Anime platform Oshi unveiled a new key visual for GATE 2: Tides of Conflict, the sequel to the television anime of Takumi Yanai‘s Gate: Jiei-tai Ka no Chi ni te, Kaku Tatakaeri (GATE: The Self-Defense Forces Fight Like This in Another Land) light novel series, on Thursday.

The staff also revealed that the anime will have a collaboration with the VOCALOID Collection Summer 2026 event, with the anime’s ending theme song being selected from the winning submission to the event, which is open to participants worldwide. While the VOCALOID Collection Summer 2026 event submissions will use Vocaloid synthesized vocalists for the submissions, the winning submission song will have a new version made with a new vocalist chosen through a separate collaboration with the Utaite Collection event in fall 2026.

The staff also revealed that the anime will feature at the Oshi booth at Anime Expo. The booth will show production materials.

The anime will premiere on television in 2027.

Fans will be able to use Oshi to “actively contribute” to the anime’s production by using the Oshi platform, which claims to connect creators, licensees, and fans in “a single ecosystem.” The platform touts exclusive behind-the-scenes content and engagement for fans, as well as “clear and equitable” collaboration between IP owners and licensees, as well as worldwide accessibility to anime fans. The platform is currently in soft launch.

Tōru Takahashi (Orphen: The Revenge, Inari Kon Kon) is directing the anime at Studio M2. Tatsuhiko Urahata returns from the first GATE anime as the writer. Shigeru Fujita (Monster, Pluto) is designing the characters. Kasagi Labo, Oshi, and GENCO are producing. Yoshiaki Fujisawa will return from the first anime to compose the anime’s music.

Takumi Yanai‘s GATE SEASON2 Jieitai Kano Umi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri light novel series is a sequel to his original Gate: Jiei-tai Ka no Chi ni te, Kaku Tatakaeri light novel series. The sequel novels had five volumes published between 2017 and 2020 (a new bunkoban version with five volumes was also released between 2020 and 2022 with illustrations by Kurojishi, the bunkoban version illustrator of the first series of novels). 

Oshi describes the Season 2 novels’ plot:

Following the reopening of the mysterious ‘GATE,’ the Japanese Self-Defense Forces continue diplomatic and exploratory missions in the Special Region, a realm parallel to our world. When an American journalist is kidnapped in this region’s troubled seas, an elite Japanese Maritime unit embarks on a high-stakes rescue mission. This new chapter of the acclaimed fantasy saga explores fresh adventures, diplomatic tensions, and thrilling action in a world beyond imagination.

Yanai serialized the original story on the Arcadia website between 2006 and 2009. AlphaPolis published the story in print in five volumes and five side story volumes from 2010 to 2015. The novels inspired the first television anime adaptation, which premiered in 2015, with a second season premiering in 2016. Crunchyroll streamed both seasons. Sentai Filmworks released both seasons on home video.

Satoru Sao launched a manga adaptation on AlphaPolis‘ website in 2011, and ended it in September 2025. Sekai Project once published the manga, but canceled its releases in 2021. AlphaPolis currently releases the manga in English. Sao launched a manga adaptation of GATE 2 after finishing the first manga.

Yanai wrote a two-volume prequel novel series titled GATE 0. The two volumes released in December 2021 and August 2022. Ryohichi Saitaniya launched a manga adaptation of GATE 0 on AlphaPolis‘ website in March 2024, where it is still ongoing.

Source: Press release

Actor Hideaki Itō narrates short that spans 48 years

The Star Wars franchise released a new animated “Okaeri, Star Wars” (Welcome Back, Star Wars) short on Friday, one week before the saga returns to theaters with The Mandalorian and Grogu film. Japanese actor Hideaki Itō (live-action Umizaru, Sukiyaki Western Django, Terraformars) narrates this story of passing Star Wars from parent to child.

The short opens with a boy catching the first Star Wars film at the Nichigeki — the real-life Tokyo theater (as seen and destroyed in several Godzilla films) that gave Star Wars its splashy Japanese premiere in 1978. The boy then starts collecting the theatrical pamphlets, Kenner action figures, and even bottle caps before watching Return of the Jedi on his first date in 1983. He takes his son to see his first film, The Phanom Menace, in 1999, and his son becomes a huge fan with The Force Awakens in 2015. In 2026, three generations of fans watch Star Wars‘ return to theaters.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is set to open in Japan and the United States on May 22. It is the first Star Wars film to open in theaters since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Jon Favreau directs this film starring Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin/The Mandalorian, Jeremy Allen White as Rotta the Hutt, and Sigourney Weaver as Ward.

Source: Star Wars‘s YouTube channel