Netflix has announced on Twitter that it will begin streaming the Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun anime on May 1, 2020.
The television anime adaptation of Izumi Tsubaki’s Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun (Gekkan Shōjo Nozaki-kun) manga premiered in 2014, and Crunchyroll simulcast the anime as it aired in Japan. Sentai Filmworks licensed the series, and released it on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in 2016.
Source: ANN
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun Limited Edition Box Set includes two Blu-ray Discs, three DVDs, three CDs, a hardcover booklet, stickers, and a poster.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun Limited Edition Box Set
English Publisher: Sentai Filmworks
Format: Blu-ray/DVD
Release Date: March 29, 2016
Chiyo Sakura has a crush on her classmate, Nozaki Umetaro. When she goes to confess her feelings to him, she becomes so flustered she gets out that she’s always been his fan. After a moment, he gives her his autograph; however, instead of signing his name, he signs it as “Yumeno Sakiko.” When she says that’s not what she meant and that what she meant to say is that she always wants to be with him, he asks her to come with him to his place.
Sakura goes with Nozaki to his place and learns that he’s an author of shojo manga. She also figures out that “Yumeno Sakiko” is his pen name, and that she’s seen his work in the monthly shojo manga magazine that she reads. Nozaki asks Sakura to help him out with the art. He also later reveals that he’s been keeping an eye on her, because he’d seen the work she’d done on a poster at school. She also comes to learn that nobody else at school knows what he does. While he’s tried telling others, they don’t believe him.
As Sakura works with Nozaki, he starts being inspired by some of the things she says. And the more that Sakura helps Nozaki, she learns that he hasn’t experienced his first love yet, but that he’s given quite a bit of love advice to girls when they ask.
The cast of characters for this comedy grows as the series progresses. There’s Mikoto Mikoshiba, who helps Nozaki with his manga by filling the backgrounds with flowers to bring out a character’s charms. Mikoto is popular and flirtatious with girls but is actually shy and prone to embarrassment after making bold statements.
Yuzuki Seo is Sakura’s friend, who has a brash personality that often offends others. She also cannot read atmosphere or context when dealing with other people.
Yu Kashima is Mikoshiba’s best friend and classmate. She’s a tall girl with a “prince” personality, and she has a lot of girls who fawn over her because of it. Masayuki Hori is the president of the drama club, as well as Nozaki’s assistant on background work. Yu is in the drama club with him and he tends to react violently if she disrupts the club. However, he does favor her.
Hirotaka Wakamatsu joins Nozaki’s staff to do screentones, and he has issues with Yuzuki because of the stress she’s put him under from her participating with the boys’ basketball team and causing problems.
There are also some supporting characters who are involved with Nozaki’s manga, such as his current editor, his former editor, and his upstairs neighbor who is also a shojo manga artist.
I really enjoy the humor in Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, and it’s a series where the jokes don’t get old. The characters are endearing. It’s a series I’ve been able to enjoy even more with repeat viewings.
When it comes to the release itself, the Blu-ray has 1080p High Definition / 16×9, and the audio is available in English DTS-HD Master 2.0 and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. The episodes are available with both the original Japanese audio with English subtitles and an English dub. I admit that I’ve only watched the Blu-ray Discs that came with this set, so I can only comment on their quality. But I had no complaints with either the video or the audio quality.
When it comes to bonus features, the biggest attraction is the Nozaki-kun shorts. These shorts animate one of the story arcs that appeared in the manga after the story that ends the anime series. In Japan, these were released as an OVA. These shorts capture the charm of the series, except they’re in shorter pieces rather than in one episode. The intro to the shorts is cute, with a chibi Sakura running and tripping. A whole bunch of chibi Nozakis come along, in various outfits that he has worn throughout the series.
The other extras are the Japanese promos, the Japanese commercials, and a clean opening animation and a clean closing animation. Pretty standard stuff, really, but still enjoyable enough.
There are three CDs in this box set. The first disc is made up entirely of character songs and instrumental versions of the songs. The second and third discs are the complete soundtrack for the series. But for the “complete soundtrack,” it just includes the background score. The opening and ending themes are not included. While the lack of the theme songs is a little disappointing, the series still has some very memorable and impressive background score. I’m glad to have the background music, but if I want the theme songs, I’ll need to chase down CD releases in Japan with them on it.
Of the remaining bonuses, the stickers and poster are nice, but I was much more interested in the hardcover book.
Even though it’s on the pricey side, I’m glad I have the Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun Limited Edition Box Set. Not only do I have all the episodes, but I also have a lot of the music associated with the series. If you aren’t as interested in the extra bonuses and just want the episodes, then I would recommend sticking with the standard release for the series. But if you like CDs and other extras, then I would recommend tracking down this box set.
Additional post about Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun:
This time, my list will be focusing on my five favorite red-haired anime characters. Like usual, instead of being a Top 5 list, I am sharing my choices in alphabetical order by first name.
She’s one of the leading ladies of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and she has a strong personality. When she’s first introduced, she’s a little annoying. But as she starts having to work with Shinji (especially the training for the two of them to be able to work together in sync), the audience starts seeing that there’s more to this character. When her backstory is revealed, it’s heartbreaking, and it makes the viewer more understanding of why Asuka acts the way she does.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun boasts quite a cast of characters, and Mikoshiba stands out among the crowd. Not only does he have his bright red hair, but his personality is also over the top and hilarious. He acts like he’s so confident when it comes to girls, but when they pay attention to him, he’s completely shy. All the time he’s spent playing dating sims hasn’t helped him at all in the real world. But he’s helpful to Nozaki in the creation of his manga, especially since, unbeknownst to Mikoshiba, he is the inspiration for the heroine of Nozaki’s story.
Renji is one of the Soul Reapers from Soul Society, and he’s a loyal friend to Rukia. When we first meet him, he comes across as a tough guy who wouldn’t want to be regarded as an ally with Ichigo and his friends. But after Rukia is saved from Soul Society, the audience starts seeing that Renji has a softer side to him. Unfortunately, as the anime continued and became riddled with more and more “filler” stories and episodes, he started coming across as more of a comic relief character. But in the episodes that come from the original manga source material, the audience sees that Renji has an awesome Bankai and that he’s a respectable fighter in his own right.
Shirayuki is an herbalist in a small medieval village. In the world that this story is set in, having red hair is a very unusual thing. Prince Raj decides he wants her as his concubine because of her hair, but Shirayuki is rightfully offended by this. She runs away into a bordering kingdom, where she becomes friends with Zen, a prince in the kingdom. What I love about Shirayuki’s character is that she’s sweet, helpful, beautiful, and has agency. She isn’t going to be the damsel in distress who always needs to be saved. While she may not always be able to take care of herself, she’s not constantly relying on others to take care of her.
Naruko may be the loud-mouthed member of Sohoku High School’s bicycle racing club, but he’s a very funny and amusing character. The interactions between him and Imaizumi are always fun to watch because of how much they try to compete against each other. And the interactions between Naruko and Tadokoro are also enjoyable. But Naruko also has a serious side to him, which he’s most likely to show to Sakamichi. As Yowamushi Pedal has progressed, we start seeing some evolution of Naruko’s character, but he still retains the amusing charm that he was introduced with.
Additional lists:
One of the highlights of the year for me is looking back to see what anime DVD and Blu-ray releases I’ve acquired over the course of it. The usual times of year I’m getting these items are as gifts for my birthday, for Mother’s Day, for my wedding anniversary, and even sometimes on Valentine’s Day. Sometimes, we’ll buy anime releases outside of those times, but those are the main times of year that I’ll get anime releases to add to my home video library.
As this is being published before Christmas, this won’t be a complete list, but it will give you a good idea of what we added over the course of the year.
Naruto Shippuden Sets 17-33
Back in March, my husband celebrated 20 years of employment for the same company. As a gift, he was given a lot of points in a program that gives out points for Amazon. He had enough points to get 17 volumes of Naruto Shippuden sets, which would allow us to finally catch up to the most recent release that VIZ Media had put out at that time.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun Limited Edition Box Set
This was given to me as a gift for my birthday, which happened not too long after my husband’s work anniversary.
One Piece Collection 9
My husband and I had been dragging our feet on purchasing this set, because we knew most of the episodes would feature the Foxy Pirates (whom we both don’t really like). However, I got some money for my birthday, and I used some of it to finally bite the bullet and buy this set.
Yowamushi Pedal DVD Box Set
This DVD box set for the first season of Yowamushi Pedal was another item I purchased with the birthday money that I had gotten.
Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road DVD Box Set
I also purchased this DVD box set for the second season of Yowamushi Pedal with the money I got for my birthday.
Yowamushi Pedal: The Movie
This was another item I purchased with the money that I got for my birthday.
Naruto Shippuden Set 34
I got this as one of my gifts for Mother’s Day. This year, the gifts I got for Mother’s Day had a Naruto theme to them. In addition to a couple of home video releases, I also got three soundtrack albums and a volume of the manga.
Naruto the Movie: Road to Ninja
This was the other Naruto home media release I got as a present for Mother’s Day.
Naruto Shippuden Set 35
This was one of the few items this year that we bought outside of a holiday. Since we had caught up with VIZ Media’s home media releases, we’re trying to grab these Naruto Shippuden sets as soon as they come out in order to stay on top of them.
Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta Volumes 1 and 2
I was recently given these items as a wedding anniversary gift from my husband.
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ Volumes 1 and 2
These were also part of the anniversary gift from my husband.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack
This was the final item that was part of the recent wedding anniversary gift from my husband.
Additional posts about 12 Days of Anime:
The American Library Association’s (ALA’s) Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) released its 2017 list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens. 14 of the 104 titles on the list are manga, and Ichigo Takano’s Orange ranked in the Top Ten graphic novels for the year.
The 14 manga included on the list are:
Source: ANN
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun Volume Two is a four-panel romantic comedy about a girl named Chiyo Sakura who has a crush on her schoolmate, Umetaro Nozaki. During Volume One, she learns that he is a shojo manga artist who goes by the pen name of Sakiko Yumeno. Chiyo ends up becoming one of Umetaro’s assistants.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun Volume Two
Written by: Izumi Tsubaki
Publisher: Square Enix Co., Ltd.
English Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: February 23, 2016
Volume Two starts off with Umetaro getting his manuscript done ahead of time, so Chiyo invites him to do something fun since he has a break. Of course, as one would expect from Umetaro, he never truly takes a break from thinking about his manga. Much of the humor in this portion of the manga is derived from Umetaro’s workaholic mentality, and poor Chiyo doesn’t quite have the fun time with Umetaro that she had imagined. But she obviously must really like this guy if she’s still willing to hang out with him even though he’s expressed his cluelessness about love on many occasions between the two volumes of the series.
We also see Umetaro meeting with his editor, Ken. It’s hilarious just how clueless Umetaro is when it comes to how he should progress his manga story, as Ken’s reactions add even more punch to the humor. But when Ken tells him that he needs to try identifying with his female protagonist, Umetaro spends a day at school trying to act like her. It’s humorous enough to the reader knowing why he’s acting the way he is, but the humor increases when Umetaro interacts with characters who don’t know he’s a mangaka and can’t comprehend his unusual behavior.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun Volume Two also introduces a new character named Wakamatsu, who played basketball with Umetaro back in middle school. Since we’ve only known the Umetaro since high school, it was hard for me to imagine the character that we know actually playing on a sports team. This is wonderful character development, though, and it shows that Umetaro wasn’t always the type of person that we’ve known him to be in the series. But Wakamatsu finds himself in a strange situation, because Chiyo’s friend Seo practices with the boys’ basketball team, and she always seems to be picking on Wakamatsu. But Seo has a secret, and Wakamatsu unwittingly becomes interested in Seo because he doesn’t know about Seo’s secret. The volume also seems to imply that Seo is interested in Wakamatsu, so this makes for another interesting potential couple at some point in the series.
This volume continues the humor and qualities that made the first volume of the series so endearing. I also appreciated seeing how the new characters that have been introduced in the story find ways to come back and continue tying in with the story. The interactions between Umetaro and Chiyo continue to be delightful, and I find myself shipping these two characters pretty hard. Umetaro just needs to start getting more of a clue, though.
If you enjoyed the first volume of the series, then you’ll definitely want to read Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun Volume Two.
Additional post about Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun:
The full English cast has been announced for the Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun anime:
Kyle Colby Jones is directing the dub.
The series will ship on March 29, 2016. The DVD complete collection retails for US$59.98, the Blu-ray Disc collection retails for US$69.98, and the premium box set retails for US$129.98.
All three editions will include the six three-minute Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun OVAs.
Source: ANN
It has been announced that Juliet Simmons will play Chiyo Sakura in the English version of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun.
The series will ship on March 29, 2016. The DVD complete collection retails for US$59.98, the Blu-ray Disc collection retails for US$69.98, and the premium box set retails for US$129.98. All three editions will include the six three-minute Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun OVAs.
Source: ANN
It has been announced that Ty Mahany will play Umetaro Nozaki in the English version of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun will ship on March 29, 2016. The DVD complete collection retails for US$59.98, the Blu-ray Disc collection retails for US$69.98, and the premium box set retails for US$129.98.
All three editions will include the six three-minute Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun OVAs.
Source: ANN
It has been announced that Monica Rial will be playing Yū Kashima in the English version of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun.
Sentai Filmworks will be releasing Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun on DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and as a premium box set on March 29, 2016. The DVD complete collection retails for US$59.98, the Blu-ray Disc collection retails for US$69.98, and the premium box set retails for US$129.98.
Source: ANN
Lesley's Anime and Manga Corner 