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Show Notes/Pandemic News
0:00: With much news to cover in this week’s episode, Justin and Helen immediately dive into the usual COVID-19 news, which involves a quasi-state of emergency being extended, and a Tamayura event in Japan getting delayed again.
News
3:42: Well, when Justin and Helen talked about Daman Mills this past Sunday, the information known at the time was that he was accused of sexual misconduct by an Ohio man, and ANN did a deep dive into it. Both hosts believed that for sure this would be an ongoing story moving forward.
Well, it ended up moving at breakneck speed. On March 14 the Ohio man withdrew his allegations against Mills. Then March 17, he then said his allegations were fabricated. In other words, everyone comes out of this looking bad. Justin and Helen might touch upon these new statements next episode, but until then you have their thoughts based on the first report.
7:36: This is also considered weird news, but in the bad and unusual way: On March 6, Toei Animation’s website was hacked and that meant the company had to look into just how serious the hack was. A few days later, it was announced that the following four anime would affect the currently four airing anime that Toei’s working on:
- Delicious Party Precure, which later announced new episodes would be delayed for at least three weeks, did not air it’s latest episode.
- One Piece and Digimon Ghost Game, which originally had their week off due to special programming, announced they would not air a new episode this upcoming weekend and they’ll provide an update on their plans in the near future.
- Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai at the time of recording did not announce their plans but did not air it’s newest episode, but yesterday they similarly to Precure announced they will be delayed for at least three weeks.
The two hosts ultimately discuss what state those anime are in but it’s fair to say it’ll be varying levels of significant for all four of these titles…and potentially could affect others that aren’t even announced.
15:23: JUMP FESTA is now available to be streamed globally for the first time ever, and both hosts are curious about how this will do.
18:04: US manga sales more than doubled (in units) in 2021 according to NPD Bookscan; Unit sales of manga in NPD-tracked accounts were 24.4 million units in 2021, up 15 million units from 2020, which is a growth rate of around 160%. So of course Justin and Helen has to talk about that.
21:56: If you remember Somali and its creator Yako Gureshi, you remember the manga had to end due to their health. Well recently the author took to Twitter and stated they’ve like to resume it. So first, they must be feeling better now, that’s great to hear. But unfortunately, it may be tough to do so now.
23:54: Jujutsu Kaisen had to take a week off as Gege Akutami’s health was worsening.
24:36: And in final bit of news, VA Norihiro Inoue passed away due to esophageal cancer.
Licenses
24:55: Square Enix Manga & Books announced some licenses after it feels like it’s been a while for them:
- Yoko Taro & Megumu Soramichi’s YoRHa – Pearl Harbor Descent Record – A NieR:Automata Story
- Koume Fujichika’s The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses
- Naoe’s Tokyo Aliens
25:37: Seven Seas of course made their never ending Wednesday announcements:
- Nanako Tsujimura & Utako Yukihiro’s The Case Files of Jeweler Richard (Airship)
- Jupiter Studio & Kaltoma’s Hunting in Another World With My Elf Wife
- Kousuke Yasuda’s I Get the Feeling That Nobukuni-san Likes Me
- Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou’s danmei/BL novel The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (2ha)
32:13: Kodansha had their usual March digital debuts, and these were all announced at their Kodansha Live:
- Mito Aoi’s Having an Idol-Loving Boyfriend is the Best! (3/1)
- Ai Tanaka’s Apple Children of Aeon (3/8)
- Miko Senri’s A Kiss with a Cat (3/15)
- Kenta Matsuoka’s Piano Duo for the Left Hand (3/15)
- Nagisa Komugi’s I’ll Be with Them Again Today (3/22)
- Ruri Kamino’s Getting Closer to You (3/22)
- Suzuhito Yasuda’s Bootsleg (3/29)
- Yuhki Kamatani’s HIRAETH -The End of the Journey- (3/29)
The last title on the list ends up leading Justin to just straight up question Kodansha’s overall digital release attitude, since HIRAETH was on a bunch of digital retailers back in January, and it’s finally officially coming out this March.
36:40: We have another new publisher to talk about: Hanashi Media! They announced they’ve licensed two LNs:
- Miku & U35’s The Evolution Fruit: Before I Knew it, My Life Had It Made!
- Tsukasa Yokotsuka & Manyako’s Another World Survival: Min-Maxing My Support and Summoning Magic!
39:37: Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5 Centimeters Per Second, & Children Who Chase Lost Voices has been licensed by GKIDS, and they’re all expected to be released this year.
40:31: Yen Press has finally confirmed the narrators for the following audiobooks:
- Caitlin Kelly narrates Okina Baba’s So I’m a Spider, So What? (Brianna Knickerbocker is the English VA for Kumoko in the anime)
- Andrew Grace narrates Hajime Kamoshida’s Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (there’s no dub version of this)
- J. Michael Tatum narrates Isuna Hasekura’s Spice and Wolf (Reprises his role as Lawrence)
The Spice and Wolf one leads to the two hosts needling Yen Press a bit, since they released an inaccurate cover and the VA that was not involved in the audiobook had to state on Twitter they were not involved with the audiobooks. Whoops.
Streaming News
46:51: The final season of Magia Record, which has had production troubles, is expected to air all four episodes April 3. Justin is at least hoping it’ll go out with a bang and not a whimper; Sentai licensed The Executioner and Her Way of Life and I’m Quitting Heroing, which means both will be streaming on HIDIVE this April.
48:25: Disney and NTV partnering up? Yep, they’re now partners, which means we’ll be seeing some programming from NTV. First up: the live-action Files of Young Kindachi.
49:35: The Fruits Basket Stage Play will air with English subtitles March 24…which means Helen is interested.
50:43: Netflix announced they’ll be streaming Akuma-kun, which is a Shigeru Mizuki title.
Main Topic of Episode: Crunchyroll remains, Funimation does not
52:12: So after endless speculation from fans, Sony has finally announced what would happen to Funimation and Crunchyroll after Sony purchased Crunchyroll…that Crunchyroll would remain as a brand, and Funimation would not. The two hosts discuss just how much a big deal that is, but then also discuss the ramifications within the anime industry.
Crunchyroll has a running list that for now is sharing titles that are going from Funimation to their service every week.
Weird News
1:06:22: The two hosts discuss a woman-only BL Manga cafe that unfortunately had to close down due to “a large number of male visitors at night with unknown intent”
1:07:55: White Fox had to apologize after it was discovered they were allegedly engaging in gender discriminatory hiring practices. Not great!
1:09:51: Justin and Helen have to inform everyone that the new President-Elect of Chile now has a Squirtle. There’s apparently a wholesome reason for that.
1:11:53: The two hosts also have to inform everyone that trash-picking is a sport. Well, it is at least in anime form.
1:13:44: If you thought the wresting x anime crossovers would ever end, please give up now and just start saying “Nico Nico Knee!”
1:15:02: Voice actress and singer Shoko Nakagawa announced she has applied to be an astronaut, which is pretty cool!