Netflix has a series that’s getting ready to depart the service soon as the Case Closed series has been given a January 1st, 2019 departure date. The series, listed as collection 1, contains the first fifty-two episodes of the series in its original Japanese language while including English, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Polish subtitles.

Property Concept: The criminal mind is a twisted place, and Jimmy Kudo knows the shady corridors of humanity better than any detective in the game. There ain’t a bad guy in town who can outsmart him, so they try to put the super sleuth down for a dirt nap. But instead of ending up in a shallow grave, Jimmy wakes up to find himself turned back into a kid. Utilizing his unlikely new persona and the latest in crime-fighting gadgetry, he tracks down his assailants as boy detective Conan Edogawa.

[Source: Case Closed]

© Mikage Kasuga / Dash X

The anime adaptation of the Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc to Renkin no Kishi is underway as part of the fall 2018 season and promotion for it is getting out there. DMM Pictures has updated with a look at the tenth episode that’s due out on December 16th, 2018 in Japan. Crunchyroll is simulcasting the series while Funimation is working on a simuldub for it. The anime adaptation has Shin Itagaki directing based on the series composition by Ryunosuke Kingetsu. Jouji Sawada is handling the character designs and AXsiZ is behind the animation production.

The Japanese cast includes Ryota Ohsaka as Montmorency, Yuko Ōno as Jeanne d’Arc, Yūki Takada as Philip, Hisako Tōjō as Astaroth, Manami Numakura as Richemont, Saori Ōnishi as Charlotte, Shizuka Ishigami as La Hire, Yūki Kuwahara as Batard, Junji Majima as Alençon, and Hidenori Takahashi as Xaintrailles.

The novels are written by Mikage Kasuga and illustrated by Merontomari with four volumes out so far in Japan plus a short story collection novel.

Check out the official site and Twitter.

Plot Concept: The story is set in the 15th century, during the Hundred Years’ War between France and England over the succession to the French throne. Montmorency, the son of a noble, immerses himself in the studies of magic and alchemy at a royal knight training school. However, following France’s crushing defeat at Agincourt, the school is dissolved. Having lost everything and now a wanted man, Montmorency, who had just become an alchemist, encounters a mysterious village girl named Jeanne.

©2013 5pb. / Nitroplus Steins;Gate Project

The sixth and final volume of the Steins;Gate 0 home video release is coming up on December 21st, 2018 and it contains a full-length unaired episode. Ahead of that, Kadokawa has now brought out a preview of the episode which looks to lean a bit more into the lighter side of things – which is often a good way to finish off a serious series.

Kenichi Kawamura directed it and Tomoshige Inayoshi worked on the character designs. White Fox produced the animation for it.

The Japanese cast includes Mamoru Miyano as Rintarō Okabe, Kana Hanazawa as Mayuri Shiina, Tomokazu Seki as Itaru “Daru” Hashida, Asami Imai as Kurisu Makise, Saori Goto as Moeka Kiryū, Yu Kobayashi as Luka Urushibara, Halko Momoi as Faris Nyan-nyan, Yukari Tamura as Suzuha Amane, Sayuri Yahagi as Maho Hiyajō, Megumi Han as Kagari Shiina, Yukari Tamura as Yuki Amane, Mariko Honda as Katsumi Nakase, Hina Kino as Kaede Kurushima, Youji Ueda as Alexis Leskinen, and Maya Nishimura as Judy Reyes.

Check out our review of the visual novel. Also check out the official site and Twitter.

Plot Concept: Steins;Gate 0 is the sequel to the award-winning time-travel science fiction interactive Visual Novel developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus – ‘STEINS;GATE’ – widely considered to be one of the greatest visual novels ever made and one of the best-selling Visual Novels ever released in the West! Branching off from the ending of the original STEINS;GATE to an alternate worldline, STEINS;GATE 0 sees Okabe and the Future Gadget Lab members return once again in a story centered around Artificial Intelligence and the creation of ‘Amadeus’ – a means of interacting with the stored memories of a fellow human being. STEINS;GATE 0 continues the series trademark of delivering incredible science fiction storytelling with rich characterization that most games can only dream of and will delight both newcomers to the series and existing STEINS;GATE fans.

© Yoichi Takahashi / Shueisha

The spring 2018 anime series Captain Tsubasa is getting its home video releases handled by Warner Bros. Japan and they’ve set a pretty good schedule for it. The second set of the Elementary age bracket is about to arrive and now we’ve got a look at the finalized cover and the full packaging spread. The show is getting done as box sets with the first two now scheduled for October 10th, 2018 and December 12th, 2018. The DVD sets are priced at 9,800 yen for fourteen episodes each while the Blu-ray’s are priced at 18,000 yen each. The first two sets cover the elementary school arc.

The show has Toshiyuki Kato directing based on the series composition by Atsuhiro Tomioka. Hajime Watanabe is serving as character designer and chief animation director with David Productions handling the animation production.

We learned back in January that Viz Media has confirmed that they’ve picked up the North American and Latin American rights to the show for streaming, home video, and merchandising. They’ll be able to set their streaming plans soon.

The Japanese cast includes Yuko Sanpei as Tsubasa Ōzora, Kenichi Suzumura as Genzō Wakabayashi, Ayaka Fukuhara as Tarō Misaki, Mutsumi Tamura as Ryō Ishisaki, Takuya Satō as Kojirō Hyūga, Katsuyuki Konishi as Roberto Hongō, Megumi Han as Takeshi Sawada, Yuichiro Umehara as Ken Wakashimazu, Ayako Takeuchi as Masao Tachibana and Yurina Watanabe as Kazuo Tachibana, Sōma Saitō as Jun Misugi, and Wataru Hatano as Hikaru Matsuyama.

Plot Concept: Captain Tsubasa is the passionate story of an elementary school student whose thoughts and dreams revolve almost entirely around the love of soccer. 11-year-old Tsubasa Oozora started playing soccer at a very young age, and while it was mostly just a recreational sport for his friends, for him, it developed into something of an obsession.

In order to pursue his dream to the best of his elementary school abilities, Tsubasa moves with his mother to Nankatsu city, which is well-known for its excellent elementary school soccer teams. But although he was easily the best in his old town, Nankatsu has a lot more competition, and he will need all of his skill and talent in order to stand out from this new crowd.

He encounters not only rivals, but also new friends like the pretty girl Sanae Nakazawa and the talented goalkeeper, Genzo Wakabayashi, who shares the same passion as Tsubasa, and will prove to be a treasured friend in helping him push towards his dreams. Representing Japan in the FIFA World Cup is Tsubasa’s ultimate dream, but it will take a lot more than talent to reach it.

Captain Tsubasa Japanese Box Set 2 Cover

Captain Tsubasa Japanese Box Set 2 Packaging

Captain Tsubasa Japanese Box Set 1 Cover

Captain Tsubasa Japanese Box Set 1 Packaging

[Source: Captain Tsubasa]

© Minatsuki / As Futatsuya / Comic Polaris

The upcoming anime adaptation of the Dōkyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue manga recently revealed that it’s been scheduled for a January 9th, 2018 debut. With that coming just under a month away from now the official site has updated with two new promotional spots for it and some additional casting for it. The series has Kaoru Suzuki directing based on the series composition from Deko Akao. Masaru Kitao is handling the character designs with Zero-G working on the animation production.

The newly announced cast includes:

• Tomokazu Sugita as Tarō
• Hisako Tōjō as Nagisa Yasaka
• Megumi Toyoguchi as Tora-nee-san
• Daisuke Ono as Kuro

The previously announced Japanese cast includes:

• Kensho Ono as Subaru Mikazuki
• Haruka Yamazaki as Haru
• Hiro Shimono as Atsushi Kawase
• Shun Horie as Hiroto Yasaka
• Chika Anzai as Nana Ōkami
• Yoshiki Nakajima as Yūgo Ōkami
• Ayumu Murase as Hachi
• Kenjiro Tsuda as Roku

The property translates as My Housemate Is on My Lap, But Sometimes on My Head and comes from Minatsuki and As Futatsuya as appearing on the Comic Polaris web manga site. The manga began in 2015 as an ongoing and has four compiled volumes in print form so far.

chrödinger’s Cat adding kotringo will perform the opening song “Unknown World” while Yoshino Nanjō will perform the ending theme song “Kimi no Tonari Watashi no Basho.”

Check out the official site and Twitter.

Plot Concept: The story deals with socially awkward novelist Subaru Mikazuki, who adopts a stray cat. He names it Haru, and they begin their life together. As with the manga, each episode of the anime will have both a “Subaru” and “Haru” chapter that will tackle the story from the point of view of both characters.

[Source: ANN]

It’s time to learn some more!

What They Say:
Hello Kitty loves learning new things, and now that Kitty and her twin sister Mimmy have three new friends, it seems like there’s never enough time for all the adventures they could have. But that doesn’t mean that they’re not going to try! From experimenting with shapes and learning to take care of flowers, to studying dance and the rules for visiting other people’s houses, it’s all very educational and exciting. If you want to have lots of fun and discover new and amazing things, come join Kitty, Mimmy and the three Berry children, Amy, Eric, and Harry, and share the friendship and wonder as they explore the world around them!

The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this series brings us the show in its original Japanese language as well as the new English language dub, both of which are in stereo and encoded at 224kbps. The show isn’t anything really outstanding when it comes to its audio but it does have a good stereo mix, particularly for the music and opening vocal, that gives it a good warm feeling. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we had no problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.

Video:
Originally released via SVOD in 2017, the transfer for this series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is enhanced for anamorphic playback. Being that it is Hello Kitty, the materials here are very bright and colorful in nature and go for a mix when it comes to the design, where some backgrounds look like they were crayoned while others are full solid feels. Each of them maintains a great solid look to them with no noticeable blocking or pixelation to it. The transfer is also very clean when it comes to areas such as cross coloration and aliasing and is pretty much pristine across the board. The opening and closing segments have their credits translated into English which isn’t a surprise but that appears to be the only difference between this and the original.

Packaging:
The packaging for this release comes in a standard sized DVD keepcase that goes for bright and colorful as we get Kitty in the middle and a nice visual of three of her friends just below her, everyone mostly all smiles. There are lots of colorful balloons around them and the logo is a big messy rainbow of colors that works within the context of grabbing the eyes of kids. The back cover has a few shots from the show and a decent sized summary of the premise in the middle. The discs production information is easy to check out as is the very clearly listed information in the technical grid. The release doesn’t have any inserts nor a reversible cover, keeping things simple and basic.

Menu:
I was glad to see that this is a kid-friendly release in that after the load-up trailers and company logo it went right to the show itself instead of to the menu. The menu layout, which comes up at the end of all the episodes or whenever you key the button for it, is a very basic piece that has some cute character artwork in the middle and is surrounded by all the episodes that you can select. The bottom set of navigation has things such as the languages and extras, all of which is set to a brief bit of music from the show. Kids don’t care about menus anyway but the access times are nice and fast and the disc did read our players’ language presets and played accordingly.

Extras:
The only extras included are the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the first set of this release, I had talked about how welcome it was to get something so simple and basic without it trying to overdo the lessons. Hello Kitty & Friends keeps it simple and at its intended young audience where it’s really just trying to teach them the basics. Yes, parents should do this and they do. But there’s good creative reinforcement of it through shows like this to help and the more ways you see it enacted in “real world” situations helps kids to learn. This certainly isn’t a show for most anime fans and I’m long past the time that I’ll need it until grandkids come my way someday far in the future, but I’m able to just sit back and enjoy the basic kind of silliness that exists in this show.

It’s actually a great kind of little palette cleanser in a way.

The premise for the episodes here build upon what came before where it is fairly simple and without a lot in the way of introductions since we know our core cast. Kitty has connected well with Amy and Eric along with Harry and they all get into some cute little shenanigans, finding games to play together or giving some of the group the side eye over things that they do. This comes particularly in an episode about following rules at a friends house as the boys (always the boys, it seems) played outside a lot and came in dirty but don’t clean themselves up. The girls give them some grief over it as they cause more problems with furniture and paintings by how they play and it gets them a good talking to. It’s effective in that we don’t get the mother just yelling at them but rather the group telling them that they wouldn’t want that at their house and to realize each home has its own rules.

Another episode has some of them meeting a friend that teaches dance and a couple are shy and embarrassed over it since they don’t think they dance well. Which is hard to hear since one of them was just having a real blast dancing recently but now that there’s a group he’s all shut down over it. That has everyone else encouraging them gently to join in and enjoying themselves, hoping to draw them out. We also get lessons on taking care of flowers and what it means to borrow things from people and what’s involved in lending your own items and how to handle it. It’s all good little kid stuff presented in the familiar Hello Kitty niceness that will largely connect with the bulk of little kids.

In Summary:
Hello Kitty is Hello Kitty. Fans know what they’re getting into for the most part and I imagine those that buy everything they find about the character will get this. But mostly I expect these are bought by parents for little kids and that they’re going to be in places where you usually don’t find anime. Sentai’s releases are nicely done with a good selection of stories to help kids learn and grow as the title says and it has a cute little dub to it that must have been a welcome change of pace for the voice actors considering some of their other projects. It’s the kind of title where it is what it is and you know what you’re getting into as it’s a childhood education project. I’m hopeful Sentai Kids will go after some other kids series (I’ve got a list of ‘em!) and that this is just the start.

Features:
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Opening Animation, Clean Closing Animation

Content Grade: B-
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B-
Extras Grade: B-

Released By: Sentai Kids
Release Date: November 20th, 2018
MSRP: $14.98
Running Time: 70 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
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.

Blood & Milkshakes

Creative Staff:
Story: Greg and Megan Smallwood
Art: Greg Smallwood
Letterer: Jack Morelli

What They Say:
Veronica must endure a series of brutal challenges in order to put a stop to the vampirism that’s taken over Riverdale once and for all. But what surprises await her back at the Lodge mansion?

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Vampironica series draws to a close – with a cryptic “for now??” at the end as you’d expect, and it’s the conclusion to a fun ride. Greg and Megan Smallwood put together a solid little project here that will definitely read better for those that get it in full since it started in March and was only five issues. The script for it continues to be fun here even if it feels like it wraps up a little too quickly but it’s paired with some great artwork that really drives it forward in a strong enough way. I continue to love the character designs but the darkness in run helps to give everything just a bit more weight that it needs to really give it some oomph.

The gang in the pool gets a decent little subplot here before the conclusion as Dilton has lead them to some safety there. The vampires are simply in wait for them to get out while prodding them from the sides in a fun way. It really is just a waiting game but the reality doesn’t unfold in that way as Mr. Lodge retains enough of his faculties to tell the rest to drain the pool. That wouldn’t be fast to be sure but in comic book time that’s a solid enough threat that the panic inside is definitely warranted. It’s a fun piece overall and I do like how it wraps up at the end with everyone getting along and almost treating it in classic old style “aw shucks” that was a bad thing but we’re all okay now way. The subplot, in the end, allows everyone to have a small role in the story and its worth it for that, human or vampire.

The main thrust is with Veronica as you’d expect and with her basically combating a dream state it works through some familiar areas. It’s a decent way to conduct the fight as she’s confronted with a reality where Archie and everyone else are paid by her father to be friends with her while another has her as the bridesmaid for Betty and Archie’s wedding, which has her feeling like she has a hangover. It works well to showcase some of her core fears and while there’s some nice action with the spider I like the way she resolves this un-reality by dealing with the version of herself that would never dress like that. Again, everything wraps up in a way that feels a little too pat and quick at the end of the issue but I’d have to read all five in a row in order to really see if it feels that way in the big picture.

In Summary:
Vampironica opened stronger than it ended overall, I think, but it’s a fun series as a whole and there’s plenty to like with the finale. Veronica’s facing off with her biggest fears is fun and it’s wonderfully illustrated with great color design to pull it all together. I really enjoy the Archie Horror line of books and hope for more of them to come since there’s some good things to work with here and a whole world of possibilities. Hopefully, the Smallwoods will get a chance to tackle another title down the line as well, with either more of this or something else fresh.

Grade: B+

Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Archie Comics
Release Date: December 12th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99

The ratings for this past weekend have landed from Programming Insider with how the Toonami anime block worked out. As is the case when we get closer to the holidays and there are more things going on we get some downward trends. That’s lighter when it comes to the reruns as those are largely the same or just down a few thousand overall.

With the new shows debuting new episodes, Dragon Ball Super still takes the top at 498,000 but that’s down 60,000 from last week. Boruto lands at 366,000 which is up 3,000 from last week while Mob Psycho 100 goes from 391,000 to 272,00 for the biggest drop of the week. Megalobox debuts this weekend at the midnight slot at 310,000 for a decent debut while Jojo’s hits 244,000, which is down 90,000 from last week.

[Source: Programming Insider]

A chance of a lifetime.

Creative Staff:
Story: Jeff Parker
Art: Bob Q
Letterer: Simon Bowland

What They Say:
“Rocket Sea” continues…Forced to surface in enemy waters, a damaged Royal Navy submarine docks at a mysterious island for repairs. Lieutenant James Bond leads a hunting expedition across the island. But while hunting beasts, he discovers a far more dangerous prey…

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The James Bond: Origin miniseries took what felt like a bit of an odd turn the last time around by putting Bond on a submarine. Well, that part wasn’t odd so much as it had very little to do with Bond for the most part, reducing him to a background player at best for most of it. Jeff Parker used that as setup for the events here so that it wasn’t something that felt rushed, which has worked well when read with what came before and knowing what’s coming next. That’s also made exciting thanks to Bob Q’s artwork as we get to see some good stuff once again with the submarines but also something more expansive as the trip takes an unexpected turn.

The main issue early on is that German destroyer on the surface that’s still after them combined with the damage that the British submarine has taken. The sequence takes up almost half the book but it works exceptionally well with Bond narrating part of it in how the captain orchestrates a way for them to survive. The engaging part is that Bond understands that the captain talking about what he’s doing and why is both partially to calm their nerves and reassure them but also to educate them since he intends to survive and they’ll end up either sticking with this boat or ending up on another one. Sometimes the less questions asked the better if you can circumvent them before they get asked. It plays well and seeing how the men handle the situation until the all clear hits works wonderfully.

Where the book really gets me, however, is when the sub makes for a small island nearby with a cove to do some repairs. There’s fun in seeing the guys heading out into the island to hunt up some fresh food as we get the “northern boys” who know how to handle this stuff and there’s an easy camaraderie that comes from that. But when they discover a German bomber parked on the island and its crew relaxing and keeping contact with their base, we see how the sailors move to take them out – but also capture the right ones in order to set up their own trap. It’s a good reversal of fortune if it works but it’s an area where Bond’s strategic approach comes into focus as he figures out how to really take advantage of what they’ve got there whereas most of the others just want to kill them and move on.

In Summary:
With a longer arc now playing out compared to the more traditional montage-style opening issues that set Bond on his path, we’re getting a good handle on the outside of the box thinking that Bond employs while also understanding how others, like the sub captain, operates to ensure a smooth working crew. I really like the quiet time on the ship while they wait out the destroyer but I also enjoyed the island adventure that’s getting underway. Parker captures the mood of it all well and I’m loving how Bob Q brings it all together, shifting so easily from the sub to the cove and then into the woods with the men undertaking a dangerous mission. Good stuff all around.

Grade: A-

Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: December 12th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99

It looks like things will be wrapping up soon for the Triage X manga, which is published in English by Yen Press. The series comes from Shoji Sato and in an interview he revealed that the manga is set to wrap up with its twenty-first volume. The property kicked off in 2009 in Monthly Dragon Magazine and just had its eighteenth volume published. So we’ve definitely got a bit more to go but this is one way of saying that it’s moving firmly toward its conclusion and is being given the space to do so.

Check out our review of the series.

The manga inspired a ten-episode TV anime run plus an OVA. It’s directed by Akio Takami and Takao Kato based on scripts by Katsujiko Takayama and character designs by Akio Takami. Saeko Zogo with Nagareda Project will be handling the opening theme for the series.

The Japanese cast includes Kenji Akabane as Arashi, Mikami Yui Kondou as Mikoto Kiba, Amina Satō as Oriha Nashida, Fuyuka Oura as Yūko Sagiri, Masumi Asano as Miki Tsurugi, Ryoko Shiraishi as Sayo Hitsugi, Takaya Kuroda as Masamune Mochizuki, Aya Hisakawa as Fiona Ran Winchester, Naomi Ōzora as Hinako Kominato, and Izumi Kitta as Yuu Momokino.

Plot concept: At first glance, Arashi Mikami appears to be a normal, albeit socially awkward, 17 year old high school student. However, he’s actually part of a secret vigilante organization known as Black Label, a group dedicated to executing power-hungry criminals the law refuses to deal with. However, taking down a crime lord isn’t always an easy task, and there’s bound to be consequences for any action…

[Source: ANN]

With pretty much every Marvel Studios sequel film doing better than the one before it, it’s no surprise that a Doctor Strange sequel is in the works, particularly to expand the world of magic within the cinematic universe. The first film landed in 2016 with a $200-ish million budget and it did $677 million worldwide, which is roughly a break-even approach with how the money gets moved around. The character had a solid place in Avengers: Infinity War and is likely to be pivotal in Avengers: Endgame and we also had a fun appearance in Thor: Ragnarok, which will help drive interest as those that didn’t see his origin movie are now familiar with him and some will be more likely to check it out.

What’s welcome news is that Scott Derrickson is returning to direct the sequel with the main cast expected back with Benedict Cumberbatch the main fully confirmed one at the moment.

Check out our review of the first film and our ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The first film was directed by Scott Derrickson and starred Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo, Rachel McAdams, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mads Mikkelsen, Benedict Wong, and Tilda Swinton. It debuted on November 4th, 2016.

Plot Concept: The film will follow the story of neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a horrific car accident, discovers the hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions.

A satisfying conclusion.

Creative Staff:
Story: Margaret Atwood, Ken Steacy
Art: Ken Steacy

What They Say:
From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Handmaid’s Tale comes this historical fiction graphic novel tracing the Golden Age of comic books. With the triumphant arrival of VA Day, the victorious Allied Nations are filled with hope. For Al Zurkowski and Canoodle Features, the joyous event also brings a level of uncertainty. While the war is thankfully over, the small publisher finds itself a smaller fish in a massive pond, leading to a business decision that changes Al’s life forever.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
War Bears has been an interesting read and as we hit the third and final installment here it’s one that I hope finds some real life in the trade market as it has a kind of specialness to it that’s hard to come by. Margaret Atwood and Ken Steacy put together something that feels very authentic to the time and the struggles that were faced and covered a few years worth of time in brief glimpses overall. The story may not have always have worked – I struggled with the Oursenette pages a lot – but it was a beautiful book to look at and the story of the people behind the comics is thoroughly engaging.

With the finale, we get a good bit of time spent as VE day has hit and there’s a lot of celebrating going on by the staff and much of the world. Al, however, is not celebrating as he knows that this is the end of comics for Canoodle because it won’t be long before supplies start hitting the American side and exports get back underway. That has him coming across as understandably dour even as Gloria talks of transforming into an advertising company and getting lots of creative work for him to handle in the years to come. It won’t be Oursenette or the rest of the black and white books out there but it’ll be creative work. For Al, this is a hard journey to deal with Oursentte’s final tale and it’s combined with some real losses along the way.

The big one, in a way, is with Gloria coming back from New York engaged on top of the whole change in the nature of the company with it being acquired. He also gets a shock from her when she reveals a secret about Mike which feels out of place for her to reveal, though it leads to a decent discussion between the two men about how they present themselves. What really sells this finale for me, however, is the shift to 2009 with Al being inducted into the Shuster Hall of Fame and seeing a new life for his work through Gloria’s granddaughter who created a Were-Women series. The whole thing fits so well with so many creators from that generation in that they really struggle to see what they created has become and just enjoy that little moment of recognition. More for the work than for themselves, which provides the right kind of warmth at the end here for Al and his story.

In Summary:
War Bears wasn’t always an easy read and there were sections that just did not click for me. And there were times when I wish this was twice as long so it could explore more of what was being put into play with the characters and the pasts that shape who they are. But over the course of the three issues, we get a strong story, some drop-dead gorgeous artwork, and a very satisfying conclusion that should bring a smile to many faces in following Al’s tale. I hope this finds more of an audience when it hits the trade route because this is a special book as a whole with a lot to like.

Grade: B+

Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: December 12th, 2018
MSRP: $4.99

© Princess Principal Project

Sentai Filmworks originally their release of Princess Principal coming up on September 25th, 2018 but it was pushed back to a November 13th, 2018 release for the premium edition only just before that was supposed to hit. Another delay has hit for the premium edition release recently as it was rescheduled to a December 11th, 2018 release date. That… didn’t happen and now the Sentai shop has changed the date to December 21st, 2018. Fingers crossed!

Check out our review of the regular edition release.

It’ll have the twelve episode run on two Blu-ray discs in bilingual form that includes the Japanese Promos, Japanese Commercials, Picture Dramas, and Clean Opening & Closing Animations as extras.

Extras for the set include the Japanese Promos & Commercials, Picture Dramas, Clean Opening Animation, and Clean Closing Animation.

It was directed by Masaki Tachibana based on the series composition by Ichiro Okouchi. Yuki Akiya served as the character designer with Kimitake Nishio serving as the chief animation director. Studio 3Hz and Actus handled the animation production.

The Japanese cast includes Ayaka Imamura as Ange, Akira Sekine as Princess, You Taichi as Dorothy, Akari Kageyama as Beatrice, Nozomi Furuki as Chise, Takayuki Sugou as L, Miyuki Sawashiro as 7, Takumi Yamazaki as Colonel, Takaya Hashi as Duke Normandy, and Yuuko Iida as Gazelle.

The opening theme song is “The Other Side of the Wall” by Void_Chords feat.MARU while several of the main voice actresses will perform the ending theme song “A Page of My Story.”

Plot Concept: Early in the 20th century, the discovery of Cavorite, an anti-gravity substance, gave birth to a technological renaissance including the development of giant airships and other fantastical inventions. However, the scientific revolution was not the only one afoot, as Great Britain was torn in two by an armed rebellion when the oppressed poor finally turned on the ruling elite. Now the Commonwealth has a plan to take Albion by stealth, substituting their undercover operative Ange for the beautiful young Princess Charlotte. But Charlotte and Ange both have surprises in store for their respective governments and instead hatch a plan wherein the Princess herself will act as an agent in exchange for help in claiming the throne! A dazzling team of femme fatales sets out to rule Britannia and English History will never be the same in PRINCESS PRINCIPAL!

From the beginning to the end.

Creative Staff:
Story: Jeff Lemire
Art: Wilfredo Torres
Colors: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Nate Piekos of Blambot

What They Say:
A journey through time via the Para-Zone leads our heroes to confront crucial characters from the Black Hammer-verse! Ties directly into the Eisner Award-winning Black Hammer comic books series and is written by Jeff Lemire. ”This whole weird pulpy world is so fun and gorgeous.”-IGN

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Quantum Age series has worked well to play with Legion-familiar concepts while touching upon the past for inspiration in much the same way. Jeff Lemire has a lot of fun with it and it makes me long for a real Legion book once again, which is frustrating. It’s also a blast to watch Wilfred Torres work the storyline and particularly this issue with its heavy focus on core Black Hammer characters from the mothership series and what they go through. I’m digging all the new characters to be sure but seeing the evolution of the others is a real treat and that’s a great added bonus.

The main focus of this book is on Colonel Weird and his journey over the years. We’ve seen plenty of his traipsing around the Para-Zone in the main book but here we see how he reacted after the events of where that storyline is now. His flight to the distant past takes him to not long before the dinosaurs were wiped out, giving him time to be completely alone and await his end – which he couldn’t bring himself to do. He then went to the other end of time and waited out on a rock at the end of space where heroes would come to challenge him, thinking him a dark villain. There’s a real pain to what he’s done throughout his life and how it impacted others but he can’t just end himself. So when the Quantum Age group shows up to get him to help in dealing with their opponent, it becomes a hard push to try and get him to see that he doesn’t see everything.

The motivating factor of discovering that Talky Walky is alive and different is a huge one and their reunion plays out just as you’d expect as Talky toys with him while the Colonel just wants to try and make some amends. The setup is in place to deal with the threat to Earth and it’s good to see the team come together well here, especially with Archive brought back into play and a really great reunion with Lyndda. The downside is that we don’t get too much with this crew overall, though Archive dominates nicely both with Talky and with this group as a whole, as the real focus is still on Colonel Weird. Lemire does some really fun stuff here as we get another reconnect from the past with an intriguing evolution. It’s something where I hope it has real meaning because I can see people having skipped this series to just stay with the mothership book and missing out.

In Summary:
Quantum Age sets up for a solid finale the next time around but as much as I really enjoy the whole ties to the past thing it ends up dominating it just a little too much here. That’s not exactly a bad thing but with a limited amount of space to deal with the future group every moment with Colonel Weird slows down their story. That said, I really liked what we got out of Weird here and seeing the larger arc of the character since the beginning of Black Hammer makes for a really good experience here. Combine that with Torres doing some great stuff in showing us the distant past and distant future while also putting together some great reunion pages, it’s a solid and really fun book that has me eager to see how they’ll wrap it all up.

Grade: B+

Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: December 12th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99

While we continue to hold out hope for a proper full new release of these novels in English, we’re taking heart in that the series is continuing in Japan as well. Fuyumi Ono’s series The Twelve Kingdoms brought out its most recent volume back in 2013 with a run of short stories. Now, the Shinchosa publishing site has revealed that the next work in the series is slated for a 2019 release – though it was originally talked about as coming out in 2016 when there were already a thousand pages of material for it.

TOKYOPOP started releasing the novels back in 2007 but only made it through the first volume volumes.

Media Blasters previously released the series on DVD and Blu-ray in bilingual form in North America.

Plot concept: Nakajima Youko is your average somewhat timid high school student. One day, a strange man named Keiki appears before her, swearing allegiance. Before she could properly register what was happening, demon-like creatures attack Youko and her friends, after which they are pulled into a different world. A world unlike what she has ever known. Separated from Keiki, Youko and her friends must do whatever they can if they wish to survive in this new world.

The pain of fitting in.

Creative Staff:
Story: Jeff Lemire
Art: Emi Lenox
Letterer: N/A

What They Say:
From the pages of Sherlock Frankenstein comes this horrific tale of Lovecraftian teenage angst. Spawned by the emissary of a Cthulhu god, Cthu-Louise struggles and is teased at school due to her monstrous appearance. Finally fed up with the bullying and abuse, she decides she will do anything to make herself ”normal.”

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The various spinoff books that we’ve gotten for the Black Hammer universe have been a hoot and the Sherlock Frankenstein one was definitely a big favorite of mine with what it explored. Jeff Lemire’s take on cthulu was fun as we got Cthu-Lou the plumber of Spiral City that became a halfhearted villain. That’s what this special focuses on is more of the fallout from that with Emi Lenox on board ot handle the artwork for it. It’s a great job that she puts in here that gives us a very empathetic character to follow as everything is familiar with what Louise deals with but with obvious differences. The mesh of the two is great and I really loved how smoothly it all comes together even if it is rather predictable.

The foundation of this story is that of Lou’s from Sherlock Frankenstein but the crux of it is that he got turned into a herald of sorts for the Cthulu that exists under Spiral City. He and his normal human wife ended up with a daughter that took after him and that makes for a very tense time at home as Lou has turned into all the cliches of someone angry with his life, beating up on Louise, yelling and just plain terrible. That’s infected Louise’s mother as well as she’s working mulitple jobs to support it all and taking it out on everyone at the same time. For Louise, all of this is compounded by looking like she does and going to school with otherwise normal looking kids. She’s bullied heavily and just has to keep taking it over and over and over.

It’s no surprise that she does eventually reach a breaking point with all of this and runs away from home and into the willing tentacles of her grandpa under the streets. This is where the book turns really violent in some interesting ways and I love how Lemire gives into the dark wish fulfilment of many kids that are bullied before giving her some salvation in a way that she didn’t quite expect. It does play out like a kind of Twilight Zone episode in a way but it connects well as Louise is very easy to understand and Emi Lenox really brings her and her situation to life wonderfully. I loved the look of the characters she had to deal with, the gateway sequence itself, and just the kind of run down hard city life of the apartment she lives in with her family and how it ticks every cliche in a good way.

In Summary:
I really enjoyed the expanded Black Hammer universe and the Cth-Lou story from Sherlock Frankenstein was definitely one of my favorites from that run. Getting to look a bit more at him and put the focus on his daughter is a delight but I also loved the little bits of history that we got from the history class in school that showcased some of what the heroes have done over the decades and their influence. It’s a fun book, simple in design and execution but done in such a way as to really delight fans that enjoy exploring more of the corners of this world. Lemire has captured the tone well here while Emi Lenox just made it all so enjoyable with how every aspect of it looks.

Grade: B+

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: December 12th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99

With a good push through commercials to highlight the various bands, the second season of BanG Dream is coming up as a part of the winter 2019 season. Now, a January 3rd, 2019 debut has been scheduled for it on Tokyo MX and others. The how is being slotted for a lot of overseas streaming with full details to come. Interestingly, the show is going in a different direction with its home video release as they’re not doing a standard run (but we’ll presume a complete collection eventually) and instead are tying it to CD single releases which will be detailed later.

Check out our review of the first season.

These seasons will have Sanzigen handling the animation production for both of the seasons. They’re also working with DMM futureworks to produce the mini web series BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! ☆ Pico which you can see below.

The first season of the project was directed by Atsushi Ootsuki based on the series composition from Yuniko Ayana. Natsuko Nita adapted the original character designs done by Hitowa Issen and Xebec handled the animation production.

The Japanese cast includes Aimi (Aimi Terakawa) as Kasumi Toyama, Ayasa Itou as Arisa Ichigaya, Rimi Nishimoto as Rimi Ushigome, Sae Oozuka as Tae Hanazono and Ayaka Ohashi as Saaya Yamabuki.

Check out the official site and Twitter.

Plot Concept: The story follows Kasumi Toyama (played by Poppin’ Party’s lead singer, Aimi) when her life changes on the day she finds a star-shaped guitar. Determined to form an all-girl band, her search leads her to four like-minded souls: Saya, Arisa, Rimi, and Tae (all brought to life by the members of Poppin’ Party).

With a February 26th, 2019 release coming up and a dub cast still to be revealed, Sentai Filmworks has now unveiled the finalized packaging design below for the Just Because series. The show is set for a bilingual run for the twelve episodes priced at $69.98 and will be on Blu-ray only.

The show was directed by Atsushi Kobayashi based on the script by Hajime Kamoshita. Hiroyuki Yoshii adapted the character designs from Kiseki Himura’s original concepts while Pine Jam is the animation studio behind it.

The Japanese cast includes Yuna Yoshino as Hazuki Morikawa, Taishi Murata as Haruto Sōma, Karin Isobe as Mio Natsumi, Aoi Ichikawa as Eita Izumi, and Lynn as Ena Komiya.

The background on some of the creators is notable here as Hajime Kamoshita created the Pet Girl of Sakurasou manga and was involved in scripts for it while also writing several scripts for Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. Kiseki Himura did the art for the Sword Art Online: Progressive manga series.

Plot Concept: It is winter of their third year of high school, near the end of the second semester, when students have very little time in high school left. Everyone was just waiting for graduation.

Until he suddenly came home.

He was their classmate in middle school who had moved far away. He transferred in at a peculiar time, which reunited them. It was as if a go signal rang out to the feelings of the students who had just thought to end their high school life without fanfare.

© Akimi Yoshida / Shogakukan

The new anime adaptation of the Banana Fish manga from Akimi Yoshida kicked off on July 5th, 2018 to celebrate Yoshida’s 40th-anniversary debut of the work. The series is part of the noitaminA block on Fuji TV in July on Amazon Video worldwide where it’ll run for two-cour and the official site has now updated a preview of the twenty-third episode that arrives on December 13th, 2018. The show has set Hiroko Utsumi to direct based on the series composition by Hiroshi Seko. Akemi Hayashi is on board with the character designs and MAPPA will be animating it.

The Japanese cast includes Yūma Uchida as Ash Lynx, Kenji Nojima as Eiji Okumura, Unshō Ishizuka as Dino Golzine, Hiroaki Hirata as Max Lobo, Makoto Furukawa as Shorter Wong, Yoshimasa Hosoya as Frederick Arthur, Shinji Kawada as Shunichi Ibe, Jun Fukuyama as Jusis, and Toshiyuki Morikawa as Blanca.

The work, which was released by Viz Media in North America, began in 1985 and ran for nineteen volumes through 1994 in Betsucomi.

Check out the official site and Twitter.

Plot Concept: Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful; nurture made him a cold ruthless killer. A runaway brought up as the adopted heir and sex toy of “Papa” Dino Golzine, Ash, now at the rebellious age of seventeen, forsakes the kingdom held out by the devil who raised him. But the hideous secret that drove Ash’s older brother mad in Vietnam has suddenly fallen into Papa’s insatiably ambitious hands—and it’s exactly the wrong time for Eiji Okamura, a pure-hearted young photographer from Japan, to make Ash Lynx’s acquaintance…

Crunchyroll is continuing to add dubs for their shows that were previously on the Funimation site and one more that’s found its way there is for the Space Patrol Luluco series. Crunchyroll previous streamed the simulcast of the show and now the dub for it is available alongside that, giving fans the chance to check out both versions of the property.

Check out our review of the series.

The series has Christopher Bevins serving as the ADR director working from the scripts by John Burgmeier. The English cast includes Brittney Karbowski as Luluco, Justin Briner as Nova, Jamie Marchi as Midori, Brett Weaver as Keiji, Monica Rial as Lalaco Godspeed, Bob Carter as Overjustice, and Mike McFarland as Judgment Gun.

The anime series is directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi. Imaishi is overseeing the scripts while Akira Amemiya is serving as the second director while character designs are being handled by Mago and Yusuke Yoshigaki. Yoshigaki and Shuhei Handa serving as the chief animation directors.

The Japanese cast includes M.A.O as Luluco, Junya Enoki as ΑΩ Nova, Mayumi Shintani as Midori, Tetsu Inada as Over Justice’s general manager, and Mitsuo Iwata as Keiji/

Plot Concept: Luluco is a normal junior high school girl whose father is a detective at the space patrol. One day, she visits the Ogikubo branch of the space patrol to save her father who is suddenly frozen. But she happens to be assigned as a space patrol by the chief director Overjustice. Wearing a space patrol suit with strange functions, will she able to save her father and keep the peace of Ogikubo from space criminals? And will she fulfill her life as a junior high school student, including love and study?