Author: Gabriel Persechino-Forest Published: March 23rd, 2019
Pastel Memories Episode Issues
Episode 1 and 2 of the series have both stopped streaming and the home video release has moved from 3 planned volumes to a box set containing all episodes from the series, except episode 2, to be released on June 5. No one knows what will happen to episode 2. A revised version of episode 1 will be released in the box set as well as for streaming. Some have speculated that the changes could be due to the series infringing on copyrights (Specifically, Is the Order a Rabbit?). This could be due to Japan not having a parody exception to its copyright laws.
Source: Official Website (Article image as well [Link 1 and Link 2])
Pierre Taki’s Drug Controversy
The actor has been arrested on cocaine charges and this being Japan, it basically means his career is over… or so you’d think. But even though this has largely ended his career in video games it has seemingly done nothing in other aspects of his professional life (He is still set to appear in the movie Iwane: Sword of Serenity) and it does lead one to wonder what’s going on here.
The fallout includes halting sales of Judge Eyes and having his character (Kyohei Hamura) on Judgement (Western release of Judge Eyes) removed from the Western release of the game. Some think that the recent pulling of A Certain Magical Virtual-On from the PS4 and PS Vita store might also be caused by this controversy (Although no announcement of the actors attached to the project have been made so it is largely speculation at this point). He was also recast in the Japanese dub of Kingdom Hearts III (He played Olaf from Frozen), had his Denki Groove concert cancelled and has been removed from four different broadcasters’ programming.
Ryuichi Kumura has a Beef with Fans on Twitter
Kemono Friends 2‘s director is apparently tired of the feedback he’s been receiving from fans online and said:
Hey, it’s fine to criticize and complain, but you don’t have to come into a person’s mentions directly in order to do that. Do those people think that getting into a person’s face and telling them how much they suck is absolute justice? People like that are frightening.
You don’t have to reply to this tweet.
Source: Otakomu
Sword Art Online: Alicization Toonami Glitch
The series’ 6th episode had an error that froze the video on March 16 and Toonami indicated that they are re-airing the episode. They will also air episode 7 – 8 back-to-back on March 30 (0:30 – 1:30).
Source: Toonami
The Promised Neverland and PETA!
PETA decided to use the series to make a parallel to factory farming and how animals are treated in such environments. Whether you agree with them or not, the choice has certainly proven controversial and gotten people to talk about the issue, which I guess was really the goal.
Source: PETA