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Show Notes
0:00: The hosts of TheOASG Podcast explain what they’ve been up to over the past few weeks. For Helen, it involved reading A Witch’s Life in Mongul and watching Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia; for Justin, he describes the craziness of Anime NYC 2026.
News
32:34: Once Crunchyroll announced their changes to their store back in July, it was only a matter of time before they went the route of completely eliminating all sorts of print books from their store, short of it being an exclusive; Cool Japan was once a thing, and both Justin and Helen had to really think about the impact this initiative from the Japanese government really made following news that reportedly it will not have much funds in 2027, thus effectively ending it.
36:25: sooncha will switch publication of Yang Can’t Live Alone from Square Enix to a new publisher in Japan, which seems to have had a major impact on its English release; The Manga Mirai service will shut down later this year, which prompted both hosts to wonder how long this platform lasted (not very long); After 13 years, NHN Japan Corporation’s free manga app Comico will end service in January 2027; We will once again have a new imprint in the English publishing market very soon, and it’s a somewhat familiar name.
45:51: Coco Uzuki’s got health issues and needs to adjust her schedule, so her Fall in Love, You False Angels manga is slated to return in Kodansha’s Dessert magazine in November; Shiwasu Hoshikawa’s Bungo Stray Dogs STORM BRINGER manga will go on a long-term hiatus due to Hoshikawa’s health; and Shō Aimoto lost her brother a few weeks ago, so Kemono Jihen will go on hiatus for a bit.
47:15: Comic book and manga letterer Dave Lanphear passed away at 58 a few weeks ago; legendary voice actor Peter Cullen died at 85, according to his family to TMZ, peacefully on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, which led to a number of tributes and remembrance, not just of him as Optimus Prime, but for his role in growing Toonami thanks to all the promos he did.
Licenses
51:16: Hanashi Media (LN publisher) announced they’ve licensed the following works:
- Kei Takano & Shoa Takashima’s The Hated Prince’s Do-Over: Can Good Deeds Save Me from All These Execution Flags?!
- Ichiro Katawara & Noy’s Living the Slow Life as a Demon Lord: The Hero Says My Tomato Field Is an Unconquerable Dungeon!
- Kagami Yagami & Roha’s Shimotsuki-san Has a Thing for a Background Character
- Takeru Uchida & Emuke’s The Sage of the Forbidden Library: A Genius Apprentice Librarian Unlocks the Secrets of Magical Civilization
- Hayashi Hoshino & Shunsuke Himuro’s The Breeding Man Takes On the Sengoku Era
- Kaguya & Kodama’s Welcome to Your New Workplace: The Hellish Front Lines! Lina, Strategist, Age Eight
- Alice Nishizaki & Fruitpunch’s The Merchant Heiress is Unstoppable with the Power of Money
- Hakoita & Aso’s Living It Up in Another World Until I Get Bored: A Thirty-Something Nobody’s Carefree Life
52:57: Comikey will add a good amount of Shojo manga from Hakusensha to their service…eventually; Akina’s The Viscount’s Porky Portrait: I Married the Knight My Sister Rejected, Sorinokoshi & Taichi Ōkubo’s Unwinding with the Aloof Girl at the Standing Bar, and Ato Sakurai’s If Witch, Then Which? have been added to Manga UP!, while a new simulpub is now on K MANGA: Daiki Yamazaki’s Golden Phantom
ANYC Licenses
A lot was announced at the convention, so here they all are in list form!
Kodansha (56:33): Shiori Hanatsuka’s How to Grill Our Love, Aki Iwai’s Abe-kun’s Got Me Now, Umi Shiina’s I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die, Umebachi Yamanaka’s Matcha Made in Heaven, & KUJIRA’s Changes of Heart for Kodansha Print Club.
- TNSK’s Trapped on Tape
- Joji Morikawa’s Hajime no Ippo: Fighting Spirit!, which will be released in 3-in-1 omnibus format
Yen Press (1:01:48)
- Sonoo Michiru’s Hot Nights at the Hot Springs, Secret Trip No. 241
- Sato Kanae’s Make it an Eternity
- Runta’s Interdimensional Memoir
- Alt Hanakage’s Can I Call You Unnie?
- Hachioki Nekono’s The Gray Exorcist
- Etorouji Shiono’s Übel Blatt II: Knights of the Fallen King
- Fudou Fudono’s Seal My Lips with a Kiss
- Yuki Sakai & Ao Nekonabe’s The Witch’s Conviction, The Beast’s Redemption (Yen On)
- Taro Hitsuji & Akitake Azumi’s ‘Cause I’m Freedom! (Yen On)
- Yoonhee Na’s Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid
- Solo Leveling: Ragnarok sequel novel series by Daul (Last two titles for Ize Press)
J-Novel Club (1:03:48)
- Ryuta Kijima & motto’s Being Famous Is NEET! Going Sister-Rank on Livestream
- Ameko Kaeruda & U35’s Fleet-Footed Dungeon Delver: Tune in for Magical Girls and Motion Blur!
- Takatsugu Awaki & Benio’s Middle-Aged and Mid No More: Rising in Ranks over Drinks with an Elite Priest
- Asa Asazuki & Kyozip’s Elegance in Exile: From Alchemy to Luxury with My Ardent Knight (J-Novel Heart)
- Morrinmomo & whimhalooo’s Keep Me Close: Finding My Home in You (J-Novel Heart)
- Kotoko & Tsukasa Satsuki’s Grinding My Way to a Happy Ending: If Only My OP Big Bro Didn’t Make Things So (Sister) Complex! (J-Novel Heart)
- Minami Kashiwa & Suzunosuke’s Déjà Vute: Betrayal Begets New Beginnings (J-Novel Heart)
- SHINOBU KURIKI & HIROI TAKAO’s Fraudulent Fiancés (J-Novel Knight)
- Kaori Shu & Kyo Kitazawa’s An Otaku Prince Finds Love in Akiba (J-Novel Knight)
- Daizu Konaka & Ryou Mizukane’s Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Who Ate the Poisoned Apple, Core and All? (J-Novel Knight)
- Romeda Ando’s Crybaby Love Song (J-Novel Knight)
- Will release the following in print: Mao Nishiura & Maro’s Pens Down, Swords Up: Throw Your Studies to the Wind; Ryuyu & Daburyu’s Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon LN, Riku Nanano & Tamura Muto’s Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter manga, Quadrilian & Ixy’s Beautiful Daydream
- Will release Riku Misora & Won’s Chivalry of a Failed Knight as 3-in-1 Hardcover Collector’s Editions, starting with collector edition 1 in April 2027
Seven Seas (1:08:51)
- Ringoame Third & Akio Kawada’s The Duke’s Daughter Must Seduce the Demon King…But the Demon King’s a Girl?!
- Rui Obata’s I Wish it Had Just Been Love
- Tako Nonoshima’s Scarlet Thirst
- Karin Anzai’s My Lips are Being Targeted
- Neneko Narazaki’s Synchronicity Obsession
- Dokuzu Kento, Kobayashi Tetsuya, & Nekosuke Ookuma’s Goetia Shock manga
- Hasegawa Roku’s Enslaved By My Cats
- Chohokiteki Kaeru, Miyagi Makoto, and Kanase Bench’s Witch and Mercenary manga
- Season 1 & Season 2 Box Set of Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa’s The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You
- Audiobook for their Siren imprint of Touya’s A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO
Kana (1:11:41)
- Masaya Hokazono’s Pumpkin Night
- ma2’s Why We Fall in Love
- Kai Kitagou’s Good Morning Leon
- Qtonagi’s Soon the Fog Clears
- Yamakujira’s Children of the Afterlife
- Chiaki Ida’s Happy at Home
TOKYOPOP (1:12:41)
- Yōsuke Takahashi & Mimori’s Garagarapon
- Takeshi Nozawa & Yoshimi Nanjou’s And Then, She Became Mina.
- Psyche Delico’s What Goes On Behind the Scenes
- Nashi, Coby Furukawa, & Dr. Mine’s SIX: Paths of Horror – The Manga
- Kanawa Tachibana, Makiko Saiki, & Aki Sonomi’s The Commander’s Proposal Is Out of the Question!
- Kiyo Mori’s Breathe Out, Look at Me
- Eko Hanada’s First Love Begins With the Second Kiss
- Rangrari’s Lily of the Valley (manhwa)
- Kimpeacock & Tropicalarmpit’s Magic Soup (manhwa)
Dark Horse (1:14:01)
- Gou Tanabe’s H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
- Hideyuki Kikuchi & Saiko Takaki’s Vampire Hunter D: The Rose Princess; will also release a Vampire Hunter D comic
Crossed Hearts (1:14:59)
- Sora Mizuki’s The Two of Us Can’t Stay Mobs
- Hadajuban Yamada’s Love Beyond the Final Boss: The Hero’s Party’s Quest for Love
- Al Chiaki’s Where Sea Meets Shore
- Higure Sakino’s Emma and the Eyes that Bid Farewell
- Penguin’s Addicted to You
- Moku and Daran Lee’s Welcome to the Rose Manor (manhwa)
- Via and Dalseul’s Flirting with the Villain’s Dad (manhwa)
- Crosswise’s The Devil in Me (Thai comic, Glam Beat imprint)
- Ahn Siwoo’s Ink Soaked into Ashen Paper (Korean novel, Glam Beat imprint)
- Chelliace’s Fairy Trap (Korean novel, Blush Club imprint)
- Launch of an in-house imprint Studio Hearts with the following works: A Kiss Before the Gunshot, Doomsday Requiem With You, Chiaroscuro, and Soul Guiders; Launch of A Novel Press for prose works; A partnership with Thai girls-love publisher Lily House to release titles in English.
Manga Mavericks, Mahjong Pros, Omoi, Publang (1:18:48): Akahachi’s Arai-kun & Haruma-senpai, Yohei Sajita’s Midnight Robot; Nagahisa Tsukawaki’s Snap Call Kirinji; Omoi will add Momoshiro & Tomoko Mitsuki’s Love Is the Sweetest Journey, their A Snow Fox at the Northern Fort title will be released in print via Scholastic Graphix (slated for Fall 2027), they will add 45 Titan Manga titles, and will add Vegetable Sandwich from Manga Mavericks Books to their service; Publang licensed the following:
- Define the Relationship, written by Flona and illustrated by Chada (manhwa)
- Both the original novel and manhwa adaptation of The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low. The novel is written by 103, while the manhwa features art by ligong, with an adaptation by MAGMA
- PASSION manhwa, written by Yuuji with art by GangJak and an adaptation by Hound
- Healer, a web novel by Mechanist
GKIDS (1:24:50): North American rights to Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust anime film and the live-action film of Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters per Second anime film
Streaming News
1:27:29: With the movie doing numbers in Japan, Amasian TV is making episodes of the Chiikawa TV series available to watch for free; The Irregular at Magic High School THE MOVIE – Yotsuba Succession Arc – will be in theaters starting November 1; after being taken off the service some months ago, 86 is now back on Crunchyroll.
1:29:40: The 3rd Mononoke film will be on Netflix September 29; RetroCrush is adding several VIZ anime distributed works to their service, from several Naruto movies to Vampire Knight; Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram premiered at Anime NYC and is now on digital storefronts — it is also notable for using the all-new English dub cast that we’ve heard from the collections on Netflix and Crunchyroll, which gets Justin to think about a survey a few ANYCs ago where a question was asked about using them or the prior studio for the films; No more Crunchyroll can be watched on your Nintendo Switch in November, for reasons that more than likely work out for both companies.
1:34:13: Let’s just say Chainsmoker Cat has gotten a bit of notoriety for a couple reasons, and now it’s new claim to fame is having the anime removed from streaming services in Hong Kong.
Weird News
1:35:17: Helen discusses the crazy situation that occurred involving Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou’s The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun, where the novel got announced to be a manga drawn by long-time BL artist Ayano Yamane and then days later got suspended for things the artist brought up involving anti-Chinese and anti-Korean sentiments on social media, meaning it’s now added to the pile of works not adapted into another medium.
1:41:26: So there is a proposed theme park project involving France and Saudi Arabia that was announced, and it was reported that a theme park is expected to be based on the Dragon Ball franchise — the problem? According to a French newspaper, the project has not received approval from the rights holders, so we got a current case of he said, she said! And someone is wrong.
1:46:17: Not anime, but all the same, Please Save My Earth is returning after decades to get a live-action work on Prime; the Maria Holic manga is back, getting a sequel after 12 years; TMS Anime announced that Baki Gaiden: Retsu Kaioh wa Isekai Tensei Shitemo Ikkō ni Kamawan is receiving a TV anime adaptation…for some reason!
1:50:20: We got some One Piece and Detective Conan collabs happening thanks to Universal Japan; Krispy Kreme collaborating with Pokémon; and yes, you can support Masako Nozawa turning 90 by buying a few things of hers, including a baseball hat depicting her from youth!