A shocking murder that nobody wants to investigate.

Creative Staff:
Story: Mat Johnson
Art: Warren Pleece
Letterer: Clem Robins

What They Say:
After a black writer is found dead at a scandalous interracial party in 1920s New York, Harlem’s cub reporter Zane Pinchback is the only one determined to solve the murder. Zane must go ”incognegro” for the first time–using his light appearance to pass as a white man–to find the true killer, in this prequel miniseries to the critically acclaimed Vertigo graphic novel, now available in a special new 10th Anniversary Edition.

With a cryptic manuscript as his only clue, and a mysterious and beautiful woman as the murder’s only witness, Zane finds himself on the hunt through the dark and dangerous streets of ”roaring twenties” Harlem in search for justice.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the original Incognegro book back in 2008 doing quite well, even getting reviewed in the New York Times, it’s probably a surprise that it’s taken as long as it has to get this book out there, even if it is essentially a prequel. I hadn’t read Johnson and Pleece’s original work and this doesn’t require that knowledge of it, just the desire to read something new and different from what populates most of the shelves out there. Under the Berger Books line, this is an ideal early launch title that harkens back to what a lot of Karen Berger edited over the years and it’s a strong match overall. While I’ve been more a fan of international murder mystery TV shows the last few years, something like this helps to “shake things up” a bit from what I normally get.

The series takes place in the 1920’s where we’re introduced primarily to ane Pinchback, a younger reporter who works at the New Holland paper and is struggling to bring his idealism and hope out with the realities of living in Harlem compared to the books and magazines he’s read. He’s doing mostly photography work at the moment but thanks to an invite from a friend he’s managed to end up up something that’s all the talk, an interracial party. It’s for a writer who, after twenty years of no good works, has a new one out thanks to a “guide” to Harlem that he worked with named Xavier. Xavier’s quite the character and the drunker he gets at the party the more of a scene he makes, which frustrates Zane since he knows that they have to be on their best behavior even among a party like this with people who aren’t seemingly filled with hatred of people like him. Of course, even in this kind of environment, there are plenty that don’t hide their racism from those that they think they’re safe with and Zane gets to hear some of that because of how light skinned he is.

While a murder is what gets events fully underway with what Zane is trying to solve and write about, the real story is that because of his light skinned nature and ability to cross the “color line” is that he can pursue it in a way that others cant. The biggest hurdle we see early on here is simply the fact that the police want nothing to do with it, ruling an obvious murder a suicide, and hearing how the cops even tell Zane that it’s not worth it as so many mistake him for white. The problem for Zane is that he doesn’t want to lie about who he is but is increasingly finding that it may be the only thing that helps him figure all of this out. It becomes a lie by omission as he’s simply not correcting people, but even that will eat at someone like him who wants to play fully by the rules.

In Summary:
Murder mystery books can be a lot of fun when they’re out of familiar territory. I have little use for things like most of the primetime TV shows but have an affection for an array of murder mysteries on Netflix produced in a range of countries around the world. Incognegro presents something similar in that it’s not the same as it digs into the 1920’s and the state of race relations then in New York City, which is as complicated as ever. Mat Johnson puts in a lot of stage setting here to get everyone on the same page with how it was for most people and some of the unique problems that some like Zane had as well. Warren Pleece’s artwork is fantastic with a lot of great backgrounds and intriguing characters that populates the world, making you look twice at everyone because someone could be involved. I’m definitely intrigued and have hope that it’ll grow in some interesting ways as Zane discovers more of the truth of the world and the murder.

Grade: B+

Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 7th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99

Milla Jovovich

A Black List script that previously had Olivia Munn tied to it, Hummingbird has now seen Milla Jovovich board it as the lead. The film is being directed by Marcus Kryler and Frederik Akerstrom and it looks like Paul W.S. Anderson is doing a rewrite on the script with his wife now taking on the leading role.

Jovovich hasn’t been seen too much since finishing off the last Resident Evil film, which did $312 million worldwide – half of it from China alone. She’s finished filming on the new Hellboy film and this film is set to get in production and filming this summer.

Plot Concept: The story centers on a female assassin whose latest mark catapults her on a journey of shocking self-discovery.

[Source: Deadline]

The machine unleashed!

Creative Staff:
Story: Paul Allor
Art: Chris Evenhuis
Colors: Sjan Weijers
Letterer: Paul Allor

What They Say:
Isabel and the Machine are separated during the Siege of Volterra! As Isabel races to find him in the carnage and chaos, the violence surrounding them affects the Machine in surprising and potentially terrible ways!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Monstro Mechanica worked a bit better for me in the second issue as it focused more on Isabel and her relationship to the machine, though it felt like the book moved too quickly into the siege storyline and that just made for some unusual pacing, Allor and Evenhuis are clearly enjoying the project and they have a good sense of these characters in a fully realized way that, for me, hasn’t quite come through on the page beyond Isabel herself. Evenhuis is definitely having fun with the Monstro as it gets into the action sequences and I really like some of the character and costume design pieces throughout that combined with some strong layouts that opens things up works well.

The fall of the siege happened fairly quickly and that has the fallout being dealt with as the two sides essentially start to draw down. That all goes to crap fairly quickly when the guy that Isabel was after ends up throwing one of them out the window and basically turns things into a riot. I know he was named in the second issue but his name isn’t used here and his reasoning for all of this is basic in that chaos means it’s easier for him to get away as the knows the Medicis are going to kill him if they find him. And he’s plainly distrustful of da Vinci and even Isabel confirms that she’s nowhere naive enough to fully trust da Vinci either. He’s on his own plan and path and is largely using everyone and everything in order to achieve it without really thinking through those consequences.

Da Vinci’s time here shows that while he was able to end the siege overall fairly quickly, he’s not prepared for the chaos that comes afterward and it’s just kind of a mess from there. What worries him is the fact that Isabel isn’t back yet and he has no idea what the Monstro might be up to. Amusingly, Isabel’s its main focus as it’s rescuing women that it thinks is her but aren’t, at least until it actually does rescue her. From there she ends up sending it to deal with the men with swords but that largely means everyone. Chaos doubles up from there as it gets into the thick of things and even da Vinci finds out about it, which sends him on a future tangent to come about her lack of properly resetting it.

In Summary:
There’s a lot of uncertainty still as to the goal of the book and this issue largely keeps to that feeling. I’m still feeling somewhat disconnected from it because da Vinci isn’t all that interesting and Isabel hasn’t been fleshed out enough. I like it when she’s on the page and with the Monstro because that feels like that’s the story. But that doesn’t happen much here and it’s just a mix of things. It’s a curious book in a lot of ways as it’s doing a lot of things right in terms of design and layout with unique and interesting characters, but it hasn’t made that push past an unquantifiable hurdle for me to make me feel engaged with it.

Grade: B-

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: February 7th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99

© BONES, Hisaguchi Shinji, Okada Yuri

Announced back in December, an original series called Hisone to Maso-tan was announced that now has some new details. With a site update and an interview piece released that you can see below, the series has now been set for an April 2018 premiere on Tokyo MX and other networks to be revealed. The interview has some good production stills to check out to get a feel for the new work.

The project comes from a concept by Shinji Higuchi, who is listed as the executive director for it, with Mari Okada and done up at studio Bones. Hiroshi Kobayashi is directing it with Okada handling the series composition. Yoshiyuki Itou is handling adapting Toshinao Aoki’s designs.

Plot Concept: Straightforward and innocent Hisone Amakasu is a rookie self-defense official. She was struggling with the fact that she sometimes hurts people unintentionally by her innocent words and decided to join in Air Self-Defence, hoping to maintain a certain distance from people. This decision led her to a fateful encounter which profoundly changes her life.

It was the dragon hidden in the base and it chose Hisone as his pilot. When it soared into the sky with Hisone, her fate as a dragon pilot was decided. It is said that dragons have a key to the future of the world…

[Source: ANN]

One property that continues to have a life long past its expected day is that of Blood-C. With the stage play material streamed through Amazon Prime last summer, it’s now been revealed that a new feature film is in the works with Blood-Club Dolls with plans for it to debut in the fall as it presents a new story. Shutaro Oku is directing again working from the screenplay by Junichi Fujisaku.

The cat from the previous film are returning to it as well as some of those from the stage play with Ryūnosuke Matsumura, Kanon Miyahara, Yōji Tanaka, Ren Yagami, Yūki Tomotsune, Naoya Gōmoto, Judai Shirakashi along with new members that include Ryō Kitazono, Maon Kurosaki, Katsumi Takahashi, Norito Yashima, Aki Asakura, Shōta Takasaki, Yūya Asato, Taishi Sugie, Ryōsei Tanaka, Takuya Kawaharada, and Kō Hosokawa.

Keisuke Minami, who also appeared in the Blood-C: The Last Mind stage play), will also star in the film.

Plot Concept: After the massacre in Ukishima, Saya lost her memory and wanders the slums where she meets Haru, an unlicensed doctor, and Ran, the girl who hunts the Elder Bairns. As her memory returns, she discovers that she had relationships with them both in the past, secret promises made by the Nanahara caln and her arch-nemesis, Fumito. As Sayo tries to rescue kidnapped Haru, she encounters Fumito again.

[Source: ANN]

© Bones Tensai Okamura/DTBG Committee MBS

While Funimation lost the rights to the first season of Darker than Black some time ago, the second season under the subtitle of Gemini of Meteor is still in their library and available. That has the series now showing up on the Crunchyroll site as a piece of the partnership with its in its original Japanese language with English subtitles. Availability is decent as it’s open to viewers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa.

Check out our review of the season and a Ten Years Later of the first season.

Plot concept: The intrigue and danger continue with a new charge for BK-201, the masked Contractor known as the Black Reaper.

After a paranormal phenomenon takes over Yin, BK-201 is left to hunt for answers from the shadows, alone — until he encounters Suo, a young girl whose life changed the night a meteor crashed to Earth. With Contractors attacking from all sides, and the mysterious organization Section 3 closing in, the Black Reaper fights to keep Suo alive while he searches for the truth behind Yin’s disappearance.

It’s only been a few weeks since the Japanese premiere of January 13th, 2018 and we’re closing in the North American premiere next week from Viz Media. Ahead of that, the distributor has brought out a brief but solid clip form the film in its original Japanese language with English subtitles that gives us a taste of the visuals and design of the film.

The project has Junji Shimizu directing it based on the screenplay by Takahiro Ozawa. With Toei Animation handling the production, Hiroya Iijima is on board as the character designer.

The Japanese cast includes Showtaro Morikubo as Kouji Kabuto, Ai Kayano as Sayaka Yumi., Kouzou Shioya as Dr. Sewashi Unshou, Ishizuka as Dr. Hell, Sumire Uesaka as Lisa, Natsuki Hanae as Shiro Kabuto, Kappei Yamaguchi as Mucha, Wataru Takagi as Boss, Masami Kikuchi as Nuke, Junpei Morita as Prime Minister Yumi, and Bin Shimada as Dr. Nossori.

Based on the original work by Go Nagai, there was a 92-episode TV series that began in 1972 that was picked up by Discotek Media. There have been several other TV and OVA series over the years and movies as well.

Plot Concept: It has been 10 years since then. Humanity awaits a new fate. Once humanity was on the verge of destruction at the hands of the evil scientist Dr. Hell and his underground empire. Kōji Kabuto, his Mazinger Z super robot, and his friends at the photon power laboratory put an end to Dr. Hell’s evil ambitions and returned peace to the world.

It has been 10 years since then. Kōji has followed his father and grandfather and now walks the path of a scientist. He encounters a mysterious life form buried in a giant structure buried deep below Mt. Fuji. A new encounter, a new threat, and a new fate await humanity. And Kōji, who was once a hero, makes a decision for the future.

It can be a god or a demon. Once again the future is entrusted to Mazinger Z.

© 2012 Mayumura Taku / Kodansaha / Psychic School Wars Film Partners

One of the more interesting but under the radar films of the last few years that I’ve seen is Nerawareta Gakuen, which has been released under the name Psychic School Wars. The nearly two-hour feature came out back in the fall of 2012 from Aniplex and was directed by Ryousuke Nakamura who also wrote the screenplay and did both key animation and storyboard work on it. Mieko Hosoi served as the chief animation director and the character designer on it. It’s now streaming on Crunchyroll thanks to their partnership with Funimation in its original Japanese language with English subtitles while the dub remains on Funimation’s site. Due to other licensors picking it up for theatrical release previously, availability is limited to the United States and Canada.

Check out our review of the feature.

The main Japanese cast includes Daisuke Ono as Ryōichi Kyōgoku, Kana Hanazawa as Kahori Harukawa, Mayu Watanabe as Natsuki Suzūra, Yūtarō Honjō as Kenji Seki, Haruka Tomatsu as Yuriko Yamagiwa, Hiroaki Hirata as Kyōgoku’s familiar and Ryohei Kimura as Yū Jinno.

Plot Concept: Spring marks the start of another new school year at a junior high school in Kamakura. A new transfer student, Ryoichi Kyogoku joins the 8th grade. Kyogoku has a very special proficiency in telepathy and has been ordered by his father to use this ability to scan other people’s minds and take over the school. He instantly gains popularity at school from his good looks and charisma and he sets about taking control of the school. As people begin to fall under Kyogoku’s spell, he covertly manipulates his followers and pushes aside anyone who gets in his way. With the school almost completely under the control of Kyogoku, only one boy seems unaffected —Seki. Does Seki have what it takes to save everyone from the clutches of mind control?

Asterisk War German Volume 1

Peppermint Anime is bringing out the first anime DVD and Blu-ray releases for The Asterisk War on February 23rd, 2018 and they’ve got the first dub clip for it now live. The set will bring out the first six episodes of the series as it’s being done as four-volume release that we’ve seen in other territories. It’ll feature the Japanese and German languages in PCM stereo with German subtitles included. Extras include six bonus clips.

The property comes from the light novel series The Asterisk War: The Academy City of the Water (Gakusen Toshi Asterisk). Written by Yuu Miyazaki, with art by illustrator okiura, so far ten volumes of the light novel “academy battle” action series have been published in Japan, through Media Factory. Yen Press is releasing them and the manga in North America.

The German cast includes Johannes Wolko as Ayato Amagiri, Katharina Iacobescu as Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld, Amira Leisner as Ernesta Kuhne, Ilena Gwisdalla as Haruka Amagiri, Karim El Kammouchi as Eishirou Yabuki, Lara Wurmer as Kirin Toudou, Leslie-Vanessa Lill as Saya Sasamiya, Louis Friedemann Thiele as Ernest Fairclough, Matthias Ransberger as Lester MacPhail, Maximilian Laprell as Dirk Eberwein, Stefanie Dischinger as Camilla Pareto, and Tatjana Pokorny as Claudia Enfield.

The Japanese cast includes Atsushi Tamaru as Ayato Amagiri, Nao Touyama as Claudia Enfield, Ai Kakuma as Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld, Shiori Izawa as Saya Sasamiya, Ari Ozawa as Todo Kirin, Asterisk War Ayato Amagiri, Yūma Uchida as Eishiro Yabuki, Takanori Hoshino as Lester MacPhail, Chinatsu Akasaki as Ernesta Kuhne, Mutsumi Tamura as Camilla Pareto, Yumi Uchiyama as Irene Urzaiz, Juri Nagatsuma as Priscilla Urzaiz and Tomokazu Sugita as Dirk Eberwein.

The anime series is produced by A-1 Pictures. Staff involved include chief director Manabu Ono (The Irregular at Magic High School), director Kenji Seto (Wooser’s Hand-to-Mouth Life), with character design and animation direction by Tetusya Kawakami (Nanana’s Buried Treasure), and music by Rasmus Faber (Lagrange – The Flower of Rin-ne).

Plot Concept: Invertia–The astral catastrophe that annihilated many cities in the 20th century also gave birth to a new human race with special powers called the “Genestella.” At the same time, the special element found within the meteors of Invertia facilitated humanity’s technological advancement.

At the academic-city above water Rikka, also known as “Asterisk,” students from each of the six schools at Asterisk prepare for the ultimate battle tournament — known as “Festa.” Seidoukan Academy’s Ayato Amagiri takes up the challenge along with his partner Julis, a.k.a. Glühen Rose, the Witch of the Resplendent Flames. Ayato learns Julis has a big dream to achieve and decides to protect her to the end.

YU-GI-OH! © 1996 by Kazuki Takahashi / SHUEISHA Inc.

The sixth series in the franchise with Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS debuted back on May 10th, 2017 and it got picked up for streaming with Crunchyroll bringing out new episodes every Wednesday for it. Ahead of the debut of the thirty-ninth episode of the series that’s set for a February 14th, 2018 debut, TV Tokyo has now brought out the first promotional spot for it.

Please note that these previews are removed by TV Tokyo when the episode itself airs.

Masahiro Hosoda is directing it based on the series composition by Shin Yoshida while Kenichi Hara is on board to work on the character designs. Studio Gallop will be handling the animation for it.

Plot Concept: In “Den City” where the latest network has developed, people were dueling day and night in the VR world called “LINK VRAINS” managed by SOL Technology Inc. The main character, Yusaku Fujiki is a quiet high school student with a great insight. He has been dueling, transforming himself into his avatar “Playmaker”, to battle the “The Knights of Hanoi” that plots to destroy “LINK VRAINS”.

© Jun Mayuzuki / Shogakkan

The winter 2018 anime series After the Rain is getting its home video releases handled by Aniplex Japan and they’ve set a quick release for it overall. The twelve episode series is getting two box sets with the episodes split evenly that arrive on April 18th, 2018 and June 27th, 2018. The DVD sets are priced at 15,000 yen each while the Blu-ray sets are priced at 18,000 yen each.

Ayumu Watanabe directed the series based on the series composition by Deko Akao. Wit Studio worked on the animation production and Yuka Shibata served as character designer and chief animation director.

The Japanese cast includes Sayumi Watabe as Akira Tachibana, Hiroaki Hirata as Masami Kondou, Emi Miyajima as Haruka Kyan, Haruka Fukuhara as Yui Nishida, Junya Ikeda as Takashi Yoshizawa, and Tomoaki Maeno as Ryousuke Kase.

The manga comes from Jun Mayuzuki which began in the summer of 2014 and had its ninth volume coming out on November 10th, 2017. The series has over 1.5 million copies in print so far.

Plot Concept: Akira Tachibana is a soft-spoken high school student who used to be a part of the track and field club but, due to an injury, she is no longer able to run as fast as she once could. Working part-time at a family restaurant as a recourse, she finds herself inexplicably falling love with her manager, a divorced 45-year-old man with a young son.

Despite the age gap, Akira wholeheartedly embraces his mannerisms and kind nature, which is seen as spinelessness by the other employees, and little by little, the two begin to understand each other. Although unable to explain why exactly she is attracted to him, Akira believes that a concrete reason is not needed to truly love someone. On a rainy day, she decides to finally tell her manager about how she feels…but just how will he react?

[Source: After the Rain (Koi wa Ameagari no You ni)]

The role of Jessica Jones in The Defenders last year was a lot of fun from my viewing of it and I definitely enjoyed the first season of the series. With it revealed previously that the second season is set for a March 8th, 2018 debut, Netflix has now brought out the full trailer for it that digs into more of who she is and the kinds of forces aligned against here – on top of the demands by others for her to live up to her post-Defenders role as a hero.

Check out our review of the first season.

Plot Concept: New York City private investigator Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) is beginning to put her life back together after murdering her tormenter, Kilgrave. Now known throughout the city as a super-powered killer, a new case makes her reluctantly confront who she really is while digging deeper into her past to explore the reasons why.

Previous trailer:

Kakegurui Japanese Volume 1 Cover

The Kakegurui anime series made its Netflix premiere in the US and UK at the start of this month and now UK distributor Anime Limited has picked up home video distribution rights for it. The announcement indicates that they’re looking at a first quarter 2019 release to let things shake out on streaming and what may happen in the US for materials, but they’re planning on a collector’s edition. That said, they also indicated that because it’s essentially a year out at this point there won’t be much in the way of updates for it for quite some time.

Yuuichirou Hayashi directed the first season based on the series composition by Yasuko Kobayashi and character designs by Manabu Akita. MAPPA is on board to produce the animation. The music is being handled by TECHNOBOY’S PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND.

The Japanese cast includes Saori Hayami as Yumeko Jabami, Minami Tanaka as Meari Saotome, Tatsuya Tokutake as Ryouta Suzui, Yuki Wakai as Itsuki Sumeragi, Karin Nanami as Yuriko Nishinotōin, Mariya Ise Midari Ikishima, and Miyuki Sawashiro as Kirari Momobami.

The series has six volumes out so far and is published digitally in English by Yen Press and they have plans to bring it to print later this year.

Plot Concept: Hyakkaou Private Academy. An institution for the privileged with a very peculiar curriculum. You see, when you’re the sons and daughters of the wealthiest of the wealthy, it’s not athletic prowess or book smarts that keep you ahead. It’s reading your opponent, the art of the deal. What better way to hone those skills than with a rigorous curriculum of gambling? At Hyakkaou Private Academy, the winners live like kings, and the losers are put through the wringer. But when Yumeko Jabami enrolls, she’s gonna teach these kids what a high roller really looks like!

With the first full teaser for Solo: A Star Wars Story out this week, it’s been made clear that the marketing approach is going to be fast and furious since it doesn’t have a year of lead-up to it like a lot of other big films don. One of those pieces fell into place with the newest Entertainment Weekly installment set to delve into the film and giving Han and Chewbacca the cover for it. Details are going to be coming out from it, including some exclusive shots from the film that are the best thing ever, including this bit about it:

“He might be a little more immature, he may be a little less experienced, and he may hone his cynicism over time, but he’s very wary,” says Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy. “He needs to gain the respect of the people he interacts with, even if they’re the lowest of the low.”

Directed by Chris Miller, Phil Lord, and Ron Howard, the film stars Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson with a planned May 25th, 2018 release.

Plot Concept: This new film depicts Han in his formative years as a scoundrel on the rise in the galaxy’s underworld — years before the events involving Han, Leia, and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and his rise to Rebel hero in Return of the Jedi.

© 20th Century Fox

Promotion for the still-untitled Deadpool sequel (which I hope is called Untitled Deadpool Sequel formally as it so first) continues to be a lot of fun. The full formal trailer has arrived, going with “Deadpool, Meet Cable” instead of the usual “Deadpool 2 Trailer #1” kind of setup, and it’s pretty much what you expect as Deadpool just messes with everything from start to finish. Set for a May 18th, 2018 release, it definitely gives you a look at some new footage and how Brolin is playing the character but also just the humor in general for it, which is going to be hard to replicate in some ways from the first film.

The first film was a shockingly huge hit for the studio when it arrived in February 2016 as it raked in $783 million worldwide and broke some records for an R-Rated film.

Directed by David Leitch, it stars Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Zazie Beetz as Domino, and Josh Brolin as Cable.

Original concept: After surviving a near fatal bovine attack, a disfigured cafeteria chef (Wade Wilson) struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Mayberry’s hottest bartender while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavor – finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World’s Best Lover.

© Junji Ito / Asahi Shimbum Publications

Crunchyroll is working through the winter 2018 series Junji Ito: Collection and it’s delivering the creepy horror material that Japan does so well. But it’s also the kind of show that you may be hesitant to try without getting a sample of what kind of horror series it is. Crunchyroll’s got you covered there as they take a look at some of the early episodes and their variety with some creepy sequences to watch, alone, in the dark…

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.

Kuniko follows Haruhiko to his brother’s home, suspicious he’s seeing other women. Jean-Pierre recognizes her as the girl who threw it and suddenly all the puppets in the house go wild, including Haruhiko’s strung-up family.

Haruhiko and Natsumi have been visiting their strange older brother for quite some time. Natsumi, enraptured by the life-size ballet dolls they have, asked to be put on strings as well. Haruhiko objects, but they tell him he should try it.

A typhoon blows into town and Yuuji finds a horrific individual at his window. It’s Hideo, who found the jade carving in Yuuji’s yard. He’s now covered in holes and being pursued by the mysterious doctor.

Hideo discovers Yuuji’s grandfather’s diary in his room and the two read it together. They discover he too was afflicted with mysterious holes on his body and learn of a mysterious doctor and a swarm of insects that crawled inside of him.

Hideo shows up at Yuuji’s house to relate a story he heard from his mother regarding Yuuji’s strange neighbor Rina. When she wasn’t breathing but remained alive. Soon, holes opened up all over her body which she appeared to be breathing through.

(c) 2017 BONES / Project EUREKA MOVIE

With the Japanese premiere this past September and a home video release planned there as well, the focus for the first Eureka Seven: Hi-Evolution feature film has turned to what’s happening in North America. Funimation is handling distribution of the film in this region and they brought out the first film earlier this week with February 5th and February 7th, 2017 premieres. The distributor has also bee bringing out dub clips to tease with what it’ll be like and for those that couldn’t make the premieres, here’s a new clip.

The English cast includes Stephanie Sheh as Eureka, Johnny Yong Bosch as Renton Thurston, Melissa Fahn as Ray, Patrick Seitz as Charles Beams, Crispin Freeman as Holland Novak, Kate Higgins as Talho Yuuki, Fred Tatasciore as Adroc Thurston, Kim Strauss as Dewey Novak, Max Lawrence as Mitch, Imari Williams as Milton, Michael Forest as Sam, Michael Forest as Blair, Bill Rogers as Uno, William Knight as Kuzemi, and Barbara Goodson as Coda.

The project sees Tomoki Kyouda returning as the general director working with hands-on director Hisatoshi Shimizu working off of the screenplays by Dai Sato. Kenichi Yoshida is on board as the character designer with Bones once again producing the animation for it.

The Japanese cast includes Kaori Nazuka as Eureka, Yuko Sanpei as Renton Beams/Renton Thurston, Aya Hisakawa as Ray Beams, Juurouta Kosugi as Charles Beams, Kouji Tsujitani as Dewey Novak, Michiko Neya as Talho Yūki, Tohru Furuya as Adrock Thurston, and Toshiyuki Morikawa as Holland Novak.

Plot Concept: Ten years ago, the major earth-shaking “First Summer of Love” event occurred. Renton, who lost his father during the event, now attends the army school of the United Federation of Predgio Towers located in the border town of Bellforest. Because his late father is still praised, Renton feels something is lacking as he continues with his ordinary, boring days. Then one day, Nirvash, the world’s oldest LFO, appears in front of him and a girl named Eureka emerges from the cockpit. This was the beginning of the future of humans and Scub Coral, another intelligent lifeform.

Was this encounter all just a coincidence? Or was it fate? Where will Renton and Eureka’s journey end?

The theme is…. murder!

Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Gosho Aoyama
Translation: Tetsuichiro Miyaki

What They Say
When ace high school detective Jimmy Kudo is fed a mysterious substance by a pair of nefarious men in black–poof! He is physically tranformed into a first grader. Until Jimmy can find a cure for his miniature malady, he takes on the pseudonym Conan Edogawa and continues to solve all the cases that come his way.

The Mermaid VanishesWhile Conan tries to prove that a corpse found deep in the woods was the victim of more than just a hunting accident, the Junior Detective League gains a new member: a curious bear cub! Then Detective Moore’s office is graced by a very traditional lady with very traditional–and very deadly–sword skills. And at a place called Mermaid Island, a woman is found hanged under a waterfall. It seems the legendary mermaid’s curse has struck again…unless Conan and Harley Hartwell can find an all-too-human culprit!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With Case Closed still an ongoing series, Viz Media certainly has plenty of ground to cover and these stories come to us from the long lost year of 2000. There’s bound to be plenty that’s still the same – murder follows Conan everywhere of course – but some of the little twists and turns that can be done because of tech would make for some different angles to be played.

This installment of Case Closed has a few stories to it, though it’s done in a way to ensure that you keep reading into the next volume. The opening tale here is a continuation from the previous volume involving the hunters who get involved in a murder, but it’s the reasons why the suspect killed someone that is most unclear. With Anita and Mitch in hiding, it comes down to them leaving the right kind of clues for Conan to find so he can figure out who it is that did the deed. It’s a difficult story to get into without the first half of it here, not having seen the previous volume, but with the flashbacks that are provided and the case wrap-up when Conan reveals the killer, it does come together well enough that you can enjoy it.

When it comes to self contained stories in this volume, the two that are here are of mixed results. There’s a two chapter story that I thought was a lot of fun as it was almost a locked-room murder where Moore gets hired to find a man who has a picture that a woman wants from when the two were in grade school. Naturally, when he and Conan and Rachel show up there, they find the man in his apartment murdered with the picture in his hand. Alongside a neighbor who helped them in as he knew the man well, it turns into a series of very convenient reasons why some of them would have murdered him. Conan is continually suspect of the client because she has lied so many times, but the reasons for it aren’t clear. In the space of the two chapters they deal with a decent little murder that’s amusingly dated with its talk of laserdisc players.

The main big story in this volume is a bit less interesting because it runs with a concept that I’ve felt has been overplayed and never terribly interesting to begin with. Covering six chapters, Conan and several others including Harley go to a somewhat remote village where there’s a tale of the mermaid’s flesh that grants immortality. The story focuses somewhat on a woman who is a hundred and thirty years old and maintains a shrine there as she has for many decades. There’s an interesting lottery system with special arrows and more where people get special fortunes told. There’s a lot of material to this story that feels like it’s too much with how it’s told, almost too wordy. With a group of friends who have stayed on the island because of parents who died together in really disturbing ways, when someone well known on the island ends up going missing and a trio of murders occurs, there are almost too many suspects. The story is fairly linear, but it’s the kind where when you get to the explanation at the end, it’s only then that it really starts to click with what’s going on. Something about this one really didn’t gel well for me and made it difficult to get into.

In Summary:
As should be expected, Case Closed ends with a new story arc involving the murder of ganguro girls that visit a particular department store. It’s an amusing story with murder mixed into it simply because you have Moore ogling all the hot women and completely unaware of their heavily tanned nature and the way it was so popular, at least at the time. It certainly makes you want to get the next volume to see where it will all go, which is why it’s a fun story to end on. After not seeing any Case Closed TV episodes in awhile, I’m enjoying getting a few more stories in this form even if I have to put up with the completely idiotic Americanization of some of the names for whatever reasons were thought of as valid back when the book started. If not for that, this would be a lot more recommended.

Content Grade: C+
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B-
Text/Translation Grade: C

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: March 17th, 2009
MSRP: $9.99

© Naru Narumi, Take Shobo / Ms Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles Project

And before you know it… Thursday! The new day is getting underway and there’s a good bit of anime arriving today, such as Crunchyroll with five shows that have new episodes launching that include:

• 7:30am – MS. KOIZUMI LOVES RAMEN NOODLES
• 10:30am – LAID-BACK CAMP
• 11:00am – MAERCHEN MAEDCHEN
• 11:30am – DEATH MARCH TO THE PARALLEL WORLD RHAPSODY
• 3:00pm – HOW TO KEEP A MUMMY

Funimation is working through more simuldubs for the winter season today plus blocking out some previous shows with:

• 4:00 pm EST – Dies Irae Episodes 2-11
• 4:00 pm EST – URAHARA Episodes 3-12
• 4:00 pm EST – Code:Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ Episodes 3-12
• 4:00 pm EST – DARLING in the FRANXX Episodes 1-2
• 4:00 pm EST – GARO -VANISHING LINE- Episode 15
• 4:00 pm EST – citrus Episodes 2-3

HIDIVE has some great classics on deck for today with:

• 12:00 pm – Legend of Galactic Heroes Episodes 108 – 110
• 1:00 pm – Space Runaway Ideon Episode 14

©ASGARD/DYNAMIC CHORD

The fall 2017 anime series Dynamic Chord has lined up its Japanese home video release plans and it’s a pretty good one. The twelve episode series is being released as two “box sets” that come in February and March 2018 and we now have a look at the covers for the first box set and the packaging design overall with what’s included. The DVD sets are priced at 17,800 yen each while the Blu-ray’s are priced at 19,800 yen.

The series is directed by Shigenori Kageyama based on the scripts by Kyoko Katsuya. Yasuomi Umetsu is handling the character designs with Pierrot handling the animation production.

The cast members from the games will be reprising their roles in the anime adaptation. They include Shouta Aoi as Narumi Amagi, Yuuichirou Umehara as Shinobu Kurosawa, Yoshiki Nakajima as Yuki Aoi, Takahiro Sakurai as Yuusei Otoishi, Taku Yashiro as Shinomune Sumiya, Shinnosuke Tachibana as Tokiharu Hanabusa, Shoutaro Morikubo as Yorito Kisaka, Kaito Ishikawa as Yuu Kuroya, Nobuhiko Okamoto as Chiya Suzuno, Takuma Terashima as Sakura Hinoyama, Tetsuya Kakihara as Seri Yuisaki, Soma Saito as Soutarou Haruna, Yuuya Hirose as Aki Kashii, Kousuke Toriumi as Kuon Tsukinohara, Takuya Eguchi as Reon Kashii, and Ryouhei Kimura as Tsumugi Momose.

Plot Concept: This anime adaptation of the otome game by Honeybee Black follows the professional and personal lives of four hot boy bands under the “DYNAMIC CHORD” agency and music label. There’s progressive rock band rêve parfait; newcomer Liar-S; veteran rock band KYOHSO; and international sensation, apple-polisher.

Dynamic Chord Japanese Box Set 1 Cover

Dynamic Chord Japanese Box Set 1 Packaging

[Source: Dynamic Chord]