Anime
Space Battleship Yamato Film Director Toshio Masuda Dies at 98 – News
Newspapers Mainichi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun both reported on Thursday that film director and screenwriter Toshio Masuda died of old age on August 26. He was 98.
Masuda was born in Kobe in October 1927. He made his directorial debut in 1958 with the film Kokoro to Nikutai no Tabi while working at Nikkatsu, which he joined in 1954 after working for Shintoho. At Nikkatsu he also directed such films as Rusty Knife, Red Handkerchief, and Red Quay.
He is perhaps best known outside of Japan for co-directing the Japanese sequences of the 1970 Japanese-American war film Tora! Tora! Tora!. Some of his other famous works include High Teen Boogie, Katayoku Dake no Tenshi, and Prophecies of Nostradamus, and he was nominated for the Best Director Award at the 4th and 13th Japan Academy Film Prizes for his films The Battle of Port Arthur and Company Executives, respectively.
In anime, Masuda oversaw the scripts and supervised the 1974 Star Blazers TV series. He later directed the 1977 Space Battleship Yamato film compilation of the series. He was one of the directors and scriptwriters for the 1978 film Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato, the 1979 film Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage, and the 1980 film Be Forever Yamato.
Additionally he was the chief supervisor and one of the scriptwriters of the 1983 film Final Yamato, and was the general supervisor for the 2009 film Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection.
He also co-directed the Future War Year 198X film, and was the chief director and one of the screenwriters for the Odin – Starlight Mutiny film.
Masuda directed 82 total films in his career, and was praised as “a craftsman among craftsmen.” He received the Award for Distinguished Service from the Chairman at the 41st Japan Academy Prizes in 2018. He was awarded with the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon in 1993, and with The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Rosette in 1999.
The Japan Academy Film Prize Association posted its condolences on Friday.
舛田利雄監督の訃報に接し、謹んでご冥福をお祈り申し上げます。
1950年新東宝入社し、54年に日活に移籍。58年「心と肉体の旅」で監督デビュー。「赤いハンカチ」「紅の流れ星」などを手掛け、日活アクション映画の全盛時代を築きました。68年「トラ・トラ・トラ!」以降フリーとなりました。 pic.twitter.com/ayVn33WtUc
— 日本アカデミー賞協会 (@japanacademy) September 25, 2026
Sources: Mainichi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun via MyAnimeList
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Shinoblade SHINOBI BLADE debuted on September 25
Kadokawa announced on Friday Shinya Murata launched a new manga series with Daichi Matsuse titled Shinoblade SHINOBI BLADE in Kadokawa and Kakao Piccoma‘s “Manga BAR” e-manga magazine on the same day. Murata will write and storyboard the series while Matsuse will provide the art.
© Shinya Murata, Daichi Matsuse, Kadokawa
The story follows the strongest female ninja, who operated in Hattori Hanzō’s shadow. At the moment she died, she instead found herself transported to another world.
Murata launched the Akujo Ranking (Villainess Ranking) manga with Wakata Wakuta in Kadokawa‘s Monthly Dragon Age magazine on March 9.
Murata and Kazasa Sumita launched the Killing Bites manga in Monthly Hero’s in March 2017, although it now runs on the Comiplex website. Hero’s Inc. published the manga’s 27th compiled book volume on June 29. A television anime adaptation premiered on the Animeism programming block on MBS and TBS in January 2018. The anime’s unaired “director’s cut” streamed worldwide on Amazon Prime Video. The anime had 12 episodes.
Murata and Sumita launched the Saikyō Skill “Inochigoi” de Kuyashii kedo Musō Shichau Moto Ōsama no Sekai Seifuku Katsudō (The Activities of the Former Demon King Whose Strongest Skill is the Embarrassing “Begging for Her Life” and Yet She Will Use it to Run Wild and Conquer the World) manga on Comiplex in June 2023. The manga ended with its fourth volume in December 2025.
Kumo Kagyu and Matsuse launched the Goblin Slayer: A Day in the Life manga in Square Enix‘s Monthly Big Gangan magazine in December 2022, and ended the series in November 2024. Square Enix shipped the the manga’s third and final volume in February 2025.
Matsuse also drew the I Wish I Could Meet You Again on the Hill Where That Flower Blooms manga with storywriter Natsue Shiomi. Seven Seas Entertainment will release the manga in English starting in December. Matsuse has also drawn the Re:ZERO -Starting Life In Another World- Chapter 1: A Day in the Capital and Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Chapter 3: Truth of Zero manga, both of which Yen Press has released in English.
Source: Kadokawa
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
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Game publisher and developer Mixi announced a new television anime adaptation for the Monster Strike smartphone role-playing game, subtitled Monster Strike: Mera×Death: Shinigami to Boku no Ijou na Koi (Mera×Death: The Unusual Love Between Me and the Grim Reaper) on Sunday. The official website also revealed the production staff, a key visual (pictured), and the first promotional video. The anime series is scheduled to premiere on Tokyo MX and other stations on January 5, 2027.
Staff
Director: Kenta Kushiya (Kaijuu 8-gou episode director)
Advisor: Takao Kato (Fuufu Ijou, Koibito Miman. director)
Series Composition, Screenplay: Daisuke Oohigashi (Fate/strange Fake)
Character Design: Tadashi Sakazaki (Tensei Kizoku, Kantei Skill de Nariagaru)
Prop/Creature Design: Masayuki Honda (Ao Ashi character design[/i])
Color Design: Azusa Sasaki (Lycoris Recoil)
Art Setting: Haruka Taira (Shichisei no Subaru)
Art Director: Norifumi Nakamura (Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu)
CG Director: Asuka Fukada (Romantic Killer episode director)
Director of Photography: Takuma Morooka (Watashi ga Koibito ni Nareru Wake Nai jan, Muri Muri! (※Muri ja Nakatta!?))
Editing: Ichirou Chaen (Kanojo ga Koushaku-tei ni Itta Riyuu)
Sound Director: Fumihiko Ootera (Tamon-kun Ima Docchi!?)
Sound Production: Magic Capsule (Dr. Stone: Science Future Part 3)
Music: Masaru Yokoyama (Mikadono Sanshimai wa Angai, Choroi.), Kana Hashiguchi (Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu), Natsuki Hamada (Nigashita Sakana wa Ookikatta ga Tsuriageta Sakana ga Ookisugita Ken)
Music Production: Miracle Bus (Sousou no Frieren 2nd Season)
Producer: Arch
Studio: Qzil.la (Champignon no Majo), Studio Keel
Developed by Mixi, Monster Strike was released under its brand XFLAG on iOS in Japan in September 2013 and on Android in December 2013. A North American version debuted in October 2014 but was discontinued in August 2017. The game has over 55 million downloads worldwide.
The first anime series debuted in 51 episodes from October 2015 to December 2016. A second season streamed in 23 episodes from April 2017 to September 2017, followed by the 13-episode third season, Kieyuku Uchuu-hen (The Fading Cosmos), from October 2017 to January 2018. A fourth series streamed in 63 episodes from July 2018 to December 2019.
The first anime movie, Hajimari no Basho e (To The Place of Beginnings), premiered in theatres in Japan in December 2016, serving as a prequel to the first net anime. The third and latest movie in the franchise, Lucifer – Zetsubou no Yoake, opened in Japan in November 2020.
Synopsis
Six years ago, a massive explosion occurred in the town of Ouma, but miraculously, there were no fatalities.
In this city where a mysterious sphere called “Glass Sun” floats in the sky, a boy named Mera Kagari, who feels out of place and lives a boring life, meets a mysterious girl named Thirteen on his 16th birthday.
Her encounter with her brings vibrant colors to Mera’s previously monochrome life, but at the same time, strange occurrences begin to unfold in the city.
PV 1
Official site: https://anime.monster-strike.com/meradeath/
Source: Comic Natalie
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Anime
One Peace Books Adds ‘My Life Turned Around: After I Was Betrayed and Framed, I Won the Heart of the Most Beautiful Girl at School’ Manga – News
Manga launches in English on July 20, 2027
© Ei Ikaguchi, D, Higeneko, Kadokawa
The Behind the Manga website reported on Friday that One Peace Books has confirmed it will release Ei Ikaguchi‘s My Life Turned Around: After I Was Betrayed and Framed, I Won the Heart of the Most Beautiful Girl at School (Jinsei Gyakuten: Uwakisare, Enzai o Kiserareta Ore ga, Gakuen Ichi no Bishōjo ni Natsukareru) manga in English starting with the first volume on July 20, 2027.
One Peace Books describes its story:
The day he lost everything was the day he met her. At the end of summer, Eiji Aono witnesses the unthinkable: his childhood friend and girlfriend, Miyuki Amada, cheating on him with Kondo, the ace of the school’s soccer team. Betrayed by the girl he loved, Eiji is left emotionally shattered. As if that weren’t enough, he soon becomes the target of vicious rumors and relentless slander for crimes he never committed. With nowhere left to turn, he flees to the rooftop of his school…there, at his lowest point, he meets a mysterious girl who will change his life forever.
The manga adaptation launched on Kadokawa‘s Comic Newtype website in June 2025. The first book volume of the manga shipped in November 2025. The second compiled volume launched on June 10.
The manga is based on author D and illustrator Higeneko‘s light novel series that launched on Kakuyomu in September 2023. The novel series won two awards in the 9th Kakuyomu Web Novel Contest. Kadokawa began releasing the series in print in November 2024, and shipped the fourth volume on May 29.
Source: Behind the Manga (WinterVenom)
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
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