Imagine this: it's late at night. You're coming home from a hard day of work; you don't need any curveballs thrown at you. Suddenly, a swarm of men wearing Pikachu costumes surrounds you. You sigh, knowing that you can't run from this battle, even though you have no Pokemon of your own to fight them with. Soon, you've blacked out, winding up at the hospital with half of your money missing.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but based on these pictures, it could happen! A pack of Pikachu cosplayers have been hanging out with their trainer Satoshi (Ash to us Americans) in various parts of Shibuya and Harajuku. They're not really causing any problems, simply riding trains and eating at McDonald's. However, they only spoke to each other with cries of "pikachu pikachu," just like a real Pikachu would.

The cosplayers remind me of Pikaman, in that terrifying, mind-bending evil sort of way.

[Otakomu via ANN]

Imagine this: it's late at night. You're coming home from a hard day of work; you don't need any curveballs thrown at you. Suddenly, a swarm of men wearing Pikachu costumes surrounds you. You sigh, knowing that you can't run from this battle, even though you have no Pokemon of your own to fight them with. Soon, you've blacked out, winding up at the hospital with half of your money missing.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but based on these pictures, it could happen! A pack of Pikachu cosplayers have been hanging out with their trainer Satoshi (Ash to us Americans) in various parts of Shibuya and Harajuku. They're not really causing any problems, simply riding trains and eating at McDonald's. However, they only spoke to each other with cries of "pikachu pikachu," just like a real Pikachu would.

The cosplayers remind me of Pikaman, in that terrifying, mind-bending evil sort of way.

[Otakomu via ANN]

Change of pace, lunatics. We’ll be taking a break from EUREKA SEVEN and YU YU HAKUSHO for a week or so to catch up with a number of fine, new Funimation titles that have come to my doorstep. Read my thoughts on…

• SENGOKU BASARA: SAMURAI KINGS *** YAMADA'S FIRST TIME *** DRAGONBALL Z KAI
• CHAOS HEAD *** BUBBLEGUM CRISIS: TOKYO 2040 *** HETALIA: AXIS POWERS
• ONE PIECE

As far as I can recall, they don’t ever specify what the ages of these characters are, so I’ll just go ahead and assume they’re all seniors and feel safe that this isn’t tricky.

Once again, this show demonstrates how it really all comes down to execution. The notion of a school for monsters isn’t all too innovative. I’m pretty sure there was even a SCOOBY DOO special with the exact same premise. And this show is probably guilty of many of the same T&A excess that… *AHEM *… rub me the wrong way on other shows. But the difference, yet again, is that this has an amused self-awareness about all of that… and that self-awareness manifests in a fashion that’s actually funny.

Like the whole gag with this vampire girl sucking this dude’s life blood with what essentially works out to be a really rough hickey. That played well precisely because it knew how ridiculous the gooey-eyed heart fest was getting at the moment. It was able to have its red velvet cake and eat it, as it were.

So a fun way to kill a half hour. I don’t know if I’d be motivated to go out and kill another half hour this way, but that doesn’t diminish the moment. Perhaps it’s akin to making out with some random girl at a party, if you want to take it there.

Maybe this says more about my own, um, obsessions than anything, but I did have a lot of fun pretending this vampire girl was actually Lilith from DARKSTALKERS. I suppose only Japan has this uniquely sort of vampire who manages to be the girly girl and the hyper sexualized seductress at the same time.

Watch this episode, "New Life and a Vampire" and decide for yourself.

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk

Sure, Atlus may have had good news for its Vita-owning and fighting game-playing constituents, but what about the 3DS owners?! Where's the love for them?! It's right here, because they've just announced thatdungeon cartography game Etrian Odyssey IV will be on the DS-Triple in July. Actually, the game was announced quite some time ago (even before Devil Survivor Overclocked), but we now know its full name:Etrian Odyssey IV: The Legendary Giant.

In addition to the full name, Famitsu revealed that key staffers will return, including Director Daisuke Kaneda, background artist Nizou Yamamoto, monster designer Shin Nasagawa, sound designer Yuzo Koshiro, and most importantly, character designer Yuji Himukai, who will doubtless provide much adorable character art for gamers to imagine being slaughtered by F.O.E.s (artist's impression below). Also, the game will for the first time be including adjustable difficulty settings for gamers who like mapping dungeons more than dying horribly in them.

*Note: The header pic is from Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City.

Sure, Atlus may have had good news for its Vita-owning and fighting game-playing constituents, but what about the 3DS owners?! Where's the love for them?! It's right here, because they've just announced thatdungeon cartography game Etrian Odyssey IV will be on the DS-Triple in July. Actually, the game was announced quite some time ago (even before Devil Survivor Overclocked), but we now know its full name:Etrian Odyssey IV: The Legendary Giant.

In addition to the full name, Famitsu revealed that key staffers will return, including Director Daisuke Kaneda, background artist Nizou Yamamoto, monster designer Shin Nasagawa, sound designer Yuzo Koshiro, and most importantly, character designer Yuji Himukai, who will doubtless provide much adorable character art for gamers to imagine being slaughtered by F.O.E.s (artist's impression below). Also, the game will for the first time be including adjustable difficulty settings for gamers who like mapping dungeons more than dying horribly in them.

*Note: The header pic is from Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City.