#cosmic front

[treasuremoon25]

The Curious Case of 'Ninjaboys: Quest for the Cosmic Front'

Note: I’m not an industry insider. Some of the information is purely speculative and may not be fully accurate to what goes on behind closed doors, since specific licensing and distribution information isn't made public.

On February 11, 2016, a collaboration spin-off series between Nintama Rantaro and Cosmic Front NEXT, entitled Nintama Rantaro no Uchuu Daibouken with Cosmic Front NEXT (忍たま乱太郎の宇宙大冒険 with コズミックフロント��NEXT, "Nintama Rantaro's Great Space Adventure with Cosmic Front NEXT"), premiered on NHK General TV in Japan with the episode, “Taiyoukei no Otomodachi no Dan” (太陽系のお友だちの段, “The ‘Friends in the Solar System’ Stage”). New episodes air sporadically with the latest one, "Hayabusa 2 Shouwakusei de Mission! No Dan" (はやぶさ2 小惑星でミッション！の段, "The 'Hayabusa 2 Asteroid Mission!' Stage), on NHK Educational TV on March 18, 2020. The series consists of self-contained episodes centered around the main characters of Nintama (Rantaro, Kirimaru, and Shinbei) learning about space through strange and colorful characters, such as the Moon Rabbit. 

Nintama Rantaro is a kids and family ninja comedy anime that has aired on NHK since April 1993. Based on the Rakudai Ninja Rantaro manga by Soubei Amako, it's about an ensemble cast of ninjas at the Ninjutsu Academy. Rantaro, the bespectacled protagonist and audience surrogate, is a 10-year-old boy who attends the school to become an elite ninja like his parents. He is mainly joined by money-hungry Kirimaru and gluttonous Shinbei in misadventures around the school and occasional outside missions. 

Cosmic Front NEXT is a scientific series dealing with the topics of space, astronomy, debunking myths, and answering questions related to the galaxy. Running on NHK from 2015 to 2020, it's a revamp of Cosmic Front ~Hakken! Kyoui no Daiuchuu! (コズミック　フロント～発見！驚異の大宇宙, "Cosmic Front ~Discover the Amazing Universe!") which ran from 2011 to 2014.

On July 17, 2017, Anime News Network reported that William Winckler Productions had recorded 2 English-dubbed pilot episodes of the spin-off, under the new title, Ninjaboys: Quest for the Cosmic Front. “Ninjaboys” comes from the regular series’ official English title, Ninjaboy Rantaro. WOWMAX Next was in charge of marketing and distributing the pilots to potential distribution platforms for release. The English dub cast consists of Elyse Bertani as Rantaro, Kelsey Kummerl as Shinbei, Kory Getman as Kirimaru, Frank Garish as Yamada, and Paul Stanko as Doi and the Moon Rabbit. 

On July 29 that same year, Old Clapperboard Productions uploaded a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube, offering a glimpse into William Winckler’s role in the ADR dubbing process. The video showcases his guidance of the voice actors’ performances, along with a brief look at the dub script. Viewers are treated to hearing the English voices of the characters– a rare opportunity, considering that Nintama has yet to receive an official release in the Anglosphere. As of 2025, this video remains the only available footage of the dub online. 

Was Quest for the Cosmic Front ever licensed? Yes…but not in the way you might expect. While most anime is licensed by major media companies like Crunchyroll, Netflix, Viz Media, and Discotek Media, it remains unclear if the pilots were ever solicited to these outlets. Based on the international publicity surrounding film festivals and science-focused distribution (e.g. planetariums), it’s highly likely that NHK and WOWMAX Next prioritized Quest for the Cosmic Front as an educational series rather than a commercial one. It was likely intended for a very specific market–festivals, schools, museums, and planetariums–where educational content takes precedence over entertainment. This aligns with how it’s marketed in Japan and NHK’s broader mission to promote educational programming and cultural preservation. 

K2 Studios acquired non-exclusive territory/rights restrictions to Quest for the Cosmic Front, meaning they could distribute the series under specific conditions but were not the sole distributor and were limited to certain regions or platforms. The studio specializes in producing and distributing science-focused content to specialty venues worldwide (e.g. fulldome), which could explain why they pursued the series. While there’s no confirmation online, it’s possible that the dubbed episodes were released in regions with large Japanese populations, such as Southern California and Hawaii. These areas have historically received niche Japanese content that doesn’t see a wide release elsewhere, or at least not for a long time (e.g. KIKU TV’s subtitled broadcasts of Crayon Shin-chan and the 1985 GeGeGe no Kitaro series). It appears the studio no longer holds the rights, as the series is no longer listed in their updated catalog.

It’s unfortunate that the English dub of Quest for the Cosmic Front has not received a wide release. If it had been released on platforms like NHK World or Netflix, it could have marked Nintama’s official English debut in the West. However, considering that these were just pilots–many of which never go beyond that stage–it's clear that they were likely intended for educational distribution rather than a large-scale rollout of the Nintama series. All we can do at this point is hope that NHK will consider expanding the series to Western markets in the future, whether with select episodes from the regular TV series or another entry. Who knows, they may already be planning it.

[ti-souko]

Cosmic_badeni

MMD/千年生きてる

[sciderman]

well - webtoons is over, gang

[four-pointed-leaf]

how does loop helping the party go in act 5 of the dragon loop au? does vaugarde even have knowledge of what dragons are?? does act 5 even happen the same way? what about the cosmic siff fight? does our siff become a dragon for a second??? (thanks so much for making this au i am obsessed both with this game, this au, and also dragons and characters becoming dragons)

in act 5, it’s pretty similar to canon. helpful, desperate loop calls in the cavalry— with one useful addition, aided by siffrin’s encouragement to learn to use their wings.

this hits especially hard bc due to having spent a lot more time together, siffrin has a lot more ammo to tear into loop during the spinning out loop. their resulting fight is pretty explosive, to the point where siffrin figures loop would be the last to ever come for them.

as for the cosmic sif fight, well.

[kitsunesfandomtime]

The Horrors You Dream by Kitsunefyuu

Cover Art Commission by @artistichermit

When Shouto was a young boy he learned of monsters that no heroes can overcome. His father sneered at his cries and he learned to keep his mouth shut even as the loss of his mother and brother lingered. Then the tragedy at UA happened and he is reminded all over again at the helplessness he suffered as a child. Yet this time it seems to be centered on a certain boy, Izuku Midoriya, who seems to be hiding the truth from him. But if he gets the truth of what happened at UA and what happened ten years ago, will he be able to handle it? Or is Izuku right that ignorance is bliss... He can't stop now, he already took his first step and there is no going back.

[iron-sparrow]

for Hara . ݁₊ ⊹˖⋆.

After spending more hours on the Moon than any sane person can possibly fathom, our good buddy Hara managed to get his name on the Star Contributors board! This is a very belated congratulatory message, since we unlocked this phase on Saturday.

When he started his personal mission on Sinus Ardorum's release, he asked if I'd take a screenshot of him in front of his Commendation display, whenever it updated. So yeah, I had to make good on the promise.

Anyway, if you ever see him around, be sure to dote or photograph him.

[justabunchofdragons]

they were so insane for having house play "hugh laurie's cuddy's serenade" bookending "you can't always get what you want" as cuddy held her party with everyone else and their mother attending AND having her open the door only to drop her smile when it wasn't house. she really said "i DON'T want you there" and got upset when he didn't come. they drive me insane

[torchstelechos]

Do y'all just. Think about the way Siffrin can guess "you're me" when Loop asks if Siffrin has theories on who they are? Do y'all think about their fight later and Loop saying that their family didn't recognize them? Do y'all think of the implications? Loop is seen, and loved, but. Never by their family. Because they never let them. I just, think about it so much.

[ti-souko]

What are these strings?

What is controlling me?

[shadelorde]

Sitting and resting away from the city lights.

[alchemyofmaya]

In the mind Matrix — the Neocortex is responsible for being able to look at the bigger picture — to think, learn, analyze and decide, rationally beyond subjective perceptions in the current moment.

‘Wake up Neo’ — awakening is about clearing yourself of all the projections and beliefs imprinted upon your subconscious mind, so your conscious mind (the ego) can make logical decisions that align with your highest path.

Free yourself by educating yourself, by continuously learning and growing, by opening your mind.

Ignorance is not bliss.

[skyland2703]

Javelia gifs that made no other gifset™️

[hiding-under-the-willow]

all of your watcher rtgame stuff is so amazing!!! Hes like a smug cat that gets into places he shouldn't

Literally!!!! Guy who is smug about all the wrong things at all the wrong times and places

[horsemage]

ok the nyquil is kicking in and I’ve lost my filter and impulse control and some of my fine motor coordination so it’s time for me to tell you guys about my original characters

Dr. Malcolm R— : probably my oldest oc? I think I came up with them in the second half of high school. An SCP foundation researcher who works in memetics and is (secretly) one of the fae that escaped scp 4000. I don’t have any real stories in mind for them. I just like to rotate Mal in my head :> If I ever write something set in the SCP universe, they might show up as a minor character or one-off mention, though.

Rose & Eve: also high school-era ocs. Eve is a newcomer to a fishing town who is there to collect her newly-deceased estranged family member’s belongings and Rose is a sort of supernatural (immortal?) creature that toys with Eve, but eventually they fall in love. I started writing the story about this but forgot about it when I started college… might pick it up again sometime.

Laurence & Henry: my boys <3 <3 <3 they’re the main characters of the transcontinental railroad story I’ve been working on in the past year or so. Laurence is a french canadian rail worker in nyc and Henry is canadian and an impulsive idiot who runs away from his family’s farm to try to make his fortune in the united states. Laurence helps Henry get his feet under him in nyc and then they both get jobs laying track for the union pacific before settling down in wyoming.

Specialist Whitlock: my favorite character to make miserable!!!! Whit is my sunless skies character and is the main focus of a series of short stories. The stories are mostly from the perspective of other characters who are hearing/telling second- or third-hand stories of Whit. Whit was originally a normal crew member of a locomotive that was almost destroyed in the blue kingdom (which killed the majority of the crew). Whit then became the new captain and turned the locomotive into a merchant engine rather than a mercenary one. Over time, Whit slowly becomes more of a folkloric figure, having become undying and inhuman, merging with the crew members, officers, and locomotive to become a sort of hive mind or singular consciousness.

[redacted]: I don’t actually have a name for them yet lol. They’re a minor reality bender who’s affiliated with some group of interest and did some sort of low-stakes work for them on the side. Probably works some unremarkable corporate job. Joined the group of interest to make sense/use of their abilities but after a foundation mole or something jeopardizes the (originally low stakes) thing they were involved with, they have to flee or go into hiding or something. Maybe they saw something they shouldn’t have or maybe the work they were doing for the group is actually really relevant to the foundation’s interests?

[taniushka12]

having finished all seasons of true detective here's my ranking:

season 3

season 1

season 4 AND season 2

yes i AM cheating but I really like both s4 and s2 for wildly different reasons but also both are the ones I have more problems with... STILL, great fucking seasons, all of them, great fucking show :')

[thepettymachine]

🩸🧛🦇