Anime
Live-Action Street Fighter Film Previews Ken vs. Ryu Rivalry in New Trailer – News
Paramount Pictures started streaming a new trailer for Legendary Entertainment‘s live-action film of CAPCOM‘s Street Fighter game series on Monday, focusing on Ken and Ryu’s relationship and rivalry.
© 2026 Paramount Pictures
The film will open on October 16.
Paramount Pictures describes the story:
Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury. But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past. And if they don’t, it’s GAME OVER!
The cast includes:
Paramount Pictures and Legendary signed a multi-year distribution deal in December, with Paramount Pictures distributing Legendary Entertainment films worldwide except China (Legendary East handles distribution in China). Street Fighter will be the first film to be distributed under the new deal. Legendary Entertainment acquired the film and television rights to Street Fighter in April 2023, and will work with CAPCOM on future projects.
Sony Pictures was previously slated to distribute the film. When the film was still slated to be distributed by Sony Pictures, the film was planned to open on March 20, 2026, but Sony removed the film from its release calendar in March 2025.
Kitao Sakurai (The Eric André Show, Bad Trip) is directing the film’s shoot in Australia, which started in August 2025. Brothers Danny and Michael Philippou were initially slated to direct the film, but left the film to focus on making their Bring Her Back film.
The game series inspired a live-action film in 1994 starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raúl Juliá, Ming-Na Wen, Damian Chapa, Kylie Minogue, and Wes Studi. Hyde Park Entertainment produced a separate spinoff titled Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li starring Kristin Kreuk in 2009.
Machinima produced the Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist and Street Fighter: Resurrection live-action series. Machinima released the first series on its YouTube channel in May 2014, and Funimation licensed the series for release in North America. Funimation released the series on Blu-ray Disc in October 2014. Machinima released the second series on Verizon’s go90 streaming service in March-April 2016. A Street Fighter: World Warrior television series was originally planned in 2018.
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie adapted CAPCOM‘s video game Super Street Fighter II in 1994. Discotek Media released the film on DVD in December 2015, and on Blu-ray Disc in October 2016. The franchise has also inspired several other anime and animated series.
The Street Fighter 6 fighting game launched in June 2023 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. CAPCOM released the game on Nintendo Switch 2 in June 2025 as a launch title. The Street Fighter 6 Years 1-2 Fighters Edition version also launched on the same day.
Sources: Email correspondence, Paramount Pictures‘ YouTube channel
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Manga debuts with new setting/era in 2027
Chiaki J. Konaka (series script supervisor of Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, and Hellsing) announced at the Japan Weekend Madrid event in Spain last weekend that Yoshitoshi ABe‘s (creator and character designer for Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei) Despera anime project is getting a manga in 2027. He posted a visual on X/Twitter on Monday:
Konaka added that the manga’s setting and era will differ from those of the original project announcement. He clarified that this project is not related to Serial Experiments Lain.
Konaka last provided an update for the project in 2021. According to him, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was suspended for a year and a few months. Konaka added that the production funding scheme was 80% completed at the time, and that the core staff had done a lot of work up until 2020. He confirmed that staff was still working hard on the project, and asked fans to be patient.
The Despera anime project was put on hold after director Ryūtarō Nakamura passed away in 2013. ABe mentioned in October 2014 that the project was continuing with a new director.
ABe unveiled the project at Seattle’s Sakura-Con in 2009. ABe was heading the project and designing the characters and Chiaki J. Konaka, the series script supervisor of Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, and Hellsing, was writing the script.
The title is derived from a poem from the Dadaist poet Jun Tsuji (1884-1944). It is also derived from the shortened version of the term “desperado.” The story centers around Ain, a 14-year-old girl who builds devices despite the lack of the scientific background required for them. The science-fiction story was originally set in Japan’s Taishō era in 1922 — one year before the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake in the Tokyo area.
Sources: Chiaki J. Konaka‘s Twitter account
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1st season ended with 26th episode on Monday
The official website for the television anime of Shinobu Kaitani‘s Liar Game manga announced on Tuesday that the anime is getting a second season. The website unveiled a commemorative illustration by character designer Kei Tsuchiya:
© Kaitani Shinobu Products/Shueisha, LIAR GAME Committee
The 26th and final episode of the first season aired on Monday (effectively, Tuesday).
© Kaitani Shinobu Products/Shueisha, LIAR GAME Committee
The anime premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo and its affiliates on April 6. The anime ran for six months without breaks. The second part of the anime began on July 7. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime worldwide (excluding Japan and China) and hosted the world premiere screening of the anime’s first two episodes at this year’s Sakura-Con event in Seattle on April 5. PDT. AMEDIATEKA is distributing the anime in the Russian Federation.
REMOW introduces the series’ story:
A Mysterious Invitation. One Hundred Million Yen. The Game Begins.
College student Nao Kanzaki suddenly receives a strange letter and a suitcase containing 100 million yen. She’s been chosen to participate in the LIAR GAME—a high-stakes psychological battle where lies, deception, and betrayal reign supreme. Naïve and painfully honest, Nao quickly finds herself cornered. To survive, she turns to Shinichi Akiyama, a brilliant former con artist with unmatched intellect. As they dive deeper into the twisted game, the two must outwit opponents in a world where trusting others could be fatal. In a game built on lies, can honesty prevail?
Yūzō Satō (Kaiji -Ultimate Survivor-, Akagi, Trillion Game, The Gene of AI) was the chief director of the anime at Madhouse, and Asami Kawano (assistant director for The Vampire Dies in No Time both seasons, episode director for Orb: On the Movements of the Earth) directed the anime. Tatsuhiko Urahata (Baki, Baki Hanma, Monster, Muv-Luv Alternative) wrote and oversaw the series scripts, Kei Tsuchiya (Laidbackers, Trillion Game, The Gene of AI) was the character designer, and Kisuke Koizumi (The Gene of AI, My Happy Marriage, Ghost in the Shell Arise) was the sound director.
The manga ran from 2005 to January 2015 in Shueisha‘s Weekly Young Jump magazine. Shueisha published the manga’s 19th and final compiled book volume in May 2015. Kaitani launched a new short serialization for the manga titled Liar Game: The Last Game in Shueisha‘s Grand Jump Mucha magazine on February 25.
The manga previously inspired two live-action films, two live-action television series, and two live-action online series. The manga also inspired a stage play in 2023.
Kaitani’s ONE OUTS manga inspired a television anime in 2008.
Sources: Liar Game anime’s website, Comic Natalie
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© Hiro Yuki, Kyoto Animation/Sparks of Tomorrow Production Committee
It’s done; my time with one of the most frustrating, anachronistic, ill-conceived pieces of media I’ve ever experienced in its entirety is over. Earning the number four spot in ANN’s Worst of the Summer 2026 season list, this finale further reaffirms that Sparks of Tomorrow deserves this albatross. It brings me no joy to say this is likely going down as the worst anime ever produced by Kyoto Animation, and I hope this otherwise illustrious studio never sinks this low again.
This episode begins with Yosuke trying to sacrifice Kihachi (who’s drugged and in a wedding gown because Yosuke can’t be framed as a predacious gay more than a single goddamn second) to improve his Robo-Seiroku. When Inako arrives on the scene, she manages to stop Yosuke and his plan by…just kind of stopping Yosuke and his plan. She pulls on some wires and drags Kihachi out of what would have been his glass coffin before the walking plot device that is Kengo shows up and effortlessly drags them out of that situation. In this scene, it really feels like Yosuke never had a plan for what to do if anyone ever tried to stop him from doing crimes in order to revive Seiroku, and that makes him feel even weaker as a villain.
The failing of the electric nishiki creates a massive sinkhole in the middle of the city, though, and Kihachi and Inako use the electric plane invented a few episodes before to save Yosuke. Why they do this is anyone’s guess, as he literally tried to kill Kihachi twenty minutes ago, but whatever. The animation during this flight scene is pretty impressive, as is a sequence where a massive updraft essentially creates a zero-gravity sequence. The episode ends with much of the main cast having a meal together and Saki pointing out that Inako’s first brew is amazing, as Yosuke (who should be in jail) travels, and Kihachi and Inako tentatively express their romantic feelings to each other. In this finale there is not follow up on Kate and Suzu’s babyqueer romance, if Inako’s family’s business is saved from insolvency, or an indication that electrical technology is being more broadly adopted.
While I could profess endlessly about the sophomoric writing in Sparks of Tomorrow and how it misunderstands the era and innovative spirit at the heart of this work, this episode actually contains a perfect crystallization of these problems! While on their way to Inako’s home, in both the sub and the dub, Kihachi remarks that he found it odd that the lush Saki told him about the first batch of Inako’s brew being made into an offering for Inako’s late mother, as he is “not able to drink yet.” The problem with this statement, though, is that there was no legally enforced drinking age in Japan until 1922, and that this story explicitly takes place after the Russo-Japanese War and before the end of the Meiji era, so between 1905 and 1912. This is to say that Kihachi CAN drink and that Sparks of Tomorrow would so casually elevate an anachronism that I could disprove with five minutes of research demonstrates how little it cares about the culture and history at the center of its premise.
Sparks of Tomorrow routinely failed to spark any kind of joy or inspiration within me, and I am so glad to be done with this lazy, ahistorical piece of animation.
Rating:
Lucas DeRuyter finds sparks of inspiration in all parts of his life, which would explain why his portfolio features such a broad array of interests and writing formats! To read what he’s ruminating on more regularly, you can keep up with his regular contributions to ANN’s This Week in Anime column.
Sparks of Tomorrow is currently streaming on
Netflix.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network, its employees, owners, or sponsors.
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