Good thing that never happens since I prefer physical releases. Most anime companies of the west are very conservative when choosing which anime or manga they want licensed. They pick up what is new and prefer further what is already in great discussion online to play it safe. Most are not like Discotek Media where they prefer to re-licensed older anime or the boy-love niche company Digital Manga Publishing. Just what is easy. more…

A couple days ago big news hit that Japan has made the possession of child pornography illegal. Most big countries already have such laws, however this law differs in that fiction such as animation and comics are excluded. Big media companies like CNN state the exclusion is from large powerful lobby groups that protect the interests of the anime and manga industry. The law is also much softer than most countries in where the person charged faces a year is prison or a $10,000 fine. In many countries people have much harsher penalties like Canada’s 20 years of imprisonment or public online databases.

People do not want children harmed or abused, but there is a lot of bias and assumptions floating around. Two big ones are animated or drawn depictions of children are real children and that people who like fictional characters are also attracted to real children. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund debunks the views they oppose from the CNN article linked above and what they believe what the law will do in Japan. One side accepts that fictional works are still pornographic and the other suggests there needs to be scientific evidence that such creations are harmful.

With that said the political satirist Jon Stewart from the cable show The Daily Show took a stab at the news. His views are known as liberal, but in my opinion he has always seemed “Democrat.” Someone that is on the left of center and leaning towards liberal, but not by very much since the US is not very liberal. In the video he states the new law is embarrassingly late and “How can a lobby for a harmful, destructive industry take precedence over the protection of children?” He then compares the industry lobby groups for anime and manga to be similar to The National Rifle Association in the US. They are supposedly trying to defend companies that are willing to make money at the cost of children’s lives and well-being.

I am pro-gun regulation and a fan of anime and manga, so I find his comparison of media to weapons designed to kill to be outrageous. Both have differing worlds of psychology, science, and societal factors behind what the industries produce.

http://www.lovelive-anime.jp/

I won’t waste time reviewing this anime. If you’ve never heard of it, then you’ll never watch it. Frankly, it’s probably best that you don’t. This is one of those cheap ideas that lack any and all novelty, but still get bought up by lonely men who want to relive a period of their life spent being miserable — except in a softer-toned sunshine environment. What was I talking about?

One day, I had given up on life and decided to end my day with a bucket of ice cream and this anime. The content of the show was passable and almost enjoyable, save for the jarring headache-inducing singing; but the real highlight of Love Live! is found in the faces of the teenage idols themselves. Japanese animation is oftentimes regarded as cheap and low quality, due in part to a limited variation of facial expressions. Some studios such as Kyoto Animation have done their utmost to undo years of damage inflicted by its studio brothers. Unfortunately their selection of unrealistically beautiful fake Live-Action Roleplaying The Animated Series™ have done little to sway public opinions.

So the animation world needs Sunrise’s Love Live! to help garner what little respect they can muster from a demographic that would willingly watch trash like Love Live! If you have plans to continue this path into the world of anime that ultimately ends at a brick wall in hell, then by all means continue and enjoy the various expressions that made even the illest gangsta alive (THAT’S ME) crack a smile. more…

http://saki-anime.com/

No need to provide pictures, because everyone’s favorite lesbian mahjong anime is back! This time with a real sequel.

I hate the manga, but I couldn’t wait these past five years for the sequel to never come out, so I ended up reading it. And after countless sleepless nights of prayers, this ended up on my doorstep.

Truth be told, I didn’t think it was possible to make a Saki sequel… The biggest obstacle being the sheer number of talents that would be required to give voice to each of those sweet nubile high school girls. Theoretically, one voice actress can do multiple characters, but this isn’t BlazBlue, the viewers would eventually catch on and there will be hell to pay. I didn’t know what to expect with this series, but the first episode boasts an all-star cast erasing all doubts that these people aren’t afraid to throw all their money into this disgusting garbage anime! i’m lovin’ it

Check it out:
Miyanaga Saki – Ueda Kana
Haramura Nodoka – Koshimizu Ami
Kataoka Yuuki – Kugimiya Rie
Takei Hisa – Shizuka Itou
Someya Mako – Shiraishi Ryouko
Suga Kyoutarou – Fukuyama Jun
Kosegawa Shiromi – Nagatsuma Juri
Aislinn Wishart – Mizuno Mariko (Who is this?)
Kakura Kurumi – Toyota Moe
Usuzawa Sae – Satou Rina
Anetai Toyone – Uchida Maaya
Kumakura Toshi – Morota Kaoru
Karijuu Tomoe – Akasaka Chinatsu
Usuzumi Hatsumi – Tsuji Ayumi
Iwato Kasumi – Ohara Sayaka
Atago Hiroe – Matsuda Satsumi
Atago Kinue – Nakatsu Mariko
Suehara Kyouko – Kotobuki Minako
Fukuji Mihoko – Horie Yui
Ikeda Kana – Morinaga Rika
Yoshitome Miharu – Kanzaki Chiro
Bundou Seika – Matayoshi Ai
Kubo Takako – Yamada Miho
Ryuumonbuchi Touka – Chihara Minori
Amae Koromo – Fukuhara Kaori
Hagiyoshi – Ono Daisuke
Kajiki Yumi – Kobayashi Yuu
Touyoko Momoko – Saitou Momoko
Kanbara Satomi – Kuwatani Natsuko
Senoo Kaori – Shintani Ryouko
Tsuyama Natsuki – Nanasawa Shin
Takakamo Shizuno – Yuuki Aoi
Atarashi Ako – Touyama Nao
Oohoshi Awai – Saitoh Chiwa
Tajihi Mayuko – Furuki Nozomi (Who the hell?)
Kokaji Sukoya – Gotou Saori
Fukuyo Kouko – Nonaka Ai
Pro Oonuma – Miyashita Eiji
Announcer – Koiwai Kotori
Live Coverage Announcer – Tasaka Hideki

And this is just the first fucking episode!!

Arion the anime starts with our hero Arion living a peaceful life with his mother in the ancient land of Thrace. One day Arion’s uncle Hades takes off with him to the underworld so he can use him for against Zeus. Hades has him train for combat and tells that Zeus placed a curse that made his mother blind and the only way to break it is to slay him. Killing Zeus is no small task, as he is the designated ruler of anything land and has a massive military lead by Athena to boot. In and along his way out of the underworld he befriends beast and human, including a child thief that looks up to him as a brother.

Story and characters take bits of themes and character names from ancient Greek mythology. Titans, stories, and gods. I know from not staying at a Holiday Inn, but from watching Xena: The Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys on American television. In stories of many mythologies old gods or god like beings called Titans replace the old and somehow explain how people took over their own destinies. In Arion the mother of Titans is Gaia, but much is thrown out and re-imagined with Titans living with Twelve Olympians names such as Zeus, Demeter, and Ares. Hercules is just a grunt. Pretty sure any mythology buff by now would already nerd rage from that alone.

Surprises come into play with the main characters as the story grows closer to climax. The impactful one for me was as abrupt for me as it was for Arion. Despite dropping clues in language and vocals throughout the movie, it still did not click with me. Disbelief lead to multiple re-watching of its revealing to contemplate how I missed everything. It is not as if I am naive or new to anime, but this time my acceptance of quirks and oddities got the best of me. I am not going to spoil it for those that may take interest in it, but it also might also be out of shame.

There are is a lot of deception in this anime with people having their own agendas. Many of the characters like Apollo are displayed as either spoiled, selfish, or incompetent. Apollo in Greek mythology is the god of mostly positive things like healing and truth. I admire the moments when characters show to be more human like when they are either not fully evil or good. This anime has it and shows it even while under the tight time of being a film. Again spoilers…

I regret to say this 1986 anime and the manga it was adapted from has never been licensed. Good news is that you may have seen anime with similar staff from the era. Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is the creator of Arion and the mecha anime Giant Gorg. He has done character design work for many other anime including Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn and the kiddy anime The Adventures of the Little Prince. Comparison before watching or after for more to watch you may enjoy Giant Gorg for Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, similar set up with Sword of the Stranger, and Adventures of Horus: Prince of the Sun for something classic. Could even say The Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok if you are also looking to see Norse mythology and characters snatched ‘n twisted into something new.

There is nothing wrong with this anime for the most part. Nearest thing to a flaw or annoyance would be the musical voice of one of the female characters. She has quite the noisy and loud catching of breath or oooh-uuh sounds.

I am still ashamed and shall take another shower to clean the cooties.

Are we dead yet? I can never be too sure.

As most of the Interweb is aware, Japan is animating Nisekoi. I have to wonder why I care. It is just another lame and predictable romantic comedy from the pages of Shonen Jump that I would never recommend to anyone; but try as I might, the sappy gooey mess that I hide beneath my armor of glamorous gun-wielding babes, and tank-riding schoolgirls tends to find the cracks in my defenses from which to ooze out of. What results is a person much comparable in likeness to myself, secretly downloading the mild-mannered obscenity that is Nisekoi… What can I say, it’s true.

I absolutely loved Naoshi Komi’s previous work Double Arts, which was cancelled far too early. I was hoping Nisekoi would be a worthy successor, an original idea that could compete against its predecessor in terms of potential. Instead I got a graham cracker and a marshmallow. All the fat lonely slobs of the world latched onto this bait with its promise of promiscuous bath scenes and immoral slip-ups, making Nisekoi Naoshi Komi’s longest and most successful work to date. Good for him.

I was not spared from this underhanded trap, and as much as I pretend to hate s’mores, I brought with me my stash of Hershey’s. The rest is history: this manga fried my brain. How else can I explain my unmistakable joy with each chapter, as vanilla stench takes form in black and white on my monitor screen. At any rate, now that I am fully invested in this series, and now that it has stolen my money… what could possibly go wrong?

They decide to animate it.

Nisekoi wasn’t a very well thought-out series, and I am sure even a seasoned fan can admit that aside from its cute assortment of girls, the story barely has any legging to work with. For eighty-seven chapters the only thread tying the characters together was the protagonist’s unreliable assortment of memories which seems to change details with every flashback. I am a proponent of structure, and really frown upon this style of “make shit up on the go” writing. But I like the mangaka and forgave him every time I felt the sharp sting of pain run across the right bridge of my neck whenever I chose to ignore some glaring flaw in his plot.

All of this is irrelevant because the anime has already been greenlit. I really believe they should have let the series run its course for another year before moving forward on an anime, but as my opinion has very little effect in swaying the powers that be, I did the gracious thing and stepped aside. Now I’m here to promote this shit, and hopefully at some point in the future, someone will buy the manga. Like I did.