Fushigi Yugi Manga to Get a New One Shot in September 2022

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The January 2022 issue of Shogakukan’s Monthly Flowers magazine has announced that the Fushigi Yûgi manga will get a new one shot by original creator Yuu Watase in the magazine’s November 2022 issue, which is scheduled to ship around September 28, 2022.

The original Fushigi Yugi manga ran in Shogakukan’s Shojo Comic (Sho-Comi) magazine from 1992 to 1996. Watase then drew Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden from 2003 to 2013. VIZ Media publishes both of these earlier manga and other works by Watase in North America. The original manga inspired a television anime and several original video anime titles. Both Geneon Entertainment and Media Blasters licensed the television anime in North America.

Source: ANN

Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon: Episode 33 – “Mayonaka the Visitor”

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

It was interesting this week to see that instead of the usual recapping of the concept of the series that we see before the opening credits didn’t appear. Instead, it was showing what happened right at the end of the previous episode, and ended with the immediate aftermath.

The main focus of the story was on Setsuna and the demon slayers, which is a good thing, since the title references that portion of the story. After having titles that really didn’t fit in with the major focus of the previous two episodes, this was a refreshing change.

I’ll start with talking about Moroha and Towa real quick, since they were only in the episode briefly. With Moroha, after we see her and Takechiyo get blown away by the raccoon dog demon, she’s asleep in a cave, and Takechiyo is complaining to Hachi about how she’ll have to sleep for a day before she can do anything again. Apparently, it’s going to cut it close to Takechiyo’s brother’s coming-of-age ceremony.

For Towa, we see her with Riku and Rion. Riku determines that he’s blind, and we get a scene involving the lavender scented hand cream. It seems like Riku is flirting with Towa in this scene, and Rion scolds Riku for it.

When it comes to Setsuna, she’s trying to master her blade so she will be able to cut her mother’s thread of fate that’s attached to Zero. She successfully cuts down a lot of bamboo, but still doesn’t feel the connection with her blade that she thinks she needs. The episode sees Mayonaka, the character in the title, make an appearance with the flame bulls. Setsuna ultimately finds him, along with one of the guys from the other group of demon slayers. It’s revealed that Mayonaka is actually the god that owned the treasure that the village has been using for its prosperity, and that the guy with Setsuna is the son of this god. Mayonaka explains who he really is, and about how his treasure was taken from him by the village headman. This ended up involving the headman’s daughter, who fell in love with the god. Ultimately, this story leads to Setsuna finally figuring out how to sever a thread of fate, and using this newfound skill to cut the god’s thread of fate. Unfortunately, because the treasure disappears, the village they helped is impoverished again, so the demon slayers aren’t paid for their services. According to the dialogue, they weren’t even thanked.

But this storyline was very important for Setsuna, so she could finally figure out and learn how to sever a thread of fate. With this knowledge, she can start honing her skills so she can work at cutting the thread that binds Rin to Zero.

The preview for the next episode makes it appear that we will be focusing more on Moroha’s storyline, and it appears we’ll be seeing footage from the past of Kagome, Inuyasha, and the others sealing away the raccoon dog demon that Moroha tried to take on at the beginning of this episode. Oh, and it turns out the next episode is labeled as a “Part One,” so this storyline should take up at least two episodes. I hope this storyline for Moroha will finally establish her as being an important character in the series, instead of as the “comic relief” character that she was portrayed as in the first half of Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon.

Additional posts about Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon:

Manga Nominated for Best Comic at Angoulême 2022

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The 48th Angoulême International Comics Festival has announced its nominees for Best Comic, which includes six manga:

  • Lemon Haruna’s Daruchan
  • Toshiya Higashimoto’s Le Bateau de Thésee (Theseus no Fune or Ship of Theseus) Volume 10
  • Keigo Shinzô’s Mauvaise Herbe (Nora to Zassō) Volume 4
  • Akira Oze’s Natsuko no Sake Volume 5
  • Junji Ito’s Sensor
  • Toranosuke Shimada’s Une brève histoire du Robo-Sapiens (Robo Sapiens: Tales of Tomorrow) Volumes 1-2

Lemon Haruna’s Daruchan is also nominated for the “Sélection Fauve Des Lycéens” category.

Kuniko Tsurita’s L’Envol manga is nominated for the Heritage category. Drawn & Quarterly published the manga collection in English under the title The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud.

Tsubasa Yamaguchi’s Blue Period manga Volume 6 and Okura’s Je crois que mon fils est gay (I Think Our Son Is Gay) manga Volume 2 are nominated for the Kids category for ages 12-16. Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yūsuke Nomura’s Blue Lock manga Volume 5 and Shin’ya Komatsu’s Un été à Tsurumaki (Tsurumaki Machi Natsu Jikan) manga are nominated for the Kids category ages 8-12.

The 48th Angoulême Festival will run from January 27-30, 2022 in the Angoulême area of France.

Source: ANN

Cells NOT at Work! Spin-off Manga Ends

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The January 2022 issue of Kodansha’s Shonen Sirius magazine has published the final chapter of Moe Sugimoto’s Cells NOT at Work! (Hatarakanai Saibō) spin-off manga.

The manga is described as:

Here comes a new Cells at Work! spin-off series—with laughs galore. Erythroblasts are cells raised by a Macrophage in order to become promising Red Blood Cells, but that doesn’t seem to be really the case here with these erythroblasts, who are on an indefinite moratorium—with no reason to work.

Sugimoto laynched the Cells NOT at Work! manga in Shonen Sirius in July 2017. Kodansha Comics has licensed the manga and is publishing it digitally.

Source: ANN

Youtooz Announces Latest Anime Collection Collaboration With FUNimation Entertainment

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman


Youtooz, the company turning nostalgia and internet culture into amazing products that people love, has announced its latest anime collection with FUNimation Entertainment, marking the second collaboration between the two companies. This new collection includes five prominent characters from the Attack on Titan anime television series.

“We have had the pleasure of working with the FUNimation team over the past year to bridge into anime and are excited to continue our partnership with this Attack on Titan collection,” said Austin Long, co-founder, Youtooz. “The series is incredible for its storytelling and characters which we’re proud to bring to life through the collaboration.”

Based on one of the best-selling manga series of all time, the award-winning Attack on Titan anime is both a critical and commercial success gaining accolades from fans and critics alike.

The Attack on Titan collection features five limited edition vinyl figures: Levi, Armin, Eren, Mikasa, and Colossal Titan, all of which will be available direct-to-consumer online at Youtooz.com and in select specialty stores such as FYE. These figures were developed as a part of a joint effort between Youtooz and FUNimation.

Case Closed: Episode 1028 – “Ballad of the Woman Who Loved Cake”

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

I knew from the moment that I saw the title of this episode that it was likely not going to be one of the better episodes of Case Closed. Sadly, I was right.

The episode opens with Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi going to an abandoned old mansion that’s scheduled to be torn down and replaced with a sweets factory. When they go inside, they see a hand sticking out of some rubble, and laugh at first, thinking it’s not real. But suddenly, a woman gets up out of the rubble and hobbles outside, not even acknowledging that the kids are there. The three kids faint, and are later revived by Conan. They see a trail of blood and follow to it a nearby sweet shop, where they see a woman wearing dirty clothes looking similar to what the person in the rubble was wearing, sitting outside eating cake. The kids recognize her as the same woman they saw sitting there eating the same cake on a different day.

This leads to the kids having a flashback of standing outside this same shop, talking about hearing that the old mansion would be torn down for the sweets factory. One of the kids gets the bright idea to explore it, although Conan does try to discourage them. Ayumi suggests going on Thursday, since there’s no school that day.

When we return to the present, the woman gets up and walks away. The Detective Boys follow her, and see her go inside the office building for the same sweets company that is going to be building the new factory. Conan finds a service entrance, and the kids enter the grounds through there. They hear a scream, we see that a woman who looks suspiciously like the woman at the sweet shop eating the cake finds the company president dead, suffocating after having been pushed into a batch of red bean paste. The vice president (the brother of the president) sees what happened, and notices his wife’s handkerchief near the body. He assumes his wife is guilty, so he calls her to set up an alibi. When he does that, she suspects that he’s guilty, and agrees to help set up the alibi. Inspector Megure and Detective Takagi arrive to begin their investigation, and Kogoro appears because he’s supposed to pick up the kids and take them home.

I don’t want to give too much more away, but I think the episode title basically gives away who the murderer is after you’ve seen enough of the episode to know who’s who. While that’s a little annoying, it’s only one of the issues I had with this episode. It’s clearly established at the mansion that it’s private property and that there’s a no trespassing sign. However, in order to get this story going, the Detective Boys have to do something illegal (trespassing) in order to find the person in the rubble that kicks off this mystery. This is also another episode featuring the Detective Boys where Ai is not with them, and her absence is not acknowledged by any of the characters. I also had a problem with how the ending of the unveiling of the murderer went down… it was just cheesy and bad.

This was definitely not one of the better one episode murder mysteries. While it’s not as bad as some of the episodes that feature the Detective Boys, it’s still not that great of an episode. Oh well. Next week, we start into the “Police Academy Arc,” which looks like it will be focusing on Amuro in his police academy days. This could be interesting.

Additional posts about Case Closed:

Anime Blog Posts That Caught My Eye This Week (November 26, 2021)

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

I hope my American readers had a good Thanksgiving holiday yesterday. I know that I’m lucky to be able to say that I have quite a bit that I’m grateful for this year.

Here are the anime blog posts that caught my eye this week:

Tubi TV Adds the Infini-T Force Movie – Farewell, Friend Anime Film to Its Service

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The Fandom Post is reporting that Tubi TV has added the English dub of the Infini-T Force Movie – Farewell, Friend anime film to its service.

The story of Infini-T Force Movie – Farewell, Friend is described as:

The ultimate spacetime travelers are back and facing down an unthinkable danger. In an eerily parallel Shibuya, Gatchaman stares down his own death and encounters his former mentor, Dr. Nambu. Luckily he has some backup from the legendary Joe the Condor.

Source: The Fandom Post

World’s End Harem to Premiere on January 7, 2022

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The official website for the World’s End Harem anime has announced that the series’ new premiere date on Japanese television is now January 7, 2022. The airing will begin with the anime’s first episode.

World’s End Harem was originally scheduled to premiere on October 8, 2021, but it instead only aired the first episode as an “advance screening,” with the rest of the show delayed to January 2022 due to a need to “closely examine” the anime’s production. Crunchyroll was scheduled to simulcast the anime as it aired in Japan.

The story of the series is described as:

The Man-Killer Virus: a lethal disease that has eradicated 99.9% of the world’s male population. Mizuhara Reito has been in cryogenic sleep for the past five years, leaving behind Tachibana Erisa, the girl of his dreams. When Reito awakens from the deep freeze, he emerges into a sex-crazed new world where he himself is the planet’s most precious resource. Reito and four other male studs are given lives of luxury and one simple mission: repopulate the world by impregnating as many women as possible. All Reito wants, however, is to find his beloved Erisa who went missing three years ago. Can Reito resist temptation and find his one true love?

Source: ANN

Blue Period Episodes Delayed by Another Week Outside of Japan

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

DMM announced on its official website on that starting with Episode Seven, the Blue Period anime outside Japan will be pushed back by “(approximately) 1 weeks” [sic] due to “unforseen production delays.” The anime’s official Japanese website does not mention a similar airing delay for Japan. DMM Pictures is one of the producers for the anime.

Netflix is already debuting new episodes of the anime outside of Japan with a two week delay from their Netflix debut in Japan.

Blue Period debuted on Netflix in Japan on September 25, 2021. The service began streaming the anime outside of Japan on October 9, 2021, with weekly new episodes.

Source: ANN