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- is a series for active idols · 2026-09-08
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8m ago
Crunchyroll is recruiting a Vice President of Content Protection & Anti-Piracy to lead a global strategy against unauthorized anime distribution. The position has been open since at least July, and the executive will report to Crunchyroll's General Counsel. The job listing asks the hire to define and lead the company's global strategy, establish its long-term vision, operating model, technology roadmap, and strategic partnerships, and oversee AI-enabled enforcement. Hands-on experience with YouTube Content ID, Meta Rights Manager, and the Google Trusted Copyright Removal Program is listed among the requirements. The role also involves building relationships with digital platforms, hosting providers, registrars, CDN providers, payment processors, and industry organizations. Crunchyroll's anime library is among the most pirated globally. The recruitment comes as Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry published a five-year plan to raise overseas sales of Japanese content to 20 trillion yen by 2033, with anti-piracy measures as part of the strategy. Separately, CODA, Japan's leading anti-piracy organization, signed a memorandum of understanding with IP House after Operation Animes in Brazil, which CODA says shut down dozens of sites.
23m ago
Phoenixx announced the second edition of Zero Kyori Connect, an indie game event built around VTubers playing games in front of a live audience, set for Saturday, September 26, 2026, at namco TOKYO in Shinjuku. The event, titled Zero Kyori Connect No.2 ~Indie Game Edition~ Supported by xeen, features two games: Zako no Ahiru, a taunting, frustrating mountain-climbing game, and Super Tank Wars, a programming AI tank battle game. Doors open at 16:00 and the show starts at 17:00. Eri Mochizuki and Nana Matsuzaki host as MCs, with live commentary from Ichigo no Pafe, Kojouji Puramu, and Yukimizu Meru. Regular tickets cost 3,500 yen including tax, sold first-come, first-served with a limit of one ticket per person per show. Bandai Namco Research Institute provides planning cooperation, Baba Ani Two handles production, and xeen is the special sponsor. Phoenixx organizes the event, which it describes as connecting VTubers and audiences at zero distance.
1h ago
LINE Yahoo said on September 8 it is acting on Yahoo! Auctions and Yahoo! Flea Market over the Kura Sushi x Chiikawa collaboration, which was canceled after employee misconduct was confirmed. For listings suspected of being fraudulently obtained, the company is confirming the acquisition route with the seller and taking action based on the results. Kura Sushi said it will take strict legal measures against those involved.
2h ago
At the third SIG-Experiential Entertainment mini-seminar, IGDA Japan's special interest group reviewed the 2025 state of experiential entertainment. Puzzle and escape game sales crossed 100 billion yen for the first time, based on public figures from about 20 brands and companies. ARG works have multiplied to the point they can no longer all be followed, and murder mystery store counts in 2025 exceeded 2024. Speakers also flagged rising event prices and mismatches between audience expectations and actual experiences.
2h ago
Shinomiya Shiori, the yellow-green member and self-styled comedy act of idol group Hare to Hare!, held a release event August 25 at Sofmap AKIBA Amusement Hall for her first DVD I.D (Spice Visual, 120 minutes, 4620 yen). The disc is part of the I.D series for active idols. Shot in Miyakojima, it leans on a girlfriend feel, from a polka dot bikini beach scene to a black knit removal that shows purple lingerie.
2h ago
V-CUBE has launched an RTC Development Support Service for companies building video and voice call features into their services. The service covers planning, prototyping, production development, and quality verification, drawing on V-CUBE's accumulated real-time communication technology. It targets remote customer service, online consultations, education, events, and AI avatar dialogue. The service expands V-CUBE's earlier Agora SDK support, which focused on SDK integration, into full end-to-end development assistance.
3h ago
Tokoshie Inc., developer of the AI 3D CAD Ignite0, raised funding with East Ventures and two individual investors as subscribers. The funds will strengthen development of Ignite0, a chat-based tool that designs and edits 3D models through natural language and images. The company has established a US headquarters and will accelerate adoption in manufacturing and robotics, expanding globally from the US. Ignite0 has over 600 users in more than 20 countries and regions.
3h ago
MIC FIELD, a creative studio founded by Tomoya Mikuni, launched in March 2026 in Shibuya, Tokyo. The company designs experiences, spaces, and brand value from concept through production, covering photo and video, web, SNS, space and experience design, and product development. Its projects include W ARC, a pickleball wellness project, and NEON PICKLEBALL CLUB, a pickleball facility at the Shibuya Tobu Hotel that opened in August 2026.
3h ago
JP Digital, the Japan Post Group DX company, has been selected for the Wantedly Awards 2026 BEST TEAM NOMINATION 100, a list of 100 companies chosen from more than 40,000 Wantedly-registered firms for hiring strength. It is the second consecutive year the company has made the list. Category winners will be announced at FUZE2026 on September 25.
4h ago
KADOKAWA announced on September 8 that it will merge five group anime production studios into a new studio, Studio One Base, to be established in November 2026. The five studios are ENGI, Studio KADAN, ChipTune, Bellnox Films, and Raging Bull. Each studio keeps its name, brand, and production line. The merger is the third step of the company's initiative to strengthen anime and live-action production. The studios will consolidate at a new base in Ikebukuro's Sunshine City.
5h ago
Aitane, the Tokyo startup behind the AI sales agent of the same name, raised 30 million yen in a pre-Series A round from Iidabashi Cross Partners, the corporate venture capital arm of PCA Group. The funds go to expanding the agent's features, developing AI glasses for face-to-face sales, hiring, and exploring business co-creation with PCA, which builds accounting, payroll, and sales management software.
6h ago
TELECY, a CARTA HOLDINGS group company, presented its data science work at YANS2026 in Sendai. Visitors focused on how the company estimates TV CM effectiveness with difference-in-differences, comparing broadcast and non-broadcast areas to build counterfactual numbers. TELECY also helped judge and award the CARTA HOLDINGS Award to Toyota Technological Institute researchers for a QA data augmentation method that preserves the original dataset's evaluation perspective.
6h ago
Grindr has agreed to pay £26 million to settle a UK class action lawsuit alleging it shared users' HIV status and location data with third parties before 2020. The settlement does not include an admission of liability. The case, filed in April 2024 by UK law firm Austen Hays on behalf of thousands of British users, covers roughly 12,000 plaintiffs. Grindr said it disputes the claims but acknowledges the emotional distress and loss of trust some UK users expressed over its data handling.
7h ago
Geek Pictures India announced on August 25 that it is working on an original magical-girl anime titled Panchsheela, an India-Japan creative collaboration. The story follows five schoolgirls, Mezi, Kaya, Amba, Zoonie and Tara, chosen as the Panchsheela, magical warriors who each embody the power of a sacred chakra. Guided by their mentor Guru Garu, they battle Negatives, people transformed into Daki Daayan's army, while managing school life.
7h ago
Zevero, a global startup providing sustainability platforms and consulting, supported Nijimachi Co., Ltd., a tomato producer in Handa City, Aichi Prefecture, in obtaining B Corp certification. Zevero visualized the farm's greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1-3) and organized its environmental efforts as objective data, lifting the Environment category evaluation. Nijimachi practices circular agriculture using heat and CO2 from an adjacent biogas power generation facility, with 95-100% water use efficiency.
7h ago
A global survey by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by Nexthink, found 58% of companies say IT monitoring and governance has not kept pace with employee AI usage. 63% say visibility into informal employee AI use needs improvement, and only 27% report sufficient visibility. 79% cite security and data exposure as the top concern. Companies plan to prioritize AI training (75%) and internal rules (67%) over visibility software (19%).
7h ago
Asuka Publishing will release AI Doga Saizensen, a magazine for AI video creators, at bookstores nationwide on October 6, 2026. Supervised by AICU Japan head Akihiko Shirai, it carries exclusive interviews with 12 key figures and companies, including KLab, which announced the AI anime film The Celebrity Secret, and director Kumiko Endo, whose all-AI feature Matilda: Devil's Gene drew international attention. The 96-page issue covers production methods, costs, and copyright guidance from lawyer Kengo Yabuki.
7h ago
GOG.com is giving away Daedalic Entertainment's SF adventure game State of Mind for free for 72 hours, with distribution expected to end at 22:00 on September 10. The game is set in Berlin in 2048, where pollution and war push governments to upload people into a virtual utopia called City 5. Players control journalist Richard Nolan and five other characters through a conspiracy about humanity's fate. The store page is in English, but the game supports Japanese. A full playthrough runs about 10 hours.
8h ago
The Swiss federal government is building an open-source work environment for about 3,000 employees, targeting availability by the end of 2027. The move follows a pilot called PoC BOSS, in which 172 staff from several ministries tested the openDesk suite. The cabinet judged the tools usable for standard tasks, though large video conferences showed performance limits. The new environment will run in parallel with Microsoft 365, not replace it, and full migration remains undecided.
8h ago
Roman Sands RE:Build, the absurdist apocalypse ADV from Arbitrary Metric, the studio behind IGF award winner Paratopic, launches September 17, 2026 on PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox. The game was once described as stuck in eternal release-scheduled status, never to ship. The preview covers two realities: a luxury resort where the player works as a memoryless hotel employee, and a crumbling animal research facility. Price is still unannounced.
10h ago
enableX, a Tokyo business development company, has joined the AI Robot Association (AIRoA) as a supporting member. The company says it will use its operational implementation capability and multimodal AI technology to deepen its knowledge of physical AI social implementation through association activities and member exchanges, and to consider future collaboration. The move targets industries where labor shortages are severe, including manufacturing, logistics, maintenance, medical care, and nursing care.
10h ago
Prodelia Partners, the Tokyo-based PMM consulting firm, is expanding its PMM JAPAN COMMUNITY to Osaka. The first Kansai event, themed "Kansai's cross-boundary talent, gather," takes place September 28 at Yayoi Inc.'s Osaka office in Yodoyabashi. The move follows the July PMM JAPAN CONFERENCE 2026, which drew more than 600 participants, and a market report showing 87% of companies struggle with GTM. Community membership has surpassed 400.
11h ago
Premium Bandai opens reservations September 8 at 11:00 for three Gunpla kits tied to the MS IGLOO OVAs, all shipping in March 2027. The Zaku Ground Combat Set and Ground Combat Gundam Ground Combat Set, both from MS IGLOO 2: Gravity Front, cost 3,080 yen each. The EX Model Hildolfr from MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War returns at 8,580 yen.
13h ago
Kodansha announced that THINKpod, its business video media launched in June 2026, has passed 300,000 subscribers on its official YouTube channel. The company says the channel is drawing support from U35 next-generation business leaders. THINKpod positions itself against the AI era with the concept that knowledge is not meant to be immediately useful, and has editors from various fields act as planning producers for daily free content.
17h ago
The Fake It to Break It! I Faked Amnesia to Break off My Engagement and Now He's All Lovey-Dovey?! manga will change artists. Megumi Dorokawa, known for Share House Nile, takes over from Yone starting with the 17th chapter on September 10, as announced on Kotoko's X account on September 1.
1d ago
BeyondUS Inc., a Niigata City-based startup developing telemedicine and medical AI platforms, announced it has raised funds from two regional investment limited partnerships. The company, led by representative director and physician Kimimoto Ishino, received a third-party allotment of new shares subscribed by the Regional Innovation Tech Niigata No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership, organized and operated by Sinnovation Inc. In a separate announcement, BeyondUS also raised funds as the first investment case of the Niigata Sustainable Regional Development Investment Limited Partnership, jointly established by Daiichi Hokuriku Capital Partners and Tryfunds Investment. BeyondUS develops the telemedicine platform AmaneCare, the medical knowledge AI platform MONJU, and back-office DX services for medical institutions. The company aims to address regional healthcare issues such as doctor shortages, disparities in medical access, and uneven distribution of medical departments. Proceeds from both fundraises will support adoption of its services by medical institutions, strengthen its business development structure, and recruit personnel. Ishino expressed encouragement at receiving support from both funds, which target regional revitalization, and said the company will deepen collaboration with investors to improve the sustainability of regional healthcare.
1d ago
The Shin Megami Tensei V / V Vengeance official art book is up for pre-order at ebten. The volume collects art from both games, centered on Masayuki Doi's illustrations of characters and demons, with a cover drawn new for the book and setting materials and early sketches shown for the first time. The ebtenDX pack adds an A4 acrylic panel of the cover art with Doi's digital signature and an A6 illustration card as an Atlas D Shop bonus. Release is November 11, 2026.
1d ago
Synflux has appointed Christine Goulay, a former Kering sustainability executive, as an independent outside director. The move supports the company's push into European markets and adaptation to global sustainability regulations. Goulay led sustainable sourcing at Kering and founded Sustainabelle Advisory Services. Synflux also named Shiyo Takeoka of Goldwin Venture Partners as an outside director. The company won the Global Fashion Agenda Trailblazer Grand Prix in June 2026.
1d ago
SynapXion, a company established in April 2026 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Speee, launched Assessment Pro on September 7. The tool automates AI adoption assessment, GAP analysis, and action planning, compressing work that took consultants weeks into as little as one business day. It runs on a proprietary AI adoption model based on CMMI and covers five categories. The Standard edition is free; Enterprise pricing is quoted individually.
1d ago
Uravation, a Tokyo-based generative AI training and consulting firm, has started a one-on-one program that trains non-engineer employees to automate their own company's work with AI agents within three months. The course runs 12 weekly 60-minute sessions, using only the trainee's actual work as material. Trainees follow a five-level roadmap, and many reach level 3 or 4, building their own automations. List price is 300,000 yen per month per person.
1d ago
ALBONA, a Tokyo-based marketing and product development company, announced a corporate identity refresh effective September 7, 2026. The company elevated its founding mission, "Create +1% new happiness in the world," to its purpose, added a new mission and vision, replaced five credos with four values (ONE TEAM, ONE GIVE, ONE DESIGN, ONE WORD), and introduced a new lowercase logo with two circulating arrows and a dawn gradient color scheme. The refresh responds to generative AI making polished language less valuable.
1d ago
IGDA Japan will hold the seminar 'How to Promote Your Game for Indie Game Development Beginners' on September 29 at ambr in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo. The event runs from 19:00 to 21:00 and costs 1,000 yen for general admission and 500 yen for students. It is preparation for the launch of a new SIG called 'SIG Indiedev (tentative)' by indie game developers. Three lectures cover exhibiting, legal knowledge, and mobile indie games.
1d ago
Bandai Namco will sell new merchandise for Ace Combat, Tales of, Katamari Damacy, and other series at TGS2026. The early sales run September 17 to 21 at the ASOBI STORE branch in Makuhari Messe Hall 11. Items include a Katamari Damacy King Rainbow tissue box cover, a Little Nightmares Twin Chefs T-shirt, and an Ace Combat 8 tumbler. Pre-orders open on ASOBI STORE on September 28, with shipping planned from the end of January 2027.
1d ago
GORIL Inc., a Mitsui & Co. subsidiary, will start an applied English course for several dozen Sompo Japan employees in October 2026. The roughly six-month program pairs five online lectures with the new AI feature Story Sprint, which has participants build and speak stories from their own experiences. Pre and post training tests measure speaking growth. The course follows the basic pronunciation course GORIL has run at Sompo Japan University since October 2025.
1d ago
Carbon EX Inc. will restructure its GX and carbon pricing information platform exroad into five plans starting September 2026. The company is adding Platinum and Diamond tiers on top of the existing Bronze, Silver, and Gold plans, which were previously named Starter, Premium, and Premium+. The new tiers add future price forecasts for J-Credits and non-fossil certificates through 2030, based on the company's own research, and the Diamond plan adds analysis functions for proprietary surveys of the carbon credit market. The revamp follows the absorption of exroad into Carbon EX on August 31, 2026, a merger that brought exroad's former CEO Keisuke Kimura in as executive officer CSO and exroad business division head. Monthly reports previously offered under Carbon EX Insights are being folded into exroad. The changes come as Japan's GX-ETS emissions trading system enters full operation in fiscal year 2026, pushing companies to plan mid- to long-term procurement around assumed future credit prices rather than current market levels.
1d ago
PKSHA Technology said it has deployed its AI FAQ Assistant package at SBI Insurance to handle internal staff inquiries. The package links three AI SaaS products: PKSHA FAQ, PKSHA ChatAgent, and PKSHA Knowledge Stream. SBI Insurance already used PKSHA FAQ and expanded to the full package. The company said direct inquiry man-hours fell and survey responses showing confusion about FAQ content are trending down.
1d ago
Apple may soon change the App Store to raise revenue and improve margins, Bloomberg reports. The push follows Phil Schiller's September 1 departure as App Store chief. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says new CEO John Ternus and services head Eddy Cue are looking for ways to extract more revenue from the store. Schiller opposed such plans, worried they would provoke developers and regulators over monopoly and fee concerns. The exact changes are not confirmed.
1d ago
Mirai Bit Inc. has fully commenced research and development of Physical AI, building toward robots that autonomously perform tasks in real environments from visual and language instructions. The Tokyo-based company is collecting robot operation data through a remote operation environment built around the open-source dual-arm robot OpenArm, using that data for AI learning and evaluation. The humanoid robot Unitree G1 has also been introduced into the development environment as the company expands from dual-arm robots to more general-purpose machines.
1d ago
The Seattle Times and Newsday filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft on September 4, 2026, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The papers allege the companies scraped their articles, including paywalled content, to train ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Bing, and that the AI tools now reproduce or closely mimic their reporting while reducing readers' need to visit or subscribe.
1d ago
Renxa, a contact center operator that grew from 150 seats in 2021 to more than 600, adopted Zoom Phone and Zoom Revenue Accelerator to automate call checking and scoring. The AI transcribes and analyzes every call, letting managers spot low-scoring operators and potential complaints before they escalate. Overtime fell about 12 percent, and projects using both products saw acquisition results of 123.1 percent versus before.
1d ago
DON'T NOD, the Paris studio behind Life is Strange, Vampyr, and Tell Me Why, reported a 14 percent drop in first-half 2026 revenue to 6.1 million euros and an operating EBITDA loss of 4.3 million euros. The company said its ability to continue operating after January 31, 2027 faces material uncertainty tied to securing external funding, and it may cut up to 90 jobs as it consolidates French operations into a single production line.
1d ago
IBT Sogo Kenkyujo, the operator of the online exam platform Excert, has joined the Microcity group. Smart Capital, whose investment fund held the shares, transferred them to Microcity. Finance Produce advised Smart Capital as sell-side financial advisor. Excert supports IBT and CBT testing with remote proctors and is used by more than 500,000 people a year.
1d ago
Foundry Labs Inc., a Tokyo enterprise AI partner founded in 2025, has been recognized as an OpenAI Select Partner in the OpenAI Partner Network. The company will collaborate with OpenAI to help Japanese organizations build, deploy, and scale AI solutions using GPT-5.6 and ChatGPT Work. Its Forward Deployed Engineers embed with client teams, and past work includes an AI forecasting dashboard for a major IP holder and agentic AI integration at a Japanese bank.
2d ago
A CEDEC 2026 session by Notion Labs Japan and Bandai Namco Entertainment explained how the note-taking service can smooth project coordination with external development partners. The lecture covered an overview of Notion as a context layer, a Bandai Namco case study on collaboration with outside companies, and a demonstration for internal title development use.
3d ago
Hatsune Miku's official YouTube channel released an MV on September 5 featuring Hatsune Miku and Robin, the songstress from 'Honkai: Star Rail.' The MV is titled 'Summer Sky Medley: Tell Your World x Just Chasing the Wind.' It interweaves the two's voices. A special message video from Miku to Robin was also posted on X.
3d ago
Developer AMPLITUDE Studios released a behind-the-scenes video for the 'HUMANKIND 2' announcement trailer, which had faced unfounded generative AI allegations. The trailer was shot in live-action at Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia, Bulgaria, with real sets, props, costumes, and animals, combined with visual effects and CGI. The game is scheduled for PC release on Steam in 2027.
3d ago
The Tokyo Anime Award Festival announced Friday that it concluded its events as of March. TAAF 2026 ran March 13-16. The festival, which began in 2014 and has held 13 iterations, will shut its X and YouTube accounts on September 30, and its website becomes an archival site the same day. Kenshi Yonezu received the Best Sound/Performance award for four theme songs.
3d ago
Naver Ventures, the U.S. investment arm of NAVER, the parent company of WEBTOON Entertainment, has made a strategic investment in Baobab Studios, the 10-time Emmy-winning animation studio behind Namoo and Crow: The Legend. The partnership pairs Baobab with WEBTOON on SHINE, an original fantasy adventure webcomic by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Erick Oh and webtoon creator Madeleine Rosca, set in a futuristic Korea.
4d ago
gamescom organizers issued a revised statement apologizing for their initial response to multiple theft incidents at the August 2026 event in Cologne. The organizers admitted the criticism of their communication was justified and that their first statement failed to show appropriate empathy to victims. They promised a security review for indie exhibitors, a roundtable with co-indie booth organizers, and a push for damage reports. The first statement, which stressed exhibitor self-responsibility, drew sharp criticism.
4d ago
AMBER GAMES, the game label of broadcaster BS Asahi, announced HEIMA on September 4, a spatial puzzle action game developed with KENEI DESIGN for PC (Steam) with a 2028 release. Players control Eigen, who travels parallel worlds using Shift and Hold abilities to swap or stop objects. The game comes from Yoshihide Hayama and Yuki Nishimura, former core members of Terra Battle.