Eiga Chiikawa: Ningyo no Shima no Himitsu (Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of Mermaid Island), the first anime film adaptation of Nagano‘s Chiikawa manga, rose from #2 to #1 in its third weekend. The film sold 1.147 million tickets and earned 1,698,950,000 yen (about US$10.65 million) from Friday to Sunday. The film has earned a cumulative total of 6,777,844,100 yen (about US$42.50 million).

The film opened on July 24 and ranked at #1 for its opening weekend. The film earned 990 million yen (about US$6.05 million) on its opening day. The film sold 1,508,500 tickets and earned 2,240,333,500 yen (about US$13.70 million) in its first three days.

The film is based on the manga’s arc posted on X (formerly Twitter) from March to November 2023, nicknamed the “Siren Arc” or “Island Arc.”

The film’s story begins with Chiikawa and Hachiware relaxing, when a rabbit with a flyer on its face suddenly appears. Hachiware looks at the flyer, which reads, “Invitation to a special island.” Lured by tempting promises including great rewards for simple hunts on the island and essentially free sweet and spicy dishes such as limited-edition island ramen and sweets, Chiikawa and friends decide to go to the island. Suspicious with the flyer, Rakko goes with them to the island. What awaits them when they arrive on the island?

Nagano is credited for the original story and also wrote the film’s script. Under Nagano‘s supervision, Kei Oikawa (Uma Musume Pretty Derby 3 seasons, Hinamatsuri, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO!, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Climax) directed the film at Cygames Pictures. QTORY inc. managed the production, and TOHO is distributing the film. 

Makoto Tanaka, who voices Hachiware, performs the opening theme song “Kutsuzure” (Shoe Sore). Series creator Nagano wrote the lyrics.

Momoka Terasawa and Sayumi Suzushiro voice Hitoha and Futaba, respectively, the two islanders that Chiikawa and friends encounter. 

Eiga Crayon Shin-chan Kikikaikai! Ora no Yōkai Bake-shon (Crayon Shin-chan The Movie Super Strange! My Yōkai Monster Vacation), the 33rd 2D anime film in the Crayon Shin-chan series, dropped from #3 to #6 in its second weekend. The film earned 288,991,400 yen (about US$1.81 million) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 1,173,580,950 yen (about US$7.35 million).

The film ranked at #3 in its opening weekend. The film sold 441,000 tickets and earned 539,371,500 yen (about US$3.41 million) in its first three days. 

The film opened in Japan on July 31.

The film centers on “the land of yōkai.” The Nohara family go to Hiroshi’s hometown of Akita to attend a famous fireworks festival during the summer. However, an incident causes yōkai to escape from their land and will wreak havoc in Akita, and in other areas throughout Japan. The Nohara family then go to the land of yōkai, and find themselves in a mysterious yet nostalgic world, where they go on an unpredictable adventure.

Sairi Itō stars in the film as Yako, a nine-tailed fox yōkai. Sakamoto of the comedy duo Mayurika plays the Squid Yōkai, first base player of the Edomae Sushies baseball team, which challenged Shin-chan and his friends to a baseball game.

Other cast members include Yumiko Kobayashi, Miki Narahashi, Toshiyuki Morikawa, and Satomi Koorogi.

Masaki Watanabe (Battle Spirits: Heroes, Sakamoto Days) directed the film. Yoshiko Nakamura (Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- franchise, PriPara) penned the script. Shinei Animation, TV Asahi, ADK Emotions, and Futabasha produced the film, and TOHO is distributing. Singer TOMOO performs the film’s theme song “Otona ni Nattara” (When I Become an Adult).

Kingdom: Tamashii no Kessen (Decisive Battle of the Soul), the fifth live-action film based on Yasuhisa Hara‘s Kingdom manga, dropped from #5 to #7 in its fourth weekend. The film earned 309,459,900 yen (about US$1.94 million) over the weekend. The film has now sold a total of 3.18 million, and made a cumulative total of 4,920,141,100 yen (about US$30.85 million).

The film sold 993,000 tickets and earned 1,584,148,300 yen (about US$9.67 million) in its first three days. Counting the Marine Day holiday on July 20, the film sold 1,315,000 tickets and earned 2.064 billion yen (about US$12.59 million) in its first four days.

The new film opened in Japan on July 17.

Yasuhisa Hara‘s historical manga centers around the slave boy Xin and his dream of becoming a great general for the state of Qin. Xin helps Ying Zheng, the young Qin king who shares his desire to unify China, rise to power within the state. Xin does all he can to become a superior commander of an army capable of defeating the Seven Warring States.

Shinsuke Satō (live-action Gantz, Death Note Light up the NEW world, Bleach) returned to direct. Tsutomu Kuroiwa (Black Butler, Golden Kamuy) wrote the screenplay with Hara. Yutaka Yamada (Bleach, Golden Kamuy -The Hunt of Prisoners in Hokkaido-) composed the music.

The first live-action film opened in Japan in April 2019, and eventually earned a cumulative total of 5.73 billion yen (about US$53.2 million). Funimation screened the film at Anime Expo in July 2019, and screened the film in theaters in the United States and Canada in August 2019. The second film Kingdom II: Harukanaru Daichi e (To Distant Lands) opened in Japan in July 2022, and earned 5.16 billion yen (about US$37.8 million), making it the highest-earning Japanese live-action film in Japan in 2022.

The third film opened in Japan in July 2023 and ranked at #1 in its opening weekend. The film had the best opening weekend among the first three Kingdom films. The fourth film opened on July 12, 2024. Netflix began streaming the fourth film in January 2025.

The live-action film based on Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yūsuke Nomura‘s BLUE LOCK soccer manga ranked at #8 in its opening weekend. The film earned 277,648,800 yen (about US$1.74 million) in its first three days.

The film opened in Japan on August 7. The film will screen in MX4D, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema starting on August 21.

Yūsuke Taki directed the film, and Tetsuo Kamata wrote the screenplay. Shinzō Matsuhashi served as a producer. CREDEUS (live-action Golden Kamuy film) produced the film, and TOHO is distributing.

Kaneshiro and Nomura launched the manga in Kodansha‘s Weekly Shōnen Magazine in August 2018. Kodansha will publish the manga’s 40th compiled book volume on August 17. The manga won the Best Shōnen Manga award in Kodansha‘s 45th annual Manga Awards in 2021. Kodansha USA Publishing is releasing the manga in English digitally and is also releasing it in print.

The original manga inspired a television anime series that premiered in Japan in October 2022 on TV Asahi and its affiliates in the NUMAnimation programming block. The anime ran for 24 episodes. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired, and is also streaming an English dub.

BLUE LOCK vs. U-20 JAPAN, the second television anime season, debuted in October 2024, and aired for 14 episodes. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, and CIS.

The anime is getting a third season, adapting the “Shin Eiyū Taisen” (New Hero Wars) story.

The spinoff inspired an anime film that premiered in Japan in April 2024. The film sold 337,000 tickets to earn 463 million yen (about US$2.99 million) in its first three days, and ranked at #2 in the Japanese box office in its opening weekend. The film opened in North America in June 2024. Crunchyroll is streaming the film with subtitles and with several dubs.

Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC

Manga launched in 2021

The September issue of LEED Publishing‘s Comic Ran Twins magazine announced on Wednesday that Hideki Mori‘s Bijah no Joō (Queen of Bijah) manga will end in three chapters. 

The manga’s story is set in 1258 A.D., when a detachment of the Mongol Empire army laid siege to a small city on the Persian plateau called Bijah. The city, with just a population of 5,000, seems to inevitably fall from the Mongol Empire’s 20,000 strong army. But the city’s princess bravely stands her ground with the help of an Indian Mohist.

Mori launched the manga in Comic Ran Twins in 2021. LEED Publishing shipped the manga’s first compiled book volume in February 2022, and will ship the 10th compiled book volume on October 13.

Shogakukan published Mori and Kazuo Koike‘s 11-volume New Lone Wolf and Cub (Shin Kozure Ōkami) manga between 2004-2007. The story picks up where Koike and Goseki Kojima‘s Lone Wolf and Cub series left off, with Daigoro after Itto Ogami’s final showdown. Dark Horse originally announced that it had licensed the sequel title in 2006, but had to delay its release. Dark Horse released all the manga volumes in English from 2014 to 2016.

Mori and Koike have also created the Soshite Kozure Ōkami: Shikaku no Ko sequel series to New Lone Wolf and Cub, which ran in the short-lived Jin historical manga magazine in 2007-2008, and it then moved to the Katana web magazine in 2009.

Source: Comic Ran Twins September issue

Manga adaptation debuted in June 2017

The 18th compiled book volume of Yusuke Shiba‘s manga adaptation of Kisetsu Morita‘s I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level (Slime Taoshite 300-nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level Max ni Nattemashita) light novel series revealed on Monday that the series will end with the next volume.

Crunchyroll describes the story of the anime:

An at-home comedy about a powerful girl who doesn’t work too hard!(⋈◍ ˃ᴗ˂ ◍)。✧♡ After dying of overwork in the real world, I’m reincarnated as an immortal witch, and I spend 300 years enjoying a relaxing life. At some point, though, I end up at level 99! All those years spent killing slimes to make the money to pay the bills gave me a ton of experience points… Rumors of the level 99 witch spread, and soon I’m up to my ears in curious adventurers, duelist dragons, and even a monster girl calling me her mom! “This isn’t a dojo, so don’t come here to fight me…!” I’ve never been on an adventure, but I’m the strongest in the world… What’s going to happen to my relaxing life?!

Shiba’s manga adaptation debuted on Square Enix‘s Gangan Online website in June 2017. Square Enix shipped the 18th volume on Monday.

Morita launched the novel series on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website in June 2016. SB Creative publishes the novel volumes with illustrations by Benio in print. The 30th and final volume shipped on June 15.

The novel series ranked at #9 in the 2019 edition of the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! guidebook.

The novels inspired a television anime that premiered in April 2021. Crunchyroll streamed the season as it aired in Japan, and it then streamed an English dub for the anime. The second season premiered in April 2025.

Source: I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level volume 18