Zenshu

 Zenshu (全修) is an original 12 episode isekai anime produced by MAPPA.  The series originally aired during the Winter of 2025.

     Hirose Natsuko is a celebrated young anime director who is struggling to complete the screenplay for his first movie, First Love.  AFter accidentally getting food poisoning she wakes up in  different world.  She quickly determines she is in the world of the anime that influenced her to become and animator, the derided fantasy A Tale of Perishing.  The world of A Tale of Perishing is that of near death.  The source of its light and growth, the soul futures, have been gradually extinguished by an alien menace known as the Void.  A band of legendary heroes, the Nine Soldiers, have done everything they can to protect them, but only 4 heroes remain.  They and everyone else have crammed into the last city, built around the final soul future.  Things are looking desperate because once the final soul future is destroyed the world will end as they know it.  The Nine Soldiers encounter the out of place Natsuko in the outskirts of town but consider her a nuisance and a trouble maker.  She does what she can to convince them other wise, but the leader, Luke Braveheart wants nothing to do with her.  Using her knowledge of the anime, she tries to warn them of danger only to be ignored even once the next attack happens.  As the battle rages and one of the other heroes begins to cast a spell, sacrificing himself to save the others, an item from the real world begins to urge Hatsuko to take action.

    The item is her peg bar and when she heeds its urging she goes through a fantastical magical girl transformation and finds herself sitting at a replica of her animators desk.  She formulates an idea in her head and with inhuman speed, sketches out a storyboard.  As soon as she is finished with it magic causes it to spring to life, a gigantic being with a powerful beam weapon that decimates the hoard of Voids, preventing the hero Unio from sacrificing himself.  After demonstrating her ability and usefulness she is accepted into the ranks of the Nine Soldiers.  Her prescient ability only goes so far though as the plot begins to change in reaction to her meddling.  The original anime ended in the despair and failure as Luke succumbed to the trauma of loosing everything he cares for.  Natsuko tries to intervene as much as she can to prevent this but as things move further away from what she knew this became harder to maintain.  Will she learn life lessons she was unable to learn in the real world as she struggles to protect this new world?

 

    Zenshu was a unknown given its an original piece that seemed to be part Shirobako and part every isekai out there.  What sold me with the preview was the beauty of the animation.  This is a fantastically animated series with a lot of care placed on making the characters distinct.  In the moments when Natsuko is remembering the anime version of A Tale of Perishing, the art style and quality changes to reflect a lower quality TV anime from years past.  The other characters themselves are done in different styles as well.  Luke looks like a classic fantasy character from the 80's.  Unio, a shapeshifting magical unicorn, looks like he would be more at home in Care Bears.  QJ, the strange statue-like being, is absolutely a reference to a famous figurine from the ancient Jomon era.  As the story played another thing that became apparent was how different the characters were being handled.  They didn't easily fit into traditional fantasy/isekai roles and had a great deal of interpersonal dynamics.  They were also multi faceted and realistic in their portrayals.

    But what about the story its self?  In the end it wasn't anything new or original.  We have seen this type of story countless times and there is no shame in that.  Whats special about Zenshu is how much love was put into it.  This is truly a love letter to anime with an emphasis on its history.  A lot of that is represented by Natsuko herself.  Eeach week she creates a new animated scene to help them in their battles, constantly changing style.  We see a nod to Gundam, Kinnikuman, bishonen harem, kaiju, etc.   While the story its self is well hashed the way it handles it is invigorating and special.  This is a really good anime and should be viewed by all manner of anime fans.  There is a little room with the way it ends for the possibility of a movie but I suspect it will never happen and feel leaving things as they are is the best way to preserve the shows future legacy.

The series was simulcast on Crunshyroll.

Oshi no Ko part 2

 Oshi no Ko (推しの子) the second season was the 12 episode continuation of the first season, based on the manga of the same name by Akasaka Aka and Yokoyaki Mengo.  The anime originally aired during the Summer of 2024.

    Aqua joins that cast of a 2.5 D stage play due to the primary casting company, Lala Lai, being tied to the mystery of his mothers murder.  He uncovered that Ai had been associated with them at one point in her career and suspects that the person who got her pregnant might still be a part of the company.  The stage play is adapting a popular shonen manga called Tokyo Blade and tells a super natural tale of two factions vying for control of Japan through the use of legendary swords.  Aqua's fake girlfriend, Kurokawa Akane and his frenemy/B-Komachi member Arima Kana.  Before the actors can dig into rehearsal the manga's author changes her mind about approving the script and fights to rewrite it herself.

    Once the scripting drama sorts its self out its time for knuckle down and rehearse as much as possible, in order to be ready for the first performance in a month.  The actors continue to clash with each other due to their larger than life personalities.  During rehearsal of a pivotal scene Aqua suffers a catastrophic panic attack, vividly remembering the moment his mother was murdered.  Aqua retreats to The Directors apartment, Akane tagging along, and begins to open up to her about his goals.  Telling her that there is someone high up in show business that he intends to murder, without getting into any specific details.  Akane tells him that she is willing to be a part of whatever he needs to do, regardless of the legality of it.  Opening night proves to be a battle ground as the actors attempt to outshine each other, with Akane trying to force Kana to return to her earlier acting prowess.  Aqua digs into his past trauma and uses it a motivation to enhance his acting and survives the performance.  Once the play ends its run, B-Komachi plans to take a trip to rural Japan to film a video to help promote their YouTube channel.  The location, the area where Ai gave birth to the twins and Aqua's past self was murdered.  Aqua decides to join the trip as well.  The results of a genetics test help him learn who his father was, but the answers he seeks don't exactly fit into the path he has crafted for himself.  With his plans in disarray he questions whether he should continue the fake relationship with Akane.

    This season put the core narration of the story on the back burner and focused on the industry of stage adaptations.  In a weird twist, this arc in the story is getting its own stage production...weird.  A lot of attention was given to the large casts personality quirks, the production teams drama and the whole blow up with the original authors freak out over the script at the 11th hour.  When it digs into the plot of Aqua continuing his investigation into his mothers murder it was only given passing interest.  The result of learning who is father was shakes everything about what makes Aqua himself and now the narration will need to shift focus to how he will choose to live a life he was planning on throwing away.  I understand that his drive to solve the mystery of his birth and his mothers betrayal is core to the series, but ignoring everything dealing with Ruby until the end of he season felt like a disservice to the story over all.  They could have easily peppered in plot lines that didn't revolve around the Tokyo Blade production in between all of the repetitive back and forth monologuing of the self centered actors.

    This season was less enjoyable than the first but I have hopes the next season will be able to return the story to a more enjoyable trajectory.  Someone on social media had made an amusing observation, one I can't verify given my choice in viewing.  The statement was, Oshi no Ko did a story Demon slayer tried to tell, better, as a side note to the real plot.  Ouch.  Back on point.  This season seemed like Akasaka fell down a rabbit hole and really got interested in talking about 2.5 D plays instead of focusing on the actual story of Oshi no Ko.  It was interesting to an extent, but the process of converting a manga into a stage play isn't the most mysterious of processes in general.  What made it even more of a chore, I switch it over to the English dub for the back half of the story and really regretted that choice.  The English dub seemed...less than quality.  I don't think it's a mystery that we will get another season of this anime and I deeply hope it rights its self back onto the track it should be on instead of getting distracted with something that caught the authors eye.  This season just felt like 8 episodes of meandering and distraction and 4 episodes of well delivered story progress.

The anime aired on HiDive and is available in both subtitled and English dub.

16bit Sensation: Another Layer

 16bit Sensation: Another Layer (16bitセンセーション ANOTHER LAYER) is a 13 episode sci-fi comedy inspired by the manga 16 Bit Sensation: The Bishojo Game Made by All of You and I by Mitsumi Misato and Wakaki Tamiki.  The anime originally aired during the Fall of 2023.

    Akisato Konoha is a 19 year old illustrator who spends her days slaving away at a game company making the same repetitive artwork for uninspiring games.  She dreams of being part of the golden age of bishojo games, from when she was barely a twinkle in her parents eyes.  After work one day, wandering trough the back alleys of Akihabara, she stumbles upon a quaint used game store.  She marvels at the treasure trove of iconic titles in the 100 yen discount bin, such as Kanon and Dokyusei.  When she decides to open the packaging for one of the games she finds her self transported to Akihabara in 1992.  While wandering its now unfamiliar streets in confusion she returns to the building that she works at only to find a different software development company called Alcohol Soft.  A boy she encountered earlier finds her lost in front of the building and asks him for help.  She learns that they are a company making bishojo games so she instantly applies to work for them as in illustrator.  But things aren't as easy as she would hope as the technology differs vastly compared to what shes used to and they have to teach her how to do the most basic things.  Her enthusiasm and ideals keep her optimistic and she puts her worries behind her.

    When they finish the game shes has helped with she finds herself back to 2023 and wishes that she could return to the early 90's to continue working on the games she loves the most, being a part of the formation of the industry.  She retraces her steps and ends up transporting back to 1996 this time, after opening another game.  Shes beginning to realize that the games dictate what year she travels to, marked by their release dates.  For her, she has only been gone for a brief time, but when she shows back up at Alcohol Soft to work for them more they are bewildered and confused as to where she has been over the past four years.  She once again helps them and when she returns to 2023 she has a plan to be valuable for them and packs a bag of modern technology to bring with her for the third time.  But she begins to notice that the history shes familiar with isn't exactly the same as it now appears and fears that she may be irreversibly altering her present.

    This was a bit of an interesting series, given that the character of Konoha does not exist in the original manga...so I really need to track that down and read it to see what that story was like.  Anyway.  I am a fan of time travel stories and this was a fun one particularly how much of a love letter to the golden era of bishojo games the story is.  It was fun seeing Konoha have to face the vastly different technological landscape of the 90's as she struggled to prove to the others that she was good at what she does.  Some aspects of the story shared qualities with Otaku no Video I feel.  Ultimately though, Konoha's character is incredibly annoying.  The final arc of the story was...drastically different from the tone of the everything that came before it and a little disappointing to be honest.  I really do need to read the original manga as it is more a telling of the creators history in the video game industry at that time.  That feels like a more interesting story than this quirky time travel story.

    Aside form the anime apparently diverging a bit from the source material and its main character being rather grating, this was a fun series to watch and I sped through it pretty quickly, each ending keeping my interest piqued as to what would happen next.  Over all it is a fun story, even if it ends in a less than satisfying manner...for me anyway.  I believe that a faithful adaption of the source material may have been a better approach as there will always be interest in an anime about the industry especially if its based on real people and events.  Just look at how well received Shirobako was.  Oh well, we can only deal with what we got and until I started doing research I didn't even know the anime diverged from the manga.  Still not a bad story, especially if you are a fan of those classic dating sim games.

The series was released on Crunchyroll.

Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night

Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night (夜のクラゲは泳げない) is an original 12 episode coming of age story by Yakui Yuki.  The series originally aired during the Spring of 2024.

    Kazuki Mahiru used to love drawing and was talented enough to be allowed to do a mural of a jellyfish on a side street in the Shibuya neighborhood of Tokyo in middle school.  One day she surprises her friends by taking them to the mural without telling them it was hers.  Their unfiltered and raw criticism of the work dealt a major blow to Mahiru's confidence and she immediately gave up art as a passion.  The now second year high school student, lost without any ambition in life, finds herself at her mural during Halloween.  A small crowd has gathered around a girl putting on an gorilla street performance.  As the song begins another girl from the crowd rushes towards the mural, tearing down the posters put up by the performer.  The punk-like girl yells at the performer for defacing the mural that means so much to her then runs off with Mahiru in tow.

    The girl introduces herself as Yamanouchi Kano and when Mahiru tells her shes the artist that made the mural her eyes light up with excitement.  Kano tells her that the jellyfish artwork has inspired her to take on a new musical project and she wants her to work it her to bring that vision to life, using her artwork as the basis for the visual aspect.  Uncertain if she has the will to resume drawing she is sucked in by the other girls infections charisma.  The goal is to launch and push an anonymous music project titled JELEE with a goal of reaching 100,000 subscribers on YouTube.  Unknown to Mahiru at first, Kano is a disgraced pop idol who is looking to shed her past and perform by her self with the help of the artist who touched her heart.  Now they just need to find someone who can help with the music and who can help with the technical side of things, then its time to take on the world!

 

     Sadly this wasn't something along the lines of Princess Jellyfish.  Fortunately, it went with the core concept of a group of teenage girls struggling with self doubt and complicated interpersonal relationships way better than Wonder Egg Priority.  While Mahiru and Kano are undoubtedly the main characters all four of them are sufficiently developed, each having their own realistic personalities and complications.  Mahiru comes from a loving family who does not pay much attention to her internal struggles.  Since middle school, when her friends unknowingly rejected her, she has lost all confidence in herself and coasts through life with no clear goal.  Kano struggles with her complicated and parasitic relationship with her mother.  Mei struggles with moving past her reliance on using her love of Kano's past idol persona as a crutch for her emotions.  Kiui tries as much as she can to hide the fact that she is  hikikomori from everyone around her.  The series does not get darkly realistic but still retains a high level of believable enough to satisfy the staunchest realists.

    What really sold me for the series was the higher caliber of artwork displayed in the previews, and the series did not disappoint.  On top of the satisfying character design and direction, the story was good at holding interest when there was no real end goal set from the beginning.  Kano's idea of reached an online milestone was more a McGuffin than anything, the meat of the story is their relationships and their individual struggles.  Honestly by the end of it, which is satsfying, it would be nice to continue the story a bit longer.  There is room for more development to take place, especially with some of the secondary characters that were introduced in the second half.  Given that there was a recap episode near the end its easy to speculate that some of the story was sacrificed to wrap up the show in the cour without needing to release anything afterwards.

    The series was simulcast on HiDive.

The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio

 The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio (声優ラジオのウラオモテ) is a 12 episode slice of life industry series based on the light novel series of the same name by Nigatsu Ko.  The series originally aired during the 2024 Spring season.

    Sato Yumiko is a high school student who moon lights as the pop idol voice actor Utatane Yasumi.  In real life she is a flash gyaru type person who is struggling to find voice acting roles with a high profile.  Unknown to her, a classmate that she never interacts with, Watanabe Chika, is the pop idol voice actor Yugure Yuhi.  Chika as well is quite different in real life compared to her bubbly voice actor persona.  She is reserved, gloomy and generally keeps to her self.  Neither girl knows that the other does the same thing and a tense interaction between them in class leads to a great deal of animosity.  Yumiko receives a call from her manager about a new job opportunity doing a weekly radio program.  The producer apologizes about inadvertently learning some personal things about her, which lead to the idea to create the program.  Before he can clearly explain himself, Chika walks into the meeting.  The producer learned that both girls were classmates and decided to create a program in which their voice actor personas would talk about life as classmates and friends, the exact opposite of their reality.

    The two conflicting voice actors must put on the front of getting along for the sake of their careers as they begin their weekly radio program.  Both of their managers hope this will further their career opportunities and profiles.  Chika has no interest in getting to know the flash Yumiko, but the gyaru is determined to make this work, desperate for some ray of hope in her flagging and short career.  Unfortunately, their program lags and when a scandal erupts around Chika and a new voice roll she got, the future of their program and of Chika's career hang in the balance.  Unwilling to let her partners success crumble along with her own potential, Yumiko makes a drastic move to clear Chika's name in the public sphere.  The efforts don't work as planned and instead she exposes both girls for who they really are, sending shock waves through the fan base and the voice actor community leading to a greater threat to their continued careers.  Will they be able to regain the public trust when in their eyes the two bubbly and cute girls have been lying about who they really are this entire time?

    This was the Spring anime I chose for the inaugural season of The Otaku Network Podcast, available on both YouTube and Spotify.  I went into the series fearing it would be similar to the moe trash bin that is New Game!  But was quickly proven wrong when the series presented a serious and realistic look at the characters and their work as voice actors.  The story quickly moves outside of the core concept and focuses on the struggles that the two main characters have in regard to their work.  Their choice to present idealized alternative personalities for their voice actor persona's soon causes them trouble with the aforementioned scandal.  The story gets side tracked dealing with the fallout around the scandal but refocuses near the end to enter on the true core, Yumiko's flailing career.  Through out the series the two girls grow into frenemies and as Chika becomes more open you learn its due to jealousy for the lesser girl and the latent abilities she recognizes.  AS is the case, its hard to see your own value from inside and Yumiko struggles with what everyone else sees in her, lacking the confidence she needs.

    Over all a decent slice of life industry piece that could have had a subtle yuri plot.  The series flows awkwardly through an indeterminable time frame and the artwork its self is quite horrific at times, particularly profile shots of characters heads.  Lets just say there were some questionable design choices made.  It flagged in the middle and had a few moments of awkward and unnecessary fan service but ended strongly, if a bit unrealistically.   It by no means carries the weight and quality of Shirobako but is a good enough submission into the industry category for anime.

The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll.

Oshi no Ko - part 1

 Oshi no Ko (推しの子) is an 11 episode drama based on the manga of the same name by Akasaka Aka with art by Yokoyari Mengo.,  The anime originally aired during the Spring of 2023.

 

    Hoshino Ai is an aspiring pop idol and the front of a moderately successful group named B Komachi.  Hey agency, a relatively new start up, Strawberry Production, announces that Ai has to take some time off from performing due to an undisclosed medical condition.  The condition...pregnancy.  Ai being pregnant causes a few problems the agency is trying to conceal.  The first being that Ai is only 16.  The second being the backlash the fan base would unleash on her for breaking the spell of attraction.  The agencies owner, Saito, secrets his client away to a hospital in a remote village, to help hide the pregnancy.  The gynecologist who meets with them unfortunately knows AI quite well, being a fan of her work.  The doctor, Gorou, had been introduced to the group and the love of idols in general from a terminal cancer patient a few years earlier.  The girl, Sarina had a significant impact on the young doctor and her death has led him to carry on her love of Ai and idols as a memorial.  Ai refuses to terminate the pregnancy, even after learning she will be having twins.  Saito pledges to support her as much as he can and helps keep her secret.

    The night of her due date, a strange man approaches Saito outside of the hospital, rambling about Ai being there and being pregnant.  Concerned as to why someone would know what is going on he chases the man into the woods only to be attacked and knocked down a cliff, falling to his death.  The next thing he knows is his perspective has changed to that of one of Ai's newly born babies.  He has been reborn as one of her twins, a boy she names Auqamarine.  He has all of the memories and knowledge from his previous life and relishes the opportunity to spend more time with the girl he worships.  Quickly he realizes that his twin, the girl named Ruby, is also a product of complete reincarnation and the woman that inhibits the babies body is a super fan of their idol mother.  Together the two infants work together to support and protect their mother as she returns to the world of celebrity.

    -WARNING- The rest of the overview of the series contains significant spoilers that will alter your viewing experience if you have not yet completed the extra long first episode.

 

    The return to work for Ai comes with complications, given the extreme effort everyone will need to put in to keep the existence of her twins secret.  Saito tasks his young wife, Miyako, with playing the roll of the twins mother when in public.  This will allow Ai to interact with them while outside of the sanctity of their apartment.  Miyako isn't sure about the arrangement and soon grows weary of tending after the babies, even though they are quite well behaved, being the embodiment of people who remember their previous lives.  They overhear a plan she begins to concoct to expose the secret for money, as a way to live comfortably and leave her husband.  The twins decide a desperate plan is needed and begin to act as if they are possessed by gods, forcing a mandate from heaven upon the beleaguered woman.  They instruct her to do everything she can to protect the safety and identity of the twins.  Without realizing the strange reality behind the situation she relents and the secret is once again under control as Ai begins to work on building a better future for herself in the entertainment industry.

    A few years pass and things are going well for everyone, with Ai branching out into other venues in the industry beyond being the front of an increasingly popular idol group.  The babies are now old enough to not raise too many questions with their mature behavior.  The director of a drama that Ai is cast in for a small roll shows interest in having Aqua act for him.  Aqua, having no interest in entering the industry, refuses.  The director contacts Strawberry Productions later, to offer a new acting opportunity for Ai, on the condition that Aqua also appear in the production as well.  Understanding that accepting this role could very well give his mother the break they are hoping for, he relents.  While on set he encounters a co-star, child prodigy Arima Kana.  Kana is spoiled and cocky and when Aqua's mature analysis of the directors intentions upstages her, the spoiled girl causes a commotion, teaching Aqua an important lesson when it comes to being a performer and how you treat those around you.  

    The role did what he hoped for and Ai finds more recognition and fandom, opening up more opportunities.  The director however wants Aqua to become an actor himself, sensing a quality in his approach that could be fostered into a successful career.  Aqua outright refuses to continue acting, wishing only to support his mother in her career and bask in her radiance.  But on the day of a performance that will be the hallmark of her raising career, the stalker who had tracked her to a remote hospital year ago has discovered where she is living.  He arrives, with a bouquet in hand, masking the knife and his intent.  He stabs the startled woman in the stomach, Aqua in the same room, and begins to rant about how Ai had lied to everyone and treated them poorly by becoming a mother in secret.  The betrayal of the obsessed fan.  Ai understands she is dying and offers an apology to the man as a representative of her fans, an apology for carrying the role of lying to the public so well.  A task that celebrities have to take on in order to appease the public, the lie of love.  The man flees, understanding the gravity of his actions.  Aqua is desperate to save his mother, knowing the dire situation she is in due to his medical knowledge.  But it is too late, their mother dies in front of them, parting them with her love.

     Aqua realized the stalker who killed his mother is the same person who killed him.  He focuses his grief and loss into drive to uncover the truth behind the stalker finding them.  Through analysis of the situation that lead to her death he suspects that someone close to her was the giving out information to the deranged fan.  Understanding how few people Ai ever had contact with, Aqua suspects the person behind everything is quite possibly the man who got her pregnant, a man who Ai refused to ever identify.  With this as his starting point he decides he will need to enter the entertainment industry to track this person down.  The fan who killed her committed suicide afterwards so he has zero leads.  He contacts the director who has showed interest in him and agrees to begin working with him, hoping in time he will be in proximity to likely candidates for the man who would be his father.

 

    The story skips ahead to twelve years later.  The truth about Ai having given birth to twins has remained a secret.  Saito abandoned Strawberry Production, leaving it to his wife to run.  Miyako has grown fond of the children and the tragedy of Ai's murder brings her closer to them.  They were quietly adopted into her family following Ai's death and she has raised them as her own ever since. At the same time she has taken over running her husbands abandoned talent agency, moving away from idols and onto other more lucrative opportunities in the ever changing entertainment landscape.  Aqua and Ruby are about to begin high school at a prestigious academy which caters to child performers.  Aqua has transitioned to being the directors secret assistant, learning editing and directing skills along the way.  His real intent is to find the man responsible for his mothers death and kill him.  Ruby has started to set her sight on becoming an idol herself and picking up where her mother left off.  

    That is pretty much the synopsis of the first episode, which is in reality the first three episodes that serve as a prologue to the series.  The rest of the series follows the twins as they pursue their goals.  Aqua is laser focused on uncovering the identify of their father, believing it will lead him to who gave information to the stalker who murdered her.  At the the same time he works hard to thwart his sisters attempts to become an idol.  Ruby, oblivious to her brothers dark path, moves forward like a bright light, eternally optimistic and cheerful.  She has complete faith in her ability to honor her mothers memories by carrying on her work as an idol.  She is also fulfilling the dreams denied her in her prior life, as the cancer patient and generally ill child Sarina.  Each twin understands that the other is a reincarnation who remembers their past life, but neither have talked about that to each other.  They do not know they were once doctor and patient in their past lives, a connection that has carried them into this life and has formed the basis of everything that motivates them currently.

    I was drawn into the series on two parts; the first being my misunderstanding that Yokoyari Mengo's role was only the original artwork and not the story.  The second due to the intense internet chatter around the show as it aired.  I am a huge fan of Yokoyari's previous work and had hoped for something similar.  While disappointed at first, the story stood on its own merits as an interesting and thought out journey that only took me half a year to return to.  Whats even more striking is the real author is the same who created Kaguya-sama Love is War.  A series I grew to dislike quickly and never returned to.  At the core of it, Oshi no Ko is a supernatural murder mystery.  The bulk of the story is more a product to highlight to struggles individuals who work in the entertainment industry face in the shadow of their public life.  Through the writing of the manga, Akasaka worked with many people he knows in various entertainment sectors to build an understanding of the problems they face.  According to an interview with him, many of the events depicted are inspired by things that have happened from his research or personal conversations with people.  This kind of representation isn't new though, the influential movie Perfect Blue is centered around the abuse and misuse of young pop idols.

    There is no resolution to the central plot in the first part of the anime, much of the narration spends time establishing other characters and expanding on the punishments tied to fame.  One sticking point is how well the twins have been able to hide their true parentage.  Its also astounding that someone so obsessed with killing the idol he holds dear did not spread the truth of her giving birth in the years between the first and second murders he committed.  Eventually the truth of their mother will come out, there's no way the author would dismiss that type of drama at some point in the show.  Its the weakest part of the story over all.  The idea that these two kids can avoid detection when they have the same legal last name as Ai and are being fostered by the owner of her talent agency..  What will really be interesting is how many twists will show up on the path to Aqua learning his fathers identity and then the path to uncovering who fed information to his mothers murder from there.  He is willing to sell himself wholesale to the devil to get to his end and his assumed strength of planning will likely be his temporary failure.  We will see a resolution to the central mystery and Aqua's revenge plot, the real question and what will make or break the story is what price will he have to pay in the end.  At some point the twins are going to tell each other about their past existences, putting a different twist to their relationship.  I eagerly await the second season but don't know if that will give us he rest of the story...I guess I will have to start reading the manga.

    The anime is currently available in sub and dub formats on HiDive.

A Galaxy Next Door

 A Galaxy Next Door (おとなりに銀河) is a romantic supernatural slice of live anime based on the manga of the same name by Amagakure Gido.  The anime originally aired during the Spring of 2023.

 

    Goshiki Shiori is the princess of a semi-super natural people from a remote island.  She has come to the mainland in search of experience in the outside world.  Once she turned 18 her grandmother allowed her access to her private manga library.  Goshiki was instantly drawn to shoujo romance manga and decided she wanted to experience that type of love life.  One artist in particular attracted her attention.  She diligently studied his style, becoming able to faithfully recreate it.  She sought out his publishing company and applied to be one of his assistants.  The artists, Kuga Ichiro, struggles to find success writing manga. He is determined to continue his career in order to pay for his younger siblings future college expenses.  Ichiro has been left to raise his two young siblings alone, following his fathers passing.  He not only cares for them but also maintains his families share house.  He was serialized as a teenager but has struggled to make a successful story that will ensure his success as an author.  Goshiki shows up at the best time as he faces a perilous deadline and currently has no assistants.

    His is utterly amazed by the abilities of the proper and reserved Goshiki, considering her a stroke of luck.  Their relationship becomes complicated soon after she begins to work as his assistant.  After an all-nighter working to meet a deadline they both pass out in his office.  He wakes to find her slumped over a chair with what appears to be a drawing utensil stuck in her back.  Fearing she is injured he grabs at the object to remove it only to be struck with an unusual sensation.  Horrified by what has happened, Goshiki reveals that it is a part of her body that is tied to her peoples heritage.  The act of Ichiro touching it has meant, by her peoples traditions, that they are destined to be wed.  Ichiro questions her adherence to the traditions of her people, when she is trying to forge a path in the world for herself, unfortunately there is a bit more to their connection than a vow of matrimony.  They have been interlinked in a metaphysical level now, Ichiro being receptive to her emotions and any relative distances between them.  This is a new level of complication to his life where he is trying to ensure the success of his young brother and sister, not exactly focused on his own happiness or companionship.  What does the future hold for these two people now that they seem to be linked in multiple facets.  Can Goshiki really defy the will of her parents and heritage or are they able to reverse the bond that was unknowingly created out of concern for safety.

    I wasn't sure what to expect from this series so went in quite blind.  The supernatural aspects don't really take a lot of precedence in the story.  The marriage bond is really the only thing that is of any importance but beyond the start of it everything else related to it was mostly mundane in nature.  What is surprising is Ichiro's willingness to accept that Goshiki's family has any supernatural elements to them at all.  Once she tells him about her secret he goes along with it without further ado.  Its also quite strange how quickly everyone excepts Goshiki instead of questioning her anachronistic mannerisms and behavior.  The story quickly shoves any of these easy narrative targets and instead focuses on the two main characters relationship with each other as it evolves over time.  Beyond that though its a pretty straightforward story.  The characters don't hesitate a great deal and their lives progress towards the conflict of Goshiki's family and her desires to break away from tradition.

    This series isn't bad but it isn't amazing either.  It was enjoyable but easily forgettable.  A lot of reasonable conflict and complexity is brushed to the side in favor of focusing on the day to day details.  The entire concept of Goshiki's family circumstance is largely ignored, explained away with the retelling of a semi legendary tale of her grandmother as a young girl.  Whats really hard to swallow is how an entire island population so readily accepted the change her grandmother brought to their community.  Was her family perceived as royalty beforehand?  How was she capable of so easily converting the inhabitants previous view of reality to fit a new dogma that lead the younger Goshiki to be revered like a sacred princes in the Heian era?  Ichiro's circumstance seems significantly more realistic on its own, but when compared to Goshiki's...its definitely irrelevant beyond set up.  Maybe it was due to the nature of the anime and the time constraints, but there seems to be a lot of narration and plot that could have taken place or might have been omitted for unknown reasons.  By the end of the story it seems like we barely even know any of the characters.

    It is currently available in sub and dub formats on Crunchyroll.

Remake Our Life!

 Remake Our Life! (ぼくたちのリメイク) is a 12 episode anime based on the light novel series of the same name by Kio Nachi.  The anime originally aired over the Fall of 2021.

     Hashiba Kyouya struggles working in the video game industry.  After returning home when the company he works for went bankrupt and he looses his job he finds another job with a bigger company, only to have the team he was on dissolved and fired.  Living again at his parents house, almost in his thirties with zero prospects for the future he wishes he could go back and redo his life, hoping to see some portion of success the top creators of his generation have.  He struggles with the 'easy' direcion he choose when people his age have become pillars of creativity in the field.  Somehow, perhaps due to the stress of failure, he wakes up in the morning to find himself living ten years ago, as he is about to choose which college he will attend.  Unsure about whats going on, he recognizes the opportunity to redo his life, armed with the knowledge and experience of the past ten years.  He chooses to enroll in the art college, willing to keep his fears at bay, looking towards a successful future.  While attending school he moves into a shared house with three other students; timid Shino Aki, head strong Kogure Nanako and composed Rokuonji Tsurayuki.  All four of them are enrolled in the same department and agree to work as a team, with their success in college a priority.

    As time goes on and the four co-eds grow closer Kyouya realizes that each of them is one of the big talents he admires the most in the future.  Aki is his favorite graphic artist, Nanako is a successful singer and Tsurayuki is a well regarded author.  Kyouya decides that he will do everything he can to help his new friends succeed in the careers he knows they will have.  With his understanding of the future and his experience in the adult world he is able to be the strength the group needs when they encounter problems with their school work or personal projects.  Those around him begin to marvel at his ability to succeed and his ability to instill confidence in everyone around him.  As time goes on he begins to notice that his influence on the creators he admires begins to change them in unexpected ways.  He is unsure if this new path will negatively affect the future he fondly recalls.  With the gift he has been given at a second chance to redo his life as an adult is he setting his future up for bigger failure, dragging others along with, crushing them with his own arrogance?

    I wasn't sure what to expect going into this series, watching it on a whim more than anything.  Since I had zero expectations I was overwhelmed by the story.  I'm a sucker for time travel and stories about redoing your past in particular.  In some ways it felt like an isekai, due to the way Kyouya approached his redo and his incredible confidence and drive.  'Reborn In My College Years After Failing In The Game Industry' may have been a better title.  But, this really isn't an isekai based on standard definitions.  The story hits all the right notes when it comes to a redo time skip fantasy.  Kyouya's character though seemed a bit too much with his humble persona.  Though, if he was cocky and manipulative that would have made for a worse story and worse character.  The story is sweet and fun in the end, with a group of passionate friends who are trying to make their way in life...except one of them has already has a ten year start.

    The artwork and character designs are nothing special, standard middle of the road fare for current anime.  The characters fit into nicely defined tropes but the genuine realism of the story kept their more absurd qualities at bay.  There were a few dips into romance tropes that felt forced and out of place but ultimately didn't impact the story.  Underneath it all there is a simmering romance that becomes a focal point later in the story, but explaining anything would actually ruin a fun twist in the second part of the anime.  Over all, I really enjoyed this story and will need to track down the light novel series as well, to see what was left out...and perhaps get to spend some more time with these characters that I quickly grew to enjoy.  This was a fun series with the first episode being almost three times the normal length, building a lot of the needed set up, not unlike Oshi no Ko.

     The anime is currently available in sub and dub on Crunchyroll.

America's dismissal of the Japanese entertainment industry

Why do the American movie and television industries dismiss the relevance and existence of their Japanese counterparts in terms of promotion?  Again and again I have come across references recently in American movie and TV promotions that represent said products of Western production achieving things they aren't exactly eligible of.

     Sometime these inaccurate claims aren't done by the production studio's themselves but are done by echo chambers of promotion who may or may not be financially tied to the studio.  I'm not even going to get into the issue of 'white washing', I don't have the energy nor the detailed ethnographic background to do that argument the justice it deserves.  Instead I am going to list three incorrect claims and theorize why claims like these exist.

    In a number of places the claim that, long running American syndicated animation series, The Simpsons is the longest running animated show ever.  I am not sure if FOX television themselves stand behind this claim, but I have seen it in a handful of reputable locations on the internet.  The series has run for 26 years as of 2016, with over 540 episodes under its belt.  This is incredibly impressive and does in fact make it the longest running scripted prime time show on American TV.  It surpasses the previous holder of that title, Gunsmoke, which ran for 20 years.  Episode count, it is still behind that western behemoth which ran 635 episodes.  It does not, however, match the longest running scripted television show, which is Guiding Light.  The American soap opera aired more than 15,000 episodes over 59 years.

    When it comes to the longest running, scripted, prime time television series though the honors and Guinness record goes to Sazae-san.  It has been running for 47 years with over 7300 episodes so far.  But, its understandable that American audiences would be oblivious to the existence of Sazae-san, it really doesn't exist outside of Japan, partially due to the wishes of its original creator, Hasegawa Michiko, that it never be made available on film.  It only really exists in syndication in Japan.

    The recent live action film Deadpool has in a number of places been promoted as the first R rated super hero or comic book film.  I'm pretty sure Marvel Studio knows a little better than to make that claim, on both fronts.  In the western comic book super hero land you we have The Watchmen, which is very much super hero and R rated and about as well known in Western comic book circles as Deadpool used to be.  Then in the general comic book based movie world there is The Crow, Sin City, Blade, V for Vendetta, 300...and another super hero story in Kick-Ass & Kick-Ass 2.  Sorry Deadpool, even your fanboys should know better than to spout that claim.

    Then we get into the products that come out of Japan.  The obvious choice is to look at the countless anime movies based on per-existing comics, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, etc.  But its not hard to look to the world of live action movies, even some made in America.  Ichi the Killer, the Korean produced Old Boy (which also saw a failed Spike Lee adaptation), Attack on Titan or The Guyver: Dark Hero.  These are a few that are readily available in America in a variety of formats...not to mention all of the ones that are indigenous to Japan and not readily available.  But, these are also films that have a limited audience in America, not existing in the mainstream consciousness.

    The one that tripped me though is for previews of the new CG film featuring Seth Rogan called Sausage Party, billing its self as the first full CG animated film for adults.  The most recent full CG film for adults that I can think of would be the first Ajin movie.  But few people in America know that the Ajin franchise exists given the only legitimate product available in America is the manga.  So again, a product of American origin is claiming something serendipitous with little regard for actual research and global film history.

    Hollywood and other American entertainment companies appear to dismiss anything outside of American shores as being relevant or significant when it comes to making claims about breaking trends.  Its difficult to find fault in that way of operating for a few reasons.  Without doubt, Hollywood is historically the strongest and most important player in the television and film industry.  While it didn't invent it, it has established how it operates and produces for over 100 years now.  On the global scale it is incredibly important and significant.  Domestically it is essentially all the exists for the majority of the populace.  So it's simple and effective to discount anything not related to the established domestic industry when promoting said industry domestically.  The only people that will stand up and notice are the obsessive outlier's which tend to go ignored as outlier's as defined by the term outlier.

    Hollywood isn't ignorant, some in the echo chamber are lazy and ignorant, but that's the state of journalism these days, so it shouldn't be terribly shocking.  Foreign production industries find little success in America and offer little threat to the established companies.  It is easy and simple to brush their existence off when it comes to marketing and promotion.  Ultimately no one cares if something is making false claims or is directly related to something of foreign origin.  All they care about is what the pundits and their friends/family have to say about the product.

...don't even get me started about what I think relating to Kubo.and the Two Strings.

Japan's Most Successful Anime

While not an entirely accurate title, I wanted to make a counter part to the post about Japan's Most Successful Manga.  This post will look at the top 10 highest selling single volume sales in Japan for both DVD's and BluRay Disks.  The majority of the leg work on this one though is credited to the amazing person/persons who run and maintain http://www.someanithing.com/ which is a pain staking site devoted to tracking the weekly video sales as listed by Oricon.

    Oricon is Japan's media ranking service which tracks sales and trends for all manner of media consumption.  Think of it as the Billboard for everything media related in Japan that the public can buy.  They rank, weekly, monthly, etc music, movies, tv, books...all sorts of things.  But the biggest problem is, at least as I have ever found, they don't have a very accessible historical archive for ranks.  So who ever is behind SomeAnitTing goes through the arduous process of capturing those rankings and compiling them in a a variety of formats for research.  This is an amazing feat by its self but the ways they allow the public to modulate that data to pick out specific information is even more incredible.  Oh yeah, its free too.  So someone/ones are steadily compiling all this data, hosting it online, displaying it in a variety of ways all for free.

    Before we get into the data and analysis a few things need to be covered.  Oricon has this nasty habit of not tallying everything and on a weekly basis if a particular title hasn't sold a specific amount they won't even list it.  So the data gathered isn't down to every single volume of a title sold.  There is a great FAQ section on SomeAniThing that goes over this and what type of impact it has on the actual numbers.  For the top 10 its more of a moot point as these titles move plenty of copies.  The other aspect is the importance of BluRay sales over DVD sales.  BluRay sales are a good indicator of hard core otaku buying habits over DVD sales currently for anime it's self.  DVD sales are more associated with the casual buyer over all.  Also, Oricon doesn't separate out Japanese animation from non-Japanese animation, so cope and stop being so elitist.  So here we go.

Top 10 highest selling BluRay Disks as of May 2016.

1. Frozen.  2.4 million units sold.

2. Neon Genesis Evangelion movie 2.22 - You Can (not) Advance.  464,000 units sold.
3. Neon Genesis Evangelion movie 3.33 - You Can (not) Redo.  400,000 units sold.
4. Big Hero 6.  331,000 units sold.
5. Love Live! School Idol Movie.  221,000 units sold.

6. Monsters University.  211,000 units sold.
7. Cars 2.  209,000 units sold.
8. Toy Story 3.  181,000 units sold.
9. Neon Genesis Evangelion movie 1.11.  181,000 units sold.

 10. Tangled.  160,000 units sold.


Top 10 highest selling DVD's as of May 2016.

1. Spirited Away.  2.4 million units sold.
2. Finding Nemo.  1.6 million units sold.

3. My Neighbor Totoro.  1.25 million units sold.
4. Howl's Moving Castle.  1.22 million units sold.
5. Ponyo.  912,000 units sold.
6. Castle in the Sky.  779,000 units sold.
7. The Incredibles.  757,000 units sold.
8. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.  667,000 units sold.

9. Monsters Inc.  571,000 units sold.
10. Kiki's Delivery Service.  536,000 units sold.

    There you have it.  BluRays are comprised of Disney movies, Evangelion and Love Live.  DVD's are comprised of Disney and Studio Ghibli productions.  As stated earlier BluRay's are a better indicator of the popularity with otaku.  They are more concerned with special features and quality.  DVD's, which are on the way to being a less purchased product, still represent the over all purchasing habits of the population at large.  Ghilbi movies, particularly ones directed by Miyazaki Hayao, are incredibly popular and successful with general audiences in Japan.  Spirited Away has the highest grossing box office sales for any movie in Japan.


    Here is what the lists would look like if we took out foreign animation.
 
Top 10 highest selling BluRay Disks as of May 2016.

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion movie 2.22 - You Can (not) Advance.  464,000 units sold.

 2. Neon Genesis Evangelion movie 3.33 - You Can (not) Redo.  400,000 units sold.
3. Love Live! School Idol Movie.  221,000 units sold.4. Neon Genesis Evangelion movie 1.11.  181,000 units sold.
5. Puella Magi Madoka Magica movie 3: Rebelion.  154,000 units sold.

6. Mobile Suit Gundam UC vol 5.  122,000 units sold.
7. Mobile Suit Gundam UC vol 4.  120,000 units sold.
8. Mobile Suit Gundam UC vol 1.  118,000 units sold.
9. Mobile Suit Gundam UC vol 3.  118,000 units sold.
10. Mobile Suit Gundam UC vol 7.  118,000 units sold.

Top 10 highest selling DVD's as of May 2016.

1. Spirited Away.  2.4 million units sold.

 2. My Neighbor Totoro.  1.25 million units sold.
3. Howl's Moving Castle.  1.22 million units sold.
4. Ponyo.  912,000 units sold.

5. Castle in the Sky.  779,000 units sold.

 6. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.  667,000 units sold.
7. Kiki's Delivery Service.  536,000 units sold.
8. Neon Genesis Evangelion movie 2.22 - You Can (not) Advance.  375,000 units sold.
9. Princess Mononoke.  366,000 units sold.

10. Neon Genesis Evangelion movie 1.01 Rebuild.  297,000 units sold.

    Evangelion, 20 years on, still retains massive popularity and importance in otaku communities and with the general audience as well.  Cruel Angel Thesis, the TV shows opening theme, is the most played song in karaoke bars across the country.  To it's credit all 7 volumes of the original MS Gundam Unicorn fill in 13-18 in the top 20 best selling BluRay Disk ranking, at around 118,000 copies of each volume.  DVD sales of 11-20 are filled up with more Disney and Ghibli movies with appearances by Evangelion and Lupin.

    So what does it all mean?  Even in Japan, where anime is ingrained in the population a lot of it doesn't sell very well in comparison to other things.  Even in Japan anime is a niche market, particularly in the past 15 years.  Another factor in this data is the over all tendency of the Japanese populace to rent video's instead of buying them to own.  The rental industry in Japan has always been strong and I can imagine digital rental services are making it even stronger.  Some day I will look to see what sort of ranking data exists for that market...I'm sure Oricon has it some where.

Direct to Video Anime

Anime created specifically for distribution on video is known as OVA (Original Video Animation) or OAV (Original Animated Video).  This format played an important role in the evolution and maturity of the industry.  Here is a run down of how and why this format came into existence and what it did to change the industry.

    Since the inception of anime made to be broadcast on TV the productions have been aimed at youthful audiences.  Tezuka Osamu established the reliance on partnering an anime production with unrelated products to help cover the costs to make the show.  At times this 'curse' lead to the direction of a show to be noticeably controlled by the partner companies.  TV anime from the start has been plagued with a devalued worth because of Tezuka underselling Tetsuwan Atom.  In order to prevent rejection the amount he asked the TV studio he was pitching the show to was around half of what it would take to make.

    In the 1960's a group of manga artists had begun to publish stories aimed at adults instead of children.  By the 1970's there was a healthy, if still minor, industry based around adult manga.  For artists who wanted to see their stories animated their only option was to receive a theatrical treatment, which was difficult to accomplish.  In some cases, as with the historical manga Lone Wolf and Cub (子連れ狼), live action treatments were the best way to see their works in motion.  But feature length animation took a lot of time and money to produce and needed some serious financial and distribution backing.  It would be hard to find the resources for a manga that had a small market audience let alone an entirely original piece to be made this way.


    By the early 80's video tape machines became wide spread in Japanese homes.  With it came the video rental industry that proved to be quite profitable.  Some animators saw this as an opportunity for creative freedom.  By this point TV anime had 30 years under its belt and had become a deeply ingrained part of Japanese society.  The industry was strong but had to answer to the demands of it's financial backers.  Many of these backers wanted the productions they financed to repay them through the sale of peripheral goods.  When the video rental market took off animators saw an opportunity for less intrusive funding by partnering with video distribution companies, companies who only cared about how well a video sold and were less concerned with the contents of that video.  So was born the OVA.

    Dallos (ダロス) by Oshii Mamoru, who later went on to direct the acclaimed first Ghost in the Shell movie, is recognized as the very first OVA in 1983.  This sci-fi story may have broke the seal for direct to video anime but a major contributor to the mediums success was charted in 1984 by the two hentai titles, Cream Lemon (くりいむレモン) and Lolita Anime (ロリータアニメ).  The industry quickly began to use the OVA market to release peripheral stories for existing TV series as well.  By 1985 there was already a healthy amount of releases.

    The domain of the OVA was largely occupied with mature sci-fi and hentai material, stories that through content restrictions and a lack of mechanizing opportunities, would have been impossible to create in other ways.  While many were based on preexisting manga, the OVA market allowed for original creations as well, to varying degree's of success.  By the mid 1980's the Japanese boom economy was in full swing and financing was becoming easier to acquire, for better or worse.  One project that was plagued with production and quality issues is the viscerally violent MD Geist (装鬼兵MDガイスト).

    OVA's also lead to more attention to production than TV anime, allowing for more frames per second and more detailed backgrounds and character designs.  1987's mecha anime Metal Skin Panic Madox 01 (メタルスキンパニック MADOX-01) paired Aramaki Shinji as director with Anno Hideaki as animator for some of the best mechanical designs ever.  That same year saw Shiro Masume's entry into the anime world with Black Magic M-66 (ブラックマジック).

    By the beginning of the 90's the OVA market, and anime in general, was well established and financially sound.  While still primarily the domain of mature sci-fi/action and hentai stories, more TV series were being supplemented with OVA releases.  By this time distribution in North America had begun to truly establish its self and began to license OVA's for the majority of their releases.  The American distribution companies preferred OVA's over TV series's due to the lower episode counts (which would mean lower licensing and production costs), higher quality artwork and the desire to market to adults more than children.

    Soon though the industry would be hit with financial constraints following the collapse of the financial bubble.  Investors, no longer confident in consumer spending and leery of past flops, began to restrict what projects they would fund.  The anime industry really didn't begin to feel the stress of the financial recession until the middle of the decade and was beginning to see some inroads through distribution licensing to foreign markets, but no where near the gains they made in the 80's.  By the end of the 90's though the OVA market had begun to shrink considerably.  While financial stress was a large factor another was the changing TV anime landscape.

    In 1995 and 1996 Neon Genesis Evangelion (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン) and Those Who Hunt Elves (エルフを狩るモノたち) showed that anime could be successful when broadcast on late night TV.  Late night TV allowed for less restrictions on content and material, allowing for more mature stories to be produced for television.  The incredible success of Evangelion and it's related merchandising showed that anime not marketed at children, or based on preexisting manga could see success, even if aired late at night.  Though not everything was capable of being aired on TV, either through story length or content restrictions.  OAV's continued to be the domain of hentai and one shot or small mini series type stories.

    The 90's also saw OVA's as a testing ground for stories that could receive full blown TV anime treatments.   Two series that saw some success in this process were 1996's slice of life comedy Magic Users Club (魔法使い) and 2001's action series Read or Die (リード・オア・ダイ).  Though, sometimes the story is better off left as just a mini series OVA instead of being stretched out to a 13 or 26 episode TV series, a number of successful TV series' saw their birth as an OVA.

    In the 2000's the OVA market began to shift again as it was used frequently as a compliment to TV series's or special productions for manga series'.  By the mid aughts, as TV anime reached its biggest historical height, the demand for weekly productions could plague some projects.  If an episode fell behind schedule filler recap episodes were cobbled together.  TV broadcast schedules in Japan are incredibly tight, with no room for error.  Many series are designed with a specific number of episodes for their run, typically 12 or 13 at a time.  When production falls behind and they are unable to deliver the proper episode in time for broadcast, it or some later episode will have to be cut from the series.  They wouldn't normally be able to stretch out the series another episode as that would cause broadcast issues with the next anime that is set to occupy that broadcast time slot.  Instead many times these 'lost' episodes are released as OVA's and/or bonus content on later DVD releases.  In the case of an anime based on a current manga, these episodes can find themselves bundled with a tankoubon release as a way to boost sales of the manga.

    The OVA has existed for over 30 years now and has seen it's ups and downs.  While in the beginning it was a vehicle for expression, innovation and creative freedom it has now mostly been relegated to being just another part of the larger marketing force behind the anime production machine.  It is still the only real venue for hentai though and small time animators are using it as a way to self promote and distribute their works.  The best example of this is with Shinkai Makoto and his early self produced works.  Now though, many OVA's exist as throw away bonus episodes to boost manga and DVD sales for existing titles.