It’s a fact that more people know the Super Mario Brothers theme more than their own national anthem. The question is, what if the theme WAS a national anthem. Famed game composer Nobuo Uematsu thinks that this is a good idea.

From 1up.com:

I think that the Super Mario song should be the national anthem for Japan. [Hums the death refrain] So when someone wins a gold medal at the Olympics, a Japanese athlete, the flag should go up with the theme song. Shoop! …The world would have a different image of Japan if we use that.

Check out the rest of this award winning banter here.

All I’m saying is that if Japan gets to have the Super Mario Bros. theme replace the Kimigayo, the Star-Spangled Banner should be replaced by Hulk Hogan’s intro theme…

And now, this week’s Friday ACE.

–First off, here’s something rather big. Something very very big that gets priority over everything else this week. If you’re big into the Hong Kong entertainment scene or watch CNN, you know what I’m talking about.

Let’s face facts people, some computer call center people are evil….

…but nothing can touch the evil that is computer repair staff. With one peek into your hard drive, they can embarrass the living hell out of you and even destroy entire careers. Just ask Edison Chen.

A few months back, Chen took his laptop in for repairs. While in the process, an employee of the shop where he took it to came across over 1,300 sexually provocative pictures of the man himself and numerous HK actresses. Deciding to be an asshole, said employee apparently took the pics, gave some to his co-workers, and a few days later, somebody calling himself Kira (that’s right folks, Death Note strikes again) started to one photo at a time online at a forum which caused a HUUUGE media sh*tstorm. The effects on Chen’s career have been massive, from losing commercial gigs to having his face removed from billboards. It’s like what happened to Kumi Koda only I actually give a damn this time around.

However, the greatest bit of damage came in the announcement this week that Edison Chen would be leaving the Hong Kong entertainment industry indefinitely in the wake of this scandal. Sure the man appeared in Kenta Fukasaku movie but he doesn’t deserve this. Yes he liked to take pics of his conquests, I’m SURE there are some of you out there that either do this or know people who do. Don’t deny it.

And yes, sure, you guys reading this will say that he should have checked his hard drive beforehand which, yeah, in hindsight that would have prevented the whole thing but what’s done is done. Chen’s career is history, people are now protesting over attempts to stop the photo flow by somewhat bypassing Free Speech rights, our Kira “isn’t in hong kong and doesn’t give a shit” according to a recent forum post, and Bai Ling got arrested at LAX and nobody cares for some reason…

For further information as to which actresses were involved and more detailed facts about the scandal, hit up Wikipedia.

…And no I do not know where you can find the photos.

-For the hell of it over my birthday vacation weekend, my friend and I played a few rounds of Duel Monsters, the card game from Yu-Gi-Oh! for nostalgia’s sake. I got schooled very badly and whilest constructing a Revenge Deck to face off against her, I discovered the following: Yet ANOTHER Yu-Gi-Oh anime series: Yu-Gi-Oh! Five D’s.

The story will takes place several decades after the adventures of Yūgi Mutō, the protagonist of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! story. It will center around Yūsei Fudō, a duelist who operates a red motorcycle-like D-Wheel in a new stadium game called Riding Duel. The players ride Duel Disks in this variation of the previous tournaments.

I’m interested to see how the Riding Duels work but I won’t expect anybody to try to emulate them anytime soon. Speaking of which, for all the people out there that still play the game, 5D’s is also set to serve as the jumping off point for two new Starter Packs, two new monster type introductions in this game (Syncro and Tuner Monsters), and a brand new Master Rule set for those that feel that the Advanced/Expert rules of the TCG/OCG aren’t all that challenging. The series is set to air in April with the new starters and rulings coming out around the same time.

–Ally in arms Bueno recently appeared in a music video for Aira Mitsuki’s single, “China Discotecha”. Go check it out to see him bust out his mad skillz for the camera.

-The DS Lite has been getting a lot of bling-age as of late. First it’s a one of a kind cover designed by top Japanese street fashion artists and now Mario has fallen in league with A Bathing Ape.

I just hope all this new fashion sense doesn’t go to Mario’s head…

–ZARD’s Izumi Sakai is becoming the Japanese Tupac all of a sudden thanks to a slew of posthumous releases and now one of them is going to be the theme for the new Detective Boy Conan film.

…Sakai wrote the lyrics for the original “Tsubasa wo Hirogete,” which was released by the band DEEN in 1993. More than ten years ago, she recorded her own version, but it was never made into a CD or performed live.

I miss ZARD as much as the next person but this is just getting ridiculous….

-And finally, the big news that has been setting the American anime fandom ablaze: Details about the Live Action Akira adaptation…

According to reports, Leonardo DiCaprio will be serving as a producer for the three films that will be covering the entire manga and is rumored to be playing the role of Kaneda. As for who will be playing Tetsuo? Rumors point to Joseph Gordon Levitt. Yeah.

Also, the setting of the film will no longer be Neo Tokyo but a “Japanese Built” Neo-Manhattan. This is probably a good thing as an American interpretation would be Tokyo Drift all over again only with less Lesbian Eye Candy and Kimonos with Coca-Cola adds on them.

However, the epic fail in this flood of news? The Hollywood Reporter for not getting their facts straight.

Either somebody was rushing with Google or they really like Rival Schools….

TANGENT OF THE WEEK:
The teaser for Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick’s Coraline has emerged online….IN 3D! Not really but the real movie will actually be in 3D….Just click the link already.

And here’s a sneek peak that Neil Gaiman released a while back:

Please for the love of god, do not let this turn into another flood of Hot Topic merchandi-I mean, I can’t wait.

Honorable Mention: Doc Brown and the DeLorean are BACK!! Sort of…

And now, interesting links/Newsbits….
–Want An Entire Dreamcast Collection? Now You Can (Kotaku)
–New Street Fighter Casting Details (Variety Japan)
–China Uses The Ultimate Media Banhammer (ANN)
–Want to Kill Uwe Boll? Postal 3 Says You Can (Kotaku)

That’s it for this week’s Friday ACE. And now, the Pontiac TransAm Commercial you always wanted to see…