As I was looking up places to eat in Tokyo, I discovered an incredible place in the district of Jinbocho: Curry Land, a shop that specializes in selling instant curry from all over Japan.
Located in a small side street not far from the main intersection in Jinbocho, Curry Land is a tiny shop with no frills. Past the sliding door at the entrance are three or four shelves filled with pre-cooked curry in reheatable pouches. A woman was running the shop when I visited, and she was very helpful, though I don’t know if she’s the owner or just someone employed there.
Many of these packages are local types of curry, normally found only in the specific regions from which they originate. There are also other unusual options, such as curries eaten on naval vessels or even a whaling ship. The shop even has its own special curry available!
I bought nine packs in total, which ended up being about 7,000–8,000 yen, with the price of individual packages varying.
Clockwise from top left: Go Go Curry (not actually at the shop but I included it in the photo anyway), Whaling Ship Curry (does not contain whale), Curry Land’s Own Black Wagyu Cream Cheese Curry, Graceful Lady Pink Curry, Iwakuni Naval Flying Forces Curry, Ibaraki Chestnut Curry, Famous Osaka Curry with Worcestershire sauce, Enoshima Naval Curry, Dinosaur Curry (made with chicken), and Spicy Mutton Curry.
Some could be relatively expensive (~1,300 yen), so while this store won’t break the bank (unless you try really, really hard) this is not the place to go if you really care about getting the cheapest options. Nevertheless, Curry Land is basically a dream come true for me, and I recommend it to anyone who loves curry, but also anyone who wants to experience a thin yet broad slice of Japanese food.
I plan to review each curry eventually, but I don’t know if I’m going to devote a separate blog post for each curry, or if I’ll cover a few at a time. I know it’s not exactly anime, but I hope you’ll indulge me.
hololive is arguably the premier VTuber company, and hololive fes is the big annual concert for its female talents. I’ve been watching avidly for a few years now, and it’s become a tradition I increasingly look forward to every time. However, 2025 saw quite a few major challenges for hololive, notably the departure of multiple talents. So while I was just as enthusiastic as ever about watching this year’s 7th fes, I wondered how differently I might end up feeling with so many familiar names gone.
Despite the potential setbacks, I came out of it with generally positive vibes. I always appreciate that we get performances of all stripes, with each talent bringing a story of their own that was created through their experiences as VTubers and the fanbases they’ve cultivated.
Venue and Other Details
This was the first year that the event took place over three days—a change that affected its associated convention, hololive Super Expo 2026, as well. Rather than having two concerts per day over two days, they had one on Friday, two on Saturday, and one on Sunday. Moreover, whereas one of those concerts used to be an “extra” stage that utilized talents from the other three, this time around saw all four concerts featuring unique performers. Watching the stream live meant messing with my sleep schedule, in some ways better compared to previous years and in other ways worse, due to time zone shenanigans and a pesky thing called a “work week.”
Once again, the venue setup used multiple stages as a way to have more people able to get better views of at least a few performances. The mysterious pod from 6th fes did not return, and was replaced by a new moving cart/trolly contraption with screens on the sides, which acted as “windows” to see the VTubers and vice versa. It moved through a diagonally placed lane that cut through the audience section, with the seeming aim of also providing more up-close viewing and interactions with the talents. While it was definitely less confusing and bizarre than the pod, it didn’t have quite the novelty factor, for better or worse.
The Debuts
While it stung to lose some beloved members of hololive in 2025 and to have both Inugami Korone and Haachama not participating, the overall number of performers stayed close to the same as last year thanks to the two most recent generations making their fes debuts: Justice on the English side and Flow Glow on the Japanese side. While the graduated talents were truly special and can never be replaced, the performances by the newest blood kept them well out of their predecessors’ enormous shadows.
Justice showcased each of their unique approaches—Liz’s versatile vocal range, Cecilia’s emphasis on elegance and accuracy along with a violin solo, Gigi’s boundless energy and a singing style that hangs on a razor’s edge, Raora’s bubbly pop. And when Flow Glow hit the stage, they put on a display of why they’re the most stage-focused group ever in hololive thanks to their well-honed skills and experience in singing, dancing, and overall entertainment.
Leveling Up
For the returning fes veterans, their hard work came through more than ever in their performances, with some having come particularly far from where they started.
With her characteristic awkward grace, Shiori Novella sang her recently-released first original song, “Monsters and Men” and came across as more comfortable than any previous performance—possibly because the song was made for her. Biboo (Koseki Bijou) discovered in the past year a method for singing lower, which she utilized for her original song “Rock In” while showing increasing comfort with dancing. Ichijou Ririka took on the challenge of covering “Darling Dance” and its fairly complicated choreography despite having two left feet when she first debuted. Ouro Kronii probably wins the award for greatest overall vocal improvement, showing a different and more vibrant quality as she performed a surprise new original of her own titled “Storm.” And Airani Iofi pulled off an impressive cover of “Unison of Smiles,” the main heroine’s signature song from You and Idol Precure!, emphasizing just how far she’s come in all aspects.
Not everyone comes to hololive as a strong singer or dancer (skill in either doesn’t seem to be a strict requirement), so seeing evidence of the talents’ hard work and progress in these areas gives me joy.
Conquering Great Hurdles
Even those with more experience and ability pushed their limits. Baelz Hakos, already a top dancer, gave a stunning performance of the first Oshi no Ko opening, “Idol.” One stand-out moment was when Bae seamlessly transitioned into a squat as she went into the rap portion of the song, but more significantly, she also threw in a cartwheel and some basic breakdancing moves at the end. These are more acrobatic moves that she has been afraid to do because of the potential head trauma, and for her to confront her fear directly was a real thing of beauty.
Perhaps the biggest story of all was the astounding recovery made by Kazama Iroha from holoX. In 2024, she was afflicted with a psychological condition that left her unable to speak, and her voice only barely managed to come back by the time 6th fes rolled around. But whereas some of her speech was still noticeably halting and unsteady in 2025, a year of speech therapy and streaming resulted in an Iroha at 7th fes who almost made me forget the tribulations she’s experienced. We saw her sing and dance with confidence, and even have heartfelt and off-the-cuff exchanges with her frequent collab partner (and idol) AZKi.
Preludes to Upcoming Concerts
Speaking of holoX, they have their big live-attendance concert, First Mission, coming up. They’re not alone either, as Ninomae Ina’nis and Takanashi Kiara from Myth are only days away from their own concert in Los Angeles, Drawn to Dawn. While I can’t be sure how the rehearsal timelines lined up, I really felt that their practice for these major events are evident at 7th fes, especially in the case of Kiara and holoX’s leader, La+ Darknesss.
Kiara’s dancing and singing showed a new level of refinement, while La+ once again focused mainly on singing for her solo performance…and then threw everyone for a loop by humorously and abruptly tossed her prop guitar on the ground at the beginning of her song. When Kiara and La+ then performed together their original, “Glow in the Dark,” they reminded me that 1) Kiara is one of the most versatile talents around, and 2) even as the overall level of dance in hololive keeps going up, there’s really something special about the way La+ moves. At the same time, it felt like both of them were holding back a bit, as if they’re saving the big guns for the upcoming concerts.
IRyS has also just announced her first solo live concert for October 2026. I had thought her incredibly solid performance of her Eurobeat original “Carbonated Love” might have been out of a desire to feature at fes a song she personally adores, but now I also suspect it’s because the majority of her energy is going into this major project.
Other Stand-Outs
There were still other performances that caught my attention.
I feel that the entirety of hololive Indonesia really showed up this year. Moona Hoshinova especially brought some of my favorite performances of the entire event, with “100%,” her song featuring Nerissa Ravencroft, being one of the absolute highlights for me.
On the Japanese side, Nekomata Okayu’s deep and sultry singing is always a surprise, but it really hit hard this time around. Natsuiro Matsuri can go under the radar, but she appears to have made some incredible strides this year on top of her already underrated skills.
I also got a kick out of Todoroki Hajime’s new solo choreography for “Countach,” and Otonose Kanade’s voice rang out loud and beautifully on “Greatest.” And while Juufuutei Raden isn’t quite the musical performer of her fellow ReGLOSS members, the fact that she turned a Japanese art history lesson into a song and then had thousands singing along (and thus learning in the process!) really showed me how VTubers can reach people in unique ways.
Final Thoughts
As I finished watching 7th fes, I began to think about the structure of the event itself and what it can accomplish. fes is a gathering of both the hololive talents and their fans, and because these fanbases don’t overlap perfectly, the concerts can also be someone’s introduction to other VTubers. In that context, I end up wondering what kind of first big impression these unfamiliar audience members get. The way this format encourages fans to branch out past their immediate faves by providing this comfortable atmosphere really appeals to me, especially with the live audience there to react. That’s why, despite the fact that fes prices out a lot of fans (and something like the New Year’s Countdown is arguably a better introduction because it costs nothing to watch), I think it can go a long way in igniting someone’s career and helping someone discover a new favorite.
So while I certainly missed the presence of the talents who left or couldn’t be there, it was also an opportunity in many ways. I just hope that hololive can foster an environment that gives these artists the chance to develop their craft in the ways they want, and in ways that keep them healthy in both mind and body.
Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle- FINAL is a very unusual movie, even as far as anime goes. Acting as the conclusion to the Hypnosis Mic franchise—in which handsome men rap battle one another using weaponized microphones in order to get a chance at overthrowing an oppressive government run by women (no, I’m not kidding)—this film is somewhat unique in that it has no true ending. Instead, it leaves the fate of these rappers to the viewers, who get to vote on who wins each rap battle and progress to the next round.
In other words, this film is a group-effort “Choose Your Own Adventure” movie, with seven endings and multiple branching paths to get there. On the one hand, it’s fun to compare the path and ending you got to the results from different screenings. On the other hand, it’s also a way to get fans to pay for the same movie seven times at minimum in order to get all the endings, or at least try to coordinate with like-minded fans to get the battles and endings they want.
I was already fairly familiar with Hypnosis Mic before this. I first happened upon a collab cafe on a trip to Japan (eight years ago at this point!), watched the two seasons of the anime, and even got a preview of this specific movie at Anime Expo 2025. Unfortunately, the screening there purposely cut off after the first round of rap battles, so I decided it wasn’t worth writing about until this point.
The film itself feels like a series of cut scenes meant to both quickly introduce new viewers to these characters and provide plenty of fanservice to existing fans. There are no real narrative twists and turns, because everything is determined by audience vote. It’s gimmicky but fun, a somewhat distorted glimpse into the world of Japanese rap, and perhaps for those less familiar with this and other similar titles, a chance to see what your local crowd values in hot anime dudes.
Going to the theater to see a movie has always been a social experience to an extent, but this Hypnosis Mic movie really places that aspect front and center in a different way. You are meant to be cheering on the groups as they compete while also hoping the crowd votes the way you do. That also means having people who will make their opinions known, and the audience could get rather…spirited. Notably, I overheard a fan who was describing in detail the things they wanted to see the characters do to each other, and also to her. I did not presume that I’d be getting a quiet cinematic experience, but I certainly wasn’t expecting something like that. Anime film screenings can often get crowds not entirely accustomed to watching things in public, and I wonder if the COVID pandemic made that even more common.
I decided that, rather than pick a favorite team (which I don’t exactly have), I would vote based on who I thought rapped the best. Ultimately, the Shinjuku team Matenro ended up as the winner at the show I attended. The fact that I would not consider that a spoiler is one of the quirks of this film’s format.
Shockingly, the Party of Words (the final bosses) have the top win rate in the US despite being the only major female characters in a franchise dominated by guys meant to appeal to women. As someone who likes the Party of Words—where else can you find as the main villain an attractive 50-something woman who is both canonically the most powerful rapper and voiced by Kobayashi Yuu?—I’m pleasantly shocked.
Ultimately, Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle- is something to enjoy for the spectacle rather than as a conventional film. In the latter sense, it’s pretty flat. In the former, it’s a good time. If you’ve been to a screening (or multiple ones), how did things turn out for you?
Ikeda Masako, the voice of one of my all-time favorite anime characters in her long-time role as Maetel from Galaxy Express999, passed away earlier this month. It feels like just yesterday that Matsumoto Leiji himself passed away, but it’s already been three years.
As I had mentioned back in 2023, the Galaxy Express 999 movie from 1979 is forever my #1 anime film. There’s the soulful world filled with hope and tragedy as dreamed up by Matsumoto. There’s the dramatic presentation in animated form thanks to the production team as led by director Rintaro. But the actors were central to the overall mood and emotional maelstrom of 999, and the dual Masakos Ikeda and Nozawa are key to it all.
Their interactions in their roles as Maetel and boy protagonist Tetsuro were something that truly stayed with me when I first watched that film over 20 years ago. Ikeda’s voice felt like a contradiction: warm and nurturing, yet cold and distant. And when she delivered that final speech at the very end, I could feel my young heart forever captivated by her tragic beauty. And whenever I saw her reprise the role, I could feel myself be transported back to those days of my youth.
I don’t know if there will ever be more in the 999 franchise, but I have to wonder who they might pick. There was Yukino Satsuki, who played an alternate Maetel in Shinkalion Z, but she’s also a much younger version in that series.
Tetsuro’s voice, Nozawa Masako, famously went on to play Goku in Dragon Ball. She gave a touching and sorrowful memorial statement of her own, in which she mentions the fact that they would actually call each other “Tetsuro” and “Maetel.”
Farewell, Maetel. May you join the Sea of Stars with grace and the gratitude of countless people touched by your talent.
I’ve often wondered why, in the realm of shipping, one ship is particularly popular or even more popular than another. I understand that taste is subjective and we all have our reasons for liking some characters (or combinations of characters), but to my eyes, there’s not much difference between them.
But recently, it clicked: Sometimes, it’s simply about imagining what sex between these characters would be like.
“Well, obviously,” you might be saying, but I feel like my approach to pairings is such that this didn’t occur to me for a long time. The way I grow to like a particular relationship in fiction comes from thinking about how characters complement each other, and how they’d be for each other if they were together. While physical attraction is a factor, it’s the emotional and interpersonal dynamic that I mainly think about, and in a way that doesn’t automatically translate to me as behavior in bed.
But now that I realize this, I can sometimes see a ship and have a better sense as to what makes it and its fandom tick. And I think this has given me a bit more empathy for fans I don’t understand right away.
The manga Vesta de Cooking, an isekai cooking series based on the VTubers of hololive, is currently doing a collaborative cafe in Japan. I happened to be in the country recently (albeit not in time for 7th fes), and the chance to do something Haachama-related was too good to pass up.
The event has been going on since January, but the location moves every few weeks. Currently, it’s in Shinjuku at the Dish Up Collab Cafe space. It can only be attended by making reservations through the Sweets Paradise app, which is fortunately available outside of Japan.
Vesta de Cooking stars Akai Haato (aka Haachama), Tsunomaki Watame, Shirogane Noel, and Shiranui Flare. The food and drinks served are meant to either be re-creations of dishes found in the manga or reflective of the four hololive members. I ended up ordering the Haachama-related items—the spicy hamburger and the Shirley Temple—plus Watame’s pudding a la mode.
The burger and fries actually had dried peppers placed across the dish, perhaps as a way to let the customer decide how much spice they wanted. The burger itself was decent enough, the Shirley Temple was refreshing and had bits of fruit, and the Watame dessert was mostly good except that the donut was mediocre. You can’t expect amazing food at these cafes, so I wasn’t surprised, though I did ultimately come away from a satisfied belly. In hindsight, however, I do wish I got one of the manga re-creation dishes.
As per the gimmick of a collab cafe, I got some random coasters—the idea is that in order to get everything, you have to keep spending money. Fortunately, I managed to get a Haachama coaster, so I consider that a win. I also spent way over the minimum 200 yen needed to get the clear place mat depicting all the girls’ mascots. Of course, the food and the coaster gacha weren’t the only ways to make the fans part with their money, and the cafe included a store to buy related merch. I decided to get a little cloth bag filled with a chocolate chip cookie, as well as a metal cup. Because I also bought some items for friends, I spent enough to get some illustration cards, i.e. “bromides” in Japanese. Pictured below are the items I got from the store, as well as some other things I picked up at the hololive shop in Tokyo Station and from a trip to Tower Records.
The cafe was decorated with various panels from the manga series, with sections roughly divided by character. TV screens displayed music videos from the girls, though curiously, the songs playing over the sound system did not match up with those MVs. There were also some life-size cut-outs at the entrance that were partially covered in notes and signings from the participating hololive members.
I noticed that Haachama had not written on her own standee (though there were comments and doodles from the others on hers), and I think it might have to do with her currently being on break to help recover mentally.
7th fes just wrapped up a few hours ago as of this post, and while Haachama could not participate this year, I think she can make another comeback. In the meantime, I will bask in the memories of this cafe and hope that the next time I’m in Japan, I can do something else fun in connection to her, as well as hololive as a whole.
Japan’s famous all-female theatre troupe, the Takarazuka Revue, put up a recording of one of their performances for international streaming. The theme: Castlevania, the classic Konami video game series about fighting vampires, and half the namesake of the “Metroidvania” genre.
In fact, Castlevania: Awakening in the Moonlight is actually a loose adaptation of the franchise’s first Metroidvania, Symphony of the Night. It even starts with Richter Belmont’s refrain (in)famously translated as “Die, monster! You don’t belong in this world!” And after Dracula’s defeat at the hands of Richter, time jumps forward to focus on the main protagonist of this story: Dracula’s half-human son, Alucard.
Despite having traveled to Japan before, this was my first time watching Takarazuka. I had some idea of what to expect based on numerous cultural references in Japanese media, but all my assumptions were waiting to be defied or affirmed.
I believed Takarazuka to be non-stop singing, but that wasn’t the case. While it’s certainly a musical, the numbers are interspersed between spoken scenes. I also wasn’t sure how they would incorporate the action element of Castlevania, which turned out to be more of an interpretive dance-fighting that fits the medium, and largely takes a secondary role to drama, angst, and romance. That said, they do include some elements from the Symphony of the Night I had not expected.
And sometimes, something happened that would reinforce my preconceived image of a Takarazuka Castlevania while also throwing me for a loop. Namely, they somehow manage to incorporate the French Revolution into this thing, and Robespierre is even a prominent character! The Rose of Versailles is one of the Takarazuka Revue’s most iconic adaptations, so it’s not wholly unusual that they would use France as a partial backdrop to Awakening in the Moonlight. Nevertheless, making Castlevania more familiar and accessible to the typical Takarazuka fan in this manner is pretty amazing.
I believe all the music is taken from the games and adapted for the stage with lyrics and all. Given that Castlevania as a whole has a fantastic soundtrack, it’s not a surprise that they would take this approach. That said, it’s certainly different from other times they’ve added words.
I could tell that I was limited in some ways by the home viewing experience. While I definitely appreciate the opportunity to watch it from the comfort of my couch, I’m 100% sure that it pales in comparison to being there in person. There are parts that feel a bit long, but I wonder if the live spectacle would change the experience—I’ve seen enough musicals at this point to know this can happen. Maybe I should make the trip out to Takarazuka next time I have the opportunity.
I continue to vacillate between feelings of hope and despair for humanity, and I really hope the former wins out. I’ve come to realize that many human beings have to touch the stove to learn their lesson, and I get the sense that a lot of people have put their hands on the flames at this point. I just wish it didn’t cost so many lives in the process. Innocent people are caught in the imperialist games of the world, and they should not be the ones to bear the cost.
Shout-out to my Patreon members, and a big, big thanks to the following:
Lots of tweets leading up to the live drawing event that took place on February 21.
Closing
I actually happened to be in Japan for part of February! I plan on having lots of blog posts based on my experiences and (delightfully tariff-free) purchases.
While I don’t have a set schedule for what I will post and when, I hope you’ll enjoy the fruits of my travels.
Kio will be going analog (physical media + projector!) for his live drawing session this month with Minoda Kaidou. He plans to draw a Spotted Flower character.
Because Kio has felt his concentration decline recently, he decided to draw outside. He’s not sure how well it worked, despite being more productive overall.
Having decided to write out the plot in the morning for something in Spotted Flower, Kio went and finished the written storyboard. He had thought about how it should go for a while, so the drawing went pretty smoothly.
Additional advertisement for the live drawing event. Kio mentions you can get a photo copy of the drawings! He also reconfirms that it’ll be streamed using a projector.
When asked about what they’re hoping for at the live drawing event, Minoda said her answer was a difficult one—she wants to see people to react to their drawings by going, “What the heck is this?!” This makes Kio look forward to being there.
Kio thanks Minoda for her congratulatory message on 50 chapters of Spotted Flower. Minoda also drew characters from Kio’s previous manga Jigopuri. Minoda also mentions the live drawings will be bunny girls.
In Japan, a double cheeseburger (especially from McDonald’s) is sometimes referred to as a dabuchi—short for daburu chiizubaagaa.
Recently, I had a thought: Doesn’t dabuchi sound a lot like duì bùqĭ—Mandarin Chinese for “sorry”?
I feel like someone could make a good pun out of this, but having to cross two languages so that it makes sense feels like a tall order. If anyone wants to take a swing, be my guest!
OGIUE MANIAX 