Nook News – 8/30/21

Visual Novel News:

Full Metal Daemon Muramasa has launched to much excitement. Sometimes referred to as a masterpiece, a lot of visual novel enthusiasts were excited about JASTUSA releasing this. It follows a warrior wielding a cursed blade.

JList has also released an extensive collectors edition, with the Game DVD, a Special Bamboo Outer Box, a Special Orihon Artbook, a 7″ Vinyl Record, a Happi Coat and Game Download Codes.

Sekai Project has announced that Rewrite+ is now confirmed for a Q4 2021 release on Steam. The Steam page is also now available for people to wishlist the game.

This VisualArts/Key title has been long awaited an official release and the + version features new content and updates to the original.

Embraced by Autumn by ebi-hime was released this past week. Describing itself as ‘A sweet romance story with four heroines set in an all-girls’ boarding school in France in 1896, featuring a crossdressing male protagonist’ and set in the French countryside, it looks to be interesting.

We have our own Wes Playfair taking a look at this, so watch out for the review.

In otome news, the first chapter of Colorful 未来 (Colorful Mirai) has been released on Itch.io. Featuring six love interests, it follows the protagonist, an artist experiencing art block as she moves to a new city.

About the story, it says: ‘This isn’t just a love story, this is about finding your meanings and accepting who you are through the pain and love‘.

Gaming News:

GamesCom 2021 recently took place and with it, came a bunch of new announcements from many circles in the gaming sphere. Here are some of the highlights:

After multiple delays, The King of Fighters XV finally has an official release date: February 17th, 2022! This was revealed in a brand new trailer going through all the game’s mechanics and also reveals that if you pre-order the game, you’ll gain access to an outfit for Terry Bogard based on his appearance from Garou: Mark of the Wolves. KOF XV is coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC.

The next guest character coming to Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania was announced! Morgana from Persona 5 will be coming as post-launch DLC on November 2nd. We also got a trailer showcasing the 12 party games that’ll be on offer, such as tennis, bowling, racing, and so on. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania arrives for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on October 5th.

Tales of Arise is less than a month away and with anticipation for it being at its peak, Bandai Namco announced a new game for the series! Tales of Luminaria is an action RPG coming to iOS and Android. Other than a brief glimpse of gameplay in the announcement trailer, not much is known about the game, including when it will be released.

Outside of GamesCom, some other announcements were also made too. The first two Monster Rancher games are finally being re-released in the west with Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX coming to the Nintendo Switch and PC on December 9th to celebrate the series’ 25th anniversary. The announcement was made in the form of a trailer courtesy of Koei Tecmo.

On top of all of these announcements, Nintendo made their presence known with the second full trailer for the upcoming fifth mainline entry in their beloved Metroid series: Metroid Dread! The company released a two-minute trailer going through the new mechanics the game will offer, such as Flash Shift, Storm Missles, the Speed Booster, along with many favorite abilities from prior entries. Metroid Dread arrives exclusively on Nintendo Switch on October 8th.

To wrap things up, the next entry in the Tales of Heroes series from Falcom is fast approaching, with the next installment arrive on Japanese shores on September 30th for the PlayStation 4.  Tales of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki got a brand new trailer and a gameplay showcase was also shown, showing that this new installment shares more resemblance with Monolith Soft’s Xenoblade series compared to prior entries from Falcom’s series.

Anime News:

After a few delays, Kyoto Animation’s famous Free series finally received the long-awaited trailer for its theatrical debut! Free!-the Final Stroke- will be a two-part film, with the first part arriving on September 17th in Japan, with the second part set for April 22nd, 2022 in Japan. A brand new trailer was released to coincide with the announcement.

Watch the Free!-the Final Stroke- trailer

Speaking of films, but on a worldwide scale, after the success of its Japanese debut, My Hero Academia: Worl Heroes’ Mission has been confirmed for a worldwide release in 2021! Funimation has plans to release the film theatrically, with Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa receiving the film on October 28th. Fans in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Ireland can look forward to screenings on October 29th. Tickets will go on sale on October 1st.

But enough about Shonen series and sports stories; how about some romantic comedies at the office? My Senpai is Annoying is just the series to scratch that itch; it tells the story of a small office lady growing feelings for a larger figure who just so happens to be her superior. The series is an adaptation of Shiromanta’s manga series and is being produced by Doga Kobo.

My Senpai is Annoying is set for an October premiere.

Watch the trailer for My Senpai is Annoying

It’s been in production for quite a while, but we finally have official photos of Netflix’s live-action adaption of the anime classic Cowboy Bebop! The series stars John Cho as Spike Spiegel, Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black, and Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine.

The live-action Cowboy Bebop arrives exclusively on Netflix on November 19th.

Upcoming Releases:

Nintendo Switch players have been having a fantastic time with Square-Enix’s follow-up to their smash hit, Bravely Default, though it won’t be too long until PC players can play this fantastic sequel!

Bravely Default II is coming to the PC on September 2nd!