The Line-Up is a monthly rundown of new anime, manga, novel, and artbook licenses for the U.S. It also lists new streaming/broadcasting announcements and posted crowdfunding projects available to U.S. residents. And finally, it includes anime/manga projects and live-action anime/manga adaptation announcements from Japan.
As I have mentioned several times on the blog and podcast we have been getting anime movies in English far sooner than we have in the past. In the age of streaming in English, an hour after a TV show comes out in Japan movies and OVA are much easier to forget. When a movie comes out a year after the fanfare has died out in Japan it can be easy for it to get lost in the shuffle. Now titles that are part of big franchises or are from certainly noted directors are remembered but everything else depends on marketing. I mean how many people remember that Harmony existed or that The Empire of Corpses got an English release? Now let’s be honest. Not every film would be memorable if it got a simultaneous release. Some mediocre and rotten films were made to be forgotten. But there has been a distinct move with the help of new distribution methods like Fathom Events that make it much simpler to help the great films that would find a wider audience if they come here sooner.
That said the release of Ancien and the Magic Tablet is sort of crazy. It played at the New York International Children’s Film Festival the day after it was released in Japan. When we got Your Name as quickly as we did I was impressed. The fact that Kenji Kamiyama was doing the Q&A in New York not long after the Japanese debut is impressive if somewhat masochistic. I hardly expect such an amazing turns around on a regular basis but it is amazing when it happens. (If they want to do such things with the Heaven’s Feels movies I won’t complain.)
One of the major benefits of the near simultaneous screenings is that I went into Ancien and the Magic Tablet with almost no expectations or preconceived notions. I only really saw the little picture on the NYICFF website and nothing else. I knew it was directed by Kenji Kamiyama but I did not even read the synopsis. I wanted to experience it as pure as possible. Considering how bombarded you can be with trailers, previews, spoilers, and interviews you often have to take a very conscious effort to go into a movie fresh so I decided that I would take the opportunity when it was presented to me on a silver platter.
Ongoing Investigations: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid from Kyoto Animation, Zelda: Breath of the Wild from Nintendo, Black Clover vol. 1-3 by Yuki Tabata, Yamada and the Seven Witches (finale) by Miki Yoshikawa.
Song: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid OP “Aozora no Rhapsody” by Fhána
Food for Thought: What game franchise would you like to get the “Breath of the Wild”-treatment?
Topics: Anime Tamago 2017 projects, Classic anime streaming for industry’s 100th Anniversary, ERASED live-action series announced for Netflix, Crunchyroll sponsors movie night and its own convention, and Crunchyroll responds to their slowdown.
Reverse Thieves 
