Anime, manga, and software studios have been marking April 1 with a slew of April Fool's spoofs and jokes. Here are some of those that have cropped up this year - click on the thumbnail images to see the original!
Satomi Akesaka
The voice actress announced that she had gotten married to someone outside the anime and voice-acting community.
Google Japan
What's more intuitive for entering Japanese characters into computers than a drum set or Morse code? Google has this year's answer. Thanks to Dmysta3000 for the tip!
Yui Kano
The voice actress announced that she had gotten married and will henceforth be known as Yui Suzuki.
Majikoi - Oh! Samurai Girls
Gyoubu Shakadou is getting his own all-ages PC game, Shakadou-san no Junai Road (Shakadou's Pure-Love Road). It's available now for download.
Mobile Suit Gundam
Do you know about the life-size bust of Gundam Seed Destiny's Strike Freedom Gundam at the Gundam Front Tokyo mini-park? It turns out that it's not just a bust.
Monster Hunter
For one day only, Monster Hunter Frontier Online players can receive a baptism by fire from the previously undiscovered creature "G."
Movic
The evil secrety society Meganeito hijacked the retailer Movic and began offering Eyeglasses hugging pilows, Eyeglasses breast mousepads, Eyeglasses boys-love drama CDs, and the prankster's classic, X-Ray Specs.
Muv-Luv
Software developer announced a Muv-Luv social game: Idar My Star: Tsunderella Gals. The company also announced A Certain Scientific Railgun Type-002 anime premiering this month, the Puella Magi Marimo Majica? film opening this fall, a custom "Kasumi Dayo" item in the PlayStallion 2 game Hatsune Kasumi Project Alternative 3, an actual Type-00R Takemikazuchi mecha at the Muv:Luv Front Yokohama theme park at Yokohama Yamashita Park, A-3 Pictures' April sequel anime My Little Sister Can't Be a Samurai., the PlayStallion 3 game Jijo's Bizarre Adventure: Akane School Battle, the final episode of the robot anime LabJanji - The Flower of Rin-ne, a store campaign for the Tsudora Forest game, the smartphone app Beta Baka Nii-san, the original video anime Nikumarerumono, The Super Dimension Guardian Muv-Luv Limited sequel film, the launch of the online RPG Puzzle & Hives, and sunglasses inspired by Total Eclipse's Orson.
Mushibugyo
The anime's website would load up random splash pages with word puns on "Mushibugyo." [Images via NicoTubeAnime]
Nashibugyo (pear)
Hoshibugyo (planet)
Kushibugyo (skewer)
Ushibugyo (cow)
Nabebugyo (pot)
Ishibugyo (rock)
Niconico
After last year's ZeroWatch and Qwatch, the streaming service and a certain developer is offering its most powerful version: Zwatch.
There are many more anime/manga/game April Fool's Day celebrations out there, so if you know of one we've missed, feel free to let us know in our forums or by email (newsroom at animenewsnetwork.com).
With over 100 manga, K-comics, light novels, and adult titles, you'll want to check back every day to find your next page-turner!― Welcome to Anime News Network's Spring 2025 Manga Guide! You may have seen one of our seasonal Anime Preview Guides, where a team of critics writes up each new anime television premiere as it airs at the beginning of a season. Now, doing something like that for manga is...
Neither Uchikoshi nor Kodaka are strangers to being experimental and telling rich stories with twists and turns aplenty. But even by their standards, this game is exceptionally ambitious.― ~This reviewer's headcanon of how this game was conceived~ Japan, late at night. Kotaro Uchikoshi and Kazutaka Kodaka—the creative masterminds behind the Zero Escape series and Danganronpa respectively, among plen...
Tokunaga talks about the studio's decades-long history with director Makoto Shinkai, navigating the pandemic, and a brand-new project with a 'rookie director.'― CoMix Wave Films entered a new era on May 28, 2024 with the appointment of Tomohiro Tokunaga as President and CEO of the company. A former producer at Telecom Animation Film, Tokunaga has been involved in projects such as Lupin III and sever...
I love this kind of dramatic storytelling, no matter how ridiculous it gets, with massive planet-destroying neon space lasers and missiles firing in all directions.― Sometimes being a fan of the Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers remake series is suffering. On the one hand, it's a stunningly successful update of the 1970s/80s original, one of the most glossy modern sci-fi anime in existence; on th...
Sou Akaike's story of salaryman reincarnated as banished child prodigy in magic world― The livestreamed "Great Overlap Bunko All-Star Gathering Special 2025" announced on Sunday that Sou Akaike's Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord: Production Magic Turns a Nameless Village into the Strongest Fortified City (Okiraku Ryōshu no Tanoshii Ryōchi Bōei) light novel series is inspiring a tel...
Visions Volume 3 anthology to separately continue stories of "The Duel," "Village Bride," "The Ninth Jedi" on October 29― The Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 event announced on Sunday that the Star Wars: Visions anthology is expanding with Star Wars: Visions Presents, an opportunity to tell its animated stories in a longer narrative. In particular, Kenji Kamiyama will be telling the story from "The...
I've been playing otome games for quite some time, and I feel confident in saying that Battlefield Waltz is the most difficult I've encountered.―
I've been playing otome games for quite some time, and I feel confident in saying Battlefield Waltz is the most difficult I've encountered. Before picking it up, I had (foolishly) thought that otome games like the ones that form the basis of the manhwa se...
From Giant Iggy to Steel Ball Run, we have a full report of JOJODAY in Shibuya!― Just over a decade ago, the anime world was graced with an adaptation of one of the most artistically beautiful shonen manga series: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Following the Joestar family through six, depending on how you view the family tree, an array of stories across multiple locales. So, what better way to celebrate...
Lynzee suits up for her maiden voyage aboard White Base and now she never wants to leave.― Happy Friday, 'Loggers! I'm back after a brief hiatus that involved a two-week stint in Japan to cover the AnimeJapan event, attend no less than 20 meetings, and venture out to an animation studio to film and interview some pretty prominent veterans (keep an eye out for that). In the midst of my journey, I th...
With yet another RPG power fantasy at the helm, what you see is what you get, but what you’re getting ain’t half-bad either.― Sometimes I feel like fantasy RPG anime was on the tape in Infinite Jest. With so many of these shows pumped out per year, it feels like an onslaught we're forced to watch until the point of collapse. It's so easy to become cynical and jaded by it all. So when the first bit o...
Tariffs continue to destabilize the gaming market as Nintendo and Sony annouce price adjustments. Plus, a new daughter-raising game in Magical Princess and the Chainsaw Man director's latest is a...Roblox game?― —I have to do. ... Ah, it worked! Welcome back, folks! I pulled double-duty on both This Week in... columns, not unlike that time an ongoing story in Kamen Rider Gaim was interrupted for a K...
We took a look inside the acclaimed anime studio to talk with its staff about how they made Makoto Shinkai's hit films.― On the Eastern fringes of Suginami Ward of Tokyo rests Ogikubo. A well-known hub for the development of Tokyo ramen, the town is home to one of the most creative modern anime studios. That studio is none other than CoMix Wave Films. Known for producing all of Makoto Shinkai's film...
Chris and a very special guest see what's behind OceanVeil's diaphanous drapes.― Chris and a very special guest see what's behind OceanVeil's diaphanous drapes. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead. @RiderStrike @BWProwl @mouse_inhouse @vestenet Chris Alright, work ...
It’s almost impressive how simultaneously over- and under-explained this series can be.― I'm unsure whether or not this applies to the visual novels they're based on, but as far as the anime goes, Phantom Trigger is something of a black sheep among the various Fruit of Grisaia titles. “Phantom Trigger just isn't as good,” you'll often hear Grisaia fans say some version of, “And I don't like the main...