Summer 2013: What I'm Watching (Part 2)

The second part of my Summer 2013 overview is here. Plenty of sequels are among them, so be sure to check out my Sequel Alert to see what you should watch before diving into these shows.

I must say, I am overall very pleased with this season. Sure, that might be partially because there's a lot of shows that are particularly of my taste, but even discounting all of the "same ol'" that some may complain about, there's plenty to love about this season. And if you really think this season's got nothing for you... well, Attack on Titan is still airing, right? By the way, I'm not following that one, but I do plan on marathoning the second half once all episodes have been aired.

That said, the rest of what I'm following this season is after the jump.

Summer 2013: What I'm Watching (Part 1)

The Summer 2013 season of anime is underway, and what a season it is! I have locked on to no fewer thaneighteen shows that I plan to follow this season—definitely the most I have ever tried to follow at once. (It helps that, because it is summer, certain non-anime shows are taking the summer off to air reruns, giving me more time for anime.) So what are the shows I am following this season? Take a look after the jump for my thoughts on these shows.

Review: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (Oregairu)

So covering every single episode of this show ended up being too hard for me. Instead, I will use this show as my first official review with a new review format.

For more information on Oregairu, check out the ANN entry for the show.

What it’s about: Hachiman Hikigaya is fed up with his generation’s idea of “youth”, being caught up in every moment as if it could be the next big moment in their lives. Writing an essay saying that such youths should just “drop dead”, he gets sent by his teacher to the Service Club as punishment. There awaits Yukino Yukinoshita, well-known to be the school’s most beautiful girl, who has established the club to help out people with their troubles. Their first client, Yui Yuigahama, who wants help baking cookies, also joins their club as they try to help out more people. Key word: try.

Because asking a group of social misfits to solve social problems isn't exactly a recipe for guaranteed success.

Bottom Line: Oregairu has all the typical ingredients of a high school romantic comedy, except it got cooked in a broken oven, so things do not turn out quite like one would expect. The end result is far from bad, though; instead, we get a show that has refreshing moments of brutal honesty and allows its characters to develop in nice, subtle ways. Grade: A-

Full review is after the jump.

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.)

---

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.