Yuri!!! On ICE #08-09

Tuesday’s up on deck and there are plenty of shows to dig into today. Crunchyroll has some fun with more Black Clover and Overlord II among others with:

• 6:25am – BLACK CLOVER
• 7:00am – SHONEN ASHIBE GO! GO! GOMA-CHAN
• 8:30am – A PLACE FURTHER THAN THE UNIVERSE
• 9:30am – KAIJU GIRLS SEASON 2
• 10:00am – OVERLORD II
• 1:45pm – HITORI NO SHITA – THE OUTCAST 2

Funimation brought out some simuldubs from last year that are hitting home video today earlier this morning and they have three simuldubs planned for this afternoon with:

• 12:00 am EST – Yuri!!! on ICE Episodes 3-12
• 1:00 am EST – Keijo!!!!!!!! Episodes 3-12
• 4:00 pm EST – Overlord Episodes 14-15
• 4:00 pm EST – Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru Episodes 14-15
• 4:00 pm EST – HAKYU HOSHIN ENGI Episodes 1-2

HIDIVE has one show on tap for today with:

• 1:00 pm – Blue Gale Xabungle Episode 26

© Shuichi Shigeno/Kodansha●

Pasadena, CA (February 5, 2018) – Los Angeles based film distribution company, Azoland Pictures is proud to announce that they will be distributing the Initial D Legend trilogy in partnership with Sentai Filmworks across North American theaters starting this February. The new films feature a retelling of the popular anime series based on the manga title originally created by author Shuichi Shigeno. Parts 1 and 2 of the story, “Legend 1: Awakening” and “Legend 2: Racer,” will be in theaters as a double feature on February 23, 2018 and the final installment, “Legend 3: Dream” on March 9, 2018. Details on tickets and showtimes will be available on the official Azoland Pictures website (http://www.azolandpictures.com/). Fans of this high-octane franchise will enjoy an exclusive Initial D Movie giveaway item with every ticket purchased while supplies last. The Initial D Legend trilogy will be featured in the original
Japanese language with English subtitles.

Fans both old and new to the Initial D franchise can enjoy the new films as each part tells the story of Takumi Fujiwara and his journey to becoming the most revered driver among the world of  Japanese illegal street racing. JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) car enthusiasts will see all their favorites including the Toyota AE86 (A.K.A The “Hachi-roku”), Mazda RX-7 (FD3S & FC3S), Nissan Silvia (S13 & S14), Nissan Skyline GT-R and many more. Fans can experience in the theaters Takumi’s battles against his formidable foes depicted using latest CG animation and realistic sounds of each vehicle type which were recorded at a motorsport race track to demonstrate authenticity.

The films features an all-star voice cast including: Mamoru Miyano (Ling Yao in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Rin Matsuoka in Free!, Ryuji Sakamoto in Persona 5) playing Takumi Fujiwara, Yuichi Nakamura (Gray Fullbuster in Fairy Tail, Hotaro Oreki in Hyoka, Kyosuke Kosaka in Oreimo) as Keisuke Takahashi, Daisuke Ono (Sebastian Michaelis in Black Butler, Jotaro Kujo in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures: Star Crusaders, Erwin Smith in Attack on Titan) as Ryosuke Takahashi, and Maaya Uchida (Rea Sanka in Sankarea, Ayame Yomogawa in Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Hiyori Iki in Noragami Aragoto) as Natsuki Mogi.

About Initial D Legend 1: Awakening
The wheels are set in motion as Koichiro Iketani of the Akina Speedstars witnesses a mysterious driver outmaneuver and beat rival, Keisuke Takahashi of Akagi RedSuns. The impromptu race, he later discovers, was won by none other than his very own co-worker at the gas station, Takumi Fujiwara, the son of a legendary racer. In the high-paced world of street racing, Takumi shakes it up with an extraordinary racing style as the Akina Speedstars and the RedSuns go head to head on Mount Akina.

About Initial D Legend 2: Racer
The leader of rival group Myogi NightKids, Takeshi Nakazato, wants to challenge the now infamous Takumi Fujiwara in a race down Mount Akina. As Takumi questions his identity as a racer, he finds that, there’s more to lose than just a simple race. When another member of the NightKids causes Takumi’s friend to crash his car, Takumi takes on the treacherous twists and turns down Mount Akina in his most challenging race yet.

About Initial D Legend 3: Dream
Takumi Fujiwara has garnered the attention of the legendary street racer Ryosuke Takahashi, leader of the Akagi RedSuns. As he prepares for the biggest race of his life, Takumi finds himself trying to juggle his passion for racing with his personal life. With his girlfriend Natsuki wondering about their relationship, and his friends conflicting agendas, can Takumi find the answers behind the wheel?

About Azoland Pictures, LLC
Azoland Pictures is a film distribution company that offers Japanese anime and live-action films to the audience in North America. The company also organizes movie premieres, anime related
film festivals, and J-Pop events in the Los Angeles area. In 2017, Azoland Pictures has theatrically distributed Love Live Sunshine!! Concerts, Kizumonogatari Part 3: Reiketsu, Sword Art Online The Movie – Ordinal Scale – English dub, No Game No Life Zero, and Fate/stay night Heaven’s Feel Chapter 1. More information available at www.azolandpictures.com.

About Sentai Filmworks, Inc.
Sentai Filmworks is a leading global supplier of anime and official anime merchandise, distributing and curating one of the industry’s most diverse libraries of top trending and classic titles. Offering thousands of hours of content across both traditional and digital platforms, Sentai is dedicated to bringing captivating stories and iconic characters directly from Japan. With hit series that include Parasyte –the maxim–, No Game, No Life, Food Wars!, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, and Akame ga KILL!, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Himouto! Umaru-chan and Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls, as well as classic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes. For more information, visit www.sentaifilmworks.com.

Tuesday’s selection of new digital comics and manga with some backlist material in the mix is always fun to check out. Dark Horse brings out a new edition of Incognegro while also bringing out some Predator related fun. DC Comics has new Injustice 2 along with trades for Black Lightning and Vigilante: Southland among a few others.

Marvel Comics goes for a lot of backlist titles today with A-Next getting a few issues and a big run on Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. Some fun stuff like Quasar brings back the memories as does digging into the first ten issues of The ‘Nam.

On the manga side, Dark Horse Comics steps in with more Oh My Goddess! while Yen Press hits us up with Oh, My Sweet Alien and Kemono Friends among other ongoing books. Viz Media launches Takane & Hana with a lot of ongoings in the mix, including the very well received Promised Neverland that’s racking up lots of sales in Japan. Seven Seas Entertainment has a trio of great titles today with more Magical Girl Site and Orange along with more To Love Ru Darkness. Kodansha Comics has four new simulpubs and half a dozen or so ongoing trades that are mostly digital-first releases.

© Chica Umino / Hakusensha

With the second season of March comes in like a lion going on hiatus in Japan for the Winter Olympics, the timing is right to try and tempt some fans into watching the dub. Aniplex USA and Crunchyroll have now brought out the complete first season of twenty-two episodes onto the streaming service in its dubbed form to check out. The series was directed by Wendee Lee with the first volume out last December and the second volume coming up on April 10th, 2018. The English cast includes:

• Khoi Dao as Rei Kiriyama
• Laura Post as Akari Kawamoto
• Kayli Mills as Hinata Kawamoto
• Xanthe Huynh as Momo Kawamoto
• Zach Aguilar as Harunobu Nikaidou
• Lauren Landa as Kyouko Kouda
• Christopher Hackney as Yuusuke Takahashi
• Robbie Daymond as Tatsuyuki Misumi
• Doug Erholtz as Issa Matsumoto
• Cam Clarke as Masachika Kouda
• Keith Silverstein as Takashi Hayashida

Check out our review of the first Blu-ray set.

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.

The opening theme song will be performed by BUMP OF CHICKEN and they’ll also be providing the ending theme song with the “Fighter” piece that they collaborated with on previously.

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.

© 2017 Ryo Mizuno, Miyuu / Kadokawa / Elam Magic Academy

The Grancrest War series has new episode arriving every Friday on Crunchyroll at 11:30 am ET but they’re doing more than just loading those up. The streaming service is also bringing out some clips to entice people to check it out as well as having something that’s very easy to share on social media. The first clip delves into the with Marrine’s elite troops arriving to avenge the defeat of King Savis while the second one sees Lassic being pursued up the mountain path by King Savis himself.

The series is open to viewers in North America, Central America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Ireland.

Mamoru Hatakeyama will be directing it based on the series composition by original creator Ryou Mizuno and writer Satoshi Yano. Hiroshi Yakou is on board as the character designer and A-1 Pictures is producing the animation.

The Japanese cast includes Reina Ueda as Aishera, Yuuichi Nakamura as Ervin, Natsumi Takamori as Priscilla, Ai Kayano as Marine Kreische, Takahiro Sakurai as Virale Constance, Satoshi Hino as Lassic David, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Moreno d’Ortous, Yuuichi Iguchi as Alex Deux, Wataru Hatano as Mirza Kooches, Minori Suzuki as Emma, Megumi Nakajima as Luna, Yuuko Kaida as Margaret Odius, Chika Anzai as Laura Hardly, Yumi Uchiyama as Helga Piaroza, Kaede Hondo as Coleen Messala, Satoshi Mikami as Aubest Meletes, Ayane Sakura as Layla, and Ari Ozawa as Cammy.

The work comes from Ryou Mizuni with artwork from Miyuu that began back in the summer of 2013 and currently has eight volumes in print. The project was suspected to be in the works when a manga serialization began this past June from Makoto Yotsuba. No details about the anime production or timeline were revealed at the announcement.

Ryou Mizuno has a solid following to be sure as the creator of Record of Lodoss War and Starship Operators.

Plot Concept: On a continent ruled by chaos, the Lords have the power of a holy seal that can calm the chaos and protect the people. However, before anyone realizes it, the rulers cast aside their creed of purifying the chaos, and instead start to fight each other for each other’s holy seals to gain dominion over one another. Shiruuka, an isolated mage who scorns the Lords for abandoning their creed, and a wandering knight named Theo, who is on a journey to train to one day liberate his hometown, make an everlasting oath to work together to reform this continent dominated by wars and chaos.

Having wrapped up the home video releases for this last fall, Aniplex USA is looking to expand availability of one of their series with Occultic;Nine. The complete twelve-episode series is now streaming on the Crunchyroll service in its dubbed form for fans to check out. Check out our reviews of the first and second Blu-ray releases. The dub was directed by Chris Cason, who worked on the scripts as well, and the cast includes:

• Erik Scott Kimerer as Yuta Gamon
• Faye Mata as Ryoka Narusawa
• Ben Diskin as Kouhei Izumi
• Cristina Vee as Kurenaino Aria
• Erica Lindbeck as Touko Sumikaze
• Erika Harlacher as Asuna Kisaki
• Greg Chun as Kiryu Kusakabe
• Kayli Mills as Miyu Aikawa
• Max Mittelman as Shun Moritsuka
• Michelle Ruff as Ririka Nishizono
• Robbie Daymond as Sarai Hashigami
• Xanthe Huynh as Chizu Kuwabata

The series was directed by Kyohei Ishiguro based on the series composition by MAGES and Morita to Junpei. Tomoaki Takase worked on the character designs and it was animated by A-1 Pictures.

The Japanese cast includes Yuki Kaji as Yuuta Gamon, Ayane Sakura as Ryouka Narusawa, Kaito Ishikawa as Sarai Hashigami, Hitomi Yoshida as Miyuu Aikawa, Shizuka Itou as Touko Sumikaze, Miyuki Sawashiro as Aria Kureinaino, Kishou Taniyama as Kiryuu Kusakabe, Mamiko Noto as Ririka Nishizono, Tetsuya Kakihara as Shun Moritsuka, Satomi Akesaka as Asuna Kisaki, Kenjirou Tsuda as Kouhei Izumi and Maria Naganawa as Chizu Kawabata.

The light novels began back in 2014 and have two volumes out so far with a manga adaptation from Ganjii that began last fall.

PConceptcept: The story takes place in Kichijoji. Dreaming day and night of getting rich very quickly, Yuuta Gamon, a 2nd year high school student, owner of an affiliation blog called Kiri Kiri Basara, takes advantage of it and he gathers nine eccentric individuals. With their help, he challenges the supernatural and tries to solve all mysteries leading to unimaginable events that can potentially alter the course of the world…or maybe not?

A complicated relationship and history.

Creative Staff:
Story: Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing
Art: Lynne Yoshii
Colors: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Wes Abbott

What They Say:
Barda rides out in search of rebel news radio station The Frequency, where she hopes to enlist Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen in bringing down the Garden.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The further along this series progresses the more I’m getting into it, which is a fairly normal occurence when you get down to it. Kelly and Lanzing are getting to expand the scope of their story and fill in some of the blanks that I would have preferred filled in much earlier in the run so that it felt like a more fully realized world, but it’s coming in piece so that we can get the range of characters introduced though the events. This issue brings Lynne Yoshii back for the art duties and her work fits pretty well here with the characters she has to deal with. It’s a solid looking installment with some good backgrounds and some layouts that avoid the usual simpler pages we might usually see and that help to give the flow of the story and the large amount of dialogue some breathing room.

With some good focus given to Kara and her situation recently with Barda, this one lets Barda’s story stand out a bit as she heads out to The Frequency, the radio station of the Freescape that’s run by Lois Lane with help from a legless Jimmy Olsen. Barda’s intent on getting help from her to rally all of those in the Freescape for what’s to come but there are are some real issues between the two women going back a ways as Lois felt abandoned by Barda and the others and has some choice words for her. It’s the kind of thing where what she says really is true when she cuts down on Barda for playing at revolutionary, but also misses the real difficulty in putting actions together that truly have meaning. The complicated mess of it all is that in the end both of them are right, and not just from their point of view, but the situation is a whole lot more than that.

The book does some good stuff here with Jimmy making the right kind of plea to Lois later and looking at his own background with her that helped to shape why he’s aligned so firmly with her after all of this time. What I also really liked is getting more of Barda’s story with how the Freescape came to be due to the big burn that eviscerated much of the world, revealing how Scott Free, her husband, sacrificed so much to save as much as he could, resulting in it being called the Freescape – something I had wondered if it would be done in that way. Both characters come across well and Yoshii does a great job in bringing them to life. Barda’s still a rough looking character that doesn’t click for me in this form but Lois really hit a sweet spot here with her look, even with the copious amount of light tattoos that define her look.

In Summary:
As I continue to catch up on this series I’m finding myself more and more invested in it. I’ve been reading a number of digital-first books since they started producing them and more often than not they do need to take some time to get their groove, Bombshells excepted. Gotham City Garage is more firmly establishing itself here and is leaving me enjoying it more and more with each issue and wanting to see more of this world and its characters with how they’re being re-imagined into it. Definitely a good issue for more background on the world and how people survived out in the Freescape while setting for more of what’s to come.

Grade: B+

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: December 27th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99

© & ™ Lucasfilm Ltd.

The official Star Wars site revealed something pretty unexpected today in regards to the property as a new series of films are going to be developed for it. With the Skywalker saga of films seeming like they might wrap up for awhile with Episode IX next year and Rian Johnson developing a trilogy of films of his own design, Lucasfilm revealed that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are set for their own series of new Star Wars films. The two have been the shepherds of adapting the Game of Thrones novels on HBO, a herculean task that didn’t always please many fans because of the scale of the books and their interconnected stories that couldn’t be brought to the screen in a lot of ways, but it looks like here they’ll be able to work without quite the same kinds of demands.

Naturally, because of what they’ve worked on in the past there’s plenty of speculation about a Knighs of the Old Republic franchise that they’d be ideal for. And we’re down with that, though thankfully the franchise is wide open with what it can do. We’ll just be glad to move away from this sliver of a timeline that the films have been working in for the last few decades.

“David and Dan are some of the best storytellers working today,” said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. “Their command of complex characters, depth of story and richness of mythology will break new ground and boldly push Star Wars in ways I find incredibly exciting.”

“In the summer of 1977 we traveled to a galaxy far, far away, and we’ve been dreaming of it ever since,” Benioff and Weiss said in a joint statement. “We are honored by the opportunity, a little terrified by the responsibility, and so excited to get started as soon as the final season of Game of Thrones is complete.”

The pair will be working on the new films once they finish up the final season of Game of Thrones that arrives next year.

© Kazuto Nakazawa / Production IG

With it about two years since we learned that Netflix was involved in a new original anime series with Perfect Bones, which was then later retitled as B: The Beginning in conjunction with the fine folks at Production I.G. studio, we’re almost there. With the twelve episode series set to land on March 2nd, 2018 worldwide on Netflix, the Japanese side has put out a new 43-second promotional video that shows off the English dub cast as part of the global approach to the property.

The series is directed by Kazuto Nakazawa, who has worked in key animation, character design and served as an episode director on a number of shows, though mostly in terms of opening sequences. He also directed the Parasite Dolls OVA series and did character design on Samurai Champloo while directing a few episodes.

The Japanese cast includes Asami Seto as Lily Hoshina, Hiroaki Hirata as Keith Kazama Flick, Yuuki Kaji as Koku, Ami Koshimizu as Kaela Yoshinaga, Atsushi Goto as Jean Henry Richard, Hiroki Touchi as Eric Toga, Kaito Ishikawa as Minatsuki, Minoru Inaba as Boris Meier, Shintarō Tanaka as Mario, Toshiyuki Morikawa as Gilbert Ross, and Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Brian Brandon.

The English language cast includes Ray Chase as Keith / Dr. Flick, Kyle McCarley as Koku, John Demita as Gilbert / Puzo, Doug Stone as Boris, Faye Mata as Lily, Johnny Yong Bosch as Minatsuki, Xander Mobus as Laica / Henry, Allegra Clark as Kaela, Brianna Knickerbocker as Yuna, Patrick Seitz as Mario, Jalen K. Cassell as Eric, Erica Mendez as Young Koku, Cristina Vee as Young Yuna / Erika / Kukuri / Takeru, John Snyder as Jean, Ezra Weisz as Abbot, Khoi Dao as Brandon, Todd Haberkorn as Quinn / Jonathan, Steve Prince as Julian, Ben Diskin Kamui, Marianne Miller as Izanami / Lily’s Mom, Sean Chiplock as Red, Edward Bosco as Blue / Richard, Keith Silverstein as Yellow, Jake Eberle as Lily’s Father, and Joe Zieja as Lily’s Brother.

Plot Concept: The 12-episode series is set in the future where scientists have tried to breed the “perfect human” in hopes of keeping peace in the universe. After nearly achieving their goal through three children, the scientists send their “new humans” for further training where they are kidnapped by an evil organization set on using their powers to implement their own concept of a new world order.

© Junji Ito / Asahi Shimbum Publications

The winter 2018 anime series Junji Ito Collection has gotten its home video release plans scheduled and it’s kind of an unusual one. The show has been set for a DVD-only release in singles form, which has me figuring they’ll solicit a Blu-ray box set at the end. While we’ve got a bit to go until the series gets underay, SMIRAL has now put out the first TV spot to encourage preorders for it. The twelve episode series is getting a three-volume release beginning on March 30th, 2018 where each set is 11,000 yen with four episodes per set.

The show was directed by Shinobu Tagashira, who is also handling the character designs for it, with Kaoru Sawada handling the scripts. Studio DEEN produced the animation.

The Japanese cast includes Yuuji Mitsuya in Souichi, Hiro Shimono in Oshikiri, Kaori Nazuka in Yuuko, Hikaru Midorikawa as Yotsuzuchi no Bishounen, Mami Koyama as Fuchi, and Rie Suegara as Tomie.

[Source: Junji Ito Collection]

Beauty Bunny Volume 1

Kodansha Comics definitely had a great sale the last time around with their digital-first properties getting the spotlight and the new sale is just as worthy. The publisher has set up a romance sale that runs through February 19th, 2018 that obviously delves into romantic oriented titles.

With almost 500 volumes on sale for roughly 40% off most of them, there are far too many properties to list out than I have time for. But it’s definitely worth going through the twelve pages of them that they have that includes series like A Silent Voice and Aho Girl alongside Kiss Him, Not Me and Love & Lies. There are also fun older titles like Love Hina in omnibus form that are on sale and some Vertical titles like Mysterious Girlfriend X.

Check out the sale page here!

February gets underway with the latest batch of new anime shows on DVD and Blu-ray and there are some good things to be had here. GKIDS delivers us more Studio Ghibli fun with Tales from the Earthsea and Pom Poko while Viz Media has a new batch of Pokemon episodes. Funimation goes big with two very different shows in regular and limited editions of Keijo and Yuri on Ice. The hard part for people like me that likes all of this is deciding what to watch first!

1. Tales from Earthsea DVD
2. Tales from Earthsea Blu-ray & DVD Combo
3. Pom Poko DVD
4. Pom Poko Blu-ray & DVD Combo
5. Keijo!!!!!!!! Complete Collection Blu-ray & DVD Combo
6. Keijo!!!!!!!! Complete Collection Blu-ray & DVD Combo Limited Edition
7. Pokemon XY&Z Set 2 DVD
8. Yuri!!! on Ice Complete Collection Blu-ray & DVD Combo
9. Yuri!!! on Ice Complete Collection Blu-ray & DVD Combo Limited Edition

© Takuya Mitsuda · Shogakkan / NHK · NEP · ShoPro

The new casting reveals include:

• Kana Hanazawa as Mutsuko Sakura
• Natsumi Takamori as Izumi Shigeno
• Yuko Sasamoto as Kaoru Shigeno

「メジャーセカンド」ヒロインの睦子役は花澤香菜、高森奈津美と笹本優子も出演（コメントあり） https://t.co/twWjLA5jsT pic.twitter.com/eVWTf09Kl2

— コミックナタリー (@comic_natalie) February 6, 2018

The previous casting reveals include:

• Natsumi Fujiwara as Daigo Shigeno
• Koutarou Nishiyama as Hikaru Satou

No production information itself has surfaced yet. The series has eleven volumes out as of this month for this incarnation.

That original series ran for sixteen years between 1994 and 2010 from Takuya Mitsuda where it produced seventy-eight volumes to its name and over fifty million copies sold. And, of course, a couple hundred anime episodes and a few films.

Plot concept: Daigo is born as the son of Gorou, a father who is too great. What path will Daigo, who is burdened with great expectations, take in baseball?

February is off to a great start when it comes to the manga and light novel markets. While the light novel side is weak we do get the Perfect Blue work as well as the first volume of Arifureta. On the manga side, there are some new series getting underway such as the Youjo Senki series adaptation of the light novels as well as Takane & Hana. There’s also a big omnibus for Kemono Friends and Oh My Sweet Alien. Add in lots of ongoings such as Assassination Classroom and One Piece as well as Toriko and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches and it’s easy to have a big pile of books here.

1. Yona of the Dawn Vol.10
2. Assassination Classroom Vol.20
3. Big Order Vol.4
4. Black Clover Vol.10
5. Bleach 3-in-1 Edition Vol.22 (incl. Vol.64, 65 & 66)
6. My Hero Academia Vol.11
7. Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash Vol.3
8. Haikyuu!! Vol.20
9. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders Vol.6
10. Kakegurui Vol.4
11. Kemono Friends: Welcome to Japari Park Omnibus
12. Kuroko’s Basketball 2-in-1 Edition Vol.10 (incl. Vol.19 & 20)
13. No Game No Life, desu! Vol.3
14. One Piece Vol.85
15. Oresama Teacher Vol.23
16. Sekirei Vol.3
17. SP x Baby Vol.2
18. Taboo Tattoo Vol.9
19. Takane & Hana Vol.1
20. My Neighbour Seki Vol.10
21. Toriko Vol.41
22. Urakata!! Vol.5
23. Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches Vol.15
24. Promised Neverland Vol.2
25. Oh, My Sweet Alien Omnibus
26. Youjo Senki Vol.1
27. Yu☆Gi☆Oh! 2-in-1 Edition Vol.13 (incl. Vol.37 & 38)

Light Novels coming out include:

1. Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Vol.1
2. Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis

TV Asahi has some fun with their mascot character of Gō-chan and now it’s making its move into a second feature film. Under the name Gō-chan. ~Moco and the Promise Made on the Ice~, it’ll bring the character with real-life figure skaters Nobunari Oda and Shizuka Arakawa as they take on elementary school roles which will help to expose more kids to the sport and hopefully draw more of them into it.

The cast will also include Ai Kayano as Moco, Tomokazu Sugita as Tamarin, Yuuki Kaji as Kin-chan, Nobunaga Shimazaki as Kamo-chan, Koyatsu Time as Moffun, Chie Honma as Chibe-san, Tomokazu Seki as Takeda-sensei, and Yumi Kakazu as Katsunuma.

The film will be directed by Tetsuo Yasumi with Minetaro Hirai at Shinei Animation and Synergy SP. They’re working from a screenplay by Kimiko Ueno.

[Source: ANN]

© T-ARTS / syn Sophia / TV TOKYO / IPP Production Committee

As the Idol Time Pripara season continues along, the promos from TV Tokyo arrive to give us a taste of it. Shows like these tend to be the hardest to make their way overseas for a range of reasons, none of which makes the lack of them any less frustrating. The forty-fifth episode of Idol Time Pripara is being queued up for a February 13th, 2018 debut from TV Tokyo and they’ve now cut loose the first promo for it – which we’ll warn you end up being taken down around the same time as the episode airs in Japan.

With animation production from Tatsunoko Production, the series is directed by Makoto Morikawa based on the series composition from Michihiro Tsuchiya and character designs by Shoji Hara. The series stars Arisa Date as Yui Yumekawa, Himika Akaneya as Laala Manaka, Yō Taichi as Nino Nijiiro, Yuina Yamada as Michiri Kōta, Reiō Tsuchida as Koyoi, Seiichirō Yamashita as Shōgo and Tatsuyuki Kobayashi as Asahi.

Plot Concept: PriPara (Prism Paradise) is the successor to the popular Pretty Rhythm series. The new anime is set in the PriPara world, filled with girls’ dreams and yearnings for fashion, dance, and music. Every day, there are auditions that send top idols to worldwide fame on television and online. Manaka Laala is a 5th-grader at Paprika Academy. Like most girls, she admires the world of PriPara, but unfortunately for her, her school does not allow elementary school students to participate in PriPara. However, through miraculous circumstances, Laala passes the audition to become a PriPara idol.

Discotek Media picked up the rights to Earl and the Fairy, known as Hakushaku to Yousei in its Japanese form, back in 2015 with a DVD release for it. They’re now getting it some expanded streaming viewing with Viewster having picked it up from them. The complete run of the show is available in its original Japanese language with English subtitles.

The series ran for twelve episodes originally and was produced at Artland with Kouichirou Soutome directing. It’s based on the manga by Asako Takaboshi and Mizue Tani, which ran for thirty-three volumes between 2004 and 2013.

Plot concept: In the nineteenth century, we find Lydia Carlton living in Scotland, making a living as a fairy doctor. She is one of those rare humans who can see and communicate with fairies. But no one believes her. However, Edgar is in need of someone with a vast knowledge of fairy lore, and Lydia is just that person. After rescuing her, he becomes her employer, but there are many secrets and emotions that seem to follow Edgar, who claims to be the Blue Knight’s Earl.

ⓒ 2002 MASASHI KISHIMOTO / 2017 BORUTO. All Rights Reserved.

The Boruto: Naruto Next Generations anime series is continuing on pretty well and promotion for it is continuing on as well. The 42nd episode of the series is set for a February 7th, 2018 debut where it’ll arrive at 5:25 am for viewers on the Crunchyroll service and we now have a new preview for it. It’s available to all members worldwide outside of Japan, though it’ll be for premium members only in French-speaking territories (but not with French subtitles).

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!

© 2003 Hobby Japan

Known as Queen’s Blade: The Exiled Virgin in Japan, the first season has now found its way onto the Toku streaming service through its Amazon channel. The twelve episode season is in its original Japanese language with English subtitles and can be found here.

Originally airing in 2009, the series was directed by Kinji Yoshimoto who worked on the series composition with Tomohiro Matsu. Rin-Sin handled the character design adaptation and served as the chief animation director along with Takayuki Noguchi and Yukiko Ishibashi. Arms handled the animation production.

The Japanese cast includes Atsuko Tanaka as Claudette, Aya Hirano as Nanael, Ayako Kawasumi as Leina, Mamiko Noto as Tomoe, Ayaka Saito as Ymir, Eri Kitamura as Alleyne, Hitomi Nabatame as Shizuka, Kanae Itō as Airi, Kaori Mizuhashi as Elina, Mikako Takahashi as Nowa, Miyū Takeuchi as Aldra, Rie Kugimiya as Melona, Ryoka Yuzuki as Cattleya, Sayaka Ohara as Melpha, Yui Kano as Irma, Yuki Kaida as Echidna, Yuko Goto as Menace, and Yuko Kaida as Listy.

Plot Concept: In four years’ time the competition that will decide who the next Queen shall be will start. The strongest warrior will continue to rule the country according to tradition and expand it. The contestants need only be older than 12 years. They need not be human, intelligent or even of that country.

© 伍箇伝計画／刀使ノ巫女製作委員会

One of the new shows for the winter 2018 season is Katana Maidens – Toji no Miko and now Kadokawa has brought out a look at the next episode. Scheduled for a February 9th, 2018 debut, the sixth episode gets a quick but fun look here. Crunchyroll is handling the simulcast and they’ve got it available worldwide outside of Asia.

Koudai Kakimoto is set to direct based on the series composition by Tatsuya Takahashi. Yoshinori Shizuma is on board as the original character designer with Yuuko Yahiro adapting them and serving as the chief animation director with Kenji Oota for studio Gokumi.

The Japanese cast includes Kaede Hondo as Kanami Etou, Saori Oonishi asHiyori Juujuu, Azumi Waki as Mai Yanase, Hina Kino as Sayaka Itomi, Risae Matsuda as Kaoru Mashiko, Eri Suzuki as Eren Kohagura, Asami Seto as Yukari Origami, Yumi Uchiyama as Maki Shidou, M.A.O as Suzuka Korehana, Mai Fuchigami as Yomi Satsuki, and Inori Minase as Yume Tsubakuro.

Plot Concept: Since the ancient times, the Kannagi priestesses have used their swords, or Okatana, to exorcise the creatures known as Aratama that brought chaos upon the world of man. These maidens were known as Tojis. They are a special task force within the police. They are allowed to have their Okatana on their person because they are government officials, but they mostly consist of middle school and high school girls who go to one of five training schools throughout the country. Though they mostly live normal school lives, if they are given a mission, they take their Okatana and unleash their powers, fighting to protect the people.