The official website for the anime of Kōji Miura‘s Blue Box (Ao no Hako) manga unveiled  the main promotional video and main visual for the anime’s second season on Wednesday. The video announces and previews the anime’s  opening theme song “Anata no Hana no Iro” (The Color of Your Flower) by singer-songwriter aiko, and the ending theme song “blue in” by the duo elsewhere kikou.

Shueisha‘s MANGA Plus service publishes the manga in English digitally, and describes the story:

Taiki Inomata is on the boys’ badminton team at sports powerhouse Eimei Junior and Senior High. He’s in love with basketball player Chinatsu Kano, the older girl he trains alongside every morning in the gym. One Spring day, their relationship takes a sharp turn … And thus begins this brand-new series of love, sports and youth!

Yoshino Aoyama joins the cast in the new season as Yumeka Kido.

Daisuke Sakō (Lupin Zero) is taking over as director for the anime from first season director Yūichirō Yano. Electric Circus also takes over as the animation studio from Telecom Animation Film. Anri Ishii takes over from Ōnoo Fujii as art director. Yumika Okazaki takes over from Yoshihiro Kasahara as editor. The rest of the main staff retain their roles from the first season.

The season will premiere on TBS and 27 other channels on October 4, and will also begin streaming on Netflix in October.

The anime stars:

Yūichirō Yano (Moyashimon, Lupin the Third: Part 5) directed the first season, and Yūko Kakihara (Buddy Daddies, Cells at Work!, Chihayafuru seasons 2-3) oversaw the series scripts. Miho Tanino (Tower of God, Blue Thermal) designed the characters. Telecom Animation Film produced the animation, and UNLIMITED PRODUCE by TMS was in charge of planning and production.

The anime’s first season debuted on television in Japan in October 2024 on TBS and 28 affiliated networks. The anime streamed weekly on Netflix. The first season aired for two consecutive cours (quarters of a year). The second cours premiered on Japanese television in January 2025.

Miura first published the story as a one-shot manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2020. The magazine started the manga’s serialization in April 2021. The manga ended on July 13. Shueisha published the manga’s 26th volume on July 3. The 27th volume will ship on October 2 and the 28th and final volume will ship on December 4. Viz Media published the manga’s 21st volume on August 4. The manga has more than 6.2 million copies in circulation.

Sources: Blue Box anime’s website, Comic Natalie

The official website for the original television anime project Inherit the Winds (Kaze wo Tsugumono) announced on Wednesday that Yasuyuki Kase will play Serizawa Kamo (historical Japanese characters’ names are rendered family name first here), the chief commander of Mibu Rōshigumi:

The anime takes place in the Bakumatsu era in Kyoto. A solider who has lost his memories is aided by the famous Shinsengumi member Okita Sōji. Okita Sōji names this man “Tachikawa Jinsuke.” Jinsuke’s life begins anew amidst the Mibu soldiers.

The anime will star (historical Japanese characters’ names are rendered family name first):

Yutaka Narui and Aniplex are in charge of the original story with cooperation by Azuki Mashiba. Tomohiro Kawamura is directing the anime at Live2D Creative Studio and Drive Inc. Narui is also writing the scripts. Fumi Ebina is the character designer, and Shigeru Kishida is composing the music.

The anime will premiere in January 2027 on the “Agaru Anime” programming block on CBC, TBS, and 26 other affiliated networks. There will be an early theatrical preview screening in 2026.

The anime’s four-panel manga adaptation launches on Star Seas Company‘s Twi4 (read as Tsuiyon) X (formerly Twitter) account in 2026. Matsuri Muramatsu draws the manga.

Narui is a playwright and founder of the theatrical troupe Caramel Box who has previously worked on many stage plays themed on the Shinsengumi. While one of the plays was also titled Kaze wo Tsugumono, the way the title is written is different (with “mono” being written in kanji for the play and in hiragana for the anime), and the anime is still listed as being an “original” TV anime.

Source: Inherit the Winds anime’s website and X/Twitter account via Ota-Suke

The official website for the second season of the anime based on Wookjakga‘s A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special (Kikansha no Mahō wa Tokubetsu Desu in Japanese) Korean webtoon presented a new promotional video for the anime on Wednesday. The video announces and previews the anime’s ending theme song “Everlasting” by singer-songwriter krage.

The new season will premiere in Fuji TV‘s “+Ultra” programming block in October, and it will run on Wednesdays at 24:45 (effectively, Thursdays at 12:45 a.m.). The first season began re-airing on Fuji TV and Kansai TV in July.

Crunchyroll will stream the new season.

The rock band FLOW returns to create the “Sorrow” song specifically for the new season’s opening theme.

The anime’s cast includes:

Taishi Kawaguchi returns to direct the anime at Arvo Animation, nad Takamitsu Kouno (She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man, Absolute Duo, We Without Wings – Under the Innocent Sky) returns to oversee and write the scripts. Hiromi Katō (Violinist of Hamelin, Kobato., Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut) is designing the characters, and Daisuke Negishi is the art director. Kenta Higashiohji (Pole Princess!!) returns to compose the music.

Other staff include:

Yen Press is releasing the series in English and it describes the story:

In a time when the Shadow World has taken over and most of humanity is wiped out, a party of six heroes strives and fails to save the world… But magician Desir Herman is given a second chance when he opens his eyes and finds that he’s gone back thirteen years in the past! It’s now up to him to gather his party once more and stop the greatest catastrophe in human history!

The first season of the anime debuted in October 2023. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in English-speaking, Latin America, and European countries, along with an English dub.

Source: A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special anime’s website via Ota-Suke