Spring Anime Season

Will the temperatures in the US finally warm up after a horrible winter? Even if they don't, you still have the Spring anime season. Aside from a few, high powered sequels, there are some solid shows starting this season. Let's take a look at the things I'll be keeping an eye on this season. Instead of the usual chart, we'll be using AniDB again for more detailed information.

Triage X - Xebec is at the helm for this titular action show. While not normally one for pure fanservice shows, the original manga is penned by "Highschool of the Dead" mangka Satou Shouji.

Hibike! Euphonium - Wait, Kyoto Animation is doing a show about cute girls with instruments? In a school setting? Again? This time they're playing in a brass band complete with tubas. Aside from the expected higher quality of animation from a Kyo Ani show, Ishihara Tatsuya(Clannad, Haruhi, Nichijou) is directing.

Yahari Ore no Seishun Lovecome wa Machigatte Iru. Z - Everyones favorite socially awkard teenager is back in this sequel. The first season caught my interest and was an enjoyable watch because of Hikigaya's character. The animation studio has changed from first season's "TBS" to this "Feel" for this season. Hopefully the quality doesn't falter.

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works - Much like Fate/Zero, this will begin the second half of UBW. I couldn't get enough of this show throughout the first season, so I can't wait to see it wrapped up. Although a portion of the endings "punch" is gone as most Type Moon fans are aware of the UBW route ending.

Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darouka - A show asking if it's wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon? I'm intrigued. Fantasy anime seems big these days, with Sword Art Online and Log Horizon selling well. With J.C. Staff animating, it should be an enjoyable, lighthearted, harem show in a fantasy setting.

Owari no Seraph - Another fantasy set show, but this time by Wit Studio of Shingeki no Kyojin fame. Owari seems like a dark show, about a group of orphans and vampires. But it being animated by Wit Studio and from the trailers, this is a big show to keep an eye on.

Manga Pick of the Month

So you're an average high-school student who leads an average life. Life is boring, until you get a knock on your door. Apparently your "friend" from the "Primitive Age" is here and she says you two are married?! The comedic events that happen between Cherry the cave girl and Totoki the average student are shown in "Nadenade Shikoshiko", March's "Manga Pick of the Month".

Nadenade Shikoshiko is a 4-koma manga, usually reserved for gags and comedy. Nadenade works in that while it has light comedy, the manga also has heart. Cherry is adorable as Totoki's "bride to be". Totoki's mother is also a recurring character, often trying to push Totoki and Cherry together. The cast widens as Cherry attends school and makes friends with the school's top idol.

Nadenade Shikoshiko is a short manga, with short three to four page chapters. Still, its a great light comedy manga to blow through in an afternoon. This manga is available at Bakabt.

Crunchyroll vs Funimation: A Battle of Streaming

The streaming of anime is an enigma to me. The ability and connections that both Crunchyroll and Funimation have to put up a subtitled episode of a simulcasted show in mere hours of its original airing is no easy feat. Due to convenience, wanting to support the "industry" or the fact that apps like Crunchyroll are available on most gaming consoles, many have abandoned fansubs. Fansub groups that have subbed shows for years have dissolved and very few still do their own translations. This is a good thing though, right? The industry has made an easy to use alternative and lured many away from the fansub market.

Well, like most online anime fans in the early 2000's, I was a big fan of fansubs. The only way to watch your favorite show as it aired was to download an IRC or torrent client. Now, Crunchyroll and Funimation's services have a wide selection of shows on demand. In regards to Funimation's service, a show being simulcast by them means it's a license. Still, let's go back to the early 2000's.

You still had most of the big R1 licensing companies in: Geneon, Bandai, Funimation, Media Blasters, Manga Entertainment. DVD's were still expensive, quality questionable, and there was no guarantee that the super niche show you were enjoying would get licensed for US release. So, fansubs were a likely outlet for a large portion of online fans. Flash forward to today and most fansub groups simply "tweak" Crunchyroll translations or use them as a base. Crunchyroll and Funimation sites are ripped themselves for currently airing episodes.

It's hard enough to get a group from a niche hobby like anime or manga to start paying money for something they've known to be free for years. Easy to search, sites like Bakabt, Nyaa Torrents or TokyoTosho are community favorites and have been around for years. So when Funimation opened their streaming service, it siphoned off some of the better shows airing each season for their own paid service. For example, in this Winter season, shows like: Assassination Classroom, Maria the Virgin Witch and Rolling Girls are Funimation only. Funimation's service is 40$ a year for its basic service, while Crunchyroll is 6.95$ a month.

Quick Series Review: Nisekoi

Series Name: Nisekoi

Episodes: 20 + 3(DVD only OVAs featuring chapters from the manga)

Plot: "The high school student Ichijou Raku is the son of a leader in the yakuza faction Shuei-Gumi, and Kirisaki Chitoge is the daughter of a boss in a rival gang known as Beehive. They unexpectedly meet when Chitoge hops a wall and knees Raku in the face. After she runs off, Raku realizes he has lost his pendant which was given to him by his childhood sweetheart with whom he made a secret promise. After discovering Chitoge is a new transfer student in his class, he forces her to help him look for the pendant. During the search, they begin to dislike each other.

Upon returning home, Raku learns that the Shuei-Gumi and Beehive gangs have agreed to settle their feud by pairing their leaders' children. Raku learns that his girlfriend-to-be is none other than Chitoge. For the next three years, they must pretend to be in a relationship to maintain peace between the gangs. This turns out to be quite a challenging task, not only because of their hatred for one another, but also because Raku has a crush on another schoolmate, Onodera Kosaki, whom he secretly wishes was the girl who bears the key to his pendant. Various developments complicate the situation, including Chitoge's over-protective bodyguard, a girl who claims to be Raku's fiancée, and the existence of multiple keys."