You ever see Kagemusha? It's that terrific 1980 samurai flick Akira Kurosawa made. The movie centers around Shingen Takeda, an iconic feudal lord in Japanese history, and according to fashion model Anri Takeda, a relative.

Takeda recently appeared in Koakuma Ageha, a magazine that focuses on nightclub hostess fashion and that has lent some of its fashion models to Sega's Yakuza games. In the magazine, Anri Takeda (武田アンリ) claimed that she was the 18th descendant of Shingen Takeda (武田信玄). This was her claim to fame. And now, infamy.

A photo of Anri dolled up in outrageous fashion with the blurb of her heritage soon went viral in Japan on February 21, getting retweeted over 18,000 times, with people left speechless. The DNA of Shingen Takeda lived on in a hostess!

Soon after, the descendants of Shingen Takeda flat out denied that Anri was related to the feudal lord. "There is zero basis for Anri Takeda to call herself the 18th descendant of Shingen Takeda," they told website IT Media via email, going on to call what she did "a profane act."

In Japan, families can trace their heritage on their family registry, which is called a "koseki" (戸籍). This is a very old system that was introduced in the 6th century. The vast majority of Japanese were not samurai. They were peasants and didn't have last names until the 19th century. But if people were of higher social standing, like Shingen Takeda, they had last names. His descendants would, then, have carried that name, which could be traced through their koseki or family tree.

This is why it would be a big deal to claim to be a blood relative of someone like Shingen Takeda. It would mean that your lineage is not one of a commoner. You are special. Different. This is why the Japanese press made a big deal of Olympic figure skater Nobunari Oda being directly related to Nobunaga Oda. It doesn't mean he's royalty per se, but he has a pedigree.

(Like Oda, Shingen Takeda appears in numerous video games, such as Samurai Warriors, Sengoku Basara, and Pokémon Conquest.)

After being called out by Takeda's direct descendants, the model's talent agency said it hadn't confirmed her koseki or family tree. Her agency then told Model Press that Anri said she was a relative on her father's side of the family, but that she had never checked her koseki, and at this stage had zero proof of blood relation. What's more, her real last name is "Suzuki."

Internet sleuths on 2ch, Japan's largest forum, dug through the bowels of cyberspace, noting that her blog posts showing food she cooked depicted photos ripped from other blogs. IT Media reports that earlier tonight, Anri's blog was deleted. If she wanted fame, she got it.

Somewhere between comics, cartoons, and real life, PaperChildren exist. These are 2D drawings, thrown into 3D space. And they're often adorable.

Paper children have been around for a while now. They first appeared in South Korea way back in 2004 when an illustrator uploaded images of the first "PaperChild" online. The motif spread from there, and sometime in 2011, PaperChildren became a thing in the West.

There's a long, proud history of paper dolls in Asia as well as around the world. The PaperChild taps into that in a novel and often very humorous way.

This week, Japanese site Naver recently posted a collection of PaperChild art, many of which were by DeviantArt member MlleLowra.

And earlier this month, MlleLowra began taking PaperChild commissions on her page from those who want to own one of her creations. I like that her PaperChildren aren't just cute, but that they have a bit of an edge to them. Have a look below.

MlleLowra [DeviantArt]
フランスのマンガ好き女子が作った紙人形が面白すぎる！！ [Naver]

This isn't the most beautiful business card. Folks like Goichi Suda (No More Heroes) or Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid) have much better looking cards, but certainly not more amazing than Nihon Falcom's seemingly indestructible cards. While it's unlikely that these business cards will ever experience rough treatment, they are bound to be impressive in business card crazy Japan.

Based in Tokyo, Nihon Falcom has been a highly influential game developer and is perhaps best known for its Ys series of role-playing titles.

The card is tear-proof—or, as Nihon Falcom says via Twitter, capable of withstanding elephant stomps without getting tattered. It is also completely waterproof, and if the card gets wet, Nihon Falcom says it will dry quickly. Impressive!

Nihon Falcom even notes that the cards are "fashionable American and European sized." Western business cards are slightly smaller than Japanese cards. This is starting to sound like minutia, but business cards ("meishi" or 名刺 in Japanese) are extremely important in Japan. Like in any country, sure, people in Japan notice the paper stock, the font, and the design. But there is also a "correct" way to exchange business cards ("meishi koukan" or 名刺交換).

For those who must exchange business cards in Japan, the easiest way might be to present your card with two hands. Likewise accept others' business cards with two hands. Note that you actually might be exchanging cards at the same time, so you could be giving your card with one hand and receiving it with another. After you receive someone's business card, bow once and look at it. Don't stuff the card in your pocket!

If you are at a table, stand up for the business card exchange. It's best, but not always possible, to move away from the table. After you exchange cards, put that individual's business card on the table next to where you are sitting. Be sure not to forget it! Or use it as a coaster for your drink! Oh, and it can be rude to write on people's business cards in front of them, but I've seen numerous folks here scribble email addresses or phone numbers on cards—so it really depends on the situation.

Considering how many business people in Japan have special binders for clients' and colleagues' cards and taking into account the country's business card etiquette, it's unlikely that people will be getting these cards wet or having an elephant stomp on them. But in case that does happen, Nihon Falcom's tough cards are so ready.

On March 20, Japan is getting two new 3DS colors: Light Blue and Gloss Pink. They are priced at ¥15,000 (US$163) and come with 4GB SDHC memory cards, instead of the standard 2GB ones.

ニンテンドー3DSに新色2色を追加 [Nintendo]

Megami Tensei spin-off series Persona looks great. Its characters are cool. Their clothes are cool. Persona is cool.

So, it's pretty easy to see why fans love cosplaying as characters from the Persona games—especially Persona 3 and Persona 4.

As we do every Wednesday, here's a round-up of some—not all—of the best Persona cosplay the internet has to offer. Have a look and decide which one you think does the best job of bringing Persona to life.

Click the lower corner of each image to expand to full size.

For more on the Persona, check the series' wikia.

Here are past round-ups from Kotaku's regular feature "Who Wore It Best?"

[Akusesu]
[alas-etereas]
[Amaterasu85]
[bellatrixaiden]
[dees2013]
[electric-lady]
[fritzfusion]
[garion]
[hehalana]
[jiocosplay]
[KenkenTiger]
[KiraHokuten]
[Miyukiko]
[MlleFe]
[Mostflogged]
[Nano]
[NeenaChan]
[PrototypeM]
[Requiem-Rain]
[SaraDarkLight]
[sashasunji]
[shiroang]
[teruteru-bozu]
[the-sushi-monster]
[Vega-Highwell]
[y-o-s-s-i]

Bob sleepwalks. It's a hazard, both in the real world and his dreamworld, so it's lucky he has his subconscious—Subob—there to help. And you to control Subob.

That's the basic premise of Back to Bed, a game made by a bunch of Danish indies who, having knocked out a rough version of the game in 2011, want to create something a lot more polished on Kickstarter.

Back to Bed is a 3D puzzle game, where you control Subob running around clearing a path for Bob, who is blissfully sleepwalking. The aim is to, well, get him back to bed.

It's a neat premise, and already to an extent a proven product, with the original version appearing at the IGF student showcase and being named a finalist in the 2012 Unity Awards.

Back to Bed [Site]

When I played the game last year, what hit me almost instantly about The Banner Saga was the fact that, aside from being a smart turn-based strategy game, it was also one of the most beautiful video games I'd ever seen.

So it's a real treat, in the same week the game's multiplayer component became available free to all, to get the chance to share artwork from the game's development. It's truly some of the most impressive stuff we've ever featured on Fine Art, and that's saying something.

What makes it so special is that, in addition to being gorgeous in its own right, the art addresses a complaint I often see in the comment sections of this feature, where people lament the fact that finished video games rarely are able to preserve the spirit and colour of their concept art.

The Banner Saga can, because the game's concept work makes the jump to its 2D gameplay almost entirely intact, even down to the fact its animations are done by hand. A good example are the large, isometric pieces you'll see below; those are wonderful pieces of art, yeah, but they're also the actual maps you play the game on.

The pieces you're seeing here were done by Arnie Jorgensen, who before he helped start Stoic Studio worked at places like Sony and BioWare, where he was a lead concept artist.

As a special treat, every image below is at a fairly massive resolution, so your wallpaper needs for the next few weeks are well and truly taken care of.

It's one of the strangest things I've ever seen in this job, especially when you consider so many gamers spend so much of their time loathing the companies they represent. But when it comes to the actual men and women running giant video game publishers, there's a lot of love in the house.

We saw this most recently with Sony boss Kaz Hirai in the leadup to the reveal of the PS4, but it's been going on for a very long time, even back to our own, uh, special relationships with J Allard and Phil Harrison. Nintendo's executives normally come in for especially fond treatment.

There's no single, logical explanation for this gif-based Stockholm Syndrome, but Leigh Alexander over on Gamasutra does a good job at singling out some of the less logical ones, which include personification, a need for "mascots" and, obviously, the fact many hardcore gaming fans are just a little bit crazy.

Cult of personality: Why do fans love video game execs? [Gamasutra]

Let's be kind and say The WarZ had a rough launch. A very rough launch. And that's being very kind.

Things got so bad for the zombie survival game that it had to be removed from Steam, essentially because the game that was being promised was not the game people were actually paying for.

Well, after a couple of months in the wilderness licking its wounds and hoping none of them were bite marks, the game is back on Steam, patched and ready for sale. Unless it's been patched with an entirely new game I still wouldn't recommend it, but if you feel the need to try it for yourself on the PC gaming platform of choice, now you can.

That escalated quickly.

When Skullgirls developers Lab Zero Games asked for $150,000 to create a single new character for the game, they were initially met with some scoffs. Scoffs that mean absolutely nothing now, because the game's fans, knowing how much work actually goes into creating a fighting game character, have responded with open hearts and, more importantly, open wallets.

The team's funding goal of $150,000, which they were given 30 days to pass, was hit in under 24 hours, thanks to contributions from over 2800 people. That's insane. It also sets a record for the IndieGogo service, previously set by StarForge, which raised $135,453.

Since they've got 29 days left to raise more money, Lab Zero have announced that a further $25,000 will add a special stage and "story mode" for Squigly, the character in question. If they hit $200,000, they'll add a second character, the game's first male fighter, Big Band.