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6th episode focuses on Char earning "Red Comet" nickname, Federation's "Project V" development Sunrise announced on Friday that "Tanjō Akai Suisei" (Rise of the Red Comet), the sixth episode of the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin anime and the last in the anime's "Loum Arc," will open in Japan on May 5, 2018. The episode will focus on the young Zeon ace Char Aznable earning his "Red Comet" nom de guerre, as well as the beginnings of the Federation's "Project V" weapons project that will eventually birth the RX-78-2 Gundam. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin V: Clash at Loum (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin V: Loum no Kaisen), the anime's fifth episode, will open in Japan on Saturday in 35 theaters — more than double the previous four episodes' 15 theaters. The episode's screenings will also be extended to four weeks, double the two-week screening run that each of the previous episodes had. The episode is the first episode in the anime's "Loum Arc," which covers the Battle of

Franchise's TV anime launched in 2008, spawned sequels, films, manga, novels The cast of both the Strike Witches and Brave Witches anime announced during the "Minna to Issho ni Dekiru Koto! Fes" live event on August 19 that the Strike Witches franchise will launch a 10th anniversary project in 2018, a decade after the first television anime's airing. Illustrator Humikane Shimada added on Twitter that the project is not yet at the stage where he can discuss specifics. The franchise's story centers on an alien invasion by beings known as the Neuroi. The only way to damage and ultimately defeat them lies in Witches, girls who possess magical powers and are capable of wielding Striker Units that enhances their abilities and allow them to maneuver in the air. The characters in the franchise are often based on real-life aerial aces from various nationalities. The series is based on illustrator Humikane Shimada's mecha-girl illustrations, and Shimada is credited as the original

Yuuki Kaji, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Ryota Ohsaka, more reprise roles from Otomate's original game The official website for Nil Admirari no Tenbin (Libra of Nil Admirari), the television anime adaptation of Idea Factory and Otomate's Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Teito Genwaku Kitan romance game, began streaming the anime's teaser video on Sunday. The video reveals the anime's staff and cast, as well as the spring 2018 premiere. The anime features a returning cast from the game, including: Yuuki Kaji as Hayato Ozaki Nobuhiko Okamoto as Akira Kōgami Ryota Ohsaka as Hisui Hoshikawa Ryohei Kimura as Shōgo Ukai Kenichi Suzumura as Shizuru Migiwa Takahiro Sakurai as Rui Sagisawa Masahiro Takata (Super Seisyun Brothers director, Kenka Banchō Otome: Girl Beats Boys episode director) is directing the anime at studio Zero-G. Tomoko Konparu (Uta no Prince-sama - Maji Love 1000% all four seasons, Kimi ni Todoke - From Me to You both seasons) is overseeing the series scripts, and

Kentarō Satō's Magical Girl Apocalypse manga spinoff launched in 2013 The seventh compiled book volume of Kentarō Satō's Magical Girl Site (Mahō Shōjo Site) manga is revealing on Friday that a television anime adaptation of the manga has been green-lit for next year. The manga is also transferring from Akita Shoten's Champion Tap! manga website to the publisher's Weekly Shōnen Champion print magazine. Akita Shoten's Bessatsu Shōnen Champion magazine teased in August that Satō's original Magical Girl Apocalypse manga would have an important announcement on Friday. Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga and it describes the story: Asagiri Aya is a young girl who has fallen victim to bullies at her school. Looking for a way to escape her troubles, she looks to the Internet for distraction, when a mysterious website called “Magical Girl Site” appears. Simply viewing the page is all it takes to hurtle Aya headlong into the deadly world of the Magical Girl Apocalypse.

Play to commemorate 40th anniversary of Leiji Matsumoto's sci-fi franchise A website to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Leiji Matsumoto's Galaxy Express 999 manga and anime franchise opened on Saturday to announce that the franchise is getting a stage play adaptation next summer. The play, titled Ginga Tetsudo 999 Galaxy Opera, will run at Tokyo's Meijiza theater from June 23-30, at Kitakyushu's Kitakyushu Performing Arts Center on July 21-22, and at Osaka's Umeda Arts Theater Drama City from July 25-29. The play stars: Akinori Nakagawa as Tetsurō Hoshino Haruka as Maetel Toshiyuki Someya as Count Mecha Yōko Yazawa as Ryuzu Kei Miyahara as Shadow Miyu Irino as Tochiro Oyama Omiya no Matsu as Conductor Hikari Ono as Tochiro's Mother, Tetsurō's Mother, Queen Prometheum (voice only) Daisuke Tsukahara as Antares Kaname Ouki as Queen Emeraldas (special performance) Genki Hirakata as Captain Harlock Matsumoto is credited with the original work, and he is se

Satomi Satou plays idols' manager Tsumugi Takanashi The "Idolish 7 Fan Kansha-sai vol. 2 ~Kimi to Motto to Ai o Kataranai to~~" event announced on Sunday that the Idolish 7 television anime will premiere next January. The event also unveiled more of the voice cast, the opening scene from the first television episode, and a new key visual: Satomi Satou plays the in-story Idolish 7 group's manager Tsumugi Takanashi. (The character has no voice in the original game.) Susumu Chiba plays her father and the head of Idolish 7's agency, Otoharu Takanashi. Kazuyuki Okitsu plays Banri Ōgami who works at the agency. Katsuyuki Konishi pays Sōsuke Yaotome, the head of the idol group Trigger's agency, and Yoshihisa Kawahara plays Kaoru Anesagi, Trigger's manager. An advance screening will preview the first two episodes on November 2. The full music video for Trigger's "Daybreak Interlude" also began streaming on Sunday. The previously announced cast includes: Idolish 7 T

Romantic comedy manga about girl and brother's friend falling in love launched in 2015 A live-action film adaptation of Modomu Akagawara's Anitomo (My Brother's Friend) manga has been green-lit. The film is slated to open in spring 2018. Ryō Nakajima is directing the film, and Chieko Nakagawa is penning the script. The film stars Ryūsei Yokohama (seen below) as Sōta. The romantic comedy manga centers on the relationship between old-fashioned and domestically-minded high school girl Mai Nanase, and her brother's friend, the innocent late bloomer Sōta Nishino. Mai and her brother Yukihiro's room are adjacent to each other, with thin walls that allow them to overhear each other. The story begins when, one day, she overhears Sōta telling Yukihiro that he thinks Mai is cute. Akagawara first published the manga as a one-shot in Hakusensha's The Hana to Yume magazine in January 2015 before launching it as a series in Hana to Yume that May. It was initially planned as a short s

NES Classic returns next summer while Super NES Classic will keep shipping into new year Nintendo announced on Tuesday that it will continue offering new shipments of the upcoming Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition into 2018, due to unanticipated demand for the system. The company had initially planned to stop shipments at the end of 2017. In the United States, Nintendo promised to ship more Super NES Classic Edition units on the September 29 launch day that it shipped of the original "NES Classic Edition all last year." In addition, Nintendo will offer new shipments of the original NES Classic Edition next summer. The company will announce the timeframe of the restock in the future. The mini version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System console will come with two controllers and 21 pre-loaded games, including Star Fox 2, which was created during the SNES era but never released. The other pre-loaded games on the SNES Classic Edition are

Trailer previews 2 of 8 playable characters; demo already available Nintendo began streaming a trailer on Wednesday for "Project Octopath Traveler," Square Enix's tentatively titled original role-playing game project for the Nintendo Switch platform. The video details two of the eight playable characters in the game, and also previews the exploration and combat portions of the game. The game already has a demo available to download. The game is slated for a simultaneous worldwide release in 2018. The same team who worked on the Bravely Default game is working on the game. Square Enix released the original Bravely Default: Flying Fairy game for the Nintendo 3DS in October 2012. An enhanced version of the game, titled Bravely Default: For the Sequel in Japan, shipped in Japan on the Nintendo 3DS in December 2013 and in North America in February 2014. Square Enix released the Bravely Second: End Layer Nintendo 3DS sequel game in Japan in April 2015, in Europe in Febru

Game shipped in N. America, Europe for PS4/Vita last October Nintendo announced during its Nintendo Direct presentation on Wednesday that Square Enix is developing a Nintendo Switch version for its Dragon Quest Builders game. The game is slated for release in spring 2018. The new version will add a Great Sabrecub that players can ride in Free build mode, which makes the player faster and gives them materials after defeating enemies.