Goodbye October And Hello November

Welcome to “Siliconera Speaks Up,” our newsletter for the site! This’ll be a summary of the past week’s anime or gaming news, a little reminder of things to come, and our insight on what games you should pick up next. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Top 10 Stories From the Past Week

1. Monster Hunter Hololive Gamers Merchandise Will Show Up

2. Good Smile Company Announces New Persona 5 Royal Merchandise

3. Danganronpa 2025 Pop Up Store Will Feature Butlers and Maids

4. Ado and Sanrio Collaboration Mascot Character Is Adorozatorumary

5. Review: Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake Revives a Classic

6. Hatsune Miku Appears Alongside Oshare Majo Love and Berry

7. Who to Invite to the Metaphor: ReFantazio Dragon God Festival

8. Build-a-Bear Selling Chococat Sanrio Plush

9. Honkai: Star Rail’s Acheron Inspires New Apparel and Keycaps

10. Falcom’s Toshihiro Kondo Comments on Kai no Kiseki AI Translation

Notable Mentions

1. Good Smile Company Will Change Packaging For Nendoroid Products

2. Review: Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut Tears up the Rule Book

3. New Kuromi Short Anime Series Debuts on YouTube

4. McDonald’s Japan Finally Gets the Grimace Shake

5. YouTooz Turned Chiitan, Japan’s Craziest Mascot, Into a Plush

Speak Up Sesh

Happy November—a time of wearing oversized sweaters while you snuggle under a blanket with a latte and a good book or TV show. Sorry, was that a bit too girly? My inner Tumblrina came out of hibernation for a moment there. You know, I remember needing to pull out the electric blanket around this time of year back when I was in university. Needing to wear toques, three layers, and woollen socks inside Uggs just to protect myself from the cold while waiting for the bus. Just the other day, I went to do some groceries and you know what I was wearing? A hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. And I even started to get warm! Man…

This week’s top stories remain within the same topics and demographics as some of our past weeks. We’ve got Sanrio, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and gacha games. And speaking of gacha games, one story that made it into the top ten was the one about Toshihiro Kondo (president of Nihon Falcom) discussing the usage of genAI in game translation. It’s kind of funny to hear this come from Nihon Falcom in particular considering the controversy that had surrounded the English version of the Trails of Cold Steel: Northern War mobile game. That one had very obvious machine translation, between the machine getting basic character information wrong and having difficulty keeping track of its own work. People didn’t really like that one, no.

Another interesting story I noticed was that the Acheron apparel story made it into the top 10. I don’t believe that these sorts of merchandise usually make it up there unless it’s ridiculous or legitimately cool. Now, I don’t necessarily mind the apparel. I think they look fine. These ones in particular (along with a previous Zhongli set) were just being roasted on Weibo though. Sometimes I think about how one user described the Zhongli slippers as resembling “shoes prisoners would wear in a period drama” and chuckle a little when I see similar items while shopping. Was that story popular because our readers also think the clothes are ugly? Did people click in because they thought the clothes were pretty? Really makes you wonder.

In any case, I hope you had a wonderful October, stayed safe during Halloween, and are well energized for the new month. Until next time!

Upcoming Releases

• Mario & Luigi: Brothership (Nintendo Switch) - November 7

• Metro Awakening VR (PSVR 2, Quest, PC VR) - November 7

• Sengoku Dynasty (PC) - November 7

• Taiko No Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival (PS5, Xbox Series X, PC) - November 7

• Slitterhead (PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, PC) - Novemer 8

• Tetris Forever (PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC) - November 12