Manga Mavericks EP. 27 – “Black Clover (feat. Annaliese Christman)”

Alternatively titled: Dr. Stockholm, Or: How I Learned To Stop Hating and Love Black Clover.

^ I was thinking of making that the episode title but I thought it would be too long. But yes, today’s episode is all about the up-and-coming Shonen Jump hit, Black Clover, to celebrate it surpassing 100 chapters, two years of serialization, and an upcoming anime. Colton never continued with Black Clover past the first chapter, but since the start of the year, he’s been working his way through the series in preparation of doing this very podcast. It was a tumultuous journey, full of ups and downs as Colton struggled to decide whether he enjoys or hates the series. And now, three months later, he finally has his answer. I won’t spoil his position, but to quote a certain letterer, “Hooray for stockholm syndrome!”

Who is this “certain letterer” I’m referring to, you ask? Why, she’s only our special guest for this episode, the one and only Annaliese Christman, the official english letter for Black Clover and World Trigger in Viz’s Weekly Shonen Jump, not to mention a ton of other Viz titles including Terraformars and Goodnight Punpun! In the face of Annaliese’s excited cries of “BLACK CLOVER!” even the cynical, cold-hearted Colton couldn’t help but warm up to the series. But just in case, we had another backup prepared in the form of good friend and frequent guest Maxy Barnard of Friendship! Effort! Victory!, whose favorite currently-running Shonen Jump manga happens to be, you guessed it, Black Clover. Poor Colton. He never stood a chance…

But seriously, talking with Annaliese was an absolute delight, as she dived into her experiences as a letterer and the challenges of the profession. Not to mention delving into details and factoids about manga publishing not often talked about, including insight regarding Black Clover‘s translator “HC Language Solutions Inc.” (which in retrospect we  could’ve easily researched, but still!). She also shares interesting anecdotes about her experiences meeting with Tabata-sensei and Katayama-san at Jump Festa, and helps us answer questions regarding the Black Clover light novel everyone’s curious about! Not to mention providing a ton of fun observations and passionate discussion on Black Clover itself! If you’re a fan of Black Clover, our nearly two and a half hour discourse on the series is surely not to be missed!

But, to quote Asta, we’re not done yet! Before we get to the discussion we have to cover the news first, and somehow manage to take care of it in less than an hour? What! That can’t possibly be right, can it? Yes, we changed format a bit and decided to talk news without our guests before we did the discussion, which in retrospect really worked out in our favor since we were able to be more efficient talking about news and had more time to be able to devote to the discussion itself. Expect this format to continue going forward. Anyways, news topics this week include new details on the upcoming Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc manga, new manga adaptations coming to Netflix next year, and a poll where japanese fans ranked the manga they most wanted to see adapted into anime…with surprising results! Oh, and LumRanmaYasha rants a little bit about how terrible the Fuuka anime’s major plot change is and why it makes no sense and is misguided and infuriating. Oh man, is that a topic that could make for it’s own podcast one of these days…

PODCAST BREAKDOWN:

Part 1: News

00:22 – Intro & Updates!
3:17 – New Yen Press Licenses!
5:37 – One Peace Books Will Publish the Mikagura School Suite Light Novels & Manga
6:13 – Dark Horse Will Finally Release More Drifters and Blood Blockade Battlefront Volumes!
8:23 – Ikumi Fukuda launches manga adaptation of Nana Toshi Monogatari novel by Yoshiki Tanaka
10:23 – Weekly Shonen Sunday News
14:00 – Tonkatsu DJ Agetaro Will End in 2 chapters
15:17 – New Manga by Coolkyoushinja On the Way
17:20 – Sasaki Hisashi Reveals New Details About the Upcoming Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc Manga
19:47 – CLAMP’s New HIGH&LOW Manga Debuts in Weekly Shonen Magazine
22:11 – Dead Dead Demon’s Dedededestruction Will Be On Hiatus Until Fall
22:57 – Netflix News
27:00 – Kino’s Journey is Getting a New Anime
29:11 – Harper Collins Japan launches Otome Dolce Manga Magazine
31:31 – Rumiko Takahashi Has Over 200 Million Copies of Manga in Print Worldwide!
33:41 – Leiji Matsumoto Wants to Link All His Works Together!
35:11 – The Reason Why the Fuuka Anime Diverged From the Manga!
40:11 – Anime! Anime!’s 2017 List of Manga That Should Be Adapted Into Anime

Part 2: Black Clover Discussion w/Annaliese Christman & Maxy Barnard

47:20 – Interview with Annaliese Christman

1:10:52 – Black Clover Discussion

Q&As:

2:31:07 – Twitter Comments
2:36:20 – “Is Daisuke Ashihara Recovering Okay?”
2:39:39 – “Did Daisuke Ashihara Know About the Amount of Characters He Would Introduce in the Story Ahead of Time?”
2:41:35 – “Does Gauche’s Mirror Reflect at the Speed of Light?”
2:43:03 – “What is Our Favorite Arc of Black Clover So Far?”
2:47:30 – “Did We Like How the Light Novel Characters Were Used in the Recent Arc?”
2:49:19 – “Will the Black Clover Light Novel be Localized?”
2:51:20 – “Are We Excited For the Black Clover Anime?”
2:54:03 – “Opinions on Tabata’s Editor, Tatsuhiko Katayama?”
2:56:46 – “Is Black Clover Really Popular in Japan?”
3:03:16 – “How Long Do We Think Black Clover Will Run For?”
3:04:56 – “Why Were the Light Novel Characters Introduced in the Manga?”
3:06:30 – “Would We Prefer a Long-Running or Seasonal Black Clover Anime?”
3:06:50 – “Do You Think Tabata Has Most of the Plot Planned Out?”
3:07:43 – “Which Protagonist Does Tabata Prefer?”

3:08:24 – Wrap-Up

Enjoy the show, and follow us on twitter at @manga_mavericks, on tumblr at mangamavericks.tumblr.com, and now on Youtube! You can also follow the hosts at @sniperking323 and @lumranmayasha, and special guests Annaliese Christman at @kaitou_ace and Maxy Barnard at @MaxyTheBee.  If you want to see more Shonen Jump discussion from us, you’re in luck, because in our next episode we’ll be discussing My Hero Academia with the host of the Ass Backwards Anime Podcast, Doctor! Also, Manga Fights is making a comeback next month, and you guys can chose what we’ll be fighting about – My Hero Academia or Pokemon? Vote in our twitter poll to help us decide! Don’t forget to also like and subscribe to us on Youtube and iTunes and leave us reviews to help us curate the show and create better content! If there are any topics, series or mangaka you would like to see us talk about on the show, drop us a line in the comments below, or e-mail us at mangamavericks@gmail.com! Thanks for listening!

Links:

Vote On the Next Manga Fight in Our Twitter Poll!
Join the Unofficial Osamu Fanclub! Message Annaliese on Twitter!
Like Black Clover? Subscribe to Weekly Shonen Jump!
Read FREE Chapters of Dr. Stone on Viz.com!
Vote For Your Favorite Jump Start in the Shonen Jump Survey!
Friendship! Effort! Victory!