Good day, gentle viewers in today's news.
Sequels, Spice and Wolf gets a Brotherhood remake as well as news on Viz
Media, raising prices and a hotel strike that might affect Anime Expo.
All of that alongside a look at the Spring 2023 anime seasonal rankings.
So without any further ado, I am Tristan Gallant and welcome to glass reflection.
Let's jam.
So let's start off today with the super awesome and amazing news.
Oshi No Ko is getting a season two!
Now that's not the super amazing awesome news.
But considering we are about to talk about sequels and remakes, it is worth
mentioning as an aside, just so that I can say that I did.
But Spice and Wolf is getting a new adaptation.
I don't know if you know how happy this announcement makes me.
Like Spice and Wolff was one of the first series
I originally covered here on this channel during my very first year on YouTube.
And that video came out in like early 2010,
I want to say, But I have watched it and been following the series
since its anime adaptation came out in 2008.
I even have the I even have the series right here, actually.
Boom.
And back at home, like I owned the light novel for Spice and Wolf twice over.
In some cases,
I purchased that massive brick of a tome that is the novels Collector's edition.
But since that, you know, massive hunk of process wood is so unwieldy.
I also own a decent chunk of the light novel in its smaller volume format.
It's a lot easier to read, and I've been a fan of the series for
a long frickin time now.
And if you ever watch my video on the original anime second season,
yes, that is the second season.
You will know how upset I have been at that particular ending.
Like how it chose not to resolve a bunch of things.
How so much about the characters and the world were just left hanging?
Not only that, but the anime really only scratches the surface
of what is offered in the light novels because I mean, maybe only four or
five of them have actually been adapted
and that's with them jumping around a few times as anime tends to do.
Currently the light novel has 24 volumes, and that's to say
nothing about the spinoff series.
Wolf and Parchment, which I would also love to see adapted at some point.
So about this new series.
What do we know?
Well, we have been told that the director and episode director
from the original series are coming back.
We know that the original composer, however, for this series,
is not coming back and they have been replaced in the new adaptation
by the wonderful and amazing Kevin Penkin, which I am both like.
I'm excited about it, but also a tiny bit sad.
The original spice in Wolf OST has been one that I have been like listening
to on and off for literally decades now since 2008.
However you want to calculate that, and it'll be weird watching this new series
when it has a completely different musical identity.
Like, I always kind of wish that anime franchises or just franchises
in general with multiple composers were able to subtlely rip leitmotifs
from one another without like getting too far into the weeds.
How that would work legally.
But also, like in this particular case, if anyone could make their own music
and still make it feel like spice and Wolf, I do believe it to be Kevin Penkin.
So while I am saddened, Yes.
By knowing that I'm not going to have like one of those moments where old music
that I am familiar with plays on my emotions in this new adaptation,
I instead will look forward to new music playing on my emotions
because we already got that a little bit in the trailer.
They did release a trailer and it seems to be telling us that
this is not a sequel or a season three to the original series,
as all of the scenes in the trailer seem to mostly come from
the first couple of chapters of the novel, which has been adapted previously.
As far as what the rest of the series will hold,
well then that's anyone's guess, since they haven't told us.
As I mentioned before, there is a massive amount of content
that exists for them to adapt and we have no idea
how far they actually plan to take this adaptation.
What they will skip, how many episodes we can expect and so on.
No clue whatsoever.
So while this ostensibly is a Brotherhood remake of Spice and Wolf,
the lack of info on how much of a remake it'll be makes me a tiny bit nervous.
Like if this new adaptation only goes so far
as, like, the original anime, then I would question, Well, what's the point?
But if it goes beyond that, which I hope it does,
and these initial episodes are just for setup, then it could be fine,
but we'll just have to see.
We don't have a solid release season per se, but we have been told
that it won't come out until 2024 at the earliest.
So we could only be waiting six months or we could be waiting a year.
It depends on when they get production wrapped up.
And in any case,
this is some of the best news that I have had to share in a long time.
And I can't wait for this series.
This new
spice in Wolf to finally come out.
Viz media, a prominent manga publisher, is planning to increase
the prices of its manga volumes starting in January 2024.
Currently, Viz prices their manga at $9.99 USD per volume
and the cost will now rise to $11.99 per volume.
This adjustment will apply to both new volumes of ongoing series
as well as any future releases by the company.
It's worth noting that the previous standard of $9.99
did not actually apply to all releases from the publisher.
Some titles like Golden Kamuy for example, already
carry a price tag of $12.99 per volume.
Now, this price increase info comes from major e-commerce platforms
such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as they have already updated their listings
to reflect the new pricing for manga volumes released after January 1st, 2024.
However, is important to understand that Viz’s revised
pricing will still be in line with what other English language manga publishers
currently offer.
Kodansha USA, for example, sells standard single volumes of manga
for $12.99, while Yen Press charges
$13 seven Seas Entertainment, who we have spoken about before,
has a price range of 12.99 to 14.99 for their manga volumes.
It should also be noted
that this isn't the first time that Viz Media has adjusted its pricing.
Back in 2009, they increased the prices of Shonen Jump
and Shojo beat manga volumes from 7.99 and 8.99 to just 9.99.
And lastly, these price increases seem to only affect the sale of manga
volumes from Viz and did not as of yet.
There are manga apps and related services.
The Viz manga app remains currently priced at one 99 USD for a monthly subscription
and its more
specific Shonen Jump app
is still priced at 2.99 USD for a monthly subscription.
Keeping in mind that both of those apps are still only available in the U.S.
and Canada for the time being.
Now, before we continue, I wanted to give shout outs to supporters
of this channel over on Patreon. because yes, this video is not sponsored
and the more support
that we receive over there, the less sponsors, that Glass Reflection
will need at any given time.
So an immense thank you, especially to patrons:
We can't continue this without your support,
so however much you are able to help, I am eternally grateful.
If you are planning on attending Anime
Expo soon in Los Angeles, this next bit is for you.
Unite here.
Local 11
Southern California's largest hospitality union, has announced on its website
that its members have voted to authorize a potential strike at numerous hotels,
starting as early as the July 4th weekend if a satisfactory agreement is
not reached.
Now, this strike would involve approximately 15,000 workers
making it the largest hotel.
Workers strike in modern U.S. history.
The union, which represents over
32,000 workers, including room attendants, cooks, dishwashers, front desk
agents, servers and food service workers, has outlined key demands.
These include an immediate $5 hourly wage increase to address
rising housing costs, affordable
family health care, a pension plan, ensuring retirement security
and a manageable workload that prioritizes their safety and well-being.
The decision to authorize
the strike follows a month of unsuccessful negotiations, which began back on April
20th between the union and major hotel employers such as Hyatt,
Hilton, Highgate, Accor, IHG and Marriott.
So for Anime Expo attendees,
while if you are planning on just going to like an Airbnb
like thing scenario or just shacking up with a local friend, you should be fine.
But if you have a hotel booking, please keep in mind
that some things may not go as well as you may have hoped.
From your hotel lodging that weekend, Of course, there is still time
for the situation to change,
but it always helps to be prepared for the worst case scenario.
So to those of you in those situations, both the workers of the union
and of course the attendees, of course you have my sympathies.
And lastly, for today, we are going to be talking
and looking at the anime trending rankings.
Now, looking at the chart itself, it seems that not much has changed
since last week.
We seem to be nearing the end of the season and a lot of things
have solidified their place, only changing ever so slightly.
So, for example, Heavenly Delusion is still remaining
in its first place position, having been there for three entire weeks
now, Heavenly Delusion has finished, at least this particular season.
We don't know yet if it's going to be getting another season, and it's not like
this adaptation actually ended things.
It just happened to finish a particular arc.
So now I am actually pretty curious how that is going to change things
in the coming weeks as Heavenly Delusion will probably be kicked off
this ranking for the last week or two because you know, it's it's done now.
It's finished, which for Mercury has moved into the second
position, kicking Hells Paradise down into third.
The dangerous in my heart has jumped ahead into fourth, knocking down both Oshi No Ko
and Insomniac's after school. Demon Slayer has reentered
the top ten at number seven, not kicking down
Kobo, which remains in eighth place, but essentially dropping
Skip and Loafer down to positions and Raeliana down one into ten.
So this marks the third week that a lot of these entries are still here.
Now, we are nearing the end of the season.
Some of these shows are going to be ending.
Some are going to be continuing in one shape or another.
Oshi No Ko has confirmed that it is going to be getting a second season
and that information was confirmed at the end of its most recent episode,
which is also the final episode for its show this season.
So it'll probably get knocked off the list next week as well.
So really, I feel like this is going to be the final kind of
full list of everything.
And now absolutely everything beyond
this is just kind of the wrap up and seeing what sticks around.
I'm not entirely sure how accurate I will trust this particular ranking
from here on out from the rest of the season,
because once we remove things from the list,
all that's going to be left is saying, Oh, well, suddenly, suddenly,
Witch for Mercury is the most popular anime.
And I'm like, Well, yeah, but that's only because Heavenly Delusion is done now.
So that's not really fair.
It is much better at this point, I feel, to potentially
just wait it out until the entire series is done and we eventually get
a solid ranking on people's favorites for the season.
Once everything has finally wrapped up and tied a bow on the whole season.
What this does mean, however, is now we are going to be beginning our journey
into the summer anime season as new shows for the summer season.
Should be airing fairly soon and I am both looking forward to watching it.
And also.
Uh huh.
Well, you know how I end up watching the first episode, at least of everything.
And that is always a bit of a time sink.
It's one of those weird things where like I enjoy doing it,
but it's still hard and stressful at times.
So there is a thing where I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also not.
It's, it's a thing I hopefully I am understood in my desires and wants there.
I am looking forward to it.
There are a number of shows I really do want to watch
and I'm looking forward to seeing how like
either anime trending or the internet in general will take to them. But
as far as the spring season is concerned, I think we're pretty much there.
I think we're pretty much done.
And at least as far as this top ten is concerned,
I would not put heavenly delusion in first, having now seen all of it.
But then again, I've had problems with at least the last couple of episodes
for a number of reasons, not just the obvious one.
And to wrap up, looking at the charts, of course, my least favorite
show of the season Cheat skill jumped yet
another two positions into 22nd, which does not make me happy at all.
And what makes it even worse is that my favorite show of the season,
Otaku Elf, has jumped down another position into 28th.
I was very happy that one week it hit 24 thinking, Oh, we're
finally going up and then now we're back down...
pain.
But it just goes to show the things that I happen to like.
Not everybody else does.
So while I may say that Otaku Elf is great and my favorite thing
from this season, not many people will agree with me and that's fine.
So that's it for our show today.
Subscribe If you haven't hit the like button, if you enjoyed the video
and until next time, watch more anime and stay frosty.