Here is the recent preview for the amazarashi “antinomy” music video along with my translation of the text that appears on the screen, as far as I could read, given how blurry and dark some of the text is in some places.
Yoko Taro’s New Years Greetings
Yoko Taro has been posting New Years greetings for over 10 years on his personal blog on Ameba and Twitter. Here’s a brief look at his illustrations.
The square with four katakana letters is his old signature that reads “Yokota” (ヨコオタ). He also uses this as part of his blog URL. He hasn’t used this signature ever since he switched over to merely writing his whole name in katakana (ie. ヨコオタロウ). Please also note that the official romanization of his name is “Yoko” rather than the phonetic “Yokoo”.
2009 – Ox
“Happy New Year! I hope it’s a good one!” – Yokota
https://ameblo.jp/yokota6/entry-10186361272.html2011 – Rabbit
“I’m Mochuu but let’s have a great year!”
Mochuu mixes the sounds that a cow and a mouse makes. It can also be synonyms with this character’s name. – Yokota
https://ameblo.jp/yokota6/entry-10755017886.html2012 – Dragon (Blog)
“Grrrroowl (fire breathing sound)”
“Ahhhh!!!” “That’s terrible!”
“Happy New Year. 2012 Yoko Taro.”
https://ameblo.jp/yokota6/entry-11123300119.html2012 – Dragon (Twitter)
“Happy New Year. Yoko Taro”
https://twitter.com/yokotaro/status/1547608245425930252013 – Snake
“Happy New Year”
https://ameblo.jp/yokota6/entry-11439633493.html2014 – Horse
“Moosqueek.”
https://ameblo.jp/yokota6/entry-11740691435.html2015 – Pre/Zen (Blog)
“2015”
https://ameblo.jp/yokota6/entry-11972048479.html2015 – Goat (Twitter)
“Will Mochuu appear? Nope.”
https://twitter.com/yokotaro/status/5501806302488330242016 – Pre/Zen (Twitter)
https://twitter.com/yokotaro/status/6825160636327649282017 – Rooster
“Drawing this I already feel like 2017 is going to be a disaster. Plus, it says “cat” on the top doesn’t it?”
“Bird/Rooster”
https://twitter.com/yokotaro/status/8152307877672550402019 – Pig
“2019” – Yokota
https://twitter.com/yokotaro/status/10799699155855400962020 – Rat
“2020”
https://twitter.com/yokotaro/status/12120325606387875842021 – Ox
“Happy New Year.” – Yokota
https://twitter.com/yokotaro/status/13446651566518722632022 – Tiger
“2022.”
https://twitter.com/yokotaro/status/14770861148509593602023 – Rabbit
“2023”
https://twitter.com/yokotaro/status/1609379133716574208
- All illustrations are by Yoko Taro except for the 2016 illustration of Pre/Zen, which was likely illustrated by his wife, Yukiko Yokoo, Taiko no Tatsujin character designer and illustrator of all the cute SD characters from Yoko Taro’s works.
TOKYO wa CHAOS Live Report
Last month, I had the opportunity to attend this amazing live performance that mixed classical Japanese dance and music, with sword dancing and rock music! Produced by D・I・O ENTERTAINMENT LLC, the show featured the rock band KAO=S, helmed by Shuji Yamagiri and Kaori Kawabuchi, the mock sword fighting squad, IDEAL, and many others!
>> Click the image below or click here to be taken to the full report. <<
Kaori Kawabuchi is the motion capture actor for Zero (Drakengard 3), cinematic sequences for 2B and A2 (NieR:Automata), as well as the voices of Jackass and Simone from the same title. She has countless notable credits, so definitely check out her other work!
Santa Saito’s Christmas Final Special
Saito and the gang will be hanging up their annual Santa Saito’s Christmas specials with this year’s final installment. This year’s show will be “A laid-back Christmas night, talking about the previous Santa Saito’s Christmas specials as well as the NieR Fan event last month.” There were many things they weren’t able to discuss at the NieR:Automata Fan Festival 12022, so they’ll be touching more on those topics. And since it’s Christmas, the special will also feature giveaway and variety segments!
The special will feature the following individuals:
- MC: Yasumoto Hiroki
- Saito Yosuke
- Yoko Taro
- Taura Takahisa
- Okabe Keiichi
Title: Santa Saito’s Christmas Final Special
Date: December 25, 2022
Time: 7:00pm (JST)
The special is free to watch on NicoNico, but will likely contain a paid-only segment at the end as usual. It’s usually during that segment that some hot news is revealed.
I assume they will be advertising the Bakuken 2 play like they did last year. Unfortunately, the play had to conclude with less than half of the performances completed due to an overabundance of caution regarding COVID. The play was also scheduled to be broadcast live on NicoNico, but the first cancelled performance was for the live broadcast. That is likely one of the reasons they’re bringing the play back one more time so a DVD/Blu-ray can also be released eventually.
This has been an annual show for the past 10 years, first beginning in 2013! You can read my old recaps below. Some of the specials are still available to watch on NicoNico Douga as well.
- Santa Saito’s Christmas 2018 – NicoNico
- Santa Saito’s Christmas 2019 – NicoNico
- Santa Saito’s Christmas 2020 – NicoNico
- Santa Saito’s Christmas 2021 – NicoNico
The first five years of the special mainly focused on Dragon Quest X, but you can spot several Yoko related guests throughout:
2013: Dragon Quest X TV – Special Guests by SaitoV, Yasumoto Hiroki, Hatsumi Meari (Operator 21O), KENN, etc.
2014: Dragon Quest X TV – Special Guests by SaitoV, Hatsumi Meari (Operator 21O), Isobe Keiko (Operator 6O), etc.
2015: Dragon Quest X TV – Special Guests by SaitoV, Hatsumi Meari (Operator 21O), Isobe Keiko (Operator 6O), etc.
2016: Dragon Quest X TV – Special Guests by SaitoV, Hatsumi Meari (Operator 21O), Isobe Keiko (Operator 6O), Inko-san (Cactus in YoRHa Boys Ver.1.0),etc.
2017: SUPER Dragon Quest X TV – Assistant MC by SaitoV with guests by Hatsumi Meari (Operator 21O), Isobe Keiko (Operator 6O), Inko-san (Cactus in YoRHa Boys Ver.1.0), Takano Kohei (Kurenai in Kimi Shi ni Tamou Koto Nakare -ZERO-), etc.
NieR:Automata Anime – Illustrations, Trailers, and Cast List
Updated: January 6, 2023
ー Illustrations ー
ー Trailers ー
ー SPECIAL PROGRAM ー
ー Cast List ー
- 2B: Ishikawa Yui
- 9S: Hanae Natsuki
- A2: Suwa Ayaka
- Pod042: Yasumoto Hiroki
- Pod153: Akiyama Kaoru
- Adam: Namikawa Daisuke
- Eve: Suzuki Tatsuhisa
- Pascal: Aoki Yui
- Commander: Kanou Chiaki
- Operator 6O: Isobe Keiko
- Operator 21O: Hatsumi Meari
- Lily: Tanezaki Atsumi
ー Episode List ー
Episode #1: or not to [B]e
ー On Air Information ー
Every Saturday at 12:00am from January 7
TOKYO MX / Tochigi TV / Gunma TV / BS11
Every Monday at 1:59am from January 9
Yomiuri TV
Fukuoka Housou
Every Tuesday at 1:59am from January 10
Chukyo TV
Every Tuesday at 2:27am from January 10
Sapporo TV
Every Thursday at 2:29am from January 12
Animax
Every Saturday at 10:00pm from January 14
- Streaming on DMM TV, dAnime Store is scheduled to begin every Saturday at 12:30am from January 7
- Additional broadcasts on other platforms are scheduled to begin after noon on January 10