Anime

Ultraman Franchise Gets 60th Anniversary Documentary Film on July 3 – News

Published

49 minutes ago

May 14, 2026

Tsuburaya Productions announced on April 20 that its Ultraman tokusatsu franchise will have a documentary film titled The Origin of Ultraman. The documentary’s website began streaming a trailer on Thursday, revealing its July 3 opening date.

The documentary celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Ultraman franchise, and centers on the story of Ultraman’s creation, featuring footage of the first Ultraman series’ filming, with archival footage of Eiji Tsuburaya directing the crew. The documentary features interviews (some using archival footage) with staff involved with the production of Ultraman, including visual artst Tōru “Tohl” Narita, actors Susumu Kurobe, Hiroko Sakurai, Sandayū Dokumamushi, and more.

The documentary will also feature interviews (some using archival footage) with creative professionals influenced by the franchise (as well as writers and critics from different fields), including Guillermo del Toro, Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi, Hideo Kojima, Takashi Shimizu, Noi Sawaragi, Hidenori Okada, Toshihiro Iijima, Kazuo Sagawa, Kiyoshi Suzuki, Sadao Iizuka, Noriko Shishikura, Nicolas Winding Refn, Shannon Tindle, John Aoshima, Kairi Narita, and Pat Cadigan.

Acclaimed film director Hirokazu Kore-eda (live-action Look Back, Air Doll, Umimachi Diary) is credited for planning the documentary, and is also featured as one of the creatiives interviewed in the documentary.

Sources: The Origin of Ultraman documentary’s website, Eiga Natalie, Anime! Anime!

Anime

Talentless Nana Manga to End in 2 More Chapters – News

Published

2 seconds ago

May 14, 2026

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The June issue of Square Enix‘s Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine reported on Tuesday that Looseboy and Iori Furuya‘s Talentless Nana (Munō na Nana) manga will end in two more chapters. If there are no delays, the manga will end in July.

Square Enix‘s Manga UP! Global service is releasing the manga in English, and it describes the story:

An academy on an island in unnavigable waters. There, students trained tirelessly, to fight back against the enemies of humanity. The protagonist, a student newly transferred there, also sets out with the intention of eradicating all enemies of humankind. An unpredictable, intellectual suspense story of justice and evil.

Looseboy and Furuya launched the manga in Monthly Shonen Gangan in May 2016. Square Enix published the manga’s 14th compiled book volume in December 2025. Crunchyroll previously released the manga in English before it closed its first web manga service in December 2023. Square Enix‘s Manga UP! Global then began releasing the manga digitally.

The manga inspired a television anime that premiered in October 2020. Funimation streamed the anime as it aired in Japan, and it released the anime on Blu-ray Disc in February 2022.

Source: Monthly Shonen Gangan June issue

Anime

20th Anniversary Sgt. Frog Film Casts Theme Song Singers ano, Soshina – News

Published

1 hour ago

May 14, 2026

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kerorogunso-visual — Image via Gekijōban ☆ Keroro Gunsō Fukkatsu Shite Sokkō Chikyū Metsubō no Kiki de Arimasu! film’s website

The official website for Shin Gekijōban ☆ Keroro Gunsō Fukkatsu Shite Sokkō Chikyū Metsubō no Kiki de Arimasu! (New Sgt. Frog the Movie: The Earth Is in Mortal Peril as Soon as We Come Back!), the new 20th anniversary anime film project, announced on Thursday that ano and Soshina, who are performing the film’s opening theme song “Mata Kaettekita KERO! to MARCH,” are also guest cast members in the film. Singer ano is playing a researcher robot, and Soshina is playing a “man in Shibuya.” The site also announced that comedian Shinobu Hasegawa will narrate the film.

JESSE of the idol group SixTONES is voicing both new characters Aruru and Deruru, who are brothers from the planet Keron who apparently have a past link to Sgt. Frog‘s unit.

Yūichi Fukuda (live-action Gintama, Saint Young Men, HK/Hentai Kamen) is the supervising director and scriptwriter for the film, with Fumitoshi Oizaki (Sgt. Frog character designer, Romeo X Juliet, Etotama, Akuma Kun, The Gorilla God’s Go-To Girl) directing the anime at Bandai Namco Pictures, and Satoshi Koike (Etotama, Soul Eater Not!, Princess Connect! Re:Dive season 2) as character designer. In addition to the opening theme song, ano will also perform the “Kashippanashi Destiny” theme song for the film.

The film will open in Japan on June 26.

In addition to the film, an all-new Sgt. Frog television anime, titled Keroro Gunsō ☆, will debut in fall 2026. The television anime will have a brand-new cast, while this summer’s film will still feature the existing cast in the franchise.

Crunchyroll added the earlier television anime to its catalog beginning in 2021, and it describes the anime:

Keroro is Sergeant Frog – the leader of a platoon of warriors sent to conquer planet Earth. But when the amphibious invaders discovered how much humans enjoy dissecting their comrades, the troops were scattered, the mission was aborted, and Keroro was abandoned. Now, this once proud soldier spends more time wielding a vacuum than he does the weapons of war. It’s a far cry from the glory of battle, but hey, at least he’s got his own room. And though the invasion may have slowed to a hop, Sergeant Frog still occasionally yearns to overcome his karaoke addiction and reassemble his troops.

Sunrise’s earlier anime series based on Mine Yoshizaki‘s Sgt. Frog (Keroro Gunsō) manga ran from 2004 to 2011, and it spawned five feature films. Funimation released two “seasons” of the anime on DVD, after ADV Films had licensed but not released the anime.

Discotek licensed the anime, and its release of Sgt. Frog includes all 358 episodes in successive SD Blu-ray Disc volume releases by season, beginning in 2021. Discotek released seasons 5-7 last year.

American manga publisher Tokyopop released twenty volumes of the original manga in North America before shutting its doors in 2011.

Sources: Shin Gekijōban ☆ Keroro Gunsō Fukkatsu Shite Sokkō Chikyū Metsubō no Kiki de Arimasu! anime film’s website, Comic Natalie

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.

Anime

Crunchyroll Manga Adds 23 Kodansha USA Catalog Titles, Dricam!! From Shueisha – News

Published

3 hours ago

May 14, 2026

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Manga cover art for Attack on Titan — Image courtesy of Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll announced on Wednesday it is partnering with Kodansha USA to add manga titles from Kodansha‘s back catalog to the Crunchyroll Manga app on May 18. Crunchyroll will also add You Chiba’s Dricam!! from Shueisha to the app on the same date. Crunchyroll Manga is adding the following Kodansha titles:

The Crunchyroll Manga app launched on iOS and Android devices in the United States and Canada on October 9, with the browser version launching on October 15. The ad-free app is separate from the main Crunchyroll streaming service.

Pre-existing subscribers to Crunchyroll‘s Ultimate Fan subscription tier are able to use the service at no additional cost. The Fan and Mega Fan tiers can add access to the app for an additional cost.

Crunchyroll describes the service as being “powered by Link-U Group,” the Japanese media company that operates such services as digital manga site Comikey, digital manga store Compass, webtoon company Studio Moon6, and VTuber and streaming production company Romanz.

Partner publishers for the service include AlphaPolis, Compass, Square Enix, Viz Media, Yen Press, Shueisha, J-Novel Club, and ThirdlineNEXT.

Features for the app include mobile, tablet, and browser compatibility; downloading chapters for offline reading; light and dark mode; full page spreads; and the ability to create a personalized reading list with recommendations.

This is not the first time that Crunchyroll has offered manga, with the company launching the first Crunchyroll Manga service in October 2013. The service was simultaneously publishing (simulpub) titles from Kodansha USA Publishing in over 170 countries. Crunchyroll removed 14 simulpub titles in February 2018 and removed 10 catalog titles in March 2018. Kodansha USA Publishing then removed a number of its manga titles from Crunchyroll in January 2023. Kodansha had issued a statement to Crunchyroll, saying that its suspension of simulpub updates was due to “changes” in its simulpub distribution program.