One of Japan’s biggest annual showcases of Japanese animation, AnimeJapan opened its doors on March 22 and 23 at the iconic Tokyo Big Sight. AnimeJapan is still taking place with a March 25 end date, but its last two days are reserved for business coverage, seminars, and other industry insider events. Don’t worry if you missed it this year because Tokyo Weekender was there to bring you the latest news from the world of anime. Here’s everything you need to know from AnimeJapan 2025!
One Piece
The One Piece in Love manga by Daiki Ihara was one of the earliest pieces of meta-fiction based on Oda Eiichiro’s world-famous pirate manga. With covers lovingly (and legally) based on the original comic, One Piece in Love features the adventures of high-school students with names like Yamamoto Luffy (the timid male protagonist), Koyama Nami (in love with Luffy), and the square/mullet-headed Nakatsugawa Usopp (a One Piece fanatic.) They’re later joined by Chopper, a real-life reindeer, and other stand-ins.
The gag manga has been on hiatus since 2022 but is scheduled to return on April 10, right after the premiere of the recently-announced One Piece in Love anime adaptation! Featuring the voices of Ryosuke Kanemoto (Luffy), Ayane Sakura (Nami), and Yuichi Nakamura (Usopp), who visited AnimeJapan to talk about their characters and love of One Piece, the new web series will consist of five episodes streaming daily from April 1 to April 5 on the official One Piece YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok pages.
The One Piece in Love manga isn’t the only thing that’ll be returning. After taking a break in late October 2024, the original One Piece will start airing new episodes on April 5. Episode 1,123 will be preceded by a recap of the Egghead arc, and followed the next day by Episode 1,124, now airing in the anime’s new Sunday night time slot. The show’s new opening will be performed by GRe4N BOYZ with muque providing the new One Piece outro.
Tokyo Revengers (courtesy of Pony Canyon)
Tokyo Revengers
The Tokyo Revengers stage at AnimeJapan 2025 celebrated the fifth anniversary of the anime about the eternal loser Takemichi Hanagaki traveling back in time to save the only person who ever loved him from a violent gang. He does this by joining said gang to stop it from becoming too violent, mostly by using violence. The end-result was a worldwide hit that also resulted in some great-live action movies, but the AnimeJapan panel was focused on the animated adaptation.
The anime’s four main voice actors reminisced about how much time has passed since the first episode, how much they’ve grown since then, and their deep emotional connections to their characters. The panel wasn’t solely focused on the past, though, as it also revealed that the anime is coming back for a new season! Titled Santen Senso (The War of Three Deities), the news came with a new key visual and the tagline “I won’t let you die.” No release date has been announced but the distributor promised that updates are coming “soon.”
Netflix
During Netflix’s presentation at AnimeJapan, the streaming platform confirmed the return of some of their biggest anime like the next installment of Sakamoto Days (July 2025), Part 2 of BEASTARS: Final Season, or the third season of Fire Force and Record of Ragnarok (all TBA). Fans were also treated to an exclusive preview of the Japanese dub of the upcoming Devil May Cry anime, set to the song Last Resort by Papa Roach, matching the weird, high-energy, early-2000s tone of the original Capcom game the show’s based on.
Also up on the screen during the Netflix stage was a new trailer for the sci-fi anime Moonrise about a war between the Earth and its satellite, streaming worldwide on April 10.
MHA (Bones, courtesy of Slow Curve)
My Hero Academia
After 10 years, the superhero anime My Hero Academia is set to end in 2026. During the MHA stage at AnimeJapan, it was announced that My Hero Academia Final Season will premiere in October this year, with its highlights including fights between characters the fans have long waited to see duke it out in full force. A key visual released during the event features the series antagonist Shigaraki Tomura and complements a previous visual featuring the series hero Deku, pointing to the decisive battle between the two.
The voice actors for both characters were present during the My Hero Academia stage and discussed in depth their thoughts about the upcoming duel. They talked about how much both characters embodied personal growth, though on polar opposites of the molar spectrum, and how each one strived to find their identity in the shadow of bigger heroes/villains. The two actors even joked that, in another life, the two characters could probably have been friends and that Deku’s primary goal in the fight will be to SAVE Shigaraki.
