This past weekend, Crunchyroll held an Industry Panel at SOFA (el Salón del Ocio y la FAntasía) 2024, Colombia’s biggest annual fan convention, at the Corferias Convention Center in Bogotá, Colombia. During the panel, Crunchyroll announced multiple anime series coming to its streaming platform in January 2025. Here’s what was announced:

As athletes prepare for the Paris Olympics, the Japanese men’s volleyball team is enjoying an unprecedented popularity, thanks in part to an animated feature. One of the big hits of 2024, Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle (produced by Production I.G. and airing on Crunchyroll) has helped fuel a surge in interest in volleyball in Japan. Volleyball […]

Studio Ponoc’s latest feature, The Imaginary, debuts next Friday July 5th on Netflix. It’s based on A.F. Harrold’s novel about Rudger, the imaginary friend of Amanda, who must find a way to save her life and not disappear forever. Here’s my Animation Scoop Q&A with writer and producer Yoshiaki Nishimura, two-time Academy Award nominee for […]

Animated action dramedy feature Ultraman: Rising is going to be one of the biggest at-home hits of the summer. You can watch it starting next Friday June 14th on Netflix. Emmy-winning director Shannon Tindle (of Lost Ollie and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends) and Emmy & Annie-nominated co-director John Aoshima (of DuckTales and Gravity Falls) […]

Over the last 15 years, Makoto Shinkai has emerged as one of the leaders of a new generation of anime directors who are pushing storytelling in interesting new directions. In Suzume (Suzume no Tojimari—literally, “Suzume’s Closing or Locking,” 2022), the title character begins as a normal high school girl, living with her aunt. Her mother […]

Some stories must be told, especially to those caring enough to understand them, lest they eventually destroy the teller. Such is the theme of Keichi Hara’s 2022 anime, Lonely Castle in the Mirror. (Henceforth “Castle” for the purpose of this review). Adapted from a novel by Mizuki Tsujimura, The story concerns seven middle-school students who […]