Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS
Show Notes
News
0:00: With much to talk about (News, Licensing, and Winter Anime 2022 Season Final Thoughts), Justin and Helen get right into the many news that occurred since they took an extra week off. This also includes discussing Daman Mills, which the two hosts talked about when it first broke, and now give their new thoughts after a day later and then a few days later everything about the situation changed.
5:30: The strange and disturbing saga involving Kenya Suzuki has a bit of a conclusion, as he’s been sentenced for importing child pornography in Japan. The two hosts give their last thoughts on this situation.
8:15: The manga artist for Tokyo Mew Mew, Mia Ikumi, passed away March 7. Justin and Helen briefly give their thoughts on this sad news.
9:33: The fate of Crunchyroll and if they’re a viable service moving forward…will be if them removing free simulcast episodes for new shows was a mistake? Lots of concerns once they announced they’re halting ad-supported simulcasts.
19:43: Over the past few weeks it was confirmed that the new Dragon Ball Super film would also be delayed, which suggested the Toei Animation hack, which did seem serious at the time, was definitely pretty bad. Justin did wonder when the 4 TV shows would resume airing, and they finally did announce they’ll each be returning next week. The two hosts will look to definitely talk about what did happen to Toei in the next podcast episode.
21:07: And in a bit of final news, Netflix ended up saying half of their members watched “anime” last year. Both hosts wonder what those numbers are…
Licenses
23:16: Titan Comics, who is launching a Titan Manga imprint, licensed the following titles:
- Takashi Okazaki’s Afro Samurai
- Osamu Tezuka, Tetsuro Kasahara, & Masami Yuuki’s ATOM: The Beginning
- Shotaro Ishinomori, Toshiki Inoue, & Hitotsu Yokoshima’s Kamen Rider Kuuga
25:38: Yen Press did their usual end of the month announcements:
- Miri Mikawa & Aki’s Sugar Apple Fairy Tale LN
- Sakaomi Yuzaki’s She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat
- hara’s Embrace Your Size
- Mochito Bota’s Coffee Moon
- Studio Chizu’s/Mamoru Hosoda’s BELLE novel
- Buncololi & Pureji Osho’s Sasaki & Peeps manga
- Miki Nazuna’s So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin?
- Syuichi Tsukishima & Yuutarou Shido’s I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top manga
- Mato Sato & Ryo Mitsuya’s The Executioner and Her Way of Life manga
26:56: J-Novel Club had more manga announcements than light novel announcements in their recent Twitch stream this time:
- Akihiro Ononaka’s Gushing Over Magical Girls
- Niichi’s Sometimes Even Reality Is a Lie!
- Kazuyoshi Ishii, Hanamura, & Kei Ryuzoji’s Doll-Kara
- Hiroaki Ogura, Nagy, & toi8’s The Saga of Lioncourt
- Mizuumi Amakawa & Yoruno Kuroki’s Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts with a Village manga
- You Fuguruma & Akihito Ono’s Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! manga
- Nana Nanato & Siokazunoko’s VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral After Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream
- Tsuranori Kono & ttl’s D-Genesis: Three Years after the Dungeons Appeared
- SHU & Shizumayoshinori’s The Misfit of Demon King Academy LN
29:28: Kodansha had their April digital debuts and Fall 2022 announcements in their recent Kodansha Live stream:
- Mayu Sakurai’s The Angel, the Devil, and Me (April 5)
- April Miraijin A, Kurikaramaru, & Kikkaiki’s The Abandoned Reincarnation Sage (April 5)
- Katsuhisa Minami’s The Fable (April 12)
- Maki Miyoshi’s Nighttime for Just Us Two (April 12)
- April Voltage & Mika Sakurano’s Irresistible Mistakes (April 19)
- Satoru Nii’s WIND BREAKER (April 26)
- Atsushi Nakajima & Nekosuke’s The Moon Over the Mountain
- Kyusaku Yumeno & Honojiro Towoji’s Hell in a Bottle
- Masakazu Ishiguro’s Skygrazer
- Kyoko Okazaki’s River’s Edge
- Shuzo Oshimi’s Sweet Poolside
- Rei Taki’s Last Gender
- Studio Ghibli: The Complete Works
- Sai Sumimori & Ai Takahashi’s Am I Actually the Strongest; Nazuna Miki & Subachi’s My Unique Skill Makes Me OP even at Level 1; Mirajin A & Jimmy’s As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World; Kakeru Kobashiri, Takashi Iwasaki, & Yoshinori Shizuma’s The Dawn of the Witch…light novels?!?!
Justin and Helen quickly discuss Kodansha finally making an attempt to add to their Kodansha Books line!
33:48: Seven Seas their usual Wednesday announcements…and then also announced they’re taking a break!
- Shouichi Taguchi’s Futari Escape
- Emboss’s Ramen Wolf and Curry Tiger
- Kentaro Yabuki’s Ayakashi Triangle (Ghost Ship)
- Rui Sekai, Kyou Kitazawa, & Daburyuu’s I Got Fired as a Court Wizard so Now I’m Moving to the Country to Become a Magic Teacher
- Yomu Mishima, Kai Nadashima, & Nadare Takamine’s I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! manga
- Satsuki Nakamura, Ei Ohitsuji, & Yukikana’s Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court (LN & Manga)
37:28: Cross Infinite World has a few new titles and a new audiobook:
- Hiyoko Kurisu’s Rapunzel of the Magic Item Shop
- Yuuri Seo’s The Princess’ Smile: The Body-Double Bride Searches for Happiness with the Reclusive Prince
- Rino Mayumi’s The Drab Princess, the Black Cat, and the Satisfying Break-up
- Fehu Kazuno & Jun’s Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin audiobook (narrated by Maks Daniels)
38:32: One Peace Books licensed a couple titles: Kurokata’s The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic (LN & Manga), Densuke’s The Death Mage, Ritsu Miyako’s Usotoki Rhetoric, & Atsuhiko Itoh’s Captain Corinth; Animate International has brought over new BL titles: Mitsuru Sangou’s Mask Danshi: This Shouldn’t Lead to Love & Zeniko Sumiya’s Breathless Momentum; 7 Alpha Manga titles are now on Crunchyroll; and finally, Coamix has an English version of their MangaHot service, and they have the following titles:
- CITY HUNTER
- Record of Ragnarok (VIZ, Comikey…and now Mangamo is releasing this!)
- MOTHER PARASITE
- Keiji’s Kabuki Adventure
- Tokyo Duel
- The Legend of Lu Bu
- Fist of the North Star
Helen had to call out how tough it is to access their service. And deliver a bad pun.
42:13: Discotek had their big Twitch Stream, and they sure had some announcements:
- Astro Boy (1980)
- Symphogear GX
- Fuse – Memoirs of the Hunter Girl
- Lupin the 3rd: Prison of the Past
- Case Closed – Fist of Blue Sapphire
- Galactic Whirlwind Sasuraiger
- Powered Armor Dorvack
- Holmes of Kyoto
- Digimon Adventure, will release BD of the sub and dub separately
46:09: The Japan Information & Culture Center is streaming the Satoshi Kon documentary, a talk, and four of films – Millennium Actress, Paprika, Perfect Blue, and Tokyo Godfathers — now, until April 10.
47:28: Netflix will be streaming the next slate of Jojo: Stone Ocean in the Fall, which is interesting since some expected it’d be released in Spring.
49:03: Crunchyroll is streaming a whole host of Prince of Tennis, but have also let go of a number of anime shows…because they’re all Sentai Filmworks stuff.
Main Topic: Winter Anime 2022 Final Season Impressions
50:58: So yes, before we focus on Spring season, the two look back on Winter…and it was very bad. You do kind of hope some surprises emerge, but yeah…there’s very few titles that even look to be remembered in the future, so that makes this season pretty bad.
51:54: Justin, before getting into his thoughts on Attack on Titan, had to give general thoughts on Mappa going to a Part 3 for this show. Would you believe he has a “hot take” for this? Well since it calls out the state of the anime industry, maybe.
58:50: The two hosts then get into other shows they’ve watched, first, sequels (Helen: The Case of Study of Vanitas Part 2, Justin: 86 Part 2, Realist Hero Part 2, Yasha-Hime Season 2). Then Justin gives his last thoughts on Ranking of Kings (1:08:35), which had a pretty perfect first half…and then the second half came along.
1:12:12: And then finally, the two hosts talk about the new anime that actually aired this season, and that eventually leads them to talk about Sabikui Bisco and My-Dress Up Darling being one of the standouts (1:22:22)
Weird News
1:37:46: Welp, Justin and Helen knew 2022 wouldn’t disappoint in providing some of the weirdest news in anime and manga, and the Ranking of Kings manga certainly will count as the weirdest in 2022. Katrina, you’re crazy…but awesome for discovering the amount of plagiarizing in one supposedly official manga.
(Editor’s note: Justin says 69% plagiarism in its first volume. Correction: it’s 67%)
1:41:53: Yes, Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 3 definitely counts as weird news.
1:42:34: Unfortunately, Sol Press’ social media manager Tsmalls, had to announce that the company can no longer offer refunds. They’d have to wait until the CEO returns…who knows when that is when the CEO might be playing Sex with Hitler.
1:44:40: Yeah, if you threaten a company 12 times, you’re probably going to get arrested.
1:45:25: And in final bit of weird news, manga creator Kouji Ooishi is on hiatus…claims it’s definitely not because of Elden Ring though!