Pop-up opens on June 23-December 31 in Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance

Viz announced on Monday that Donguri Republic, the store chain in Japan which carries official merchandise from Studio Ghibli and other studios, is opening its first pop-up store in the United States. The store will open at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, California and will run from June 23 to December 31.

The pop-up store will feature over 400 exclusive gifts and products inspired by Studio Ghibli‘s animated works.

The grand opening will feature a promotional event where purchases over US$100 will receive a limited-edition Donguri Republic Los Angeles tote bag. Customers who attend Studio Ghibli Fest 2026 screenings at movie theaters can also receive exclusive movie film-style bookmarks with certain purchases.

Source: Email correspondence 

The staff for the television anime of Brocco Lee‘s manga adaptation of Nekoko‘s The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System (Tsuihō Sareta Tensei Jū Kishi wa Game Chishiki de Musō Suru) light novel series announced in its second full promotional video on Tuesday that ReoNa is performing the ending theme song “Lv. 1 Shokugyō: Ningen” (Level 1 Occupation: Human).

Kodansha is releasing the manga in English through its K MANGA service, and it describes the story:

“You good-for-nothing bastard. You are the son of a Sword Saint, yet you dare pull such a defective Class!?”

During the Divine Blessing Ceremony of the 15-year-old Elma who came from a lineage of Sword Saints, he had manifested a commonly deemed defective class known as the Heavy Knight. He had been deprived of his position as the next head of the Edvan Household and was then exiled. The Heavy Knight class had an unbalanced status and useless skills, to top it off, it was even said to be a class cowardly and indolent people have.

But, Elma knew better—that this world was the world of the game he had used to play before—and that the Heavy Knight class was the strongest class to exist. Elma made full use of the knowledge he had in his previous life and began his efficient walkthrough of the world he was reincarnated into.

The anime stars:

Shingo Suzuki is the general director, and Katsumasa Yokomine (The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today, Momentary Lily) is directing the anime at GoHands. Takayuki Uchida (The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses, The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today, W’z) is designing the characters, and also serving as one of the chief animation directors along with Keiji Tani (Momentary Lily) and Makoto Furuta (Momentary Lily). Tetsuichi Yamagishi (Cowboy Bebop: The Movie key animation) is the chief director, Hiroshi Ōkubo (K, The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses) is the main animator, Glovision is in charge of sound production, Enji Nakajima and Tetsuya Gunji are the sound directors, and Ludvig Forssell (BELLE film) is composing the music.

SPYAIR will perform the opening theme song “Awake” for the first cours.

The anime will air for two consecutive cours (quarter of a year) on TBS and MBS‘s Super Animeism TURBO programming block and it will premiere on July 2 at 24:26 JST (effectively, July 3 at 12:26 a.m.)

Nekoko began serializing the story on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō (Let’s Become Novelists) website in April 2021. Kodansha published the first print volume with illustrations by Jaian in June 2022, and the fourth volume shipped on December 26. Brocco Lee launched the manga adaptation in Kodansha‘s Yanmaga website in February 2022. The manga moved from Kodansha‘s Yanmaga website to Kodansha‘s Young Magazine in September 2024. The manga’s 17th volume shipped on April 6.

Seven Seas Entertainment also publishes Nekoko‘s Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling and Disciple of the Lich light novel series in English, and also publishes RIO’s manga adaptation of the Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling novels.

Sources: SHOCHIKU anime‘s YouTube channel, Comic Natalie

Bandai Namco Entertainment America began streaming a demo trailer for Echoes of Aincrad, the new action RPG based on Reki Kawahara‘s Sword Art Online franchise, on Monday. The demo launches on Monday, and it includes five missions and the different weapon types.

The game is set in the world of Aincrad, the setting of the original story’s eponymous in-story virtual MMO Sword Art Online. In Echoes of Aincrad, players explore Aincrad as one of the 10,000 players trapped in the MMO-turned-death game, and explore the world alongside other characters, including Kirito and Asuna.

Aimer performs the theme song “Live to Survive.”

The game will launch in Japan on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on July 9, and on PC via Steam on July 10. In the West, it will launch on all these platforms on July 10.

The game will have a Standard Edition, Deluxe Edition, Ultimate Edition, and Aincrad Edition release. The Deluxe Edition includes the expansion DLC and a starter item pack, as well as early access to the game’s “Death Game” mode (a mode where the game deletes your save on character death, and is normally available only after beating the game for the first time). The Ultimate Edition includes the Deluxe Edition content, and adds the “Unanswered//butterfly” bonus content app/special anime, digital soundtrack, digital artbook, and an in-game armor pack. The Aincrad Edition is exclusive to the Bandai Namco Store, and includes the Deluxe and Ultimate Edition content, adding a beanie, wall scroll, patches, and sticker pack.

The bundled “Unanswered//butterfly” bonus special promotional anime is included with the Ultimate and Premium Editions of the game and follows other characters during the events of the original Sword Art Online story.

Reki Kawahara began the Sword Art Online web novel in 2001, and serialized it from 2002 to 2008 on his website. Kadokawa‘s Dengeki Bunko label began publishing a newly edited print version in 2009, ending the original story with the “Alicization” arc as Kawahara had wrote it in his website with the 18th volume in 2016. The novel series returned with an all-new “Moon Cradle” story arc in 2017, and another all-new “Unital Ring” story arc in 2018, and is now in its 29th overall volume. The series has inspired novel and manga spinoffs, a television anime adaptation with several seasons, an anime film, and proposed live-action series. Kawahara’s Sword Art Online: Progressive spinoff novel series inspired two anime films of its own.

Sources: Email correspondence, Bandai Namco Entertainment America‘s YouTube channel

Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.