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Mafia, Yakuza, No-Good-Nicks – They all mean one thing, gangs. Everyone loves a good gang story. It has the camaraderie and the good times of a group of people that follow no man’s rules but there own, but you also know the inevitable stabbing betrayal is coming at some point. Typically gang anime stories are an excellent mix of fast-paced gun or fist-fighting action all wrapped up in a blanket of noir-style darkness. So while you tip on the Al Capone fedora and threaten to cut off your subordinate’s finger tip off with your old tanto blade, here are a few gang-related anime recommendations to set the mood. Gungrave The first part of Gungrave is more of a classic mafia story. Two young orphans rise up the street rat ranks on the mean streets of the city, but eventually they fall on the radar of the major syndicate in town. As they both rise up through the ranks of organized crime, an eventual betrayal  shatters their friendship. However, after that, things start to

If you are an anime fan and a fan of romance anime in particular, then there is little that is more relatable than a romance series about otaku. Let’s face it, even if we aren’t obsessive about anime to a true otaku level, we all want to be loved for who we are and what we like. Of course, being obsessive about something – games, anime, books, or whatever – leads to a number of funny situations, which in its own way can make otaku romantic comedies highly amusing even if you aren’t in it for the romance. And You Thought There Was Never a Girl Online? Who hasn’t looked for love in their online MMOs at one point or another and got burned by it? This is the starting premise for this series about a boy who thought he found love in his MMO and the character turned out to be a man playing or girl character, or at least that’s what they said. After giving up on it, he soon finds out that the girl that is overly attached to him in t

If there is one tried and true recipe for making a likable main character, it is to make them as lazy as many of the fans watching the series, but also make them a secret badass. Sure, they can’t be assed to go save the world when their favorite show is on, but during the commercial break, they can take care of it with their super OP natural abilities. While there isn’t much room for physical character growth, on occasion this can be a good vehicle for some emotional growth OR they could just throw character growth out the window and add some flashy lights instead. Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop Although Spike spends the majority of his time actively hunting down bounties, it’s not like he wants to or anything. If it were up to him, he’d do one really pricey bounty, then feast on meat and coast through the galaxy. Unfortunately, every time the Bebop crew gets a large bounty, something goes horribly array when it comes to collecting the reward so, like the rest of u

Okay, so the general idea of anime is to definitely not put their viewers to sleep, but sometimes you just want to watch something to unwind for the day and fall asleep to nice dreams afterwards. When it comes to anime to fall asleep to, we’re not talking boring, but rather relaxing. Whether it is the music, the animation, or even the candor of the characters, it has a bit of a soothing effect to it so that afterwards (or even during) you can finally fall asleep without any fuss. Of course, you need to be careful not to get sucked into the plot either. Mushishi Each episode of Mushishi is like a bedtime story in and of itself. It is an episodic anime series that doesn’t really have any overall story, but rather is about a man that studies mushi, or small spirits, that affect humanity in various ways. Basically he travels and observes these mushi or solves the problems that they are causing. There’s no fast action, it is extremely atmospheric, and highly soothing. It

The anime fandom has many sayings, but one of the longest-lasting is that the childhood friend never wins. While it may seem like that, it is not completely true. Whether you need yourself a harem slanted towards the childhood friend or just want to see their affections at least acknowledged instead of pent up or straight up ignored harder than Eren ignores Mikasa’s desperate thirst, then why not try some of these anime recommendations where the childhood friend finally wins out over all that other girl-shaped riff-raff. It should be obvious since victory usually means the end of a series, but there are very likely spoilers down below, but we’ll try to avoid major ones. Typically you can see a romantic victory coming from a mile away anyway. Kimikiss Pure Rouge We are no strangers to people leaving town for awhile then coming back to their childhood friends, but usually it is the boy that leaves, not the girl as is the case with Kimikiss. When she returns, she

Members of the Weeaboo Army know that anime is life and anime is love, but we like other things too. The best part of anime is that there is so much out there, that we can easily relate it to other fandoms. This just also happens to be a great tool for converting normies if you are a little short on anime-liking friends as well. So whether it is recent phenomenon like Game of Thrones or an enduring fandom like Doctor Who, I bet there is an anime series out there like it. Anime Recommendations Like Game of Thrones Captivating us with its incredibly detailed world, diverse cast of characters, and just devastating brutality, it is no surprise that Game of Thrones easily rose to be many people’s favorite show. No matter what you liked about Game of Thrones, whether it was the swords and chivalry or the heart-breaking betrayals, there are tons of anime series that can match that. Berserk – Berserk is the anime fan’s Game of Thrones. It follows a lone mercenary as he get

Ah, the countryside. So peaceful, so simple, so fucking green. If you are stuck in a cityscape, then yearning for an escape, even just for a short while, to a simpler place is only natural. Although, it may just be a case of the grass is greener on the other side. As a person that grew up in the country, I know there are some nice things about it, but I also know there are terrible things like being the last area to get internet faster than dial up, having no restaurant that will deliver food to you, or having to drive 30 minutes in any direction just to get anywhere. If you can, by all means take a short vacation to the country, but even better, get your fix of your small town life with these anime recommendations that feature small town livin’. Barakamon Sometimes a trip to the country is just what your need to get some perspective on your life. That is the essence of Barakamon. After having an explosive blow up at an art critic, a calligraphy artist is sent

Compilation film of anime's 3rd season opens on October 13 The official website for the Yowamushi Pedal franchise began streaming a trailer on Saturday for the Yowamushi Pedal Re:Generation compilation film. The film will have a two-week limited screening starting October 13. The film will incorporate footage from the third anime season with some new shots. The film will feature an original scene with Shingo Kinjō, Yūsuke Makishima, and Jin Tadokoro. The key visual above includes cuts of the scene. Saeki YouthK (Yūsuke Saeki) will perform the film's theme song "Tsuyosa Yowasa" (Strength and Weakness). The CD single for the song will ship on October 4. The television anime will get a fourth season in January. The 25-episode Yowamushi Pedal New Generation anime premiered in Japan on January 9. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan. The story of the original Yowamushi Pedal manga centers around Sakamichi Onoda, an otaku at Sōhoku High School. He lov

Game adds CAPCOM character costumes/abilities CAPCOM Vancouver announced on the PlayStation Blog on Friday that it will release Dead Rising 4 on PlayStation 4 on December 5. The company will release it in a bundled edition titled Dead Rising 4: Frank's Big Package, which will include a new "CAPCOM Heroes" addition allowing the protagonist Frank to dress in costumes and perform attacks of other CAPCOM characters. The bundled edition will also include the Stocking Stuffer Holiday Pack, additional single player content in Frank Rising, Super Ultra Dead Rising 4 Mini Golf, and other bonus content. The game launched for Xbox One and Windows PC in December 2016. Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune produced the original Xbox 360 game in 2006. Update: Trailer added.

Nintendo reportedly plans to appeal verdict A jury in Dallas, Texas decided in favor of iLife Technologies in its patent infringement lawsuit against Nintendo of America on Thursday. The court ordered Nintendo of America to pay US$10 million in damages to iLife for infringing on iLife's motion-sensing patents to create Wii and Wii U controllers. iLife filed the lawsuit in 2013, seeking US$144 million in damages, or US$4 for each of the $36 million Wii systems sold prior to the suit (Nintendo ended production on Wii consoles earlier that year). iLife uses to motion-sensing technology to monitor infants for sudden infant death syndrome and the elderly for falls. Nintendo's position was that iLife's patent was not properly written and therefore was invalid. A Nintendo representative told Rolling Stone that Nintendo disagrees with the verdict, and is seeking to raise the issue with the district court and court of appeals. Nintendo won a similar patent lawsuit filed by IA L