Gathering this two months in a row made me realize the sheer amount of things being planned. It is quite impressive! More than a few surprises this month.
While February is the shortest month of the year there are still quite a few updates to be had on the anime and manga news fronts.
The Line-Up is a monthly rundown of newly licensed in the U.S., newly streaming in the U.S., and newly announced anime and manga projects.
Just recently Weekly Shonen Jump announced that Bleach was entering its final story arc. I don’t think it is too uncommon a sentiment even among fans of the series that this is a good thing. Bleach has already lasted over 50 volumes and has wandered around enough in the plot that wrapping everything up would be for the best. I assume that the sales have dipped low enough for Shonen Jump editors to want to end the series but it still does well enough that they will let it have a graceful exit from the magazine. That might not be the case but it is the most likely scenario.
That aside, Narutaki and I have a few thoughts on the manga now that it is going into its final act.
No one could possibly be sad that Bleach is finally wrapping up. And I’m saying that as someone who really enjoyed it, for a time, and would like to see an ending. But we aren’t here to complain about the past missteps . . . totally. Instead, we want to frame it as what can be done right for this final arc.
I read a very well written article about the first Zelda game and how the subsequent games in the franchise measured up (spoilers: they don’t, at least according to the article). The article ebbs and flows as far as my agreement with it. At times I felt myself nodding along but then he would push the idea too far and I was taken aback. Tevis has many solid points, but stripping everything back down to the model of the first game doesn’t strike me as a good idea even if it were possible.
I’m not going to lie, I think the best of Zelda games is pretty much when others do: A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, plus Wind Waker. I thought the Oracle games were a good throwback (except the Goron dancing which may have been made by the devil himself). So I guess I’d agree the best Zelda games are in the past, just not so far back as he goes. I think all of these games had great ideas but perhaps at times they have been pushed too far in one direction. I’m playing Spirit Tracks now and haven’t played Skyward Sword yet besides a demo so I can’t weigh in on his assertion that Skyward is the lowest point yet. But it is easy to sit down and see they’ve changed but that somehow it has all been for the worst, I can’t get on board.
Reverse Thieves 