The Apothecary Diaries and Ibaraki Prefecture’s Kanko Ibaraki tourism site’s X (formerly Twitter) accounts announced on Monday a new collaboration for the prefecture’s “Ibaraki is Blossoming” campaign. The collaboration revealed a new key visual for the campaign and a renewal to the “Ibaraki is Blossoming” website.

Ibaraki TV’s YouTube channel released an original promotional video featuring The Apothecary Diaries characters Jinshi and Maomao exploring the four seasons of Ibaraki Prefecture.

The collaboration originally launched last October and ran until January. The collaboration featured special trains and a stamp rally.

The Apothecary Diaries anime’s first season premiered in October 2023 with the first three episodes, and aired for two cours (quarters of a year). Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan and is also streaming an English dub. The second anime season premiered in January 2025 on Nippon TV‘s FRIDAY ANIME NIGHT programming block, and aired for two consecutive cours. Crunchyroll is streaming the second season, and it is also streaming an English dub. A third television anime season will premiere in October 2026 for its first cours (quarter of a year), and its second cours will premiere in April 2027.

Hyūga began serializing the story on the “Shōsetsuka ni Narō” (Let’s Become Novelists) website in October 2011. Shufunotomo began publishing the novels in print volume with illustrations by Shino in August 2014. Nekokurage launched an ongoing manga adaptation in Square Enix‘s Monthly Big Gangan magazine in May 2017. Square Enix Manga & Books is releasing the manga adaptation in English. The company is also publishing the novels in print.

Sources: The Apothecary Diaries series’ X/Twitter account, Kanko Ibaraki’s X/Twitter account, Ibaraki TV’s YouTube channel, PR Times via Nijimen

This year’s 34th issue of Shueisha‘s Young Jump magazine revealed on July 23 that Aka Akasaka, Aoi Kujira, and Ajichika‘s Märchen Crown manga is entering its final battle. The manga will take a one-week break and will return in the combined 36th and 37th issue of the magazine on August 6.

The manga debuted in Young Jump in March 2025. Shueisha‘s MANGA Plus service is releasing the manga in English. Akasaka (Oshi no Ko), is writing the story, Kujira (Geek Circle Crisis) is composing the series’ story, and Record of Ragnarok artist Ajichika is drawing the series. Shueisha published the manga’s fourth compiled book volume on June 18.

MANGA Plus describes the story:

Rapunzel is a young girl who lives atop a tall tower and knows nothing of the outside world. One day she meets a boy named Mikel, who climbs the tower, and their destiny to change the world begins to unfold! The creators of “Oshi no Ko” and “Record of Ragnarok” form an incredible team to bring you the ultimate love story!

Akasaka (Kaguya-sama: Love is War) and Mengo Yokoyari (Scum’s Wish) launched the Oshi no Ko manga in Shueisha‘s Weekly Young Jump magazine in April 2020, and ended it in November 2024. The manga’s 16th and final compiled book volume shipped in Japan in December 2024. Shueisha‘s MANGA Plus service released the manga in English digitally. Yen Press licensed the manga for print release.

The television anime adaptation premiered in Japan in April 2023 with a 90-minute first episode. HIDIVE streamed the anime as it aired in Japan, and it is also streaming an English dub. The company stated that the anime became the streaming service’s “#1 series launch in the streamer’s history.” The anime’s second season premiered in July 2024 on Tokyo MX and over 29 other channels throughout Japan. The anime also streamed simultaneously on the ABEMA service in Japan. HIDIVE streams the anime’s English dub. The anime’s third season debuted on January 14. Crunchyroll and HIDIVE both streamed the season. The anime will have a fourth season.

Source: Young Jump issue 34

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.

The September issue of Hakusensha‘s LaLa magazine revealed on July 24 that both Shinobu Amano‘s Last Game manga and Matsuri Hino‘s Vampire Knight manga will get new one-shot chapters in the magazine’s next issue on August 4. Both new chapters are part of the magazine’s 50th anniversary celebration, which also involved new one-shots of the Maid Sama! and Soredemo Otōto wa Koishitagaru manga, both of which appeared in the latest issue on July 24.

The new Last Game chapter will show a scene of Yanagi proposing to Kujou.

The new Vampire Knight chapter will show the characters prior to entering high school.

Amano launched the Last Game manga in LaLa in July 2011, and ended it in 2016. The manga had 11 compiled book volumes in total. Seven Seas Entertainmment releases the manga in English, and it published the 11th volume in December 2025.

Hino launched Vampire Knight in LaLa in 2004, and Hakusensha published the 19th and final compiled book volume in November 2013. Viz Media published the final volume in North America in October 2014. Viz also released the 2008 Vampire Knight anime series and its Vampire Knight Guilty followup.

Vampire Knight: Memories shipped in Japan in June 2016 and collected the several bonus chapters that Hino irregularly published in 2013-2015.Hino then began serializing a manga titled Vampire Knight: Memories later the same month in Hakusensha‘s LaLa DX. The manga ended in August 2025. Hakusensha published the manga’s 11th and final volume in December 2025. Viz Media publishes the series in English, and it released the 10th volume in October 2025.

Source: LaLa September issue