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Show Notes
0:00: Justin and Helen quickly discuss what they’ve been up to since they last talked over the internet. For example, Justin brought up taking advantage of J-Novel Club’s monthly catchup to read Slayers, while Helen mentions catching up to Fruits Basket and Thunderbolt Fantasy.
On Kentaro Miura
6:30: Before getting into the topics the two hosts discuss the late Kentaro Miura, who passed away at 54 May 6, but was officially announced May 19. They discuss his impact on the industry at large with the creation of Berserk and how this should impact how manga artists operate moving forward.
Pandemic News
14:33: It appears things are improving over in the US, and one major convention, Otakon, is planning to happen this year. Helen’s frazzled about this news, and explains how she became the Otakon reporter at one point when they did their Twitch stream to announce the convention’s happening.
16:32: Last podcast the two hosts mentioned how there didn’t seem to be much TV anime getting delayed. Since then, three anime got delayed:
- The World’s Finest Assassin from July to October
- Banished from the Heroes Party from July to October
- Mushoku Tensei Part 2 from July to October
And while none of them cited COVID-19 (each said various circumstances), it’s fair to wonder if it played a role since Japan’s State of Emergency has been extended to June 20. The two hosts discuss more about that, the anime films that had to be rescheduled, and the status of the Olympics as the pandemic continues to impact Japan.
The Industry Has Some Problems
21:27: The two hosts discuss Studio KAI losing money…and lots of money since being established in 2019.
22:36: It’s definitely still concerning Sony is now acquiring Crunchyroll…but it’s becoming more and more clear that AT&T is just incompetent, as now they’re spinning off Warner Media, and going to merging that with Discovery+ to continue to get out of debt.
24:40: The worst kept secret involving MAPPA’s working conditions got publicly shared on Twitter a few weeks ago, and ANN covered all of that.
27:05: Shinji Takamatsu recently explained how China’s rules are impacting the production of anime, and Justin wonders if the global nature of anime nowadays is also impacting working conditions.
28:47: Gangsta. creator Kohske had to reintroduce herself on Twitter as many fans continue to ask her about her manga, and she explains that she has lupus, so asking her to speed things up is pretty rude.
Licenses
30:43: Justin and Helen tackle the large amount of new titles companies announced or made available online. The two hosts start with Seven Seas:
- Mika Akatsuki, Nanako Tsujimura, & Utako Yukihiro’s The Case Files of Jeweler Richard
- Toranosuke Shimada’s Robo Sapiens: Tales of Tomorrow
- cocomi’s Restart After Coming Back Home and its sequel Restart After Growing Hungry
- Satoru Yamaguchi, nishi, & Nami Hidaka’s My Next Life as a Villainess Side Story: On the Verge of Doom!
- Yuu Tanaka & Hinako Inoue’s Reincarnated as a Sword: Another Wish
- Himataro Zukunashi’s Planet of the Orcs (Airship)
- Haruki’s Ero Ninja Scrolls (Ghost Ship)
- Donten Kosaka’s My Lovey-Dovey Wife is a Stone Cold Killer
- Keiso & zunta’s THE EXO-DRIVE REINCARNATION GAMES: All-Japan Isekai Battle Tournament!
- Yu Imai’s The Witches of Adamas (Ghost Ship)
- Kii Kanna’s Harukaze no Étranger, the sequel to Seaside Stranger: Umibe no Étranger
- Seiichi Kinoue’s No Matter What You Say, Furi-san is Scary!
- Kataoka Naotaro, Souichi, & Shizuki Hitomi’s Reborn as a Barrier Master
- IWATOBINEKO’s The Country Without Humans
- Makoto Fukami & Seigo Tokiya’s Succubus and Hitman
- Double Your Pleasure – A Twin Yuri Anthology (Ghost Ship)
- Kami Imai’s Magaimono: Super Magic Action Entertainment
- Kyouka Izumi, Oumiya, & Reiko Sakurada’s The Savior’s Book Cafe Story in Another World
- Jun Ogino’s semelparous
- KAKERU’s FukaFuka Dungeon Kouryakuki: Ore no Isekai Tensei Boukentan
- Chorisuke Natsumi’s Hitomi-chan is Shy With Strangers
- Munmun & Butcha-U’s Might as Well Cheat: I Got Transported to Another World Where I Can Live My Wildest Dreams! (Ghost Ship)
- Asagi Orikawa & Ritsu Aozaki’s The Dragon Knight’s Beloved
- Mikoto Yamaguchi & Mario’s Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire? (Ghost Ship)
- Yasuhiro Kano’s Kiruru Kill Me
- Yomu Mishima & Nadare Takamine’s I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! (Airship)
- Nagisa Furuya’s The Two Lions
- Yuuki Doumoto’s Necromance
- Yuama’s The Girl I Want is So Handsome! – The Complete Manga Collection
- Helen meanwhile noted the trend of cat manga getting announced, so a subsection was required this time:
- Haru Hisakawa’s Cat Massage Therapy
- Tomo Kitaoka’s The Walking Cat: A Cat’s-Eye-View of the Zombie Apocalypse
- Hiro Maijima’s I Am a Cat Barista
- Haruki’s Cat in a Hot Girls’ Dorm (Ghost Ship)
39:15: Yen Press announced they’ve licensed the following titles:
- Shinji Cobkubo, K Akagashi & mocha’s Rust-Eater Bisco (LN)
- Miyuki Mitsubachi’s Namaiki Zakari
- Iris & Noboru Kannataki’s Magical☆Explorer (LN)
- Yugata Tanabe’s The Splendid Work of a Monster Maid
- Kennoji & Fly’s The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend (LN)
- Hiroro Akizakura & Dangmill’s Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie (LN)
- Maiki Sachi’s I’ve Been an Omega Since Today
- Kizuka Nero & Yamo Yomoya’s The Hero Laughs While Walking the Path of Vengeance a Second Time (Manga, already licensed the LN)
- Tsukikage, Rai Hebino, & Chiko’s Let This Grieving Soul Retire (manga, LN is published by Sol Press)
- Magica Quartet & Hanokage’s Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc
- Toilet-bound Hanako-kun artbook
41:34: Kodansha finally announced their June digital debut lineup, which will be the following manga:
- Yuto Yotsuba & Ryo Ogawa’s Ya Boy Kongming! (Already out)
- Miko Yasu’s Police in a Pod (6/8)
- Yugo Aosaki & Haruka Tomoyama’s Undead Girl Murder Farce (6/15)
- Hazano Kazutake’s Saint Cecilla and Pastor Lawrence (6/22)
- Masamichi Sato’s Quality Assurance in Another World (6/29)
42:56: Yukinobu Tatsu’s Dandadan was announced to be going on Shonen Jump and MANGA Plus either in August or September by editor Shihei Lin.
43:01: Manga Planet has announced Takehiko Inoue’s BUZZER BEATER, which would be interesting since it’s another Inoue title going digital, but Justin’s not quite hopeful just yet.
44:02: futekiya announced they’ve licensed four Kazuki Natsume titles; Media Do International will be bringing over Aki Aoi’s The Hundred-Year Crystal Catalogue June 8; Glacier Bay Books licensed Arantoochika’s debut collection A Favorable Wind on Full Sails; and in final manga news, Star Fruit Books announced four new titles that they’ll be working on in English.
45:38: Crunchyroll and Sentai are teaming up to release the following titles:
- Noblesse
- Onyx Equinox
- Haikyu!! To The Top
- I’m Standing on a Million Lives
- Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
- Monster Girl Doctor
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
- Rent-A-Girlfriend
- Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove it
- Somali and the Forest Spirit
- Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun
They also have acquired the licenses for Nozo x Kimi OVA, The Magnificent KOTOBUKI Compilation film, and Vinland Saga.
47:50: Eleven Arts will bring the Shirobako film to theaters August 10, which Helen admits she’ll look to see.
Streaming News
48:48: Seven Deadly Sins: Dragon’s Judgement will stream on Netflix June 28.
Weird News
49:25: The conclusion to Kodansha making a large comic-book version of Attack on Titan is here, as the Guinness World Book of Records made it official that it’s pretty big.
51:16: The staff for Evangelion went out of their way to recreate skydiving accurately for the final film, which seems like a lot of effort, but the two hosts can only respect it.
52:31: Justin is a little surprised that there will be specifically a live action show called Notes of a Girl Who Spent 30 Hours a Day for 300 Days Thinking “So Baki The Grappler Is BL, Right?”
53:40: Grocery store Kroger is really going out of their way to recruit weebs, basically.
54:49: Enough people called out Super Cub for portraying an illegal act on a motorcycle, which then led to Kadokawa releasing a statement saying that this anime is, indeed, a work of fiction.
56:15: Rare for a manga artist to to publicly admit they don’t like someone, but that’s what Moto Hagio did when she published a memoir regarding her feud with Keiko Takamiya.
58:19: A woman threatened to set Wit Studio on fire, which did eventually get that person arrested by the police, and thankfully nothing happened; meanwhile Pokemon trading cards have grown incredibly popular over the pandemic, and that has led to way more physical altercations at stores, which is very concerning.
1:01:25: Demon Slayer in manga form is over, but the phenomenon won’t be going away anytime soon since we still got more anime seasons to go for it. That means companies will be taking advantage of it, and one soft drink company did indeed do just that!
1:02:37: A couple Twitter accounts recently thought they could change their birthday to their origin dates since the rules state it’s ok to sign up to the service if you’re 13 years old. However, Twitter’s set up to think with this type of late adjustment they may have lied, so those accounts got temporary locked!