Demon slayers, vending machines and lurking librarians (September 2025 anime & manga news round-up).
Infinity castles, kaiju, and vending machines with more personality than half the Hollywood slate — it’s been a busy old fortnight in anime-land. Strap on your demon-slaying sandals and let’s dive in.
Move aside Spirited Away — Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle has marched into Japanese cinema history like a kimono-clad wrecking ball. In just sixty days it’s raked in 33 billion yen, nudging Hayao Miyazaki’s 2001 classic down the stairs and into third place. Between Infinity Castle and Mugen Train, the Demon Slayer gang now own the top two spots on Japan’s all-time box office. Not bad for teenagers with swords and a questionable work-life balance.
Meanwhile, horror fans are clutching their blankets thanks to The Summer Hikaru Died. Episode seven is being teased as “shocking” (as if the previous six weren’t), and there’s now a Making-Of series in which the director and author cheerfully explain how they make everything just that bit more traumatising. Lovecraft is either applauding from the void or quietly suing for brand infringement.
If Lovecraftian dread isn’t your flavour, how about skyscraper-sized lizards? Kaiju No. 8 kicks off its Cataclysms Arc this month, which translates as: Tokyo’s insurance premiums are about to explode again. And speaking of explosions, P.A.Works are dropping their new original sci-fi series Dusk Beyond the End of the World with a mysterious Episode 0. They’ve even drafted in the voice-acting A-team to shout at each other about civilisation’s collapse. Pass the popcorn.
Elsewhere in the “we’ll reincarnate anything” department: Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon is getting a third season. Yes, Boxxo the beverage dispenser is back, proving once again that in Japan, the line between genius and sheer madness is thinner than a yakisoba noodle. Look out for the inevitable spin-off: Reborn as a Toaster, I Now Control Breakfast.
Fantasy series Clevatess has also slithered into a second season, heralded by a new celebratory illustration. No dates, no details, just dragons, adventurers, and hair so well-styled it could survive an apocalypse.
On the publishing front, Titan Manga are dropping three English-language delights this September. SANDA Vol. 1 gives us a climate-ravaged Japan where Santa’s descendant punches people in the name of holiday cheer. Saint Seiya: Dark Wing Vol. 1 lets Greek myth and Hot Topic fashion collide. And Gran Familia Vol. 1 presents us with vampire mafia drama, because normal family dinners aren’t stressful enough.
In Canada, however, it’s bad news. Alberta schools are banning Berserk, Black Bird and Trigun. Apparently, anything with visual depictions of sexual acts is out, which leaves Edmonton students with little more than wholesome pamphlets about grain exports. One suspects librarians are now lurking in the shadows, scissors poised.
On screen, Netflix’s live-action One Piece continues to do the impossible — not be terrible. Season two sets sail in 2026, eyebrows intact (for now). Crunchyroll, meanwhile, are turning New York Comic Con into a buffet of geekery with sneak peeks of Dan Da Dan, Fire Force season 3, Hana-Kimi, Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill season 2, Trigun Stargaze, and My Hero Academia’s final season. Plus more light-novel titles so long they barely fit on the event schedule.
So there you have it: box-office behemoths, cosmic horrors, and vending machines with better career prospects than most of us. Here at SFcrowsnest, we can only raise a celebratory sake to the sheer bonkers brilliance of it all. Just remember: if a librarian sidles up to you clutching scissors, run.
