This Week in Anime [Week 13, 2021]

Date Published: 1st April, 2021

Ohayo! Ohayo!
Hope you're all getting your recommeded daily dose of anime dear weebs, because we're hitting you up with another segment of international news to bring you up to speed on last week's developments in the world of anime.
As several countries report the emergence of the second wave of Covid-19 and lockdown protocols start to become increasingly limiting, the weebs of the world have yet another opportunity to return to their natural habitat: a warm bed with the AC set to 18°, shutters drawn and anime streaming on their laptops. You know exactly what we mean 😏👌
Just remember to stay safe through it all and wear your masks when you do go out!

That said, here's your Rapid Rundown:
1. AOT Takes a Break!

2. The Promised Neverland Withers Away!

3. Godzilla vs. King Kong is a Banger!

4. This Week in Japan: Mousepads with boobs!

1. AOT Takes a Break!

It's been a long time coming, and it's finally here- but none of us could prepare ourselves for it; AOT went on a planned hiatus for 40 weeks starting on the 29th of March. The last episode of part 1 of the final season, titled "Above and Below" culminated with an extreme cliffhanger and had audiences worldwide flooding manga forums in an attempt to read the resolution on their own. For those of you keen to follow in their footsteps, know that you should start from Chapter 117, titled "Judgment". 40 weeks are far too long a wait, indeed. Just be warned that you won't be able to stop once you crawl down that rabbit hole.

On a related issue, there was notable activity this Tuesday on Twitter, when the editor of the AoT manga made a public statement on the platform announcing that kodansha has initiated several instances of legal attacks on several parties associated with illegally uploading and leaking the details of the final chapter of the manga, which is set to be released in just a few days on the 9th of April. This should come as no surprise after last month's fiasco when a major scene from the penultimate chapter was leaked on several platforms online; we'll spare you the details.

The post also went on to mention the next day that the draft for the final chapter had been submitted to him by Isayama on March the 30th; the day of Eren's birthday. A few points can be made here, but we won't risk revealing anything, so that's all for this headline 🤭

2. The Promised Neverland Withers Away!

March the 26th was a day of horror for millions of fans worldwide as they watched the last episode of The Promised Neverland dig a grave so deep for itself that the anime has gone down for its notoriety as one of the most terribly managed anime of all time. While season 2 has gotten a steadily increasing amount of backlash from fans (and a steady decrease in ratings, of course) owing to its wild deviation from the manga starting from episode 6 onwards, it still saw some intermittently positive reviews, especially for episode 8 (the Norman episode 🤫, for lack of a spoiler). However, nobody expected the series to end the way that it did- in a manner that, as a Reddit viewer very aply stated, was akin to "twisting the knife in the wound".

The final 3 minutes of the anime also faced harsh criticism with almost unanimous agreement from fans, as many ridiculed the transition scenes as "a terribly thrown together powerpoint presentation". While Adilsons always strives to maintain neutrality in its news articles, it is worth mentioning that the ending of the anime did seem very out of touch with the rest of the anime, even if the declining health of the plot is to be ignored.

As is the case with bad reception, criticism often spawns futher criticism, and many fans were quick to shed light on the fact that the ending of the anime was essentially a bad attempt at condensing at least a full season's worth of content within the span of three mere minutes. Points were also made that several of the pictures and sceneries displayed were grossly out of context with each other and some were actually recycled concept art of notable scenes from the manga which the anime decided (for reasons still unclear) to omit.

While it is true that even the ending of the manga recieved some degree of backlash from Japanese readers, the Neverland franchise was still extremely popular and profitable in its international audiences, so it was indeed a genuine surprise for many when the anime decided to curtail its retelling of the story- at a heavy cost to both the quality and direction of the story. The Promised Neverland has earned a reputation for itself that no anime wants to have; a true tragedy in light of its extremely commendable season 1.

3. Godzilla vs. King Kong is a Banger!

We don't blame you for being a tad bit surprised about seeing a headline for a hollywood movie in the anime news segment, but Godzilla is a franchise which was the brainchild of Japanese film producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, so it's very fitting to put a kaiju movie here, even if it hasn't been produced in Japan. The first movie which pitted these two titans shared the same name and was produced by the Japanese owned Toho Studios in 1962. It had a measly budget of $620,000 (compared to today's statistics) and grossed just over $10 million in the box office.

It's stunning to realise that this modern iteration of Godzilla vs Kong has a budget alone of $200 million, more than 20 times the box office yield of the classic. The movie has already grossed over $123.1 million worldwide, within its first week of release. Toho Studios, very fittingly, is also involved in distribution of the movie in Japan, which will start from the 14th of May. The modern iteration has been praised for its stunning visuals, beautiful and lifelike graphics and, most notably, the fact that is delivers exactly what it promised- if not much else. Then again, nobody watches a kaiju movie for its deep philosophies, so that's not exactly a drawback of any sort.

Yours truly has had the pleasure to watch the film in question and I have nothing but good things to say about it. Godzilla vs Kong is a movie that definitely won't leave you disappointed!

4. This Week in Japan: Mousepads with boobs!

Okay, here's something we didn't know we needed until we say it. J-j-just hear us out here, okay?

Mousepads.
But with tits.

Ingenuity at its best, am I right? (They're not all the same size, just fyi 😶)


Hobby Stock Japan recently displayed their upcoming anime merch based off the anime "Kanojo, Okarishimasu", and stated that it will be available from the month of May. Now, to be fair, this is the first we're hearing of this anime but Japan is evidently head over heels about this product- and we totally understand why. We may not speak Japanese, but all men of culture understand oppai-talk!

Each boob-graced mousepad will set you back $40 USD, but can we really place a price on nature's bounty? 😏

For those who're interested in the show, here's the synopsis:
"Kinoshita Kazuya is a 20-year-old failure of a college student. He managed to kiss his girlfriend once, but was dumped after a month. “Ugh… Damn it. I never want to go through that again.”

Completely spiteful, Kazuya uses a certain method to date a girl. He goes to their meeting place and suddenly hears,”You’re Kazuya-kun, right?” A beautiful girl brushing her long, black hair behind her ear was there, smiling at him. Her name was Mizuhara Chizuru.

Something real is born after just a single rental! A reckless rom-com filled with love and excitement is about to begin!"


That's all we have for you this time folks! Check back next week for more exciting anime news and developments right at your fingertips! Live your passion with Adilsons!