Otaku News

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.

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.

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.

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

An Interview with Minoru Ota Director of TV Anime Sparks of Tomorrow

Date: 2026 June 20 08:23 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Features

Anime Limited teamed up with MCM Comic Con London to host the World Premiere of new TV anime Sparks of Tomorrow. Director Minoru Ota and producer Ryona Kuyama of Kyoto Animation were at the premiere to promote it. We were lucky enough to interview Minoru Ota in person at MCM Comic Con London and find more out about the show.

If you want to see the show yourself Sparks of Tomorrow will be on Netflix from Sunday 5th July 2026.

Read More... | Souce: Otaku News

The Apothecary Diaries Palace Chronicles Browser Game Release Details

Date: 2026 June 13 08:47 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Gaming

CTW have sent us news of their up coming game The Apothecary Diaries Palace Chronicles. The browser based game is set to be launched on their G123 platform on Monday 15th June 2026.

You get to investigate various incidents with appearances from over 35 characters. So if you're a fan of Maomao and her adventures you should sign up for pre-registration rewards. So far over 200,000 people have pre-registered to play.

The game is free to pay for basic, but includes in game paid items. We're curious if this game will feature any frogs or ox bezoars.

Japan House London Photographic Exhibition Kyotographie: Kawada Kikuji x Iwane Ai

Date: 2026 June 10 20:12 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Japan House London have just launched their first ever photographic exhibition titled Kyotographie: Kawada Kikuji x Iwane Ai. It showcases the work of Kawada Kikuji and Iwane Ai.

Kawada Kikuji is best know for his series Chizu (The Map, 1965) and at 90 years old has wracked up decades of work to display including many photos capturing postwar Hiroshima. While Iwane Ai captures contrasting festivals in Japan and in Hawaii, along with mesmerising cherry blossom trees at night.

It's so reductive to sum up award winning photographers in a few sentences. We were lucky enough to catch a press showing of the exhibition. The gallery is divided into two halves, each showing the photographers separate works. The way it's curated allows you to naturally flow around the space and learn about each of the photos. It's definitely worth your timing visiting Japan House to catch this.

The exhibition is set to run from Wednesday 3rd June to Sunday 18th October 2026. Admission is free, but booking is recommend.

Angel's Egg UK Cinema Release Details

Date: 2026 June 06 10:32 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

The good folks from Anime Limited have revealed the UK cinema release details for Angel's Egg. The anime movie will have a cinema release around the UK on Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th June 2026.

The film is written and directed by Mamoru Oshii (who did the Ghost in the Shell Movie) with collaboration from Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy, Vampire Hunter D). It's regarded as a cult classic and this is the first time it's hit UK cinemas.

To find a screening near you visit angelseggfilm.co.uk.

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway UK Cinema Release Details

Date: 2026 June 03 19:55 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > Film

The good folks from Trinity CineAsia have sent us details of an up coming cinema release. Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway is due to hit cinemas around the UK Friday 12th June 2026.

This is the 29th movie of the hugely popular franchise telling the tale of an ace detective who has been turned into a child. The series is also known as Case Closed.

This time around Conan and his chums head off to Kanagawa for the Motorcycle Festival. There they witness a police motorcycle pursuit, along with some high tech bikes. The mysterious reckless rider then reappears later in Tokyo, causing the authorities more concern and high-speed action. So expect motorcycle hijinks this time around!

The movie has done well in the Japanese box office when it was release in April this year on a record 526 screens, marking the widest domestic release in the franchise's history, and delivered the series' biggest opening weekend to date, grossing ¥3.5 billion JPY (approx. $22 million USD). So if you like Detective Conan or want to get into it, then you'll probably want catch this on the big screen while you can!

Ryoko Kui Exhibition & Delicious in Dungeon Exhibition in Los Angeles July 2026

Date: 2026 May 20 17:51 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The good folks from Kadokawa World Entertainment have sent us details of the upcoming Ryoko Kui & Delicious in Dungeon Exhibition in Los Angeles. It's set to run in Los Angeles Arts District from July 2 to 26, 2026, following its U.S. debut in New York in October 2025.

It'll open during the same week as Anime Expo 2026. It'll highlight Ryoko Kui's Art, the creation process as well as have some great photo spots along with imported merchandise and special items. If you can get to LA it sounds like a must for Dungeon Meshi fans.

Of course if you don't know what Delicious in Dungeon is you can always catch the anime on Netflix or get the manga from Yen Press.

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