Now that Summer is coming to an end soon, it’s time to share my thoughts during the month. As expected, it’s not pretty because it’s 2020 after all.
The Things You Like Turns into Crap – Aniplex USA Pulls the Plug on Magia Record English Server
One of the biggest and upsetting surprises of this year is that Aniplex decides to call it quits on the English Magia Record server. I thought that since the server has finally caught up to where the Japanese server is with the second season that it will survive longer. Nope, because it’s 2020 after all.
As expected, after seeing this announcement this morning, people became upset and livid It seems that at least in the west, it appears that magical girl Gacha games aren’t that successful. Symphogear XD Unlimited, which launched earlier this year shut down after 5 months. Unless your game is from Bushiroad’s successful franchises (Love Live, Bang Dream, and Revue Starlight) or Fate Grand Order, your localized Gacha game release is not going to last very long. Rushing those events didn’t help either, since there were no breaks between them.
That said, all these game closures definitely leave a bad taste in my mouth. Although I only spent around $50, I still remain salty. I will still play the Japanese version since I have been playing it daily regardless the English release. Sure, I lose a few limited 4 stars that I don’t have in the Japanese version, but it’s definitely a setback.
Either way, I will share my thoughts on the dark side of Gacha games in another editorial in a few weeks from now. At least I will have my Tamaki Iroha figurine that I preordered coming in November.
I guess I have to find something else to do during my commutes to Washington, DC. That is once the Covid-19 pandemic is over. Maybe I will pack my Nintendo Switch and play Animal Crossing perhaps or catch up on my backlog of manga and video games.
That said, if you are interested in playing the Japanese version, the instructions are here. If you want to add me as a friend, my friend code is hsCazBTX.
Crunchyroll Faces Struggles and Possible Sale?
Believe it or not, Crunchyroll is struggling a lot lately. Not only Funimation is eating their lunch as Crunchyroll receives fewer new titles each season, it’s losing shows. Last month, Crunchyroll lost a whopping 77 shows from Sentai Filmworks. Most of them are still available on Hidive. Still, this shows the decline of Crunchyroll and the rise of Funimation.
This is not too surprising since the parent company, AT&T is struggling especially during the pandemic. Besides laying off 600 people from WarnerMedia, which holds Crunchyroll, AT&T is also considering selling Crunchyroll to Sony, who also owns Funimation. While Sony rejected the offer since AT&T asked too much, it shows the struggles Crunchyroll is facing, especially with the COVID-19 delays. The revelations that they pay their translators poorly doesn’t help either.
I have to admit, I haven’t renewed my Crunchyroll Premium plan yet since there is no new shows that appeal to me lately. From the looks of it, Fall might be looking the same. I will change my mind when they have new titles next season to win me back.
Machikado Mazoku Finally Gets a Second Season
Now to wash away the terrible news on Friday, Machikado Mazoku finally gets a second season. It’s a present surprise since only a handful of Manga Time Kirara receives another season.
I have to admit that I really enjoyed the first season since I enjoy the antics with Momo and Shamiko. Still, I wonder what will happen in the second season. I guess it’s time to catch up on the manga.
Ding-Dong! KissAnime Is Dead and Good Riddance
It’s obvious by now how I feel about piracy, but I am happy to say that KissAnime is dead. If you are going to pirate anime, which I don’t condone, I would rather see people download them through BitTorrent than use these websites. At least with BitTorrent, the people who are sharing aren’t making money off copyrighted works. Also, there is the plus side of having a local copy too.
With sites like KissAnime, they are pretty scummy. They put ads on illegally streamed anime they do not have rights to. Of course, none of that money goes to the creators, but into the criminal’s pockets. Not only that, these illegal streaming sites has a lot of malware, ready to compromise your computer’s security.
Still, I think legal streaming services shouldn’t become overconfident by this news. I think they need to make the streams available in more countries. Sadly, region locking is still a thing in 2020.
What Have I Been Up to Lately and Plans for This Month?
As expected, August has been a quiet month. My birthday dinner was good, although I ordered too much sushi. Thankfully, I managed to finish it in three meals.
In addition, I finally received news that I will be working at home/teleworking for the foreseeable future. We’ll see how much I can cover in the packed Fall season, but I will cover 4 shows at most, but I can watch more, but not cover them.
Also, it seems that cases in Maryland are finally under control after the governor put in some more measures. If trends don’t get worse, I will be going back to New Jersey during Labor Day weekend. I also plan to go down during Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Year’s holiday. As always, most, if not all my time spent at home, so the risk of catching or bringing back COVID-19 is slim to none.
With that, feel free to share your thoughts on the topics I shared this month. As always, we have done these posts since June. These posts come out towards the end of each month. Feel free to check them out:
- June 2020 (Initial Start)
- July 2020
- August 2020
¶
“Not only that, these illegal streaming sites has a lot of malware, ready to compromise your computer’s security.”
That’s the reason I shed no tears over KissAnime’s demise. I’ll watch what I can legally. I prefer not to use BitTorrent; instead, I’ve heard rumors — rumors, mind you! — that USENET isn’t completely dead.
“although I ordered too much sushi.”
I did not know that was possible. Learn something new every day! And a belated happy birthday!
Also you probably heard of IRC when it comes to distribution of fansubs back in the day with direct downloads and DCC file-sharing. Yes, it’s good times, but it’s definitely more inconvenient compared to streaming service these days. But I haven’t really use Usenet, probably a little in the late 90s and early 2000s when the dialup service my parents had.
Also thanks. I ate probably like 16 rolls and that is already stuffed. Had to split it for another meal, but at least I got three meals out of the whole thing.