Category: Anime

13 Titles We’d Like License Rescued

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There are some titles that you wish could come out in the U.S. but for various reason have never made it over here. It can be frustrating to see a title you love passed over for a legitimate English release but often there are several valid reasons why such series are too risky (although in a few cases like Macross the reasons are just very aggravating).

But there is one thing even more frustrating: a title either being canceled before it is finished or being out of print long enough that it is incredibly expensive to buy. It is one thing to just hope that a series will come out but it is another layer of agony to have it right in your hands and feel it slip away. Plus, it makes it very hard to recommend a series that is either incomplete or nearly impossible to find.

We’ve put together some titles that fit that frustrating bill. With all the remaining anime and manga companies looking to the past for titles, it seems like several series that were off the table have recently become available again and often at a very reasonable price.

Please remember this is a wish list and not necessarily a “I really think this will happen” list.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #199

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With Bleach and Naruto in their final arcs a lot of people are wondering what in Shonen Jump is going to take their place in terms of an internationally popular series that rakes in tons of money. If you were super curious I don’t think One-Punch Man is going to fill that void. But that said I think it is a fairly fun series that is worth checking out from the one chapter I have seen.

I was amused that the whole first chapter was essentially a shaggy dog story building up to a single joke. But anyone who knows me in real life will know that I delight in a convoluted build up to a punchline. So when this uberpowered villain who looks suspiciously like Piccolo goes on this long rampage to show exactly how overpowered he is with his various high level powers the conclusion to the chapter is fairly predictable but still amusing.

I have heard a decent amount of buzz about this series. I knew this series had a bit of a fan following so it was distinctly on my radar. So it seems like a good series that easily could become popular. It has one major strike against it. It is a comedy. And Shonen Jump comedies have historically never done as well as their action based siblings. And despite the fighting that makes up the core of the storyline the soul of this series is comedy. And that so far has condemned any Shonen Jump in America to a second tier status.

But I wonder if the new digital format has the ability to change that. I’m not thinking it will do so on any major level but I do wonder if it might give an action/comedy combination show like this a little boost it would not normally have gotten. I am curious to see how this series does in the future. Either way it seems a refreshing addition to Shonen Jump’s weekly English line up.

The weekly English version of Shonen Jump has now come day-and-date with Japan. The online magazine also premiered a new series One-Punch Man (ch. 1).

The story is about a superhero named One-Punch Man, his power should be obvious. He is a hero just for fun and he looks out of place when he goes to take down a menace terrorizing the city. The humor in this manga extends all the way to combining two art styles on its pages; One-Punch Man is simply drawn in a way you might see in gag manga, while everything else is drawn with the detailed and gritty look one might expect of an action series.

I really enjoyed when the big monster got upset that One-Punch Man didn’t have a back story for being a hero.

This first bite gives you everything you’ll probably need to know for the continuation of the series. I for one am looking forward to more.

The Ongoing Investigations are little peeks into what we are watching and reading outside of our main posts on the blog. We each pick three things that we were interested in a week and talk a bit about them. There is often not much rhyme or reason to what we pick. They are just the most interesting things we saw since the last Ongoing Investigation.

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The Speakeasy #037: Apple Pie Shots VS. Apple Grande, Theories on the Methods of Consumption

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Drink #037: Apple Pie Shots VS. Apple Grande,
Theories on the Methods of Consumption

Thee most common question to ask someone who is also into anime is, “what anime do you watch?” It is a fairly good way to judge someone’s tastes. But the far less often asked question is, “how do you watch anime?” While it does not give the depth of information that the first question is able to impart, it does color the way you view series. Some series benefit from being watched in one fell swoop while others are best parsed out over time. Some anime almost demand to be watched with a group while other benefit from an intimate and solitary audience (and I’m not just talking about porn). The question is which show fits into which category.

To help us answer the question, we brought in the always opinionated Daryl Surat from Otaku USA and the Anime World Order.

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And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present your drink:

Apple Pie Shot
1/2 oz apple juice
1/2 oz vodka
1 dash cinnamon

Pour apple juice and vodka into a shot glass. Sprinkle cinnamon on the tongue and pour contents of shot glass into your mouth. Shake head until cinnamon is dissolved, and consume.

Apple Grande
3 oz Tequila
12 oz Apple Cider

Chill both ingredients! Mix in a tumbler and enjoy!