Aug 28
The special edition of the weekly magazine anan, issue 2510, will feature Madoka Kaname and Homura Akemi from the anime film Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Walpurgisnacht: Rising on its cover when it hits shelves on Wednesday, September 2, 2026. The cover uses a newly drawn illustration by Kazuki Kawada, the film's main animator, and is credited to the animation studio Shaft. The artwork carries over the cloud imagery from the film's key visual, depicting Madoka in her magical girl form and Homura as a devil smiling gently at each other, with sunlight pouring through gaps in the clouds. The issue includes eight pages of film-related content, headlined by a dialogue between Aoi Yuki, the voice of Madoka Kaname, and Chiwa Saito, the voice of Homura Akemi. It also features solo interviews with new cast members Shion Wakayama and Tomoyo Kurosawa, a dialogue between chief director Akiyuki Shinbo and character designer Ume Aoki, and interviews with scriptwriter Gen Urobuchi and Inu Curry's Doru Nushi, who also drew a new illustration for the issue. The magazine is priced at 880 yen and includes term explanations and character introductions.
Jul 9
Filmarks, the Japanese review service, published its 2026 summer drama expectation ranking based on Clip! (want-to-watch) counts. VIVANT Season 2 took first place with 9,912 Clip!, far ahead of second-place Kokuhaku: 25-nenme no Himitsu (2,195 Clip!). The top 10 includes dramas starring Aoi Yu and Hokuto Matsumura, as well as multiple medical-themed works.
Jul 1
Kadokawa released the second main promotional video for Saga of Tanya the Evil II on Wednesday, previewing the opening and ending theme songs and revealing a new cast member. The opening theme is "Why? RED induction" by MYTH&ROID, and the ending theme is "Weiter! Weiter!" performed by Aoi Yuki as Tanya Degurechaff. Eiji Hanawa joins the cast as Colonel Virginio Calandro. The season will premiere on AT-X on July 8 at 9:30 p.m. JST, followed by broadcasts on Tokyo MX, Sun TV, KBS Kyoto, BS11, and TV Aichi. Takayuki Yamamoto directs at Studio NuT, replacing first-season director Yutaka Uemura. Kenta Ihara returns for series composition, and Yuji Hosogoe returns as character designer and chief animation director. The returning cast includes Aoi Yuki, Saori Hayami, Shinichiro Miki, Tessho Genda, Hochu Otsuka, and others. Each episode will be followed by a mini-anime segment titled "Yōjo Shenki 2" featuring the new Salamander Kampfgruppe members. The second season was originally announced in June 2021.