The staff for Hokuto no Ken -Fist of the North Star-, the new anime of Tetsuo Hara‘s landmark manga Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken), announced on Wednesday that Kazuya Ichijō is voicing Fang Father, the leader of the Fang clan. The character will appear in the anime’s 12th episode this weekend.

The manga’s story is set in a post-apocalyptic world. The story centers on a man named Kenshiro, a master and successor to a deadly martial art, as he wanders the nuclear wasteland protecting the weak and innocent from violent thugs. In his travels, he must contend with other master martial artists and figures from his past, including his “brother” Raoh, who has crowned himself the king of the new world.

The anime stars:

Hiroshi Maeda (director of photography for Hellsing Ultimate, Aquarion) is directing the anime at TMS Entertainment, and Kazuma Ogasawara (episode director for Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These – Collision, Oshi no Ko (TV 2) is the assistant director. Kazuhiko Inukai (Girlfriend, Girlfriend) is in charge of the series scripts. Naoki Hisatsune (key animator for Fist of the North Star: Legend of Kenshiro, Fist of the North Star: Legend of Toki) is designing the characters. Kōji (3D director for Medalist) is serving as animation director. Yūki Hayashi (My Hero Academia) is composing the music. NIA Animation and Kishida Studio BACU are collaborating on the production.

Alexandros performs the opening theme song “Hallelujah.” Toshl performs the ending theme song, a remix of Crystal King‘s opening theme song “Ai o Torimodose!!” from the original anime.

The anime premiered with its first two episodes on the Tokyo MX and BS11 channels on April 10 at 25:00 JST (effectively, April 11 at 1:00 a.m.) Amazon Prime Video is streaming the anime worldwide.

The new anime announcement commemorates the series’ 40th anniversary. The staff stated that the CG-based anime will be more true to the original work.

The original manga ran in Shueisha‘s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1983 to 1988. Viz Media began publishing the manga in a new edition digitally and physically in June 2021.

The Fist of the North Star television anime ran for two seasons from 1984 to 1988 and had 152 episodes. The manga has inspired several other television anime, films, and spinoff anime. Hiroshi Kurao launched a new Fist of the North Star spinoff manga titled Hokuto no Ken Seikimatsu Drama Satsuei-hen (Fist of the North Star Apocalypse Drama Filming Arc) on the Comic Zenon manga website in February 2021.

Hiroshi Kurao‘s Elegy for the Henchmen: Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken: Ken’ō-gun Zako-tachi no Banka) spinoff manga got a short anime that premiered on the AT-X and Tokyo MX channels on January 5. The second part of the anime will premiere on July 6.

Sources: Hokuto no Ken -Fist of the North Star- anime’s website, Comic Natalie

Game launches for Switch 2 on July 23

Nintendo presented a new trailer for Splatoon Raiders, a new single-player spinoff game in its Splatoon series, during the Nintendo Direct livestream on Tuesday.

 

The game will launch on July 23 for Nintendo Switch 2.

Tthree new amiibo based on members of in-series band Deep Cut – Frye, Shiver and Big Man – who are in the game as swashbuckling musicians, will ship on the same day as the game.

In the game, players take the role of a mechanic and travel to the mysterious Spirhalite Islands alongside the Deep Cut trio for an adventure.

Splatoon 3, the latest entry in Nintendo‘s Splatoon shooter series, launched in September 2022. The game sold 3.45 million copies in Japan in the first three days of release. Nintendo had previously announced in September 2024 that Splatoon 3 would no longer receive regular updates. However, the game has since gotten updates following Switch 2’s release in June 2025.

Source: Nintendo Direct livestream

A website opened on Wednesday to announce the television anime adaptation of writer Izushiro and illustrator Ruria Miyuki‘s The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan (Saikyō Mahōshi no Inton Keikaku) light novel series. The website revealed the anime’s teaser promotional video, teaser visual, lead cast member, staff, and 2027 premiere.

Miyuki and Karu Yoneshiro (the artist of the light novel series’ manga adaptation) also drew illustrations to celebrate the anime announcement:

The anime will star Yūto Uemura as protagonist Alus Reigin.

Yūsuke Suzuki (This Monster Wants to Eat Me, Duel Masters Win) is directing the anime at HOTLINE. Gigaemon Ichikawa (Himitsu no AiPri, A Galaxy Next Door) is in charge of series scripts, Yūki Kitajima (The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, Kakegurui, One Piece episode key animator) is designing the characters, and Takatoshi Hamano (IDOLiSH7, Chainsmoker Cat, Ishura) is the sound director.

To commemorate the novels’ anime adaptation, a prequel manga titled Saikyō Mahōshi no Inton Keikaku Zero -Hajimari no Hishi-roku- (The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan Zero -The Secret History of the Beginning-) is scheduled to launch this winter. Yoneshiro is again drawing the manga. The manga will depict Alus’ life before he enrolled in the magic academy, and will connect to the main story.

J-Novel Club is publishing the light novels in English and describes the story:

In a world where the Fiends run rampant… Magicmaster Alus Reigin, the young prodigy that has defeated more Fiends and reclaimed more of humanity’s lost territory than anyone else alive, requests retirement from military service at age 16. But due to the twists and turns of fate surrounding his status as the No. 1 Magicmaster in the nation—the top Magicmaster out of more than 100,000—he ends up as a student at a special magical institute, hiding his identity and training his successors – a pair of beautiful Magicmaster girls! Not to mention continuing to defeat Fiends in secret.

Izushiro started publishing the novels on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website in 2015. Hobby Japan published the 20th novel volume on December 27.

Yoneshiro’s The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan – The Alternative – manga launched in Square Enix‘s Manga UP! app in 2020. The series ended with its 10th compiled book volume that shipped in January 2024. Comikey publishes the manga in English digitally.

Yoneshiro’s manga is the second manga adaptation of the novels. Yū Uonuma’s first manga adaptation serialized in Hobby Japan‘s website, and ran for two volumes.

Sources: The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan anime’s website, Comic Natalie