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Asha
Facts
- Announced
- debut as unit TAKARA on August 8, 2026 · 2026-08-08
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2d ago
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced on October 14, 2026 the creation of Xbox Labs, a small experimental team of game creators, engineers, and scientists. Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet leads the group. Sharma cited recent experiments where games were decompiled quickly and rebuilt for hardware they were not made for, including Windows games running on Apple Silicon and in browsers through WebAssembly and WebGPU. She said WebGPU is approaching 90 percent support across browsers. An engineer used AI to decompile the Nintendo 64 title Snowboard Kids in 84 days, and a developer used Anthropic's Claude Fable to port Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour to Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Sharma said the team will test ways to streamline porting and reconstruction of older titles and make it easier for players to take part in game production. She stated the move does not change existing policies. The Xbox Labs website is live, but specific projects are not posted.
3d ago
Bandai will take pre-orders for "Mobile Suit Gundam Gashapon Senshi ZERO 03" on Gashapon Online from 11:00 on October 14. The set carries 15 types: Gundam X, Akatsuki, Providence Gundam, GX Bit, Legend Gundam and Messala F01 Type, each in A and B colors, with Gundam X, Akatsuki and Providence Gundam also sold in color versions. Price is 300 yen per play, shipping around late January 2027.
5d ago
Futabasha's Action Comics released Volume 9 of Sachiko Orihara's Oshikake Gal no Nakamura-san on October 8. To mark it, web Action runs all 35 chapters free until November 7, and Nico Nico Manga runs 44 chapters free until November 6 alongside a newly drawn bonus chapter and weekly Saturday updates. Amazon Kindle offers Volumes 1 to 3 free until November 4, and bookstores carry separate bonuses.
6d ago
Bandai's Gashapon Online has opened reservations for Mobile Suit Gundam Gundam Head Mejirushi Accessory 3, a six-type lineup of small marker charms drawn from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom. The set covers Strike Freedom Gundam Type II, Black Knight Squad Carlla, Infinite Justice Gundam Type II, Z'Gok (SEED FREEDOM Ver.), Destiny Gundam Spec II, and Akatsuki. Each piece is a painted PVC figure paired with a silicone ring and a crab clasp, about 2.5 cm tall, made to clip onto bags and small items. The Z'Gok is the entry drawing the most attention, with posts joking that it is the odd one out and one user reporting four pulls of it in a row. Reservations close Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 23:59, or earlier if the prepared quantity runs out, at 400 yen per play, with home delivery set for around late January 2027.
Oct 6
The itasha festival Odaiba Itasha Tengoku 2026 Autumn will be held on November 8, 2026, at the Odaiba outdoor special venue, the Aomi temporary parking lot, from 9:30 to 16:00. About 1,000 itasha cars from across Japan are expected, along with cosplayers. Advance tickets are 1,500 yen, same-day tickets 1,800 yen, with a 500 yen cosplay registration fee and a 1,000 yen photographer fee.
Oct 3
Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox, told The New York Times in an interview published September 30 that the division will not be sold, directly addressing rumors that followed the company's large-scale reorganization. Sharma took over the gaming division in February 2026 after Phil Spencer stepped down. Under the "Xbox Reset," the company announced layoffs of about 1,600 people in July and said it would cut roughly 3,200 people this fiscal year. She said Xbox will proceed from a long-term perspective and will consider the right partners and operating model. Sharma also addressed the partnership with Kojima Productions on the new action espionage title PHYSINT, saying she is pleased Hideo Kojima chose to work with Xbox. She said the cooperative relationship with Sony will continue and that competition and collaboration can coexist.
Sep 14
Asha Sharma, who leads Microsoft's Xbox division, visited Kojima Productions in Japan and appeared in a photo with Hideo Kojima that he posted to social media. Sharma took over the Xbox division after Phil Spencer, who had led it since 2014. Game Spark notes the visit could involve discussion of Kojima's projects PHYSINT and OD, both announced without release dates.
Sep 14
Bandai Namco Experience, Bandai Namco Amusement, and West Nippon Expressway Service Holding's Kansai Branch opened a Gashapon Bandai Official Shop at the Ougo Parking Area outbound line on the E2 Sanyo Expressway on Friday, September 11, 2026. The store holds 280 capsule toy units and covers 49.5 square meters. It runs 24 hours, with staffed hours from 9:00 to 17:00 for benefits and campaign handling.
Sep 10
Futabasha released an ASMR video for "Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Elma's OL Diary" on September 10, read by Yuki Takada, who voices Elma. The video marks the spin-off's 100th chapter and depicts Elma encouraging a listener. Volume 12 of the series, drawn by Ayami Kazama from a story by coolkyousinnjya, also went on sale that day.
Sep 9
Bandai is re-releasing the Combi Miniature Charm gashapon line, miniature charms reproducing baby products from Combi Corporation. The five-item lineup includes baby mugs, baby bottles with pacifiers, stacking cups, ride-on toys, and a swan-shaped potty. Each play costs 300 yen. The re-release is scheduled for the second week of September 2026, available at Gashapon Bandai Official Shops nationwide and the Gashapon Official Shop at Asakusa.
Sep 4
Yurikawa Sasha held a release event for her 4th DVD 'Yuki no Naka no Strast'' on August 22 at Sofmap AKIBA Amusement Hall. The 150-minute disc from Spice Visual, priced at 4620 yen, was filmed in January in Yamagata Prefecture and includes her first snow location footage. She plays an office lady traveling with her boyfriend, played by the viewer, and called the director's novel-like script a new challenge.
Sep 3
An original autographed illustration of Inuyasha's title character by manga creator Rumiko Takahashi sold for 1,833,000 yen (about US$11,440) at a charity auction on Sunday. The non-governmental organization PLAS, which supports African children orphaned by AIDS, held the sale as part of its current round of charity auctions.
Sep 2
Pluto TV is adding two dedicated anime channels, more than 1,300 hours of programming, and several English dubs debuting this month. The free ad-supported service will carry dubbed versions of One-Punch Man and Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, which Pluto says makes it the only free streaming platform with either dub. New channels It's Anime and Big A Anime launch this month. The expansion targets younger viewers, who account for nearly half of all anime viewing hours on the platform.
Aug 14
Episode 7 of The World Is Dancing, titled "In Between," follows the arrest and execution of the drunk monk Toku, pushing Oniyasha toward using his art for social critique. The episode's climactic performance of "Komachi at the Gravepost" lacks English subtitles because the play is presented as a modern rock song with licensing entanglements, rendering the scene unintelligible to non-Japanese speakers.
Aug 12
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said on August 12 that she watched a live playthrough of The Elder Scrolls VI during a visit to Bethesda Game Studios. In a post on X, Sharma praised the game's scale and grandeur as "incredible" and said the story is "even greater," while keeping the subtitle hidden behind eight asterisks. Bethesda Game Studios replied to her post, thanking her for the visit and kind words. The post suggests the game's subtitle is eight English letters long, prompting speculation among fans on forums like Reddit about what the title could be, with some guessing it might be "High Rock," a region in the Elder Scrolls world. The Elder Scrolls VI was announced in 2018 with a teaser trailer, and no further details have been released since. In June 2026, Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty said in an interview that he saw the game running next to director Todd Howard and praised its quality. Sharma's visit and comments indicate the game has progressed to a stage where it can be shown to executives, though no release date or concrete details have been announced.
Aug 9
Bandai will release Gashapon Senshi ZERO 02, the second wave of the revived Gankeshi line, in late August 2026. The set includes six mobile suits in red and blue color variants, plus three color-version figures, for a total of 15 items at 300 yen each.
Aug 8
ASHA and KOKONA, who appeared in the girl group audition 'No No Girls' produced by BMSG and Chanmina, will debut as the unit TAKARA on August 8, 2026. Their self-produced song 'Time is money' releases the same day. They follow HANA and Fumino as the second artists under NO LABEL ARTISTS.
Aug 6
Akumi Agitogi, author of My Happy Marriage, and Masaki Kazuka, artist of Fiancée of the Wizard, have launched a new manga titled Miko to Yashayome. Kadokawa's B's-LOG COMIC published Chapter 0 on July 24, and serialization began Wednesday. The story follows sorceress Miyabi Mori, who marries into the Koiwai family and tries to save her cursed husband Kuon.
Aug 6
Episode 6 of The World Is Dancing sees Oniyasha lose his lion-dance competition against Zojiro of the Shinza Dengaku troupe, leaving the shogun ready to give up on his protege. Saved by Zojiro's sportsmanship and a few gracious audience members, Oniyasha still considers abandoning dance entirely, until a reunion with the village boy Kogane reframes his calling.
Jul 10
The Federal Reserve Board has appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma as co-leader of its new "Productivity and Jobs" task force. The appointment, announced on July 10, 2026, places Sharma alongside Stanford University economist Charles I. Jones and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. The task force is tasked with analyzing how emerging general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, affect the U.S. economy and employment, with the goal of informing Federal Reserve monetary policy. The appointment comes just days after Sharma outlined plans to cut approximately 3,200 positions in the Xbox division by the end of fiscal year 2027. That restructuring also involves spinning off studios Double Fine and Compulsion Games as independent entities, while Ninja Theory and Undead Labs are to be transferred to new owners. Overseas outlets including PC Gamer and Game Developer have noted the timing of the appointment relative to the layoff announcement.
Jun 27
Gravure idol Sasha Yurikawa, who has a Russian grandfather and is known for her G-cup and translucent skin, will release her first 8K-compatible digital photobook and image video 'Natural Self' on June 26, 2026, under the new label First Gravure. The work aims to capture her natural demeanor across five studio sets, with Yurikawa calling it a 'cool sexy' and 'provocative' turn from her previous work.
Jun 18
Bandai Namco Filmworks announced on June 18 that the boy group 20th Century, composed of former V6 members Masayuki Sakamoto, Hiroshi Nagano, and Yoshihiko Inohara, will perform the opening theme song for the second cour of the television anime adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi's manga MAO. The song is titled "Bokura ga Uwagaki suru Sekai" (The World We Overwrite), with lyrics, composition, and arrangement by MHRJ. The second cour begins with episode 14 on July 4 on NHK General. The first cour opened on April 4 and is set to run for two continuous cours without breaks. To commemorate the announcement, the studio released the creditless opening video for the InuYasha anime, which featured V6's song "CHANGE THE WORLD" from 2000, for a limited time until September 27. This marks the first time Sakamoto, Nagano, and Inohara have been involved with a Takahashi anime adaptation in 26 years, since their work on InuYasha. The MAO anime is produced by Sunrise and streams on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ in Canada, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Jun 17
Serenity Forge will publish Sister, Others, Paranoia, a new visual novel from HazeDenki. The game reunites the Nidiga production team: Nyarla (scenario/director), Ohisashiburi (art), and Aiobahn +81 (music). Nyarla stated the release is not far off and promised updates by end of June, with plans to discuss the game at Anime Expo in Los Angeles from July 2 to July 5, 2026. The game is in development for PC via Steam, targeting a 2026 release.