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Show Notes
Pandemic News
0:00: With much to talk about since going on a break, Justin and Helen dive immediately into pandemic news, as a number of Japanese talents coming down with COVID-19 and prefectures considering various ways to combat the spread have been ongoing over the past month.
News
3:35: Justin and Helen discuss Sentai getting acquired by AMC Networks, which, well, the writing on the wall for them getting acquired was there, but who got them was the major surprise to the two.
5:49: Cinedigm has acquired Digital Media Rights, which is important to know for those who follow RetroCrush, AsianCrush, and Midnight Pulp.
7:08: Justin and Helen discuss some piracy news, including how much the industry has lost due to it, and what some major companies are planning to do to combat it. The two hosts wonder if going after Cloudflare is the correct move…
11:09: Mamoru Hosoda’s Belle has set a record in the box office for him! Helen admits she contributed to the record, though she also has a hot take about it…
12:12: And in final bit of news, Dokaben creator Shinji Mizushima passed away at 82 due to pneumonia.
Licenses
13:10: Seven Seas is continuing their perpetual Wednesday announcements of lots of stuff:
- Niiro Ikuhana’s Imaginary
- Mado Nozaki’s Titan (Airship)
- Itaru Kinoshita’s Dinosaurs Sanctuary
- Tappei Nagatsuki, Eiji Umehara, & loundraw’s Vivy prototype (Airship)
- Kota Nozomi, Tesshin Azuma, & Giuniu’s You Like Me, Not My Daughter?!
- PANDANIA’s The Evil Secret Society of Cats
- AND the launch of Steamship, a new imprint that will be dedicated to sexy romance for women (Helen: “A.k.a they looked at all the smutty Josei titles Kodansha’s putting out and said ‘Hey, we can do this too!'”):
- Mai Nishikata’s GAME: Between the Suits
- Saki Tsukigami, Natsu Kuroki, & Enn Tsutamori’s I’ll Never Be Your Crown Princess!
- NEJIGANAMETA’s Ladies on Top
- Tohko Tsukinaga’s Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts
16:58: Kodansha had a bunch of announcements in January:
- GTO: Great Onizuka is now back! Justin has, uh, a long history with this one. They’re also releasing the sequel 14 Days in Shonan.
- They’re going to release a full color hardcover collection of Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte series; Inuki Kanako’s Be Very Afraid of Inuki Kanako; & Uta Isaki’s Is Love the Answer?
- They will then release the following titles digitally this month:
- Marcey Naito’s Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister (Already out)
- Rin Mikimoto’s Lightning and Romance (Already out)
- Yuko Inari’s Falling Drowning (2/8)
- Ayaka Katayama’s Fungus and Iron (2/8)
- Shizuki Fujisawa’s The Transcendent One-Sided Love of Yoshida the Catch (2/15)
- Fuyu Yukimiya’s Sakura’s Dedication (2/22)
- They’ve already released the sequel to Initial D, MF Ghost, as a ComiXology Originals title, a few weeks ago.
- AND they’re going to release Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura’s Blue Lock in print this summer, going out of their way to challenge Justin’s assertation that they’re not capable of printing long-running manga.
24:58: Those LNs that Kadokawa announced they’d be releasing last year have finally or are finally coming out…and they have issues. Some big issues.
27:24: Yen Press made sure to add to what Justin and Helen had to talk about in this episode:
- Asumiko Nakamura’s Tales of the Kingdom
- Jun Mayuzuki’s Kowloon Generic Romance
- Mika Yamamori’s Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet
- Ryoko Kui’s Delicious in Dungeon: The Adventurer’s Bible
- Shimesaba & booota’s Higehiro: After Getting Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway
- Tamaki Itomori’s Kakuriyo Shinjuki: God’s Doctor Starts a Practice in Another World
- Tomihiko Morimi’s Tower of the Sun
- Matsuri Isora & Nanna Fujimi’s Silent Witch
- An audiobook edition of Asato Asato’s 86—EIGHTY-SIX series
30:05: TOKYOPOP has some more LOVE x LOVE titles they’ll be bringing out:
- A1’s On or Off (Korean webtoon)
- Bboong Bbang Kkyu’s Hyperventilation (Korean webtoon)
- Saki Ichibu & Ushio Shirotori’s Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke
- Mai Naoi’s Yuri Espoir
31:05: Cross Infinite World also had to join in the more licenses to announce party:
- Yoshiko Utamine & Yone Kazuki’s Onmyoji and Tengu Eyes: The Spirit Hunters of Tomoe
- Hanami Nishine & poporucha’s The Dragon’s Soulmate is a Mushroom Princess!
- Mashimesa Emoto & Tera Akai’s Expedition Cooking with the Enoch Royal Knights
31:53: Stone Ocean is now in the Shonen Jump vault, which is only surprising in that they still have yet to finish publishing Part 5!
33:38: Akiko Higashimura’s A Fake Affair has been added to WEBTOON; Sentai licensed Pierre Ito’s Period of the Mouseman, Kenda Master Ken, and World, Before You End short anime films; Discotek will be bringing over Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles; and everyone finally realized Dog & Scissors has now been picked up by Funimation.
Streaming News
35:05: The Japanese Film Festival (February 14-27) will be streaming a couple of anime films, but there is one live action that has both hosts’ attention.
36:34: There’s a few Winter anime that aren’t streaming officially on the usual places, but Ninjala is actually streaming in English on the official YouTube channel. It’s just you only have seven days until they add the newest episode.
Main Topic: Winter Anime 2022 Season
37:41: Justin and Helen gather around and reveal one truth of this winter anime season: it’s bad. The sequels likely stand out more than anything else, which of course includes the maybe, possibly, hopefully FINAL season of Attack on Titan. The two then discuss studios doing three shows in one season:
- J.C. Staff: Requiem of the Rose King (42:30), Realist Hero Part 2 (53:25), Strongest Sage (which neither are watching)
- Cloverworks: Akebi’s Sailor Uniform (56:11), My Dress-Up Darling (1:03:24), Tokyo 24th Ward (which neither are watching)
- LIDENFILMS: Tribe Nine (1:11:34), Salaryman’s Club (1:34:59), and Saiyuki Reload: Zeroin (which neither are watching)
And then discuss what new stuff they’ve liked, which may or may not involve a Monster Development anime or a crab and mushroom-infested anime.
Weird News
1:45:23: Welp, let’s just say Tifa has become an Italian legend. Or something like that. Also NSFW, at least description wise in the article that we’re linking to!
1:47:50: The title is also essentially NSFW, but a Shonen Jump version of NSFW! So yes, there will still be questions moving forward regarding Ayakashi Triangle, which had two chapters not go up on Shonen Jump and MANGA Plus for a host of reasons…but no explanation why from either company/Shueisha.
1:50:27: So how tough is it to announce or tease news now? Well, you can read the saga of Shonen Jump, which eventually announced they were opening up a shop, but their initial tease led the internet to them thinking they’re getting into NFTs. Guess they learned a lesson!
1:53:40: Out of everything that could be getting an anime, Biscuit Hammer getting one now has surprised both hosts (also likely some parts of the internet) and Helen hopes it’ll be good. Meanwhile Justin floats a very despairing possibility on where it’ll be streaming…
1:57:06: Animate International will release Sagan Akagawa’s The World’s End…just at a reduced price because one story was removed. Their reasoning? “It does not meet our editorial standards.” Uh-oh…
1:59:33: So yes, both hosts can let you know that streaming anime on Twitch without approval will lead you to getting banned…no matter who you are.
2:01:00: One author floated out or explained why there’s a lack of ugly or unattractive characters in anime/manga/LNs, and Justin…is not completely convinced.
2:02:25: The Niigata Government has now blamed the girl running with toast trope as the reason rice consumption is dwindling. The hosts are just totally confused.
2:02:54: And well, once again, wrestlers continue to be weebs.