top of page

Anime News This Week: Bocchi the Rock! Prequel Movie, Mashle Season 3, Death Stranding Anime and More

Writer: Rachel Lammey
Rachel Lammey
11 minutes ago
6 min read

Anime News This Week

Anime fans, this is a "wait, there's MORE?" week.

A beloved band anime announced a surprise prequel movie. The whole industry posted its biggest money year ever. Halloween weekend delivered vampires, a Kuromi movie, and a dog anime announced on Dog Bark Day. And Ranma started a cookie war that ended with blackmail and a crocodile.

We broke all of it down on the latest episode of Anime Goes Audio, presented by The Anime Blog dot com, and here's the written version for everyone who likes to read their news.

Quick show note: Maya and Connor are hosting while Kenji takes a break for school. Kenji may return — and now he has to, because Connor just tied his perfect trivia record. More on that below.

Here's what's in this week's rundown:

  • Bocchi the Rock! is getting a prequel movie about Nijika and Seika

  • Mashle Season 3 locks in Crunchyroll for January 2027

  • Death Stranding Isolations shows its first teaser

  • The anime market hit a record ¥4.45 trillion in 2025

  • Ranma 1/2 Season 3's cookie war, Jujutsu Kaisen posters, and more

Let's get into it.

Bocchi the Rock! The Movie: Footprints of the Stars — A Prequel About the Ijichi Sisters, Opening in 2027

This is the big one, and it hijacked our whole weekend.

On Sunday, November 1, a teaser trailer announced Bocchi the Rock! The Movie: Footprints of the Stars (Eiga Bocchi the Rock! Hoshi no Ashiato), opening in Japanese theaters in 2027.

It's a prequel. The film adapts "Hoshi ni Tamukeru Ai no Hana" ("A Love Flower Dedicated to the Stars"), the special story at the end of Volume 5 of the manga, and it follows Nijika Ijichi and her older sister Seika roughly ten years before Kessoku Band ever existed. The teaser's tagline: the story of two sisters' dreams, beginning with a farewell.

The team is stacked. Shin Wakabayashi directs at CloverWorks, series screenwriter Erika Yoshida handles the script, and Yukiko Horiguchi of K-On! fame designs the characters. Sayumi Suzushiro returns as Nijika and Maaya Uchida voices Seika. The announcement itself happened at an event celebrating 35 years of SHELTER, the real Tokyo live house that inspired STARRY.

Two important context notes:

  • Season 2 is still in production. Producer Shouta Umehara said this week that Season 2's scripts and storyboards are in their final stages and animation is progressing steadily. The movie is on top of Season 2, not instead of it — though Season 2 still has no release window.

  • Kessoku Band's first Asian tour was also confirmed for 2027, and advance movie ticket cards go on sale November 6.

Our Deep Dive argument on the show: Maya calls it the emotional foundation of the whole series finally getting its due — Seika built STARRY and raised Nijika, so Bocchi's band only exists because of this story. Connor's counter: a prequel is a promise, not a season, and international fans have no word yet on when they'll see the film outside Japan. Both verdicts are in the episode.

Want to reread the sisters' story before the film? Check prices for Bocchi the Rock! (paperback).

Mashle: Magic and Muscles Season 3 Streams on Crunchyroll in January 2027

Mash is back, and now we know where.

Crunchyroll will stream Mashle: Magic and Muscles Season 3 when it premieres in January 2027, covering fans worldwide outside Japan and China. The new season is officially titled The Tri-Magicathlon Divine Visionary Final Exam Arc — because of course the final exam is also a sporting event. No exact January date or dub date has been announced yet.

Death Stranding Isolations — First Teaser, Disney+ in 2027

On Thursday, October 30, during Beyond the Strand — Kojima Productions' 10th anniversary celebration — the team revealed a teaser trailer and more staff details for Death Stranding Isolations.

It's a hand-drawn anime with an original story set in the Death Stranding world, and it will stream on Disney+ in 2027. In a season full of announcements, a prestige game world choosing traditional hand-drawn animation is a statement all by itself.

The Anime Market Just Had Its Biggest Year Ever — ¥4.45 Trillion in 2025

The Association of Japanese Animations presented its latest industry report at TIFFCOM in Tokyo, and the headline number is a monster: the global anime market grew 15.8% to a record ¥4.45 trillion (about US$28.2 billion) in 2025.

The detail that matters most: the overseas market grew 17.2%, faster than the domestic market's 14.1%. The rest of the world isn't a bonus audience anymore — it's a main character, and it's why global premieres, same-week streaming, and worldwide event announcements keep becoming the norm.

Halloween Weekend Went Feral: Vampires, Kuromi, and a Dog Anime

Three announcements, one unhinged weekend:

  • Shiba Inu Rooms is getting a TV anime in Summer 2027 at TMS Entertainment, starring Niina Nakabayashi and Mutsumi Tamura. It was announced Sunday, November 1 — "Wan Wan Wan Day" in Japan, named after the sound a dog makes when it barks. Perfect marketing, no notes.

  • Hiragi-san's House of Vampires, the manga by A Couple of Cuckoos creator Miki Yoshikawa, is getting a TV anime from UNLIMITED PRODUCE by TMS, announced right at Halloween with a super teaser visual. And today brought a second vampire: The Bloodthirsty Bride Devours the King becomes a TV anime in 2027 from Imagica Infos/Imageworks.

  • Kuromi is getting her first movie. Sanrio announced it on Halloween — which is also Kuromi's birthday — with an English-subtitled video message from Kuromi herself. The film opens in Japan in 2027 with Gaga distributing.

Also this week: Detective Conan's fourth curated collection, "Clash of the Red and Black," started streaming November 1 on Crunchyroll and Netflix; Mecha Samurai, a short net anime with original character designs by Shaman King creator Hiroyuki Takei, starts its vertical short rollout today, November 2; Jujutsu Kaisen dropped 12 new Culling Game character posters ahead of Season 4 (still no date — eyes on Jump Festa in December); and Disney Twisted-Wonderland: Episode of Savanaclaw begins its 8-episode run on Disney+ on December 23.

One respectful note: Tetsuya Chiba, the legendary co-creator of Ashita no Joe, has passed away at 87. His fighting spirit shaped generations of sports stories. Rest in peace, Chiba-sensei.

Spoiler Talk: Ranma 1/2 Season 3 Episode 5 — "Black Rose Cookie"

Ranma Season 3 just topped the Fall trending charts in Week 3, knocking The Apothecary Diaries off the top spot, and the Ranma × Akane pairing took the #1 couple spot too.

This week's episode (overall Episode 29, aired October 31) is the comedy side of the season: a home-economics cookie war between Akane and Kodachi that escalates through sleeping-agent cookies, Gosunkugi's photo blackmail, Ranma literally eating the evidence, and a fight with the Kuno family's pet crocodile — ending with the negatives still at large. The fandom is split between "pure classic Ranma chaos" and "a beautiful car crash that never resolves," and our full spoiler verdicts are in the episode.

Trivia, Mailbag, and One to Watch

  • Stand or Band: Connor ran the table — King Crimson (both), Radiohead (band only), Metallica (both), Crazy Diamond (Stand only), Kiss (both) — going 5-for-5 and tying Kenji's perfect record. Kenji now has to return from school just to defend his honor.

  • Mailbag: Are prequel films the new Season 2? (The hosts remain split.) And Akane's cookies vs. Kodachi's cookies — Akane's, bravely, because Kodachi's are a controlled substance with frosting.

  • One to Watch: Devils' Crest premieres Friday, November 6 on Prime Video with its first two episodes streaming the same day. It's from Sword Art Online creator Reki Kawahara, animated by Production I.G, with Ado performing the opening theme "Evolution." A boy playtests the VR game Actual Magic, logs out, and finds the game fusing with reality — including a classmate turned monster. Set the reminder.

Listen to the Episode


Hear Maya and Connor argue about all of it on this week's Anime Goes Audio, presented by The Anime Blog dot com. And if you love what we do, you can support the show on Patreon.

More from The Anime Blog:

Stay addicted, everybody!

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page