It's Not My Fault The OASG Podcast is Not Popular! Archives - TheOASG

0:00: With SO much to discuss in one singular anime/manga/etc. podcast, Justin and Helen immediately get into the news of the past few weeks, and that means talking about Tapas once again now that they’ve given an official statement and closure date, and what this means for comics at large.

News

8:39: GKIDS recently had a subtitle issue in theaters for their screening of The Last Blossom, and they’re making up for that error with an extra screening October 13; MediaOCD announced on Wednesday a sales agreement with Aniplex of America to sell select anime on Blu-ray Disc on the MediaOCD online store — this gets Justin to start wondering about the Crunchyroll Store changes and how that has generally affected every publisher; The production committee for Fairy Princess Minky Momo: A Heartfelt Duet for Dreams of Yearning announced that the new anime has been delayed due to production issues.

14:31: After the loss of artist Shikako, the Manchuria Opium Squad manga was on hiatus until they found an artist for the series — they’ve now found said artist for the work; Yūki Kanamaru’s More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers will resume next month following its hiatus for a year; Miyakokasiwa, meanwhile, has resumed the Battle in 5 Seconds manga following their break due to health.

16:41: Artist Matsuki revealed that they have been hospitalized and will need to recover and rest, so Overlord [New] World Arc will be on indefinite hiatus; Chained Soldier will go on hiatus due to artist Yohei Takemura’s poor health; Tetsuya Chiba’s Hinemosu Notari Nikki will go on hiatus as Chiba’s not feeling too great; and Hunter X Hunter creator Yoshihiro Togashi stated on X/Twitter that due to physical and mental health issues, he will decline future work requests with deadlines after completing his current commissions.

20:10: Animator Satoko Miyachi announced that her husband, animator Kenichirō Katsura, passed away at 59 on September 30 while undergoing medical treatment for an illness.

Licenses

22:12: New York Comic Con happened last week, so here’s a recap of all the news pertinent to this podcast:

33:01: Seven Seas and Wonderful Wednesdays have returned! Here’s how they’ve kicked things off this time:

34:37: Let’s just say a number of Square Enix titles are now on Manga UP!, from magical girl recruiter to lots of blood; Adachitoka’s The Wolf at Memory’s End and A-10 & Ryūga Kawasaki’s Sen Sen Senki is now on K MANGA.

37:41: Chanta’s Noro-Noro Puku-Puku (say that 5 times fast!), Alpa’s Slap Shot Girls, & Ayumu Minato’s Digimon Eggs is now on MANGA Plus; Nao Iwamoto’s The Seven Knights of the Marronnier Kingdom is now on the VIZ Manga service

Streaming News

38:34: With them picking up Even the Student Council has its Holes! and now the newest iteration of Magical Girls Raising Project for this season, Oceanveil is very much attempting to make an impact in the seasonal anime streaming game it seems — and yes, that means a discussion will have to be had about where we’re all at in regards to anime streaming right now!

41:26: The currently airing Suikoden anime is streaming for free on YouTube; Amazon Prime Video is streaming and doing same day sub/dub for the The Seven Knights of the Marronnier Kingdom anime; French entertainment company Ankama announced on Thursday that it will stream the original TV anime The Azure Legend: Welsh & Shedar in multiple languages starting in November.

46:12: More Mobile Suit Gundam SEED will be in theaters in Japan and North America next year; Netflix will stream the Go with the Clouds, North by Northwest anime; Angel Densetsu is now streaming on Darkroom.

47:50: Justin and Helen FINALLY get to talk about a pretty packed summer season, and it sure was busy — for Justin as always! Helen meanwhile had some works to finish up, so listen on for what the two hosts thought stood out for this season**. Also find out what Justin thought were his worst shows of summer…and spring!

**Bookworm discussion derails everything eventually though! (59:52)

Weird News

2:46:12: Remember that four-episode special intended to celebrate 20 years of Naruto years ago? Well, we finally have news about it…it…it’s crossing over with Ninku???

2:47:47: AI this, AI that — we have the Yuri exhibit event, Yuriten, managing to anger a number of people, including well known yuri creators, for their use of AI-generated imagery in promotional material; Remember voice actor Kenjirō Tsuda filing suit against the operator of the video-sharing app TikTok for posting videos that allegedly used AI to imitate his voice without permission? Well, that case got dismissed…because Tsuda had sought the removal of the videos, and the court found that the videos had already been removed. Justin has mixed feelings on the outcome.

2:51:20: Get actor Tom Cruise and director Alejandro González Iñárritu to discover what Chainsaw Man and Yuri on Ice is by stopping by MAPPA and magic happens apparently; The Lego Dragon Ball Shenron Set will be coming to the US in November, so everyone needs to prepare themselves promptly; And if one Kamehameha from one Goku isn’t enough, have four! Japanese VA Masako Nozawa, Spanish VA Mario Castañeda, English VA Sean Schemmel, and Hindi VA Ankur Javeri performed Goku’s signature move before the Tokyo X convention in Houston.

The post TheOASG Podcast Episode 254: Tapas, Anime Streaming, and So Much Summer Anime Talk on The Longest Episode Ever* appeared first on TheOASG.

0:00: With some summer anime shows still not finished, the hosts get into what they’ve been up to over the past few weeks!…Which means Justin gets to gush for roughly 10 minutes about starting Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, while Helen talks about revisiting Full Metal Alchemist again…and then starts going over what in the world’s happening with Tapas.

News

17:55: Both hosts go over what they think is happening with Tapas, with it reportedly shutting down next year while still operating like everything’s all good. Artists and a few localizers have spoken about the news, which only leaves Helen and Justin to wonder what’s going on with the platform.

31:09: Negi Haruba’s Go Go! Loser Ranger! is back in Weekly Shonen Magazine after a 2-month hiatus; Yomi Hirasaka, creator of Haganai and A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics to name a few, shared that he has officially retired as a light novelist; Shūichi Shigeno’s Subaru and Subaru is going to be on a one-month break; and you’ll want to read this article further for additional details, but it’s rough to hear manga artist Eiji Hashimoto share that he has now fully lost hearing in his right ear, among other things, due to stress and overwork.

37:55: French publishing companies Dargaud and Kana announced that Kana founder Yves Schlirf passed away on September 13; Newspapers Mainichi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun both reported that film director and screenwriter Toshio Masuda died of old age (98 years old)

Licenses

41:27: Yen Press usually makes sure before the month is over to announce a number of things, so here they are:

45:19: A few new things have been added to Comikey recently: Nanpei Yamada’s Tea Princes, Sakamegane’s VTuber Shigemi Kusamura: I’m my Oshi’s Favorite, Reiko Shimizu’s Moon Child, and Kennoji & Yun Yuuma’s Trapped as the Villain in My Favorite Dating SIM: But I Know How to Win Over All the Heroines!; One Peace Books revealed exclusively on Behind the Manga that they’ve licensed D, Ikaguchi Ei, & Hige Neko’s My Life Turned Around: After I Was Betrayed and Framed, I Won the Heart of the Most Beautiful Girl at School; Helen goes over the troubled history of Break Blade, which has been licensed by Titan Manga.

50:03: Mukade Makino’s KAKAKAKA, Barako’s Morino-san Just Won’t Leave Me Be, and Kanya Aki & Tsubasa’s Noisering is now on MANGA Plus; Nikita Kitagawa & Yui Hata’s No-Clipping My Way to Supremacy! and Chihiro Kanisawa’s Oh My Panda! is now on K MANGA; Yū Yukishiro’s I Need to Quit this Antique Store, nns, Skyfarm, & Dr. Mine’s The Journey of the Half-Elf Dwarven Master Blacksmith, and Mare Tuzumiya’s Tsukimi Is All Dolled Up is now on Manga UP!; and we got some Discotek home media releases shared for a couple of anime, which includes Digimon Seasons 3 and 4 (Tamers and Frontier)

Streaming News

53:15: It’s not even October yet but it’s close enough for Disney+/Hulu subscribers to see another increase in their subscriptions; Crunchyroll will screen the Dive in Wonderland film in select theaters November 16; Masanao Kawajiri’s original anime film Cherry and Virgin and Shingo Natsume and Madhouse’s ghost – end of night will be screened in competition during L.A.’s Animation is Film Fest; and finally, the rest of the world will get to understand what Chiikawa’s all about now that there’s an official YouTube channel and there will be a dub for the anime.

Weird News

58:31: The world’s worst kept secret on who Yuki Ikeda is has been revealed: it’s Hiroya Oku!

1:00:22: We will soon have LEGO Dragon Balls unleashed to the world, but at least for now it’s LEGO Japan; Meanwhile South Korea will have Pokémon as Spam; And if you go to your local Kura Revolving Sushi Bar in the US, you can get some Apothecary Diaries items or eat some food inspired by the franchise until the end of October.

The post TheOASG Podcast Episode 253: Weaving Our Way Into Fall…Sorta appeared first on TheOASG.

0:00: Justin and Helen once again take time out of their lives to share what they’ve been up to over the past few weeks. Helen goes over her SPX experience and gets into what in the world is happening with Tapas; Justin ended up checking out a few new J-Novel Club titles, one of which actually surprised him with how much he liked it.

News

17:11: The hosts end up discussing not one, but two lawsuits in the Japanese pop culture space — first the creator of Saint Seiya, Masami Kurumada, announcing that he has a filed a lawsuit against a number of people (including his former board director), while light novel illustrator Kanna Wakatsuki is suing a publisher (WiZH) for alleged copyright infringement on Inukami!.

21:39: The Mii-chan and Miss Yamada conversation continues over in Japan, where Autism Society Japan spoke about its anime adaptation announcement and with a long statement that they made, there was one section that both hosts believe stood out; GKIDS had a technical error occur for their Last Blossom screening in theaters, which meant those who brought tickets did not have a great experience; After a lengthy hiatus, Boichi’s The Marshal King is now back for readers.

27:59: More hiatus are occurring for series — Gachiakuta, Medalist, Hunter x Hunter, Fukakōryoku no I Love You, Oedo Fire Slayer, & Ninja vs. Gokudo. Some are more or less expected (as Togashi is routinely taking hiatuses due to his health) and others have difficult health ailments, but others is where you simply worry about the creator’s psyche (Reading up on Shinsuke Kondo, who has not posted a new chapter since March, is worrisome)

35:09: There will also be a delay for the anime finale of Bleach, which means it’ll be some time before Justin can actually reflect on the entire Bleach experience; Junket Bank was planned for this Fall season but it is now delayed due to production issues, which prompts Justin to figure out where it’ll fall on the delay scale: Like Inept Villainess? Sword of the Demon Hunter? New Saga? Or that one title that was supposed to air last Fall and there has been radio silence since?; Voice actor Kentarō Itō is currently recuperating following a brain hemorrhage and surgery after he was not feeling well and tests discovered he had symptoms of a brain hemorrhage.

41:50: Musician Kōsei Abe announced that his father, manga artist Shin’ichi Abe, died on September 4 at 76 from submandibular gland cancer; Talent agency Knockout announced that actor and voice actor Toru Shinagawa died on August 29; Both The Insipid Prince and Strongest Rearguard anime production committees announced that director and animator Yūji Yanase died on August 22 at the age of 59; and both hosts go over the loss of voice actor and ADR director Mike McFarland, who passed away at 56.

Licenses

51:11: TOKYOPOP, despite a slight issue that will be mentioned later, carried on like their world is all nice and peaceful, sharing they’ve licensed the following:

52:14: A good amount of titles were added to Square Enix’s Manga UP! service in the past few weeks:

Streaming News

53:45: Streaming service Pluto TV will add two new channels to its lineup in September, one of which reminds Justin of REMOW, the other gets Helen to wonder about the letter A and why it’s not used to better effect. Pluto will also have a couple more anime from different years added on their service as well.

Weird News

55:10: Welp, it might happen again — TOKYOPOP, despite having publishing success in the past year or so due to their focus on shorter shoujo and BL works, may go belly up due to…N-Naruto?!?!

1:01:42: Toei Animation did confirm that there has not been a license agreement for a planned Dragon Ball manga-themed theme park in France, which means many questions must arise from this news; Kyo Shirodaira and Yuri Kimura is bringing The Record of a Fallen Vampire back after 19 years; Black Bullet is also shockingly coming back, this time though it’ll be rebooted; creator Kotoko announced that Megumi Dorokawa will take over as the artist for the Fake It to Break It! I Faked Amnesia to Break off My Engagement and Now He’s All Lovey-Dovey?! manga, which is less weird but more rare for something like this to happen.

1:11:05: Normally a manga ending in Japan wouldn’t be in this section, but with Manga Diary of a Male Porn Star ending in Japan, maybe Seven Seas will finally be able to finish this series after stopping for some unknown reason; Let’s just say memecoin and Pokémon are not a great combination, and especially on X (Twitter), where security gets rougher and rougher for some users, it is disastrous.

1:18:50: And finally, there are more collaborations occurring, starting with again One Piece and SpongeBob being a thing, and now Dragon Ball Super and Burger King will also become a thing.

The post TheOASG Podcast Episode 252: Comebacks, Collabs, and Confusion appeared first on TheOASG.

0:00: The hosts of TheOASG Podcast explain what they’ve been up to over the past few weeks. For Helen, it involved reading A Witch’s Life in Mongul and watching Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia; for Justin, he describes the craziness of Anime NYC 2026.

News

32:34: Once Crunchyroll announced their changes to their store back in July, it was only a matter of time before they went the route of completely eliminating all sorts of print books from their store, short of it being an exclusive; Cool Japan was once a thing, and both Justin and Helen had to really think about the impact this initiative from the Japanese government really made following news that reportedly it will not have much funds in 2027, thus effectively ending it.

36:25: sooncha will switch publication of Yang Can’t Live Alone from Square Enix to a new publisher in Japan, which seems to have had a major impact on its English release; The Manga Mirai service will shut down later this year, which prompted both hosts to wonder how long this platform lasted (not very long); After 13 years, NHN Japan Corporation’s free manga app Comico will end service in January 2027; We will once again have a new imprint in the English publishing market very soon, and it’s a somewhat familiar name.

45:51: Coco Uzuki’s got health issues and needs to adjust her schedule, so her Fall in Love, You False Angels manga is slated to return in Kodansha’s Dessert magazine in November; Shiwasu Hoshikawa’s Bungo Stray Dogs STORM BRINGER manga will go on a long-term hiatus due to Hoshikawa’s health; and Shō Aimoto lost her brother a few weeks ago, so Kemono Jihen will go on hiatus for a bit.

47:15: Comic book and manga letterer Dave Lanphear passed away at 58 a few weeks ago; legendary voice actor Peter Cullen died at 85, according to his family to TMZ, peacefully on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, which led to a number of tributes and remembrance, not just of him as Optimus Prime, but for his role in growing Toonami thanks to all the promos he did.

Licenses

51:16: Hanashi Media (LN publisher) announced they’ve licensed the following works:

52:57: Comikey will add a good amount of Shojo manga from Hakusensha to their service…eventually; Akina’s The Viscount’s Porky Portrait: I Married the Knight My Sister Rejected, Sorinokoshi & Taichi Ōkubo’s Unwinding with the Aloof Girl at the Standing Bar, and Ato Sakurai’s If Witch, Then Which? have been added to Manga UP!, while a new simulpub is now on K MANGA: Daiki Yamazaki’s Golden Phantom

ANYC Licenses

A lot was announced at the convention, so here they all are in list form!

Kodansha (56:33): Shiori Hanatsuka’s How to Grill Our Love, Aki Iwai’s Abe-kun’s Got Me Now, Umi Shiina’s I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die, Umebachi Yamanaka’s Matcha Made in Heaven, & KUJIRA’s Changes of Heart for Kodansha Print Club.

Yen Press (1:01:48)

J-Novel Club (1:03:48)

Seven Seas (1:08:51)

Kana (1:11:41)

TOKYOPOP (1:12:41)

Dark Horse (1:14:01)

Crossed Hearts (1:14:59)

Manga Mavericks, Mahjong Pros, Omoi, Publang (1:18:48): Akahachi’s Arai-kun & Haruma-senpai, Yohei Sajita’s Midnight Robot; Nagahisa Tsukawaki’s Snap Call Kirinji; Omoi will add Momoshiro & Tomoko Mitsuki’s Love Is the Sweetest Journey, their A Snow Fox at the Northern Fort title will be released in print via Scholastic Graphix (slated for Fall 2027), they will add 45 Titan Manga titles, and will add Vegetable Sandwich from Manga Mavericks Books to their service; Publang licensed the following:

GKIDS (1:24:50): North American rights to Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust anime film and the live-action film of Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters per Second anime film

Streaming News

1:27:29: With the movie doing numbers in Japan, Amasian TV is making episodes of the Chiikawa TV series available to watch for free; The Irregular at Magic High School THE MOVIE – Yotsuba Succession Arc – will be in theaters starting November 1; after being taken off the service some months ago, 86 is now back on Crunchyroll.

1:29:40: The 3rd Mononoke film will be on Netflix September 29; RetroCrush is adding several VIZ anime distributed works to their service, from several Naruto movies to Vampire Knight; Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram premiered at Anime NYC and is now on digital storefronts — it is also notable for using the all-new English dub cast that we’ve heard from the collections on Netflix and Crunchyroll, which gets Justin to think about a survey a few ANYCs ago where a question was asked about using them or the prior studio for the films; No more Crunchyroll can be watched on your Nintendo Switch in November, for reasons that more than likely work out for both companies.

1:34:13: Let’s just say Chainsmoker Cat has gotten a bit of notoriety for a couple reasons, and now it’s new claim to fame is having the anime removed from streaming services in Hong Kong.

Weird News

1:35:17: Helen discusses the crazy situation that occurred involving Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou’s The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun, where the novel got announced to be a manga drawn by long-time BL artist Ayano Yamane and then days later got suspended for things the artist brought up involving anti-Chinese and anti-Korean sentiments on social media, meaning it’s now added to the pile of works not adapted into another medium.

1:41:26: So there is a proposed theme park project involving France and Saudi Arabia that was announced, and it was reported that a theme park is expected to be based on the Dragon Ball franchise — the problem? According to a French newspaper, the project has not received approval from the rights holders, so we got a current case of he said, she said! And someone is wrong.

1:46:17: Not anime, but all the same, Please Save My Earth is returning after decades to get a live-action work on Prime; the Maria Holic manga is back, getting a sequel after 12 years; TMS Anime announced that Baki Gaiden: Retsu Kaioh wa Isekai Tensei Shitemo Ikkō ni Kamawan is receiving a TV anime adaptation…for some reason!

1:50:20: We got some One Piece and Detective Conan collabs happening thanks to Universal Japan; Krispy Kreme collaborating with Pokémon; and yes, you can support Masako Nozawa turning 90 by buying a few things of hers, including a baseball hat depicting her from youth!

The post TheOASG Podcast Episode 251: A Flood of News Occurred at Anime NYC appeared first on TheOASG.

0:00: Justin and Helen explain what they’ve been up to for the past two weeks, though Justin brings up an anime he watched after checking out the GTO live action series — the first Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle film. Meanwhile Helen talks about something current (The World is Dancing)

News

20:20: Shogakukan recently announced their findings from their 3rd-party investigation into publisher’s Manga ONE editorial department and involvement with manga creator Shōichi Yamamoto that happened earlier this year, which is long and fairly detailed, so Justin and Helen do their best to summarize a pretty distressing situation and what this ultimately means.

28:18: A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan, which caused numerous damage and loss of life to the people in the area — this prompted organizations and people, such as The Pokémon Company and YOSHIKI to donate funds to help as much as they can; Rare for a manga to be cancelled in the manner that Yang Can’t Live Alone did, where its creator sooncha revealed that due to a breakdown in their relationship with Manga UP!, it’s now ended, and working on obtaining the rights for it to be continued in the future; the creator of Gantz and Inuyashiki, Hiroya Oku, revealed in an interview with Courrier Japon published on Tuesday that he plans to retire after he finishes his latest manga.

37:03: Ryuta Amazume announced they’ve been diagnosed with cancer, so no work on manga serialization while undergoing treatment for some time; The Boruto manga will be on a 1-month break and return in the next V-Jump issue; Dark Gathering will also go on 1-month break and return in Jump SQ’s next issue.

38:39: The Skull Dragon’s Precious Daughter is going on a very lengthy break, with an expected return in Spring 2027, as creator Ichi Yukishiro overcomes their stress situation; Miyakokasiwa’s health has worsened to where Battle in 5 Seconds will have to go on indefinite hiatus; Masamichi Sato shared that they were hospitalized for a hernia, so while focusing on recovering, the Quality Assurance in Another World manga will go on an extended hiatus.

40:40: The recent digital issue of SAG-AFTRA’s quarterly magazine shared that Canadian voice actor Michael Donovan (Ryoga Hibiki in the original Ranma ½ anime, Cye Mouri in Ronin Warriors, Master Roshi in an older dub of Dragon Ball) passed away back in March; Katsushi Murakami, who was involved in numerous anime (from Shin Tetsujin 28 to Space Adventure Cobra) and media franchises (Kamen Rider) as a mechanical and toy designer, passed away a few weeks ago at 83.

43:00: The editors for Square Enix’s Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine announced that manga artist Yōko Umezu died July 7 due to cerebral infarction — the manga she was working on with Kōta Amana, Vermeil in Gold, will end with its latest chapter.

Licenses

45:49: Shueisha launched global digital manga platform MANGA MILLION last week, which is currently hosting one million pages of translated manga from 400 titles — very ambitious effort, but as Justin and Helen discuss, how these works were brought over despite Shueisha’s insistence that no AI was used has come into question.

55:15: Nakama Press announced exclusively on ANN that they will release Yūji Terajima’s Ace of the Diamond in a 3-in-1 omnibus format, but both hosts wonder about the exclusive part of things when Volume 1 of the series has been up on retailers for months; Online comic shop Sendai Books has announced they’ve licensed Natsuko Ishitsuyo’s Amazoness Kiss and Xian Ozn’s Never Mind Come Together as their first manga releases.

59:14: KADOKAWA announced the global launch of Ryou Mizuno & STUDIO WHITE’s webtoon Record of Lodoss War: The Necromancer Queen (Queen of Death), which can be read on WEBTOON for most places; the Ocean Waves novel has now been licensed by HarperCollins, which means Justin will find out how different it is from the film next year.

1:00:40: You Midorikawa’s Transmigrated to the Northern Frontier and Majisawa’s How to Feed a Delinquent Boy has been added to Manga UP!; Yuno Yozakura and Ryōsuke Sano’s Camp Master Extraordinaire has been added to K MANGA; and we have two new simulpub additions to MANGA Plus: Sango Honda’s Finding the Invisible Star and Shintaro Tengan’s MikotoHako.

Streaming News

1:01:40: Crunchyroll (and by extension Sony Pictures) will be the main home/distributor for Makoto Shinkai’s unannounced film around the world (excluding most of Asia); Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe will be on Netflix at the end of August sub and dub; and Oceanveil is now streaming Miru Tights on their platform.

Weird News

1:03:01: The weird news is also disturbing this episode — starting with a man in Houston being charged with third-degree felony after allegedly leaving a profanity-ridden voicemail to the Governor’s Office related to anime (this weirdly though leads the hosts to learn about a site that’s actually not official, which then leads Helen to explain what happened when she brought it up on Bluesky!)

1:07:28: A woman is suing The Pokémon Company International with claims that their former engineering director allegedly hid cameras in various public bathrooms, including one in the company’s U.S. office in Bellevue — this engineer was let go following his charge of first-degree voyeurism in January. In other words, the hosts can only be disgusted at what this guy has done, and wonder how the lawyer feels about this case if they’re being honest.

1:11:00: The production committee for the recently announced Mii-chan and Miss Yamada anime issued a statement regarding criticism over the anime’s announcement and how it might affect people with intellectual and developmental disabilities — there was a surprising amount of backlash in Japan and that had led to questions to those unaware (like the two hosts) on what this manga’s really all about.

1:15:56: What will McDonald think of next to force a collaboration with (says Justin, as they paired One Piece and SpongeBob together, they’ve doing Hello Kitty & Godzilla, so what combo will they think of next?)

The post TheOASG Podcast Episode 250: Weird News is Back With a Vengeance appeared first on TheOASG.

0:00: Justin and Helen finally share what they’ve been up to over the past few weeks, though most of Helen’s thoughts revolve around Otakon this year. Justin, on the other hand, got to talk about re-watching a Japanese drama classic…and its revival!

News

26:44: Satomi U is going on maternity leave until mid-October, so her Heisei Haizan-hei ☆ Sumire-chan manga will be on a break until then; afro needs a bit of time to work on both mono and Laid-Back Camp, so they’ll be on break until further notice.

29:08: Composer Shiro Sagisu shared that his uncle and anime producer Masayasu Sagisu passed away at 93; The Twitter account for guitarist Mei Nekozuki announced from her family that she passed away.

Licenses

30:57: With it being 801 Day, we had Boys Love announcements from SuBLime and Seven Seas:

32:46: Titan Manga announced exclusively on ANN that they’ve licensed Yoshikazu Kuwajima & Takahiro Seguchi’s LastBoss LoveDeath; Cross Infinite World will be bringing over 4 light novels:

33:55: A Sonic manga is now available to be read thanks to IDW; K MANGA has added Yū Taguchi’s Dazzling Spring Days, meanwhile Manga UP! has added a few works this past week; The Banana Fish turnaround continues as Anime Limited will release the anime on home media next year.

36:54: Justin and Helen cover the many announcements at SDCC and Otakon combined, and yes, after discussing Marvel’s new partnership with KADOKAWA and Akira Toriyama being inducted into the Eisner’s HOF, it was a good amount from an assortment of pubs:

Yen Press: (38:55) Taiga Hattori & Rin Kawachi’s Let’s Begin, a Battle Without the Hero (Yen On), yononaka’s The Weakling Who Died a Million Times (Yen On), Nanaki Ichinose, Sango Sansan, & Noco Sugimachi’s The Dragon Prince’s Ill-Mated Betrothal, Mamoru Hosoda’s Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki (Yen Audio), Uesu & Minori Chigusa’s Watching the Angel Sleep, Drowning in Bed Together (Yen On), Teruya’s Sharkmaid of the Shore, Akinoko’s The Deskmate Cat and the Love Novice, Yatsuki Wakatsu, Nina Akabane, & Taku Haruno’s The Villainesses Are Unwavering, Tomato Tri’s Disenchantment Camera, Zoukoujo’s Don’t Talk to Me, Sōichirō Yamamoto’s Mane Mane Nichi Nichi: Baseball Manager Everyday, Katsuwo’s #ImLookingForZombies: The Complete Omnibus, Haru Yuuki’s My First Love With You Again, Tachibana Higuchi’s Champignon Witch
Kodansha: (42:34) Hamuhamu’s The Cat and Dog’s Nine-Tailed Lives, Izu & Hagane’s Kraken Mare, Kenji Tsurubuchi & Konata’s Meaheim, yoruhashi’s Rega in the Sleeping Forest, Shizuku Torii’s I Love You, Please Dump Me, toreta’s I Loved Him First!, Shuichi Shigeno’s Subaru and Subaru; Box Set of Saka Mikami’s The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity; re-announced Gamon Sakurai’s The POOL (first announced at SDCC 2024)
UDON & Manga Mavericks Books: (44:36) Hiromi Matsuo’s Department Store Waltz and Rondo: The Ladies’ Graphic Magazine (both all-color manga and illustration book), Belles Ruelles (anthology manga series); Rin Kawano’s Our Insignificant Justice, launch of the Independent Manga Alliance
Mahjong Pros & Drawn and Quarterly: (48:30) Hiromi Aoyama &, Kazutoshi Yamane’s Bird: Mahjong’s Deadliest vs The Master Illusionist, Yume Yamaguchi & Yadokugaeru’s Akayoroshi: Hanafuda Shadow Games; Shigeo Ito’s Marmalade Princess, Sakaguchi Ango & Kondō Yōko’s One Woman and the War, Hinako Sugiura’s Lady Hokusai
Omoi & Manga Mavericks Books at Otakon: (51:35) 54 Kodansha titles will be added to their service in the coming weeks as volume purchases; Shinji Wada’s Delinquent Detective: Sukeban Deka; Zenzo’s “Oni King” one-shot manga & Roid manga, Ippan Nakamura’s Town Walking With Ghost Dog
AnimEigo & Discotek: (56:15) Antique Bakery, Dog of Flanders: The Movie, ReLIFE, Ruin Explorers: Fam & Ihrie, Welcome to Irabu’s Office; Digimon Frontier, Pani Poni Dash!, Lupin III: Part II & Lupin III: Zenigata and the 2 Lupins, Outlanders, Samurai Pizza Cats, Toradora!, The Big O, Argento Soma, Tales of the Abyss, Infinite Ryvius, Memories, Patlabor TV & the Patlabor movies, Penguindrum, Digimon Movies Collection 3

Streaming News

1:01:14: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Tears of the Azure Sea, Assassination Classroom the Movie: Our Time, & Kamisama Kiss OADs have been added to Crunchyroll; but while CR added some anime, they’ve also taken away some anime too.

1:05:20: Netflix will stream the latest Gintama movie later this month; the remaining FBI Intervention episodes of Detective Conan are now on Netflix and Crunchyroll.

1:06:01: Oceanveil has added and will add more anime that are not 18+ to their service, with Level E being one title on their platform now. Helen then brings up something about DRAMAtical Murder that makes Justin freeze for all eternity.

1:07:44: Clockwork Girl will be made available for digital purchase by Aniplex in September; Neon Genesis Evangelion, Evangelion: Death (True)², & The End of Evangelion will be available on the Criterion Channel the first day of September; and Though Am I an Inept Villainess premiered with its English dub July 26…let’s just say it took some turns here and there before it came out!

The post TheOASG Podcast Episode 249: W-What’s Actually Happening in DRAMAtical Murder??? appeared first on TheOASG.

0:00: In a packed episode of TheOASG Podcast, Justin and Helen first kick things off with the news of Crunchyroll announcing that their store can only be accessed by Mega and Ultimate subscribers starting in August, and both hosts explain the ramifications of this decision moving forward.

17:41: Anime International Company (AIC) has won their civil suit against AIC Rights and producer Yoshikazu Maeda, which may be worth monitoring considering the series they’re involved with; Helen and Justin discuss the former CEO of Crunchyroll launching a new B2B marketplace for anime licensing and if it can actually make an impact in the industry.

26:00: Sumi Eno announced that the After God manga will take a break following its latest chapter releases; Negi Haruba needs to recuperate until sometime in August due to his health, so Go! Go! Loser Ranger! will be on hiatus until then.

26:51: The voice of Fujiko Mine in the first Lupin the 3rd TV anime series, Yukiko Nikaido, passed away at 87 due to old age; Book author and illustrator (Kiki’s Delivery Service) Akiko Hayashi died of pneumonia on July 1 in a hospital in Nagano prefecture at 81; The official X/Twitter account for Kadokawa’s Aokishi magazine revealed that manga creator Ryoichiro Kezuka died in late May.

Licenses

29:12: While Helen has a grand time calming down her dogs due to World Cup shenanigans, Justin talks about a few licenses that did happen in the last few weeks, starting with Seven Seas surprising everyone by announcing they’ve licensed Kazuo Umezz’s Ultraman on a Friday; Neguse Okita’s Soon, You’ll Paint Your Heart Out and Tabireco’s Baby Road Trippers have been added to MANGA Plus; Ichiro Sakaki, Ryohei Yamauchi & Hiyori Asahikawa’s Trained to be the Ultimate Anti-magic Spellblade, Ryō Hiromatsu & Osamu Kozuki’s Uglymug, Epicfighter SSS, & Kanade Ezaki’s AGERECO! Getting Into the Voice Acting Spirit! is now on Manga UP!.

30:57: And while not technically licenses, this occurred during the very busy Anime Expo weekend so this did not get covered: Akimi Yoshida’s Banana Fish and Hisaya Nakajo’s Hana-Kimi have been added to VIZ Manga’s library — with VIZ finally having a Hakusensha title on their service, does this mean Yona of the Dawn has a chance? (Maybe not this year though)

Streaming News

32:48: Crusher Joe, Crusher Joe: A Trap of the Frozen Jail, Crusher Joe: The Final Weapon ASH, Haré+Guu Deluxe, Haré+Guu FINAL, and Simoun are now on the latest service now streaming anime, Darkroom; Hyakushō Kizoku – The Farmer’s Days and 500000000 years button is now on RetroCrush; and apparently this was announced at Anime Expo, but Strange: Junji Ito’s Tales for Sleepless Nights will stream on the HBO Max service internationally this fall.

36:18: Let’s just say Justin (and especially Helen) are overwhelmed with choices for the summer anime season, which is packed with some seemingly quality looking works. In fact it’s so packed that Justin even had to lament the works he was interested in but just can’t watch due to time (37:28). Helen has checked out a few anime (Sparks of Tomorrow and BANG DREAM Yume∞Mita among the new shows), but Justin has a lot of anime to discuss — from what he surprisingly did not enjoy to those he’s having a good time with to the three shows that stand alone for him this season (1:36:17: Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, Iron Wok Jan!, Though I Am an Inept Villainess)

Weird News

1:58:25: Let’s just say you certainly want your fans to buy the magazine that holds the final chapter of the series you like — but for Blue Box fans, there was some trouble getting that WSJ issue due to One Piece and that series celebrating its 29th anniversary!

2:00:09: There is apparently a need for more Tenchi, if the Kickstarter that has succeeded means anything; Yes Live-action Hollywood Naruto is a go, and naturally the hosts wonder if it’ll be any good.

2:02:51: Normally Banana Fish streaming on Netflix next month after the rights expired on Prime Video would belong in the streaming news section…but this getting a dub just a year after the AI dub hilarity last year on Prime makes this turnaround pretty wild!

The post TheOASG Podcast Episode 248: Hot Historic Anime Summer appeared first on TheOASG.

0:00: On a very packed episode of TheOASG Podcast, Justin and Helen get straight into the news of the past few weeks — and that means licenses before AX! From Kodama Tales and Crossed Hearts‘ licensing week, Abrams Kana acquiring an astrology work, Bubbles Zine bringing over a Suehiro Maruo work, and to GKIDS bringing an anime film to home media, it was a fair number of works announced…

…and then came Anime Expo 2026.

We can say a LOT of publishers had a LOT of announcements: Come take a gander at everything these companies acquired:

J-Novel Club (6:30:)

Seven Seas (12:45:)

Kodansha (15:53:)

Yen Press (20:11:)

Square Enix Manga & Books (23:01:)

TOKYOPOP & Dark Horse (24:35:)

Manga Mavericks Books & Omoi (25:42:)

BluPetal, Mahjong Pros, KUMA (27:23:)

30:40: For at least the two hosts here (Sword of Paros is also a strong contender, but for Justin at least this is his favorite of AX), the best announcement out of AX weekend was Inklore — probably the last or at least second to last company anyone would’ve picked to do so — saying they licensed Tomoko Yamashita’s Ikoku Nikki. This apparently set Helen’s Bluesky timeline on fire once news was posted there, and both hosts discuss some background details involving this manga over the past few months.

Ink Pop, Ize Press, AnimEigo (33:32:)

Streaming News

37:07: Finally, after making sure they squeezed every single penny they could by having it in theaters, the Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle film will be streaming on Crunchyroll towards the end of July; Crunchyroll will also have theater screenings of Akira in 4K on September 4

37:54: Evangelion: Death (True)² & Rebirth will screen on July 21 and The End of Evangelion will screen on July 22 thanks to GKIDS; REMOW will stream My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren’t Wicked on the “It’s Anime” YouTube channel soon.

38:57: Justin and Helen take no breaks and hop right into wrapping up the Spring anime season, which featured a good amount of standouts (Witch Hat Atelier, Ramparts of Ice, Dorohedoro S2) and some mostly solid works (An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess, Always a Catch, Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku!?).

Weird News

1:24:50: Welp, this section is the all industries are over, as AI this and AI that has taken over the minds of people who ultimately are trying to get away with being cheap — first with this anime done by an AI animation company that looks familiar in some cases if you stare long enough; then you have the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry considering providing subsidies of 11.5 billion yen (about US$71 million) to 15 eligible media companies aiming to increase overseas sales — the subsidies would aim to encourage the companies to utilize generative AI to translate their works. Welp again!

1:34:59: It’s 2026 and we have The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All getting a pretty superb adaptation — from how it looks to them having Dave Grohl say that Kurt Cobain would have loved Green Yuri, which got Helen to know all about Kurt Cobain; We also have Bamco (Filmworks and Pictures) having to apologize for making an unauthorized references to a number of works — in particular Attack on Titan — in their Sgt. Frog anime film.

1:38:04: Many questions have arisen with the announcement of Netflix working on a live-action Persona TV series, and one of them has Justin wondering why anyone let this be announced at all.

The post TheOASG Podcast Episode 247: The July Double-Header appeared first on TheOASG.

0:00: Justin and Helen explain what they’ve been up to over the past two weeks, from checking out Kirio Fan Club in manga form for Justin to Helen giving A Hundred Scenes of Awajima a shot.

News

9:16: Let’s just say Satoru Kuwabara is in some deep, deep trouble after reports of alleged affairs for at least the past 2 years, leading to him resigning as music producer for Ensemble Stars! and further announcements for any other projects and his band coming in the near future.

11:42: Doraemon will make another attempt to break through internationally! TV Asahi is working with distributor CAKE to release the iconic Japanese franchise; there will be no more Harlequin Original magazine, as that ended publication with this year’s July issue.

15:42: Shotan’s You are Ms. Servant resumed serialization on June 21 following its hiatus from February; Kazue Kato’s Blue Exorcist will return in July following its hiatus to properly prepare for the final chapter; Hunter x Hunter will be back in WSJ, as Yoshihiro Togashi’s able to get some chapters ready for the magazine; Sakaomi Yuzaki’s She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat after two years on hiatus; and Ayumi Ishii’s Nobunaga Concerto will resume with the first new chapter in three years (and also end in three chapters), starting July 10.

19:20: It will be some time before Norishiro-chan and Yukiji Setsuda’s The Stunned Hero and the Assassin Princesses will return as Setsuda needs a break; It will be at least until August before Takeru Hokazono can resume Kagarabachi, as following numerous ailments this year and after a discussion, the manga will be on the shelf while he recovers.

21:52: It was announced last week that manga creator Keiko Okamoto passed away May 6 due to a cerebral hemorrhage; chief director of the long-running Sazae-san franchise, Hiromitsu Morita, passed away June 4; and TMZ reported on Wednesday that actress Daveigh Chase, well known for being the voice of Lilo in Lilo and Stitch but for anime the voice of Chihiro in Spirited Away, died at 35 due to meningitis and a blood infection, which caused septic issues.

Licenses

27:12: Something funny happened on June 12 that basically saw VIZ and Yen Press have social media announcements at the same time (Helen looks at VIZ however for not sending posts on Bluesky). Here’s what VIZ licensed for Spring 2027:

38:48: Here’s what Yen Press announced:

42:49: We have two new SuBLime announcements (Mayuharu’s Bursting with Love & Fumi Tsuyuhisa’s Palace of the Omega: A Snowflower’s Tale); Scholastic confirmed with ANN on Friday that its Graphix imprint is publishing Yūsuke Saitoh’s Chuck and the Girl manga.

44:07: Yukiaki Kurando & Wooma’s Kiss Me With Your Face has been added to VIZ Manga; Shonen Jump and MANGA Plus have added Chiyoko Maruume & Tokegoro’s Twilight Blade; Manga UP! has added Sumu Kamiyama’s Haimiya is Scary Cute, Haru Ogawa’s Venus in December, & Kiri Wazawa’s Paranormal Agent Adashino; K MANGA is simulpubbing Daisaku Tsuru’s Protocol Ryugu and has added Ōnijōroku’s Twisted Devotion to their service; Omoi has licensed Tsukasa Mikuni, Tawa Akeno, & Sochu’s A Snow Fox at the Northern Fort.

45:35: And Seven Seas’ Wonderful Wednesdays is back!…with not really licenses (sorta)!

Streaming News

46:13: Crunchyroll is now streaming the Zombie Land Saga: Yumeginga Paradise anime film, the Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A Lonely Dragon Wants to be Loved anime film, and the Given: Moments in Life OVA; we have a few Hulu dubs announced, which includes Undead Unluck: Winter Arc special now having an English dub release date.

48:35: GKIDS nabs another film for premiering in theaters in cocoon — which Helen had to note the timing of them announcing it the same day the manga came out; GKIDS will screen Baku Kinoshita and writer Kadzuya Konomoto’s anime film The Last Blossom at the end of August; Ninja Scroll will see a limited North American theatrical release (New 4K restoration) from HIDIVE in October; and Korean animated film Your Letter will screen in theaters August 17.

Weird News

50:42: Once again the U.S. administration draws the ire of a country thanks to low quality AI slop, and this time Naruto’s involved.

52:12: While Wistoria and Magical Sisters Lulutto Lilly works due to both works having cats and them both airing in the same season, Justin had to note this as also Bandai Namco works crossing over as both of these have involvement from them; 247 Comics is launching a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for a 20th Anniversary Collection of Misaho Kujiradou’s Princess Ai manga, which means DJ Milky is back!

55:48: Precure doing a poll for the midseason Precure is interesting — who is Cure Eclair out of the four highlighted? We must guess; and once again, we have another old properly getting an anime adaptation (Dengeki Daisy) which has Helen fearing for it due to age-gap being part of his premise to Justin actually being a bit cynical about all these manga from years ago — and well after they’ve ended — getting an anime adaptation.

The post TheOASG Podcast Episode 246: Case Closed? No, Case OBLITERATED! appeared first on TheOASG.

0:00: The two hosts of TheOASG Podcast return once again to talk about what they’ve been up to over the past few weeks, which involves Justin talking about the Star Detective Precure and Detective Conan collaboration and Helen talking Shonen Jump catchup, Bookworm Part 3, and Ramparts of Ice!

News

23:02: Dark Horse staff recently formed a union (Dark Horse Workers United), and the company has recognized it — the hosts will see how negotiations will go moving forward; Japanese VA Kenjirō Tsuda filed a lawsuit against the operator of the video-sharing app TikTok for posting videos that allegedly used AI (artificial intelligence) to imitate his voice without permission, and it will be something to monitor moving forward.

29:46: Let’s just say voice actor Kazuki Atsumi might have had a future in the talent industry, but after his contract was terminated by his agency following a report of him being arrested for suspected sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl, the future ain’t looking great for him; meanwhile One-Punch Man artist Yūsuke Murata decided he had to comment on a very wild post about Pakistani Britons, and the comment was so bad that people in many languages criticized him.

34:44: Animator and character designer Kunihiko Hamada shared that he is no longer working at Madhouse — the two hosts discuss Madhouse letting him go after 35 years and how they let him go; Justin and Helen have questions and some concerns on Aki Sora manga creator Masahiro Itosugi saying he has banned by Google while uploading older works to Google Drive.

39:39: A few Japanese magazines will be ending soon or sometime this year; the Captain Tsubasa: Rising Sun Finals manga will enter a hiatus following the 100th chapter; Nippon Sangoku will go on hiatus as creator Ikka Matsuki recovers from steroid withdrawal syndrome; and Eiji Hashimoto announced they will temporary switch to a triweekly schedule for Rappa: Yankee Ninpū Chō after a two-week hiatus due to numerous ailments he’s going through right now.

44:43: Galaxy Express 999 lyricist Jun Hashimoto sadly passed away in a Tokyo hospital at 86 due to liver cirrhosis; Screenwriter Takao Koyama posted on X/Twitter a few weeks ago that scriptwriter Hiroyuki Kawasaki had died on January 23 at 60 years old; and Japanese film director and special effects artist Yoshihiro Nishimura died at 59 — Variety reported that Nishimura had been in the hospital for nearly two weeks fighting a liver disease.

Licenses

47:37: Another Taiyo Matsumoto manga has been licensed — but not by VIZ, by Manga Mavericks Books instead!; Aloha Comics announced they’ve licensed Ikuno Tajima’s After Märchen (Ever After in English) as their first ever manga license; K MANGA added a few new titles to its service; and so did Manga UP!; Kogattuo & Ichika Kino’s World Wide Web MIKO! has been added to MANGA Plus.

51:21: Not new licenses, but might as well be considering some of these titles have been out of print for a long while! Look out for a couple Jiro Taniguchi titles, Hideo Azuma’s Disappearance Diary, and Kiriko Nananan’s Blue at some point this year; And with Otakon happening next month, Discotek announced a couple titles ahead of it, including the next entry of Digimon for them (Tamers) and the Hana Yori Dango anime.

Streaming News

53:00: GKIDS acquired the North American theatrical rights for Adolescence of Utena and will screen the movie in Japanese with English subtitles in US theaters June 21-22, which has Helen in a pickle; JUJUTSU KAISEN Hidden Inventory / Premature Death compilation film and English dubs for Given: Hiiragi mix and Given The Movie: To the Sea, and the Bean Counter OVA are now on Crunchyroll.

55:49: HIDIVE has announced their comings and goings from the service this month, from the Heavy Metal L-Gaim TV anime and OVAs to The Life of Budori Gusuko being added, while Get Backers, Humanity Has Declined, Mayo Chiki!, and Wasteful Days of High School Girl anime are leaving HIDIVE on June 30; premieres of the Cherry and Virgin film and the Sekiro: No Defeat anime will happen at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

58:34: And yes, Conan Cinema Saturdays has returned this summer…which means Justin will just be vibing and getting these movies views instead of watching most of them properly this year!

Weird News

1:00:25: Osaka’s holding an exhibition of 17th Century Dutch masterpieces, and it’s set to take place at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka between August 21 to September 27. Somehow, Frieren and Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is a part of it as a crossover, and Helen had a great story to tell involving earrings and which one it needs to go on for this rabbit, but found out that those without a Bluesky account can’t see it. Guess who found this out mid-podcast?

1:03:43: We will now have Baki’s dad in Tekken 8, meaning these anime/manga characters appearing in fighting games has gone up somehow.

1:05:19: Usually we put a manga getting a US live action in this section because again, these normally don’t work out very well — somehow it’s that and weird because it’s one of most unlikeliest manga to get a US live-action series…it’s based off a Josei manga series!

The post TheOASG Podcast Episode 245: Friends is a Josei Live-Action TV Series appeared first on TheOASG.