© Ishida Sui / Shueisha · Tokyo Ghoul: re Production Committee

Coming as no surprise but welcome to finally have the confirmation, an official site has opened to reveal that the Tokyo Ghoul:re manga will be getting an anime adaptation. The show is set for a 2018 debut with details about casting and staffing coming at a later date, though it was confirmed that Natsuki Hanae would be returning as Haise Sasaki.

The original manga series from Sui Ishida had an adaptation back in 2014 before shifting gears to this incarnation that moved things forward.

Plot Concept: Two years have passed since the CCG’s raid on Anteiku. Although the atmosphere in Tokyo has changed drastically due to the increased influence of the CCG, ghouls continue to pose a problem as they have begun taking caution, especially the terrorist organization Aogiri Tree, who acknowledge the CCG’s growing threat to their existence.

The creation of a special team, known as the Quinx Squad, may provide the CCG with the push they need to exterminate Tokyo’s unwanted residents. As humans who have undergone surgery in order to make use of the special abilities of ghouls, they participate in operations to eradicate the dangerous creatures. The leader of this group, Haise Sasaki, is a half-ghoul, half-human who has been trained by famed special class investigator, Kishou Arima. However, there’s more to this young man than meets the eye, as unknown memories claw at his mind, slowly reminding him of the person he used to be.

The release this week of the Drifters first anime season as a DVD/BD combo priced at $64.98 from Funimation has been a good thing as fans get into some pretty strong action material. But it’s also somewhat gory and Funimation has put together a fun three-minute clip that showcases the top five gory moments as voted on by the fans. Extras include twelve Inside the Episode featurettes, two audio commentaries, promotional videos, and the clean opening and closing sequences.

The show was directed by Kenichi Suzuki based on the script and composition by Hideyuki Kurata and Yousuke Kuroda. Ryouji Nakamori served as the character designer and chief animation director. Music is handled by Yasushi Ishii and Hayato Matsuo.

The ADR director for it is Christopher Bevins as he’s working with ADR engineer Matt Grounds and mix engineer Nathanael Harrison. The script adaptation was done by Patrick Seitz.

The English cast is set with Josh Grelle as Shimazu Toyohisa, Robert McCollum as Oda Nobunaga, Justin Briner as Nasu no Yoichi, Mark Stoddard as Scipio Africanus, R Bruce Elliott as Hannibal Barca, J. Michael Tatum as Butch Cassidy, Kent Williams as Sundance Kid, Justin Cook as Naoshi Kanno, Sonny Strait as Tamon Yamaguchi, Colleen Clinkenbeard as Jeanne D’Arc, Christopher R. Sabat as Gilles de Rais, Rachel Robinson as Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, Christopher Bevins as Grigori Rasputin, Ian Sinclair as Hijikata Toshizo, Jeremy Schwartz as Black King, David Wald as Murasaki, Chris Patton as Abe no Seimei (Harukira), Gwendolyn Lau as Olminu, Aaron Roberts as Kafet, Monica Rial as EASY, Greg Ayres as Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Mikaela Krantz as Masha and Apphia Yu as Mark.

The Japanese cast includes Yuichi Nakamura as Shimazu Toyohisa, Naoya Uchida as Oda Nobunaga, Mitsuki Saiga as Nasu no Yoichi, Takahiro Sakurai as Abe no Haruakira, Shiho Kokido as Olmine, Masakazu Nishida as Kafeto, Junko Minagawa as Jeanne d’Arc, Kenji Nomura as Gilles de Rais, Junko Kitanishi as Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, Masahiko Tanaka as Grigori Rasputin, Hiroki Yasumoto as Toshizou Hijikata, Mitsuru Miyamoto as Murasaki, Taiten Kusunoki as The Black King, Yutaka Aoyama as Hannibal Barca, Hiroshi Yanaka as Scipio Africanus, Kanae Itou as Easy, Junji Majima as Shara, Tomoko Tsuzuki as Mark and Sayori Ishizuka as Marsha.

Fans of Hellsing creator Kouta Hirano are used to the slow pace of his works in terms of getting released, and that means there’s not a lot of material to be made into anime form. Drifters began in 2011 and has five volumes out so far, three of which have seen release in North America through Dark Horse Comics.

Plot Concept: Shimazu Toyohisa, whilst involved at the Battle of Sekigahara, manages to mortally wound Ii Naomasa, but is critically wounded in the process. As he walks from the field broken and bleeding, Toyohisa finds himself transported to a corridor of doors, where a bespectacled man at a desk waits for him. This man, Murasaki, sends Toyohisa into the nearest door where he wakes up in another world. There, Toyohisa meets other great warriors like him who have been transported as well, to be part of a group known as “Drifters.”

Last week, Crunchyroll announced that they picked up the streaming rights for the King’s Game anime series. We didn’t have the streaming premiere date or availability for it set at the time but that’s now landed with the service revealing that episodes will go live on Thursday’s at noon with the first episode already out. Availability for it is decent as it’s open to viewers in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and Latin America.

Noriyoshi Sasaki is directing the series with Kenji Konuta handling the series composition. Kan Soramoto and Yosuke Ito are working on the character designs and it’s being animated at Seven.

The Japanese cast includes Mamoru Miyano as Nobuaki Kanazawa, Shinya Hamazoe as Shingo Adachi, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Toshiyuki Abe, Miyuu Tsuji as Satomi Ishii, Suguru Narisawa as Hirofumi Inoue, Pile as Ria Iwamura, Yūma Uchida as Yōsuke Ueda, Yui Makino as Kana Ueda, Fukushi Ochiai as Akira Ōno, Kimito Totani as Yūsuke Kawakami, Ami Fukushima as Chia Kawano, Konomi Yūzaki as Akemi Kinoshita, Yuka Ōtsubo as Mami Shirokawa, Hisayoshi , Suganuma as Daisuke Tasaki, Kenji Akabane as Hideki Toyoda, Mirai Sasaki as Minako Nakao, Risa Yuzuki as Misaki Nakajima, Shinnosuke Tachibana as Naoya Hashimoto, Minori Suzuki as Nami Hirano, Kōdai Sakai as Toshiyuki Fujioka, M.A.O as Chiemi Honda, Mariko Honda as Kaori Maruoka, Misaki Suzuki as Emi Miyazaki, Shūta Morishima as Shōta Yashiro, Miya Amamiya as Hiroko Yamaguchi, Yui Nagano as Keita Yamashita, Yusuke Sasaki as Kenta Akamatsu, Yū Sanada as Masatoshi Ōi, Saki Fujita as Aya Kuramoto, Hitoshi Horinouchi as Daiki Kurosawa, Ai Nakajima as Yūna Kobayashi, Hayato Horiuchi as Toshifumi Sakakibara, Satoshi Hino as Takuya Sakamoto, Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Yūichi Satō, Yuusuke Tonozaki as Tatsuya Shinba, Hiroyuki Kagura as Ryō Sugisawa, Makoto Takada as Shin Takada, Rie Hanafusa as Nanami Takumi, Ryōta Suzuki as Teruaki Nagata, Masashi Uchida as Tsubasa Furusawa, Yui Horie as Natsuko Honda, Yuka Ozaki as Aya Matsuoka, Akari Uehara as Riona Matsumoto, Kana Yūki as Rina Minami, Ibuki Kido as Aimi Murazumi, Kazusa Aranami as Haruka Momoki, and Suzuna Kinoshita as Mitsuki Yukimura.

Plot Concept: Kanazawa Nobuaki has transferred to a high school far from where he used to live. Due to an incident at his old school, Nobuaki is afraid of getting close to his new classmates and keeps himself at a distance, but he starts opening up because of a sports day inter-class relay. Then, a single text message from someone calling themselves the “King” is sent to everyone in class. Nobuaki’s classmates think it’s a simple prank, and don’t take it seriously–but Nobuaki knows that a death game is about to begin, and struggles to oppose it…

The hard part of trying to be a good person.

Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Mike S. Miller
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letterer: Wes Abbott

What They Say:
Confined to Black Adam’s castle since her arrival on Earth, Kara Zor-el remains ignorant of events going on in the rest of the world. Damian Wayne—visiting Khandaq in an attempt to recruit Black Adam to Ra’s al Ghul’s cause—decides a flight around the world is just what she needs. But when they land in the middle of a Civil War, will it prematurely reveal the presence of Supergirl on Earth?

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The return to Khandaq the last time around was certainly welcome as I was curious as to how things were working out with Kara unders Black Adam’s tutelage. Tom Taylor has been working several story points over the series as a whole and keeping it moving but this one hasn’t gotten the attention I wanted for it until now. This second part brings Mike S. Miller back for another round and that’s a good thing as I like his interpretation of the characters and he handles the layouts well, giving the sparse look to Bialya and Khandaq that fit in a way. This book does some fun stuff with a couple of its characters and sets up things to come that has me really excited.

Damian’s arrival in Khandaq has certainly thrown things off with what Adam is planning and it’s amusing to see how he thinks he can keep Damian confined to his room. Damian’s definitely intrigued by Kara because he sees has a potentially better path along the lines of Superman without the craziness and rot that came from it. When he manages to coax her out of the palace through less than smart means the two end getting to see a good part of the area, including a great scene reminiscent of the Christopher Reeves Superman movie with the two of them flying together. Kara’s delight at seeing the colors of this world, different from her red sun world, and there’s a life and light to her eyes that you know is fairly intoxicating to Damian even if he’s trying to tamp it down.

What changes things is that when the two are in Bialya that he shows off the civil war going on there, something that horrifies her considering her own past. The two get involved and that lets Damian show more of his true self in a way as he protects people but it comes with him having to explain more of his dark heritage and the plans his grandfather has. What becomes intriguing is seeing Adam step into this conversation later and mention his own plans with Themyscira as we haven’t seen much of Wonder Woman for some time. Adam’s always working some sort of large plan to ensure his people’s survival and I’m definitely excited to see what he may have in mind here to put into motion and how it’ll conflict with what everyone else is doing.

In Summary:
Injustice 2 continues to delight and this issue is no exception. Kara’s introduction into the series is expanded on nicely here as we see what Adam has in mind for her and just more of her life there in general. At the same time we get some decent Damian material but he’s made it hard to trust him in general over the run of this series, never mind outside of it. There’s a lot to like here and Mike S. Miller delivers some great pages and some really great design work for Kara that’s appealing, especially when she puts on his mask. Definitely a fun issue that has me excited for more.

Grade: B+

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: October 3rd, 2017
MSRP: $0.99

It’s been a year since the debut of the Kiss Him, Not Me anime series as part of the fall 2016 season and now Crunchyroll has a bit of an update on it. They’re still streaming the show but have now added UK and Ireland to the list thanks to the involvement of Anime Limited looking to distribute the title. The series was originally open to viewers in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America.

The show was directed by Hiroshi Ishiodori based on the series composition from Michiko Yokote. Kazuhiko Tamura served as the character designer while Mina Oosawa served as the chief animation director. Brains Base produced the animation for it.

The Japanese cast includes Yu Kobayashi as Kae Serinuma, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Hayato Shinomiya, Yuuki Ono as Yūsuke Igarashi, Nobunaga Shimazaki as Asuma Mutsumi, Keisuke Koumoto as NozomuNanashima, Miyuki Sawashiro as Shima Nishina, Asami Shimoda as Amane Nakano, Yuu Sugimoto as Mitsuko Serinuma, Takahiro Mizushima as Takurou Serinuma, Daisuke Namikawa as Shion, Kenjirou Tsuda as Tella and Yuuichi Nakamura as Kazuma Mutsumi.

From4to7, which is made up of the various actors from the show, performed the opening theme song “Prince x Prince”, while Rie Murakawa performed the ending theme song “Doki Doki no Kaze.”

The manga recently began simulpub distribution from Kodansha Comics through Amazon and ComiXology as well as bringing it out in print. The series has nine volumes released in Japan so far.

Plot concept: Kae is a normal, everyday high school girl with a secret – she’s a fujoshi, a fan of yaoi manga, who has fantasies about the boys in her school making out with each other. When the death of her favorite character causes stress-induced rapid weight loss, she becomes the object of those same boys’ affections. What can she do when she’d rather they kissed each other instead of her?

Crunchyroll has announced the pick up of the latest Rainy Cocoa work under the name Ame-Con!! with the first episode now live. New episodes will go live on Tuesday’s at 11:30am ET for their members. Availability for it is pretty good as it’s open to viewers in the U.S.A, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, and Central and South America including Caribbean. The previous seasons have seen streaming on Funimation and they released the first two seasons on DVD previous.

Check out our review of the first two seasons.

Plot concept: With the help of the friends he met in Hawaii, Nozomu successfully opened his cafe, Rainy Color Waikiki Branch. They had a rush of customers during their opening, but since then, it’s been a real struggle. To break through the problem and help the struggling Nozomu, the shop’s owner Amami brings a Shiba Inu to be their shop dog. The Shiba Inu, Nana, has the ability to identify delicious coffee by smell! Nozomu meets new characters and faces hard struggles. And eventually, he makes an incredible move that nobody would ever expect! Set against famous sightseeing spots in Hawaii, a story of hard work unfolds in Waikiki!

© Oku Hiroya · Kodansha / Inuyashiki Production Committee

The noitaminA block announced back in December the fall 2017 plans for an adaptation of the Inuyashiki manga from Hiroya Oku of Gantz fame and we’re just about to the premiere. The series is set to debut on October 12th, 2017 and now the noitaminA channel has brought out one more trailer for the show clocking in at 90-seconds as it shows off more of it and the theme song side. The series will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in Japan and through Anime Strike overseas. Qaijiff will be singing the ending theme song for it with “Ai wo Ishiete Kureta Kimi e.”

The previously announced Japanese cast includes Fumiyo Kohinata as Ichirō Inuyashiki, Nijirō Murakami as Hiro Shishigami, Sumire Uesaka as Mari Inuyashiki, and Sumire Moroboshi as Shion Watanabe.

The property is getting both a live-action film and an anime TV series. The project previously set Keiichi Satou as the chief director with Shuhei Yabuta serving as the hands-on director at MAPPA. Hiroshi Seko is on board for the series composition and Naoyuki Onda is going to handle the character design.

Kodansha Comics is releasing the manga in print and digital form with Crunchyroll also doing some simulpub work on it. There are currently seven volumes published as of this fall in Japan with Oku indicating that he has it set for a ten-volume run total.

Plot Concept: Ichiro Inuyashiki is down on his luck. While only 58 years old, his geriatric looks often have him written off as a pathetic old man by the world around him and he’s constantly ignored and disrespected by his family despite all that he’s done to support them. On top of everything else, his doctor has revealed that he has cancer and it appears that he has little time left in this world. But just when it seems things couldn’t get any worse, a blinding light in the night sky strikes the earth where Ichiro stands. He later wakes up to find himself unscathed, but he soon starts to notice that there’s something…different about himself.

With a new OVA coming up this month in Japan and a new TV season next year, things are looking up for fans of Encouragement of Climb. Unfortunately, since it’s been a few years since the original seasons aired, they’re not long for the streaming world. Crunchyroll has confirmed that the second season will be expiring at the end of the day on October 9th, 2017. The first season will remain and its short-form nature makes it a quick binge to take in before the second season disappears as it’s definitely one of those shows we think is very worth following for all the feels.

The original manga from Siro began back in 2011 in Comic Earth Star and has thirteen volumes released so far. Check out all our past coverage of the two seasons here. Crunchyroll simulcast both seasons but no home video pickups were ever made.

Plot concept: Aoi and Hinata are childhood friends. Aoi prefers staying indoors and is afraid of heights, whereas Hinata is outgoing and loves mountaineering. They both decide to climb a mountain in order to see a sunrise they saw together when they were younger.

ComiXology has a pretty good new creator spotlight up that doesn’t get anywhere near the attention that they should with Shotari Ishinomori. The popular creator has had a lot of works adapted into anime form in Japan but they, and his manga, tend to be a bit more of a cult following overseas and in North America in particular. ComiXology is offering up thirteen volumes of five of his works at a great price where they’re just $4.99 each, making it easy to try out without much of an outlay.

Check out the full spotlight here.

Cyborg 009: Spreading the seeds of war and reaping huge profits by selling weapons to warring nations, the organization of death merchants known as BLACK GHOST plots to dominate the world! With an eye toward super-stratospheric war, they draft a secret plan to develop an invincible warrior, the Cyborg Soldier. Gathering nine young people from various countries around the world, they create a prototype cyborg, the 00- series, for the purpose of mass producing an army of unstoppable killing machines. Appalled by the twisting of science to such evil purposes, Dr. ISAAC GILMORE escapes from the organization, taking the nine cyborgs with him. These nine youngsters must struggle to overcome the trauma of their transformation into cyborgs and fight back against Black Ghost with all the powers at their disposal. The peace of the world depends on them!

Skullman: TATSUO KAGURA was born the son of two geniuses. Inheriting their great talent, he has grown to be a super genius boy, something like a mutant. Tatsuo’s parents were treated like monsters due to their outstanding abilities, and murdered by someone who hated them for it. Tastuo, left alone, comes to learn of his parents’ cruel fate, and spends the rest of his life seeking vengeance.

Tatsuya turns 17. The time has come, and he is ready to take his revenge. He wears a skull mask marking him as messenger from the land of the dead, and identifies himself as Skull Man. Together with GALO, an artificial creature and a product of his father’s research, Skull Man tracks down and destroys all those connected with the killing of his parents, and lays a trap for the real culprit hiding in the shadows.

Kikaider: DR. KOMYOGI is an expert in robotics and has a wealthy sponsor, HERBERT GILL. Gill however, is a horrible man who forces Dr. Komyogi to develop numerous robots which he plans to use to take over the world. Dr. Komyogi realizes Gill’s dark ambition and secretly develops a high-performance humanoid-robot called Jiro, who looks exactly like a human but transforms into a battle robot Kikaider who has his great superpower. Komyoji leaves Kikaider with his daughter MITSUKO and then disappears.

Finally, Gill makes his move. He unleashes a robot army named DARK to dominate and control human society. Mitsuko, reading a message left for her by her father Dr. Komyogi, persuades Jiro/Kikaider to fight off Gill’s terrible robots. On that day, Jiro/Kikaider’s fierce battles with DARK begin!

Kamen Rider: TAKESHI HONGO is an expert motorcycle racer and a young genius with an IQ of 400. He is abducted by the secretive company SHOCKER and turned into a cyborg as part of a fiendish plot to take over the world. Just before his brain is irrevocably transformed, Hongo manages to escape his hidden prison with the assistance of his respected teacher Dr. MIDORIKAWA, a scientific genius who has been forced to work for Shocker. Hongo, with his indomitable spirit and sense of justice, names himself the MASKED RIDER and uses his motorcycle, Cyclone, and the superhuman powers imbued in him

Inazuman: SABURO KAZEDA is an average school boy, but after he is attacked by the advance guards of the Neo-Human Empire on the way home from school, he starts to develop supernatural powers! The Neo-Human Empire is an organization of mutants with superpowers who plot to turn the world into a place dominated by their own kind, eliminating any homo sapiens that are not mutated.
For the mutants of the Empire, homo sapiens are merely “ancient humans who have not evolved.”
The Empire’s attacks on humankind awaken the mutant powers hidden inside Saburo. Discovering Saburo’s astonishing supernatural powers, the Empire pressures him to join their ranks, but he refuses. The righteous Saburo determines to fight the Empire for the sake of all humankind, using his powers for justice. As he changes into a butterfly-like figure–the MUTANT INAZUMAN–he finds that he can control lighting and electricity! Inazuman must develop his mighty supernatural powers and take a stand against the Neo-Human Empire. As the evil powers and righteous powers clash together and spark, a furious battle for the survival of mankind begins!

The fall 2015 streaming debut of Comet Lucifer was one that was pretty limited on Crunchyroll as they could only offer it to viewers in North America and Latin America. With the domestic home video release having come and gone as well as the Japanese ones, things are shifting just a bit. They’ve now added UK and Ireland to the availability list thanks to Anime Limtied, who picked up the show during its simulcast run but had distribution forit elsewhere.

Check out our review of the series.

Sentai Filmworks has picked up the North America rights for this Bandai Visual series while Anime Limited has it in the UK and Hanabee for Australia. It originally aired in the fall 2015 season for twelve episodes.

The original series is directed by Yasuhiyo Kikuchi based off of the script and composition by Yuuichi Nomura, who came up with the overall plan for the show. Atsushi Nakayama served as the series director while Yuuichi Takahashi worked on the character design and chief animation director duties. The series was animated at studio 8bit.

The Japanese Cast includes Yuusuke Kobayashi as Sougo Amagi, Ayaka Ohashi as Felia, Rie Takahashi as Kaon Lanchester, Takuma Terashima as Roman Valov, Ayaka Suwa as Otto Motou and Inori Minase as Mo Litica Tzetzes Ura.

Plot concept: Gift, a world covered in glittering blue crystals called gifdium. Sougo Amagi is a boy who lives in the town of Garden Indigo, which has prospered from the mining of these crystals. Sougo, whose hobby is collecting rare crystals, one day becomes involved in a dispute between classmates Kaon, Roman, and Otto. He wanders deep into the ruins of a mine and discovers an underground lake. There, Sougo meets a mysterious girl with blue hair and red eyes. Who is this girl, and what will their meeting bring? The door to an adventure opens with their newly formed bond.

NBC Universal Japan previously set a complete collection box set release for the My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO! season and it’s definitely looking interesting. Scheduled for October 25th, 2107, we now have the the finalized packaging for it with what the set will look like that’s definitely pretty appealing in giving our leads some wonderful images.

It’s priced at 22,000 yen and has 240 minutes of extras included with it. The show is spread across two discs with a third bonus disc plus a CD that has the new recorded radio material. It also comes with a booklet. The bonus disc looks to come with some event video and more to be detailed. The previous singles were done across seven discs and have been reauthored down to two.

Check out our review of the series.

Plot Concept: The stampede of recent events may have herded the awkward members of the Service Club into something closer to a real bonding, but the upcoming field trip to Kyoto threatens to reverse those tiny steps forward. Alongside a list of attractions to see, they’ll also be taking along a lot of emotional baggage, and helping others with their personal and romantic issues may just cause the entire luggage rack to collapse.

Between Hachiman’s growing realization of how much he can manipulate others, Yukino’s underlying battles with responsibility, and Yui’s shifting needs and insecurities, the tenuous thread that holds their relationship together is more fragile than ever.

Even as the path ahead is strewn with psychological traps, the feelings that each of them refuse to acknowledge may end up being the true pitfall in MY TEEN ROMANTIC COMEDY SNAFU TOO!

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO Japanese Packaging

[Source: Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru]

It’s been a long time in coming as Funimation initially announced their acquisition of these properties back in 2013 but they’re now able to move forward with the My-Hime and My-Otome properties. The distributor is planning these releases for DVD/BD combo form with a January 8th, 2017 debut. We’ll be seeing the actual breakdown into the number of releases in the near future, but fans can expect to be able to get:

• MY-HIME
• MY-OTOME
• MY-OTOME ZWEI
• MY-OTOME 0: S.IFR

My-Hime: Thirteen girls, each with the ability to materialize “Elements” and summon metallic guardians called “Childs” have been brought to Fuuka Academy to battle mysterious creatures called Orphans. Each with a different personality and background, they must decide who they truly care about and why they fight.

My-Otome: Arika Yumemiya has traveled far in search of her goal: the prestigious Gualderobe Academy. This is the school where young girls are trained to become Otomes, protectors of royal leaders throughout the lands. Here, Arika makes plenty of friends, but some enemies know something about her past that she does not. Nevertheless, her spirit and determination will keep pushing her forward.

Funimation has a new acquisition that they’ve announced at NYCC today with the pickup of the Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress TV series. With details such as the English language dub cast to come soon, the show is being planned for a 2018 release in DVD/BD combo form as well as regular and limited edition releases. The series was streamed through Amazon previously.

The series was an interesting from a design perspective as it reunited some Attack on Titan colleagues with director Tetsuro Araki and writer Ichiro Okouchi. Okouchi is the main force behind the original Code Geass story and most of its spinoffs as well as having done the first two Berserk features for their screenplays.

The Japanese cast includes Tasuku Hatanaka as Ikoma, Sayaka Senbongi as Mumei, Maaya Uchida as Ayame, Toshiki Masuda as Kurusu, Yuuki Kaji as Takumi, Kanae Oki as Kajika, Mariya Ise as Yukina, Ryota Ohsaka as Sukari, Kensuke Satou as Kibito and Mamoru Miyano as Biba.

Plot concept: The series takes place on the island country Hinomoto, where humans hide themselves in fortresses called stations against the threat of zombie-like beings with steel hearts known as “Kabane.” Only armored locomotives known as “Hayajiro” go between the stations.

© Kohei Horikoshi / Shueisha · My Hero Academia Production Committee

This one really comes as no surprise but it’s welcome to not have to wonder for awhile as Funimation has confirmed that they will be streaming the third series that was just announced earlier this week for My Hero Academia. The details of the show will be coming later in Japan and it’ll be interesting to see how far into the manga they adapt and how soon it ends up premiering. The manga will have sixteen volumes out as of next month.

The series was directed by Kenji Nagasaki based on the series composition by Yousuke Kuroda. Yoshihiko Umakoshi is on board as the character designer and chief animation director with it being produced at BONES.

The Japanese cast includes Daiki Yamashita as Izuku, Kenta Miyake as All Might, Ayane Sakura as Ochako Uraraka, Kaito Ishikawa as Tenya Iida, Aoi Yuki as Tsuyu Asui, Ryou Hirohashi as Minoru Mineta, Marina Inoue as Momo Yaoyorozu, Yoshimasa Hosoya, Yuuki Kaji as Shoto Todoroki, Eri Kitamura as Mina Ashido, Kōsuke Kuwano as Yūga Aoyama, Kei Shindou as Kyōka Jirō, Masakazu Nishida as Mezō Shōji, Saki Ogasawara as Itsuka Kendou, Kouji Okino as Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and Azu Sakura as Mei Hatsume.

Originally starting back in the summer of 2014, after creator Kouhei Horikoshi Barrage series ended, My Hero Academia is one of the more well-received books in the English edition of Weekly Shonen Jump.

Horikoshi received a Tezuka Award Honorable Mention in 2006 after publishing several short stories in Akamaru Jump. His first serialized work was Oumagadoki Doubutsuen back in 2010.

Plot Concept: What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks”? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless? Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with

The fourth and final season of Star Wars Rebels is set for an October 16th, 2017 debut where it’s supposed to tie into more of the events leading up to the period of Rogue One and we’re definitely interested to see how far it goes since it’s aimed at a younger audience than The Clone Wars. Ahead of the new season we now have the latest extended TV spot from Disney XD for the season and it’s an interesting one in just how much darker it looks compared to the first three seasons.

The series stars Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan, Vanessa Marshall as Hera, Steve Blum as Zeb, Tiya Sircar as Sabine, Taylor Gray as Ezra, Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex, Captain Gregor and Commander Wolffe, Sam Witwer as Darth Maul, David Oyelowo as Agent Kallus and Lars Mikkelsen (“House of Cards”) as Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Plot concept: Having established a secret base on Atollon, the Ghost crew, now led by a more powerful Ezra, strengthens the rebel fleet by acquiring new resources and recruits eager to stand against the Empire. However, the Imperial efforts to eliminate the rebellion are now being led by the coldly analytical Grand Admiral Thrawn, whose strategic, tactical and cultural insights make him a threat unlike any they have faced before. In season three, Ezra and Sabine take on new roles and challenges as the rebels prepare for their biggest mission yet – a direct assault on the Empire.

“This is how a rebellion starts… Let’s go.” The final season of #StarWarsRebels blasts off on Monday, October 16th! @starwars pic.twitter.com/SR7nW3IRGm

— Disney XD (@DisneyXD) October 4, 2017

© 2017 Matsumoto Namir / KADOKAWA

Set for an October 11th, 2017 premiere, the anime adaptation of Namiru Matsumoto’s series Boku no Kanojo ga Majimesugiru Shojo Bitch na Ken, which translates as My Girlfriend is a Shobitch, has expanded on its cast a bit. The show has added five new members as you can see below. Sentai Filmworks picked up the rights to the show recently and has it set to stream viz Anime Strike for the fall season. The show is being directed by Nobuyoshi Nagayama based on the series composition from Hideki Shirane. Sachiko Yasuda is handling the character designs with animation produced by Diomedea.

• Arthur Lounsbery as Seiya Hoshikawa
• Megumi Nakamura as Ichika Omori
• Iori Nomizu as Aoi Koshimizu
• Ayasa Itō as Huyumi Kōsaka
• Jun Miyamoto as Natsuo Shinozaki

【新情報】そして…追加キャスト第2弾も公開★
星川聖夜　CV: ランズベリー・アーサーさん
大森一華　CV: 中村慈さん
小清水葵　CV: 野水伊織さん
香坂冬美　CV: 齋藤綾さん
香坂夏雄　CV: 宮本淳さんhttps://t.co/xRdOwqxxyR　#しょびっち pic.twitter.com/yY5Z1MtdmW

— TVアニメ「しょびっち」公式 (@shobicchi_anime) October 5, 2017

The Japanese cast includes Aoi Yuuki as Akiho Kousaka, Mitsuhiro Ichiki as Haruka Shinozaki, Rarisa Tako Takeda as Shizuku Ariyama, Natsumi Yamada as Rina Saijou, Yuki Yagi as Kanada Shinozaki, Juri Nagatsuma as Saori Igarashi, Miki Hase as Sayo Shizumori, and Marin Mizutani as Misaki Aikawa.

The opening theme song by Aoi Yuki with “Eternal Labyrinth” while the ending theme song “Ai no Himitsu” will be performed by several of the main voice actresses.

The manga has been serialized on the Niconico Seiga site since summer 2015 with it getting three print volumes so far.

Plot Concept: After Shinozaki Haruka confesses to the Class Rep, Kousaka Akiho, he comes to find that the perfect class representative might be a little bit harder to handle than he previously thought!

HOUSTON, TX, October 5, 2017 - HIDIVE will soon begin streaming Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 2 for the 2017 fall simulcast season in North America and international territories!

Starting October 7th, HIDIVE members will be able to stream new episodes of Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 2 every Saturday at 17:30 UTC on HIDIVE’s anime streaming service in the following territories:

United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Central America, South America, Netherlands, Scandanavia, and Turkey

The second season of this supernatural comedy thrusts viewers back into Eternal Hell! Just as in this life, the afterlife needs a calm troubleshooter to deal with the bureaucratic headaches that come from keeping things in order. After all, Lord Enma is a very busy (and kind of incompetent) overlord, and he needs the help of his most charismatic shadow hero to keep Hell from falling into chaos. Enter Hozuki: a cool and collected demon who’s badly in need of a vacation.

To learn more about HIDIVE’s anime streaming services, or to sign up for a 7-day free trial, visit HIDIVE.com, or follow HIDIVE™ on Facebook and Twitter.

About HIDIVE™ LLC

HIDIVE is a new anime streaming service built with the needs of anime fans in mind. Currently offering a beta with a curated (and growing) catalog of some the most iconic anime and live action titles of the past and present, HIDIVE provides a unique streaming experience to its territories around the world. Featuring one of the industry’s best players, customizable subtitles, in-episode live-chat, pinned searches, and more, fans can watch, discover, and share their favorite shows. For more information, or to start a free trial, visit HIDIVE.com.

Forsaking the fun of single life and all the sex involved, Natsumi takes a husband but finds she can’t leave all of her past behind.

What They Say:
This feature details the life of a happy housewife. She, however, lived on the edge in the past meeting many people and therefore experienced a dark chapter in her life. She has worked hard to forget her dark past but her mind and body will not allow her to do so completely. She has done a good job of controlling herself until one day her husband brought a friend over to the house and that particular friend happened to be someone that she had a fling with during her wilder, darker days. The lust that was caged for so long has now broken free…there is nothing holding her back now!

The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo encoded at 192kbps. The mix included is the only language track available on the disc and it’s pretty decent but there isn’t a lot involved with it beyond dialogue. Other than some ambient music in a few places and some incidental sound effects, this is pretty much a dialogue and moan driven mix and it carries that job off pretty well and without much issue. We didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.

Video:
Originally released in 2004, the transfer for this OVA is presented in its original full frame aspect ratio. The source materials for this look to be in good shape with a clean and clear look to it and one that is free of problems such as cross coloration or much in the way of aliasing. The transfer here does look a bit soft though and not too detailed in some areas but a number of shows from Milky tend to exhibit this. Colors look good throughout and the pinks and purples, in particular, have some good depth to them. Only a few areas such as some of the background scenes looked like they had much in the way of posterization or minor blocking/gradient issues.

Packaging:
The cover for this release looks quite good with the visual of Natsumi in her little pink sweater and yellow apron being molested from behind by two men. Her expression is the kind that mixes the bit of fear of the situation with the actual enjoyment of it. The cover is very heavy on the shades of pink and they, along with most of the other colors, just look really great here. It’s an attractive and eye-catching design particular for those who favor this kind of material. The back cover is a bit more mellow though it keeps with the pink and has a lot of white space as well. There are a few shots from the show, nothing explicit, and a decent summary of the premise as well as mentioning its manga origins. The production information is clearly listed and the technical section is spot on. No insert is included with this release nor is there a reverse side cover.

Menu:
The menu layout is simple but effective as it uses the artwork of Natsumi from the front cover and plenty of pinks and whites to soften the overall image to good effect. The navigation is quick and easy to navigate, especially as they do a good job of making it as seamless as you can with the DVD menu software. Access times are nice and fast and due to there being only one language and set of subtitles, our players’ presets were pretty much a non-issue with this.

Extras:
There are no extras included but the extras menu does feature the ipod/psp instructions as well as a sex-only selection.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One of the things I find enjoyable about the adult anime genre itself is seeing all of the various subgenres that come out of it. The “housewife” genre is one that has at times been quite good, such as Taboo Charming Mother being a prime example. Insatiable is the latest entry from that genre and it follows some of the things that seem to be established within this area.

One of the areas of appeal is that it typically features women who are a bit older than the schoolgirl tarts that populate a lot of the other subgenres. This shift away from the school setting brings in some more interesting premises I think or at least not quite as much of the same thing. One of the things that seems to be common among them is that they all have deep purple hair. I can’t actually complain about it though since I find it to be an attractive feature and one that helps to keep the show within some kind of sense of reality. Insatiable brings us the latest woman with the purple hair whose life has undergone some changes.

In the first five minutes or so, we get treated to a series of brief sexual encounters featuring a short haired Natsumi as she lived her single life strong and loved every minute of it, finding sex wherever she could. But as time went on she wondered if she shouldn’t try to change her ways some and she found herself a husband through an agency that deals with that. It’s hard to say that the two of them are passionately in love with each other, but they’re compatible and get along, both outside the bedroom and inside. They’ve lived this way together for a bit now, as evident by her slightly longer hair style and the way she seems so comfortable as a housewife. But as she tells us, she’s started thinking more of her old ways and wondering if she is missing it more than she realizes.

Her relatively happy domestic life takes a twisted turn however when her husband brings home an old friend for dinner. He’s said little about having friends in the past and one like this seems strange but she’s glad to know that her husband has someone like that in any case. To her surprise, after the evening starts to get underway, she realizes that he’s one of the guys she had an affair with some time ago and he hasn’t forgotten. Before she realizes it, her husband has passed out from what little he’s drunk and the friend, Megumi, is now making sure to have his way with her by ensuring his silence to his friend. Natsumi, already tipsy from her drinks, finds she’s all too willing to do what it takes to save her husband from this.

Natsumi now finds herself caught up in Megumi’s web again and forced into doing his bidding after he gets an incriminating picture of her. She’s apprehensive about what he has her doing but at the same time she’s quickly falling into finding it to be exactly what she’s needed, but there are some blatantly obvious secrets being passed around as she falls into her next encounter with him, but they are secrets that are kept for now. Insatiable is actually a fairly slow show in its initial progression but it does do it right by tantalizing us from the start with a number of strong but brief sex scenes. Once past that it takes a bit of time to get going properly again but the payoff is good as Natsumi is very emotive in her scenes and gives in to everything after a few half hearted denials.

Insatiable in terms of its design is interesting. While the actual locations and set designs are straightforward pieces that don’t stand out, the characters themselves feel a bit of, but not in an entirely bad way. The three characters that make up the bulk of the show are ones that you could say are based off of very standard designs but the men are given a bit of a harder edge and somewhat curious style for their eyes while Natsumi herself is familiar but also different in her facial and hair design. It’s hard to pin down exactly if they work or not. Natsumi’s more domesticated version of herself feels a bit odd after seeing her rough and tumble nympho side which is part of it I’m sure. The animation quality itself is pretty good though and it’s consistent throughout with much in the way of problems or repetitive sequences.

In Summary:
Just going by the cover artwork, I was expecting something a bit more familiar and predictable but Insatiable surprised me with its character designs and by the way Natsumi was so open about her sexuality in her past. Often we get characters that are either prudes or just inexperienced and then they find their way. For her, she’s found her way and has tried to deny it but now finds that it may be the salvation she needs. While it isn’t a stellar production, it’s one of the better ones out of Milky that we’ve seen recently and it doesn’t answer everything, as obvious as it may be, in the first volume. It’s got us curious to see what it really wants to do next and how it will go about it.

Features
Japanese 2.0 Language, English Subtitles

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

Released By: Japan Anime
Release Date: September 26th, 2006
MSRP: $24.99
Running Time: 30 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 rankings have landed from Japan with what’s selling in the manga and light novel worlds for the week ending October 1st, 2017. The manga side has the latest volume of March Comes in Like a Lion taking the top spot with a strong 400,000 volume count, making it clear why more anime is on the work. The latest Saint Onii-san has added a good chunk of sales in its second week and the rest of the top five are all second-week titles as well. This week sees some new titles in the top ten such as Ashi-Girl and Kou no Dori as well.

The light novel side of things are pretty good this week as well with the latest Overlord volume dropping to just under 99,000 units. The chart has lots of popular titles doing well, including Knights & Magic coming out with 20,000 units with its first week sales of the latest volume, and some good continuing sales for popular titles like SNAFU and Sword Art Online.

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

*1. 400,176 400,176 3-gatsu no Lion Vol.13
*2. 127,088 251,833 Saint☆Onii-san Vol.14
*3. *92,986 204,141 Kinou Nani Tabeta? Vol.13
*4. *91,517 177,983 Hoozuki no Reitetsu Vol.25
*5. *84,593 172,325 Ookiku Furikabutte Vol.28
*6. *79,173 *79,173 3-gatsu no Lion Vol.13 Special Edition
*7. *66,872 *68,653 Ashi-Girl Vol.9
*8. *58,697 206,503 JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 8: JoJolion Vol.16
*9. *56,112 *56,112 Granblue Fantasy Vol.3
10. *49,604 *94,940 Kou no Dori Vol.19

11. *48,978 *49,347 Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Vol.9
12. *47,390 *47,640 Isekai Shokudou Vol.2
13. *46,372 *46,372 Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Double Seven-henVol.1
14. *45,494 *45,494 Seirou Opera Vol.7
15. *44,559 *44,559 Uramichi Onii-san Vol.1
16. *43,867 *44,064 Knight’s & Magic Vol.4
17. *38,143 250,193 Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen Vol.3
18. *37,919 *71,301 Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge Vol.9
19. *37,806 245,052 Diamond no Ace Act II Vol.9
20. *37,610 *73,116 Inuyashiki Vol.10

21. *37,313 108,387 Fruits Basket: Another Vol.2
22. *31,852 522,623 Boku no Hero Academia Vol.15
23. *30,625 232,467 Fairy Tail Vol.62
24. *29,892 *99,875 Himouto! Umaru-chan Vol.11
25. *27,347 *28,298 Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records Vol.6
26. *26,452 *26,817 Mei-chan no Shitsuji DX Vol.9
27. *26,375 *26,695 Bye-bye Liberty Vol.3
28. *26,056 *26,056 Koifuru Colorful: Zenbu Kimi to Hajimete Vol.8
29. *25,956 164,619 P to JK Vol.10
30. *25,431 *33,135 Mobile Suit Gundam MSV-R: Return of Johnny Ridden Vol.15

31. *25,165 *26,079 Taiyou ga Miteiru (kamo Shirenai kara) Vol.7
32. *24,690 268,093 Ajin Vol.11
33. *24,529 *24,529 Gabriel DropOut Vol.5
34. *23,491 *23,491 Honey Come Honey Vol.2
35. *22,618 *44,623 Toaru Majutsu no Index Vol.19
36. *22,471 *47,292 Nami yo Kiitekure Vol.4
37. *21,883 *34,101 Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu Vol.7
38. *21,634 *21,634 Shitsuji-tachi no Chinmoku Vol.4
39. *21,435 *21,898 Nanoka no Kare Vol.14
40. *21,367 240,083 Mahoutsukai no Yome Vol.8

41. *21,109 *41,424 City Vol.3
42. *20,994 303,281 Natsume Yuujinchou Vol.22
43. *20,674 *21,579 Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata: Senjou wo Kakeru Kaifuku Youin Vol.1
44. *19,981 *19,981 Spotted Flower Vol.3
45. *19,738 *19,738 Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization Vol.2
46. *19,579 *19,579 Suijin no Hanayome Vol.7
47. *18,690 255,359 Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken Vol.5
48. *18,155 *23,002 Touhou Suzunaan: Forbidden Scrollery. Vol.7
49. *18,028 116,925 Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo Returns Vol.13
50. *17,956 *57,062 Niehime to Kemono no Ou Vol.5

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

*1. 98,550 *98,550 Overlord Vol.12
*2. 35,645 148,485 Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru.Vol.12
*3. 28,341 *47,009 Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Vol.14
*4. 20,226 *20,226 Knights & Magic Vol.8
*5. 19,468 *34,045 Hidan no Aria Vol.26
*6. 17,434 190,225 Sword Art Online Vol.20
*7. 10,026 *14,419 Toaru Ossan no VRMMO Katsudouki Vol.13
*8. *9,275 **9,275 Kenja no Mago Vol.7
*9. *7,737 **7,737 Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu “Heart no Shuchou”
10. *7,108 *10,423 Sozai Saishuka no Isekai Ryokouki Vol.3

11. *6,972 *25,129 Imouto sae Ireba Ii. Vol.8
12. *6,295 *22,250 Tokyo Ravens Vol.15
13. *5,750 **5,750 Isekai Tensei ni Kansha wo Vol.6
14. *5,455 *91,096 Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Vol.4
15. *5,392 **7,764 Tensei Ouji wa Daraketai Vol.3
16. *4,922 **6,777 Moto Kouzou Kaiseki Kenkyuusha no Isekai Boukentan
17. *4,799 *18,487 Gamers! DLC
18. *4,780 **4,780 Shounen Onmyouji “Kegare no Migiwa e Koishitau”
19. *4,764 **4,764 Tsukigami no Mederu Hana: Kotonoha no Senritsu
20. *4,548 *81,624 Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Vol.5

21. *4,159 *15,151 Oda Nobuna no Yabou Vol.19
22. *4,021 115,071 Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Vol.1
23. *4,048 **4,048 Sennen Sensou Aigis: Shiro no Teikoku-hen Vol.3
24. *4,032 **4,032 Moto Saikyou no Kenshi wa, Isekai Mahou ni Akogareru Vol.1
25. *4,007 **4,007 Ikinokori Renkinjutsushi wa Machi de Shizuka ni Kurashitai Vol.1
26. *3,974 **3,974 Saishin no Game wa Sugosugi daro Vol.6
27. *3,718 *14,619 Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. Vol.10
28. *3,073 **3,073 Isekai Trip no Wakiyaku Datta Ken
29. *2,979 **4,154 Boku no Slime wa Isekai Saikyou: Hoshoku Cheat de Chouseichou Shichaimasu

[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 October 12th, 2017 debut, they’ve now let loose with a quick hit promo for the seventy-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.