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Show Notes
0:00: Justin and Helen are back to talk about a bunch of things that occurred with anime/manga/Japanese pop culture in the past couple weeks! The episode however starts with an explanation of why there was no new episode last week.
2:53: The two then get right into the main topic…Summer anime season! Yes, the two get straight into what’s caught their attention so far…with plenty more anime on their to watch cue!
News
39:50: The hosts then get into one massive censorship storm that has all of a sudden exploded for works — right now video games — being unable to be sold on certain platforms because of their content. Needless to say, this has changed a bunch of times and even keeping up with all the information is a task. But Justin and Helen do their best to try and condense some of its main points while also wondering what’s gonna be next.
48:39: Alphapolis, probably not satisfied with the quality of their works being turned into anime, has decided to acquire WHITE FOX to help them produce better anime. What does this mean for Re:ZERO? Well…
52:04: So last episode the two hosts saw publishers Overlap and Dengeki Bunko distancing themselves from Gaou — now KADOKAWA has joined as well, announcing suspension of Guild Receptionist volumes until they can find a new illustrator for the light novel. And yes, as Helen ends up explaining, it’s not just over on the Japanese side.
55:43: Yongseok Jo’s Wind Breaker webtoon ended due to obvious plagiarism — Helen and Justin break down what happened and how Naver WEBTOON has handled things.
57:43: As expected, Junji Ito is now in the Eisner’s Hall of Fame; Taiyo Matsumoto and Yuna Hirasaka took home awards as well during the Eisner Awards.
Licenses
58:31: Kodansha once again took some time to go to a convention (SDCC this time) and announce a bunch of stuff:
- Kamome Shirahama’s Witch Hat Atelier: Grimoire Edition
- Muneyuki Kaneshiro & Yūsuke Nomura’s Blue Lock Omnibus
- Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan Definitive Hardcover Collection
- Eiichi Shimizu & Tomohiro Shimoguchi’s DRAGON CIRCUS
- Yasunori Mitsunaga & Ine Ohtaka’s Stella Must Die
- Coyuri Tōno’s Magical Karina
- Keiku Hagiwara’s Whoever You Are, I Love You
- Peko Watanabe’s That’s Not Love
- Hajime Inoryū & Shōta Itō’s Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow
- Akari Otokawa’s Cat-Life Balance
- Kanata Konami & Catherine Bouvier’s Chi’s Sweet France
1:01:53: Seven Seas and their Wonderful Wednesdays means more announcements that will interest some people at least once a week:
- Fuuki Maru’s Laughter in the Sunshine
- Hana Inui’s Marriage to the Wolf: The Tale of an Inter-species Union
- Hana Hasumi’s Remnant: Beastmen Omegaverse
- Io Kajiwara’s Everything for Demon King Evelogia
- Utako Uguisu’s My Cat’s Aura is Strong Today full-color manga
- Maromi Suya, Koharu Michinoku, & Higure Hizuki’s The Babe at My Back Has Her Eye on Me. I’m Done For.
- Nekoko & Brocco Lee’s The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System (omnibus)
- Ryūki Ōnuma & Hikari Komaru’s DOGGO
- MIYABI & Eito Nishikawa’s Venus Mission: From Former Assassin and Mercenary Middle-Aged Man, Reincarnated into Another World to Assassinate the Hero!
- NAJIMI’s Workin’ the Night Shift at Akumart
- Atatakairo’s The Scum Laugh full-color manga
- RARUTORI & Atsushi Sugiyama’s Gladiator Battle Life
- Also more audiobooks for Siren: Trapped in a Dating Sim: Otome Games are Tough for Us, Too! (narrated by Jennifer Sun Bell and Yung-I Chang), Disciple of the Lich: Or How I Was Cursed by the Gods and Dropped Into the Abyss! (Narrated by Mark Sanderlin)
1:04:50: Dark Horse, Gou Tanabe, and H.P. Lovecraft continues to be a thing; OLDBOY will also return from Dark Horse, this time as a Deluxe Edition.
1:05:35: Kodama Tales will not just be publishing Baki — they’ll also be publishing Smile!; Manga Mavericks Books continues making announcements of works coming out in the next year; and some more BL titles from Futekiya will be released in print.
Streaming News
1:06:52: Crunchyroll announced they have the streaming rights to a bunch of anime that will air this year and in 2026; Conan Cinema Saturdays has a new schedule, which does allow Justin to make the one joke about TMS Anime’s subs of The Raven Chaser.
1:12:30: Criterion will have their own anime section on their service this month, which suggests they’ll be adding more than just Ghost in the Shell and Redline in the near future; Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz will see theatrical screenings this Fall, starting with a special screening at the Japan Society in NY before airing in select theaters.
Weird News
1:14:29: In the history of weird news, Helen and Justin have covered a lot…but there was so much weird news that truly turned out to be spectacularly weird. The first one they decide to cover is the VSHOJO fallout following Ironmouse’s departure, which somehow managed to escalate in maybe under or close to 24 hours.
1:20:58: They then discuss Tai Chi Chasers, which started out well enough with this anime being added to Tubi…and then it was discovered S3 was AI dubbed. SOMEHOW it evolved from there, which even includes the guy who handled it trying to explain himself in the ANN forums. Justin and Helen do what they can to break this down without crying laughing.
1:25:44: You get an AI here, you get an AI here, you also get an AI there! More AI news, starting with Studio Gaina changing their name to Benten Film following them being acquired by an AI animation company; Aya Hirakawa’s Dealing with Mikadono Sisters Is a Breeze was added to VIZ Manga’s site, and normally this would be in the licenses section, except that they are hosting the emaqi version on their service. emaqi is being run by AI Localization company Orange. Both hosts get real about the entire AI situation, and Justin in particular wonders if the lack of independence for VIZ (They have a partnership with Shogakukan, Shogakukan is part of the round of investment for Orange) caught up to them here.
1:35:07: Nukitashi really is airing a show that can’t be broadcasted on TV. Well, ok, it can, but let’s just say you can only hear instead of see all the sex happening in that anime; Kazuya Minekura’s Wild Adapter is resuming after 9 years, which does lead both hosts to wonder why it’s returning…and then Helen drops a bombshell that absolutely befuddles Justin.
1:39:52: Would you want to rely on the Time Wizard as your alarm clock? Well, now you too can find out if you can get as lucky as Joey now that you can have the Time Wizard in your home; And yes, The Summer Hikaru Died has premiered and in episode 2, real marinated chicken was used for the scene. Justin is looking forward to finding out the context of that picture when he gets to watching the anime this week, while Helen can only smile and look forward to him discovering the true reason why it’s there! And it won’t be as appetizing!