This Week in Anime [Week 9, 2021]

Date Published: 4th March, 2021

Ohayou Gozaimas minna! It's the first week of March and we have a ton of steaming new developments ready to be served fresh! This week has shown rich developments in almost al sectors of the anime entertainment industry, so there's something juicy for everyone this time, be it anime, games or- believe it- a landmark attempt at breaking a world record, the anime universe has shown significant activity for all to behold! Here's this week's Rapid Rundown:

1. New Pokémon Games for Switch!

2. My Hero Academia Season 5!

3. Hatsune Miku Gets an Anime!

4. Trending in Japan: World Record?!

1. New Pokémon Games for Switch!

The 15 year wait for a remake of Diamond & Pearl is finally over ladies and gentlemen! If you were looking for a reason to splurge on a Switch- THIS is it. As has been the tradition on every Pokémon day, the Twitter account for the company makes a major announcement on the 27th of February of each year. This year' announcement was hinted at being related to the Sinnoh region, but the final confirmation had to wait until the annual event: and it most certainly did not disappoint!

The remakes are called Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and will be completely faithful recreations of the original games released for Nintendo DS way back in 2006. The Pokemon franchise also released the following YouTube video showing the gameplay for the upcoming games:
https://youtu.be/BjCwUk06ZSk

As you might have noticed at the end of the video, the projected release dates are still to be announced, but we can expect our wait to last for up to a maximum of 9 more months! We waited 15 years for this; 9 months is a blink of an eye away (and just enough time for some of us to start saving up for a Switch)!

We're not done though!

Another big announcement also followed suit; the Generation 4 remakes don't just end here- another entry titled Pokemon Legends: Arceus is also on its way, but unlike its Diamond and Pearl counterparts, it will not simply be a faithful remake, but rather an independent adventure set in an open-world layout that will add another dimension to the Sinnoh generation's storyline. You can catch the trailer for this game below:
https://youtu.be/R27sboZnziM

Just note that this entry is set to be released in 2022, meaning you'll have time to complete the Diamond and Pearl remakes before you jump into Arceus!

Pokemon really has delivered some earth shattering news this year, and we're definitely not complaining about it! Fans have been clamouring for remakes, especially since all the other old generations (1,2,3 and 5) have gotten their remakes, but Gen 4 has remained completely untouched following the original releases. Perhaps Pokemon was reluctant to mess with perfection- Gen 4 is regarded by many to be the best among all; regardless of the reason, we're all happy to see Nintendo finally yield to everyone's wishes and give us what we've been asking for since over a decade!


2. My Hero Academia Season 5!

The final confirmation is here everyone! The fifth season of Boku no Hero Academia is up for release on the 27th of March; just over 3 weeks from today! The announcement was made via the official Twitter account for My Hero Academia, which released the trailer for the anime, as you can see here:
https://youtu.be/5AkQ0GxQTQM

[SPOILER ALERT: S4]

For those of you who have forgotten what's at stake, we'd like to remind you that the Season 4 finale concluded with Endeavour being crowned as the Number 1 hero; an honour that was quickly put to the test as he was pitted against a specially designed Nomu called Hood- the battle ended in Endeavour's victory but at the cost of Endeavour reaching his absolute limits.

[END OF SPOILER]

Season 5 will feature the Joint Training Arc, where Classes A and B are pitted against each other to bring out their best. This premise is particularly exciting in light of the fact that we really haven't seen many of the Class B students in action so it will be very interesting to not only see their quirks but to understand how they are put to use! For those who remember the post credit scene of season 4, here's to hoping that what we saw there will also be explained in the upcoming season!


3. Hatsune Miku Gets an Anime!

You've heard her name, and you've seen her face but you've never heard of an anime with her in it- which leads us all to ask: if she isn't even in an anime, why is she one of the most iconic figures in the anime universe? The answer is Nightcore. Yeah, we're talking about those high-pitched, fast-paced upbeat songs which manage to stick in our heads and annoy us until we actually begin to enjoy them. Although nightcore has come a long way since that period, it's here that Hatsune Miku finds her origin.

Hatsune Miku was developed as a virtual idol for Yamaha’s Vocaloid voice synthesizer, and music producers have produced over 100,000 songs with Hatsune Miku's software. This is why she's so popular- she literally is in the definition of Nightcore, which in turn finds its roots closely intertwined with anime culture.

That said, it's appropriate for Hatsune to finally get her own anime, making this headline a monumental achievement in the history of anime; everyone Vocaloid fan's waifu is getting her own show and we should all be happy for her.

Crypton Future Media is the developer behind Hatsune, and her anime project is being co-developed by two other companies: Graphic India and Carlin West Agency. Cryptron's lisensing director believes that they “have found a way to create an original animated series that stays true to the essence of Miku”, meaning that this is probably gonna be the Hannah Montana of anime. You have permission to banish us to the Shadow Realm for making that association.


4. Trending In Japan: World Record Attempt?!

The Attack on Titan manga is setting itself up for a World Record attempt that's taking Japan by storm. What's the record they wanna break, you ask? "The Largest Comic Book Ever Published"

Needless to say, it would be fitting to have a title all about Titans in it as the holder of this record- and that's exactly what Kodansha is aiming to achieve. They've published the first two chapters of the manga in a 96-page, 100cm x 70cm x 2.5cm book that weights an astounding 13.7 Kg.
All that's left is to sell 100 copies of it to qualify it for the World Record. Guess the price for 1 extra large volume, dear reader.
$100?
$300?
$500?

They're all wrong. The XL manga comes with an XL pricetag of $1400. What's more is that shipping will start from May. The very thought of seeing the shipping charges for the international delivery of a 14 Kg book is alone to deter us from the ridiculous venture, but it's almost certain that the manga will see its first 100 sales within a very short period of time, as many collectors are flocking to partake in the once in a lifetime experience! Then again, you can only donate 1 kidney in a lifetime so that does add up... or substract.... Whatever the case, this monstrosity of a manga is what's Trending in Japan this week!

And that's all we have for you this time, folks! Catch us right here at the same time next week for another issue of This Week in Anime! Till then, as usual- Keep Living Your Passion minna!