The winter 2018 season is moving right along and one of the big shows is the continuing anime adaptation of the Black Clover manga property. With Crunchyroll streaming episodes every Tuesday at 6:25am ET for their members, we now have out a preview of the nineteenth episode that arrived on February 13th, 2017. Its availability is excellent as it’s open to viewers worldwide outside of Asia.
Tatsuya Yoshihara, who recently directed Monster Musume and Long Riders, is on board to direct based on the series composition by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu. Itsuki Takeda is working on the main character designs with Kumiko Tokunaga as the sub-character designer.
The Japanese cast includes Gakuto Kajiwara as Asta, Nobunaga Shimazaki as Yuno, Junichi Suwabe as Yami Sukehiro, Genki Muro as Magna Swing, Ayumu Murase as Luck Voltia, Jun Fukuyama as Finral Roulacase, Nana Mizuki as Vanessa Enoteca, Kana Yūki as Noelle Silva, Satoshi Hino as Gauch Adlai, Kiyono Yasuno as Charmy Pappitson, Kenichirou Matsuda as Gordon Agrippa, Toshiyuki Morikawa as Julius Nova Chrono, Kousuke Toriumi as Nozel Silva, Katsuyuki Konishi as Fuegoleon Vermillion, Yuu Kobayashi as Charlotte Roselei, Daisuke Namikawa as Jack the Ripper, Daisuke Ono as William Vangeance, Asuka Nishi as Mimosa Vermilion, and Takuma Terashima as Klaus Lunette.
The manga comes from Yuki Tabata which began in February 2015 and has nine volumes released so far. Viz Media is releasing it here in compiled volumes as well as part of the Weekly Shonen Jump digital magazine.
Plot Concept: In a world where magic is everything, Asta and Yuno are both found abandoned at a church on the same day. While Yuno is gifted with exceptional magical powers, Asta is the only one in this world without any. At the age of fifteen, both receive grimoires, magic books that amplify their holder’s magic. Asta’s is a rare Grimoire of Anti-Magic that negates and repels his opponent’s spells. Being opposite but good rivals, Yuno and Asta are ready for the hardest of challenges to achieve their common dream: to be the Wizard King. Giving up is never an option!
The winter 2018 anime series Killing Bites is having its home video releases handled by NBC Universal Japan and they’ve set a solid and tighter schedule for it. The twelve episode series is getting a four-volume release on Blu-ray that begins on March 28th, 2018. The releases are all listed as limited editions with them priced at 9,200 yen each.
Nishikata Yasuto directed it based on the series composition by Aoi Akashiro. Kazuo Watanabeworked on the character designs and LIDENFILMS handled the animation production.
The Japanese cast includes Sora Amamiya as Hitomi Uzaki, Wataru Hatano as Yūya Nomoto, Maaya Uchida as Eruza Nakanishi, Sumire Uesaka as Ui Inaba, Chinatsu Akasaki as Mai Shinozaki, Megumi Han as Yōko Mikado, Yuu Asakawa as Kaori Rikujō, Takako Honda as Kaede Kazama, Hidekatsu Shibata as Yōzan Mikado, Rikiya Koyama as Reiichi Shidou, Tooru Ookawa as Ichinosuke Okajima, Yuuichi Nakamura as Taiga Nakanishi, Sayaka Harada as Oshie Nodoguro, Ryoukan Koyanagi as Takeshi Kido, Yuusuke Kobayashi as Shouta Yabe, Taketora as Gérôme Hongou, Hiroyuki Yoshino as Den Oonuma, Katsuyuki Konishi as Ryuuji Shiina, Yuuki Ono as Yuugo Tani, Yoshino Nanjo as Seira Son, and Junichi Suwabe as Narrator.
The manga comes from writer Shinya Murata and artist Kazasa Sumita that began in the magazine back in the fall of 2013 with seven volumes released so far.
Plot concept: People have been created that are human-animal hybrids, and powerful businesses bet on the outcome of their duels. College student Yuuya Nomoto’s casual acquaintances ask him to drive them around to pick up girls one day, which he soon finds out means by force. The girl they kidnap is an animal-human hybrid named Hitomi, who slaughters all of them except Yuuya. Hitomi is a honey badger, which has been called the most fearless of all animals. Now Hitomi is assigned to stay with Yuuya, for his protection!
Volume
Date
Extras
1
03/28/18
Original Soundtrack
2
04/27/18
Booklet, DRama CD, Clean Oipening, Clean Closing, Promos, Commercials
Something that should be pretty different from the other DC Universe films moved into production last week which New Line has now officially announced and that’s worked out well for Shazam. The announcement has netted us the synopsis for the film below and with it having a lot of kids in it due to the main character being young himself there’s hope for something a bit lighter and more inspirational, which is reinforced in the press release that say that it’s “firmly set in the DC universe but with his own distinctly fun, family centric tone.”
It’s set for release on April 5th, 2019.
The character of Batson derives his powers by saying the phrase, “Shazam” which is an acronym of the ancient world gods and historical figures Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury, which them transforms him into the adult form.
The film is being directed by David F. Sandberg who had great success with Lights Out and Annabell: Creation, which made $303 million worldwide on a $15 million budget.
The cast includes Asher Angel and Zachary Levi as Billy Batson / Shazam, Mark Strong as Thaddeus Sivana, Ron Cephas Jones as the ancient wizard Shazam, Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield,
Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Jovan Armand as Pedro Peña, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Cooper Andrews as Victor Vazquez, Marta Milans as Rosa Vazquez, David J. MacNeil as Mr. Bryer, and Lotta Losten.
Plot Concept: We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong).
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.With Marvel Comics getting the rights to publish new material for Conan and republish past works, it looks like that’s not the only area to see the character resurface. Amazon is now developing the project with Ryan Condal, who was the co-creator on the Colony series that debuted a couple of years back. It’s being done with Miguel Sapochink, a director on Game of Thrones, and producer Warren Littlefield with Pathfinder Media and Endeavor Content partners.
Condal’s approach is to go back to the classic character approach from the novels and focus from there.
Plot Concept: Driven out of his tribal homelands, Conan wanders the mysterious and treacherous world of civilization where he searches for purpose in a place that rejects him as a mindless savage.
Fans of the Overlord series had a lot of fun during its original run as a web series ran alongside the main show that put everyone in cute chibi form. That’s been revived for this season as well with the fourth 90-second episode now live as we see everyone hard at work. The episodes are only available for two weeks before Kadokawa marks them as private, though like the first season they’ll end up on the home video release side of things. Check out the fifth episode below!
The series comes from author Kugane Maruyama with illustrations by so-bin that’s published by Enterbrain. It began in the summer of 2012 and released its twelve volume so far, which are released by Yen Press domestically along with the manga adaptation. The series has had two drama CDs released with previous volumes.
It’s being animated by Madhouse with Naoyuki Itou directing it based on scripts by Yukie Sugawara and character designs by Takahiro Yoshimatsu as they adapt from the original works.
The series will star Kenta Miyake as Cocytus, Manami Numakura as Narberal Gamma, Masayuki Katou as Demiurge, Shigeru Chiba as Sebas Tian and Yumi Uchiyama as Mare Bello Fiore.
Plot Concept: The series follows a salaryman who remains online when the service for an MMORPG ends. In doing so, he becomes a powerful skeletal wizard. In his new form, he begins attracting followers and conquering the digital world that remains.
Viz Media brought out the first volume of the Takane & Hana series this week from Yuki Shiwasu and they’re doing some welcome promotion for it. That comes in the form of the minute-long promotional video below as well as a free preview you can read online here. The series began in 2015 as serialized in Hana to Yume magazine where it has nine volumes released in Japan so far.
Plot Concept: The meeting between Takane and Hana ends in an explosive manner, and Hana is convinced that she’ll never have to see that awful Takane again. But Takane actually seems interested in Hana! Exasperated by Takane’s immature attitude, yet amused and intrigued despite herself, Hana wonders if her hilarious rivalry with Takane just might lead to love!
ⓒ 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 rolling out from Crunchyroll. With new episodes rolling out pretty regularly, the streaming service has a new clip out that has the Team 7 gang being all sneaky in posing as a buyer to deal with trying to get the stolen gems back. Through Crunchyroll, 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 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!
Funimation brought out the first cour for Trickster as a DVD/BD combo back on December 12th, 2017 and the focus is now shifting to the second set. Scheduled for a March 6th, 2018 debut, it’s priced at $64.98, they’ve now brought out another trailer for it that plays a bit more as a clip but definitely sets the mood. The show will have the twelve episode run in bilingual form landing with the extras of the clean opening and closings as well as being a digital copy release. Check out the trailer below!
The series was directed by Masahiro Mukai based on the series composition and scripts from Erika Yoshida. PEACH-PIT worked on the original character designs that were adapted into anime form by Shinya Yamada. TMS Entertainment and Shin-Ei Animation produced the animation production for the show.
The Japanese cast includes Daiki Yamashita as Yoshio Kobayashi and Ryota Osaka as Kensuke Hanasaki as the leads. The supporting cast includes Yuuichirou Umehara as Ryou Inoue, Ibuki Kido as Makoto Nori and Azusa Tadakoro as Nao Nakamura.
The show was directed by Mike McFarland and the scripts by Josh Grelle. The main cast for the show includes Justin Briner as Kensuke, Austin Tindle as Yoshio, J. Michael Tatum as Inoue, Sarah Weidenheft as Noro, Eric Vale as Akechi, Christopher Bevins as Twenty, Jamie Marchi as Nakamura, Chuck Huber as Miyanashi, and Tyler Walker as Pippo.
The opening song “Kimi Dake no Boku de Iru Kara” is being performed by Gackt while Asuza Tadakoro will be performing the ending them song for it with “1HOPE SNIPER.”
Plot concept: The time period is the 2030s. Before the mysterious detective Kogorou Akechi, the Boys’ Detective Team is assembled. Their actions have led to the resolution of various small and large incidents. One day, team member Kensuke Hanasaki meets a mysterious boy named Yoshio Kobayashi. Kobayashi, who has an undying body because of an “unidentified fog,” wishes his own death and refuses contact with others. Hanasaki takes an interest in Kobayashi and invites him to join the Boys’ Detective Team. The encounter eventually leads them to the connection between the criminal nicknamed the “Fiend with Twenty Faces” and Kogorou Akechi. The fate of the two begins to move…
What They Say
Tsukasa’s eighteenth birthday party did not go smoothly for Tsukushi, as anyone could have expected. Tsukushi is introduced to Kaede, Tsukasa’s mother, by way of falling over a table and causing a scene. Kaede tells her to get out, but Tsukasa defends her by declaring that she is precious to him. Thus begins a three-sided war between the three most headstrong people you’ve ever seen!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While the anime version of this has long finished its run here, the manga continues to be brought out and for those that only saw the anime before, we’re able to re-live many familiar scenes. Mixed into those are a few more moments and smaller scenes that flesh things out a touch more but for the most part, there is a very accurate rendition of this in the anime. Most series tend to have dramatic changes from one medium to another but this property just seems to stick very close to its origins.
In some ways that can be really bad if you’re watching the anime and reading the manga at the same time. It was like that for me during many of the early volumes here since it started to blur things and I’d not remember which was from where. This was especially true since a lot of the anime version featured nearly identical stills to pages in the manga. Kamio’s sidebar columns in this volume talk up the anime a fair bit as well as she goes on about her meeting the main voice actors and spending time with them. What really surprised me is that as of this volume in its original run, it celebrated its six-year anniversary – at the same time she turned twenty. I’m used to there being a lot of young authors, but I never knew how young she was when she started this. It certainly provides a different perspective on the book in general but also those earlier volumes.
This volume, in particular, is one of the key ones in the series as it sets the stage for the latest character introduction. While we’ve had words and I believe glimpses of Tsukasa’s mother before, the full-on introduction of Kaede as she starts to make sure that her son is not going to ruin his life or the family’s reputation. Her plans have long been set, something that is plainly obvious by the way she carries herself and deals with every situation. The introduction of Tsukasa’s planned marriage fiance certainly puts a wrinkle in things, but at the same time, Shigeru turned into one of my favorite characters during her run in the anime. In here, she doesn’t have a lot of time since it’s early yet but she has a presence just like many of those in the upper class in the book tend to do.
In Summary:
The theme of class and social standing is still a very strong element in the book, though it does take some time out during particular arcs. With Kaede here and the marriage that’s planned with another wealthy family in order to expand the Domyoji portfolio, that theme is back and it’s very strong. What was really nice was that as much as Tsukushi’s family comes off badly in the eyes of others, they have some really great moments here in dealing with the situation that Tsukushi is in now. Of course, these moments are very brief but it does show some of the bond that they all share, something that again plays back to the differences in the Domyoji family. This book is a lot of fun and I love where it’s angling to go now that Shigeru is here.
Content Grade: B Art Grade: B Packaging Grade: B- Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+ Released By: Viz Media Release Date: February 14th, 2006 MSRP: $9.99
Wednesday’s a bit of a quiet day this season but there are still some good shows delivering new episodes. Crunchyroll has one of their bigger shows today plus two others with:
4:25am – BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS
6:55am – YU-GI-OH! VRAINS
4:00pm – STAR BLAZERS: SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO 2199
Funimation has a trio of shows going live today with:
4:00 pm EST – Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Episodes 2-3
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Funimation brought out an Anime Classics edition of Freezing Vibration around this time last year and now as a piece of their partnership with Crunchyroll they’ve got it streaming on the service. The complete season is available in its original Japanese language with English subtitles while the dub remains on Funimation’s site. Availability is limited to viewers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Ireland.
Based on the manga by Dall-Young Lim and Kwang-Hyun Kim as released by Seven Seas Entertainment in North America, the anime was directed by Takashi Watanabe based on the series composition by Masanao Akahoshi. Mayumi Watanabe worked on the character designers and served as the chief animation director with ACGT handling the animation production.
The Japanese cast includes Kana Hanazawa as Rana Linchen, Mamiko Noto as Satellizer el Bridget, Mitsuhiro Ichiki as Kazuya Aoi, Aimi Terakawa as Roxanne Elipton, Hisako Tōjō as Yuria Munberk, Izumi Kitta as Gina Papulton, Kenji Nojima as Louis el Bridget, Marina Inoue as Chiffon Fairchild, Rie Kugimiya as Cathy Lockharte, Rikako Yamaguchi as Charles Bonaparte, Satsuki Yukino as Scarlett Ohara, Shuuhei Iwase as Yujin, Suzuko Mimori as Amelia Evans, Takashi Matsuyama as Marks Spencer, Yukari Shimotsuki as Andrei Francoise,Yūki Kuwahara as Rattle, and Yuko Kaida as Elizabeth Mably.
The English language adaptation of the show is directed by Joel McDonald and stars Jamie Marchi as Rana, Caitlin Glass as Satellizer, Luchi Christian as Ganessa and Josh Grelle as Kazuya.
Check out our review of the first season here and this season here.
Plot concept: The pulse-pounding action continues in this thrilling second season of the eye-popping sci-fi series that Sankaku Complex calls ”seriously hot.” Satellizer el Bridget and some of the most powerful – and desirable – Pandoras in the world are summoned to a secret base in the wilds of Alaska. These gorgeous warriors arrive primed for battle, but they soon discover the true purpose for their presence: to assist the clandestine Chevalier organization in forging a new breed of soldier – E-Pandoras! Once normal girls, these eager beauties volunteered to have their bodies genetically-enhanced in order to join the fight against the deadly alien invaders plaguing the planet. But there’s more to becoming a superhuman battle vixen than tattered uniforms and sultry slugfests. Rumors of heinous experimentation haunt the E-Pandora project, and only Satellizer and her loyal companion Kazuya can unravel the mystery before it’s too late!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Anime is on sale pretty regularly through a number of locations and there are some fun deals to find out there that’ll save you money in getting your favorite show on your shelf – or getting to discover something new. The latest deals on Amazon, where they rotate pricing pretty regularly, have hit and there are some sweet ones in the mix. The deals we’re seeing today are definitely some that we’ve enjoyed over the years, such as Super Sonico where the Blu-ray set is now just $24! Another Sentai title in the mix is the To Love Ru Darkness 2 series which is a buck more at $25 and definitely full of the fanservice. A Funimation title this time has the first season of Psycho-Pass for just $24 while Viz Media offers up the complete Moribito series of awesomeness for $20 and theK Missing Kings DVD/BD release for just $15 as the top deal of the day at 50% off.
K Missing Kings: Silver Clan members Kuro and Neko are on a mission to find their king, Shiro, who went missing after the battle on the School Island involving four of the seven colored kings. During their search, the two discover that Red Clan member Anna Kushina has become the target of the mysterious Green Clan, which intends to use the girl’s special power to track down Shiro. Now the Silver and Red Clans find themselves joining forces to protect Shiro and Anna from this new threat. But will this unexpected alliance be enough to counter the Green Clan’s top fighters, as well as its king?
Moribito: Young Prince Chagum has been suspected of demonic possession by court advisors who see only one solution: Death. But his salvation may lie in the hands of Balsa, the spear-wielding bodyguard from Kanbal, the kingdom across the mountains. Her vow to save eight worthy souls has led her to the imperiled Chagum and into the mystery of the water spirit, a mystical entity that may hold the key to saving millions of lives from drought. Her skill and tenacity are legendary, but can she fend off an entire empire?
To Love Ru Darkness 2: Rito Yuki’s latest close encounters are starting to resemble a straight out invasion! While intergalactic romance is out of this world, attracting such high voltage vixens is not unlike being a fork stuck into an anti-matter engine to retrieve a plutonium bagel; it definitely messes with your head and heart.Rito struggles to grasp how he can love more than one girl at once, all while his inability to confess to his human paramour, Haruna, causes Devilukean Princess Momo’s Harem Plan to come to a standstill.On top of that, the transforming assassin, Golden Darkness, is still interested in killing him, but she has her own family issues to deal with. Not to mention, a different darkness lurks among the innocent pandemonium.Things are just as out of control as always, but danger is on the horizon in TO LOVE RU DARKNESS 2!
Psycho-Pass: Season One: Welcome to a world where just thinking about a crime is enough to enough to make you guilty. Bad intentions can no longer be hidden, and the police know exactly which tainted minds are about to cross over to the wrong side of the law. The great equalizer in the war on thugs is the Dominator, a futuristic weapon that can read minds and assess the risk that a citizen will turn criminal. Cops work in teams made up of Enforcers and Inspectors. Enforcers take out the bad guys, Inspectors stop their partners from going rogue, and the all-powerful Sibyl System keeps a watchful eye on us all. Society is paralyzed by its deepest, darkest desires, and trial by jury has been replaced by the wrath of the Dominator. Welcome to the future. How guilty are you?
Soni-Ani: Super Sonico: Saying Sonico is an incredibly busy young woman is an understatement. She juggles a modeling career, part-time work at her grandmother’s bar, performs lead vocals and guitar in an all-girl band, ALL while attending college! Not to mention taking care of her five cats. Or is that the other way around? When her workload gets a little too heavy, she can count on her fellow musicians Suzu and Furi, and the rest of her friends for a stabilizing influence. Get ready for the bounciest adventure ever as this three girl band shakes, rattles, rolls and takes Tokyo by storm in Super Sonico: The Animation!
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Wednesday is still the biggest day of the week with comics and this week is no exception. AfterShock Comics brings out the first trade for Pestilence, which is a hell of a lot of fun, while Archie delivers us more Cosmo. BOOM Studios! sticks to ongoings but they have The Backstagers Valentine’s Intermission and the first trade for The Expanse. Dark Horse Comics gets the new Incognegro: Renaissance series underway while Dynamite launches Dejah Thoris and Legenderry: Red Sonja. IDW sticks to ongoings outside of Walt Disney Showcase while Image Comics gets Twisted Romance and VS underway. Valiant’s got a new book today as well with Armstrong and the Vault of Spirits.
DC Comics runs with a lot of ongoings today across a range of properties but they also have the Swamp Thing Winter Special as well as Young Monsters in Love and the Mother Panic/Batman Special.
Marvel Comics puts a few trades on the list today and launches X-Men: Red as well as Black Panther: The Sound And The Fury and Infinity Countdown: Adam Warlock.
On the Star Wars front, the latest issue of the main ongoing series arrives today as well as the trade for Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Vol. 2: Doctor Aphra and the Enormous Profit.
On the manga side, TOKYOPOP has Ocean of Secrets Manga #2 out as the only manga related title.
Crunchyroll is digging a bit more into the Funimation catalog of titles to add to their streaming service thanks to the partnership that the two have and that’s netted them to more series. It’s a bit of an awkward pickup in a sense because it’s the third and fourth seasons of the franchise with Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians and Ikki Tousen: XTREME XECUTOR respectively. Funimation has the first season streaming on their own service but not the second season. With these being older licenses and rescues, availability is a bit limited as they’re open to viewers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Ireland.
They’re both in their original Japanese language with English subtitles.
Plot Concept: The combat continues between teens guided by spirits of ancient warriors in round three of the original martial arts marathon! As the dust settles over the Battle of Red Cliffs, the fighters of Nanyo and Seito Academies form a peaceful alliance.
Hakufu’s ready to make some dough for tournaments, but her stacked reputation keeps the fearless leader up to her chest in trouble. Just when her joy peaks over meeting a mysterious sister from another mister, a foe Nanyo Academy once creamed returns! As the conflict comes to a climax, the battle vixens bare blood, betrayal, and more.
With two seasons behind it and eleven light novels, we learned last year about the new OVA series under the header Departures for Testament of Sister New Devil. The project kicked off its brief theatrical run on January 27th, 2018 for a two-week run and now the focus is shifting more to the home video side. That side has set a DVD and Blu-ray release will be on March 28th, 2018 with the DVD priced at 8,400 yen and the Blu-ray at 9,400 yen. With packaging revealed previously, we now have a new not safe for work quick commercial spot that plays up the sexuality.
The show is clocking in at 60-minutes and the limited edition release will come with a bonus CD. On-disc extras, if any, will be revealed later.
With all of that in mind, Kadokawa has now brought out a new 60-second promotional video for the theatrical side to give us a very good look at it!
Check out our review of the first season of the TV series.
The TV series anime adaptation was set up at Production IMS where was directed by Hisashi Saito based on scripts by Takao Yoshioka and character designs by Yoshihiro Watanabe.
The cast includes Yuichi Nakamura as Basara Toujou, Ayaka Asai as Mio Naruse, Sarah Emi Bridcutt as Yuki Nonaka, Kaori Fukuhara as Maria Naruse, Yuu Asakawa as Chisato Hasegawa, Keiji Fujiwara as Jin Toujou, Tomokazu Sugita as Takigawa Yahiro, Iori Nomizu as Kurumi Nonaka, Go Inoue as Takashi Hayase, Daisuke Hirakawa as Kyoichi Shiba, Seiko Yoshida as Zest and Kenjiro Tsuda as Mamoru Sakazaki.
Testament of Sister New Devil Departures Packaging
The anime is adapted from the light novels of the same name that come from writer Tetsuo Uesu. The light novel series began in 2012 and has ten volumes out so far in Japan. The property has two manga series out there and Seven Seas has picked up the rights to the main one by Kashiwa Miyako, which began in the spring of 2013 as it’s been serialized in Shonen Ace.
Plot Concept: The revolves around Basara Tojo, a first-year high school student who is flustered by a sudden question by his eccentric father, “Hey, didn’t you used to say you wanted a little sister?” Plus, his father announces that he is getting remarried. His father brings over two beautiful step-sisters, but then embarks on an overseas trip. However, the two sisters Mio and Maria Naruse are actually a novice devil and succubus.
What They Say:
In part 2 of the absurd comedy series, Saiki Kusuo is your typical 16-year-old high school student, except for one thing—he’s got psychic powers. It’s really not as great as it sounds, though. High school isn’t making things easy, and his quirky classmates and embarrassing parents just can’t leave him alone! He’s got the world at his fingertips, but the one thing he’ll never get…is a break.
The Review: Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo along with the English language dub that gets a 5.1 boost, both of which are encoded with the Dolby TrueHD lossless codec. The show is one that plays to standard comedy conventions so the stereo design is one that doesn’t have to stretch itself all that much. It does get to play with some fun things, however, such as the psychic/telepathic moments and some wonky sounds for various effects so it all has some playfulness to it. There isn’t a lot of noticeable directionality through the series but it does have its moments where it works it just enough to accentuate a scene. While the opening and closings give us the bigger musical moments, the instrumental side of it works pretty well and adds a nice little bit of additional warmth to the show. Overall, it’s a solid show that comes across cleanly and clearly without any problems during playback.
Video:
Originally airing in 2016, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The twelve episodes of this series are spread across two discs in a nine/three format. Animated by JC Staff, the series has a simpler animation design to it that may feel a bit cheap in some ways but works for the kind of material it’s adapting and allows it to run longer by not being a high-budget kind of production. It’s a solid looking show that hits the right theme for a comedy and the encoding captures this basic look in a good way with vibrant colors as needed and a smooth feeling when it comes to the higher motion sequences. The colors throughout maintain a very clean and solid look to them and that works well when you have standout vibrant areas like Saiki’s hair. The show may not be one that will have you raving about animation quality but the encoding captures the look of it spot on and without any problems.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release comes in a slightly thicker than standard sized Blu-ray case with an o-card slipcover that replicates the case style with different artwork. Which isn’t a good thing as these kinds of covers drive my eyes nuts. The psychedelic color design as it focuses on Kusuo and Hairo together in all kinds of wonky positions catches the eye to be sure and it’s also something that really does work because of the nature of the designs and just the look of the title character as it almost distracts you from it. The logo adds to the craziness and I’m amused by the oversized Funimation Digital Copy logo along the lower right as it’s far, far, too big. The back cover goes for a lot of magenta and yellow as it breaks down the premise with a little suggested purchasing power to it and we get a fun selection of shots from the show as well. The case artwork gives us a shot of Kusuo and Teruhashi together and we get artwork on the reverse side with a heavy magenta block with the logo and a full panel image of Kusuo. Frankly, the packaging works for the show but it leaves me with something approaching a migraine if I look at it too long.
Menu:
The menu design for this release keeps things simple as it takes the psychedelic design from the cover and applies that here as a static menu with character artwork. It’s bright, colorful, and I couldn’t keep it on long without feeling a little bit ill. The navigation stripe along the bottom goes for the bright magenta with small text that makes it even more fun to navigate, but everything does work smoothly and without problems. The layout is standard fare material and everything hits the necessary functionality both as a main menu and as a pop-up menu during playback.
Extras:
The extras for this release are a bit minimal as the only Japanese ones are the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences. We also get an original extra here with the final episode getting an English language commentary from the team.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The first half of this season was a real surprise to me after being completed turned off the show after the initial confusing simulcast of it with daily episodes that culminated in a weekly block put together. Getting into the show in this form, a more traditional packaging of it, got me to really enjoy the zany comedy and all its simple weirdness that reminded me more of a show out of the 80’s or early 90’s than anything else. With a huge amount of material to draw from with the manga and plenty of things to tweak and nudge with its adapted into anime form, the show found a sweet spot that other works aren’t currently occupying and it made me quite the surprising fan of it.
Yet, as much as I enjoyed the first half of this season I knew better than to barrel right into the second one because of diminishing returns with any comedy, especially in a marathon session. With a few other shows watched between, even a week felt like it reduced my enjoyment overall, particularly since it was past the setup phase and more into just the comedy and weirdness itself. This half of the season does introduce some new things that work well, such as Kusuo’s grandparents when the family goes to visit. It’s amusing since they don’t go often and the grandparents don’t know what Kusuo, but Kusuo knows all about them. Or, more specifically, his grandfather that comes across as gruff and angry but is really just a tsundere type toward his daughter in ways that walk right up to the line of creepy and dares itself to go further. It’s fun to watch how Kusuo’s father handles the constant beratement but also the reveal to them of what Kusuo really is and their inability to really get it. It’s a good addition to the series.
Not so good is the introduction of Kusuo’s older brother who is studying in London. Kuusuke is a genius in his own right and is working on all sorts of ways to beat him since he’s never been able to. It’s over the top comedy in a series that’s primed for it but so much of it just falls flat that it was very hard to get into. A lot of that is on Kuusuke himself as he feels like even more of a cliche than most of the other characters but it’s also the way everything goes so big so quickly, including his plan to bring over several of Kusuo’s friends in order to really put the screws to him. It’s not something that comes together well and it doesn’t do Kuusuke any favors. On the plus side, their parents are there which is always fun and seeing them essentially going on some dates in the city is definitely cute.
The gags for the season are all over the map as you’d expect and there’s always fun to many of them. The general ideas are there when it comes to the core of who the characters are and we don’t get much in the way of new introductions to shake things up yet but rather a push toward some minor exploration and expansion of the existing humor. Kusuo is almost always at the center of it, even as an observer, and it works well to ramp things up. I particularly like how he ends up planning his summer break to be alone to do his own thing for a while but through some accidental moments ends up agreeing to a range of things that fills up his entire summer. That means lots of trips, group events, and club retreats that explores the other characters more than anything else. And it works because slowly but surely his attempts at just being average and unnoticed ends up earning him a lot of friends.
That’s what makes the later material here work so well as the group plans a birthday party surprise for Kusuo. Though he’s done his best to be out of the way an uninvolved he’s very much a part of this group that has formed. And while it frustrates him more often than not, we see plenty of moments where he’s helping them out and wanting to do right by them without them even knowing. And that shows a softening to him that was not there at the start of the series when he would orchestrate everything to be completely out of the way. He’s still not all in or gung-ho about it but what he does here is pretty good and seeing the way everyone did so much to try and make a fun surprise party for him has him doing his best in his own way to make sure that they enjoy it even if it’s not his own thing.
In Summary:
The second half of the first season didn’t hold up quite as well for me as I had hoped, even with pushing a gap between the sets so that it didn’t all blur together. Comedy/gag series can be difficult to marathon simply because it all becomes a bit much but Saiki at least has a whole lot of variety to it so that it’s constantly changing what it’s doing and which characters it’s involving. There’s a lot of fun to be had with this show and this set does a lot of good stuff while also evolving the cast into friends without Saiki realizing it. I’m glad it spent more time on the parents and introducing the grandparents and just running with so many weird situations and solid physical comedy. A lot of this reminds me of the anime shows I got in the early days when it comes to comedy and that works very well in delivering laughs in a way that other current shows simply aren’t doing. Definitely worth checking out.
Features:
Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Language, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Episode 24 Commentary, Textless Opening & Closing Songs
Content Grade: B Audio Grade: B+ Video Grade: B+ Packaging Grade: B- Menu Grade: B Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Funimation Release Date: December 26th, 2017 MSRP: $64.98 Running Time: 300 Minutes Video Encoding: 1080p AVC Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
With plans for a spring 2018 debut in April after first being revealed back in the summer of 2017, some new details have surfaced for the anime adaptation of the Devils’ Line manga. That comes in the form of a small cast expansion with two more actors boarding the project. The new additions to the cast include:
Mayumi Asano as Midori Anzai
Mamoru Miyani as Tamaki Anzai
The show has Yoshinobu Tokumoto directing based on the series composition by Kenji Konuta and Ayumu Hisao. Hisato Kawaguchi is serving as the character designer and chief animation director with Platinum Vision handling the animation production. They’re a new studio that worked on Servamp with its TV series and film as well as Saiyuki Reload Blast.
The previously announced Japanese cast includes Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Yūki Anzai, Yui Ishikawa as Tsukasa Taira, Ryohei Kimura as Hans Lee, Yoshimasa Hosoya as Takashi Sawazaki, Miyuki Sawashiro as Juliana Lloyd, Takahiro Sakurai as Kirio Kikuhara, Hiroshi Kamiya as Takeshi Makimura, Nao Touyama as Nanako Tenjou, Shouta Aoi as Kenichi Yoshii, Kazuyuki Okitsu as Yousuku Asami, Ryota Osaka as Naoya Ushio, and Akira Ishida as Megumi Ishimaru.
The series comes from Ryo Hanada that began in 2013 as serialized in Morning Two magazine and has ten volumes released. Vertical Comics has been releasing it in English in North America since summer 2016.
Plot Concept: Anzai, half vampire, and Tsukasa, a normal school girl.
Vampires seem to be living among humans. Of course the government does not know of their existence, because their appearance does not differ from humans. They also do not need to drink blood, but when they get a craving or get angry, they can become uncontrollable monsters.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The excitement started building back in December 2017 that the Aggressive Retsuko property was making the leap to Netflix . Now set for an April 20th, 2018 release, Sanrio has brought out a trailer for it with English subtitles to make it a bit more accessible in the lead-up and marketing. The episodes are set for fifteen minutes each and will have Rareko back to direct it at Fanworks while also handling the scripts once again.
Plot Concept: The series focuses on Retsuko, a 25-year old red panda who works in her dream company’s accounting department. But it turns out that she is forced to keep doing more and more impossible tasks by her superiors and co-workers. She doesn’t talk back to them, but she still has to let off steam, so she ends up going to karaoke by herself and singing death metal.
What They Say:
Dejah Thoris, obsessed with finding the legendary Gardens of Mars, recruits her own expedition team of scientists. But once outside the palace walls, things don’t go as planned, and the Princess learns the hard way just how dangerous Barsoom really is.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the fourth series launch for Dejah Thoris, the previous zero issue that came out for free or cheap depending on your version helped to set the stage for this one. With it taking place pre-John Carter, it allows us to see a more wild and inexperienced character, comparatively speaking, and explore some of how she became who we know. Amy Chu did a solid job on that issue and largely carries it over to here, though the pacing just feels a bit off in places as it leaps to and fro with locations rather than digging into more dialogue and character moments. What helps is that Pasquale Qualano does some great stuff here once again to give us these visions of characters that’s kind of like Greek mythology writ across the Barsoom landscape.
Dejah’s desire to find a new way to deal with the ongoing war that she’ll inherit someday, one that will be in a worse position than it is now, has her seeking out more on the legend of Ephesyium, a city from a long time ago that may not have really existed but had the unique technology to make water. With the world gone dry and resources strained and fought over, finding it and figuring out what they were doing makes sense. Of course, her father and grandfather have no time for fantasies such as this, the same as other men, and those are huge roadblocks in her path. Which is frustrating because you can see how this would be an ideal time to let her gain some experience leading and dealing with the discovery of heartbreak when it fails to provide results, and it doesn’t require much in the way of resources. But, the men “know better” and want her to focus elsewhere.
Dejah does find some ways to get some information and set up for things to come, initially going to one of the lesser royal libraries for information and getting some students assigned to her for help before she’s ratted out by others. It’s a kind of quick and fast approach that doesn’t work well for the flow of the story as nobody really gets some time to be explored, but it puts everything in motion for Dejah’s sneakaway journey. It’s a simple group that she draws in for this, young and old alike, and I’m hopeful that the upcoming installments will flesh them out more while giving Dejah more as well. What helps is that Qualano really does a great job of making these characters distinct and working within the framework of how this world is so that it has that kind of Greek physique element of legends and placing it all in this almost Arrakis-like experience.
In Summary:
Dejah Thoris and the whole John Carter world continues to feel like there’s a lot of enthusiasm from writers to be involved and it has a whole lot of potential but it has a hard time being fully realized. Amy Chu’s story is a familiar one but it has plenty of that potential, especially if Dejah can be really brought to life as I think she’s going to be able to, but exploring and explaining this world always feels like it’s not something that’s done well by most writers. That’s an area that I’m hoping improves and that it allows Pasquale Qualano the chance to really stretch his wings a bit with some creative locations and creatures, particularly since he’s got the character designs down so well so quickly here.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+ Released By: Dynamite Entertainment Release Date: February 7th, 2018 MSRP: Free
The winter 2018 anime series Idolish 7 has been moving along well and drawing plenty of attention to sustain its seventeen episode run but it’s not the only thing in the mix. A trailer has been released for the February 17th, 2018 web anime series Idolish 7 Vibrato. It’s a series of shorts that are being labeled as part of the YouTube Original banner with it being an exclusive. .
The seventeen episode main series is directed by Makoto Bessho with series composition by Ayumi Sekine. Kazumi Fukagawa is on board to handle the character adaptations into anime form while TROYCA will be handling the animation production itself.
The Japanese cast includes Toshiki Masuda as Iori Izumi, Yuusuke Shirai as Yamato Nikaidou, Tsubasa Yonaga as Mitsuki Izumi, KENN as Tamaki Yotsuba, Atsushi Abe as Sougo Ousaka, Takuya Eguchi as Nagi Rokuya, Kensho Ono as Riku Nanase, Wataru Hatano as Gaku Yaotome, Soma Saito as Tenn Kujo, Takuya Satou as Ryuunosuke Tsunashi, Soichiro Hoshi as Momo, and Shinnosuke Tachibana as Yuki.
Plot Concept: A group of aspiring idols gather at Takanashi Productions and are entrusted with the company’s future. The seven men who have just met represent a variety of totally different personalities. However, they each have their own charm and possess unknown potential as idols. Forming a group, they take their first step together as “IDOLiSH7.” Their brilliantly shining dancing forms onstage eventually begin captivating the hearts of the people. In the glorious but sometimes harsh world of idols, they aim for the top with dreams in their hearts!
