Korean brands have also been increasing their presence, adding another layer to the storefront battle.

Harajuku remains one of Tokyo’s most important fashion districts. But with vacancy nearly gone, rents at record highs, and investment money reaching deeper into the backstreets, the brands able to occupy that stage may be changing.

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SHOW NOTES

Marine Boy, Episode 1 (1968)

Triton of the Sea Episode 1 (1972)

Patrick’s GariGariKun Popsicle

The Mysterians (1957) English trailer

New 4K UHD of The Mysterians

Original Concept Art for the Mysterian Dome by Shigeru Komatsuzaki

Mysterians sofubi figures by M-1

Mogera figure by X-PLUS

Markalite Magazine house ad, 1991

Unreleased Mogera Zinclon die-cast figure (in orange box)

The 1957 Mysterians Christmas Department Store Party

A 60th Anniversary Message from Ultraman

The Birth of Ultraman TV Special, July 10, 1966

Ultraman 4K Supercut

The Adventures of Slim Goodbody in Nutri-City (1978)

Leonard Nimoy Laser Disc Demonstration (aka DiscoVision, 1981)

Ultraman Episode 8: Monster Lawless Zone (Archive.org)

Ultraman Episode 10: The Mysterious Dinosaur Base (Archive.org)

Ultraman Episode 14: Tide Wipe Monster (the peral eating kaiju episode, Archive.org)

Ultraman Episode 23: The Earth is My Home (Archive.org)

Ultraman Episode 37: The Little Hero (Archive.org)

For Every Ultraman . . . There’s an Ultra Woman (Hiroko Sakurai interview by Matt Alt)

Mandara (1971) - Directed by Akio Jissoji, starring Hiroko Sakurai, full film

Pure TokyoScope PSA: Winners Don’t Use

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SHOW NOTES

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Innovation Begins in Unlikely Places

When the internet began spreading through Japan in the 1990s, it was hardly viewed as the foundation of a new global economy. To much of the public, it was an obscure and vaguely suspicious technology used by university researchers, computer enthusiasts, and otaku. Some dismissed it as a temporary fad, while others associated it with questionable businesses, antisocial users, and corners of society that respectable companies preferred to avoid. Three decades later, the internet has become essential infrastructure, while many of the people once treated as outsiders helped create some of Japan’s largest digital companies. Writer and journalist Toshinao Sasaki believes that history offers an important way to understand the current state of artificial intelligence.

Sasaki explores the idea through Seven Upheavals: A 30-Year History of the Internet Industry Led by the Disreputable, a new book by Kentaro Kawabe, the former chairman and representative director of LINE Yahoo. Kawabe spent much of his career on the front lines of Japan’s web industry, and his account traces the excitement, confusion, failures, and sudden transformations that shaped the business over three decades. According to Sasaki, two of the book’s most important ideas are “shadiness” and “chaos,” qualities that conventional business thinking usually treats as problems but that may also provide the conditions necessary for genuine innovation.

“Kawabe argues that fundamental innovation does not emerge from neatly organized rules or model-student approaches,” Sasaki says. “The real energy capable of opening the next era is often found in things that were initially dismissed as disreputable.”

That description closely fits Japan’s early internet industry. The dot-com bubble of the late 1990s attracted an enormous number of unreliable companies, opportunists, and outright frauds, with some executives eventually facing arrest. At the same time, legitimate businesses survived that disorder and grew into major companies, including Rakuten, Yahoo Japan, CyberAgent, and Edge Corporation, which later became Livedoor.

The Creative Value of Chaos

For Sasaki, this pattern is not unique to technology. Creative industries also depend on large, unruly ecosystems in which questionable work and serious talent often develop side by side. Japan’s publishing boom of the 1990s produced countless dubious magazines, but those publications also gave young writers opportunities to develop their skills and eventually become respected professionals. The film industry followed a similar path, with directors who began their careers working on Nikkatsu Roman Porno productions later becoming major filmmakers.

“There is always a vast and dirty foothill beneath the mountain,” Sasaki says. “I think the things that emerge from that landscape are the essence of culture. Every field needs a certain amount of shadiness. If something is not attractive enough to draw questionable people, it may not be attractive at all.”

The argument is not that fraud or exploitation should be celebrated, but that emerging industries are rarely born in clean, orderly environments. They attract experimentation, unusual personalities, risky businesses, and people operating outside established professional structures. Most of their ideas disappear, but some eventually become the foundation of new companies, art forms, and cultural movements.

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From 2channel to Mainstream Culture

Japan’s early internet culture was defined by outsiders, particularly the communities that gathered around anonymous message boards such as 2channel. At the time, 2channel users were frequently stereotyped as poor, unemployed, socially withdrawn otaku. Later research complicated that image, suggesting that many users were technically skilled people working in scientific or engineering fields, often with comparatively high incomes. The culture that took shape online around the year 2000 was strongly influenced by people born in the 1970s, including 2channel founder Hiroyuki Nishimura, who helped establish the language, humor, and confrontational style of Japan’s early web.

That culture began changing dramatically during the 2010s as the internet became a mainstream part of everyday life. Anime and manga were no longer interests associated only with dedicated otaku, and ordinary young people increasingly entered online spaces that had once functioned as secluded playgrounds for computer enthusiasts. Around 2010, some veteran internet users jokingly referred to themselves as the “Mohican tribe,” borrowing imagery from The Last of the Mohicans. They felt that the arrival of socially active, fashionable, and conventionally successful users was driving the original online population away from its former refuge.

What had once been called otaku culture gradually became part of mainstream youth culture. Enjoying anime or manga no longer automatically marked someone as an outsider, and the boundary between specialist fandom and everyday entertainment began to disappear. The internet did not simply spread existing subcultures to a larger audience. It changed how those subcultures were perceived and allowed their interests, language, and aesthetics to enter ordinary life.

The Arrival of Older and Political Users

Older generations also entered the internet in growing numbers. The mass retirement of Japan’s baby boom generation beginning in 2007 was followed by major political and social events, including the 2011 earthquake and tsunami and the return of Shinzo Abe as prime minister in 2012. During that period, Twitter, now known as X, became increasingly political in Japan and elsewhere. Sasaki says his personal impression was that large numbers of politically engaged older men had joined the platform, adding another group to an already crowded digital environment.

“The internet today is filled with all kinds of people swirling together,” Sasaki says. “There are the descendants of otaku culture, the ordinary young people who entered as it became mainstream, older users, and politically focused communities. The clashes between those cultures are part of what makes it interesting, and they may also show how closely the internet and the physical world have come together in Japan.”

The modern Japanese internet consequently became a mixture of descendants of the original otaku culture, younger mainstream users, older people, political activists, and many other communities whose values frequently collide. What was once a specialized technology used by a limited group had expanded until it reflected society itself, including its divisions, contradictions, and changing cultural standards.

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AI Is Following the Same Path

Sasaki expects artificial intelligence to follow a similar pattern. AI tools may currently appear intimidating, unreliable, or useful mainly to specialists, but their interfaces are likely to become dramatically easier to use. Personal computers once required manuals and technical knowledge, while smartphones can now be operated intuitively by people with little formal training. The next stage may involve dedicated AI devices that eliminate screens and keyboards altogether.

Technology companies are already exploring wearable devices, smart speakers, wireless earbuds, and other products designed around continuous interaction with AI. Instead of typing commands or navigating menus, users may increasingly operate computers through ordinary conversation. As voice systems improve, the assumption that older people are inherently unable to use new technology may also begin to disappear.

In that future, interacting with a computer may become less like operating a machine and more like speaking to another person. As access expands, the central question surrounding AI will shift away from technical operation and toward purpose. Businesses, creators, and individuals will need to decide where AI should be used, what it should produce, and whether it can create forms of value that did not previously exist.

Lessons for the Next Technological Wave

Few people watching the internet emerge around the year 2000 could have accurately predicted smartphones, social media, cloud computing, or the industries that would grow around them. AI is now at a similarly uncertain stage. Its next major applications may be impossible to imagine from the present, but Sasaki argues that new waves will inevitably arrive. Preparing for them requires studying how earlier technologies moved from chaotic subcultures into mainstream society, and how industries that initially appeared unreliable eventually became unavoidable.

The internet began as something strange, disorderly, and suspicious before becoming part of the infrastructure of daily life. AI may now be traveling along the same path. Japan struggled during the era of digital transformation, but increasingly intuitive technology could create another opportunity as computers become accessible through natural conversation.

The decisive issue will not simply be which country or company possesses the best technology. It will be whether people have the imagination and practical ability to determine how that technology should be used and what new value it can create. Rather than attempting to eliminate chaos entirely, the history of the internet suggests that the next generation of innovation may already be taking shape inside it.

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SHOW NOTES

The Human Vapor (2026) Official Trailer

US Poster for the original Human Vapor

Morley Robertson, Widely-Recognized Japan Journalist, Dies at 63

THE GHOST IN THE SHELL (2026) Trailer

Jonathan Ross Toy Collection Tour - Japanese, Vintage, Prototypes & More

Government registers ‘Japanese tea’ under brand protection system

Opanchu Usagi Curry

Sony to end video game disc production in January 2028

RIP Hikaru Kurosaki (Megabeast Investigator Juspion)

New Show Sponsor: Mr. Fuji Sushi

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SHOW NOTES

Wicked Priest Collection Limited Edition Blu-ray (featuring 2 new video extras from Pat and Matt!)

Akihiro Miwa, defiant icon of stage and song, dies at 91

Watch Black Lizard (1968) now on Archive.org

Gary Coleman (and Dionne Warwick) for the Psychic Friends Network

Japan’s FTC raids six ice cream makers over allegedly creating price cartel

Akagi Apology Video for Raising Prices

Tsuburaya Productions, Creators of Ultraman, Reportedly Hit by Mass Employee Departures Ahead of 60th Anniversary

For Every Ultraman . . . There’s an Ultra Woman (Hiroko Sakurai interview by Matt Alt)

THE ORIGIN OF ULTRAMAN - Official Trailer -

Shogakukan and Doraemon break up after nearly 50 years

The Adventures of Albert and Sydney opening sequence

CAKE and TV Asahi Team for Doraemon

CAKE Inks International ‘Voltron’ Distribution Partnership with WEP

Space Mice from Voltron including “Cheezer”

New Show Sponsor: Voltron Defender of the Universe Australia Version

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SHOW NOTES

Four Rock Lords

Zoids Bigasauru

The FUCT of PEPSIMAN

Gridman Ramen Bowl

Saban’s Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad featuring Tim Curry as Kilokahn

Pierre Taki T-shirt worn by Mandarake Secret Shopper

Machine Robo Club BMX Bike

Space Runaway Ideon Choco Bar

Bowing (melting?) Princess Leia and Ben Kenobi Rubber Figures

Matt’s Big Azz Piece of Cake

Close Encounters of the Third Kind Alien Bendy Figure

Earth Squadron Fiveman Brother Combination Set

Jumbo Machinder-Sized Capsule Robo G

Zone Fighter Figures by Nakajima

Godzilla Scenes from Zone Fighter (1973)

Little Twin Stars First Aid Kit

Inflatable Madball

Bijin Sensei no Panchira Cassette Game by Takara

Golgo 13 plush toy with Nameneko Cats

Missile Mecha Godzilla T-shirt

The Bullmark Bandana

Rascal the Racoon Getting Wasted on Cheap Hooch

Matt’s Purchase: Daitemba (from Yattodetaman)

New show sponsor: The SF Saiyuki Starzinger Message Board

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SHOW NOTES

Voltron Coffin of Doom and Coffin of Darkness Toys by Panosh Place (1984)

Voltron Skull Tank by Panosh Place

Cool Japan Fund Faces Possible Shutdown

The Adventures of Albert & Sydney (aka Canadian Doraemon)

He-Man Butthead figure (1990)

Hell is Other People - The real reason the Japanese government is so obsessed with tourism (By Matt Alt)

Japan Tells White House to Stop Unauthorized Anime Use

Voltron Skull Tank by Panosh Place Commercial (1985)

Cursed Image (2017)

30 billion street and environmental scans from Pokémon GO players were used to train US military drones

New Show Sponsor: The Voltron Panosh Places Toyline

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This Week in TokyoScope News! A collection of headlines and expanded commentary reflecting current events in Japanese pop culture from anime and manga, to film, trends, and city life! For paid subscribers only! Enjoy!

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New Feature! This Week in TokyoScope News! A collection of headlines and commentary reflecting current events in Japanese pop culture from anime and manga, to film, trends, and city life! For paid subscribers only! Enjoy!

Read more

You can hear the full episode by joining the ⁠⁠⁠Pure TokyoScope Patreon⁠⁠⁠!

Join the ⁠⁠Pure TokyoScope Patreon⁠⁠!

You’ll get access to the full episode, bonus content, our Discord server, and an archive of past episodes. ⁠⁠Head over to Pure TokyoScope Patreon to subscribe today!⁠⁠⁠⁠

SHOW NOTES

Orko and Alan Thicke Talk About Divorce

Henry Cavill Charging Up For ‘Voltron’ At Amazon MGM Studios

Commercial for Voltron Coffins

Patrick’s new Polar Borer - The Last Dinosaur Movie Poster

The Last Dinosaur Best of Richard Boone

Wandering Ginza Butterfly Collection Limited Edition Blu-ray (featuring audio commentary by Pat and Matt)

Yakuza 4 Remastered So this is a hostess club

Ringo Starr’s Ringo Sutta Apple Juice Commercial

Theme song for The Second is a Christian (lyrics by Greg Starr)

Ultraman actress Hiroko Sakurai + Matt Alt

Science Patrol Uniforms from Ultraman

Michael Popcorn Bucket

Hiromi Go and Emmanuel Lewis

Hot Tears of Shame TV - Featuring the Polar Borer and Various Ultraman uniforms

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Pokémon was born as a game. Detective Conan began its long-running TV anime. Tamagotchi arrived as a tiny digital pet that took over schoolyards, toy stores, and eventually nostalgia culture. Pompompurin joined Sanrio’s lineup and became one of the company’s most reliable character hits….

Japanese pop culture in 1996 looked less like a normal year and more like a blast radius.

A new Mainichi Shimbun article by Tsutomu Kimino breaks down the year from five angles, arguing that 1996 was a “content Cambrian explosion” for Japan. The idea is simple: many of the basic forms that still define Japanese media today seemed to appear almost all at once.

The Digital Turn That Changed Anime Production

Japan in 1996 was coming off the shock of the previous year, when the Great Hanshin Earthquake and a historically strong yen had left a deep mark on the country. By 1996, the yen had weakened, manufacturers were investing again, and the economy briefly seemed to be moving beyond the long post-bubble slump.

Inside the anime industry, another major shift was underway.

That year, Toei Animation, then still known as Toei Doga, formally adopted RETAS!, short for Revolutionary Engineering Total Animation System. The software had already existed for several years, but its use by a major studio marked a new stage for the industry.

RETAS! made it possible to digitize large parts of the finishing process, including drawing, tracing, coloring, and photography. It did not immediately surpass the look and flexibility of analog production, but it dramatically changed the pipeline by removing chemical and optical processes from the workflow.

That had a human cost. Veteran specialists whose skills were built around the analog process were pushed out or forced to adapt. At the same time, younger creators with stronger interest in digital tools, CG, and computer-driven production entered the field.

Anime was beginning to look less like a purely craft-based business and more like an IT-driven content industry.

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The Console Wars Created a Content Boom

1996 also saw Japan’s “next-generation console war” enter a fever pitch.

The Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and Super Famicom were all fighting for space in the market, and that platform battle created ideal conditions for new hits. Games like Resident Evil and Sakura Wars emerged during this period, helping build franchises that would continue far beyond their original hardware. In this sense, the fight for game console dominance became a kind of greenhouse for content.

Pokémon, Tamagotchi, Detective Conan, and Pompompurin were not all born from the same business model, but they all appeared in an environment where characters, games, anime, toys, and merchandise were beginning to move together more aggressively.

Detective Conan had started as a manga in 1994 before TMS Entertainment, then Tokyo Movie Shinsha, brought it to TV in 1996. Pokémon followed a similar fast track, with OLM producing the anime adaptation in 1997, only a year after the original games arrived.

Both studios were also looking toward digital production around this period, showing how technology and character business were beginning to evolve side by side.

From Master Craftsmen to Repeatable Production

One of the major changes Kimino points to is the shift away from an older production culture built around “takumi,” or master craftsmen.

In earlier decades, Japanese animation and manufacturing placed enormous value on veteran skill. Experienced creators used instinct, technique, and accumulated knowledge to meet deadlines while still adding personal style and dramatic flair. Even when animation quality was inconsistent, strong scripts, characters, direction, and personality could still carry a show.

But as production schedules tightened and digital systems spread, the industry moved toward processes that were easier to repeat, manage, and scale. New creators, freed from the older craft system and supported by digital tools, increasingly focused on reproducing the look and appeal of original manga, games, and products. That helped strengthen character merchandising.

In modern merchandising-driven works, the goal is often less about letting characters grow dramatically and more about keeping them consistent, recognizable, and endlessly usable. For weekly TV series in particular, the priority is stable production: keep the same energy, the same tone, the same appeal, and never let the audience drift away.

That consistency is great for business. But for viewers raised on older analog anime, it can also leave them missing the raw personality and passion of individual creators.

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Dot Graphics Became Imagination Engines

Pokémon and Tamagotchi were both shaped by the limits of handheld game hardware. At the time, small LCD screens could only show simple dot graphics. Those graphics were stiff, tiny, and limited. But that limitation became a strength. Players were invited to imagine the rest.

The roughness of the images made the characters feel collectible and expandable. Package art, guidebooks, magazines, merchandise, and promotional illustrations helped fill in what the screens could not show. Before long, the characters escaped the games themselves. That is one reason Pokémon could move to anime so quickly after its debut.

Tamagotchi did something similar in a different way. It was not just a digital pet device. It became a character goods business, expanding into stationery, candy, cards, and accessories. Decades later, it continues to return to trend status, helping feed the current “Heisei” nostalgia boom.

Pompompurin, who also debuted in 1996, became one of Sanrio’s most dependable characters, ranking near the top tier of the company’s popularity lineup for years.

Cute Media Started Showing Dangerous Things

Another reason 1996 stands out is that many of its biggest hits included things that earlier children’s or character media tended to avoid.

Tamagotchi had death. Pompompurin had his now-famous butt mark. Pokémon and Tamagotchi made the idea of carrying life around in your pocket feel normal. Detective Conan placed a child detective at murder scenes every week.

Even Resident Evil found a clever way around the discomfort of shooting human targets by making its enemies former humans rather than simply humans. Sakura Wars, meanwhile, combined romance adventure, simulation RPG elements, action, stage musical energy, and Taisho-era retro-futurism into a strange hybrid that had little precedent in the mainstream.

These were not all the same kind of taboo, but they shared a common feature. They took ideas that had been hidden, awkward, niche, or hard to say out loud and pushed them into the sunlight.

After 1996, the strange could become standard.

The Franchises Became a Shared Language Across Generations

The staying power of these properties may be the biggest proof of 1996’s importance.

Kimino recalls working on the Pokémon movie business and seeing an older company executive hold a Nintendo DS toward the screen during a preview event. The executive was receiving a special Mythical Pokémon distributed wirelessly at theaters and said he planned to show it off to his grandchild before trading it. That was in 2010. By then, Pokémon was already a three-generation product.

Detective Conan has done something similar. Its movie audience now crosses age groups, and each new entry is expected to push the series’ box office record higher. The latest film, Detective Conan: The Fallen Angel of Highway, has passed about $81 million (¥13 billion).

Tamagotchi, now in the middle of another boom, has also evolved into a parent-child item through communication features, gift exchanges, character matchmaking, and marriage systems.

Resident Evil booths at Tokyo Game Show now draw families. Sakura Wars lost its main Sega Saturn platform long ago, but the franchise continues to generate new fan interest through events, revivals, and spin-off effects.

A Gift From the Past and an Asset for the Future

The “content explosion” of 1996 was not just a nostalgia moment. It created the basic skeleton of much of Japan’s current content world.

For adults buying back the things they loved as children, 1996 is a gift from the past. For Gen Z fans discovering retro Heisei cuteness, it is a source of style and identity. For companies, it is an asset that can still be revived, remade, extended, and exported.

Economically, 1996 was not a golden age. Japan was still in a fragile recovery period, just before the 1997 consumption tax hike and Asian financial crisis.

But culturally, 1996 now looks like a prelude to the modern boom: mass anime exports, global streaming, character merchandising, theatrical anime records, and the worldwide rise of Japanese pop culture.

For Japan, a country that has repeatedly drawn strength from its content industries, 1996 was more than a good year for games, anime, and toys. It was the year the future showed up in character form.

Join the ⁠⁠Pure TokyoScope Patreon⁠⁠!

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SHOW NOTES

Japanese promo for “Masters of Universe” featuring “comedian” Kinnikun Nakayama

Japanese ad for Masters of the Universe toys by Takara

Replica Mad Max V8 Interceptor in Melbourne, Australia

Nikkei launches new stock index tracking Japan’s entertainment industry

7-Eleven Japan Pioneer Toshifumi Suzuki Dies at 93

A Pictorial History of Japanese 7-11 Uniforms

The Matcha Azuki Burrito at 7-11 Japan

Yoshihiro Nishimura – Japanese Splatter Master and ‘Tokyo Gore Police’ Director Has Passed Away

The Sushi Typhoon Bento Box

DX Chogokin SDF-1 Macross Intro Video

Robotech… to the Rescue! (1985)

Macross original English opening theme song 1984 (we used the Corn Pone Flicks version)

Macross: Do You Remember Love screening announced for Anime Expo 2026

Comments after the official Robotech account on X tweeted about the screening

Show Sponsor: The Women of Robotech

Sign up for the Pure TokyoScope Patreon! You’ll get access to full episodes, bonus video content, our Discord server, and an archive of past episodes.

Head over to the TokyoScope Podcast Patreon to subscribe today!