Anime & manga updates

Manben

The latest episodes of the NHK World documentary series Manben: Behind the Scenes of Manga with Urasawa Naoki (which introduces us to mangaka like Shigeru Mizuki or Nishi Keiko) is about Chiba Tetsuya, the creator of the legendary series Ashita no Joe. The episode originally aired in Japan in 2020, but the English version just aired on June 13, 2025 (at 09:10 PM) and June 14, 2025 (at 03:10 AM, 09:10 AM, and 03:10 PM) and should be soon available to view as VOD (Video on Demand).

Tetsuya CHIBA [jp], now 86 year-old, talks about creating Ashita No Joe and we see him working on a few pages of his latest autobiographical series, Hinemosu no Tari Nikki [ひねもすのたり日記 / lit. “Daytime diary”]. He was recently the first mangaka to be honoured with the prestigious Order of Culture award. 

Midnight Diner

If you are into Japanese drama tv series, I strongly recommend Midnight Diner [深夜食堂 / Shinya shokudō]. Based on a manga by Yarō Abe, it offers five seasons of ten 25-minute episodes each, directed by Joji Matsuoka and starring Kaoru Kobayashi. The first three seasons aired in Japan on MBS from October 2009 to December 2014 and the last two seasons (titled Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories) aired on Netflix from October 2016 to October 2019. All five seasons are now available subtitled on Netflix. It tells the story of a chef, known only as “Master”, who operate a 12-seat late-night diner in Shinjuku. It is opened from midnight to 7 am and the menu offers only Tonjiru (pork miso soup), but the chef can cook whatever customers request as long as he has the ingredients for it. Each episode focuses on one specific Japanese dish and the life drama of one of his regular costumer. It has also spawn two movies (in 2014 and 2016). It is a really great series as it offers the drama of daily life, is often funny and sometimes falls into fantasy (or magical realism). I really like it.

Leviathan

The anime adaption of Scott Westerfeld‘s young adult novel series, Leviathan, is coming to Netflix on July 10th. Produced by Studio Orange (Trigun Stampede, Beastars), it is set in an early twentieth century alternate steampunk past and tells the story of an Austrian fugitive prince and a Scottish airman in disguise who find themselves aboard the HMS Leviathan, a genetically engineered airship, fighting mechanized war machines in order to prevent a world war. It is quite promising. You can watch the teaser on Youtube:

[ Traduire ]