I Am Genuinely Surprised To See A Kinect In This Anime

I Am Genuinely Surprised To See A Kinect In This Anime

Games and game systems pop up semi-frequently in anime. But given the utter failure of the Xbox 360 in Japan, I was more than a little surprised to see a Kinect in a recent episode of lesbian romantic comedy Sakura Trick.

I Am Genuinely Surprised To See A Kinect In This Anime

In a scene in the eighth episode of Sakura Trick, sporty girl Yu is shown playing Konami’s Dance Masters on a Kinect. More than that, as a kind of meta joke, she is actually dancing to the series’ own theme song.

I Am Genuinely Surprised To See A Kinect In This Anime

While she is obviously using a Kinect, the console she is using isn’t an Xbox 360. Rather, the system shown looks more like the bastard lovechild of a 360 and a Wii — to avoid legal issues, no doubt.

I Am Genuinely Surprised To See A Kinect In This Anime

Now, it should be said this is not the first time I have run across a Kinect in an anime — the development and release of the Kinect was a plot point in last summer’s Hyperdimension Neptunia anime, after all — but it is the first one I have seen in an anime that is not game-related. And with the release of the Xbox One still months away here in Japan, I was more than a bit surprised to run across the ageing Kinect at so late a date.

I Am Genuinely Surprised To See A Kinect In This Anime

You can watch the full Sakura Trick episode here. (This scene starts at 12:45).

Sakura Trick is currently airing on TBS in Japan. It can be watched for free in the US with English subtitles on Crunchyroll and Hulu.

I Am Genuinely Surprised To See A Kinect In This Anime

Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


2 responses to “I Am Genuinely Surprised To See A Kinect In This Anime”