WITCHES

Franchise's TV anime launched in 2008, spawned sequels, films, manga, novels The cast of both the Strike Witches and Brave Witches anime announced during the "Minna to Issho ni Dekiru Koto! Fes" live event on August 19 that the Strike Witches franchise will launch a 10th anniversary project in 2018, a decade after the first television anime's airing. Illustrator Humikane Shimada added on Twitter that the project is not yet at the stage where he can discuss specifics. The franchise's story centers on an alien invasion by beings known as the Neuroi. The only way to damage and ultimately defeat them lies in Witches, girls who possess magical powers and are capable of wielding Striker Units that enhances their abilities and allow them to maneuver in the air. The characters in the franchise are often based on real-life aerial aces from various nationalities. The series is based on illustrator Humikane Shimada's mecha-girl illustrations, and Shimada is credited as the original

Previous issues of “Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Witches” have taken the second part of that title to heart, but issue #3 focuses on the first. Matthew Dow Smith retells an Irish folktale about stories and their power, with the Storyteller himself bookending the issue. (Don’t worry, there are still witches involved.) It’s thematically pitch-perfect and invitingly written, but it needed smoother pacing and bolder artwork. I enjoyed this issue, but it didn’t have the extra edge to make it a must-read. Smith has chosen a perfect folktale for this series, and he does a fine job adapting it. The issue follows a sailor-storyteller who’s shipwrecked on a mysterious island where his imagination holds concrete, physical power. The dialogue is scarce, with most of the story told in captioned narration. As a result, it reads very much like a fireside story, with plenty of foreshadowing and editorializing. This approach also allows Smith to speak in broader strokes. Having a character say, “I

The beautiful first issue of “The Storyteller: Witches” by S.M. Vidaurri is both a triumph and a failure of visual storytelling. Each individual page is a gorgeous integration of text and visuals, where the sentences are as likely to have spiral shapes as the spinning wheels. Words swirl and dive into fairytale borders, dragon-sized swans and ancient trees. However, beautiful as they are individually, the pages don’t speak to or follow from one another, making the issue feel more like a series of particularly pretty posters than a flowing visual story. Still, this artwork really is stunning, and “The Storyteller: Witches” #1 is an enchanting charmer overall. The series is called “The Storyteller,” and S.M. Vidaurri really has created an issue that feels like the nicest storybook you’ve ever owned. The whole book seems to have been colored in watercolors, and the softness of it drew me right in. Though most pages stay in the same soft, bright palette, there are a few exceptions. When

Release dates added for Berserk, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Time Travel Girl FUNimation Entertainment's online store is listing the following release dates for Blu-ray Disc/DVD combo packs that are part of its collaboration with Crunchyroll: Ace Attorney season one : January 23 Berserk (2016) season one: January 16 Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress: January 16 The Morose Mononokean: January 16 Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches: January 9 All five series will have both English and Japanese audio, and Funimation will offer limited editions for Berserk and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. The English dub of Berserk is already streaming on Funimation's website. In addition, Funimation's subtitle-only DVD release of Time Travel Girl is slated for January 2. Funimation and Crunchyroll announced in 2016 that Funimation planned to release Ace Attorney and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, among other series, as part of a collaboration between the two companies. Funimat

The December issue of Kadokawa's Monthly Asuka magazine revealed last Tuesday that Eri Sakondou's Momogumi Plus Senki manga will move from Monthly Asuka to Kadokawa's Comic Newtype web comic magazine. Kadokawa will release the next chapter on November 28. Sakondou began the manga in 2006. Kadokawa released the 17th compiled volume in Japan on October 24 digitally and in print. Viz Media released the first four volumes of the manga in English digitally. Viz Media describes the story: After transferring to a new school, Yuuki, a distaster-attracting young student, is told that his is actually the reincarnation of Momotaro from Japanese foklore. What's worse, he was cursed by demons in his previous life! And if he doesn't break the curse, he will die on the day he turns eighteen. Luckily for Yuuki, he won't have to battle these demons alone--his three mystical minions, Yukishiro, Masahiko and Sawa will be there to instruct and protect him every step of the way! Tokyopop previo