Anime Day

Tsutomu Shibayama, who directed the Doraemon anime series, passed away on March 6, 2026, to lung cancer. He was 84. Doraemon, along with Hello Kitty, is one of the most recognizable Japanese animation/manga characters.

Shibayama’s passing came shortly after the Doraemon the Movie: New Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil (映画ドラえもん 新・のび太の海底鬼岩城) played in theaters in Japan, starting February 27, 2026. It was the 45th Doraemon feature film and was a remake of the 1983 film Doraemon: Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil. Although Shibayama was long-retired, I certainly hope he got a chance to see the new animated movie before he died.

Crunchy Roll reported the film as #1 at Japan Box Office:

The second season of One Piece is available now on Netflix. I am not a massive fan, nor know all the lore or read all the comic books (I’ve occasionally read a few chapters via the Shonen Jump series)… I was curious enough to watch the first season. I think they did a great job on the adaptions, particularly matching the actors to the manga. Luffy looks just like the comic, as well as the very cute redhead Nami.

For Season 2, the major threat is this assassin league, led by Mr Zero, that has gone after our pirate crew. They’re all really colorful characters, for example, Mr Five has explosive boogers or Mr Nine wears a crown. All the assassins are named after days of the week, holidays, or numbers.

Every episode has our crew landing and having a grand adventure on an unknown island. Some island is pretty ridiculous, like the Dinosaur Island. It might work in the comic book, but in live action, it just seems far-fetched.

So far, I’m really liking each episode. They’re very long, like an hour each… but it’s enough to tell you one story from start to finish. I like the twists sometime. I like how each character learns and grow (like how Zorro broke his swords last season, so now he has to add more to his arsenal). The characters are all fun and likeable, and that’s an ingredient for good television. I just wish I was more of a fan of the original manga.

When it comes to exploding heads, no one does it better than Fist of the North Star. I’m a massive fan of the original manga from the 80s, I’m a massive fan of the original television show from 1984, and the “most violent” animated movie from 1986. I even like the sequels, Fist of the Blue Sky (not as good) and followed the animated the New Fist of the North Star in 2004. Look, I just love Kenshiro.

No one is more excited to hear that there is a new 2026 CGI-animated Fist of the North Star from TMS Entertainment. The series will premiere next month on April 11, 2026, via Tokyo MX and BS11 (Amazon Prime Video will stream the series in America). The new opening theme song is “Hallelujah” by Japanese band Alexandros.

In other Anime news, there’s a new Ghost in the Shell animated series, produced by Science Saru, and set to premiere in July 2026. I do love Shirow Masamune’s art, but did not love the Hollywood adaption starring Scarlett Johansson. Fans revolted against casting her in the lead role, and I agree as I thought the role should have gone to someone Japanese.

Dorohedoro Season 2 is finally going to air in April 2026. You may recall that I love the first season in June 2020. Wow, six years!!! I hope it was worth the wait, I had already forgotten everything that happened in the first season… so it might be beneficial to re-watch the first series before I watch the new series.

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