TELASA began streaming the second part of the Sano Masaya-produced Kanagawa trip, the fifth installment of the Ae! group original series "Acchikocchi Ae! Chotto Hitoiki, Ae! Jikan ~ Motto Ae! Tabi Ikimasu Nen ~," on September 26. The four members drive to a studio for bungee exercise training, then visit a retro arcade and take sunset photos by a lake.
Publisher Sano-gumi opened the Steam store page for the horror novel game Yumemiru Sakura no Sotsugyoushiki, developed by the circle Aa Uo Uguzu Pegi, with a release date of October 22, 2026 and a price of 550 yen. The story follows three close friends, Sakura, Shion, and Hina, on the day of a graduation ceremony. The player chooses whether Sakura talks to Shion or Hina first, and the conversation content changes with that order. After both conversations end, the screen fades to black and returns to the title screen. Each loop alters the dialogue and presentation until the ceremony turns into a nightmare. The Steam version is a commercial release based on the free browser version that appeared on unityroom on August 27, 2026, and it adds new stills, new scenes, a bonus episode, short stories, achievements, a jukebox, and controller support. Playtime is about 30 minutes to 1 hour. The browser version stays free after release.
VTuber Asano Ruri will appear at an event titled "Asano Ruri Talk & Live!! @ Mita Festival" on November 21 at Keio University's Mita Campus. The organizer is the VTuber Research Society (V-ken), a registered student organization at Keio University. The event, tied to the university's Mita Festival, includes a talk show and a mini live, along with attendee participation-style projects. Admission is free. To participate, attendees need a ticket distributed by lottery through LivePocket. The announcement was made on October 1. PANORA describes Asano Ruri as a ninja-style VTuber voice actress. The event's full title connects it directly to the Mita Festival, which KAI-YOU identifies as the 68th edition of Keio University's school festival. Ticket details, the venue's campus location, and the free admission were all part of the initial announcement.
The exhibition "NO.6 no Sekai Ten -Shion to Nezumi no Kiseki o Tadoru Tabi-" opens October 2 at Matsuya Ginza in Tokyo and runs through October 26. It marks 35 years since Atsuko Asano's debut as a writer. Goods include autographed reproduction artwork, life-size panels of Shion and Nezumi, a daily tote bag, T-shirts, and mini-character items. Yuki Kaji narrates the event PV.
Bandai Spirits will release a Figure-rise Standard Amplified kit of Magnagarurumon from Digimon Frontier on Saturday, September 19, 2026, priced at 6,600 yen including tax. The kit uses an arranged design by As'maria, with section-based parts division and stickers for color separation. It includes the Sniper Phantom, Strike Phantom, Magna Blade effects, an action base, Susanoomon parts, and an Orochi effect, and combines with the separately sold Amplified KaiserGreymon to recreate Susanoomon.
New stills from Shadow Work show Yoshitaka Hara of timelesz as Matsubara Koji, a suspect in the murder case at the center of the film. Shadow Work adapts Hiromi Sano's novel and stars Riho Yoshioka and Nao as women tied to a shelter for abuse survivors. Director Ryuhei Yoshino told Hara to blink as little as possible to make the character unsettling. The film opens September 25.
Abrams ComicArts' Kana imprint delayed Inio Asano's short story collection Before Dawn and the End of the World to March 4. The anthology, previously set for November, collects ten stories originally serialized in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits from 2005 to 2008. The stories were previously unpublished in English.
The We Are Aliens anime film announced four new cast members on Thursday. Gaku Sano plays Seiya Toda, Reika Ōzeki plays young Seiya, Arisa Sasaki plays Elmo Matsushita, and Edo Harumi plays a calligraphy teacher. The film opens in Japan on September 25.
K MANGA added Yuno Yozakura and Ryōsuke Sano's Camp Master Extraordinaire as a simulpub title on August 5. New chapters update on Wednesdays, with the first 49 chapters available now. The series launched on Kodansha's Magazine Pocket in July 2025, and Kodansha shipped the fourth compiled volume on June 9.
M!LK's official account announced Sano Yuto and Yoshida Jinto's unit song "Tsumi to Batsu to Ame to Kiss" as the fifth installment of the "Mo-retsu Mo-shin! Release Project 2026." The newly drawn jacket illustration by PEACH-PIT, known for Rozen Maiden and Shugo Chara!, features a gothic atmosphere with roses and a snake. The song has been available for streaming since August 3.
Yuzusoft announced on August 7 that its bishoujo adventure game Sanoba Witch has surpassed 500,000 copies sold worldwide. The original 18+ PC version launched in February 2015, meaning the milestone took roughly 11 years to reach. The game follows protagonist Shuuji Hoshina, who can sense others' feelings, and his classmate Nene Akechi, who becomes aroused as the cost of a magical contract. Other heroines include Meguru Inaba, who struggles to make friends, and Tsubasa Shiiba, who dresses in male clothing as her contract's cost. The all-ages version on Steam has received 98% positive reviews from 9,488 user reviews, earning an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' status. According to Steam Scout data, 95.4% of the full HD version's reviews are in Simplified Chinese, 3.6% in Traditional Chinese, and 0.4% in Japanese. In December 2024, sales were reported at 300,000 copies, meaning an additional 200,000 copies sold over the following year and a half. The game was also adapted into a manga. Yuzusoft's Senren * Banka surpassed 1 million copies in February 2026, and Sanoba Witch appears to be following similar success.
Alice Hirose and Yuto Sano, who co-star in Toy Story 5, posted a two-shot on X recreating the poses of their characters Lily Pad and Smarty Pants. Hirose widened her eyes and raised her mouth corners; Sano stuck out his chin and looked upward. Hirose called the post their 'all-out effort.' Fans responded with comments praising the fidelity and humor of the recreation.
Manga creator Inio Asano reported spending a month building a three-dimensional rural town for a one-chapter manga project. He posted a video of the model on X but said he has not yet completed a single page of the draft. The project's title and details remain unannounced.
Masanori Morita reported a dinner gathering with Eiichiro Oda and seven other major Jump manga artists on July 13. He posted a delinquent-style illustration of the group, which includes Masashi Kishimoto, Nobuhiro Watsuki, Takehiko Inoue, Masakazu Katsura, Riichiro Inagaki, Gege Akutami, and Kohei Horikoshi. Social media reacted with surprise, calling the lineup the "Avengers of manga."
M!LK member Yuto Sano appeared at a stage greeting for Toy Story 5 and smiled at the 'mellow' reaction to his character Smartie Pants, a high-tech toilet training toy. Sano performed a line from the film and recalled friends asking how to play with the unfamiliar toy. Social media users described the character as charming, and Sano expressed surprise at the positive response.
At the press conference for the TBS drama 'Kimi no Suki wa Muteki,' M!LK member Sano Yuto was praised by co-star Fujii Takashi for memorizing scripts handed to him that morning almost instantly. The workplace romantic comedy, themed around kawaii culture, stars Matsumoto Wakana as a former consultant who helps a quirky character designer played by Sano. The event also featured anecdotes about on-set name mix-ups and Fujii's own line struggles.
Sano Yuto, who voices Smarty Pants in the Japanese dub of Toy Story 5, made a surprise appearance at Tokyo Disneyland on July 3. He rode in an omnibus with fellow cast members Karasawa Toshiaki and Tokoro George, greeting fans during a special evening parade celebrating the film's release.
Toy Story 5 opened in Japan on July 3, 2026, following a record-breaking US debut that earned approximately $160 million in its opening weekend. The film's worldwide box office has surpassed $585 million, exceeding the final totals of Toy Story and Toy Story 2. The Japanese dub cast includes Alice Hirose as the new character Lily Pad, with comments from the actress and details on theater bonuses.
Sano Yuto, a member of the vocal dance unit M!LK, has been cast as the Japanese voice of the new high-tech toy Smarty Pants in Toy Story 5. He passed an audition at Pixar's US headquarters and re-recorded about 80-90% of his lines after the initial dubbing session, working with the director to refine the performance.
Actor Sano Yuto attended the Japan premiere of Toy Story 5 in Tokyo on June 30, where he voices new character Smarty Pants. He shared that he holds weekly late-night meetings with his vocal dance unit M!LK, where members speak freely, including the youngest member Sano Shunta, who is five years his junior and speaks casually to him.
The staff for the television anime of Hiromu Arakawa's Daemons of the Shadow Realm manga released the main promotional video, key visual, and theme song details for the second cour on Sunday. Kei Sugawara performs the ending theme song "Kujaku" (Peacock), while Masanori Otoda provides the opening theme song "back shot." The second cour debuts on July 4. The anime, directed by Masahiro Ando at Bones Film, premiered on April 4 and is set to run for two consecutive cours. Crunchyroll streams the series with a same-day English dub. The cast includes Kensho Ono as Yuru, Yume Miyamoto as Asa, Yuichi Nakamura as Dera, and Misaki Kuno as Gabu-chan. Noboru Takagi oversees series scripts, Nobuhiro Arai handles character design and chief animation direction, and Kenichiro Suehiro composes the music. Arakawa launched the manga in Square Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan in December 2021, with the 13th volume releasing July 10.
Shogakukan released the 7th volume of Sano Airi's shōjo manga Cake×Bomb on June 26. A live commentary-style TV commercial and promotional video were also released to mark the occasion, featuring manga panels and commentary on the characters discovering their cakeverse attributes.
The cast of "Osomatsu-san: Jinrui Kuzuka Keikaku!!!!!?" appeared at a first-day stage greeting on June 12 at TOHO Cinemas Hibiya in Tokyo. The live-action film, based on the anime by Fujio Akatsuka, follows the sextuplet Matsuno brothers as they confront a world that has begun praising their lazy lifestyle. Members of Ae! group-Seimei Yoshinori, Masaki Sawa, Ken Kojima, and Masaya Sano-star alongside Takuya Nishimura, Miho Watanabe, Yusuke Onuki, Naenano, and Iori Noguchi. Director Taisuke Kawamura revealed that the choreographer said the sextuplet actors could handle the most difficult dance, so he requested maximum difficulty choreography, which the cast learned in two hours. The actors described the dance as more challenging than Ae! group's own songs and said it took a full day to film, like a music video. Koji Mukai of Snow Man, who played Osomatsu in the 2022 film, appears as "Old Osomatsu" and added ad-libs that raised the cast's morale. The film was postponed by about five months before its release.
Hobby Japan is reprinting the Hirotoshi Sano Gundam Art Collection: EDGE of GUNDAM on August 7, 2026. The book, featuring mechanical animation director Hirotoshi Sano's Gundam illustrations, was originally released 25 years ago. Pre-orders are open now at the Post Hobby Web Shop and Yodobashi Camera stores.
The manga adaptation of Katsuhiro Go's novel Bakudan (Bomb) concluded with its 40th chapter on May 29. The series launched on Kodansha's Comic Days platform in May 2025 and ran for four compiled volumes, the last released on April 20.