UlasanAnime.com – It’s quite astonishing that Masako Nozawa is scheduled to appear at a West Coast convention, and for $3500, you can attend a meet-and-greet with her. This is just one of many recent developments that caught my eye today.
Allow me to start with some housekeeping. This is the kind of post I’m writing, unfortunately. Firstly, the newsletter has been inactive for over a year and a half, so that’s that. I have links and pages dated 2023 that I haven’t linked anywhere yet. I’m slowly trying to clean those up from my massive collection of Chrome tabs; only about 300-400 more to go.
For anime, and the business that it is, you can explore a couple of substacks. It’s great that semi-professionals are doing what I always envisioned, but in the right way. That said, I should really continue to write about my specific niche: events and seiyuu related to anime, games, and manga.
I recently returned from a local convention, Kogaracon. Talking with and overhearing some attendees revealed a network of local school cons in addition to the more profit-driven events. If you know of one near you, it helps to support them by attending. It’s also quite relaxing to go to a con and be back home the same day, having acquired everything you wanted.
I have a post written up for Kawaiikon and the fan event I helped organize for Sally Amaki and Kana Ichinose. Hopefully, that will be published before I begin my next series of events, starting with Acen in a couple of weeks. (This sentence weighs on me more than you might think.)
I should also share some thoughts on the upcoming shift in the josei seiyuu landscape. I did have a few weeks of break, which allowed me to recuperate. Or rather, from Acen onward, I will be quite busy for the rest of the summer, basically until after Labor Day.
This means I actually watched a lot of anime in March and April. I went back and essentially finished “Atri the anime.” This season, I actually felt engaged with a number of the offerings. The last two seasons, on the other hand, were rather dull. Perhaps I just didn’t watch the shows I would enjoy, or maybe I should watch more Netflix. Regardless, I’m going to list some shows for this season that I am, will be, or have been watching.
- Lazarus – The show they finally ended up making after like 30 years, I don’t know. It’s a huge miss to be dub-only on legitimate streaming services in the US, though.
- Cinderella Grey – Aside from Alexandros being there and breaking the combo of Umamusume signing the OP, it’s just as you’d expect. Which is great. Just like the EN game release date is now set.
- Witch Watch – Possibly my favorite this season. It’s a romcom with a pop culture edge, and Narichan nailed her role.
- Maebashi Witches – It’s a kids’ show dressed up as a young adult show, and it’s oddly amusing to me.
- Aharen-san – I’m not sure if I’ll continue with S2. I’ll probably drop it if I don’t have the time, given it’s already getting stale.
- Zatsutabi – It’s okay and one of the three chill anime where girls do cute things this season (Kadokawa).
- Summer Pockets – I might save this for later, but it’s okay?
- Aru Majo ga Shinu Made/Once Upon a Witch’s Death – This production is too good to, uh, drop.
- Ballpark de Tsukamaete – Too many baseball seiyuu in this. Also, the subject matter is something I like. Oddly enough, the main character is the one thing that stands out.
- GQuuuuuuX – I enjoyed Beginnings enough, so it’s time to see what Tsurumaki has left for the rest of “us” who aren’t like myself. I mean, it’s already a gorgeous work.
- Apocalypse Hotel – Sold me after 2 episodes; it’s just a matter of finding time to keep up.
- Takamine-san – I’ll probably still watch, if not to completion.
- YOUR FORMA – I have a Samsung tablet, so this is actually something I can easily pull up on my TV. That said, this show feels like a 2010s anime.
- Rock Lady – This is also an anime kind of made for me, so I feel obliged to continue.
- Anne Sherley – Surprisingly great, thanks to Honoka’s spirited performance and dialing the grating aspect of this brat to the right level.
- KOWLOON GENERIC ROMANCE – Also sold me from the start, but I feel this is bait… I will wait for the season to end, probably, to finish.
- Ossan Kensei/From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman – I don’t like the harem aspect, so I’m not sure how far I’ll get…
- mono – The highest-profile girls-do-cute-things anime this season (Aniplex). I’ll probably finish it, but it’s like an inferior Yurucamp anime, reminding you about Yurucamp.
- Meshi Umashi/Food for the Soul – The third, or my favorite, cute-girls-do-cute-things this season (PA Works). Is it the reunion of the Non Non Biyori creatives? It is also an original media mix.
- Yandere Elf – Takamiina in the lead role of this particular character niche that she seems to end up with every time? As an American, I don’t even think it fits her that well, but maybe this is a cultural thing. It’s a trashy anime, so I might not survive it, but it is short.
Speaking of shorts, there’s an Uma short and a Lycoris Recoil short, and others that don’t get wide distribution (Kaiju #8 and Frieren). It’s been a while since I’ve followed so many in one season. Let’s see if I can keep this up.
If I don’t, it’s because of Umamusume EN (Steam, and Android/iOS!), and for sure, Gakuen IDOLM@STER. I can’t play Sense for my life, but I can play the other two just fine, and it’s been a lot of fun. The game’s commus are super enjoyable, and as someone who usually doesn’t bother, it’s even gotten me to read (almost) all of it. The gameplay is a bit broken at times, and RNG at times, but it’s part of the game, and they copied the right things from Slay the Spire, let’s just say.
With the first anniversary later this month, I’ll probably be stuck in this gacha hell for some time. I hope I’m not totally bankrupt, lol. Uma EN will be right before AX, and AX, as usual, will conflict with the usual MLTD anniversary event. If Uma EN is going to be the first produce scenario from the JP game, it will be a huge time sink, so I don’t know, it’ll suck for a while. At least I know early-game Uma is kind of skippable.
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Anyway, feel free to say hi if I run into you at Acen, London, Berlin, Gakumas 1st HS, Dere Okinawa, LiSA NYC, AX, Ado NJ, 765AS, Animethon, Anime NYC, Anisama… and more…
