Guest Post and Other Things "Beneath the Tangles"

This is a shout-out to Beneath the Tangles, another anime blog that looks at anime from a Christian perspective. It is a great site and one of the sites that inspired me to start blogging on anime myself.

Of course, I'm also shouting out to it because I have a pair of guest posts on that site for anyone following me to check out...

Adopted, Part 1: Bunny Drop and Our Adoption as God’s Children
Adopted, Part 2: PapaKiki and an Uncomfortable Adoption

One other thing I would like to bring up is the Haibane Renmei study group that TWWK, founder and main writer of Beneath the Tangles, has formed and which I am a part of. It has been an interesting study so far, looking at the variety of Christian themes found in this anime classic. The group may be halfway through, but if you're interested, it's not too late to join in!

Anime Expo 2013 Coverage, Part 2

Time for Part 2 of my Anime Expo coverage, in which I look at the more interesting things mentioned in different panels.

JAST USA Licenses Steins;Gate Visual Novel For U.S. Release

For those of you who are fans of Steins;Gate (and considering it’s currently the #1 anime on Anime News Network, that’s probably a lot of you), JAST USA has announced that they are planning to release the visual novel on which the anime is based on in the U.S. for the PC. The release is confirmed to have the original Japanese voices. (And do not worry; it is not an ero-game, so no sex scenes.)

Crunchyroll to Be Available on PS Vita, Announces Avalanche of New Simulcast Titles

For those of you with a PS Vita, Crunchyroll will soon be available on that handheld console. They also took the time to announce a bunch of other titles they will be simulcasting this season: Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist, The Eccentric Family (Uchouten Kazoku, written by the same author behind The Tatami Galaxy), The World God Only Knows: Goddesses, Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories, Sunday Without God (Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi), WataMote – No Matter How I Look At It, It’s You Guys Fault I’m Not Popular!, andSilver Spoon. Most of these titles already have their first episode available on Crunchyroll, so check them out if you’re interested.

On a non-AX note, they have recently announced a simulcast for Gatchaman Crowds as well.

Kodansha USA’s Attack on Titan Manga Releases to Speed Up To One Every Month

To explain the title more, previously the manga was being released at a rate of one every three months. This new release plan means fans of the manga will get their Titan fix three times as fast.

In addition, they will start offering titles on Kindle and other eBooks starting July 16^th.

Funimation Details Ghost In The Shell: ARISE Import Edition Details

Aniplex of America is not the only company doing import releases now, as Funimation has joined in with the very recent Ghost In The Shell: ARISE OVA series. The release will be a subtitled-only Blu-ray including a Japanese O-card, film strip, and an English-translated art book. The release will go for a retail price of $70, and only a limited print run of 2500 copies will be offered. If none of this interests you, don’t worry; Funimation also plans to release a standard version with a dub (and likely a much cheaper price).

Other News: Funimation’s other titles announced are Hal and 009 Re:Cyborg, both films. They also will be streaming the anime adaptation of Hyperdimension Neptunia, which when added to their earlier announcement of the streaming of Danganronpa, makes two games for which NISA holds the US game license and Funimation holds the US anime streaming license.

Oh wait, did I forget to mention that…

NIS America Licenses Danganronpa Murder Mystery Visual Novel For PS Vita

There, now I mentioned it.

They also have Demon Gaze. Both games will be available early 2014.

Extra: Sentai Filmworks Announces Home Video License For Various Summer 2013 Titles

As has been the trend lately, Sentai Filmworks has taken an early stake in a number of titles that are currently airing this season (the reason for this is primarily having good working relationships with the Japanese publishers of these anime). Of the various anime airing this season, the ones Sentai Filmworks has announced licenses for are: Stella Women’s Academy, High School Division Class C3, Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East Season 2, Dog & Scissors, Rozen Maiden ~ Zurückspulen, Fantasista Doll, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, Kinmoza! (Kiniro Mosaic), Sunday Without God, and WataMote. There will likely be more where those came from (I’d be very surprised if they don’t pick up the new season of The World God Only Knows).

Extra: Little Witch Academia Episode 2 Kickstarter Meets Goal In Less Than Five Hours

Never underestimate the passion of anime fans when it comes to throwing money at the shows they like. Time of Eve is a recent example of a very successful anime Kickstarter devoted to bringing the movie to the US, and now we have Little Witch Academia, the 30-minute OVA that has reached the US$150,000 goal of completing episode 2 in less than five hours after the campaign started early Tuesday. Studio Trigger already had the funds for creating a 20-minute episode and the Kickstarter funds will add 15 minutes to the final run time.

The campaign is still going on, so anyone who wants to donate can still do so here. It remains to be seen what kind of “stretch goals” the studio has for additional funds.

(On a personal note, I have seen the first episode. It is very well-produced overall and has a fun story with some potential to go deeper should more be made.)

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So that is all for Anime Expo. What were your favorite announcements from the convention?

Anime Expo 2013 Coverage, Part 1

July 4 - July 7. This post covers panels from the first two days.

Anime Expo is currently going on in Los Angeles, and with it, several North American anime localization companies have held panels to make new announcements and also talk about various things going on in the industry. While information on the announcements themselves are easy enough to find, there’s also various other things each company discusses in the panel that tends to slip through the cracks. In this first installment of Anime Expo panel coverage, I will talk about some of these more interesting tidbits brought up in the panels.

Note: Some info below may come from information provided immediately after the panels, through press releases or website updates.

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Ep. 13: To Be Served or to Serve

With last week’s Episode 13, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet has reached the end of its TV broadcast, and while there will be a couple of OVA episodes, this episode brings the story to a great conclusion. There are many awesome moments to be had here and it is most definitely worth seeing if you have been following the show up to now. For this post, I will be addressing something that comes up early in the episode. While nothing important in episode 13 itself will be spoiled, there are major spoilers for things revealed up to the end of episode 12 after the jump, so be warned.

Chamber, who is more awesome than you'd think. Art by 3110soti.

AKB0048: Musical Missionaries

I recently finished both seasons of AKB0048, a show that I completely fell in love with and has become one of my favorite shows of all time, for some particular reasons. It's a show based on the real-life Japanese idol group AKB48, but director Shoji Kawamori, mastermind behind the Macross series, has taken these idols into space and outfitted them with mechas and sci-fi weapons for a grand space adventures.

Also included: lots of hearts, sparkles, and colorful, shiny lights.

The story goes as such: It is the year 0048, that is, 48 years after a massive intergalactic war had destroyed the Earth and forced humanity to inhabit other planets across the universe. During this time, the government has banned things that "disturb the heart", namely art and music, and has appointed the DES to enforce this rule with an iron fist (and mecha drones). However, this has not stopped the idol group AKB48, now re-formed as AKB0048, from holding concerts and bringing their songs of love to even planets with the strictest bans on entertainment--helped in part by the idols also being experts in (non-lethal) combat.

On one such planet with a total entertainment ban, four girls had heard about one of AKB0048's guerilla concerts and sneaked out to attend it, and there, they completely fell in love with music. Many years later, they defy parents and leave behind everything they know in order to try to join AKB0048 themselves. There, they learn to fight and sing and dance and bring the love of AKB0048 to people all across the universe along a number of other trainees, under the guidance the current main members ("successors" of the original AKB48 members), all while defying the entertainment ban and the DES.

To Christians, perhaps that summary might sound vaguely familiar... doesn't it sound an awful lot like Christian missionaries bringing the Gospel to places where Christianity is illegal?

Sound of the Sky: What's Really Amazing About Grace

On Memorial Day, looking for a good military anime to watch, I ended up watching Sound of the Sky(Japanese: Sora no Woto) and absolutely loved it. It has a nice portrayal of a more idyllic military life in a world that has been torn apart by war, from which most of the characters bear scars from. The show overall is about hope in a desolate world, and the form of that hope is embodied in sound—specifically, the tune of “Amazing Grace”, which gets played repeatedly throughout the show.

Official art.

Of course, for Christians, we don’t need to be in a war-torn world in order to appreciate how amazing grace “that saved a wretch like me” is. The characters of Sound of the Sky are not explicitly Christian (the “sister” of the local Church seems to have inherited a lot of Shintoism into her religion), but nevertheless, grace plays a major role in resolving the show’s major conflict… but perhaps not in the way you might expect.

(Warning: Major spoilers after the jump!)

Anime Hall of Fame Induction: Humanity Has Declined

In my Anime Hall of Fame series, I highlight shows that I enjoyed a lot and think are worth trying out. Click the "stardf29's Anime Hall of Fame" tab at the top of the page to see a list of all the inducted anime series so far. More anime series will be inducted over time, and this post will be updated with any new information for this series.

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Humanity Has Declined