News

Bandai Namco Filmworks announced on July 14, 2025 that Mao, the latest manga from mangaka Rumiko Takahashi – whose works include Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura, will be adapted into a television anime.

The anime will be produced by the studio Sunrise and is scheduled to air on Japan’s Nhk-General channel in the spring of 2026. A new trailer and key visual were released to commemorate the announcement. Check them out below:

Mao anime trailer

The project brings together a staff who are familiar with Takahashi’s works. Mao’s anime adaptation will be directed by Teruo Sato, with Yoshihito Hishinuma serving as character designer and chief animation director. Both of these staff members had worked on Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon.

Additionally, Yuko Kakihara, who was the script supervisor for the 2022 remake of Urusei Yatsura, will serve in the same role for Mao. Shu Kanematsu is in charge of composing the music.

The historical fantasy series follows Nanoka Kiba,...

Japanese publisher Imagica Infos announced on February 28 that the total number of copies printed of Natsu Hyuga's The Apothecary Diaries series had reached 40 million. The publisher's light novel imprint Hero Bunko started publishing the romance fantasy series in Japan in August 2014, so far 15 volumes have been available. And the novel has also had its two manga adaptations — one is drawn by Nekokurage and published by Square Enix in Monthly Big Gangan, and another one, Mao Mao no Kokyu Nazotoki Techo , drawn by Minoji Kurata published by Shogakukan in Monthly Sunday Gene-x. The figure of 40 million copies is the combined number of both the original novel and the two manga adaptations. As of the end of September 2023, prior to the start of the first season of the TV anime , the series had a total of 24 million copies in circulation. In March 2024, when the first season ended, the number exceeded 33 million copies,...

Yumeng He is a Chinese transdisciplinary artist and documentary director, cinematographer, and sound designer. Her background in Anthropology informs her storytelling. She is passionate about telling stories that focus on identity, diaspora, memory, land, the interwoven personal and collective experience, and the human and more-than-human relationships.

Her documentary works have been invited to screen at IDFA, Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Nowness Short Film Awards, Slamdance Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and exhibited at the Sfo Museum. She holds an Mfa in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University, an Ma and BA in Visual Anthropology from the University of Southern California. “Other Side of the Mountain“, her latest work, had its world premiere at IDFA.

In the hilly city of Chongqing, a painter searches for the old apartment where he and his parents used to live. He asks local residents for directions, walks through narrow passages between buildings,...

Code Geass is an anime franchise heavy with complex characters and intricately written world-lore that is seen throughout its multiple series, especially in Lelouch of the Rebellionthe storyline of which the recently finished Roz of the Recapture builds off of. With all of its episodes available on Hulu and Disney+, the series is now free for any anime fan to binge-watch.

However, there are a number of things to note in order to jump into Roz of the Recaptures story with a good understanding of what's going on. There are many things about the franchise's unique world building and overarching storyline that can confuse even long-time Code Geass fans, as the original 2006 anime completed over a decade ago and certain details within the more recent Lelouch of the Re;surrection movies conflict with it.

Roz of the Recapture Takes Place in the Recap Movies Timeline The Recap Movies Changed Several...

More fresh faces are joining Bridgerton’s upcoming fourth season, which has officially begun production, TVLine has learned.

Courtesy of Netflix/YellowBellyPhoto

Katie Leung (the Harry Potter franchise, The Peripheral) has been cast as Lady Araminta Gun. “Twice married and twice widowed, Araminta has two girls debuting on the marriage mart this season and is feeling the pressure to get at least one of them married off,” reads the character’s official description. “Fabulous, discerning and blunt, Araminta does not respond well when anything — or anyone — threatens her standing in society.”

More from TVLineCharlie Hunnam to Star in Monster Season...

Filming on “Bridgerton” Season 4 is officially underway at Shepperton Studios in London, with Netflix sharing a new behind the scenes image of Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson on set. The season will focus on Thompson’s Benedict as he pursues Ha’s Lady in Silver, Sophie Baek.

In Benedict’s book, “An Offer From a Gentleman,” Benedict meets his love interest Sophie at his mother’s masquerade ball, which Eloise says is happening in a few months in the Season 3 finale.

Please rise for Sophie Baek & Benedict Bridgerton!!!

Here's your first official photo of Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson on the set of Bridgerton Season 4. Now Officially in production. pic.twitter.com/TyOlryDXEU

— Netflix (@netflix) September 16, 2024

The streamer also revealed three new cast members for the upcoming installment: Katie Leung, who will play Lady Araminta Gun, Michelle Mao, who is Rosamund Li, and Isabella Wei, who will play Posy Li.

Cameras have started rolling on Season 4 of Netflix’s hit show “Bridgerton,” the streamer announced Monday.

Season 4 is also adding three new cast members: Katie Leung (Lady Araminta Gun), Michelle Mao (Rosamund Li); Isabella Wei (Posy Li). The upcoming season “turns its focus to bohemian second son Benedict (Luke Thompson). Despite his elder and younger brothers both being happily married, Benedict is loath to settle down — until he meets a captivating Lady in Silver at his mother’s masquerade ball,” per Netflix. As Variety exclusively reported, Yerin Ha will star as Benedict’s love interest Sophie Baek, aka the Lady in Silver.

Netflix released short bios on the three new characters:

Leung’s Lady Araminta Gun: “Twice married and twice widowed, Araminta has two girls debuting on the marriage mart this season and is feeling the pressure to get at least one of them married off. Fabulous, discerning, and blunt,...

After “Youth: Spring” and “Youth: Hard Times”, celebrated Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing is back with the third and last part of his trilogy documentary focusing on the lives, labors and challenges of young hardworking textile workers in the city of Huzhou.

Subscribe to Amp newsletter by clicking on the image below

These baby-faced twenty-somethings (some are still in their late teens) come from all over China, leaving their hometowns and travelling sometimes thousands of kilometers to the city to work in one of its 18,000 workshops – Huzhou, in the province of Zheijang, is a major textile hub. From 2014 to 2019, Wang and his team followed these young migrant workers, filming them in the teeming sweatshops, some of which line up so-called Happiness Road. There they work for 10 to 12 hours in poor working conditions, while spending their leisure time in cramped dormitories, playing cards, flirting, chain smoking, bantering, arguing, making up, or anything...

Bl Anime Twilight Out of Focus Reveals July Release Date: All You Need to Know - Main Image

Bl fans are in for a treat in summer 2024, as the Twilight Out of Focus anime just confirmed its release date in a new trailer that shows off new footage and more characters. Plus, it previews the anime’s opening and ending themes.

The upcoming Bl series was announced back in July 2023, and after much anticipation from genre fans, it’s finally coming out in July.

Twilight Out of Focus July Release Date Announced

While this isn’t the first trailer for the anime, this latest one gives fans their best look yet at the Twilight Out of Focus anime.

Not only does it show off new clips courtesy of Studio Deen, but it also showcases more characters aside from the main duo, and it previews the theme songs.

The show’s...

Twilight Out of Focus , an upcoming TV anime based on the boys' love josei manga of the same name, has published a new trailer, a new key visual (below), and additional information about the opening and ending themes for the series. The series will broadcast in Japan on Tokyo Mx and Bs Fuji beginning on July 4, 2024, with an additional broadcast to follow on At-x beginning on July 11. Ikusaburo Yamazaki performs the opening theme for the series, which is entitled “Crank Up”. Amber performs the ending theme for the series, which is entitled “Unchain x Unchain”. Both songs are highlighted in the trailer above. The original Twilight Out of Focus manga by Jyanome is serialized in Kodansha's Honey Milk josei magazine, and an English language version is also available from Kodansha USA. Toshinori Watanabe directs the TV anime at Studio Deen, while Yoshimi Narita provides the series composition, Yoko Kikuchi provides the character designs,...

A road-trip movie driven by good vibrations and the joy of making music, Katherine Propper’s debut feature, Lost Soulz, begins with an aspiring musician named Sol—played with unbothered, introverted charm by rapper Suave Sidle—leaving home for the first time. He joins up with a Brockhampton-esque group of rap-crooners as they head for a gig in El Paso. It’s a long journey, especially for seven people packed into the same van, but they pass the time easily by tooling around with new lyrics, telling stories, and just goofing off.

The sheer number of bodies crammed in the van means that we don’t get to know these Gen-Zers too well. Seven (Aaron Melloul) is a broody troublemaker and Mao (Alexander Brackney) is a wild-haired, good-natured big fella with a sweet set of pipes. Froggy (Micro Tdh) is a versatile Latino rap-singer who slips seamlessly between styles and languages,...

How you situate Sergio Leone’s epic, acerbic A Fistful of Dynamite within the filmmaker’s larger body of work just might depend on which title it bears when you watch it. The original Italian title, Giù la testa, is probably best rendered by the thematically appropriate Keep Your Head Down, but Leone insisted the film go out under the looser translation Duck, You Sucker! It’s a line that recurs several times throughout the film, one that Leone insisted was authentic American slang of the era, though clearly it isn’t any such thing.

The replacement title A Fistful of Dynamite attempts to link it with Leone’s earlier A Fistful of Dollars, but this one gets far darker and more serious than the more “innocent” tales of adventure that form the Dollars trilogy. Probably the most appropriate title was the one applied to it by the French: Once Upon a Time…...

Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez’s first feature, 1997’s Dial H-i-s-t-o-r-y, intertwined news footage of plane hijackings with voiceover readings of passages from Don DeLillo’s White Noise and Mao II—he’s no stranger to rendering sweeping diagnoses within unorthodox historical frameworks. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat re-examines the assassination of Patrice Lumumba; the Soundtrack portion of the title points to the film’s other main strand, the political roles of American jazz musicians during the period, ranging from unwittingly complicit—Louis Armstrong performed a show in the Congo unaware that he was providing cover for CIA actions—to actively dissident, with the film bookended by vocalist […]

The post Sundance 2024: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Nocturnes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez’s first feature, 1997’s Dial H-i-s-t-o-r-y, intertwined news footage of plane hijackings with voiceover readings of passages from Don DeLillo’s White Noise and Mao II—he’s no stranger to rendering sweeping diagnoses within unorthodox historical frameworks. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat re-examines the assassination of Patrice Lumumba; the Soundtrack portion of the title points to the film’s other main strand, the political roles of American jazz musicians during the period, ranging from unwittingly complicit—Louis Armstrong performed a show in the Congo unaware that he was providing cover for CIA actions—to actively dissident, with the film bookended by vocalist […]

The post Sundance 2024: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Nocturnes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

There are few beings in fiction more decidedly evil than devils. In anime, the term "devil" can often be used synonymously with demons, monsters, or other such terrifying other worldly beings. However, in some series in particular, devils exist as their own distinct entities entirely separated from the more general use of the term.

These kinds of devils are unique to demons in that they're in some ways more powerful, higher on the proverbial food chain, or even just exist independently of the more basic demonic creatures. Devils usually come straight from Hell, the underworld or other such parallel dimension with the sole goal of imposing their evil whims on those they perceive as weaker. In many series, the protagonist appropriates the devil's powers or even merges with them completely in order to utilize their supernatural strength to eradicate the devils using their own powers.

The Best Seinen Anime

The...

Warning: Spoilers for The Expanse: Dragon Tooth #1Clarissa Mao's vengeful spree from the early seasons of The Expanse is being referenced surprisingly, with the series' comic continuation revealing one effect Clarissa's actions have had on her. The Expanse: Dragon Tooth takes place shortly after the show's series finale. The first issue takes time to catch readers back up to speed on where the Rocinate's crew is at now. Like on the show, former prisoner Clarissa serves as the assistant mechanic to Amos' lead mechanic.

Amos and Clarissa have a falling out of sorts in The Expanse: Dragon Tooth #1 by Andy Diggle and Rubine. Afterward, she starts to panic, but to calm herself down, she meditates while reciting a few names to herself. The names read as familiar for the most part. Readers will especially recall the names Ren Hazuki and Tilly Fagan, both of whom were killed brutally...

by Iain Mitchell

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Joan Chen's directorial debut, “Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl”. It's a film that despite the star power of its director and visible cultural impact (its title is now likely more associated with the American experimental rock band who took their name from it) feels curiously under-seen these days.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

Given the still ubiquitous debate about Asian representation in Hollywood, there's a sad irony that Chen, probably best known for her turn as Josie Packard in the original series of “Twin Peaks”, came to direct “Xiu Xiu” in part due to lack of opportunities afforded to her that weren't tired ‘Dragon lady' stereotypes. Even in Chen's highly positive experience of making Bernardo Bertolucci's “The Last Emperor” she noted in an interview with NPR that the film's producers were...

In 1970, prominent Hong Kong producers Raymond Chow and Leonard Ho left the legendary Shaw Brothers studio to found the now iconic Golden Harvest. The new studio would grow to dominate the Hong Kong film landscape for the next thirty years, overseeing the rise of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and, of course, the immortal Bruce Lee.

Alongside these male superstars emerged another kung fu hero who has built a lasting cinematic legacy of her own – Angela Mao. Mao starred in Golden Harvest's first feature production, the magical wuxia adventure film “The Angry River” (1971). The film was helmed by the debuting director, Huang Feng, marking the first of nine successful collaborations between Feng and Mao.

Below are listed five of Feng and Mao's most electrifying joint projects, ranging from the bizarre to the brutal:

1. Lady Whirlwind (1972)

In her second feature with Feng, Mao's Tien Li-Chun is out to avenge her sister, but...

Ivanka Trump broke her silence on her father’s indictment, posting a bland 27-word statement on Instagram Friday morning.

The post read: “I love my father and I love my country. Today I am pained for both. I appreciate the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern.”

> 100 Celebrity Kids & Their Famous Parents – Slideshow!

Previous reports stated that Ivanka has been distancing herself from the legal and political chaos surrounding her father.

Ivanka has reportedly wanted to be finished with politics – she has been absent from her father’s public campaign efforts to regain office. In a statement, Ivanka said she has chosen to prioritize her kids and family.

Her husband Jared Kushner called the indictment “troubling” and claimed that it’s evidence that Democrats are afraid of the “political strength” of his father-in-law.

Donald Trump’s indictment is "troubling" and a signal that Democrats are fearful of the former president's political strength,...

Donald Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday. As expected, the former president and his allies reacted with undiluted ire.

Trump responded initially with a pre-written statement railing against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, President Joe Biden, and the “Radical Left Democrats” for what he described as “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.” Two sources familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone they expect Trump to surrender to authorities on Tuesday.

“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,...

North Korea is a place of fearsome fascination. It’s the most brutal regime on earth, led by a dynastic dictator, Kim Jong-un, who has proved to be even more ruthless and obsessed with nuclear weapons than his father, Kim Jong-il. We all have a certain vision of North Korea, a country sealed like a prison, cut off from the rest of the world by technology (or the absence of it). You could say it exists as a kind of ghost state, a totalitarian hellhole in lockdown. But when you watch Madeleine Gavin’s staggering documentary “Beyond Utopia,” which is about what really goes on in North Korea, and about a handful of desperate souls who attempt to defect from it, you see North Korea — the full nightmare of the place — as never before.

The filmmaker got ahold of forbidden footage that was smuggled out of the country, and in...