Japanese Animation TV Ranking, January 19-25

Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe Anime Film Review

If deep character explorations and interpersonal drama are your cup of tea, you'll get your fill. If you're just in it for giant robots fighting each other, you'll get that too. ― Like with the first Hathaway film, The Sorcery of Nymph Circe is a character-driven movie more than a plot-driven one. While the story is step-by-step building towards Mafty's impending attack on the Earth Federation Leader...

This Week in Games - Birdo's Back, Tennis Rackets—and Comcept is Dead

It's surprises all around this week with an unexpected character for the second Super Mario Bros. movie and a new otome game license. ― Welcome back, folks! You might have noticed a recent addition to our team, as well as a new addition to our column line-up! I'm happy to have Josh Tolentino joining us and covering This Week in Mobile Games. I respect and even like several mobile games (I've discusse...

Manga Creation with Kazumi Yamashita

Kazumi Yamashita has been creating manga since 1980. Come find out what makes her work so enduring. ― Manga creator Kazumi Yamashita has been crafting stories in the medium since 1980. Originally debuting in Margaret, Yamashita has moved fluidly through both shoujo and seinen magazines, bringing readers stories that are steeped in humanity even when they don't deal with characters who are, strictly s...

ANN 2026 Reader Survey

Jan 30, 14:26

Time for our annual reader survey. As a thank you for filling out this massive survey, we're giving away ANN subscriptions to 100 randomly selected people who fill it out.

One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 Next Gen Update Review

The game moves at lightning speed, and this next-generation update helps oil up the gears to keep them chugging along with the action. ― The Next Gen update for One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 adds yet more reasons to play one of - if not the - best One Piece games on the market. If you are unfamiliar with the base game, let me bring you up to speed. One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 is another in the long-run...

This Week in Anime - LOVE AND PEACE!

Chris and Coop talk all things Trigun . ― Chris and Coop talk all things Trigun. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network. Full Disclosure: Coop regularly works with Discotek Media, MediaOCD, and AnimEigo, having provided copy for the recent Blu-ray releases of City Hunter 2 and Hajime no Ippo. His opinions given here ar...

The Winter 2026 Manga Guide

It's the final update for the Winter Manga Guide, but don't worry - our K-Comics and 18+ Guides are on the way! In the meantime, check out Ghost & Witch, the new series from the creator of The Ancient Magus' Bride, and more! ― Welcome to Anime News Network's Winter 2026 Manga Guide! You may have seen one of our seasonal Anime Preview Guides, where a team of critics writes up each new anime televisio...

Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple Gets New Sequel Manga in March

Original series ended in 2014 ― Shun Matsuena announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday that he will launch a new sequel manga for Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple titled Shijō Saikyō no Deshi Kenichi 2 Tatsujin-hen (Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple 2 Masters Arc) on Shogakukan's Sunday Webry platform on March 25.Matsuena's Shijō Saikyō no Deshi Kenichi (KenIchi the Mightiest Disciple) manga ran in S...

Li'l Miss Vampire Can't Suck Right Anime Series Review

There’s a slow-paced, low-stakes, soporific vibe to proceedings that means Li’l Miss Vampire Can’t Suck Right is best imbibed in small portions to avoid losing consciousness. ― Back in September 2025, when I reviewed the first volume of this anime's source manga, while I wasn't overly enamoured with it, I stated, “I think Li'l Miss Vampire Can't Suck Right is likely to translate well to anime.” Was I...

Greek Mythology and its Magical Adaptations in Manga and Anime

Asha Bardon explores how Greek myths form the basis of anime and manga series. ― Greek mythology is in vogue these days; we have novel series like Percy Jackson and Netflix has several series retelling or remixing mythology. There are heaps of novels like Madeline Miller's Circe and even an amazing Odyssey-inspired concept album for a musical called Epic! Oh, and Christopher Nolan's next movie has ju...

Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden Novels Get TV Anime in October

Honoka Inoue star as titular character in Konami Animation's adaptation of Umikaze Minamino's novels ― A website opened on Wednesday to announce the television anime adaptation of Umikaze Minamino's Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden (Kyōran Reijō Nia Liston: Byōjaku Reijō ni Tenseishita Kami-goroshi no Bujin no Kareinaru Musō Roku) light novel series, which will premiere in October. The website also r...

Dragon Ball's Majin Buu Voice Actor Kōzō Shioya Dies at 71

Shioya died on January 20 due to cerebral hemorrhage ― Talent agency Aoni Production announced on Wednesday that voice actor Kōzō Shioya had died on January 20 due to cerebral hemorrhage. He was 71. His immediate family held a private funeral service. Shioya was born in Kagoshima Prefecture on August 18, 1955. He was the older brother of fellow voice actor Yoku Shioya.Shioya is well-known as the voic...

Wash It All Away Volume 2-5 Manga Review

Near the gleaming beaches of Atami, a small cleaning service can ensure that your clothes are just as bright. ― This manga, written and illustrated by Mitsuru Hattori, has a relaxed, somewhat distanced feel, even as we run around town with Wakana. The narrative is trying to do several things at once, and some of those things it does well, while others feel like a dissonant note to the whole. To begin...

This Week in Anime - Escalation by the Rules

Sylvia and Lucas discuss the building blocks of shounen battle series. ― Sylvia and Lucas discuss the building blocks of shounen battle series. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead. Crunchyroll streams Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Hunter x Hunter, Jujutsu Kaisen, and ...