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Utagoe ha Mille-Feuille , a music project featuring characters and young female voice actors, released its fifth CD single "Starlight" on January 22, 2025, accompanied by a music video on the project's official YouTube channel . Utagoe ha Mille-Feuille "Starlight" Music Video The CD single ranked #8 in Oricon's daily single charts on its first day. The coupling song of the single is a cappella cover version of Maaya Sakamoto's fifth single song in 1999, “Platinum” ( Cardcaptor Sakura opening theme). CD single jacket Based on the themes of "a cappella," "high school girls" and "complex," the Utagoe ha Mille-Feuille project launched by Pony Canyon in April 2022. The project depicts a story in which the characters and their voice cast members grow together through a cappella. The members include: Uta Komaki voiced by Mirai Ayase (her debut role): Musubu Mayumori voiced by Yuko Natsuyoshi (Tsubaki in In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki ) Airi Kojo...

The official website for Kimi to Idol Precure♪ ("You and Idol Precure♪"), Toei Animation's upcoming 22nd Precure TV series, fully opened today, revealing the main information such as a teaser trailer, visuals, main voice cast members, and theme song singers. The site also announced that the anime is set to premiere on the ABC/TV Asahi networks' 24 affiliate stations in Japan on February 2, 2025. Kimi to Idol Precure♪ Teaser Trailer Main Visual Related: Toei Animation Announces 22nd Precure TV Series "Kimi to Idol Precure♪" The voice actors portraying the three Precure girls are as follows: Cure Idol / Uta Sakura voiced by Misato Matsuoka (Tsubame Mizusaki in Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! ) Cure Wink / Nana Aokaze voiced by Minami Takahashi (Megumi Tadokoro in Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma ) Cure Kyunkyun / Kokoro Shigure voiced by Natsumi Takamori (Komekome in Delicious Party Precure ) Additionally, visuals of two fairy characters named Purirun (left) and...

Science Saru made a big splash with Dandadan, one of 2024's top anime—but long before that, they had another major hit, and its creator is hungry for more. In 2020, Science Saru released an adaptation of Eizouken ni wa Te o Dasu na!, better known as Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! in the West. Centered on three friends who combine their unique talents and proclivities to pursue a shared dream of creating anime, Sumito Owara's Eizouken can be considered a love letter to anime as an art form.

Fittingly, Science Saru's anime adaptation answered the call with an expertly crafted adaptation of the work. The anime did spectacularly well, and Eizouken now sits comfortably with an 8.14 on MyAnimeList as of the time of writing. Praised on every front from its art direction to its soundtrack, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! was Science Saru's definitive mission statement as a studio.

Dan Da Dan has been a hit this fall 2024 anime season which may have made you curious about the anime studio behind it. Longtime anime fans may already be well aware of Science Saru , but if you’re new to their stellar animation, then let’s introduce you. Science Saru was founded by Masaaki Yuasa and Eunyong Choi in 2013. They were one of the first anime studios that successfully combined traditional animation with digital tools and techniques. If you are familiar with Adventure Time , you may remember the studio’s first work, the short Adventure Time: Food Chain from 2014. The studio’s been creating unforgettable anime ever since ranging from Yurei Deco , Keike Monogatari , shorts for Star Wars: Visions and more, reaching critical acclaim along the way from the likes of the Japan Media Arts Festival, Annecy International Animated Film Festival and several others. With Dan Da Dan shaping up...

Sumito Oowara, the author of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! manga, has taken to X to shed light on the issue of unpaid cover illustrations in the manga industry.

Oowara’s posts revealed that many manga artists, despite the significant work involved, are often expected to create cover illustrations for free.

Sumito Oowara calls out industry practice:

The author debunked the misconception that manga artists willingly draw covers out of passion, explaining that such assumptions misrepresent the reality.

Related:

George Morikawa Advocates For Rights Of Manga Authors To Safeguard Their Creative Vision

“I draw covers because I’m asked to—of course, that’s the case,” he wrote. “The idea that ‘mangaka voluntarily draw their own covers’ is just a pretense and doesn’t reflect the reality at all.”

Oowara shared a personal account of his experience negotiating with an editor. When he suggested leaving the cover blank if he...

Dan Da Dan has already gone viral after a mere two weeks from its premiere, and not just because of the sheer quality of this new anime from Science Saru, but also for having one of the best openings in recent years, on the notes of "Otonoke" by Creepy Nuts. For the generation that grew up trying to watch anime episodes divided into three parts and with dubious subtitles, the fact that now there are worldwide simul releases on one or more streaming services is astonishing. The Dan Da Dan anime adaptation is a prime example of this occurrence, quickly becoming a major topic online even before its premiere.

Part of Dan Da Dans quick popularity gain was thanks to the early release of its opening theme Otonoke by Creepy Nuts, the same musical duo responsible for the viral song Bling Bang Bang Born from Mashle season 2. Another factor that...

The official Twitter for The Colors Within (known as Kimi no Iro in Japan), an upcoming original theatrical anime film directed by Naoko Yamada ( Liz and the Blue Bird ), has announced that the movie won the Best Animation Film Award at the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival in China on June 22. The other four films in the official selection of the animation film category were: "Buffalo Kids" Director: Pedro Solis Juan Jesús García Galocha 'Galo' Country/Region: Spain "Living Large" Director: Kristina Dufková Country/Region: Czech Republic | Slovakia | Franc "The Glassworker" Director: Usman Riaz Country/Region: Pakistan | United States "The Royal Cat" Director: Cao Liang Country/Region: China The festival's official website describes The Colors Within as: Synesthete Totsuko can see others as colors. Honor student Kimi has dropped out of school but still pretends to attend for her grandmother's sake. They reunite and decide to form a band with Rui,...

A new TV anime adaptation has been announced for Ghost in the Shell , the classic cyberpunk manga by Shirow Masamune. Tentatively titled The Ghost in the Shell , the new TV anime is scheduled to broadcast in 2026 and features animation production by animation studio science Saru. A teaser video and visual (below) have been released for the series. The original Ghost in the Shell manga was serialized from April 1989 – November 1990 in Kodansha's Young Magazine seinen manga publication, and an English language version is also available from Kodansha USA. In addition to the original manga, Ghost in the Shell has inspired numerous anime, live-action, and video game adaptations over the years. No additional details about the new production have yet been revealed. The Ghost in the Shell teaser visual Related: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Anime Launches Official Website for '0th Anniversary' of Laughing Man Incident Kodansha...

Japanese film production and distribution company Toho announced on May 23 that it will acquire animation production company Science Saru as a subsidiary. In June, Toho will acquire all shares of Science Saru held by its representative, Eunyoung Choi. Masaaki Yuasa and Eunyoung Choi originally founded the studio in 2013. The studio has produced numerous animated feature films directed by Yuasa, including The Night is Short, Walk on Girl (2017), Lu Over the Wall (2017) and Inu-oh (2022), as well as animated series such as Ping Pong the Animation (2014), Devilman Crybaby (2018) and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (2020), and others. Yuasa stepped down as president and representative director of the studio in 2020 , with Choi becoming CEO shortly after . Naoko Yamada also directed the anime series The Heike Story (2021) at the studio, as well as the upcoming feature film The Colors Within . Other directors who have worked at the studio include Abel Góngora, Tomohisa Shimoyama and Shingo Natsume.

Netflix and Sony’s anime specialty platform Crunchyroll will both stream the upcoming Japanese anime series Dan Da Dan, an adaptation of the manga of the same name created by Yukinobu Tatsu. Netflix will stream the series globally, while Crunchyroll will simulcast it everywhere except in Asia as the episodes air in Japan. Taiwan-based anime distributor Muse also revealed during Hong Kong Filmart Tuesday that it has picked up Asia rights to the anticipated title.

The anime adaptation will be directed by Fuga Yamashiro, whose credits include being assistant director on Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! and Tatami Time Machine Blues. The script is written by Hiroshi Seko (Attack on Titan Final Season; Jujutsu Kaisen). The series is produced by Science Saru, the animation studio behind Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, Devilman crybaby, Star Wars: Visions (episodes “T0-B1” and “Akakiri”), and the recent hit Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

Crunchyroll...

Taiwan-based anime distribution and licensing company Muse Communication has acquired Asian distribution rights for anime “Dan Da Dan,” it was revealed at Hong Kong rights market FilMart on Monday.

Written and illustrated by Yukinobu Tatsu, Japanese manga series “Dan Da Dan” was serialized in Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ app and website from 2021. The anime series based on it is directed by Fuga Yamashiro (“Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!”) from a script by Hiroshi Seko (“Attack on Titan Final Season”). The series is from Science Saru, the animation studio behind “Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!” and “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.”

The Japanese voice cast includes Shion Wakayama (“Lycoris Recoil”), Natsuki Hanae (“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba”), Mayumi Tanaka (“One Piece”) and Kazuya Nakai (“One Piece”).

The series follows Momo, a high school girl who comes from a family of spirit mediums, and her classmate Okarun, an occult fanatic. After Momo rescues Okarun from being bullied,...

Dandadan is a manga that follows the tradition of dark shonen with its intense battle scenes and darker storytelling, making it a perfect follow-up to popular titles like Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man. The anime adaptation of Dandadan has an impressive staff lineup, including talented individuals who have worked on notable productions like Devilman Crybaby and Jujutsu Kaisen, ensuring a high-quality and visually stunning series. With Science Saru, the renowned studio known for their exceptional animation and unique visuals, at the helm of the Dandadan anime, it has the potential to become one of the standout dark Shonen Jump anime of 2024, surpassing the manga's underrated status.

Dandadan is a manga under the Shonen Jump label about Momo Ayase and Okarun, a pair of teens enamored with spirits and aliens who suddenly find both to be all too real. After a bad encounter with both results in Okarun losing his genitalia,...

Added: Scott Pilgrim is back (in anime form), and he is ready to rock. With the release of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the upcoming animated series from Netflix, comes a 63-track soundtrack album from Lakeshore Records, featuring the music of artists Anamanaguchi and Joe Trapanese. Also included are three tracks from Sex Bob-Omb (the in-world band featuring cast members) as well as a few additional original songs.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the upcoming animated series based on the graphic novels, reunites the cast from Edgar Wright’s 2010 film adaptation for a new take, produced by anime studio Science Saru and written by Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski. Once again, hapless 20-something Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) will meet Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the girl of his literal dreams — and fight her seven evil exes in order to have a chance with her.

Anamanaguchi previously worked on the soundtrack for...

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to the stage, Sex Bob-omb! Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was not able to beat The Expendables or Eat, Pray, Love when all three opened the same day at the box office back in 2010, but the off-beat comedy from Edgar Wright has developed a cult following ever since. Never fear, vegans! Netflix has just premiered its first teaser at the anime adaptation series, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, which will be reuniting the entire cast of the film, plus has Edgar Wright on as executive producer. The series will have a total of eight episodes and is set to premiere on the streaming service this fall.

The official synopsis from Netflix reads,

“Scott Pilgrim meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, but learns he must defeat her seven evil exes in order to date her. Then things get even more complicated. Based on the...

Anime might be most well known for tackling genres like action and romance, but the best anime comedies are some of the funniest TV series to ever exist. While dramas and intense battle shonen have always risen to the top of popularity lists, comedy is just as important to the history of anime. After all, comedy is enjoyable no matter what genre of anime fans prefer.

Laughing is the perfect way to wind down after a long day, and funny anime series are a good distraction when life is a bit too much. With so much happening worldwide in the last few years, anime fans need comedy and a few laughs more than ever, and these series are the perfect way to unwind. Anime is a unique medium and the best anime comedies all use the versatility of animation to enhance gags that were already funny on a conceptual level.

“Hina is Beautiful,” a new film from Japan’s Iwaisawa Kenji, director of the cult “On-Gaku: Our Sound”), headlines an Annecy Animation Showcase at this year’s Cannes’ Marché du Film.

The Showcase in general looks like a declaration of intentions from the world’s most important animation festival. Its shows heartfelt support for some of the world’s most original, redolent and sometimes riotous – think France’s Jul, Brazil’s Otto Guerra – adult animation auteurs of all ages, hailing from four corners of the earth.

All productions are works in progress, though production status varies radically from one title to another.

“Hina” looks to have largely flown under the international radar to date, which will make this year’s Showcase a must-attend after Iwaisawa burst onto the scene with left-of-field musical comedy “On-Gaku,” hailed by Variety as 2020’s “biggest dark horse in anime fandom.” If it’s half as...

"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" remains one of the best video game adjacent movies ever, one that captures the aesthetic and the essence of leveling up and defeating bosses, all while also being, along with "Speed Racer" and "Alita: Battle Angel," one of the best live-action anime movies, even though this one is not based on an anime.

Edgar Wright's second most underrated film (after "The World's End") exudes style, is presented through a very specific lens, and if you get on its wavelength, it results in a phenomenal cartoony experience and a great adaptation of the comic series by Bryan Lee O'Malley. And yet, as well as the film captures the anime aesthetic, there are things that just don't quite work in live-action. It is great news, then, that this story is finally making its way to the medium it was always meant to be told in — anime.

Scott Pilgrim will be back, and in computer-generated living color: Netflix has picked up an anime series about the beloved slacker-musician from the classic graphic novels, which was made into a 2010 film that starred Michael Cera.

In fact, Cera will lend his voice to the new series as Scott, a member of a garage band who falls for a gal named Ramona but must first defeat her seven previous lovers. Mary Elizabeth Winstead will reprise the role as Ramona.

Other actors from the movie who will be lending their voice for the Netflix series are Satya Bhabha as Matthew Patel, Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells, Chris Evans as Lucas Lee, Anna Kendrick as Stacey Pilgrim, Brie Larson as Envy Adams, Alison Pill as Kim Pine, Aubrey Plaza as Julie Powers, Brandon Routh as Todd Ingram, Jason Schwartzman as Gideon Graves, Johnny Simmons as Young Neil, Mark Webber Stephen Still, Mae Whitman...

The 18th edition of the Osaka Asian Film Festival (Oaff 2023) will close with “Side by Side”, the second feature film from veteran screenwriter Ito Chihiro.

After a career of writing hit films like “Crying Out Love in the Center of the World”, Ito Chihiro makes her second film as director, “Side by Side”, a drama with a magical realist twist that follows a young man who can sense the thoughts of other people. Produced by award-winning director Yukisada Isao, it features leading star Sakaguchi Kentaro, together with an excellent cast that includes Saito Asuka, Asaka Kodai, Isomura Ameri, and Ichikawa Mikako.

Story

Miyama (Sakaguchi Kentaro) is a mysterious young man with the ability to sense the thoughts of other people. These thoughts sometimes take the form of a spirit that haunts Miyama. With this power, he can detect and heal people suffering from physical ailments and emotional traumas. He does...

“Inu-Oh” was reviewed by TheWrap out of the 2021 Venice Film Festival.

The competition may be fierce, but it’s probably safe to say that Masaaki Yuasa’s “Inu-Oh” is the best feudal-Japanese-hair-metal-demonic-curse-serial-killer-political-tragedy-rock-opera of the year. At least so far.

And if that sounds silly, that’s Masaaki Yuasa for you. The filmmaker is crafting an exhilarating career out of transforming oddball pitches into profound pop art, from the grotesquely beautiful “Devil Man Cry Baby” to the joyously earnest “Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!” The stories he tells, like the intense and unhinged animation styles he employs, can barely be contained on the screen, and they have seemingly no interest in conforming to expectation.

So it’s fitting that “Inu-Oh” centers around art that inspires, that challenges, that defies. The film takes place in 14th century Japan, where a young blind boy named Tomona wanders away from his home in search of vengeance.

As I have mentioned many times before, I consider Masaaki Yuasa one of the greatest anime filmmakers living today, particularly for his effort to stray away from the rules of the category, as dictated by Studio Ghibli and the plethora of action anime out there. “Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!” may be his greatest work yet.

The story, which is based on Sumito Owara’s manga, revolves around three high school girls. Midori Asakusa wants to create an anime but is too timid and afraid to show all her sketches to anyone or move forward with a plan like this. By pure chance, she meets Tsubame Mizusaki, a teen-idol whose parents are even more famous, and she is desperately trying to escape from their influence and become an animator. Sayaka Kanamori is a scary looking tall girl who also happens to be Midori’s only friend. Soon the three of them,...

HBO Max has officially entered the streaming wars and while it brings with it an impressive library of content—both old and new—it’s also realized how important a decent anime selection is to users. Warner Brothers has ties with companies like Studio Ghibli and anime specialty services like Crunchyroll, which they’re able to pull from for content.

17 titles from Crunchyroll have debuted on the service with other heavy hitters like Death Note and Hunter x Hunter already announced for later this year. Since HBO Max has an impressive anime library to work through, here’s a helpful guide to some of the best titles that are now available.

Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke is one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most powerful and important films, which is saying something. Here the prolific director weaves a stunning story about man’s negative effect on nature. It’s a traditional theme,...

Anime continues to push boundaries not only in animation, but also in terms of what can be accomplished in a television series.

There are now more ways than ever to stream anime. These anime streaming services offer deep libraries that can be overwhelming. There are countless anime landmark shows worth your time, but here’s a list of some of the most impressive new anime series to come out in 2019 and 2020 to help cut through the noise and alleviate those anime streaming woes.

Mob Psycho 100 II

What’s It Like? Bored to Death meets Legion

Where Can I Watch It? Crunchyroll, Funimation (Sub and Dub), Adult Swim (Dub only)

There’s nothing like a good comeback story. Few anime have such incredible turnarounds between seasons as Mob Psycho 100 did. During the show’s first season, the creator’s sister series, One-Punch Man, was the more impressive of the two.