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Talking about Gundam and Macross in 2021 feels quaint, but such is the world we live in.

Omonomono Newsletter, 2021-04-12

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— MikanSeal?? (@mikan_seal) March 22, 2021

This Past Week

On April 8 (or 9 in Asia), hell froze over. Or at least, anime hell. The agreement and settling of terms between Harmony Gold and BigWest means that finally, international release of Macross properties will be allowed, limited to all the character and branding outside the original Macross/Robotech line. Essentially those shows are freed of the threat of lawsuits from HG and the two buried the hatchet, without modifying existing licensing terms of the already-licensed properties. If the recent industry reports means anything, that’s 30-40% more revenue for those Macross titles! If I was Kawamori I’d be pretty happy about that.

Not to be outdone, reports have it that Netflix will produce an exclusive Gundam live action film with Legendary Entertainment and director Jordan Vogt-Roberts. The director has a history of creating video game type content, as well as films like Kong: Skull Island. I guess it could be worse.

More like this week (also) but Manga Entertainment is being rebranded. Good riddance? LOL.

Oh, Tubi gets some nice anime films.

There’s a Penguindrum thing.

Get well soon(er) Kusomegane.

On the Mind

There’s a collab event in Deresute with Zombieland Saga. Zombieland Saga has a seiyuu idol unit which is wild that now we have anime idols collaborating with anime idols. I suppose when Deresute collaborated with Princess Connect Re:Dive earlier, there was already idol collaborating with the 3 idols in the game? But not like this. It’s not Cygames eating their own dog food, well, sort of.

Someone, please, write for CR.

Buy Demon Slayers tickets, because why not, maybe you’re vaccinated.

I still struggle logging into Shiny Colors every day to get the free rolls, and still have not had the time to check out the two SHHis. Big time orz. Meanwhile, there’s this stream.

Events

This Friday is the Tadokoro MAL thing. The concert was a week ago.

Re:Stage live shows is this coming weekend. Saturday is Hortensia and KiRaRe, and Sunday is Tetrarkhia, Trois Anges and Stellamaris. I really like some of the music (and performers) in this series so I will probably check out the archive.

Equally (if not more) impressive is the anime Hibike Euphonium live concert this weekend. By all means it looks great. The singers and cast members are going to be there. The archive lasts until May!

If you dig tokusatsu, there’s a charity live this weekend.

Personal Note

With MLB in gear and some family situation my free time has dwindled greatly. Hopefully I can continue to churn these out. There’s a new anime season going on I hear?

So far of the first episodes I sampled, That 86 anime seems to resonate the most despite its shelf-bought porcelain heroine? A lot of stuff on the usual sampler radar for the next few weeks and I haven’t even gotten to all of them.

Long Reads

Three this week?

Media literacy has always been important and it is even more important today. This is kind of the side of it that I don’t talk about, because it’s like Sesame Street for people who already know the stuff, yet it’s no less important.

Yurucamp VR may be a thing but they don’t beat photographs just yet.

This week’s two New Young TV has a follow up. It’s good seiyuu content.

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April Fools came and went. I got my IM@S Tekken game, I guess?

Omonomono Newsletter, 2021-04-05

I gave up–just going to use the Newsletter plugin for WP going forward, which will use my hosting’s mail server. Just a lot easier. If you want to manage subscriptions and such, it should all be the same via that link at top, or click here.

This Past Week

All of Megumi Hayashibara’s discography is on streaming. Hype. Takes me back!

Bandai Namco and plastic recycling? Gunpla recycling program sounds…interesting?

Among the April Fools news, there are some legit nuggets because in Japan people work on calendar quarters in terms of contracts and stuff. Like the Yurucamp Movie. Or TRUE’s new agency.

Less true are things like this joke. Or this. Or this. Or this. Or this.

Priconne had an anniversary stream which you can catch here–notable because it has a character live section.

Sumire Uesaka, or Sumipe, as an artist is wild.

Global seiyuu darling Miku Itou’s new PV is also out.

Speaking of seiyuu darlings, Ai Fairouz got casted as Jolyne in the next Jojo anime. Story in the link about her aspiration growing up.

On the Mind

I do appreciate major US brands taking a break from the 4/1 frivolities during this present situation. In fact every major service should be shutting down those “oh you did this a year ago, 懐かしいな” engagement crack until we’re out of it. On the flip side, some non-major brands do play up that 4/1 thing, it’s largely a miss. I don’t know, it’s not worth it unless you’re an insular Asian island nation whose marketing don’t leak out into the rest of the earth much.

Shiny Colors is moving with their month-long free rolls, adding 2 new characters in the game with the tour. Nagoya stop was a lot of fun to watch and just a great stage show to appreciate. Minor technical issue aside, there’s a lot of care in the overall songs, the setlist, the outfits, and I just can’t get Straylight in Cages with Masks out of my mind. If you asked me 10 years ago that IM@S will have the best seiyuu cyberpunk content I would not have quite believed you. That said, maybe that’s more on me than it is on the rest of you, so a blog post may be coming.

Events

Continuation of Japan Online Festival from last week…

Konomi Suzuki tour continues…

Yurucamp season 2 event is also this weekend, and streaming.

Suikoden symphonic concert?! I guess it is all month this month. Oops.

Personal Note

I’m vaccinated, hurrah. First world privilege.

In terms of things to watch personally, MLB is back, which means I will have less time to watch things.

Speaking of which, the two-way monster that is Shohei Otani not only smacked a 450-footer home run in his opening day pitching performance (???) and making him the first AL pitcher to do so since the designated hitter rule being implemented in the 1970s, but also the first Jujutsu Kaisen respecter in the majors with his new walkup song.

And speaking of music in the ballpark, on April 1 in Japan, this tweet, made by a non-Japanese account, made the rounds. While seemingly innocuous in that MAD/AMV/Mashup spirit, I just find it amusing that once JP found the tweet so many of them made references to Shinnosuke Abe.

Long Reads

A long watch this time. The JRA has finally a proper video collaboration with Umamusume. Hitomi Ueda, the voice of Goldship, and Kaori Maeda, the voice of Nice Nature, talks to three Japanese horse racing announcers over teleconference (I guess they were in Tokyo and the JRA folks are in Osaka). Why? This is the fact/sports documentary aspect of Umamusume Season 2 explained. The older chap in the video is Kiyoshi Sugimoto, a legendary Japanese horse racing announcer who has retired. He actually called the Tokai Teio Spring Tennousho race which is also fully reprised in the collab video below.

If you’re interested in the actual race that is the inspiration for the final episode of Umamusume season two, it’s also on Youtube (officially via JRA no less).

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https://twitter.com/f_osakana/status/1376189762113921025

Omonomono Newsletter, 2021-03-29

Just a note–I might be trying out different newsletter services and providers in the coming weeks. I didn’t mention how I switched last week–which was just using my blog’s own hosting instead of MailChimp. That might be better in the end, but deliverability might not be the best, I don’t know. Thanks to Substack this whole sector is now buzzing with 3rd party providers helping hapless writers do IT, so there are more choices now than before especially for non-marketers.

Feel free to ping me if you have any concerns or are not receiving them. The email this week is going to go out on EmailOctopus. Probably will try something different again next week? I don’t know.

This Past Week

It’s not exactly anime, but the best anime this year is now on Netflix worldwide except a few regions that have separate licensing agreement: PUI PUI MOLECAR.

Bannam reorgs its oversea stuff. CR deal gets extra scrutiny. Maybe they’re curious about the new Precure streams? Joke aside I’m not too worried.

On that note, here are the CR Spring licenses, and Funi’s. The usual is happening where some dubs get one and subs get the other.

Sidonia gets game.

Tsukihime Remake gets release date: 8/26. Supposedly this will have only Ciel and Arc routes but loaded with new content so it has about as much content as the original game. The new cast is also listed, along with announcement for a new Melty Blood game. Details in link.

Girl’s Frontline anime gets trailer. These Chinese mobile game anime are really more miss than hit it seems, but maybe this one bucks the trend.

Eva 3+1 still raking it in the news, but now you can reenact SK8 ending sequences using EVA boards.

On the note of obnoxious anime names with music instrumentation, here’s a new challenger.

Roselia films on stream? This is sorta new.

The annual report from the AJA is out, covering the year 2019. It does mention COVID but no numbers from the past year. English summary report is worth noting but a bit more rah-rah-go-industry this time than usual.

There were a bunch of news out of Anime Japan, but most of them are new anime or game tie-in announcements. There were a few stages where the performers sung their new OP/ED live too. Notably Megamiryo… Cosplayer unit doing the songs sure is a thing now! Oh, Netflix is also doing something… but they actually announced a stream to do that at AJ rather at AJ itself. And instead of me delaying this post by recapping AJ news, just read this.

On the Mind

Horses, but the anime. Umamusme Season 2 concluded with a pre-show live stream with a nice cast, and you can catch it on Youtube. The season finale is also magical. It takes home the idea behind transforming horses into people and then telling it like an ESPN 30-for-30 elevates a story with sports, not glorification of cool military gear, problematic political actors, or other things that have a lot of baggage.

Events

Here’s a US-based one: Sakura Matsuri in Washington DC is now virtual. It’s this Saturday from noon to 3pm.

IDOLM@STER Shiny Colors 3rd tour begins this weekend at Nagoya.

D4DJ Merm4id solo show this weekend.

Yui Makino!

Halko Momoi’s show this weekend is viewable online.

Konomi Suzuki’s tour stop this week is viewable as well.

Charming dork Azusa Tadokoro has a one-off online concert this weekend! I am looking forward to this a lot.

Japan Online Fes 2021 Spring starts this week weekend and will run also next weekend. Couple Bandori groups, Sayuri, ReoNa, and a lot more on the artist list.

Personal Note

Short read, but sports–Masahiro Tanaka somewhat confirms what happened last year in Florida, as some feared his family were targeted by racists. I guess it’s not personal, but here’s just to say that even voicing FUD have a chilling and negative impact, and it’s reason enough to make loud statements to push back against that kind of stuff even if people may have a right to voice their fear, doubts and uncertainty. A society without sensible self-restraint is a society without nice things, and I want to live in a society full of nice things.

Long Reads

Go watch Season 2 of Umamusume, then read the real thing. (Where’s part 2? I have no idea.)

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Omonomono Newsletter, 2021-03-25

pic.twitter.com/YivGhEmYK0

— AP?? (@AP__bar) March 18, 2021

This Past Week

Thursday I saw this news going around about Japan’s Coca-Cola pass and I’m like, the US have them too, even if it’s different that it is a loyalty program and not a subscription. Of course, since Kotaku is unfamiliar with both Japanese vending machines and Coca-Cola vending passes, a number of mistakes has been made.

WEP episode 10 has a bunch of sakugabros online working on it. Kind of neat. Also the whole transsexual spectrum thing they did with Momoe is quite nice–really stretches the viewers’ notion of what it means to be trans and the definition and ideas that boxed even trans people’s notion of what being trans is. WEP 11 is also a great twist and I hope the series concludes with both feet on the ground.

This was news actually a bit before the article, but Bushiroad did buy out Frontwing. Nothing unsurprising here if you ask me. VN conglomerates have a lot of great IP and as that sector continues to dry up, it present some opportunities. Bushiroad is commercially opportunistic, but as an IP generator I think they are still a step or two behind the actual giants in the industry. So the match makes sense as Bushi continue to fortify on the male-interest side.

Why English Shiny Colors？？ oh right government funding.

Love Live jumps into home console F2P and this is all so vintage 2014 consolem@s for me. Including all the expensive DLCs.

On that note, Shiny Colors announced a new unit over the weekend and released the seiyuu on Tuesday, as it has done the last 2 years. Also a month+ of free rolls plus other 3rd anniversary bonuses. The new “other” character Luca Ikaruga isn’t in the new unit but her CV, an Aoni talent, shares a name with a Stardust talent. Just something to know.

On the Mind

The new Shiny Colors unit–one of the two characters is the sister of Hazuki, the assistant/staff of the production office. This is a weird development but also exciting because you don’t know where this is suppose to go. In old times the assistant herself is the idol (or ex-idol in Kotori’s case) but this is a good development generally. The Nanakusa name also seems to suggest we won’t have more than 7 units?

Horses, work, and Shiny Colors feels right. It’s been a busy week trying to do all that, on top of Priconne (in EN does everyone just get their Kyouka for free or what?) and ARMooo grind in Theater Days.

Also–I’ve been using MailChimp but I want to simplify more for this newsletter thing, so I’m trying a few different things. Hopefully nothing different will happen for the readers and handful subscribers out there.

Events

Chokaigi 2021 lineup kinda listed here. Pivoting into pay-to-view more so now. Scheduled for the last weekend in April.

Anime Japan is this weekend. You have to pay to watch it, but they have an English language stream where streamers will speak in English as they watch the other streams.

Anisong idols Aå¿œP final live was today, if you missed it you can timeshift it. It’s on Stagecrowd so oversea-friendly.

Also, i☆Ris member Azuki Shibuya is graduating at this Sunday and you can watch their last 6-people live here.

A bit out of scope but I’m trying to get the code to watch this Non Non Biyori event. You just need to buy the OP single and the code is inside. There’s some Million Live release event this weekend as well that were postponed from last year, now online–too bad they’re limited to Animate lottery winners.

Personal Note

I stayed up to watch both Shiny Colors 2nd live shows last weekend and am still suffering for it. If I get more tired than I do on the weekdays, on the weekend, it just makes the coming week all the rougher. The problem is even if I sleep in (and I did on Saturday), the following day just gets screwed up due to the time lag. The only option is to wake up “early” on Sunday and suck it up, but invariably I sleep too late to make a full recovery Monday. Anyways, this just means I am almost sure that I’m only releasing this post later in the week so I can make up sleep.

Baked oats–anyone into these? I’m not but am curious… Since the corona lockdown I’ve been cooking a lot, as said, so often time I would google up recipes. Naturally now my Android phone’s google feed thing recommends me weird food trends inspired by the attention economy.

On that note, those Sharp high-end rice cookers are now customized for IDOLM@STER and on sale. They are really expensive, 1 liter capacity, IOT…things. I want one lol. It even has auto-stir feature which means you can cook curry or other stew-y things in it without burning the bottom? Not a pressure cooker though.

Long Reads

Ooops, I knew I forgot something.