There are a number of anime licenses still lingering in the wild after Bandai Entertainment folded a few years ago, but now there are two less as FUNimation has announced the acquisition of both Haruhi Suzumiya seasons as well as the chibi spin-offs from the series, and Lucky Star. The pick up of both of these franchises will be huge for many anime fans since despite all of them being made more than five years ago, they both have quite a following still.
FUNimation did not provide exact details as to when fans can expect these series to be released, but they also announced that they had acquired the Strike Witches movie that was released back in 2012 and the Steins;Gate film released last year.
Usually when an anime company in North America announces that they have acquired the license for a series, they almost always say that they are planning on giving the series a home video release in the future. However FUNimation is a bit different in that regard as some series they picked up the streaming licenses for, such as Senki Zesshō Symphogear and C3, have never been given home video releases.
As such this weekend at Otakon FUNimation took the opportunity to announce some home video licenses from their previously streamed titles. The titles announced for home release some time in the future include the comedy D-Frag!, Blazblue: Alter Memory which is the anime adaptation of the first title, Riddle Story of Devil, Freezing Vibration, and a series with one of the best ending themes of its season, Unbreakable Machine Doll. Currently only Unbreakable Machine Doll and Freezing Vibration have been given release windows of late 2015.
Three new mega evolutions and the return of contests have been confirmed in the brand new trailer for Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, which is viewable at the end of this article. The three Pokemon to receive new Mega Evolutions are Altaria, Lopunny and Salamence.
Mega Altaria will see an increase in both its attack stats, with a smaller increase in its defenses. It will also receive a type change to become the first Dragon/Fairy type and receive the Pixelate ability to turn all normal attacks into fairy moves for increased damage. With the rare move Cotton Guard at its disposal that raises a Pokemon’s Defense stat by 3 stages, Altaria could become a true threat in future Pokemon battles.
Mega Lopunny will see a big boost to its attack stat as well as a speed increase, making it even more powerful then before. It will also see a type change to Normal/Fighting and gain the Scrappy ability, meaning ghosts won’t be immune to any of Lopunny’s attacks. This bunny will be a force to be reckoned with.
Finally Salamence will see a big boost to its defense and special defense stats as well as gain the Aerilate ability, turning normal moves into flying type attacks. Perfect for Salamence as it’s flying attack move pool was very limited and this will now give it much better options when attacking.
New Mega Evolutions weren’t all that was revealed today as the return of contests and thus some other features were confirmed as well. As those who played the original titles might remember, contests were an alternative to battling where you had to impress a judging panel with your Pokemon’s moves. There are five different types of contest to participate in: Coolness, Beauty, Cuteness, Cleverness, and Toughness and each Contest has got several ranks: Normal Rank, Super Rank, Hyper Rank, and Master Rank and you can only participate in one rank if you have completed the previous one. Berries are making a return as are Pokeblocks, small cubes of food that you feed to a Pokemon to increase their contest stats. Feebas has been confirmed to evolve into Milotic by maxing out the Beauty contest stat and then leveling up just like in the old gamers.
There are also few new features that Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire bring to the table. A new excite meter will be able to be filled and Pokemon that can Mega Evolve will be able to do this when the meter is filled, allowing for bonus points to be scored. The 3DS camera will be able to be used to put yourself in the contest and pose alongside your Pokemon during special rounds when a camera appears. As you perform in contests you will gain fans who may give you special items after your performance. The better you do and the more contests you participate in the more fans you will get, increasing the chance of earning these items.
After completing your first contest you will be given a special Pikachu known as Cosplay Pikachu. This Pikachu has a unique tail mark and can dress up in five different cool looking outfits that grant the Pikachu a special attack. Rock Star Pikachu gets Meteor Mash, Belle Pikachu gets Icicle Crash, Pop Star Pikachu gets Draining Kiss, Ph D. Pikachu gets Electric Terrain and Macho Libre Pikachu gets Flying Press. The outfits can be changed at any time from a menu in the Green Room. This Pikachu is unique and will be treated as a separate Pokemon in game, it is the only one that can dress up. It is said this Pikachu will do very well if wearing the correct outfit in its corresponding contest. This Pikachu can also be used in battle. Check out the gallery below for all the great Pikachu costumes.
Players of Pokemon X & Y might also be happy to hear hordes are making a welcome return, which were great for training easily and finding Pokemon with their hidden ability. Trainers that pick up the new games early will also get access to a special online distribution that will see them receive a shiny Beldum who can evolve into the powerful Metagross and the even more powerful Mega Metagross when holding a Mega Stone which comes as Beldum’s hold item. Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire seems like it will be another big hit with the Pokemon community so grab your 3DS and make sure to get the game when it releases on November 21st for everywhere but Europe, who will have to wait until the 28th. Let us know in the comments below what your favourite announced Mega Evolution has been so far or what your favourite Pika-costume is. and don’t forget to watch the trailer below.
It’s been two years since the award winning manga Gunslinger Girl ended, but today sees the return of the popular mangaka Yu Aida with his brand new series.
The manga 1518 focuses around a high school student council, it will be published in this years 37/38th issue of Big Comic Spirits alongside five other new series created by various mangaka. The double issue seinen magazine will be available all across Japan today; other new titles within the magazine include a series set in the Kamakura period and a comedy series created by horror mangaka Jun Abe.
This will be the first series Aida has created since gunslinger girl, which ran for 15 volumes in Dengeki Daioh magazine and was adapted into two anime series. Let us know what you think about Aidas’ return into manga, and what you think the series is going to be like by leaving a comment down below.
Although the more recent releases of Fairy Tail in the West have been focusing on a filler arc, FUNimation has already announced the English voice actors for two important characters that will appear as enemies once the series returns to the canon storyline with the beginning of the Grand Magic Games.
The characters I am speaking of are Sting and Rogue, as well as their cat companions Lector and Frosch. These characters will begin appearing in Part 13 of the series and Michael Jones will be voicing Sting while Garret Storms will be voicing Rogue. As for the cats, Marti Etheridge will be voicing Lector and Dawn Bennett will be voicing Frosch.
This weekend at Otakon FUNimation revealed a number of new English voice actors who will be joining the rest of the already established and newly announced cast members for A Certain Magical Index II’s English dub.
The newly revealed voice actors and their characters, many of which appear in the second half of this season, can be found below:
Andrew Chandler – Acqua
Marcus Stimac – Amata Kihara
Barry Yandell – Biagio Busoni
Bob Magruder – Pope Matthai Reese
Patrick Seitz – Ritoku Komaba
Clifford Chapin – Shiage Hamazura
George Manley – Terra
Leah Clark – Vasilisa
Kara Edwards – Vento
As for the series itself, FUNimation is planning on releasing the first half of the second season in a Blu-ray and DVD combo pack on October 14th.
Aksys Games has announced that they are planning on releasing Arcana Heart 3: Love Max for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in North America on September 23rd. While the title will be available both digitally and at retail, the retail version of the game will feature a reversible cover that features three of the characters in fighting poses on the main side, while the alternate side will feature the same three girls wearing cheerleading outfits.
Additionally those who are waiting for the game in Europe can expect NIS America to release the title in that region sometime later this year. Alongside this announcement came a number of new screenshots which can be found below.
Recently Compile Heart released a trailer for Omega Quintet that focuses entirely on some of the performances that players will be able to see in this idol based RPG. The trailer can be found below and is four minutes long, focusing on performances that players will be able to put together themselves with the game’s “Promotion Video System.”
Some of the songs shown in the video are “Eureka,” “Move Menter,” “Complex: Crescent,” as well as two others, all of which feature unique costumes and dance moves. Currently Omega Quintet is set to be released on the PlayStation 4 in japan on September 18th.
As we already know, in Great Edo Blacksmith players will take control of a blacksmith that only has one year left to live. With such a limited amount of time left in his life, the player will spend their time fighting enemies, gathering materials, forging weapons, and making money in an effort to make one of three beautiful women fall in love with him.
In the first character focus video, which can be found below, the side-pony girl Kiyohana is highlighted where she reveals that she is a bit scatterbrained but also suffers from an illness. Currently Great Edo Blacksmith is set to be released in Japan on November 27th and while no Western plans for the game have been revealed, NIS America will probably be keeping a close eye on the title.
Overview Four years ago NIS America surprised anime fans in North America by announcing that the company would start releasing English subtitled anime series in the region. The first series that the company released happened to be Toradora! and now NIS America has revisited that release by doing something they have never done before, release an English dub for an anime. With this new English dub and an upgrade to Blu-ray, the company has released the entire series in one complete premium edition. How does NIS America’s first foray into English dubbed anime turn out? Let’s find out.
Story Ryuji Takasu is a self-sufficient second year high-schooler who helps take care of his mother and is a bit of a neat freak. Despite being a good guy at heart, the eyes he inherited from his long-departed father gives him the outward appearance of a delinquent, causing many to fear him. Despite this he is best friends with Yusaku Kitamura, the vice president of the student council, and has developed a crush on fellow classmate Minori Kushieda.
On the start of his second year of school, everything seems on the up and up until Ryuji encounters Taiga Aisaka, a diminutive high schooler whose reputation for having a temper as short as she is has earned her the reputation of the palm top tiger. After Taiga makes a fated mistake of slipping a confession letter, sans letter, into Ryuji’s bag the two learn that they each happen to have a crush on the others’ best friend.
With Taiga trying to ask out Ryuji’s friend Yusaku after a failed confession from him a year prior, she enlists the help of Ryuji to help her get close to him and also overcome her bouts of shyness whenever he is near. Along with his help comes Taiga’s influence with the always confident and highly athletic Minori, Ryuji’s crush. Since Taiga and Minori are the best of friends, the more time he spends helping Taiga the better he thinks he will look in Minori’s eyes. As such the two begin to work together to help one another, becoming allies of love in a rather interesting fashion.
Now there are many types of romantic comedies out there and while there are formats that are tried and true there are also those that step outside the box and become something great and Toradora! is the latter. Having characters that play off one another well is a must and Toradora! has that in spades thanks to the classic tsundere nature of Taiga, who has trouble taking care of herself sometimes, being paired with her ambitious and capable best friend Minori and assisted by the reliable and good-hearted Ryuji. Add in Yusaku’s knowledge and calm attitude as well as his childhood friend Ami, an ex-model with an attitude, and you have a great core cast.
What really matters though are the emotions these characters can draw out of the viewer as they go through the various issues that arise in the series outside of the romantic hijinks. In the first half of the series the drama is limited, though we see how Taiga’s family life is harsh thanks to issues with her father, a trait shared by Ryuji, and it only comes to a head halfway through the series as he begins to try and enter Taiga’s life once again, forcing conflict on the group who have conflicting opinions on what Taiga should do.
There is a lot of emotion on display throughout the second half of the series as all of the emotional and romantic developments that have been occurring throughout the series begin to culminate as some characters realize that their feelings may cross with the feelings of their friends and conflict will surely come to the forefront if any of them try to make a move to upset the status quo. The way that Toradora! handles the emotional aspect of the love these characters feel is the best I have seen as it all feels realistic and has a lasting impact on the viewer. Even though some things are handled a bit haphazardly in the last couple of episodes, the series ends with a satisfying, albeit a bit rough, conclusion.
Visuals Despite being produced back in 2008, Toradora! has held up pretty well for its age with some memorable character designs for its colorful cast. Whether it is Ryuji’s facial expressions or the way that Taiga acts, there is a lot of charm in the artwork of the series. The backgrounds are fairly standard for a series set mostly in a high school, but the mundane nature of these backgrounds is changed up thanks to numerous clothing changes throughout the anime.
That being said, there are still occasional slumps in the character artwork, with some odd looking faces and expressions appearing from time to time. There is a noticeable jump in quality thanks to the Blu-ray treatment that Toradora! has been given for this release, with every color having a bit of extra pop and each character design looking crisper than what is found on the DVDs included in the release, making it a worthwhile visual upgrade for those who might have picked up the series before.
Audio Now one of the key aspects with this new Toradora! release is the fact that NIS America has actually provided an English dub with the series, their first ever. That being said, they sure have done an amazing job with the English voice cast. Finding a voice actress that can match Rie Kugimiya’s tsundere voice work is a hard task to accomplish but Cassandra Lee Morris has done an excellent job filling her shoes by replicating the character perfectly in English.
Along those same lines, the rest of the main voice cast is handled impressively well with the entire English dub working very well with the series as a whole. While some may still choose to stick with the Japanese voice track, they will be missing out on the chance to hear these characters in English. It is worth noting, and also for the best, that the Christmas song in episode 19 is still presented in the original Japanese.
The rest of the music in Toradora! is strictly background music which works well for the most part but doesn’t stand out very much. Both opening themes “Pre-Parade” which is sung by the Japanese voice actresses of Taiga, Ami, and Minori, and “silky heart” by Minori’s voice actress, are incredible opening themes while the endings “Vanilla Salt” and “Orange” serve as suitable closing themes and are again performed by the Japanese cast of the series.
Extras With this release of Toradora! NIS America has done something a bit different from their standard premium edition. Instead of the oversized chipboard slipcase, the release is contained in a smaller slightly-larger than a DVD style sized slipcase of the same material where the large disc set and hardcover art book are contained. The on-disc features include clean versions of the opening and ending themes, four Toradora! SOS! bonus shorts that have been given English voicetracks, promo material, Ami’s Impersonations, and an OVA that takes place somewhere in the middle of the series.
The art book is sixty eight pages and an interesting thing to note is that inside cover features fuzzy tiger stripes. The majority of the art book is an “Art Gallery” featuring full page illustrations of the characters in various situations. The other features include a few interviews with the original cast, an episode rundown for the bonus OVA, and character details including an extra look at some of their outfits.
Overall It isn’t often that you will hear me say that an anime is a must watch… but ToraDora! is a must see for those who have any interest in romantic comedies or even anime in general. This series takes its fun cast of characters and delivers a memorable and lasting experience full of humor and emotion. With this upgrade to Blu-ray and accompanied by a superb sounding English dub, Toradora!’s new English release is a must have.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
