Automaton West’s top 5 most bizarre moments of 2024 

To finish up 2024, we decided to look back on some of the weirder news from this year. Here are five of the oddest incidents that we had the pleasure of reporting on in 2024. We would like to wish all our readers a Happy Wew Year, and we hope you’ll stay tuned for more stories from Automaton West in 2025.  

Japanese Bible ASMR with cute anime girls, because why not? 

“It’s kind of erotic but the content isn’t erotic…” 

Back in January 24, a YouTube channel offering ASMR readings of the Japanese Bible in a cute girly voice captured the attention of social media users in Japan. The YouTube channel in question was ASMR Church of Christ (ASMRキリスト教会), which describes itself as a cyber-church that preaches Christianity through ASMR, adding that “cute voice actors will heal you through whispered recitals of the Bible.”  

With many of the videos featuring images of doe-eyed anime girls in slightly provocative poses, plus absurd thumbnail captions, the strange combination elicited puzzled and bemused reactions from Japanese commenters on X. It also left Automaton West writers equally confused and amused. 

Don’t worry, Sonic the Hedgehog is still homeless 

In November, eagle-eyed Sonic fans were quick to contact Sega about a glaring error in the Sonic the Hedgehog Annual 2025. The book declared that “Sonic lives in Green Hill Zone,” when, in fact, diehard Sonic fans know that Sega’s speedy blue mascot is a homeless drifter and always has been. Sonic series associate lore manager MisterCrits was quick to thank fans for pointing out the mistake and assure them that nothing has changed. 

Not everyone was aware that Sonic is homeless, which prompted some surprised reactions to this piece of lore too. Personally, I always had this image of him in a cozy cottage with a chimney, where he invites Tails and Ami around for tea…  

In reality, Sonic drifts from place to place, setting up camp where he can and sometimes having a kip in his lab. Perhaps nowadays, he also sleeps in his souped-up car from Team Sonic Racing. 

That time a man was acquitted because of his “sexual attraction to Gundam” 

A real-life Japanese court case which resulted in a bizarre Ace Attorney-style acquittal gained attention after it was featured on a Japanese TV program in April 2024.  

The case involved a man being accused by a woman of taking an upskirt photo of her while she was riding a train station escalator. The man confessed and apologized at the time. 

However, once the case reached the appeals court, it was determined that the man was admiring Gundam pictures and not taking photos. No upskirt photos were found on his phone either. His defense lawyer argued that the object of the defendant’s sexual attraction was not women, but Gundam – and he ended up winning the case. 

Japanese Ramen, for gamers, packed in a tube to suck on… 

It feels like we spent most of 2024 salivating over amazing-looking food in games, including Unicorn Overlord, Dragon’s Dogma 2 and the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds. However, some of the real-life food we covered was… less appetizing.  

In July, we reported that Japanese food processing giant Nippon Ham was releasing Boost Noodle, an instant ramen aimed at eSports players. The pouch of ramen in jelly-like pork broth is designed as a one-handed food that can be squeezed straight into your hungry mouth. Sadly, none of us have dared to try it yet, so we cannot report if Boost Noodle tastes better than it sounds. 

That weird Pokémon rip-off where Psyduck is into bondage 

This December, we exposed our brains to Pocket Incoming, and our relationship to Pokémon hasn’t been the same since. The blatant Pokémon rip-off game not only features a whole Pokedex worth of familiar looking monsters and trainers, but also comes with flashy animated movies, some of which made us mourn the lost innocence of childhood. There’s just no unseeing a big-breasted, fake Gardevoir dominatrix tying up a fake Psyduck who is totally into it. We sacrificed our wholesome Pokémon memories on the altar of weird, illegal rip-off games so you don’t have to (You’re welcome). 

If you need more weirdness in your life, take a look back at our top 5 most bizarre moments of 2023, which included an ancient fish and Bing’s AI snitching on itself to Nintendo for using Mario without permission.