New York Comic Con always brings the love to anime and manga fans and this year did not disappoint. Between the Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Dragon Ball Super panels, there’s something for every anime fan. Here are the five anime and manga announcements and reveals that we’re most excited about from the first day of NYCC.
New Anime Infini-T Force
3D animation is pretty hit or miss. However, Infini-T Force seems like it’s going to be a definite hit. This superhero anime will feature a collection of heroes battling to protect a magical pencil that makes any wish into a reality. In fact, the heroes only exist because someone used the pencil to wish them into existence.
The last couple of years has seen a rise in the popularity and quality of superhero anime, with My Hero Academia and One Punch Man among some of the best in recent memory. Infini-T Force looks like it’s going to further the reconstruction of the hero genre and making 3D animation more mainstream.
Mr. Osomatsu Season 2
Season two of Mr. Osomatsu also featured during the first day of New York Comic Con. This follow-up season will continue the misadventures of the wacky sextuplets that everyone loves to hate. Evidently, it is possible to be so annoying that it eventually wraps back around to being endearing. This visually distinctive comedy from Studio Pierrot is sure to be a welcome addition to this year’s fall season of subbed anime.
English Dub of Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3
After a long hiatus, the third season of Sailor Moon Crystal has finally been translated, dubbed, and is going to bring the series to its conclusion. While it’s incredible that fans finally get to experience the final season in the excellently dubbed form, it’s somewhat bittersweet as this may be the last we all see of Sailor Moon for some time.
Localization of the Juni Taisen Manga
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if the animals on the Chinese Zodiac tried to kill each other? Juni Taisen is a newly localized manga series that anthropomorphizes the animals of the zodiac and has them fight in a colossal battle royal. Losing means death, but the winner will have one wish granted.
If you’re digging the anime adaptation on Crunchyroll, this manga is definitely worth checking out.
Dragon Ball Super Manga Free to Read on Viz Media
The Dragon Ball Super manga is pretty weird compared to most other manga. Not only is it behind the anime, but it also completely diverges from the story regularly. It is also now totally free to read online on the Viz Media website.
The manga improves on a lot of criticism that the anime faced early on and moves at a quicker pace. If watching two newly aired or newly dubbed episodes on Crunchyroll and Funimation isn’t enough for you, this manga is definitely worth reading.
Bonus: First Appearance of Akira Himekawa in the West
In 2000, A. Honda and S. Nagano launched the Legend of Zelda manga series under the pen name Akira Himekawa. Since then, the duo has made manga adaptations of every major Zelda game (with the exception of the most recent Breath of the Wild), and have gone back into the series history to make a tie-in manga for the Zelda classic, A Link to the Past. For the first time in the West, the legendary manga creators appeared before an excited and packed NYCC crowd.
The popular manga series does a great job of enhancing the game’s source material, breathing new life into the expansive Zelda worlds. Characters like Link and Volvagin in the Ocarina of Time manga are given more substantial backgrounds than in the games and have more interactions that add depth to their relationship. While the games create a vast and interesting world to explore, the manga fleshes out these worlds to make Hyrule even more charming and packs the Great Sea with even more adventure.
With this duos appearance at NYCC and the upcoming release of the Legend of Zelda: Arts and Artifacts artbook, there’s never been a better time to be a Zelda fan.
