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Show Notes
0:00: Justin and Helen are back once again to discuss what they’ve been up to for…roughly a month aside from anime season watching. For Helen this means checking out Macross 7. For Justin, it’s doing a lot of LN reading. J-Novel Club reading specifically!
News
23:15: The hosts discuss the continued infiltration of AI into most things, and how a couple notable anime and manga companies responded to one of the major ones (OpenAI’s Sora2 program) after seeing how it’s being used since launch.
25:14: Panorama of Hell creator Hideshi Hino announced he has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and he will be having surgery early next year to remove it; Masakazu Katsura did have major surgery (details not shared) but aside from a few things, he has halted all new work until he feels able to resume; Tsukasa Monma and Shikako’s Manchuria Opium Squad will switch to an irregular release schedule, as artist Shikako’s health is in question so a standard serialization isn’t feasible at the moment.
28:19: ANN checked with Otaku USA magazine and learned they’re currently on a break — soon enough Otaku USA will return but with 2 issues during the year; and unless mentioned otherwise, Kodansha launching a Hollywood studio has got to be a first for a manga focused publisher, so Justin has to wonder why open this up now?
33:34: Voice actor Fumiyoshi Shioya has been forced to limit his activities and his agency had to put out a statement regarding false information and slander being posted on various online platforms. Needless to say, it wasn’t that long ago that Yuki Kaji’s agency had to step in due to something almost similar, so both hosts are wondering what’s going on in this industry right now.
37:02: Every anime season there seems to be numerous production issues that show up visually on the screen but most power through it no matter what…but then there’s anime that has to be delayed because the situation is bad enough, and it appears that’s the case for Chitose in the Ramune Bottle; Meanwhile there’s One Piece, which has soldiered on for decades, but even this franchise has not been immune to production problems, and now to ensure the series quality is up to par, their schedule has now changed for the foreseeable future.
40:19: Another manga magazine will be ending its publication, this time Le Paradis in February; And this time a very special manga will be concluding this year, as Mizuho Kusanagi’s Yona of the Dawn will end after a 16-year run.
Licenses
44:10: The Wonderful Wednesdays train keeps motoring on for Seven Seas, so here’s more licenses from them:
- Ayaka Matsumoto’s Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami
- Fujihito’s Living with My Old Cat color manga
- Yū Yabuuchi’s Uesugi-kun wants to quit being a girl
- Kohji Natsumi & Reita’s Saving a Weapon Shop from Bankruptcy after the Demon King’s Defeat (Airship)
- Masakichi & Shingou’s Magic Repo Man: Dumped by My Party, I’ll Cash In With a Cute Support Fairy to Become the Strongest!
- Kanko Nakamura’s Yuri Yuri Panic
- Yuho Okita’s PUNKS TRIANGLE stitch
- MAEDAKUN’s Puniru is a Kawaii Slime
- NONCO’s Mistress Kanan is Devilishly Easy
45:25: Seven Seas also did announce they’ve licensed Koala Omugi’s What’s Up With Noumi-Senpai?, but days later, any information about its license was straight up removed…which makes the hosts wonder what happened to it?
48:37: Yen Press didn’t have too many announcements, but they still had them:
- On the Boundary’s Road: The Works of Suzuka Morino
- Minori Chigusa’s Shino & Ren
- Madoguchimoto’s Every Adventure Needs a Weapon! —The Blacksmith Life of Rudy the Obsessed—
- Yūko Satō, Chira Shinoura,& Shishimaru’s The Adventure of Black Cat Nyango
- Kisetsu Morita & Matsuuni’s The Alchemist’s Fluffy Island Getaway (Yen On)
49:35: In celebrating their 50th Anniversary in 2026, Fantagraphics has announced they’ve launched Takumigraphics, a new imprint devoted exclusively to East Asian comics; it will begin with the following titles:
- Akane Torikai’s Wandering Cat’s Cage
- Yudori’s Lovers of the Empire
- Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son
- Marina Lisa Komiya’s On Their Frontlines: The Lives of Japanese War Brides
51:05: New publisher Crossed Hearts has made a few announcements since the summer, but they finally announced their first manga license — Mai Ando’s You’re Way Too Cheeky, Chigaya-kun!; It appears Manga Mirai also wants to get into the licensing game too, as they’ve struck a deal with TO Books and now have two new manga titles on their service; Kobako Takara & Jun Natsuba’s If the Heroine Wants My Fiancé, I’ll Marry a Yandere Villain Instead! & Kotoko & Ataka’s Breaking Up Was the Plan, the Duke Falling For the Villainess Was Not! has been licensed by Cross Infinite World; and Remember Uketsu’s Strange House manga? Well Strange Pictures has been picked up…not by Seven Seas, but by Titan!
Streaming News
54:12: Detective Conan Collection 2 has finally dropped, which means Justin has to talk for hours about something he has not watched (yet) and go over what’s again streaming for Conan Cinema Saturdays on YouTube:
- Detective Conan: The Last Wizard of the Century (Aired two weeks ago)
- Detective Conan: The Private Eyes’ Requiem (Aired this past weekend)
- Detective Conan: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital (November 15)
58:48: A couple Crunchyroll news has happened, starting with them launching an ad-supported 24/7 channel on Samsung TV Plus; adding to their service the dub of Season 1 & 2 of Haikyu!! and adding Fist of the North Star (Justin thought these were already on CR); and adding the first film in the Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Dōkōkai Kanketsu-hen finale trilogy.
1:01:39: Netflix will be streaming Cosmic Princess on their service early next year and has added the live-action Hatakiri Man so it can be watched now; meanwhile Oceanveil continues to expand their catalog, as they will now have the following Media Blasters titles on their service before the year ends:
- Doomed Megalopolis, Chu-Bra!!, Grenadier: The Beautiful Warrior, Kite: Liberator, Genshiken, Green Green (in Japanese with English subtitles and an English dub):
- Mazinkaiser SKL, Yamibo – Darkness, the Hat, and the Travelers of the Books, Juden Chan, Kanokon: The Girl Who Cried Fox (JP sub)
Weird News
1:05:02 It appears VIZ might’ve been hacked and had a lot of information stolen according to cybersecurity website CyberNews, which means yes, this seems like a problem; Meanwhile, both hosts have to wonder why it took Russia this long to ban access to MyAnimeList considering what we already know about Russia’s thoughts about LGTBQ+ content, which gets Helen to explain the reason why it took them this long.
1:09:50 Let’s just say Universal Studios Japan, for their Halloween event, didn’t want anyone to run afoul of its costume guidelines, so they made sure to put out a statement ahead of time; and how does MLB celebrate the Dodgers winning the World Series? Welp, you do so by having Gundam in the background…and also Evangelion???