Some Anime News From Last Week

Anime news has returned! Unlike the Geek News Roundup, anime news won’t always be a weekly thing. I will try to write about newsworthy happenings and interesting new series (mostly on domestic releases) as much as possible. Still, the news won’t be as timely as video game news– which Geoff mostly handles. With that said, enjoy a few interesting tidbits of news from earlier this month.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood‘s run is coming to an end on Adult Swim. On August 7th the network will air episode 26 and the series will go on hiatus starting on August 14th. The time slot will be replaced by BLEACH. New episodes of BLEACH (starting with episode 168) won’t actually air until August 28th. In the meantime Adult Swim will air the first two movies (Memories of Nobody and The DiamondDust Rebillion) on August 14 and episodes 166 and 167 on August 21st. Episode 168 will mark the start of “The New Captain ShÅ«suke Amagai” story arc, or Season nine which runs for about 21 episodes. Season nine is filler material and I wouldn’t completely recommend against watching it on TV. (Buying it on DVD is another matter…) Season nine isn’t horrible but it’s also not very good, especially if you already follow the manga. At the very least new episodes of Kekkaishi will air after BLEACH for some variety. If you’re annoyed by the lack of FMA: Brotherhood the series does end with episode 64, and all of the episodes are available streaming and subtitled via FUNimation’s official video channel. And a Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood movie has been green-lit. 

If you’ve become accustom to video streams and simulcasts FUNimation, VIZ Media, and Sentai Filmworks recently announced several new series. First up is Strike Witches 2, now simulcasting exclusively on Crunchyroll. Interestingly enough Gonzo produced season one of Strike Witches and FUNimation held the rights to distribute it. Season two was instead produced by AIC, although much of the staff returned to work on the series. FUNimation has not yet announced if will license Strike Witches 2 for distribution in North America, but given how much the company promoted the first season it would be surprising if they passed on season two. Unless the series sold poorly. As with all anime airing on Crunchyroll new episodes appear one hour after the Japanese broadcast for paid users while regular and unregistered users must wait one week to see the newest episode.

Last week Crunchyroll also began to simulcast Occult Academy and Tono to Issho. Of the two series, Occult Academy looks to be the better the show. It is produced by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex, and XEBEC, and is a horror comedy that focuses on the supernatural happenings at Occult Academy. According to fan buzz the show treads more on the humorous side and might be worth it for anyone looking for a show which doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously. Very little information is available for Tono to Issho, except for the fact that it’s a humorous take on Japan’s waring states era. It is a manga adaptation that will run for 13 episodes and follows the adventures of various generals. At the very least the first episodes of both series look as if they may be worth trying out, but the notable lack of fan buzz around Tono to Issho is a little concerning.

On the VIZ side of things the anime distributor is now streaming Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan and Strawberry 100% on its video portal and through Hulu.com. Nura: Rise of the Yokai clan centers around Rikuo Nura, a junior high school student who is part human and part demon. He is also heir to the Nura clan, a powerful clan that wields influence over all demons. Most of the time Nura is a regular high school student but when his demon blood awakens he becomes the leader of the said Nura clan (or so the official description goes). It may be tempting to draw parallels between this show and InuYasha but most anime fans agree the show is more in the vein of Kekkaishi. So if you enjoy supernatural shonen-type shows Nura might be worth your time. Strawberry 100% is a romantic comedy that begins on the premise of panties. Or rather one filmmaker wannabe’s quest to find a girl wearing strawberry panties. According to the official description Manaka Junpei comes across a beautiful girl falling down just above him. He catches a peak at her strawberry panties, she runs off in embarrassment, and he decides to go on a quest to find out who she is thinking it would make the perfect film scene. Yeah. Because this series is a comedy it may not take itself too seriously. If you enjoy strange romantic comedies Strawberry 100% could be a lot of fun. Unlike Crunchyroll, VIZ streams are generally available a few hours after the Japanese broadcast and are free.

Finally, we have Highschool of the Dead simulcasting on The Anime Network. The series was acquired by Sentai Filmworks (formally ADV) and was produced by Madhouse Studios. The series is about an infectious outbreak that takes humanity by surprise and kills off a great deal of the population. Infected people also transform into zombies and begin to attack survivors of the infectious outbreak. The series focuses on several high school students and their attempt to escape after their school is attacked by zombies. The fan buzz for Highschool of the Dead (not sure why “high school” is spelled as one word) is pretty high and I admit, the trailer does look interesting. Araki Tetsuo is directing this series and is best known for his work on the Death Note anime. If you like Madhouse’s work, Tetsuo’s work, or zombie horror in general, HSotD might be the most interesting show to be simlucasted this summer. On the downside, The Anime Network simulcast is only free for the first episode to registered users, anything else requires you to be a paid subscriber. So if you’re not interested in paying Anime Network’s $6.95 per month subscription fee a fan sub of the show may be the best way to go– for now.

Wow, this turned out to be longer than I intended it to be. I may try out a few shows before or after Otakon and write about my first impressions, if I have time to do so.

Images court
esy of Random Curiosity.