Blue Lock the Movie: Episode Nagi review – football anime gets the battle royale treatment
From Terminator-eyed strikers to flame-wreathed shots on goal, no bombast is too much in this feature-length extrapolation of Muneyuki Kaneshiro’s popular series
May 2024
Haikyuu!!: The Dumpster Battle review – huge anime hit goes deep into high school volleyball
Obsessively detailed clash between two rival high school teams has done massive box office in Japan, but it won’t make much sense to the uninitiated
April 2024
Spy x Family Code: White review – ingenious espionage antics with special-power family
Popular manga characters receive their first film adaptation as they seek out a villainous colonel and an elusive dessert, brought off with great style by director Takashi Katagiri
March 2024
Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball manga series, dies aged 68
Japanese artist remembered for his ‘unique world of creation’ including comic series that spawned films, video games and TV series
February 2024
‘We didn’t expect this phenomenon to last’: France’s comic-book tradition is hitting new heights
The market for bédé visual storytelling almost doubled over the course of the pandemic, but can the birthplace of Asterix continue to nurture creators?
January 2024
Blue Giant review – electrifying animation captures the ecstasy of live music
A sublime score from Hiromi Uehara drives this coming-of-age-anime, which brings three young jazz musicians to life with spectacular imagery
October 2023
Stream team
Zany romantic action comedies don’t come much better than Scott Pilgrim Vs the World
Director Edgar Wright is clearly having a blast in his 2010 comic book film adaptation that blends trivial irreverence and maximalist scale
September 2023
The First Slam Dunk review – dynamic basketball anime
Takehiko Inoue’s affecting account of a high school match between an elite team and the underdogs breathes new life into the sports movie genre
August 2023
The First Slam Dunk review – basketball is the universe in resplendent hit anime
Takehiko Inoue’s classic manga spinoff has magnificent on-court scenes, but doesn’t quite sink the backstory
July 2023
The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes review – sumptuously romantic YA anime
Tomohisa Taguchi’s elegant love story anchors the far-fetched plot points of Makoto Shinkai’s 2016 hit Your Name
March 2023
Manga-nifique! How France became obsessed with Japanese anime
In the 1970s, giant robot cartoons sparked a love affair with French fans (including Emmanuel Macron) – now the country is the world’s largest manga importer, and home to a new Murakami film
January 2023
Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night review – dungeon-crawler drama
One Piece Odyssey review – the pirate adventure that manga fans deserve
That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond review – high-spirited anime
Demand for Japanese manga bucks Australia’s downward piracy trend
December 2022
The Christmas present I’ll never forget
My girlfriend tracked down Tiger Mask to a shop in Japan – the Christmas present I’ll never forget
The Quintessential Quintuplets review – sisters compete for love in charming anime
November 2022
Ghouls, demon slayers and socially anxious students: how manga conquered the world
They range from science fiction epics to high-school romance and are selling faster than publishers can print them. But what has driven this new appetite for Japanese comics?
September 2022
Longest single-volume book in the world goes on sale – and is impossible to read
The 21,450-page volume of manga series One Piece is physically unreadable, to highlight how comics now exist as commodities
August 2022
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero review – eye-candy anime is gloriously mesmeric
The immensely popular franchise is back with a bewildering cast of brightly coloured characters in a world of bad guys with outrageous quiffs
