© Junji Ito / Asahi Shimbum Publications

The winter 2018 anime series Junji Ito Collection has found itself another home video release distribution point with Madman Entertainment. The Australian distributor has set an August 7th, 2019 debut for the twelve-episode series in bilingual form. It’s priced at $64.95 and will be only on Blu-ray. Extras include the clean opening song and the two Tomie extras.

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.

The opening sequence has the song “The Writhing in Agony Blues” by The Pinballs while the ending features the song “Mutual Universe” by JYOCHO!

Plot Concept: Enter the twisted world of Junji Ito’s works of horror! Witness the most hair-raising stories from Junji Ito Masterpiece Collection and Fragments of Horror like you’ve never seen them before. For any fans who seek the thrill of shocking imagery and ill-fated characters, this whole show is made for you.

© Amyu / Shueisha

The spring 2019 anime series Kono Oto Tomare!, which is set for a two-cour show done in split form with the first cour showing up in April 2019 and the second in October 2019, is rolling out some new promotion. With four episodes out for it so far, the official site has now dropped a new five-minute promotional video serving as a digest for it. It’s not a big splash and flash kind of digest but one that’s more dialogue and mood focused. The anime adaptation has Ryoma Mizuno directing it with Ayumi Hisao handling the scripts. Junko Yamanaka is on board as the character designer with Platinum Vision handling the animation production.

The previously announced cast includes Yūma Uchida as Chika Kudō, Junya Enoki as Takezō Kurata, Atsumi Tanezaki as Satowa Hōzuki, Yoshimasa Hosoya as Tetsuki Takaoka, Shouta Aoi as Mio Kanzaki, Haruki Ishiya as Saneyasu Adachi, Makoto Furukawa as Michitaka Sakai, Yūichi Iguchi as Kōta Mizuhara, Sara Matsumoto as Hiro Kurusu, and Daisuke Namikawa as Suzuka Takinami.

The manga comes from creator Amyu that began in 2012 and has eighteen volumes out as this summer as serialized in the Jump SQ magazine.

Check out the official site and Twitter.

Plot Concept: Takezō is the last remaining member of the koto club, a club dedicated to the traditional Japanese string instrument. If he doesn’t find new members, the koto club will be terminated. One day, Takezō is alone in the club room when a student barges in and demands to join. The student is delinquent Chika Kudō, a girl who even scares delinquent upperclassmen at other schools!

© 2016 Kafka Asagiri, Sango Harukawa / Kadokawa / Bungo Stray Dogs Partners

The third season of Bungo Stray Dogs is underway and some new promotion has landed for it. Kadokawa has now brought out a look at the fourth episode the season, the twenty-ninth of the series overall, that’s due out on May 3rd, 2019. Crunchyroll has picked up the rights to the series with it set to land on the same day at 10:30 am ET for their members. Availability for it is solid as it’s open to viewers worldwide outside of Asia.

The series comes from the manga that began in 2012 in the Young Ace magazine from writer Kafka Asagiri and artist Harukawa35.

The TV series adaptation was produced by Bones with Takuya Igarashi directing based on the screenplay by Yoji Enokido. Nobuhiro Arai served as both character designer and chief animation director.

The Japanese cast includes Yūto Uemura as Atsushi Nakajima, Mamoru Miyano as Osamu Dazai, Kensho Ono as Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Kishō Taniyama as Chūya Nakahara, Sumire Morohoshi as Kyōka Izumi, Yoshimasa Hosoya as Doppo Kunikida, Hiroshi Kamiya as Ranpo Edogawa, Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Junichirō Tanizaki, Hiroyuki Kagura as Kenji Miyazawa, Yu Shimamura as Akiko Yosano, Chiaki Omigawa as Naomi Tanizaki, Rikiya Koyama as Yukichi Fukuzawa, Mitsuru Miyamoto as Ougai Mori, Sora Amamiya as Elise, Junichi Suwabe as Sakunosuke Oda, Jun Fukuyama as Ango Sakaguchi, and Akira Ishida as Fyodor D.

Plot Concept: The White Tiger and the Black Beast – Nakagawa Atsushi and Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s fight against Francis F. brings an end to the great war against the Guild. Life goes on as normal in Yokoyama, thanks to the continued truce between the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia, who, together, saved the city from ruin. But there are still rumors of Guild stragglers and other crime organizations making their way in from abroad. Meanwhile, Dazai Osamu had premonitions of another impending disaster. Lurking in the darkness is the Fyodor D., leader of pirate organization Rats in the House of the Dead, his dreadful plans on the verge of execution.

The spring 2019 anime series Asoko Araiya no Shigoto, whose full title translates out as A Job Washing There: In the Women’s Bath With Her in Unrequited Love, has now gotten its home video release plans. The show has three editions that will be arriving on July 24th, 2019 with:

• BD R-18 version: 7,800 yen
• DVD R-18 version: 6,800 yen
• DVD OA version: 5,800 yen

Check out the cover artwork below!

The show has Mitsutaka Noshitani directing based on the series composition by Kazuhiro Toda. Nanashi serves as both the character design and chief animation director with Magic Bus producing the animation.

The Japanese cast includes Ai Kitano as Aoi Yuzuki, Kaina Honma as Sōta Tsukishima, Ayaka Igasaki as Mei Sasakura, and Tetsuto Furukawa as Hidemoto Takasugi.

Check out the official site and Twitter.

Plot Concept: Son Sōta Tsukishima begins working at his family’s public bathhouse as a back washer. While concealing her true identity, Sōta’s classmate Aoi Yuzuki visits the bathhouse. A relationship between the two begins to develop when Sōta washes Aoi’s back.

Araiya-san Broadcast DVD Cover

Araiya-san R-18 DVD Cover

Araiya-san R-18 Blu-ray Cover

[Source: Araiya]

The spring 2019 anime series on the Noitamina block on Fuji TV, Sarazanmai, is getting some promotion by Crunchyroll for the show. They’ve now added the opening and closing sequences streaming that’s a great way to start any day. Check out the opening song ‘Massara” by KANA-BOOM and the closing song “Stand By Me” by the peggies below! Availability for it is limited to the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Denmark, Central America, and South America.

The series is directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara it was written by him and Teruko Utsumi for the overall composition. Nobuyuki Takeuchi is serving as the chief director and Kyoko Ishikawa is adapting Migi’s designs for the work. It’s being produced by MAPPA and Lapin Track.

The Japanese cast includes Ayumu Murase as Kazuki Yasaka, Kouki Uchiyama as Yū Kuji, Shun Horie as Enta Jinnouchi, Junichi Suwabe as Keppi, Mamoru Miyano as Reo Shinsei, Yoshimasa Hosoya as Mabu Akutsu, Teiko as Sara Azuma, and Kenjiro Tsuda as Chikai Kuji.

Check out the official site and Twitter.

Plot Concept: The setting is Asakusa. One day, second-years in middle school Kazuki Yasaka, Toi Kuji, and Enta Jinnai meet Keppi, a mysterious kappa-like creature, who steals their shirikodama and transforms them into kappas. “To return to your original forms,” Keppi tells them, “you must fight the zombies and take the shirikodama from them.” Can the boys connect with each other and steal the zombies’ shirikodama?! At the same time, something is happening at the police box where Reo Niiboshi and Mabu Akutsu work. This is the story of three boys who can’t connect with someone important to them, learning about what it truly means to do so.

With the first month of the spring season done for a lot of shows, everything has settled in and fans have staked out what they’re watching. Most everything has found their homes and are rolling out new episodes. Series with new episodes today include the following!

Crunchyroll:

• 10:30am – BUNGO STRAY DOGS 3
• 12:53pm – FRUITS BASKET
• 1:05pm – JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: GOLDEN WIND
• 2:10pm – SENRYU GIRL
• 2:25pm – AO-CHAN CAN’T STUDY!
• 3:15pm – HITORIBOCCHI NO MARUMARUSEIKATSU

Funimation:

• 1:53 PM – Fruits Basket Episode 4 English Simulcast Free TV-14

HIDIVE:

• 2:00 pm – Hataraki Man Episode 9
• 2:10 pm – Senryu Girl Episode 5
• 2:25 pm – Ao-chan Can’t Study Episode 5

© Yusagi Aneko / KADOKAWA

What They Say:
Fitoria tells Naofumi that she’ll kill all Four Cardinal Heroes if they don’t get back on the same page. She even takes Melty hostage, but Naofumi continues to refuse. Understanding where he’s coming from, Fitoria instead proposes a one-on-one duel with Filo. less

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I’ll be honest, if I knew going into the show that it would focus and place as much importance on the creature that Filo and Fitoria are a part of, I probably wouldn’t have stuck with it. Something about them just grates on me as it takes away from an otherwise solidly serious and engaging fantasy series. Fitoria did offer up some interesting material the last time around such as pointing out that the waves are impacting other countries and that the four Heroes were supposed to appear separately in different countries. That has her insistent that these four get back to being on the same page before she ends them all so that a new group can be brought in. But the reality is that other machinations are at play that caused events to unfold like this and that really needs to be dealt with first.

The first half of the episode gives us some decent time as Fitoria attempts to get the core group here to improve and focus on what they’re capable of, especially with Filo since Fitoria knows that probably more than anything else. That it’s done in human form is certainly interesting and I do like that Naofumi attempts to at least instruct Filo so that she’s not completely outdone here by the vastly more experienced Fitoria. It does work well enough to get Filo really stepping up into what she’s capable of, but the reality is that Fitoria is just that much more experienced and has a wider range of abilities. But it’s the way Naofumi encourages her that ends up shifting things as that being believed in gives her the edge she needs, realistic or not. It’s a great looking sequence visually and it hits all the right emotional notes so there’s enough payoff, even if you’re like me and dislike both Fitoria and Filo.

The result of all of this is that Filo is now more capable than before and is crowned as a successor for Fitoria, which kind of unnerves me. The others are also kind of bothered a bit in that they were basically being used by Fitoria in order to test Filo. Making Filo a queen is just… ugh. That leads to some party time with the other creatures that are there who are now celebrating her new status. It’s light and fluffy and just doesn’t work for me. A lot of what we get after that is Fitoria talking with Naofumi about the larger problems and what needs doing, and with Naofumi talking about how he really does need to figure out the Rage Shield. A little gift is nice that helps what Naofumi is dealing with when it comes to the corrosion, but it’s just a slowing down the problem thing. It’s not bad semi-epilogue stuff that wraps up what’s been going on the last couple of episodes and it at least explains why Fitoria is a bit more inclined toward Naofumi.

In Summary:
There are important things that happen here but they deal with characters that frustrate me. I get the importance, I understand it, but I don’t like it. That said, it’s a beautifully put together episode with some great animation and choreography with how it unfolds with beautiful color design work. I like the quieter moments we get at the end that helps to set the stakes a bit and even some of the montage material for the part was silly enough that I got in a couple of smiles. Beyond that, this is one of those turning point episodes so hopefully, it’ll be upward and beyond going forward from here.

Grade: B-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

The fifth season of iZombie is underway and it’ll run into the summer nicely for The CW. This season got the nod last year and was also slated to be the final season for the series, so there’s a lot of hope in a good wrap-up as they had the knowledge ahead of time. With that in mind, the first promo has landed for the second episode of the season due out on May 9th, 2019 with “Dead Lift,” which was directed by Michael Fields and written by Philip Hoover and Jacob Farmer.

The series stars Rose McIver as Olivia “Liv” Moore, Malcolm Goodwin as Clive Babineaux, Rahul Kohli as Dr. Chakrabarti, Robert Buckley as Major Lilywhite and David Anders as Blaine DeBeers, with “Veronica Mars” executive producers Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright

The original book ran for twenty-eight issues beginning in 2010 as written by Chris Roberson and initial artist Michael Allred. Four collections were released previously. The live action adaptation isn’t working directly off of the books and stories within but rather taking most of the elements and going forward in its own direction, notably in changing the lead character from a gravedigger to a med student working as a coroner.

Plot concept: Olivia “Liv” Moore was a rosy-cheeked, disciplined, over-achieving medical resident who had her life path completely mapped out…until the night she attended a party that unexpectedly turned into a zombie feeding frenzy. As one of the newly undead, Liv is doing her best to blend in and look as human as possible.

© 2020 Fumikane Shimada · KADOKAWA / 501 Integrated Battle Group

What They Say:
It’s time for Halloween, and the witches are ready to play tricks and get treats. But some doors are better left undisturbed…

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The 501st series has been underwhelming me but mostly because it’s simply too much at a time. The show overstays its welcome and gives the wrong idea of what it is by clocking in at fourteen minutes as people expect more than what’s basically two extended shorts smooshed together. With off-model designs done intentionally and a minimal amount of animation, it’s not how a lot of fans want to see their favorite characters presented. The drawn out nature ofthe episodes doesn’t help either as it’s mostly dealt with fairly mundane things. Thankfully, this episode shifts gears a little bit by the simple fact that it’s time for Halloween and that gives the viewer hope…

The show actually opens on the idea that the gang are getting a little too hefty, always a great message to send with paper thin characters, and that instead of eating less they need to just exercise more. With Miyafuji involved in some of those and nods towards a Fuso metabolism, most everyone struggles with the increased regimen that they’re put under but they all want to get better. And Miyafuji gets into it eventually as well, especially once the Strike units are brought into it and as she’s whispered that doing this kind of work will help her boobs get bigger. The show hits all its quadrants here pretty easily…

In Summary:
The back half plays the halloween aspect of it but it’s just kind of a mishmash of things that doesn’t really get to the whole Halloween part until near the end of it because it’s just coralling the gang and dealing with made up rules about Halloween. It is weird how with most of these shows that are running at this length that it really does feel like they wear out their welcome at the halfway mark here, especially with split stories. The back half of this episode just struggles to be interesting and there’s little that works outside of a cute moment or two. The show, sadly, remains frustrating.

Grade: C

Streamed By: Funimation

© Different World Karutto / KADOKAWA

The spring 2019 anime project Isekai Quartet that focuses on the Overlord and Saga of Tanya the Evil characters and more has some new promotion out for it today. The fifth episode is slotted for a May 7th, 2019 debut, and the official site has brought out the first promo for it. Funimation is handling the streaming for the series in North America.

The series has Minoru Ashina writing and directing the project with character designs by Minoru Takehara, who also serves as the chief animation director. Studio Puyukai is handling animation production.

Check out the official site and Twitter.

Plot Concept: The project will be a crossover anime featuring characters from the Overlord, KonoSuba – God’s blessing on this wonderful world!!, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, and Saga of Tanya the Evil franchises. A mysterious button suddenly appears one day, and characters who press it are taken to a new world to gather.

© BNGI／PROJECT CINDERELLA

What They Say:
Our IDOL friends are back again today! Get a rare look at how IDOLS spend their days off, as well as their comical interactions with each other in this hyper-fun-filled short anime.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This episode opens on Karen as she’s getting ready for sandal season and does her best to entice a few others to get ready by helping to do their nails. It’s a fun bit of showering and then playing with toes that goes in unexpected directions but makes you grin a whole lot. Another bit brings a group of the girls together as they check out all their makeup that they have and while it seems like they’re going to get into that it becomes a comical ticklefest first, which is again delightful to watch. We even get a silly poem about the while thing.

In Summary:
The show ends with some outdoor time with Mika as she’s trying to get the Producer to apply sunscreen but just as she thinks she’s going to get it, Nao steps in and with the producer we get even more tickling. Tickling can, of course, be a huge invasion of personal space but there’s also just so much delight in tickling toes that I totally enjoyed this episode for that. Everyone gets ambushed in different ways with it and it plays out just silly enough to work as the victims react to what’s going on too slowly and get seriously taken advantage of.

Grade: C

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

The DC Universe streaming service is working through their second original series and we’re now getting a look at some new promotion for Doom Patrol. The series is closing in on its finale and that means things are starting to get more meaningful with its villain, Mr. Nobody as played by Alan Tudyk. With that in mind, the DC site has put together a little featurette on the character that has Tudyk talking about all of it while showing off some of his interaction with the team of not-quite-heroes.

The series airs on DC Universe streaming service exclusively.

The cast includes Timothy Dalton as Niles Caulder, Jake Michaels as Robotman, Dwain Murphy as Negative Man, Diane Guerrero as Crazy Lane, Brendan Fraser as Robotman, and April Bowlby is playing Elasti-Girl. Alan Tudyk is playing the first season villain of Mr. Nobody.

Plot Concept: The Doom Patrol’s members each suffered horrible accidents that gave them superhuman abilities — but also left them scarred and disfigured. Traumatized and downtrodden, the team found purpose through The Chief, who brought them together to investigate the weirdest phenomena in existence — and to protect Earth from what they find. Part support group, part Super Hero team, the Doom Patrol is a band of super-powered freaks who fight for a world that wants nothing to do with them. Picking up after the events of Titans, Doom Patrol will find these reluctant heroes in a place they never expected to be, called to action by none other than Cyborg, who comes to them with a mission hard to refuse, but with a warning that is hard to ignore: their lives will never, ever be the same.

There’s nothing like Robin saving the day and telling the ninja to stop attacking his pal.

What They Say:
Wayne Enterprises is robbed by a figure known as the Ninja; Batman and Robin discover that the Ninja is an old enemy of Bruce Wayne.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I don’t know at what point the comics really started filling in on Bruce’s background but it’s been an area that was always interesting to me. I loved how it was presented in Batman Begins and always felt that it would make for a solid ongoing live-action TV series even without getting to him putting on the cape and cowl. That grounded aspect and push for physical perfection along with the detective and investigative side holds a lot of allure in storytelling. So, when the animated series explored a bit of the background, I was glad to see it play to some of the familiar pieces all while hoping it holds up well enough without too many terribly things considering ninjas, Japan, and all that jazz. But hey, Robin shows up again!

Events get underway as a Wayne subsdiary has a mysterious intruder mucking around inside with all the traditional ninja aspects, including the bright red belt, and there are enough signs to it when Bruce finds out to have a clue. It’s welcome to see Robin back in the picture and early on as we get him practicing with Bruce. The dynamic between the two was a little awkward at this stage as Dick is definitely frustrated and pushing back against him with an air of rebellious teenager that we didn’t always get on the comic side since he was the “dutiful son” for much of the time until he really expanded into other books. Bruce dealt with some of this in his past as well when he was overseas training before he became Batman as one of the students that trained with him, Kyodai Ken, ended up with a pretty serious grudge against him as time went on as it seemed like their teacher was favoring Bruce.

It is amusing that Kyodai didn’t do his homework properly considering what he’s attempting to do to Bruce as when he meets Batman he doesn’t know that it’s Bruce, giving him an out. It just makes it clear he didn’t do his research like a good ninja should, reinforcing how he was his own biggest obstacle. It’s fun to see how Robin ends up saving the day in their opening fight but Bruce gets the last clue he needed to really know who he’s dealing with. Mixing in flashbacks as the fight comes full circle in the present is standard fare but I like seeing the angry young Bruce who was just a few years old than Dick is at that point in time as there are a lot of similarities between the two. It’s also just enjoyable seeing this part of his past and what it taught him. Contrasting that with his fight with Kyodai in the present where he’s more in control of himself and his physical presence being as refined as it is works very well, even if Kyodai does keep surprising him along the way.

In Summary:
Episodes with Robin were few and far between for a while in the series and bringing him into a flashback episode was a good move as it showcases the similarities between him and Bruce at that age. The flashbacks to Bruce in training are a lot of fun since he was more reckless and emotional at that point in time – and still is at times here when he deals with Kyodai. Kyodai’s not a bad villain as he has aspects that make an impact on Bruce but he’s also pretty basic in his thinking with what he’s doing here. It’s not bad but you can see why other stories of his training days went bigger and more personal over time. For me, I was just happy to have the flashbacks handle things in a fairly neutral way and to get some bright and colorful Robin time as well.

Grade: B

The Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- property has a lot of fans excited for the second season that’s coming up but ahead of that there’s now opportunity to revisit the first in a new way. Crunchyroll has added the first season of the series in its English dubbed form on the service to be checked out but they’ve also added three other dubs that are fully fresh with Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian dubs.

Originally airing in 2016, it was directed by Masaharu Watanabe based on the series composition by Masahiro Yokotani. Kyuta Sakai handled the character designs and as the chief animation director with production handled by White Fox.

The Japanese cast includes Rie Takahashi as Emilia, Yūsuke Kobayashi as Subaru Natsuki, Chinatsu Akasaki as Felt, Inori Minase as Rem, Kana Ueda as Anastasia Hoshin, Keiji Fujiwara as Al, Kenta Miyake as Kadomon Risch,  Kenyuu Horiuchi as Wilhelm van Astrea, Kōhei Amasaki as Otto Suwen, Mamiko Noto as Elsa Granhilte, Mugihito as Rom, Rie Murakawa as Ram, Satomi Arai as Beatrice, Takehito Koyasu as Roswaal L. Mathers, Takuya Eguchi as Julius Euclius, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti, Yui Horie as Felix Argyle, Yūichi Nakamura as Reinhard Van Astrea, Yuka Iguchi as Crusch Karsten, Yukari Tamura as Priscilla Barielle, and Yumi Uchiyama as Puck.

The English cast from the first season includes Sean Chiplock as Subaru, Kayli Mills as Emilia, Erica Mendez as Puck, Ryan Bartley as Ram, Brianna Knickerbocker as Rem, Kira Buckland as Beatrice, Ray Chase as Roswaal, Christine Marie Cabanos as Felt, Robbie Daymond as Reinhard, Faye Mata as Priscilla, Cassandra Morris as Anastasia, Sarah Williams as Felix, Marc Diraison as Wilhelm, Chris Tergliafera as Marcos, Beau Billingslea as Rom, Patrick Seitz as Kadomon, Cristina Vee as Elsa, Lucien Dodge as Chin, Arnie Pantoja as Kan, Erika Harlacher as Crusch, Keith Silverstein as Al, Xanthe Huynh as Kadomon’s Daughter, Chris Cason as Convenience Store Staff, Ian Alden as Demon Clan Chief, Mindy Baker, Matthew Greenbaum, Hanna Rose Kliewer, James McAuliffe, Breaugh Olson, and Ryan Raydarke.

The show is based on the novels by Tappei Nagatsuki that began in 2012 with Yen Press releasing them and the manga in North America.

Plot Concept: Natsuki Subaru, an ordinary high school student, is on his way home from the convenience store when he finds himself transported to another world. As he’s lost and confused in a new world where he doesn’t even know left from right, the only person to reach out to him was a beautiful girl with silver hair. Determined to repay her somehow for saving him from his own despair, Subaru agrees to help the girl find something she’s looking for…

“No Good Pictures”

What They Say:
After growing up in Tokyo, high school student Jin Kaito moves to Nagoya where he meets Yatogame Monaka, a fellow student who puts her Nagoya dialect on full display. With her cat-like appearance and unvarnished Nagoya dialect, Yatogame won’t open up to him at all. This popular local comedy is increasing the status of Nagoya through observation of the adorable Yatogame-chan!

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Though the cast hasn’t exactly captured my attention, this series has been working the short-form aspect pretty well, especially since it’s just a pro-Nagoya piece. Here, Jin and Yatogame are meeting u while she’s insisting it’s not a date even though they end up at all the usual date locations. They’re just taking pictures and only the two of them showed up for it, so we get a decent little travelogue if some nice sights within the series as well as some of its artistic aspects – which leads to a cute pervy moment. Of course, neither of them really take great pictures for actual use but it’s fun seeing how the competitive side plays out.

In Summary:
Putting just Jin and Yatogame together for a bit is welcome after the show introduced a few new characters with each episode but we also get to spend a little time with them as well. The first half deals with the two just doing the photo side while the back half brings in the other girls from the club as they get involved in things a little bit. I appreciated having time with just the two leads since that kind of material gets thin once you build up the cast some and having them on a quasi-date sightseeing photography thing was definitely fun. And it showed off Nagoya nicely.

Grade: C+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

We learned earlier this year that we’re getting an animated feature film with Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. DC and Nickelodeon are working together with this project that comes from the comic series that James Tynion IV and Freddie William II put together recently. The release is coming up with a June 4th, 2019 debut on home video while the digital version will release on May 14th, 2019 and that has Warner Bros. stepping up with the first clip from it that focuses on the opening two minutes of the project.

Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be available on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack ($39.99 SRP) and Blu-ray Combo Pack ($24.98 SRP), as well as on Digital ($19.99 HD, $14.99 SD).

Extras include Cowabunga, Batman! When Comic Worlds Collide featurette, a Fight Night in Gotham featurette, and A Sneak Peek at the next DC Universe Movie, Batman: Hush.  

The cast for it includes Troy Baker as both Batman and The Joker, Darren Criss as Raphael, Kyle Mooney as Michelangelo, Baron Vaughn as Donatello, Eric Bauza as Leonardo in the leads. Additional cast includes Rachel Bloom as Batgirl, Tom Kenny as The Penguin, John DiMaggio as Mr. Freeze, Tara Strong as both Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, Carlos Alazraqui as Bane, and Cas Anvar as Ra’s al Ghul.

Plot Concept: When a new menace in Gotham begins stealing all the experimental technology, Batman is put on high alert. But, a team of warriors lurking beneath the streets are also on the case; the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Led by Leonardo and along with his brothers, the brainy Donatello, fearless Raphael and wisecracking Michelangelo; these mysterious martial artists are on a collision course with the Dark Knight.

© ÖYSTER / Futabasha · Over Drive Girl 1/6 Production Committee

What They Say:
Bouida Haruto is a hardcore otaku who has no interest in 3D (real) girls. One day, he bought a figure of his favorite anime heroine, Nona, but then suddenly, Nona started to move! The frenzied married life between one otaku and one robot (?) is about to start!

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After giving us some decent time with Nona settling in with Bouida and then bringing his sister into it, we’ve gotten her asking a few questions about how she exists and the bigger picture. But it’s been something that can kind of be nudged to the side so you can believe whichever version you want and just enjoy the light comedy that it’s trying to be. With this episode, we get the addition of a new character because there has to be more friction within the group. And, if you’ve watched the openings since the beginning of the series, you know there are more girls to come as well. Most shows just have to work the larger group to have all personalities present to click with all quadrants of fandom.

With this episode, we get the introduction of Bellnoa the Brave from a game that Mikoto got for Bouida that Nona finds quite interesting as it’s a JRPG. Bellnoa’s appearance is sudden after Bouida leaves and with Ozma taken out fast she just goes to defeat Nona in order to get back to her own world. Of course, that has Nona filling her in on the fact that she’s just a doll but they play with the whole legends being told in other forms to compensate as it becomes clearer that she can’t go home and she can’t just spend her life fighting others. There’s fun in seeing how they try to get Bellnoa to adapt once Bouida comes back and adjusts to things and the whole costume montage thing ends up being as pervy as you’d expect with all the fanservice. Bouida does himself no favors here at all as he actually ends up making her cry.

In Summary:
With the cast growing here, that sense of dread grows a bit more since the usual path is a bit tiring in how each episode introduces a new character. We’ve seen that for decades at this point so I know to expect it but it still just wears you down because of how it impacts the stories that can be told and the exploration of a smaller cast. There are fun moments as Bellnoa works well with her personality but the show just leans hard into some traditional fanservice in the second half that while I won’t say it was off-putting because it’s had this already but it was just glaringly blunt.

Grade: C

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

ABC previously revealed that the Agents of SHIELD series got a sixth season pickup that’s set to debut in the summer 2019 season and would just be a thirteen episode run and we later got the nod that a seventh season was green-lit as well and that they’d be shot back to back with it set for a presumed summer 2020 debut. The sixth season is coming a bit sooner than expected as it’s now set for a May 10th, 2019 debut and while we had a teaser before that was more clip than anything else, we now have the first full trailer for it that shows a bit more of what’s to come. Where this fits into everything in relation to the Avengers: Endgame film is still a bit murky, but it’s best to just enjoy the season as its own thing – which looks like it’s going big here.

The series stars Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May, Chloe Bennet as Agent Daisy Johnson, Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz, Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons and Henry Simmons as Agent Alphonso “Mack” MacKenzie.

Season Concept: How will the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. move on without Coulson?

© Ken Wakai / Futabasha

What They Say:
A silent high school girl anime that’s still cute, even if no one talks! This is a story about three girls and their fun high school life, centering around the unfortunate beauty, Momoko, the cool girl with glasses, Shibumi, and the gentle little Mayumi. Fun alone, fun with all. The daily lives of slightly dumb yet cute high school girls.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I continue to like the challenge of a series with little to no dialogue as sometimes the little noises they make can express a whole lot. The girls are off at a family restaurant for a meal and it’s delightful seeing two of them react to their delicious food while Momoko is unable to order anything thanks to not having any money. You get to see how Shibumi torments her while Mayumi is a good friend and shares a bit. The little gags are fun as it progresses and you do get a good sense of girls being silly to it all that works because it is so low stakes and there’s fun just in being weird sometimes.

In Summary:
Joshi Kausei is a show that I haven’t exactly struggled with – it’s too short for that – but it didn’t quite click in those first few episodes with some of the angles taken. This one worked a lot better and has me hopeful that it’s found its groove a bit more and knows how to operate, playing to their personalities without some of the stranger weirdness that we saw like we did in the first episode. This is cute, fun, and delightful.

Grade: B-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

© 2019 HUMAN LOST Project

The anime film adaptation of Osamu Dazai’s novel No Longer Human has gotten its first clip released under the title Human Lost. The film, which looks like Funimation will be involved with when it comes to the worldwide distribution set for later this year, has an English subtitled character clip out now that clocks in at 49-seconds and shows off the production quality. The film is directed by Fuminori Kizaki based on the screenplay written by Tow Ubukata and character designs by Yusuke Kozaki. Polygon Pictures is handling the animation production.

Plot Concept: The year is 2036. A revolution in medical treatment has conquered death by means of internal nanomachines and the “Shell System”, yet only the richest can afford to partake.

Yozo Oba isn’t the richest. Troubled by strange dreams, he flippantly joins his friend’s biker gang on an ill-fated incursion to “The Inside”, where society’s elite lives. This instigates a journey of terrifying discovery that will change Yozo’s life forever.