The editors of both Houbunsha‘s Manga Time Kirara magazine and Comic Fuz website announced on Monday that manga creator Afro will go on hiatus due to their health worsening from the stress of serializing two manga at the same time. As a result, the Laid-Back Camp manga and mono manga will both go on hiatus. Both manga will return at dates to be announced later by their respective editors.

Afro launched the Laid-Back Camp (Yurucamp) manga in Houbunsha‘s Manga Time Kirara Forward magazine in 2015, and moved it to Comic Fuz website in 2019. Houbunsha published the manga’s 18th compiled book volume in November 2025. Yen Press began releasing the manga in English in March 2018.

The anime’s first season premiered in January 2018. The second season of the anime premiered in January 2021. An anime film based on the manga opened in July 2022. The third television anime season premiered in April 2024. The fourth season will debut in 2027. Crunchyroll streamed the three anime seasons and distributes the anime film.

A live-action television series adaptation of the original manga premiered in January 2019.

Afro launched the mono four-panel manga  in Houbunsha‘s Manga Time Kirara Carat in March 2017. Houbunsha released the manga’s fifth volume in June 2025. Yen Press is releasing the manga in English. The manga inspired a television anime that premiered in April 2025. Crunchyroll streamed the anime.

Source: Manga Time Kirara X/Twitter account

A website opened on Tuesday to announce Animmersive Live: Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime, an immersive musical show based on Mamoru Hosoda‘s BELLE anime film which will run from October 20 to November 15 at MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives in Tokyo. 

“Animmersive,” a blending of anime and immersive show, is a new immersive musical live show where “the world of animation becomes reality.” Animmersive Live: Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime is a spinoff story set five years after the original film. In the story, Hiro-chan, the “As” (another self) avatar of the singer BELLE‘s producer, tries to produce and discover a new diva by holding the biggest music festival in the history of the virtual world U.

Yuki Hiroya is the show’s creative director, Yuichiro Komikado is writing the script, and Toshitaka Shinoda (Road to You: Kioku ni Mau Konayuki director; Horimiya, Hula Fulla Dance ending director) is the show’s video director. Akira Yamazaki (Bocchi the Rock! stage play director and writer) is the stage director, Tatsurō Ogata is the CG director, and Teddy Loid (Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, New PANTY & STOCKING with GARTERBELT, Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider music composition) is the music director. Mika Pikazo (Re:bel Robotica mixed media project creator) and Nike Shimaguchi (KILLTUBE) are designing the characters. 

BELLE opened in Japan in July 2021. The film had IMAX screenings in 38 theaters throughout Japan. This makes BELLE the first of Hosoda’s films to have IMAX screenings. The film is Hosoda’s highest-grossing film.

Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, The Boy and The Beast, Mirai) directed and scripted the film, and is also credited for the original work. The film marks Studio Chizu‘s 10th anniversary. Taisei Iwasaki (Blood Blockade Battlefront, Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan, The Naked Director) was the film’s music director and composer.

GKIDS began screening the film in English and in Japanese with English subtitles in the U.S. in January 2022. GKIDS and Shout! Factory then released the film on digital platforms and on Blu-ray Disc in May that same year.

Sources: Animmersive Live: Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime show’s website, Comic Natalie

Tengu Tōsen (Tengu Demon Sword Fight), a short anime project jointly produced by Bandai Namco Entertainment and the IP company Plott, began streaming the first full episode for free on its official YouTube channel last Friday.

The concept of the project is “traditional fantasy battle x Japanese sword fighting,” and it depicts the battles between evil-doing tengu (mythological Japanese demons often characterized with long noses and red faces) and the Tōbatsushi (literally, “sword penal officers”) who slay them.

Akari Hinomiya is a boy who was raised on an island after being imbued with the spirit of Hajun, a heinous great demon who once threatened the world. He meets his eventual comrades, starts wielding a sword, and confronts an uncontrollable power within himself, all to confront his destined foe.

The project started with side story shorts, but the project’s main story began streaming last Friday. Sōno is responsible for the project’s original character designs.

Sources: Tengu Tōsen anime’s YouTube channel, Comic Natalie

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.