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When we come to the ends of arcs in anime and manga series, how well a creator handles the end of one part and lead-in to the next can be tricky. There’s a delicate balance to these types of cliffhangers. Plus, you have to wonder if enough seeds are sewn to show what lies ahead, and if existing plot threads that are dangling will be tied up. Sarasa Nagase deals with this exact issue in volume 7 of the The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor manga and comes through it perfectly, setting th

Destinybit, developers of Nitro Gen Omega, clearly watched a lot of mecha anime. You can feel the influence of series like Gundam, Evangelion, and Gurren Lagann on the character design, camera angles, events, and mech designs. It’s absolutely stylish, and you can tell the time spent in early access helped with quality of life additions. Some elements can be a little off-putting, as the UI takes getting used to and there are a few difficult quests. But if you take Nitro Gen Omega in as more of a

Wakana Yamazaki, a Japanese voice actress best known for her role as Ran Mouri in Detective Conan, died on April 18, 2026. She was 61 years old. [Thanks, Livedoor.] Yamazaki’s agency was Aoni Production, and it announced the news on May 15, 2026. The funeral and wake were only for family and friends. Yamazaki had taken time off work to treat an illness. Akemi Okamura (Nami from One Piece) had already replaced Yamazaki as Ran in Detective Conan since the episodes that aired from mid-March 2026

The recurring Final Fantasy XIV Free Login Campaign event is back again, allowing inactive players who own FFXIV to return and play for 96 hours for free. This offer kicked off today. People who let their subscription lapse can take part until June 14, 2026. All of the usual eligibility requirements and restrictions remain from past iterations of this event. You have to own a copy of the MMORPG and have a currently inactive service account that hasn’t played for 30 days. So if you played betw

HoYoVerse and Round1 USA announced all the details and requirements tied to the Honkai: Star Rail promotion and merchandise. This is an affair focused on the Stellaron Hunters group in-game, with Blade and Silver Wolf as the featured characters and merchandise also featuring Firefly and Kafka. Everything starts on May 22, 2026, and there’s a new trailer alongside official gallery with insights into how to get everything. These items will only be at the arcade and won’t show up on HoYoVerse’s off

Prime 1 Studios opened pre-orders for both the standard and Ultimate Bonus Version of its upcoming Street Fighter 6 Chun-Li Premium Masterline figure, confirming prices and release windows as it did. The basic version, which includes the figure with base that has LED lighting, costs $1,099. The special edition is $1,599, is limited to 500 units produced, and comes an extra head, extra lower body part, an additional logo stand, an effect wall, and an additional stand for the head not being used.

If you’ve ever wanted a little Quagsire friend to hold things on its head for you, the Pokemon Center in Japan is selling a miniature table shaped like one for a limited time. Pre-orders will end on June 3, 2026, and the table will ship out in late January 2027. It costs 35,200 JPY (~$222.25). Since these types of items do occasionally appear in the worldwide Pokemon Center online storefronts, it is possible orders may appear everywhere in the next few weeks or months. The Quagsire table fro

Back in March 2026, Bandai Namco and Cover announced a Gundam x Hololive crossover that would involve different Vtubers from the company being associated with the series, appearing with new art and designs, and creating songs and stories tied to the anime and mechs. At the Spring 2026 Gundam Conference, an update appeared revealing the art for the Phase 1 talents taking part and confirm the Phase 2 members who will also be part of the project. There’s a video showing everything off, though the o

Toei Animation has revealed that it will release a new visual novel themed after Expelled from Paradise. The game will have the full title Expelled from Paradise -The Stellar Angel-, and the company will release it for Nintendo Switch and PC worldwide with Japanese and English language support. Studio51 is working as the development studio for the new visual novel, which will star Angela Balzac and Dingo—the same key characters from the original 2014 movie. While both characters had also appe

As part of the over 45 minute longConference Spring 2026 presentation, Bandai Namco and Sunrise released the Gundam 50th Anniversary Project “A Boy with Gundam” anime prologue movie. This is almost a six minute long tribute to people’s love the of the series, complete with a cameo from Amuro Ray from the original Mobile Suit Gundam. It’s online both at the English and Japanese accounts for the series, the the former automatically having English subtitles for the song.  Note that this doesn’t

Ah, the open road. Heading out into a world, exploring quieter spaces, reaching new areas, and finding new hallmarks along the way. In concept, Outbound should succeed since the game does involve going around open, natural environments, customizing a camper van that acts as your base, and perhaps even doing all that with other people. The problem is there are so many games that do it better. Exploration (and building) feels more fun in a game like Pokemon Pokopia. It’s more pleasant and fulfilli

Evangelion Unit-08α, a variant of Eva Unit-08 from the Rebuild of Evangelion movies, is the next model kit in Good Smile Company’s Moderoid line. It will be out for ￥4,500 in October 2026 in Japan, and the US version will cost $26.99 when it launches in Q1 2027. It joins kits of other units like Unit-01. Eva Unit-08α is a variant of the Evangelion Mari Makinami Illustrious pilots in Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo. It is one of three different versions of that unit to appear in the four-pa

The Kadokawa Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2026 Earning Results are in and, since developer FromSoftware is a subsidiary of it, it means updates on the upcoming Switch 2 games The Duskbloods and Elden Ring Tarnished Edition. Both are still expected to release in 2026, according to multiple slides going over the forecast for the fiscal year 2026. (That ends in March 2027.) It also confirmed Spike Chunsoft releases like Danganronpa 2 x 2, which comes to the Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and

More Crocs Sonic the Hedgehog shoes and Jibbitz charms are on the way, with the latest selection being designs created for the 35th anniversary of the series. These will feature all new new designs. However, the line will only be sold via Journeys starting on May 19, 2026. This is one of multiple Crocs collections of Jibbitz and shoes based on the series to show up worldwide. Photos aren’t available of the design yet. However, this selection will apparently feature the same look in Adult, Kid

Square Enix’s new mobile game Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy is getting its first crossover, and it involves fellow Android and iOS title Final Fantasy Record Keeper. It will show up worldwide on May 19, 2026. However, it only involves Abilities and doesn’t add any new characters to Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy.  We do know what to expect from this event when it launches. A banner will appear with four Abilities. These will all feature art from Final Fantasy Record Keeper and be tied to tha

While Witch Hat Atelier looks like it could be a cozy series about a young witch developing her craft and learning alongside others like her, the manga isn’t just some calming experience. There are a lot of serious conflicts and traumatic moments, including the incident that leads to Coco becoming a witch and studying in Qifrey’s atelier as an apprentice. That said, the anime adaptation streaming on Crunchyroll seems to balance the more dire and dangerous moments with the happier ones so far. 

Some Japanese merchant sites will not allow listings of the Chiikawa McDonald’s Happy Meal toys that will come out on May 15, 2026. This is an anti-scalping measure. Mercari put out a statement on May 7, 2026 that it will not allow listings of the Chiikawa McDonald’s Happy Meal toys. This is to ensure that the trading environment on the site is safe and secure. Accounts that continuously put up such illegal listings will be punished. The ban on the Chiikawa toys will last until June 14, 2026,

As the Evercade release cadence continues on at a steady pace, the connective tissue tying together their tentpole cartridges is its indie support. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there’s something special about owning these games physically, and also in ways that don’t entirely break the bank. Mega Cat Studios Collection 3, the latest in that effort, includes ten games, spanning platforms and genres. Our favorite of the bunch might be Plyuk. It’s a traversal puzzle game in t

The Japanese social media account for KFC teased a new Genshin Impact crossover, and it seems Alhaitham and Kaveh will be the two featured characters in the collaboration event in Japan this time. As of time of writing, there are no details about when the crossover will happen. However, the silhouettes do seem very obvious that the two Sumeru units will be showcased in this event, especially since the 2025 Chinese event featured the two of them in those poses. The past collaborations with the re

Two more newly playable characters in Granblue Fantasy Relink: Endless Ragnarok may look familiar, as former bosses Gallanza and Maglielle will join our crew in the updated release. We were able to fight both at certain points in the story in the original. Two trailers show how each of them will work in-game. The official site also updated with profiles for each of them. Editor’s Note: There will be no story spoilers for Granblue Fantasy Relink or the updated Endless Ragnarok release below.