Ján is a character in the Iron Wok Jan! anime adaptation, which premieres July 5, 2026, on TV Tokyo and its affiliates.
The Iron Wok Jan! anime adaptation, based on Shinji Saijyo's 1990s cooking manga, has set a July 5, 2026, premiere date. The series is directed by Ei Aoki at studio TROYCA, with Makoto Uezu handling series scripts and Masako Matsumoto designing characters. The opening theme song is performed by the seven-member dance vocal group Genin wa Jibun ni Aru.
Five additional cast members were announced in May 2026, joining previously confirmed lead cast including Kikunosuke Toya as Jan Akiyama, Ikumi Hasegawa as Kiriko Gobancho, Kohei Amasaki as Takao Okonogi, and Kenjiro Tsuda as narrator. The new additions are Masuo Amada as Nichido Otani, M.A.O as Celene Yang, Takahiro Sakurai as Kei Sawada, Taishi Murata as Tomohide Jun, and Yusuke Kobayashi as Yuji Kawahara.
The original manga ran in Weekly Shonen Champion from 1995 to 2000 across 27 volumes, with over 10 million copies in circulation. The anime will air Sundays at 5:30 p.m. JST on TV Tokyo and its affiliates.
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Alejandro G. Iñárritu came to Japan for the release of DIGGER and gave an interview about the film's divided reception. He said the story's structure lets audiences arrive at the truth gradually, and that a second viewing reaches deeper layers of the work. The film stars Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell, an oil company CEO whose greed triggers a global crisis.
The latest Minecraft snapshot, 26.4 Snapshot 4, reworks the Jukebox so players can build playlists by placing a chest on top of it. Records inside play in slot order, and when one finishes it returns to the chest and the next record plays. The snapshot also adds Brittle Ice, which cracks and collapses under a player or mob and generates in the Ice Cave biome. It is available in Java and Bedrock beta and preview versions.
A special program hosted by Roboco, Shirakami Fubuki, Ookami Mio, and Houshou Marine showed new details for HoloLive Mahjong -HoloJan-, the free-to-play mahjong app releasing in 2026. All 37 Holo members, including FLOW GLOW, take part. Custom riichi sticks, win effects, and discard animations can be combined freely, and the theme song is Kami Tsumo Dora Dora Densetsu.
Tom Cruise and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu visited the MAPPA Expo 15th Anniversary exhibition in Tokyo, according to photos the event posted Friday. Character designer Tadashi Hiramatsu joined them for a roundtable, where Inarritu said his son is a MAPPA fan and Cruise asked about hand-drawn animation. The two came to Japan for the Friday opening of Digger, one week after its U.S., Canada, and U.K. release.
Cover Corporation and game company Aiming announced Hololive Mahjong -Holojan- on Friday, October 9, with pre-registration open the same day. The mahjong game features 37 Hololive talents, including Shirakami Fubuki and Houshou Marine, and is scheduled for release within 2026 on iOS, Android, Windows, and browser, free to play with item purchases.
Cover announced a collaboration title with Aiming, Hololive Mahjong -Holo-Jan-, planned for release in 2026. Pre-registration opened on October 9. The mahjong game covers iOS, Android, Windows, and browser, and is free to play with item purchases. Thirty-seven Hololive talents appear, with dedicated voice recordings and an assist feature for beginners.
Tom Cruise and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu visited MAPPA EXPO 15th Anniversary at YURAKUCHO MUSEUM in Tokyo while promoting their film DIGGER. They toured the Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man areas, viewed The Rumbling exhibit from Attack on Titan The Final Season, and held a roundtable with animator Yoshihisa Hiramatsu, who gave them a new illustration of Cruise's character Digger Rockwell.
Microsoft announced on October 8, 2026 the creation of XP, a new Xbox division. Its name comes from the gaming term "Experience Points." The division covers four areas: XBOX PICTURES for film and television adaptations, XBOX PRODUCTS for licensed merchandise, XBOX PLACES for live events, immersive experiences, attractions, broadcasting and theme parks, and XBOX PARTNERSHIPS for work with creators and brands. Kayleen Walters, previously head of Mojang, becomes president of XP. Before joining Xbox she worked at Lucasfilm for 13 years on Star Wars films, merchandise and partnerships, and at Xbox she grew the Minecraft merchandise business into a multi-billion-dollar operation with more than 250 licensees. Maria Angelidou-Smith becomes CEO of Mojang as Walters moves. Xbox CSO Matthew Ball announced the division on Xbox Wire, and CEO Asha Sharma said the division will help games grow into experiences beyond games. XP consolidates functions that had been spread across several teams inside Xbox.
Sega's Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! Road to World is running AUTUMN SCOUT from October 7 to November 4, 2026, adding new ★5 players at Level MAX (Lv.50), Awakening Stage 2, and All Skills and Abilities UP Lv.3. The featured players are Yusuf Fofana, Jan Ziolkowski, Artem Dovbyk, Perbis Estupinyan, and Shadi Riad.
A Game Spark review of Minecraft Dungeons II, released on September 29, 2026, reports that the action RPG keeps a simple interface while enemies attack in groups, so careless players die quickly even though there is no difficulty setting. Defeat costs nothing, health potions refill over time, and three base characters handle equipment upgrades: the town merchant, the enchantment smith, and the blacksmith.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jan REMASTER is a 2027 HD remaster of the 2009 arcade and PSP mahjong game, coming to PC (Steam), PS5, and Nintendo Switch. City Connection showed a playable demo at Tokyo Game Show 2026, which ran September 17 to 21 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture. Players take Keiichi into two-player mahjong matches and can trigger three cheating techniques.
Ken Watanabe has released a comment on DIGGER, the Tom Cruise film directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu that opens in Japan on October 9. Watanabe, who saw it early, wrote that he traded blows with the film for 129 minutes with no guard up and was completely knocked out. The film opened in the U.S. on October 2, and Cruise and Inarritu are due in Japan from October 5 to 7.
Mojang Studios released Minecraft Dungeons II on September 29 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. The co-op hack-and-slash adds jump actions, Talismans, Enchantment Books, and equipment slots raised from 6 to 12. Steam concurrent players reached nearly 19,000 within hours of the 5 p.m. launch, against roughly 3,000 at the first game's Steam debut in 2020. The game is on Game Pass Premium and above and PC Game Pass.
At Minecraft LIVE - September 2026, Mojang Studios and Merlin Entertainments showed concept footage of ESCAPE THE NETHER, the roller coaster planned for the Minecraft World theme park in London. The park, announced in 2024, is scheduled to open in 2027. The attached Minecraft Hotel was also announced, with concept images of a Creeper exterior, a deep-sea diner, and a bedroom with Creeper and TNT pillows.
FOSSIL is selling a limited-edition Minecraft watch collection, carried by the watch shop TiCTAC as an authorized retailer. The collection released on September 1, 2026 and has three models: a Nether chronograph at 39,600 yen, an End chronograph at 36,300 yen, and a Dungeons II watch at 36,300 yen. The Dungeons II model follows Minecraft Dungeons II, released on September 29, 2026.
Mojang Studios brought Minecraft to Tokyo Game Show with its first dedicated booth, built around the action RPG Minecraft Dungeons II, which launched on September 29. The booth combined hands-on demos with a campaign called Battle for Tokyo, Tokyo-set footage, and participation routes through the main Minecraft game, YouTube, and social media. Mojang Head of Marketing Tabitha Hayes said the booth is a way of giving back to Japanese players and creators, whose builds, stories, and communities have shaped the game. She cited Minecraft's more than 425 million copies sold worldwide. Hayes said Japan's creative culture was an important source of inspiration for the art style of Minecraft Dungeons II, pointing to Japanese entertainment's imagination and visual storytelling. She framed Japan's culture around the linked acts of creating, watching, and playing, and said the campaign lets fans worldwide contribute to a shared goal. No future Japan activities were announced.
Mojang Studios showed the new dimension The Sift at a hands-on session for Minecraft Dungeons II held during Tokyo Game Show 2026. Game director Mans Olson and production director Nathan Rose attended and said the area draws on Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind along with fungi and slime molds. The Sift is a calm, fertile place filled with souls, entered through rifts that open across the Overworld, and its colorful water deals continuous damage. The demo ran in four-player co-op with builds for fighter, bow, tank or support, and mage roles. Armor slots rose from one to four, and a new item called the Talisman grants passive buffs that level with the player. Mojang said the sequel uses an interconnected world rather than an open-world structure. Minecraft Dungeons II releases on September 29 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2, and arrives on Xbox Game Pass on day one.
The first day of ABEMA Anime Festival 2026 supported by Comic Cmoa was held on Saturday, September 19, 2026 at MIYASHITA PARK and other locations around Shibuya. Sayumi Suzushiro, Shogo Sakata, and Wataru Kato unveiled a graduation ceremony visual for the TV anime You and I Are Polar Opposites. The PRISMation ATELIER stage named three second-wave works.
Anime News Network's reader episode poll for September 9 to 15 puts Goodbye, Lara at No. 1, ahead of Though I Am an Inept Villainess at No. 2 and Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia at No. 3. Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun ranks No. 4 after 22 episodes and One Piece enters at No. 14. Rankings cover individual episodes, not series quality, and only titles streaming in North America with enough votes qualify.
Hyper Games and Kakehashi Games released the PS5 version of Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth on September 18, 2026, priced at 2,550 yen. The Switch and Steam versions have been out since April 28, 2026. Switch owners can move to the Switch 2 version with a 100 yen upgrade pass, and the Switch 2 and Switch versions are 20 percent off at 2,040 yen through September 29.
COVER Corporation announced a sukajan jacket collaboration between hololive and merchandise brand BLACK BALLOON MARKET, operated by Kaitac Family. The lineup pairs six talents with jackets: Kureiji Ollie, Kobo Kanaeru, Ninomae Ina'nis, Hakos Baelz, Mizumiya Su, and Kikirara Vivi. Each jacket carries original illustrations reproduced in embroidery. Pre-orders run from September 17 to October 12, 2026, at 33,000 yen, with shipping in late December 2026.
Microsoft has revealed the Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass lineup running from September 16 to October 6, 2026, a slate of 13 titles. Four arrive on day one: Kernel Hearts on September 17, Well Dweller on September 22, Minecraft Dungeons II on September 29, and Gears of War: E-Day on October 6. Rematch joins the Essential plan catalog on September 25.
City Connection announced on September 15, 2026 that it will release Higurashi When They Cry Mahjong REMASTER for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Steam in 2027. The announcement came with a trailer and the opening of a Steam store page. The game is an HD remaster of the 2009 dramatic mahjong title Higurashi When They Cry Mahjong, which shipped for arcades and handheld consoles. It keeps an original scenario supervised by Higurashi creator Ryukishi07 and animation effects built from more than 7,000 drawings. Three modes are included: Oyashiro Mode, in which Keiichi Maebara plays life-or-death matches to avert the Hinamizawa tragedy; Club Activity Mode, for free matches among club members with punishment games; and Club Activity Mode Extra: Tile-Crushing Chapter, the scenario added in the handheld version. Cheating techniques are part of play. An Auto Mode lets the CPU take over for players who do not know mahjong, and an Extra Gallery unlocks newly drawn guest illustrations and voice dramas after clearing the story.
Mojang Studios will release the Minecraft game drop Wilderness Bound on September 16, 2026 Japan Time, across Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, iOS, and Android. The update adds the Dappled Forest biome, filled with Poplar Trees, plus structures such as the Abandoned Camp, new items including the Straw Bed and Cushion, and concrete and wool half slabs.
A new trailer and visual for DIGGER, the Tom Cruise film directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu, arrived ahead of its October 9 opening in Japan. Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an oil drilling CEO whose profit-first decisions trigger a crisis threatening Earth's destruction. The trailer carries the tagline "With great power comes great evasion of responsibility." Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Huller and Michael Stuhlbarg co-star.
Episode 10 of Iron Wok Jan! delivers the loss the series has been telegraphing. Jan, who spent the prior episode boasting about victory, berates the judges mid-tasting, the crowd turns on him and throws trash, and he descends into self-loathing and self-harm. The fall is cathartic but hard to watch, and it overshadows Kiriko's commanding win in the round.
Episode nine of Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You spends its full runtime on miscommunication, as chief Maezawa presents solid evidence that Sasaki may be married. The story works to convince both Yamada and the audience that Sasaki might not be single, while the B-side has Tamaya and Sasaki discussing his Mie dialect and the past.
Anime News Network's review of Iron Wok Jan! episode 9 reads the installment as a setup for the grand finals. Jan's fountain confrontation makes clear he values victory above all, treating a cooking competition as the crystallization of the craft. The fall into the fountain sidelines Kiriko while the episode builds backstory with Celene and Akiyama, then brings her back in a closing stinger. The review also notes the framing of Chinese versus French cuisine, including the absence of dessert in traditional Chinese cooking.
Episode 8 of Iron Wok Jan! continues the tournament with a focus on building up new competitors Celene Yang and Omae Kota. The episode sets Kota up as an easy-to-root-for character, then has Akiyama Jan deliberately aim to make him lose, twisting the knife in his agonizing defeat. Kiriko states plainly that she wants a more positive form of cooking to prevail.
Konami revealed the English voice cast for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse in a trailer on Monday. Abby Trott voices protagonist Rose Belmont, with J.B. Blanc as Trevor Belmont, Alejandra Reynoso as Sypha Belnades, and Graham McTavish as Dracula. Reynoso and McTavish reprise their roles from the Castlevania animated series, and Liam O'Brien returns as Isaac from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness. The game launches October 15 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Cloud, Xbox PC, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.
The third American Manga Awards, announced Thursday by Anime NYC and the Japan Society, honored creators and publishers across seven categories. Billy Bat took Best New Manga, The Summer Hikaru Died won Best Continuing Manga Series, and Cocoon won Best One-Shot Manga. The ceremony also inducted two figures into the Manga Publishing Hall of Fame and gave Akiko Higashimura an Award of Distinction. Editorial professionals voted on the winners.
USAPAGAMES LLC's crowdfunding campaign for Memento Online JAN, a fantasy mahjong game that turns yaku into job cards, has reached 400% of its funding goal on Makuake. The project ends Sunday, August 30, 2026, at 22:00. Support purchases remain open on the Makuake project page.
Anime News Network reviews episode 6 of Iron Wok Jan!, which pits Akiyama Jan against Sawada in Round 1 of the cooking competition. The review highlights the episode's simple but well-prepared storytelling, the underdog cloud hanging over Akiyama after his wild prelims strategy, and a character beat with Kiriko before the match concludes.
Jan Zizka, the solo developer of the Earth-scale RTS Machinefall, discussed the game's 32 trillion map tiles, its Stone Age to Nuclear Age campaign, and his heavy use of generative AI for translation, music, and textures. He also noted that Tokyo is a major enemy base and that Japan is the easiest starting location.
Minecraft's latest Java snapshot introduces concrete stairs and slabs in all 16 colors, plus maps in some abandoned camp chests that lead to new camps and structures. Both features are available in the Java snapshot, with Bedrock beta and preview support coming soon.
Anime News Network reviews episode 5 of Iron Wok Jan!, calling it the best entry yet. The episode introduces a tournament arc where Jan and Kiriko face rival chefs. Jan drugs the judges with mushrooms, cackling over their fallen bodies, forcing the production team to break the fourth wall and explain the legal basis for the act.
Anime News Network reviews episode 4 of Iron Wok Jan!, which introduces a new challenger trained under Otani to undermine Akiyama. The episode highlights Akiyama's hidden tricks and character growth for Okonogi and Kiriko, though the reviewer notes the formula feels repetitive.
Mojang Studios updated the system requirements for Minecraft Java Edition on July 21, 2026, for the first time in roughly 17 years. The minimum memory requirement jumps from 2GB to 8GB (12GB for integrated GPUs), and the recommended memory rises to 16GB. The new minimum specs target 1080p at 30fps on the Performance preset, while recommended specs target 1080p at 60fps on the Fancy preset. The update also requires a Vulkan 1.3-compatible GPU, replacing the aging OpenGL graphics API. Mojang cited the game's growth over 17 years, expanded world sizes, new features, and the need to modernize internal technology as reasons for the change. The studio warned that systems below the new minimum may still launch the game for now, but performance is not guaranteed, and future Vulkan transitions could make the game unplayable on older hardware. The company also noted that the requirements remain relatively low compared to modern AAA titles and do not demand a high-end gaming PC.
Anime News Network reviewed the first three episodes of the revived cooking anime Iron Wok Jan!, praising its fast start, strong character dynamics among leads Jan, Kiriko, and Okonogi, and a clever twist on the food critic trope with the corrupt Otani Nichido. The reviewer noted the series benefits from audience familiarity with the genre while retaining its own jagged edges.
The new trailer and poster for 'DIGGER', Tom Cruise and Alejandro G. Iñárritu's film, reveal Cruise plays a greedy oil CEO named Digger Rockwell whose actions cause Earth's destruction. The Japanese release date is October 9. Cruise's appearance is drastically different: white-haired, pot-bellied, making vulgar jokes. He also opened a TikTok account.
Anime Feminist reviews the first episode of the Iron Wok Jan anime, arguing the series cannot be separated from the context of 1995 Japan. The review describes the year as a low point marked by the Kobe earthquake, the Tokyo subway sarin attack, and the end of Dragon Ball, and positions the cooking manga as a source of hope during that period.
The official website for the Iron Wok Jan television anime released a main trailer and key visual on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, confirming a July 5 premiere date. The trailer, presented as an "alternate" version, features food critic Nichido Otani commenting on the cooking battles. The announcement also revealed that Tomokazu Sugita will voice Ryuji Bito, a wandering Chinese cuisine chef known as "XO Sauce Ryu." Sugita, a veteran voice actor, expressed excitement about joining the adaptation of a manga he read in real time. The ending theme song "Naita Akuma" by EMUNIMINI was also previewed. The anime will air on TV Tokyo and its affiliates on Sundays at 5:30 p.m. JST, and will stream on Anime Times, ABEMA, U-NEXT, and Anime Hōdai in Japan. Ei Aoki directs the series at studio TROYCA, with Makoto Uezu handling series composition and Masako Matsumoto designing characters. The main cast includes Kikunosuke Toya as Jan Akiyama, Ikumi Hasegawa as Kiriko Gobancho, and Kohei Amasaki as Takao Okonogi. The original manga by Shinji Saijyo ran in Weekly Shonen Champion from 1995 to 2000 and has over 10 million copies in circulation.
Tomokazu Sugita will voice Ryuji Bito, an assassin chef who uses XO sauce, in the TV anime Iron Wok Jan! A new key visual and a PV featuring food critic Otani's commentary were also released. The ending theme is "Nakita Akuma" by emunimini. A special program and a collaboration menu are scheduled for July.
Tom Cruise and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu released a trailer for the film 'DIGGER' on June 24, 2026. The trailer, titled 'Tom Cruise's 45-Year Journey,' is a montage of clips from Cruise's past films including 'Top Gun,' 'Jerry Maguire,' 'A Few Good Men,' the 'Mission: Impossible' series, and 'The Last Samurai,' leading into footage from 'DIGGER.' The film is described as an 'extraordinary disaster comedy' about a man named Digger Rockwell who holds the fate of the world after causing a disaster. Cruise said at CinemaCon that it took him 40 years to be able to play this role. Three teaser posters were also released, showing Digger with a gun from various angles. The film is scheduled for a 2026 release in Japan and an October 2, 2026 release in the United States. A new trailer is set for July 14.
Mojang released a new snapshot and preview for Minecraft on June 24, adding the Dappled Forest biome inspired by Michigan autumn colors. The update includes poplar trees with red, orange, and yellow leaves, wool stairs and slabs, and a new structure called the Abandoned Camp. All additions were previously shown at Minecraft Live in May 2026.
FREEing has opened pre-orders for a 1/4 scale bunny-girl figure of Mirajane Strauss from the TV anime Fairy Tail. The figure stands approximately 465mm tall and is priced at 38,500 yen including tax. It depicts Mirajane in a black bunny suit with a zipper design and fishnet tights, with a gentle smile. The prototype was produced by FREEing, with coloring by Matsuda Model. Pre-orders are available through Amazon.co.jp and the Good Smile Company official shop. The figure is scheduled for release on December 31, 2026.
At NDC26, Nexon Games engine programmer Kang Jang-hoon presented M1 APT, an automated test tool for The First Descendant. Designed to run continuously on console hardware without external automation tools, it uses a four-pipeline system for pathfinding, combat, mission detection, and crash recovery, prioritizing uninterrupted data collection over perfect reproducibility.
Mojang Studios broadcast MINECRAFT LIVE from TwitchCon on May 31, 2026, revealing the new Dappled Forest biome with autumn-colored Poplar Trees and an Abandoned Camp structure. The show also detailed Minecraft Dungeons II, including the Twisted Warden boss, a new Lego set, and confirmed the second film's title as A MINECRAFT MOVIE SQUARED with Kirsten Dunst cast as Alex.
Studio Ghibli has been awarded the 2026 Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities, becoming the first anime studio to win Spain's top cultural prize. The jury praised the studio's hand-drawn craft, environmental themes, and complex female protagonists. The award will be presented in October.
The Iron Wok Jan! anime adaptation has revealed a July 5 premiere date and a full official trailer featuring the opening theme song "Kaen" by boy-band Genin wa Jibun ni Aru. Ei Aoki, director of Fate/Zero, directs at studio TROYCA.