:anime: Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month:: Little Witch Academia

What goes up…

Little Witch Academia

Official Site: Anime Mirai Page, Trigger Page
Additional Links: ANN Entry, MAL Entry
Video: YouTube, Crunchyroll

In the very same month that GAINAX announces a film version of its 2011 magical girl ONA Houkago no Pleaides/Wish Upon the Pleiades, Trigger--a new studio formed by former GAINAX staffers--streamed its own worldwide. The effort, Little Witch Academia, is its first full feature, which is part of this year's Anime Mirai slate, a government-backed initiative aimed at funding projects at anime studios that train and foster new talent in the industry.

:anime: HardDoor's Seasonal Anime Preview 2013 Special:: noitaminA (Spring, Summer)

Normally, each season of noitaminA either has an original series or one based on preexisting material, with the occasional sequel or the even rarer short (Thermae Romae being the sole example). However, this stint of Fuji TV's venerable block is quite different from the past, as for the first time ever, a previously-broadcasted anime will be reran in it. . This show, now "retroactively" a noitaminA series, will be Katanagatari, an adaptation of NisiOisin's novel series (unrelated to his mega-hit Monogatari Series) that first aired in 2010 on Fuji TV. Even more unusual is that due to the hour-long runtime of each of its twelve episodes (one for each of the 12 volumes in the series), it will take up the allotted hour-long timeslot of the block for spring, meaning it will be the only title shown for the season.

So what will be of the summer session? It looks to be a return to normalcy (from the outset, at least) with an adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa's runaway smash Silver Spoon.

:anime: Anime Kibbles 'n' Bits ::04.09.13:: The (Actual) Return of the News Bits…

I may have had some fun a week ago, but this here is the true return of "Anime Kibbles 'n' Bits"!!

:Fri.04.05.13: Crunchyroll Scores Score of Major Simulcast Titles

Crunchyroll, more often than not, manages to obtain the rights to simulcast a good chunk of each season's new anime, but sometimes they have to share the lot of big titles with FUNimation, who doesn't post content on the site (as opposed to Sentai, who will often place them on both their sister company The Anime Network and Crunchyroll). Spring 2013 looks to be a good one on that end for the site, though, as they managed to nab Sunrise's Valvrave the Liberator, Mushi-Shi director Hiroshi Nagahama's Flowers of Evil, and the big Kazuya Murata (Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos director)/Gen Urobuchi (Madoka Magica creator) joint project Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet. Death Note director Tetsuro Araki's much-anticipated Attack on Titan adaptation (already settled?) and Yutaka Izubuchi (RahXephon) & Akihiro Enomoto's Space Battleship Yamato 2199 are still up in the air in terms of streaming homes (if any), but with Crunchyroll's quality service and being the only one in the game with 1080p-level streaming, hopefully those good-looking efforts will end up there with the other notable series…

:anime: Anime Kibbles 'n' Bits ::04.01.13:: Return of the News Bits

For the first time in five years, "Anime Kibbles 'n' Bits" makes its return back to HardDoor! If "Boxing Bits" can return, why can't its predecessor?

:Mon.04.01.13:

GAINAX To Develop Fighting Game
Legendary anime studio GAINAX doesn't just dip its feet into animation and merchandise pimping, but they also have a game developing department, as well. Though their catalog mostly consists of sims (one of which inspired 2002's Petit Princess Yucie), they have finally taken the step of developing a fighter, which will feature anime characters from their storied history, hailing from the likes of Evangelion (apparently with Khara's blessing), Gurren Lagann, Mahoromatic, FLCL, Nadia, and Gunbuster. Details on which other properties will be represented and which characters will appear, as well as preliminary game footage, will be revealed at a future event, but I'm fairly certain that they'll indulge on everyone's desire to pound Shinji Ikari in the face…

:anime: Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month:: Nobody's Boy Remi

Nobody's Boy Remi

Additional Links: ANN Entry, MAL Entry
Video: Hulu

In the very first edtion of Ani-Journal, I heaped praise onto the classic show, Nobody's Boy Remi, which unfortunately expired on Anime News Network's video service before I could finish it. Thankfully, TMS has been making a concerted effort in making their shows available to more people outside of Japan, with Hulu being one of their primary avenues. There, you'll find episodes of both Lupin III Pts. I & II, Sherlock Hound, and Monster Rancher, as well as movies like Panda! Go Panda!, but the key title here--as you can guess--is Remi (as it is simply called), with all 51 episodes up for view!

The series follows the sorrowful tale of a young French boy named Remi, who goes from having a warm and loving home life with his mother to being sold  for money to a traveling performer by a disillusioned, estranged father returning to the scene. I went into detail over what made the series click for me in the AJ link above, but its high-quality and distinctive animation (especially for a 30+ year old series), its compelling narrative, and directorial work by the late, great Osamu Dezaki make it a very worth watch, which hopefully you will give a look, despite its age and melancholy. Even early on, it's not too hard to see why it is as highly regarded as it is.

:anime: Global Shinkai Day 2013 Is Here--Plus One More!!

Now Showing…

While this isn't the Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month--I have something else planned for that, but I guess you can consider this a semi-one --I couldn't let the opportunity slip by to mention this year's Global Shinkai Day festivities at Crunchyroll! This year's will be a little different than most, as Makoto Shinkai's most recent work, Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below, will be showing over the three-day weekend! It's a different kind of film from him, as well, both in scope and in feel, as it follows a young girl's journey through a fantastical underworld.

:boxing: Boxing Bits :03:01.13: Broner Is the Problem, & So Is Pot…

Posterizing, posturing, and pot penalizations highlighted the last few week's of boxing in this return installment of Boxing Bits!

:Sat.02.16.13: Broner Beats Rees

Gavin Rees was as game as game could be and with heart to spare, but his body and ebbs in composure ultimately did him in versus the talented Adrian "The Problem" Broner, who stopped him within five. The final result was largely expected, but Broner's pomposity and narcissistic complacency in his own abilities has led to him allowing his opponents to land an increasingly large amount of punches on him, as if to show that he no one can do him harm. Rees, to his credit, employed some fine movement and tenacity in scoring good, flush shots on the open Broner, who shook them off but didn't exactly do much about them, either.

:anime: Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month:: Love Live! School idol project

Love Live! School idol project

Official Site: Japanese
Additional Links: ANN Entry, MAL Entry
Video: Crunchyroll

I spotlighted shows a few times last year that I personally did not like, but that you, the reader, may still find worthwhile. This month's Pick is a bit like those, but rather than the show itself not being good--to the contrary, it's surprisingly so--it, instead, revolves around two subject matters that are not quite dear to my heart: school spirit and idols.

:anime: Love Comes & Goes…

Most of the time, when you like a show or movie, you tend to keep liking it for as many times as you watch it or, at least, continue to hold fond memories of it when you last saw it. However, there are times when second impressions make less of an impact than your first, maybe to the point that you find yourself not liking it as quite much as before. As such, it is only fitting on Valentine's Day to look back on a couple of rare occasions when an anime didn't quite stand up as well on a second viewing, as well as the rarer few that did the exact opposite…

:anime: Final Impression:: Teekyu

Not only is this a review, it's also the first "Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month" of the year!

Review: Teekyu
Alt. Titles: Te-kyu, Teekyuu

Official Site: Japanese
Additional Links: ANN Entry, MAL Entry
Video: Crunchyroll

"Four high-school girls" series are a dime a dozen these days, though that isn't to say that there aren't any bright spots in the genre, as Nichijou (My Ordinary Life) and Hyakko have shown in recent years. A popular flavor has the girls involved in a club, where they often do zany, non- club-related things. Teekyu is one of those series, which centers on straight-laced high school freshman Yuri Oshimoto, who gets sucked into the inane escapades of her three senior classmates in the school's tennis club (which, as you guessed it, involves little tennis). At the same time, there is more to this little (and I mean "two-minutes-per-episode" little) show, whose behind-the-scenes notoriety maybe as sublime as the show's most notable accomplishment--being one of the very few, if not the first, show that can out Fooly Cooly FLCL.