For the second time, Anime NYC was hosted in August instead of the previous November. However, they actually turned it into a four-day convention by adding a single day from the 21st to the 24th. How does a three-day con fare when it tacks on an extra day? Well, read on to find out.

Honestly, travel to conventions can be tiring, but it isn't something most people bring up often. One exception to that is when an entire airline is on strike (Air Canada) and forces some interesting routing. What was supposed to be a five-hour direct flight ended up with a stop in Phoenix on top of the five-hour flight. Let's just say the total flight and layover time was over 13 hours. There was a pretty distinct possibility that we weren't even going to be able to make it. Thankfully, it all worked out, and we made it there, albeit a day later.

As with previous years, Anime NYC was hosted at the Javits Center, a pretty huge space. Ever since they moved the convention to August, they were given access to the entire space, making for a lot more room for the event. One thing you'd notice right away was that the hallways between booths were spacious and very generous. Even some of the busier booths, such as the Hololive booth, had lots of space for you to get through.

In addition, it provided a lot more space for both vendors and artists alike for the hall. The front area was the dealer's hall, while the Artist Alley was located near the back, directly behind it. Again, the walkways were large, allowing you to get from one area to the other with east. It was one of the reasons why Anime NYC, even as big as it is, didn't feel as claustrophobic.

One thing that has become really big over the past years is the Hololive area and booth. It's always located near the entrance, since they have a large screen displaying streams, videos, and other media. We've heard rumors that the area has gotten so busy that some of the other vendors don't exactly love being next to it. I guess this should come as no surprise, though, given how much Hololive has seeped into the culture here.

We'll come back to this later, since this is probably one of the two big things at the convention that we saw plastered all over the event. I mean, they did have a concert at the event and a concert at the nearby Radio City Music Hall. We can leave it as being really busy and popular. Whether you're a fan or not, you're blasted with it throughout the entire event. (I hope you've picked an oshi. More on that later.)

Other VTuber companies and indies were also around in various areas around the main hall. It just goes to show how big the fad has gotten over the past years.

It is still an anime convention, so of course, the major players in the anime space were there. That included Crunchyroll and an assortment of other companies. In addition, game localization companies, manga/book companies, and others were present. Not to mention the Manga Awards were also handed out during the week of the convention. The booths keep getting bigger each year, and there's always that swag you can grab at all the booths. Whether you're looking to buy something or pick up some free swag, Anime NYC has got you covered.

When it comes to vibes, Anime NYC is generally a busier convention due to the hustle and bustle of the city. However, the convention itself is much more relaxed, and the space, as we've discussed, is great for you to even walk around just to see the booths. This was especially obvious in the Artists Alley, where the area was probably more spaced out than at most other conventions.

As stated before, they extended Anime NYC by an extra day for this year. The issue is they had very little scheduled for the day, other than badge pickup and the dealers' hall and Artist Alley being open that day. It would probably be wise just to call it a day 0 instead of a full day.

Other than VTubers, the second feature throughout the weekend was gacha games. One of the big sponsors was this game Brown Dust II. I honestly have only really heard about it a bit, and I'm pretty into gacha games as the resident gacha game writer on staff. Either way, they had a fairly large booth featuring their game that sold merch and had both cosplayers and staff on hand in between their events. (I wanted to talk more about them, but it got vetoed by our editor. Feel free to blame them.)

It's pretty interesting how all of the booths are blended together in this main hall instead of over different halls like a lot of other conventions that split off some of the gaming booths. Other companies of note that were there include Yostar with merch for their games, as well as some other retailers with goods for Hoyoverse properties.

It wouldn't be an anime convention without a healthy dose of NIKKE plot. As with previous years, they were back with a lineup of goods that really featured their keepsake highlights. Unsurprisingly, some of their goods were already sold out by the time we dropped by their booth later in the day.

I think it's safe to say gacha games are here to stay and they'll continue to be a large feature and draw for many anime conventions. Now, whether that actually increases your gacha luck, one can only guess.

Given that we were in New York City, we had to make sure to see a show of some kind. So, what better way than to attend the Hololive Concert at Radio City Music Hall? It really was a scene that's hard to explain or even imagine without seeing it first-hand. Have you ever seen a giant line of Hololive fans following a daki made into a makeshift banner? Well, I can tell you most of New York City has not. The # of people who saw it thinking it was a protest was larger than you'd be able to imagine. Honestly, if you told me it was a protest march, I would have believed you. At times, it might have been better if it were.

Regardless of the trek to get there, we made it for an on-time performance. The music hall was filled with people wielding penlights, as you'd expect from a concert of this type. Honestly, we were pretty impressed by the technical details behind the concert. One thing to note is that the side screens projected the 3D version of the concert, similar to what you'd be able to see on the stream. The main display was a 2D representation showing more of the members at the detriment of them being stacked on top of one another due to them lacking an axis.

It's hard to describe the atmosphere, except to say it was electrifying. It really brought back Japan concert vibes, having been to a few in Japan. Who could have guessed there'd be a full New York theater filled with Hololive fans? All in all, the concert was an interesting experience to say the least.

So, how was Anime NYC 2025? It was still a fun experience and had the same great vibe. The only downside was the extra day being kind of empty. It really felt like a day 0 instead of a full day. Maybe it was a test for the following years, but the empty day needed a bit more content to be considered a full day at a convention. I'm hoping they fill up the schedule a bit for the extra day next year to improve the overall experience. Even with that, it was worth the crazy day and night of flights to get to Anime NYC.

Would we come back for the following rendition?

Most likely. We're hoping the extra day is busier so we can better justify the additional time spent there. Otherwise, we're looking forward to the next year.

Having finally visited Anime Expo for the first time in 2024, I decided it best to return, since it's always interesting to see what the second experience is like compared to the first. My expectations were pretty high given the standard set last year. Although Anime Expo runs more like a tradeshow or a commercial convention, there is a reason why it is the largest in North America.

Day 1 actually started with an interesting detour through the parking garage, since the priority access line shared between Press, Exhibitors, Staff, etc. was snaking into the parking garage from where we were entering. The line was quite long, but also surprisingly efficient. We still managed to get in before the exhibitor's hall was open, so it all worked out in the end.

Once we made our way in, we were treated to familiar convention vibes. There was already a sizable number of people inside because they let people into the convention center early, but just opened the individual halls at a later time. The walk over to the exhibitor's hall was a bit of a trek, though it was leisurely and mostly orderly.

It really helped that the venue itself was quite large, making the number of people feel lower than what it actually is. It isn't until you get close to the exhibitor's hall and other areas that you feel like you're in a crowd. The Artist Alley, from a glance at least, seemed wider than previous years, and the crowding seemed better than the previous year. However, some spaces were still crowded. Though, that might be down to how popular some of the booths are.

Getting into the exhibitor's hall just before the mass of people got in gave us a good sense of just how large this area was. The walkways were large enough for a sizable number of people and laid out in a fairly efficient manner. As it got busy, it was pretty clear which of the booths were busier as they had long lines, and some even had to give out tickets for people to come back at a later time.

One such booth was the Cygames booth. Obviously, with the release of Umamusume, it was going to get busy. People were lined up before the exhibitor's hall was even open, and the rush to get in line when it did open was reminiscent of Comiket. Needless to say, if you wanted some exclusive merch, you had to get there early as things were starting to sell out by the time we walked by the booth again later in the day.

This really brings back the earlier point of how things felt more commercial there. It definitely gave tradeshow vibes with just how much they're trying to sell you something. This is pretty much the modern-day anime convention, but that's not necessarily a bad thing in moderation. Even so, they had many giveaways and freebies just by walking by the many booths, even if they were trying to sell you stuff or at least advertise their latest project or work to you.

If you were a fan of standees at booths, you were in luck. Most of the big anime franchises you'd expect had standees or merch lined up along the various booths. Some companies you'd never expect to even attend with booths, such as TV Asahi Animation. I honestly did not even know they had a US/Western branch.

The entertainment hall, which mostly housed the gaming companies, was also a huge draw this year. Companies like Hoyoverse had to cap their lines and hand out tickets for a later time for people to even come back to buy merch. This was also the case with Yostar and some of the other gaming companies around that area. The lines were definitely reminiscent of Comiket and TGS.

Yostar even went all out and had cosplayers in wedding dresses for an assortment of Azurlane shipgirls. I guess you could have actually fought over your literal waifu. That and get a picture. At least if you were willing to get in line to do so. Nearby the various booths, we also had the previously featured booth tour of iBUYPOWER and HYTE.

Also in this area was the Arknights Endfield booth. They actually had a live demo of the game you could play with multiple PC's for you to try the game out on. Of course, they also had a variety of merch for sale and I even ended up getting suckered into buying two plushies. Because who can't use more plushies in their lives?

Outside of the main halls, there were also a variety of events, both run by the convention and outside the convention, on the weekend. Of course, Hololive Night was once again back with the Dodgers in addition to a One Piece Night. Based on the experience of one of our correspondents, the merch sales were much better this year with all of the stores having access to the merch. Say goodbye to that one giant line that took longer than the baseball game last year.

Although the Dodgers game was on our radar, we went to the J-Pop Sound Capsule concert, which featured FLOW, GRANRODEO, TOGENASHI TOGEARI, Sakurazaka46, Hiroshi Kitadani, and ASTERISM. I won't lie to you, I was mostly there to see TogeToge and FLOW. The concert didn't disappoint, and you certainly got a major dose of wotagei. So I guess, mission accomplished in a sense.

Outside of the major booths inside, they also took up more of the space outside to run booths and various food and drink stalls. It was a wise use of space and expanded the use of space outdoors. Surprisingly, the GFL2: Exilium booth was outdoors instead of indoors. It featured a cafe with some food and drinks in addition to merch for sale.

We'd be remiss to go one entire anime convention article without talking about VTubers. They were still heavily featured throughout the convention with multiple displays ranging from the companies themselves to other companies selling merch such as Good Smile. The VTuber industry is booming and the train doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

So what were my thoughts on my second year at Anime Expo? Honestly, it was still a great experience. It's hard to say if it was better or worse than my first experience. The vibes were still great, and there was definitely something for everybody. They've made some improvements in some areas, while some areas still need some work. Attendance continues to be high, so they're doing something right in that regard. There's a reason why this convention is the largest in North America, and the experience it provides is like none other.

Would I visit again?

Of course. I mean, they do say the third time's the charm.

As we work our way through the upcoming Anime Expo 2025 article(s), here's a special surprise from our time at the convention this year. We had the privilege of getting a booth tour from iBUYPOWER/HYTE while we attended Anime Expo, and thought we'd share some of the highlights.

iBUYPOWER is best known for their custom pre-built PCs, and that was clearly showcased at their booth. There was a large variety of interactive activities, gaming demos, and displays throughout their booth. We'll highlight some of the main ones we explored and go a little more in-depth with some of their new product offerings.

While iBUYPOWER is mostly known for their custom-built full PCs, they also have a sub-brand called HYTE, which provides peripherals and other merchandise while being fully owned by iBUYPOWER. This, of course, allows them to continue building on their PC business while also producing peripherals and accessories under a different ecosystem. Their products include a lineup of PC cases, PC accessories such as cooling products, and even keycap sets and deskpads.

As this is Anime Expo, iBUYPOWER fully embraced the culture and showcased different collections that would appeal to both anime and gaming lovers alike. Some of the things they displayed this time around included the Hoshimachi Suisei Y70 case, along with the keycap and deskpad set. The keycap and deskpad set must have been a huge hit, as it was already sold out by the time of the tour.

As previously mentioned, the large booth had a lot going on in terms of activities and collaborations. One of the more surprising ones is a collaboration between iBUYPOWER, Honkai: Star Rail, and e.l.f. Cosmetics where there were both freebies of cosmetics and stylists to help put on makeup. It really suited the Honkai: Star Rail characters of Robin and Kafka, who were chosen as features for this event, which created great engagement and was something I definitely did not expect to see featured at Anime Expo.

In addition, there was a booth set up for Blade & Soul Heroes featuring a real-life prize wheel you could spin in exchange for filling out a survey. There was a pretty long line at times for the giveaway, as you had a chance of winning prizes such as a t-shirt, phone charms, stickers, and other goodies. Another surprising addition this year was a boba/bubble tea shop in the booth itself, giving out samples at select times of the day.

Speaking of Honkai: Star Rail, HYTE displayed their latest X50 case with custom designs of characters from the game, including Hyacine. The case is unique in that it features a curved mesh design for the front while having a curved laminated glass panel on the side. Having seen the case in person and being able to remove the curved glass panel really gave us a sense of how much space was inside. Since the panel comes off from both the top and the side, it does seem much easier to install components. This case was first launched at Computex in May of this year.

We asked if some of these collaboration cases would become available, as the Hyacine case really matches the pink aesthetic of this X50 computer case. Unfortunately, there is no news to announce at this time, but we were told HYTE always works with partners to bring out collaborations, such as with Honkai: Star Rail and the previous Silverwolf collection for the larger Y70 case, so there is hope that future collaborations could occur.

Another exclusive collection that could be found for purchase at Anime Expo was the Asus TUF Gaming x Hatsune Miku PC peripheral collection, which was brought for a limited-time drop just at the convention by iBUYPOWER. The entire collection features the following:

• TUF Gaming K3 Gen II Hatsune Miku Edition Gaming Keyboard
• TUF Gaming Mini Wireless Mouse Hatsune Miku Edition
• TUF Gaming H1 Gen II Hatsune Miku Edition Gaming Headset
• TUF Gaming P1 Hatsune Miku Edition Gaming Mousepad

All of the above items were available for sale at both Anime Expo 2025 and online from their webstore. The H1 Gen II Gaming Headset was especially popular as it sold out even after a restock at the convention. The Miku design actually looks pretty neat, so we're hoping we can get an opportunity to test-drive it in-person.

The final announcement at the Anime Expo 2025 from HYTE/iBUYPOWER was their collaboration with Bandai Namco, bringing a collection of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing products, including a customized Y70 Touch Infinite case, an official keycap set, a deskpad, and a wall scroll. This entire collection was on display at the booth, and we got to see some of it in action, including the new case. We can certainly say it looks well-designed from the small accents such as the yellow power button, red risers, and just really adhering to the Gundam Wing theme. If you're a huge fan of Gundam, we urge you to take a look at this collection. The HYTE x Gundam Wing collaboration collection is expected to ship in Q4 2025.

We had a blast exploring the iBUYPOWER/HYTE booth at Anime Expo 2025 and came off pretty impressed with the products showcased, as well as the various interactive activities and giveaways that were being run at the booth. We want to thank iBUYPOWER & HYTE once again for giving us an exclusive tour of their booth and products.

iBUYPOWER Official Site | HYTE Official Site

Thanks again to iBUYPOWER/HYTE for providing a tour of their Anime Expo 2025 offerings.

In lieu of our normal convention coverage, we recorded a podcast. Which isn't exactly new, but it's on YouTube this time!

It's also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

These are English-translated rules for Flying Fish Sanma (トビウオ三人麻雀), a 3-player mahjong variant originally created by 卓上のハッケヨイ and popularized by the 麻雀カッコイイシリーズ video about the format. This format revolves around increasing tensions and rewarding players for busting other players. Also included are translations for the two variants currently published, ぶっトビウオ and ふっトビウオ. You can find a PDF version of all these rules here.

Note: these rules only cover the rules unique to flying fish sanma. Consult with your playgroup/parlor for basic rules, any base rules involving base shugi, any special yaku (such as seven pairs using four of the same tile), etc.

If you’re ever in the Seattle area and want to play, reach out to @puddi on twitter/puddizzle on Discord!

Flying Fish Sanma Rules (トビウオ三麻ルール）

Base Rules

• Start with 20,000 points. No tsumo loss.
• There is no predetermined hanchan length - the game takes place in perma-East. The game ends when someone busts (hits 0 or negative points), or “flies” off the table. 
• Honba is 2000 on the table per honba counter (2000 on ron, 1000 each on tsumo). Whenever a hand ends and nobody on the table has busted, increase the honba counter. 
• When a player wins a hand, they become the next dealer. If the hand ended in ryukyoku, no tenpai payments are made, and dealership stays the same (but the honba increases).
• Play with Bases Loaded/Home Run markers.

Bases Loaded/Home Run Marker

• Players should each have a two-sided marker, with “Bases Loaded” on one side (i.e., the off side), and “Home Run” on the other (i.e., the on side). Players start on the “Bases Loaded” side.
• While on the Bases Loaded side:
  • If you bust, the amount of shugi you pay is doubled.
  • When you win a hand, turn your marker over to the Home Run side.
• While on the Home Run side:
  • If you win a hand, the amount of shugi you receive is doubled.
  • If you pay point sticks for someone’s winning hand (i.e., dealing in, or them tsumo-ing), then flip your marker over to the Bases Loaded side after the hand is over.

Shugi Rules

• Menzen Demekin: When a player wins with a closed hand or with riichi, they roll two dice and add the result to any owed shugi counts. Treat snake-eyes (double 1s) as 20. Continue this process on rolled doubles (including snake-eyes).
• Busting: When you bust, for each 1000 points that you’re negative by, add +1 to the shugi count that you owe the player that busted you. Note - this will cause the owed shugi totals to be different by player.
  • i.e., if you have 2000 points, and owe 8000 points, add +6 to your owed shugi count.
• Shugi Multipliers: There are a total of four ways to double an owed shugi count. These are additive - i.e., if three of them apply, it’s a x6 multiplier. These apply to base, menzen demekin, and busting shugi.
  • Busting someone in Bases Loaded mode
  • Winning while in Home Run mode
  • Winning with Ippatsu
  • Winning with a Sanbaiman or higher
• Placement Shugi: Finally, at game end, 2nd place gives 10 shugi to 1st, and 3rd place gives 30 shugi to 1st. Do not apply multipliers to these payments.

Other Rules

• Break placement ties for 2nd/3rd via tsumo order - closest to 1st place in tsumo order is 2nd.
• If repeating with the same players, the player who got last is the starting dealer for the next game.

Variants

These variants are additive on top of the ruleset provided above, and will only cover the changes.

Fierce Flying Fish Sanma Rules (ぶっトビウオ三麻ルール）

Changes

• There is an additional multiplier for each 3 honba that have passed. This is multiplicative on top of the existing shugi multipliers. 
  • 0-2 Honba: 1x Multiplier (i.e., no change)
  • 3-5 Honba: 2x Multiplier
  • 6-8 Honba: 4x Multiplier
  • 9-11 Honba: 6x Multiplier
  • Etc.
• i.e.: The dealer, a player in Home Run mode, tsumo’s a baiman at 3 honba. This causes a player in Bases Loaded mode, with 9000 points, to bust. Their busting shugi is (9000 - (12000 + 3000)/1000) = 6, their base multiplier is x4 (home run win + bases loaded bust), and their additional multiplier is x2. This results in a payment of 6 x 4 x 2 = 48 shugi for the hand.

Far Flying Fish Sanma Rules (ふっトビウオ三麻ルール）

Changes

• Ensure you are playing with a Shiro-Pocchi. If you tsumo it after declaring riichi, it’s a wildcard and can be any tile (thus ensuring a win).
• It’s recommended to play with 1 red and 1 gold 5s/5p. Red is dora, gold is double dora.
• Riichi can be declared after making a call/opening your hand.
  • Riichi is still done by paying 1000 points and locking in your hand.
  • If your hand is open, riichi is worth 0 han.
  • Ippatsu and ura dora are still applicable and worth one han each.
  • Normal kuisagari/open hand rules apply. (Honitsu is worth 2 han instead of 3, Menzen Tsumo is no longer applicable, Iipeiko is no longer applicable, etc.) 
• Open Riichi can be declared after making a call/opening your hand.
  • Open riichi is done by revealing your entire hand and paying 1000 points.
  • If your hand is open, open riichi is worth 1 han.
• You must still have at least 1 han of confirmed yaku to win. 
  • Since riichi after calling is worth 0 han, your hand must contain a different confirmed yaku for it to be a closed riichi - otherwise, it must be an open riichi (if you want to declare riichi).
  • If only a partial side of your wait gives you a confirmed yaku, you must still open riichi (if you want to declare riichi).
    • i.e., 12345677s66z with a called 999p is waiting on both 7s and 6z (Green Dragon). As this hand only has a confirmed yaku on its Green Dragon wait, if you want to declare riichi, it must be open.
  • Ippatsu is not a confirmed yaku, and dora/ura dora are not yaku.
• A reminder: winning with riichi allows you to roll the dice for demekin shugi.

This is part two in our series of deep dives of the various English digital manga platforms that are available today. You can read part 1 about Manga UP! here.

Azuki is a web, iOS, and Android manga platform available in all regions outside Japan that carries many manga (currently over 370 different series) published by a variety of different publishers. At launch in 2021, Azuki partnered with Kodansha USA to bring a huge chunk of their digital catalog to the platform, and almost immediately after that they announced that manga from Kaiten Books would also be available. Azuki has since partnered with several more publishers like J-Novel Club and has even licensed a few series of its own.

When you log into Azuki, you're greeted with a banner for the latest series they're promoting (today it happens to be Our Aimless Nights) and below it there are a number of rows of series à la Netflix or Crunchyroll to help you discover something new or continue reading something you've already started. By tapping Discover, you can see a list of every series that's available on the site. In the app, you can filter by genre, publisher, and whether or not the series is fully available with a subscription, while the website doesn't let you filter by publisher. In either case, the series list will be sorted by popularity by default, with the option to sort by title or by the date a series was added to the service. If you go to a series on the website, you can see its publisher and from there it links to all the series from that publisher, but that link is not present in the app. Next to Discover on the app is My Library, which contains tabs for My List and Downloads, and next to that is the Social tab, which has a feed from Azuki's Mastodon. Finally, there's the Account tab for basic account management, adding funds to your wallet, and a few links to useful resources that are only on the website.

Adding a series to your list does two things: it adds the series to the various "My List" sections on the webpage and app and it starts sending you notifications for new chapters. The notifications come via the app as well as through email, but there doesn't appear to be any way to turn off notification emails without also turning off all marketing emails. This would be a welcome feature, but it's far from a deal breaker.

(Mostly) No nonsense pricing

One of the strongest points in favor of Azuki is its pricing model. For $4.99/month (with a two-week free trial), your premium membership gets you unlimited access to the catalog, save for the series published by Kodansha. For those, some number of chapters of each series—ranging from a few to a few hundred—are available as part of the subscription, and the rest are available to purchase as individual volumes. These volumes aren't exclusive to Kodansha series, with a single volume starting at $8.99, but all volumes have a 20% discount if you have a premium membership. Buying a volume unlocks all of its chapters to read in the Azuki reader, and for some series the purchase comes with a DRM-free ePub edition. The only way to consistently tell whether a series gives you an ePub or not is to read the banner on the series page, but as a rule of thumb, if the series is licensed by Kodansha, then it won't have an ePub edition. It's worth noting that when I tested out the ePub purchasing last year, "The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting" volume 1 had the title "Yakuza01_Digital(epub)" embedded in it, but a more recent purchase was much better formatted. The download links are sent via email and expire after 30 days, so don't forget to actually download them. Otherwise, you'll have to contact support. Digital volumes from any publisher can be purchased on the website, but only volumes of Kodansha series with chapters excluded from the subscription can be purchased in app using funds added to your wallet.

The story gets a bit more complicated if you don't want to pay, but it all stays pretty reasonable. Most series have at least one chapter, but often several, at the start that can be read for free with a fairly unobtrusive preroll ad and typically one midroll ad per chapter. The last time I tested this, no actual ads loaded, so I don't have the best idea of how intrusive they can get, but as of right now the experience isn't bad at all. A smaller number of series also have more recent chapters available to read for free. However, if you sign up for a free account, you can unlock an additional chapter per series per day through a feature they're calling "chapter passes." When used, a chapter pass gives you 24-hour access to a chapter after which you get a chapter pass back to use again. The 24-hour timer is separate for each series, and it starts when you use the pass, so you can't, for example, read two chapters back to back at midnight. The most notable exceptions to this are the series published by Kodansha, which currently don't support chapter passes. Like I mentioned above, purchasing a volume will unlock all its chapters for reading in the Azuki reader, even for chapters that are included in the premium subscription. That means you can cancel your subscription and retain access to the chapters in the volumes you bought. I can't imagine purchasing individual volumes is a very popular way of reading most manga on the site, though, since a single volume costs nearly double a month's subscription.

The reading experience

As the primary way of interfacing with a manga series, the reader itself is quite good. The main configuration is the option to read one page at a time, two pages at a time, or scrolling vertically. Rotating the app doesn't automatically change between one and two pages at a time, which allows for the niche use case of reading two pages in portrait mode or a single page in landscape. Two page spreads are always shown together regardless of the reading format you choose, and I haven't seen any data quality issues with spreads being missed or page parity being wrong. You can advance pages with either a mouse click or a tap of the arrow key on their web reader, and with a swipe or tap on their mobile reader. Premium subscribers can download chapters in the app, allowing offline reading.

The experience outside of the actual reader is quite good, too. Azuki keeps track of how far you've read in each series and puts a one-click resume on the front page and the series page. Plus, all series progress is saved to your account, so you can easily switch between the apps and the website without needing to remember where you were. Every chapter also has a comments section, but even the most popular series only seem to have a few comments per chapter at most. One feature that I greatly appreciate is that every series has localization credits, assuming the publisher provides that information. Everything from Azuki, Kodansha, and Kaiten is credited, but some of the series from other publishers simply list a translation agency.

One oddity of the service is their release schedule. Most ongoing series from Azuki, J-Novel Club, and a few other publishers release new chapters weekly. However, the J-Novel Club series are available on the JNC website as well as on services like Kindle and Kobo where individual volumes beyond what are on Azuki can be purchased. Similarly, "A Side Character's Love Story" has been available on Kindle Unlimited for years, with 19 volumes out now, but Azuki only made the first three volumes available on their service last year with one chapter being released per week since. It's a pretty savvy model, forcing users to keep coming back week after week, but when many volumes worth of chapters are already available on competing services it's hard not to feel like you're getting a worse deal.

The Kodansha Problem

As you probably noticed, a lot of my description of the service has exceptions for Kodansha series, and that's worth digging deeper into. When Azuki first launched, they relied pretty heavily on Kodansha simulpubs and Kodansha's digital back catalog as a means to get subscribers. However, last year, Azuki announced that Kodansha simulpubs would no longer be available on the site. All that remained was Kodansha's streaming back catalog, which only contains the first few volumes of several series, which are already available on other services like Kindle Unlimited. Not long after, Kodansha announced their own simulpub manga app called K Manga, and it's not hard to see why Kodansha might've pulled the plug. With Azuki now being a direct competitor of K Manga, losing access to Kodansha's simulpub library was inevitable.

To Azuki's credit, just a few months later, they were able to announce new partnerships with Media Do International and MediBang with plans to add over 150 new series, and more recently, they started offering pay-per-volume sales of the Kodansha back catalog manga, but this mirrors a problem that we've been seeing in the movie streaming world. Netflix used to be the undisputed leader of streaming, but with Disney, Paramount, Warner Brothers, and NBCUniversal all making their own first party streaming services, Netflix is no longer a one-stop shop for every movie. The streaming wars are far from decided, so it's hard to use them to divine what might happen to the manga streaming world, but smaller publishers like Azuki are going to have to be able to adapt quickly. Losing Kodansha doesn't seem to have been a death blow, but who knows what the future holds for them. Azuki is too small to get away with only offering series they've licensed themselves, so at least for now they're beholden to the whims of their publishing partners.

In conclusion

Azuki's straightforward $5/month pricing combined with a competent web and app experience make it a solid deal. If a series you're interested in is on Azuki and you're okay with not owning it in perpetuity and their weekly release schedule, getting a subscription makes a lot of sense. With several new series being added every month, you'll definitely be able to find something to keep you interested. I'm fairly confident that in the short and medium term Azuki will continue to improve their service, but it remains to be seen if $5/month for unlimited manga is a sustainable business model or if users will be left hanging when the money runs out or when their partners pull out to do their own thing.

In previous years, Anime NYC was held in November during the winter months in New York City. For 2024, the convention was moved from the usual wintertime to August 23-25. One of the major reasons for the change was that the convention was consistently at capacity as they were unable to use the full Javits Center due to other events happening at the same time. Moving to this new date granted them full access to the entire convention center, which allowed for more capacity and more major events.

Of course, no decision is made easily and I'm sure they spent a lot of time over previous years deciding to move the convention. Questions always arise such as: "Will people turn up?", "Will it conflict with other events?", "Isn't August really hot?", and I'm sure many more. So then, how does Anime NYC fare in 2024 in a brand-new season? Read on to find out.

The good news is that the Javits Center is absolutely huge and getting to use even more space meant things were more spread out and gave more space for both the Dealers' Hall and Artist Alley, which were both already pretty large to begin with. On top of that, having additional space for panels, main events, and other event halls allowed for more guests and different things that could be placed on the schedule.

Since the convention center also spanned multiple levels and there were a lot more rooms to be used, all the areas felt more spacious even with lineups that were fairly sizable at times. When it came to attendance, we could definitely feel a major increase, as there were certainly more people just out and about around the con.

We quickly went inside and grabbed our Press badges, which were kindly provided to us by Anime NYC. We're always grateful to be able to attend conventions and deal with all the friendly staff.

Given the increased space, you could see the difference in larger walkways and space between booths. The major booths were also larger because of it and the Dealers' Hall and Artist Alley were both fuller than ever before. The good thing about Anime NYC was that even though the convention felt corporate at times, there was still a large mix of large companies, small companies, and even indies in the large hall.

One thing that didn't change, though, was the location of the Cover/Hololive booth, which was still situated near the entrance of the Dealers' Hall. It was both a blessing and a curse as people tended to congregate in the area, which created heavy congestion. However, they also had live streams played on screen as well as various events during the week, so it made sense to have them in an area that was accessible and further away from other dealers and companies.

As aforementioned, the newly found space also gave way to more panels from both industry, guests, and fans. During the span of the convention, we visited various panels run by both fans and industry professionals. Each had their own unique charms and content, which felt much more accessible because the schedule was more packed than before.

It's always nice to be able to catch some premieres, hear about the latest releases, and also learn something during the span of a convention. You could definitely feel the benefits of the increased usage of the Javits Center throughout the weekend.

In addition to the usual suspects of Vtubers, such as Phase Connect, Hololive, and various other large corporations, there were some indies present as well. I mean, just look at the cardboard cutout of Mint Fantome. She was one of the guests for the Phase Connect concert and was featured front and center at their booth as well. We got a chance to sit down with her at Otakuthon 2024 and we are working hard to get that interview out.

Walking around the Dealers' Hall and Artist Alley gave us good general vibes for the majority of our time there. I know we said it before, but the increased space made it much easier to get from place to place and the crowds didn't feel as bad even when there was a large amount of people concentrated in specific areas.

Gacha games were also majorly featured at AnimeNYC with both major booths by game publishers and also an assortment of both fan-run and industry 'shrines' to games littered throughout the Dealers' Hall. It might not be as big as Anime Expo, but I can see why people are starting to say Anime NYC is the next big thing in conventions.

Unsurprisingly, since Anime NYC has gotten so big, the guests have also gotten bigger throughout the years. This year was no exception. Three guests from Love Live! Superstar!! were in attendance and that was the subunit CatChu. They also had a fairly sizable booth with different events happening throughout the weekend there. It's crazy to think how far we've come over the years in getting major Japanese guests to attend conventions in North America.

As one might expect, due to the appearance of CatChu, a lot of idol goods and fan art were posted everywhere to allow attendees to leave messages for their oshis. It was a nice touch for fans and I'm sure the idols themselves appreciated it as well.

On top of the Phase Connect and Creepy Nuts concerts, there was also a Hololive concert at Anime NYC this year. It also wasn't the only Hololive concert during the weekend, as there was another Hololive concert also happening at the King's Theatre. Talk about an impressive double-header of Vtuber riches.

How did Anime NYC 2024 fare in their new summer timeslot? It certainly felt like a rousing success. Even though it was moved to an entirely different part of the year, the increased usage of the entire convention center increased both participation and allowed for more events. The fact that there were also increased major events such as 3 onsite concerts and even another Hololive concert going on in the city shows how much bigger Anime NYC has become. It might not be the size of Anime Expo yet, but people are starting to call it the Anime Expo of the East Coast for a reason. Pretty apt description if we do say so ourselves.

So, would we attend again next year even in the summer heat?

Almost certainly. The vibes were great and the availability of the entire convention center increased both attendance and the events that surround it. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to attend again in 2025.

With Anime Expo 2024 behind us, it's time to head over to Montreal, Quebec for the one Canadian anime convention on our schedule. Otakuthon 2024 is one of the premier anime conventions in Canada and it heavily features bilingual content as the event is conducted in both English and French, Canada's two official languages. The venue is at the Palais des congrès de Montréal in Downtown Montreal right in the heart of the International District surrounded by other historical sites.

After visiting multiple conventions this year, you'd think we'd get used to seeing lines form for registration. We can safely say the lines were not any smaller than in previous years, which bodes well for attendance at the Otakuthon. As we were provided with press badges, we headed over to the Media section of the registration line and picked up our badges and goody bags, then entered the convention.

This year, we also managed to schedule an interview due to the kind staff at Otakuthon. We'll discuss that more later when we release the interview. Otakuthon also had the added benefit of using RFID-enabled badges, which made entering and exiting a breeze. The badges were also used for ticketed events as you could buy event tickets directly online and have them linked to a badge. This made it much easier to just line up for ticketed events such as the various paid concerts throughout the weekend.

As usual, our first stop was in the Dealers' Hall and the Artist Alley. It was as crowded as in previous years with some slight improvements to the area. Some of the Dealers' area was wider and gave more room for people to walk through, which was a nice improvement. It also helped that the bigger booths had more space, making it less crowded as line control was better.

The Artist Alley still had its share of issues, however. They improved the space between some of the aisles, but there was still a lot of crowding at certain booths and the middle areas. I'm not sure if there is an easy solution that doesn't make it more difficult to get through this entire area, but it was annoying nonetheless.

One thing you'll notice about conventions is that not everything runs smoothly between things that might happen and working with vendors, con-goers, staff, and everyone else to get things back on track. It's a large and important part of any convention to have backup plans upon backup plans. In previous years, you could tell there were issues with autographs and other such problems. Over the years, Otakuthon has been doing a better job at this in many areas. They make changes dynamically and try to anticipate problems that may arise and resolve them.

The autograph area was better spaced out this year, but the guests were not as busy as in previous years. They had a lot of space and it worked well for them. In future years, it might not hurt to take back some of that space for the Dealers' Hall and Artist Alley if that would give more space between some of the still tight aisles.

Speaking of some minor issues, Yostar had a booth where their merchandise was unfortunately delayed. This had to do with some of the shipping issues and weather at the time. The good news is they had a sign printed to let con-goers know. Their goods did arrive eventually and I feel for the staff that had to deal with the issues there.

As stated before, there is more space for some of the larger booths such as Yostar where they have a photo area that is something they bring out for every larger convention they attend with the latest Arknights event characters. It's a nice touch and I know some fans really loved it.

The atmosphere at Otakuthon was very unique in the sense that it is truly a melding pot of many cultures and languages. It was such a good atmosphere and sometimes you didn't even notice that both French and English were officially used at the convention. People gathered from all over the world to attend this convention and it really reflected that in the vibes you felt.

This carried over into the evening events as well, including the rave/party that featured some great Japanese DJs who were featured in Bemani games. On top of that, there was also a great guest list almost every year that ranged from Vtubers to Japanese guests. Truly a reflection of a modern anime convention.

That's not to say there weren't also fan-run panels as well. They are still a large part of the heart and soul of an anime convention. Certainly, some of them were better than others, but the fandom is still alive and well. We visited a few of the panels throughout the week ranging from the fan-run ones to the official guests ones and had a good time at the majority of them. The only issue we ran into at some panels was the lack of time management in that they went over time or were just running extremely far behind schedule. Unfortunately, that was ultimately on the presenters and the convention staff could only give them their time warnings and hope for the best.

Line management was something that was heavily improved this year with more space in the autographs area as previously stated. It might actually have had too much space for once, but after some of the past years, nothing to really complain about here. The ticketed event lines were also run much better than the previous years with most events being let in ahead of time or near the start time. Having a full room to line up in ahead of time and an overflow area really helped in getting people moved into the venue quickly, too. Well done on that front.

Overall, Otakuthon 2024 was a delightful convention experience. Just being able to visit Montreal, Quebec is a real treat, and being able to experience an anime convention is the cherry on top. Otakuthon has made improvements over the years and they are still being felt on an annual basis. That's not to say everything was perfect, but the overall experience was well done here and that went to show how caring and attentive the staff and volunteers were.

Do we plan to attend again next year?

The vibes are excellent as usual and we can't wait to see what Otakuton 2025 has in store.

2024 marks my ninth time attending Anime Expo, with my first experience being back in 2013, and the con has changed considerably over these past eleven years. Some changes have been good, and some disappointing, but let's take a look and see how this year stacks up.

Everyone is here

One thing about Anime Expo that hasn't really changed over the years is the breadth of companies that attend. Every single company that has anything to do with localized Japanese media is at the con to show off their latest and greatest wares. From huge companies like Crunchyroll and Bandai Namco to smaller ones like Udon Entertainment and Denpa, if they're dealing with Japanese media, they're here. Probably the most notable exception would be Netflix, which doesn't have a very large convention presence as it is anyway.

Even companies that are more tangential to Japanese localized media like HoYoverse and VShojo had huge presences in the Entertainment Hall. Over the past few years, the Japanese companies themselves have been putting up bigger and bigger booths, too. TOHO Animation, in particular, had one of the biggest booths in the Exhibit Hall when just two years ago their presence was basically nonexistent.

If you're a fan of anything in the anime-adjacent sphere, be it manga, retro games, gacha games, vtubers, visual novels, or collectibles related to any of the above, you'll find something to enjoy at Anime Expo. Large conventions like this are also one of the last places you can organically get tons of StreetPasses on your 3DS outside of specific meetups. I got an Eon Ticket in Pokemon Alpha Sapphire—an item you can only obtain by being near someone else who has the item—after just one day at the convention.

From world premieres and announcements to convention exclusive goods to fan panels, there's something for everyone. It's worth mentioning that industry panels take center stage at Anime Expo, being one of the two biggest cons for industry presence (the other being Anime NYC). Fan panels seem to play second fiddle to industry at AX, so if that's your main reason for attending conventions, the SPJA's anime expo chibi might be more up your alley.

Speaking of alleys, the Artist Alley once again takes its place in Kentia Hall (the former parking lot under the Exhibit Hall). There was a huge variety of fanart prints, charms, and even more creative merch like pillows and apparel present. The one critical flaw of the Artist Alley was the poor ventilation. It always felt stuffy in there, and a friend's air quality meter showed over 2000 ppm of CO2 (where anything over 1000 means ventilation is poor, and anything over 2000 could lead to headaches after prolonged exposure). If you got COVID somewhere at AX, it was probably in the Artist Alley.

Linecon

Anime Expo has always attracted huge crowds, and huge crowds means huge lines. In the past, Anime Expo has struggled to manage its queues, but they're constantly tweaking their line management to keep up with demand. Back in 2014, I was nearly trampled as they moved the line for the Sword Art Online II premiere from one side of the convention center to the other. I suspect that incident, as well as probably several more anecdotes from that year, led AX to take line management far more seriously, and every year since the lineup locations for every panel has been posted in advance. In the years since, they've made it much more obvious which panel rooms are going to be cleared between panels, which makes it much easier to make it to the panels you actually care about. There are still instances where panel rooms are grossly undersized (the Look Back panel this year and the Bunny Girl Senpai movie premiere in 2019 both come to mind), but they seem to be more the exception rather than the norm.

Through 2022, Anime Expo also had a Premier Fan badge, which granted holders an extra hour in the Exhibit Hall on day 1, access to the priority entrance, and front of line access to nearly every panel. A Premier Fan badge cost 3-4x more than a standard 4-day badge, so it essentially made panel access pay-to-win. Undersized panel rooms like the Bunny Girl Senpai movie premiere ended up with a room filled entirely with Premier Fans and press, which was a terrible experience for anyone who wasn't willing to cough up several hundred more dollars. In 2023, Anime Expo did away with the Premier Fan program, democratizing(?) access to panels. This made lines a fact of life for everybody, but it meant that anyone could get into a panel if they were willing to sweat it out in an outdoor line.

2024 was the first year Fansubbing attended as press, which in prior years also granted front of line access to nearly every panel, but starting this year, that was no longer the case. Outlets had to contact panel runners ahead of time to be added to a press list per-panel, and only listed press could skip the line. This being our first year, we missed that memo, and even if we hadn't, it would've been difficult or impossible for us to actually take advantage of press access. I missed out on the Azuki panel because the panel right after it was Look Back and the room wasn't going to be cleared.

Despite some misgivings about line access, Anime Expo this year somehow managed to feel manageable in a way it hasn't in years. The line to enter the con on day 1 was still very long, but a few hours into the day the lines were hardly a problem. Common areas didn't feel quite as shoulder to shoulder as past years, apart from the opening rush, and lines never felt like they were being mismanaged. I genuinely can't point a finger at what they did differently, but whatever it was, it worked. Anime Expo hasn't published attendance numbers the past few years, so it could be that this is all just attributable to a decline in attendance, but that didn't feel like the case to me.

In conclusion

Anime Expo remains one of the largest conventions in the United States, and the industry presence there is only rivaled by Anime NYC. For a lot of things like exclusive goods and world premieres, it's the only convention worth attending, but after my experience at Anime Expo 2024, it doesn't feel like they've grown complacent. The hotel block situation is extremely rough, but that's a problem that affects every con I've been to. After over ten years since my first Anime Expo, there's a reason I keep coming back. When you have so many people attending, it attracts big names in the industry, and when big industry names show up, so do the fans. As long as Anime Expo continues to be the convention for the anime industry (and adjacent ones), I'll be there every time.

Thank You to Anime Expo for providing us with press badges.

They say there's a first time for everything, and North America's largest anime convention is no different. Having visited so many conventions over the year, it was actually kind of surprising that I hadn't personally attended Anime Expo. Just blame it on my usual work schedule, I guess. Luckily, I managed to attend Anime Expo 2024, and let me tell you it was a wild ride. I mean what's not to love about being in LA in July?

So, what was Anime Expo 2024 like, you ask? Well, let's just say hearing about it second-hand wasn't the same as attending. Day 0 started with us dropping by to pick up our Press Badges. Thanks again to Anime Expo and its staff for providing us with passes. Anime Expo took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which is situated next to Crypto.com Arena. It also happened during the 4th of July weekend and ran for a total of 4 days.

As with most large conventions, the first thing that was obvious before even entering was the long lines of people. Thankfully, it was a cooler year and people seemed well-prepared for the heat. Organization was also much better than expected, especially given what I'd heard about past years.

Though, the inside of the convention center was still packed with people. Photos alone really don't do it justice, but they at least give a fairly good idea of how busy it was inside. They let people inside the convention center earlier than the start time for all days, but they didn't open the exhibitor's hall, Artist Alley, and gaming room doors until near the start time. This did relieve some of the lines that formed outdoors and provided a comfortable area with A/C to wait instead of standing around in the heat outdoors, so I couldn't really complain.

The good news is that the venue itself was quite large, which provided more than enough room for all the attendees and the way the convention was sectioned helped reduce crowding in most areas. However, if there was one downside, it had to be Artist Alley, where it feels like they could either reallocate the space better or change the layout so that certain booths that were busier get better line control. I feel for all the artists who constantly have their booths busy in the middle of the roadway. Not much you can do about it and you really can't blame the artists for being popular.

Once you enter the exhibitor's hall, you're greeted with a very large showroom. If you've ever attended a tradeshow or an Asian convention like ACGHK, which we have previously visited, it gives a good idea of the vibe inside. The feeling is very commercial and you can tell they're focused on selling you a product. Nothing wrong with that, given how much of a professional convention Anime Expo is, of course.

For what it's worth, some first-time attendees may find this a little different or off-putting, even. However, as most conventions expand they start to reach the point where they have large companies in various aspects of Japanese anime, manga, culture, etc. industries that want to both sell their goods and also advertise their upcoming products and works. Nothing wrong with that, since people certainly enjoy the vibes and the products you can pick up. Not to mention, you're not forced to buy anything, and hell, you might even get some free swag along the way.

All the usual companies you would expect to be at Anime Expo were present. The goods for sale ranged from figures, plushies, anime, and manga to just about anything you can think about that would be related to Japanese anime and manga. One of the nicest things about the trade show vibe was being able to see upcoming products without being forced to buy them.

On top of all the things you could see and buy within the Dealers' Hall, you could also attend various events that were either directly or indirectly tied to Anime Expo. One such example was the LA Dodgers game that featured Hololive Night during the time Anime Expo was running. Speaking on that experience would take another full article. Let's just say the merch lineup might have been longer than the Anime Expo line. The good news is that the baseball was great to watch. Nothing like heading down to Dodger's Stadium to watch a game of Hololive Baseball. Did we also mention there were various concerts during the convention, too? Because, yeah, those were also a thing.

Beyond just what was popular at the time, the convention also featured a bunch of future anime and manga previews and screenings. One's such as Momentary Lily and a bunch of panels that showed the upcoming latest and greatest in anime, manga, books, and even video games. That way you could both look forward to upcoming works and reminisce about past works while attending. Bless modern consumerism. It certainly works. 😄

Music was also heavily featured as there were many previews and samples of songs from upcoming anime and even different groups and singers were being played throughout the entire event. Be it from different groups or even VTubers, you were sure to find something that would tickle your fancy. Who knows? One might even find a new group to get into.

Speaking of VTubers, they were heavily featured throughout the entire convention. I mean, we did mention Hololive Baseball, remember? That only really scratched the surface, though. In addition to that major event, there were livestreams at the convention and even concerts from some of the most popular VTubers.

The combination of various facets of Japanese culture really built a great vibe at the convention that was unlike any other. It's hard to believe how many people attend such an event. It feels like it wasn't even many years ago when the stigma of anime conventions was really in the dumps. Anime Expo is truly a great showing of how far we've come since those early days of small conventions where 'weird nerds' gathered.

So what were my takeaways from Anime Expo 2024? It was honestly an amazing experience and definitely worth trying. It felt like a small slice of Japan was flown straight to LA. Sure, there were a lot of people, and of course that meant very long lines. However, it really is hard to experience anything quite like Anime Expo anywhere else. In a way, it feels like a standard trade show intersecting with Japanese culture. That isn't necessarily a bad thing and the attendance is a real reflection of that. The vibes were certainly more corporate, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. Find some friends and head over to Anime Expo if you're given the opportunity, you certainly won't regret it.

Would I visit again?

Certainly. It was an enjoyable experience and really showcased how great an anime convention could be.

Welcome to our first article in a series (maybe) about the latest in gacha games. Why gacha games, you ask? Well, you see, I'm known as the resident gacha game fiend of our writing crew here at Fansubbing.com. From writing Princess Connect guides to finding a way to play the most advertised game in Japan, I have far spent too much time on them. Anyway, enough about me, let's dive into the game we have on feature this week. We'll be taking a look at 2.5 Dimensional Seduction: Angels on Stage! otherwise known as Nigoriri Angels.

2.5 Dimensional Seduction: Angels on Stage! is based on an ongoing manga series and an anime currently airing this season, (and next), of the same name. The general premise is that the standard otaku main character runs the School Manga Club and only likes 2D girls. Specifically, he likes this one character named Lilliel from his favorite manga and gushes about her. But then, a new student named Ririsa Amano joins the club and immediately asks him to take photos of her in cosplay. And who could have guessed, she's cosplaying as his favorite character. He struggles with his previous attachment to only 2D girls and promises to help her on her path of cosplaying and attending various cosplay events.

Later, more characters show up including his childhood friend, Mikari Tachibana, who happens to be a model. To no one's surprise, she became a model to try to woo her childhood crush of 10 years. Since the protagonist is an anime/manga protagonist, he doesn't notice these feelings and still doesn't pay much attention to her. That is, until she also cosplays another character, Miriella, who is one horny demon. Then, a bunch of other characters who also cosplay join the fray, including their advisor/teacher at school.

Getting into the game itself, Nigoriri Angels is available in both Japanese and English (Global Version) for Android, iOS, and DMM games in Japan only. The game is also set to launch on Steam soon, as a Steam page and announcement has already been made. It's certainly interesting to see a Global Version launch alongside the Japanese version. I guess they wanted to strike while the iron was hot and get the game out while the IP was popular with an ongoing anime and manga. The game is developed and published by Aiming Inc. which has developed other gacha games, such as Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Battle Chronicle and The Eminence in Shadow: Master of Garden. If you've played the Eminence in Shadow gacha game, you'll get the vibe right away. For our purposes, we picked up the Japanese version of the game to play.

Looking at the visuals, the quality was honestly much higher than expected. There is a blend of scenes from the anime, 3D animated models, and sprites as well. The home screen is fully 3D with crisp animation of the character you choose as your title character. In addition to seeing brand new scenes on the home screen, you can also 'talk' to your favorite character to raise their bond level. Doing so unlocks more scenes for that character, a slight stat boost, and other goodies.

There is no stamina system in this game, so you are free to do stages as much as you want. However, the downside is that they only give first-time clear rewards. Missions are interlaced between story events, which follow along the main plot of the manga and anime. If you've been interested in the story, you'll be able to learn a lot about the plot and the plot going by playing the main story. There is also a side story that focuses on the backstory of the cosplayer Mayura, so if you're looking for more 2.5D Seduction story, this is where you'll be focused.

We touched briefly on the lack of a stamina system, so how does the game gate you, you ask? Well, the game plays as an idle game outside of the main story, tower quest, boss quests, and event quests. You get passive income, which you can collect when you have some items that Mikari gifts you. There are also 3 instances of 2-hours' worth of material that costs a small amount of gems starting with the first one being free. This is realistically the only way to get items to level up your characters aside from completing the daily, weekly, one-time, and event missions.

Team building here is pretty simple and also surprisingly generous for a game that just launched. You can have up to 4 characters on your team that have different elements and skills. They can later be equipped with accessories when you progress far enough into the game. The team you build comes with a power level that is used to compare against the opposing team to see who gets the first turn.

Character management is a cinch and easily accessible from the characters screen. There is also a level link system that allows you to link the levels of characters you don't have leveled up to the lowest of your top 4 characters. This comes in clutch when you need specific weakness types or characters to clear roadblocks. Since resources are extremely limited, this makes it a bit easier to make progress.

Battles play out as a turn-based card battler. Each of your characters come with 2 active card skills and once they hit 4 charges, they get their ultimate. You alternate turns with your opponent and try to compile the best possible turn. This, of course, has RNG involved as the cards you get back each turn are not set. Having 2 same-star level of a card upgrades it to the next star level of the card. If you've played games like Dolphin Wave, you'll understand just by looking at the battle screen.

Skills are then played out in the order you chose them and come with a complete animation. And I want to stress again that the game actually looks great and the animation is way better than you would expect for a gacha game based on a recent anime IP. The main thing to note is the use of appeal to raise the emotional level of your opponent. Of course, there can also be multiple opponents at once, which makes AOE cards important too. Later on, stages can also have multiple waves, and that means you'll have to be a bit more strategic about card usage.

Gameplay-wise it is pretty fun. There's a semblance of strategy ranging from stacking buffs to generating enough energy to use the ultimate. Characters also have unique combo skills with other characters when they use their ultimates together. Chaining ultimates can be your path to winning battles that were once too difficult.

The objective is to make your opposition cuuum get too emotional to even act. They literally look like they're having the time of their lives. Devs certainly know what the people want in a game like this. Most photographer opponents just lower their own emotional level and buff themselves with protection skills.

The real challenge comes when you face other cosplayers. They also use skills similar to you and raise the emotional level of your characters. Weakness typing is very important as you take way more emotional damage when you are weak to their type. Not to mention, they get 4 cards just as you do, so you might even lose a character on your team if you're not careful.

Once you clear a stage, you're given one-time clear rewards and progress an independent set of rewards that are given once you clear enough levels. With these combined, you have the resources you need to make further progress while leveling up your characters.

In addition, there are other modes such as a boss battle where you fight another cosplayer. They start fairly weak, but get stronger as their cards stack buffs. You also can fight a boss 3 times a day for items such as accessories. And you'll want to do that, too, as it's one of your few daily ways to progress.

Okay, let's be honest, you're probably not here to learn about just the gameplay or hell, even just the plot story. The gacha system in this game is decidedly average if not on the lower side for pull rates. The base normal banner has a whopping 2% drop rate of any SSR. There are three rarities in SSR, SR, and R. You'll want to collect more duplicates of them as they are the only way to uncap levels and make units stronger. The pickup and premium banners are slightly more generous at a 3% drop rate for an SSR with 2% of it being the banner character. A 10-pull costs 2700 gems, which is pretty standard for most gacha games in this vein. That's not to say the cash costs are reasonable, but we'll touch on that in a bit.

One upside is that rerolling in this game is simple. You only have to play the tutorial the first time around. After that, you can delete your account data and start a fresh account. You also get 20 rolls on the normal gacha, 10 rolls on the beginner gacha, and a bit under 30 rolls on the premium gacha. You basically want to roll for at least one SSR, since you can actually end up with none. Optimally, you would want at least 2 SSR or one with a duplicate.

From the sounds of the above, the game sounds pretty solid and honestly, it sounds generous. The problems come when you get into the nitty-gritty of the game. The paid gem system is very expensive, as a 10-pull without the bonus first-time purchase runs in at 5,400 JPY or $54 USD. So, if you run out of pulls, which you can easily do, you're spending a lot in this game. And if that wasn't bad enough, the game is gated by a VIP system. In some games, this is pure spend, but in this one at least, you can gain it from weekly missions. The problem is that features such as 2x speed, skipping, and other QoL changes are locked behind it. Unfortunately, you can only gain 5 VIP points a week, so it'll take you 10 whole weeks to even reach VIP level 1.

On top of that, the screen you get when you roll an SSR can differ. You can either get a rainbow scene where you get at least one SSR, which is shown right away as you get to that pull, or a golden SSR scene, which shows two potential characters you can get. Of course, this can be heaven or hell depending on who you get, literally. Lastly, you can still get an SSR with a normal white background when loading the pulls.

Even though they run discounts just about every time you open the main screen, the cost is still quite high even with 400-600% bonuses on what they're selling. It's very in your face and honestly, very predatory. Being pure F2P is going to be suffering in this game and hopefully, the devs realize that. As this is a modern gacha game, there is also a season pass that comes alongside a premium version. On top of additional items, such as gacha tickets, skill tickets, and star-up items, there's also a voiced character interaction. You heard me right, you get a character voice at the end of the paid season pass.

The first update for the game has also been released and comes with a new limited story event. This is a boss battle where you fight different levels of the same boss and get rewards based on your highest clear. It's nice to see an event so soon and it also happens to come with some QoL changes. The biggest of which is that you can now use 2x speed without hitting VIP level 1. This improvement is huge for gameplay and means you can spend less time watching animations for your daily battles and clearing new stages. Even with this update, however, the game is clunky and has an auto system that seems to randomly throw out cards on top of other problems discussed previously. Plus, the VIP system is still there and bogs down any attempt to look at the game as anything other than a P2W or at least a Pay-to-progress type of game.

While the gameplay itself can be fun and interesting, and the visuals and scenes are high-effort, the game still leaves a lot to be desired. The VIP system is the biggest problem and gates progress as you get boosts for having higher VIP levels. Overall, the game is a mixed bag. The combination of 3D animation and scenes from the anime shines in this game. It's just a shame that it has so many other problems hanging over your head in the long run.

If you're looking for a relaxing gacha game where you can do dailies and progress slowly, this might be for you. Otherwise, if you're a huge fan of the source material, this might also be a good addition for you. Will this game last longer than 6 months? Only time will tell.

Remember, Cosplay is not consent!

Official Link (Global): https://www.ririsa-riristage.com/en/

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2932040/25_DIMENSIONAL_SEDUCTION_Angels_on_Stage/

If you think about it, it's amazing just how quickly we are able to churn out new content. We hope you enjoy the recording of our panel!

For more of our shenanigans, check our podcast The Motley Baka

It's Labor Day weekend here in the USA, which means the Fansubbing staff has finally gotten enough time off from our late-stage capitalist jobs to work on our side job as content creators. Please enjoy this recording of our 2023 Sakura-Con panel, YourAnimeList!

Much like a well-adorned baked potato, this anime season is loaded. You've got shows like Alya and Too Many Losing Heroines providing the quintessential high school rom-com flick but fine-tuned to the max, Oshi no Ko Season 2 continuing the deep dive into the entertainment industry that took people by storm a year ago, and My Deer Friend Nokotan providing the seasonal deer show. Our internal Fansubbing staff anime club is watching close to 9 shows this season, which is a high water mark for the group. All this anime watching takes a lot out of oneself, though - and so in our eternal quest for good eats, Evan and I ventured out into the neighborhood to one of America's most well-known casual dining establishments: Applebee's.

Arriving at 8:35 on a Wednesday, we were promptly seated after a minute or two. Upon initial inspection of the menu, our eyes were not drawn to the food, but rather the drinks: specifically, the Applebees' exclusive Mountain Dew flavor, Dark Berry Bash. Curious to surf in the "galactic waves of sweetness and refreshment" and fully living the Dew life dew to the FFXIV collab, Evan committed to ordering the concoction. I agreed to my end of the bargain by pledging to order the new Watermelon Lemonade offering.

After settling our drink orders (or so I had thought), our eyes immediately turned to Applebee's 2-for-$26 deal (a region-specific offering: Applebees' official website markets it as a 2-for-$2X deal, which is the sad reality of cost-of-living adjusted pricing), which seemed like the perfect offering for this impromptu dinner date. Unfortunately, the side options offered seemed lackluster (boneless wings, fries, mozzarella sticks, or onion rings), and the mains weren't anything special, so we decided against the offering (though it still seemed like a good value offering for the budget-constrained). Our eyes diverted back to our own menus as both Evan and I scoured the laminated pages for our own entrees - which is when I discovered this.

My eyes could not believe what they were reading. One part burger, one part quesadilla? What unholy combination would this be? What kind of sauce would "Mexi-ranch sauce" be? Pico de gallo on a burger? My mind was blown and my heart was conflicted. I wanted to be aghast, but deep in my heart I knew that this was my meal of choice for the evening. Evan decided to also get a burger, but opting for the Bourbon Street Mushroom Swiss Burger instead. Having declined the opportunity for a bundled appetizer, we decided to also get an order of the beer pub pretzel breadsticks, too.

Our waiter approached at five minutes to the hour (we had spent quite a bit of time discussing random topics before actually opening the menus), so after ordering our drinks (and calling Evan a coward for backing out of the dew at first), when we went to add our appetizer the waiter kindly noted that happy hour was starting in just a couple of minutes, and that they'd be half-off if we waited. Taking the waitstaff's advice, we proceeded to order the entrees first, with the waiter coming back a minute after the hour to grab our appetizers. Falling victim to the prey of capitalism and half price apps, we caved and also tacked on an order of boneless wings in a buffalo sauce, which turned out to be a huge mistake.

Our drinks arrived first.

MTN DEW Dark Berry Bash: This is pretty mid-tier as far as Dew goes. The flavor is strong but it just tastes of blue. With no code to redeem for a FFXIV mount I'd recommend skipping this beverage unless you're short on caffeine for the day.

Watermelon Lemonade: It's definitely a winner for summer seasons, but it's not beating the incumbents of strawberry lemonade and other classic flavors. The closest flavor profile is watermelon starburst, just liquified (and more tart, given that it's a lemonade). It's unfortunately artificial watermelon flavoring, but it pairs well with the tartness and sweetness of the drink. I would order it again, but won't miss it when it leaves.

Water: PNW water clears.

Our order order (heh) resulted in our entrees arriving a couple of minutes before our appetizers. This slightly defeats the point of the appetizer, but slightly understandable given the order in which the kitchen got our orders.

Bourbon Street Mushroom Swiss Burger: It's tried and true, if you like mushrooms this burger will be just fine. Applebee's gives you a fairly large patty and I was not expecting so much burg at this price point, although they could stand to improve their plating to not make it feel like an island of food in an ocean of empty plate.

Fries: Would you believe that these things were actually seasoned pretty well and had a nice crispy texture? Because that's what they were and did. For me (Evan), these fries were the highlight of this dinner.

Quesadilla Burger: Surprisingly, quite good. It does have some inherent structural flaws, given how a flat tortilla is just not a good vessel for containing oils from meat and cheese, but the flavor profile was undeniably a hit. It's not life-changing or anything close to it, but it accurately hit both the notes of a burger and a quesadilla. The pico de gallo was a welcome surprise, both texturally and flavorfully, and did a lot of heavy lifting for the dish. I would have loved to have seen some guacamole available here (and maybe some sour cream), but that might take this dish closer to a standard super quesadilla and away from its burger ancestry.

Four Cheese Mac and Cheese with Bacon: This was a miss, unfortunately. The sauce itself was watery and lacked flavor, and while the melted shredded cheese on top and bacon bits were good for presentation and bursts of flavor, they didn't do enough to save the dish. This is probably not the side dish to choose.

Time for apps!

Brew Pub Pretzels and Beer Cheese Dip: Now these were truly a mixed bag. The pretzels, despite the very dark exterior and concentrated pile of salt, were wonderfully soft and chewy. The cheese (singular) was bad. Its texture was too runny and its flavor was entirely monotone. The uninvited honey mustard was good honey mustard but a strange pairing for pretzels. Ultimately I'd recommend skipping this as the dips are supposed to be the star of this dish.

Boneless Wings w/ Buffalo Sauce: A very disappointing plate of wings. The skin/coating of the wings was too thick and too crisp, which didn't match the more blocky texture of the boneless wings. Sure, boneless wings are inherently going to be worse than their boned counterparts, but this was a complete texture fail. The flavor was also not exactly what we expected, either - we were given the option of regular Buffalo Sauce and Extra Spicy Buffalo Sauce, and what we received was probably spicier than the average buffalo sauce that one would expect for non-spicy wings. The buckets of ranch and blue cheese unfortunately did not do anything for the flavor, and the celery itself wasn't anything to write home about. Would have loved to have seen more vegetables on the side, too - are carrots so hard to find these days?

We weren't able to finish the boneless wings (and not sure if we wanted to, to be honest), and that was also a tell-tale sign that dessert was off the table. It took a bit of time to grab the attention of the waitstaff, but the place was definitely getting more popular and more tables were being filled, so no fault of their own here. Our bill came out to 62 dollars pre-tip: not cheap, but in the grand scheme of things (and with prices being what they are), not unreasonable for two people going out to a sit-down place for an hour. For that price, there's definitely better food out here - but I don't think anyone is going to Applebee's for the food quality. (Do not ask why we bothered writing this.) You go to Applebee's if you want a place to sit down but still not have to dress up; a place where you go for drinks with the crew, but don't want to break the bank. And in that regard, it met its mark - even if it was lackluster in the flavor department.

Verdict: It's more like eating okay in the neighborhood.

This past weekend some of the Fansubbing crew hit up Anime Expo and checked out the premiere of Momentary Lily, the newest anime by GoHands. It's slated to come out January 2025 with no English language licensor decided yet, but given this industry's track record, you can probably expect to see it on either Crunchyroll or HIDIVE.

The episode starts off with some high school girls talking about normal high school girl things. Y'know, video games, skincare, and being an older sister. Normal stuff. This gets interrupted by an alarm warning them of approaching Wild Hunts—the monsters that led to all the other people in the world disappearing. Each of the girls then pulls out a charm that transforms into a giant fantasy weapon with a Norse name to do battle with the Wild Hunts. The fight scene hits us with all the frenetic camera work, 3DCG backgrounds, wide angles, bold colors, and overblown lens flare we've come to expect from GoHands over the years.

After the fight, the girls return to their hangout and we're introduced to Renge, an amnesiac who's managed to survive alone in this barren world. After a short run-in with some cleaning robots—whose exact function is still somewhat mysterious—Renge runs across the girls from the first half of the episode. Not having spoken to anyone since everyone disappeared, she tries to prepare herself for her first conversation in who knows how long, but is interrupted when the girls notice her and go to introduce themselves. Comedy ensues as Renge freaks out and is overwhelmed, with the girls Yuri, Erika, Hinageshi, Sazanka, and Ayame introducing themselves.

Most of the remaining runtime is dedicated to Renge noticing the rest of the girls are eating canned food and ingratiating herself with them by sprucing up their meals with a little bit of Kappo. After several minutes of cooking and eating delicious anime food, another Wild Hunt appears, catching everyone by surprise. The girls scramble to intercept the enemy when Renge reveals a secret she's been hiding: she also has a weapon that can stand up to the wild hunts, which she uses to handily defeat the threat. The episode closes out with Yuri, the presumed leader of the group, and Renge agreeing to work together while vowing to never become friends—because it would be too sad to lose one.

As I alluded to in the blurb, old heads might remember that back in 2013 GoHands screened the first episode of Coppelion at Anime Expo, a full 3 months ahead of its air date in Japan. That show also featured high school girls in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, albeit with a much darker tone and a much greener color palette. The similarities are amusing, but ultimately aren't that meaningful. Perhaps somewhat cynically, you could see both premieres as GoHands attempting to put themselves in an advantageous position when shopping around for a licensor, but regardless, it was probably a smart way to directly market their new show to fans.

So where does that leave us with the show? Is it good? Well, no, not really. The GoHands house style is polarizing, to put it charitably. Momentary Lily episode 1 does not shy away from the camera angles and movements that some people complain give them literal motion sickness. Not to mention all the characters (other than maybe Renge) have a single personality trait each. Erika is the "older sister" and she doesn't let you forget it, mentioning it at least half a dozen times throughout the episode. Plus her bouncy, busty bosom is impossible to ignore in every shot she's in. Hinageshi is the (capital G) Gamer of the group, relating every single thing that happens back to some gaming term, with "buff" and "debuff" being her favorites. Ayame is the "class rep"—but don't call her that! Sazanka is the gyaru, who spouts off more yabais than you could shake a stick at. Then there's Yuri, who has some other insane verbal tic that I honestly don't even remember anymore. It's clear the creators want the slice of life to be a focus and not just window dressing, but a slice of life anime lives and dies by its characters and most of them feel more like TV Tropes pages than believable people in this world. Will I be watching this show come 2025? Probably, if only to see whether it devolves into an utter trainwreck or if it manages to tell an interesting story about this honestly pretty cool world it's set up.

Thanks to Anime Expo for providing Fansubbing with press badges!