Otaku News

Death Note: The Musical Returns to London's Barbican in 2027

Date: 2026 October 03 10:40 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

We've just received details about the next London run of Death Note:The Musical. The hit musical will return to the Barbican from 23rd March until 15th May 2027. The original London performance broke the record at the Barbican for the highest grossing single week of a musical and then went on to break the record five consecutive times for the highest grossing single performance of a musical.

You can book tickets on DeathNoteTheMusical.com as well as see a new trailer for the show. We suggest booking as soon as possible as we imagine this performance will also sell out.

You can read our review of the 2026 performance.

Netflix October 2026 Anime Release Details

Date: 2026 September 30 19:41 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The good folks from streaming giants Netflix have sent us details of their new anime line up. They've just released the latest Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba movie - Infinity Castle I, so if you haven't seen it yet now's your chance to catch up with Tanjiro and his buddies as the battle escalates. The intense movie won't make that much sense unless you've seen the rest of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba series. If you haven't it's best to start from the beginning of the series. Of course you could just watch it the movie without knowing anything, but you won't really know who the characters are or the impact of their actions.

The hilarious Ranma 1/2 returns for season 3 from Saturday 3rd October 2026, expect more ridiculous and highly enjoyable martial arts antics.

The sporty romantic Blue Box returns for season 2 from Sunday 4th October 2026. We really enjoyed this soft hearted romantic series and look forward to more.

We're also really looking forward to the My Happy Marriage Special Episodes which will be released on Sunday 25th October 2026.

Japan Matsuri - London UK Details

Date: 2026 September 26 09:34 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

A quick reminder to our London UK based readers, the Japan Matsuri returns to Trafalgar Square on Sunday 4th October 2026. It's set to run from 10am to 8pm. The popular event will showcase Japanese Culture in the UK. The event is free to enter. During peak times when it gets crowded they operate a one in one out policy.

They'll be plenty of stalls selling lots of yummy Japanese street food, plus other stalls selling various things from arts and crafts and other goods. If you're planning a trip to Japan it might be worth visiting the the various tourist organisations who'll be there.

The Matsuri is dominated by a big performing stage. So remember to check the performance schedule to find out who'll be on and at what time.

Souce: Japan Matsuri

Art of Manga Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum

Date: 2026 September 26 08:52 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

US based manga fans who can get to the Brooklyn Museum in New York will be very excited to hear about their Art of Manga Exhibition which is set to run from October 3rd 2026 until January 31st 2027.

The East Coast debut of the exhibition includes works from many manga greats including Hirohiko Araki (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, InuYasha), Gengoroh Tagame.(My Brother's Husband) and many more. The exhibition originally ran de Young Museum in San Francisco.

If you can get to Brooklyn we highly recommend this exhibition!

Arrietty UK and Ireland Cinema Screening Details

Date: 2026 September 12 10:27 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

The good folks from GKIDS have sent us details of their up coming Studio Ghibli Release Arrietty. It's the studio's adaptation of Mary Norton's The Borrowers, which has been adapted in various other formats over the years. This version of the childhood classic has the little people living under the floorboards of a house in rural Japan.

Arrietty will sneak into cinemas for IMAX previews on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th October 2026 and then in other cinemas from Friday 16th October 2026. It'll be available both in Japanese with English subtitles and dubbed into English. There are two versions of the dub of this film. The US English Dub and the British English dub. The UK and Ireland screenings will use the British English dub featuring the vocal talents of Saoirse Ronan, Olivia Colman and a young Tom Holland before he became Spider-Man.

As with all Ghibli movies, it looks absolutely stunning and the attention to detail in Arrietty is something worth catching on the big screen. We think there's something ironic about watching a movie about little people on a enormous IMAX screen!

Tickets are on sale now, visit the GKIDS website to find a screening near you.

If you're in the UK or Ireland you can watch the Studio Ghibli catalogue on Netflix too.

Read More... | Souce: GKIDS

Anime Composer Yasuharu Takanashi's European Tour 2026 Details

Date: 2026 September 07 20:06 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

We've heard from anime composer Yasuharu Takanashi and his band that he'll be touring Europe this autumn including Dingwalls in Camden London, UK on Friday 2nd October 2026. Yasuharu Takanashi's tour is titled The Battle for Glory EU. You may have heard his work with anime soundtracks including Naruto Shippuden and Fairy Tail.

You can buy tickets for the London leg.

They'll also be playing at Finland, Poland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France and Spain. From 30th September to 14th October 2026.

Japanese Films at the London Film Festival 2026

Date: 2026 September 02 20:15 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

The good folks from the BFI have sent us detail of the up coming London Film Festival 2026. It's set to run from Wednesday 7th to Friday 18th October 2026 at various venues across London.

The 70th BFI London Film Festival has a movie for everyone, including fans of Japan! They'll be screening the live action version of Look Back, which is based on Tatsuki Fujimoto's fantastic one shot manga, it's been previously adapted as anime too. We think a it'll make a superb live action version too and hope to catch it at the festival.

They've also got the tender All of a a Sudden and Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing both of which look very promising.

Whisper of the Heart UK and Ireland Cinema Release Details

Date: 2026 August 29 20:08 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

The good folks from GKIDS have sent us details of their up coming Studio Ghibli Release Whisper of the Heart. It's a sweet coming of age tale where girl Shizuku meets Seiji and they explore a quest for her true talent. In a way it's also a prequel of sorts for The Cat Returns, with the Baron making an appearance along with a certain chonky cat.

Whisper of the Heart will drift into cinema screens on IMAX in the UK and Ireland from Wednesday 16th September 2026 and then a wider in cinemas from Friday 18th September 2026. This is newly remastered in 4K.

Whisper of the Heart is one of those enjoyable slice of life type stories, with a bit of imagination sprinkled in the mix. It's a great movie if you just want to relax an unwind. Having seen Kiki's Delivery Service on IMAX, it was giant and spectacularly all immersive, we expect seeing Whisper of the Heart on IMAX will be a similar experience.

Tickets are on sale now, visit the GKIDS website to find a screening near you.

Read More... | Souce: GKIDS

Kiki's Delivery Service UK and Ireland Cinema Release Reminder

Date: 2026 August 19 19:43 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

Just a quick reminder to our readers in the UK and Ireland. The Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli classic Kiki's Delivery Service arrives in cinemas on Friday 21 August 2026. Screenings will be available on IMAX and then released more widely in 4K across UK and Irish cinemas from Friday 28th August 2026.

The film will be released both dubbed in English and in Japanese with English subtitles, so check the screening details to make sure you get the showing you want.

Kiki's Delivery Service is rated U and is a wholesome Ghibli story about a young witch finding her way in the world.

The dub is excellent and features Kirsten Dunst as Kiki and the late great Phil Hartman as Jiji the cat. The more attentive fans will notice that this version of the dub is subtly different from the original, as the extra dialogue added for the dub has been removed, making it closer to to the original Japanese version. The ad-libs such as Jiji going "Hello Kitty" and Ursula explaining that she knows the person giving them a lift while hitch hiking have been removed (along with some other spoiler details we won't elaborate on here). The opening and ending themes is also the original Japanese in this version, while the first version of the dub had songs Soaring and I'm Gonna Fly by Sydney Forest.

The original version with extra dialogue and English language songs is still on Netflix, so if you can't catch it at the cinema or want to watch it more than once you can. You can also watch the Studio Ghibli catalogue on Netflix.

We've seen the movie on IMAX and like any Ghibli film watching it on a big screen is a must, but seeing it on an IMAX screen is another experience. It's huge and the level of detail you can catch is amazing. Kiki's a great film for everyone, kids, grown ups and fans of Studio Ghibli.

You can find a screening near you and book tickets on the GKIDS website.

Read More... | Souce: GKIDS

Death Note:The Musical Review

Date: 2026 August 17 19:52 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Culture

Death Note: The Musical was announced for a run at London's Barbican in March this year, with tickets selling out rapidly for the first few weeks. With only 50 performances from 30th July - 12th September 2026 we were keen to be in the audience for this one.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

The Villainess Who Came to Marry Into the Frontier Noble's Household Is an Exceptionally Capable Wife, Isn't She? Volume 1 Manga Release Details

Date: 2026 August 09 15:30 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The good folks from One Peace Books have sent us the details of their latest manga. The Villainess Who Came to Marry Into the Frontier Noble's Household Is an Exceptionally Capable Wife, Isn't She? Volume 1 is due out on 15th September 2025. It's a reborn into a dating sim manga with a twist!

An Interview with Isabell Castro and Sam Pinansky from BookWalker

Date: 2026 August 09 11:08 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Interviews

BookWalker is a digitalbook store and app that offers officially licensed manga, light novels, manhwa and audio books. It has recently relaunched as Bookwalker.com, spinning off from Bookwalker.jp. One of the key changes is the inclusion of Lightweight Content Protection (LCP) DRM. They've added this to the platform to allow you to buy and keep your books.

We had a little interview with Isabell Castro, BookWalker Senior Marketing Manager and Sam Pinansky, BookWalker's CEO to ask them more about what's happening over at BookWalker.

Manga Million Offers a Million Pages of Free Manga

Date: 2026 August 08 11:38 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

We've been sent news from Japanese publishing giant Shueisha about their latest ambitious manga project. Manga Million is a new manga platform with titles available in 100 languages. with almost 400 titles and 1 million pages, It currently offers access to all this manga for free, legally, worldwide without registration. Currently this appears to be a limited time offer to get the manga out there. We're not sure if in the future you'll have to pay for access.

Titles include One Piece, Spy x Family, Chainsaw Man, Dr. Stone, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Jujutsu Kaisen, Bleach, My Hero Academia, Death Note and many, many more. It also includes the odd one shot like Look Back.

The titles are put up as tasters, so you can get a feel for if you like the title or not. Most of the manga published on Manga Million is available in English via VIZ Media, which is co-owned by Shueisha.

Manga Million likes to remind us that it didn't use AI when translating the titles it offers, however it has rightly drawn criticism as none of the translators are credited for their work.

The Ghost in the Shell TTRPG Now on BackerKit

Date: 2026 August 05 20:13 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Gaming

The good folks from Manic Games have sent us details for their BackerKit campaign for their The Ghost in the Shell TTRPG. It's set to run until 13th August 2026 and will give you a chance to back the game and in effect pre-order various different editions. For those worried about international shipping, they do have a digital PDF version from £15, with the hardback book being £35, along with various bundles including an official dice set a GM screen and other nifty perks. They also offer a tier with miniatures, either in resin or the STL files so you can print them yourself!

So if you want to pledge something and get the TTRPG head over to their BackerKit campaign.

You can also read our interview with Alessio Cavatore co-designer of The Ghost in the Shell TTRPG

Kiki's Delivery Service UK and Ireland Cinema Release Details

Date: 2026 July 21 19:38 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

We've just heard that Kiki's Delivery Service will be released across IMAX cinemas in the UK and Ireland from 21st August 2026. Screenings will be available both dubbed in English and in the original Japanese with English subtitles, so check the screening details before booking to make sure you get the screening you want. The dub featuring Kirsten Dunst as Kiki and the late Phil Hartman as Jiji is superb and captures the original spirit of the film with a few of it's own twists.

If you haven't seen it, we can't emphasise enough how good this movie is. It's directed by legendary Oscar winning anime director Hayao Miyazaki, who also directed Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and many more Studio Ghibli classics. Inspired by the book, it follows young witch Kiki following her rite of passage to go to a new place and set up for herself. It's a sweet coming of age movie, with some pleasant slice of life moments, plus a bit of action and mild peril. Kiki's Delivery service is one of those movies we'll never get tired of watching it's great pick me movie.

Interestingly enough this is GKIDS first UK cinema release after they acquired the UK theatrical and home video rights to the Studio Ghibli Catalogue. The movie will be released in partnership with sister company Anime Limited.

You can find a screening near you and book tickets on the GKIDS website.

If you're in the UK or Ireland you can watch the Studio Ghibli catalogue on Netflix too, including Kiki's Delivery Service.

Read More... | Souce: GKIDS

Akira returns to tour cinemas in the UK and ROI with new 35mm print

Date: 2026 July 17 09:32 | Posted By: Eeeper

Category > Anime

Anime Limited announces classic cyberpunk film AKIRA will return to UK and Republic of Ireland for a whistle-stop tour of cinemas in 2026

An Interview with Alessio Cavatore Co-designer of The Ghost in the Shell TTRPG

Date: 2026 July 05 20:28 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Interviews

While we're very excited about the up coming release of the new The Ghost in the Shell Anime by Science SARU (we've seen it you can read our review here). This renewed interest in Shirow's cyberpunk classic has also lead to an interesting adaption - a table top role playing game version! Produced by Manic Games by acclaimed designers Alessio Cavatore and Zak Barouh, it's due to launch on Backerkit at end of July 2026.

We got in touch with one of the games designer's Alessio Cavatore to find out more about the new TTRPG.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

An Interview with Ryuichi Sasaki CEO & Founder of CTW

Date: 2026 July 05 15:37 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Interviews

With a new The Apothecary Diaries Palace Chronicles game proving popular with over 200,000 pre-registrations, we were keen to find out more. So we got in touch with the producer of the game CTW, who run a games platform G123.

Here we interview Ryuichi Sasaki, CEO & Founder of CTW to find more about the web based games and how it all works.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners II Release Details

Date: 2026 June 29 19:54 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The good folks from streaming giants Netflix have sent us details of the upcoming release of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners II. The new standalone 10 episode story set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, we're promised a story of redemption and revenge.

Studio TRIGGER who also animated the original standalone original Cyberpunk: Edgerunners return to animate season two. So get chromed up and get ready for a new adventure this autumn 2026.

We thoroughly enjoyed the original Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and were captivated by it's frantic animation, story and soundtrack. We suspect, this time around it'll also be action packed, but also surprisingly tear jerking.

The Ghost in The Shell New 2026 Anime Series First Two Episodes Review

Date: 2026 June 27 09:57 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

We've just seen the first two episodes of the new The Ghost in the Shell anime series. It's exceptional. It captures the original manga perfectly. The style, the tone, the humour and the whole spirit of it have all been animated.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

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