Hikari Hino is a Japanese porn star, though they prefer the term AV idol. According to Wikipedia, she has lasted far longer in the Japanese porn business than the average AV idol, with over 167 video appearances–*ahem*–under her belt.
She makes this week’s Cosplay of the Week because she’s gathered quite the fan following and because when I first saw the above photo, I mistook her for Summer Glau.
There’s an item of controversy that’s infected the video game industry: The idea that buying used games somehow steals bread from the mouths of starving developers. This, of course, is lunacy.
I did an awesome interview with Phoenix Kasai last night… It will be up on GotGame either this Friday or next.
After the interview, I added her as a friend on MySpace so I could see when she uploads new photos and because that’s currently her primary homepage. She returned the befriending, adding the following comment to my page:
Hey it was great chatting with you tonight! I forgot to mention during the interview.. I will never look at my C Viper figure the same way after your piece a couple weeks/months ago on her “flaw”. I’m now obsessed with showing people my figure when they come over b/c they just don’t believe how bad it really is. ^__^;
The “flaw” she’s referring to is the one that I’d mentioned in an article she’d seen about the Crimson Viper action figure. Knowing this, I clicked the “Comment Back” link to send this reply:
I’m usually in favor of a little camel toe, but holy cow! There are limits! O_o
When I looked again at my MySpace homepage, I was confused to not find my reply underneath her comment. I’d assumed that replying to comments was like any other thread, but apparently this is not the case for MySpace.
It then occurred to me to look at her homepage, finding my response with no context connecting it to her original message to me. I thought, “Well, that’s going to look inappropriate.” Thus, I quickly composed a second comment, clarifying my true meaning from the first.
I fail at MySpace. Good thing I don’t use it much.
Though thankfully, I’m not as careless, I was reminded of this recent post of FaceBook fail (under the break):
Can you believe it’s taken this long to post a pic of Kipi? Let’s face it, Kipi is one of the most popular cosplay models on the scene because of her deep, beautiful eyes and pinch-able apple cheeks. Her photo shoots as Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion are some of my favorites.
It’s probably taken this long for me to post a Kipi pic because I’m more concerned with her fan following than Kipi herself. She looks younger than she actually is and I’m anything but cool with the lolicon crowd.
At the Gamescom convention yesterday, Sony officially announced–I hope you’re sitting down for this, kids–that they will be releasing a PS3 Slim model, due out in September. What a shock. You could have knocked me over with a feather.
Sony has proven that they’re terrible at keeping secrets. Rumors of a slim model emerged as early as this past February, as reported by T3. Sony denied any such plans. Then in May, photos leaked out of the PS3 Slim in production, including what became proven to be its packaged design. Sony continued to deny it, even though many publications that posted the photos were sent cease & desist letters from the Taiwanese factory’s lawyers.
With the evidence mounting, everyone hoped to see the PS3 Slim appear at this year’s E3. It remained absent, but we were introduced to Sony’s other worst-kept secret, the PSP-Go. After hearing tips from developers and a slip of the tongue during an episode of 1UP’s @1UP podcast, and a leaked video displaying the new design, it was hard to deny its existence. Sony denied away… That is, until its official debut at E3.
PSP Go Artist's Concept (aka, 'Wow, that's a really good guess!')
This rained doubt over whether or not what we’d been seeing about the PS3 Slim was a hoax afterall. But as a close industry insider predicted, Sony was holding off just a little longer before unveiling the new design. His explanation made sense: Sony wanted to liquidate existing stock of current versions of the PS3 in order to make room on store shelves for the Slim. If people knew too soon about a newer, potentially cheaper model, those in the market for a PS3 might hold off until its release, leaving older PS3 models to collect dust in inventory.
I understand the method to this madness, but there are wiser ways to handle the situation. Sony’s method of denial may save some sales in the short-term, but in the long run it does damage to their already-struggling reputation. They remind me of Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraq’s Information Minister during the 2003 invasion. The man denied that America had any presence in Iraq, even as soldiers and tanks could be seen behind him.
If you can keep your secrets secure, then congratulations on a successful plan. But once the cat’s out of the bag, you have to alter your strategy. Accept that what we’ve seen/heard is true, correct whatever mistakes were made to prevent future leaks, and come up with a new incentive for consumers to buy up your old stock.
It’s long been my hope to get my own PS3 sometime this year (I’ve already picked up Street Fighter IV). I’m happy to have my first PS3 be the sexy new Slim model. But what’s bringing that dream closer to reality is the price cut. Current models of PS3 have already been reduced in price, with the Slim debuting at $299. Despite months of cries from developers, Sony not just denied, but flat out refused to budge on the PS3′s high price points.
Many cosplay models (as with their character counterparts) are waif in stature. Cyborg Nene proves that you don’t have to be a stick figure to be sexy. This is not to say that she’s fat; she’s got curves where they count.
You may assume that the curves that earned her this spot on CotW are of her bosom. But no… I just like devil girls.
Last week, the first episode of Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs were offered up for free on the PlayStation Network. It originally aired in the United States back in 1987, presumably to cash in on the growing popularity of shows like Voltron. It’s not until these 12 years later that I’d even heard of the show, but that comes as little surprise since it is not any good.
Saber Riders is a localized version of the Japanese Star Musketeer Bismark, another drop in the bucket full of sentai shows. It’s the usual formula: Aliens invade, costumed superheroes go to work, form giant robot, monster-of-the-week explodes…hooray!
What strikes me about this show is how the theme of the characters’ archetypes were changed in the localization process. In the United States version, we identify with the characters by their occupation: The knight, the race car driver, the cowboy, and the girl.
However, in the original Japanese, they’re identified by nationality. In fact, you’ll notice that each character’s costume bears the flag of their nation of origin. So Japanese audiences recognized the characters as the British guy, the Japanese guy, the American, and the girl (oh, she’s French). And of course, the Japanese character was the leader, where the Brit lead the charges for the Western audiences.
Oh, Japan… It’s one thing that we have to water down a cartoon so that it’s less violent for American children to digest. But it’s sours the ordeal just that much more when we have to make the cartoon appear less racist. Luckily that filter has been much more forgiving for more comical cases of racial stereotype, as seen in Punch-Out! and G Gundam.
It’s not so easy to find cosplay of Street Fighter IV‘s new hotness, Crimson Viper. This is strange, since C. Viper’s costume design just about begs the attention of the cosplay community! The best that I’ve found is the creation of a girl known only online as Phoenix Kasai.
Not only does Phoenix Kasai fit the mold, but she also answers one of my biggest questions: How the hell do you get your hair to look like that??
Twitter was down for a few hours earlier today, crippling the world of online single-serving exhibitionism.
I use Twitter myself and I’ve been meaning to use it more often. Though I’ve come to realize that there are really three types of people who use Twitter: People with a genuine passion for writing and journalism. Douchebags with the impulse to narrate every single beat of their mundane lives. And sheeple that sign up because they saw Twitter mentioned on TV but have no idea how to actually use it.
This being the case, I endorse the idea illustrated in the video below. Some people just don’t belong on Twitter and are a waste of bandwidth. Twitter–like blogs–is for people who have something to say. If you really don’t have anything significant to say, you don’t need Twitter.
“Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools speak because they have to say something.” -Plato
The first photos I ever saw of Omi Gibson in cosplay was as Rowdy Reiko from Rumble Roses. From there, I was instantly hooked, seeking out as much as I could about who Omi was and what other characters she’d done. Mostly, I was curious to see if that insane snake tattoo was real!
This is the special “swimsuit edition” of Rowdy Reiko, though Omi does a mighty fine portrayal of her canon outfit as well.
Saber Riders is a localized version of the Japanese Star Musketeer Bismark, another drop in the bucket full of sentai shows. It’s the usual formula: Aliens invade, costumed superheroes go to work, form giant robot, monster-of-the-week explodes…hooray!
