Reviews - August 2026

Star Ocean: The Second Story R Game Review

Aug 7, 12:00

games

I cannot blame people for being twice-shy about Star Ocean, because I was for a long time. Keyword: was. ― I've had a problem with the Star Ocean series, going back a long time: for a series so steeped in science fiction, the games nevertheless take place on typical medieval worlds. At their worst, they feel like bog-standard RPGs with science fiction window dressing. Having played through Star Ocean...

column

16 comments

This Week in Games - After-Dark Edition

Aug 7, 10:00

16 comments

games

We're doing something a little different this week! Instead of recounting the bigger news regarding Japanese games this past week, we'll be discussing a particular theme: Japanese erotic games, better known as eroge! ― Welcome back, folks! We're doing something a little different this week! Instead of recounting the bigger news regarding Japanese games this past week, we'll be discussing a particular...

feature

Summer 2026 Manga Guide After Dark (18+)

Aug 7, 09:00

manga

Welcome to the steamy side of ANN's Spring Manga Guide. ― Welcome to the steamy side of ANN's Spring Manga Guide. All of these titles are for readers 18 and older, from spicy to something a bit more, and featuring a range of tropes, groupings, and fetishes. Come find your next adult read - there's plenty to choose from. June If I Let Her Ruin My Life Erica Friedman, Lucas DeRuyterBolts Bride of the ...

interview

Studio MAPPA On How Dorohedoro Season Two Came To Be

Aug 7, 09:00 anime

During our chat, they revealed their favorite moments from the season, their hopes for future adaptations, how they strove to maintain a healthy production schedule, and their stance on AI in animation. ― To say the wait between Dorohedoro's first and second seasons was rough on fans would be an understatement. For years, fans worried that MAPPA's gloriously gory adaptation of Q Hayashida's manga ha...

6 comments

Comparing the Character Designs of MewType In and Out of Virtual Reality

Aug 6, 20:52

6 comments

anime

Appearances aren't everything, but in a visual medium like anime, they're still pretty important. A design can tell audiences a lot about a character, giving them an idea or an expectation before their personality is expressed. This is why character designs for anime are often revealed quite in advance of the series itself premiering, and the girls of MewType from BanG Dream! YUME∞MITA are no exception.

review

Semantic Error Volume 2 Novel Review

Aug 6, 12:00 korean novels

Semantic Error still isn't going to be a story for everyone, even if you're a fan of queer romance fiction. ― Semantic Error is, understandably, something of a hard read for some people. The first novel features the romantic interest embarking on an all-out harassment campaign based on the fact that he's unaware (or unable to understand) that Sangwoo is neurodivergent. While the novel does a better j...

news

Destiny Unchain Online Novels/Manga Get TV Anime

Aug 6, 11:32

anime

K MANGA publishes Yachimoto's manga of resn's original story in English ― A new official X/Twitter account opened on Friday to announce that author resn and artist Yachimoto's Destiny Unchain Online: How I became the Crimson Devil (Destiny Unchain Online ~Kyūketsuki Shōjo to Natte, Yagate "Aka no Maō" to Yobareru Yō ni Narimashita~) novels and Yachimoto's manga adaptation are inspiring a television a...

convention

Otakon's Ascension of a Bookworm's Panel Shows Just How Much the Staff Love Their Anime

Aug 5, 16:00 anime

Producer Goshi Yoshida came running out of the back, looped around the panel room, and ran down the center aisle, high-fiving everybody in the audience. ― The energy that producer Goshi Yoshida had for this panel was absolutely perfect. This man came running out of the back, looped around the panel room, and ran down the center aisle, high-fiving everybody in the audience. It was honestly great, and ...

convention

3 comments

The Vermillion Mask's Premiere Is a Truncated But Interesting Affair

Aug 5, 14:03

3 comments

anime

Not having a lot to show meant that there’s a lot to this show that still needs to be unmasked. ― A mask salesman. Masks with magical powers. One of them is very evil, apparently. And there's a gang of misfits who try to steal said mask. No, I'm actually not talking about Zelda: Majora's Mask here, although it sounds like it. At its Otakon premiere panel, one audience member even asked if it was ins...

review

I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class Anime Series Review

Aug 5, 12:00

anime

I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class goes in the pile of romance anime that remind me why I love this genre so much. ― On paper, this show doesn't have anything going for it. It looks as basic as they come: a young, socially awkward man eventually gets together with one of the more popular girls in his class. The title almost seems like a misleading gimmick, considering that even...

convention

The Clevatess Anime Staff Were Inspired by Heidi?!

Aug 5, 09:00 anime

Series director Kiyotaka Taguchi and Lay-duce animation producer Seiichiro Kuriyama describe their love of older cel animation and how that influenced their approach to adapting a modern fantasy series. Also, Kadokawa producer Kōsuke Arai explained how they got Ellie Goulding to make an ending song for the anime! ― We got to sit with the staff of Clevatess ahead of the season two premiere at Anime E...

review

Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi Anime Series Review

Aug 5, 03:01

anime

The Ninth Jedi is one of those anime I enjoyed watching in the moment and have become more enraptured with the more I think about. ― First and foremost, The Ninth Jedi feels like Star Wars. Much of this is in how the story is told. While each episode is an individual story, the overarching series follows the classic Star Wars trilogy structure. The two Star Wars: Visions episodes make up the opening ...

news

Twin Engine, Bandai Partner for Manga, Animation, Merchandise Plans

Aug 4, 23:23 industry

Both to invest up to 4 billion yen into initiative ― Anime planning and production company Twin Engine (production for Vinland Saga, Dororo, Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku) announced on Wednesday that it has entered into a strategic partnership with toy and merchandising company Bandai Co., Ltd., with the two companies planning to produce at least one new joint project. The companies' initiative will in...

review

DIGIMON BEATBREAK Episodes 25-37 Anime Series Review

Aug 4, 12:00

anime

While there are great individual episodes here, the awkward execution of its larger plot leaves this arc falling just a little short of being the whole sum of its parts. ― With the first arc of Digimon Beatbreak doing a good job of setting up the show's foundations through its episodic format, and the second digging a little deeper into the darker sides of its setting through a more tightly focused p...

news

4 comments

The Dangers in My Heart Manga Ends in 3 Chapters

Aug 4, 10:03

4 comments

manga

Norio Sakurai debuted manga in March 2018, which inspired TV anime in 2023 ― The 196th chapter of Norio Sakurai's The Dangers in My Heart (Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu) manga revealed on Tuesday that the series will end in three chapters. The manga was also previously announced to end in its 14th compiled book volume. Sakurai launched the manga in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shonen Champion magazine in Ma...

news

8 comments

Kemono Jihen Manga to End in 26th Volume After 10 Years

Aug 4, 08:54

8 comments

manga

Series debuted in 2016 ― The 25th volume of Shō Aimoto's Kemono Jihen manga announced on Tuesday that the series will end in the next volume. Seven Seas Entertainment publishes the manga in English and describes the story: Inugami is a Tokyo detective who specializes in the occult. One day, answering a call to a remote village leads him to Dorotabo: a peculiar boy nicknamed after a yokai that haunts...

news

Kamome Maruyono's I Love Dokagui! Mochizuki-san Manga Gets TV Anime

Aug 4, 08:40