Anime

Director Masaaki Yuasa Curates TIFF’s Marquee Series of Anime This Fall – News

Published

2 months ago

May 26, 2026

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“Drawn Universes: Visions in Animation” marquee series to present “sweeping survey of animation”

Image courtesy of TIFF

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) revealed on Tuesday that director Masaaki Yuasa (DEVILMAN crybaby, INU-OH) is guest-curating a marquee series of anime this November-December titled “Drawn Universes: Visions in Animation.” TIFF will announce the specific dates at a later time. According to TIFF, the series “will present a sweeping survey of animation, spanning years of groundbreaking storytelling, artistry, and innovation.”

Yuasa commented:

“It is an honour to curate this series for TIFF. I am looking forward to finally meeting the Toronto audience that I have heard so much about. As I begin shaping the lineup, I am excited to look back at the works that sparked my own imagination from a young age, and to curate a series with a focus on the artists who have defined the genre and the incredible creators who continue to push the visual possibilities.”

Yuasa launched the ame pippin studio in February 2025 in collaboration with ASMIK Ace, Aniplex, and CoMix Wave Films. The studio’s website lists Yuasa as CEO and co-founder. The studio is releasing the Japanese-French co-production Daisy’s Life in 2026.

Yuasa started as a key animator for such anime as Doraemon: Nobita’s Animal Planet and The Legend of the Dog Warriors: The Hakkenden. He moved on to Crayon Shin-chan where he was animation director on a number of episodes, and did animation work on the franchise films.

Yuasa co-founded Science SARU with Eunyoung Choi in 2013. The duo’s “Food Chain” episode of the American animated series Adventure Time earned them an Annie Award nomination in 2014. Yuasa’s major anime credits as director include Japan Sinks: 2020, DEVILMAN crybaby, Kemonozume, Kick-Heart, Lu over the wall, Mind Game, Ride Your Wave, Ping Pong, The Tatami Galaxy, and Kaiba.

Yuasa retired as president of the studio Science SARU in March 2020. He most recently directed INU-OH, the musical anime feature film of Hideo Furukawa‘s Heike Monogatari: Inu-Oh no Maki (Tales of the Heike: Inu-Oh) novel. The film opened in Japan in May 2022.

Source: Email correspondence

Anime

Japan’s Video Game Rankings, July 27-August 2 – News [2026-08-07]

Published

8 minutes ago

August 7, 2026

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Nippon Ichi’s Village in the Shade Switch 2 version debuts at #3, Switch Version at #7, PS5 version at #11

Japan’s Game Ranking: July 27-August 2

Rank	System	Title	Publisher	Release Date	Weekly Copies	Total Copies
1	NSw 2	Splatoon Raiders	Nintendo	July 23	73,542	548,226
2	NSw	Rhythm Heaven Groove	Nintendo	July 2	59,884	734,476
3	NSw 2	Village in the Shade	Nippon Ichi Software	July 30	21,965	21,965
4	NSw	Tomodachi Life	Nintendo	April 16	18,306	1,518,331
5	NSw	The Prince of Tennis Sweet School Festival ♡-40 and more…	Konami	July 30	16,996	16,996
6	NSw	The Prince of Tennis Doki Doki Survival eternal passion	Konami	July 30	16,987	16,987
7	NSw	Village in the Shade	Nippon Ichi Software	July 30	12,458	12,458
8	NSw	Blue Reflection Quartet	Koei Tecmo Games	July 30	7,880	7,880
9	PS5	Blue Reflection Quartet	Koei Tecmo Games	July 30	7,019	7,019
10	NSw	Powerful Pro Baseball 2026-2027	Konami	June 11	5,928	189,164
11	PS5	Village in the Shade	Nippon Ichi Software	July 30	5,880	5,880
12	NSw 2	Mario Kart World	Nintendo	June 5, 2025	5,714	3,006,463
13	NSw	Ganbare Goemon Daishūgō!	Konami	July 2	5,495	73,893
14	NSw 2	Pokémon Pokopia	Nintendo	March 5	5,062	1,097,557
15	NSw	Kimi ni Madoi, Kimi ni Oboreru.	Idea Factory	July 30	4,598	4,598
16	NSw	Minecraft	Nippon Microsoft	June 21, 2018	4,464	4,249,637
17	NSw 2	Xenoblade Definite Edition	Nintendo	July 30	3,713	3,713
18	NSw 2	eFootball Kick-Off!	Konami	June 4	3,221	63,738
19	NSw	Moomintroll: Fuyu no Nukumori	Kakehashi Games	July 30	2,898	2,898
20	NSw	Splatoon 3	Nintendo	September 9, 2022	2,840	4,563,560

Source: Famitsu

Anime

Live-Action ‘Chotto Matō yo, Harutora-kun’ BL Series’ Trailer Previews Ending Song – News

Published

47 minutes ago

August 7, 2026

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Chihiro performs ending theme song “Honeyy” for August 13 show

MBS presented a new trailer for the live-action series of Amekiri‘s Chotto Matō yo, Harutora-kun (Wait a second, Harutora-kun) boys-love manga on Friday. The trailer reveals and previews the series’ ending theme song “Honeyy” by Chihiro.

harutora-kv2 — Image via Dramaphil X/Twitter account

The story follows mask-wearing high schooler Sui, who becomes the target of bullying after it is revealed he is gay. When new student Harutora enters the school, Sui becomes inspired by his straightforward nature to open up and the two slowly fall in love.

The series stars Masaya Sakuragi as Harutora Kurobe and Tsubasa Nakagawa as Sui Kishida.

Other cast members include:

Rio Takahashi as Daiki Shimizu, a close friend who is protective of Sui

Aren Sakurai as Yūma Shibusawa, Sui’s classmate

Yūga as Rui Sakuraniwa, another classmate

Gakuto Tanaka as Shun Tsuchiya, Harutora’s classmate

Ryōko Takizawa as Shino Kishida, Sui’s mother

Eri Tokunaga as Aya Kurobe, Harutora’s mother

Keisuke Shibata and Masayoshi Kishida are directing the series. Motoko Takahashi and Riuji Yoshizaki are writing the scripts. Kо̄ji Endо̄ is composing the music. Lawyer Mimano Kawamoto serves as LGBTQ supervisor and Momoko Nishiyama serves as intimacy coordinator. Lienel performs the series’ opening theme song “Ichizu no Rinbu” (Single-Minded Round Dance).

The series will premiere on the Dramaphil programming block on MBS on August 13. The series will also start on TV Kanagawa on August 13, TV Saitama on August 17, Gunma TV on August 18, Tochigi TV on August 19, and Chiba TV on August 20.

Shinshokan shipped the manga’s first volume in October 2022 and the second volume in April 2025.

Seven Seas publishes Amekiri‘s Hatsukoi Note manga in English and shipped the second volume in February 2025.

Sources: MBS‘ YouTube channel, Comic Natalie

Anime

‘Made in Abyss: Mezameru Shinpi’ Unveils Additional Cast Pair, Theme Song, Third Trailer

Published

5 hours ago

August 7, 2026

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The official website for the Made in Abyss anime series revealed a pair of additional cast members, the theme song, and a third trailer for the Mezameru Shinpi (Awakening Mystery) anime movie on Friday. The movie is scheduled to open in Japanese theaters on October 23.
Kevin Penkin feat. Mori Calliope (Gachiakuta) is performing the theme song “Chain of the Abyss,” which is previewed in the trailer below.

Masayuki Kojima (Monster) returns to helms the new movie at Kinema Citrus. Hideyuki Kurata (Goblin Slayer) is penning the script. Kazuchika Kise (Koukaku Kidoutai Arise) and Yuka Kuroda (Black Bullet main animator) are designing the characters. Kevin Penkin (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari) is returning to compose the music.

Made in Abyss adapts Akihito Tsukushi‘s adventure fantasy manga of the same title, which began its serialization in the Web Comic Gamma website in October 2012. Takeshobo published the 14th volume in August 2025 and will release the 15th volume on August 26.

Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga in English in 2017 and shipped the 14th volume on March 31. The manga has also been published in multiple foreign languages, including Chinese, Mandarin, and Korean.

Trailer 3