‘Haikyu!!’ is a sports manga written and illustrated by Haruichi Furudate about athlete Shoyo Hinata who wants to be a star volleyball player even though he is smaller than most. The series was published by Jump Comics in Japan from 2012 to 2020 with Viz Media publishing it in North America. It was picked up for an anime adaption by Production I.G in 2014 with Sentai Filmworks acquiring the rights for an English dub.
The fourth and final season titled ‘Haikyuu!! To the Top’ is getting a voice cast with some old favorites returning and some new ones being added, according to their website.
The cast includes Bryson Baugus as Shoyo Hinata, Scott Gibbs as Tobio Kageyama, David Wald as Coach, Justin Doran as Daichi Sawamura, Greg Cote as Ryunosuke Tanaka, Orlanders Tao Jones as Asahi Azumane, and several others. Kyle Colby Jones will serve as the voice director.
You can watch the trailer below:
MyAnimeList describes the synopsis as follows,
“After their triumphant victory over Shiratorizawa Academy, the Karasuno High School volleyball team has earned their long-awaited ticket to nationals. As preparations begin, genius setter Tobio Kageyama is invited to the All-Japan Youth Training Camp to play alongside fellow nationally recognized players. Meanwhile, Kei Tsukishima is invited to a special rookie training camp for first-years within the Miyagi Prefecture. Not receiving any invitations himself, the enthusiastic Shouyou Hinata feels left behind.
However, Hinata does not back down. Transforming his frustration into self-motivation, he boldly decides to sneak himself into the same rookie training camp as Tsukishima. Even though Hinata only lands himself a job as the ball boy, he comes to see this as a golden opportunity. He begins to not only reflect on his skills as a volleyball player but also analyze the plethora of information available on the court and how he can apply it.
As the much-anticipated national tournament approaches, the members of Karasuno’s volleyball team attempt to overcome their weak points and refine their skills, all while aiming for the top!”
The show was directed by Susumu Mitsunaka for the first sixty episodes and Masako Satō for the remainder of the anime including the fourth season.
‘Haikyuu!! To the Top’ Sports Anime English Voice Cast Announced
‘Deiji Meets Girl’ Anime Is Coming To Theaters In North America
‘Deiji Meets Girl’ is a fantasy anime series of twelve shorts from the Japanese animation studio Liden Films. The show is directed by Ushio Tazawa and written by Akane Malbeni. It aired on the Super Animeism programming block in Japan and now GKids is bringing it to North America.
“GKIDS, the acclaimed producer and distributor of animation for adult and family audiences, announced today it has acquired the North American distribution rights for DEIJI MEETS GIRL, the short anime series directed by Ushio Tazawa, with animation from LIDENFILMS,” they said on their website.
GKids continued, “The series premiered at the 25th Fantasia International Film Festival, and was released as 90 second weekly episodes broadcast on Japanese television networks. Ushio Tazawa has previously worked as an animation director and key animator for various acclaimed anime projects, including Makoto Shinkai’s your name. and The Place Promised in Our Early Days, as well as Masaaki Yuasa’s Mind Game. GKIDS will release DEIJI MEETS GIRL theatrically this year.”
The release date has yet to be confirmed and there has been no word if GKids will provide an English dub.
You can watch the trailer below:
GKids lists the synopsis as follows,
“Maise is stuck spending the summer after her first-year of high school helping out at her family’s hotel in the sleepy seaside town, but things become a little less sleepy once Ichiro, a mysterious young man, checks into the hotel. It seems as if only Maise and Ichiro can see the strange, sudden apparitions: the hotel lobby and the room transforming into an aquarium, a giant tree erupting from the floor or the rowdy monsters laying claim to the hotel restaurant. Maise vows to figure out not just what’s causing these odd occurrences but why Ichiro has come to this remote town in the first place.”
The series was adapted into a manga from Flex Comix through their Comic Polaris magazine written by Akane Malbeni.
‘Gotham Knights’ Gameplay Shows Nightwing & Red Hood In Action
The successor to the well-received Arkham series of Batman games is a multiplayer successor that centers around the Caped Crusader’s allies. But can this new entry live up to the high bar the last four games set up? Today we have a better look at the gameplay.
We saw the Gotham Knights demo teaser via the game’s Twitter feed. The full 13-minute demo can be found via GK’s YouTube channel. The demo shows off the title’s vehicle and hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, only two of the four characters are focused here: Jason Todd (Red Hood) and Nightwing.
Both characters have drastically different playstyles, with Nightwing favoring acrobatics and Red Hood going for firearms loaded with non-lethal rounds. Thankfully, the gameplay appears to have several holdovers from Batman’s combat in the previous games. Check out the videos below.
They don’t always see eye to eye, but Nightwing and Red Hood can agree on one thing — protect Gotham at all costs. #GothamKnights
Watch the full Gameplay Demo on YouTube here: https://t.co/MD0KWDKXbm pic.twitter.com/AI7JkRCMsM
— Gotham Knights (@GothamKnights) May 10, 2022
Batman is dead. A new expansive, criminal underworld has swept the streets of Gotham City. It is now up to the Batman Family; Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin; to protect Gotham, bring hope to its citizens, discipline to its cops, and fear to its criminals. From solving mysteries that connect the darkest chapters in the city’s history to defeating notorious villains in epic confrontations, you must evolve into the new Dark Knight and save the streets from descent into chaos.
Gotham Knights will be available on PC, PS5, and XBOX Series X|S. There are currently three versions of the game available for pre-order from WB Games, including a presumably expensive Collector’s Edition that includes a statue of the four Knights and other overpriced trinkets.
What do you think of the gameplay video? Does anyone else feel this is a toned-down version of the Arkham games? Let us know in the comments section below.
[Source: Twitter]
Source: WB Games]
[Source: Arkham Knights YouTube Channel]
Crunchyroll launches ‘A Couple of Cuckoos’ English Dub
‘A Couple of Cuckoos’ is a romantic comedy manga created by Miki Yoshikawa in 2020 and published through Kodansha in Japan and in North America. The Japanese production companies Shin-Ei Animation and SynergySP collaborated to produce an anime that was released in 2022 with Crunchyroll announcing that they had acquired the license to produce an English dub version of the show.
They list the voice cast on their website:
- Nicholas Andrew Louie (Dawner the Hero in Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle) as Nagi Umino
- Lindsay Sheppard (Yulia in Mieruko-chan) as Erika Amano
- AmaLee (Marin in My Dress-Up Darling) as Hiro Segawa
- Bryn Apprill (Kotori in Date A Live) as Sachi Umino
- Marissa Lenti (Yuna in Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear) as Namie Umino
- Gianni Matragrano (Leo in Arte) as Yohei Umino
- David J. Dixon as Soichiro Amano
- Monica Rial (Uzaki in Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!) as Ritsuko Amano
- Shawn Gann (Doc in RADIANT) as Shibata
Alexis Tipton is serving as ADR Director with Marissa Lenti and Mike Haimoto working as Assistant ADR directors.
The anime is directed by Hiroaki Akagi and Yoshiyuki Shirahata.
You can watch this clip from the dub below:
MyAnimeList describes the synopsis as follows,
“16-year-old super-studier Nagi Umino, second-year student at the Meguro River Academy high school, was switched at birth. On his way to a dinner to meet his birth parents, he accidentally meets the brash, outspoken, Erika Amano, who is determined to make Nagi her fake boyfriend as she never wants to actually marry. But once Nagi makes it to dinner, he finds his parents have decided to resolve the hospital switch by conveniently having him marry the daughter his birth parents raised…who turns out to be none other than Erika herself!”
Yasuhiro Nakanishi works as the writer for the anime rom-com with Rei Ishizuka handling the music.
There are twelve volumes of the manga released by Kodansha with seven being released in English, as of the writing of this article.
Amazon Studios Drops New Images, Teaser For Action-Thriller ‘The Terminal List’
Amazon Studios and Indivisible Productions are bringing to life novelist Jack Carr’s action-thriller ‘The Terminal List’ from the pages of a book to their Prime Video streaming service on July 1st. The show stars and is co-executive produced by actor Chris Pratt (‘The Tomorrow War’). Amazon has released a “first look” teaser and several images on social media that reveal some key points about the show and what is to come.
You can watch the trailer below:
You can check out the images here:
CLASSIFIED: First looks at #TheTerminalList, premiering 7.1.2022. pic.twitter.com/aSAO1ng6yr
— The Terminal List (@TerminalListPV) May 9, 2022
Prime Video describes the synopsis as follows,
“Based on the best-selling novel by Jack Carr, The Terminal List follows James Reece (Chris Pratt) after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. Reece returns home to his family with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability. However, as new evidence comes to light, Reece discovers dark forces working against him, endangering not only his life, but the lives of those he loves.”
The show also stars Constance Wu, Taylor Kitsch, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Riley Keough, Arlo Mertz, Jai Courtney, JD Pardo, Patrick Schwarzenegger, LaMonica Garrett, Stephen Bishop, Sean Gunn, Tyner Rushing, Jared Shaw, Christina Vidal, Nick Chinlund, Matthew Rauch, Warren Kole, and Alexis Louder. David DiGilio serves as a writer and showrunner.
As reported by D-Rezzed, Amazon Studios discussed the release date in a previous press release, “Prime Video announced today that the highly anticipated Amazon Original series The Terminal List, starring Chris Pratt (The Tomorrow War, Jurassic World), will premiere all eight episodes on July 1, exclusively on Prime Video. The Terminal List, which is a co-production from Amazon Studios and Civic Center Media in association with MRC Television…”
Jack Carr first published ‘The Terminal List’ in 2018 with the novel becoming a series that includes ‘True Believer,’ ‘Savage Son,’ ‘The Devil’s Hand,’ and ‘In The Blood.’
This will be Pratt’s second project with Amazon Studios following the sci-fi action film ‘The Tomorrow War,’ for which he also served as a producer.
Nvidia Failed To Disclose Crypto Revenue, SEC Fines Company $5.5m
NVIDIA, a company well known for crafting expensive and powerful GPUs, has run afoul of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, it’s not about scamming customers or ripping people off. No, it all comes down to crypto mining.
NVIDIA did not inform any overseeing body that a significant portion of the company’s income was being derived from crypto mining. So while it’s not NVIDIA doing the mining, the increase in revenue was partially due to the GPUs being used expressly for that use by the consumers. Since this income source wasn’t correctly noted in the 2018 filings, the SEC handed out a $5.5m fine.
We were made aware of NVIDIA’s little oopsie thanks to a story that appeared on ZDNet. The entirety of NVIDIA’s violations can be found over at the SEC’s website. However, here’s a little snippet of one misdeed the graphics card manufacturer perpetrated:
NVIDIA violated Sections 17(a)(2) and (3) of the Securities Act, which prohibit any person from directly or indirectly obtaining money or property by means of any untrue statement of a material fact or any omission to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or engaging in any transaction, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon the purchaser, in the offer or sales of securities. A violation of these provisions does not require scienter and may rest on a finding of negligence.
It does not appear that NVIDIA has issued an official statement regarding this fine. As the government comes to terms with how to deal with crypto, I anticipate a lot of growing pains. Sadly, this will probably end in overregulation, which is what crypto was made to avoid.
What do you think of the news that NVIDIA is taking a multi-million dollar financial hit for this newish crypto market? Let us know in the comments section below.
[Source: ZDNET]
Super7’s Ultimates TMNT Foot Soldier Can Now Glow-In-The-Dark!
More variants are on the way for the Super7‘s Ultimates action figures. First, we’ve seen evil Lion-Os; now we’ve got glow-in-the-dark Foot Soldiers! They may be robots (at least in the old ’80s cartoon), but something about that cyan glow makes them look a bit supernatural.
I don’t think the Playmates line ever had glowy Footies, but I’m not going to bad mouth this classic gimmick. Even though this is one of those more “premium” variants, the Foot Soldier is still priced at $55, just like all the other Ultimates figures. These guys are still a way off and not estimated to ship until Spring 2023.
The Foot Soldiers are a glowing example of how the Clan puts its best foot forward! This Super7.com exclusive 7” scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ULTIMATES! Foot Soldier figure features a glow-in-the-dark body and comes with interchangeable hands and glow-in-the-dark weapons. Don’t drag your feet, this made-to-order glow-in-the-dark ULTIMATES! Foot Soldier figure will be a big step toward the Ninja Turtles collection of your dreams!
This flashy Foot will come with the following accessories:
- 10x interchangeable hands
- 2x Gripping hands
- 2x Fist hands
- 2x Chopping hands
- 2x Martial art hands
- 2x Open hands
- 1x Pistol
- 1x Rifle
- 1x Knife
- 2x Throwing stars
- 1x Flail weapon
- 1x Grabber arm
The pill-shaped head of the Foot Soldiers brings back memories of the original TMNT toys more than the Turtles themselves. Maybe it’s the distinctive eyes or the silly foot symbol on the forehead. However, there’s something about how Playmates sculpted these soldiers that made them iconic and easily interchangeable with other Playmates toylines like Toxic Crusaders.
What were your first Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures? Did your Shredder figure have a deflated head? How quickly did you lose the Turtles’ weapons? Let us know in the comment section below.
[Source: Super7]
Microsoft’s DRM Leaves XBOX Owners Without Access To Games
Over the past weekend, XBOX users in the US and Europe got very familiar with Microsoft’s DRM program. As a result, if you owned a digital game, even one from the XBOX 360 days, you could not play it. According to USA Today, due to some hiccup on MS’s end, users were locked out of all downloaded games they owned, even if they were single-player, offline titles.
Of course, XBOX Support downplayed the issue.
We're aware that some users are unable to purchase games, launch games or start Cloud Gaming sessions. Our teams are investigating. Please keep an eye here and on our status page for updates. https://t.co/kQKp1LYR4o
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) May 7, 2022
By Sunday, most people could play their games, but it opened a lot of eyes to what could happen if an internet outage or server failure at MS were to occur. Millions of customers could be locked out of their digital copies for who knows how long. It’s like rolling the dice with a Stadia.
I had not immediately noticed the outage because I was playing a physical copy of Elden Ring. However, when I tried to launch my digital copies of Cyberpunk 2077 and the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on Saturday, I was met with error messages. One message said that the account which purchased the game would need to sign in.
Confused, I checked and saw that my one and only account that I’ve had since XBOX Live launched all those years ago was indeed signed in. So I tried a few other games in my library of 495 titles, each one failing to launch or giving me another error message about needing to be connected to the service.
While I had my XBOX Series X do a hard restart, I launched my PS5 and had no issue getting into my library and launching a COD match. So obviously, something was wrong on MS’s end.
It turns out that a major outage had happened that restricted XBOX owners from accessing any digital game they owned. This is all part of the company’s unified DRM protection program. If the rights to the game cannot be verified every time the game is launched, you don’t get to play the thing you purchased.
Rather than allowing each publisher to determine how/when DRM is put into place, Microsoft has a blanket rule that all digital games must have an online connection unless your XBOX is set as your primary machine. This is a setting I’ve never known about or used on my previous XBOX One or Series S consoles.
Even after turning this option on, I still could not play the digital titles. Now, it is understandable that turning the option on during an outage will not fix anything, but this setting should be on by default if the account has no other XBOX associated with it. I had deactivated my previous consoles when I secured a Series X.
This sort of overprotective DRM is so unnecessary that it is anti-consumer. For example, if someone owns one XBOX, uses a single ISP, and has only ever played a game on that XBOX, then why does the game need constant verification?
Let us know what you think about Microsoft’s DRM in the comments section below.
[Source: USA Today]
Dub Drops For ‘The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made’ Anime
‘The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made’ is a fantasy isekai based on a series of light novels and manga created by the author known as Miku for the Tokyo-based publishing company Futabasha. The series kicked off in 2014 and its popularity led to an anime adaption in 2021 by the Japanese animation studio Hotline. Crunchyroll has sensed announced that they acquired the rights to an English dub that was released in May 2022.
They list the cast on their website:
- Mark Allen Jr. (Nazumi in SSSS.DYNAZENON) as Seiichi
- Jalitza Delgado (Raido’s Little Sister in Aharen-san wa Hakarenai) as Saria
- Comona Lewin (Climb in Overlord) as Saria (Kaiser Kong)
- Corey Pettit (Sawa Sugimoto in Kageki Shoujo!!) as Artoria
- Erica Muse (Diva in She Professed Herself the Pupil of the Wise Man) as Kannazuki
- Rachel Glass (Elma in Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid) as Mister Sheep
- Dalton Tindall (Atsushi Miyuki in ALL OUT!!) as Kenji
- Aaron Michael (Toranosuke Kurayoshi in Skate-Leading Stars) as Shouta
- Hope Endrenyi (Maki Shijo in KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR) as Miu
- Ray Gestaut (Casey in Tokyo ESP) as King Kaiser
- Shawn Gann (Doc in RADIANT) as Helio
- Kristian Eros (Yuki’s Drummer in Rumble Garanndoll) as Ayoyama
- Matthew David Rudd (Panda in JUJUTSU KAISEN) as Daiki
- Kristian Eros as Acrowolf 1A, Clever Monkey 1D, Male Student 1C
- Matthew David Rudd as Clever Monkey 1A
- Dani Phillips as Clever Monkey 1B, Female Student 1A, Female Student 1C, Female Student 1E
- Kayla Parker as Clever Monkey 1C, Female Student 1B
- Kimber Martin as Female Student 1D
- Katie Caruso as Female Voice 1A
Jonathan Rigg will serve as the voice director.
You can watch the trailer below:
MyAnimeList describes the synopsis as follows:
“One day, a man claiming to be a god suddenly hacks a certain school’s intercoms, ordering all of its students to team up and prepare to be transported to another world. There, they will be given special skills in the hopes that they become that world’s heroes and defeat the Demon King that ravages the land.
The initial transfer is a success. However, Seiichi Hiiragi, who suffers from his classmates’ constant bullying due to his somewhat undesirable appearance, is left behind as no one is willing to be his teammate. Nevertheless, the self-proclaimed god decides to send Seiichi to the parallel world and lets him join his peers. Unfortunately, this fateful ordeal causes Seiichi to arrive at a location deep in the forest, far not only from his schoolmates but from human civilization as well.
Desperately searching for a way to change his predicament, Seiichi’s miserable days only seem to continue to worsen. Yet when all hope seems lost, Seiichi discovers a strange fruit known as the “Fruit of Evolution”—which may be his first step toward a significantly better future.”
The anime is written by Gigaemon Ichikawa with music from Sky Delta, Asuka Ogura, and Hideyuki Gushimiyagi.
Billy Kametz Departs The Role Of Shield Hero Following Medical Diagnosis
‘The Rising of the Shield Hero’ English voice actor Billy Kametz wowed fans with his portrayal of the embattled protagonist Naofumi Iwatani during the anime’s first season. The show instantly became a fan favorite for its voice cast and for its adaption of the popular light novel series by Aneko Yusagi.
Tragically, Kametz will be departing the role of the Shield Hero and canceling all upcoming projects after he announced that he had been diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer.
“Hey everyone. Just wanted to give you a quick update on what’s going on in my life. I’m gonna be just fine and we’ll get through this. Love you all,” he wrote on his Twitter.
https://t.co/eLjAwgKQsL
Hey everyone. Just wanted to give you a quick update on what's going on in my life. I'm gonna be just fine and we'll get through this. Love you all❤️— Billy Kametz (@BillyKametz) April 26, 2022
Crunchyroll, which currently holds the licensing dub for the isekai, said on their website, “We want to give a special thank you to Billy for his work on this series and other anime projects.”
Fans of the actor have set up a GoFundMe page to help with the cost of expenses of travel, medication, and other necessities for the actor.
Aside from ‘The Rising of the Shield Hero,’ Kametz’s voice can be heard across the anime landscape with roles in ‘Cells At Work,’ ‘KonoSuba,’ ‘Beastars,’ ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba,’ ‘Attack on Titan: The Final Season,’ ‘Godzilla: Singular Point,’ and within the Gundam franchise.
Here is a clip of Kametz with Erica Mendez, who voices Raphtalia, discussing their respective roles.
In May 2022, Crunchyroll announced that voice actor Stephen Fu would be taking over the role of Naofumi for ‘The Rising of the Shield Hero’ English dub.
Fu said on social media, “Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all the support. I’m honored to be subbing in for Billy as Naofumi this season. I’ll do my best to make you proud. Please continue to support Billy and send him positive vibes.”
Kametz shared his support for the casting saying, “We’re in good hands people! (Stephen Fu) is gonna kill it as Naofumi and I can’t wait to hear you and the rest of the amazing cast in season 2! Big congrats my friend!!”
We’re in good hands people! @That_Fu is gonna kill it as Naofumi and I can’t wait to hear you and the rest of the amazing cast in season 2! Big congrats my friend!!🛡 https://t.co/U6ZWZMMb8O
— Billy Kametz (@BillyKametz) May 2, 2022
