Funimation brought out the first simuldub for The Silver Guardian last night and have confirmed the main cast and staff for it. The spring series has Jad Saxton serving as the ADR director working from scripts by Josh Grelle. The main cast for it includes:

• Kyle Phillips as Suigin
• Amber Lee Connors as Rei
• Jason Liebrecht as Ranshou
• Sara Ragsdale as Maki
• Jad Saxton as Wanchoi

New episodes are going live on Wednesday’s at 9:00pm ET on the Funimation streaming service.

The Japanese cast includes Jun Fukuyama as Suigin Riku, Yuka Saitou as Rei Riku, Ami Koshimizu as Twinstar, Nozomi Nishida as Farin, Nana Mizuki as Phoebe, Sara Matsumoto as Wanchoi, Yuuto Suzuki as Ranshō, Satomi Akesaka as Eru, Mitsuru Miyamoto as Ling, Takayuki Sugo as Riku Yuuki and Ami Koshimizu as Twinstar.

The project comes from the manhua of the same name and is being directed by Masahiko Ookura, who worked on the series composition with Hidefumi Kimura. Yoshiaki Tsubata is on board as character designer and chief animation director with it being produced at Emon.

The opening song is “Mamori Tsunagu” as performed by Rin Akatsuki.

Plot concept: Lu Shuiyin is a master of gaming, a skill only known to his classmate Lu Lian. One day, Shuiyin receives a device from Lu Lian for a tomb raiding online game. While Shuiyin is excited to receive the device, Lian is suddenly kidnapped. Shuiyin touches the device that was left behind, pulling him inside the game and trapping him there. What is the imaginary world inside the device? What will Shuiyin find there?

It is a world where two groups of people fight over the power of the gods, which originates from the tomb the mother goddess Pangu. The two groups are the tomb raiders and the tomb protectors. The device Shuiyin received from Lian is called the Monolith, and it allows a normal gamer to go near the tomb. The tomb raiding group plans its attack by recruiting common people in the name of gaming. Shuiyin, as the final tomb protector, must fight against the raiders in order to save Lian.

It’s time to hunt the hunters.

Creative Staff:
Story: Chris Warner
Art: Francisco Ruiz Velasco
Letterer: Michael Heisler

What They Say:
Space aliens have been coming to Earth for centuries—but not with any message of brotherhood or peace. They’re here to hunt the toughest, most dangerous humans they can find. Only now their former prey have teamed up against them. Predators, watch your backs!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Predator franchise has never lived up to the Aliens franchise in what it can do and part of that are just the limitations put on it. While we don’t expect dialogue and understanding of the Xenormophs in Aliens, the inability to really give us more in a cultural/societal sense from the Predators just weakens them. Plus the lack of usable dialogue and characterization that puts a lot of the onus on the artist to fill in the blanks for, often resulting in a difficult to connect with character. With both franchise it tends to be the human side that drives the narrative and story forward and that’s no exception here as Chris Warner returns to the property after quite some time away and we’re introduced to Francisco Ruiz Velasco on the art duties. Coming into this book is also a big jarring after spending the last two years reading the future versions in Life and Death and Fire and Stone.

The premise for this is solid enough in that there’s more than enough knowledge by those that are capable as to what’s out there in the modern day when it comes to the Predators. A small group, headed by Jaya, is intent on taking the fight to them and eliminating them. To do that, the team she has so far includes her and two guys and now she wants Nakai, who appeared in some fht early 90’s Predator stories by other writers and artists. With his experience serving s backstory, we get someone that survived and fought back in a way that few others did. Similarly, the others all have their stories that are told in quick order in the back half of this book. It’s only Jaya who doesn’t have direct interaction with them, instead that comes in from her grandfather from the old days as told in the Nemesis two-issue series back in 1997. Another nice nod to the past to try and bind things together in a fairly loose franchise.

The structure of this book, the first of five, didn’t do too much for me. Some jungle survival action early on was fun enough, especially as the Predator looks practically primal in a lot of ways, but it was sound and fury without much significance at the moment except to show what the enemy is like. Velasco gives it a very good feel with the raw and muted earth tones here and the tension certainly rises up well as they try to flee. The shift to the present day before Jaya arrives to try and recruit Nakai at the gas station he’s working at is less than interesting, however, because it just feels kind of lazy with how it places him and the dialogue with the old owner. That Nakai’s life sucks after past events is no surprise considering how he was bounced out of the military, but it’s just a little heavy handed here in a few ways.

In Summary:
Predator is a hard property to get right simply because the Predators themselves are so inaccessible even after all these years, something I talked about regularly in past reviews of other related books. The Predator in this one gets some time early on and we see a couple of others, but mostly it’s about assembling the human team that’s going to go hunting the Predators themselves. It’s a decent setup and one that hits all the right points in introducing the who and why of it all but hasn’t made it compelling just yet. You could almost view this as a “zero issue” in a way as it’s all setup with the main event to get underway in the next issue. With a five-issue run that works well enough and I do appreciate the time spent getting to know who the dying will be.

Grade: B

Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: May 3rd, 2017
MSRP: $3.99

Funimation had another of their spring simuldub series kick off last night and have now confirmed the cast for it with the Alice & Zoroku anime series. The show has new episodes coming up on Wednesday’s at 10:00pm ET with Clifford Chapin directing based on the scripts by Bonny Clinkenbeard. The main cast for it includes:

• Sarah Wiedenheft as Sana
• John Swasey as Zoroku Kashimura
• Brittany Karbowski as Asahi Hinagiri
• Brittany Lauda as Yonaga Hinagiri
• Ryan Reynolds as Cleo
• Anastasia Munoz as Shizuku Ichijo
• Madeleine Morris as Noriko Yamada
• Colleen Clinkenbeard as Miriam “Minnie C” Tachibana
• Christopher Wehkamp as Koichi Kito
• Jill Harris as Chen
• Dave Trosko as Mitaka
• J. Micheal Tatum as Sawaki
• Jeremy Inman as Suzuki
• Tia Ballard as Sanae Kashimura
• Chuck Huber as Ryu Naito
• Caitlin Glass as Chinatsu
• Clifford Chapin as Ichiro

The series is directed by Katsushi Sakurabi based on the series composition by Fumihiko Takayama. Character designs are handled by Kazunori Iwakura with JC Staff producing the animation.

The Japanese cast includes Hitomi Ohwada as Sana Kashimura, Akio Ootsuka as Zouroku Kashimura, Aki Toyosaki as Sanae Kashimura, Natsumi Fujiwara as Asahi Hinagiri, Akari Kito as Yonaga Hinagiri, Ami Koshimizu as Shizuku Ichijou, Houchuu Ootsuka as Ryuu Naitou, Yuuki Hirose as Noriko Yamada, Mamiko Noto as Miriam C Tachibana, Masaya Matsukaze as Kouichi Kitou and Shuu Uchida as Cleo.

The manga was created by Tetsuya Imai as part of the Tokuma Shoten magazine and saw print compilation back in early 2013 and it currently has seven volumes out so far. Imai’s previous works were with two Kodansha series with Bokura no Yoake and Hacks!

The opening theme song is “Wonder Drive” by ORESAMA while the ending theme song is “Chant (kotringo edition)” by toi toy toi.

Plot concept: The story centers on a little girl called Sana, who is one of the children that holds the power of “Alice’s Dream,” an ability that enables her to materialize anything she imagines. After escaping a lab where she was a test subject, Sana ends up in a normal world where she encounters an old man named Zouroku, but will he help her?

With the clock ticking down, Peter Case is going to live out his life to the fullest.

Creative Staff:
Story: Chad Bowers, Chris Sims
Art: Ghostwriter X
Colors: Karl Fan
Letterer: Josh Krach

What They Say:
Peter Case was a boy on a quest. The quest to win the prizes from Atari’s SwordQuest challenge! He was counting down the days to the release of the final game, AirWorld, only to be shattered when the news surfaced that it would never be released. Now Peter is an adult…and things aren’t going well. The bad news is he has to move back in with his mother. The good news is she still has all of his old Atari stuff. With nothing else to look forward to, his obsession with SwordQuest is reignited, in a more…ummm, interesting way…

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Being of the Atari age of video game fandom, there’s definitely some nostalgia in play when it comes to the various books that Dynamite is planning with the license. Swordquest with the three games that it had weren’t ones that had a lot of meaning to me as I barely remember them, though I do remember the DC Comics produced comics for it for the fans. This new series, kicking off with this zero issue that’s free digitally or just .25 cents in print at comic stores, is looking to have the best of both worlds with an in-game piece of nostalgia and the views of those that are “of age” with it. Coming from writers Bowers and Sims with artwork by Ghostwriter X, Swordquest sets the stage well and has a decent enough hook.

The book focuses on 45-year-old Peter Case, a man who spent a lot of time with friends as a kid playing these games back in the early 80’s. Peter’s life in the here and now is one of some isolation with little in the way of friends and minimal interaction with family. He’s a bit out of shape but comes across as a nice guy with a good heart as when he returns to his apartment he ends up racing in to save a dog from the fire that’s consuming it. His life is in flux because of that alone, forcing him to move back to his mother’s for a bit, but that’s not the real problem. He has a rare degenerative disease that went undiagnosed for too long and now he just has a few months left to live. He’s keeping that to himself and is basically trying to figure out how to spend his last days.

What inspires him is seeing the Swordquest series of games in his closet and remembering the good times there. Some of this plays into seeing the game “come alive” with he and his friends within it, which is cute and silly in the right ways thanks to the art design, but it also feeds something else. One of the draws to the games were some complex puzzles that fans had to solve that never were, especially before the company went under before the fourth game came out, and Peter has longed for the sword that was one of the prizes. With some unintended encouragement from his mother, he’s setting off on a new quest to get it and it’s one where you can imagine that his mind is going to take him down some twisty paths while trying to acquire it.

In Summary:
I’m not quite sure what to make of Swordquest just yet. The execution is solid enough and it ties well into the nostalgia element as it talks about what it was like back in the day and how those memories can linger and be brought back to the surface. Peter’s story is one that feels tragic already and it’s hard to imagine it ending any other way, barring something magical coming into play, and that can be a rough one to dig into depending on your circumstances. The artwork has an almost indie approach to it that works well for it as they capture the expressiveness of the characters and what they’re going through but also feeling different enough from the norm that it fits with the intent of nostalgia, almost capturing a kind of simplicity in the in-game pieces that reminds of the original comics. Considering the pricing, it’s very easy to check out the first installment and we definitely recommend that.

Grade: B-

Age Rating: 12+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: May 3rd, 2017
MSRP: 0.25 Print / Free Digitally

With an anime adaptation that went kind of off the rails as it went along and didn’t generate any interest or increase in sales of the manga in a significant way, the Taboo Tattoo manga series from Shinjiro is now set to end soon. The final chapter will be in the June 27th installment of Monthly Comic Alive and that will bring the series to a thirteen volume run when that installment comes out in September.

With twelve volumes of the original manga released in Japan at this time, the show was directed by Takashi Watanabe based on the series composition and scripts by Mayori Sekijima. Shinya Hasegawa worked on the character designs and the series was animated by J.C. Staff.

The Japanese cast includes Makoto Furukawa as Justice Akatsuka, Mikako Komatsu as Bluesy=Fluesy, Chika Anzai as Touko Ichinose, Akari Kito as Aryabhata, Shiori Izawa as Iltutmish, Kenjirou Tsuda as R. R. Lurker, Eri Kitamura as Lisa Lovelock, Hitomi Nabatame as Kar Shekar, Toshiyuki Morikawa as Brad Blackstone, Akari Kito as Aryabhata, Sho Hayami as Professor Wiseman and Tesshô Genda as Colonel Sanders.

The opening theme is “Belief” by May’n while the ending theme is “Egoistic Emotion” by TRIGGER.

Plot concept: Seigi, a martial arts trained middle schooler, often feels driven to protect the weaker people around him. One day, he defends a homeless man against some punks, and the man gives him a strange tattoo on his palm in return. The tattoo is a secret weapon produced in the arms race between America and the Serinistan Kingdom.

Seigi finds himself in over his head when a powerful girl, using the same secret weapon, violently pursues him in order to retrieve it. His skill at martial arts may not be enough to keep him alive, but will he be able to learn how to trigger the power of his tattoo in time?

[Source: ANN]

It’s time to reshape the world!

Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Bruno Redondo, Juan Albarran
Colors: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Wes Abbott

What They Say:
While recovering from his injuries, Batman is visited by two allies from the past. But the happy reunion is interrupted by bad news from Superman’s prison.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening few issues of Injustice 2 have been clicking very well and the consistent team of Taylor, Redono, and Albarran have definitely been a big part of that. I don’t expect it to maintain for too long on a weekly basis but the setup is strong here in getting this new series underway. We’ve had a lot going on in the first trio of issues with Faux-Batman breaking out a bunch of villains, killing several, and forming his own Suicide Squad. And we’ve had the Prime-Batman get his backside handed to him after a pretty gripping fight the last time around. It’s been kept small but the stakes are already looming with what you know is in the offing and that helps to make it tense and exciting.

It’s no surprise to see Batman get knocked down from time to time as it just reinforces his desire to come out on top and we get that here as he wakes up in the care of Barbara and Lucius, having been given information on what happened to him. While he’s intent on getting back out there, the game has changed a bit with a message from Luthor about how Bruce has to be the one to reenvision the world along with others so that it doesn’t need a Batman anymore. Luthor has been fun in this property overall and I like how he puts things into play here by beefing up what Bruce has at hand, and that it has Bruce realize that he cannot and should not go it alone. Hence bringing others like Ted Kord and now the other world Green Arrow who can pick up the Oliver Queen mantle and wealth here. While the Dinah/Ollie bit is a little forced, it fits well in the narrative of how these characters would act with the circumstances what they are and it’s a nice bit of positivity.

While all of this gets things in motion, it’s not going to be an easy time to focus on just that with Faux Batman out there. That provides a glimpse of the action in this installment, which is more dialogue than visual, about the attack on Strykers with the power out and Warden Turpin freaking out. There are more than enough villains in there to be worried about in being freed as they are, but the power side of it also means that Superman’s red sun cell is weakened and his time to be free is just about here. You knew it wouldn’t last long, even if you kind of wanted it to in order to see just what kind of place this brain trust could put together and how Superman would react to it, but it plays well and sets the stage for what’s to come in a pretty fun way – especially those last two panels from Redondo and Albarran.

In Summary:
The first four issues of Injustice 2 have been a blast and I don’t see that dialing back anytime soon. While I would prefer a bit more relaxed material and worldbuilding in the mix I also know that’s not the intent or style of this series, as much I wish there was more of it. Tom Taylor continues to craft a fun and engaging piece that’s juggling several things already while having it wonderfully brought to life by Redondo and Albarran, two creators who definitely work well together. The fun is really just beginning here and the excitement already feels like it’s about to push the needle past ten and I can’t wait.

Grade: B+

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 2nd, 2017
MSRP: $0.99

Animatsu announced back in October 2016 that they had picked up the Certain Magical Index and Certain Scientific Railgun properties for release and have now started scheduling them. The plans at this point look to be like this, making for a fun later summer and early fall for fans of the franchise:

• A Certain Magical Index: The Movie DVD/BD – 9/11/17 – 29.99
• A Certain Magical Index II Complete Collection DVD/BD – 08/21/17 – 49.99
• A Certain Scientific Railgun Season 2 Complete Collection DVD/BD – 08/21/17 – 49.99

Originally airing in 2008, the original series was directed by Hiroshi Nishikori based on the series composition by Masanao Akahoshi. Character designs were done by Yuichi Tanaka based on the original designs by Kiyotaka Haimura that were done for the light novels written by Kazuma Kamachi. The series was animated by JC Staff.

The Japanese cast includes Atsushi Abe as Toma Kamijo, Yuka Iguchi as Index, Akeno Watanabe as Sherry Cromwell, Anri Katsu as Motoharu Tsuchimikado, Kana Asumi as Hyouka Kazakiri, Kimiko Koyama as Komoe Tsukuyomi, Kishō Taniyama as Stiyl Magnus, Mamiko Noto as Aisa Himegami, Misato Fukuen as Maika Tsuchimikado, Nobuhiko Okamoto as Accelerator, Nozomi Sasaki as Misaka’s Younger Sister, Rina Hidaka as Last Order, Rina Satou as Mikoto Misaka, Satomi Arai as Kuroko Shirai, Shizuka Itou as Kaori Kanzaki, Tomokazu Sugita as Aureolus Izzard, Yuka Terasaki as Misha=Kruschschev and Yuko Kaida as Aiho Yomikawa.

Plot concept: Kamijo is a student in Academy City, where people use science to develop supernatural abilities. The guy’s got a lot of heart – luckily for a young nun named Index. She’s on the run from a sorcery society that covets the astonishing 103,000 volumes of magical knowledge stored in her memory. When Index stumbles into Kamijo’s life, she find a faithful friend and protector, and while Kamijo’s easily the weakest kid in Academy City, he’s got something else going for him: the Imagine Breaker, an unexplainable power stored in his right hand that negates the powers of others.

With the US release plans set for August from Sentai Filmworks, Animatsu has now set their plans for the UK release of Ushio & Tora. And they look to be mirroring things in a lot of ways with a complete collection. The company will be bringing it out as a DVD and Blu-ray release on September 18th, 2017 along with a collector’s edition. The DVD is priced at 39.99 and the Blu-ray at 59.99. Both sets come with the clean opening and closings as well as Japanese trailers for the show that has thirty-nine episodes to devour in one collection. The collector’s edition will be done with a 14 mm Blu-ray Case, Plastic O-card and Rigid Collector’s Box. The release will be bilingual.

The show ran for thirty-nine episodes total between the two season. The first twenty-six episodes ran summer 2015 and now the final thirteen-episode arc where it’ll finish off by dealing with events from the final battle in the manga ran in the spring of 2016. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the show in North America while Madman Entertainment has the Australian rights.

The anime adaptation is directed by Satoshi Nishimura with animation done by MAPPA and studio Voln. They’ll be working off of scripts by Toshiki Inoue and character designs by Tomoko Mori. The group Kinniku Shojo Tai will be handling the opening theme song for the series while Sonar Pocket is handling the ending theme

The series has an expansive cast that includes Tasuku Hatanaka as Ushio, Rikiya Koyama as Tora, Mikako Komatsu as Asako, Kiyono Yasuno as Mayuko, Keiji Fujiwara as Shigure Aotsuki, Yui Makino as Reiko Hanyu, Daisukie Namikawa as Hyo, Yuichi Nakamura as Kenichi Masaki, Aki Toyosaki as Yu Hiayama, Masaki Terasoma as Kyoji Atsuzawa, Miki Shinichiro as Raishin, Yuuki Kaji as Juro, Risa Shimizuo as Kagari, Yuuka Nanri as Saya Takatori, Ai Kayano as Omamori-sama, Maaya Sakamoto as Sumako, Fumiko Orikasa as Mikado, Nana Mizuki as Hinoawa Sekimori, Yoshimasa Hosoya as Nagara Akiba, Ryota Ohsaka as Satoru Moritsuna, Ayahi Takagaki as Jun Moritsuna, Megumi Han as Kirio Inasa, Mamoru Miyano as Giryo, Kana Hanazawa as Jie MeI and Nao Nagasawa as Izuna.

Ushio & Tora comes from the manga by Kazuhiro Fujita, which had an anime OVA adaptation was done back in the early 90′s that ADV Films licensed and released years ago on VHS and DVD. The manga originally ran for 33 volumes between 1990 and 1996 and Fujita has done a couple of little things with it since there, largely for charity.

Plot concept: Ushio thinks that his father’s talk of an ancient ancestor impaling a demon on a temple altar stone with the legendary Beast Spear is nuts, but when he finds the monster in his own basement, Ushio has to take another look at the family legend! To save his friends and family from the invading spirits, Ushio is forced to release Tora from his captivity. But will the creature prove to be worse than the curse?

For the most part, there’s rather little in the way of idol singers when it comes to hentai releases. Parade Parade seems to set the stage for changing that, but things go disastrously wrong…

What They Say
She has the best of both worlds! Kaori is a popular singer finishing up her first live tour. However, she has a secret. Kaori is a she-male, something that would destroy her innocent pop singer image. The sexy singer Saki sees Kaori on television and falls instantly in love with her. When the two are scheduled to be on the same show, Saki decides to make her move, but this lesbian is about to get the surprise of her life.

The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo encoded at 192kbps. The stereo track here is pretty decent, if a bit low at times, that reflects the simple mix contained within. The only moments where there’s any real good stereo use is during the singing sequences, and those are really just relegated to the openings and endings of the two episodes. Dialogue throughout the episodes is nice and clear though but again seems to be a slight bit low in a few places.

Video:
Originally released in 1996, and done under the auspices of AIC, you can see a toned down version of some of their TV shows in how this looks, as it’s juts before they went completely bright and shiny. With the smaller budget of a hentai show though, the overall look of the film is a bit duller in nature and there’s some noticeable grain in a number of backgrounds. The areas that look the worst tend to be backgrounds that have blues and blacks mixing into shadows. There’s no cross coloration and only a few minor instances of aliasing.

Packaging:
The front cover provides a nice mix of colors and the male/female symbols along with the characters to create an amusing piece of work. The main characters all get shown on the front in various clothes and poses and generally look a bit cleaner than they do in the show itself. The back cover has a couple of paragraphs worth of summary and a few more good looking pictures and animation shots. The production and technical information is also clearly and easy to find. The insert provides artwork from the covers alongside chapter stops while the reverse side is just boxart advertising.

Menu:
The menus here are nice and simple, with just a static screen and no music playing along. With the only extra here really being trailers, the menus are simple to navigate and access times are nice and fast.

Extras:
None.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Yuko’s an idol manager on the search for her next star, someone who you never forget once you see them. While looking for that perfect face out in the crowded streets, she ends up coming across Kaori, an appropriate looking girl in a school uniform. Flash forward some time later, and we see her performing her first big audience concert and enjoying every moment of it.

The story then moves to the world of idols, where Yuko is very much into Kaori. But Yuko warns her about the competition coming her way from other idols, particularly Saki. Saki’s a rather fun character in having been an idol for about four years and is wary of any competition. When she realizes that Kaori is going to be competition, she sets out to dominate her like she does others. And we mean dominate in that very hentai way.

This leads to some amusing revelations about a past relationship between Saki and Yuko when the two of them were lovers and idols starting out at the same time. A tragedy that occurred caused the two to end the relationship, but Saki still harbors feelings. So they end up in a spirited competition about who gets to keep Kaori.

Kaori is definitely the lead character though since hermaphrodites are always meant to be the leads. They can handle anyone and anything that comes their way. If it wasn’t for that addition to the cast, this would have been a pretty straightforward hentai that would have been decent for couples. But once you throw that in the mix, it gets… er, hard, for couples and newbies to enjoy.

Parade Parade isn’t a bad show, though it does have enough non-consensual sequences to it and a tragic piece in the past. One of the best pieces to it is the singing sequences, where it looks like they really went and modeled her movements after an actual performer. They way the character moves is just excellent and really stands out against the rest of the show’s animation. This wasn’t a bad way to spend an hour, but there’s plenty of the hentai I’d rather watch first.

Features
Japanese Language, English Language, English Subtitles

Content Grade: C
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: C+
Extras Grade: N/A

Released By: Kitty Media
Release Date: September 24th, 2002
MSRP: $29.95
Running Time: 60 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

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.

The latest round of manga and light novel sales have come in from Japan and it’s a week where a decent chunk of it is made up of second-week sales, especially for the top three titles. Kingdom, Attack on Titan, and Magi all add some nice numbers to their totals to keep things moving on. The next round are some pretty fun titles that have had anime adaptations as well as seeing Vinland saga holding in the top ten with a second-week sales that doubles its numbers.

On the light novel side, the 11th volume of KonoSuba arried to a strong 27,000 unit sales while the latest Aria the Scarlett Ammo brings out its twenty-fifth volume where in its first full week of sales it lands another 24,471 units moved. We’re still not seeing significant movement of backlist books with any of the spring shows so there doesn’t seem to be anything driving people to get the books in a big way from any of the series this season.

Manga Rank / This week’s sales by copies / Cumulative sales / Titles

*1. 143,846 *,581,952 Kingdom Vol.46
*2. *86,661 1,255,751 Shingeki no Kyojin Vol.22
*3. *84,232 *,305,811 Magi Vol.33
*4. *80,964 *,*80,964 Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou Vol.9
*5. *72,351 *,*72,351 Nijiiro Days Vol.15
*6. *68,462 *,*68,462 Kanojo wa Uso wo Aishisugiteru Vol.22
*7. *58,074 *,215,432 Diamond no Ace Act II Vol.7
*8. *52,840 *,*52,840 Sensei Kunshu Vol.12
*9. *51,698 *,*75,260 Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge Vol.8
10. *50,822 *,109,547 Vinland Saga Vol.19

11. *49,979 *,*65,908 Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakeri Vol.11
12. *49,681 *,467,595 Detective Conan Vol.92
13. *48,141 *,*48,141 Working!! Web-ban Vol.6
14. *47,883 *,136,230 Demi-chan wa Kataritai Vol.5
15. *47,759 *,*47,759 Anata no Koto wa Sorehodo Vol.5
16. *46,823 *,*68,853 Vanitas no Carte Vol.3
17. *41,964 *,118,473 Akatsuki no Yona Vol.23
18. *40,953 *,*61,145 Kimi no Na wa. Vol.3
19. *40,410 *,*40,410 Yakumo-san wa Ezuke ga Shitai. Vol.3
20. *37,519 *,608,539 One Punch-Man Vol.13

21. *37,380 *,*38,772 Kenja no Mago Vol.3
22. *36,477 *,140,990 Magi: Sinbad no Bouken Vol.13
23. *34,783 *,*34,783 Te wo Tsunagou yo Vol.3
24. *33,053 *,*33,053 Honey Lemon Soda Vol.4
25. *32,686 *,*99,737 Himouto! Umaru-chan Vol.10
26. *31,683 *,*31,683 Dragon Quest Retsuden: Roto no Monshou – Monshou wo Tsugu Monotachi e Vol.27
27. *29,334 *,*29,334 Aoharu x Kikanjuu Vol.11
28. *29,242 *,*29,242 Kimi Shi ni Tamau Koto Nakare Vol.4
29. *29,130 *,420,927 Boku no Hero Academia Vol.13
30. *28,985 *,*28,985 Yamikin Ushijima-kun Vol.39

31. *27,720 *,*37,043 Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid Vol.18
32. *27,192 *,*93,090 Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen Vol.5
33. *26,515 *,*26,515 YataMomo Vol.2
34. *26,293 *,*26,293 Ao Ashi Vol.9
35. *26,012 *,123,409 Hajime no Ippo Vol.117
36. *25,941 *,*25,941 YataMomo Vol.3
37. *25,710 *,*25,710 Machida-kun no Sekai Vol.5
38. *25,426 *,104,968 Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo Returns Vol.12
39. *24,742 *,*24,742 Chocolate Vampire Vol.2
40. *23,717 *,*23,717 Niichan

41. *23,603 *,148,153 Tokyo Tarareba Musume Vol.8
42. *23,432 *,*23,432 Dimension W Vol.12
43. *23,271 *,111,315 Baby Steps Vol.44
44. *23,194 *,*23,486 Gedou no Uta Vol.3
45. *23,138 *,*23,138 Kidou Senshi Gundam Thunderbolt Gaiden Vol.2
46. *23,123 *,177,798 Umimachi Diary Vol.8
47. *23,024 *,*46,729 City Vol.2
48. *22,884 *,406,635 Ao no Exorcist Vol.19
49. *21,673 *,*21,673 Gekijouban Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale Vol.1
50. *21,571 *,261,093 Ajin Vol.10

Light Novel Rank / This week’s sales by copies / Cumulative sales / Titles

*1. 27,044 *27,044 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! Vol.11
*2. 24,471 *33,894 Hidan no Aria Vol.25
*3. 14,017 *14,017 Fate/Prototype: Sougin no Fragments Vol.5
*4. 11,624 *18,857 Around Forty Kenja no Isekai Seikatsu Nikki Vol.3
*5. 10,871 *38,792 Meitantei Conan Karakurenai no Love Letter
*6. *7,654 *19,637 Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Memory Records Vol.2
*7. *7,138 **7,138 Satsuriku no Tenshi Vol.2
*8. *6,798 **9,686 Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu Vol.14
*9. *6,343 *15,115 Toaru Ossan no VRMMO Katsudouki Vol.12
10. *6,148 *14,556 Jinrui Saikyou no Tokimeki

11. *5,953 *38,854 Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria Vol.8
12. *5,372 **8,852 NEET dakedo Hello Work ni Ittara Isekai ni Tsuretekareta Vol.8
13. *5,236 **5,236 Haken no Kouki Altina Vol.12
14. *5,210 *12,383 Tsujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de 2-kai Kougeki no Okaasan wa Suki desu ka? Vol.2
15. *5,013 133,060 Eromanga-sensei Vol.1
16. *4,808 **4,808 Saikyou Mahoushi no Inton Keikaku Vol.2
17. *4,411 100,034 Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records Vol.1
18. *4,336 *98,448 Eromanga-sensei Vol.2
19. *4,300 *53,786 Fate/strange Fake Vol.4
20. *4,169 **4,169 Migawari Hakushaku to Shuumaku no Tsuzuki

21. *4,007 **4,007 Shounen wa Kami to Ai wo Chikau
22. *4,004 **5,942 Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata: Senjou wo Kakeru Kaifuku Youin Vol.5
23. *3,846 **3,846 Monster no Goshujinsama Vol.9
24. *3,817 *86,511 Eromanga-sensei Vol.3

[Source: Oricon Youtaijou via MAL]

The Aikatsu Stars! series is underway in Japan with the second season and TV Tokyo is getting things moving with promotion for the next episode. Ahead of the May 11th, 2017 debut, they’ve now let loose with a quick hit promo for the fifty-sixth episode that showcases the main cast and supporting characters well.

Please note that TV Tokyo marks these previews are private after the episode airs.

The series is directed by Teruo Satou based on the series composition by Yuuko Kakihara. Yukiko Aikyou serves as the character designer and it’s produced by Bandai Namco Pictures. The main cast includes Miyu Tomita, Ayaka Asai and Minami Tsuda.

The original series has been ongoing since 2012 with almost 150 episodes so far while the first theatrical feature landed from Sunrise back in December 2014.

Plot concept: The series features a new protagonist named Yume Nijino. Yume aims to become a top idol, and she enrolls in the Yotsuboshi Gakuen (Four Stars Academy). This academy has a special group called the S4, who are the top four active idols in the school. Yume and the other first-year students aim to become a part of the S4.

I’d fallen behind on updating with Hulu a bit since they weren’t updating much but there are a couple of recent additions as part of the spring season coming as they’re making more of a mainstream push with original works. The service recently added the Granblue Fantasy series as a simulcast addition to the service with it in its original Japanese with English subtitles. The first five episodes are available here.

The series has Yuuki Itou directing with Toshifumi Akai handling the character designs for it. With A-1 Pictures on the animation itself, we also know that Nobue Uematsu and Tsutomu Narita are handling the music. The opening theme song is “GO” by BUMP OF CHICKEN.

The Japanese cast includes Yuuki Ono as Glan, Nao Touyama as Ruria, Rie Kugimiya as Bii and Miyuki Sawashiro as Kataria.

Plot concept: This is a world of the skies, where many islands drift in the sky. A boy named Gran and a talking winged lizard named Vyrn lived in Zinkenstill, an island which yields mysteries. One day, they come across a girl named Lyria. Lyria had escaped from the Erste Empire, a military government that is trying to rule over this world using powerful military prowess. In order to escape from the Empire, Gran and Lyria head out into the vast skies, holding the l

TV Tokyo had their latest episode of Cocotama earlier today and that means they’re now starting their promotion for the next episode with the 82nd that’s set to arrive on May 11th, 2017. The show continues a pretty solid run and had the second DVD Box arrive on November 25th, 2016 in Japan with the third set recently released in March 2017 debut. Sadly, the series has not been picked up for a simulcast anywhere.

The series began airing in October 2015 with OLM Inc providing the animation for it. The show is directed by Norio Nitta based on the series composition by Michihiro Tsuchiya and character designs by Shinobu Ookawa.

Plot concept: Cocotama are tiny gods born from the thoughts and feelings of objects that people use with great care. The fact that Cocotama wear part of the egg they hatch out of as underwear is proof that they are still apprentices. The Cocotama use a mysterious magic, and they train hard to be of use to humans and to become full gods. They live inside human houses and stealthily move around to help humans find things they have lost, although they make many mistakes.

Viz Media made sure that one of their potentially bigger properties made its way onto Hulu recently with Boruto now streaming on the service as we catch up on some things we missed. The first five episodes of the series are now available there in its original Japanese language with English subtitles. With Hulu garnering a lot of attention for original works these days, having some shows like this also available definitely will catch a few new eyes.

The project has set Noruyuki Abe as the general director overseeing the project with Hiroyuki Yamashita serving as the main director working from scripts by Ukyo Kodachi and Makoto Uezu. Character designs are being worked on by Tetsuya Nishio and Hirofumi Suzuki.

The sequel manga to the Naruto series is written by Ukyo Kodachi with artwork by Mikio Ikemoto. With it having only two volumes out and being a monthly title, it’s expected to just be used as a launching point and likely going off on its own direction or in parallel to the plans laid out by editorial for the manga and anime.

The Japanese cast includes Yuko Sanpei as Boruto Uzumaki, Kokoro Kikuchi as Sarada Uchiha, Atsushi Abe as Inojin Yamanaka, Junko Takeuchi as Naruto Uzumaki, Kensho Ono as Shikadai Nara, Nana Mizuki as Hinata Hyuga, Ryoko Shiraishi as Chōchō Akimichi, Ryūichi Kijima as Mitsuki, Shinji Kawada as Shino Aburame, Showtaro Morikubo as Shikamaru Nara and Saori Hayami as Himawari Uzumaki.

Plot concept: The Hidden Leaf Village has entered an era of peace and modernity. Tall buildings line the streets, giant screens flash with images, and the Thunder Rail runs through the village, connecting each district together. Though it’s still a ninja village, the number of civilians has increased and the life of the shinobi is beginning to change.

Boruto Uzumaki, son of Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki, has enrolled in the Ninja Academy to learn the ways of the ninja. The other students are ready to dismiss him as “just the son of the Hokage,” but Boruto’s heart and character blow all their assumptions away.

As a series of mysterious events begins to unfold, it’s up to Boruto and his new friends to handle them. Like a gale-force wind, Boruto makes his own way into everyone’s hearts; his story is about to begin!

The anime adaptation of Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records is moving right along and now Kadokawa has provided a preview of the next episode. The sixth episode is set to land on May 9th, 2017 and the preview for it clocks in at 40 seconds as it shows off the comedy of it all pretty well. Crunchyroll is simulcasting the series every Tuesday at 9:30am ET for their members with it available to them worldwide outside of Asia. The series is being directed by Minato Klazuo based on the series composition and scripts from Touko Machida. Satoshi Kimura is on board as the character designer and Makoto Iino is the chief animation director with it being animated at LIDENFILMS.

The Japanese cast includes Soma Saito as Glenn Radars, Akane Fujita as Sistine Fibel, Yume Miyamoto as Rumia Tingel, Ari Ozawa as Ryiel Rayford, Hiroki Takahashi as Albert Frazer and Eri Kitamura as Celica Arfonia.

Konomi Suzuki will be performing the opening theme song “Blow Out” while the ending theme song “Precious You” will be performed by the three main actresses, Akane Fujita, Yume Miyamoto, and Ari Ozawa.

The series began in 2014 and comes from writer Tarou Hitsuji with illustration by Kurone Mishima. A manga adaptation also kicked off previously from AosaTsunemi that’s serialized in Shounen Ace. Five volumes have been produced so far.

Plot concept: Sistina attends a magical academy to hone her skills in the magical arts, hoping to solve the mystery of the enigmatic Sky Castle. After the retirement of her favorite teacher, the replacement, Glen, turns out to be a tardy, lazy, and seemingly incompetent bastard of an instructor. How is it that Glen was hand-picked by the best magician in the academy?!

As we get closer to the North American release of this property, Peppermint Anime is focusing on the fourth and final collection to cover the first season of The Seven Deadly Sins that’s coming up at the end of the month. To help get people a bit more interested in it, they recently brought out two more German language dub clips for it that showcases more of the property itself. The release plan for it has the first volume on November 25, 2016, the second on January 27, 2017, the third on March 24, 2017, and the final volume on May 26, 2017.

The first season of the series was directed by Tensai Okamura for A-1 Pictures with Shotaro Suga handling the composition while Keigo Sasaki handled the character designs for it as well as serving as chief animation director.

The German cast for it includes Arlette Stanschus as Elizabeth Liones, Daniela Reidies as Hawk, Patrick Bach as Meliodas, Holger Mahlich as Dreyfus, Jan-David Rönfeldt as Hendrickson, Jennifer Böttcher as Vivian, , Jens Wendland as King, Jesse Grimm as Gowther, Julia Fölster as Elaine, Kai Henrik Möller as Helbram, Katharina von Keller as Jericho, Kristina von Weltzien as Merlin, Manfred Liptow as Cain Barzad, Mario Grete as Griamore, Marion Elskis as Guila, Martin May as Howzer, Michael Bideller as Hugo, Nadine Schreier as Diane, Rasmus Borowski as Ban, Tammo Kaulbarsch as King, Tanja Schumann as Veronica Liones, Tobias Schmidt as Gilthunder and Wolf Frass as Narrator.

The Japanese cast includes Yuuki Kaji as Meliodas, Sora Amamiya as Elizabeth, Jun Fukuyama as King, Misaki Kuno as Hawk and Mamoru Miyano as Gilthunder so far.

The manga is created by Nakaba Suzuki with sixteen volumes in print so far and over three million copies in circulation total. Working in a similar vein as a few other properties of this nature, the manga has done the crossover gig with Fairy Tail before and you can imagine seeing that pop up in anime form as well as a special to promote it. The manga series began in 2012 and Kodansha Comics is bringing the series out this year for North American fans in print while Crunchyroll has the digital chapters being published on their site.

Plot concept: When they were accused of trying to overthrow the monarchy, the feared warriors the Seven Deadly Sins were sent into exile. Princess Elizabeth discovers the truth – the Sins were framed by the king’s guard, the Holy Knights – too late to prevent them from assassinating her father and seizing the throne!

Previous clips:

Series trailer:

The spring 2017 anime series Re: Creators is having its home video release plans handled by Aniplex USA and they’ve set the first volume so far. The series is being listed as limited editions for this release with the DVDs priced at 6,264 yen while the Blu-ray’s are priced at 7,344 yen. They’re listed as two-disc sets with the CD component to be determined with each release.

The project has Rei Hiroe set as the character designer for it and creating the original story as well as working on the screenplay for it. The project is set to be directed by Ei Aoki with TROYCA handling the animation. Makoto Kato is serving as the assistant director while Ryuichi Makino will be adapting Hiroe’s designs and serving as the chief animation director along with Jun Nakai.

The Japanese cast includes Daiki Yamashita as Souta Mizushino, Mikako Komatsu as Celesia Yupitilia, Inori Minase as Meteora Estarlich, Yoko Hikasa as Alicetelia Feblari, Rie Murakawa as Mamika Kouki, Kenichi Suzumura as Yuuya Mirokuji, Sora Amamiya as Rui Kanoya, Maaya Sakamoto as Shingan Chikujouin, Atsushi Ono as Blitz Torker and Aki Toyosaki as Princess with Solder Outfit.

Plot concept: Humans have created many stories. Joy, sadness, anger, deep emotion. Stories shake our emotions, and fascinate us. However, these are only the thoughts of bystanders. But what if the characters in the story have “intentions”? To them, are we god-like existences for bringing their story into the world? Our world is changed. Mete out punishment upon the realm of the gods. In Re:CREATORS, everyone becomes a Creator.

[Source: Re:CREATORS]

The second season of Attack on Titan is going right along and that includes the simuldub that’s being produced for it which is getting a Toonami broadcast. A new dub clip has arrived that shows off a bit of action and fun with the cast that reminds why this series is just so much fun.

Based on the original manga by Hajime Isayama, Tetsuro Araki served as the general director with Koizuka Masashi working on the series composition for the first season. Yasuko Kobayashi worked on the character designs while Kyoji Asano served as the Chief Animation Director. WIT STUDIO produced the animation.

The English cast includes Bryce Papenbrook as Eren Jaeger, Josh Grelle as Armin Arlet, Trina Nishimura as Mikasa Ackerman, Ashly Burch as Sasha Braus, Bryn Apprill as Christa Lenz, Clifford Chapin as Conny Springer, David Matranga as Bertholdt Hoover, David Wald as Hannes, Elizabeth Maxwell as Ymir, J. Michael Tatum as Erwin Smith, Jessica Calvello as Zoe Hange, Matthew Mercer as Levi Ackerman and Mike McFarland as Jean Kirstein.

The Japanese cast includes Yuuki Kaji as Eren Jaeger, Marina Inoue as Armin Arlelt, Yui Ishikawa as Mikasa Ackerman, Daisuke Ono as Erwin, Hiroshi Kamiya as Levi, Keiji Fujiwara as Hannes, Kishō Taniyama as Jean Kirschtein, Hiro Shimono as Conny Springer, Romi Park as Hanji, Ryota Ohsaka as Marco Bodt, Shiori Mikami as Christa Renz, Tomohisa Hashizume as Bertholt Hoover, Yoshimasa Hosoya as Reiner Braun, Yu Kobayashi as Sasha Browse and Yu Shimamura as Annie Leonhardt.

Series premise: Centuries ago, mankind was slaughtered to near extinction by monstrous humanoid creatures called titans, forcing humans to hide in fear behind enormous concentric walls. What makes these giants truly terrifying is that their taste for human flesh is not born out of hunger but what appears to be out of pleasure. To ensure their survival, the remnants of humanity began living within defensive barriers, resulting in one hundred years without a single titan encounter. However, that fragile calm is soon shattered when a colossal titan manages to breach the supposedly impregnable outer wall, reigniting the fight for survival against the man-eating abominations.

After witnessing a horrific personal loss at the hands of the invading creatures, Eren Yeager dedicates his life to their eradication by enlisting into the Survey Corps, an elite military unit that combats the merciless humanoids outside the protection of the walls. Based on Hajime Isayama’s award-winning manga, Shingeki no Kyojin follows Eren, along with his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman and his childhood friend Armin Arlert, as they join the brutal war against the titans and race to discover a way of defeating them before the last walls are breached.

It’s Friday! Let’s watch some anime! Crunchyroll has the shows that are going live today with:

• 9:30am - HINAKO NOTE Episode 5
• 10:00am - KADO: THE RIGHT ANSWER - Episode 5
• 10:30am - BERSERK (SEASON 2) Episode 18
• 11:00am - TWIN ANGELS BREAK Episode 5
• 1:35pm - SEVEN MORTAL SINS Episode 4
• 2:05pm - NINJA GIRL & SAMURAI MASTER 2ND Episode 31
• 7:30pm - 100% TEACHER PASCAL Episode 4
• 7:30pm - PRIPRI CHI-CHAN!! Episode 4

The free side unlocks the same from last week with:

• 9:30am - HINAKO NOTE
• 10:00am - KADO: THE RIGHT ANSWER
• 10:30am - BERSERK (SEASON 2)
• 11:00am - TWIN ANGELS BREAK
• 1:35pm - SEVEN MORTAL SINS
• 2:05pm - NINJA GIRL & SAMURAI MASTER 2ND
• 7:30pm - FUTURE CARD BUDDYFIGHT X
• 7:30pm - 100% TEACHER PASCAL
• 7:30pm - PRIPRI CHI-CHAN!!
• 8:00pm - BONO BONO 2ND SEASON

Funimation doesn’t have anything on their schedule for today.

The Anime Network doesn’t have anything on their schedule for today.

Daisuki doesn’t have anything on their schedule for today.

With the first image for Inhumans released earlier in the week that made us kind of cringe, Marvel has now cut loose with the first teaser for the event series. It’s not one that shows any footage but gives us a bit of dialogue and plays up the intrigue side, which is probably its best bet to try and stand apart from other Marvel TV projects.

The new series will not be introduced as a spinoff of Agents of SHIELD and will stand as its own project. It’s being planned for an eight-episode event run with an IMAX showing for the first two episodes ahead of the broadcast premiere.

With Scott Buck as showrunner, the series stars Anson Mount as Black Bolt, Serinda Swan as Medusa, Iwan Rheon as Maximus, Ken Leung as Karnak, Eme Ikwuakor as Gorgon, Isabelle Cornish as Crystal, Mike Moh as Triton, Sonya Balmores as Auran and Ellen Woglom.

Plot concept: The TV series will explore the never-before-told epic adventure of Black Bolt and the royal family. The Inhumans are a race of superhumans with diverse and singularly unique powers.