anime

Hulu Adds the English Dub of the Your Lie in April Anime to Its Service

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The Fandom Post is reporting that Hulu has added the English dub of all of the episodes of the Your Lie in April anime to its service. According to the report, Hulu had previously streamed both the sub and dub of the anime, but that the series had disappeared from the service until its return now.

Your Lie in April is described as:

Based on the award-winning original manga Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso by Naoshi Arakawa, Your Lie in April focuses on a piano prodigy who is unable to hear his music after suffering from the trauma of losing his beloved mother and piano instructor. With both of those things stripped from him, Kousei Arima’s life becomes lackluster and monotonous.

One day, Kousei is introduced to a violinist named Kaori Miyazono. Though he has a terrible first impression of her, Kaori’s music completely enthralls him. Free, powerful and passionate – Kaori’s bold performance breathes life back into Kousei. Brought together by music, can the heartfelt sounds of this girl’s violin lead him to play the piano again?

Source: The Fandom Post

Hulu Adds the First Season of The Irregular at Magic High School Anime to Its Service

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The Fandom Post is reporting that Hulu has added the first season of The Irregular at Magic High School anime to its service.

The story of The Irregular at Magic High School is described as:

The year is 2095. Magic has been tamed as another form of technology, and the practice of magic is now a rigorous discipline. Brother and sister Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba are just about to start their first year at the renowned First Magic High School of Japan. But the school’s ironclad rules mean that the brilliant Miyuki enters the prestigious Course 1, while her older brother, Tatsuya, is relegated to Course 2–and that’s just the beginning of their troubles.

Source: The Fandom Post

Anime Soundtrack Review: A Silent Voice

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

A Silent Voice is a two-disc soundtrack for the anime film of the same name. which was composed by Kensuke Ushio.

A Silent Voice Soundtrack
Publisher: Anime Limited
Release Date: September 1, 2020

The first disc of this set is made up of the background score for the film. There were pieces that I recognized from hearing them in the film, and others I didn’t. Just because I didn’t recognize some of the pieces, that doesn’t make it a bad score. It shows to me that the music did its job, because in some of the scenes, it’s supposed to be more in the background and not standing out to the viewer.

Sonically, the pieces are piano heavy, although there were at least one or two pieces where they were a little fuller because they included some more instruments. Much of the score is slower in tempo, which makes sense when you think about the tone and feel of the overall film. A Silent Voice has a dramatic enough story that the background music really needs to be slower and low-key.

The first disc has a total of 39 tracks, and many of them seem to be less than three minutes in length. What’s interesting to notice, though, is that these tracks don’t have actual titles per se. Many of then are three letters (for example, “tre,” “roh,” “thn,” etc.) While these designations likely made sense to Kensuke Ushio, they are basically gobbledygook to the average listener. While I heard the pieces on the disc, these titles really don’t help me to identify them. Because of that, it really makes it harder for me to comment on specific pieces of score on the disc by just looking at the titles. And I really don’t have the patience to go back through the disc to try to find any particular score pieces to comment on. Maybe I’m just being lazy, but I tend to have an easier time talking about songs and music if I have concrete titles to work with. All I can really say here is that when I put this disc on to listen to it while doing other things, it was easy for it to become background music while I worked.

The second disc is labeled as “Extra Sound Track,” and it contains 22 tracks. From what I’ve read, this is supposed to be music that didn’t make it into the film. I can buy that for some of the songs on this second disc, but others I have a much harder time figuring out how they would have fit in. There were two particular songs that stood out to me on this disc in that regard. “Is Your Hair Real?” almost has an “8-bit” feel to it and is among one of the more uptempo songs on this release. The sonic sound, as well as the title, really don’’ fit with A Silent Voice. “Laser” sounds like it came straight out of the 1980’s, and this feel is amplified by the use of vocoder on what vocals do appear on the track. Seriously, this is a song that probably could have been played in dance clubs around the mid-1980’s. “Laser” is a cool song, but again, I can’t see how this could have possibly fit in with the film. There are a couple of other more uptempo tracks on this disc as well, but I could at least potentially hear how they might have worked for the film. However, it was a little disappointing to me that the ending theme song for the film didn’t appear on either disc in this set, but that was likely due to rights issues.

The only real complaint that I have regarding this soundtrack is the design choices used for the tracklist on the back cover. It has small, thin text on top of a bright white background. I admit that I found myself having to squint at times in order to read the print to find out what the titles of the tracks are. I know the text had to be on the smaller side due to how many tracks are on each disc, but I wish either the background wasn’t quite so bright or that the text was a little darker.

When all is said and done, I find that these two discs complement each other. After listening to the first disc, which is made up of a lot of slower, almost ethereal music, the second disc combines several different tempos and sounds to its music.

If you’re a fan of A Silent Voice and its background score, I would definitely recommend picking up this release to add to your anime soundtrack library. When it comes to this release, I look at it as getting the score for the film as well some bonuses.

Additional posts about A Silent Voice:

Tubi TV Adds the Dear Brother Anime

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The Fandom Post is reporting that Tubi TV has added all 39 episodes of the Dear Brother anime to its service.

Dear Brother is described as:

Seiran Girl’s High School’s sorority is the most prestigious social group on campus. When Nanako gets invited to join, it seems like a dream come true. But she will soon discover the cost of popularity, in this classic shoujo drama by the same creator as Rose of Versailles.

Source: The Fandom Post

Hulu Adds the English Dub of the Darwin’s Game Anime to Its Service

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The Fandom Post is reporting that Hulu has added the English dub for all 11 episodes of the Darwin’s Game anime to its serivce.

Yoshinobu Tokumoto directed the anime based on the scripts by Shu Miyama. Kazuya Nakanishi is on board for the character designs with Nexus handling the animation production.

The story of Darwin’s Game is described as:

Kaname Sudo, an ordinary high school student, receives an invitation to try a mysterious app called Darwin’s Game. Kaname, upon launching the app, is drawn into a game where players fight one another using superpowers called Sigils. Without knowing the reason for all this, can Kaname survive furious battles against the powerful players who attack him?

Source: The Fandom Post

The Next Space Battleship Yamato Remake Is Be Forever Yamato: Rebel 3199

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The staff for the modern remake projects of the Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers) anime franchise has announced that the next project is Yamato yo Towa ni: Rebel 3199. Yamato yo Towa ni (Be Forever Yamato) is the title of the 1980 sequel to the original Yamato anime projects.

The new project is a sequel to the Uchū Senkan Yamato 2205: Aratanaru Tabidachi – Kōshō -STASHA- (Space Battleship Yamato 2205: The New Voyage Part II: Stasha) film, which will open in Japanese theaters on February 4, 2022. Drawing its motifs from the 1979 television special Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage, the new two-film project’s story begins three years after the war with the White Comet Empire. Kodai now commands the battleship Yamato with a new crew as they face another battle.

Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 is a remake of the original 1974 Space Battleship Yamato series created by Leiji Matsumoto and Yoshinobu Nishizaki. It first premiered in Japan as a series of seven movies shown theatrically in Japan from 2012 to 2013, before premiering on Japanese television in April 2013. The television version was streamed by both Crunchyroll and FUNimation Entertainment. The Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199: Hoshi-Meguru Hakobune anime film then opened in Japan in 2014.

As with Yamato 2199, the Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 sequel project premiered first as a series of seven films from June 2017 to March 2019. Yamato 2202‘s television version premiered in October 2018 in Japan. This series was also streamed by Crunchyroll and FUNimation.

Source: ANN

Discotek Media Announces Anime Releases for March 2022

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Discotek Media has announced on Facebook that it has licensed the Ms. Koizumi loves ramen noodles anime series and will release it on Blu-ray Disc on March 29, 2022. The release will include all 12 episodes in 1080p HD with Japanese audio and English subtitles.

The company also revealed it will release the following previously announced licenses on March 29, 2022:

  • Tomorrow’s Joe 2: The Movie (Ashita no Joe 2) on Blu-ray Disc
  • Street Sharks (American cartoon) on SD Blu-ray Disc
  • City Hunter 3 The Complete Third Series on Blu-ray Disc
  • Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san on Blu-ray Disc
  • Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo on Blu-ray Disc

Source: ANN

The Second Episode of the Miss Kuroitsu From the Monster Development Department Anime Is Delayed by One Week

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The official website for the Miss Kuroitsu From the Monster Development Department (Kaijin Kaihatsubu no Kuroitsu-san) anime has announced that the anime’s second episode will air on January 22, 2022 and the third episode will air on January 29, 2022.

The anime’s second episode was originally scheduled to air on January 15, 2022 but the broadcast was canceled. The official website did not explain the reason for the cancellation, but the episode was scheduled to air around the time many television stations preempted their programming with special news bulletins after a tsunami warning was issued for parts of the country after an underwater volcano in the South Pacific island nation of Tonga erupted on January 15, 2022.

Miss Kuroitsu From the Monster Development Department premiered on Japanese television on January 8, 2022. Crunchyroll is simulcasting the anime as it airs in Japan.

Source: ANN

Kiyoe Yoshioka’s New Song, Dekoboko, Will Be the Opening Theme Song for the A Couple of Cuckoos Anime

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Kiyoe Yoshioka, who is the vocalist of Ikimonogakari, is going to be singing the opening theme song for the A Couple of Cuckoos anime, which is scheduled to premiere on Japanese television in April 2022. She sings the opening theme song for the anime as a solo act for the first time.

This new song, “Dekoboko,” is created by Haruko Nagaya from the band Ryokuoushoku Shakai. Haruko Nagaya is very close to Kiyoe Yoshioka both as friends and also in business as they are often on television programs together. This song has an authentic pop sound with a very charming feeling. It blends with the world of the anime A Couple of Cuckoos to show many different exciting feelings.

“Dekoboko” will be available for streaming and download on various music platforms starting on April 17, 2022.

The cover art for “Dekoboko” has also been revealed. The artwork was done by Mr.HARU (koe Inc.) who also worked on Kiyoe’s last single “Massara.”

©Miki Yoshikawa・Kodansha/a Couple of Cuckoos Production Committee

A Couple of Cuckoos is a manga series telling a love story which starts from the incident about babies switched at birth, written and illustrated by Miki Yoshikawa, who also created Flunk Punk Rumble and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches.

When the first volume of this manga series was published in Japan on May 15, 2020 by Kodansha, it quickly sold out in every book shop. This is an extremely popular manga series which required 10 editions in the shortest amount of time in the publisher’s history.

The main promotional video for A Couple of Cuckoos has been released on the KADOKAWA Anime YouTube Channel. You can listen to some parts of the song “Dekoboko” there:
https://youtu.be/tc5anTuqQVM

Akari Kito who voiced Erika Amano in the A Couple of Cuckoos anime made a comment about “Dekoboko” by Kiyoe Yoshioka being the opening theme song.

Amari Kito said, “I was so thrilled to find out that Kiyoe Yoshioka will sing the opening theme song for the TV anime A Couple of Cuckoos. Since I am a part of her generation, I am so excited!! It is an awesome song with Kiyoe Yoshioka’s pure voice and melody and lyrics reflecting the freshness of the work, full of the sweet and bitter feelings of love.”

Kiyoe Yoshioka commented on the song:

“I am so honored to be a singer for the song ‘Dekoboko’ which is the opening theme song of A Couple of Cuckoos. ‘Dekoboko’ is an amazing love song created by Haruko Nagaya. It will definitely make people excited! Everyone from the band, Ryokuoushoku Shakai, took part in playing the music. I am so glad!! I would be so happy if I could be able to support the main characters in the anime, who are pushed by destiny, as well as the entire animation of A Couple of Cuckoos!! Please enjoy the anime and the song ‘Dekoboko’!”

The iTunes pre-order/Spotify pre-save campaign started at 00:00 (JAPAN TIME) on January 18, 2022, which is prior to the release on April 17, 2022. From this campaign, you could get a “Dekoboko” original pen case. If you submit the form for this campaign with the necessary details by 23:59 on April 16, 2022, 100 people will get “a ‘Dekoboko’ original pen case” by lottery. Please check more details from the campaign page or the Ikimonogakari official site.

“Dekoboko” Pre-order/Pre-save Campaign Page: https://cp.digle.tokyo/dekoboko/

Release Information

Kiyoe Yoshioka “Dekoboko” (Opening theme song for TV animation series A Couple of Cuckoos, on TV Asahi)

Streaming / download will be available starting on April 17, 2022

iTunes pre-order URL
(Start accepting at 00:00 on January 18, 2022): https://erj.lnk.to/EuCPlq
(Finish accepting at 23:59 on April 16, 2022)

The pre-order/pre-save campaign gives you the chance to win a “Dekoboko” original pen case has begun
More details here: https://cp.digle.tokyo/dekoboko/

AsianCrush Adds the Puppet Princess Anime as Part of Its Premium Member-Only Program

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The Fandom Post is reporting that AsianCrush has added the Puppet Princess OVA to its service as part of its Premium Member-only program. The OVA is available with the original Japanese language and English subtitles.

The story of Puppet Princess is described as:

Princess Rangiku lost her entire family to Lord Karimata, who invaded her home seeking her father’s life work, puppets with unique capabilities. As her duty, Rangiku sets out with three of her father’s greatest puppet warriors to seek revenge. She can manipulate these to battle the strongest of warriors, however manipulating the puppets leaves her own self vulnerable to direct attacks, so she seeks a ninja warrior named Manajiri to aid and protect her in her quest.

Source: The Fandom Post