The Kobe band Fredrick has another opening to a popular Anime, Koi to Uso, in English: Love And Lies, a story of future Japan where the government selects your life partner with an eye to increasing the dwindling population. I haven’t seen the show yet, because I don’t have a subscription to the only streaming service I have found it on. But I do enjoy what they have done for the opening theme, Sad and Happy, the first track presented here. It was posted July 31st, and has well over 2 million views so far, and was released on their August 16th single. The other track is a live version of their song Only Wonder, recorded at Studio Coast 2017, and also part of their 2nd single. Japanese singles are a bit different than the ones in North America; this one has a total of 5 live tracks and 3 studio recordings.
We have two titles from the DC Universe this week, with Gotham: The Complete Third Season and the animated DCU: Batman and Harley Quinn both hitting the shelves. I find the live action TV show addictive, at least the first two season, so I look forward to binging my way through it. The fantasy comedy Killing Hasselhoff will also be out this week, so I suppose I should mention the associated non-genre comedy Baywatch will also be out come Tuesday. Finally, Anime has Ushio & Tora: Complete TV Series, a tale of yokai vs. human vs. yokai.
The best western option this week is Gotham: The Complete Third Season, and I do love how each season is a little more twisted than the last. The related DCU release is DCU: Batman and Harley Quinn, a road trip story where the two are tracking down Poison Ivy, and Batman is losing it still more by the minute! And then there is Killing Hasselhoff, possibly the strangest and funniest movie of the actors career. Anime releases include Bakuon!!: Complete Collection, plus Beyond the Boundary, and finally Rainbow Days: Complete Collection.
This week brings the latest in the long running franchise with Alien: Covenant. By the time this one hit the theaters I had seen everything I needed to see of that universe, so I haven’t seen it yet, and feel no compulsion to do so now. I do love every one of the films that has Sigourney Weaver in it, though. I am going to have to include the TV series Riverdale: Season 1 this time, because it is so different from the comic books I remember reading that it seems like something from another world to me. I did enjoy it quite a bit, and am happy that Season 2 will be on the air in October.
Anime has the continuation of two long-running favorites with Fairy Tail: Collection Nine, and One Piece – Season Nine, Voyage Two. We also get Food Wars! Complete Collection in both a regular and limited box sets.
The latest Daoko song, just posted today, is called Big Fireworks, and is the theme song for the new animated motion picture Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?. The film opens in Japan on the 18th of this month, and is a remake of a 1993 live action drama of the same name. This one is a slice of life Anime with a side order of time travel, I can’t wait to see it! The animation work itself looks excellent, I hope they don’t wait a whole year before bringing it to the big screen in North America. Oh, yeah, the last trak is Daoko’s Good bye Goodbye from the J-WAVE SONAR MUSIC SPECIAL SHOW CASE about 3 months ago.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is the epic fantasy option in Western film releases this week, and I didn’t find anything genre-like in Anime. This might be a good weekend to start watching something new on a streaming service; I think I’ll begin Restaurant to Another World.