This week in Anime News: Blue Exorcist and… Mameshiba!?!
First in this week’s update: The highly anticipated Blue Exorcist is coming to you very soon! Just four days after its Japanese premier on Aniplex (delayed in release due to the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami), it will stream on the Viz Anime Website on Wednesday April 20th. Viz released the plot synopsis as follows, and fans will note that this will probably be a pretty close adaptation of the manga series:
The new action series (which will air subtitled since it’s only four days following its Japanese premier) follows Rin and his twin brother Yukio. Raised by an eminent priest, Rin one day discovers that things are not what they seem – his biological father is actually Satan! (Yeah, that seems like one of those things that you probably don’t want.) Rin vows to buck his fate and defeat his own father, and he enters True Cross Academy to train to become an exorcist… Can Rin fight off demons, and keep his infernal bloodline a secret? (The answer in anime is almost always “No,” so tune in for complicated consequences!) It won’t be easy, especially when drawing his father’s sword releases the demonic power within him!
After reading the synopsis, I can’t help but think about how much I really enjoyed watching Ghost Hunt. Exorcist themed anime have been pretty popular in the past few years, and I saw a few people in the Japanese cosplaying circuit as exorcist-theme characters at Layers Paradise in Tokyo last year.
Also, I’d like to bring up that Viz Anime has made a really smart decision to stream the series only four days following its Japanese premier. A few studios have been doing this a lot more lately, and honestly I think it’s a really smart decision on their part. Certainly it will cut down on illegal streaming sites at least some, and people will be more likely to go straight to the production company to watch the series. If a company only makes one season (or a few episodes) available on sites like Netflix, Hulu, and vizanime.com, they’ll be able to get the word out about their subsequent DVD and Blu Ray releases.
So go check it out on April 20th! It’s streaming for free on www.vizanime.com and Hulu, so you have no excuse!
Second in this week’s update is something I never thought I would see go to a manga adaptation (but Japan is always surprising me…so I suppose I should learn not to be confused by strange manga and anime adaptations): Mameshiba, (the Little Bean Dog), is being made into a graphic novel by Viz Kids!
So, what are the Mameshiba, you ask?
Sometime early last year I started seeing some commercials on Japanese television that supported the eating of various types of beans. This support came packaged with what was called “irreverently funny trivia.” The trivia…to put it simply…is completely random and generally hilarious, but made more hilarious by the fact that it is delivered to unsuspecting victims by these little half bean-half dog critters. Imagine being in the middle of a delicious meal, when along comes a little bean dog to spoil your appetite by telling you “Hey! Catfish have taste-buds all over their body!”
Now, don’t ask me how they’re going to even begin turning this into a manga for kids…but I’m sure it will be ridiculous and possibly very awesome. These adorable little Mameshiba characters have become immensely popular in Japan. You can find stuffed versions of them in claw machines at arcades and all manner of character-themed goods available for purchase in pretty much any store (Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku and Toy City in Harajuku have especially impressive selections).
If nothing else, I support Mameshiba coming to the US so I can re-stock my collection of character themed pens and pencils! The release of the graphic novel is currently slated for July of this year.
Did you know? You can check out more Mameshiba trivia over at their website.
Enjoy!