Bento Box: Old Teachers, New Features and Hairy Creatures

Plus a remote controlled toilet.

Violence, war, poverty, rain - is the “real” news getting you bummed out? Turn that frown upside down with this week’s edition of Bento Box! We've got all the news, straight from Japan and guaranteed to cheer you up, because everyone knows nothing can delight an otaku quicker than news about their favorite series! Today, we're talking live action Great Teacher Onizuka, the new Shonen Jump magazine, more awards for Wolf Children and an innovative toilet that's perfect for anime fans.

Hot for Teacher - Fans of everyone's favorite sleazeball teacher rejoice! Live-action Great Teacher Onizuka is back with a brand new two-hour special due to air on April 2nd. Exile pop star Akira is set to reprise the role of the titular Onizuka, a man with a criminal past who spends his days as a perverted, but dedicated high school teacher. The two-hour show will take place at the graduation of Onizuka's class and deal with the students worries about the future, namely college (and all the stress and beer funneling that goes with it). Not only will Akira star in the highly anticipated adaptation, but Exile will also perform the show's theme song “24karats Tribe of Gold”. This is the first follow-up to the eleven episode series that ran in September of last year. If you've read the tremendously popular manga or seen the anime, you know that viewers are in store for a GTO-style slightly creepy, but plenty hilarious treat.

Two Shonen Enter - Who would win in a fight? Geeks and nerds around the world have asked this question since time immemorial, and starting March 22nd, the fine folks behind manga powerhouse Shonen Jump aim to help you answer it. Shonen VS promises to be a magazine full of new manga focused around battles starring your favorite Shonen Jump characters penned by established creators and rising stars alike. That's right! Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z...the possibilities are endless and, frankly, pretty darn exciting. In the fashion of its sister publication, VS will come packaged with enough posters, interviews and supplementary material to satiate the fictional bloodlust of any otaku fight fan. Next stop: the Funderdome.

Wins Awards with Wolves - Director Mamoru Hosoda's new film Wolf Children continues to wow the anime viewing world as it was awarded with an audience award at this past week's New York International Children's Film Festival (or NYICFF, if you're lazy), adding to the tally of prizes the film has already received at such film festivals as the 36th annual Japan Academy Prizes and the Mainichi Film Awards. The film focuses on the life of a woman who falls in love with a magical wolf-man with whom she builds a nice life (and even has adorable half-wolf, half-human children!) However, this idyllic life is cut short when her husband, the wolf-man, dies and leaves her to raise their children alone. From the looks of it, Wolf Children will have you howling in your seats (with both tears and laughter).

Bathroom Breaks Begone - So you're hanging on your couch watching your favorite anime or playing the newest Japanese import game and...nature calls. In the past, you'd have to do the unthinkable and pause what you're doing to go and take care of those pesky bodily functions. No more, says Tokyo's Strapya World, which is offering a battery-powered, remote controlled toilet seat for those who have better things to do than ever leave their living room. The mobile commode operates on six AA batteries and is controlled exactly like the RC cars we all played with as children. Video of the device reveals that the unit could really be used to port anything around the house easily, but do you really want to put snacks in something that is meant to hold your...well, you get the picture.

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