anime

Dragon Ball Super: Broly Film to Air in Canada on Crave Stations on July 31, 2019

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

The Dragon Ball Super: Broly anime film will air on the Crave network in Canada on July 31, 2019. The film will premiere on Crave 1 at 7:15 p.m. EDT, and then it will air on Crave 4 at 9:15 p.m. EDT, on Crave 3 at 12:45 a.m. EDT (effectively August 1, 2019), and on Crave 2 at 4:15 a.m. (effectively August 1, 2019).

FUNimation Entertainment released the anime film on home video in North America on April 16, 2019.

Source: ANN

Anime Blu-ray Review: Revolutionary Girl Utena Set 3

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Revolutionary Girl Utena Set 3 includes the remaining episodes of the series, which are commonly referred to as “The Apocalypse Saga.” In addition, this set also has The Adolescence of Utena anime film. This release includes both the original Japanese audio with English subtitles and the English dub.

Revolutionary Girl Utena Set 3
English Publisher: Nozomi Entertainment/Lucky Penny
Format: Blu-ray
Release Date: December 5, 2017

These final episodes begin with Saionji being given permission to return to Ohtori Academy after being expelled earlier in the series for injuring Touga.. Upon his return, Saionji challenges Utena to another duel. When Utena discovers that Anthy can pull out an even stronger sword than the Sword of Dios, she uses it to defeat Saionji.

Akio, Anthy’s brother and the new head of Ohtori Academy, plays an important role in this section of the story. Akio appears before Touga and takes him to a place called the “End of the World.” Together, they take each one of the remaining Student Council members there. Each one chooses a “bride” to take a sword from their hearts in order to fight Utena. The victor of the duels will be determined by the strength of the bond between the Duelist and the Bride.

This section also sees Akio cozying up to Utena and becoming a little too friendly with her. It’s a little uncomfortable to see Akio, an adult, trying to become romantic with a 14-year-old. But it shows just how much of a sleaze he really is. There’s also the relationship he seems to have with his sister, which is also rather uncomfortable. Again, it shows just how much of a villain this guy really is.

The climax of the series is exciting, and the ending is surprising. The first time I watched Revolutionary Girl Utena, I was a little disappointed by how it ended. But watching it for a second time nearly a decade later, I realize that it had to end the way it did, and I’ve gained a much better appreciation for the conclusion of the series.

When I watched The Adolescence of Utena anime film the first time, it was before I had watched the entire series. When Central Park Media originally released the series on DVD, they packaged the movie with the first DVD set, which only covered “The Student Council Saga.” I didn’t appreciate the film the first time I saw it, and I think it’s due to the fact that I saw it before seeing the entirety of the anime series. When I watched the film for a second time nearly a decade later and seeing it after doing a complete re-watch of the anime series, I saw that it was a lot better than I remembered it being. My 21-year-old daughter also watched the movie with me when I saw it the second time, and she was coming up with ideas and interpretations that I had never thought of. Getting those insights from her also helped me to better appreciate The Adolescence of Utena.

The Blu-ray video for this set has 4.3/1080p High Definition, and the audio includes English and Japanese LPCM Stereo and Japanese LPCM Surround. I thought the video quality was good on this release, and I have no complaints about the audio quality.

There are several bonus features spread out throughout this set. The first disc contains two more parts of the interview with director Kunihiko Ikuhara. Each of them runs about two minutes, and they are subtitled. There is also a 36-minute feature labeled as, “Animated Art Boards Part 2.” This is exactly the same as the “Animated Art Boards” that appeared on Revolutionary Girl Utena Set 2, except this one runs for eight minutes longer. Watching a slideshow of background drawings set to music is about much fun as watching paint dry.

The second disc in the set includes interviews with director Kunihiko Ikuhara, two of the Japanese voice actors, and seven of the English dub actors. The interviews with Ikuhara and thr Japanese voice actors are subtitled. The interviews with the English dub actors are shot around Central Park, and they’re basically asked similar, if not the same, questions. These run anywhere from four to six minutes in length. While it’s nice to include these interviews as bonus features, I wish there was a little better variety in the questions. There’s also roughly two minutes worth of remastered U.S. trailers.

The third disc includes clean versions of the second, third, and fourth closings. Instead of being separated out, they play as one continuous feature. Outside of that, it’s what you would expect for a clean closing. “Dueling Themes Karaoke” has instrumental versions of the various dueling songs set to images from the show, and the text for the lyrics are in Japanese characters instead of being romanized. So, unless you know how to read Japanese, the text for the karaoke doesn’t really help. There is also about three and a half minutes of Japanese TV spots included on this disc.

The final disc of the set has a “behind the scenes” feature of director Kunihiko Ikuhara overseeing the English dub of The Adolescence of Utena anime film. There’s also a Japanese remastered DVD box set “movie spoiler spot,” as well as trailers for the film.

This Blu-ray release is worth it for fans of Revolutionary Girl Utena who want to have a Blu-ray version of the series and the film to include in their home anime video library.

AsianCrush and Midnight Pulp Announce Anime Additions for July 2019

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Digital Media Rights’ streaming services AsianCrush and Midnight Pulp have announced the new anime they are adding for the July 2019.

New anime for Asian Crush include: Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress, The Princess and the Pilot, and Jungle Emperor Leo (1997 film). All three anime are available now.

New anime for Midnight Pulp include: Virtua Fighter (English dub, available now), Twilight of the Cockroaches (available now), and the Area 88 OVA (available on July 26, 2019).

Source: ANN

Matt Owens to Write the Script for the Hollywood One Piece Project

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

This year’s 34th issue of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine has announced that Matt Owens is writing the script for the live-action Hollywood television series adaptation of the Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga.

Owens provided a statement for the project (translated from Japanese):

One Piece is my absolute favorite story in my life. It is my greatest honor to have the trust of Oda-sensei, Shueisha, and everyone at Tomorrow Studios to be appointed to this great role of adapting this magnificent and heart-pounding adventure into live-action. I want to display my great passion and make a story that is faithful and exciting, and will satisfy long-time fans and will also attract new fans.

Producer Marty Adelstein also provided a statement on the new news (translated from Japanese):

When I first heard Matt’s presentation of his vision for the work, I thought he was the perfect person to take on this project. What is the most impressive and important to me is that he is a true One Piece fan. I am very excited I can work with Matt, who has an overflowing talent as a scriptwriter.

Source: ANN

Case Closed: Episode 947 – “The Cursed Tears of Borgia (Part Two)”

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

This episode did a good job of recapping what happened in the previous episode, and it also reminded me of the cliffhanger that ended the first part. Kogoro had gone to meet his drinking buddy, who apparently had information on the case, and Kogoro discovered the building was on fire. After the fire at the Kyoto Animation building this week, this scene was more awkward to watch than it would have been otherwise.

It turns out that Kogoro only had a few minor scratches, but his drinking buddy perished in the fire. But, it’s revealed through forensics that the man wasn’t killed by the fire, because he was already dead when it was set. He was strangled to death.

So now Conan has to try to figure out who killed Kogoro’s drinking buddy, as well as how the woman was killed 40 years ago. Through a conversation with Professor Agasa, it’s revealed that Conan has already figured out who the recent murderer is, so he’s focusing on the 40 year old cold case. But thanks to a preserved copy of the final scene of the drama, and a detail Conan notices in it, he comes up with a theory on what happened 40 years ago.

Thanks to the dart and bowtie trick, Conan is able to reveal the truth about the recent murder through Kogoro. After that’s resolved, Conan uses the bowtie to sound like Agasa to explain the theory of what happened 40 years earlier.

While the theory of what happened 40 years earlier showed that the killer who was I had guessed it was, I however didn’t figure out the real situation behind what happened. So while it was obvious who was guilty in the cold case, the situation behind it was a surprise to me.

Overall, this was an enjoyable two-part episode, although it was a little startling right at first to see the building fire at the beginning of this episode in the wake of the Kyoto Animation fire.

Updates from the Kyoto Animation Fire: July 20, 2019

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

These are the most recent updates from the Kyoto Animation Fire, as of July 20, 2019:

  • Kyoto Animation president Hideaki Hatta has stated that after the deadly fire at Kyoto Animation’s 1st Studio building, he is considering demolishing the building and creating a public park at the spot of the fire that will include a monument. He added, “when I consider the staff and the people in this neighborhood, there are people who don’t want to see such a gruesome sight.” Hatta is also considering hosting a memorial ceremony for the victims.
  • Hatta also told the press that all the messages of support from around the world are “becoming our emotional support.”
  • Hatta also stated that of the 34 injured victims, one victim had to have their legs amputated.
  • South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a statement that confirmed that one of the injured is a South Korean citizen.
  • NHK has reported through an interview with a relative of a victim that the relative was told that police will need to conduct DNA testing to identify some of the victims, and that testing will take up to a week.

Source: ANN

Fruits Basket: Episode 16 – “She Said Don’t Step on Them!”

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

This episode begins with Uo, Hana, and Tohru enjoying the pool. Uo realizes that Tohru is wearing her school swimsuit from middle school, and decides they need to get her a real swimsuit as a present. Through some convincing, she gets Shigure, Yuki, and Kyo to agree. But poor Yuki and Kyo are forcefully dragged along on the shopping trip, and their embarrassment is amusing.

But the main point of this episode is to provide backstory for Uo. While having lunch at a soba place, Uo starts explaining about her admiration for Tohru’s mom, who had been a legendary gang member. This episode shows how Uo and Tohru met, and how she was stunned that her hero didn’t meet up to her expectations when Uo met her. But between how the episode ends and the title for the next episode, this flashback isn’t over yet. We still need to see how Uo and Tohru actually became friends, since here, the two of them have just met, and Uo is disappointed in what Kyoko has become.

We also see three younger delinquents who recognize Uo as someone who left her gang. At first, they seem to be serious characters, but when they keep getting distracted by how handsome Kyo and Yuki are, it’s quickly apparent that these three were going to end up being comic relief characters. And with the scene right at the end of these three and Momiji, it reinforced the comic relief idea for these three characters.

While we always knew the basics of Uo (that she was a former delinquent who looked up to Kyoko), I appreciate getting to see glimpses on Uo from the past, we learn about her family life, and find out how she and Tohru met. This episode is starting to give a little more depth to Uo as a character, and it helps the audience to care more about her than they already do.

I’m looking forward to next week’s episode, so we can see the ending of the flashback story.