Firefly Wedding

Exploring Studio ENGI, the Anime Studio Behind Medalist

Oct 19, 17:07

anime

During the PacSet “ANN in Japan 2025” tour, anime fans from around the globe were granted the exceedingly rare privilege to see how and where the sausage gets made. ― This past autumn, as part of the PacSet “ANN in Japan 2025” tour, about a dozen other anime fans from around the globe were granted the exceedingly rare privilege to tour a brick-and-mortar anime studio. It was a chance to see how the s...

game review

Silent Hill: Townfall Game Review

Oct 19, 12:00

games

What makes Townfall such an excellent Silent Hill game is the way that it blends the mundane tragedies of small-town life with the otherworldly trauma that is choking St. Amelia to death. ― The real star of Silent Hill: Townfall is St. Amelia itself. Given its recent resurgence thanks to Bloober Team's masterful Silent Hill 2 remake and the genuinely transcendent Silent Hill f from Neobards Entertain...

column

This Week in Mobile Games - Our Notes to the Polls

Oct 19, 09:00

games

Josh digs into BanG Dream! Our Notes, the latest mobile game franchise spinoff. Is it worth it, or is it too obviously avaricious? ― This Week in Mobile Games is sponsored this week by action-packed mobile JRPG Grand Summoners and their crossover with fan favorite Studio TRIGGER title Kill la Kill. Find out more about the limited time in-game event further down in this week's column! Hello again, and...

interview

Interview: Princess Jellyfish Manga Artist Akiko Higashimura Celebrates 25 Years

Oct 19, 09:00

manga

Shojo icon Akiko Higashimura sat down with ANN to talk about her most famous works, her storytelling style, directing live-action projects, business ventures, and BL!? ― Shojo icon Akiko Higashimura, known for acclaimed titles such as Princess Jellyfish, Tokyo Tarareba Girls, and Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey, has had a massive impact on the manga world, with stories ranging from romant...

news

12 comments

Kanon, Air, Clannad, Heaven Burns Red's Jun Maeda in Palliative Care for Pharyngeal Cancer

Oct 19, 04:38

12 comments

people

Maeda has completed work on 1st 6 chapters of Heaven Burns Red, working on original music project ― Visual Arts/Key announced on Monday that writer and composer Jun Maeda (Kanon, Air, Clannad, Angel Beats!) has been diagnosed with pharyngeal cancer, and has chosen to focus on palliative care, after considering his condition and the outlook for possible treatment.The announcement also included an e-ma...

review

15 comments

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Volumes 1-3 Light Novel Review

Oct 18, 12:00

15 comments

novels

This isn’t more lazy isekai power fantasy slop where characters pull up videogame-esque stat screens out of thin air and solve all of their problems by leveling up. ― Rifujin na Magonote's popular isekai light novel series Mushoku Tensei (Jobless Reincarnation) has earned a loaded reputation, mainly due to the anime adaptation's fractured reception in the press and in wider fandom. Now halfway throug...

news

Kokamumo's Null-Meta Manga Gets TV Anime in 2027

Oct 18, 08:07

anime

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2's Kai Ikarashi directs anime based on slice-of-life comedy manga ― Aniplex announced on Sunday that Kokamumo's Null-Meta manga is receiving a television anime series next year. Aniplex had teased the announcement with a video on Friday that had featured the letters "NLMT." Kai Ikarashi (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2) is directing the anime at the studio Soigne (mono, Botan Kamiina...

news

Arc System Works Opens New Studio Takumi on November 2

Oct 18, 06:15 games industry

New studio to work in new fighting game selected for Japanese government's "IP360" subsidy project ― Arc System Works announced on Thursday it will open Arc System Works Tokyo Studio "Takumi," its new development studio, on November 2. The company stated that it has decided to open a new studio to dramatically strengthen development capabilities across the company, beginning with a new fighting game ...

game review

8 comments

Octopath Traveler 1 & 2 Game Review

Oct 17, 12:00

8 comments

games

Square Enix’s experimental RPGs Octopath Traveler I and II are now on Nintendo Switch 2, but is the short-story format and split narrative style all it’s cracked up to be? ― The Octopath Traveler series occupies a strange place in the Square Enix canon. It lacks the superstar power of the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest franchises, but at the same time it's not a cult darling like Live a Live or Vagran...

feature

Bringing the 'Art of Manga' to the Brooklyn Museum

Oct 17, 09:00

events

Curator Rousmaniere said, “What Brooklyn has done is really highlighted each of the artists in their own individual fashion, really beautifully spacing it out, and I think it's the most immersive format they could have done.” ― The Art of Manga exhibit, which made its debut at the de Young Museum in San Francisco last year, arrives on the East Coast at the Brooklyn Museum. The collection of 658 artwo...

game review

Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter Game Review

Oct 16, 12:00

games

Like Sky 1st, Daybreak, and every other Trails that I have had the good fortune to enjoy so far, Sky 2nd is a darn good RPG and a darn good game. ― I am a latecomer to the Trails series. I started last year with 2021's Trails Through Daybreak. It got its hooks in me (as a longtime film dweeb, I have to salute any game that sets an extended hunk of its story at a film festival). I have since completed...

site news

It's time to start planning your next trip to Japan

Oct 16, 11:44