Enjoy long-running favourites and the newest sensations, all from the world of Japanese animation.
Laid-Back Camp
Just like its title suggests, Laid-Back Camp makes for a perfect chill-out binge-watch. A slice-of-life anime series, it follows a group of Japanese high school girls in the Outdoors Activities Club as they travel around Japan to set up camp at picturesque destinations.
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Winning hearts with its calming vibe, gorgeous landscapes, and authentically portrayed friendships, Laid-Back Camp has grown so much in popularity that it has even spawned a spin-off mobile game: Laid-Back Camp: All-in-One.
The show’s third and latest season continues to ignite viewers’ sense of wanderlust with its gorgeously animated depictions of real Japanese locales such as Cape Irago and Hatanagi Lake. Just don’t watch Laid-Back Camp with an empty stomach — you’re going to feel peckish seeing scenes of the girls cooking up dishes like Hamburg steak and beef stew and enjoying foods such as yakitori.
Whether you’re following Rin on her solo camping trips or watching the group bond over their camping trips, the series is a gentle reminder to slow down and enjoy the journey.
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After returning from Izu, the girls are ready for their next camping trip. Half of them visit the Oi River.
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Chainsaw Man
Denji is half the man he used to be. As a young adult saddled with his father’s debts to the Yakuza, he has already sold one of his eyes, one of his kidneys, and one of his, uh, crown jewels. He also kills Devils — creatures that are manifested from and feed upon humanity’s fears — for a living. But if losing his body parts wasn’t enough, the poor guy also gets his life taken in an ambush by zombies.
Luckily, his little pet Devil with a chainsaw appendage, Pochita, comes to the rescue and resurrects Denji.
Now Denji is half man, half Devil, and all anti-hero. After slaughtering his murderers, the newly minted Chainsaw Man is recruited by the mysterious Makima of the Public Safety Devil Hunters organisation.
Based on the manga written and illustrated by Look Back creator Tatsuki Fujimoto, this anime adaptation captures the comic’s gnarly violence and gallows humour in all its gory glory. IGN declares that the first season has “married one of the best shōnen manga of the past few years with a prestige TV-like eye for the cinematic — all while having chainsaw go brrrrrr”.
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Denji got betrayed and killed. He got resurrected as the “Chainsaw Man”: the owner of the Devil’s heart.
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Skip and Loafer
Mitsumi Iwakura is a small-town girl with big dreams. The teen has just moved from Ishikawa Prefecture to Tokyo to pursue her life plan of topping her new high school class, becoming a civil servant, and revitalising her hometown as its mayor.
However, life has a way of humbling the ambitious ones — the overachieving student finds herself overwhelmed and lost during rush-hour commute on the day of the entrance ceremony. Help comes in the form of Sousuke Shima, a fellow classmate who is her total opposite — charming, handsome, and eager to please. Getting to school on time will be the first of many challenges the country bumpkin and her new puppy-dog friend will face in the social minefield of high school.
This wholesome slice-of-life rom-com, based on the manga by Misaki Takamatsu, has received positive reviews for its well-developed characters, naturalistic animation, and heartwarming moments.
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Brainy but awkward, Mitsumi befriends the laid-back Shima, who shows her the ins and outs of the big city.
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Blue Lock
Imagine the battle royale of Squid Game but for football strikers. That is the premise of Blue Lock, based on the manga written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by Yusuke Nomura.
After Japan is eliminated from the 2018 FIFA World Cup, coach Ego Jinpachi is tasked with creating a programme to “destroy Japanese loser football”. The man has a bold plan: Gather 300 of the most elite under-18 forwards to live, train, and play in a state-of-the-art sports complex, and separate the wheat from the chaff through elimination rounds. For the 299 losers, their careers are over. For the last guy standing, his future as the world’s best striker begins.
The series follows Yoichi Isagi and other hopefuls as they engage in a battle of wits and wills. Unlike other sports anime, where the underdogs prevail through the power of teamwork and friendship, Blue Lock can be brutal and unflinching. This is a game of survival, with each player pitting their special skill, referred to in the show as a “weapon”, against their rivals’.
In the second season, titled Blue Lock vs. U-20 Japan, Yoichi and teammate Rin Itoshi’s starting lineup, Blue Lock Eleven, make their debut at the Japan U-20 match. This will be a baptism of fire, as this showdown will determine if the Blue Lock programme is to be continued or terminated. Furthermore, Rin is the younger brother of the Japan U-20 team’s star player, Sae, taking sibling rivalry to a whole new level.
In an Anime Corner interview, the manga’s editor, Megumu Tsuchiya, promises fans that Blue Lock vs Japan U-20 “will be the best soccer match you’ve ever seen in your life”.
Thirty-five egoists will fight for BLUE LOCK's survival, participating in their biggest match to date.
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Black Butler
School’s in, and 13-year-old Victorian-era detective Ciel Phantomhive (Maaya Sakamoto) and his demon butler Sebastian Michaelis (Daisuke Ono) have an assignment, one which they can’t afford to fail. As the Queen’s Watchdog, Ciel is tasked with solving cases that Queen Victoria herself deems threatening to England. His latest case sees him investigating the disappearance of several students at the prestigious Weston College. Ciel goes undercover as a student and tries to get close to the four house captains, known as the ‘Prefect Four’, while Sebastian disguises himself as Ciel’s housemaster.
Black Butler is made by some of the most respected people in the anime industry. Based on the manga written and illustrated by Yana Toboso, this fourth season of the series is directed by Kenjirô Okada (March Comes in Like a Lion, RWBY: Ice Queendom) and produced by CloverWorks, the animation studio behind The Promised Neverland and Spy x Family.
Ciel receives a letter from Queen Victoria telling him several students at Weston College have disappeared.
View DetailsImages: © afro,HOUBUNSHA/Yurucamp Project, © Tatsuki Fujimoto/SHUEISHA, MAPPA, © Misaki Takamatsu, KODANSHA/”Skip and Loafer” Production Committee, © Muneyuki Kaneshiro,Yusuke Nomura, KODANSHA/BLUE LOCK Production Committee.