Author: Anime23

Manga launched in 2010 as part of MSV-R design project

Series premieres on September 28

Netflix began streaming on Thursday a teaser trailer for Castlevania: Nocturne, the spinoff series of Frederator Studios‘ Castlevania animated series:

The series will premiere on September 28.

The new series will star Richter Belmont (a descendant of the original show’s protagonists Sypha and Trevor) and Maria Renard. The series will be set in France during the French Revolution in 1792. Netflix teases that the series will be a “never before seen origin story” for Richter.

Richter and Maria are protagonists in the Castlevania: Rondo of Blood game, and they also appear in other games in the series including Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Kevin Kolde is the showrunner, and Clive Bradley is credited as the creator and writer. Project 51 Productions is producing the series with production services by Powerhouse Animation.

Entertainment news website Deadline reported in April 2021 that Netflix was eyeing a new series set in the same universe with a new cast of characters. The original series’ executive producer Kevin Kolde, director Sam Deats, and assistant director Adam Deats revealed in June 2021 that the spinoff series was in the works.

Netflix streamed the fourth season of the original series in May 2021. The season had 10 episodes.

The first four-episode season premiered worldwide on Netflix in July 2017. The second eight-episode season premiered worldwide on Netflix in October 2018. Viz Media has released the series on home video. The third season premiered in March 2020 with 10 episodes.

Netflix describes the series:

A vampire hunter fights to save a besieged city from an army of otherworldly beasts controlled by Dracula himself. Inspired by the classic video games.

Sam Deats directed the series, Warren Ellis was the writer and executive producer, and other executive producers include Fred Seibert, Kevin Kolde, and Adi Shankar.

The show’s English cast stars:

The Japanese dub cast stars Ryotaro Okiayu, Shinichiro Miki, Naoya Uchida, and Ayaka Shimoyamada.

Source: Email correspondence

The official website for Tokubetsuhen Hibike! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest, Kyoto Animation‘s theatrical anime of the “Ensemble Concert” arc of its Sound! Euphonium anime, revealed on Thursday that theatergoers to the film from August 4-10 will receive a pamphlet with one of three short stories from original light novel author Ayano Takeda.

The short story that theatergoers receive is random, and the pamphlets are limited in number. The short stories center on Kumiko and Reina; Hazuki, Sapphire, and Tsubame; and Natsuki and Kanade. The pamphlets are each a total of 12 pages in length and also feature specially drawn illustrations.

The franchise’s first new sequel anime in four years will open in Japan on August 4 in 74 theaters.

Kyoto Animation previously teased that the “Ensemble Concert” arc would get a “medium-length” anime (longer than a short, shorter than a feature). The anime will have both theatrical screenings and a Blu-ray Disc release.

Tatsuya Ishihara is returning to direct the anime at Kyoto Animation. Taichi Ogawa is the assistant director, Jukki Hanada is writing the script, Shoko Ikeda is designing the characters, Kazumi Ikeda is the chief animation director, and Akito Matsuda is composing the music. TRUE performs the film’s theme song “Ensemble.” Ayaka Ohashi voices the character Tsubame Kamaya in the film.

Kyoto Animation‘s adaptation of Kumiko’s third year in high school will air in 2024.

Original light novel author Ayano Takeda published the story of Kumiko’s third year in high school in two novel volumes. The first volume shipped in April 2019 and the second volume shipped in June 2019.

Note: The next paragraph contains spoilers for the novels.

In the novels, the band once again focuses on getting gold at Nationals. Kumiko is the new band president, with her ex-boyfriend Shuuichi Tsukamaoto as vice president, and Reina Kousaka as the drum major. As with the previous year, new first years enter the band with their own quirks, chief among them being Maya Kuroe, a euphonium player from Seira Girls School. Maya is a formidable presence in the school competition circuit, and Sapphire’s former school.

The first 13-episode television anime series for the franchise premiered in April 2015. The anime inspired the Gekijō-ban Hibike! Euphonium: Kitauji Kōkō Suisōgaku-Bu e Yōkoso “flashback” film in April 2016. The 13-episode Sound! Euphonium 2 sequel series premiered in October 2016. The sequel series inspired the Gekijō-ban Hibike! Euphonium: Todoketai Melody compilation film in September 2017.

The Liz and the Blue Bird film centering on Mizore Yoroizuka and Nozomi Kasaki opened in Japan in April 2018. Sound! Euphonium The Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day opened in Japan in April 2019. The film follows Kumiko as a second-year student.

Sources: Sound! Euphonium anime’s website, Comic Natalie

The staff for Mari Okada and MAPPA‘s original anime film Maboroshi (Alice to Therese no Maboroshi Kōjō, or literally, Alice and Therese’s Illusory Factory) debuts its full trailer on Wednesday. The trailer previews Miyuki Nakajima‘s theme song “Shin-on” (Heartbeat), and it also confirms the characters for more cast members (previously revealed in a poster visual last Friday):

The newly confirmed cast members and their roles include:

The film will premiere on September 15, and will star Junya Enoki as 14-year-old protagonist Masamune Kikuiri, Reina Ueda as Masamune’s classmate Atsumi Sagami, and Misaki Kuno as the mysterious girl Itsumi (character name spellings are not confirmed). The film also stars:

The film centers on third-year middle school student Masamune, who lives in a town where time has stopped because a sudden explosion at a steelworks factory has sealed off all exits to the town. In order to hopefully one day return to normal, the residents of the town are forbidden from changing, and they live out their gloomy everyday lives. Masamune’s enigmatic classmate Atsumi leads him one day to the fifth blast furnace of the steelworks factory, and there they meet a girl who is wild like a wolf and who cannot talk. The meeting of Masamune and these two girls upsets the balance of the world. The unstoppable “love impulse” of the boys and girls who are tired of their everyday lives begins to destroy the world.

Okada is writing and directing the film, which MAPPA originally announced in 2021. Okada is also credited with the original work. Okada also wrote a novel of the film that Kadokawa Bunko released on June 13.

Tadashi Hiramatsu is serving as the assistant director, and Yuriko Ishii (Another, Persona -trinity soul-) is designing the characters and serving as chief animation director. Kazuki Higashiji (Angel Beats!, Hanasaku Iroha – Blossoms for Tomorrow, The Piano Forest) is directing the art. All of the above animators collaborated on Okada’s Maquia – When the Promised Flower Blooms film. Masaru Yokoyama (Her Blue Sky, Horimiya) is composing the music. Warner Bros. is distributing the film.

Singer-songwriter Miyuki Nakajima is performing the film’s theme song titled “Shin-on” (Heartbeat). This is the first time that the veteran singer has performed a theme song for any anime or game. (Nakajima’s songs have appeared in other anime’s soundtracks, and she wrote songs for Cosmowarrior Zero and Space Battleship Yamato 2199 for other singers.) Okada personally asked Nakajima for the theme song last fall. At first, Nakajima wondered about the request since she knows little about anime or games. However, Nakajima became convinced after reading Okada’s script, and created the song specifically for the film.

Source: Press release

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.

One crucial scene in this episode feeds directly into the series’ endgame. It’s likely not the one you think, but trust me that it’s very significant. Of course, it pales in comparison to virtually every scene with Maalo the little armadillo (armadillian?) – can we all agree that anyone who would hurt him must be dealt with severely? He even manages to charm the prickly Ilya, which is no small feat.

Ilya’s encounter with Maalo is more than just an excuse for Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts to cram cuteness into our eyeballs. Ilya has harbored a hatred for beastkind since his family’s deaths at their hands, and he’s allowed himself to become convinced that all beasts are human-murdering scum. When he hears that children are being kidnapped by beastkind, he immediately heads out to take care of the problem, only to discover that it’s beast kids being kidnapped by humans. To say that this is an uncomfortable realization would be an understatement, and Ilya is utterly unprepared for Maalo to be like any other child. His previous hatreds and assumptions are tested in the face of Maalo’s charm, politeness, and trust. It’s a close call, but when Ilya realizes that Maalo’s cries for help sound just like his deceased little sister’s, it all comes home to him. Hatred doesn’t help anything; it just begets more hatred. Maalo doesn’t care that Ilya is a human; he only knows that Ilya saved him and is leading him home. When Ilya understands this, he turns around and does the right thing. It isn’t a complete surrender of his biases because this show understands that such deep-seated prejudice doesn’t just vanish overnight. But it’s a step in the right direction and a reinforcement of what Sariphi asked him to consider: that beasts are just as human (for lack of a better word) as humans. “They look different” isn’t a valid excuse for hatred.

That’s something that Anubis could stand to learn, although he’s getting better. He’s still not thrilled with Sari’s presence or her weird little friend group, but he’s gotten used to them, and that’s a pretty big step for him. It’s Lante who points out how odd Sariphi’s situation is: she’s a human marrying the beast king, her best friend is an alligator, her helpers are cyclopes, and her guard captain is a hyena. None of it makes sense on the surface, but once you get closer to her group, it all makes perfect sense. Everyone has something to contribute to the rest, and Sari’s willing acceptance of that makes everything work.

Lante has quickly become an excellent addition to the team, and I’m not just saying that because I love how his tongue is often out of his mouth, just like my dog Max. (Max has no teeth. The vet calls him “sideways tongue boy.”) This week he steps in to help both Sari and Amit when Jormungand breaks Amit’s heart by returning the amulet she made him; he tries to explain what might be going through Jor’s head. When that doesn’t fully work, he challenges the other man to a duel, not because he desperately wants to fight him (although he enjoys it), but because he wants Sari and Amit to feel better about the situation. Amit may not want to see Jor get hurt, but she needs to see that there’s more than a perceived rejection going on, and Lante does help with that.

The group will need to be close-knit for what’s to come. It looks like there’s something very like a rebellion brewing, and even Anubis’ careful machinations and Leonhart’s desire to do what’s right are going to need a little help if everyone is going to come out unscathed.

Rating:

Sacrificial Princess & the King of Beasts is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.