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Show Notes
0:00: Justin and Helen discuss a bunch of things they’ve been up to over the past few weeks, which includes one of the hosts going on a J-Novel Club spree and the other host running into the Blue Exorcist trap once again!
News
17:38: The two hosts get into KADOKAWA…and the cyberattack that occurred earlier in the year that severely impacted their business operations, and something new has emerged that might be playing a role in their current situation with companies interested in buying them.
20:00: The doujinshi scene continues to run afoul of VISA and Mastercard’s new standards, and now another company will have to halt using them for payment. Justin and Helen get into why this is happening.
23:52: Dark Gathering will be entering a 4-month hiatus, which does have Helen wondering what’s the story behind that since it’s not for health-related reasons; meanwhile the voice of Franky from One Piece, Kazuki Yao, is stepping down from his role.
26:29: ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess will go on hiatus due to Robinson Haruhara’s health; Gakuen Idolm@ster VA Ayane Matsuda will also be on hiatus due to her poor health.
27:56: Illustrator Syroh passed away, and based on the fact that Syroh was planned to enter this year’s Winter Comiket, it was unfortunately sudden; another sudden loss was animator & director Hiroki Ikeshita, who was working on this season’s Shangri-La Frontier; It was announced on their Facebook and Twitter that Youji Kuri passed away at 96.
31:30: The two hosts then discuss the loss of Jan Scott Frazier, who passed away at 59. They go over her impact on the anime industry before going into what a tough year it was for her (considering she had to open two GoFundMe pages).
Licenses
34:40: Kodansha has launched a new program: Kodansha Print Club! A couple of titles will be released in print from Kodansha’s digital catalog, which all sounds good, but Justin has concerns. And considering there have been quality control issues, that’s just the start of Justin’s possible issues on something that he hopes can be successful.
42:42: Cyberpunk Edgerunners is the latest Netflix anime to now be released on home media. The major problem is Aniplex of America will be releasing it in the US, which means it’s time to hope for a cheap standard edition of it, somehow. There’s also going to be a manga released as well, this one eventually by Dark Horse in the US.
44:01: And we had confirmation of a few Star Fruit Books titles that had seen delays, but it looks like a few Q-ta Minami works will be released starting in Spring 2025.
Streaming News
44:54: It had been some time since a new Precure was added to Crunchyroll, so it seems someone felt it was time to add another one before the year’s over (Yes! Precure 5); And Crunchyroll will begin to not allow people to watch all of One Piece for free with ads anymore, so Justin breaks down their stated plan and wonders if this is a good idea.
48:52: This was announced at Anime NYC, but to finally close the chapter: The Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Senpai series dub is now on Crunchyroll. Now to see if it’ll get a home media release with the dub!
50:27: And finally, a couple episodes of Pokémon got added to the Pokémon YouTube channel, which got the hosts wondering how YouTube TV actually works.
Weird News
51:32: The industry has finally done it — they’ve resorted to AI to create an anime! Both hosts get into the major pitfalls of this decision, but also wonder if this will have any impact, especially if no one overseas picks this up for streaming.
55:03: BanG Dream and Chainsaw Man is not a combo you’d expect, but when it comes to games, it somehow makes sense!
55:53: Helen got nostalgic while discussing the news of Pokémon collaborating with the studio producing Wallace & Gromit; someone in Japan got arrested for selling reprogrammed versions of Pokémon; and Tetsuo Hara of Fist of the North Star fame drew a special card art for Pokémon, which confirms that anything involving the franchise has too much news!
58:50: Keiichi Arawi decided it was time to bring back CITY, which is perfect timing with the future anime upcoming; and Beyblade has been around for a good while, but having Timothée Chalamet bring a Beyblade to a special premiere for no reason (the hosts suggest he’s gonna let it rip at somebody or some thing) certainly makes this franchise pretty notable!