In an anime landscape where video game isekai are standard issue, A Wild Last Boss Appeared! is easily one of the more ambitious—and certainly better animated—such titles. ― We never technically learn the name of the protagonist of A Wild Last Boss Appeared! (henceforth WLB). In fact, we only catch brief glimpses of what he actually looks like. Still, we do learn that he's one of the all-time best pl...

column

13 comments

Answerman - How many light novels that got official publication originated on Narou?

Jan 12, 11:00

13 comments

novels

What does the Narou-to-anime pipeline actually look like? Jerome has answers. ― A reader asks asks: “How many light novels that receive an 'official' publication originate on the Shōtetsuka ni Narō (“Narou”( web-publishing platform)?” First off, what the hell is Narou? It's short for Shōsetusuka ni Narō, the massive Japanese website where amateur authors publish free web novels. The English translat...

feature

16 comments

2025 ANN Readers' Choice Awards

Jan 12, 09:00

16 comments

anime

The voting period is over, and it's time to announce the winners of this year's Readers' Choice Awards! ― The voting period is over, and it's time to announce the winners of this year's Readers' Choice Awards! First and foremost, we would like to thank the community for participating in this event.To start…Leading Woman of the Year: Maomao of The Apothecary DiariesOur favorite apothecary does it agai...

news

Bushiroad Reveals Zero Rise Basketball Project With TV Anime, Stage Play

Jan 12, 08:15 anime

Stage play runs on May 2-17 in Tokyo ― The "Cardfight!! Vanguard 15th Anniversary: Bushiroad New Year Announcements 2026" event announced on Monday that Bushiroad's ZERO RISE cross-media project will have a television anime, as well as a stage play on May 2-17 at the Hikōsen Theater in Tokyo. The project also presented its animation and character promotional videos, and announced its cast members who...

news

8 comments

Shōjo☆Kageki Revue Starlight's Project Gets New Anime Sequel by Kinema Citrus

Jan 12, 04:47

8 comments

anime

Starlight Project also marks 9th anniversary with exhibition early this summer ― The "Cardfight!! Vanguard 15th Anniversary: Bushiroad New Year Announcements 2026" event announced on Monday that a completely new animated sequel in the Starlight Project franchise is in production at Kinema Citrus. The franchise teased the production under the name "Someday, ___ will reach someone." The event also anno...

review

2 comments

Drops of God Season 2 Live-Action Series Review

Jan 12, 00:00

2 comments

live-action

Sometimes the only way to save something you love is to destroy it utterly. Sometimes, destroying what you love doesn't save anything at all. ― Drops of God, Season 2, has some of the absolute finest acting I have ever seen. Which is both wonderful and devastating, as this sequel to the live-action television series on Apple TV is a difficult and very tightly wound sequel to the live-action televisio...

review

3 comments

My Awkward Senpai Chapters 1-104 Manga Review

Jan 11, 12:00

3 comments

manga

What starts as comedic social awkwardness soon becomes an example of someone that is a workaholic and plagued by a deep fear of emotional dependency. ― I always find it at least a little bit funny when a series portrays an incredibly capable person in a field that requires a lot of social interaction only for the twist to be that they actually have no social skills whatsoever. Maybe there are some pe...

news

Firefly Wedding Manga Gets TV Anime by David Production in October

Jan 11, 10:19 anime

Urusei Yatsura's Takahiro Kamei helms anime with designs by Your Lie in April's Yukiko Aikei ― A website opened on Monday to announce that a television anime adaptation of Oreko Tachibana's Firefly Wedding manga will premiere on the Fuji TV network this October. Takahiro Kamei (2022-2024's Urusei Yatsura) is directing the anime at david production, and Yukiko Aikei (Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, ...

news

5 comments

Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers Novels Get TV Anime

Jan 11, 06:36

5 comments

anime

Isle Osaki's story of minor goddess uniting with RPG player from our world ― The "Overlap Bunko All-Star Gathering Special 2026 Part I" livestream event announced on Sunday that a television anime adaptation of Isle Osaki's Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers (Shinja Zero no Megami-sama to Hajimeru Isekai Kōryaku or Clear the world like a game with the zero believers godde...

review

26 comments

Fire Force Volumes 1-10 Manga Review

Jan 10, 12:00

26 comments

manga

Fire Force has so many other positive aspects that it seems absurd that the author should want to torpedo his chances of a wider audience by so prominently featuring such prurient, out-of-place fan-service. ― Man's fascination with fire dates back to the primeval ages. Fire on demand was one of the very first technologies, and its transformative effects, once harnessed, led directly towards the machi...

news

1 comment

IDOLiSH7 Franchise's Mofmof Mini Characters Get Stop-Motion Anime

Jan 10, 07:39

1 comment

anime

Fluffy alien creatures to also get more merchandise, their own May event ― The "IDOLiSH7 10th Anniversary Event 'A10TiON PLEASE!!!!'" announced on Saturday that the IDOLiSH7 franchise's Mofmof mini characters are launching their own new Mofmof Parade (or MofPara for short) project. The project includes a stop-motion anime titled Koma-Dori Mofmof Parade (Stop-Motion Mofmof Parade or KomaMof for short)...

feature

214 comments

The Winter 2026 Anime Preview Guide

Jan 9, 12:30

214 comments

anime

Vash and the gang are back in Trigun Stargaze! Also Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling, A Misanthrope Teaches a Class for Demihumans, Scum of the Brave, Fire Force, Dark Moon: the Blood Altar, Jujustu Kaisen, Champignon Witch, and more! ― Welcome to Anime News Network's Winter 2026 Anime Preview Guide! Here's how it goes: our team of critics writes up their impressions instantly, to be posted here a...

review

10Dance Live-Action Movie Review

Jan 9, 12:00 live-action

Worlds collide on the dance floor as two men with the same name learn how each other moves ― The movie begins with Shinya Suzuki. He is a ladies' man, a laid-back yanki of a dancer. Half Cuban, half Japanese, he longs for his island home. He lives in a tropical enclave in Japan, but is outwardly uninterested in dancing on the international stage. For reasons he cannot identify, he finds himself const...

column

13 comments

This Week in Games - Live In Y○ur W×rld, △I Plays □urs

Jan 9, 10:00

13 comments

games

Jean-Karlo remembers David Rosen and looks forward to some new visual novels. ― Welcome back, folks! You'll notice I had a review for The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizons go live yesterday. I've long bemoaned my lack of exposure to Falcom's games, outside of playing a lot of Dragon Slayer on GameBoy in middle school; I've been thoroughly convinced. Just a shame about Falcom's dalliances w...

interview

28 comments

A Fresh Cast Brings the Original Detective Conan Anime to a New Audience

Jan 9, 09:00

28 comments

anime

ADR Director Ayu, Conan voice actor Molly Zhang, and Shinichi Kudo voice actor Mauricio Ortiz-Segura discuss the new dub batch releases to introduce fans to the long-running detective series. ― Detective Conan is one of the most popular franchises in Japan, ready to celebrate it 30th anniversary this year! Despite its popularity in its home country, its impact overseas hasn't been nearly as strong. ...