KAZ is a roguelike action game released on July 14, 2026 for PC via Steam, with very positive reviews and widespread player reports of hand pain and keyboard breakage.
Independent developer HAKURO released the roguelike action game KAZ on July 14, 2026, for PC via Steam. Priced at 905 yen with Japanese text support, the game is controlled entirely with movement keys on a tile-based field. Players must eliminate all enemies within tens of seconds per round, then proceed to the next. The structure includes 25 themes with unique power-ups, six starting weapons, over 110 obtainable items, and five reflex-testing modes plus weekly and monthly challenges and an endless mode with online leaderboards.
As of July 15, 59 user reviews on Steam were 96% positive, earning a Very Positive rating. A Metacritic aggregate of seven reviews gives a score of 81. Reviewers praise the simple controls, high tempo, and dopamine-inducing exhilaration. However, user reviews are also filled with complaints of hand cramps, keyboard breakage, and warnings that people with tendonitis should not play. Some players reported breaking two keyboards while playing. The developer's store page describes the game as 'the ultimate psychedelic dopamine rush.' A release sale offers 15% off until July 28, bringing the price to 769 yen.
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Beneath the Tangles reviews Klara and the Sun, Taika Waititi's film of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel. Jenna Ortega plays Klara, an Artificial Friend bought by Josie (Mia Tharia) against the doubts of her mother Chrissie (Amy Adams). The review says the bright, artificial look and Waititi's humor often miss, while Ortega's physical performance holds. It calls Ishiguro and Waititi mismatched storytellers.
A SPECIAL BROADCAST for the smartphone game BLEACH Mirrors High premieres October 27, 2026 at 19:00 on the Bandai Namco Entertainment YouTube channel. Masakazu Morita (Ichigo Kurosaki) and Fumiko Orikasa (Rukia Kuchiki) appear alongside Chiharu Kobayashi as Shiren Migishima and Mariya Ise as Shirone Sanari. A secret cast member is also listed. The program promises the latest game information and a major announcement.
The live-action film of Mizuki Hoshino's shojo manga Fukakoryoku no I LOVE YOU, past 1.8 million copies in circulation, opens March 5, 2027, with Juri Uesaka and Kota Nomura in the double lead. Uesaka, who played Naomi in the morning drama The Wind Blows, plays Kotama Serina, the heroine pulled into a secret relationship with basketball ace Wataru Wataya. Fans reacted to her high school girl look, with some voicing jealousy over the romance role.
KADOKAWA's Kujibikido online kuji service opens a Mahoromatic lottery on Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at 12:00, running to Tuesday, November 17 at 11:59. Draws cost 770 yen including tax, with shipping separate. Prizes use new illustrations by character designer and chief animation director Kazuhiro Takamura alongside existing art, spanning five tiers from a 170-centimeter S prize wall hanging down to tin badges.
At Machi Asobi vol.31 in Tokushima on October 17, Anna Nagase and Studio Colorido animation producer Kazuma Momohara discussed Cho Kaguya-hime!. The Netflix film topped Netflix Japan's daily movie top 10 the day after its January debut, then opened in 19 theaters for a planned week in February and ran four months, ending in June. A special-format revival began September 18.
Producer Kazutaka Iida looked back on Episode 20 of TBS's Sunday Theater drama VIVANT, which aired on October 11, and told Cinema Today that filming in Azerbaijan showed him "a point that is very different from Season 1." Iida said the characters are now connected to the "outside world," pointing to scenes of villagers entrusting their future to the rescue team led by Nogi Yusuke (Masato Sakai). The episode had that team storm Shaki Castle in the Republic of Gorbad to free five captured members of the separate squad, including Kurosu (Tori Matsuzaka), from the organization Shinshi. Iida said the castle scenes were shot night after night until morning, and that rain unusual for the season kept falling during filming, including at Lahij village. Japanese and Azerbaijani staff, cast, and local residents worked together under those conditions. He said the next episode is the escape arc, airing October 18, and noted viewer reaction to the preview line about what Tojo is doing.
The K2C Lottery for the Ace of Diamond act II -Second Season- anime opened at 12:00 on October 16, 2026 on the K2C LUCK site, with draws at 770 yen each through November 6. New band-themed artwork shows Eijun Sawamura, Satoru Furuya, Kazuya Miyuki, Yoichi Kuramochi, Haruichi Kominato and Koushu Okumura holding instruments, used across live T-shirts, face towels, acrylic stands, keychains and can badges.
Kazuya Kamenashi will appear as a solo artist on THE FIRST TAKE, performing "Kizuna," the insert song for the 2005 Nippon TV drama "Gokusen." He wrote the lyrics, Koji Makaino composed the music, and the song was released that year as the coupling track to "Seishun Amigo" under the unit name Shuuji to Akira. The video premieres Friday, October 16 at 22:00. He is now 40.
Marvelous will release ETERNAL ANIMA, a new turn-based JRPG, on March 4, 2027 for Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, the Steam version arriving March 5 at 3:00. The title was first shown in 2023 as PROJECT LIFE is RPG and was formally revealed on September 9, 2026. Players control Wade, who uses the ability Dokushijutsu to read memories left in objects and travel between a submerged world's past and present. Combat runs on Future Prediction Battle, which displays enemy actions, damage, and turn order before a command is locked in, with no random damage or evasion. Striking a weakness pushes an enemy back on the timeline; repeated hits cancel its turn in a Break. Jobs and skills come through Wisdom Inheritance from relics. Director Katsuhisa Higuchi and producer Makoto Shiota spoke about the system in interviews published alongside hands-on previews.
Bandai Spirits has posted the full prize list for Ichiban Kuji Kagurabachi, with store sales starting Saturday, October 24, 2026 and online sales opening Monday, October 26 at 11:00. Prize A is a book board using Takeru Hokazono's 3rd anniversary color illustration. Prizes B and C are Chihiro Rokuhira and Hakuri Rensuke figures from the MASTERLISE series.
The theme song for Rakuen Tsuiho: Kokoro no Resonance is "Beyond the Night," performed by TeddyLoid featuring Ayane Sakura, who voices Gabriel, and Nogizaka46 member Nagi Inoue. TeddyLoid wrote the lyrics, music, and arrangement. A new key visual by character designer Masatsugu Saito and a main trailer were released on October 13. The song gets a digital release on November 11 and a CD release on November 18. The film opens nationwide on November 13.
Bandai Namco Entertainment announced on October 13, 2026 that a SPECIAL BROADCAST for the smartphone game BLEACH Mirrors High will stream on YouTube on October 27 at 19:00. The game is based on the TV anime BLEACH and is set after the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc. Chika Kobayashi, Maria Sashide, Masakazu Morita, Fumiko Orikasa, and MC Neki Matsuzawa appear.
Hero's Inc. published the first part of the final chapter of Kazasa Sumita and writer Shinya Murata's Killing Bites manga on Friday. The series launched in Monthly Hero's in March 2017 and now runs on the Comiplex website. Hero's Inc. published the 27th compiled volume on June 29. Sentai Filmworks licensed the television anime adaptation, which premiered on the Animeism block on MBS and TBS in January 2018 and ran 12 episodes.
King Protea Co., Ltd., led by 21-year-old CEO Kazuto Kishimoto, has opened its own concept cafe, the company announced. The SNS management agency says it will use the store to test measures in-house and hand only verified methods to clients. King Protea reports over 1,500 cumulative videos produced, 26 accounts under contract, and three specialized service lines spanning nightlife, recruitment, and clinics.
Producer Kazutaka Iida explained why Season 2 of the TBS Sunday Theater drama VIVANT introduced dubbing, in remarks published on October 10. The multinational team led by protagonist Yugo Nogi (Masato Sakai) uses simultaneous interpretation devices that render Japanese, Mongolian, Thai, Azerbaijani, and Chinese dialogue, and the voices of characters wearing those devices were replaced with dubbing by a separate cast of voice actors. Iida said the C layer (ages 4 to 12) and T layer (ages 13 to 19) in the show's viewer demographic are increasing, and that dubbing lets children who cannot yet read watch without strain. He also recalled that during location scouting in Azerbaijan, local staff said they had watched Season 1 on streaming but could not read all the English subtitles. The director had been raising the importance of dubbing since before Season 2 entered production and devised the interpretation device as the in-story method. Episode 20 airs on October 11.
At Anime Expo 2026, Taihi Kimura discussed voicing Chihiro Rokuhira in Kagurabachi before the anime's full-room world premiere. Kimura said he landed the role through an audition, described Chihiro as a reserved young man driven by revenge, and called holding back the character's resolve his hardest task. He also spoke about working with Tomokazu Seki, who voices Kunishige Rokuhira, saying Seki's first line led him.
NHK announced on Friday, October 9, the hosts of the 77th Kohaku Uta Gassen: Mana Ashida, Masato Sakai, Kazunari Ninomiya, and announcer Nahoko Suzuki. The 2026 theme is "Koe te ikou, uta to tomo ni." Sakai and Ninomiya play sworn brothers in the TBS drama VIVANT, whose sequel airs from July for two consecutive cours. The show airs live December 31, 7:20 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.
The live-action film adaptation of Hiroshi Tanaka's manga BADBOYS is available for unlimited streaming on DMM TV, U-NEXT, Amazon Prime Video, and TELASA. DMM TV carries the lowest monthly fee at 550 yen and offers a 14-day trial. Lemino, Hulu, FOD, and YouTube list it as a rental, while TSUTAYA DISCAS handles DVD mail rental. Disney Plus and ABEMA do not carry it.
Kadokawa revealed the first main promotional video, main visual, and 2027 debut for the television anime of Ichi Yukishiro's Skull Dragon's Precious Daughter. Kana Hanazawa voices Eve, a girl abandoned in the Forest of Scraps, and Kazuhiko Inoue voices Nemu, the skull dragon who raised her. Kuniyasu Nishina directs at Doga Kobou, with Yuka Yamada on series scripts and Tomoya Atsumi designing characters.
Ryotaro Sakaguchi, 36, plays the drag queen and street drummer Angel in the Japanese production of RENT, running at Theater Creation in Tokyo from October 15 to November 13, 2026, double-cast with Hayate Takahashi. He posted a photo of himself in Angel's all-red costume and white hair on October 7, writing that the musical opens next week and that he finished the final rehearsal.
At The Tenth Mosaic, a game culture festival held at the Institut francais du Japon in Tokyo on September 22 and 23, Kazutaka Kodaka and Masafumi Takada discussed how Danganronpa's story and music shaped each other. Takada said he wrote the theme song "DANGANRONPA" in about 20 minutes after putting the title into the lyrics, and the Monokuma design arrived in roughly five minutes.
KAZÉ's Josh Sippie said the publisher has the original English language manga SOL Sistah for two volumes, with the creator planning more beyond that. Andrew Arnold said an official title list is still being worked out. Emilia Sowersby credited KAZÉ France and KAZÉ Germany, both long established, with helping secure the imprint's first titles, which will be announced soon.
At The Tenth Mosaic in Tokyo on September 22 and 23, Too Kyo Games CEO Kazutaka Kodaka and music producer Masafumi Takada discussed how they work together, from Danganronpa through Rain Code and Hundred Line. Kodaka said Danganronpa sold about 30,000 copies in its first week and grew over roughly half a year, and described why he keeps development outside the studio.
Season 2 of VIVANT has resumed broadcast, and the official X account for the Sunday Theater slot posted visuals of the group preparing to rescue a captured Beppan member. Kazunari Ninomiya's character Nokor paints his face black with two lines on his cheeks, and viewers compared the look to cat whiskers and a calico cat. Episode 20 covers the infiltration of Shaki Castle.
BANDAI SPIRITS will release "Ichiban Kuji hololive ~Fairy tale Style~" starting January 9, 2027, at 890 yen per draw at locations including Lawson. AZKi, Pekora Usada, Laplus Darknesss, and Kazama Iroha appear in fairy tale theme original outfits, and the key visual has been revealed. Past hololive Ichiban Kuji used key visuals for figures and acrylic boards, and a similar lineup is expected here.
Sanrio's game brand showed two titles at Tokyo Game Show 2026. Sanrio Party Land is a party game with more than 145 Sanrio characters, including Hello Kitty, Pompompurin, Umenoya Zakkaten, and Ghao-pa-wa-ru, with minigames themed around each character. It is set for October 29, 2026 on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. Sanrio Kawaii Me Live is a smartphone rhythm game set for 2027.
Final Fantasy Resonance, a consumer RPG rebuilt from Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, appeared in playable form at Tokyo Game Show. The game renders the series in HD-2D for the first time, pairing Super Famicom-era pixel art with modern effects. Series protagonists including Cloud and Terra appear as Visions that can be equipped via Vision Crystals. It launches October 22, 2026 on PC via Microsoft Store, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, with a Steam release on October 23.
Irox Games is developing OKU, a PC adventure game published by ByteRockers' Games and Shochiku Games, where the player observes scenery and composes haiku from keywords. A Tokyo Game Show 2026 report describes a protagonist with unusual physical ability: high jumps, a glide, rope walking, and movement across water and cloud tops. Composing at specific locations expands the areas the player can act in.
Ryusei Ryo will join Kazunari Ninomiya's personal agency Office Nino, the company announced on the 1st. The two currently co-star in the TBS Sunday drama VIVANT, where Ryusei plays Koutaro Shinjo, a former public security officer acting as a monitor for the terrorist organization Tent, opposite Ninomiya as Nokor.
Prime Video announced its October 2026 lineup on September 30. The additions include the live-action Exit 8 film starring Kazunari Ninomiya and directed by Genki Kawamura, arriving October 2, and the Made in Abyss anime seasons plus its theatrical releases on October 1. The service also adds 26 James Bond films, A Minecraft Movie, and The Apothecary Diaries season 3, among other titles.
The Spain Game Festival, an invitation-only business networking event hosted by the Spanish Trade and Investment Agency and the Embassy of Spain, was held on September 16 at Kanda Myojin Hall in Tokyo. Gonzalo Ramos of the embassy's economic office said 35 Spanish companies and organizations exhibited as "Games from Spain" at Tokyo Game Show 2026, and six Spanish titles were selected for SELECTED INDIE 80. Kazutaka Kodaka appeared as an event VIP.
The non-credit opening video for the anime Steel Ball Run JoJo's Bizarre Adventure was released on YouTube on September 24. The OP theme is Kroi's "SPIN," with a newly drawn anime illustration jacket showing Johnny Joestar and digital distribution now running on streaming services. The OP animation production is handled by Kamikaze Douga, and the show's 2nd & 3rd STAGE stream worldwide in advance on Netflix starting September 25, 2026.
Shueisha will terminate its contract with Walt Disney Japan for comics adaptations of Marvel characters as of September 30, 2026. Distribution stops sequentially on each e-book site between September 28 and 30, and physical sales end as well. Already purchased items stay viewable. Deadpool: Samurai and SECRET REVERSE, handled by Yu-Gi-Oh! creator Kazuki Takahashi, are among the works affected.
Team NINJA's Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember arrives March 4, 2027 and adds an open field to the series. Producer Masakazu Hirayama says the wider design answers criticism that the previous game's morale rank system felt forced. The game is planned for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. Development producer Masaaki Yamagiwa says the alpha demo drew more attention to the changes than the team expected.
The staff of the Ascendance of a Bookworm anime announced on Saturday that part 4 of Miya Kazuki's light novels, Founder of the Royal Academy's So-Called Library Committee, will get a television anime, with Wit Studio animating again. The announcement came after the Part 3 anime, Adopted Daughter of an Archduke, ended its two-cour run on Yomiuri TV and NTV.
CyberAgent announced Friday that Yūichi Nakamura will play Soshiro Azami in the Kagurabachi television anime, described as a sorcerer affiliated with the Kamunabi. Takeru Hokazono's manga stars Taihi Kimura as Chihiro Rokuhira, Tomokazu Seki as Kunishige Rokuhira, Katsuyuki Konishi as Togo Shiba, Miku Itō as Hinao, and Miyari Nemoto as Char Kyonagi. The anime premieres in April 2027 and streams worldwide that month excluding Japan, Mainland China, North Korea, and South Korea.
The Deluxe Edition of Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's Lone Wolf and Cub won Best Presentation in Design at the 2026 Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards, announced at the 26th annual Baltimore Comic-Con on September 26. May Hijikuro is credited as the designer. The Deluxe Edition's first volume shipped on December 9. The awards, named for the late artist Mike Wieringo, held their 10th annual ceremony in 2026.
Akaza Samamiya said on X that the Mr. Mallow Blue: After The Rain side story will end with its next chapter. The side story began in the March issue of Kadokawa's Asuka magazine, which shipped in January. The main Mr. Mallow Blue manga ran in Asuka from November 2019 and closed with a sixth and final compiled volume on December 24.
The second season of The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World has cast Shiki Aoki as Maria Bradley, Rebecca's younger sister, and Kazuyuki Okitsu as Marius Basset, one of the Seven Great Magicians. The anime premieres on TBS on October 8 at 1:23 a.m., then BS11 on October 9 at 11:00 p.m. Crunchyroll streams it as it airs. Zero-G animates, with Masahiro Takata returning to direct.
A new Code Geass anime, Code Geass Star Chaser Aspal, is set to premiere in 2027, with a teaser trailer and visual released on Saturday. Kazuya Nomura directs, Mado Nozaki handles series scripts, Rolua designs the characters, Yoshi. designs the Agalmata, Junbun Lin is in charge of background and special effects, and Ichinogi designed the title logo. SUNRISE is credited with the original work, planning, and animation production. The teaser arrived through the franchise's official YouTube channel ahead of the 20th anniversary project, which also includes the stage play Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion - Seido ni Jyunzuru Kishi 2 in Osaka and Tokyo starting January 23, and a 20th Anniversary Exhibition opening in Tokyo in September 2026 and Osaka in November 2026. The franchise said in December 2024 that several new works were in production. A Code Geass and Gundam Wing crossover manga, Minuet Zero, launched on Kadokawa's KadoComi platform on July 10.
VEID Inc. began accepting entries on October 1 for the TikTok VTuber Group AUDITION, an open call for the founding members of a VTuber unit that will perform primarily on TikTok LIVE. Entries close at 23:59 on November 1. VEID is a joint venture between Kotobukiya Co., Ltd. and Mujuryoku Inc., both headquartered in Tachikawa, Tokyo. Kotobukiya is led by representative director and president Kazuyuki Shimizu, and VEID by representative director and president Kunio Ono. Mujuryoku handles technical and operational support for the audition and has prior work in VTuber production, live streaming operations, motion capture, and 3DCG production. No VTuber or streaming experience is required. VEID supplies 3D models and a dedicated studio for the group. There is no application fee and no screening fee. Selection moves from a profile and video entry to a first screening, then an interview and practical skills test, and finally a pass and contract.
Kazuki Endo, the TV Asahi producer on The Tent's Jadugar, appeared at ANIMO Festival 2026 in Ulaanbaatar on Saturday, September 12. The event screened a comment video from director Abel Gongora, making-of footage, and Acts 1 through 3. Endo said he felt the work had to value local atmosphere, and that main staff adjusted schedules to visit Mongolia and took details from a ger homestay into the visuals.
Ninomae Ina'nis released the animated music video for "Abyssal Hymn" on YouTube on September 19. The song is on her first EP, "re:VISION." Lyrics and composition are by Takeo Sunamori of Mirai Kodai Gakudan, arrangement by Kazuhito Yoshida, and animation by RETICLES. After the release, she wrote on X that all the puzzle pieces are now in place.
G-MODE's Streamer Girl's Secret Account Labyrinth is a labyrinth novel RPG about girls trapped in UraU, a place where the darkness of social media is made real. Riiru Saika, a streamer and member of the band Lag Drops, is haunted by the death of bandmate Neon Hino. The trial play covers an ADV section, and a dungeon exploration part has you fight malice monsters while seeking the master of the secret accounts. Release is set for 2026 on PC via Steam.
Hitsujibungaku and Quruli co-wrote the opening and ending themes for the TV anime Kaze wo Tsugu Mono, set to air in January 2027, and also handle the theme for the theatrical advance version Kaze wo Tsugu Mono -Hajimari-, which screens from November 13, 2026. The opening is "Kaze wo Tsugu Mono" under the name Quruli + Hitsujibungaku; the ending, "Namida no Kawa," is credited to Hitsujibungaku + Quruli, with vocals by Moeka Shiotsuka. Quruli's Shigeru Kishida writes the soundtrack.
The Dengeki Daisy television anime will debut in January 2027 and air for two consecutive cours, a stage presentation at KyoMAF revealed. The main promotional video also named four new cast members: Tomokazu Sugita as Soichiro Kurebayashi, Yuka Terasaki as Riko Onizuka, Setsuji Sato as Masuda, and Kohei Amasaki as Akira. Crunchyroll will stream the anime, directed by Sota Ueno at Studio DEEN.
Kadokawa released a teaser for the television anime of Yasukiyo Kotobuki's The Diary of a Middle-Aged Sage's Carefree Life in Another World. Tomokazu Sugita plays protagonist Zelos Merlin, the first cast member announced. The teaser also gives the premiere date: January 2027. Takayuki Inagaki directs at YANCHESTER, with Hiroko Kanasugi on series scripts and Mariko Fujita designing characters.
On the September 17, 2026 opening day of Tokyo Game Show 2026, Shuhei Yoshida, former head of Sony Interactive Entertainment's Indies Initiative and now representative of his company yosp, spoke with 4Gamer editor-in-chief Kazuhisa Okada. Their session, "Why Does Japanese Indie Produce a Huge Hit Every Year," covered the rise of Japanese indie titles such as The Exit 8 and DarekaRe, 4Gamer's early indie coverage, and Yoshida's years of promotion work.
109 Cinemas Meiwa will hold a SCREENX revival screening of "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle Chapter 1: Akaza Returns" from Friday, October 9, 2026 to Thursday, October 15, 2026. The film was chosen No. 1 in a survey on the theme of "films you want to see in SCREENX." Tickets go on sale on the official 109 Cinemas Meiwa website from 0:00 two days before each screening date, and for Cinema Point members from 21:00 three days before. The price is regular rates plus a 700 yen SCREENX surcharge.
The Game Designers Award, founded in 2010 by game director Masahiro Sakurai, will end in 2026. Sakurai, who is chief judge, announced the close at a ceremony on September 15. Seventeen works won the award across its run, from Heavy Rain in 2010 to Moji Yuge in 2026. The theme is the evaluation of games' originality and novelty.