When she isn't voicing a diabetic frog or an apple-loving wolf deity, Brina Palencia works with her friend Haley Esposito on their newest production company Heal By Rain. Recently the company announced its first project: a web series called The Troubadoors, which follows seven students that form their own door-to-door chorus after being rejected by their college's top choir. Via the magic of the interwebs I had the chance to ask Palencia about The Troubadoors, as well as the origins of Heal By Rain.
Last fall Squid Girl premiered to the world (at least the parts who had Crunchyroll), bringing in many laughs and cutesy scenarios featuring an underwater invader who's out to conquer the world that polluted her own. It was a no-brainer bringing it back for a second season, its formula fortunately unchanged.
Music, anime, movies, games and sports! It's a big-assed smorgasbord on this new episode of the B3 show!
(from left-to-right: Satoshi, Nii, Shuu and Яyo)
With huge assistance from Melissa Castor (and additional help from Lydia Michalitsianos) from Jrock Revolution King Baby Duck presents a special interview with visual kei masters girugamesh.
Let's face it: every slice-of-life anime comedy about nothing wants to be Azumanga Daioh. Lucky Star came close, but its Haruhi Suzumiya reference overload nearly killed it, and Hyakko! was too bland for its own good. This year the folks at Kyoto Animation, hoping to strike gold again in this genre (since they did Lucky Star four years ago), decided to adapt Keiichi Arawi's manga series Nichijou: My Ordinary Life. The show's overall feeling can be described with one word: blah, meaning both the utterance of complete nonsense and the overall feeling of being unimpressed.
Love it or hate it, you cannot deny the popularity of the manga/anime series K-On! With its slice-of-life appeal and moé characters the show has received a massive following not just from anime fans but also music enthusiasts. Its opening and closing theme songs, as well as the albums for the show's protagonist band Ho-kago Tea Time, have appeared either on top or near the top of Japan's Oricon music charts, and the two live concerts based on the anime (one in 2009, the other in 2011) played to massive sold-out audiences. With translation help from Sawa Kato I was given the opportunity to ask one of the show's key songwriters and music arrangers, Hiroyuki Maezawa, some questions regarding the popularity of the music within K-On!
Brina Palencia is considered to be one of the more talented dub voice actresses in North America. Her work in such English adaptations as Sgt. Frog, School Rumble, Black Butler and Spice & Wolf to name has been considered by fans and critics alike as some of the best anime voice work in recent memory. This past Friday myself and a few other members of the press at Anime Boston had the chance to take part in a private Q&A panel with Palencia, where she revealed much about her work behind the mic and within the control booth.
Team SITCAS was on stage. Tons of dancing filled the Auditorium. It was time for some Cosplay Chess!