Skip and Loafer will return for its second season in April 2027, with a newly released teaser offering the first look at the continuation of Mitsumi Iwakura and Sosuke Shima’s school life. Crunchyroll has confirmed that it will stream Season 2 when it premieres, giving viewers outside Japan continued access to the anime.

Director Kotomi Deai returns for the new season at P.A. Works and is also credited with series composition alongside Yoko Yonaiyama. Manami Umeshita returns as character designer and chief animation director, while Tomoyo Kurosawa and Akinori Egoshi reprise their lead roles as Mitsumi and Sosuke.

The first season aired for 12 episodes from April through June 2023, adapting Misaki Takamatsu’s ongoing manga. The April 2027 premiere will bring the anime back almost four years after its first season concluded, with Crunchyroll once again serving as its international streaming home.

Shogakukan has announced company-wide reforms following a third-party investigation into its Manga ONE editorial operations and its handling of manga creator Shōichi Yamamoto. The independent committee found that decisions surrounding continued work with a creator who had previously committed serious misconduct raised the possibility that Shogakukan’s actions could be regarded as encouraging or contributing to further human-rights harm. The publisher said the case exposed broader failures in editorial decision-making, information sharing, management oversight, and corporate governance.

Shogakukan's response includes financial penalties for senior leadership, with President Nobuhiro Oga returning 50 percent of his monthly compensation for three months and other executives returning between 20 and 30 percent. The company is also establishing a Human Rights Commission with outside experts, expanding employee and creator training, and requiring greater involvement from legal and management departments when serious concerns arise.

The changes will directly affect Shogakukan’s relationships with manga creators and other outside partners. Contracts will include human-rights provisions, major concerns will no longer be left solely to individual editorial departments, and expanded anonymous reporting and grievance systems are intended to give creators, business partners, and other affected parties clearer ways to raise concerns and seek remedies. Shogakukan says implementation and effectiveness of the reforms will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

Witch Hat Atelier won Best Anime Series at the 2026 Astra TV Awards, held August 15 in Los Angeles. The television adaptation of Kamome Shirahama’s manga took the award over fellow nominees Dandelion, Mao, Rooster Fighter, Sakamoto Days, and Steel Ball Run: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.


The series also received recognition for its English-language voice cast. Anjali Kunapaneni, who voices Coco, was nominated for Lead Voice-Over Performance, while Joshua A. Waters received a Supporting Voice-Over Performance nomination. Neither won their respective category, but the nominations gave Witch Hat Atelier representation beyond the anime-series award itself.


The Astra TV Awards are presented by the Hollywood Creative Alliance, whose voting membership includes critics, entertainment journalists, content creators, and other entertainment-industry professionals. The Best Anime Series win gives Witch Hat Atelier a major U.S. television-industry honor during its first season.

My Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi has returned to Weekly Shonen Jump with a new 61-page one-shot titled Quit Laughing Shijima (Warawanaide yo Shijima-san). The story was published in the magazine’s combined Issue 37/38, released in Japan on August 10, and is also available internationally through Shueisha’s MANGA Plus service.


Described as a “boy-meets-girl horror” story, the one-shot follows a town in which everyone seems to admire the mysterious Shijima, while something more sinister lies beneath the surface. The horror premise marks a clear change of pace from the superhero action that defined Horikoshi’s decade-long run on My Hero Academia.


Quit Laughing Shijima is Horikoshi’s first manga published in Weekly Shonen Jump since My Hero Academia concluded in August 2024. Its simultaneous availability through MANGA Plus also gives readers outside Japan direct access to his first post-My Hero Academia manga work.

Akiba Station will return to Los Angeles Comic Con with an expanded anime and Japanese pop culture area when the convention runs October 30 through November 1 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Created in partnership with Otaku Collectives, the attraction debuted in 2025 as a 40,000-square-foot dedicated anime space and is being enlarged for its second year.


The 2026 version will feature larger Japanese-inspired environments, including cherry blossom installations, curated displays and themed areas designed for photos and fan interaction. Organizers are also planning more interactive activities, exclusive merchandise and expanded participation from returning partners, alongside anime vendors, voice actors and live programming.


Additional anime brands, artists, voice actors and special guests are expected to be announced ahead of the convention. The expansion gives anime programming a more substantial dedicated presence within L.A. Comic Con rather than treating it solely as part of the convention’s broader comics and pop culture lineup.