Upcoming Reviews: A Little Light Reading

I feel bad for not posting more regularly - or with more reviews! With school and work taking over my free time . . . well, I can make excuses as much as I can, but they are still excuses.

Since I don't have any solid posts coming into view yet, I thought I'd update y'all on what reviews are coming up sooner than later. Good news: it's all manga! And all manga readily available in English. Even a bit of BL for my fellow fujoshi!

(Although at this rate, Kickheart and the first Little Witch Academia OVA will be reviewed in short time as well. As well as the Accel World EX OVAs - after starting Sword Art Online through it being aired on Toonami, I've really started to miss Accel's Kuroyukihime and Hiroyuki, who live in the same 'verse as SAO's Asuna and Kirito.)

• Library Wars volume 10 by Kiiro Yumi and Hiro Arikawa
• Rohan at the Louvre by Hirohiko Araki
• Genshiken Season 2: volume 1 by Shimoku Kio
• Attack on Titan volume 2 & 3 by Hajime Isayama
• Off*Beat volume 1 & 2 by Jen Lee Quick
• Barbara by Osamu Tezuka

Of course, if you have any recs for manga I should be reading, feel free to drop them in the comments!

Kill la Kill PV Now Online

I don't usually say if I'm going to blog about an anime series months before it airs, but it's a safe bet I'll be watching and blogging about Kill la Kill, the first original production from the Trigger studio. Kill la Kill is scheduled to start airing October of this year. 

It looks like a hell of a good time, full of action and groovy artwork. People are already calling it 'Gurren Lagann 2.0', probably spurred in part by the involvement of Hiroyuki Imaishi, director of the TTGL anime series. The Kill la Kill anime has already been licensed by Aniplex. It seems very likely that Crunchyroll will simulcast it, although no such announcement has been made.

 

Hat tip to Crunchyroll for the video!

License Line: Saint Tail Steps In

What is License Line? Put simply, it's a semi-regular feature on Nagareboshi Reviews in which yours truly posts about a certain anime/manga series that truly, desperately needs to be licensed and put on my shelves ASAP - from the obscure but well-deserving manga to the stream worthy but not yet DVD licensed anime.

At Japan Expo 2013, Viz Media did its usual release of licenses, both anime and manga. At their Shojo Beat panel, one of their license announcements was of a series already familiar to English readers: Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, an Arina Tanemura series previously published by the now-defunct CMX. Viz pretty much has become the authority on Tanemura's manga past and present.

But why should Maron and company be the only magical thieves who get a license rescue these days? There's another series, a Tokyopop series from the early days, that is worth getting a second look. This is Mysterious Thief Saint Tail/怪盗セセイント・テールby manga-ka Megumi Tachikawa, also known as Saint Tail to U.S. readers. Tokyopop marketed it as Robin Hood meets Sailor Moon, which isn't a bad comparison, but that might be selling the series short.

A Crime Within The Walls: Sword Art Online 5

A player has been killed inside the safe zone and not by the known means. Asuna and Kirito take it upon themselves to find out how and why this is happening. (Source: Crunchyroll)

Spoiler warning: Review contains spoilers for the first five episodes of Sword Art Online. Please, no spoilers beyond the Toonami broadcast!

Let's just call this fifth episode of Sword Art Online for what it is: the one in which Kirito is immensely clueless, and Asuna is not that better off. "Why do you say that, Sarah?" cry SAO stans across the country. Gosh, could it be because Kirito makes a series of decisions that make no sense and end in tragedy and stupidity for everyone involved? Yeah, I'll say that's it. And Asuna gladly tags along for the ride down the rabbit hole. Apparently, player killers make everyone lose their mind in one way or another.

News: Yen Press Makes Reki Kawahara Fans Happy

It feels like just a few days ago, I was gripping about the lack of Sword Art Online print material available in English - and I know that last year, I was saying the same about Accel World's source material. Funnily enough, the one manga company I didn't mention has come in and saved us from a Kawahara-lacking existence. Thank you, Yen Press! Should I start sending them Christmas cards now? Ones with Kuroyukihime on them?

Ahem. So, while at Japan Expo, Yen Press dropped a few license acquisitions onto their eager readers, including another Madoka Magica manga and - yes! - the manga for Sword Art Online as well as the light novels for Sword Art Online and Accel World. Considering that light novels aren't exactly big sellers in North America, this is truly a great sign from Yen Press that they have faith in SAO/Accel World fans to support their favorite series with their wallets.

(And speaking of Yen Press' light novels, pick up Spice & Wolf and Kieli while you're pre-ordering Reki Kawahara's works! Let Yen Press know otaku will buy light novels so they'll license more series! Hey, you do want Durarara!! light novels - right?)

You can find release dates of the SAO/Accel World books at the ANN article. Sorry, nothing is coming out until 2014!