A sports anime series only needs a few things to succeed: a likable group of characters, solid animation quality, and a genuine passion for its subject. As far as that last part goes, most titles in this genre focus their enthusiasm on whatever sport the main characters play, but Free<\/em>\u2019s passions are a bit more divided. Sure, the series captures the adrenaline-pumping rush of competitive swimming, but it\u2019s equally focused on the goal of showing off fit, handsome guys in tight swimsuits. One might assume, then, that viewers who don\u2019t share that passionate interest need not apply. Thankfully, this isn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n Even if good-looking dudes don\u2019t raise your heart rate, the second season of Free!<\/em> continues its predecessor\u2019s tradition of being a riotous amount of fun. The competition sequences are thrilling, the jokes are funny, and the occasional moments of personal drama feel authentic. The animation is generally excellent, and the fluid motion on display in the swimming scenes is as handsome as the members of the Iwatobi swim team. I may not be the target audience, but Free! Eternal Summer<\/em> has still managed become one of my favorite shows this season. Both Crunchyroll<\/a> and Funimation<\/a> are running simulcasts here in the US, so give it a shot on your service of choice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n From the New World<\/em> (or Shin Sekai Yori<\/em> if you prefer the Japanese title) originally aired back in 2012, and quickly earned a reputation as good old-fashioned mind frag. Kids with telekinetic powers? Check. Flawed, post-apocalyptic utopia full of sinister secrets? Check. Toss in a creepy, mystical atmosphere and you\u2019ve got From the New World<\/em> in a nutshell. If you enjoy creative science fiction that\u2019s not afraid to make your head hurt, you can now finally own the whole series on DVD or Blu-ray. The second half comes out this Tuesday, and you can get a copy from RightStuf.com here<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stories from this past weekend\u2019s Otakon included some good news for fans of one of the most recognized titles in the world of anime. We\u2019ve known for a while that Funimation picked up the license for Cowboy Bebop<\/em>, but no one could say for certain what form the eventual rerelease would take. On Saturday, the company revealed<\/a> that Bebop<\/em> will be out this December on Blu-ray and DVD, with both standard and premium editions available. No word yet on what we\u2019ll get in the fancy version or how much it\u2019ll cost, but at least we\u2019ve finally got ourselves a timeframe.<\/p>\n Even without the Cowboy Bebop<\/em> update, it would\u2019ve been a good week for iconic franchises. Funimation also announced<\/a> that it has acquired the licenses for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya<\/em> and Lucky Star<\/em>, both of which had been in limbo after Bandai closed up shop in the US. You want high school kids having crazy adventures while poking fun at otaku culture? You got a whole herd of \u2018em. Still not enough nostalgia for you? Crunchyroll announced<\/a> they\u2019ll start streaming Cardcaptor Sakura<\/em> in both Japanese and English this Tuesday. Rerelease ALL the old shows!<\/p>\n On the other end of the old\/new spectrum, there\u2019s a Kickstarter campaign<\/a> underway for a sci-fi anime project called Under the Dog<\/em>. With a production staff that includes several industry veterans, it\u2019s got plenty of potential. Will they manage to raise all of $580,000 by the deadline? Only time will tell. Just under four weeks\u2019 worth of time, if you want to get technical about it. Go give \u2018em some money.<\/p>\n That\u2019s it for now! Come back next week for another round of information overload.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This Week in Anime\u00a0is hastily cobbled together by Paul Jensen. You can follow his ramblings about anime and manga on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>. Check back every Sunday for new articles.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello there, Internet. Welcome to This Week in Anime, a new weekly column that we\u2019re starting up here on SharkPuppet.com. Each week, we\u2019ll highlight a current series with a mini-review, look at an upcoming physical media release, and recap some of last week\u2019s biggest stories from the world of anime and manga. It\u2019s everything you [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1381"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1393,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions\/1393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"FreeEternalSummer\"](\"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/FreeEternalSummer.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPhysical Release of the Week: From the New World<\/em> Collection 2<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nIn the News: Old License Rescues and New Kickstarters<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n