mannequin – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today. Fri, 21 Apr 2023 15:01:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/05/en_rocket_1024.png?w=32 mannequin – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com 32 32 176746664 Takeshi’s Castle returns, and we make news with overseas press for our fundoshi https://soranews24.com/2023/04/22/takeshis-castle-returns-and-we-make-news-with-overseas-press-for-our-fundoshi/ https://soranews24.com/2023/04/22/takeshis-castle-returns-and-we-make-news-with-overseas-press-for-our-fundoshi/#comments Fri, 21 Apr 2023 15:00:58 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=621757 
When everyone else wears sensible clothes to a press event, we wear loincloths.
On 20 April, the world premiere of Takeshi’s Castle was held at Yebisu Garden Place in Tokyo, the day before its worldwide release on 21 April.
With no expense spared for the premiere, the event space took three days to construct, as guests were treated to a mini recreation of one of the show’s most popular games — Ryujin-Ike, known overseas as Dragon God’s Pond.
▼ Some of the show’s celebrity hosts appeared outside an hour before the premiere.
Contestants navigate Dragon God’s Pond by jumping on stepping stones to reach the other side of the pond, and in the 2023 iteration of the show, the distance to reach the goal has increased, making it more difficult than ever to reach successfully.
It’s a game our Japanese-language team knows intimately, as they were chosen from over 1,300 applicants to join the 300 lucky participants appearing on the show. As participants, they were also invited to the premiere in Tokyo, where they were able to meet up with some of the other contestants, whom they hadn’t seen since filming took place last summer.
▼ The army that attempted to capture Takeshi’s Castle last summer.
Joining the participants for the premiere screening were social media influencers and members of the press, including members of the foreign press, who approached our loincloth-wearing team for photos.
Our team were excited to watch the first episode, but during the screening, they were surprised at just how much the press were laughing. The level of laughter was beyond what they’d been expecting, and Mr Sato says the cheers and screams from the foreign media behind him was incredible — it was on par with the reactions you’d see at a World Cup match.
▼ Don’t worry, Mr Sato — we’re sure they were laughing with you, not at you.
With the original ’80s program being broadcast in over 150 countries, Takeshi’s Castle has an iconic reputation that precedes itself, and the foreign media were lapping up this first episode of the revival. It was a great reminder of how programs like these, where everyday people attempt to take down a mighty foe, translate so well across countries. It also reminded him that laughing at people falling flat on their faces is a commonality that’s just as universal.
How many times will our team fall flat on their faces? And how many times will they make us laugh? You can find out right now by checking out the first four episode on Amazon Prime, which began streaming on 21 April, with the four final episodes streaming on 28 April.
Related: Takeshi’s Castle
*Photos ©*2023 Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved / SoraNews24
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2023/04/22/takeshis-castle-returns-and-we-make-news-with-overseas-press-for-our-fundoshi/feed/ 0 621757 Fuun! Takeshi's Castle amazon Prime Japan remake date RocketNews24 SoraNews24 TV show watch new online 1-1-1 Fuun! Takeshi's Castle amazon Prime Japan remake date RocketNews24 SoraNews24 TV show watch new online We try Amazon’s lowest rated posing mannequin, but it wasn’t the doll that was one star https://soranews24.com/2023/02/10/we-try-amazons-lowest-rated-posing-mannequin-but-it-wasnt-the-doll-that-was-one-star/ https://soranews24.com/2023/02/10/we-try-amazons-lowest-rated-posing-mannequin-but-it-wasnt-the-doll-that-was-one-star/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2023 15:00:25 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=615453 
Can Amazon’s lowest rated posable mannequin turn our reporter into a skilled artist?
Our reporter Masanuki Sunakoma was browsing Amazon Japan one day when he came across a posing mannequin, used to capture the human form by artists and illustrators. These adjustable figurines can be used to draw unique poses and angles that might be difficult for a real, human model to reproduce.
Masanuki is not an artist by any means, but he is something of an expert in Amazon products with worryingly low ratings, and when he saw that this posing mannequin had a measly 1.9 star rating, he knew he had to buy it right away. Much like his previous low-rated purchases, the mannequin had a simple, easy to remember title in the item listing — “Drawing Model Drawing Doll Body Manga Male Drawing Mannequin Figure Model Model Drawing Model Doll 1/12 Props with Stand Doll Type for Drawing Supplies Practice (Mens, Gray)”.
Despite the mannequin having only 20 reviews so far, almost half of them were 1 star reviews, with scathing comments like “It’s like a grade schooler made it”, “just a cheap toy”, “poorly made” and “there are unexplained brown stains on it”. Still, it only cost 1,870 yen (US$14.27), and if Masanuki could use this to improve his drawing and observational skills, and in turn become a fully fledged artist, that would be money well spent.
Just a day after Masanuki placed his order, the doll arrived on his doorstep. The doll didn’t come in any kind of outer packaging; just a plastic case surrounded in bubble wrap.
Also included were these assembly instructions, but they weren’t very clearly printed, so they were a little hard to follow.
According to the product’s description, this doll is perfect for anyone who is practicing drawing and illustration, and to study the human form. Masanuki felt like he was going to learn a lot about human physiology thanks to this doll.
The doll really looked like a tiny human body, and all its joints were moveable, allowing Masanuki to make it do a wild variety of poses. The doll also came with some changeable hands, allowing it to do things like a peace sign.
The doll also came with a transparent stand to help keep it still, as well as a number of accessories like guns and cell phones, just in case you ever needed to draw a scene where a character is in the middle of an intense shootout but decides to check Twitter mid-fight.
Unfortunately, the right shoulder joint didn’t move very well, and Masanuki remembered some of the reviews commenting about how certain areas of the figurine were too stiff or too loose to properly hold a pose.
Masanuki had been imagining a gun fight where the main character has to stop in the middle to take a phone call, but instead had to substitute it for this intriguing scene…
… where the main character is attempting some sort of extreme yoga pose whilst holding a gun in one hand and a katana with an impaled hand doing a peace sign in the other — you know, the kind of scene you see in manga all the time. This was where the mannequin really came in handy; we have some pretty flexible guys working at SoraNews24, but Masanuki was pretty sure that even our most supple reporter Mr. Sato would balk at the idea of pulling off some of these poses, especially when it came to holding a katana with a human hand impaled on it.
So in that respect, Masanuki felt the doll wasn’t really deserving of its 1.9 star rating. After all, what human could pull off this kind of pose in real life and hold it still enough for someone to draw it?
So, ready to make his stunning debut into the world of art and illustration, Masanuki decided this was the perfect pose to take outside and do some sketching.
▼ Got to make sure you get those angles just right…
▼ What other product with a 1.9 star rating can make someone instantly look like a professional illustrator like this?
It was definitely much easier to draw with the model in front of him like this; rather than imagining the pose in his head, Masanuki could see the pose from all angles, and attempt to faithfully recreate it on his canvas.
Masanuki’s pencil shot across his paper, his eyes taking in every nook and cranny the figurine had on display, and soon he was done. He lowered his pencil to admire his work…
▼ …. uh ….
Well. He certainly wouldn’t be giving up his day job as a SoraNews24 reporter to start working as a full time artist, that’s for sure. But was that really the fault of the mannequin, or was that more a Masanuki issue? Sure, the figure’s shoulder joint was too stiff for it to hold up a phone, but it could brandish a gun and a hand-on-a-katana like no real-life person ever could.
In the end, Masanuki decided that the doll, while certainly not the easiest to use, wasn’t deserving of its low 1.9 star review. His art skills, on the other hand, were a solid one star, and no amount of impulsive Amazon purchases would be changing that any time soon. Maybe if he’d bought Bandai’s posable mannequins instead, he might have a better shot, but with an average rating of over 4 stars on Amazon USA, there’s no chance our low-rated product purveyor would ever put one of those in his basket.
Related: Amazon Drawing Model Drawing Doll Body Manga Male Drawing Mannequin Figure Model Model Drawing Model Doll 1/12 Props with Stand Doll Type for Drawing Supplies Practice (Mens, Gray)
Photos ©SoraNews24
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2023/02/10/we-try-amazons-lowest-rated-posing-mannequin-but-it-wasnt-the-doll-that-was-one-star/feed/ 0 615453 IMG_6882 Japanese “living doll” model Matt stars in commercial alongside actual doll family, The Fuccons https://soranews24.com/2020/04/02/japanese-living-doll-model-matt-stars-in-commercial-alongside-actual-doll-family-the-fuccons/ https://soranews24.com/2020/04/02/japanese-living-doll-model-matt-stars-in-commercial-alongside-actual-doll-family-the-fuccons/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2020 15:00:29 +0000 http://soranews24.com/?p=495200 
We can’t think of a model who’d be more on-model to model this model of PC, alongside these many other models.
If you were in the adult comedy TV loop in the 2000s you may have come across The Fuccons, a delightfully surreal arrangement of comedy sketches known to Japanese audiences as Oh! Mikey. The titular Mikey is your average all-American youth, though he and his family live in Japan. The catch is that Mikey — and his family, and indeed everyone else in their universe — is a frozen mannequin with a fixed facial expression. Every episode, regardless of ending, finishes up with a spate of raucous laughter from every character onscreen. And did we mention it’s an adult comedy?
▼ Though originally Japanese, the series was dubbed into English by ADV in 2005.
The Fuccons are so fantastically bizarre that they’re a perfect candidate to advertise all manner of products, and their latest commercial collaboration is with Mouse, a company that specializes in custom-built PC models. This commercial line features a surprise cameo guest, and for the first time it’s someone who isn’t sculpted out of wax…or at least, so we’re told.
Starring in the ads as Mikey’s hitherto unmentioned older brother is Matt Kuwata, a male model who is famous for his haunting gamine features and ethereal use of make-up and filters. When Matt stands still, he can very easily pass for a Fuccon himself.
▼ The commercials, titled Oh! Mouse, span three episodes.
Apparently Matt was a perfect fit on set and didn’t feel awkward at all when posed along his inert co-stars, joking that “I feel more at home here than with my actual father!” The director and creator of the Fuccon franchise, Yoshimasa Ishibashi, also teased that he was certain Matt must have featured in the show before to act so naturally in the ads.
In fact, he was such a perfect fit that Ishibashi formally asked him to become Mikey’s real older brother. You’ll be happy to hear that Matt accepted, making him a true-blue member of Japan’s favorite American family consisting entirely of wax mannequins.
But what does the star of the show have to say about the latest acquisition to his family? Mikey spilled all his feelings in a behind-the-scenes interview.
“I’m really happy [to have an older brother], but I admit it’s hard to take in… Mainly because there’s a 17-year age gap between us. I’m not sure what I can talk with him about other than make-up and beauty things…”
When asked what kind of big brother Mikey would like Matt to be, he kept it simple: “I want him to be a nice, kind big brother who does regular collaborations and PR appearances for us.”
Matt’s history with starring in commercials has yielded some very peculiar results so far, but he seems strangely at home in this venture. Maybe he’ll show up again if the Fuccons ever come back for another season!
Source, images: Press Release, YouTube
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2020/04/02/japanese-living-doll-model-matt-stars-in-commercial-alongside-actual-doll-family-the-fuccons/feed/ 0 495200 e3839ee382a6e382b9e382b3e383b3e38394e383a5e383bce382bfe383bce696b0web-cm-e383aae383aae383bce382b9e38388e38383e38397e794bbe5838fe291a0 (1) Cosplayers rejoice! Robot mannequin transforms to any body size/shape with the click of a button https://soranews24.com/2016/02/19/cosplayers-rejoice-robot-mannequin-transforms-to-any-body-sizeshape-with-the-click-of-a-button/ https://soranews24.com/2016/02/19/cosplayers-rejoice-robot-mannequin-transforms-to-any-body-sizeshape-with-the-click-of-a-button/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2016 11:30:30 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=302756 
For those who want a robot twin that doesn’t mind dressing up.
For perfectionist cosplayers, trying to create the ideal costume can be frustrating. If you don’t have a mannequin, then you’re stuck using a table and rulers and guessing your size. If you do have a mannequin, then it might be too big or too small, still resulting in rulers and guessing and potential tears the night before the convention.
But now, there is hope! The Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Institute of Textiles and Clothing has recently shown off their latest creation that combines robots and fashion in the most helpful way possible: the iDummy, an electronically adjustable mannequin.
▼ One step closer to achieving real-life anime transformation scenes.
Every body part on the iDummy is adjustable, from the bust to the waist to the hips, and more. The sizes range from extra-small to extra-large, with the whole spectrum available in between.
Since the sizes are input via the user’s computer, they can be saved and used again later. No need to remember the individual sizes for you or your friends or customers, just load their file and you’re all set!
Watch a short teaser video here that shows off the iDummy in action:
For those who want to learn more about the development of the iDummy, check out this video:
There’s no news yet on when the iDummy will be available for purchase, but as long as it isn’t priced into oblivion, we have a feeling that it will help alleviate the amount of it’s-the-night-before-the-convention-and-my-cosplay-doesn’t-fit tears out there.
Source: iDummy via Laughing Squid
Images: Tumblr/prosthetic knowledge
]]> https://soranews24.com/2016/02/19/cosplayers-rejoice-robot-mannequin-transforms-to-any-body-sizeshape-with-the-click-of-a-button/feed/ 0 302756 idummy top Screen Shot 2016-02-19 at 11.08.36 idummy 01 idummy 02 idummy 04 Spotted in Japan: seriously stylish Japannequins https://soranews24.com/2015/04/09/spotted-in-japan-seriously-stylish-japannequins/ https://soranews24.com/2015/04/09/spotted-in-japan-seriously-stylish-japannequins/#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2015 23:30:16 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=231735 
Someone in this store has been having a bit of fun with the mannequins; or should we say Japannequins. These mannequins seem unusually flexible, even boasting poseable fingers, and have been contorted into poses that many Japanese people would recognize – but do you?
These funky mannequins are posed in a homage to popular manga and anime series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken), which was serialized in the Weekly Shonen Jump comic from 1986 to 2004. The characters all have special powers and special poses to match, drawn in mangaka Hirohiko Araki’s distinctive style.
A fan on Reddit explained: “Both poses are a homage to two characters from the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series, which is a pretty successful manga/anime over in Japan. The left one is more familiar to some as it’s been done by DIO and is infamous for the ‘WRYYYY’ screech, as for the right pose it’s done by the part 4 antagonists stand ‘Killer Queen'”
▼One amateur artist decided to add the character’s faces to make them more recognizable. And some squiggly “power”.
▼Others less familiar with the manga thought perhaps it was a more cynical commentary on the potential wearers of the suits.
▼Business, yeah!
Whether you recognize their origin or not, these Japannequins are pretty eye-catching and sure to attract the attention of potential customers. Perhaps this will be the start of a craze? If so, then RocketNews24 will be here as usual to bring you all the latest photos!
Source: Reddit via LabaQ
Images: Reddit
]]> https://soranews24.com/2015/04/09/spotted-in-japan-seriously-stylish-japannequins/feed/ 0 231735 jojojo 1d16b3d2 Untitled e4eaf296 Mannequin prankster returns for more Halloween fun on the streets of Osaka https://soranews24.com/2014/11/04/mannequin-prankster-returns-for-more-halloween-fun-on-the-streets-of-osaka/ https://soranews24.com/2014/11/04/mannequin-prankster-returns-for-more-halloween-fun-on-the-streets-of-osaka/#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2014 14:47:19 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=193766 
Last year, we introduced you to the Mannequin Guy, a 2m tall (6,6″) American dude living in Japan who took to the streets on Halloween 2013 to give passersby a scarily good laugh. Well, we’re happy to report that Mannequin Guy returned again this Halloween, and there’s even a video compilation of all the best bits of his routine!
But first, here’s our personal highlights of the video!
▼ A super-cute bunny attempts the “poke it with a stick and see if moves” method of investigation.
▼ A very excited dude invites Mannequin Guy to participate in an impromptu dance break!
▼ A security guard well and truly loses his cool, before trying to act like nothing happened.
▼ This guy doesn’t suspect a thing!
Okay, that’s enough teasing! Here’s the video, uploaded by the prankster himself!
Let’s hope Mannequin Guy returns to spook up Halloween again next year!
Source: YouTube (shapiro127)
Images: screenshots via YouTube
]]> https://soranews24.com/2014/11/04/mannequin-prankster-returns-for-more-halloween-fun-on-the-streets-of-osaka/feed/ 0 193766 There’s something not quite right about these mannequins… https://soranews24.com/2014/06/13/theres-something-not-quite-right-about-these-mannequins/ https://soranews24.com/2014/06/13/theres-something-not-quite-right-about-these-mannequins/#comments Thu, 12 Jun 2014 23:30:47 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=155940 
“Hey, you, go dress the mannequins in the window. Do whatever you want, but make sure you show off this season’s gift items. And make it summer-y, you know. It’s getting warmer, after all.” “Ok, boss, whatever you say…”
We have no idea whether this was employee sabotage or a knowing campaign, but this window display is certainly attracting attention in all the right places.
▼ Tie rack sold separately.
Some netizens here in Japan were quick to point out similarities with a certain type of traditional Japanese mens’ underwear:
Fundoshi, in case you were wondering, are worn at festivals (especially the kind with “naked” in the title):
…and of course in the RocketNews24 office!
▼”Who orders bottom-half-only mannequins for a tie shop, anyway?”
Seeing as the two products on show are ties and men’s socks, we reckon this is probably a Father’s Day promotion (it’s this Sunday in many countries, folks!). Further evidence:
▼ Card that reads “Happy Father’s Day”. Probably. Right?
Source: TOYCHAN
Top image: @gyo_pu via Twitter, edited by RocketNews24 Other images: @gyo_pu, xmonsterhunter, CES / Wikimedia, RocketNews24, @gyo_pu.
]]> https://soranews24.com/2014/06/13/theres-something-not-quite-right-about-these-mannequins/feed/ 0 155940 photofun-3006210857 photofun-3006210857 BpkCHRJIcAA4DNf 2 fundoshi step by step guide 800px-Hadaka_Matsuri_small fundoshi BpkCHRJIcAA4DNf happyfathersday