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Netflix truly hit the goldmine this particular season of anime, gaining what is potentially the strongest anime of the entire Winter 2025 season. I have checked out quite a lot of new anime this season and while this Winter season is stronger than most of the seasons in 2024, there is one that stands tall above the rest. Sakamoto Days is the funniest and most heartwarming Winter 2025 anime thus far.

For those who haven’t checked it out yet, Sakamoto Days follows the titular Sakamoto. A former hitman, Sakamoto left the underworld life behind him in exchange for raising a family and running his very own convenience store. Of course, his old life comes back to haunt him, as a whole swathe of the underworld now wish to eliminate him. The series follows Sakamoto and the other characters around him as he tries to protect his newfound life.

Sakamoto himself is one of the more fascinating protagonists. He says very little in the series, including a mere two lines or so in total throughout the first episode. His quieter personality lends well to this idea of a powerful but lovable teddy bear-like father vibe that he gives off. There is something endearing about how much he shows his love for his new life and family without needing to say a word.

It helps that the rest of the cast is quite talkative. Shin, in particular, is a younger former hitman that comes after Sakamoto to finish him off in the first episode. In classic anime fashion, it turns out Shin isn’t that bad of a guy and he ends up ing Sakamoto in the end. Shin is life of the party, having a surprising amount of the story focus on him.

I appreciate how Sakamoto Days allows its ing cast to thrive, like Shin. The same goes for other characters that appear later, which I won’t spoil here. They each come to feel like a true misshapen family in a sense. They are characters worth rooting for. Shin and Sakamoto’s wife Aoi will likely go down as some of my favorite anime characters this year.

While the story premise is quite serious in Sakamoto Days, don’t let this fool you. It is actually the funniest anime series of the Winter 2025 season. There are many gags and goofy moments throughout. It helps that there are ridiculous characters like Shin. But even Sakamoto himself has hilarious scenes like catching a bullet with chopsticks.

This humorous aspect of the series pairs well with the more action-heavy sequences. After all, Sakamoto has to fight off legions of criminals. The animation style is perhaps my least favorite part of this series. It looks a bit too light on the borders and shadings, but this is part of the charm. In fact, TMS Entertainment captures the original manga style quite well, which looks like this.

Thankfully, the lighter animation style helps the action look great. The fluid nature of the less detailed animation works well with the intense fights throughout Sakamoto’s convenience store, abandoned warehouses, and more. There is generally fantastic action here, evoking vibes of how Spy x Family handles its mix of action and comedy.

Even only with a few episodes available thus far, Sakamoto Days should end up as one of the best anime series of 2025. It is by far the funniest series of the Winter 2025 season, with its ridiculous set of characters and scenes. But it balances this so well with action-packed moments and heartwarming family themes. If there is one anime series that is a must-watch this season, it's Sakamoto Days.

Sakamoto Days is streaming right now on Netflix.

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Takeshi Kusao is the new voice actor for Tooru Amuro in Detective Conan. His previous voice actor, Tooru Furuya, stepped down from the role in June 2024 after a major adultery scandal. [Thanks, Oricon!]

Amuro appears in the newest episode of Detective Conan, “Kaitou Kid and the Crown Trick,” which was how fans learned that Kusao replaced Furuya. His name also appeared in the credits. According to netizens, Kusao’s performance is similar to Furuya’s, and fits the role well.

Takeshi Kusao is a veteran voice actor who belongs to Aoni Production, which was the same agency Furuya was with. Kusao debuted in 1987, and some of his most famous roles include:

• Adol Christin (Ys Seven)
• Bankotsu (Inuyasha)
• Cless (Tales of Phantasia)
• Dororo (Sgt. Frog)
• Hanamichi Sakuragi (Slam Dunk)
• Kougaiji (Saiyuki)
• Ky Kiske (Guilty Gear)
• Parn (Record of Lodoss War)
• Trunks (Dragon Ball Z)
• Yukimura Sanada (Samurai Warriors)

In May 2024, Bunshun Online reported that veteran voice actor Tooru Furuya committed adultery with a fan. Their affair resulted in an accidental impregnation, though he forced her to get an abortion. At one point, he hit her during a verbal argument. Furuya itted to all of these crimes and stepped down from his roles as Amuro and Sabo (One Piece). Miyu Irino is his replacement in One Piece. Atlus also removed him from an unknown role in Metaphor: ReFantazio.

Detective Conan is available on streaming sites such as Crunchyroll. Viz Media handles the manga. As of January 18, 2025, Takeshi Kusao is the new voice actor for Tooru Amuro in Detective Conan.

The post New Voice Actor for Amuro in Detective Conan Revealed appeared first on Siliconera.

Honey Lemon Soda was a staple in Shueisha’s Ribon, running in the manga magazine since December 2015. We’ve read about Uka Ishimori’s growth and developing relationship with Kai Miura for years. We saw series that ran alongside it, like Tsubasa to Hotaru and Acro Trip, inspire animated series. Now Honey Lemon Soda finally gets its change with an anime streaming worldwide on Crunchyroll, and I feel like the J.C.Staff and TMS Entertainment adaptation might have been worth the wait.

Editor’s Note: There are minor spoilers for the first episode of the Honey Lemon Soda anime below. 6d576e

 Honey Lemon Soda is one of those series in the vein of Fruits Basket or Kimi ni Todoke, where you have a downtrodden heroine who gets a chance to finally be accepted and find a place for herself. Uka Ishimori found herself bullied throughout school. One of the only exceptions was the lemon soda-loving Kai Miura, a stranger who was kind to her and there for her at a pivotal moment. As a result of their meeting, she ended up at Hachimitsu High School alongside him. And even in instances when people might hassle him for his popularity or blond hair, he doesn’t let that get him down and handles it.

It’s because of one of those interactions that Uka finds herself in Kai’s life and circle again. When heading to Hachimitsu one day, some classmates attempted to bully Kai. He responded by shaking up the lemon soda he carried and opened it to dowse them. Uka ended up caught in the crossfire, which in turn brings her to his attention and helps her find actual friends in people like Ayumi Endo. It’s the impetus for her to finally get a chance at the “cheerful and fun high school life” she wants. 

Given the nature of the series, we aren’t going to see major development in the first two episodes of the Honey Lemon Soda anime. But there are strides we already get to see in these initial moments. Kai recognizing Uka and her struggles and showing consideration, even though he’s initially painted as a more quiet or stand off-ish individual, by wearing his gym uniform and helping her get the courage to greet people. Uka reaching out to Ayumi to help her after being helped a previous day. Accepting an invitation from potential friends. J.C.Staff and TMS Entertainment handle these initial moments really well, and the depiction of them ensures they feel poignant as they happen.

I also appreciated how the anime adaptation of Honey Lemon Soda never minimizes what Uka went through in the past either. We see how the trauma and stress from past bullying triggers a flashback to a past memory after getting soda splashed on her in the introduction. When others from her middle school spot her at Hachimitsu and use her nickname “Stony,” Uka panics and runs even though she’d been invited. However, Kai, Ayumi,  Satoru Seto, and Tomoya Takamine don’t blame her for the altercation, instead identifying correctly the bullies as the issue, and Kai finds and encourages her to react and get help. The resolution of the first episode left me in satisfied tears as the group banded together.

For years, Ribon readers and people following the Honey Lemon Soda manga have gotten to gradually see Uka recover, find friends, and develop a relationship with Kai, and it feels like the new anime adaptation is going to do that story justice. After seeing how it’s started, it seems like the pacing and development is taking the proper care to address the situations and bonds between characters. It feels like it could end up being quite heartfelt, and I hope more people get to appreciate this shojo classic as a result.

The Honey Lemon Soda anime is airing in Japan and streaming on Crunchyroll worldwide as part of the WInter 2025 season, and Yen Press handled the manga outside of Japan. 

The post Honey Lemon Soda Anime Adaptation Was Worth the Wait appeared first on Siliconera.

It’s a big moment for followers of the Dr Stone anime adaptation, the Science Future season 4 debut happened on Crunchyroll. It’s the start of an end of an era, albeit one that will be a bit drawn out due to this last leg of the journey being released in three parts. 

Editor’s Note: There are some minor spoilers for the first episode of season 4 of the Dr Stone anime.  613a1d

Things kick off in Dr Stone Science Future with a brief refresher from Minami Hokutozai, in the event it’s been a while prior to the viewer jumping into season 4. We’re reminded that everyone on Earth ended up petrified thousands of years ago. Senku Ishigami was freed, and decides to begin reviving people to create a new scientific society. It mentions how previous seasons followed Senku reviving more people and making more discoveries, leading up to them all building a ship to cross the Pacific Ocean. The goal is to head toward San Francisco to find out about the petrification and build a space ship to head to the moon. This also serves as a means to reintroduce Senku, Minami, Tsukasa, Gen, Suika, Kaseki, Chrome, Kirisame, Kinro, Matsukaze, Ryusui, and Ginro. It’s an effective way to review allies and get their thoughts on the what happens next.

I appreciate that after that review, Dr Stone Science Future gets right back to, well, science. Once we revisit everyone’s thoughts on things and are reminded of what’s going on, we find Senku and Ryusui fighting about the course of the ship. Ryusui is proposing the Rhumb Line approach, which would go straight across from Tokyo to San Francisco and take 70 days. Senku then explains one that would follow along the coasts would be wiser, and people go to a globe with a rope to see how his answer is right. It would be 40 days on the Great Circle Route. 

It really gets into part of what I love about Dr Stone as a series. There are times when it will include these sorts of educational elements and actual science in a fun way. Senku’s personality is perfect to excuse sorts of explanations. Plus, in the case of this dispute here, we get to see the possible benefits of both the Rhumb and Great Circle options due to Ryusui and Senku being so intelligent. 

At the same time, this first episode’s direction and adaptation means it can be quite entertaining. The choice about how to head to America is a serious one. The points about the routes are valid. But settling things with Poker and the ensuing outcome of the game is handled so well. Plus, it ends up tying into an on-ship activity. 

I suppose there isn’t much progress in this episode. The first installment of the anime is really more about setting the stage for what’s next with season 4 of Dr Stone. But the execution makes it feel like a lot still did happen. I feel getting back into things with a more lighthearted episode that refreshes the viewer, sets the stage for things to come, and gives us a chance to see characters enjoying their momentary victories is especially welcoming seeing as how we’re nearing the end. 

The first part of season 4 of Dr Stone, Science Future, is streaming now on Crunchyroll, and past seasons of the anime are also available there. Viz Media handles the manga outside of Japan. 

The post Dr Stone Science Future Starts Season 4 With Refreshers appeared first on Siliconera.

Sakamoto Days will start airing from January 2025, with season 1 having two cours. The first episode will air in Japan on January 11, 2025, and the second cour will start in July 2025. [Thanks, Comic Natalie!]

The key visual for Sakamoto Days shows the Sakamoto and his friends in front of his convenience store. While this would look like a normal slice-of-life anime, multiple characters are holding guns in the picture. The catchphrase for the show can loosely translate to “Ordinary folks living extraordinary lives.”

You can watch the trailer for Sakamoto Days here:

Vaudy will sing the opening song “Run Sakamoto.” Vaudy is a huge fan of the original work and he commented that he composed the song to impart the sensation of being so powerful that no one can hope to catch up to you. Aside from releasing his own single and albums, Vaudy has written songs that appeared in multiple anime series. This includes Ranking of Kings, Chainsaw Man, and Spy x Family.

Sakamoto Days follows Taro Sakamoto, a retired hitman who lives with his family and works as a convenience store owner. When criminals from his past life come to take revenge on him, Sakamoto must fight them off while pretending he’s just a normal person.

Season 1 of Sakamoto Days will start airing from January 11, 2025. It’ll appear on streaming services like Netflix.

The post Season 1 of Sakamoto Days Anime Features 2 Cours appeared first on Siliconera.

The Tobu Zoo in Miyashiro (Saitama Prefecture) will have a collaboration event with Dr Stone from October 19 to November 17, 2024. There is new promotional art of the main characters hanging out with various animals, as well as them wearing outfits that look like their animal partner. [Thanks, PR Times!]

The prices for the collaboration tickets are:

• Adults: 2600 JPY ($18.30)
• Students (middle and high school): 2300 JPY ($16.20)
• Children: 1600 JPY ($11.30)
• Seniors (over 60): 1900 JPY ($13.40)

The difference between the collaboration ticket and a normal one is that people who get the collaboration ticket will be able to participate in a stamp rally. Once you finish collecting stamps from around the zoo, you’ll be able to receive a commemorative postcard of the key visual. As well, if you want to purchase a collaboration ticket, you won’t be able to use any discounts or coupons.

A pop-up shop within the amusement park section will sell merchandise of the characters looking like animals, or with their animal friends. For every 2000 JPY you spend in a single transaction, you can get a random bromide. Goods include the usual fare, such as tote bags, can badges, and acrylic stands.

You can watch Dr Stone on Crunchyroll. The final season will start airing some time in 2025.

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The final season of Dr. Stone, Dr. Stone Science Future, will start airing in 2025. There will be three cours in this season.

There’s not much information on the final season apart from the release window and a key visual. The key visual depicts Senku as a child and an adult looking up at the moon. Next to it, there’s a quote from Senku stating that they’re going to go to the moon. This final season will cover the Moon Mission Arc, which is the only arc in the Stone to Space Saga. As it says on the tin, it’s a story arc mostly focusing on their space mission.

Dr. Stone is a Japanese manga series that started in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2017 and ended in 2022. In total, there are 27 tankobon volumes. It follows the story of a post-apocalyptic world in which humanity was petrified for almost 4000 years. After they wake up, they’re basically in the Stone Age again. Fortunately, protagonist Senku Ishigami is a scientific genius who is able to reinvent basic necessities and free other petrified people. His main goal is to build a new scientific civilization, though some people oppose this.

Dr. Stone Science Future, the final season of the show, will begin airing some time in 2025. The show, including the previous season New World, is available on Crunchyroll.

The post Dr. Stone Final Season to Start Airing in 2025 appeared first on Siliconera.

Reiji Miyajima, the mangaka of Rent-A-Girlfriend, has announced that season 4 of the anime is in development. He thanks the fans for all of their , as that’s the reason why it came to .

In commemoration of this news, Miyajima drew a picture of Kazuya and Chizuru holding hands. Around them are the various side and ing characters cheering them on. The two of them are wearing Hawaiian shirts and matching jackets, as the fourth season will adapt the Hawaii Arc. It'll air some time in 2025.

You can watch the teaser trailer here:

Rent-A-Girlfriend is a popular anime and manga series. Serialization started in 2017 and the anime started in 2020. As of March 2024, over 13 million copies of the manga are in circulation. It follows Kazuya Kinoshita, who rents a girlfriend named Chizuru Mizuhara after his real girlfriend dumps him. After a somewhat disastrous first date, he finds out that Chizuru’s actually really mean. As they spend more time fake dating so that Kazuya can keep up appearances, he starts to fall in love with her for real and he works to make their rental relationship a real one.

Rent-A-Girlfriend season 4 is in the works and you’ll likely be able to watch it on Crunchyroll with the rest of the show. Kodansha has licensed the manga in English.

The post Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 4 Announced appeared first on Siliconera.

For the 30th anniversary of the Magic Knight Rayearth anime, CLAMP has announced a new series for it. A key visual and railer for it will appear at the CLAMP Exhibition on July 3, 2024.

Even if you can’t go to the CLAMP Exhibition, the Magic Knight Rayearth X (Twitter) will post updates. For reference, the CLAMP Manga Art Exhibition will run from July 3 to September 23, 2024. It’ll feature over 800 pieces of original manga artwork from 23 different series, including Magic Knight Rayearth.

You can watch the announcement trailer for the new Magic Knight Rayearth anime here:

It’s a minute and a half long, starting with a compilation of the original anime, which ran from October 1994 to November 1995. Then, it shows the new iterations of the three main characters: Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, and Fuu Hououji. The last shot of their backs is also the new visual that the X shared.

Magic Knight Rayearth follows three modern-day Japanese eighth-grade girls who find themselves in the fantasy world of Cephiro. They awaken to magical powers, learn to work together, and become friends during their journey to save Princess Emeraude, who is the Pillar necessary to maintain Cephiro. It originated as a manga and aside from the anime adaptation, there was also an OVA and several video games.

More information on the new Magic Knight Rayearth anime will come out on July 3, 2024.

The post New Magic Knight Rayearth Anime Announced for 30th Anniversary appeared first on Siliconera.

DMM Pictures released a new look at Rent-a-Girlfriend season 3. The third teaser for the ongoing anime series also introduces a new character named Mini Yaemori.

Check out the teaser below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jZWHwztqlk

The Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 trailer introduces Mini Yaemori, Kazuya's other neighbor. Mini is a cosplayer and a social media influencer. She plays a key role in the plot of Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3, which involves Kazuya and Chizuru's attempt to make an independent film together.

The Rent-a-Girlfriend anime (a.k.a. Kanojo, Okarishimasu) is based on the manga created by Reiji Miyajima. The story follows Kazuya Kinoshita, a 20-year-old college student living in Tokyo. After being dumped by his girlfriend Mami after just a month of dating, a spiteful Kazuya turns to a certain app for solace. The app allows him to "rent" a date for a limited time, and his partner is Chizuru Mizuhara. After some drama and hard feelings, Kazuya finds that his family and friends love his new "girlfriend," and he's forced to keep renting her services to keep up appearances. It also turns out that Chizuru happens to be his neighbor and a student at the same college.

The anime adaption of Rent-a-Girlfriend premiered in 2020 and was produced by TMS Entertainment and Studio Comet. The first two seasons were directed by Kazuomi Koga, who worked on series like Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- and Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible. The third season will have Shin'ya Une stepping in to replace Koga. Une has worked on previous seasons, as well as shows like Record of Ragnarok and Teasing Master Takagi-san.

Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 will premiere in Japan in July 2023. The manga is published in English by Kodansha, and the first two seasons of the anime air on services like Crunchyroll. The series received a mobile game spin-off in 2021.

The post Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 3 Teaser Introduces Mini Yaemori appeared first on Siliconera.

TMS Entertainment announced a new Lupin the Third and Cat's Eye crossover anime series, which will debut sometime in 2023. The Amazon Original anime series will be available globally, exclusively through Amazon's Prime Video streaming platform. A new teaser trailer also showed off the series' stylized 3D animation. [Thanks, Dengeki!]

In 2023, both Lupin the Third and Cat's Eye will be celebrating their 50th and 40th anniversaries, respectively. Lupin the Third follows the titular protagonist and international gentleman thief Lupin III and his band of fellow criminals. Though lesser known outside of Japan, Cat's Eye also started as a manga series and follows three sisters who work together as art thieves. Both franchises have seen significant popularity in Japan, receiving various anime and movie adaptations across their near half-century-long run.

Titled Lupin the Third VS Cat's Eye, the anime series will be set in 1980s Japan, at the same time period as Cat's Eye's serialization. Directing the series are Kobun Shizuno and Hiroyuki Seshita. Shizuno has previously worked on the recent Detective Conan movies, as well as the past three CG-animated Godzilla films alongside Seshita. Seshita also previously worked at Square Enix. Voicing Lupin will be Yoshiyuki Kurita, who also voiced the character in Lupin III: The First.

You can check out the Lupin the Third VS Cat's Eye trailer below:

https://youtu.be/6s5QLmAc7gM

Lupin the Third VS Cat's Eye will be streaming exclusively worldwide via Prime Video, starting sometime in 2023. There is no confirmed release date.

The post Lupin the Third Cat’s Eye Crossover Anime Announced appeared first on Siliconera.

Crunchyroll announced the Fruits Basket Prelude USA, Canada, and UK release dates. It will appear in theaters in North America in June 2022. The first showing will be on June 25, 2022, with additional ones on June 28-29, 2022. English dub and Japanese ones with English subtitles will appear. The UK release will appear on July 20, 2022. Only the English dub will show up in theaters in the region.

The announcement also involved details about when people can buy tickets. Fandango will begin offering them for the North American releases on June 3, 2022. People in the UK won't be able to buy them until June 24, 2022.

Here's the poster for the movie. As this is a prequel, it stars Tohru Honda's mother Kyoko and father Katsuya. It shows how the two met and fell in love. However, Tohru and Kyo Soma will make cameo appearances.

The official English dub cast was revealed as well. Here's who will play every character in the film. Both Tohru and Kyo’s voice actors will reprise their roles.

• Katsuya Honda: J. Michael Tatum
• Kyo Soma: Jerry Jewell
• Kyoko Honda: Lydia Mackay
• Tohru Honda: Laura Bailey

And here's the new dub trailer.

For more of its story, here's another video looking at it. It features the original Japanese voice acting and English subtitles.

The Fruits Basket Prelude release date for the USA and Canada is June 25, 2022. Additional showings will appear on June 28-29, 2022. It will appear in the UK on July 20, 2022. The Fruits Basket movie debuted in Japan in February 2022. People can see the new version of the anime on Crunchyroll. Yen Press handles the English version of the manga now.

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