Sometimes, there’s this exchange that happens when introducing an anime:
“Have you seen this show? It is wild.”
“What’s it about?”
“Y-you’ll just have to see.”
And the above doesn’t happen because you were trying to prank them, or because the show was simply about shocking plot twists. Rather, it’s because the show in question just keeps throwing one curve ball after another, and whatever conception you had of the series at the start gets tossed out the window.
Anyway, have you seen Turkey? It is wild.
Turkey! Time to Strike (as it’s called in English) centers around the five girls of a high school bowling club who, while dealing with some drama that threatens to tear the team apart, end up in a situation none of them could have ever expected. If that’s enough to convince you, go watch it now, because there’s a major spoiler in Episode 1 that kicks the series off for real.
For those who’ve decided to stick around: An intense match between two members suddenly goes awry when lightning strikes, one of the bowling balls glows, and the girls all get sent hundreds of years back in time. Surprise! It’s actually a time travel story. After rescuing a young and handsome warrior from the battlefield they find themselves on (through the power of bowling, of course), they end up living with his family. Now, they have to adjust to living in a world without electricity while trying to figure out how to return back to the modern day, and in the process learn about the family of siblings that are taking care of them?
(Turkey, by the way, is the term for when you get three strikes in a row. Time to Strike was possibly added to the English release because while having just the word Turkey written out makes an impact in Japanese, it would not have the same effect in English).
If this series were simply about time displacement hijinks that swap a DeLorean for a bowling ball, the show would be pretty bizarre and memorable already. But what pushes it far past the line is the fact that it actually puts some serious thought into the execution of its premise. “No, really—What if a bowling team wound up in feudal Japan?” Some of it is about teaching a generation past about the joy of bowling or learning the basic politics of the period, but then the show will get starkly serious at times. It’ll go from teenage girls using the thundering sound of bowling balls as an enemy distraction, to discussions about tragic loss of family and deep personal feelings of guilt, to the moral differences in the act of killing between eras, back to wacky bowling fun. Tonal whiplash doesn’t even begin to describe what’s going on here.
But somehow, the team behind Turkey managed to pull it off and create an emotionally powerful show that uses bowling as an unlikely conduit for healing and therapy across time. Across 12 episodes, the anime never stops surprising, and it even ends in both a satisfying and unexpected manner. It takes the “girls doing a specific activity” concept so perennially popular in anime, and hits on both the slice-of-life and drama levels in ways that feel incongruous, yet ultimately harmonize.
I didn’t know what to expect from “Chronicles of hololive Nexus Gate: Act 1.” Sure I’ve been to booths and events centered around hololive, but this seemed…different. It wasn’t a cross-promotion with a restaurant or anything. It was held at the American Dream Mall in New Jersey, the second largest mall in the United States after the Mall of America. And from what I heard, it was supposed to be in some ways similar to the online hololive role-playing event series ENigmatic Recollection.
The description was bizarre enough that I wasn’t sure I would make the trip in the first place, but I went just to see what the deal was. What I got was a multipurpose pop-up booth that provided five different forms of interaction.
First, it was a shop where you could buy both general hololive merch and stuff directly related to this whole Nexus Gate thing. I bought a little Nexus Gate–themed passport-style stamp booklet.
Second, it was an exhibition of fan works (art, cosplay), as well as a place to leave a record by adding a sticky note to a wall.
Third, it featured a series of brain-teasing puzzles that netted a prize in the form of a hololive STAGE ‘25 card for the hololive TCG.
Fourth, it was a gallery of the Nexus Gate concept, which was about the girls of hololive English entering a mysterious and mostly barren world.
And fifth, it was also a screening of a drama that played out like a series of visual novel chapters, all exploring how each EN member approached the element most core to their beings. Also, because I went on the last two days, we also got to see an Episode 0 that showed how everyone ended up there.
The main drama, titled “Act 1: The Portal Awakens,” consisted of script readings not unlike the audio dramas they sometimes sell on their online store, it didn’t quite have the off-the-cuff feel of something like ENReco. It was likely another alternate world where facets of them remain, blending kayfabe lore with aspects of the EN girls’ personalities established through their streams. This lasted a lot longer than I anticipated, but it was probably the highlight of the trip. I do have to say that the special miniature lawn (?) chairs set up for viewing were comfortable at first, but being on them too long was not entirely pleasant for my crotch area.
Perhaps the most interesting things were the way this other world seemed to be connected to three girls in particular: Baelz Hakos and Ouro Kronii of the old hololive Council generation, as well as Koseki Bijou. The former two seemed to recognize the world beyond the gate as being either in some primordial state of creation or nearing the end of its life. Bae and Kronii’s lines gave a lot of hints that both the rest of Council departing over the years and everyone’s desire to step back from essentially godhood would affect things significantly. As for Biboo, she seemed to hear something he others couldn’t, perhaps tying into her backstory as a sentient jewel who has a strong connection to emotions.
The biggest question to me about Nexus Gate is that if this was Act 1, where and what will Act 2 be? Are booths going to show up all over the US and perhaps the world, all situated in malls? How many will there be? What is the ultimate purpose of all this? I found it all to be pretty cool, but I can’t help but wonder what the overall goal is.
As for the curry, it was definitely Japanese curry from a mall food court
Chrono Gear: Warden of Time combines two of my favorite things: action platformers and hololive. As implied by its title, the game centers around the sardonic and leggy Ouro Kronii from the English 2nd generation, Promise. Her official backstory positions her as an overseer of time itself, and her role in Chrono Gear sees her recovering the stolen pieces of a temporal device of her own making through sword slashes, time manipulation, and other techniques.
While using the popular VTuber company as a basis doesn’t guarantee quality, I found Chrono Gear immensely satisfying to play. The basic controls can be kind of clunky at first, but it doesn’t take long for Kronii to control smoothly and comfortably in multiple scenarios and gameplay modes. And unlike a lot of platformers that basically demand precision from its players, Chrono Gear is fair and lenient even in the hardest difficulty without feeling like handholding. The stages are creative and meant to have multiple paths without being focused on exploration, similar to 2D Sonic the Hedgehog games. And as a fan of good boss fights, I’m happy this one has them in spades. It doesn’t hurt that La+ and the girls of holoX are among them.
I’m never a fan of games that make you use all four shoulder buttons, but I know that’s just common these days.
Much like the bullet heaven game HoloCure, Chrono Gear doesn’t waste its use of popular source material. It’s clearly made by fans who love hololive, and they incorporate its lore and history in creative ways that often add to the gameplay instead of just being there for flavor and fanservice. Other hololive members (notably the rest of the full hololive Promise roster) make appearances—and whether they’re friend or foe, their personalities come through in dialogue, animations, and actions. One of my favorite examples is how the time-traveling Amelia Watson (a mere human among supernatural beings and cosmic deities) has four smaller health bars instead of a single big one. There’s just a great fusion of various elements with a lot of care put into the whole package.
The funniest thing about this game is that it’s basically an extremely intricate and interactive piece of TimeRyS fanfiction, pairing Kronii with her genmate IRyS in not-so-subtle ways. But even if you don’t care about this ship or shipping in general, there’s more than enough to make playing Chrono Gear a worthwhile experience. It doesn’t demand your attention, yet it’s easy to sink in more and more hours—to beat the game, relive your favorite parts, improve your stage times/scores, or even just bask in its beautiful world.
In 2023, I went to the first hololive English concert, Connect the World. In my review, I ended off with some idle thoughts:
And now that I’ve gone to a concert for virtual idols, who knows what’s next? Maybe I’ll attend some concerts by 100% flesh-and-blood musicians as well. Ironically, the VTuber rabbit hole might just lead me back to the real world.
Two years later, I finally made good on this by seeing Pat Metheny at Carnegie Hall on his Dream Box/MoonDial Tour. Given how more and more of my favorite creators and artists have been shuffling off this mortal coil, I considered him a top priority, and I’m glad I finally got the chance.
While Metheny does have a connection to anime thanks to “Last Train Home” being used as a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure ending theme, my fondness for his music goes all the way back to my early childhood, when I first heard in a commercial what I would later learn was “It’s For You.” I watched the film Fandango earlier this year specifically because I knew that song was featured in it.
I’m the definition of casual fan—I didn’t even realize quite how much music Metheny has made, or that he’s a 20-time Grammy winner, or that he still puts out songs on a fairly regular basis. I knew he was a beloved musician, but not that he’s in the running for greatest jazz guitarist of all time. Though in hindsight, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the live experience.
Metheny just seems fundamentally different from most musicians I’m familiar with—he seems to be less focused on making individual songs and more about exploring music and sound itself. It might be because I’m not very familiar with his very extensive discography, but it felt like I never knew where he was going or what he was going to try next. At one point, he mentioned a guitar maker he works with often, and how she takes his ideas for instruments and makes them a reality. In fact, this entire concert was dedicated primarily to his recent decision to use the baritone guitar more, and this included his custom designs. In his last few songs, Metheny used a bunch of contraptions to record his own guitars on the spot and then played them back to become a kind of one-man band while colorful meters flashed and shined. It was an aural and visual cornucopia.
Helpfully for a newbie like myself, he actually took time to delve into his life and history. Metheny explained how he came from a family of trumpet players, but that he didn’t take to the instrument nearly as well. It was seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show that exposed him to electric guitars and changed his life forever, despite his family’s initial dislike of the newfangled instrument. At a young age, he started playing at famous spots in his home state of Missouri. Metheny mentioned that he rarely ever talks this much during concerts, so I consider myself fortunate in this regard.
This was both a culmination of a journey as a listener and the start of something new. I wonder where I might go next.
Phantasy Star is a series whose name has always floated around in the background of gaming history for me, yet was something I never engaged with directly. I knew it was significant without really knowing why. However, I watched Jeremy Parish’s Segaiden episode where he covers the original Phantasy Star. That’s where I learned that it’s basically the first JRPG to focus completely on defined characters and an established narrative (as opposed to customizable characters and an emphasis on player choice), and that it features the first female protagonist in the genre. Knowing this and seeing the Sega Ages remaster on sale, I decided to give it a try.
Unlike many RPGs of the time, Phantasy Star includes a science fiction aspect alongside the more standard swords and sorcery. The heroine is Alis Landale, a girl who sets out to avenge her dead brother after he’s killed by the oppressive forces of Emperor Lassic. Her adventures take her across planets, where she encounters allies who join Alis on her quest.
The game is gorgeous even today, and while I don’t have a firm tack on the general aesthetics of the Sega Master System, the graphics blow its contemporaries on the NES out of the water. The faux-3D of the dungeons, the excellent music, the look and feel of the environments (especially from planet to planet), and the detailed enemy sprites all contribute to an immersive experience. Little hints or story points that crop up at the beginning don’t pay off until much later, making figuring out various mysteries very rewarding. It’s no wonder that Phantasy Star is generally regarded as one of the best titles of the Master System.
Phantasy Star is very much of its time, and it reminds me of a conversation I saw on social media recently. A younger person was trying out older Pokémon games (pre–Black and White), and they were puzzled by the fact that “important NPCs” weren’t always obvious. They questioned the need to arbitrarily talk to literally everyone in the game, but others pointed out that this is what RPGs used to be like. You were expected to approach the game as an explorer and check out every nook and cranny to find hints on how to move forward. In the context of Phantasy Star, I did feel stymied by this at times despite my familiarity with this type of gameplay, like when I couldn’t remember the names of individual random towns, making backtracking much more tedious.
The Sega Ages version comes with a mode that has a few quality-of-life changes: fewer enemies, faster leveling, more gold earned per battle, faster walk speed, and auto-drawn maps. I felt two ways about this, as I often don’t like having extra hand holding for older games, but what ultimately tilted me in favor of the Sega Ages version were the maps. If I were playing this back in the day, I would have to bust out the graph paper and make them myself, and that is something I don’t enjoy. The faster leveling also helped speed up the game and allowed me to fit it into my schedule, but I definitely think I was overleveled for most of the game in a way that allowed me to accomplish things I wouldn’t have otherwise. As a result, I’m not sure I necessarily got an entirely authentic Phantasy Star experience, even if I enjoyed the game.
From what I understand, the Phantasy Star franchise only got more elaborate and complex over time. This first game acts as an introduction to the ideas and feel that would help define Sega RPGs as a whole, but I do think it’s fun as a standalone title. It also took me back to my younger days, almost like I was experiencing an alternate timeline of how my taste in games could have gone if a few circumstances had changed. Perhaps I would have been the world’s biggest Phantasy Star fan, talking about how I never tried any Final Fantasy games.
Back in 2019, manga artist Kotoyama was just coming off of his snack-themed comedy series, Dagashi Kashi. So when a new series of his launched, I wondered what it would be like. Would it also be a kind of silly comedy fueled by character interactions related to a specific gimmick and a dash of romance? Or would it be something more standard for a shounen manga, with superpowers and greater drama?
The answer turned out to be “Yes, and also yes.”
Call of the Night (Yofukashi no Uta in Japanese) is the story of Yamori Ko, a boy who has stopped going to middle school and is suffering from insomnia. One night, he decides to leave his apartment to see what his town is like around in the late hours. There, he encounters an eccentric girl named Nanakusa Nazuna, who seems older than she looks, and offers to help him sleep. Ko agrees to try out her services, but soon discovers that she’s actually a vampire. Rather than being scared for his life, however, he gets an idea: If life right now sucks, why not become a vampire? The only problem: In order to turn, one must fall in love with the vampire first, and Ko has no idea what love is supposed to feel like.
Unlike the eight-volume Dagashi Kashi, which is largely short and episodic vignettes, Call of the Night has a serial narrative over a whopping 20 volumes. The relationship between Ko and Nazuna somewhat resembles the dynamic between Kokonotsu and Hotaru in Dagashi Kashi, but it’s really its own thing—a dynamic geared towards momentum and development, rather than stasis.
While Call of the Night initially feels it can go on forever at a pace reminiscent of another favorite series in Mysterious Girlfriend X, it then proceeds to break its own “rules” time and again. As it adds interesting twists and wrinkles to its story, the manga achieves a nice balance between genres and the emotions it invokes. Because the series keeps adding ingredients and formulating new recipes in itself, I find it to be a very Shounen Sunday manga. This is historically the magazine of Touch!, Inuyasha, Detective Conan, etc., and Call of the Night feels like it exists in the space between these and other iconic Sunday series.
The everyday hijinks make way for a genuine friendship, and the answer to whether it will turn into romantic love always feels like it’s right around the corner yet also somehow far in the distance. And as the story progresses, the cast of characters expands and details about how vampires like (and unlike) Nazuna move through human society help to expand the world and create new stakes. There are even some supernatural brawls straight out of a battle manga. And through all these events, Call of the Night still manages to feel grounded and low-key, and also still tapped into that initial malaise that plagues Ko.
Silly yet serious, simple yet full of intriguing little complexities—Call of the Night is worth a read. I think it has something even for those who aren’t fans of vampires and the supernatural. It’s ultimately the story of a boy and a girl who come from very different circumstances who find common ground in the late evening hours, and the world that unfolds before them.
PS: It really is awesome that the anime version got the ending theme to be its namesake, “Yofukashi no Uta” by Creepy Nuts.
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.
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.
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.
Adapting the Fantastic Four to film has long been a tricky proposition. The characters are neither the biggest nor the most iconic, yet they are meant to stand tall as titans of superhero history because they are the faces that essentially launched Marvel Comics as we know it. Indeed there have been films in the past, but for one reason or another, they don’t have the most stellar reputations.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the latest attempt, and on top of the inherent challenges described above, it’s also had to contend with Marvel Cinematic Universe fatigue that has built up in its audience ever since Avengers: Endgame—a fatigue I have keenly felt myself. I think what ultimately brought me to watch this is 1) I really wanted to see what a Fantastic Four movie looks like in an era when superheroes have actually become mainstream instead of trying to cater to skeptics, and 2) the 1960s retro setting seemed interesting. In the end, I came out of the theater feeling that this was definitely a step in the right direction for Marvel, but that it still suffers from some of the issues that have plagued its releases for the past five years.
The film takes place in a 1960s New York City in a universe different from the main timeline, where the Fantastic Four are a beloved superhero team. Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic, is a phenomenally brilliant scientist and can stretch himself like rubber. His wife, Sue Storm, is the Invisible Woman, able to cloak herself and others, as well as create invisible force fields. Johnny Storm, Sue’s younger brother, is known as the Human Torch. Ben Grimm is the Thing, a physical powerhouse with rock-like skin. They’re treated as celebrities for their contributions to science and their protection of NYC from villains of all stripes. However, when a threat from beyond in the form of the world-devouring Galactus tries to make them choose between family and the rest of the world, the four have their bonds tested both with one another and the very people they protect.
One of the things that made the Fantastic Four such a milestone in superhero history was the complexity of their relationships. While they were very close, there was also a good deal of interpersonal tension. I find that this movie does a really solid job of portraying this kind of dysfunction in a way that doesn’t feel quaint or two-dimensional. Reed, for example, comes across as someone whose immense genius can be alienating at times for those he loves, and his behavior makes him seem like he might be somewhere on the autism spectrum. Sue has to still give it her all as a member of this elite team despite the challenges that come with pregnancy, highlighting all the extra work women have to do. Johnny is something of a jock, but the unintended dismissal of him as a thinking human being clearly bothers him. Grimm takes his appearance in relative stride, but the guilt Reed feels about failing to properly shield his loved ones from those transformative cosmic rays colors their interactions.
Speaking of Reed and Sue’s child, First Steps is definitely a play on his inclusion. It’s also surprising that they decided to take two big storylines from two very different periods in Fantastic Four history and combine them together, but it works pretty well. However, it also feels like they’re trying to speedrun the Fantastic Four’s story to get them ready for the next big crossover. That pace is also part of what I consider to be the ongoing flaws of the Marvel Cinematic Universe—namely the need to try to cram and fit everything together for the Next Event—alongside some really awkward acting and action that seems to be the result of too many green-screen shenanigans.
I normally don’t care about the box office (and I still don’t), but it’s been news that Supermankind of ate The Fantastic Four’s lunch. While I do think Superman is the better film and carries the more powerful and relevant message overall, the two works also have a great deal of synergy. They emphasize loving family as well as treating humanity as family, and pushing back against those who want to force us into false dichotomies meant to divide us and make us suffer under bizarre and dehumanizing ultimatums. While it might seem a bit redundant, I think we need all the voices we can right now to fight the increasing levels of hate and fascism that we’re seeing.
OGIUE MANIAX 