Weeb Life in Finland: Manga Releases and Streaming Uncertainty

It's a great time to be a manga reader in Finland. Not one or two but three new series have had their first volumes released during the last month, and since the roughly two-month period following a volume 1's release is the sweet spot where starting to read a series is at its easiest, having three of those at the same time is a big deal. 

First off, we have Astra: Lost in Space (彼方のアストラ, in Finnish Astra - avaruuden haaksirikkoiset), which I personally was very excited about, having seen the excellent 2019 anime adaption when it aired and recently rewatched it. Publishing an easy-to-approach sci-fi manga during a time when space is a more prevalent topic than it has been in years is a smart move from Sangatsu and I hope it pays off for them financially. 

Another safe and anticipated title is Weathering with You (天気の子), of course an adaption of the Makoto Shinkai movie of the same name, which had a Finnish theatrical run troubled by COVID lockdowns in 2020. Shinkai has become a well-known name even among more casual fans of anime and manga, so it doesn't surprise me that the Weathering manga got licensed too. More Shinkai is always great! 

Finally, we have the wild card, arguably the most interesting of the three. Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, an adaption of the first KH video game. Sangatsu had an interesting blog post detailing the complicated process of getting what is essentially the closest there is to a Disney manga published in the promised land of Donald Duck. Only time will tell how well it does, but it's hard for me to imagine it won't sell at least somewhat decently. 

On the anime side of things, there's not much to talk about. Demon Slayer movie did well in theaters so naturally Wakanim is riding the momentum by distributing the new MHA movie together with Cinema Mondo in the coming months. Wakanim's situation is interesting in many ways. The Funimation-Crunchyroll deal means that Sony pretty much has a near-complete monopoly on anime streaming, not only in America but here in Europe too. On top of that, Funimation has been merging its subsidiaries into itself recently, with Manga Entertainment UK becoming part of the Funi branding and AnimeLab's streaming service ceasing to exist entirely in favor of Funi. I wonder if a similar fate awaits Wakanim. 

It's a complicated situation because Wakanim serves a higher number of countries than Funimation or AnimeLab and its presence is so many different markets means that merging it into Funi would be a difficult task. I would certainly lament the loss of Wakanim to some extent, although I can't deny there being some upsides to it as well. Well, it's not like there's anything I can do about it. For the time being, I can only hope for the best. As of right now, Wakanim is still using its own branding in announcements related to the MHA movie and the upcoming Demon Slayer S2, so I don't think a merge will happen immediately. I'm sure they're still figuring it out themselves. Let's hope that the decision they make is a good one.