NEED TO KNOW
Attention, anime fans! It’s been a busy week, ranging from One Piece finding its live-action Bon Clay to the continued success of Chainsaw Man’s new movie.
Ash Ketchum’s classic adventures in Hoenn are now easily accessible, while Jujutsu Kaisen fans are getting a sneak peek at a series-altering showdown that will shake things up.
Read on to learn about some of the buzziest anime news moments you may have missed.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Courtesy of MAPPA
Chainsaw Man Dominates the Box Office
Anime continues to reign at both the U.S. and worldwide box offices. The Oct. 24 release of Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc has earned more than $140 million internationally. That’s helped largely by its massive opening in Japan, where Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga-to-Crunchyroll-to-cinema adaptation broke into the country’s top 100 highest-grossing movies of all time.
Stateside, this tale of a devil-hunting devil with chainsaws for limbs was the number one movie of the week of Oct. 26, dethroning Black Phone 2 for a week. Not quite as big an anime smash as Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, still the highest-grossing international movie in domestic box office history, but impressive nonetheless.
Bruce Glikas/Getty;Crunchyroll
Cole Escola is the New Bon Clay
Cole Escola is taking their talents to One Piece.
The Tony winner, 38, has now joined the season 3 cast of Netflix’s live-action iteration of the beloved anime, set to film later this year in Cape Town, South Africa. Escola will portray “theatrical assassin” Bon Clay, whom Netflix refers to as a “master of performance and precision.”
The streamer announced the casting move on Tuesday, Nov. 4, just four months before season 2, One Piece: Into the Grand Line, arrives on March 10, 2026. Netflix has not yet announced a release date for Season 3 or the names of new cast members slated for the season.
Pokemon/Youtube
A Beloved Pokémon Series Reaches a New Audience
It feels like the Ruby and Sapphire days all over again.
Pokémon announced on Sunday, Nov. 2, that Pokémon Advanced — which follows Ash and crew’s adventures in Hoenn — will now be available to stream on the franchise’s “Pokémon TV” YouTube channel.
The series debuted in 2002 and ran for 40 episodes. Fans in the U.S. may recall catching the show on WB Kids back in the day. It follows Ash and Pikachu on their quest to compete in the Hoenn League and earn Gym Badges. Brock and May also make appearances, with Misty notably absent given Ash’s trek outside of Johto.
Fans can get in on the action now, with episodes rolling out on YouTube if you’d like to catch ’em all.
Crunchyroll;TOHO animation
Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Gets an Intense New Look
As if there wasn’t enough excitement surrounding the forthcoming third season of Jujutsu Kaisen (The Culling Game Part 1), TOHO Animation dropped a new glimpse at the franchise’s forthcoming film, Jujutsu Kaisen: Excecution, featuring an apparent series-altering showdown.
Execution, which will feature a 2-episode preview of Culling Game, will let fans see where things head for Yuji Itadori and Yuta Okkotsu — as the latest preview shows a battle between the two. A synopsis from distributor GKIDS calls it a “desperate confrontation between Satoru Gojo’s two beloved students” after Yuta is “assigned to carry out Yuji’s execution for his perceived crimes.”
Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution arrives in U.S. theaters on Dec. 5.
Bonus: HUNTR/X Will Be Back
KPop Demon Hunters continues to go up, up, up! The anime-inspired Netflix and Sony hit is getting a sequel, to no one’s surprise.
Bloomberg reported that “a full-length sequel [will arrive] in 2029,” confirming what many fans suspected since the movie’s June 20 Netflix release. But amid the outlet’s reporting about the delayed release of the property’s official toys, few other details were revealed! We can’t wait to see how it’s done, done, done.
