© TOMY

NBCUniversal Japan is finally bringing out a Blu-ray release for the Tatakae! Chou Robot Seimeitai Transformers property with some firm details. The plan at the moment is for it to arrive on February 7th, 2018 priced at 18,000 yen. It’ll have a reprinted version of the three booklets from the previous DVD releases and will have a total running time of 2,280 minutes. This’ll be another SD on Blu-ray release since it looks to have 30 to 35 episodes per disc for the three discs total. There’s a range of extras to it but I’m terribly unfamiliar with this property overall and how it’s being machine translated for them.

Plot concept: Fleeing from the war that has raged on the planet Cybertron for millions of years, the heroic Autobots led by Optimus Prime encounter a surprise attack by the evil Decepticons led by Megatron. The ensuing melee aboard the Autobot ship ends when the ship crashes on a volcano. Four million years later, an earthquake reactivates the ship`s computer and resurrects both the Autobots and Decepticons, resuming the great war of the Transformers.

Tatakae! Chou Robot Seimeitai Transformer Japanese Box Set Packaging

[Source: Tatakae]

© Bandai/TV Tokyo/Kata Production Committee

TV Tokyo had their latest episode of Cocotama earlier today and that means they’re now starting their promotion for the next episode with the 110th that’s set to arrive on November 30th, 2017. The show continues a pretty solid run and had the second DVD Box arrive on November 25th, 2016 in Japan with the third set released in March 2017 debut. Sadly, the series has not been picked up for a simulcast anywhere.

Please note that TV Tokyo takes these previews down when the episode goes live.

The series began airing in October 2015 with OLM Inc providing the animation for it. The show is directed by Norio Nitta based on the series composition by Michihiro Tsuchiya and character designs by Shinobu Ookawa.

Plot Concept: Cocotama are tiny gods born from the thoughts and feelings of objects that people use with great care. The fact that Cocotama wear part of the egg they hatch out of as underwear is proof that they are still apprentices. The Cocotama use a mysterious magic, and they train hard to be of use to humans and to become full gods. They live inside human houses and stealthily move around to help humans find things they have lost, although they make many mistakes.

© Nintendo · Creatures · GAME FREAK · TV Tokyo · ShoPro · JR Kikaku © Pokémon

TV Tokyo is moving right along with the broadcast of the Pokemon: Sun & Moon anime series, coming alongside the recent new game and general worldwide popularity. As the series progresses, the network has now put together the first promotional video for the next episode on November 30th, 2017. This’ll be a single episode with episodes 994, essentially bringing us the 52nd episode of this new iteration out together.

The series is directed by Daiki Tomiyasu based on the series composition by Aya Matsui. Character designs were handled by Satoshi Nakano and Shuhei Yasuda.

The Japanese cast includes Ikue Ohtani as Satoshi’s Pikachu and Rica Matsumoto as Satoshi. The opening theme for the show is “Alola!!” as performed by Rica Matsumoto and Ikue Ohtani while the ending theme song is “Pose” as performed by Okazaki Taiiku.

Please note that TV Tokyo removes the videos when the episode airs.

Plot Concept: Alola, a place with beautiful blue sky and sea, has become the new stage of adventure for Satoshi and Pikachu. New Pokemon, new friends, and new experiences await!

Aniplex Japan is handling the home video release for the Boruto series and it’s certainly aimed at an interesting market for it. The first collection was released back on November 1st, 2017  and now the second set has been scheduled with a planned March 7th, 2018 release where it’ll be a DVD-only set priced at 14,000 yen. It’ll have episodes sixteen through thirty-two included.

The project has set Noruyuki Abe as the general director overseeing the project with Hiroyuki Yamashita serving as the main director working from scripts by Ukyo Kodachi and Makoto Uezu. Character designs are being worked on by Tetsuya Nishio and Hirofumi Suzuki.

The sequel manga to the Naruto series is written by Ukyo Kodachi with artwork by Mikio Ikemoto. With it having only two volumes out and being a monthly title, it’s expected to just be used as a launching point and likely going off on its own direction or in parallel to the plans laid out by editorial for the manga and anime.

The Japanese cast includes Yuko Sanpei as Boruto Uzumaki, Kokoro Kikuchi as Sarada Uchiha, Atsushi Abe as Inojin Yamanaka, Junko Takeuchi as Naruto Uzumaki, Kensho Ono as Shikadai Nara, Nana Mizuki as Hinata Hyuga, Ryoko Shiraishi as Chōchō Akimichi, Ryūichi Kijima as Mitsuki, Shinji Kawada as Shino Aburame, Showtaro Morikubo as Shikamaru Nara and Saori Hayami as Himawari Uzumaki.

Plot concept: The Hidden Leaf Village has entered an era of peace and modernity. Tall buildings line the streets, giant screens flash with images, and the Thunder Rail runs through the village, connecting each district together. Though it’s still a ninja village, the number of civilians has increased and the life of the shinobi is beginning to change.

Boruto Uzumaki, son of Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki, has enrolled in the Ninja Academy to learn the ways of the ninja. The other students are ready to dismiss him as “just the son of the Hokage,” but Boruto’s heart and character blow all their assumptions away.

As a series of mysterious events begins to unfold, it’s up to Boruto and his new friends to handle them. Like a gale-force wind, Boruto makes his own way into everyone’s hearts; his story is about to begin!

Boruto Japanese DVD Box Set 1 Packaging

[Source: Boruto]

© light / Dies irae ANIME PROJECT

Funimation is working through the fall simuldub for the Dies Irae anime series up and they’re definitely having fun with it. I had missed this clip earlier in the month with so many other things going on but it gives folks a good sample of some of the basics of the show.  Tyler Walker is on board as the ADR director working from scripts by Tyson Rinehart with episodes arriving every Tuesday at 4:00 pm ET for their members.

The English cast announced includes Dave Trosko as Reinhard Heydrich, Brandon McInnis as Karl Krafft, Alexis Tipton as Beatrice von Kircheisen, Alex Moore as Eleonore von Wittenberg, Caitlin Glass as Riza Brenner, Aaron Roberts as Wilhelm Ehrenburg, Mikeala Krantz as Wolfgang Schreiber, Jeannie Tirado as Rusalka Schwägerin (Anna), Ian Sinclair as Valeria Trifa, and Marcus Stimac as Rot Spinne.

The series was directed by Susumi Kudo based on the series composition by the original game scenario writer Takashi Masada. Takaaki Fukuyo served as the character designer.

The Japanese cast from the game that will be participating in the animation includes Kousuke Toriumi as Ren Fujii, Yui Sakakibara as Marie ,Hitomi Nabatame as Rea Himuro, Takeshi Maeda as Shirou Yusa, Yoshina Makino as Erii Honjou, Junichi Suwabe as Reinhard Heydrich, Ken Narita as Valeria Trifa, Kishô Taniyama as Wilhelm Ehrenburg, Kei Mizusawa as Kai Sakurai, Kei Mizusawa as Beatrice Waltrud von Kircheisen, Hitomi Nabatame as Isaak, Hiroki Yasumoto as Göetz Von Berlichingen, Yuka Inokuchi as Rusalka Schwägerin, Asami Yaguchi as Eleonore Von Wittenburg, Kouki Harasawa as Spinne, Risato Habuki as Riza Brenner, Yuuki Tamaki as Wolfgang Schreiber, and Kousuke Toriumi as Mercurius.

Plot Concept: Ren Fujii is a normal student who just had a fistfight with his former best friend, leading him to break off their friendship. But with the help of his childhood friend, Kasumi Ayase, and upperclassman, Rea Himuro, he’s gradually returning to his normal school life.

Then a series of brutal murders in which the victims are decapitated begins to strike their city. Strangely, at the same time, Ren starts to have terrifying nightmares of being beheaded by a guillotine. But these are just a prelude to the painful and terrifying battles to come.

Their daily life has turned inside-out. Supermen are lurking in the darkness. The town has become a battlefield as Ren is consumed by insane happenings beyond his imagination. Faced with the reality that he cannot survive unless he fights, will he be able to retake his normal life?

Dies Irae Japanese Blu-ray Box Set 1

It may be Black Friday but it’s also just a normal Friday where there’s a lot of new anime coming online. Crunchyroll has a big slate of the weekend round of fun getting underway with new episodes of these shows arriving:

• 10:30am – TAISHO MEBIUSLINE CHICCHAISAN
• 11:00am – RECOVERY OF AN MMO JUNKIE
• 11:30am – KINO’S JOURNEY -THE BEAUTIFUL WORLD- THE ANIMATED SERIES
• 1:05pm – DIES IRAE
• 1:23pm – GARO -VANISHING LINE-
• 6:30pm – FUTURE CARD BUDDYFIGHT X
• 7:30pm – PRIPRI CHI-CHAN!!
• 7:30pm – 100% TEACHER PASCAL
• 8:00pm – BONO BONO 2ND SEASON
• 9:30pm – ULTRAMAN GEED

Funimation normally doesn’t have much up on Friday but today they have a nice chunk of anime to check out with:

HIDIVE has one show on tap today with:

• 1:00 pm – Samurai Punisher Episode 4

It’s that crazy time of the year where lots of stuff goes on sale so we figured we’d take a stab at it too with our donation drive. From now through Sunday until midnight, our $25 reward donation pile is now $15 instead of $25! The usual restrictions apply as you can see below but this hopefully helps us clear things out a bit, gets some good shows into your hands, and helps to keep the site running! We’ve done a bunch of upgrades recently to improve performance, which has gone great, and reduce downtime, which has been almost eliminated, so we’re ready for the next phase!

Below is what you’d normally see in regard to our monthly donation drive:

Back at the end of March 2016 we ended up celebrating our 18th year of working this particular kind of job. Way back in 1998, I had started with a little sliver of a page on a Netcom personal account that ended up becoming AnimeOnDVD.com. Life has taken us in some interesting places along the way and I’ve been utterly blessed with knowing so many people over the years – and as I find at conventions and elsewhere, I’ve been a big part of a lot of other people’s lives by the continual presence and even personality as some have told me.

As you can imagine, things change a lot over the years from when we were able to generate revenue from DVD Express back in the day along with Right Stuf as affiliate partnerships were the way most sites survived and funded their operations. The changing nature of the advertising landscape has been difficult for a lot of places in the years since as affiliate deals are largely gone and advertising is even harder. I have always worked the goal of being 99% anime/manga focused in terms of our advertising, never doing pop-ups, pop-unders, banners with sounds, and all that other problematic junk that I hate myself. I wanted advertising that was relevant to the readership.

Sadly, it’s just not a sustainable side anymore.

I ended up quite humbled last year when I needed a bit of help with a medical bill from some surgeries I had and part of that was because the advertising side just doesn’t cut it anymore. In doing my tax prep this past month, and I’ll be quite honest here, we made about $15k last year. And this site is my primary job. Suffice to say, with two teenage girls, it’s just not going to work this way much longer. So I want to try something that I’ve seen some other sites I frequent have done over the years, such as Penny Arcade back in the day, by making us fully powered by you, the fans.

As you can see, we’ve set up the GoFundMe page with a where we’re doing monthly runs with a goal of $1000 and have gotten November 2017 underway with a whole lot of new rewards added in recently! Don’t forget, we are a small business! While I had been up front with the overall yearly goal, I suspect this format will work better and we’ll be stocking with a lot more rewards as well. Doing this will help us to basically get essentially a hair above the poverty line according to the government. And I’m more than fine with that because I love what I do and I want to do what I love. That’s why I’m crazily up at 5:30 in the morning and plugging away at stuff throughout the entire day. It’s why I write reviews in the late afternoon, monitor news throughout the day, watch and write about primetime shows, dig into comic books and manga, follow conventions, review new releases of movies, DVDs, and Blu-rays. It’s why I post throughout the day on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest – so I can keep information available and fresh for my followers. It’s why I spend time each week distributing materials to our wonderful reviewers who can offer different viewpoints so we have variations in material. I live and breathe this stuff. And I love sharing it with you all.

At our current settings, we’re producing between 30-40 articles a day during the week and about a dozen each day over the weekend. That’s what we do and that’s what you’d be funding. The news, the opinions, the reviews. The social media interactions.

Those that donate will be able to choose DVD/BD rewards that I’ve got as I continue to purge my own library with $15, $25, $50, $100 levels. You can see the spreadsheet below that you’ll be able to choose from after donating!

Having done this for 18 years, it’s definitely a hugely difficult decision to do this because I’ve found a lot of ways to make it work over the years. But it’s becoming impossible to do so and this site, this audience, is not something that I want to lose, so I want to try this route and see what we can do.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the support, interest, and friendship over the years from so many of you.

Help spread the word!

© Antinode 8 Production Committee

What They Say:
“The Harvest Show” is a concert where all of the different grains show off their beauty to everyone watching, and “HarveStars” is the name given to the grains who put on the best performances. In this age of rice acreage reduction policies and Westernization of eating habits, bread has become the most popular grain in Japan, and tables are dominated by “Yeast King,” the bread HarveStars. But five new rice students have enrolled at Kokuritsu Inaho Academy, a school on the verge of shutting down, and they form a new group called “Love Rice” that’s practicing to beat Yeast King…

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The shift to things about noodles has been part and parcel of the show since early on even with Hino’s love of rice along with the others. With Hino back in the mix with the group, now expanded properly, the show pivots elsewhere as the group is brought in to be stand-in’s for a movie .Yes, this apparently makes sense, as much as anything else in this show. The parodies that are brought into the mix are amusing, especially the Psycho-Pass version, and it just reinforces for me that the series should have just been a straightforward parody instead of trying to work its own magic. There’s a little trouble in the mix as well to give it tension but that has little weight and just distracts from the fun side of things.

In Summary:
A focus on Sasanishki isn’t bad but it doesn’t really bring us anything new or engaging in a way that changes anything else. The episode works better than other ones recently simply because it goes for simple parody humor and delivers there. Beyond that there’s still very little to almost nothing to recommend this show with.

Grade: C

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

© Miyuki Nakayma / Houbunsha

With the Blend-S series getting a lot of love around here, one way to show why it is getting that attention is through some clips. Crunchyroll is putting a lot of these out lately and there’s now another very cute one out there. Talking with Dino should help her while she’s feeling down but what it ends up doing is hitting a very good bit of familiar anime parody material.

The series was directed by Ryouji Masuyama based on the series composition by Gou Zappa. Yousuke Okuda worked on the character designs and it was being animated by A-1 Pictures.

The Japanese cast includes Azumi Waki as Maika Sakuranomiya, Akari Kito as Kaho Hinata, Anzu Haruno as Mafuyu Hoshikawa, Atsumi Tanezaki as Miu Amano, Sora Tokui as Hideri Kanzaki, Tomoaki Maeno as Dino, and Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Kouyou Akizuki.

The series had its third volume release at the end of January 2017 after it started as a pair of one-shots back in 2013 and then as an ongoing in 2014 in Manga Time Kirara Carat.

Plot Concept: Sakura Nomiya is, by nature, a person with bad luck and always gets into trouble, but knows Dino, who manages a cafeteria. However, it is not any cafeteria, and the waitresses have to act according to their “attributes.”

It may be Black Friday but there are new digital comics and manga that are surfacing!

DC Comics serves up the latest installment of Bombshells: United as everything is coming together for the new arc.

On the manga side, Kodansha Comics has a trio of titles up today including the latest APOSIMZ arriving on its monthly schedule.

Funimation is handling the distribution of the 91 Days series for Crunchyroll and it landed just over a week ago on November 14th, 2017. With some good trailers previously to set the tone for it a new dub clip sets into Fango’s sadistic side when he comes looking for Nero. The release is priced at $64.98 for the regular edition and $84.98 for the regular edition and has some pretty fun things laid out for it with:

Regular Edition: Day 4 Commentary, 91 Daze, Promo Video Collection, Web Previews, Trailers

Limited Edition: 40-page companion guidebook with artwork; character profiles and background information on Prohibition, the Chicago mafia, period firearms, and more; a collector’s rigid box featuring artwork from the series; a set of six art cards, Day 4 Commentary, 91 Daze, Promo Video Collection, Web Previews, Trailers

The series is being directed by Tyler Walker based on scripts by J. Michael Tatum. The English cast includes Austin Tindle as Angelo/Avilio, Brandon McInnis as Corteo, Ian Moore as Nero, Newton Pittman as Vanno, Jeremy Schwartz as Vincent, Brandon Potter as Fango, Jarrod Greene as Tigre, Drew Wall as Cerotto, Chris Rager as Gatto, Sean Hennigan as Granchio, Jason Liebrecht as Serpente, Laurie Steele as Avilio’s Landlord, Morgan Berry as Young Angelo (Episode 1), Marti Etheridge as Young Corteo (Episode 1), Madeline Morris as Luce (Episode 1), J. Michael Tatum as Testa (Episode 1) and Caitlin Glass as Elena (Episode 1).

The project aired on MBS as part of their Animeism block. The series was directed by Hiro Kaburaki based on the series composition from Taku Kishimoto and character designs from Tomohiro Kishi. Studio Shuka handled the animation.

The cast includes Takashi Kondou as Avolio, Takuya Eguchi as Nero, Daisuke Ono as Vanno, Soma Saito as Corteo, Kenjirou Tsuda as Fango, Koutarou Nishiyama as Frate, Yuuichi Nakamura as Ronaldo, Takahiro Sakurai as Barbero and Kazuhiro Yamaji as Vincento.

The opening theme song is by TK while the ending theme is “Rain or Shine” by ELISA.

Plot concept: Prohibition—a time where law holds no power, and the mafia prowls the streets. Avilio Bruno has grown up alone in this murky world after the Vanetti’s murdered his family. One day, he receives a letter that holds the key to revenge. Befriending the don’s son, Nero, Avilio works his way through the Vanetti family and sets his vengeance in motion. But 91 Days of killing can only spawn more tragedy.

© HolicWorks, inc.

What They Say:
It’s the closing years of the Taisho era, a turbulent time when the military empire of Japan is rising to go to war with the world. The protagonist, Hiiragi Kyoichiro, has come to the Imperial Capital, Tokyo, to attend Imperial University. He is determined to pursue a scholar’s path and become a great man back in his hometown. But now the Japanese army has set its sights on Kyoichiro, because of a special ability that he possesses. As a result of a terrible illness from his youth, Kyoichiro gained the ability to see the spirits of the dead.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The show has done some surprising expansions with what’s going on with the sizing and all but it’s still just enjoying playing with its characters. This episode has Hiiragi going about his day in a pleasant way until the mail arrives, which can be a source of problems in a lot of properties. With his education being a big part of coming here he’s got news about his books but he still can’t shake what’s gone on recently as it looms large in his mind, making for an easy mini-recap. I do like seeing his excitement at getting supplies and thinking about school but it’s all while waiting for the other shoe to drop, which comes in the form of Senge Iori who looks to be issuing quite the challenge after a quick display of power.

In Summary:
This episode gets Hiiragi into a good place but it won’t last because there must be drama to be dealt with. I liked seeing him in his cute form as he got excited about what’s coming and I liked seeing him acquiring his stuff and thinking of the future in a big way. The action side doesn’t go full on with Senge arriving but there’s a good sense of power that comes from him and whatever path he may be following that will push the show further in its odd direction.

Grade: C

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

© 2017 Yasuhiro Naito / Shueisha · Blood Blockade Battlefron & BEYOND Production Committee

With the first half of the run for Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond out and available now, Crunchyroll has dipped into the well once again to draw forth a new clip. This one has Zapp getting into a new fight and everything just kind of goes all over the map from there. It’s scheduled to run for twelve episodes with Shighito Takayanagi directing while Yasuko Kamo will be writing it. Toshihiro Kawamoto is the character designer and Bones will be producing the animation.

The show comes from the manga of the same name by Yasuhiro Nightow, who made a name for himself early in the previous decade with his Trigun work. The manga began in 2009 and has nine volumes released so far, with six of them out in North America through Dark Horse Comics. The first season of the anime adaptation was produced by Bones with Rie Matsumoto directing based on scripts by Kazunao Furuya and character designs by Toshihiro Kawamoto.

The Japanese cast includes Daisuke Sakaguchi as Leonardo Watch, Rikiya Koyama as Klaus Von Reinhertz, Kazuya Nakai as Zapp Renfro, Yu Kobayashi as Chain Sumeragi, Hikaru Midorikawa as Zed O’Brien, Ai Orikasa as K.K., Banjou Ginga as Gilbert F. Altstein, Mitsuru Miyamoto as Steven A. Starphase and Yūma Uchida as Sonic Speed Monkey.

Plot Concept: Produced by Studio Bones (Fullmetal Alchemist, Space Dandy, Soul Eater) and created by Trigun writer Yasuhiro Nightow, Blood Blockade Battlefront brings compelling characters and dynamic plotlines together for one unforgettable adventure. After a breach between Earth and the netherworld opens up over New York, humans and creatures from other dimensions become trapped in an impenetrable bubble that surrounds the city. Forced to coexist in a new city known as Salem’s Lot, the shaky peace between humanity and the netherworld creatures is protected by an underground group of super humans known as Libra. When a case of mistaken identity brings not-so-ordinary delivery boy Leonardo Watch face-to-face with this group, he joins their ranks hoping to help prevent the destruction of the world by a group of monsters and madmen lead by a powerful being known as the King of Despair.

© Kazutaro Yamada, Masaki Segawa, Masaki Yamada, Kodansha / Norihiko Sakura Production Committee

The reveal this past July that the Basilisk property was getting a sequel anime and manga series is still kind of surreal. But we’re now getting closer to the debut of Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou and new details have surfaced. The show has been set for a January 9th, 2018 debut and we’ve gotten a lot of supporting characters now cast as well as the first promotional video for it that does a great job of setting the mood. It’ll be directed by Junji Nishimura based on the series composition by Shinsuke Oonishi. Takao Maki is handling the character designs and serving as the chief animation director with Seven Arcs Pictures producing the animation.

• Katsuhiro Tokuishi as Saizou Ishi
• Fukushi Ochiai as Shikibu Koura
• Mitsuhiro Ichiki as Shichigen Higurashi
• Shinichiro Miki as Gorone Negoro
• Saori Hayami as Hachisu
• Reina Ueda as Rui
• Ayane Sakura as Utsutsu
• Kaori Nazuka as Namenba
• Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Tsuibamu Kujaku
• Hiroshi Tsuchida as Magoroku Rinne
• Umeji Sasaki as Chiou Neiri
• Yui Horie as Itaru Yasha
• Takaya Hashi as Joujin

The Japanese cast includes:

• Tasuku Hatanaka as Hachirō Kōga
• Inori Minase as Hibiki Iga
• Takuya Kirimoto as Kazuma Kusanagi
• Ryū Yamaguchi as Kasō Himonji
• Cho as Geiin Shichito
• Shōhei Tō as Tenjin Yusa
• Kosuke Sakaki as Kareha Shogyō
• Chafurin as Hōetsu Tsuta
• Yuji Murai as Itsuma Irootoroe
• Tooru Sakurai as Shūgetsu Suiren

Funimation previously released the anime over the years while Del Rey Manga initially brought out the manga before Kodansha Comics took it over and released it all digitally.

Original Concept: The Iga clan and the Kouga clan have been sworn enemies for more than four hundred years. Only the Hanzo Hattori truce has kept the two families from all-out war. Now, under the order of Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa, the truce has finally been dissolved. Ten ninja from each clan must fight to the death in order to determine who will be the next Tokugawa Shogun. The surviving clan will rule for the next thousand years.

But not all the clan members are in agreement. Oboro of the Iga clan and Gennosuke of the Kouga clan have fallen deeply in love. Now these star-crossed lovers have been pitted against each other. Can their romance conquer a centuries-old rivalry? Or is their love destined to end in death?

© 2017 Otomi Nyon Pon Production Committee All Right Reserved.

What They Say:
“I dance, therefore I am” West African sky-god Onyankopon saves high school girls with song and dance! Long ago, West African sky-god Onyankopon watched over humanity in their midst. But one day, as an elderly woman had been beating yam potatoes in a mortar, she accidentally hits whacks Onyankopon with the mallet, leaving her traumatized from the pain. Though she is now more wary of people, with the help of her underling spirits, whom she calls “Angels,” she continues to help humanity solve its problems.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the weather so nice, those that surround Onyankopon are enjoying some relaxing time since there’s little to do and are basically spacing out a bit. They’re looking for ideas on things to do which leads us to watching the girls in school where boredom has set in for them as well as the day moves on. We get a couple of fun time-wasting moments show when there’s nothing else to do and I was particularly amused by the vein-tracing piece of it.

In Summary:
Naturally, Onyankopon can handle only so much of this foolishness before getting a dance underway about free time that put me to sleep. The show is one that I’m really curious about the context to its existence and its place within the age group it’s aimed at with how it’s perceived, if at all. It’s a curious little time waster that has a cute few bits here and there but the existence of show in and of itself still baffles me to some degree.

Grade: D

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

We learned a couple of weeks ago that the Real Girl manga from Mao Nanami is getting an anime adaptation. Now a little more information has surfaced from Dessert magazine that Takashi Naoya is on board to direct the show. Naoya recently worked on the Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru series as the director and has done a lot of episode direction in the last few years as well as serving as an animation director and working on the key animation for numerous shows going back several years.

The show has plenty of manga material to work with as it ran for twelve volumes before finishing up in the spring of 2016. A live-action feature is scheduled for 2018.

Plot Concept: Tsutsui Hikari is an otaku, and he mostly avoids social life. Hikari has only one friend at school, who is also a social misfit, and he is mocked brutally by most of his classmates for being creepy and weird. One day, he ends up having to clean the school pool with Igarashi Iroha, who appears to be pretty much everything he hates in real-life girls. She skips school, has a blunt manner, doesn’t have female friends, and seems the sort to be promiscuous. However, she is friendly to Hikari, and even stands up to the people who make fun of him. Hikari’s bitterness and trust issues lead him to say pretty harsh things to Iroha, but she never dismisses him as creepy. After a while, it starts to look like Iroha may become his first real-life, 3D girlfriend! Will he be able to handle it?

[Source: ANN]

© 2017 Keiichi Tokiwazawa / KADOKAWA ASCII · Media Works / Kino Trip

The fall series Kino’s Journey is moving right along and as we get ready for the ninth episode on December 1st, 2017, NBC Universal Japan has remembered to promote the show by bringing out a teaser for it on their channel. Crunchyroll streams the series every Friday at 11:30am ET for their members. It’s available to viewers worldwide outside of Asia.

The show is being scheduled with Tomohisa Taguchi directing it based on the series composition by Yukie Sugawara. Ryoko Amisaki is on board for the character designs with Lerche handling the animation production. The two leads are made up of Aoi Yūki as Kino and Sōma Saitō as Hermes.

The light novels began back in 2000 and there are twenty volumes out as of last fall. A TV series was done back in early 2013 along with two feature films.

Nagi Yanagi will be handling both the opening and closing theme songs to the series.

Plot Concept: “Kino’s Journey -the Beautiful World-” is a story about Kino, who travels around the world with nothing but her guns (for protection) and talking motorcycle Hermes (for company). Kino travels to many mystical lands, each with its unique customs and people, and learns about the world through their stories, at some times conjuring humor and inspiration or other times piercing cynicism. However, Kino has her own custom, to stay no longer than three days in every town without exception, as she believes it is enough time to learn almost everything important about the place while still leaving time to explore new lands.

© Chica Umino / Hakusensha

While they may not register much for the deep in the woods anime fan, clips from simulcasts are important from a distributor’s point of view in being able to get your show sampled out there in a way that people may try. One show that hasn’t gotten much attention like it should is March comes in like a lion and Crunchyroll has another clip out now that showcases Takahashi meeting up with Hina but ends up in something unexpected that’s just hilarious to watch unfold.

The series has Akiyuki Shinbou directing it at Shaft with Nobuhiro Sugiyama as the character designer, Yasuhiro Nakura working on the art setting with Seiki Tamura as art director while Toshiki Kameyama worked on sound direction. Yukari Hashimoto is handling the music for the series.

The Japanese cast includes Nobuhiko Okamoto as Harunobu Nikaido, Kengo Kawanishi as Rei Kiriyama, Ai Kayano as Akari Kawamoto, Kana Hanazawa as Hinata Kawamoto and Misaki Kuno as Momo Kawamoto..

Plot concept: The protagonist is Rei, a 17-year-old shogi player. He lives by himself, does not have a family, does not go to school, and has scarcely any friends. Among his acquaintances is a family, which consists of a young woman, Akari, and two young girls, Momo and Hinata, and who also keep a numerous number of cats.

October gave us the reveal that the light novel Beatless from Satoshi Hase and redjuice is making the leap to the anime world with a TV series announced for the winter 2018 season. That’s now firmed up a bit more as the official site has updated to reveal a January 12th, 2017 premiere on the Animeism block on MBS and TBS as well as BS-TBS. It’s also getting streaming distribution around the world through Amazon Prime Video.

The project has set Seiji Mizushima as the director working from the series composition by Tatsuya Takahashi and Gou Zappa. Hiroko Yaguchi is on board as the character designer with Diomedea handling the animation. The original novel was serialized back in the summer of 2011 to summer 2012 before being compiled in October 2012.

Plot Concept: With the introduction of an ultra-advanced AI that surpasses human intelligence, beings that mankind is yet to fully comprehend made from materials far too advanced for human technology begin coming into being. Lacia, an hIE equipped with a black coffin-shaped device, is one of these. In boy-meets-girl fashion, 17-year-old Arato Endo has a fateful encounter with the artificial Lacia. For what purpose were these artificial beings created? Amid questions regarding the coexistence of these artificial beings and humans, a 17-year-old boy makes a decision…

[Source: ANN]

© IDEA FACTORY / DESIGN FACTORY · Code: Realize PROJECT

Funimation has been rolling out a simuldub as part of the fall season with Code:Realize – Guardian of Rebirth –  moving right along. What we haven’t had is much in the way of promotion for it which is now changing a bit thanks to a new dub clip that shows off a kind of sweet innocent boy moment with the Gentleman Thief making his appearance. Funimation brings out new episodes every Tuesday at 4 pm on their service. The show has set Jerry Jewell as the ADR director with scripts by Samuel Wooley.

• Jill Harris as Cardia Beckford
• J. Michael Tatum as Lupin Arsene
• Chris Guerrero as Impey Barbicane
• Micah Solusod as Victor Frankenstein
• Justin Briner as Finis
• David Wald as Rempart Leonhardt
• Greg Dulcie as Isaac Beckford
• Apphia Yu as Sisi

The series was directed by Hideyo Yamamoto based on the series composition by Sayaka Harada. Aya Nakanishi worked on the character design adaptations with Akiharu Ishii as the chief animation director with M.S.C. producing the animation.

The Japanese cast includes Saori Hayami as Cardia, Tomoaki Maeno as Arsène Lupin, Junichi Suwabe as Abraham Van Helsing, Tetsuya Kakihara as Victor Frankenstein, Showtaro Morikubo as Impey Barbicane, Daisuke Hirakawa as Count Saint-Germain, and Yuuki Kaji as Finis.

Plot Concept: Cardia has a deadly poison residing in her body, and as a result, gets called a monster by others. One night, she meets a mysterious man calling himself Arséne Lupin, who leads her to Industrial London. From there, she meets various people uncovering the truths and real stories behind the strange people and land, in an attempt to recover her memories and search for her father who holds the keys to her memories in London.