Hey, everyone!

Here’s what’s going in the world of Anime today:

• Four New Cast Members Join the Live-Action One Piece Series' Second Season

• English dub of the Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Arc anime is set to debut this Month

• Experience the Thrills of Akihabara: Akiba Maid War Pop-Up Café Opening in Little Tokyo

• Tokyo Revengers Returns: Sequel Announced with New Promotional Trailer

• Farmagia: New Monster-Farming Game to Receive Anime Adaptation by Hiro Mashima

Meme of the Week

Four New Cast Members Join the Live-Action One Piece Series' Second Season

Exciting developments for our favorite pirates! Netflix announced on Tuesday that four new cast members will be added for the second season of its live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga.

The new characters, members of Baroque Works, include:

• David Dastmalchian as Mr. 3 (known for his roles in Ant-Man and The Suicide Squad)

• Jazzara Jaslyn as Miss Valentine

• Camrus Johnson as Mr. 5 (recognized for his role in Batwoman)

• Daniel Lasker as Mr. 9

The series, which premiered exclusively on Netflix last August, initially featured eight episodes, contrary to earlier reports of ten episodes.

For the second season, Joe Tracz (known for Percy Jackson and the Olympians) will join as a writer, executive producer, and co-showrunner alongside Matt Owens, who served in similar roles during the first season. Steve Maeda, who co-showran the first season, will continue as an executive producer.

According to Deadline, filming for the second season is set to begin this month, with a projected release date in 2025.

The English dub of the Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Arc anime is set to debut this month

Dub lovers rejoice as the wait is finally over! Crunchyroll announced on Tuesday that it will begin streaming the English dub for the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training Arc television anime on June 30 at 4:30 p.m. EDT.

The anime premiered on the Fuji TV channel and its affiliates with a one-hour special on May 12. The 40-minute episode 7 premiered on Fuji TV and Crunchyroll on Sunday, and the 60-minute episode 8 will air on Fuji TV on June 30.

The Swordsmith Village Arc anime premiered on April 9, 2023, with a one-hour special and ran for 11 episodes. Whether you're tuning in for the first time or re-watching with English voices, remember: even demon slayers need a break, so grab some popcorn and enjoy the ride. After all, mastering Total Concentration is much easier from the comfort of your couch.

Experience the Thrills of Akihabara: Akiba Maid War Pop-Up Café Opening in Little Tokyo

HIDIVE's popular maid action comedy anime series, Akiba Maid War, is heating up again this summer with an exciting pop-up café collaboration in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. The grand opening will take place on June 28, 2024, and the café will be open to the public until the end of July.

Via a press release, Little Akihabara, in collaboration with Akiba Maid War producers Cygames and licensor Sentai Filmworks, is opening a brand-new maid café in Little Tokyo "like you've never seen before." The Akiba Maid War Pop-Up Café, inspired by the anime's Ton Tokoton or Pig House, will open at 319 E. 2nd St. #122 Los Angeles, CA, 90012 on June 28, 2024, through July 28 (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays except July 8), and is available from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends.

The café seats 52 (13 tables with four chairs each). Café-goers can expect a maid-themed menu like Porker's Omurice (Ham Omurice) withdrawing services, as well as similarly themed drinks. The 'Oinky Doink Live Porkformance' will be held daily from 12-1:30 p.m., 2-3.30 p.m., 6-7:30 p.m., and 8-9.30 p.m. These are reservation-only, earning fans a special performance, a complete meal set, photo experiences of different tiers with the maids, and more. Attendees outside these times will be allowed in on a first-come, first-served basis but can also purchase personal performances. The event is rated PG-13, with some of the contents of the maid café alluding to violent imagery.

So, if you're in the mood for some omurice with a side of cutthroat competition and frilly aprons, mark your calendars for June 28. This pop-up café promises a unique blend of cuteness and chaos, perfect for any anime aficionado looking to experience the darker side of Akihabara's maid culture—one "oink" at a time! Purchase your tickets here.

Tokyo Revengers Returns: Sequel Announced with New Promotional Trailer

The popular supernatural action anime Tokyo Revengers is coming back with a sequel, announced at a recent event with a promotional trailer that recaps the events of the previous seasons.

The studio's official X (formerly Twitter) account confirmed the Tokyo Revengers anime sequel. Whether the sequel will be a movie or a fourth TV season remains unconfirmed. The exciting news was revealed at the series' Matsudo Touring event, celebrating the anime's fourth anniversary.

Tokyo Revengers streams on Disney Plus and Hulu. For those unfamiliar, the series description is as follows:

"Already low and down on his luck, Takemichi Hanagaki is devastated to learn that the love of his life from his middle school years has been killed by the criminal Tokyo Manji Gang. While Takemichi waits for a train the very next day, he is pushed from behind into the path of an oncoming train. Prepared to die, he instead wakes up to find he has traveled twelve years into the past and is again a middle school student. Now, Takemichi can rewrite history by making different choices in the hopes of preventing the death of his sweetheart."

I will keep you posted on any updates on this sequel, so stay tuned.

Farmagia: New Monster-Farming Game to Receive Anime Adaptation by Hiro Mashima

The newly announced monster-farming game Farmagia will receive an anime adaptation alongside its fall release. Hiro Mashima, creator of Fairy Tail, is the character designer for the game.

Debuting in the June 2024 Nintendo Direct, Farmagia's trailer revealed an anime project at the 3:05 mark of the video. Further details on the anime format are yet to be disclosed. Developed by Marvelous, Farmagia combines monster-raising with farm simulation RPG elements. The game features artwork by Mashima and draws influence from titles like Story of Seasons and Palworld.

Set in the Underworld of Felicidad, where people and monsters coexist, the story follows Ten, a Farmagia who stands against the power-hungry Glaza. As Glaza's forces invade Centvelt, Ten and his allies and their monsters unite to defend their world. Read more about Farmagia here.

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