Maho Girls Precure!! ~Mirai Days~ (also known as Witchy Precure!! ~Mirai Days~) is the second case of the Precure franchise creating a direct sequel anime that features its heroines many years after their original stories. While it might be a bit unfair to compare this series and Precure Full Bloom, their diverging approaches to portraying their respective characters as adults is noteworthy for how they connect to the concept of “youth” and all it entails.
Ever since the end of their original story, heroines Asahina Mirai and Izayoi Liko have each been living in the non-magical and magical worlds respectively. Mirai is a college student now, but she also continues to secretly use her witch powers to help people as the mysterious “Maho Girl.” Liko has become a teacher at her old school, training a new generation of magic users. When a new enemy threatens both worlds, the two reunite to become Cure Miracle and Cure Magical once more.
To me, the biggest difference between Full Bloom and Mirai Days can be summed up in the transformations. While the Yes! Pretty Cure 5 and Pretty Cure Splash Star girls revert back to their middle school selves when transforming, Miracle and Magical remain adults. In the former, the power of Precure is locked to the youth of the past, but in the latter, that power continues forward.
One aspect that might have influenced these diverging approaches is the fact that they are targeting different age demographics. Yes! 5 and Splash Star are around 10 years older than Maho Girls, and that means one sequel is targeting women around 30, as opposed to those closer to 20. Thematically, the first group are adults worn down by society and the clash between the dreamy ideals of your youth and the harshness of the “adult world.” In contrast, Mirai and Liko have to fight those who want to remain in an ideal past where they felt happiest.
Even then, I liked the way Maho Girls did it even more. I want to see how adults might look in magical outfits, and how they would carry their life experiences in their actions. Why can’t we see women in their mid to late 20s (and beyond) undergoing full, proper magical transformations that acknowledge their maturity?
When Baelz Hakos of hololive made a promotional video for a convention appearance in Hong Kong earlier this year, she gave an abbreviated version of her standard self-introduction. Naturally, it was subtitled in Cantonese, and the word used for “chaos” was wandeon—or hundun in Mandarin Chinese.
English: I am Chaos, the End of Ends.
Cantonese: 我喺混沌、萬物終結。
Cantonese Jyutping: Ngo hai Wandeon, Maan Mat Zung Git.
Literal translation: I am Chaos/Hundun, the Termination of All Creation
Hundun (混沌) refers to primordial chaos, but it can also be the name of a legendary creature from Chinese mythology that existed before the universe was created. It’s typically depicted as a faceless beast with many wings and feet. Incidentally, I became aware of it myself through the anime Lazarus, where it’s a plot point for a certain character.
The Hundun from Lazarus
Bae is Cantonese, and the fact that her original lore also describes her as Chaos itself makes the similarities between Bae and the Hundun more striking—both are “chaos” as concept as well as being. So I got to thinking: What if in the lore of hololive, Baelz Hakos is the Hundun under a different guise?
The backstories of Bae and her fellow members of hololive EN Promise updated a couple years ago to be simpler. All of them are essentially about how these representatives of primal forces (chaos, time, hope, etc.) have integrated more thoroughly into the human world, with Bae in particular focusing on her desire to perform on new and different stages.
Playing off this, I could see some kind of written piece about how Baelz Hakos is what the Hundun became out of a desire to interact more directly with the mortal realm. Dance (Bae’s specialty) is also a creative art that feels both controlled and chaotic, and perhaps her multiple wings and feet could manifest through her amazing dance moves.
This has just been some random fanfic-tier speculation on my part. I’m looking forward to the Promise 2nd year 3D concert in a few hours:
At Anime Central 2025, I received an opportunity to interview Pili, the Taiwanese studio that co-produced Thunderbolt Fantasy. I hope that fans of Thunderbolt Fantasy, fans of Pili, and anyone curious about unique media and entertainment can learn from the in-depth answers they gave.
1) Taiwan has a celebrated tradition of puppet theater, something that is likely unfamiliar to much of the English-speaking audience. What are some of the special aspects of Taiwanese puppetry, and how do you incorporate them into your work?
Pili puppetry has a unique advantage: puppets have no facial expressions. This means that all emotions are conveyed through the atmosphere of the scene, the performance of the voice actors, and the impact of the music. As a result, regardless of culture or language, emotions can still be conveyed through the puppets.
About how we incorporate them into our work, we can share how Thunderbolt Fantasy entered the Japanese market as the example. Although the genre is Wuxia fantasy, Urobuchi-san naturally incorporated various elements of Wuxia into the story, which allowed Japanese audiences to easily understand and appreciate it.
2) Given that Thunderbolt Fantasy has both Japanese and Taiwanese dubs, have you found it a challenge to work with two different languages and styles of speech?
The production of Pili puppet performance always begins with the audio. The puppeteers always perform based on the pre-recorded voices. For Thunderbolt Fantasy, once the Japanese script was delivered to Pili, it first had to be translated into Chinese, then dubbed in Taiwanese. The puppeteers would then perform based on the audio data.
However, because there are language differences between Chinese and Japanese, Urobuchi-san would need to revise the script and communicate with every voice actor about how the characters should be performed after watching the filmed version. For example, in puppet theater there are many actions similar with Japanese Kabuki movements and gestures. To voice properly for such movements, Urobuchi-san had to discuss with voice actors to provide guidance and suggestions in person.
3) Do the puppeteers treat their performance as akin to live theater when recording, or is it more like a movie or television show production?
Our production now is closer to that of films and TV dramas. The biggest difference is that traditionally Pili puppet performance was live on stage. In this case, the puppets’ heads must face the audience. However, now in a studio setting, the puppets’ heads must face the camera, so the concentration and ways of expression become different. In addition, we use narration, jump cuts, and other techniques to change settings and transition the scenes.
4) I must ask, how did a giant robot end up in Thunderbolt Fantasy? It was an unexpected choice, but speaks to the fun and unpredictability of the series.
Robots are one of Urobuchi Gen’s personal interests. He is also a big fan of Kamen Rider and Tokusatsu, so he came up with the idea of including them and designed that robot. Pili also filmed similar things before, such as scenes where puppets battled a giant gorilla. In our Su Huan-Jen movie, we collaborated with Japanese studios to create the monster Qilin. We really enjoy Tokusatsu filming style, so Urobuchi-san took the opportunity to design and incorporate more of these elements into the work to make it fun.
5) Are there any plans to bring more of your shows to English-speaking audiences? I ask simply because I would love to see more.
Of course, we do have plans. We are working with Urobuchi-san on other projects, and both now and in the future, we will be working on scriptwriting and concept design for works that appeal to a wider fanbase, especially to those who are not fans of the Wuxia genre.
6) I’ve read that one thing you had to learn from making Thunderbolt Fantasy is that Japan is more accustomed to a slower pace for action scenes. Could you elaborate on how you changed things to accommodate this?
From the very beginning, we have been constantly adjusting the pace. Especially when shooting the first episode of the first season, we studied how to present the puppets’ body movements in greater detail so that the audience could better appreciate their performance. We knew that the fight scenes in puppetry always switch too quickly, like in seconds, and the puppets have no facial expressions. The audience would need more time to process the information and understand the plot. That’s why we kept adjusting the pace. I must say that we rely on puppeteers’ live performance and improvisation as well as the director’s guidance and arrangement.
7) How do you puppet the characters relative to the voices? Does voice come before the puppetry, or vice versa? Or perhaps there’s a back-and-forth process between the two stages?
First, we record a reference track in Taiwanese, and the puppeteers perform based on that. Next comes the official dubbing. Since the official dubbing could involve various adjustments and changes, we need to reshoot and revise the makeup. This back-and-forth adjustment continues until everything is finalized. Once finalized, we proceed to the last phase of handling Japanese dubbing.
8) Are there unique aspects of specific characters that require puppeteering them in special ways? For example, is controlling Shang different from controlling Lin?
One of the biggest advantages of Thunderbolt Fantasy is that the script and character designs were developed simultaneously. This allowed our puppeteers to imagine the personalities of the characters more concretely and design unique gestures based on the script since there was sufficient information. For example, Shang scratching his nose, or Lin carrying a smoking pipe in his mouth, which looks humorous. Because we had enough prerequisites and Urobuchi-san could provide explanations in time, the puppeteers were able to enrich the characters as best as they could.
9) Is there anything unique to the technical process of making Thunderbolt Fantasy that differs from your other series?
At this point, Pili’s puppet drama series updates every week, like Shonen Jump in Japan, so the production schedule is extremely tight.
During the technical process, for example, creators often need to design characters based on only a few lines of description, while voice actors must imagine the voices of the characters before even seeing the actual designs. When these two processes run at the same time, mismatches are likely to occur. Just imagine they designed an old lady, but voice was like Rie Kugimiya’s tsundere tone.
Producing weekly episodes is very demanding. Ding Bi, who is sitting beside me, works on the weekly-updating drama. His team often found that even after finishing filming and wrapping up, they would still discover parts that needed reshooting, which was stressful and frustrating.
On the other hand, Thunderbolt Fantasy is different. Since both the script and pre-production details were ready in advance, everything was clear, which made filming much easier. Moreover, our Pili team has developed such a strong teamwork spirit over the years that we can almost instinctively know the best way to shoot a scene, so the whole process was quite smooth.
10) How involved was PILI with the overall story and the character personalities in Thunderbolt Fantasy? What was it like to work creatively with NITRO PLUS?
Pili’s involvement is very high. Although most of the character designs from NITRO PLUS are for protagonists, we are in charge of classifying characters by levels of importance. Pili also contributed a lot to the character design. For example, many of the demon realm generals and lieutenants and other organizations were designed by us after internal discussions.
NITRO PLUS trusted in Pili’s puppet-making, so their feedback was generally positive with few comments on things that need to be corrected. For the process of converting 2D character designs into 3D character models, we also communicated with NITRO PLUS frequently, so our interaction with them has been very close.
NITRO PLUS is a highly disciplined and experienced company. Even though its core business is gaming, its creative strength and design framework are astonishing. Pili really needs to learn from them because our style in designing sometimes tends to be loose and irregular, so working creatively with NITRO PLUS was previous experience.
11) Looking back on your long history with Thunderbolt Fantasy, are there any important lessons you’ve learned from making it?
To be honest, ten years have not been easy. Collaborating with Japan was a huge challenge for Pili.
The first lesson is cultural differences in language. For example, in Japanese texts or messages, expressions like sumimasen can sound indirect or ambiguous for us considering the seriousness, but they could be a very clear refusal from the Japanese side. We might think the level of that dislike from them was not strong at all, but in fact their rejection was much stronger than we expected. What’s more, when we said something like “Okay, we can consider this proposal and maybe give it a try”, the Japanese cast sometimes understood it as a clear decision to move forward along this plan.
Another big lesson is in the character market and community management. In Japan, these aspects, as well as production details, are treated with great importance, while Pili had not given them as much consideration before. After we started working together with Japanese people, we learned a lot from them in these areas.
About technical skills, we also learned tremendously. Through Thunderbolt Fantasy, we had the opportunity to learn from Japanese creators and companies other than NITRO PLUS, such as monster design just mentioned, sound production, etc. In particular, the sound director Miwa Iwanami gave us invaluable advice on how to strengthen the use of voice performance to make puppet theater characters more powerful.
Once the interview was over, one of the puppeteers demonstrated the way they control the puppet of yandere princess Cháo Fēng.
The staff also asked me how I got into Thunderbolt Fantasy. And then they even gave me the chance to hold Cháo Fēng’s puppet myself!
It’s literally one of the best things I’ve ever gotten to do.
I feel like I’ll never be used to this, but another one of my favorite creators has left us. Kasai Sui, author of the historical fiction manga Giséle Alain, passed away on September 12.
With a drawing style reminiscent of Mori Kaoru (A Bride’s Story, Emma) and Miura Kentaro (Berserk), Kasai’s art was stunningly gorgeous, and really captured that Harta Comix style. Giséle Alain follows a young and wealthy tomboy by the same name who opens her own “all trades” business taking care of odd jobs, and it is one of the best manga I’ve ever read. The art is simply gorgeous, with character expressive and lovingly rendered—particularly when it comes to Giséle herself. The period clothing, architecture, and little details are some of the best I’ve ever seen in manga. The story, told through the little adventures of our heroine and eventually her complex relationship with her own past, is something that drew me in deeper and deeper.
Giséle Alain ran for five volumes before going on hiatus in 2014. I was looking through the archives of this blog, sure I had posted something about it over the years, and I was shocked to discover that I had not devoted a single post to this series. I think a part of me was still holding out hope that Giséle Alain would return, and that I would be able to write about Kasai’s work then. Alas, I guess this is my review now: Go read the manga if you can.
I didn’t follow Kasai closely, and I kind of regret that now. For one thing, I never quite realized that Giséle Alain stopped serialization because the author had become ill. Nor did I know that they had a wife who is also a manga artist. I also wasn’t aware that Kasai had opened a Pixiv Fanbox, and had been posting to it off and on for the past six years, and I wish I could have been supporting them this whole time. During this time, Kasai’s output fluctuated a lot (I assume due to health issues), but their art remained incredible. They even tabled at Comitia last year! A part of me wants to take up drawing again, being faced with the mortality of an artist whose work I adored, especially because they were close to my own age.
News articles have also revealed that an extra Giséle Alain story was actually in the works and close to completion before Kasai died. The author had tweeted innocuously just four days prior, and it seems like everyone assumed this was going to be her triumphant (albeit limited) return. I really hope we get to see this extra story, even if it’s in disorganized pieces.
Kasai’s Fanbox is going to close paid subscriptions after October 31. Visiting it is a great and convenient way to see the work of a master.
I need to say it: I’ve been worried about the world. We’re seeing government silencing of creative expression, bullying and pressure to silence video games and other artistic projects by credit card companies and payment processors, and a media engine that seems obsessed with trying to convince everyone that red is blue and up is down. It reminds me of every time an overblown hype machine tries to convince us that NFTs or generative AI are the future, except it’s targeting big organizations and regular people who haven’t been paying attention for the past 15 years to a fascist propaganda machine.
I feel some relief that people managed to push back against the attempts to censorship, but also some disgust over the way organizations and companies with real money and power are so ready to capitulate. Having so much influence should make you geared to fight back, not bend the knee.
A new anime season is starting this month, and I hope I can enjoy it.
As for the Patreon, here are my sponsors for the month. Many thanks to them all.
This month, I’m going to be doing a lot of fun things not necessarily related to anime and manga. I’m thinking about whether to write about them for the blog, but leaning heavily towards “yes.”
Sounds like Chapter 50 of Spotted Flower will have a hell of a finale. It’s not clear whether this means the end of the series, or it’s just the final scene of the chapter that’s a big deal.
Different stores in Japan have different purchase bonuses for Volume 8 of Spotted Flower! Almost all of them are basically different girls in skimpy swimsuits.
It also seems like Kio will be including something like a doujinshi with Volume 8.
There will be a live action adaptation of Kio’s erotic doujinshi sequel, It’s All Your Fault, Sensei.2. Here’s an NSFW tweet with a barely censored picture of the actors.
While visiting Obata Castle in Ibaraki Prefecture, Kio heard a loud roar coming from the south. Then he remembered that the JSDF’s Hyakuri Base is there.
It is a hell of a move to conclude Demon Slayer, one of the biggest anime and manga of the past 10 years, with a trilogy of movies. I have to assume that putting it in theaters is a way to both create hype and make lots of money in the process, and dang it, it’s working. Not only is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba –Infinity Castle- Part 1 an overall compelling watch, but it’s apparently the biggest box office weekend in the US for an anime film since Pokémon: The First Movie.
Despite being the finale, the premise of the Infinity Castle movies is a simple one: After a costly confrontation against Kibutsuji Muzan, protagonist Kamada Tanjiro and the rest of the Demon Slayer Corps seemingly have the villain cornered. However, the heroes suddenly find themselves teleported into the heart of enemy territory. Here in the infinitely expanding castle that Muzan calls his home base, they must face his strongest lieutenants while dealing with a space that defies logic and reason. If they don’t take out the demons here, all will be lost.
The setting is pretty much perfect for a shounen battle anime: an array of elaborate and intense fight scenes that also tell interesting stories about the characters involved. Some clashes are culminations of previous storylines, others reveal previously unknown sides of characters, and everything remains pleasantly hard to predict. It’s a little bit Ninja Scroll and a little bit Girls und Panzerfilms in terms of never letting up on the tension, with the occasional requisite backstory flashback being the main way to calm things down.
But while Infinity Castle Part 1 is pretty much all “fight, fight, fight,” I think it still portrays compelling and often tragic dramas involving both the beauty and ugliness of humanity in a satisfying manner. Through it all, the film emphasizes ideas that have been core to Demon Slayer: Mutual cooperation can overcome obstacles, compassion is a strength, and humanity is built on helping the weak and paying it forward to the next generation.
One issue with this movie is that while it has not yet been adapted for TV episodes, it still feels like a series of episodes or chapters stitched together. There was little attempt to structure it as a feature-length film, especially when it comes to the positioning of flashbacks (of which there are many). Moreover, Part 1 is over two and a half hours long, and while I enjoyed every minute, it did feel a little bloated and awkwardly paced at times.
Every battle in the movie are amazing, but I do want to give particular attention to the main fight of this first movie, so there will be SPOILERS AHEAD.
As Tanjiro and the others try to make their way through, he and Giyu the Water Hashira are attacked by Akaza, Muzan’s third strongest minion, and the one with whom Tanjiro has the most history. It was Akaza who killed a valiant Rengoku Kyojuro during the Mugen Train arc, and when they last met, Tanjiro was far outclassed by the demon and his hand-to-hand fighting skills. However, Tanjiro also left a searing impression in Akaza’s mind, calling him a coward for fleeing at dawn when Demon Slayers have to fight demons in the dark of night all the time.
In this violent reunion, Tanjiro manages to accomplish what he couldn’t before when he slices through Akaza’s body. While this is only a temporary setback for the demon, it’s the first sign that Tanjiro has grown as a warrior. Unfortunately, Akaza quickly adapts to both Tanjiro and Giyu, and it isn’t until Tanjiro manages to piece together various thoughts and memories related to Akaza, the nature of battle and conflict, and his own childhood with his father that he manages to tap into a higher plane of martial expression (the “transparent world,” where killing intent is absent and only movement remains) that he deals a catastrophic blow to his opponent.
While Akaza somehow survives and even starts to regenerate from the brink of demise, the fact that Tanjiro surpassed him in battle, if only for an instant, helps jog Akaza’s faded memories. Remembering his turbulent past life as a child thief trying to get medicine for his gravely ill father, and the second chance he received from a martial artist and daughter before Akaza’s happiness was ripped from him by a petty local clan, Akaza realizes that Tanjiro is exactly the kind of person he wanted to be. The bloody pursuit of strength that has defined him as a demon is revealed to be a corruption of his own desire to live honorably and protect his loved ones. Akaza willingly defeats himself (literally), and visions of his departed fiancee, adoptive father, and birth father help him to shake off Muzan’s control and pass on for good.
I am utterly impressed by the way this fight plays out. It just encapsulates so much of what makes Demon Slayer a great series, especially the way Tanjiro’s heart breaks through even the toughest obstacles, including the very demons he fights. Akaza is shown to be a human who struggled with the unfairness of the world that punishes the poor for merely existing, and that much of the trauma he suffered came from human hands. Yet, he also recalls a lesson from his old life that it’s never too late to start over, and this puts him on the path to relinquishing his demonhood, even at the cost of his life.
END OF SPOILERS
As someone who was there in the theater to watch Mewtwo Strikes Back back in 1999 and remember the buzz surrounding it, this record-breaking achievement says a lot about how far anime has come. This is maybe the biggest sign that anime has truly, truly arrived on American shores, and the long-time fan in me rejoices in this development. And given what a great watch Infinity Castle Part 1 is, I wouldn’t be surprised if fans are going to watch it multiple times.
Anime NYC 2025, held from August 21 to 24, was the second time since the New York–based convention moved its dates to take place in the summer. The decision allows it to use more of the Jacob Javits Center, but comes at the cost of being stuck in a crowded con season, as well as the risk of unpleasant heat and humidity. Luck was in Anime NYC’s favor this year, however, as the weather was pretty much ideal despite the weeks prior being pretty dire.
As always, the convention is very concentrated on its Exhibit Hall and its events. There are plenty of panels featuring industry insights and announcements of upcoming plans, but they tend to be geared more towards promotion, with a few less business-focused gems here and there. For me, because Anime NYC has become a big event for VTubers, I’ve found myself dedicating more attention in that direction.
The Takahashi Yoko Concert
I don’t always attend the concerts at Anime NYC, which require an additional ticket purchase. But there was almost no price that would keep me from seeing Takahashi Yoko, the singer of the Neon Genesis Evangelion opening. The series has been such a part of my life over the course of decades that I jumped at the chance to hear her sing live.
Curiously, her tickets didn’t sell out that quickly, and there were plenty still available even after a small group purchase. I could see people not making the connection between Takahashi and the evergreen “Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” or that we’ve hit a point where Evangelion is considered more history than anything else among newer generations of anime fans. More for people like me, I guess.
Takahashi performed songs found in Eva such as “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Soul Refrain,” but her set was not just limited to music from the franchise. She was also accompanied by two young backup dancers, who were quite impressive. A part of me hoped that Hakos Baelz, the hololive VTuber who specializes in dance and was in NYC at this time, was in the audience and could see them. Naturally, Takahashi capped off the concert “Cruel Angel’s Thesis.”
There were some issues with the audio that took time to resolve. The acoustics of the main event space aren’t ideal for concerts in the first place, and there was something about the setup that drowned out her voice to a degree. I brought ear plugs, but had to take them out at first because I couldn’t hear her well enough with them in. There was also a tech flub on one song that forced them to restart it. In spite of all that, Takahashi’s voice was simply sublime; it sounded even better in person.
During the concert, Takahashi gave a speech in English, reading from some prepared notes. She talked about how she basically grew up with music and was going down the path of the classically trained, but various issues kept her working as a session musician. She was initially hired to sing one of the versions of “Fly Me to the Moon” for Evangelion, knowing nothing about it. At her first recording, she was accompanied by just one bespectacled man in a sweatshirt and sweatpants—Anno Hideaki. After this, she was asked to sing the opening as well.
Takahashi described her relationship with Evangelion as a complicated one, but also something she’s overall grateful for. It boxed her in, but without it, she would not have been able to achieve such success or have so many opportunities. She talked about how her favorite episode of Eva is actually 26 because of one scene in particular: In the “abstract sketch” space seen in the finale, Shinji is shown floating through an empty void with total freedom, but the lack of any boundaries makes it intimidating. He is then drawn a ground, limiting his freedom in one way. However, the boundary that exists now allows Shinji to do what he couldn’t before, which is walk and find a way. Takahashi basically feels the same way about Eva.
hololive
The VTubers of hololive have become a staple of this event. Returning to the Exhibit Hall was the large booth featuring convention-exclusive panel streams, as was the hololive World Tour (more on that later). Curiously, while past Anime NYCs have also included a big hololive panel as well, that wasn’t the case this time around.
The Booth
One big change from previous years was that the panels were spaced further apart on the schedule, which I found very welcome. It gave me an opportunity to check out other things, and helped mitigate the potential fire hazard that forms with the enthusiastic crowds. I didn’t attend every panel, but every one I did see was fun in its own way.
I’m a fan of all the holoX ladies, so I really wanted to see Takane Lui. She did not disappoint, especially when it came to karaoke, but the antics of her panel partner, Shirakami Fubuki, made it even better. The fox would bust out a 2D Yagoo mask and a pair of muscular arms on occasion, which culminated in their fitting presence during the song “Onegai Muscle” from the anime How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?
The Tombstone panel, so named because Calliope Mori is a grim reaper and Koseki Bijou is a living gemstone, had them answering “Would you rather” questions related to New York City. The NYer heavy crowd naturally had a lot of opinions, and it was entertaining to hear the VTubers try to twist logic to suit their choices.
I also went out of my way to see the hololive Indonesia karaoke relay, which had Kobo Kanaeru, Airani Iofifteen, and then Pavolia Reine. You could tell that people really love Kobo’s singing because the normally boisterous crowd was almost pin-drop silent as she covered “Mayonaka no Door,” “Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” and other tunes. Kobo was going to sing “Dragostea Din Tei” too, but a technical mishap prevented her from finishing it. Iofi amazed me by singing “Do You Remember Love?” and I even got noticed by the camera when she was looking around for holo merch.
If I had any big complaints, it would be that standing on concrete for extended periods is really tough on my feet, even though I have good shoes. It’s possible to have better flooring for a booth, and I think Cover Corp can afford it.
The World Tour
Anime NYC was selected as one of the stops on the world tour, which is officially titled ‘hololive STAGE ‘25 World Tour -Synchronize.” This is not to be confused with the hololive EN 3rd Concert, All for One, which took place the same weekend. You can read my review of that here.
The different lineup from last year brought a different energy that was less “pop diva.” With Calliope Mori, IRyS, Nerissa Ravencroft, Momosuzu Nene, and Kureiji Ollie on stage, you had a combination of dedicated singers and all-out entertainers. Personal highlights included the covers of “Shijoshugi Adtruck” and “Don’t Say Lazy,” as well as the world tour official song, “Live It Loud!” which I think does a good job highlighting the strengths of each performer.
I do have a few complaints. The first two are ones I’ve already mentioned, namely the whole “standing on concrete for hours” thing like at the booth, and the iffy acoustics of the Main Events hall. The third is what I’d consider a very mild gripe: a good amount of the songs performed were also at Breaking Dimensions last year. However, I know I pay a great deal of attention to the musical performance side of hololive, and this is less of an issue for those who watch events less often.
Each stop includes two additional guests, and New York City’s were Natsuiro Matsuri and Haachama, aka Akai Haato. Matsuri is a nice middle point between singer and entertainer, and I’m a big, big fan of Haachama in general. I was a little sad that I couldn’t see the entirety of Haachama’s panel last year at Anime NYC, and I consider myself very fortunate that I managed to purchase a ticket to Synchronize. I even brought my Haaton wearable head towel so I could represent, and spotted other Haatons (i.e. Haachama fans) while waiting in line. For the concert, she performed her first original, “RED HEART,” and its simplicity is something that goes back to the very core of VTubing in a way I enjoy immensely.
The Stamp Rally and Other Merch
There was a great deal of hololive-related goods available at the con. They had very visible representation in the Artist Alley, and the official booth gave away a con-exclusive trading card featuring the participants of the world tour, as well as a card for a stamp rally. The prize for completing the rally was a sticker set with all the ambassadors from hololive MEET ‘25, the general umbrella for conventions and other events around the world. However, it required participants to make purchases at specific booths, and if you got there on later days like I did, it meant making more expensive purchases. This is exactly why I ended up caving and getting the Hakos Baelz hoodie from Ohmonah. I had been eyeing it since July, and the quality and comfort (on top of the stamp for the rally) was too much for me. It’s so good, man.
Other VTubers
Likely because of hololive’s presence every year now, Anime NYC has also become a focal point for VTubing on the east coast. Merch-wise, big names like Sameko Saba, Nimi Nightmare, Dooby3D, Mint Fantôme, Dokibird, and Shylily were all over the Artist Alley. Ironmouse and CDawgVA also had a panel promoting a new game.
Additionally, the Exhibit Hall had a couple booths featuring Meet & Greets with smaller VTubers all weekend long. I used this opportunity to talk to Pillowdear, and complimented her for doing fun and creative ASMRs like her Easter stream. This was my second ever Meet & Greet, and I found it fascinating that you really get the gamut of participants. I saw someone who was clearly a dedicated fan of Pillow, but also people who literally had no idea about or even VTubing in general. I guess I fall somewhere in the middle.
There was also a Phase Connect karaoke event that I ended up not attending, but I did finally buy coffee from their booth. I got the Ember Amane beans, and while I also wanted Dizzy Dokuro’s, I foolishly forgot to take into account that her blatantly shilling-oriented original song made it a hot commodity. (Expect an Ember coffee review at a later time.)
Other Panels
Tsuda Kenjiro and Yu-Gi-Oh! 25th Anniversary
I attended the Yu-Gi-Oh! 25th anniversary panel, which featured the Japanese voice of Kaiba Seto, Tsuda Kenjiro. These days, Tsuda is everywhere, but this was basically his first really big role. For those who grew up on the English dub, I still think it’s worth listening to his portrayal of Kaiba, because it gives a similar yet different flavor to the character. For the panel, he did a live reading of a scene from the Yu-Gi-Oh! movie The Dark Side of Dimensions.
There were a few stories Tsuda told that I found particularly interesting:
Back when Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters was airing, the voice of Yugi (Kazama Shunsuke) was still in high school, and he would sometimes come to the recording studio in his school uniform.
When Tsuda recorded a voice-over for a Yu-Gi-Oh! video game, he saw a lot of comments online about how “Kaiba sounds so old now.” This made Tsuda want to show that he could still voice the character, and when he was asked to come back for Dark Side of Dimensions, he relished the chance.
Tsuda talked about how unlike most other shounen series, where the characters get amped up and then calm down, Yu-GI-Oh! characters are basically dialed up to max at all times. It makes recording for other series way easier by comparison.
One-Punch Man and JAM Project
I could not attend the entire One-Punch Man panel due to having to leave for All for One, but I do want to make sure story in particular is told for posterity. The guests for the panel were the members of JAM PROJECT, who do the One-Punch Man openings. In recounting the creation of the first opening (“THE HERO!!”), leader Kageyama Hironobu recalls going to his bandmates and vaguely humming the lines of the first verse without any lyrics, including the part that would eventually go Nandatten da? Frustration!/Ore wa tomaranai!—which Kageyama recreated as a series of ambiguous squeals and yells. Apparently, the other members looked at him funny and basically replied, “Are you serious?” I later found out that they played “SKILL” from Super Robot Wars in addition to One-Punch Man music. I wish I could have been there, but alas.
The Food Is Too Expensive
Like so many other convention centers, the Jacob Javits has never been cost friendly when it comes to food options. For anyone looking to save money, I never recommend anyone eat the con itself, and I do it because I see trying out different overpriced meals to be part of the experience—kind of like gambling in Las Vegas or Atlantic City. However, even I felt that the prices were getting beyond ridiculous this year. Things were close to if not exceeding $20 when they weren’t that way last year, and I will definitely bring food with me next year. Moreover, there were certain options available last year that weren’t present for 2025: Korilla and its Korean dishes were sorely missed, as was the Indian section in the food court area.
If I had to recommend one place, it would have been the BentOn stall in the Exhibit Hall. While the prices are still not great, the bento options (fish or fried chicken) are the best bet for getting a well-balanced meal at Anime NYC.
Cosplay
Final Thoughts
Anime NYC has long been trying to be the Anime Expo of the east coast, and it has succeeded in essence. It gets big guests from Japan and around the world, has a major industry presence, and it looks and feels big. If you want to attend events and see things you wouldn’t be able to otherwise, this con is generally a good place to be. However, that comes at a price, in that it can sometimes feel overwhelming the same way one might get bombarded by neon signage. The difference is that Anime NYC is like a less extreme AX, where there are fewer good things (AX being on the west coast gets it a lot more opportunities for interesting guests) but also fewer bad things (Anime NYC almost never has the really bad crowding issues of AX).
I think this is why I’ve come to enjoy the VTuber side of Anime NYC so much. While it’s definitely part of the “corporate” presence due to hololive (and other VTuber companies to a lesser extent), that side still feels very fan driven. I would like to see some of that spirit and energy on the anime and manga side as well.
Anime Central 2025 featured the Global Anime Challenge, what is described on ACen’s official site as “a three-year program funded by the Japanese government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. Its goal is to nurture the Japanese anime industry’s next generation of creators. The program participants aim to develop brand new and exciting contents for the ever increasing global anime fans.”
While it’s not entirely clear how the GAC plans to accomplish this, their panel at the convention gave some basic ideas. Essentially, the animators do internships abroad with the eventual goal of making pilots or short films to be presented at Annecy and AX. They’re also involved in participating in and even creating events, such as a lecture by animator Inoue Toshiyuki, who worked on Ghost in the Shell and The Eccentric Family, among numerous other works.
The guests at ACen were Sato Keiichiro (director of Frieren), Nakame Takafumi (producer of Frieren), Tanimoto Kaoru (calligrapher and animator whose brush work was used extensively in Sengoku Youko), and Kudo Mana (animator on the Cardfight!! Vanguard franchise). The panel began with introductions from all the guests, where they showed things they’ve worked on, as well as drawings and other items of note from childhood. It was a nice window into how these creators discovered the joy of creating.
Nakame’s early drawing was of him capturing a stray cat as a pet, and his first manga he ever bought: Vols 3 and 10 of KochiKame. He showed the opening to Witch Watch, a show he helped produce.
Saito showed the dream of his five-year-old self, to become a truck driver selling toys. Another drawing was a perspective shot looking down at the school yard from a window in 4th or 5th grade. (It looked extremely good for elementary school.) His hometown is known for getting a lot of snow, but the only reason the drawing had lots of it is because he didn’t want to color it. His featured video was from Bocchi the Rock!
Kudo Mana’s childhood art was of a stuffed pheasant in her grandmother’s house. She then showed some clips from Cardfight!! Vanguardwill+Dress of a character freaking out and hitting her shin on a bench.
Tanimoto’s first drawing was a very crude one of him with his mom and dad. He also made a picture book with his mom. His showcase was of his calligraphy used in attacks, episode titles, and the end-of-series image for Sengoku Youko. In one case, there were numerous talisman papers, and despite it being the same words written over and over, it was not a copy-and-paste job. Instead, Tanimoto actually wrote separate ones for each piece of paper.
After the introductions to each creator, they had a Q&A mixed with a live drawing. Saito drew Kikuri from Bocchi the Rock! Kudo decided on Yuyu from Cardfight!! Vanguard crossdressing. Tanimoto did two girls from Sengoku Youko, and Nakame didn’t draw.
Tanimoto was asked when he was satisfied with the storyboard, and he said he would try to get it good enough initially and then spruce it up during the QC stage.
Nakame wants to learn what people love overseas through the Global Anime Challenge. He works domestically in Japan, but wants to co-produce with great animators abroad.
Saito’s favorite part of Frieren is the introduction and how it feels like both an epilogue and the beginning of a story.
According to Nakame, the challenge of making the Frieren anime is that both the action sequences and the everyday life parts need a lot of work.
They all collaborated on artwork to be used on various merchandise, such as t-shirts and even alcohol. “Chicago” is written on the shirt and poster using the official kanji to spell it: 市俄古.
Fist of the North Star Side Story: The Genius Amiba’s Otherworld Conqueror Legend is an isekai spinoff starring a minor villain from the popular shounen franchise, and it concluded earlier this year after nine volumes. This manga been one of my favorite series in recent years, so I wanted to just give my final thoughts on this ridiculous work.
For context, here are my previous two posts about the series:
The “hero” of this series is Amiba, the cruel Toki impersonator who met a grisly (and hilarious) end from being forced to walk backwards off a ledge before exploding into a gory mess—a fate courtesy of franchise protagonist Kenshiro. Now reincarnated in a fantasy world, he has to fight monsters using his own bastardized version of the pressure points martial arts Hokuto Shinken, all while learning about the magic that governs his new environment. As he gains unlikely allies (because it’s really hard to make friends when you’re a self-centered asshole), Amiba ends up on a collision course with the army of the Demon Lord, including the Four Demon Generals. And all along, no matter his successes or numerous failures, the man still declares himself to be an unparalleled genius.
There are three main recurring gags in this manga:
First, nearly everyone Amiba encounters oddly resembles people from his original world, though not necessarily sharing personalities. He travels with Lilin (Rin) and Pat (Bat), and fights foes like Southern (Souther) and Maou Kenshi Rou (Jagi).
Second, many of his allies are alternate versions of other bad guys. My favorite is a gigantic old lady who was originally a muscly thug in a poor disguise but in this world is actually a titanic grandma.
Third, Amiba remains a mostly delusional dickhead throughout, but people also don’t put up with his bullshit.
If you’re not a fan of Fist of the North Star, a lot of the in-jokes will likely go over your head, but I am squarely in its target demographic and highly entertained. Fortunately for other readers, The Genius Amiba’s Otherworld Conqueror Legend also features a contemptible antihero who actually grows and learns to a degree, avoiding running its premise into the ground.
In the original story, Amiba is presented as irredeemable, but here in a different world and context, we find that he has the power to do good even if he is anything but noble. He might not be healing people out of the goodness of his heart, but the results are the same. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but what if bad intentions create benevolent results? It makes one wonder if society (or lack thereof) is what made Amiba into the absolute monster he was, instead of the somewhat less obnoxious person he is after death.
Amiba goes from one-off character to fascinating psychological study as a result. He vastly overestimates his martial arts skills, but that’s only in comparison to the impossible standard set by the warriors of the post-apocalypse he came from. His magic starts off poor at best (a nominal bump in his mana is his only isekai power-up), but his unreasonably high confidence allows Amiba to break through those limitations and create a hybrid magical kung fu. And as reluctant as he is to admit it, Amiba learns an important lesson: Other people are capable in their own right, and they can work together with him to achieve greater things. They’re just not as capable as himself, of course.
The story reaches its climax in Volume 9. After defeating the Four Generals, it’s revealed that the legendary heroic armor and weapons Amiba obtained actually house the divided soul of the Demon Lord. That demon’s name: Maoh (as opposed to Raoh). Yes, he’s Maoh the Maoh (Japanese for Demon Lord).
His last surviving general channels the Demon Lord to take over Amiba’s body as a new physical vessel. Yet, despite being nearly overwhelmed, Amiba is able to resist the takeover through sheer ego. Maoh then answers this stubbornness by plumbing the depths of Amiba’s soul and manifesting his greatest fear: Kenshiro. Suddenly, Amiba finds himself with his back to that ledge again.
On the verge of giving up, Amiba sees images of his allies in the new world giving their support. Naturally, in his inner world, they have nothing but effusive praise for his endless brilliance. With both feet back on the ground (and a body decidedly not exploded), Amiba starts fighting back, using all that he’s learned since being isekai’d. He battles Kenshiro’s Hokuto Shinken using his own magic-infused martial arts, but can only reach a stalemate at best. Then, something incredible happens: The Kenshiro in his mind compliments Amiba for getting stronger, refers to him as another powerful rival, and fades away. It’s not clear if this is simply Amiba imagining Kenshiro accepting him, or if Kenshiro is such a great hero that even a psychic apparition of him exhibits a high standard of honor, but the result is the same. Amiba wins.
The series epilogue jumps a few years into the future, mirroring the second part of the original Fist of the North Star. Lilin and Pat, both adults now, discover that Amiba has created his own peaceful kingdom populated entirely by minor bad guys. He’s said to have later tried to take over the world, inadvertently uniting the humans and demons against him, but the veracity of this (and everything else that has happened in the story) is up to the reader to decide.
I choose to believe that everything we’ve seen is super duper canon, and if they ever make another fighting game, I hope they put this version of Amiba in there.
The Genius Amiba’s Otherworld Conqueror Legend is a lot of things: Spin-off, parody, silly take on a popular genre. But it also scratches an itch to see a fundamentally flawed and morally void protagonist somehow manage to improve his world, at least for a little while. All the terrible qualities possessed by Amiba are channeled into doing good, all thanks to the people around him. It’s perhaps an even more far-fetched dream than all the harem and power fantasies in the world, but I simply can’t resist a wacky redemption tale that gives a new perspective on one of manga’s jerkiest villains. Isekai is ultimately about second chances, and Amiba uses his to the fullest.
OGIUE MANIAX 