Wart – The Warden of Dreamland

‘I’m the Great Wart, ahahaa!’, the frog king proclaims before the final battle in Super Mario All-Star (スーパーマリオコレクション) unfolds. In this pop-cultural article, I’m going to talk about Nintendo’s forgotten prince of darkness, speculate about his origin as well as some froggy customs from Japan. Will this mischievous warden remain only in our dreams or will Wart eventually make a return out of the state of decade-long slumber?

A question worth pondering about as to why Nintendo printed that striking red question mark in its game manuals for the character. Wart, the video game villain that jumbled up the dream machine to bring haunting monsters into the world of dreams indeed raises a couple interesting questions. Let’s find out more together!
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Sanei Boueki Plush Dolls – A Fluffy World

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 If you are after faithfully reproduced fluffy game characters like Mario & Co., Sanei Boueki is your brand! Besides their best-selling plush toy series, the Super Mario All Star Collection, you find many more cuddly friends to gather up.
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Due to my activities in the past when living and working in Japan, I curiously started to develop a fondness for a couple of Japanese toy companies. One of those is Sanei Boueki (三英貿易・さんえいぼうえき; San-ei Boueki), which grew somehow dear to me. If you are a fan of game merchandise and Japanese popculture collectibles, the name should ring some bells, but I want to introduce it a little further with this article. Welcome to the Sanei’s plushy world!

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The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary

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Played them all? For me personally, I like the titles up and until the Ocarina of Time best, whereby The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening for the Gameboy and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo are my favorites. What is yours?

2016 marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most popular game series with Legend of Zelda (ゼルダの伝説ゼルダのでんせつ; Zeruda no Densets) and beloved game characters, the legendary adventurer Link (リンク). A character counting to the inner most circle of the expansive Nintendo line of heroes. Time to write a little tribute on this iconic game and its courageous hero!

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Amazon.co.jp rolls out Otaku and Popular Character Stores

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Originally I had planned a mini series for October, unfortunately though this drowned in work and I had to give it up. Still on my ‘Creative Break’ and finding myself with not enough time at hand for research and translations in recent months, there is something I like to make a quick post about today.

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日本のことは、マンガとゲームで学びました。by Benjamin Boas – The Power of (Pop-)Culture, Benjamin’s COOL JAPAN!

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English Title: Everything I know about Japan I learned from Manga and Video Games

Publisher: 小学館

ISBN-10: 4093883955
ISBN-13: 978-4093883955

Language: 日本語・Japanese
Pages: 143
Price Tag: 1188 JPY

While in preparation for a next extensive research project of mine, I took the time to check out another COMIC ESSAY. It is the one of BENJAMIN BOAS, which I announced in my previous post of NORDIC GIRL ÅSA DISCOVERS THE MYSTERIES OF JAPAN VOL. 2 ・北欧女子オーサが見つけた日本の不思議 2, in which he has a quick entry.

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