Anime News This Week: Steel Ball Run Fridays, One Piece Finale, Black Clover Season 2 and More

Anime fans, this week was absolutely stacked. We've got JoJo chaos, a One Piece season finale, Black Clover finally coming back, and a huge October premiere list. We broke all of it down on the latest episode of Anime Goes Audio, presented by TheAnimeBlog.com, and here's the written version for everyone who likes to read their news.

Steel Ball Run Is Weekly Now, and Fridays Belong to JoJo

Steel Ball Run stages two and three dropped on Netflix on September 25th, and here's the plot twist: they're releasing weekly on Fridays, 11 episodes running into early December.

Why is that a big deal? Because Netflix tried to dump everything at once back in March with a 47-minute special, and the fandom rioted so hard they actually caved. Weekly JoJo Fridays are about to be a whole lifestyle.

The new opening, “Spin,” is getting a ton of love. The

ending theme, on the other hand, has the fandom fully cooked. Over 187,000 posts on X in a single day, with people editing their own endings over it. There's even a review bombing war going on over on MyAnimeList. It's 10 out of 10 or 1 out of 10 with nothing in between.

But forget the drama for a second, because the show itself is great. The desert arc is here, the race assassins are terrifying, and Mountain Tim's entrance instantly made him a fan favorite. And if you're new to JoJo, good news: Part 7 is an alternate universe, so you can start right here with zero homework. If you're brand new to anime in general, check out our post on What is Anime? Many Adults Are Learning That They Also Enjoy Anime.

One Piece Episode 1180 Was the Perfect Season Finale

One Piece episode 1180 aired on September 27th, and it was the perfect season finale. The animation was absolutely stunning, with Toei going all out for the climax of the Egghead arc. The pacing was tight, the emotional beats landed, and that final scene has everyone talking.

The reactors are calling it absolute cinema, and for once they're not exaggerating. If you want to know why reaction videos blow up the way they do, we wrote about that too: Anime Streams Are Very Popular.

And now we wait for 2027. One Piece fans are professionals at waiting. We've been training our whole lives.

Black Clover Season 2 Premieres October 3rd

The Black Clover season two preview is out and it premieres on October 3rd. Asta is back. Black Clover spent years in the shadow realm, and now it's returning like it never left.

The trailer goes hard. The animation looks clean, the energy is back, and Asta's screaming is officially a comfort sound at this point. Asta yelling is the audio equivalent of an energy drink. Concerning, but effective. The Wizard King arc is about to eat good, and October is shaping up to be an elite month for anime.

Re:Zero Season 4 Finale Is Today

Re:Zero season 4 wraps up today, September 30th, with a 45-minute extended finale. 45 minutes of Subaru suffering in high definition. The man cannot catch a break, and at this point it's basically a lifestyle choice.

This season has been an emotional roller coaster, and an extended finale means they're cooking something big. Clear your evening.

One to Watch: The Apothecary Diaries Season 3

Our pick for the week is an easy one. The Apothecary Diaries season 3 premieres on October 2nd, and Maomao is officially back. The poison-testing apothecary returns for the most relaxing show about palace intrigue and attempted murder ever made.

It's a split cour, running October 2026 and then April 2027, plus there's an original film coming December 11th written by the novel author herself. Our verdict, the same one we gave on the podcast: appointment television. Be there or be square.

We made this our full "One to Watch" segment on this week's Anime Goes Audio episode, so go give it a listen for the whole breakdown.

Quick Hits

A few more stories from this week:

Overgeared (listed as Overgird) premiered September 27th on Crunchyroll, and Crunchyroll went big with a Solo Leveling crossover visual for the premiere. A wild last boss appeared got a surprise season two premiere on September 26th. Surprise drops are the best kind of jump scare.

Hololive revealed a brand new anime project being produced by Studio Kai, so the VTuber-to-anime pipeline is now fully industrialized. Code Geass dropped a teaser for Star Chaser Aspall, slated for 2027. And the That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime roadmap is out, with Clayman Revenge officially set for April 2027. The villain comeback arc we didn't know we needed.

Final Thoughts

That's the week: 10 stories, zero chill. If you loved the rundown, listen to the full episode of Anime Goes Audio where Maya and Kenji argue about all of it for 30 minutes. Got questions for the mailbag? Send them in. We read everything.

And if you want to support the show, check out our Patreon for exclusive bonus content. Stay addicted, everybody.