Spike Chunsoft announced on Wednesday that the Switch 2 release of Danganronpa 2×2, a version of its Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair game that includes the original title as well as a new alternate scenario, will shift to a game-key card release instead of a full game card.

Pre-orders for the Danganronpa 2×2 Psycho Tropical Vacation Package version of the game from the Spike Chunsoft Official Store US will be cancelled, and each customer must make a new pre-order for the game-key card version of the package. People who pre-ordered this package through other means will receive the game-key card version. 

The company said that “this decision was not taken lightly and follows careful consideration,” and added that this decision does not “affect the game’s release or pre-orders for any other game platforms, or any other games.”

Game-key cards are physical cartridges that do not actually contain a game, but rather, a key to unlock and play the digital version from Nintendo‘s eShop.

Danganronpa 2×2 will launch in early 2027 for Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. The game was originally scheduled for 2026.

The release features a new alternate story featuring different victims and culprits from the original game, all stemming from a certain incident. The new scenario is titled “Slayhem” mode and will be about 35 hours long, five hours longer with 20% more content than the original game. Spike Chunsoft stated that the new story’s content size is “on par” with the original. The original version of the game also receives new visuals and improved production value with the release.

The Danganronpa 2×2 Psycho Tropical Vacation Package includes am RSVLTS Reversible Psycho Tropical Hat, Kidrobot 3″ Psycho Tropical Monokuma and Monomi Figures, a soundtrack, and a clamshell-style outer box.

The company announced last November that Kinuta Ōshiro will voice Monomi in place of late voice actress Takako Sasuga, and also announced last October that Wasabi Mizuta will voice Monokuma in place of late voice actress TARAKO.

Spike Chunsoft describes the original game:

Jabberwock Island – once a popular tourist destination, this now uninhabited island remains oddly pristine. You and your classmates at the elite Hope’s Peak Academy have been brought to this island by your super-cute teacher for a “lovey-dovey, heart-throbbing school trip.” Everyone seems to be having fun in the sun…until Monokuma returns to restart his murderous game! Trapped on this island of mutual killing, your only hope of escape rests in solving the island’s mysteries. But be warned—sometimes the truth can be its own despair…

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair originally launched in July 2012 for PlayStation Portable in Japan. The game launched for PlayStation Vita in Japan in October 2013 and in the West in September 2014. The game has received multiple ports since.

The Danganronpa Decadence game collection, which includes Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, and the Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp bonus board game, shipped as a physical exclusive on Switch in North America and Europe in December 2021. The collection launched in Japan under the title Danganronpa Trilogy Pack + Happy Danganronpa S: Chōkōkōkyū no Nangoku Saikoro Kasshuku in November 2021. The games are also available separately digitally on Switch.

The franchise also includes a manga series, three television anime series, an anime special, and an original video anime (OVA) project.

The characters in Danganronpa 2 also star in the 2016 anime Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School: Despair Arc.

Source: Press release

The official website for the television anime of  Mochimaru Sakaki‘s The World’s Strongest Witch: I’m Starting My Free Life in a World Where Only I Can See the Online Strategy Guide (Sekai Saikyō no Majo, Hajimemashita: Watashi dake “Kōryaku Site” o Mireru Sekai de Jiyū ni Ikimasu) light novel series presented the main promotional video and main visual for the anime on Thursday. The video announces another cast member and additional staff members, and it also announces and previews the theme songs.

Yûto Uemura voices Reinhardt Highwind, the town’s gatekeeper.

The newly announced staff members are:

HoneyWorks feat. HaKoniwalily perform the opening theme song “Eikyōryoku∞Idol” (Infinitely Influential Idol), and the group Rokudenashi performs the ending theme song “Hoshi o Muguru” (Traversing the Stars).

Yen Press is releasing the light novels in English, and released the second volume on April 14. Yen Press describes the story:

When Lorna manifests a completely useless ability, she’s labeled an embarrassment to her family and kicked out of the house. With no money or food, she’s about to hit rock bottom. But then, she figures out how to use her supposedly worthless SSS-Rank skill, “Internet.” This cheat-level talent gives her the know-how to gather an unlimited amount of valuable items and easily acquire rare equipment. Armed with godlike knowledge, Lorna’s free to do anything she wants! If only she could figure out what “lmfao” means…

Previously announced cast members include:

Azusa Tachibana as protagonist Rona Hermit

Fairouz Ai as Erimina, the master of the adverturers’ guild known as the “Inferno Witch”

Honoka Inoue as Eruna, an elf princess who worries over her sick mother

Kana Hanazawa as Aries Tear Bluemoon, a guildmaster in the port town of Aquas

Maria Naganawa as Ruru Ru Rie, the young water dragon princess of the underwater kingdom

Jōji Furuta (ēlDLIVE, Double Decker! Doug & Kirill, Bad Girl) is directing the anime at the studios Bridge and Aisle. Shoji Yonemura (Pokémon Journeys: The Series, One Piece 2013-onwards, Bad Girl) is in charge of the series scripts. Yūki Morimoto (Cardfight!! Vanguard GZ, Boarding School Juliet, Bad Girl) is designing the characters.

The anime will premiere on the Tokyo MX, BS11, and TV Aichi channels on October 7, and on MBS on October 10.

Mochimaru Sakaki began serializing the original story in the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website in May 2022. Square Enix published the first print novel volume in December 2022, with illustrations by riritto. The fifth novel volume shipped in May 2025.

Tamaki Toga launched a manga adaptation in Kodansha‘s Getsu Maga Kichi/Comic Days website in May 2023. Kodansha published the manga’s 12th compiled book volume on May 8.

Comikey publishes both Daisuke Takashima‘s manga adaptation of Sakaki’s The Strongest Swordsman Has Zero Equipment Slots novel series, as well as Namiki Tsukiyama‘s manga adaptation of Sakaki’s Final Boss Fake-out novel series in English. Square Enix also publishes both manga in English on its Manga UP! Global website.

Sources: Sekai Saikyō no Majo, Hajimemashita anime’s website, Comic Natalie

The Christian metal band Demon Hunter filed a lawsuit on August 18 in the California Central District Court against streaming service Netflix and live-entertainment promoter AEG Presents over the trademark of the massively popular 2025 animated film KPop Demon Hunters. Demon Hunter, through its corporation Hyde Lane, accused Netflix and AEG Presents of “jealously [guarding] and [enforcing] their own intellectual property rights… [and] willfully disregarding the rights of others in pursuit of profits.”

According to The Wrap (an entertainment industry news source), the complaint filed by Demon Hunter’s further asserted:

Even more devastatingly, by leveraging their superior resources and reach, Defendants can, and do, eclipse Hyde Lane’s Demon Hunter marks in the marketplace and effectively misappropriate the marks’ source-identifying significance… Thus, Defendants’ greater size and strength overwhelms Hyde Lane’s established identity, causing consumers to perceive Hyde Lane as affiliated with, sponsored by, or derived from Defendants and denuding Hyde Lane of power over its commercial fate.

Netflix and AEG Presents announced in May that they will hold a global concert tour for KPop Demon Hunters.

A spokesperson for Netflix said the allegations by Demon Hunter are “without merit” and added, “We look forward to vigorously defending this matter.”

Demon Hunter originated in Seattle in the early 2000s, and offered the self-titled album Demon Hunter as its first major release in 2002. Demon Hunter has gone on to release 12 studio albums, the most recent of which was 2025’s There Was a Light Here.

KPop Demon Hunters is a 2025 musical urban fantasy film that Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans directed at Sony Pictures Animation. Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-yong Yoo, Yunjin Kim, Saniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong, and Lee Byung-hun starred in he film, which premiered on Netflix and in select theaters on June 20, 2025. The film is Netflix‘s most streamed film of all time globally, with 500 million views as of March 13. Its first sing-along event in August 2025 made it Netflix‘s first film to top the U.S. weekend box office. Several trade news sources reported that Netflix and Sony are aiming to release a sequel in 2029.

Sources: Cartoon Brew, Demon Hunter’s profile on All Music, California Central District Court’s website via The Wrap