Japan Pulse

Are you one of the Ghibli fans waiting anxiously for “Ni No kuni: Wrath of the White Witch?” It’s a PS3 exclusive video game released in Japan last November and scheduled for a Western release in January 2013. A collaboration between anime film makers Studio Ghibli and the creators of “Dragon Quest  V,” the game has Ghibli’s fingerprints all over the charming animation.  The Western version will be published by Namco Bandai Games and will include both English and Japanese voice tracks. The best news? A Namco representative told Digital Trends, “The Western release of ‘Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch’ will include all the content found in the newly announced ‘Ni no Kuni: All-in-One Edition for Japan.’ ”

The story follows a boy named Oliver who, saddened by the death of his mother, is visited by a fairy named Drippy who tells him how to bring her back to life. The creature speaks of another world existing within our own, and says that every being on earth has a soul twin in the other dimension. Are the Japanese and English versions each other’s soul twins, then? Check out the trailer and decide for yourself.

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Bandai have just released a new customizable bendy doll on the toy market. Costing only ¥500 the doll kit contains special stickers on which you can print the faces and bodies of yourself, your family, friends or enemies. The idea is that once you stick the image onto the doll’s body you can enjoy playing with miniature versions of the people in your life. Perhaps you place them in cute poses on your desk, or alternatively torture your modern voodoo doll with pins and a cigarette lighter, though sadly the press release makes no claims for the magical properties of the life-like figurines.

If you find the idea of having your own customized doll a little creepy, perhaps a box of KitKat displaying a mug shot of your nearest and dearest is a little easier to digest. This month KitKat launched their Chocollabo Web site, which allows fans of the chocolate to upload pictures onto a KitKat box and decorate them with personalized messages and a variety of cute icons. The concept is taken from the popular Print Club photo booths, where you can draw all manner of sparkly stuff over your own photo. More recently it has also been seen in Docomo’s Deco Mail cell phone service that allows you to transform a mundane text message into a gaudy work of art. Costing ¥2,100 for a box of 10, the chocs would make a good gift for a birthday or graduation.

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