At the heart of harem anime
We look at Harem anime in this Bento Buffet. What is a harem? Find out in our Kawaii Kulture all about what a harem is and also look at some great Harem anime recommendations. We also share some yummy anime food that may inspire you to keep your harem family fed and stomach satisfied and we listen to some great harem amvs. Our monthly challenge is also harem themed and will have quite a few surprises. All this harem goodness and more to keep you entertained this month because we are YOUR monthly anime and Japanese news source. Itadakimasu!!
November News!
'EcoPla' is Bandai's new Recycling Day secret
Bandai’s put a Gundam Recycle Strategy campaign in motion since October 20th to make the public more aware of recycling. Their secret weapon – EcoPla, plastic model kids made out of recycled materials which are distributed at the Gundam Base Tokyo as well as selected stores around Japan with added informational booklets to help educate on recycling. This recycling initiative is to be a whole month and will have a final event at Tokyo’s Shinjuku Sumitomo Building Triangle Square on November 20 and 21.
This joint project between Bandai Namco Holdings, Bandai Spirits, Bandai Amusement, and Bandai Logipal aims to use cutting-edge chemical recycling technology to repurpose Gundam plastic models into new builds. Since April 1, around 190 facilities operated by Bandai Namco Amusement, starting with every Namco store in Japan, have installed a recycling box. The collected materials are sent to the Bandai Hobby Center in Shizuoka, which handles Gunpla production. It is estimated that 10 tons of plastic will be recycled in a year. The aim is a 35% reduction of carbon emissions by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050.
LiSA breaks a smashing record
LiSA, the artist also known as Risa Oribe is well known to anime fans for lending her beautiful voice to anime themes for anime such as Fate/Zero, Sword Art Online and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. She recently became the first female artist to stream a song over 300 million times with her single ‘Homura’, the theme song for the Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train anime movie. The “Homura” single debuted digitally on October 12 of last year before physical copies shipped on October 14, and it ranked at #1 on Oricon’s weekly streaming ranking chart for seven consecutive weeks. The song has not yet fallen off the ranking’s top 100 in all 53 weeks since its release last year. It was #39 on the most recent weekly chart with 2,201,752 streams.
One Piece hits the epic 1,000 episdoe milestone!
October 1999, one of the most epic anime series slammed into the world with its first episode and now in 2021 it smash into anime history with its 1,000th episode. That anime is One Piece, an epic tale of a bunch of powerful and quirky pirates in search of a legendary treasure called the One Piece. For decades this anime has won over the hearts of millions, and on November 20th we will all get to see episode 1,000!
“The 1000th episode of One Piece is truly a history-making moment not only for the franchise but also for the millions of fans around the world that have supported the series over the last 22 years,” Masayuki Endo, President and CEO of Toei Animation Inc. proudly stated in an interview. “We’re excited to mark this major milestone for One Piece and look forward to celebrating it together with fans at our special global live stream event on November 20.”
That event, held by Funimation and Toei Animation in a global live stream event celebrating the One Piece anime’s 1,000th episode is to broadcast on November 20 at 3 p.m. PST. The event will be streamed on Funimation’s and Toei Animation’s official YouTube channels, as well as the One Piece official Facebook page.
We look forward to this milestone in One Piece’s story as well as all the episodes and stories to come in future.
Zombie Land Saga movie in the works
When the Zombie Land Saga anime aired in Japan in 2018 we fell in love with the resurrected zombie divas trying to revitalize the Saga Prefecture with their undead idol group. This was followed in 2021 with the epic second season Zombie Land Saga Revenge. The second season dropped a major cliffhanger in the final seconds of its last episode which seems that it will be addressed in the surprise anime movie that is in the works!
During the Zombie Land Saga LIVE ~Franchouchou Saga yo Tomoni Waite Kure~ it was announced that Zombie Land Saga will be getting its own movie next rather than a new season of the anime as many had suspected. Not a lot has been unveiled about the movie’s release date, production staff, cast, but we think it might involve the cliffhanger revealed at the end of season 2 which involve aliens! As we learn more we will keep you updated on the upcoming movie!
Only In Japan
We once again venture into the bizarre and beautifull that can is Only in Japan, from strange machines to freaky bathrooms we have it all for you to explore!
Japanese Bathrooms
In the West, our bathrooms are straightforward, but Only in Japan do you get bathrooms that might need instruction pamphlets. From high-tech to what seems highly impossible Japan’s bathrooms are the next level in many ways, from pieces of art to places of bizarre wonder.
Vegetable and Herb Vending machines
Far from the Land of The Rising Sun, we have to hustle to the nearest grocery store or supermarket if we need to get fruits, vegetables and fresh herbs to get our cooking in. Only in Japan do they have vending machines to serve up yummy vegetables or even spices like coriander.
Kawaii Kulture: Harem Anime
Harem anime also known as Haremumono ‘harem works’ is a popular genre consisting of light novels, manga, anime, hentai and video games, which started in the 1970s and had an explosion in the 1980s and 1990s. Harem anime’s main theme is that the main male protagonist is surrounded, usually in some romantic or amorous capacity by three females. Said females can have various interests in our protagonists. A great example of this is an anime such as Shuffle! Where our hero has a Goddess, demoness, a childhood friend and a few more ladies that are into him. There is also a reverse harem where the theme is a female protagonist surrounded by male love interests such as the anime Ouran High School Host Club.
Harem can even be a theme in an anime that is not a harem anime, such as the classic seinen anime Naruto (and sequel series) were Ino, Sakura and Karin, to name a few ladies are into the character Sasuke. Harem anime tend to end in two ways only, one, our main character ends up with the girl or two, with none of the women.
Recipe of the month: Takikomi Gohan (Japanese Mixed Rice)
Takikomi gohan is a hearty Japanese rice dish usually seasoned with soy sauce and dashi with mushrooms, vegetables, chicken, meat or fish. All the ingredients are cooked with rice simultaneously. It is a popular fall season dish and is popular because of how easy it is to prepare and cook. We look at two videos showing us how they prepare Takikomi Gohan. Itadakimasu!!
Cooking with Dog
Japanese Cooking 101
Top Five Harem anime rcommendations
We bring you all sorts of harem anime this month, from harem in a school setting to isekai where our spirited away hero happens to build up a harem in his adventures to a fantasy setting where adventurers meet up and become a harem. Harem anime is so diverse that we bring you a diverse menu of great harem anime to watch.
Highschool DxD
Mother of the Goddess' Dormitory
Isekai Wa Smartphone to Tomo Ni
Danmachi
Ah, My Goddess
Link of the month
We bring you two interesting links this month, first we look at Gundam Cafe that serves up meals from anime and then we look at anime characters that just want some peace and quiet.
Gundam Cafe serves up new meals and drinks from the anime series in Japan
10 Anime Characters Who Just Want Some Peace & Quiet
AMV of the month
We kick off our AMVs this month with the song ‘Where Them Girls At by David Guetta featuring a lot of anime girls that are kawaii followed by an AMV with the song ‘Angel’ by Theory Of A Deadman, featuring scenes from the anime Ah! My Goddess. Enjoy our damsel packed harem AMVs!
Where Them Girls At
Angel
Anime Challenge – Harem Movies
This month we host a short Harem Anime Movie challenge. Each week we will showcase a movie and the challenge is to watch that movie and the challenge reward is bragging rights that you watch that movie. Let’s have fun with our Harem Anime Movie Challenge!
Birthday of the month: Rock Lee
Our birthday character for the month is none other than Rock Lee who celebrates his birthday on November 27th. Known as Konoha’s Beautiful Green Beast, Rock Lee needs no introduction to those that are fanatical about the Naruto anime Franchise. We all know him as a shinobi that works hard to make up for his shortcomings in any way he can. Even if he lacks certain skills that are usually associated with being a ninja, he makes up for that with her never-say-never attitude, something that his sensei Might Guy, imparted to him. Guy-sensei gave him special training, and it was so successful that he became a taijutsu master that must not be messed with.
This young shinobi is a focused, energetic, hot-blooded and single-minded person. He is also very forgiving; he forgave Gaara for crushing his arm and leg and even became good friends with him. He also speaks respectfully to others and never uses swear words, a real gentleman. He is determined, a recurring which we can see throughout both Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, always seeking to improve himself.
Many people do not know that he has his own spin-off anime series called Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals. The series spans 51 episodes and all the voice actors from the Naruto anime retain their acting roles in the series. It is filled with humour and small sketches and does not follow the main storyline of Naruto Shippuden and is quite fun to watch.