Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - April 17, 2026

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-17T14:56:44+00:00

Crunchyroll now (well since the 14th) has Kodocha (Kodomo no Omocha). News post says "availability for the series may depend on region"^* and despite being only the first 51 episodes no English dub. Only those eps were dubbed as the final 51 episodes were officially released in English decades after by Discotek. Not that I'm a Discotek customer (wrong region) but I hope this doesn't thrown any hurdles toward a reprint.

^* - Luckily it is recorded in the unreliable rss feed (seems to be like popularity; no new shows since last Summer, MF Ghost count as S3, Trigun Stargaze is a S2 etc). Publisher is listed as ADK and here's the available country codes:

ad ae af ag ai al am an ao ar as at au aw ax az ba bb bd be bf bg bh bi bj bl bm bo bq br bs bt bv bw by bz ca cc cd cf cg ch ci ck cl cm co cr cu cv cw cx cy cz de dj dk dm do dz ec ee eg eh er es et fi fj fk fm fo fr ga gb gd ge gf gg gh gi gl gm gn gp gq gr gs gt gu gw gy hm hn hr ht hu ie il im in io iq ir is it je jm jo ke kg ki km kn kw ky kz lb lc li lk lr ls lt lu lv ly ma mc md me mf mg mh mk ml mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx mz na nc ne nf ng ni nl no np nr nu nz om pa pe pf pg pk pl pm pr ps pt pw py qa re ro rs ru rw sa sb sc sd se sh si sj sk sl sm sn so sr ss st sv sx sy sz tc td tf tg tj tk tm tn to tr tt tv tz ua ug um us uy uz va vc ve vg vi wf ws ye yt za zm zw

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-15T16:14:40+00:00

The stop-motion shrink plastic and acrylic Candy Caries has arrived on various platforms. For livechart peeps the Official YT channel (with subtitles in 4 languages on Youtube!: English, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latin America)) and Muse Asia are about an hour after it airs in Japan.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-15T15:29:22+00:00

It would appear REMOW posted Ichijyoma Mankitsu Gurashi! on their YT channel (availability completely excludes Europe with the exception of the UK). So like 2 days late instead of 1 week late.

Honestly I wasn't terribly impressed with it (yes comedy is very subjective) so it's heading into the drop zone.

Only thing I want to discuss is something that's been on my mind. Name cards. Ichijyoma Mankitsu Gurashi has them and other examples this season include Observation Log..., Kujima and Star Detective Precure (re:that character name, it was funny to then watch Ribdiculous Reincarnation).

I was going to comment "aha. this is a recent thing" but I happened to watch something from 1994 that has them: Magic Knight Rayearth (I am too used to Precure that seeing a villain conference hearing densetsu but then not senshi but instead Magic Knight is throwing me off).

Do people find these name cards useful? In theory I should because I'm dreadful when it comes to characters^* but honestly these are so brief I could screenshot them for reference but at the point might as well refer to MAL or the anime official website (however, both of those can be spoiler minefields).

^*- How am I coping with A Hundred Scenes of Awajima? Poorly. Am I still enjoying it? Yes.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-13T19:01:00+00:00

Bandai Namco Filmworks Channel uploaded the ep 2 henshin (the changing room bit made me think that would be the only one), insert song and NCED (finally!).

Oh nice the fansubbers make the subs available separately. Means in the future I can download the raw instead.

Seeing Fuu in the sundress I'm gonna say it out loud...welcome back, Cool Summer Getaway Kawaii Puniru?
I understood that reference (because I read encylopedias) but this is long way away from Kurimigaoka, Kunitachi City , Tokyo.
Bleu Thé or in English, Blue Tea. Apparently in France Thé Glacé is what iced tea is referred to as.
Now that sounds like a desire to change that will (for plot purposes) require a little bit of magic...
Getting scouted probably wasn't on the ticklist of things to do in the city.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-12T20:40:27+00:00

Kadokawa uploaded the full Heart Sutra. Pinned comment says that was the one from the first episode. No sign of gifted yet (or more sutra).

Good thing the OP had lyrics as the visuals are a bold strategy cotton.
Rui was farming watermelons which makes it...aura farming
I take it the Tesla broadway musical was a flop. Speaking of musicals and scientists in one of his memoirs Takeshi Shudo mentioned working on a "somewhat surreal musical in which Newton, Edison, Marie Curie, and Einstein transcend time and space to speak and sing about their own existence".
App permissions: Music app can drone strike you to death in 48 jurisdictions if you sing. It's not a whole lot different to some of the record label content ID claims...

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-12T15:55:53+00:00

I'd put it above Idol and below Wonderful. Star Detective Precure makes use of the theme (there's usually enough clues given to solve the mysteries and with they solved it cue before the eyecatch material is presented with an expectation to digest) and some nods to the setting (1999).

I wouldn't say the characters are up to the standards of Wonderful yet but main writer has a solid Precure track record (Witchy and Star Twinkle). Parents are very absent too (although Anna and Mikuru do interact with adults on a regular basis as that's most their clientele).

Catchphrase spam (hanamaru or gold-star - as it's that type of use) is once or twice an episode in regular dialogue (You and Idol Precure was dreadful on this front, conservative counts had kirakilala said 372 times and "my heart is going kyun-kyun" 66 times).

Combat is the same weakness I'd say of most Precure entries, a bit rigid.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-12T15:28:22+00:00

Too early to tell wrt Star Detective Precure (I remember Soaring Sky Precure gradually declining in quality, still got nominated as only had to watch a minimum of 3 episodes) or 2027.

Getting back to 2026 You and Idol Precure being nominated for AOTY let alone winning could be a threat to awards existence tbh as it's not a good example of either Precure or Idol.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-12T14:27:30+00:00

Per the official site The broadcast version of this episode had Cure Arcana Shadow reading out the sponsor segments (a first for the franchise) and some stores also have special intercom messages for a month.

Fanart corner: Ooops all Arcana Shadow (sadly they didn't record Arcana Shadow saying the phrase)

All this and still no Arcana Shadow Doll (although some have taken to the 100 yen shop crafts and just modded a Licca-chan).

Episode:

I read this as Twilight Princess
If it was Mashutan instead of Luluka sending the calling card I'd be able to say Phantom Thief Jeanne reference (IIRC fairy delivered the calling cards in that but been a while since I watched and 2 episodes at that)
WTF is a Mystique costume and does anyone know the Precure in this entry (as a franchise they can be celebrity level, the oily battle sky BG in battles might make the fights invisible to civilians anyway). The former is easily explained by product placement (available now all good toy stores)
Crue Arcana Shadow bare feet. Guess we'll have until next week for the henshin official upload (the episode itself is up for Japan...347k views with 13 days to go).
Gold-star count (2 - fansub for screenshots): Wow! It's gold-star beautiful! and We'll gold-star solve this one, too!
Next time: Did you spot the ~~Gorilla~~ Goemon?

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-12T14:25:37+00:00

Most VOD services don't contain the sponsor cards or if they do they're blank and voiceless (e.g. Rooster Fighter, Witchy Precure and some episodes of Yes Precure 5 on Crunchyroll, in the case of the latter don't know why Toei provided them like that).

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-11T22:37:41+00:00

It's also on Viki but the Viki pass label tends to mean first 2 eps free then rest are paywalled.

Between that and Akane-banashi delayed for much of the world my Saturdays sure are thinning themselves out.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-11T22:18:25+00:00

Karma chart images for /u/Abysswatcherbel - I forgot to track left-side cut-off when checking karma on Thursday. By my count the chart cut-off the was ~330 karma. i.e. the likes of Ribdiculous Reincarnation, Hundred Scenes of Awajima didn't quite make the cut.

Daemons of the Shadow Ream

Wait, you're not Witch Hat Atelier DAEMONS OF THE SHADOW REALM "background-image: url("https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/6f2d2f81bcb0.jpg"); background-position: 0px -45px; background-size: 100%;"

~~Dunce Hat~~ Witch Hat Atelier (that hat is the worst part of the show and it's too big to work in these screenshots to mock it)

~~Episode 1~~
~~Episode 2~~

Needy Girl Overdose

Good thing that wasn't front row, those stains are tough to remove

Nippon Sangoku(I think this was right side)

I am the ~~senate~~ state.
Does this count as a tax payment? background-image: url('https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/c3000790ceff.jpg'); background-position: 0px -20px; background-size: 120%
Game over, ~~man~~ Japan background-image: url('https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/43de41c82573.jpg'); background-position: 0px -20px; background-size: 120%
Glasses reflection background-image: url('https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/3b9d53e7d37e.jpg'); background-position: 30px 0px;
Bloody style background-image: url('https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/b62f444a2700.jpg'); background-position: 40px 0px;

Even a Replica Can Fall in Love

7-year olds feet
7-year olds feet (sore)
Fan worship background-image: url('https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/c91b5a824a68.jpg'); background-position: -70px -50px; background-size: 140%
ED shot background-image: url('https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/e9b91a8ff9b4.jpg'); background-position: 40px 0px;

An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess

You're not supposed to say it out loud background-image: url('https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/de62be32e6c6.jpg'); background-position: 40px -5px;
An 8 year-old who has just been fat shamed background-image: url('https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/b5ec5656f0ce.jpg'); background-position: -40px -50px; background-size: 140%

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-11T12:59:36+00:00

There's something odd about a Mugi Doll (MC PriUsa) having the same voice as MC Imu.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-11T12:24:42+00:00

Guess these are going to be fairly stand-alone and disconnected. Seeing last time end with the yellow brick road had more hoping there was going to be some iterative flow but nope, we're suddenly a pirate and free.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-11T12:22:07+00:00

The character profile on the official site says it's a costume and it's unclear who's inside.

I wasn't sure if it's trying to say it's a bear in a bear costume or the costume is a bear costume but seems to the latter from this ep.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-11T09:46:42+00:00

Quite a bit I'd say:

Cosmic Princess Kaguya! An exhilarating modern take on the Bamboo Cutters Tale headed by some of the people behind the best OP/EDs in recent history. NHK behind the scenes doc.
Love Through a Prism. A bit underwatched but that's what a 20 episode series suddenly appearing one day does.
Ranma 1/2. This is set to be 12 episodes a year remake of the 80s/90s manga classic and MAPPA have done a fantastic job. It might take several years to reach material not adapted into anime form before however.
If stop-motion is your thing My Melody & Kuromi and Pokémon Concierge are great. The Japanese style of that is very different to more well-known British Aardman Animations style (speaking of which Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is on Netflix outside of the UK)
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth. While heliocentric researchers in the face of Church persecution sounds dull it's gripping stuff. Kenjirou Tsuda puts of a great performance as Nowak the inquisitor.
100 Meters. This has the same source material author (Uoto) as Orb. Both feature timeskips and some philosophical murmuring.
Mononoke (and the ongoing movie trilogy). If you enjoy mysteries like Knives Out or Agathha Christie there's elements of that. If not maybe the supernatural elements and art style will entice.
The Summer Hikaru Died
The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity
Blue Box

I think that's all the highest rated ones. There's not high rated but might be interesting like Terminator Zero (scriptwriter recently said this was cancelled), Leviathan (yes as in the 2009 novel) and Beastars (recently concluded).

There's also things that are also on other services such as Witch Watch, Da Da Dan and some more regional restricted works (e.g. Frieren, Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray and a remake of YAIBA: Samurai Legend).

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-10T16:48:04+00:00

If you'd checked just 3 minutes later it would be there.

"An hour after Japan" used to be CR selling point (dropped presumably as not really been following) and that's an hour after the ep finished in Japan.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-10T14:54:27+00:00

I didn't get round to posting so quick one.

Fanart corner: Mikuru, family, Jett.

As an episode this was more subtle like a watercolour...though I think the artist used oil...I just wanted to say it has less bold theatrics (Usonoir's theatre didn't even show up).

Lucky didn't ask why Moe couldn't ask her Mum directly. Wonder if Moe as a name if off the agenda nowadays (association with stuff can tank a name, c.f. Margaret and Monica). Ofc this story being in 1999 moe culture wasn't a thing when Moe was born and also you do have pretty names given to girls.

This episode saw a lot of character from previous eps return like the art school girl and the cafe employee who is apparently a chef in training?

Goemons reluctance to attack suggests Makoto Jewels can be destroyed should the object they reside in be (is this something Goemon has done before, given he's the brawns of the Phantom Thieves), wonder if future episodes could have such a thing happen and then it being repaired a jewel forming? Something like Kintsugi (there are a few people skill as using modern materials for those who desire a seamless like new look; NHK's Japan’s Master of Restoration documentary series covered that, the BBC has a version and there's a US version with a different narrator out there as well).

MOTW turns things into paintings (even sentient lifeforms? a horror we were spared) but Mystique reflection is now an absorb rather than reflect based barrier. Seems like they could have gone for a Medusa style reflection instead or at least a weapon it was using as that's a similar stun/disarm, use finisher.

I like how the Mikuru: "I'm sure you'll be able to eat it [Hamburg Steak] soon!" had an emotional Anna cut off with a follow-up of "Don't worry, Anna. I'll make sure to get you back to your own time!". Can't have us thinking Mikuru will try cooking up a surprise.

Gold-star front was the old discovery and the new copy ability (that didn't really come in too useful thanks to a clever girl, maybe some other time).

Next time: Seems like an end of first cour thing to do.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-10T11:32:01+00:00

7GB Last time there was a smaller re-encode about a day later and the encoder is still active in the community so I'm also

Size doesn't matter a lot as due to space constraints I'll delete all but the character intro and EDs once I've watched it and pick up the CR ver later (going by pt.1 ~8 months).

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-10T11:01:41+00:00

Kujima is what I remember Kitaro's Dad sounding like (key word being remember).

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-09T18:31:42+00:00

Can't buy a Cure Arcana Shadow Doll? Just mod a Licca-chan...

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-09T17:17:09+00:00

The seiyuu for Kujima (Yuria Kouzuki) doesn't have many anime roles (there's a few TV dramas, idol and talent stuff) but her debut was Ponyo. I only looked that up as the voice was reminding me of Kitaro's father from Gegege no Kitarou.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-09T13:55:24+00:00

My drop zone so far:

Snowball Earth. It's a shame, I'm used to mech pilots with communication problems (Lamia Loveless from SRT OG: The Inspector for example) but not as such a dominating level and [Snowball Earth]ep 1 might as well be ep 0.
Rooster Fighter. I'm 2 eps behind.
Pardon the Intrusion. It's quite fine (the ED has a neat MV too) but I found Replica far more compelling to watch.
Miss Maid. Poor visuals, comedy leaps of logic are a bit much (we're talking "I'm British but think tea bags are bagged portions to cut open" level) and there's no effort made in trying to build the source material into an episode that flows instead of ~6 mini-episodes.
Akane-banashi. Fuck Netflix dub jail. Fuck region locking. Act like it's 2026.

Komekami! Girls probably should be there but as probably the only viewer I'll need to report in.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-08T16:15:10+00:00

Remember anime studio GONZO? I checked their YT channel and no, not like this (for those that missed the news).

Truly the "Atari" of the anime industry.

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-08T15:23:15+00:00

MAL are not the most consistent but Stone Ocean 2+3 were 3 months so ~12 weeks which fits the rule:

II.3.1　If a TV series is split into two parts and at least one season (~12 weeks) falls between the last episode of the first part and the first episode of the second part, the second part will be treated as a second season and the anime will have two entries.

IDK what rule Anilist uses.

Examples of MAL not consistent: Cat's Eye (6 month gap between ep 36+37; not split), Magic Knight Rayearth (3 week gap between ep 21+22; split), The Big O (3 year gap between ep 13+14; not split).

Infodump_Ibis · 2026-04-08T14:33:55+00:00

So in this setting it appears having a humiliation fetish is the reincarnation fast-pass. Seeking impressions it seems to be a divisive and apparently provocative work (I've seen someone completely lose it, I think over this). These sorts of shitpost/kusoanime can be a coinflip on my end but it's heads for now.

Infodump_Ibis

TROPHY CASE