I found this off Warren Ellis' blog last week. Far East Recording has been doing electronic music since 1989, and has recently started the OMODAKA project.

From the YouTube description:

Check out the video after the break.

Watch out Danny Choo!

According to the BBC, members of the Jedi Church in Holyhead were attacked by a man posing as Darth Vader. Apparently the guy was so drunk that he didn't remember anything after the incident. Reports state that the fellow vaulted over a wall and chased after church members while brandishing a metal crutch, wearing a black bin bag, and screaming "Darth Vader!" at the top of his lungs.

Read more at the BBC.

Not content with only destroying lolicon, the Japanese cops seem to be striking Akihabara where it hurts the most: their street meido (Source: Mainichi Shinbun Wai Wai).
Loli-shota kei?

Right on the tail of Kadokawa Shoten canning the distribution of doujin games featuring their characters, Crypton Future Media has relented upon the doujin game community.
Robots make everything better!
According to Ejin Kenkyuusho, the developer of the doujin game that received a cease and desist from Crypton, they received an approval from the company to resume distribution the game. The catch? The name of the game has been changed from "Tatakae! Ore no Hatsune Miku!"(戦え！オレの初音ミク; Fight! My Hatsune Miku) to "Ike! Miku to Miku Robo no Kenkyuusho" (行け！ミクとミクロボの研究所; Go! Miku and Miku Robos Laboratory).

From the information provided and the letter that Ejin Kenkyuusho received, it seems like the original cease and desist was an attempt to prevent the doujin game producer from diluting and misrepresenting Cryptons properties. The letter states that Crypton had reviewed the game and found no problems with it. They only requested that the name be changed so that there is no misunderstanding with consumers that this is an unofficial title.

In addition to this, Crypton has made changes to their Piapro FAQ such that they no longer explicitly forbid the release of fan made games using their products. It now states that unofficial doujin games based off the Hatsune Miku family set of characters have no specific restrictions other than that the game does not damage the image of Cryptons products and follows their EULA.

However, the restrictions on the ero dakimakura still stand. orz

Via Anime News Network

Japanese doujin circle souvenier circ. has ceased distribution of their Suzumiya Haruhi doujin game titled "The Fierce Fighting of Haruhi Suzumiya" (「涼宮ハルヒの激闘」) due to a request from Kadokawa Shoten.

A happy Valentines day from all of us at Otakugen to you!
Stolen from Cafe Log

Sorry everyone for the lack of posts but for the past few days I've been feeling like Len will feel like in 30 seconds if he doesn't notice that road roller.

Anyway, hopefully get back into the swing of posts by next week. In the meantime, accept my bribe of random cheesecake and/or moe images after the break.

Hm, maybe alliteration isn't my strong point...
If you're turned on by this picture, you could be affected
Connoisseurs of lolicon beware! Weekly Playboy magazine reports Japanese authorities are finally starting to crack down on the highly lucrative teen and child exploitation gravure business.

Although Japan has started implementing similar child pornography laws as most of Western society, the lack of enforcement in recent years have seen an explosion of materials targeted directly to men who like them young. Photo compilations of popular idols ranging from their late teens to preteens to as low as eight years old fly off the shelves as they're released to a teeming mass of fans hungry (horny?) for more photos of their favorite starlets. Reports suggest that over 3 million photo books sold from 2006 to 2007 alone (See Japan Times).

But this may soon be screeching to a halt. The police conducted a series of raids late last year on producers of a photo shoot DVD "starring" a schoolgirl that resulted in the maker of the DVD to be arrested for Child Pornography.

This marks the first time in Japan history that an individual was arrested for breaking the Child Pornography law without proliferating images that featured nudity. Following further review, the charge has been dropped to a violation of the Child Welfare Law the effects have been far reaching in the gravure business.

So what does this mean for the 2D lolicon industry? At the moment, nothing. Much like pre-2006 American law, drawn pornography depicting "young" models does not necessarily entail that it is child pornography. Though there has been limited action against lolicon manga, in general that is not touched. Still, it provides a worrying note to those who like them 2D and young.

(Via Mainichi Daily News: Wai Wai)

After a short hiatus, looks like Preyx and me are finally back to posting. Now we just wait for dave and drakken...

Anyway, for everyone who loved Hatsune Miku and the Kagamine twins and wanted to use the Vocaloid2 software to make their own songs but didn't have the Japanese knowledge to decipher the complex workings of Yamaha's infernal moe (萌) machine, there is hope yet for you to craft angelically beautiful songs (or if you're like me, make these girls say dirty words and chortle childishly... then cry myself to sleep). Zero-G, Ltd., of the UK is releasing Vocaloid 2 PRIMA (no, not Prima like the gondoliers in Aria, Prima as in the star of an opera or show), the newest addition to the English Vocaloid line that samples the voice of a "professional soprano singer." Unfortunately, the software seems to use a soprano opera singer rather than a soprano bubblegum pop singer but I'm pretty sure you can get a similar effect with a slightly deeper voice.

For those of you still interested, you can order it at Time+Space for a meager 97.83 pounds. You can also find demo songs on their page in the left column. One thing that you might notice is that unlike the new Rin songs, she still has some of the synthesis issues that Miku has, which can slightly detract or add to the listening experience.

You can check out a full rundown of her features after the break.

Found via ミクミク Blog

あらあら、うふふふ
Apologies for not posting for so long. A few other things kicked up and I just been too lazy too busy to really post.

Anyway, I finally got some new bookshelves for my manga. If you're like me and really need shelves to easily and somewhat attractively store manga without having to double stack to feel like you're not wasting space, you should head on down to IKEA and pick up a set of BESTÅ shelves. They sell them in DVD depth, which is perfect for 99% of manga sizes.

Anyway, pictures of my current state of organization after the break.