#i want to watch the dub on official sites

[april-first]

Guide to the Bravern Flower Shop Verse

Posting this for archiving purposes and for future/new fans who won't experience any of this live (or maybe ever, if Twitter breaks) just encounter it as older, out of context fanart on Pixiv or social media.

So. If you’ve ever looked up Japanese Bravern fanart (or fanfic) on either Pixiv or Twitter you must have stumbled upon a certain flowershop AU. It’s official (made and named by the staff, got referred to as such in the 2nd talkshow apparently) and it’s called 花屋バース. Details with links under the cut!

The contributors

Kamokamen, original/main character designer (Twitter @ sangsilnoh)

Oobari Masami, director (Twitter @ G1_BARI)

Ura Ryuuta, chief animation director (Twitter @ matatabeat)

The origins

"happy new episode release" bonus arts by the main character designer

and their two Yotsuba&! joke tweets:

Isami works at a flower shop called Brave Flower

Smith is the single father of the "mysterious girl" Lulu who is in kindergarten

This spiraled into a whole AU that has Actual Lore because the staff kept adding to it.

My main sources were 2 different tweet compilations made by Japanese fans and the very broken Twitter search. I got into the fandom when Episode 9 aired (before that I was just watching the show weekly and nothing else) so backsourcing all of this was not easy, and unfortunately I can’t guarantee this post has every relevant tweet. For example I found nothing about Smith’s job. It might exist, it might not, who knows. But the staff was very clear that they just wanted everyone to have fun coming up with ideas when they were tweeting about Bravern-the-character.

Isami & Bravern

- Isami and Bravern drive a motorcycle with a sidecar (ART!) called Brave Thunder

- according to the director Bravern wears a helmet

- Bravern exists in that miniature form which was designed by the director, completely unexplained (first appearance of "easy-to-draw Bravern-kun" | official plushie version which he brought to the 3rd talkshow | non-flowershop AU maid uniform update! also designed by him | "bunny day" update)

(T/N: this is not actual canon, but in the Animedia (May issue) interview’s Q&A section the director said Isami has the impression of someone who has a much older brother who passed away when he was young. JP fandom said nope this is the happy AU so he’s alive)

Smith & Lulu

- Smith and Lulu drive a "granny bike" called Spar Kaiser

- Lulu's seat is a child bike seat dubbed "co-pilot seat"

(T/N: answering a fan’s question, the character designer who designed Smith’s weird shirts once tweeted he’s probably using a translator app to scan the text on them.)

Other characters

- as far as I know there’s no "official" flowershop AU version of Superbia

- some time ago the director made a miniature design for him as well, but people usually draw Superbia in a humanoid form in this AU which was designed by the character designer

(T/N: not flowershop AU related, but Superbia speaks in Hiroshima dialect.)

- Miyu has a moped (a modified old Honda Super Cub) and she rides around town with Hibiki to get McDonald’s

(T/N: also not flowershop AU related, but Hibiki considers Isami a younger brother, according to the 3rd talkshow reports.)

- Satake was Isami's homeroom teacher and he was the one who taught him how to properly ride a motorcycle

- it was due to Satake’s influence that Isami chose an American-style Japanese bike which he bought secondhand for cheap for the fun of repairing and customizing it

(T/N: the tweet linked above is from March, but at the 3rd staff talkshow we learned that Satake’s bike in canon is a Honda CBR250RR. At the 2nd talkshow the staff said he gives off the impression of being a good cook, and the director shared he must be single because of the bike & red jacket combo.)

ADD ALT TEXT if you share this on other sites as screenshots. I genuinely can't be assed to care about credit, but I care a lot about accessibility.

I’m collecting the interviews and talkshow fan reports, and I'm also reading Lulu’s spinoff novel so eventually I’ll post summaries of those. (Unfortunately I don’t have time to do more than summaries.) In the meantime you guys could MTL this collab café report/article if you're interested! (I checked googletranslate and it’s readable)

[toxiccaves]

Metal Cardbot new episode schedules:

English and Chinese season 1 Link

Two newly dubbed episodes of season 1 every Saturday at 9:30pm EST. On-Demand viewing should be available shortly after the live broadcast.

A VPN is required if you don't reside in Singapore. For a free VPN with Singapore servers, I suggest TunnelBear.

Korean season 2 Link

New episode every Monday, 6:45pm EST. TV schedule shown on the site is in Korean time. These are live broadcast ONLY, so make sure not to miss it! A rebroadcast of the previous week's episode will be at the same time on Sundays. Comprehensive broadcasts will be on Tuesday 4:40am, and Friday 8pm EST. *Note: The cartoon that airs right before MCB is region locked, but refresh the page once MCB starts and you should be able to watch it, no VPNs required!

All episodes from season 1 are available on their official Youtube in Korean, and auto-translated captions are available if you want to use those. There's also in-character commentary for every episode here!

I will update this list if there are any changes, so feel free to bookmark this post!

[battiethevampy]

while the new 2022 series is not accessible online outside of usa yet i tried to make a complete playlist of what is available on youtube for free

i tried to follow a story and chronological order so you should watch the movies when you see the trailers come up (i found them all uploaded on different streaming sites and it seems they are available in some countries on youtube too but not mine lol)

officially there are only 4 episodes of the new series at the moment - from second to fifth - i included them but know that the frist episode is missing except for a clip of clawdeen finding the school

the new music videos are also translated in some languages but if you want to listen to the original english (or any other language) you can change the dub in the video settings

hope this could be helpful for those like me who decided to start this series 13 years later! enjoy

Gen 1

New Ghoul at School

Volume 1

Volume 2

Special Webisodes

Fright On

Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love

Volume 3

Escape from Skull Shores

Friday Night Frights

Ghouls Rule!

Scaris, City of Frights

13 Wishes

Volume 4

Creature Creepers Adventures

Frights, Camera, Action!

Freaky Fusion

Volume 5

Haunted

Volume 6

Boo York, Boo York

Great Scarrier Reef

Scary Cool Ghouls (anime JP dub EN sub)

Gen 2

Welcome to Monster High

Meet the Ghouls

Electrified

Adventures of the Ghoul Squad

Gen 3

Monster High: The Movie

New Monster High Animated Series Season 1

Monster High Mysteries

Sparks & Spells Series

Music Videos

Monster High: The Movie 2

[pochqmqri]

A few months ago, my copy of the "Limited Edition" Samurai Flamenco Complete Series Collection shipped from the UK, a release by Anime Limited.

As they are a UK-based anime distributor, their Blu-Ray discs are region locked to region code "B," which encompasses Europe. As such, I have a Blu-Ray player that is modified to be region-free, playing discs from anywhere in the world. I recommend buying one from this site, as you can get the best deals here.

Going over the product, despite the fact that it's labeled "Limited Edition," the release is pretty bare bones. It was also initially released back in October of 2021, and still remains available to purchase two years later.

Like most of Anime Limited's Collector's Editions, the release comes in a rigid slipcase illustrated with official artwork. The 22-episode anime is contained across 4 discs, evenly divided into two disc cases. Each case has a reversible slipcover illustrated with characters on both sides.

So let's talk about the contents of the discs. Although it doesn't say on the official website, there are three ways to watch the anime on this release: the French dub, the original Japanese with French subs, and the original Japanese with English subs (subtitles are the same as streaming, no subbed OPs/EDs/insert songs). These are a nice variety of options, but it would have been nice for a few more accessibility options for those who want it, such as the French dub having (dub-accurate) subtitles, and subtitles for those who are deaf or blind, as included with Anime Limited's release of "Looking for Magical Doremi" that I purchased earlier last year. There are a few extras on the discs, but those are just noncredit/blank versions of both opening and both ending themes.

Regarding the visuals, it should be noted that, when Samurai Flamenco aired on TV, it looked quite rough animation-wise. For the home media release in Japan, they made significant touchups here and there in each episode. From what I recall, the version that used to stream on Crunchyroll (before they removed it) was the original broadcast, while the one that streams/ed(?) on Funimation has the corrections. As there were quite a lot of corrections, I will link this post that does a in-depth look episode-by-episode of what changed between the two versions. Going back to Anime Limited's release, based on what I have seen and compared, I can safely say that this release uses the corrected footage, which I think most people can say is quite the plus.

I also want to clarify that this release does not contain any of the extras included with the Japanese home media release, such as the character drama CDs, soundtrack CDs, etc. All you're getting is a slipcase, the discs themselves, and creditless OPs and EDs. That's it.

To wrap it all up, despite the fact that this is a bare bones release, it is still a serviceable way to watch Samurai Flamenco. The anime has been taken off streaming services in the past few years, Netflix and Crunchyroll specifically, and as Manglobe went bankrupt years ago, the anime's future on streaming is bleak and uncertain. Anime Limited managed to secure a home release deal with Manglobe before they went under, so I've heard. Therefore, I definitely recommend owning a physical way to watch this underrated gem. Even so, Anime Limited has noted on their website that, as a limited edition release, they only have a limited number of stock, and once that runs out, they are not sure if they'll restock. So while it's been around for two years now, who can say for sure if it'll be around for any longer. On their website, it currently sells for £35 (approx $44.50 USD), but last year, Anime Limited held two sales that included this release, where in one sale, it went for as low as £8.33 (approx $10.50 USD). So, I also recommend you wait until their end-of-year holiday sale, I think it'll still be around then.

Anime Limited does ship internationally, but I want to warn you that there is a hefty international shipping charge attached. As I live in the US, it costs £25 (approx $32 USD), but I imagine that to more distant countries, it will cost a lot more.

[tobiasdrake]

Any suggestions on where someone can see the Digimon Adventure OVA with English subtitles? I’ve tried looking myself, but all I can find is a Spanish(?) subtitled version and the segment from the infamous Digimon: the Movie, where they took three different Digimon films together and tried to combine them into a single movie

Oh, yeah. Original Japanese Digimon Adventure has basically been scoured from the internet by capitalism. Hulu holds the streaming rights to the show and they only stream the dub. And they don't have the OVA at all. I guess they, like the dub team, thought it was unrelated side content or something.

I'm a big proponent of supporting the official release; Typically, I'll watch a thing on D+, Netflix, or Hulu and then use a sketchy pirating site for my screenshots since those guys are assholes and black out their screen if you try and take one from them. But if you want to watch Digimon Adventure in Japanese with English subtitles, that's basically impossible right now.

Under capitalism, sometimes sketchy pirates are the only art conservationists we have.

The seedy back alleys of the internet are also a dangerous place, so a good adblocker and antivirus are critical when wandering in their shadows.

<.< >.>

Which is all to say you should probably not click this link and experience what was meant to be the opening act of Digimon Adventure, leading into everything else that was to come.

[twig-tea]

SHIPPER TAG GAME

Tagged by @lurkingshan and @stuffnonsenseandotherthings to dig into the vault. Friends, I have been Perpetually Online since 1995, when that meant I had to haunt my school library computer at lunchtime, so this is going to be for the fellow Olds. Sorry in advance for the HP mentions.

1. What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care anymore?

Have I let any ships go? Hmm. I'll go with Mulder/Scully from X-Files. Watching now, they should definitely not end up together lol

2. Which ship would you consider your first one?

Sailor Mercury/Sailor Jupiter from Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. I. Was. Obsessed. This ship hit me like a ton of bricks in I want to say 6th or 7th grade.

I watched the show as it aired with English dubs, found out the episodes we got were censored, immediately fell into my completionist ways, went to the Asian mall (it was literally pan-Asian with stuff from Japan, China, Taiwain, Korea, etc.) and got definitely not official VCDs with Mandarin subtitles, and would sit with friends who spoke Mandarin and had them translate the subs to English for me (I say this like I forced them, but they offered because they were my friends and they also felt passionately about people seeing the uncensored show). I then learned how to Internet and would trawl for fanpages of the manga (it would take 20 minutes to load an image at the time, so rather than full scanlations I'd get walls of text describing what happened with maybe a single panel illustration). Uranus and Neptune were fantastic, but I already had Ami and Makoto aka Mercury and Jupiter long before I got to the Uranus/Neptune episodes (or the Sailor Stars manga arc).

3. Your first fanfic belonged to which couple?

Definitely Sailor Moon fanfic was the first fic I read. It was an easy step from finding fan summaries of the chapters not yet out in English > finding fan sites with fanfic on them, back before we had archives or even decent search engines and you had to just find the sites you needed through links from other sites. It was like a whole new world of possibilities opening up. The first real fanfic community I was in was Harry Potter.

In terms of first fic I wrote, I am not a writer; I've only ever written a small handful of not worth mentioning ficlets featuring the Kirk/Spock ship (Star Trek TOS).

4. Do you remember the first couple you saw a fanart over?

Oh it was likely Serena/Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon and it was in person, because I had friends who got me into anime and manga early and they were artists who drew a lot of fanart.

5. Did you ever get into ship discourse?

Friends, I had a Livejournal. It was impossible not to get into ship discourse.

6. Did you used to have any no-otp or have it currently?

I am going to echo @stuffnonsenseandotherthings and @lurkingshan and say I was dead-set against Hermione as a ship with any of the men in Harry Potter (Hermione/Luna or Hermione/Ginny, though, we could talk), and I also really disliked Draco/Ron. I also am not here for Spock/McCoy (Star Trek), and I don't really enjoy Stucky (as in Captain America/Winter Soldier or Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes from Marvel).

OH and can I be a hater on main for a second? The first couple that I remember hating as a thing was probably Jo and Professor Bhaer from Little Women; I was SO MAD they married in the end. I felt very validated years later when I read that the author Lousia May Alcott was forced by her publisher to marry Jo off and made up the couple out of spite.

7. Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read?

The last fic I read was a Word of Honour modern AU pairing Wen Ke Xing/Zhou Zishu in which they rescued stray kittens.

SInce I started this, I've also read a One Piece Luffy/Zoro fic (and that's not even my favourite ship--I've been a Zoro/Sanji girlie since the early 2000s! I'm weak for banter.)

8. Currently, do you have any OTPs?

I have so many. SO many. Truly. I don't even know where to start with this question! I follow several AO3 tags and fanfic writers that I get regular fic updates from. Most of my OTPs are either canon (from queer/BL/GL media) or the most popular ship (I feel very lucky that my taste is so basic). There is no one couple I love the most. Just going to throw a dart at the board: From BL, the one I come back to a lot is Hira/Kiyoi in Utsukushii Kare, because their dynamic is so intense.

9. Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together?

Hmm. That's what fandom is for, so not really? I usually get more annoyed when people do get together that I wish had stayed platonic (never forgiving Pacific Rim for that kiss, it was so unnecessary). And I'm extremely mad about censorship, i.e. couples that DID get together but we didn't get to see it for whatever reason (see e.g. Uranus and Neptune from Sailor Moon Sailor Stars; Chinese danmei novel live-action adaptations). Otherwise there are lots of these but I just read the fanfic and recover. I'll say I'm still annoyed Buffy didn't get to have with Faith what she had with Spike though. Their chemistry was off the charts.

10. Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting?

This is such a hard question. I came around a little on Lan Xichen/Jiang Cheng from MDZS/the Untamed, though it's still not my fave (it's a soft no not a hard no). I'll also give you an oldie: Andie McPhee and Pacey from Dawson's Creek. I hated Andie's character back in the day but now I like her character but really dislike how she was used in the show, which isn't the same thing. And I actually really liked how she and Pacey worked together.

I'll also give you a BL one: Kurosawa and Haruta in Ossan's Love. Ossan's Love s1 & 3 it was clear they were not OTP so that's a bit irrelevant anyway, but it's much less clear in s2 (the AU season) and the first time I watched it I wasn't sure how I felt about the way that season ended as much as I loved the season as a whole. I like it more every time I rewatch.

11. Do you have any ship that, in the past, was considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

LOL I am with everyone else on the Brian/Justin train but since that's been said twice I'll go with something else. I was a big Harry/Draco shipper back in the day, which would now probably get me cancelled for shipping someone with his bully (though a significant part of the fun of that ship was about how Draco was such an ineffectual bully...but I digress), in addition to of course how the author's transphobia ruined the whole thing for all of us (fanfic doesn't make her any money, so I don't have a problem continuing to read it in theory, but it's left a sour note over my experience and makes any engagement in that fandom less fun).

12. What was your favorite crack ship?

I was one of those foolish people obsessed with Hawkeye/Coulson before we'd even seen them face-to-face or knew almost anything about MCU Clint Barton. I still read fanfic of that ship even though it's been fully jossed and makes no sense at all anymore. Ok one more, I really love the very small Breakfast Club fandom shipping Brian/John and Claire/Allison. I've read the few fics on AO3 for the queer pair ghost ships in that show multiple times.

13. Who is the couple you read more fanfics of?

Of all time, I've probably read the most Kirk/Spock fanfic. But that's due to the length of time I've been into the ship, the amount of time it's existed, and its popularity. I still read Kirk/Spock regularly.

14. What most of your ships usually have in common?

Honestly most can be boiled down to grumpy/sunshine pairs in which both are very competent in specific ways and both are hiding crippling self esteem issues behind their grumpy or sunshine-ness, and have strong but differing moral codes that they each respect in one another (and is usually where the feelings start). Banter is a must. I am admittedly also here for height difference in my ships. Double-plus bonus for terrible communicators who learn to understand one another's particular communication quirks.

Perfect encapsulation of this dynamic is Danny/Steve from Hawaii Five-0 (listen that show was copaganda trash but the fanfic was fun as hell).

15. What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

Power dynamics that remain unaddressed as part of the story. Hate to love that isn't earned over time. When the relationship makes each other worse rather than better. When they never learn to trust one another. When one of them is in it as part of a savior complex and that doesn't get challenged or worked through. When only one of them has a personality. There's very little that I'd say is a hard no in terms of dynamics or setup for me, but it has to be handled well, and sometimes I don't have the energy to give something the benefit of the doubt.

tagging: @respectthepetty @wen-kexing-apologist @so-much-yet-to-learn @ginnymoonbeam @bengiyo with as always no pressure, plus anyone who sees this who wants to fill it out, consider yourself tagged and let me know so I can see it!

[chibivesicle]

Daniel Law thoughts and observations.  Why is his last name so bloody difficult to figure out?

This is a quick and frivolous post as opposed to my normally long form ones.  I’ve got it hard for Daniel at the moment; I’m wade through the vast expanse that is the internet looking for merch for him.  Steven merch is like shooting fish in a barrel with how popular he is.  K.K. merch is also easy and super cheap second hand.  But Daniel merch.  Hoooo boy, it takes some time and effort to find.

The first issue around him is his bloody last name.  Which Japanese isn’t equipped to deal with.  This shows in my merch quest as I’ve scrolled through pages and pages of items.  But first:

The Darkhorse translation calls him Daniel Low.

The Funimation translation settles on Daniel Law.

When you listen to the sub and the dub, both the Japanese VA and English VA both clearly say “Law”.  I’d like to also note that the Japanese VA for Steven, Mitsuru Miyamoto, has really good pronunciation for all of the English terms/names he says specifically which makes me really think “Law” is the intended spelling.   The credits also reflect this.

Both versions also settle on the title of Lieutenant.  While the literal translation is Assistant Inspector (keibuho - 警部補).  I’m not sure why they didn’t go with Detective which sounds like the most American term and Inspector being British.  I guess Detective is a role while, Daniel would still have a police rank associated with him. But I know squat about American policing terms and job titles.  Maybe, I should go back and watch some Law and Order and cringe?

Where is this total weirdness around Daniel’s name coming from?  Especially if we get a season three and Marcus also shows up for the Calamity Auction arc.

Now, we all know that having an equal transfer of Law into Japanese can’t happen since there is no way to make say a “La-wa” etc.  The best you can get is to drop down in the r-line to the “ro” combo.  But then you’ve got that pesky “w” you need to do something with.

If you wanted “Low” this would be the easiest way to get it.  Go with “ro” and add the long vowel dash making it “ro-oh”

But we can see this reading of “ro” with a long “o” can be [sighs] Rho, Lau; Low, Loo, Rau, Raux, Roe or Roh.

Okay, this isn’t what happens in the credits.  The Japanese credits write his name out this way.  “ro” with the “u”.  Now, the first hit is “Law”.  Yay!

But then we get also; Loew, Low, Lowe or even Rowe!  Argh! 

So, how does this tie into merch?  Well, how his name is spelled on KKSS merch of course and how to search for it!

For Back 2 Back full color acrylics that were Jump (Festa Specials I’d guess), we get him and Marcus being referred to as Lowe.  ‘Cause they are twin brothers and Daniel is the older one! Another issue with Japanese language mechanics versus English but that’s for another time.  I’d read Daniel to be several years older since he’s referred to as “older brother” in B2B but since you have to place your sibling in age relative to you - Marcus has to say older brother in the original Japanese.    

There is also a small special badge set with Steven and Daniel here, where he is also referred to as “Lowe”.  Did I impulsively buy this?  Yes, yes I did of course!

Yet when we look at other items music/band themed (acoustic guitar) , the American heroes (fighter pilot? why?), ice skating, saloon barkeep/western. he’s got a last name of “Low”.

You might begin to think - okay, it is clear that 1.) there is no official spelling of his name down on paper.  2.) merch designers see ロウ and make an educated guess 3.) his name can’t be “Law”.

Buuutttt let’s go to the actual search function of a Japanese site like Goods Republic.  And what do we find in the character list on the left hand side?  Daniel Law.

Additionally,  you go on Zen Market and access JP Mercari directly, searching with the terms of ダニエル and 血界戦線.  You will get merch that not only pulls up Daniel but all the translated descriptions will always refer to him as Daniel Law.

What have I learned from this?  That until we get season three and Daniel gets a floating info box like below, we will never truly know how his name is spelled.  However, with the sense of humor that Nightow has and his wordplay in English, I really still think the original intent is “Law” because he’s a fucking cop.  Come on, easiest cheese joke ever.

And if he doesn’t get a floating info box in a season three, it means they aren’t giving him full justice due to his increasing role in the series.

[saffronapplemanga]

Anime/Manga Recommendation Round Up

Anime and manga recommendation thread of things I’ve been enjoying in recent years~ 

~I’ll link any dedicated posts I have to these~

~Links to my other manga posts here~

My personal favs/ones I super enjoyed will have a ✨ on them :)

(Some of these might not have official EN translations since any physical manga I read are JP copies. I guess if any sound interesting, ask publishers to license them!)

I won’t get too much into what they’re about because I think finding out is part of the fun. I’ll mostly list the genres and a little blurb. Some of these I feel like I rarely hear anyone talk about so it would be cool to see people try these :) 

 PLEASE LOOK UP ANY TRIGGER WARNINGS!

HORROR, SUPERNATURAL 

✨The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumoku Ren 

(4 volumes, ongoing)

Available in English

Picked it up earlier this year up knowing nothing but was immediately gripped by the eerie mood. Takes place in the country side where mysterious things have been happening. My friend couldn’t stop reading when I recommended it.

ACTION, THRILLER, DRAMA, CRIME

✨Banana Fish by Yoshida Akimi

(19 volumes + side stories, completed)

It’s getting reprinted in English, so what are you waiting for!

Anime - yes and it’s so good…

The manga is from the 80’s-90’s but the anime updated it in 2018.

Without giving too much away, it takes place in NY where our characters are trying to break out of the vicious cycle of violence and figure out a mystery that’s also connected to a conspiracy. Lovable cast, keeps you on the edge of your seat. I’m obsessed.

DRAMA, ROMANCE, LGBTQ

Lovers’ Kiss by Yoshida Akimi

(2 volumes, completed)

JP only

A short story where high schoolers are just trying to figure life out. Yoshida-sensei has this way of writing human stories and melancholy/tragedy while still leaving a glimmer of hope.

HISTORICAL, SUPERNATURAL

✨Mushishi by Urushibara Yuki

(10 volumes, complete)

I think the physicals are out of print but you can read it on bookwalker. It deserves a reprint!!!

Anime - yes, it’s a whole vibe please watch it

I watched S1 ages ago but never got to the rest until recently. Recently picked up the manga and plan to read it eventually. Another top fav of all time. Amazing atmosphere. We see the daily life of mushi expert Ginko deal with mysterious phenomenon mushi cause.

COMEDY, SLICE OF LIFE

✨Yotsuba&! by Azuma Kiyohiko

(15 volumes, ongoing)

Available in English

This series is super cute, wholesome, and hilarious! Yotsuba is honestly a delight, and following her daily life as she befriends her new neighbors is just a good time. Yet another fav of all time.

DRAMA, ART, SLICE OF LIFE

✨Blue Period by Yamaguchi Tsubasa

(15 volumes, ongoing)

Available in English

Anime - yes, but… listen I’ve never said “don’t watch the anime” because everyone can enjoy stuff however they want but... don’t watch the anime… I’ve never been so offended by an adaption ;_;

After discovering something he’s passionate about for the first time, Yatora navigates the art world despite his fears and being a complete newcomer. This series made me cry so much, I love it… please

ROMANCE

In the Clear Moonlight Dusk by Yamamori Mika

(7 volumes, ongoing)

Available in English

Blind-bought this a while ago. Yoi is dubbed “Prince” by her classmates for her cool demeanor, but she’s not the only one.

YOI IS MY GIRL!!!

ROMCOM, ACTION

MARRIAGETOXIN by Joumyaku and Yoda Mizuki

(3 volumes, ongoing)

Available for free on Shueisha’s mangaplus site

Assassin Gero needs to produce an heir so his sister can stay with her gf, but the social skills he needs to win a girl over need some help. This series is so funny and wholesome, all around a good time!

ACTION, ADVENTURE, FANTASY

✨Yona of the Dawn by Kusanagi Mizuho

(44 volumes, ongoing)

Available in English

Anime - yes, but I haven’t seen it yet so idk

I’m not very far in this one yet, but I’m having a great time. Love the friendship, the found family vibes. Seeing Yona acknowledge that she is naive and then stepping up is awesome.

idk how I slept on this for so long since it seems like something right up my alley. Literally picked up a lot of all the 39 currently out volumes (it came with the light novel too), no questions asked. I’m only a few volumes in, but I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s giving me Ertugrul vibes (the historical Turkish drama). No, I won’t expand on that point, go watch Ertugrul!

I’m committed apparently...

ROMANCE

A Sign of Affection by Morishita Suu

(10 volumes, ongoing)

Available in English

Blind-buy. A cute romance between a deaf girl and a well-traveled guy.

FANTASY, SLICE OF LIFE

✨Ascendance of a Bookworm by Kazuki Miya and Shiina You

(3 seasons, ongoing)

Available in English - originally a light novel

Anime - yes, I’ve been watching this not reading it yet

Listen, isekai just don’t ever click with me, but this one does. There’s political drama and we get to learn about the culture and daily lives of people living in this world.

Our mc is reincarnated into a medieval fantasy world where access to books is limited, making it her personal hell. But don’t worry, she gonna do something about it! This series is so interesting and I love the character dynamics. Even if isekai aren’t your thing, try this!

DRAMA, HISTORICAL, POLITICAL

✨Requiem of the Rose King by Kanno Aya

(17 volumes, complete)

Available in English

It has an anime but I heard fans were really mad at the adaption. I haven’t seen it so I can’t comment.

Normally not the kind of thing I would go for, but this series has me constantly screaming. IT’S SO MESSY, but the good kind of messy. It takes every fiber in my body to contain myself when reading in public. It features an mc who was born intersex and a battle for the crown of England.

DRAMA

My Broken Mariko by Hirako Waka

(one shot)

Available in English

Saw this at the bookstore and I looked at the cover like “wow, she looks like she’s really going through it…and she’s carrying someone’s ashes, oh no…” Didn’t know anything else about it but, oof, it’s a heavy one…

DRAMA

Look Back and ✨Goodbye Eri by Fujimoto Tatsuki

(one shots)

Available in English - also on the Jump app

While Fujimoto-sensei’s more well-known work wasn’t 100% clicking with me, I tried his one shots and really enjoyed them. I particularly liked the cinematic feeling and environmental storytelling.

Maybe when I’m up to it, I’ll do posts on some of these that go into a little more detail on how I felt about them idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[girlontheball]

@gvardiol Sorry to tag you in something out of the blue but as the anon asked you about stuff for learning Croatian and I think this might be the best way to get it to them! I also feel like they’ll be other people who want to know, I definitely started learning because of 2018 and I imagine it’s going to happen again.

So Duolingo hasn’t got a course (booooooo!) but 

Mondly is worth it for the daily lessons, it will give you vocab that’s completely randomised but it’s still vocab. Premium opens up all of it but it is PRICEY

Drops is my go to, it has topics that you work through in the 5 minutes a day you get (sometimes they give you more as a “gift” for like streaks, it’s Christmas or another holiday for example) I feel like this is the most coherent for beginners. Isn’t random vocab like Mondly, isn’t throw Grammar at you at least not in a “HERE! GRAMMAR!” way

Memrise. There’s no official course for Croatian on Memrise but there’s plenty of courses that teach you words which are important for speaking (3,000 words makes you conversational, and knowing words makes grammar examples way easier to figure out)

Outside of apps there’s some other useful resources

Croatian reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/croatian/) for language learning, specfically the films link they have on their resource list: https://croatian.film/en/

If you want to do a course, there’s also this, which was made with a native speaker: http://www.easy-croatian.com/

Depending on how serious you are, hunt Langblr for resource posts and you’ll probably be able to books for a reasonable price COUGHFREECOUGH that wouldn’t otherwise be readily available. Just throwing Langblr into the search finds you a bunch of neat people too 

And just from someone who learns languages for fun (including Croatian) if you really want to learn beyond the 5 minutes on Drops or the 15 minute lesson then interact with the language in a way that is fun for you. There are sites out there that have recorded football matches (Footballia comes to mind but you didn’t hear that from me) maybe try to find some with Croatian commentary, some definitely have Croatian leagues. I learned a lot of my language through songs and watching my favourite TV shows dubbed. It’s gonna make no sense at first but trust the process. Also if you want to speak then don’t neglect your speaking, it’s the hardest part, especially the less access you have to native speakers so even if you’re talking to yourself you’re still practicing.

Okay language nerd out, if you have any questions feel free to pop on my blog and ask them 

[lilyrose-terraharuka]

Magical Girl News as of 2023

Sailor Moon Cosmos Part I and II

We're starting off with Sailor Moon Cosmos Part I and II. The final chapter of Sailor Moon manga is coming to an end with two part movies coming in June, 2023. While I barely remembered reading the manga, I'm happy and sad that Sailor Moon Crystal series is ending. I got nothing much to say about this one, but I do know we're getting more Sailor Senshi in this one that didn't make it to Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Anime.

Re:Cutie Honey coming to BluRay/DVD in Western Countries

Since Cutie Honey Anniversary is coming up, it looks like Re:Cutie Honey is coming to western countries in BluRay/DVD release. While this Anime was made back then, it's a good thing it's coming to the west, although there are fansubs available. The English Dub is in the works.

New Precure Season: Hirogaru Sky Precure Premieres

On February, 2023, Hirogaru Sky Precure premieres after Delicious Party Precure ended as part of Precure's 20th Anniversary (it's actually 19th, but whatever lol)! We also got a first blue lead Cure, a first main boy Cure, and a adult Cure as it breaks new records for this Season. Toei wants something different so I can't blame them TBH.

Balala The Fairies 15th Anniversary, Ocean Magic Dubs, and Magic Star Fate Castle News

With Precure and Sailor Moon celebrating their anniversaries, Balala The Fairies is also celebrating their 15th Anniversary this April. There have been talks that Ocean Magic is getting Dubs in western areas, such as English, Italian, and possible African-languages. However, there are no official releases on streaming sites as it was considered lost media. The Italian dub is in the works. As for Magic Star Fate Castle, Season 2 is in the works and it's most likely to be release later in 2023-2024.

Tokyo Mew Mew New Season 2 coming in Spring 2023

While I've seen the original Tokyo Mew Mew, it looks like Tokyo Mew Mew New Season 2 is coming this Spring. While Season 1 was successful, I might watch this after I finished watching the original Anime.

The New PowerPuff Girls cartoon is in the works.

While the 2016 cartoon didn't worked out, Craig McCracken decided to come back to Cartoon Network to fix things up with a new PowerPuff Girls cartoon in the works. There have been plans that I will be storybased bur only time will tell.

New Totally Spies Season coming this year or 2024.

While I haven't heard the new Totally Spies Season is in the works as much, it seems like this will most likely to be released this year or next year. There's going to be new designs for the characters and hopefully not too much...fetish-cringe like older seasons did. But that's just me.

Winx Club Season 9 or a Reboot?

While there are talks about Winx Club Season 9, it's most likely to be a reboot of a series. Not much known about this, but it looks like it's going to be 26 episodes long.

Lolirock Season 3 might be in the works

According to some news articles, it seems like Lolirock might get a Season 3 if the new Season of Totally Spies works out. Only time will tell because everyone wants to know what happened after Season 2.

Panty and Stocking Season 2! 'Nuff said!

It seems like PSG will get Season 2 this year. Hopefully... just hopefully it has a continuity after the first Season. No more bullshit!

I might post more updates but I have reached the image limit. But that's all I can think of. We also got Madoka Magica movie coming out and a new Magical Girl Raising Project Anime, but we might get it next year. I think that's all! ❤ 💙 💜 💖

[pinkbowsandprettyprose]

Where can we watch English subbed TMMN episodes? I can't seem to find them! :(

They’re officially licensed by HIDIVE! You can stream all of the episodes there — HIDIVE has a 2-week free trial if you want to get caught up, but they’re a paid platform otherwise.

If you’re looking for a free site, KissAnime has all of S1, but I just checked and they haven’t uploaded the first episode of S2.

A general note for my followers: I highly recommend using HIDIVE if at all possible — the more people stream TMMN legally and show distributors that there’s a Western market for the series, the better chances we have of getting something like an English dub, or an English DVD release. Even if you just sign up for the free trial and then drop it, giving TMMN legal streams is super important!

[blazehedgehog]

Thoughts on One Piece?

I've told this story, but since Tumblr search is so awful, I'll tell it again.

The short of it is: I really wanted to get into One Piece. When One Piece started, pirates weren't really a subject you saw a whole lot of in anime. I thought Oda's art style was fresh and cool, too.

I did not like dealing with fansubs. They were kind of difficult to acquire (relatively), and at the time, I had a router that would absolutely crap its pants if I left a torrent running (it would have a firmware crash and all internet traffic would die until you power cycled the device). So the Kaizoku stuff was right out for me from the start.

I forget which came first, the 4Kids dub or Viz launching American Shonen Jump with their version One Piece. I think the 4Kids dub was first, because I remember being angry at Viz for adopting "Zolo" instead of "Zoro." Either way, I was angry about the 4Kids dub, but I was lucky enough to pick up the entire first 12 months of Shonen Jump, and figured that's where I'd start with One Piece.

Didn't have the money to keep buying new Jumps past that first year, so I figured I'd have to slum it with scanlations at least. I believe I left off in the back half of Baratie, and the only scanlations I could find from that part of the manga were like, truly awful quality. I have described them as "third generation Yahoo Groups quality scans." They were dark, blurry, heavily compressed, and the dialog was barely a step above an automated machine translation. I almost wish I could find them again, because it was nasty.

Around this time I think Funimation announced they wrestled the rights to One Piece away from the decaying hands of 4Kids, so I was happy to wait for that. We subscribed to Netflix in those days, the original DVD-by-mail service, so I'd rent each new set as they came out. Got all the way up through Baratie, up through Arlong Park, up to where they visit and prepare to leave Loguetown.

I think by the time the DVDs hit the fifth set, I ran into a problem: physical rental locations like Blockbuster had hard rental deadlines. You had to bring the disc (or tape) back in a day or two. Netflix, famously, had no rental deadlines. Keep things as long as you like.

While I had no trouble getting 1-4, some clown got set 5 before I could, and sat on it. For over a year. I complained to Netflix, and Netflix just shrugged at me.

Within a year or two of that, Funimation officially launched a One Piece website, like my memory is saying it was onepiece.com or something (which it isn't, that's a clothing store), but the point was they were announcing they were going to simulcast subs of the anime, for free, on this site. They were also adding dub episodes to this site, again, to stream for free. Back then, this was pretty unprecedented. Hulu was only a few years old at this point.

I figured: wow! Now's my chance! Go to check the website and...

The free episodes ended at the exact same point I left off at with the Netflix DVDs. Episode 53. It went from Dub Episode 53 straight to Sub Episode 230, which is where the simulcast began. Looking at Funimation's current site, this is what they consider "Season 1."

So I earmarked it. "Maybe I can finish it some day."

Some day never came. One Piece is over 1000 chapters (100 volumes) and 1000 episodes. There is over 430 hours of One Piece available to watch. The manga is so big people have talked about it taking up an entire shelving unit. I even saw photos once of somebody who had their shelf break because their One Piece collection was so heavy.

It took me over a year to read 16 volumes of the original Dragon Ball. There are almost ten times as many volumes of One Piece.

I have given up. I will never read it. Never watch it. Never see it. It's great that it's this amazing thing, truly this long journey, but even at 500 chapters it would have been too much.

Even if I wanted to, it's grown to be such a thing that when something happens in the anime or the manga, there are instantly spoilers for it all over the entire internet. 107 volumes of that is pretty disheartening.

I know about One Pace. One Pace is still too long. Some of those videos are over 20 hours. For a single video. And One Pace still has gaps in their coverage anyway.

It's just not happening.

[beyblader-observations]

Beyblade X episode 1 review

First off, this might sound like a backhanded compliment, but I like that the animation for Beyblade X isn’t super gorgeous and sparkly and shiny and perfect like in Beyblade Burst. With Burst, it felt like they put all their effort into making it look perfectly pretty, rather than writing a fleshed out story (forgive me, I only watched the first season and rise). Honestly, even when stories are fleshed out, I feel like too many special effects and dramatic lighting distract me from it. I’ll be like “ooh, his hair is so pretty! …Wait, what was he talking about?” The art style reminds me a little of Beyblade G Revolution (which is my favorite series of all time). Something about the way the characters’ eyes are drawn and the colors and the quality in general are reminiscent of that. (Now, I’m also watching this on a non-official site, which might effect video quality and make it look “older”.)

So far, I really like the characters’ personalities, up to where the manga left off. The tone of the story feels really nice. I feel like I could really love it. I was mesmerized by the manga scene when Kurosu reminded Kazami that Beyblading is about having fun. That was a great hook to get me invested. I hope that the story continues having motivational moments like that. The opening theme certainly indicates that. Honestly, the one thing that I can think of that might make this not as appealing as Bakuten Shoot is that I don’t know if it will have the travel/adventure elements of the original. In retrospect, I realize a big part of what I love about Bakuten Shoot Beyblade is how Tyson and friends travel all over the world, showing us snippets of real countries and cultures, as well as showing us the backgrounds and hometowns of the huge expanse of characters. I hope that X gives us some travel, even if it’s in a fictional world. I hope that the new characters get proper development and that we get to see what their upbringing was like and where they came from. There’s one character that reminds me a lot of Lee/Rai, and I had the passing thought that it would be lovely if he was also from White Tiger Hills, but I haven’t seen any indication of this story taking place in the same universe. Lastly, one little thing I noticed is that the characters seem a little older than the Bakuten characters. I never found an official source for the original characters’ ages, but I know that Tyson was 13 in the beginning of the English dubbed anime, yet in the manga, he was still in elementary school for the entirety of it. Which I took to mean he was like 10-12 through the series. The main characters in the original were voiced by women, giving them younger sounding voices. Whereas in X, our main guys sound like adult men. They still look rather young, so I would guess like 15-16. It’s fun to speculate when a new series is out and there isn’t much information yet. I only watched half of the first episode so far because I want to pace myself so I don’t have to wait too long for the next one.

[chibi-sunrise]

Where can I watch Luminaria’s Anime?

For Global Viewers

You can watch the first episode of the “Tales of Luminaria the Fateful Crossroad” anime with EN subtitles here. We’ve also got Spanish subtitles, French subtitles, German subtitles, Italian subtitles, Portuguese subtitles, and Russian subtitles.

You can now watch the first episode of the “Tales of Luminaria the Fateful Crossroad” anime in EN dub here.

You’ll need a Crunchyroll or Funimation subscription to watch the second episode on their respective websites. I once saw one of my mutuals was able to watch it without subscriptions (with ads, of course), but I haven’t tested it for myself.

For JP Viewers

If you’re recommending the anime to a friend who lives in Japan, this tweet lists different sites where they’ll be able to search for it. Tales of Luminaria’s official anime website has been shut down, though, so you won’t be able to check it for details on the different options… But I’ll provide whatever links I can find!

We have Amazon JP Rent/have Amazon JP Prime or the dアニメストア subscription service so far.

Well, I’m sure most people on tumblr will know where else they can watch the anime if they’re interested enough… If using official means is the best way to directly support the works I care about, then I’ll use official means as much as possible. And if those official means aren’t, then…I won’t turn down other options.

If you’re interested, then click the readmore for links to voice actor interviews regarding the anime, comments from the anime directors, the motion actors, two event reports on the CG animation studio’s lecture on their animation work process, and more!

So first up, this post has the bulk of information on the anime. You’ll find the anime directors’ comments, scenario writers’ comments, and a twitter thread about the AniTsuku free web-only seminar that was held on September 23-25, 2022.

This tweet will lead you to a detailed event report on the Tales of Luminaria seminar that was held at the time. If anything happens to that tweet, then I’ve also got the direct link to the article here. I’ve also got another article that covers different information on the event here.

We also have these tweets from a few of the motion actors who helped construct the scenes for CG animation. We’ve also got a tweet from the animator in charge of facial expressions! I loved their work on the Fire Emblem Heroes special Book movies; check out this one in particular for their work on facial expressions.

And this post has Luminaria’s Writing Team’s comments, which include a note about the animation.

This tweet leads to Comic Natalie’s interview of Arai Ryohei (Leo’s VA) and Takeda Kaito (Hugo’s VA) If anything happens to that tweet, then I’ve also got the direct link here.

This tweet leads to Comic Natalie’s interview of Umehara Yuichiro (August’s VA) If anything happens to that tweet, then I’ve also got the direct link here.

This tweet leads to Comic Natalie’s interview of Uemura Yuto (Lucien’s VA) If anything happens to that tweet, then I’ve also got the direct link here.

I want people to be able to recognize the Luminaria anime as the top quality work it is. There was so much work, passion, effort, and love put into this animation; please don’t dismiss it just because it’s CG.

Oh, and these aren’t comments, but check out the art the anime directors did! Midori drew Easter Leo here, drew a piece for Celia’s birthday here, and sketched a little something to celebrate that Itaindou completed accepting orders for Luminaria’s custom hanko stamps here. And Shiori drew Laplace here.

[soul-dwelling]

Yeah the whole "supporting the official release" thing seems to be kinda a relic from a decade or more in the past - where anime was niche and fans bite the bullet just in a desperate hope to make it "big" - and now when its maybe event too big for its own good, think it jjust becomes corporate slavery, supporting sexist assholes and worker abusers - hell I doubt any of the staff that isnt high up and hence loaded already, do get any residuals - maybe dub voice actors, but I doubt if any of the grunt work animators do, but maybe I'm ignorant.

"Sexist assholes--" But enough about [insert the name of the toxic mangaka or actor of your choice].

Okay, time for me to go off on at least four tangents. (Remember when I used to just praise Soul Eater instead of getting more bitter?)

You're not wrong that it is now an outdated phrase.

And it is harder to sustain it when distribution has changed, where a streaming service can erase an entire movie or series from its web site so that you now can't buy it or watch it, depriving both audience from watching and creators from getting any money or attention for their work.

I'm trying to do my best with limited funds to try to get a lot of anime that I know will go out of print: Discotek got licenses to a ton of anime that I fear will not be on streaming, and Discotek already announced some of their home video titles were no longer in print. I mean, remember when Baccano and the first Fullmetal Alchemist were going to be out of print with Funimation doing next to nothing to bring them back, where Aniplex kept jerking the audience around with the first Fullmetal Alchemist? I just checked JustWatch.com--I can't find either one on any legal streaming service. Now Funimation, Crunchyroll, Aniplex, and Sony are all the same company--and still no Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 on streaming.

And there is so much manga and anime getting released--and either drowned out by how much art is out there competing for attention that none of them can get as big an audience as older works, so established franchises continued while really good stories either get overlooked (please read Akane-banashi and Show-ha Shoten) or cancelled way too soon (Ginka and Gluna). With My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen concluding, the former at least will persist with spinoffs, the latter is going to leave a void--but as I said, with the competition so high, what can even reach that level of popularity? And that's not even getting into how, I assume, Jujutsu Kaisen probably did not reach what Bleach reached, which didn't reach what Dragon Ball Z reached, and so on.

Supporting the official release is the right thing to do; buying the merch should be sending a message that this thing is popular and should continue so long as the creator wants it to; but if they don't make the merch, and if the merch doesn't sell as much as the company making it wants so it's not profitable, then the story doesn't have a patron to keep buying the creator to make it.

And COVID and the work we're trying to do to protect our health is all comprising what we can do as fans: I am not going to conventions, so I don't get to meet other fans, I don't get to hear firsthand from creators or meet them in autograph lines, and I'm not buying merch and art at the alley in person (although none of that stops me from buying directly from artists online).

I don't get to go out to see films in theaters--I don't get to be one of the people getting a limited distribution of a niche franchise more ticket sales, I don't get to wear a T-shirt with the characters on it at the theater or see people dressed up in cosplay. I don't get to do what I did before COVID, where a local theater would make its own unique posters for the anime film they were going to show, in order to support themselves so they could get lesser known films also distributed at that theater.

(I am curious, but not optimistic, whether Sony can support all of this, given they did announce they were looking to integrate Crunchyroll-distributed films to their new ownership of Alamo Drafthouse.)

I know animators in Japan are working their butts off to get better working conditions--I just wish I had the link in front of me for how people can help.

Meanwhile, dub actors in the United States are working their butts off to get the protections they deserve: https://www.codaunite.com. I can't speak for dub actors, but I anticipate they would point out that, no, they are not loaded, they do not get residuals. Every voice actor I have heard talk about the industry has discussed having additional work on the side--coaching, illustrating, singing, music, unrelated business--and the hustle of always auditioning without pause: it is hard work.

And that's not even getting into the damage voice acting does, especially if you are already doing an anime but your character is in this video game, so now you have to wreck your throat doing 15 different iterations of a scream.

And that's not getting into how the corporations are obsessed with AI, to fuck over actors (as well as the environment)--and, sorry, but SAG-AFTRA has not done enough in my opinion to protect its members and is far too timid to fight against what they think is the inevitably of AI.

And most of what I just said was hearing it from union actors who work in mostly United States-produced animation out of Los Angeles, not anime dub actors, not non-union actors. So, if it is that hard to find work while a union actor in US-produced animation, now imagine how difficult it is to keep getting work in dubbing when the competition for actors is high, where the locations like Texas are flat-out opposed to unions and when Sony and Crunchyroll have not done enough to support unionized actors in Texas.

And think how difficult it is when remote recording opportunities evaporated when lying fuckers pretended COVID was over. So, unless you are an actor usually based out of Los Angeles but are popular enough that of course they'll let you record remotely from your new home in Middle America, now work dries up not only to safely record from home but also dries up for actors who are not in Los Angeles, New York City, Dallas, Houston, and Vancouver. (And even then Vancouver actors want to be in more US-produced anime and can work remotely but many just are not given a chance to audition). And I am wholly ignorant about how they were trying to get dubbing done out of Miami, too, and whether that went anywhere.

[littlewalken]

make that jun 16

If your dad is a fictional character or a guy on the internet who does conspiracy videos about cheese or the butch at the construction site and they've provided a better example of masculinity than the guy who's sperm made you that's valid.

And in the spirit of cheese conspiracy dad I need to remember as I look at the people who have liked and reblogged my posts I don't have to agree with them.

Everyone has the right to post on the internet but not everyone should be monetized.

A different internet dad said that, the one who reminds us that if a troll can not turn on their camera and have a face to face conversation they aren't worth dealing with.

Yeah, strangers on the internet have been better "dads" to me than any male relatives I've dealt with, not including those younger than me that I haven't seen since they were children.

Somehow my aunt thinks not having contact with us is somehow punishing us.

Here, have a puppy tummy.

She's wearing an oversized collar made out of elastic to get used to the idea, didn't have enough safety latch collars to go around, and wore it around her head for most of the day.

The day after this photo all the puppies' feets doubled in size, they were almost as tall as their mom, and we were beginning to suspect the great dane down the street was their father.

Still working thru the ladybug notes, the squirrel is my totem, and getting some good ideas. Watched the ending of the regular movie yesterday in the English dub, decided if I was going to rewatch the whole thing I wanted the cam rip with the on fire French audience and subtitles.

Usually I don't keep cam rips after I get the official DVD release ;) but this audience is great.

Got the dollhouse in place yesterday, it's up on some drawers so it's about 1 story off the ground and out of traffic so hopefully it won't get too dusty. The furniture can go in any time then the little odds and ends and the occupants.

Also pretty set on getting a blind box tiny mermaid that can sit in a chair. Just got to prepare for the yellow or orange one.