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Show Notes
0:00: On a very packed episode of TheOASG Podcast, Justin and Helen get straight into the news of the past few weeks — and that means licenses before AX! From Kodama Tales and Crossed Hearts‘ licensing week, Abrams Kana acquiring an astrology work, Bubbles Zine bringing over a Suehiro Maruo work, and to GKIDS bringing an anime film to home media, it was a fair number of works announced…
…and then came Anime Expo 2026.
Licenses during Anime Expo
We can say a LOT of publishers had a LOT of announcements: Come take a gander at everything these companies acquired:
J-Novel Club (6:30:)
- Tsuta Sonehara & Lemon Natsume’s Sorry, Darling, but You Won’t Kill Me Again! (J-Novel Heart)
- Yuno Yozakura & Nimoshi’s A Young Maiden’s Growing Pains: I Reincarnated and All I Got Was This 100X Stat Buff!
- Nora Yasuda & Arutera’s God Sleeps in Seafoam
- Manzi Mazi & Yuuya’s A Wicked Lady’s Guide to Accidentally Saving the Kingdom
- Shusui Hazuki & kururi’s I’ll Become an Elegant Villainess! Time to Enjoy My Second Life to the Fullest (J-Novel Heart)
- Kennoji & Reita’s Father, Have You Sinned? An Assassin in Priest’s Robes
- Misa Aoi & Yoh Hihara’s Genius in the Library: This Bookish Rookie Will Save the Day!
- Long Utsumi’s Last Summer Sparkle manga ( J-Novel Knight)
- Ichi Ichikawa’s Reset / Reboot manga (J-Novel Knight)
- Print titles: Punichan’s From Villainess to Healer: I Know the Cheat to Change My Fate (manga and LN); Jan Olexa’s It’s Tough Being a Necromancer; Schuld’s Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World; Hagure Metabo’s A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires; Miori Kayamoto’s The Despicable Duke Settles His Affairs (J-Novel Knight); Kazuki Amamiya’s Haibara’s Teenage New Game+; Fuurou, Yumbo, & kinta’s The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects: Tales of Blue Dias and the Onikin Alna manga; Abyss Enoshima, Pochi Edoya, & neropaso’s What’s with the Bag, Kamiyama-san?; Hajime Naehara, Takao Demise, & Hatori Kyoka’s A Cave King’s Road to Paradise: Climbing to the Top with My Almighty Mining Skills! manga; Ryuyu, Note Tono, & Daburyu’s Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon manga; Kazuki Minamoto’s All Eyes on Nekoyashiki-kun! Notice Me, Not My Characters; Kono Tsuranori’s D-Genesis: Three Years After the Dungeons Appeared
Seven Seas (12:45:)
- Odoroo Dorothy’s I See You, Aizawa-san!
- Daisuke Itabashi’s The Journey of a Dark Elf with Fading Powers
- Kotoko & Kei Kumanomi’s This Time Around, My Lovesick Hero Will Keep Me Alive … If I’m Lucky!
- Itsumi Narita’s That girl I’m interested in is a maid from the abyss
- Azusa Sakamoto’s I Reincarnated as the “Villain” Commander of an Order of Knights (manga drawn by fujy, light novel art by kodamazon; LN is digital only)
- Hijiki’s Hate Me, but Let Me Stay – Manager and Otoha
- Daken & Enta Shiho’s The Suspects of Necromancy (Airship)
- Kennoji & R_ringo’s My Sword Saint Master Is Too Cute to Live With! (Ghost Ship
- Siren audiobook imprint: Yoru Sumino’s Distorted I Love You (Narrated by Paul Dateh & Aria Saltini)
Kodansha (15:53:)
- Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Historié
- Nikki Asada’s The Serenade of Spring Thunder
- Teki Yatsuda’s Myther
- Yoshidamaru’s Dig It
- Kazuto Mihara’s Interstellar Violin
- Ko Fumimura’s Manga Lover
- Battan’s Fatale Game
- Osamu Nishi’s Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Devilish Tales: Kalego’s Story
- Hana Yakou, Honomi, & Chiharu Nara’s Blaze of Flesh and Blood
- Suji Hanabusa’s Drawn Deep
- Rei Tasaki, Nezu Usugumo, & Jiji’s The Chronicles of Leënde
- A hardcover deluxe edition of Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix
- CLAMP Official Artbook COLOR GOLD 1989–2024
- Jun Esaka & Kamome Shirahama’s Witch Hat Atelier: Special Stories
Yen Press (20:11:)
- Hagane Kurodome & Kururi’s The Chef of the Adventurers’ Tavern (Yen On)
- Kouko Shirakawa’s A Flower in Black Crude Clothes (Yen On)
- Hiroyuki Kitazume’s Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Define
- Hollow Takeuchi’s Chihaya Re:Start!
- samesuke’s The Lowly Elf Is the Blackhearted King’s Plaything
- Nauchi’s Takane-san and Arashi-chan
- Harikamo’s The 11th Cat Is Nene!
- Hajime Taguchi & Hiromu Kitano’s Planarian Humans
Square Enix Manga & Books (23:01:)
- Daisuke Hagiwara’s Not Quite Love
- yutaka’s My Classmate James
- Mo-suke Mattaku’s Inuta: My Canine Classmate
- Ume Koshida’s Daughter of the Dragon God
- Koume Fujichika’s Supervillain Boy
- Genkotsu Kumano, Jojo Ueyama, & Ryūshi Tajima’s Overpowered and Underpaid: An OP Swordmaster Turns Hit Streamer
- Gojiai’s KasuRich
- Ume Matsutake & Komikan Matsumoto’s Tamagawa, Is That You?
TOKYOPOP & Dark Horse (24:35:)
- Nasubitaka’s Love at First Howl
- Misaki Sako & Supico Shinonome’s The Reclusive Consort of the Rikan Empire: Sneaking Out of the Rear Palace to Be a Court Official
- Nana Aokawa’s How I Attended an All Guy’s Mixer: Omnibus Edition
- Ayaka Matsumoto’s Mr. Mitsuya’s Planned Feeding
- Kenji Tsuruta’s The Sky is but One Roof of the World
- Gou Tanabe’s H.P. Lovecraft’s The Haunter of the Dark
- Yoshitaka Amano’s Deva Zan (Second Edition)
- A deluxe hardcover edition of Hiroya Oku’s Gantz
Manga Mavericks Books & Omoi (25:42:)
- Kaoru Kurimoto & Yumiko Igarashi’s The Sword of Paros (Deluxe hardcover edition)
- Quick Obake’s Motionless
- Kazuhiko Shimamoto’s Hero Company
- Mai Matsuda’s Walking Home with You
- Kakeru Kakemaru’s Shonen Racket
- Shunsuke Sorato’s Natsume & Natsume: More Perfume
- Kaoru Kurimoto & Yumiko Igarashi’s The Sword of Paros (Omoi digital exclusive, localized by Manga Mavericks)
BluPetal, Mahjong Pros, KUMA (27:23:)
- Masashi Kumamoto’s Last Heaven
- Raika Suzumi’s The Black World is Dyed in White Chalk
- Sayaka Okada & Kazuo Maekawa’s Golden Sakura
- Katakei & Yoshiki Suda’s Maetel of the Glassy Sea
- Ogeretsu Tanaka’s Mermaid Prince
- As a side note, DENPA (who runs KUMA) announced during their panel that they have a partnership with Alphapolis, who will have some of their works in print.
30:40: For at least the two hosts here (Sword of Paros is also a strong contender, but for Justin at least this is his favorite of AX), the best announcement out of AX weekend was Inklore — probably the last or at least second to last company anyone would’ve picked to do so — saying they licensed Tomoko Yamashita’s Ikoku Nikki. This apparently set Helen’s Bluesky timeline on fire once news was posted there, and both hosts discuss some background details involving this manga over the past few months.
Ink Pop, Ize Press, AnimEigo (33:32:)
- noho’s My Neighbor Yokai
- Dacto’s Legroom
- oaen and LOGO’s Philomel the Fake
- SAISA’s Footsteps in the Snow
- Sakon the Ventriloquist
- Drucker in the Dugout!
- A 4K remaster of the three-episode OVA AD Police Files
- House of Five Leaves
- Baby & I (May be changed to Baby and Me if approved)
Streaming News
37:07: Finally, after making sure they squeezed every single penny they could by having it in theaters, the Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle film will be streaming on Crunchyroll towards the end of July; Crunchyroll will also have theater screenings of Akira in 4K on September 4
37:54: Evangelion: Death (True)² & Rebirth will screen on July 21 and The End of Evangelion will screen on July 22 thanks to GKIDS; REMOW will stream My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren’t Wicked on the “It’s Anime” YouTube channel soon.
Main Topic: Spring Anime 2026 Final Impressions
38:57: Justin and Helen take no breaks and hop right into wrapping up the Spring anime season, which featured a good amount of standouts (Witch Hat Atelier, Ramparts of Ice, Dorohedoro S2) and some mostly solid works (An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess, Always a Catch, Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku!?).
Weird News
1:24:50: Welp, this section is the all industries are over, as AI this and AI that has taken over the minds of people who ultimately are trying to get away with being cheap — first with this anime done by an AI animation company that looks familiar in some cases if you stare long enough; then you have the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry considering providing subsidies of 11.5 billion yen (about US$71 million) to 15 eligible media companies aiming to increase overseas sales — the subsidies would aim to encourage the companies to utilize generative AI to translate their works. Welp again!
1:34:59: It’s 2026 and we have The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All getting a pretty superb adaptation — from how it looks to them having Dave Grohl say that Kurt Cobain would have loved Green Yuri, which got Helen to know all about Kurt Cobain; We also have Bamco (Filmworks and Pictures) having to apologize for making an unauthorized references to a number of works — in particular Attack on Titan — in their Sgt. Frog anime film.
1:38:04: Many questions have arisen with the announcement of Netflix working on a live-action Persona TV series, and one of them has Justin wondering why anyone let this be announced at all.