[GRADUATION] Graduating Series of 2016 and why we will miss them!

With a heavy heart, we must bid farewell to these series that made us laugh like crazy, cried buckets of tears, and kept us at the edge of our seats. These series in their own rights have held their head up high, fought a good fight and clinched their way into our hearts, and soon we must part with them…

Boku dake ga inai machi (Erased)

Mangaka: Kei Sanbe
Manga Serialization: 4 Jun 2012 – 04 Mar 2016
Serialized in: Young Ace Magazine, Kadokawa Shouten
Compiled Tankobon Volumes: 08
Anime Serialization: 08 January 2016 – ongoing (12 episodes)
Summary:
Satoru Fujinuma (CV: Shinnosuke Mitsushima) is an ordinary guy living an ordinary life but with one extra little quirk – he can relive an instance in time before a catastrophe happens. He uses this power sparingly to his better judgment, so that he can live a normal life and to try not to be a hero. On one side, he’s a struggling manga artist and pizza delivery guy.

Things changed when he was caught in the middle of a murder scene. How will he saved himself from this and clear his name?

Why will we miss this series?

This series has very much kept us at the edge of our seats – finding ourselves in the shoes of Satoru Fujinuma. Week by week, our eyes were glued in search for clues of who this crazy perpetrator really is? We are piqued with curiosity about what goes in the mind of the perpetrator and how Satoru will be able to outwit, outlast and outplay the villain and hopefully, this will put a rest in the case of this mysterious murders and abduction.

As of this writing, people would have a clear guess on who the perpetrator really is (My guess is as good as yours. All I can say is that keep your friends close and enemies closer.) Nonetheless, the show gave a good run for its money.

Where can we see the series again? 

The series will not end just yet. A live action movie of the same title will air in Japan on 19 March 2016.  Plus, there will be a gaiden (not relating to the main story) that will start serializing in June 2016.

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu ( Assassination Classroom )

Mangaka: Yusei Matsui
Manga Serialization: 2 July 2012 – 19 March 2016
Serialized in: Weekly Shounen Jump, Shueisha
Compiled Tankobon Volumes: 18 compiled volume (Ongoing)
Anime Serialization: Season 1: 09 January 2015 – 19 June 2015 (22 episodes); Season 2: 07 January 2016 – ongoing (25 episodes)

Summary: A group of assassins is tasked to kill an alien bent on destroying the world. The catch: The assassins are the 3-E Junior high school students from Kunugigaoka Junior High School and the alien is their homeroom teacher, Koro-sensei (CV:Jun Fukuyama). It’s all in a day’s work as they must finish the task before they graduate junior high!

Why will we miss this series?

Iyo iyo da ne… Who would have thought that a series about the assassination of a teacher can be so endearing – not the killing part, of course!

The tako teacher, Koro-sensei, did not just come to annihilate the earth, but he came in to impart important life long lessons to his students and to us, the readers. As silly as he may be, as crazy as his methods were, he made it his life mission to look after the welfare of his students above anyone else, and that made a lasting impression on his students. It came to a point where assassination was the last thing on these students’ mind.

We did sympathize too and asked will there be a hope for our dear Koro-sensei not to be killed at the end of the series..? Well, it was fun while it lasted, especially with the crazy arcs, Takaoka arc, Principal Asano arc, and the Island Arc.  We will definitely miss our dear Koro-sensei.

Where can we see this series again?

This is not yet goodbye for our beloved Koro-sensei.

We still have the ongoing second season of the anime, which is a two-cour series with 25 episodes. Then, there’s the second part of to the live action movie, Ansatsu Kyoushitsu: Sotsugyou Hen, that will be shown in Japan on 25 March 2016. If you head down to Ikebukuro in Tokyo, you can still find Ansatsu Kyoushitsu as part of their lineup series for the indoor theme park, J-World, located at Sunshine Plaza.

Also, not to be missed, is a feature on the mangaka Yusei Matsui, on Jump Ryu Vol 6. (FYI: Jump Ryu is a magazine featuring notable mangaka!)

Kamisama Hajimemashita (Kamisama Kiss)

Mangaka: Julietta Suzuki
Manga Serialization: Mar 2008 to May 2016
Serialized in: Hana to Yume, Hakusensha
Compiled Tankobon Volumes: 22 compiled volumes (ongoing)
Anime Serialization: Season 1: October 1, 2012 – December 24, 2012(13 episodes); Season 2: 05 January 2015 – 30 March 2015(12 episodes)

Summary: The series begins with Nanami(CV: Mimori Suzuko), who because of her problematic, gambling, no-good father, got no place to stay. She was befriended by a stranger and that kind stranger offered his place to let her stay. She reluctantly accepted the offer. Unbeknownst to her, that place is a shrine and that kind stranger is the shrine’s deity, Mikage(CV: Akira Ishida).  By taking up his offer, she unknowingly had ‘inherited’ the deity’s status and his youkai, Tomoe(CV: Shinnosuke Tachibana).

Thus, begins of a story of a human girl and her journey of becoming a shrine god.

Why will we miss this series?

The allure that youkai/guardian would go out of his way to save a woman and, in turn, falls in love with her is something but a common story, yet this series has something that is endearing. The sad backstory of Tomoe and how he had once loved a human being, how Tomoe had come to mend his ways and became a guardian at Mikage’s shrine, the appearance of Nanami and how it changed Tomoe’s life, and his confrontation with his former best friend/main villain, Akura-Ou. Time flew like a quick blink of an eye, and now we reached the climax of the story.

Whatever fate awaits that of Nanami and Tomoe, we will just have to find out when the series ends ( in about 4 chapters around May 2016).

Where can I see the series again?

Although the manga series will end in 4 more chapters, which will shortly be after the current chapter on the 2016 April 05 issue of Hana to Yume, the series will still appear in an OAD (Original Anime DVD). These OADs are bundled with the manga’s compiled tankobon.

Currently, a 2-part OAD concentrating on the “Past Arc” (roughly mid-volume 14 to 17 of the manga) was bundled with the 22 and 23d volume of the manga. A third OAD, which will still be based on the Past Arc,  will be shipped together with the 24th volume on 20 April 2016, and the last announced 4th episode will be bundled together with the manga’s 25th volume on 19 August 2016.