Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS
Show Notes
0:00: Justin goes over his tales of triumph and woe in Pokémon Puzzle League as what he’s been up to over the past few weeks; Helen meanwhile…has been busy with real life matters!
News
5:46: During an interview it was revealed Stu Levy was stepping back from TOKYOPOP US, which later led ANN to reach out to Stu and get some more clarification on the situation.
8:56: futekiya is now merging with Manga Planet, amongst a number of major changes for the two. Justin and Helen discuss this shakeup for these two.
11:17: After a 30-year run, Young Love Comic aya Magazine in Japan has ended publication.
11:30: My Hero Academia is on a two-week break due to Horikoshi’s health; The Vampire Dies in No Time will be on a month break and will resume in the magazine’s 24th issue in May; Bessatsu Friend magazine revealed a few authors on hiatus due to their health; and Radiation House is on hiatus due to Taishi Mori’s health.
12:56: Sentai will now have their home media be distributed under Distribution Solutions, which will start to take affect at the end of the month until eventually they’ll take over from Right Stuf in June.
14:20: Ryuho Okawa, the founder of the controversial Happy Science religious organization and anime producer, passed away on Thursday at 66; singer Maon Kurosaki passed away suddenly on February 16 after a worsening of her chronic illness.
14:51: Character designer and animator Takahiro Kimura passed away on March 5, after battling amyloidosis. His claim to fame was Code Geass, but as Mike Toole points out, that’s not his only contribution to the industry.
Licenses
16:40: Titan Comics has licensed John Tarachine’s Witch of Thistle Castle, Yuusuke Watanabe & Sanami Suzukui’s The Great Yokai War: Guardians, and Rona’s Alpi the Soul Sender.
18:29: Seven Seas Wonderful Wednesdays brought these following announcements over the past few Wednesdays:
- Kirie’s The White Mage Doesn’t Want to Raise the Hero’s Level
- Katsu Aki’s We Started a Threesome!
- Kaya Azuma’s Training Mister Sakurada (Seven Seas BL)
- Umetane, Abi, & Fufukuro’s Into the Tentacle Cave (Ghost Ship)
- Synecdoche’s Shin Plus-Sized Elf; they will re-release the first seven volumes of Plus-Sized Elf, which will get “some fresh updates”
- Nao Iwamoto’s Kingdom of Gold, Kingdom of Water
- Hiro Kashiwaba’s A Cat From Our World and the Forgotten Witch
- Nenko Nen’s Love, a Kitten, and a Salty Dog
- Nagato Yamata, Atsushi Suzumi, & fame’s The World’s Fastest Level Up manga
23:13: VIZ VP Publishing Sales Kevin Hamric revealed in an interview with ICv2 (as part of Manga Week) they will release Star Wars: The Mandalorian — The Manga and a 30th Anniversary Edition of Taiyo Matsumoto’s Tekkonkinkreet — Black & White; VIZ has also licensed Yuto Sano’s Gokurakugai, which is up now on the Shonen Jump service.
23:56: Azuki will be releasing their exclusive manga series on eBook platforms, starting with Mitsuko’s Case Files and Seatmate Killer, and they have also licensed a new series: Hamachi Yamada’s Crescent Moon Marching.
24:28: J-Novel Club had their Twitch stream and announced the following titles:
- Manzi Mazi & Kabotya’s Make It Stop! I’m Not Strong… It’s Just My Sword!
- Waruiotoko & raken’s Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up
- Satori Tanabata & Tea’s Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord (J-Novel Heart)
- kabedondaikou & Yunohito’s Fake Saint of the Year: You Wanted the Perfect Saint? Too Bad! (J-Novel Heart)
- Ryou Yuuki & Chisato Naruse’s Magic Stone Gourmet: Eating Magical Power Made Me the Strongest
- Ameko Kaeruda, Kaziya, & Sencha’s Dragon Daddy Diaries: A Girl Grows to Greatness manga
- Mizue Tani & Asako Takaboshi’s Earl and Fairy (J-Novel Heart)
- Then for reasons — Helen suggested jokingly they just forgot to add the slide — JNC announced separately on Twitter that they’ve licensed Harunadon & Eda’s Accidentally in Love: The Witch, the Knight, and the Love Potion Slipup (J-Novel Heart)
- JNC is also, in partnership with Cadence Studios, producing an audiobook of Arifureta. Now this definitely means their next popular title will get an audiobook in the near future, and Justin is anticipating this will be the next step. It has to be.
Streaming News
29:15: Mononoke is now on Netflix with sub and dub options.
29:34: A bunch of Sentai and HIDIVE news! The Plex streaming service added HIDIVE to its service; HIDIVE has added Babylon to its catalog; HIDIVE will screen Tsurune the Movie: The First Shot anime in the US on April 9 and 10, and all precisely too far for Helen to actually go to; and finally, Sentai has a new distribution and partnership deal with Japan’s Mainichi Broadcasting System, which provide exclusive rights for HIDIVE to stream part of MBS’ future programming in global markets excluding Asia.
32:07: Yen Press is now simulpubbing Aidairo’s Toilet-bound Hanako-kun series.
33:20: Crunchyroll is partnering with Sony Music Entertainment (SME) to license SMEJ’s content outside of Japan.
Mini Main Topic: Anime Production Committee and their contribution to the anime industry’s woes
34:42: The Animator Supporters non-profit organization streamed an English-subtitled clip from former Gainax president Toshio Okada’s YouTube channel, where he talks about the anime production committee system. Some quick notes (From ANN’s write-up)
- Okada claimed that animators are so poor even though the industry attracts more money than ever because the production committee caps the budgets on individual anime titles.
- Okada elaborated that because control over the copyright is proportional to the amount of investment, companies will bid to become the highest investor (this is usually 40%). Once they attain this status, they have the power to determine the budget. For example, if the lead investor spends $4 million, the budget would be capped at $10 million.
- That said, Okada says in the video that his primary source was the controversial director Yutaka Yamamoto (or “Yamakan”).
Justin and Helen go over what was said and provide some thoughts overall on the anime industry in general.
Weird News
44:41: Spanish fútbol star Andrés Iniesta endorses Ao Ashi, which is a nice endorsement to have on your book.
45:48: Yep, Yuji Naka did admit to insider trading, so yeah, not great!
47:08: Let’s just say this story involving Hunter x Hunter, gangs, and all of this happening while the war in Ukraine’s going on took a bit of a turn due to continuous media reports.
49:17: Justin may or may not be happy about people tweeting during a film, but it’s encouraged — by the creator no less! — during a Sasaki and Miyano screening. So really, what does Justin know?
50:20: Not too many franchises can have their work on ice, but One Piece will indeed have their series on Ice in Japan this summer.
51:08: Michael B. Jordan, as we all know, is a big nerd, and while the rounds on the internet have criticized his recent choices on his Top 5 anime, the two hosts note him sticking more anime stuff in Creed III.
54:20: If you won’t heed Rie Takahashi’s plea to bathe before attending a concert, then what will get you to bathe at any event? The hosts don’t need an answer to that!