“Start to Counterattack! Great Moves by the Twirly Hat Crew!”

What They Say:
Luffy and the others are unexpectedly welcomed at the fortress and treated well by the Minks, although they have to navigate some cultural differences… And Nami starts sharing what happened to them after they left Dressrosa.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The fun of a new One Piece arc for me continues to be more aligned toward the setting and visuals that we get, especially if it’s of a new and unusual land, more so than the characters. There are usually too many variables involved with a new arc that gets me to avoid investing in the new arrivals because there’s so much to be revealed about them and their history that I’m just naturally wary. It’s not so much that the show has burned us with that before but there’s just something about the drawn out process that has me operating that way. I’ve liked what we’ve gotten for Zou so far and am amused that we’re getting a lot of new female characters this time around that boosts up the physical appeal, similar to the underwater story from some time back involving mermaids. With the last arc giving us a lot of faerie characters there wasn’t a lot to latch onto in this regard beyond Rebecca, so it’s certainly standing out.

While the show opens with characters I have absolutely no interest in as they head back to the ship, having fallen off during the climb, what we do get after that is fun as there’s the usual food, drinking, and party atmosphere as the Straw Hats get a handle on things. Or, mostly, Luffy gets to eat a whole lot like minkship is explored between everyone. There’s always enjoyment with these kinds of things since it’s light and fun but also small things you have to grin over, such as the introduction of dog minks that are totally about gnawing on every part of Brook. That he’s getting devoured is amusing enough but having the rest of the gang watch stone faced and then just walk away tired at the idea? That’s just simple amusement in a very good way.

The important part here is that we get everyone asking Nami what happened since they separated two weeks ago and how things went down for her group. This takes us back to the arrival of the Big Mom Pirates and the introduction of Capone “Gang” Bege. It’s a fun startup sequence as we get Sanji being cool as hell while everyone else panics. This is made up of a lot of action and fun, which has a splashy and flashy tone about it to be sure, and it’s a fun kind of tale that Nami gets to tell that plays them up well enough. Of course, that’s just the first day since they separated and there’s a lot more to talk about with what’s going on with Zou as Robin points out the significant damage here. Nami’s arrival helped ease some of the problems from then since they were able to provide some help, but again, it’s all just a drawn out tease as to what’s going on.

In Summary:
Sadly, One Piece takes next week off so we won’t get to continue this journey for another two weeks. This episode spends its time doing some fun stuff overall as we get the usual bonding that occurs over food, especially since it keeps Luffy quiet for a bit. What’s interesting is to see just how much of an impact and presence Nami and her group are here with Wanda and the minks, reinforcing that they made a big contribution upon their arrival some ten days prior. I do like that we finally get a look at what happened with Nami’s group from back on Dressrosa, focusing on the Big Mom Pirates for the first day of events, but it’s what happens after that sequence that I really want to dig into.

Grade: B

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Can a hotel be home?

What They Say:
Pablo & Jessica – Alicia and Madison work to unite two competing factions. Meanwhile, Nick draws upon the skills from his past to take on a new role at the colonia.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Fear the Walking Dead is a show where I feel like I could just say “against my better judgment” more often than not when talking about things. I know what the show is, I accept it for what it is, and I enjoy it for that as well. Last week saw plenty of terrible moments and some awkward editing at times but I really enjoyed the way the hotel story has been playing out, seeing how the Walkers have been corralled and why, giving Alicia a chance to step up a bit more, and providing another flashback sequence to the outbreak in this region with Elena. The show can really separate itself from the main series by doing this more often and that combined with the visual differences and the landscape/locales can definitely help to give this its own voice. And yeah, there was some awkward at best material with Chris and Travis the last time around but the less said there there better.

The cold open here gives us something that I almost think it shouldn’t have as it gives us a look at how Madison and Strand survived with a bit of luck. You knew there had to be a twist to it since they were surrounded but survived and nothing about it is a surprise when you get down to it. The things one has to do to survive in this world is grim but it’s another moment where we see how Madison is learning from Nick about what they have to do. Those moments of being covered in blood of walkers and moving among those creatures are just tense. We’ve seen variations on what draws their attention and this does complicate it a little more since Strand and Madison are a bit more active in what they do but it’s still pretty well done and they’re at least showing a few more smarts in surviving, including holding onto a weapon and finding some height.

With that bringing things full circle to last week with the arrival of Alicia along with Elena and her nephew, there’s still a lot of tension in the moment. Madison wants to find Ofelia as she’s convinced that she didn’t leave and the hotel has a lot of supplies. The problem is that Elena is definitely still very much hated by the other survivors but Madison is reluctant to leave a place that has a lot of safety overall and a good deal of supplies in it with canned food that will last them for months. We’ve seen how stationary places are not safe within this show and the main show numerous times so you know that the hotel won’t last long in the end. But, like the ship, I like the setting and that it’s something different, especially compared to the run down shacks that dominated The Walking Dead for so long.

I also like that we get Madison doing what she can to convince the other survivors in the hotel that they need to work together to survive, especially since others that come along won’t be as cooperative as they are. It’s complicated by the mother of the bride wanting nothing to do with them since she’s driven by grief, ,but we get a good meeting when Madison and Strand interact with them and she does all the talking, making some headway into making some converts. There’ a lot that can be done to secure and fortify the hotel and begin to sprawl out from there for various supplies, but it needs more than the few people that make up Madison’s group.

When they talk about how they have so many floors to clear and three buildings, well, it does come across as a pretty intense job to be sure. There are some good bits to what they’re doing inside and out with it but it’s Alicia that comes up with a pretty big plan to deal with the walkers en masse with a pier, riptides, and drawing everything out into it. It’s the kind of plan that really needs a lot more people with a lot more experience, but it’s the kind of gutsy early stage plan that can really move things along and change the confidence level in a very good way. Some of the plan is just kind of awkward as hell, such as how they draw them out of the rooms and all with how tight and tense it is, but the fact that they’re essentially creating a herd is pretty damn frightening all on its own. Visually, it makes for one dramatic sequence overall with what it does combined with mostly everyone working together to get it done all while Madison takes the dangerous point on it as she’s literally running out of pier to walk on.

The running subplot for this episode focuses on Nick coming up with a way to deal with the deal that hey made for the drugs that involves him utilizing his skills as a junkie to extend what they have. It’s not a bad thing and even the doc comes to respect him a bit, filling him in on his own past a bit. There’s some background for Luciana brought into it as well but it’s hard to find too much of it very compelling overall because one can’t help but to view a lot of the residents of the colonia as just fodder in the making.

In Summary:
While I’ve liked a good bit of what Nick has presented here so far in the second half of the season, the subplot with Luciana and his drug making time here is pretty bland overall. But at least we see that he’s doing his best to try and adapt to the area as he’s a smart kid but one that had a whole lot of issues that he lost himself in with the drugs. The main storyline is one that works really well for me as we see Madison stepping up as a leader, connecting better with her daughter, and working a big plan to try and eliminate a lot of threats while working to create a place the can survive in. There are challenges she won’t get past as others are making some hard choice about what they want to do and be in this world and they can be pretty interesting to watch unfold. As problematic as the first season was and some of this season at the start, I’m definitely digging a lot of what it’s doing since the return from the break.

Grade: B

The Image Comics series Trees from writer Warren Ellis and artist Jason Howard has been  ripe for development and that’s now starting to move forward as NBC Universal International Studios has optioned the rights to it. The studio has picked it up for Tom Hardy’s production company, Hardy Son & Baker, where they have a first-look deal with. This production company is currently working on adapting 100 Bullets for Warner Bros. as well.

No details about who will be involved in the adaptation have been revealed at the moment nor what kind of theatrical plans they may have for it.

We’ve been reviewing the comic series since it began, which you can read here.

Plot concept: Ten years after they landed. All over the world. And they did nothing, standing on the surface of the Earth like trees, exerting their silent pressure on the world, as if there were no-one here and nothing under foot. Ten years since we learned that there is intelligent life in the universe, but that they did not recognize us as intelligent or alive. TREES looks at a near-future world where life goes on in the shadows of the Trees: in China, where a young painter arrives in the “special cultural zone” of a city under a Tree; in Italy, where a young woman under the menacing protection of a fascist gang meets an old man who wants to teach her terrible skills; and in Svalbard, where a research team is discovering, by accident, that the Trees may not be dormant after all, and the awful threat they truly represent

With the debut of the third Digimon Adventure Tri film out in Japan this weekend – and just about two weeks since the first had its English dub premiere in the US, the fourth film has now been scheduled in Japan. With a title of “Soshitsu,” aka “Loss,” the film is now set for a February 25th, 2017 debut in Japan.

The films are directed by Keitaro Motonaga based on the series composition by Yuuko Kakihara and character designs by Atsuya Uki. The Japanese case includes Chika Sakamoto as Agumon, Hitomi Yoshida as Mimi Tachikawa, Junko Takeuchi as Gomamon, Junya Enoki as Takeru Takaishi, Junya Ikeda as Jō Kido, Katori Shigematsu as Piyomon, Kinoko Yamada as Palmon, M.A.O as Hikari Yagami, Mayumi Yamaguchi as Gabumon, Miwa Matsumoto as Patamon, Mutsumi Tamura as Kōshirō Izumi, Natsuki Hanae as Taichi Yagami, Suzuko Mimori as Sora Takenouchi, Takahiro Sakurai as Tentomon, Yoshimasa Hosoya as Yamato Ishida and Yuka Tokumitsu as Tailmon.

The first film was released by Toei Animation and Eleven Arts through Fathom Events as one-night screenings with the first one set for a September 15th, 2016 debut in 300 screens. STUDIOPOLIS is handling the dub production. The English cast so far includes Anna Garduno as Palmon, Cherami Leigh as Biyomon, Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Sora Takenouchi, Jeff Nimoy as Tentomon, Johnny Yong Bosch as Takeru “TK” Takaishi, Joshua Seth as Taichi “Tai” Kamiya, Kate Higgins as Gatomon, Kirk Thornton as Gabumon, Laura Summer as Patamon, Mona Marshall as Koushiro “Izzy” Izumi, Philece Sampler as Mimi Tachikawa, R. Martin Klein as Gomamon, Robbie Daymond as Joe Kido, Tara Sands as Hikari “Kari” Kamiya, Tom Fahn as Agumon, Vic Mignogna as Yamato “Matt” Ishida, Cherami Leigh as Maki Himekawa, Cristina Vee as Meiko Mochizuki and Doug Erholtz as Daigo Nishijima.

Plot concept: It’s been six years since that summer adventure when Taichi “Tai” Yagami and t of the DigiDestined crossed over to the Digital World. And nearly three years have passed since the final battle between Hikari Yagami’s group and BelialVamdemon. As the peaceful days passed by, at some point the gate to the Digital World closed. Not even the DigiDestined know what caused this, and time alone continues to pass.

On one such day, a Kuwagamon suddenly appears in Odaiba. Its rampage leaves the town in ruins, and the people there in turmoil. Taichi happens to catch sight of the Kuwagamon, and he chases after it all by himself in an effort to halt its rampage. But there’s nothing he can do against a Kuwagamon.

The track for the Orange property has been a good one with a very popular manga and theatrical film that also includes the now completed TV anime adaptation. The end of the series this weekend has also revealed one more piece of the puzzle coming with a new theatrical film that will have a two-week engagement beginning November 18th, 2016. The film, entitled Orange: Future, will be produced by the same team behind the series and will focus on events from the point of Suwa. It’ll also have some new material with an original story from creator Ichigo Takano that takes place after the manga and anime endings.

The Orange TV series was directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki based on the screenplay from Yuuko Kakihara. Nobuteru Yuuki served as the character designs and it was animated by TMS Entertainment and Telecom Animation Film.

The cast includes Kana Hanazawa as Naho Takamiya, Natsumi Takamori as Azusa Murasaka, Rika Kinugawa as Takako Chino, Seiichirou Yamashita as Kakeru Naruse, Makoto Furukawa as Hiroto Suwa and Kazuyuki Okitsu as Saku Hagita.

The opening theme song is from Yuu Takakashi with “Hikari no Hahen” while the ending is from Kobukuro with “Mirai.”

The manga has been released in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment.

Plot concept: During the spring of her second year of high school, Naho receives a letter. Its sender is herself from ten years in the future. Naho thinks it’s a prank at first, but when the things written in the letter start to come true one by one, she realizes that the letter is telling her of events that will happen in her future. It tells her that she’ll fall in love with Kakeru, a new student who transfers to her school… and that he’ll die in the winter of his 17th year. After learning the regrets and wishes of the 26-year-old Naho following Kakeru’s death, what can the 16-year-old Naho do differently?

Add another working coming out of Germany from Peppermint Anime that’s going and producing a new dub for it with Anthem of the Heart. Scheduled for an October 28th, 2016 debut in the area on separate DVD and Blu-ray releases, they’ve now brought out a minute-long clip of how the German language dub is turning out and it certainly seems like it works pretty well.

The film had a November 7th, 2015 debut theatrically in North America through Aniplex USA. Check out our review of it here. Aniplex USA hasn’t released it domestically outside of an import version, leaving us some hope for a domestic version with an English language dub.

The work comes from the team behind the AnoHana project with Taktsuyuki Nagai directing it based on the story with Mari Okada and character designs by Masayoshi Tanaka. The cast for the feature has been revealed through the promo, which includes Inori Minase as Jun Naruse, Kouki Uchiyama as Takumi Sakagami, Sora Amamiya as Natsuki Nido and Yoshimasa Hosoya as Daiki Tazaki.

Plot concept: “Her words are sealed so that she will never speak again…This encounter of friendship and music will change her…”

Japanese trailer:

We learned with the twelfth episode of Berserk about ten days ago that the second cour for it has been scheduled for a spring 2017 broadcast debut. NBC Universal Japan is now doing a little bit of a prod for it on their channel as well as the fifteen-second spot for it has landed to nudge that coming event.

The series was directed by shin Itagaki based on the series composition from Makoto Fukami and Takashi Yamashita. Hisashi Abe worked on the character designs while LIDENFILMS handled production with studios GEMBA nad Millepensee. The cast has the main characters largely returning from the theatrical films and includes Hiroaki Iwanaga as Guts, Kaoru Mizuhara as Puck, Yoko Hikasa as Farnese, Kazuyuki Okitsu as Serpico, Hiro Shimono as Isidro, Hiroki Yasumoto as Azan, Toa Yukinari as Casca, Takahiro Sakurai as Griffith, Akio Ootsuka as The Skull Knight and Unshou Ishizuka as the Narrator.

A TV series was produced back in 1997, which was released by Media Blasters in North America, and a trilogy of films recounting much of the material from that arrived in the last few years as released by Viz Media.

Property concept: A brave young warrior named Guts fights for his fortune as a mercenary on the front lines. A fated encounter unites Guts with the charismatic and deadly young man named Griffith. Leading the rogue soldiers known as the Band of the Hawk, Griffith wields his formidable force like no other. Driven by a quest for status, the Hawks exert military and social prowess the likes of which have never been seen before. The armies of Midland will quake with fear as Griffith and Guts set off on a path that will bring the world to its knees.

Yen Press has announced a new pickup with a title that impressed them with Shojo Shumatsu Ryoko. In announcing it, they say, “it FLOORED us when we saw it, and we made an offer on the spot!! We know it will floor you, too! Spread the love!!” 

The series comes from Tsukumizu and it translates as The End Girl Trip. The book began serialization back in 2014 in Kurage Bunch and has three volumes compiled so far in Japan.

Plot concept: The everyday life of two girls in a post-apocalyptic world.

HOUSTON, SEPTEMBER 26, 2016– Sentai Filmworks is thrilled to rejoin the gorgeous boys of ST☆RISH in the exciting fourth season of the Uta no ☆ Prince-sama series: Utano☆Princesama Legend Star.

In this new season, the stars and heavens collide once more as our vibrant vocalists delve deeper into the competitive and turbulent idol world. With HE☆VENS on the rise, ST☆RISH and Haruka must up their game to bring their performances to sparkling new heights!

A-1 Pictures (Fairy Tail, Black Butler, Your Lie in April, From the New World) returns to produce the fourth season, with music composition once again handled by Elements Garden. The series is directed by Takeshi Furuta (Storyboard and Unit Director of Utano ☆Princesama Revolutions). Tomoko Konparu (series composition for the first three seasons) and Sayaka Konno helm series composition, with Maki Fujioka (Wolf Girl & Black Prince, La Corda D’oro – primo passo, Uta no ☆ Prince-sama Revolutions) serving as chief animation director.

Utano☆Princesama Legend Star is scheduled for an October 2, 2016 broadcast in Japan. It will soon be available on select digital outlets with a home video release to follow.

For Sentai Filmworks’ latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

The upcoming adaptation of NisiOisiN’s material Zaregoto is getting closer and close with just about a month to go and that means its time to get more promos out there. The second full piece has now landed that shows off a lot more of the animation that’s definitely something familiar and appealing to fans of NosiOisiN fans. With the first OVA scheduled for an October 26th, 2016 debut, Akiyuki Simbo will be serving as the chief director while Yuki Yase is the episode director. Fuyashi Tou is working on the series composition while Yukito Kizawa handles the script. Akio Watanabe is handling the character design adaptations and working as the chief animation director with Hirofumi Suzuki while it’s being animated at SHAFT.

The Japanese cast includes Yuuki Kaji as Boku, Aoi Yūki as Tomo, Yu Shimamura as Akane, Ayako Kawasumi as Kanami, Kenji Hamada as Sakaki, Aya Endo as Maki, Haruna Ikezawa as Yayoi, Mariya Ise as Iria, Houko Kuwashima as Rei, Natsuko Kuwatani as Akari, Ryoko Shintani as Hikari, Yuko Goto as Teruko and Yuko Kaida as Aikawa.

The opening theme song “Cobalt World” is performed by Sangatsu no Phantasia  while the ending theme song “Marchen” is performed by Kalafina.

Zaregoto is a light novel series that ran for nine volumes with its first series from 2002 to 2005 and then a second series that ran from 2004 to 2010. The original series saw a pickup by Del Rey Manga who produced two volumes of it before stopping, as the project really was ahead of its time compared to where the light novel interest is these days.

Kubikiri Cycle OVA Vol.#1 PV2 by pKjd

The release schedule is set as:

• Volume 1: October 26th, 2016
• Volume 2: November 30. 2016
• Volume 3: December 28. 2016
• Volume 4: January 25, 2017
• Volume 5: February 22, 2017
• Volume 6: March 29, 2017
• Volume 7: April 26, 2017
• Volume 8: May 24, 2017

Plot concept: The story revolves around the protagonist “I” and the murders and mysteries he encounters. He tries in vain to stay out of the story, but instead he always gets dragged into the center of everything. Even though it seems that he contributes a lot, he always finds out that whatever he did was meaningless in the end.

[Source: ANN]

The third season is in the works for the Rainy Cocoa property and another update has landed for that project. With two seasons so far that have been streamed by Funimation, who also has them lined up for a home video release, the third season was previously set for a fall 2016 premiere under the name Rainy  Cocoa in Hawaii after initially being listed as Rain Color Waikiki. With Kushi Ishii directing it with Eri Tokugawa handling the character designs, the series now has a formal October 2nd, 2016 debut on Sun TV and Tokyo MX.

The cast from the webmanga on the Japanese side will be reprising their roles here and we’ve included the English language side just for reference.

• Aoi Tokura: Hiro Shimono
• Keiichi Iwase: Hikaru Midorikawa
• Shion Touga: Daisuke Hirakawa
• Hiroshi Amami: Ryo Horikawa
• Ryouta Sakuragi: Mamoru Miyano
• Callaway Okamura: Toshiyuki Someya
• Shank Osman: Yuusuke Shirai
• Shine: Natsuko Hara

Plot concept: An ordinary college student, Aoi Tokura, was having a bad day. It was so bad because he was called ugly by a good-looking guy on the train. Walking down the street in the rain, Aoi found a small, but cozy cafe, Rainy Color. He started to work part-time as he enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate he was served. Then a guy came into Rainy Color… It was Keiichi Iwase, the one who told Aoi was ugly!!??

As we’re just about on the cusp of the debut of the original series Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo Shounen Tanteidan Yori, Bandai Visual has now brought out promotional video for it. This one clocks in at just under two minutes and brings us a good sample of the opening theme song as well as showing off the slick animation. The show has been scheduled for an October 3rd, 2016 debut on Tokyo MX. The opening song “Kimi Dake no Boku de Iru Kara” is being performed by Gackt while Asuza Tadakoro will be performing the ending them song for it with “1HOPE SNIPER.”

The series will be directed by Masahiro Mukai based on the series composition and scripts from Erika Yoshida. PEACH-PIT worked on the original character designs that are being adapted into anime form by Shinya Yamada. TMS Entertainment and Shin-Ei Animation will be handling the animation production for the show.

The show has set Daiki Yamashita as Yoshio Kobayashi and Ryota Osaka as Kensuke Hanasaki as the leads. The supporting cast includes Yuuichirou Umehara as Ryou Inoue, Ibuki Kido as Makoto Nori and Azusa Tadakoro as Nao Nakamura

Plot concept: The time period is the 2030s. Before the mysterious detective Kogorou Akechi, the Boys’ Detective Team is assembled. Their actions have led to the resolution of various small and large incidents. One day, team member Kensuke Hanasaki meets a mysterious boy named Yoshio Kobayashi. Kobayashi, who has an undying body because of an “unidentified fog,” wishes his own death and refuses contact with others. Hanasaki takes an interest in Kobayashi and invites him to join the Boys’ Detective Team. The encounter eventually leads them to the connection between the criminal nicknamed the “Fiend with Twenty Faces” and Kogorou Akechi. The fate of the two begins to move…

It looks like another cute series is in our future as the official Twitter account for Nyanko Days has gone live and is revealing that it’s getting an anime adaptation. While there are no details about the adaptation itself yet, the manga comes from Tarabagani and began a couple of years ago with its first compiled volume arriving last December. The property has been serialized in Monthly Comic Cune since August 2014 after it first appeared in Monthly Comic Alive.

Check out the manga side on ComicWalker here.

Plot concept: It’s an everyday life between a shy girl called Tomoko Konagai and three “cats” Maa, Roo, Shii. These cats are girls with cats’ ears and can speak human languages.

[Source: Nijipoi via MAL]

Godzilla shall be defeated by committee!

What They Say:
It’s a peaceful day in Japan when a strange fountain of water erupts in the bay, causing panic to spread among government officials. At first, they suspect only volcanic activity, but one young executive dares to wonder if it may be something different… something alive. His worst nightmare comes to life when a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and begins tearing through the city, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. As the government scrambles to save the citizens, a rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster’s weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side—the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Growing up outside of Boston in the late 70’s and early 80’s, one of the things that dominated one of the half dozen or so TV channels we got was the Channel 56 Creature Double Feature event on Saturday afternoons. With so little available to watch and VHS tapes still mostly a limited thing because of cost and pay channels still not a mass market thing, this event was a big part of the weekend. I can still visualize all of the promos and a lot of the films. That said, even though I watched a lot of them they were things I simply couldn’t get into. With terrible dubbing and the whole rubber suit side that really didn’t appeal to me as a part of the Star Wars generation, I struggled hard with the Godzilla and other monsters franchise and still do. The only film that I actually liked was the recent Hollywood relaunch that hit a couple of years ago.

So my interest in Shin Godzilla was certainly tempered by my past but also definitely intrigued because of the positive buzz that it was getting. And a pretty fun couple of trailers that have been put out as well. With this being the 29th film produced out of Japan for the character there’s certainly a sense of familiarity about it, even with Hideaki Anno directing. The general premise is what you’d expect as we suddenly have the creature appearing out of the bay, causing trouble, and mysteriously ambling and progressing throughout Japan toward Tokyo as the government tries to deal with it. Godzilla, or Go-jira as we also get it called so that it plays to all audiences, is certainly fun to watch as we see it evolving as it makes its way out of the bay and through its journey. I don’t recall seeing it played that way before and even with the heightened speed it works pretty well with its iterations and how they’re presenting its background.

In a way, there’s only so much you can do with a live-action Godzilla film because you’re kind of limited by budget and the general Japanese approach to filmmaking, something that doesn’t work for more more often than it does. It’s one reason I’m more interested in the upcoming animation project. This film presents us a decent looking Godzilla in terms of its visuals but it’s also something that doesn’t feel as part of the live-action segments as it should, though that’s less of a thing compared to the old rubber suiter films. Anno’s Godzilla stands out, however, when the action sequences hit as there are some creative choices to it with how it handles its power and strength. Though we don’t get a deep background as to how Godzilla came about (can you say sequel?), there are teases here and there about it and it makes it clear why the beam powered attacks exist, but it’s best to not look too deeply at it.

As we do see with the special effects laden monster films, the monster moments are few and far between overall. That happens here as well but at least some of the budget is thrown to some big destruction of the city sequences as well, an area that Anno brings to life really well with the beam attacks that Godzilla employs. The early stages of Godzilla at first leaves you wondering if this is a different monster that Godzilla will later appear and fight but I liked the evolution side of it. But it wasn’t until an hour in that I actually really liked watching the creature as we get the night time attack and the real chaos in the city. The final act action sequence is pretty good as well as there are some creative ways in trying to deal with stopping Godzilla but it’s also something that feels like it lacks real power and impact because of the approach used. After having a big military push that didn’t work you know they’d have to go elsewhere but it just plays weaker after all of that.

The biggest problem that I had with the film, though, is that it’s so empty on actual character elements. There are a lot of characters in the film but it’s focused almost exclusively on government and military characters and they’re nothing more than archetypes at best. There are a lot of intense scenes of research and paperwork to figure out Godzilla’s origins and how to defeat it but since it works such a range of characters that have no depth there’s nothing to really connect us with it. There’s a distance between viewer and character that it’s hard to become invested in it. As problematic as the character storyline was with the Hollywood Godzilla film, they at least had characters involved in the chaos. Though there’s obvious commentary about the top-heavy government aspect here in how to deal with things, that’s not particularly compelling. That said, Godzilla defeated by bureaucratic maneuvers is an amusing way to watch it all play out.

In Summary:
Shin Godzilla is a film that has some really great moments that delivers what the property can do when it comes to monster chaos and destruction of Tokyo. It’s certainly filled with some interesting ways of bringing it all together and though I may joke with the “by committee” aspect of it there are some good areas to explore within that as well. But it lacks any characters to make it engaging on a personal level – we don’t even follow any of the civilians caught in this outside of a minute or two total – and Godzilla itself doesn’t have enough to latch onto make its story compelling beyond obvious monster smashing. I suspect that fans of the property will find a whole lot to like here but casual observers may struggle with it more, perhaps not during the viewing but afterward.

Grade: B-

Funimation will be bringing this out in theaters for a limited engagement on October 11th, 2016 for a week.

We learned over the weekend with the conclusion of the second season of the Rin-ne series that a third season is coming with plans for a spring 2017 release. The series may not move much in the way of home video releases but it’s a big draw in the ratings department in Japan as it has a solid family slot that brings in the viewers. While we got a scan of the issue and all the text on and around it for the announcement, a clean and large version of it is now available that you can see below.

The show was directed by Seiki Sugawara at Brains Base with the eternally busy Michiko Yokote handling the scripts for the series. The series stars Kaito Ishikawa as Rinne Rokudo, Marina Inoue as Sakura Mamiya, Hitomi Nabatame as Rokumon, Satsuki Yukino as Tamako, Kappei Yamaguchi as Sabato Rokudo, Ryohei Kimura as Tsubasa Jūmonji, Tetsuya Kakihara as Masato, Sora Tokui as Miho, Aya Suzaki as Rika and Tesshô Genda as Narrator.

Rumiko Takahashi’s works have spawned some long running shows over the years, from Urusei Yatsura to Ranma 1/2 as well as Maison Ikkoku and Inu Yasha. Add in a number of OVAs over the years, most of which are long out of print in North America, and it’s easy to see why they’ll animate what she produces once there’s more than enough content to work with. The manga series, which is released in North America by Viz as Rin-ne, began in 2009 and has thirty volumes released there to date.

Plot Concept: As a child Sakura Mamiya mysteriously disappeared in the woods behind her grandma’s home. She returned whole and healthy, but since then she has had the power to see ghosts. Now a teenager, she just wishes the ghosts would leave her alone! At school, the desk next to Sakura’s has been empty since the start of the school year, then one day her always-absent classmate shows up, and he’s far more than what he seems!

A past explored!

Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Richard Ortiz
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letterer: Wes Abbott

What They Say:
As the mechanical gods take a look into Cheetah’s past to find the truth, we take a look into Cheetah’s horrifying adolescence.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Bombshells digs into the second part of its “Big Cats” arc here with Marguerite Bennett mapping out the path of the Cheetah with her past. She’s become a greater focus in this arc that started off with Vixen and provides something to complement that, though the character has felt a bit all over the place at first. This installment changes things up a bit with Richard Ortiz providing the interior art, the second male artist after Sandy Jarrell I believe, and with a good bit of work at Zenescope behind him and some DC work as well, he’s certainly a very good fit here. The layouts and character artwork all feels very much in the Bombshells mode and having J. Nanjan delivering on the color work once again helps to give it all a really great kind of continuity. It allows Ortiz’s style to show through while still feeling very much a part of what’s being done across the book.

With this issue separating us from the other events going on at the moment with the main Bombshell characters, the focus on Barbara Ann Minerva is welcome as she’s slowly coming into being Cheetah. With her having brought the mechanical beasts back to Paul Von Gunther, a twist I certainly wasn’t expecting, it turns into an interesting area as a bookends of sorts about how Von Gunther and her quest for supernatural things for Hitler is attempting to win these gods over to be used. They’re not exactly trusting of her but Barbara Ann is someone that they feel connected to and have a certain amount of trust with her. What I like is how quickly that both believe they’re using the other to achieve their own goals as you can see how the mechanical beasts want to revive their rule over the world and think they can do so while allowing their “partners” to believe that they’re the ones in control. It’s another relationship that will likely burn both sides but you can see why they’d both enter into it.

Where most of the book focuses is on Barbara Ann’s past, going back to a child in 1920 as she’s essentially an orphan after the war, losing her father a few weeks before the armistice. This places her with a wealthy family that sees her as a meal ticket that they can get their cruel son to wed, but she simply suffers through most of this until she can get out into the world. It’s here that she travels, looking for a place that’s truly home for her, but mostly gets caught up in adventures and has all the wrong reasons for doing what she thinks is right. It’s easier to understand her mindset where in some ways she’s simply “broken” because of how her childhood was and the way she learned to interact with people, and this plays into how she views Renee and Kate as naive when she comes across them in Spain amid the war. And it explains why she was so intense with Jason in how she viewed him, resulting in his death. It ties these things together well in not that many pages overall but it does it perfectly, making all the pieces fit with ease.

In Summary:
While this Bombshells arc hasn’t won me over too much in terms of story I’m definitely enjoying the character side of it. Vixen’s debut previously hit a lot of good notes for me as did the unveiling of Zembesi. Bringing Barbara Ann into it wasn’t too much of a surprise considering she’s such a classic villainess as Cheetah, but I’ll admit part of me was kind of hopeful for the original Cheetah to make her way here. With this issue we get some good backstory for her that explains motivations and mindset in a clear way but with enough room to play in while also firming up the ties to Kate and Renee that will drive this trio into some bad places in the coming issues. A solid book all around and a great first introduction for me to Richard Ortiz’s work as he fits in perfectly with what they do with this series.

Grade: B

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: September 23rd, 2016
MSRP: $0.99

The Nintendo 3DS game Armed Blue: Gunvolt was slotted for an anime adaptation as it was announced at Anime Expo this past July. Now, the Inti Creates channel has begun streaming a promotional video for the OVA by including English subtitles. The piece clocks in at a minute and shows off a good bit of material overall, including the opening theme song.

The project will be bringing in the same cast as the game, which was expected, and will include Kaito Ishikawa as Gunvolt, Megu Sakuragawa as Lumen, Masashi Yukita as Asimov and Ayumu Murase as Nova.

The property is being brought out as an OVA that will land in the winter 2017 anime season, though no number of episodes was revealed. The project has set Yoshinori Odaka to direct it based on the script by Shigeru Murakoshi with character designs by Masakazu Sunagawa. It’s being animated at Tohokushinsha Film Corporation x LandQ Studio’s.

Plot concept: In the near future, there are people with special power called Sevens. It seems like the country has maintained peace by a company called Sumeragi Group, but they are the one who captured the people with the special power by force and did inhumane experiments. Gunvolt, the main character who has the power of Sevens, used to be in Feather, a resistant group who fought against the Sumeragi Group. The story begins with meeting the heroine, Sian.

Creative Talent
Writer/Artist: Sunao Yoshida (Illustrations by Thores Shibamoto)
Translated by:Anastasia Moreno
Adapted by:Jai Nitz

What They Say
In a post-apocalyptic world, the war between humans and vampires rages on. While a group of vampire extremists manipulates events to ensure the war’s continuation, a Vatican special ops group called AX must use everything – even a vampire who preys on the blood of other vampires – to protect the peace effort.

The Review
At the time this originally came out, I had come away from the Twelve Kingdoms novel with a bit more faith in how TOKYOPOP was going to handle its novel lineup. I dug into the uncorrected proof we had received of the first Trinity Blood novel. Just before finishing it, the final version came in so it’s been interesting to compare the two in the minor differences. The main one is that the artwork for the front cover, while laid out the sale, is different. The shadowed visage of the lead, Abel Nightroad, is now much clearer with him not entirely in his Crusnik form. The final version is also a glossy cover instead of the matte finish of the proof. Both have their appeal though but pale against how the DVD covers from FUNimation have turned out.

Reading this just before the conclusion of the anime series release has been interesting as most of this is quite familiar though it has been a few months. The layout is similar in nature to the anime in that the stories, while building upon the world overall, aren’t fully connected at this point. The short nature of them allows for a wide range of places to be covered, as we learn what this world is like. The cataclysm that lead to the world changing isn’t covered much, but the reality of a vampire dominated society of Methuselah’s in the Empire and that of the Terran humans elsewhere is a fascinating one. The focus is on the members of the Vatican special force known as AX. A proactive group of priests under the cardinal, who protects her younger brother the Pope, AX’s priests aren’t like the normal ones. The one the story follows mostly is that of Abel Nightroad, a man described as an oddball but one with immense hidden power and a truly mysterious and lengthy background. As many Methuselah’s feed on Terran’s, Abel points out to them that there are things that feed on Methuselah’s. And that he is one of them, though he is far more interested in saving lives than ending them.

Coming into this from the anime, the visuals that were presented there are something that’s fresh in my mind. The original stories feel like the anime adaptation did an excellent job in carrying over the intent as does seeing the original character designs in the illustration pages. Part of me still dislikes illustration pages as it reminds me too much of the kinds of books you’d read before reading truly “adult” material. Shibamoto’s artwork is quite stylish though and the designs he created here based on Yoshida’s work really works well.

In Summary:
Trinity Blood was a show that grew on me a fair bit the more I saw it. Going to the original source material after the fact is always difficult but the added exposition and background that’s provided here makes it worth the trip. The novel has a smooth flow to it, the adaptation seems to cover everything just right and nothing stood out as being terribly off from what the anime adaptation described. With this being set outside of Japan it manages to avoid a lot of basic cultural aspects which leaves it not feeling like it’s overwhelmed with ideas or phrases that don’t translate well. Though familiar, this first volume has left me wanting to read more of Abel and the others of AX in hopes of reading some non-animated material.

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

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: TOKYOPOP
Release Date: April 3rd, 2007
MSRP: $7.95

The spring 2016 anime series Haifuri certainly had its fans when it aired and it looks like they’ll get a chance for a little bit more. The official site has now revealed that an OVA project is in the works that will arrive sometime in 2017. Presumably it’ll be done by the same staff and cast but no details were provided at the event over the weekend or on the official site. The show saw streaming in many regions through Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Daisuki while Aniplex USA has picked up the home video rights.

The TV series was directed by Yuu Nobuta based on the overall series composition from Reiko Yoshida, who also worked on the scripts. The original character designs come from Atto and were adapted by Naoto Nakamura, who also served as the chief animation director. Production IMS is behind the animation.

The cast includes Shiina Natsukawa as Akeno Misaki, Lynn as Mashiro and Sora Amemiya as Moeka. The supporting cast includes Miharu Sawada as Hikari Ogasawara, Hitomi Kikuchi as Michiru Takeda, Nozomi Furuki as Tateishi Shima, Minami Tanaka as Junko Heki, Yuka Maruyama as Ritsuko Matsunaga, Rui Tanabe as Kayoko Himeji, Atsumi Tanezaki as Mei Irizaki, Sakura Nakamura as Kaede Marikōji, Yurika Kubo as Rin Shiretoko, Chisato Satsuki as Satoko Katsuta, Yō Taichi as Hideko Yamashita, Emi Miyajima as Mayumi Uchida, Nanami Yamashita as Tsugumi Yagi, Akane Fujita as Megumi Uda, Yu Kobayashi as Machiko Noma, Natsumi Takamori as Maron Yanagiwara Natsuki Aikawa as Hiromi Kuroki, Ayaka Shimizu as Reo Wakasa, Sanae Fuku as Sakura Ise, Ari Ozawa as Runa Suruga, Sayaka Kaneko as Sora Hirota, Hiyori Nitta as Hime Wazumi and Ayuru Ohashi as Momo Aoki.

A manga adaptation ran as well from Kanari Abe.

Plot concept: With Japan having developed as a maritime nation, it became necessary to have specialized schools to teach skills essential to protecting the sea. The setting is one such all-girls school. The girls who enroll here study to become “bloomer maids,” through classroom instruction and teaching of practical skills.

“Bloomer maids” are women who pursue the ocean for their professional occupation. They live by the motto “In the sea we live, the sea we protect, and by the sea we go.” They must excel in their studies, but must also adopt an international mindset. They are the “Elite of the Sea,” and are expected to be knowledgeable of the customs and cultures of other countries as well as their own.

[Source: Animate Times via ANN]

With a minimal amount of promotion out there for the winter turned into spring 2016 and then into summer TV series Rilu Rilu Fairilu that began back on February 6th, 2016, the promos for new episodes have been doing the heavy lifting. With little promotion to it and no pick-up for streaming either, it’s not a series that has garnered much in the way of attention, even with all of its cute aspects. A new promotional spot for the next episode on October 1st, 2016 has arrived, however, and it’s a pretty good piece so that people can see the series in action. The show, animated by Studio Deen, is being directed by Gojo Series based on overall composition from Aya Matsui. Nishichi Yamaguchi is on board handling the character designs.

The show stars Yumiri Hanamori as Lip, Aya Uchida as Himawari, Rina Hidaka as Sumire and Aina Kusuda as Rose.

Plot concept: In a strange magical world of Little Fairilu lives the Fairlu: small magical fairies representing flowers, insects and other entities born from the Fairilu Seed. Each of the Fairilu are born with their own key which only fits to a Fairy Door they need to search. If the certain Fairilu finds the right door, they can finally mature into full fairies, which also links them to the human world. But the Fairilu must study and go to school to learn about the world in which they live while meeting new friends.