This Week in Japan: The Mask Behind the Collabs

Five things from Japan this week. Skip the press release voice, here's the goblin's take.

The mask behind the collabs

Rockin' Jelly Bean does not show his face. Luchador masks built by craftsman Mr. Cacao. Legal name unknown, and he has kept it that way for decades. The name itself comes from his grandmother, a joke about a jelly-bean-shaped mole on his back.

What he does show is range. Founded EROSTIKA, with galleries in Tokyo and Nagoya. BEAMS JAPAN ran a 20th anniversary EROSTIKA exhibition and pop-up. He has been the guitarist for Jackie and the Cedrics since the early 90s. RAW rolling papers, Naked and Famous Denim, film poster work. Hotrod culture and B-movie posters filtered through a pin-up lens. Dozens of collaborations, honestly easy to lose count.

Cool. The kind of career that only makes sense once you stop asking for a name.

On the desk

Reruns of Hunter x Hunter and Jujutsu Kaisen this week, comfort food. Starting Chainsmoker Cat. Might attempt the new reanimated Ghost in the Shell too, the Science SARU series that premiered on Kansai TV and Fuji TV back in July, streaming worldwide on Prime Video, built off the 1989-91 Shirow manga. Verdict on both, next week.

Chainsmoker Cat is the one that keeps getting pulled. Worth watching before someone decides for you again.

Chainsmoker Cat, pulled again

Ani-One Asia removed Chainsmoker Cat from their YouTube channel on August 20. It already lost its Hong Kong streaming slot before that. Two removals, two platforms, same show. Nobody involved has said much about why, on the record.

Real. When a show keeps getting quietly pulled, that tells you more than a statement would.

THE ONE PIECE, remade

WIT Studio dropped the first key visual for their full remake of THE ONE PIECE, the manga's original saga rebuilt from scratch. Netflix has it lined up for February 2027. WIT built Attack on Titan's early seasons, so the pedigree checks out on paper.

A remake nobody asked for out loud, but plenty of people will watch anyway. That is usually how these go.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners gets a sequel, finally a date

Edgerunners 2 lands on Netflix October 20, new trailer out this week. The first season did the improbable thing: made a video game tie-in anime that people recommend unprompted. Low bar, cleared anyway.

Fool Night, November 26

SHAFT and SUNRISE co-producing, premiere date locked for November 26. Two studios with very different fingerprints working the same show. Worth watching just to see whose house style wins.

That's the week. Questions, corrections, or a story worth chasing, drop it in the shop's inbox.