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Show Notes
0:00: Justin and Helen once again find some time to share what they’ve been up to…ok, only Justin has a title he liked a lot, and it’s published by TOKYOPOP!
News
5:53: The hosts then get into discuss Crunchyroll’s latest troubles, ranging from layoffs to a possible security breach that also gets Justin to discuss reporting in the big 2026.
21:02: A couple episodes ago the hosts discussed one live event being cancelled in Japan due to threats — now we’ve gotten another one, this time involving Love Live! and Japan Airlines.
23:02: The Culprit Hanzawa manga is going on hiatus for an unspecified time; meanwhile Kōji Kumeta suffered a finger injury, so he’ll be on hiatus until that heals up. Let’s just say his explanation on how he suffered the cut is indeed hilarious.
24:55: Saint Seiya Episode.G: Requiem is back on Akita Shoten’s Champion Cross website following a 3-month hiatus; Naoki Urasawa’s Asadora is now also back from its hiatus, returning to Shogakukan’s Weekly Big Comic Spirits; and we have another manga magazine in Japan ending publication — Kadokawa’s Comic Alunna.
26:23: The alternative rock band the pillows announced that the band’s drummer, Shinichiro Sato, died on March 23 due to esophageal cancer; The editorial staff of Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine announced a few weeks ago that manga creator Majuro Kaname died in February; and publisher Chikuma Shobo announced that manga creator, Yoshiharu Tsuge, died of aspiration pneumonia at the age of 88.
Licenses
30:16: For whatever reason, Titan Manga decided it was finally time to announce what they’re up to for this year:
- FLIPFLOPs’s Darwin’s Game
- Arata Yamaji’s Egnaro the Star-Eating Killer
- Shin Kazuki’s Even After Doronjo-sama Was Reincarnated She Remained a Villainess
- kamatama’s Nova, Little Girl in the Monster Forest
- Zino’s Resident Evil: Death Island
- Touko Amekawa, Kuroyuki, & Nae Serizawa’s The Legendary Witch is Reborn as an Oppressed Princess manga
- Togawa Yonan’s Black Witch Mirror
- Tatsuya Tobitaka’s Ifrit of the Sea Sand
- Yasuo Isanami’s The Obsession of Red Riding Hood
32:29: Seven Seas’ Wonderful Wednesdays is back! Post Media-Do acquisition, which means the following series will be under scrutiny (unless mentioned otherwise) on how it’ll be handled:
- NEMUI ASADA’s I SAY
- Kazumi Takayama & tae’s Trapezium (Airship)
- Suzusuke, Shibanobancha, Yu Yagami, & Sumihei’s The One-Eyed, One-Armed, One-Legged Sorcerer
- Betty Tamamori’s Your Meteor, Hidden in Flowers
- Atsushi Suga’s A Quirky Girl is Inviting Me to Bed (Ghost Ship)
- TATAL & Masuda Mikio’s Legend of the Accidental Sword Saint: Playing the Mentor from the Sidelines (Airship, digital)
- A Siren audiobook release of Haka Tokura’s Magical Buffs: The Support Caster is Stronger Than He Realized!, narrated by Josh Hurley
34:32: (New manga) publisher Mahjong Pros appears to finally be establishing itself this year, as they announced they’ve licensed the following titles:
- Hideki Ohwara’s Reform with No Wasted Draws: The Legend of Koizumi
- Yoshiki Suda & Mio Junta’s Crybaby Mermaid: Illustrated Memoir of Yuumi Uotani
- Bingo Morihashi & Drill Jill’s Getter Robo High
- Ayato Sasakura’s Vermilion Stella: Illustrated Memoir of Arisa Date
36:55: Yen Press had a good amount of announcements ahead of their yearly Sakuracon appearance:
- Shōichi Taguchi & Sugaru Miaki’s Three Days of Happiness manga (YP already pubbed the novel)
- Mitsubachi Miyuki’s I’m Just in a Faux BL
- Suzuka Morino’s Servant Beast
- Watomura’s I’m Home, Pardoning the Intrusion
- Ayune Araragi’s Ms. Isshiki Wants to Know About Love
- Kazune Yamamoto’s What Six Survivors Told……
- Gen Momoji’s Let’s Go Nirvana!
- Satori Kōnosu’s Thus Spoke the Rabbit
- Kazuaki Kurihara & Akane Terai’s The Succubus Meets Her Match
- Yukari Amatsu’s Mage of Reda
- Takemachi, SeuKaname, & tomari’s Spy Classroom 4th Period: Blazing Fire
- Numa Egaki’s How to Handle My Sassy Big Sis
- Ballad Kitaguni, Genshō Yasuda, & Nyum’s Ayakashi à la Mode (Yen On)
- Itsuki Yomukae, Scottie, & Barikios’s Why Run? My Summoned Beast Is Cute! (Yen On)
- An omnibus edition of Yoshiki Tonogai’s JUDGE
38:43: Usually Justin or manga enthusiasts looking at retailers catch TOKYOPOP licensing lots of things without them saying anything for like months — but it finally seems like TOKYOPOP’s getting around to announcing what they have on time:
- Lemon Fujikura’s My One-Sided Love
- Hinako Yugumo’s If I Could Write My Love Into You
- Kisa Inami’s Blue Spring in Your Eyes
- Jiro Ōnishi’s How to Befriend a Demon
- Kana’s Our Lucky Future Together
- Hana Ikuta’s The Shadow and the Flower
- Toworu Miyata’s Aoharu Once More
- Kouji Setsu’s Enomoto Is No Angel
- Toto Tsurui’s Spicy Milk Candy/Toto Tsurui’s Good Hair & Bad Habits
- Seno Yanase’s The Lion Dances With a Loved One
- Joe Aruku’s Caught in Your Web
39:58: Crossed Hearts has licensed Mei Fujimatsu & Satsuki Haru’s Afternoon Tea for Two for their Glam Beat! yuri imprint; Abrams Kana announced they’ve licensed Makiburo, Nazuna Shiraume, & Mai Murasaki’s Within The Villainess manga; MANGA Plus has added Maki Kanemaki’s The Hero’s Bereaved Family to their service; and more Discotek titles have been added to the MediaOCD Discotek Deep Dives list.
Streaming News
42:23: During the Akane-banashi YouTube live stream, global streaming platforms and details were revealed for the anime, which premieres later this week. This got Justin to go down an unlikely rabbit hole as another Weekly Shonen Jump title does not go to Crunchyroll for some reason (and instead, it’ll stream for North American users on YouTube, with Netflix streaming the anime beginning in May).
49:36: Helen gets to talk about the other bizarre streaming situation this Spring in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run, which had its first episode (1st STAGE) go up on Netflix, and nothing else. The 2nd STAGE has been announced to air in 2026. When in 2026? Only the execs at Netflix know apparently! And this sure has led to a LOT of discussion regarding how this series has been handled since Netflix made the deal with david production years ago.
1:00:15: The newest anime streaming service in North America, Amasian TV, just added Mugen Train and that can be watched for free; The Crave streaming platform in Canada added 14 anime films, from Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero to In This Corner of the World; Lupin the IIIrd The Movie: The Immortal Bloodline has been released digitally for rental or purchase by GKIDS, with a BD release (collaboration with Shout! Studios) coming in July; and thanks to GKIDS, Gundam fans will get to see the second film of the Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway anime project in US theaters May 15.
Weird News
1:02:29: You say it’s over…it’s never over apparently! For Shadow Skill, which ended 12 years ago, clearly it getting a sequel shows you can return no matter what; and as rumored, From Far Away is getting an anime adaptation — the shoujo manga started in 1991!
1:08:04: You know, there’s not too many cases where an anime character is added to a video game, and certainly not a fighting game, so we had to note Kenshiro getting added to the latest Fatal Fury game; and sure, bringing back a 4KIDS voice actor can be kind of interesting but generally not terribly weird, but for this particular run of One Piece, there’s levels to having Erica Schroeder return to the One Piece franchise as Joyboy.