#sentai postponed

[transguygardner]

GUYLOBO WEEK 2024!!!

Day 1: AUs

Day 2: AUs

Day 3: AUs

Day 4: AUs

Day 5: AUs

Day 6: AUs

Day 7: Free Day

The themes this year is all AUs!

Why? I thought it would be fun. Also I realized that I have 52 GuyLobo AUs and thought this would be a fun time to show them off.

As always Day 1 starts on February 16th. The event will run from 2/16-2/22 ending on my birthday. As always tag with guyloboweek or @ me.

Leading up to the event I'm going to be showcasing my AUs each day so that everyone can get a feel for them if they don't want to come up with their own AUs. Under the cut will be the full typed list of them and the unedited map of the GuyLobo Verse

EDIT: guylobo week is going to be postponed due to the global strike happening from February 18th through the 25th. the new dates for guylobo week is March 11th through March 17th. aka the guylobo anniversary.

Earth 13: Official Magic Guys earth

Earth 18: Official Justice Riders earth

Earth 26: Official home of Captain Carrot

Earth 27: Official home of the Jurassic League

Earth 47: Official home of the Love Syndicate

Earth 69: Leather Wolf/Leather Bunny

Earth 83: DnD Party AU

Earth 96: MLP AU

Earth 102: Cats AU

Earth 108: Flamingos AU

Earth 118: Muppets AU

Earth 134: Raising Arizona AU

Earth 148: Mamma Mia AU

Earth 156: The Nice Guys AU

Earth 205: Wrestling AU

Earth 221: LoZ BotW Princess!Lobo AU

Earth 222: LoZ BotW Zora!Lobo AU

Earth 223: LoZ BotW Ganon!Lobo AU

Earth 246: Bounty Hunters AU

Earth 247: Disco Elysium Parody

Earth 301: Ancient Greece AU

Earth 310: Buddy Thunderstruck AU

Earth 383: Pokemon AU

Earth 476: Knights/Medieval AU

Earth 506: Crabs AU

Earth 512: Fantasy Life AU

Earth 530: Mermay AU

Earth 566: Adventure Time AU

Earth 616: Venom AU

Earth 724: The Littlest Pet Shop AU

Earth 747: Raising Rip AU

Earth 843: Splatoon AU

Earth 942: Divorce Wars

Earth 1031: Halloween AU

Earth 1207: Star Trek AU

Earth 1225: The Nutcracker AU

Earth 1350: Lego AU

Earth 1441: Animal Crossing AU

Earth 1756: The Bastard and the Beast

Earth 1875: Old Man Guy AU

Earth 1952: Ducktales AU

Earth 1989: Teachers AU

Earth 1999: Neopets AU

Earth 2007: High School AU

Earth 2191: Cadet Courage AU

Earth 5475: Sentai AU

Earth 8248: The Borrowers AU

Earth 8410: Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt AU

Earth 45827: Green Lantern the Animated Series AU

Earth 46773: Centaurs AU

Earth 228269: Catboys AU

Earth 437125: My Main DC AU

The official DC multiverse map section with the earths I'm using accidentally got deleted while I was making the big image so no copy of that but the relevant earths are completely in frame so...

Anyways... good luck and have fun!

[guster-animations]

Kamen Rider Zero-One Finale Commemoration Producers’ Symposium: Translated

i haven’t watched zero-one so i was asking someone who had what “raider” is and they genuinely had no idea what i was referring to

do NOT make jokes about a producer’s name. it’s not even pronounced the same way. i had to adhere to my own rules for romanization

this too is all for the henshindex wiki

TOKU TRANSLATION MASTERPOST HERE

The first of the “Reiwa era” of the Kamen Rider series, “Kamen Rider Zero-One”, has finally reached its final episode. While carrying the promise of creating a new generation of heroes, “Zero-One” is also the first in history to have had filming postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, all of the staff and cast members gave their all to the work, and thanks to them, they have reached the goal of completing the TV series. Thus, TTFC is releasing a special round-table discussion with the Toei producer team right after the end of the show.

We quickly looked back on the year and some more that “Zero-One” has taken up. Please take a moment to read it.

Participants

Takahito Omori (Chief Producer) He first joined the Heisei Kamen Rider series in 2005’s “Kamen Rider Hibiki” as an assistant producer. Has been a producer since “Kamen Rider Kiva” (2008). After that, he produced “Samurai Sentai Shinkenger” (2009) and “Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger” (2011), and then led as a Chief Producer for the first time with “Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger” (2013). After that, he handled “Kamen Rider Drive” (2014), “Kamen Rider Ex-Aid” (2016), and “Kamen Rider Build” (2017). In recent years he has also participated as a producer in the Toei Movie-Stage “Go Zen” (2019) as well as Fuji TV’s 60th anniversary special project “Ōoku: Final Chapter” (2019).

Chika Chikamatsu (Assistant Producer) Yosuke Minato (Assistant Producer) Applied to a “Tokusatsu Program Producer Recruitment” put out by Toei in 2018, and joined the company together in 2019. Their personal history prior to that will be expanded on in this book.

Ryosuke Momose (Assistant Producer) After being involved with all kinds of live events as a producer in Toei’s Enterprise Department, he transferred to the TV Planning Department in June of 2019. He took on a new role as the third assistant producer of “Kamen Rider Zero-One”.

Interviewer TTFC (Toei Tokusatsu Fan Book Editorial Department)

Act 1: What Happened Before the First Take

TTFC: In “Kamen Rider Zero-One”, the Toei producer team had a structure of the chief producer Omori and all 3 of the assistant producers. Because of how rare an occasion this is, I’d like for you all to talk to me for as long as you can. Chikamatsu and Minato were recruits from the “Tokusatsu Program Producer Recruitment”.

Chikamatsu: That’s right. I joined in April 2019.

Minato: I interviewed at the same time as her, but I was a little later and joined in May due to circumstances with my previous work.

Omori: Momose transferred in after that, right?

Momose: I did. I joined in June. At that point, we were already preparing to announce the work.

Omori: When you trace it back, “Zero-One’s” planning began around the summer that “Kamen Rider Build” was airing. In my experience before then, you don’t know how quickly the time will go by, no matter how quickly you are able to start it. So the main writer Yu (Yuya Takahashi) also started working on it from that point onwards, but we still didn’t have anyone for the assistant producers (Laughs).

TTFC: What’s this “Tokusatsu Program Producer Recruitment”…?

Omori: The way we put it at the time was that there were important aspects of inviting capable personnel to work as assistant producers in the shows following “Kamen Rider Zi-O”. I looked at written applications and participated in the first round of interviews.

Minato: That was around the end of the year before last.

TTFC: And then in April, May, and June of last year, in the period where the imperial era changed from Heisei to Reiwa, everyone joined in succession.

Omori: Auditions also began in April.

Chikamatsu: That’s right. I helped with the document screening as well, but when Minato joined in May, the auditions had already pretty much ended (Laughs).

Minato: Pretty much. I joined just about when you were deciding which members to go with.

Omori: What I remember most from that time is when we first went to the National Institute of Informatics. It was myself, Chikamatsu, and Yuya. I thought that they’d definitely just have three or four people there to meet us, no more, but more than ten professors wound up coming (Laughs). We were very surprised by that. For us, we were going to gather information about artificial intelligence, but as we spoke to them, even the professors that came in along the way had different opinions on the matter. As I listened to them, I thought, “I see— there are a lot of different viewpoints and potential outcomes”. If it’s that way, then we should depict themes surrounding AI in a wide variety of ways. After that, we also went to the “National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology”. Chikamatsu should talk about this.

Chikamatsu: Because I’d collected information in previous jobs, I went to ask to talk with them. While the NIST does actually make advanced robots, they also have advanced 3-D printer technology. I used the the 3-D printer I was shown while interviewing as a reference for the Tajimoto printer set that appears in “Zero-One”.

Omori: There was a lot of information about robotics that they couldn’t share with outside sources, so we had to go many places to gather information. We also went to Hachioji.

Minato: I also went there. It was to the Nippon Engineering College. There’s a robotics faculty department there. The campus is, to make it easy for TTFC members to understand, the Solbrain (Super Rescue Solbrain) headquarters (Laughs).

Omori: We were able to be shown aibo there, too. I would never have thought that we’d later show aibo in “Zero-One” (Laughs). That happened around April or May, right?

Chikamatsu: The script was being written at the same time…

Minato: If I’m not mistaken, the draft script for episodes 1 and 2 was finished on May first. The exact same time that I joined (Laughs).

Omori: After that, we really wanted to start filming at the beginning of June, but a lot of things happened and it was delayed until the middle of the month.

Chikamatsu: Omori was extremely busy when I joined in April as well. That was when the TTFC special “Drive Saga: Kamen Rider Brain” and the like happened, right?

TTFC: Definitely… It was filmed at the end of the Heisei era, and the plan was to release it on streaming from Heisei to Reiwa.

Chikamatsu: I had just joined, so naturally there wasn’t just work on “Zero-One”, but there were days when Omori couldn’t meet because he was busy. Other people told me that “Omori is a person that likes to do everything by himself, so you don’t ask him for anything, he won’t give you work,” so in order to not have that happen, I tried to let him know about it.

TTFC: I see… Come to think of it, not only “Brain” but “Zi-O” was very busy broadcasting. And the Build V-Cinexts and the Kyoto projects…

Omori: Well, we started early based on that, too. But I think we didn’t hold steady on that as much as we said we would. After you all arrived, I relied on you.

Momose: But I was already at Toei, so I was already somewhat familiar with the scope and quantity of an AP’s work. So it didn’t feel as hard as I expected when I actually started working as one. In that sense, you really did have important responsibilities, Omori.

Omori: No, I think it was really just important to have three people on the job. Because even in “Build”, it was just (Kazunari) Taninaka (Laughs).

Act 2: Each Producer’s History

TTFC: I’d love to hear about Chikamatsu and Minato’s previous jobs and why they applied to Toei, if it’s alright with you all.

Chikamatsu: I spent ten years as a director for NHK. The interview with AIST that I mentioned was also a result of that time. It wasn’t that I was unhappy with NHK (Laughs); I simply applied because I was a fan of Producer (Takaaki) Utsunomiya. “Samurai Sentai Shinkenger” (2009) was airing the year that I became a working adult, and watching “Shinkenger” each week that year motivated me to keep working. And the year where I applied was right during “Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger vs. Keisatsu Sentai Patranger” (2018). I went to the next available interview, and to my surprise, my role model Utsunomiya was the one conducting it. I remember that I couldn’t stop talking about my love for his work.

Omori: You’ve made your love for Utsunomiya very clear (Laughs).

Chimamatsu: Well, I like your works, too…

Omori: (Laughs). Well, I also had a hand in “Shinkenger” and “Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger”. So in a sense we’re “Utsunomiya Children”.

Chikamatsu: Of course, I’m aware of that (Laughs).

TTFC: Did you meet because of that love for him?

Chikamatsu: I don’t know about that, but I’d say I got lucky. I received a long email from Utsunomiya after the interview, and that really struck me. Also, I’ve been a TTFC member since the very beginning (Laughs). I’m still subscribed.

TTFC: Thank you very much! And now, how about you, Minato?

Minato: I watched “Super Rescue Solbrain” (1991) and “Chojin Sentai Jetman” (1991) when I was three years old, so I’ve been a tokusatsu fan for nearly thirty years. Because of this, I’d wanted to join Toei… After graduating college I went to grad school, and along the way I decided to take a year away and studied abroad in the United States for only half a year. So I was 25 when I was ready to start job hunting, but Toei’s requirements for graduate recruitment were limited to people 24 and under… I tried my best to do something about it, and even tried calling them, but I was told that they wouldn’t make exceptions. I was very frustrated. I chose to work on anime, and joined Madhouse. I was a production assistant for quite some time, and then moved to the production desk position. When I finally got more freedom at work, that’s when I was made aware that Toei was recruiting producers for tokusatsu programs (Laughs). I think it was around 2 o’clock in the middle of the night.

TTFC: Did you immediately think, “This is it!”?

Minato: No, I ruminated over it like I always do. Working on anime is also interesting. It was going well, and I was in the middle of some projects. But this was my only chance. I didn’t know if I would be accepted or not, and this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so I decided to apply (Laughs). I also told my boss about it when I had the interview, and gave excuses to my coworkers and juniors just in case. I said, “I happened to reunite with my dream girl from high school and I can go on a date with her for one day. I should go, right?” (Laughs).

TTFC: That’s a very convincing metaphor (Laughs).

Minato: So I went to the interview. I was with [Hideaki] Tsukada and Omori, and in the papers I filled out, I listed my favorite works as being “Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger” (2004) [which Tsukada was the chief producer of] and “Kamen Rider Ex-Aid” (2016) [which Omori was the chief producer of]. Similar to Chikamatsu, I remember that they felt my passion. I made it to the final interview, but everyone besides me had experience with live-action and there was no one else who’d specialized in anime. There were big differences in our areas of expertise, and I thought there was no way I’d make it, but I was recruited. I had a bit of difficulty afterwards, however. I was told by Toei that I’d join the company in April like Chikamatsu did, but we had to find someone to take over my role in the project I was working on, and it was pushed back until May. On top of that, my wedding was scheduled to be March, and my bride-to-be a senior at my company… (Laughs). In the end, the company’s president came as planned, as the guest of honor at my wife’s side. I spent many days apologizing to the president and then other people from my former company.

TTFC: How interesting. By the way, did you hope to become a producer, Momose?

Momose: Like I said earlier, I was transferred to a different department in the company, so there wasn’t as much drama as the other two had… (Laughs). I originally joined Toei wanting to help with video, so I had thoughts on which video department I wanted to go to. There was some contact with Kamen Rider and Super Sentai when I worked on their events, but I wasn’t as crazy about tokusatsu as the two over there (Laughs). But as time went on I started to like things with action scenes more and more, and I directly told the head of my department that I’d like to transfer. A short time later, I was told that I’d be transferred. As I was talking with Tsukada and the then-executive director (Hiroshi) Tezuka on my first day in the department, Omori then came in. He told me that he was going to be in charge of “Zero-One”, and that he was coming to ask me to work on the show.

Omori: It sounds like you were disappointed by that.

Momose: No, I wasn’t (Laughs). To add to that, when we’re creating Rider and Sentai events in the Enterprise Department, we naturally had opportunities to talk with the producers of each work. I was able to learn a lot from and come to respect Utsunomiya and Omori in particular as I talked with them. So I was grateful to be able to work under you for my first project, Omori.

Omori: That’s the first time I’ve heard that. Please say so more quickly (Laughs).

TTFC: How did you divide your work between yourselves?

Omori: There were responsibilities for small parts, and we switched this up along the way, but we had a rotation for casting the guest actors and researching “jobs” for the beginning and middle stages of the show.

Minato: That’s right. Specifically, Chikamatsu was in charge of (Director Shojiro) Nakazawa’s episodes 3 and 4, I did episodes 5 and 6 with (Director Takayuki) Shibasaki, Momose had 7 through 9 with (Director Kyohei) Yamaguchi, and 10 and 11 were Nakazawa and Chikamatsu again. In the “business competition” arc, Momose was in charge of flower arranging, judging, and firefighting.

Omori: Ultimately, when you decide to divide the work between yourselves, you will have tasks that you haven’t experienced before. That wouldn’t be a good learning experience for an AP, and I was also told, “Omori, you had three assistants, but what are you teaching them?” (Laughs). I thought about that, and decided on a rotation system. The original foundation of this show was wanting to deal with “work”, and if that’s the case, we couldn’t just ignore “work practice reform”. At that point, I thought that everyone would have more room to research things with a rotation system.

Act 3: This Person and That Person

Minato: We focused on manga artists and voice actors in episodes 5 and 6.

TTFC: It’s Mr. Choichiro Ishizumi’s big hit, “Perfuman Tsurugi”!

Minato: We made the script for that episode in around June, and originally the plan was to make it about anime. However, episodes 5 and 6 aired in late September and early October, and they were filmed in August, so we said, “We can’t have just two months to make an episode. If we’re going to do things like this, I want to have half a year to work on it.”

Omori: I was told, “We can’t just do that.”

[TN: Kamen Rider staff did eventually make this happen five years later, with the filming of Kamen Rider Gavv starting around 6 months before broadcast. The change was apparently made to get the show’s episodes past Chinese censorship screenings sooner. Although the initial change meant that the show was being filmed at the same time as the later episodes of Gotchard, meaning that they had a smaller director team and an entirely new set of staff, Gavv’s producers have said multiple times that the shift in schedule was much needed and should’ve happened sooner. This wasn’t really necessary to mention but I feel obligated to say it.]

Minato: Live-action and anime are very different in that regard.

Omori: When Minato joined, I thought, “he could do an episode about anime” (Laughs), but as I thought about it I realized that couldn’t be done, and I changed the premise slightly.

Minato: But even so, the images on the monitor in the scene where they record voice lines, for example, had to be made to look like the original, even if the pictures were not ready in time (Laughs). For things like this in regular anime, you’d use “storyboard footage”, which is like videos connecting to the storyboard, instead, but you also can’t use this “storyboard footage” with its storyboard and filming for more than a few seconds. So I asked the people who specialize in this stuff. Like with the poster that appeared in the show, I entrusted it to expert animators and our finishing effects crew. By no means did I think my old job would come in handy so soon (Laughs). Momose introduced me to the character designer Mr. (Masato) Hisa.

Momose: I knew Mr. Hisa as a character designer from the Super Sentai series, but his love for the projects was profound, and he’ll definitely come to Osaka on the last day of the Final Live Tour. I attended to Mr. Hisa every year in my Enterprise Department days, so knowing him, I’ll make sure to ask.

Minato: I created the concept of “Perfuman Tsurugi”. It was a long-running work, so I prepared to make it a 70-volume comic series. Where a stretch of volumes was “chapter __”.

Momose: Because it’s a story of a world where anthropomorphic animals live, the protagonist that Mr. Hisa drew, Tsurugi, feels a little similar to a Ga[REDACTED] from a certain other work (Laughs).

Minato: You’re right, it did look like [REDACTED]l.

[TN: if anyone knows the full name of this redacted character please let me know]

Then I faithfully recreated the workplace of a cartoonist, so I asked an acquaintance of mind who works as an assistant. The master that they assisted (Mr. Tetsuya Takahashi) liked the Kamen Rider series, and gladly helped me out. He also came on the days we filmed the episodes, and gave guidance on how to design a realistic desk for a cartoonist.

Omori: For that episode, Director Shibasaki verified everything related to “Perfuman Tsurugi” with Minato.

Minato: I also explained things like how Tsurugi ends his sentences to his voice actor Mariyo Ise (Laughs).

TTFC: From the beginning, “Zero-One” has always focused on the “jobs” shown in it, the Humagears made for those jobs, and the magnificent guest actors, all working in tandem.

Chikamatsu: In a sense, the last one of those was Shinya Owada (episodes 10-11).

Omori: I think we also talked about it in “Ura Kamen Rider”, but at the beginning the character wasn’t “Shinya Owada”. He had a different actor. Fundamentally, that episode being about “actors”, I think it’s better for the actors involved with Humagears to feel like “THE Actors”. So as I worried about casting, Producer (Chihiro) Inoue of TV Asahi said, “Owada would be good.” He suggested, “I think Owada can definitely do a lot of things.” Then I thought about what he could do…

Chikamatsu: You reached out and he said it sounded good.

Omori: In response to that, the scriptwriter (Masaya) Kakei rewrote the script for Owada.

Chikamatsu: The character’s age also was changed to fit him.

Momose: As for an episode that I was in charge of, the flower arranging episodes (17-18) were very memorable. I have a friend from college who’s an instructor at the Sogetsu School of Flower Arrangement along with his mother. Their family is wonderful. The two of them helped with movement guidance and creating flower arrangements. I wanted to try having the mother’s arrangement for the Humagear Sakuyo, and the son’s for Rentaro. I thought that the differences in the opponents’ work will show if we did it that way. What’s interesting is that the mother got hooked on “Zero-One”. She’s kept watching it, and on Mondays she always goes to LINE to ask for suggestions. During the time when we couldn’t air new episodes due to COVID, we made compilations. At that time, she said, “I’m glad you did that”; she hadn’t known what the story was before Sakuyo’s appearance. She also wrote that she “understood Metsuboujinrai’s members very well” (Laughs). In the lawyer episode, I called up another acquaintance to supervise everything from the contents of the script to behavior in the courtroom. And in the firefighter episodes (26-27), we received help from Tsukada of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ Fire and Disaster Management Agency, as well as the people at Shakujii Fire Station, which was also close to the filming site.

TTFC: The burning building in that episode was right next to the entrance to the filming site, at Toei TV Productions’ main building. Even though the staff members clearly have a long history with this building, it’s a huge spectacle…!

Momose: That was Director Kamihori’s (Kazuya Kamihoriuchi’s) special magic. The people from Shakujii Fire Station also came to the filming set, and they were incredibly helpful.

Omori: The people from all the “jobs” gladly helped us out. If these continued for a year, it might be different, but because they were basically all two-episode arcs, everyone was really enthusiastic to do it. A fundamental attitude of “Zero-One” is wanting to pay respect to these “jobs”, and the people who helped us out had nothing but respect. I’m grateful that we continued to meet good people throughout the work.

Act 4: Things That Didn’t Go as Planned

TTFC: There are lots more inside stories for “jobs” that I’d love to touch on, but I’d also like you to look back on the bigger topic, being how the last year has progressed… When the program first began, it felt like the public’s attention was obviously drawn to how the Reiwa era of “Kamen Rider” would change from the Heisei era, but Omori didn’t put that much emphasis on that point…

Omori: I think I probably said this at the time, too, but it starts right after the previous program ends even if the imperial era has changed, so those fundamental things wouldn’t be immediately changed (Laughs). However, we could still change the viewers’ feelings, and I myself became a chief producer and this was my fourth work, so I thought about how I wanted to expand the limits of the “Kamen Rider” shows a little more. Like, an un-“Kamen Rider”-like “Kamen Rider” work.

TTFC: I got that impression when I watched episode 1. I guess it’s extremely “easy to watch”… That might have also been impacted by the cast’s extravagance.

Omori: They truly were extravagant. However, I think it’s more from the accumulation of the Heisei era that all those people appeared.

TTFC: The people you cast as the characters surrounding Aruto affect the whole work. Even when you know how important they are, Akio Kaneda’s performance in episode 1 is still over-the-top… (Laughs).

Chikamatsu: I occasionally meet Kaneda at the filming studio, and he keeps telling me, “I want to appear again” (Laughs).

Omori: The most talked-about thing in this first episode with so much stuff going on was Taro’s abs shattering (Laughs). That was a miscalculation on my part. There are humans and Humagears, and the first big events are Humagears… We thought about beginning with Metsuboujinrai.net appearing evil because they’re trying to destroy humanity, and that idea eventually being reversed… but we noticed that people interpreted it more as Taro being pitiable rather than Metsuboujinrai being evil. I thought that after we tackled the theme of “AI”, we’d inevitably need to confront the topics of human “hearts” and essence, but when I saw the reaction to the first episode, I once again realized, “Oh, that’s what’s going to happen.” It was a profound theme after all.

TTFC: In the early stages, the series progressed while providing topics of discussion through various devices, but the growing popularity of Metsuboujinrai.net led to their temporary exit by the end of the year. Then, at the beginning of the year, the cour [TN: if you’re reading this droplet subs hi big fan and if that post was about me then i’m sorry but i’m gonna keep spelling it this way because french is stupid] for January to March was the “business competition” arc, expanding on the rivalry between Aruto and Gai.

Omori: The “business competition” arc was unpopular among fans~. We’re aware of that. However, I love the arc, and our numbers (television ratings) actually increased. Moreover, I think we had to make it this way in “Zero-One” because we couldn’t in any other series.

TTFC: It’s precisely one cour, but it’s also a fairly rare technique to call it a “competition” from the outset in recent years. (?)

Omori: In the very first plan, Hiden Intelligence was going to be taken over by Gai sooner, and Gai and Izu would be in the president’s office starting at the beginning of the year. But people said that would be a little early. Many of them said they wanted to see more of Aruto as the president of Hiden Intelligence, so we tried to have one cour be about Aruto and Gai clashing heads as fellow presidents. The “business competition” was born from that. I thought it was meaningful to do it while also aiming to delve more into the theme of “work”. However, it ended up becoming a drama that could’ve been done without being a Kamen Rider show. The “business competition” didn’t mesh well with the battles between Kamen Riders and the Magia and Raiders.

TTFC: I see. It’s like there are two “matches” that exist on different mornings…

Omori: Gai’s malice might have been a little too realistic because of that. The themes of power harassment at work were maybe a bit heavy for a Sunday morning program… It’s only there because work is a theme.

TTFC: Aruto’s seat as president was finally taken as a result of the “competition”.

Omori: But we made a premise where Aruto was required to be the president to transform into Zero-One, so a way for Aruto to continue being the president in some form was expected. So, now the “Hiden Factory” became Aruto and Izu’s new base of operations.

TTFC: That development was in episode 30. From here, Gai/Thouser becomes more worn down every episode.

Omori: It was a reaction to the “competition”, or some form of one.

TTFC: Metsuboujinrai.net was revived, there were big things happening with Isamu and Yua, and the story was going to soon reach its climax… and then filming was interrupted. It became something that would also stop new episodes from broadcasting.

Act 5: Who Wished to Destroy Humanity?

TTFC: Well, now for a point that many fans are curious about… I’m also sure that many people find it very hard to talk about and sort out their thoughts on, but because of the situation, the episode total was shortened by six episodes. I imagine that there are endgame developments that came because of that, but how did it feel when it actually happened?

Omori: We had an idea of how we wanted to proceed, and while we were generally able to follow that plan, there were some parts that we changed, and some parts that we were unable to depict. We didn’t know exactly how everything would turn out. We kept moving forward while not knowing how the episode count would change, what episodes would be shortened or removed, or how long we could continue filming. However, there were developments that happened specifically because the show became shorter. At least, the ending definitely changed because of the postponement caused by COVID.

TTFC: In that middle period, the members of Metsuboujinrai.net all gather. In a way, this was the perfect time to stop. And when we returned, Ark was revived and Ark-Zero debuted.

Omori: The script drafts were finished up to the aibo episodes after those, episodes 38 and 39. The state of emergency was declared then, and production on the scripts after that was halted. We didn’t know how long we wouldn’t be able to film for, or how much the number of episodes would change. While I say that, at first we decided that we could rest for two weeks at most and then restart broadcasting. We made the two “President Specials” from that assumption. We thought that, if we picked up the plot threads relating to Ikazuchi and the Ark well, we’d smoothly connect into the next episode.

Momose: The Ark’s (voice) actor Sho Hayami essentially debuted a little bit ahead of time in the latter part of “President Special”.

Omori: And then, as you all know, despite what we assumed, the state of emergency was extended by one month… This was difficult. Even though it was what it was and we couldn’t change the situation, there’s a big difference between cutting off two episodes and six.

TTFC: The remaining episodes went from fourteen to ten. However, the next four episodes already had finished screenplays, so in a sense it was only six episodes…

Omori: Furthermore, there was no guarantee that we’d be able to shoot the last ten episodes. Even though we were able to restart filming, we didn’t know where or why we might have to stop again. That meant that Nakazawa’s episodes 40 and 41 had a possibility to be the last ones in the show. Because of those circumstances, I was happy when we safely finished shooting the finale. I’m relieved to hear that the next show, “Kamen Rider Saber”, has also finished filming its first two episodes.

TTFC: Was there not an option to extend the broadcast period so that you wouldn’t have less episodes?

Omori: We ran many different simulations, at least. But first of all, that would also have an effect on the release of the summer movie and the second part of the Blu-ray Collection’s exclusive original drama “Project Thouser”, so we wanted to have the most beneficial plan.

TTFC: I see. Back to the episodes… After the aibo arc in episodes 38 and 39, there were episodes 40 and 41, where Aruto loses both the satellite Zea and the Zero-One Driver. Here, Kamen Rider Zero-Two is born in episode 40, and in episode 41 Aruto finally returns to being the president of Hiden Intelligence, and the previously shown Humagears were shown saving people from danger.

Omori: That was what I wanted to do the most. Originally, when we had meetings preparing for the movie which will release soon, I said at the start, “I want to have humanity be destroyed this time”. I wanted to do something where humanity is saved by the Humagears when they’re on the brink of complete extinction, because of what they’ve taught the Humagears. I thought, can’t we have humans and Humagears finally join hands there? We expected the movie to happen close to the final episode, so that was changed to be implemented as the great gathering of Humagears in episode 41, but nobody accepted the idea of “destroying humanity”. If anything, it felt like everyone pushed back against it (Laughs). By the way, I proposed this before the COVID pandemic happened.

Minato: The idea might show just a little on the movie’s poster and other visuals.

Omori: So personally, when we reached episode 41, I felt like I’d already used up all my strength. Director (Ryuta) Tasaki laughed at me when I said that much at the preparatory meeting for episodes 42 and 43.

TTFC: In episode 41, Aruto said the line, “the people in the current world are facing hardships they’ve never experienced before”. It felt like a story that could have only been written during the COVID pandemic.

Omori: I think that Yuya just wrote that part itself very well, rather than aiming for something. And more importantly, the destruction of mankind… Before now, most people thought, “destruction?!”, but I was rather thinking about a story of rebuilding from very near “destruction”.

TTFC: Just a short time ago, you said that “episode 41 could have possibly been the finale”, but episode 41 brought about the idea of Zero-Two and Kamen Rider Horobi destroying Ark together, and in a sense, this was only concluded at the very end of the last episode.

Momose: Sho Hayami’s Ark was extremely cool and well-knit. Hayami was always recording the voice-overs by himself, but I’m glad that he did it with the other cast members in just the last episode. But he said, “it (the time he spent in the show) went by quickly”, and he seemed disappointed about that.

TTFC: It really was no time at all.

Act 6: Where Did the Story Go?

Omori: Four episodes were left because of the situation. Some of the planned events remained, like the beginning of Kamen Rider Ark-One’s appearance, and Yotagaki Williamson coming from Zaia Enterprise management, but the rest would have to be remade from nothing. When we first cast (Seiji) Takaiwa as Kamen Rider Horobi’s suit actor, we’d decided that the final battle would be Zero-One vs. Horobi, but not how we’d get to that point. As I sort of said said a little earlier, I was thinking of a storyline where Horobi would start to look more like a righteous hero as we progressed towards the endgame. But what came up during the prep meetings was the idea of Aruto becoming Ark-One. Izu was lost because of Horobi, and because of that, malice is born within Aruto, Ark is resurrected, and Aruto becomes Ark-One (episode 42).

Chikamatsu: Meanwhile, on Horobi’s side, he loses Jin in a battle with Aruto/Ark-One (episode 43).

Omori: Horobi is now also grieving. On that cue, a total war breaks out between Humagears and humans.

Chikamatsu: The many things leading up to the final battle were set up in this incredibly short span of time. As for Azu, she wasn’t assumed to appear again and so she wasn’t given a name, but then that was changed.

TTFC: I was surprised that it’s mostly just Azu appearing in the last 3 episodes.

Omori: I felt a little bad about that…

TTFC: It’s also surprising that Aruto’s so-called “dark turn” wasn’t originally planned. I think there was an amount of foreshadowing leading up to that.

Minato: That was more of Yuya’s “witchcraft”.

TTFC: It was wonderful when episode 44 showed the surrounding characters thinking about Aruto and Horobi.

Omori: Looking back, having less episodes meant that many things were wasted, including the opportunities to delve into each character more. If we had the originally planned amount, we’d definitely have been able to do it with much more care. That was sad, and I think that all of the directors and the cast members themselves probably feel disappointed by that, too. On the other hand, the development of Izu being destroyed and Aruto becoming Ark-One… it can be said that the shock of that moment was only made because things were cut back, so that’s a really difficult point to decide.

TTFC: In episode 45, the finale, Aruto has returned to being “Zero-One” and fights Horobi, now Kamen Rider Ark-Horobi, and the two of them overcome “evil”.

Omori: I’d imagined something where Horobi is destroyed and brings Ark down with him, but it didn’t end up like that. It feels like a very “Zero-One”-esque landing.

Chikamatsu: The exchange between Aruto and Horobi also felt like a message to mankind as a whole. I was constantly on the set for (Teruaki) Sugihara’s group in episodes 44 and 45, and the Director’s fixation was incredible. He took a while to give the OK on scenes like the one where Horobi hits Aruto. He said, “You can do better than that!”

Omori: I was inspired by the director team’s passion again too. Of course, all of the staff members have also been putting in their best effort even more since the lockdown. And the most surprising thing was the cast’s growth. It seems like they all gave even better performances when filming restarted. I’m sure they all had many things to think about during quarantine. It’s unfortunate that we had less episodes to work with, but by experiencing unprecedented hardship, they underwent change with unique meaning, and took on the form of the art. There’s no doubt that it gave them some kind of power.

TTFC: Our time will be up soon, so I should ask you to talk for the remaining time we have about any little-known or new material, while also summarizing them as best as you can… Now, everyone on the AP team, please say your thoughts on “Zero-One”, or anything you’d like to tell TTFC members with this chance.

Momose: On the topic of TTFC, us at the AP team are currently producing “Zero-One’s” short anime. Omori-P “left this matter” to us (Laughs). Episode 1, with Aruto and Izu, and episode 2, with Isamu and Yua, have already been released, and we would be happy if you helped it do well.

TTFC: Voiceovers for episodes 3 and 4 were done the other day, and these also seem to contain interesting things…

Momose: I met the scriptwriter Tete Inoue when we worked together on items for G-Rosso. We had the prep meetings for episodes 1 and 2 during lockdown, so we would always work on it while talking on the phone, and I would tell Chikamatsu and Minato about what happened while continuing to work on it (Laughs). The concept of the short anime was that its story isn’t serious at all, and the prep meetings always had an atmosphere like a bar, so I had fun making it. Please look forward to the next episodes too. As for my thoughts on the year of “Zero-One”, it feels pretty different from the event work I’ve done in the past. When planning events, you of course make the events themselves from scratch, but the main part was figuring out how to make it fit with the already existing work that it’s for. It was very rewarding, but the difficulty of making things from scratch was something else. On reflection, there were things I could’ve done better, but I want to make the best of that in my future work.

Minato: As a tokusatsu fan, I’m extremely happy to have been a part of the Kamen Rider series that I’ve always watched. What I’m happiest about is that I made it through without feeling disappointed (Laughs). I worried about what would happen if this work that I’d wanted to be in for so long turned out to be different from what I imagined on the inside, but if anything I was surprised in the complete opposite way. I realized that everyone is truly interested in what they were doing, right down to the tiny details, and trying to make interesting art. I’m happy about that. “Zero-One” itself had a theme of “work”, but I myself think I made a good decision in changing my job. I feel like it’s work that I can be proud of, and with the way I feel now, I’ll continue to work hard in “Saber” too. Now, I want to extend my thanks to the cast of the show. When I worked on anime, I was mostly conversing with the staff members, so I hadn’t been able to see the younger actors shine more and more with every episode at such a close distance before. “Zero-One” was also interrupted by the lockdown, and I think that was emotionally tough for everyone, but we got through it well.

Chikamatsu: I’d also like to talk about the cast. Having been able to attend auditions, I’m especially attached to them. All of the regulars have devoted a long time, over one year, to “Zero-One”, and I’m thankful for even just that, but more than anything, I’m grateful that they came to love the show and bring their roles to life. The writing and direction was also amazing, but the actors took that and brought the quality to the next level. I can’t even put into words how much they’ve grown since their auditions. The lead role of Aruto was really tough to decide, and I worried about if there was someone who could play the role well, but when Fumiya Takahashi appeared, everyone said, “It has to be him”. As we’d hoped, he fit wonderfully with the role. When I saw his performance in the final episode, I thought, “I’m glad Fumiya is Aruto,” even more strongly this time. I think Isamu was a comparatively easy character to get the idea of, but (Ryutaro) Okada actively brought his own thoughts into it more and more, and it feels like no one else could have made this reckless character like he did. Izu was Noa Tsurushima’s first role, so having created such an amazing character shows just how much potential she herself has. Yua’s actor, (Hiroe) Igeta, struggled with a role that’s very different from how she herself is, but she brought out charm that only she could’ve shown. (Daisuke) Nakagawa as Jin also had anxiety about his lack of acting experience, but gradually took on his role with serious dedication, and became fascinating. Horobi’s actor (Shuya) Sunakawa had a role that didn’t show much emotion until the last part, but at the end of the end, he showed an incredible performance. I’ll look forward to how they all do in the future.

TTFC: Thank you, everyone. By the way, even though the TV series has finished, there’s more to come later. You have the “Final Stage & Program Cast Talk Show” in the fall, and the movie, which had its release delayed.

Momose: It’s unfortunate that the “Special Event” scheduled for spring (May) of this year was postponed, and that we couldn’t do any of the summer events or stage shows. We can’t do much about it given the circumstances. However, we’re currently preparing to put on the “Final Stage”, so I hope you look forward to that. The “Super Hero Festival” in January was done amazingly by my old department’s staff, so I think the events this fall will be great, too!

Omori: The second part of “Project Thouser” was also filmed the other day.

TTFC: The original drama made for the Blu-ray Collection Volume 2, which had its release delayed?

Omori: It was originally scheduled to release in August, but then the show couldn’t film and it was delayed. It will release in November now. Yotagaki Williamson was originally planned to appear in this second volume of “Thouser”. The shooting and release periods fell out of sync, but he still appears. I think it’s a story that will pull on the heartstrings of “Zero-One” fans quite a bit, so please look forward to this as well.

TTFC: That reminds me— in terms of filming order, the first appearance of Metsuboujinrai.net’s Naki was in the first part of “Project Thouser”.

Omori: They were actually a character created at that time.

Momose: When we were casting them, we’d decided that they’d appear in “Thouser”, and then appear in voice only in the show. However, in the latter half their position became pretty essential to have and they appeared in the show.

Chikamatsu: Originally they were just a joke. Like, “there’s Horobi and Jin in Metsuboujinrai— do Naki and Ikazuchi also exist?” (Laughs). And then we had “Naki”, so why not have Ikazuchi?

[TN: In case you didn’t know, the names of each MBJR member come from one of the four kanji in “metsuboujinrai” (滅亡迅雷— Horobi, Naki, Jin, Ikazuchi).]

Omori: Originally, Ikazuchi came from the form of Raiden Uchuyaro and transformed into a Kamen Rider (episode 14). Then I began to think, “could we possibly have four Metsuboujinrai members transform into Kamen Riders?” (Laughs).

Minato However, Ikazuchi’s return was also not yet specifically decided at the beginning, and the way we communicated it was similarly “there may be an opportunity for you to appear again”.

TTFC: The TV show ended with all four members of Metsuboujinrai.net surviving, and Izu reappearing as her alter ego… but there was a big surprise at the end, where “Es”, played by Hideaki Ito, transforms into “Kamen Rider Eden”. Should I assume that this is setting up for the plot of the movie?

Omori: You’re right about that. I can’t go into detail, but you’ll see what he does when it releases on (Friday) December 18th as we’ve announced. The release period has changed from the original plan, so the finished script has been drastically modified, but Hideaki Ito’s appearance has always been planned.

TTFC: I’ve read the script before it was revised. There were amazing plot points in the structure of the movie itself, and I thought there had never been a plan like this before. I was excited that you were going to try something like this. As for any other things…

Omori: We still can’t let too much be revealed, so that’s all for now (Laughs). I hope you enjoy the movie.

TTFC: One last thing… This might be impatient, but could I ask if there’s potential for any “spin-off” works? There are less episodes than there were supposed to, so there are probably many hopeful fans…

Omori: All I can say is that we have plans to do things. The world will be how it is right now regardless of what we say, so I don’t know how things will go. Still, many things about this show are already unusual, so it hasn’t been “finished” yet. Of course, “finishing” it in the same way as before won’t be possible for a while, but I would definitely like to “finish” it someday, in some form. It’s also because of that (Laughs) that I want to think about spin-offs going forward.

TTFC: Thank you for gathering today while you’re so busy!

[nonamem9]

due to @ratanak45's weekly watch party this is my first anime ive watched in over a decade and its Miss Kuroitsu From Monster Development Department/Kaijin Kaihatsu-bu no Kuroitsu-san, a workplace comedy show about the local villain's side of henshin hero shows (tokusatsu and magical girls) where they made the monsters of the week and gets their asses easily beat.

in fact its the first series i've ever completed this year! Wingman, Kamen Rider Gavv, and Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger are still airing and getting subbed.

quite the assortment of fucked fuckers in the promotional poster

enjoyed the humor, got a lot of the references which most anime fans WILL miss (especially the hero retirement bar scene) and the weekly toku alumni as the narrators, recognized a lot of the local heroes having their cameos ESPECIALLY the cast of Dogengers, Afternoon Red from He-Low and Kamen Slider from He-Low 2

funnily enough we were supposed to watch a movie of a local hero, Dharuriser and HE also gets a cameo in this show, which Rat takes it as an insult because that has to be postponed to next week due to underestimating the length of the show.

English dub Yabai Kamen surprisingly identical to his voice without the filter. Ohgaman doesn't sound old enough sadly, he needs to be his 60's at least!

how the fuck did they got SKYRIDER when he hasnt worked in tokusatsu IN DECADES (roooock the road!)

nothing revolutionary because its not trying to be and thats okay! good stuff! shit gets quite horny though.

episode 11's animation is outsourced to korea and its quite rough.

My next anime is 1000% for sure is gonna be The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World! and it premieres this week, gotta wait for the subs!

edit: oh its already out at least 3 hours ago but its 3:41 AM right now so i gotta watch it later!

[lavoiedeleau]

Utérus dis moi ce qui ne va pas !

Suite à ces derniers soins, j'ai bien compris qu'il faudrait que je me penche plus sur mon féminin sacré. Concept tant publicité, il est difficile de s'y retrouver. J'ai n'avais plus de douleur vis à vis de mon stérilet mais mon ventre restait assez douleur au touché.

Je sentais que j'avais les capacités de prendre soin de moi mais avec de l'aide. J'ai pris un rdv chez une sage-femme ( en espérant qu'elle soit aussi un peu perchée), elle m'a localisé la douleur et prescrit une écho, puis j'ai pris rdv avec une chamane spécialiste dans l'utérus via mon groupe de parole. En parallèle, j'ai décidé de me former au reiki, une discipline qui m'attire depuis longtemps. Je sens une contreverse en moi, en me disant ok je commence la mais je dois pas m'arrêter la, cela sera qu'une étape : en me disant cela je suis sereine. (affaire à suivre).

Entre temps j'ai fait pas mal de visualisation, essayé de visualisé l'eau qui nettoie. Je pense que c'est métatron, iris ou marie madeleine qui m'ont le plus aidé à vraiment apaisé et réparé, depuis mes douleurs sont vraiment amoindris. J'ai pris conscience également d'un cordon noir qui me pompais mon énergie relié à mon utérus, comme si j'avais accouché mais pas coupé le cordon. C'est alors qu'une licorne est venue m'entouré d'un arc en ciel pour protégé au maximum ce trou énergétique.

J'ai mis plusieurs jours à me séparer du placenta, j'ai vécu un gros vide après. Vide veut dire solitude chez moi ..

Sur le plan médical, il y a un kyste de 2 cm sur l'ovaire qui peut se résorbé ou non.

Le soin avec la chamane s'est décalé plusieurs fois, je le fais cette semaine normalement. J'attends de se rdv qu'elle me raconte un peu l'histoire de mon utérus (ancêtre) car c'est bien flou de mon coté.

Grâce à de nouveaux podcasts , j'ai découvert les notions d'équilibre entre notre feu intérieur et l'eau. Ce qui en découle avec le féminin et le masculin mature, j'ai longtemps eu un masculin blessé et je me suis jamais retrouvé dans la douceur de la femme. Mais qu'est-ce que cela fait du bien de s'abandonner et de lâcher prise dans cette douceur.

Je vous tiens au courant de la suite pour ce soin , sachant que je le fait également dans un but d'avoir le meilleur lit pour un futur bébé.

Je suis contente car j'ai quand même réussi à me guérir.

Following these latest treatments, I realised that I needed to look more closely at my sacred feminine. Concept so publicised, it's hard to find your way around. I no longer felt any pain from my IUD, but my stomach was still quite painful to touch.

I felt I had the ability to take care of myself, but with help. I made an appointment with a midwife (hoping she'd also be a bit perched), she pinpointed the pain and prescribed an ultrasound, then I made an appointment with a shaman specialising in the uterus via my discussion group. At the same time, I decided to train in Reiki, a discipline that has attracted me for a long time. I'm feeling the opposite inside me, saying to myself: OK, I'm starting here, but I mustn't stop here, this will only be a first step: by telling myself this, I feel serene (to be continued).

In the meantime I've been doing a lot of visualisation, trying to visualise the water that cleanses. I think it's metatron, iris and marie madeleine that have helped me the most to really soothe and repair, and since then my pain has been really reduced. I also became aware of a black cord that was pumping out my energy linked to my uterus, as if I'd given birth but hadn't cut the cord. That's when a unicorn came and surrounded me with a rainbow to protect the energy hole as much as possible.

It took me several days to separate myself from the placenta, and I felt a great emptiness afterwards. Emptiness means solitude for me.

From a medical point of view, there's a 2 cm cyst on the ovary which may or may not reabsorb.

The treatment with the shaman has been postponed several times, and I'm due to have it this week. I'm waiting for her to tell me a bit about the history of my uterus (ancestor) as it's all a bit hazy on my side.

Thanks to new podcasts, I've discovered the notions of balance between our inner fire and water. For a long time I had a wounded masculine side and I never found myself in the gentleness of a woman. But how good it feels to surrender and let go in this gentleness.

I'll keep you posted on the outcome of this treatment, knowing that I'm also doing it to make the best bed for a future baby.

I'm happy because I've still managed to heal myself.

[tokupedia]

Toei disclosed how it is going forward after its first case of coronavirus.

First, the studio will be shut down and sanitized. 

Second, all people in contact with Rio Komiya at the studio will be quarantined in their homes for 2 weeks until they are tested safe.

Third, all healthy employees will be routinely inspected entering and leaving from work, if they have a fever or visible symptoms, they are sent home immediately to rest for 2 weeks in isolation or if need be, sent to a hospital if they show more severe symptoms.

Fourth, no more lunch breaks will be held in the studio cantina, they will have to be separate and enforce social distancing.

Finally, until further notice...Kiramager is going to halt all filming until sanitizing is complete, inspections are cleared and Rio makes a full recovery.

[larytello]

What do you think if evil empress roll?

At this point it's been nearly... at least 4 years and half since I last watched the Rockman.EXE anime or read the manga (which I remember is different). I don't remember details anymore, even more about earlier episodes from the first seasons, heck I don't even remember how did Beast season ended and that's the second last one.

Point in case, I don't remember much about that episode anymore, only that Roll was somehow controlled by Count Elec during a Grand Prix match...? Which isn't a surprise to me that I don't remember much either because it wasn't an episode that stuck out to me, as I'm not really into the trope of good female character turned evil WITH sadistic looks just for the hell of it.

[firebirdsdaughter]

I’m nervous so I’m venting...

... But anyway, facts of the day:

I have to try and write a Sentai mech battle.

I have a job interview and I’m goddamn terrified.

[sentient-rift]

Ok, for Solo his song should be wolzard's theme. Considering it's a bit obvious. Also, Aquaman should get sirenbuilder's theme

"I admit, you made a good choice with the theme. For that, I will postpone pursuing you and crossing your name off my hit list.

"Now, let me show you one of my favorite themes..."

"That's a really cool theme, Mr. Solo. Now, let's hear the theme Super Sentai Fan suggested for me, blip."

"Oh, that is nice, blip. I really like it. Here's another one I like."

"And here's another one Nanami introduced me to when she was playing a Sonic game, blip."

[prettywarriors]

What magical girls series are out right now ?

Hey there! The short answer is... :/// not a lot. 

Healin Good Precure’s last episode is next Sunday, and will be followed up by Tropical Rogue Precure, plus the Healin Good Movie is set for March

Mewkledreamy is still airing at the moment

The Sailor Moon Dream Arc Movies 1 and 2 have just released in japan, and hopefully will find an easy way for a global release soon

I Guess? There’s a third season of  Seizei Ganbare! Mahou Shoujo Kurumi airing right now which is a parody series (4 minute episodes)

Next season, so in about 6-7 weeks,  Fairy Ranmaru: Anata no Kokoro Otasuke Shimasu starts which is a magical man series so take that how you will

Show by Rock really had more One character who fit the Magical Girl bill imo, but there’s another season of that on right now, and another series for Wixoss which is not a magical girl series but if you like Puella-level dark and card games, it’s a decent MG Adjacent series

America is also giving us Owl House and while the second season isn’t scheduled for a specific date yet, it is a fish out of water witch reversal series like Little Witch Academia and Tweeny Witches, rather than the classic ‘witch comes to human world’ plot of the earliest majokko series

Crunchyroll has also apparently finished High Guardian Spice which looked like a MG series to some from the trailer, but for dumb reasons the release is postponed until ???

Korea has Catch! Teenieping, and another season (series?) of Flowering Heart  년: 3기 - 우수하 구출 스토리

Miraculous Ladybug is still going

For live action, Police x Heroine Lovepatrina! is still airing at the moment and I wouldn’t be surprised if we got another Girl x Heroine series once that is complete.

Then for the future uhhh. There’s another season of Magia Record planned, Machikado Mazoku season 2, a third Yuki Yuna, a new Tokyo Mew Mew anime, and the Sailor Moon Crystal Stars ???adaptation all planned for... ?the future? And I would expect them to so a second season of Card Captor Sakura Clear Card when the manga wraps up

Oh and a second season of Etotama if you count that as a MG series? And Luminous Witches which is a more music leaning Strike Witches spin off? Still seems more MG than SW

It’s also the 10′th anniversary of Puella Magi Madoka Magica and they have a big ol website about with with. No real info on it but maybe? Perhaps? The big project for celebration is the follow up to the Rebellion movie? Maybe. Eventually. Maybe.

And then for manga except for the TMM special (not Au Lait) ending, I don’t think anything else has really changed from last year’s list of series

Of course. this is all a bit subjective since what Is a magical girl varies person to person (and country to country- do we mean Majokko or Henshin Heroine?). Generally, people are looking for The Aesthetics of fun outfits, Characters who are driven by helping people and/or bettering themselves (usually to become a good queen), and a Story that uses conflicts to improve the characters (be it a man vs self classic majokko episodic series, or a girls vs monsters sentai-inspired series) If you just want the aesthetics, there’s plenty of idol series like Aikatsu and PriPara which are still going strong. If you want a metaphorical story that feels MG even if the aesthetics aren’t, Wonder Egg Priority is very very good, as long as you look up the CW beforehand (suicide is the main theme).  And then if you want magical girl type characters in a non magical girl series, well, I don’t think there’s any like that at this moment, but they crop up often enough, with varying results. 

So uhh. Yep. There are the current and upcoming series. If I missed any, feel free to drop a line!

[chernobog13]

SHIN ULTRAMAN

Okay, it’s bad enough (though, given how things have been the last year, inevitable) that Toho has postponed the release of the Shin Ultraman film from early summer to nobody-knows-when.

But just a few days ago Bandai added insult to injury by announcing the new Dynaction Shin Ultraman action figure.

At first blush, this just looks like the regular SHFiguarts figure of Shin Ultraman.  I read a little more of the description and the Dynaction figure is supposed to have “die-cast and POM plastic joints for enhanced posablity.” 

It’s also supposed to have light-up eyes (batteries included).  But the real difference between the Dynaction figure and the SHFiguarts figure is size: the Dynaction figure is 40 cm/15.7 inches tall!

So far, so good, I thought.  This baby is going to be more than twice the size of the SHFiguarts version; bigger even than a 1/6-scale figure.  And still be super-poseable.  Win, win situation. right?

Then I saw the price, and I had to rub my eyes and splash cold water in my face numerous times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.

The price is going to be 22,000 yen, or approximately $202.00 US with current exchange rates.

I don’t know about you, but that’s more than a little expensive for a figure that is twice the size of their regular figure, even with the inclusion of light-up eyes.

For comparison, these are the last four Ultraman figures (based on the anime versions) that I have purchased from Threezero.

Ultraman (anime version on left, manga version on right); the batteries are dead in the anime version’s chest which is why it’s not lit

Ultraman version 7.2 (for all intents and purposes he’s Ultraseven)

Ultraman Ace

Like the Dynaction figure, all of these are extremely well articulated, are made of die-cast and plastic parts, and have light-up features.  Multiple light-up features, not just the eyes (as illustrated in the above photos).  The Ultraman figures also have light-up features on their forearms, which I did not take photos of.

The Ultraman and Ultraman ver. 7.2 (Ultraseven) are just shy of 13 inches tall.

MSRP for each one of these figures: $130.00 US each.

That’s a little more than half of what Bandai will be charging for the Dynaction Ultraman figure.

And for $200.00, I sure as heck do not want to see all of those exposed joints!

Why is the Dynaction figure so expensive in comparison?  I don’t know.  I’ve long had an issue with the price Bandai charges for many of their figures, especially their SHFiguarts Ultraman figures and SHMonsterarts figures.  These always seem to be more expensive than the SHFiguarts Kamen Rider and Super Sentai figures.

For further comparison, the SHFiguarts Shin Ultraman figure, which is due to be released later this summer, is priced at $58.00 US.  Most of the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai figures are in the $20-$30.00 US range.

I sometimes wonder if the reason the Ultraman figures always seem to be more expensive is because Bandai is the majority (49.5% the last time I checked) stockholder of Tsuburaya Productions, the folks who created and own Ultraman.  But I don’t feel like going down that rabbit hole right now.

And before some people chime in and say something about the cost of importing the toys from Japan, be aware that the price of these figures in Japan is exactly the same.

The Shin Ultraman Dynaction figure is currently scheduled to be released in the US in October, so if anyone is interested in it I would suggest you start saving your pennies.

As for me, it’s not a priority purchase.  If I see it offered at reasonable price on Mandarake I might pick it up sometime down the line, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

Thus endeth the rant.

Dynaction Shin Ultraman photos from scifijapan.com

photos of the Threezero Ultraman figures are by me from my collection

[recentanimenews]

The Rising of The Shield Hero's Postponed Stage Play Newly Set for July 2021

    The official website for the postponed stage play adaptation of Aneko Yusagi's fantasy light novel series The Rising of the Shield Hero has announced that it is newly set to be performed at Theater Sun Mall in Tokyo from July 15 to 25, 2021.

   The stage play directed by Ken Ougida (Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits stage plays) was originally planned to be performed at COOL JAPAN PARK OSAKA TT Hall in Osaka from March 27 to 29, 2020, then at Theater Sun Mall in Tokyo from April 2 to 12. However, all of the shows were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  All of the original cast members, including Yuuya Uno as Naofumi Iwatani and Karin Isobe as Raphtalia, are confirmed to return. Further details such as timetable and ticket sales will be announced at a later date.

          舞台『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 延期公演、２０２１年７月上演決定！ ↓↓↓https://t.co/Ep75FU9Qdk 【公演HP】https://t.co/Kux2WGP0mq 【日程】 ２０２１年７月１５日（木）～７月２５日（日） 【劇場】 シアターサンモール 【原作】 アネコユサギ 【原作イラスト】 弥南せいら#舞台盾の勇者 pic.twitter.com/b11n4NgN1l

— 舞台『盾の勇者の成り上がり』 (@shieldherostage) March 5, 2021

      The cast filmed a no-audience performance for a DVD/Blu-ray release at the original Osaka venue (COOL JAPAN PARK OSAKA TT Hall) on March 27, 2020, the play's scheduled opening day. The 7,000-yen DVD and the 7,500-yen Blu-ray were released in Japan in September of the year. You can see how the cast portrayed their characters on stage in a two-minute PV below.

           Main cast: 

  Naofumi Iwatani: Yuuya Uno (Kunimitsu Tezuka in The Prince of Tennis musicals) 

Raphtalia: Karin Isobe (Sayaka Saeki in Bloom Into You stage play) 

Raphtalia (childhood): Elena Kamata  

Motoyasu Kitamura: Ikkei Yamamoto (Shuichirp Ohishi in The Prince of Tennis musicals) 

Ren Amaki: Yuuho Matsui (Shun Izuki in Kuroko's Basketball stage plays) 

Itsuki Kawasumi: Taiga Fukazawa (Masaru Saiga in Karakuri Circus stage play) 

Erhard: Maruyama Atsushi (Utsusemimaru/Kyoryu Gold in Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger) 

Myne Sophia / Malty S. Melromarc: Sarah Emi Bridcutt (the anime voice cast of the character)

Slave dealer: Kotori Kojama 

Aultcray Melromarc XXXII: Isamu Ishizuka

Filo: Yuuna Sekine (Sakura Amamiya in New Sakura Wars the Stage) 

Knight Commander Nopus: Kenta Nishi  

Deputy Commander Sabre: Kiyoshi Ohno

Eyck: Ryuya Ishigami

            Source: Scissors Blitz press release

  © 2019 Yusagi Aneko/KADOKAWA/The Rising of the Shield Hero production committee

  By: Mikikazu Komatsu

[maswartz]

In hindsight maybe it’s a good thing Sentai 2020 wasn’t based on the Olympics

[bowcrazy]

Kyoani News Thread

We wanted to make this post to help spread the news/awareness of the horrible situation in Japan and make an effort to combat some distasteful misinformation and theories going around about the event. We’ll be updating and editing this post as more information comes to light. If you wish to support Kyoani in this time of need, go donate to either the GoFundMe by Sentai Filmworks or order products directly from them. As a note, after the current round of orders, they won’t be taking anymore, and future items will be postponed for the time being. However, downloading digitally is still an available option if you still want to support them directly. If you or someone you know happens to live in Japan, here are a list of sites that are accepting donations for Kyoani. On a more recent note, a direct deposit account has been set up by Kyoani on July 24, and it is the most straightforward way to aid them financially. Said donations will go to the victims’ families, the remaining staff, and towards rebuilding the company.

More Details (will be updated as much as possible):

On July 18, 2019, Kyoani Studio 1 was set on fire at 10:30 A.M. and was put out by 1 P.M.

The perpetrator in question is a male in his forties according to his ID (out of respect for the victims and their loved ones, we will not be adding any other details in regards to the perpetrator)

The attack left 34 people dead, 35 people in the hospital, 7 uninjured, and 5 missing. Ten of the people who were reported to be injured were in critical condition.

The Kyoani arson attack has been reported to be one of the deadliest massacres in Japanese history post-World War II and the deadliest building fire in eighteen years. (Sources 1, 2)

By the next day, it was reported that all the rescue efforts were finished and no one was left in the building.

Kyoani President Hatta made a statement commenting on some of the victims and mentioned that he has plans to demolish the building, replacing it with a park and a monument: "Thinking about staff and locals, there's people who don't want to see such a ghastly sight. I want to take care of it quickly."

Hatta has also stated that he and the remaining staff wish to continue to press on for those who passed and so as to not waste their carefully crafted work. (Sources: 1, 2)

Hatta also mentioned that they’re taking measures to help the workers and families who are showing signs of PTSD. (Source)

Kyoani’s attorney, Daisuke Okeda, also made a statement where he expressed his condolences to friends and relatives of the victims, as well as the fact that he will be the spokesman for Kyoani from now on.

Voice actor Mamoru Miyano has also showed his support for Kyoani in a moment of grief at his recent concert. Even during his performance, he seemed to be in pain, as his role as Rin (Free!) was very dear to him. (Source)

Kyoto Prefectural Police have established a 100-person team of officers trained in victim care who will work with and support the victims and their families. (Source)

The CEO of Takasu Clinic has announced that any and all of the reconstructive surgery treatments the victims need will be free.

President Hatta has also made another statement about the incident that was aired on TV. The translation can be read here.

The town of Toyosato, where the school model for K-On is located, has given a statement on the incident. Other similar locations have also shown support for Kyoani as well, such as Demachiyanagi Shopping Street, the inspiration for the Usagiyama Shopping Street in Tamako Market, which has produced calligraphy expressing condolences to Kyoani. Ogaki, the model city for A Silent Voice, and Iwami, the city that the setting of Free! is modeled after, have both set up donation boxes.

Despite rather popular belief and speculation, the Kyoani Studio 1 building had sufficient fire safety measures. However, fire safety regulations for offices is not meant to deal with fire bombing, hence the devastating result. (Source)

One of the survivors of the incident recalled his experience during the event and how he had to jump out of the building in order to escape. (Source)

The Fire Department Chief at the Kyoto City Council confirmed that the Studio 1 building had substantial fire safety measures prior to the incident. In fact, they even received an award for said measures in 2014. (Source 1, 2)

Family members of the victims have requested for the public to not further share lists of the deceased, misinformation, or speculation of any kind. Please respect them and their wishes.

An autopsy report on the 34 deceased was released, but no names were given. (Source)

Kyoani has officially announced that they have submitted a request to both the police and media to refrain from releasing names/a list of the victims until funerals have been held out of consideration for grieving loved ones. (Sources: 1, 2)

General Sources Used:

Kastel’s Twitter Thread

Ultimatemegax’s Twitter Thread

[toku-explained]

The Firefighters

Episode Zero: I'm not sure how this is out already. It was released in theatres as a double feature with the VS movie right? This largely serves to give us details on the setting, presumably (writing this before seeing episode 1) so the first episode can focus on red. The whole first scene, with the King being betrayed and his daughter witness to his death, is brutal. I like the cast mostly, I find Blue and Yellow a little more questionable on character, but they all stepped up. Her role as Kanon doesn't help, but pink being a celebrated surgeon really stretches the credibility for me. I thought the professor's death was poorly acted, but with the twist it may even be deliberate. The scenes with red and the girl serve to highlight his eccentricity, and his not paying attention as well as his enthusiasm. He clearly has a drive and the girl, despite having intended to mess with him, and despite complaining about waiting that long, seemed touched by his enthusiasm, and then hurt by the result. But the guy clearly has some psychic ability.

Zero-One: Fucking Gai man. This is really the first time the ZAIA competitor has been 100% in the right. The prosecutor ultimately didn't do anything wrong, yeah, but he displayed an arrogance all the same, even if all of the ZAIA competitors have turned themselves around in the end. Jin, while still with MetsubouJinrai.net, has a goal now of freeing Humagears rather than destroying humanity. He's also not connected to the Ark, which goes against my theory it revived him, unless he disconnected himself after. It makes it more likely "Bou" did it, possibly using the ZAIA resources she has access to, as she also helped free Horobi. Gai apparently anticipated Jin's revival, which could mean he engineered it. Yua does hack 119 in the end, but Humagears aren't being turned by negative feeling as much anymore. It probably helps here that while the fire chief did antagonise him, it was his words about what it means to be a firefighter that brought 119 to singularity. That Gai is now willing to continue the competition, rather than postponing, says he's abandoning any of the decency he once showed. Nice first Henshin for the new Jin. I find it surprising Fuwa still thinks Yua brought Horobi back. Then again, given all the other stuff she's done at Gai's instruction despite clearly having her doubts about it, maybe she did. Maybe I'm just quick to discount it still because it goes against my assumption Amatsu wanted MetsubouJinrai.net out of the way in order to sell his Humagears being dangerous angle .

Kiramager: It's going to take a while to remember all the names. Yodoheim, Garza, Jura, Sena, that's what I can remember now. As I thought, basically nothing in Episode Zero was repeated, but it is exactly like any other Sentai episode where Red joins the team late. Honestly, the idea of certain powers and abilities being created by Jura's imagination is great. Less great is his fixating on drawing to the extent he neglects his safety. I take it Mashin Mach is getting a limited release toy soon. My enthusiasm for this really went up at the end.

[oneangrygamer]

Made In Abyss Movie Premiere Postponed Due To Coronavirus

Made In Abyss Movie Premiere Postponed Due To Coronavirus | #MadeInAbyss #Anime #Coronavirus #COVID19 #WeebsAgainstDisease

Sentai Filmworks’ theatrical premiere of the Made In Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul movie, based on the popular eponymous manga and anime, has been postponed from its original April debut. They made the announcement via a tweet on March 24th, 2020, informing potential film-goers that they won’t be able to see this particular anime in theaters anytime soon. (more…)

[tokupedia]

Best case scenario is everyone gets well and the studio reopens after 2 weeks of deep sanitizing after a go ahead from health officials. 

Kiramager and Zero-One both have enough episodes in the can to avoid a lengthly disruption at least until early May. But as always, the first and only priority and concern, even to us fans of entertainment, is the safety of the actors, film crew and staff.

The likely scenario is that Toei will be in the same boat as the Hollywood studios in the USA, shut down all operations involving close human contact until given the “It’s safe!” green light by governing officials. It is very possible that Toho, Tsuburaya and TFC will be given the order too if their people are infected at any given point or given the order to close down indefinitely.

Containment protocols in Japan are starting to show cracks, as some are not taking this seriously and going to bars or goofing around (This partly is due to some citizens having mistrust of the government after their handling of the Fukushima nuclear disaster). 

Cases are showing signs of spiking, so Abe wants to get it under control so they don’t end up like the USA is right now. This includes locking down the entire country’s air travel system save for emergency services, as before it only involved restricted travel to certain points. Now if travelers are arriving from contaminated areas, they will be detained until given the all clear but will be stranded. 

Abe ordered shipping out millions of masks to residents to keep the virus from spreading, which is crucial since Japan has a greying population and not doing anything will cause thousands of vulnerable seniors to die. Testing kits have been going out since cases started and doctors isolate patients away from other people. The only thing Abe is reluctant to do right now is declare a state of emergency, as that would put Japan to complete halt. However, concerned citizens outside the Diet in Tokyo are demanding it.

I know we want to go back to business as usual, but we cannot ignore this and it is gonna be a long year as we are forced to have this invisible looming threat be a tenant of our daily lives for the foreseeable future .

Stay safe, stay in, and love as much as you can....